Step on It

The scale.

For most women, we have a dread of stepping on the scale. 

That's why it's so important the focus is on health and not weight. 

Obsessing about weight causes eating disorders. The other end is denial of our true weight, which leads to more weight gain and an unhealthier self. 

I think an accurate scale is important. It's part of accountability. You can lie to yourself that your weight s fine if you never have to look at it. 

But BMI is important. Obesity and its complications kills more people than any single disease out there. 

So step on it. Get real. Get moving.

Then be balanced. 

I just got an Aria scale by Fitbit for Christmas. I'm so excited! I made a pact with myself to only weigh in on Monday mornings. 

Oh, I want to get on it. Daily. But that is just crazy making. There are so many things that change our weight daily, and don't give us any idea of the big picture.

So for the new year, get on that scale. Get real. Celebrate if you are where you need to be as a healthy person, and if it is a different number, start setting realistic goals. Get moving! You can do it!

You have to start with the facts!  

e b e r

Chew On This

Slow down!

Your eating speed, that is. 

It takes 20 minutes from when you eat something for your brain to register that your stomach is full.

If you're wolfing down your food, you're going to still think you're hungry. Often that leads to mindless eating. 

I'm not a binge eater, but I'm a fast eater. I'm an RN - you eat when you can at work, and some days that's very fast!

Here's where accountability comes in again. You eat the right foods, in the right portions. 

Then you stop!

It's a simple premise. If you can do this, you are on your way to a healthier, less hungry you! 

e b e r

Eating Outside The Box

Deciding to live a healthy life means eating outside the box. 

Cereal boxes. Mac and cheese boxes. Cracker boxes. Basically, almost without exception, anything that comes in a box. 

Generations ago, people grew their own food. Raised livestock. Canned their food. Had root cellars. Shared from their abundance. They were living, breathing, actual sized humans. 

Now we have a generation eating processed "food" out of boxes. Filled with ingredients we can neither name or identify. A generation guzzling chemical laden soda. Eating fast "food" in a car. Growing more overweight, obese, and killing themselves one bite at a time. 

It's amazing that when people decide to get healthy, one of the hardest things to do is drink water. Pure, unadulterated, water. 

It's time to get outside the box. 

It's time to read. 

One of the first things I had to do when I became diabetic was read labels. To say it was eye opening is a huge understatement. I shuddered as I read labels of food I used to eat thoughtlessly. I was looking for nutritional values, but as I looked deeper, I saw that eating from the box wasn't feeding me. You can fill your belly but get no nutritional value. 

Get out of the box. 

Go find a recipe book that features fresh real produce, actual living ingredients. Buy fresh local produce. Learn to cook if you haven't been a cook. If you can read and follow directions, you can do it. 

Start by getting outside of the box. 

e b e r

Cold Turkey

Hello, my name is EBER and I am a sugar addict. 

Oh yes, I know this does not jive with my diabetes diagnosis. I'm well aware, as my blood sugar readings tell me...along with the feelings of nausea, dizziness, and exhaustion. My brain understands logically that every blood sugar over 130 is physically damaging to me. 

It's a long standing love affair. 

The sugar rush of comfort has been my go to for most of my life. When I was stressed out, it was cheese Danish time. Or cookies. Or a huge soda. Ice cream. Brownies. Stop. STOP!

It's not a healthy self comforter. I know this, and I always knew it - but I never have eaten anything to excess. I wasn't the whole row of Oreos girl. But I will eat some Oreos! I'd eat ice cream, but a few bites. I'm not a binger. 

These are the excuses I gave myself. When I was a young person, my slender frame belied my eating habits. 

As the decades added up, so did the pounds - about a pound a year. By middle age I was overweight, and diagnosed with diabetes. 

It's hard to kick 4 decades of bad habits. Especially when they taste so good!

I have had short periods of sugar eating decreased. Just a treat here and there. But slowly, insidiously, the occasional became the regular. Only now, I'm having immediate physical consequences. 

Oh don't read this and think you are immune from sugar and its negative effects. Read this: 

http:///articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/09/02/fructose-affects-brain-health.aspx

 

If that doesn't convince you, how about this article from Neurology:

http://www.neurology.org/content/63/4/E9.full

I though bread would be my nemesis. Alas, no - I have eliminated it with nary a backwards glance. It's the drug induced effects of sugar that have me in their grips. 

There is only one thing to do. Go cold turkey.

Say what?

You heard me. My sugar addled mind must be cleared of the poison. Not little by little, but all at once. Now. TODAY!

Lawd help me. Seriously. 

I've already found recipes for thanksgiving to replace the sugar laden ones. 

This is long over due, and the sugar addiction won't go down without a fight. 

One day at a time. 

e b e r

The #1 Question

What do you think the #1 question is that people ask me about my journey to a healthier of me? It isn't even close. After seeing the changes in my life and lifestyle, they always ask the same thing. 

How do I get the right shoes? 

It's the right question, for sure. Most people, including me in the beginning, are wearing the wrong shoes. And this one thing is a deal breaker! The wrong shoes will keep you from exercising, and could cause temporary or permanent injury. 

So what is my recommendation? 

Go to a running store. Notice I didn't say shoe store! Even if your plan is to walk, go to a running store - they know how to fit you with the proper shoe for what your goals are. They will do a gait analysis for free, and make recommendations based on how you move. 

It is a deal breaker. Yes, you may spend more money than the tennis shoes you buy on sale but shoes are foundational. Proper shoes protect your feet. They help your stride, which helps protect your back. 

So if you are considering starting to exercise, see your doctor. If they give you the go ahead, then... Get thee to the running store. 

Oh, and while you are at it get some good, supportive athletic socks. If they are cute, all the better!

e b e r

Running For My Life

Tomorrow I'm going to do a half marathon.  I've done seven in the last 4 years, but I've been off my training schedule for the past couple of months. 

I am still walking or walk/running 30-40 miles a week, so the new "lax" me is in a much better place physically 

than the girl who ran that first half four years ago.

Tomorrow is important. 

November is a heavy month for me emotionally. I've had three very close loved ones die in November. Some major life changing events happened to me in November. I've come to dread it. 

I have depression, and although I am medicated and counseled, there are times I need to do more. I knew I needed to turn November around. 

The simple, yet sometimes profound, daily affirmations of thankfulness are the first thing I did at the beginning of this month. It helps. 

I am also trying to be more mindful. For example, tonight as I observed a very miserable woman out to dinner with her spouse, I purposed to be more aware of my attitude. And how I am reflecting myself, and affecting others. 

Those are good things, but tomorrow's date is a significant day in my history. A day that, in the past, has made me morose, depressed, overly consumed. Etc. 

So tomorrow I am going to run. For my life. 

The last time I did this was after my miscarriage. I was in such a fragile state emotionally, and I needed to do something life affirming. I needed to push through the pain. So I ran, and so did the tears. 

So it will be tomorrow. 

I have a new playlist of music to keep me moving and positive. I go into this knowing full well I'm not going to have a peak performance- but that's okay. 

Tomorrow I am running for my life. 

I will be the better for it. 

e b e r

Fit Minded...Or Fat Minded?

Ironically, it came to me on my cruise this week that I am either fit minded or fat minded. 

The main thing that has to change in order to have any lasting success living a healthy lifestyle is the mind. 

First, you have to have a determination to consciously approach everything from a fit mindset. EVERYTHING. The decision to change your mindset is something you have to walk out every day.  Every hour. Every meal. Everything.

It is not easy, and it is not quick. That is why when people hear the safe and successful weight loss is 1-3 pounds a week, most think that's not enough and go for some quick fix. Liquid diets. Pills. Off brand things I won't mention. 

That's why accountability is so important to being fit minded. A fit minded person reads labels, and is accountable for what they are eating. My initial success was hinged tremendously on posting EVERYTHING on www.livestrong.com. Even if it was a bite, or a handful of M&M's, I knew I would have to put it in my tracker on MyPlate. 

My carb addiction was the first very obvious issue - and for me, the dangerous one, as a newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic. Initially, to my horror, I saw that 60-80% of my caloric intake came from carbs.  

My fat-mindedness was not happy. My fat mind loved comfort foods, and I realized that I was using food as a drug more than I wanted to admit. 

My fit mind became stronger every day that I was accountable to MyPlate, and every day the carb percentage went down. I average 60-80 grams of carbs a day now, when my prescribed daily carb intake was 180 grams a day. It's a little by little, bit by bit, conscious fit mind that makes changes. I would like to be at 40 carbs a day, when I'm not training for races. One day at a time. 

My fat mind also was a slug. I went to work, ate, and slept. There was no exercise. My fat mind had a million excuses - I work 12 hour shifts, I have a long commute, I'm tired, I'm not an athlete, I hated P.E. Ad infinitum. 

My fit mind had to make a plan, and stick to it. Initially it was walking everyday. It doesn't seem like much, but when you are a couch tater, it's a lot. 

Eventually I was run/walking the Jeff Galloway plan, and I was doing 5k's. Then 10k's. Now I've done 7 half marathons. 

I spent a week on a cruise ship with the constant reminder of why it's hard to be fit. Buffets were laid out in glorious splendor. Lounge chairs were everywhere. It's vacation, right? Said the fat minded girl. 

But this daily deciding to be fit minded girl went to the gym three times for a total of 11 miles. Walked 60k steps. Climbed flights and flights of stairs instead of using the elevators.  Ate the healthier selections, and did have dessert - but ate half. 

Being fit minded means you understand that we only get one body, and we need to take good care of it. If you feel like crap, I guarantee that making changes in your diet and exercise will help you feel better. 

Where are you - fat minded and making excuses? Or fit minded, and making resolutions? 

I never want this to be me - 400+lbs. struggling to breathe and walk

She didn't wake up that way. 

But every day she wakes up fat minded, it will just progressively continue to kill her. One bite at a time. 

Make the decision to be fit minded. Start today. As they say, the rest of your life starts NOW! 

e b e r