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General Weight Loss Tips

What if…

I’ve been keeping all of my oh so interested food posts over at www.myfitnesspal.com username: lorriebee. If you’re at all interested in what I’m eating. I’ve got loads of food photos to share with you, but first I want to share some random thoughts I’ve been having lately.

I’m a ponderer, I wonder about things, it’s just my nature. And today I’m thinking about this: what if I never lost a pound again- would I change my actions?

Lately I’ve noticed a few conversations with people around that fact that they assume eating a healthy diet and exercise is only out of the pursuit of weight loss. I can’t help but feel that this is entirely short sighted. Granted, when I started out on this journey a long time ago I was pretty ignorant about food. I was raised in the low-fat era of diet sodas, fat free dressing, and Snack Wells cookies. I never gave a moments thought to the pop-tarts, chips, Little Debbie cakes that I was consuming.

If it was in a package it was okay to eat. I never questioned ingredients, food sources, chemicals or unethical practices. But that was then and now after many years of yo-yo dieting, reading, watching and consuming all things health and nutrition I think I have a pretty good handle on what is sensible eating for me. Of course, it’s not perfect- it never will be. But, I know about meat, I know about processed foods and I know that most items in the grocery store are only pretending to be something they aren’t…food.

My quest for thin got me here. I don’t know if I’d ever arrive to caring that diet soda is not the solution to a diet full of fat and sugar. Or that meat has been injected and filled. Or that the innocent vegetable has been manipulated to be bigger, shinier and will hold up longer in the fridge. My fat opened my eyes to the world of better eating.

So sometimes I get frustrated when folks assume that I’m drinking juices in the morning just to lose weight. Or that sometimes I say “no thanks” to dessert, processed snacks or questionable meat because I’m trying…yet again…to lose weight.

The truth is, I want to do this. Not just because I have 150 pounds to lose, but because it feels better than the alternative. As if, weighing less would give me license to eat anything and everything without a moments thought.

The source of my knowledge and motivation is weight loss. For a hundred or so reasons. This is true. But, it’s not all based on weight loss.

I’ve come to realize that this slow shift in my mentality has opened the doors for real, lasting success. Because I understand that the way I’m eating now isn’t something I stop doing when I lose weight. I feel good when I drink raw vegetable juice,  eat salmon, salads, smoothies, oatmeal, and whole grains. I feel better about myself and my life. It makes me hopeful and inspired to be a better person. My work improves, my skin gets clearer and I’m a more pleasant person to be around.

So right now, today, my “plan” is to be good to myself. This involves exercise, not because it could and probably will make my ass smaller, but because I feel like a better human being. I’m eating less meat right now, not because of a fad diet, but because I feel better. Does that mean I won’t eat meat this weekend at the wedding? No. Does that mean I will never have the occasional steak? Like hell. I’m getting up and making  making juice because it’s a good thing to for me to do. I’m exclusively eating whole grains unless it’s not an option (and when it’s not I don’t feel bad about the white rice or bread). I’m eating nuts or fruit for snacks because it doesn’t weigh me down. I’m finding new ways to enjoy dessert and my favorite foods. And to top it all off, to make it count, so I know I’m doing what I need to do to lose weight: I’m counting calories. Everything else is up to me.

I’m finally understanding “lifestyle change”. It doesn’t mean that one meal at chik-fil-a is a bad thing, it doesn’t mean that healthy food can’t be delicious (it really is!), and it certainly doesn’t have to be the painful, hopeless, sacrifice that I’ve wanted to believe it is. The myth that made me believe for so long that I couldn’t do it without a pill, surgery or the latest top-selling diet book.

This is no longer punishment. This isn’t perfection. This isn’t 30 pounds in 30 days. This isn’t a raw food only diet. This isn’t no carb, low fat, low calories. Not vegan or vegetarian. Not the cabbage soup, rotation, or delivery meal systems. This isn’t diet food. This isn’t about the “last meal” or the “I will start over tomorrow”. This isn’t what I’m eating just to lose weight. This is me being okay with the occasional treat, the occasional indulgent meal because if I’m consistent 80% of the time, everything will be okay. This is about being guilt-free about food. Guilt only causes pain which leads to binging for me.

Today I am still obese. I’m not an impressive weight-loss success story. The process is never impressive. The mental shift, the work, the never going to give up attitude, the reading, the studying, the learning wasn’t a loss or failure. If I don’t lose a pound on the scale tomorrow morning, I’m still going to drink my juice, eat delicious real food and move as much as possible.

So do me a favor. The next time you see someone eating a salad or saying “no thank you” to dessert don’t assume it’s just because they are “being a good dieter” and on the same note, if you see someone eating a cupcake or enjoying a nice burger and fries, don’t assume they’re “off the wagon”. Being healthy isn’t about black and white eating or never consuming refined carbs again. It took me a long time, but I’m so glad I finally realize this.

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Categories
Weight Loss Exercise

Aerobic Fitness declines with age

Ran into this interesting article from Reuters:

Jul 26 (Reuters Health) – Physical fitness is known to wane with age, but a study published Monday shows that the decline gains speed with each decade, regardless of a person’s exercise habits.
The study of 810 healthy adults found that the rate of decline in aerobic fitness was about four times greater among people in their 70s or older, compared with those in their 20s and 30s.

Despite the fact that it boosts aerobic fitness, regular exercise did not change a person’s rate of age-related decline.

However, that does not mean it’s time to retire those running shoes, according to the study authors.

At any given age, people who were at least moderately active were more fit than their sedentary peers, said lead author Dr. Jerome L. Fleg of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in Bethesda, Maryland.

In addition, he told Reuters Health, research shows that older people can improve their aerobic capacity by getting regular, moderate exercise like walking. The point, according to Fleg, is to help elderly people stay fit enough to perform daily activities — like housework or yard work — and maintain their independence as long as possible.

Fleg and his colleagues at the National Institutes of Health report their findings in Circulation, a medical journal published by the American Heart Association.

The study looked at changes over time in individuals’ VO2max, a measure of aerobic fitness that refers to how much oxygen the body uses during a given activity. The VO2max is the point at which the body can no longer ramp up its oxygen use to keep up with the intensity of the exercise, and the activity rapidly becomes unsustainable.

It’s well known that a person’s VO2max declines with age. But the rate of that decline, Fleg explained, has not been clear-in large part because studies on the subject have typically compared different age groups rather than following the same people over time.

His team’s study included healthy men and women between the ages of 21 and 96 who periodically underwent treadmill tests to gauge their VO2max. The researchers also charted changes in participants’ blood pressure, body composition and lifestyle habits, over an average of eight years of follow-up.

In general, the study found, VO2max declined by 3 to 6 percent per decade while people were in their 20s and 30s. The rate of decline increased with age, going above 20 percent per decade among adults in their 70s or older.

The “good news,” Fleg said, is that active people maintained a higher VO2max than sedentary people their age, pointing to the importance of staying active throughout life.

He noted that older, sedentary adults who want to boost their fitness should consult their doctors before starting to exercise, as should anyone with heart disease.

SOURCE: Circulation, August 2, 2005.
Publish Date: July 26, 2005

Categories
Weight Loss Exercise

Do I stay in better health with exercise?

I was off sick yesterday. Sometimes there will be a bug in the office and everyone seems to eventually catch it over a couple of month span. Over the last few years I have been able to stay away from getting sick very often at all using a couple rules:

Rule one is that I always try to exercise well. I have some really tough workouts and some not so tough workouts but I never try to push myself to hard over an extended period of days, the way that I look at it is that I can’t heal fast enough to get away with that and I know because I will get more and more tired as the week goes on.

Rule two is that I make sure that I sleep well so that I do not get tired during the day. I make sure that I get 7-8 hours sleep every night and as we all know that is not always possible. I make sure that after a few bad nights of sleep that I will cut back my exercise and get tow great nights sleep and start ramping up my exercise schedule again.

Sometimes you will not avoid a flu but over time I believe that I have caught fewer flues and recovered faster. Most of my sick days are more the mental health variety where I take a day off to recharge and make sure that I am doing all of the things that I write here about, exercise, vitamins, relaxation, sleep, meditation, and of course reflecting on all of these together with my exercise to make sure that I am not deficient in one or to strong in one at the determent of the others.

So this weekend as you are going through the paces of your regular off work week time eating and exercising try to take a few minutes to reflect how you are doing these things both during the week and during the weekend.