Gettin' Skinny

I've had this post drafted for awhile and recently I noticed that multiple of the other blogs I read had fitness posts! I took it as a sign that it was time to post...

John Paul and I are almost to that "rock bottom" place as far as health and fitness goes. You know, that place where you step on the scale and are so disgusted it launches you into a fit of motivation? We're both "fed up" with feeling tired and not fitting into our clothes...and so "Project Get Skinny" has been initiated. I affectionately named it this because it's blunt/honest. We want to be thin/fit.

Obviously this is more about being healthy than skinny, but I am also tired of girls telling me I'm skinny and treating me like I have an eating disorder when I mention we want to change our diet and exercise. I totally understand that women struggle with self-worth and eating disorders but we can't use that as an excuse to be unhealthy or overeat either which is the direction I have more of a tendency to go. I've always gotten by on a good metabolism but those days are coming to a close. Whether I show it or not I have gained nearly 20 pounds in the last year alone. That is on top of the 15 pounds I gained during college. I think combined with lack of energy this is enough to warrant some diet and exercise changes.

I don't care about the number (weight), mostly I want to tone up and build up endurance/energy. But I do plan to weigh before and periodically to see what my progress is.

Thanks to everyone who gave all the suggestions on my last fitness post. Keep em comin! Especially if you have practical advice like "ways I motivated my butt out of bed in the morning."

I'll tell you what is not an option for me right now: Running.
I've never been a runner, and I quit sports after middle school so my endurance is zero. I think my heart rate gets too high, and I also have knee/ankle issues that seem to surface along with shin splints. I get winded after about 2 minutes of running on a treadmill. It is BAD. One of my long term goals is to run a short marathon, but before I can even start a running routine I need to get into better shape.

Okay so all that rambling (and nothing you haven't heard before) leads me to my practical, tangible goals.

August Fitness Goals

(These may seem like baby steps to you, but for me they're setting a much needed foundation.)

Naps limited to 10-15 min 

         (maybe I'll take one "long" nap on the weekend or something)

Gym 2 times during the week and 1 time on weekend 

         (can be replaced by other activity like DVD, hiking, etc.)

Smaller portions

Lots of water

No eating out during the week

Take a daily vitamin and Vitamin D

Seeking Advice: On Fitness

Some of you may remember that in June I proclaimed that July would be health and fitness month. That clearly never came to fruition. Part of that is laziness and busyness, but the majority of the reason was financial. This summer is so jam packed with plans (and unexpected car repairs) that our finances are a little strained to cover everything.

I really want to have a healthy lifestyle and eat real, healthy, food. But eating the best quality food possible is an investment. An investment I think is totally worth making, but at the moment I'm resorting to buying the cheap non perishables to stock my kitchen because there just isn't money to invest.

So I guess this is a request to anyone reading: What suggestions do you have for getting fit in ways that fit into a busy, tight-budgeted, lifestyle?

In reality I know what sorts of things to eat for health and weight loss and I have a fitness center a short walk from my apartment which is free. The knowledge of how to be healthy is in my head thanks to parents who've always been "health nuts," but I just can't seem to get a routine going. I need some practical advice from other experiences about how you got over the "hump" of being out of shape, tired, busy, and broke. I'm so exhausted all the time, and I know this is due to my lack of activity and eating habits, but it makes it kind of hard to get motivated to exercise or do a lot of planning/prep for meals. I feel like I need to trick my body into exercising by doing things outside or playing a sport but I also probably need something I can do on my own as well. 

So help me out. 

What are some easy inexpensive quick meals and snacks that are healthy and will be easy to fit into the busyness of our summer? 

What are ways to get active or motivated for exercise that have worked for you?

Health, Fitness, Food

Okay. Time to set aside my usual musings about life for a post focused on something more practical: Fitness.

I've always been lazy when it comes to my health and it is starting to catch up with me. I truly want to eat healthy (and get this, I love healthy food) and exercise but my motivation/will power is seriously lacking. Up until this year, I was at least pretty active even if not always eating healthy. I haven't played sports in ages, but I walked to class daily in college and loved being outside and playing games like Kan Jam. Then I got a desk job, dun dun dun. I sit 8 hours a day and because of my inactivity and bad eating habits I come home at night exhausted. It's very hard to motivate yourself to exercise when you're tired and want a nap. I've gained 10-15 pounds over the last year and got a bad report from the doctor in the Fall: My good cholesterol was low (solution: exercise) and I was low on vitamin D. And though I went out and bought Vitamin D supplements and a gym membership...I never really consistently stuck with either. I can blame the winter weather. I can blame the fact that eating healthy is a financial investment. But at the end of the day it all comes down to laziness.

I grew up eating healthy. My parents were vegetarians for a very large chunk of my childhood. We ate a lot of raw food and juices. We didn't go out to eat, ever. And because of this, I really love healthy foods (to the point of being teased all through school about the "weird" things I was bringing to lunch --this is before being Vegetarian was trendy) and while I eat meat (it's not the enemy), I have no strong attachment to it. When it comes to food, I try to buy organic/local as much as possible just out of the conviction that it's healthier and more sustainable. I am strictest about this when it comes to meat. I get grossed out thinking about how meat (and a lot of other foods) is processed. Processed food (that doesn't really go bad) isn't really even food and is causing serious health issues in our country. And this can apply not only to non-perishable food but to meat as well, believe it or not. My dad, the health enthusiast that he is, currently has an nine year old happy meal that he uses as an example for clients. Other than shriveling up a little bit...it doesn't look much different from the day he bought it. That's right, the meat never went bad, just dehydrated a little. The fries look normal.

I'm not saying I don't eat out or eat meat at restaurants sometimes (and fried food is my absolute weakness). I believe you have to have some balance and splurges.  But I am personally convicted about taking care of my body and thinking locally. I have no intention of forcing that on anyone else. Well, except for my children. And to be honest, I haven't followed all of these convictions consistently.

If you are interested in some well balanced material about health and food (not diets or fads), I highly recommend the documentary "Food Inc." and any book by Michael Pollen, but most especially In Defense of Food. The book I currently have on my shelf to read is Food Matters by Mark Bittman.

So I guess my main goal is just to get in shape and eat healthy. Whatever weight follows will be appropriate. But I cannot lie, I would also like to slim down. The only time I ever lost a lot of weight very quickly was when I once did The Atkins Diet. But it's not healthy long term. John Paul is a big fan of The Spartan Diet which is similar but more about whole foods. He's also been excited about the work-out plan used for Thor. But, high protein diets are just not for me. Weight Watchers works, but only because of counting calories and portion sizes, not really because of health in general. One diet I find interesting is The Five Factor Diet. 5 meals a day (everyone knows more smaller meals is better than one big meal---this is no secret), 25 minute workouts 5 days a week, and a splurge day. But at the end of the day I know what I need to do: cut out the bad foods, eat more raw food and juices, drink more water and exercise.

Baby steps. Forming good habits. That's what it's going to take for me. So why write about this here? I'm thinking that if I publicize my goals, maybe I'll stick to them.

I can't just eat whatever I want anymore. I'm tired and starting to have "health issues." It's time to get serious about health and fitness. I need to have energy to be productive and I know I'll feel better. Additionally, I've heard being healthy before you get pregnant is crucial to having a good pregnancy that isn't miserable, so before that happens I really want to be in good shape. And most importantly, I'm not going to live a long healthy active life unless I find some consistent healthy habits and I can't just keep putting it off forever.

I read a blog by a girl who themes each month to an area she wants to improve in her life: Spiritual, Mental, Physical, Relationships, Family, etc. and publicly sets specific goals for the month and then at the end of the month, writes about how she did. I think I'm going to steal this idea. The next couple weeks I will try to start some better habits and decide on some goals, and then June will be focused on Physical Health and Fitness. In a couple weeks expect a goal list!

Marketing Energy

I'm completely exhausted today.

and

I've always been fascinated with the energy drink trend.

9 years ago, energy drinks came into popularity and a huge new market opened up. Since then there have been dozens of popular energy drinks ranging from Red Bull to Monster. There has also been the backlash and general wave of knowledge that energy drinks are not healthy---usually containing tons of caffeine and sugar and often twice the size of a soda. But that didn't stop you from drinking 4 Monsters to stay awake while you wrote that paper, now did it?

Admittedly, I hate Redbull and could never drink anything with as much sugar as a Monster without throwing up. But most of my friends know I've always been borderline addicted to XS Energy drinks, and I've gotten teased about it more than once. But with no sugar, tons of B12, ginseng and other vitamins and hardly any or no caffeine...they can't be that bad for you, right? I'm not going to claim they're ultra healthy because they're still carbonated and not "alive" like juice...but they've always made me feel great. They're the same concept as 5 hour energy...you are more alert but not jittery. But I hate the way 5 hour energy tastes. XS has 15 flavors, most of which are carbonated (but some teas that are not) so it's literally the only energy drink that's relatively healthy and taste good, in my opinion.

At this point I'm probably at risk of sounding like an ad for XS but today I read that XS is the only approved energy drink for the NCAA and felt a twinge of pride. I knew it! Vindication!

If you've never heard of them, well you're not alone. A major food and beverage magazine recently put out an article called "The fastest growing brand you've never heard of" about XS. A quick trip to Wikipedia will show you that in their first year of sales they made $51 million, second year over $72 million, third year over $90 million and the forth year over $120 million. By this point (2006) they were offiically the fastest growing brand and the #2 selling energy drink in America behind Redbull.

So how is it that you've never heard of XS? Because they're not sold in stores, and they're not advertised. Amway Global is the exclusive distributor. Amway is a very polarizing company. You either love them and think they can do no wrong, or you hate them and think they're absolutely evil. So naturally I fall somewhere in the middle because I don't like being forced into extremes. Regardless of how you or I feel about the company, I'm a big fan of the XS products.

Another energy drink that I think is pretty healthy is Vemma. This is yet another company that self-distributes but has a good product.

I think I am a little annoyed that the only energy drinks I like aren't sold in stores and have to be ordered by the case. This makes finding a resource to solve my mid afternoon crash on the fly, very difficult. But I also find the whole phenomenon incredibly interesting. I'm curious to see when the energy drink phase will die out or which brands will survive.