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General Weight Loss Tips

Hello Blue Skies

First week of eating better plan is down. Last week I ate really well, loosely tracked my calories, lost seven pounds, was incredibly productive, two days of Zumba and one day of strength training. I couldn’t have asked for a better week.

Here is a sampling of what I ate:

honey apples with raw almond butter and raw honey

sweet potato with sea salt, olive oil, cayenne pepper and garlic

peppers and steak with cauliflower “rice”

lots of local fruit

eggs with mushrooms and chevre

feta and local beef meatballs with homemade tomato and basil sauce over local zucchini

I also had ribs, chicken, kale, salads and some un-paleo rice and peanut butter. I only had a craving once for sugary/floury comfort food which was quickly put out of my mind when I knew how physically horrible I would feel. I feel good eating this way- clear, less moody, less depressed. Not up or down, just like a (relatively) normal person. I had one episode of feeling depressed and that was after eating way too much peanut butter  before realizing that it was made with sugar. I remember thinking “why do I feel so bad?”  It’s taken me a very long time to realize that my issues with depression are directly related to food and activity.

I don’t feel deprived, bloated or unsatisfied. I eat when I’m hungry. I’m not overly concerned about calories. I just feel a little more sane. And I’m losing weight.

I have three sessions of Zumba planned, the new Insanity workout DVD to try and another session of strength training.

Here’s to another successful week!

 

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Categories
General Weight Loss Tips

Q & A

I get several emails a week about this and that and thought I’d answer some questions I get most often here.

How tall are you?

I’m right smack in the middle of average at 5’4.

What diet plan do you follow?

Right now I’m dabbling in a world without refined flours and sugars. Cutting back on dairy. Cutting back on grains. And cutting back on processed foods. I eat vegetables, meat/poultry/fish, fruit, nuts, some dairy and brown rice.

What kind of exercise do you participate in?

I do strength training once a week and for the past two weeks I’ve been doing Zumba three times a week and Jillian DVD’s the other days.

Have you met your goal weight?

Nope. Not yet.

What do you do for a living? What does an average day look like? How did you get started freelancing? What are your biggest career struggles?

I am a freelance designer and writer. I also make a small line of handmade jewelry and I blog. On a typical day I wake up around 6am, eat breakfast and check all my internet stuff (email, facebook, blog, twitter etc.), around 7am I start writing. Around 9am I take an hour break (food, stretching, fresh air, email). At 10am I’m back to writing until noon when I eat lunch. If I have design work to do I will go and do that after lunch (sometimes before lunch). After that I come home, eat dinner, do more work, exercise and then relax.

Most days look like this depending on what I have going on or if I have any deadlines.

I got started by making the decision to do it. Working for myself has been a goal of mine since college. Having an office job never felt like a long term solution for me. I like working with people rather than for them. Bosses tend to feel like they have ownership and control over you, and that’s a feeling I never got used to. If I want a raise, I work harder. In the office world, it’s up to the guy signing your check. It’s also nice not to have to check in, ask for days off, take time to go to an appointment or just have a “me” day. That will never ever get old.

Struggles with balance. Getting over fears. Setting limits with other people. Owning my time. And finding respect for what I do. A lot of people in my life have no idea what I do. Sometimes being at home is perceived as “doing nothing” or being unemployed, but I work harder than most people in office jobs. I pay for my own health insurance. Every dollar I make is important to me- I don’t take my work for granted. It’s also hard for people to see what I do as important or valuable because my title wasn’t handed to me through a job description. It’s important for me to share what I do with other people and let other people know that this lifestyle is possible for anyone if you’re willing to work hard and find focus. Also having a business name and website is beneficial for legitimacy.

What is your goal weight?

Honestly, I will skip down the street at 180. And wouldn’t sneeze at 190. And will praise the skies at 200, but for my height I should be under 140. That’s a long ways away though.

Do you have children? Do you want children?

No and yes. I’m in a place where I’m (we’re) not actively trying, but would be okay if it happened. Maybe when I’m 30 I’ll warm up to the idea. I have a lot of fears when it comes to having a child: loss of privacy, pain, vulnerability, unsolicited advice, expectations…I could go on  I’d also like to be in a better place physically (and mentally).

Who designed your blog?

I did with the help of my husband. I just created a header and the custom graphics. I’m using a wordpress template for the rest.

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Weight Loss Exercise

Fit over 40 review

How can you be Fit over 40

Last week I turned 40 and as part of the process of reaching another one of those ages with a 0 on the end I decided to take a look at what I should do differently with my health and exercise.

Yes, I know, age is just a number and it is more important to treat your body well, but there are health and fitness issues that will make a difference in exercise, for example we produce less testosterone naturally as we get older so it is more difficult to gain muscle.

As I was looking for information I ran across an eBook called Fit over 40. Fit over 40 is a very interesting eBook written by Jon Benson and Tom Venuto. The reason that this book is interesting is that it is not just a do this, do that, eat this, don’t eat that, type of book. Instead this book is big on motivation and shows you a better way to reach your goals. The way the book uses is through example.

Here are the three sections of Fit over 40

Fit over 40 reviewFit over 40 Part one

Jon Benson describes his struggles and successes and how he was able to transform his body and health. And further Jon lays outs some great principles

  • BodyWorks: Strength Strategy
  • Inner Fuel: The Taste of Health
  • I Can See The Valley: New Hills, New Horizons
  • Begin and Believe
  • Post-40 Training Tips

Fit over 40 Part two

This is the exciting meat of this book. Now that we have a basis for looking at how it looks and feels to be fit Jon Benson takes us through biographies of 52 people over 40 that have a great health and how they got that way, some were very sick and some were healthy but the important thing is all of these people are people that we can really relate to in one way or another. This way we do not have to look at pro athletes as an unreachable standard of how to get in great shape.

Fit over 40 Part three

This is where Tom Venuto of Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle fame kicks in. Tom Goes through the five pillars of Anti Aging:

  • Pillar 1: Weight Strength Training
  • Pillar 2: Aerobic Training
  • Pillar 3: Learning To Be Flexible
  • Pillar 4: Lifelong Nutrition
  • Pillar 5: Recovery and Renewal

After going through this and helping us realize what a big part the mental game is in getting fit we now have a well rounded process for getting, keeping, and improving lifelong health.

Conclusion of Fit over 40 Review

Fit over 40, I believe is a great read and reference book for almost anyone over 40 years old. In comparing Fit over 40 to Burn the Fat Feed the muscle, I find that this book is less in the actual workout regimen but is much better in role models. It is always easy in popular culture to find the freaks, the people over 90 that do triathlons, or the young kid that swims the English Channel. But what about the rest of us? How about the people to old to be pro athletes (although the book has a couple) but still young enough to be incredibly fit and healthy?

Any day that you are having motivation problems you can come back to this book on your computer and read about someone that is just like you and has overcome what you are struggling with.

I really recommend Fit over 40 to keep your motivation and for $39.00 it is a great value.

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