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General Weight Loss Tips

Waiting For Hunger: W1D4: Ideal Day

Yesterday and the rest of this week will involve a lot of juggling. Nothing unmanageable, but my comment participation will be slow until Monday. Either way, your comments are brilliant and thoughtful. I’m still trying to answer yesterday’s question for myself.

Today though, is another question. I’m in a new Intention Circle with a lot of my creative lady friends and the question we’re trying to answer is “what does your ideal day look like?” This is more like a dream day, a fantasy. A life without barriers.

I realized in the past week as I try to answer this question: I am living my ideal life. That is not intended to be smug, but I’m realizing that the reason why this answer is so difficult is because my ideal life, IS my life. Sure, my dream day starts in Tuscany and ends at a dance party in NYC, but that’s just one day. I don’t want to live in Tuscany or NYC. I love where I live, because it was my design. Living in rural Virginia was a choice, a strange one to many, but a choice that excites me.

The thing is, the day I stepped foot in Brooklyn (or perhaps the day I left college) was the day that I understood that I am the captain of this ship. My life is not perfect, I want to be in a healthier body, I’d love to have a magazine-organized house, I’d love to travel more. But, oh my goodness. My life is a good life. I wake up and I have work to do, work that I love. Work that people pay me to do. In my pajamas most days. And others, if I want, I can get dressed to the nines.

My husband is a huge chunk of my life. Which probably makes some squeamishness and uncomfortable. Others may say, how dare you place so much importance on your husband. But, I do. He was a dream. And goodness, if I had one tidbit of advice, it is: marry a good man. Marry a man who calls you beautiful every day. Challenges you. Sees your potential and supports you. I challenged myself at a young age to marry someone who is present, who cares, who is thoughtful and creative. It helps that he is incredibly good looking. But, I didn’t settle for comfort, or ideals.

I have health insurance.  A goal that was on my new years resolution for three years. I’ve done catering, jewelry, and now clothing design. All because I want to. Not because it’s a task given to me. And sure, some things I realize I’m not suited for, but at least I did it. I have the freedom to try. And fail. And try again.

Everyday I feel at home in our house. There is no doubt in my mind that this is the house I’m supposed to live in at this stage of my life. It’s small and humble. And people tell us “you can’t do that in your house! it’s too small”. Well, I’m sorry, but three bedrooms and two baths is more than enough room for two people, 2 cats and a rabbit. And hell, if we want a baby, we’ll make room. We didn’t over extent ourselves with the best house on the block to be impressive. We don’t have the nicest car, to make us look successful. Those things, while they may fit in a dream day. Are not my ideal.

My ideal day involves, a plush white bed, a morning run, a leisurely day where I cook in the kitchen, and create in my studio. And while I don’t have a plush white bed, I could have it.  TJMaxx is only 25 minutes away. And while I don’t exercise everyday…I could. But, I have a really nice bed. I cook often and I’m creative in my studio because those things make a happy life for me.

And so I asked my husband what his ideal day looks like. And after a few silent minutes. He replied “I’m already living it”. And he is, and I knew that would be his answer. Sure, he doesn’t have the best music studio in the world, or even Floyd for that matter. But he made one happen. And it’s pretty amazing. Six years ago he said “I don’t want an office job” and two months later he never looked back. He made that happen. He reads, and studies and works hard for this life.

And so I’m realizing that the things I want, are not things or perhaps even actions, but thoughts. I want to be nicer to myself. I want to feel my feelings. I want to forgive people a little easier. I want to dance and sing a little more freely. I want to forgive myself for not always doing the right thing. My ideal day is realizing how great I have it and not wasting it on petty thoughts and negativity. My ideal day is an easy smile, a guilt-free slice of chocolate cake, it’s being passionate, seeing things through, and getting a little (or a lot) sweaty.

So I extent this question to you…what does your ideal day look like?

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Diet Food vs. Health Food

I’m here! I made it all the way to Wednesday without blogging, yet I’ve had so much to share. I started Insanity again with Josh. We started last year and made it all the way to day four and then I got sick and then we never did it again.

We started Monday evening with the fitness test, which was not easy, but I was a little excited to see that my numbers in some areas were high than others. They provide you with a little 60-day calendar to check off each day that you complete a new session so it’s really satisfying to cross off each completed day.

I’m very sore, but I feel so good to exercise in the morning, it really sets the tone for the day.

So that brings me to my next topic. Food. I’ve been doing really well with tracking my food and making an effort to cook at home and eat vegetables and fruits. I spent a good chunk of the weekend and last week cooking and trying out new recipes that I hope to share this week.

I’ve been thinking a lot about “diet food” and I realized that I hate diet food, but I love health food. To me diet food is anything in a package that has a weight-loss claim (low fat! low calorie! low carb! lose 6 pounds in 2 weeks!). Diet soda, bars, shakes, cookies, crackers, margarine, cereal etc.

Today I had a salad for lunch that I would call health food, not diet food. This is food that sustains and satisfies me. It leaves me feeling emotionally and physically good. It is delicious, and doesn’t have a lot of calories. 400 to be exact.

Okay, yes it looks dressing heavy! Here is the run down of my salad:

organic/local mixed greens, local feta, organic bacon, 2 local hard boiled eggs, 1 T slices almonds, and 2 T yogurt dressing.

But it’s not just about salads, it’s about wholesome food that we make with our own hands. It doesn’t have big claims. The lettuce didn’t promise I’d lose weight on the package. Nor did the eggs, cheese, or bacon. It just is. And it’s good.

That was a lesson a learned today.

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How To Lose 10 Pounds In One Month

Many people struggle to lose weight for one main reason: they fail to set concrete goals. Instead of specifying an exact and quantifiable goal, plan, and deadline, they content themselves with vague targets like, “I want to lose weight.” This is no way to win. To be successful in any endeavor, including weight loss, people must set concrete goals, define the stepping stones that will mark the path, and create and stick to a plan that will keep them moving forward towards the target.

If you want to lose weight, set a goal, one that is quantifiable, or can be represented with objective numbers. For the purposes of this article, let’s say the goal is 10 pounds in a month. Now chunk it down – there are four weeks in a month, so you’ll need to lose about 2.5 pounds a week. At seven days per week, you’ll need to lose about a third of a pound each day. If each pound of fat contains 3500 calories, this means you must burn around 1250 calories a day through diet and exercise.

Thus, losing ten pounds in a month is difficult, but not impossible, especially if you are very overweight. In that case, those first ten pounds will be quite easy, as long as you follow the plan. If you simply want to lose the ‘last’ 10 pounds off your frame, this goal will be harder to accomplish. No matter your situation, to meet this calorie target, you will have to consistently follow a strict and detailed plan of diet and exercise. Here are the main steps:
1. First, determine how many calories your body uses each day based on your age, sex, weight, and activity level. There are many of these ‘calorie calculators’ around the internet, so find a good one and enter your vital statistics. Let’s say that your basic burn rate in a day is 2500 calories.

2. If you did no additional activity, you’d have to eat 1250 calories a day in order to hit your calorie target and induce weight loss. This would be very difficult to sustain, as you’d be hungry all the time and you’d suffer from malnutrition. Thus, you need to add in daily workouts to up your calorie burn. Let’s say you shoot for 500 calories burned in exercise. This takes your daily calorie burn at 3,000, and thus you need to eat 1,750 calories a day – a much more doable target.

3. Once you’ve determined your calorie target, plan out your daily meals so that you eat that many calories or less. A few guidelines: first, don’t starve yourself. If you consistently deprive your body, it will go into starvation mode, lowering your metabolism and killing your fat burning machine. Instead, you need to make sure your body is well supplied throughout the day with food and water. Instead of eating two or three big meals, eat 5 to 6 small meals throughout the day. This will help control your hunger while also keeping your metabolism roaring. Second, make sure to eat a wide variety of foods from all food groups, focusing especially on whole grain carbohydrates, lean proteins, healthy fats, fruits, and vegetables. Drink plenty of water each day, and avoid empty calorie beverages like soda and iced tea. If you make the right choices, 1,750 calories should be plenty of food to keep you satisfied each day, but you may still need to get used to ‘real’ portion sizes and wean yourself off the excessive portion sizes that are seen as ‘normal’ today.

4. Once your nutrition plan is in place, design your daily workout regime. You will want to mix in cardiovascular exercises and strength training. Shoot for about 4-6 cardio workouts each week, 3 strength training workouts, and daily flexibility training. Each type of workout will give you specific benefits. Cardio will improve your heart and lung health while also burning calories. Strength training will burn calories too, but it will also build muscle mass, increasing the number of calories you burn simply by existing. Flexibility will help you recover from workouts more quickly and will reduce your chances of injury.

If you follow this clear, detailed plan without fail, you will be sure to hit your goal after one month. The journey doesn’t end there, though – fitness and health is a lifetime quest; a journey, not a destination.

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