Trans4mation---

Trans4ming my eating as I’m trans4ming my body,

trans4ming my mind, and trans4ming my life

Diet vs  exercise---bottom line: 

No exercise or diet program = 0 pounds lost/probably gain 
Exercise only programs = 4.4 pounds lost
Diet only program = 15.8 pounds lost
Both programs combined= 19.8 pounds lost

It may look like exercise is not as important as diet in weight loss.  However, there’s a lot more to the story than that! 

I affirmed the usual statistics way back when I tried to lose weight for my daughters’ weddings. I exercised my tail off—not exactly the right kind of exercise I realize now---- but I worked hard on it at the gym every day! My big mistake?  Not changing my eating habits. Thus, I put on muscle under the layers of fat and my body just got bigger!! Not what I had hoped!  Pretty discouraging at the time trying to fit into my mother of the bride dresses!

The other side of the coin---all diet and no exercise has resulted in baggy saggy skin or lots of wiggle-jiggle for some of those who have lost the weight! --- Not to mention lack of muscle tone, strength, and stamina to name only a few missing results. I've heard it called the skinny-fat!  When someone is thin and looks great in clothes, but is all flabby underneath.

For me, the diet was critical, but I do not discount  exercise at all. Both the diet AND the exercise SHOCKED my body those first few months. Over the past 10 months as I have taken off over 60 pounds, the shape of my body has changed dramatically. I’ve never had narrow hips and thighs even at my smallest. I had this very small waist---23” when I got married, but hips that were way out of proportion to it! I believe they call it a pear shape! lol

Best boot camp ever!!

Vigor Ground Fitness and Performance

1222 Bronson Way N, Suite 250

I am much more proportional now and that change I credit to the exercise.  They work hand in hand! The diet has taken off the pounds, but the exercise has kicked up my metabolism—internal fat burning machine, burning calories, as well as ‘sculpting’ and transforming  my shape!! The boot camp work outs that we do with trainer Luka Hocevar at Vigor Ground Fitness and Performance provide successful results that no standard run-of-the-mill fitness center with its machines and rubberstamp classes can even come close to doing! There is absolutely no comparison.  The workouts even 11 months later continue to have a shock factor for my body every session! Never ever the same-old-same-old workout  any of the 4+ days I go each week!

I mention all of this because my focus in this blog is on diet and I don’t want to minimize the importance of the boot camp workouts. That said, we will get to the point of Trans4ming our eating!

I followed a plan called ‘green faces’—a high protein/low carbohydrate eating plan. NOTE: This is not an easy eating plan because of the difficulty of compliance. It worked for me, but I am now branching out to add more carbs and even more variety to my eating. What really worked for me at the time is that it is simple and easy for me to use. It was trial and error for me when I started.  I had a list of foods to eat and ones to avoid. I had the verbal and a bit of written instructions concerning some of the how-to’s, but for the most part I had to figure out how to get it to work for me.

My daughter Rebekah was helpful in making some suggestions and others I just had to find out for myself.  This trial and error process helped me learn how to personalize the plan for my needs and my lifestyle. Following are four key factors that after 3 different Transformation Weight Loss challenges have made a big difference for me. You can learn from my mistakes & successes and avoid some of the struggles I experienced!

The biggest challenge for many in following ‘green faces’ is that of  being 100% compliant during the first 21 days of the plan.  There is such a mind shift needed and the potential for slip ups that totally cancel the good of those 21 days.  Some of the instructions I read told me to start over on the 21 days if I didn’t stay 100% compliant. 100%--not even a single bite outside the plan! Can you imagine getting to day 15 and having to start over???? That in itself was pretty motivating to do it right!

I had to be a bit gentle on myself since that first 21 days I unwittingly included items not allowed! But I did my best staying very compliant even while on a 2 ½ week trip.  The next time I did the 21 days a couple of months later, I was totally compliant!

I have heard it said that if you do not see results in those 21 days you are not doing it right!  You may swear up and down you were 100% compliant and you feel that you just happen to be the exception to the rule! We all want to be special don’t we??? !!! LOL  The following suggestions will work for any good eating plan. They are basic to what we should be doing anyway!

One big question:  “Did you write down EVERYTHING you ate??? Usually not. Did you ask someone who would tell you the truth to hold you accountable?  I’ve been told “I can’t journal—I can’t write it down.”  My response? Then you’re not serious about regaining your health and fitness—you’re not desperate enough yet. Sorry—but that’s just the hard truth!   You needed to hear that!!  And, by the way,  just how has doing it your own way worked for you so far?

By this time in my life, I was desperate. I didn’t have much hope left and if this didn’t work, I felt like I was relegated to a life of obesity! Yes obesity!  That is a hard word for me, but my weight, even with my tall stature had crossed over into OBESITY. Yes, I was desperate!  And I was willing to do whatever was required to make it work whether it was convenient or not; whether I liked it or not; whether it made sense to me or not!

So here are  4 Trans4ming factors that helped me start my new way of eating--the diet component of loosing weight:

1. I learned that frequency of eating is as important as what I eat. In the first days of adjusting to my new way of eating, I set a timer so I would eat every 3 hours. If  I didn't, it would be 5 hours later and I was busy doing something else! This is a total deal breaker in  resetting the metabolism and getting on track to take off pounds! Once my stomach got used to regular eating, it now tells me when it's 3 hrs! 

2.  I make a point of eating something within the first hour of getting up. Since I need to take a thyroid med on an empty stomach, I have those set out with water in the bathroom so that when I get up I take those meds. This makes it possible for me to eat pretty quickly upon rising for the day.



Glass of water ready on the window sill

 3. I drink LOTS of water. I started with at least 8/10 cups daily and this last weight loss challenge I kicked it up to 16 cups—I keep track with a check off system in my food journal. 

·       To get these in, I drink a quart of water first thing in the morning. On boot camp days--M-W-F and Sat.  I drink my 3 cup water bottle during and right after boot camp as well.
·        I drink 2 cups before each meal/snack!  Limit my water after 8 pm to not have myself up all night!! LOL--NOT funny at 12, 2 or 3 AM ! 

·       I keep a full 17 oz. glass on the kitchen window sill. It’s easier for me to drink a filled glass than to stop and fill it first. As soon as I empty the glass I refill it immediately!  Leave it full last thing at night as well.

·       I use glass. There’s something about plastic that just makes it hard to drink all the water I need.

4.  Plan, Plan, Plan!  I have been most successful when I have written out my menu for the week.  For me, simple is better.

·      I develop my shopping list from the menus. These menus can be repeated every other week or so. I shop one day and cook the next day, packaging everything for easy access. When I'm hungry, I might grab whatever is handy whether it’s healthy or not!

·       I zip loc package a peeled hard boiled egg with some cucumber slices or snap pea pods and store in the frig. I can grab it very fast if I have to run out the door quickly.  It's amazing what can suddenly require me to go someplace on the spur of the moment and derail my plan!

·       I always have my water bottle full for the same reason.

·       During a contest I record my food intake. It’s good for me to do this whether in a contest or not because I find it pretty easy to lose track of what I'm eating if I don’t record.  My journal is very visible on the kitchen counter!

                                                                       

Water bottle ready to go!!

I hope these first  4  points will make a difference in your success.

Next time I will share the following:

• What do I actually eat?  
• What's on my grocery list?
• How do I shop?  
• What recipes work for me?
• What are my steps of preparation? 

On second thought,  I probably won’t be able to share quite all this at once!!! But keep checking back in and I will continue showing you  how this baby boomer grandma is making it work. Until next time, may God richly bless YOU!

THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING!!

40^th anniversaries are something special to commemorate especially in the times we are living when commitment seems to have a different definition than when we exchanged our wedding vows:  "in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, ‘til death us do part."

So did we take a trip or go some place really nice to celebrate? To understand our practical mentality I’ll take you back to our first year of marriage. We got married on the Saturday of Memorial Day week end—it was convenient with 3 days off! We spent the night at my grandmother’s beach home on the ocean. Went back to work the next Tuesday!

In August we had a ‘honeymoon’ trip to visit friends and see the sites. We drove to San Francisco and back to Seattle in 117 degree weather with no AC in our car! 



Day after our wedding



One of the sites: Alcatraz!
!



Trees of mystery



Fisherman's Warf

Could we have taken a deluxe honeymoon trip to Jamaica? Sure could have! My husband had money in the bank BEFORE he married me!  LOL      
But instead, we decided to use that money as a down payment on the home we bought five months after our wedding and that we still live in today! With our nice neighborhood, convenient location, view of Lake Washington, five bedroom house and big yard, with an increase in value of 15X+, I’d say that was a very good investment wouldn’t you?  Plus, everyday we know and appreciate the fact that we live in the home that “honeymoon” money bought!

So being practical people what would we do to celebrate 40?  Take trip to Jamaica? Go to some week end luxury place? Go out on the town? Take a cruise? You guessed it---none of the above!!

We went to REI and purchased matching Novara Jaunt comfort bikes! We are looking forward to exploring the Cedar River Trail’s 11 miles to Maple Valley and many of the other cycling paths in our area. We will get great exercise and fresh air, doing something fun together, exploring new places and meeting new people. It is the gift that will keep on giving! 



Novara Jaunt Comfort Bike

Our first venture out was to the Boeing parking lot near Renton Stadium. This is so hilarious because that’s where my husband took each of our daughters for their first practice drives after getting their learner’s permits!  Now it’s us doing the practice driving----on bicycles!

We were relieved to find that we could still balance a bike and not fall off! In fact we got so comfortable that we took a quick spin along the trail that ends where Cedar River empties into Lake Washington!

Our next venture will be to tackle part of the Cedar River Trail with our grandchildren. Last time they were on bikes and we walked/ran to keep up with them. This time we will all have wheels!!!

This is baby boomer grandma—hoping you too will reward yourself with a “gift that keeps on giving!”  Until next time-----May God richly bless YOU.

WHEN I STUMBLE

I didn’t say if because being a human being I will not do it all right all the time!

This morning I was looking over my journal entries from the beginning of my weight loss challenges. It was very encouraging and motivating for me! I need to faithfully journal because it is one more tool to help me be consistent as I chronicle my progress.  It also reminds me ‘from whence I’ve come!”

So I begin today (June 27^th, 2011) with my struggles of yesterday. I was not prepared for the day with an eating plan. The failure to plan is a plan to fail and I proved it. In fact this whole week has not been very good for me.

My side tracked eating has included a couple of pints of ice cream, 6 ice cream bars, a dozen or more home made cookies as well as half a dozen large Safeway chocolate (3)  and snicker doodle (3) cookies!  And I don't even like them that much!! Chocolate covered raisins finished off my binge! What I thought was for one day has lasted a week!  And where did it all go?  To my belly!!!

So what do I do? Wallow in my self-pity? Keep it going? Beat myself up? Spiral down into a cycle of regret and what ifs? Or “look what you’ve done now, Susan, maybe you’d better give up??? Lots of possibilities, but only one good choice:

“Today is the first day of the rest of my life"---so what am I going to do with it?

Yup, my donkey cart fell off the road this week. In fact it probably lost a wheel and broke an axel, BUT I’m getting back up on the road, repairing what needs repaired and continuing this journey. The negative alternatives listed above are not a choice I will make. I’ve come too far to turn back now. I’m right around the corner from a big break through and I can’t give up when I’ve got so much to attain by persevering!

As wonderful as this journey has been so far, there’s always going to be a few bumps in the road. That’s called life! It’s what I do with the obstacles or the bumps in the road that matters. Do I let then totally derail my journey? Do I let them turn me around and head me in the wrong direction? Do I go back to my old ways?

Or do I recognize that getting back up and dusting myself off is part of the growing process that makes me stronger—makes me MORE not less successful in the long run. We need both the rain and the sunshine! They work together.  Too much of either can be bad, so in the process of this journey I am learning balance! I’m not proud of myself for choosing to eat such unhealthy foods. I’m not happy with what others might think of me for losing control either! But then haven’t I been learning to “Be secure without the approval of people”? That’s why I’ve been reading John Bevere’s book “Breaking Intimidation”!!

So what am I to do? This is a new day, an opportunity for me to start fresh and new. The mercies of the Lord are new every morning and His compassions do not fail!  Great is HIS faithfulness! As I get up and get going I put my plan into action. It is 8:30 AM and I have 3 ½ hours before I need to leave for church. I have most of my meals cooked and will finish up the rest of them. I will get those menus up and working, leaving NOTHING to my imagination. I believe that the indulgences of this past week and especially yesterday will help keep me on track in the future. I don’t like going to bed feeling bloated and gassy!

I’m choosing to forget those things that are behind me and press on to the goal—to learn from this past week, but not dwell there in my mind. I choose to jump off that spiraling, vicious cycle of regret. I affirm that I am more than a conqueror and that I CAN DO all things through Christ who strengthens me! When I am weak He is strong in me. I will not try to do this all on my own, but I will stop and call out to Him for help. Knowing what I can do on my own and what I need help with is a sign of strength, not weakness! “I look to the hills for my help. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth! (From Psalm 121—The Bible)

Once again this  is "Babyboomergrandma" trusting that my honesty and vulnerability has helped you. Thanks for visiting with me!  It is indeed a life-time journey taken one day at a time!  Until next time, may God richly bless YOUR life.