Posts by carryonandon

NYTimes Article: Why exercise makes you less anxious

Thought this was encouraging! They found that rats who exercise develop new brain cells that help them remain combat in the presence of other stressors. The more they exercised the more they benefited. Of course, they don't know the amount of exercise needed for humans, or at what intensity, but it's definitely another reason to keep at it!

dothehokie..  I'll also take a stab at your questions :-) (It took me forever to compose my previous response due to a phone call.

1) The initials stand for "New Rules of Lifting" (NROL) and "New Rules of Lifting for Women" (NROLFW) which are popular weightlifting programs that a few of us are following.

2) Cardio - I think frequency (the hills) would have more effective overall results because it would keep your body from getting "used" to the workout. Actually, alternating the hills and the track might be a good option, too.  Based on what I've read, any routine that you can eventually do with little effort will eventually yield fewer results for you, and changing up your routine can help keep your body from geting "too used" to a certain routine.

Welcome to dothehokiepokie! "model wagon jumper" :-) lol.

Check In: I'm holding steady on success with exercise and cooking/eating at home, and am slowly increasing the amount of fruit and veggies each week, but am still not meeting that goal. I'll even give myself a 79% success rate overall haha.

Have a great week everyone!

Sara, Congrats on your progress!

Laura, Congrats on the exercise success! I also stuggle with someof the same food items you mentioned. Though, it's been goldfish doing me in lately. Sure, in a serving size they're not so bad, but if you eat half the bag... 

Meri & Meg - hang in there!

Last week ended up being crazy busy with job interviews - we'll see if something pans out. I know they liked me, but I'm not sure how I'll stack up to someone with years of industry experience for the position I'm really hoping for. There will still be yet another round of interviews to pass to get the job, though.

Despite the busy-ness, I managed to eat well and keep up with the exercising. I did get a few more fruits and veggies in, but still not up to the 5 a week goal.

Julie - thanks for the salmon tip from last week. It seems like a delicious, easy way to make the fish. Last week, I flaked out on making it, but *will* do it this week. :-)

:-) I've definitely used a lot of these excuses - different ones for different times in my life - and some of it is cyclical if I've fallen off the exercise wagon. It used to be all about how uncomfortable I felt moving in front of others, how busy I was during school or when I used to work 2 jobs years ago, or how my shoes used to create huuuge blisters on my heels while running. Oh, I'm a master at coming up with an excuse for exercise avoidance.

Lately, the big three are:

1) I just don't want to/don't feel like it. 

This happens when I get home from doing something else and I sit down on the couch instead of immediately going to the gym. I'm suddenly in happy couch land watching hgtv, making a pot of tea and letting the afternoon sun put me in a sleepy mood. Other times, I just want to put off deciding on a course of action. 

Turning it Positive: What do I really want? I want to be more healthy and attractive, and I have set eating and exercise goals to help me achieve that. This helps me avoid the couch in the first place. If I do begin to let my feelings immobilize me, I already know that the answer is to just go to the gym. I tell myself that "Yes, I *do* too want to go to the gym if it will help me reach my goals." Sometimes, this even helps me feel like wanting to go. :-)

2) Exercising is boring

This is a big one for me. The idea of spending almost an hour on an exercise machine with nothing to occupy my mind seems a little unbearable. Sometimes, I really like sitting alone with my thoughts, but not while I'm doing something that requires a lot of physical effort. I'm just not that in touch with my zen place - haha.

Turning it Positive: I can distract myself from focusing too much on the mild pain caused during the course of normal exercise. I watch TV at the gym (as long as it's not ESPN which makes me think about all the physical effort all the more.) If that fails, there are always magazines, books and music. 

3) Fresh fruits and veggies are too expensive

I tend to feel really, really guilty about buying produce because it is so expensive and sometimes I don't eat what I buy (out of laziness, forgetfulness or because I got the wrong variety of apples or something). 

Turning it Positive: If I can remember that I hate golden delicious apples, but love gala ones :-), it usually works to put the produce on top of my baking canisters that sit on the counter top. This way they are in sight - removing the excuse of forgetfulness. Telling myself that cutting up the apple really only takes 2 minutes and that it helps me reach my goals battles the laziness thing. Then, when I'm eating everything like I should be, I don't feel so guilty about the price of the produce. Plus, hellooooo, it tastes good and it's a lot better than splurging on pizza or burgers or ice cream (which, of course, I wouldn't feel nearly as guilty about). 

CHECKIN - 

Well, I've got canister tops full of golden delicious apples that I feel bad about not eating. haha. Though I did have a bell pepper this week, which is at least a step in the right direction on the daily fruit/veg goal.

Exercising is going just fine and so is eating at home. Starting tomorrow, I'm adding the weightlifting back in to my regimen after my week off from it.

Sara - I hear you on the bread. It's funny how in my current lifestyle I would avoid it, too, but living in a city where it was common to walk everywhere I could eat more of it and still lose weight... Someday I'll live in a city where that can happen again, but gotta do what I can with where I'm at for now! 

You're right, competing goals are a total sabotage technique for the procrastinators among us haha. Do everything *but* the goal, right?

Sakura - rest assured you're not ignored. :-) It's definitely easy to assume on these forums that no one's out there listening, but most of us are reading everything, nodding and saying "I've totally been there" to ourselves. Keep your head up! 

I really liked Sara's advice about the tea and getting rid of snacks in the house. Lately, I've been replacing tea with what has  been the real gut buster for me - the evening glass of wine. It's been doing wonders for me. Also, I usually save some room for some little treat to go with it - like a low-cal dark chocolate biscotto or small scoop of ice cream. It may not be the healthiest, but it's not like chowing down on a bag of chips or something for my evening snack either - and sometimes a bite or two is all I need. 

Another thing that helps me avoid eating too much at night is to eat a good breakfast full of protein and whole grains (I sound like a commercial - "It's part of your complete breakfast" haha). Also, instead of having 3 meals a day with long spaces between, having 5 or 6 meals also helps. 

cawilder - Congrats on going back for an MBA! It's a lot of work, but a lot of fun at the same time. 

Well, for my check-in, I've been doing well at eating at home and with the fruit. Also, the gym is definitely on track. 

I'm starting the 5th week of the New Rules of Lifting for Women and am really liking it so far. I also combine it with 30-40 minutes of cardio because I am also trying to lose weight, and I was worried that any extra protein I consumed might be stored as fat. Based on NROLFW, I definitely wanted to increase my protein, but I don't want to be incredibly inbalanced. So far, it seems to be working out pretty well. I'm not sure if I'm losing weight (no scale), but I've noticed my clothes are starting to fit a little better, the belly is shrinking and my face seems skinnier. There's still a long way to go in the weight loss category, but I'm off to a good start.

The weightlifting portion of it has been great. I love the feeling of building a stronger upper body. I can feel it in the lower body, too, but it's more dramatic up top. It's fun to use the weights, and it really doesn't take too long to do every time - 30 min or less. Also, it's good to know that I'm building sustainable strength that might take me on to new physical activities that so far I've never really been interested in. I don't see myself becoming a marathon runner, but maybe an avid kayaker or something. Yay for learning new stuff.

Currently, I'm still at the lower end of the weight spectrum for most of the exercises. For instance, I cannot shoulder press the 15 lb dumbbells yet - but soon! However, I thought I'd never be able to squats or lunges while holding weights, and I'm almost ready to graduate to the 15 lb dumbbells. I waver between 50-60 lbs on things like the (modified) deadlift, seated row and pulldown. I still suck at push ups. 

Most importantly, I'm getting over the embarrassment of doing these exercises in public! This means I'm getting more confident with moving my body athletically. Also, I have better balance, and I've always been something of a clumsy person. 

Thanks, Vera! It was fun getting to know you a little better, and inspiring to hear about how you are getting to your health goals via the vegetarian route. It will be interesting to hear your experiences as you keep working towards it.  Best of luck!

Julie - welcome back from vacation!

It sounds like you've really thought out what you want to do to keep going in the down economy. I hear ya about the gym - it's definitely a luxury that I haven't been able to fit into my finances most of the time. It can seem difficult to fit everything in conveniently and keep motivated, but it's possible! Hopefully, we can help with that here at WJ. 

Rewards are difficult for me to draft sometimes, too - especially since my favorite things to do involve trying new foods and beverages (since I can't travel right now, this is sort of like traveling). So, I find myself putting restaurants on my rewards list a lot even though I don't necessarily want food to be something I lust after, y'know. Also, it's expensive.

I've come up with a list of non-health related goals that I keep up with privately with a friend - like learning Modern Greek or keeping up with job networking - so I've found myself trying to come up with a variety of rewards. My biggest problem is that I've never been very good at delayed gratification - I just take my rewards whenever I want them :-)

Sooo I've been trying to work on that. For instance, I'm not going to allow myself to buy a new Margaret Atwood or Terry Pratchett book unless I complete my 12 weeks of the "Artist's Way" program with at least 80% dedication to the various aspects of it - like writing 3 pages every day or doing the weekly reading.

Quite honestly, I'm hoping that my reward for working out 3x a week for the next year or so will be a bikini-ready body for when we have to go to Greece and hang out with all the skinny locals on the beach. Some of my husband's cousins look like they've walked out of a fashion magazine - and I feel rather frumpy in comparison (even though they've never treated me that way). It's a self-image problem - and this is my way of dealing with it for now. I may never dress as well as they do, but I can still be myself in a more attractive body.

Now that I've written a book... let me say that I think your list of rewards sounds great. I especially like the B&B idea. While that idea is not nerdy, it makes me think of some nerdy things I'd like to do:

1) Create a mystery trip for my husband and maybe some friends (once we get to know some people down here) - they follow clues to some fun surprise. This seems less invasive to the general public than, say, a scavenger hunt.

2) Explore local historic sites

3) Make a DIY bookcase

4) Get better storage for my files

5) Get a headboard/art for the bedroom

I don't know what else - I'm starting to think these rewards could be ways to justify doing the things I would do anyway - but sooner.

raerae - Welcome!!

Sara - Glad to hear your nutritionist experiment is working out. It's interesting to hear about. Congrats on the progress!

I can say that I'm at 100% on both the new and maintenance goals - which is a first. Yay! I've been exercising 3x per week and have been sticking to the daily calorie deficit. It's nice to be able to eat more on the days I work out. To boot, I've also been increasing the nutritional value of the things I'm eating - it's fun to make progress there, too.

Since I've started weightlifting calorie watching will mean something a bit different from simply keeping a daily deficit, I'm going to adjust my goals for this next 12-week period to focus more on eating nutritious meals prepared at home. I have more trouble with dinners than breakfast or lunch so I'll focus on that as well as eating more fresh fruit and veggies (vs. canned or frozen):

Maintenance - workout 3x per week 

New - Follow this meal plan: Prepare homemade dinners (or eat leftovers) on weekdays (M-Th) and one weekend day (F-Sun). Have at least one fresh fruit or vegetable daily Mon - Fri.

Sara - When it comes to my body and self confidence, sometimes low self confidence rears its head when I'm in a position where I need to come across as self-confidently as possible and I don't feel comfortable in my clothes - job interviews for instance. I've managed to get over this in part by simply buying clothes that fit my body well now (instead of waiting to be skinnier). Also, I learned that I'm a petite on top, but more normal on the bottom which has helped when buying suits. At first, I would wind up with suits that fit up top but were a little short on the bottom, and then I would feel silly about that in the interview (despite the fact that no one else really noticed - since I made some progress). The bottom line is that it distracts me from what I really need to be focusing on at the time - like getting to know someone or selling my skill set and competencies. 

Also, I've never been very confident at moving my body athletically, so it used to be hard for me to go to the gym and allow others to see me doing just that. I've since gotten over that enough not to let it interfere with my workouts - even though I'm still reluctant to do things like crunches, squats or lunges while someone else is in there. I just do it anyway.

Carrie - Just want to send out vibes of encouragement to help combat the work stress. 

Today was my first day of lifting! I am sore... but happy. It is difficult to find the right balance of protein with fat/carbs, but I am getting there. I'm also trying to get used to eating more in a day. Sometimes it makes me feel a little sick to my stomach because I was used to having only 1200-1500 cals or so per day and now I'm more like 1600-1700 cals a day.

Still keeping up with my goals - cal deficit and 3x exercising/week.

Target layers... I am pretty simple when it comes to exercising and health since I haven't spent as much time thinking/caring about it as I should. It always seemed ancillary, but I guess there is a season in life for learning about everything. Anyway - here goes:

1) Surface - just look better, feel better aesthetically - this is highly motivating for me since it used to be really easy for me to be at an attractive weight for my body type - and then time/bad habits caught up with me. I want to wear a bikini again - by next summer even. We're going to try to spend some time with my husband's family. They live in a beach town and I don't want to feel out of place.

2) Under the surface - Be stronger - I read that increasing strength now staves off other types of diseases when I'm elderly. Of course, since it's hard to imagine being elderly, this is hardly a very good way to motivate myself on a daily basis. It just seems too far away.

3) Towards the center - Get to a point where I have built up enough good exercise and eating habits that it seems second nature to me. Then I won't have to worry so much about it on a daily basis and I'll be more adapatable to various situations I'm in.

4) Center - Have better confidence - inside and out. This might be the most important thing.

Sara - Thanks! We've been here one month now and it is starting to feel like we've been here awhile already. A new job will help with that - so keep your fingers crossed for me as I have a solid lead on one right now.

For barbell, I mean an olympic bar. We don't have one of those at our gym, but we do have a large variety of handheld ones. There is a machine (not a smith machine) that can simulate some of the barbell functions, but I'll have to check it out further.

The job search has been distracting me, so I'm a couple days past when i meant to start lifting already. I want to make sure I get off on the right foot, though - so no rush. It seems like it will be a little complicated to get going with the high protein diet *and* the exercise routine. Counting calories alone was a bit more simple. The recipes in the book are a good guideline, though, and it turns out a lot of the foods I already eat fall into the right categories (turkey sandwiches on whole grain bread, for instance). 

Nannygabber - Congrats on your progress and have a fun vacation!!