No guarantees!

I don't know what it is about our group but we seem to have had our share of death. A very good friend of mine died suddenly on Wednesday night from a brain aneurysm, she was only 48. This was a shock to me and got me thinking of what is really important in my life.
This challenge has been the first thing that I have done for myself in years. I have always put others before me and my needs, and with all my kids out of the house I thought this would be the best time for me to do something I've needed to do for years. Get into better shape and health.
Although I know that what I'm doing is helping me (I couldn't do it alone) I also realize that I need to work on the inner me. There are no guarantees in this life and each new day is a blessing. I'm hoping to use my blessings to be a better person and example to others.

Type A personality.

I have always been a competitive person, but I think I challenge myself more than feel the challenge from others. And as I have gotten older I find I am not only competitive but also OCD. Now I'm not sure that is a good combination but it keeps my house clean and de-cluttered and me going to the gym or working out 6 days a week.
I love to rearrange the furniture in my house to give it a new look, my husband never knows what to expect when he comes home. I also love the way I feel after exercising and am hoping for the new body that is somewhere inside of this one to come out or at least be rearranged into a new look.
Today in our nutrition class we discussed places we eat. I didn't think I had any really bad habits until I was talking on the phone and started looking for something to eat. I truly am an unconscious eater. It's nice to be aware of these triggers so that I can make better choices (I only ate 11 almonds).
I am finding out things about myself through this challenge that I hope will make a difference in my health . I know I am already a winner in what I have learned and in meeting and getting to know the others in this challenge.

It's all about the numbers!

I have worked with numbers all my life. Math and accounting were my favorite subjects in school and crunching numbers is very relaxing to me (I love to balance a checkbook, budget, do taxes etc.). And as a number cruncher I have also been tracking my weight for the past four years trying to get to that magical number I thought would be in balance with everything else. In looking over the past few years I've noticed that I have never been able to take off weight in the Spring. Part of that could be poor planning I've decided, you shouldn't have 3/4 of you family born within a six week time frame.
We have seven birthdays between March 22 and May 1, which means seven birthday dinners and cakes with ice cream. And when you throw in Easter, graduations and baby blessing that is a lot of food. Last night as we started the birthday dinners (my husband wanted Volcanoes and a Oreo ice cream cake) I found myself going over my calories for the day.
My goal is to lose weight this Spring and get to that magical number to feel balance in my life. I'm hoping that all of the information on nutrition is going to help keep me in balance. I'll keep you posted as every week there is going to be a new challenge.

Like a sponge.

I feel like a sponge trying to soak up a reservoir of information, and not being able to keep it all in. I love learning new ways to use my muscles (which I sometimes feel are playing hide and seek as I call "come out, come out, wherever you are.") and make better food choices.
I found it interesting in our nutrition class that we all could cite examples of people we knew with the different eating characteristics, but I didn't hear very many of us saying that this is me and this is what I do. It seems that with me it is easier to see in others what I don't want to see in myself. It's easier to give the compliments than receive them.
As the sponge who has been soaking up information for many years (some good some not so good) I need to give it a squeeze and let the not so good stuff go, especially the things that aren't revalent any more as to my body image.
I've noticed more self confidence showing in all of us, as we all find our better and happier self.

Purge!

Spring is here (maybe) and it is the time of year that I like to go thru things and purge anything that is not needed. I went thru my closet today and eliminated anything that just didn't look good or fit right---what a great feeling it is to give things away that are too big for me now.
Of course with the purge, I also went shopping with one of my daughters. She had a new baby 6 weeks ago and needed clothes for the inbetween (she still weighs less than me) so we DI shop for pants and tops. We found some great deals, I even found some capri workout pants.
I feel like the tortoise in the race with the hare as everyone is losing alot more weight than me, but I am slow and steady. After all my fat has been with me longer than some of you have been alive and I'm afraid it feels like it has squatters rights.

Just keep breathing!

This has been a stressful week. It seemed like everyone wanted a piece of me and I was left feeling like swiss cheese. I haven't had alot of success with the weight loss or with noticeable muscle gain, but again it is 100 day challenge and a life time of change.
My husband and I coach a U10 boys soccer team (our grandson plays) for Orem Rec. and we started practices this week. I wish I had the energy of these 10 year old boys, but I was able to keep up with them more.
I also realized that I needed to add more to my cardio workout to see results. When I'm on the treadmill I just have to remind myself to "Just keep breathing!" I am doing more than I thought I could and being able to exercise longer.
I am starting to see results in all the participants as they come to the gym and in class. This truly is a life changing journey.

Body image

The nutrition class today was interesting and eye opening for me. I never thought about my body image growing up (I have four brothers) or what size I should be or was, so when Jalaine asked us to write what our dream weight, happy weight, reasonable healthy weight, and our current weight were I was surprised to find the difference between my dream weight and current weight was over 20 lbs. But even more surprising was that the difference between my reasonable healthy weight and current weight is 12 lbs---I can do 12 lbs.
I'm not sure what I will do this summer when it's hot and I don't have my Relief Society arms to fan me off however.

Jowls

It has been interesting to see my friends reaction to this challenge. My walking group will ask me how my weight loss is going and when I don't have any or very little they are surprised. They did make a comment that my face was looking thinner, so apparently I have had jowls in more places than I originally thought.
My husband just got back from a 10 day trip to England for work and I thought for sure he would notice a difference in me. He didn't! He, however, had not exercised (except walking to different places) and ate out all the time and lost 2 pounds in the 10 days. IT ISN'T FAIR THAT MEN CAN LOSE WEIGHT WITHOUT TRYING!

I finished reading the "Intuitive Eating" book and hadn't realized how many dieting personalities I've had over the years. That may be why I was eating more than needed--I was feeding at least 3 personalities at any give time. Hopefully at the end of this challenge I will only have one--the intuitive eater. In the nutrition class this week we talked about altering recipes. I have found that I can double a cookie recipe but only put in half the fat without changing the way the cookies come out. I am now experimenting with decreasing the sugars by 1/4 and seeing what that does. Cake mixes also only need 1 TBLS. of oil instead of 1/3 cup. I love to bake but can't add applesauce to baked goods because my husband is allergic to apples. I also like tracking my calories on mypyramid.gov. I know it's not 100% accurate but it gives me a ball park figure to aim for.

Introduction

After reading the other blogs I decided I should introduce myself to everyone. I am 56 and the mother of 4 (2 girls and 2 boys) and the grandma or gma to 7 beautiful grandchildren ages 13 to 1 month. I am a stay at home grandma who is always on call. I also sew for one of my daughters company. I grew up in Salt Lake and never had a weight issue until after having children. I now have what I call the jowls of life that I am hoping to get rid of. I started changing my eating a year ago as an empty nester and found cooking for two was easier and fun. I have been walking for years with a group of ladies but never was able to take off any weight (I'm 50 pounds heavier than when I was 30 years old). So I started adding a little jog to the walk, I am now called the walking Nazi by my group. I love the energy I get from exercising, but because some of my joint are going bone on bone I find I can't do everything I want to do. The things I've learned so far have been so helpful and I find I want to learn more. I have talked the talk of eating right and exercising for years, I want to be able to walk the walk too.
My neighbor did the program last year with amazing results. I wanted to do this challenge because like most of the participants I have high cholesterol (the only one in my family) and a family history of diabetes and heart diseased. My father had a heart attack and stroke at 58 and died of cancer at 64. My oldest brother was diagnosed with diabetes last year at the age of 59. I really want to be around to enjoy my children and grandchildren.

100-day challenge week three

So far this has been an amazing experience. I haven't had any weight loss yet, but I know I am getting stronger. It has been so helpful for me to have exercises that fit my limits (I have RA) and have someone to show me how to do them when I forget. Counting calories is probably the hardest for me to figure out and of course adding more vegetables to my diet.