Alert the Media

I may have figured out the only good thing about this heat.

My interest in food is pretty much extinct.

I'm finding the idea of most food pretty repulsive. Cereal for supper sounds reasonable. I am thinking of starting a smoothie diet. (with yogurt not ice cream-for the record)

In my new job, in our new building - with no central A/C - I am showering in the morning (as is my normal routine) and then 10 minutes into my day - I'm wondering why I even bothered with make-up, hygiene or hair styling.

I'm trying to make the most of this momentary "break-up" with food. I figure that even if I am eating odd foods - if I focus on limiting sugar, boosting fiber and focusing on calorie free drinks - then I hope to make some progress with the scale. Sadly, I can not bring myself to embrace salads. I'm kind of gagging just thinking about the idea of eating one. Yuck.

Do you find your diet changing with the heat?

Too Damn Hot

Hot enough for ya!? Have we not heard that enough lately? Really it's at the point for me where it's almost too hot to even move. So this makes exercise a more than usual difficult thing. The air conditioner in our house has been on the fritz. The air conditioning guy told us last week that our central air is on it's last legs, so we have to make the major investment of buying a new one. The prices range from anywhere from $5,000 on the low end to $10,000 on the high end. I think we will settle for something in the middle. However, not having an extra $10,000 in my back pocket means a home improvment loan. This is not necessarily a bad thing. With the improvement of the new system we should see a good return in cost AND the home loan will enable us to get our screened in deck finished and the trees trimmed. So I guess I'm kinda down with this senerio and the air conditioning guy said he would keep our system running until the new one is in.

However, in my world there is no relief. The powers that be, here at work, seem to think it's a good idea to turn the air off over the weekends. Never mind that we have people here who work on the weekend and millions of dollars of equipment that need to be cooled. Anyway, when I come to the office on Monday it's almost unbareable to be at work and usually by Friday it's a normal temp. Except for this week. It's been pretty aweful all week and I have my fan on in my office pointing toward me. I know it could be worse, I could be in Iraq but you get used to what you get used to.

AND.. have you noticed that people are much more cranky because of the heat? I think I've had little arguements with at least 2-3 different people at work.

So to get back to my original thought. It's too damn hot to exercise. I'm doing yoga once a week and I have been outside playing with my son either early in the morning or in the evening. Isn't that enough for now? Somehow I still feel guilty that I'm not doing more but... IT'S TOO DAMN HOT!

Do You Know What Makes You Feel Good?

I read an interesting quote in Yoga Journal the other day.  I don't subscribe to this magazine, but it was in the quarter pile at the library, and I picked up an old issue.  It was a bit too intensely yogish for me, but it was interesting to read for a change of pace.

Anyway, the quote was, "Researchers have found that humans are generally pretty bad at predicting what will make them feel good over time."  The article was about how we always want more than we have, and we think having this one thing, or one life circumstance, or one person, will make us happy.  Then once we achieve a goal, it doesn't take long before we're wanting the next thing.

But I thought a lot about it in terms of our physical well being.  At any given moment, I probably would predict that sitting a little longer, sleeping a little later, eating another piece of chocolate, or having another Diet Coke would make me feel better.  And in the short term, those things do make me feel better.  But in the long term, taking a walk, going to a yoga class, eating some fresh fruit, and getting out of bed on time make me a happier person.

Why is it so hard to make those positive choices that will make us feel good in the long run? Why are our bodies and minds created so that the easy choice, the choice we instinctively want to make, is the one that's ultimately bad for us?  I'm sure it has something to do with prehistoric man needing to roam the earth fighting mastodons.  But I don't run across many mastodons in my day to day life.  Do you?

Come on human body, evolve already!

Anyway, it's been something to ponder.  Whether a choice will make me feel good in the moment, or in the long run.  What things always make you feel good in the long run?

(Lest you think I'm being too hard on Yoga Journal, take a look at this pose.  An entire eight page article in this issue is devoted to how to properly do this pose.  It's called Parivrttaikapada Sirsasana, or "revolved split-legged headstand."  No thank you.)

Have You Met Me?

I've been lying to myself - and to you too. I keep coming up with "action plans" that are not true to myself. I'm not feeling the focus on weight loss. Don't get me wrong - I still want the number to shrink, I'm just lacking action. You could describe my current plan as "let's try to be healthy-ish and not get any worse". How many times have I told you I was going to keep a food journal? Total lie. Okay, so maybe I MEANT it every time I said it. But I clearly am not following through.

I have tried Sparks. I have tried paper. I have tried some cool app on my phone where you take a picture of the bar code and it automatically knows all the nutrition info about that food (great app if you eat food with bar codes - I usually don't) - all of these for one reason or another do not work for me.

I also keep saying that I will take my break in the fitness center. LIE. I paid my membership a year ago and I've not been there since. I don't take my break at work - so you can see the problem here. I have "Mom Guilt" at the end of my workday and don't want to spend an additional amount of time away from the kiddo. (I know, take care of yourself so you can take care of others. Blah. Blah.)

So, I'm going to stop acting like I haven't met myself - and I'm going to stop making the plan that I THINK I should be following. And I'm going to just start doing it my own way, k?

I will write nothing down. Let's face it - with a new job, job stress, and crazy life - I'm doing good to remember to EAT at work. Much less write it down. I'm going to CONTINUE to pack good food to eat at my desk. I will be BETTER at remembering to eat it. I do pledge to be MINDFUL when I am eating so that I don't accidentally devour a small village without noticing. (This will be more challenging at home than at work.) I will also limit the number of tempting foods that come INTO my house. I'm setting myself up for failure if I have ice cream, baked lays, and bagels all at my finger tips....see the calories adding up?

I will build exercise into something that I will actually DO. Right now, this means gardening (irregular as it is), swimming, occasional walks, and when desperation strikes - I will start what I shall coin the "TV Exercise Plan". I'll get up and move (in some random kind of way) during one commercial break per show. Small stuff adds up right?

Excuses, Excuses...

Well here I am back with my second blog post in a row. I think I deserve a big ‘ol pat on the back for that! My diet is doing pretty good. I’ve lost about 5 pounds (in three weeks) and I feel healthier. I don’t have that bloated feeling like I used to have after eating. I try to stop eating once I feel full and take my time to eat. (example: we ordered pizza for dinner one night, instead of my usual 3-4 slices, I had 2 because I felt full after 2) I will say I’ve slipped now and then and had bread or bread product for lunch but nothing nearly as I have had before. I tried doing the salad thing but… here’s a TMI moment… it made me very gassy. I think I can do salad but just not every day and with a variety of dressings. I’ve really got to figure out a more diverse diet if I’m going to keep this up.

Here is my big problem with weight loss; I have no desire to exercise. In the past I really got into exercise and even enjoyed it a great deal. But I just don’t have a desire for working out right now. How does one get that desire or make themselves do the work? I think the diet part of things is going well because I’ve always been good at denying myself things. I was vegetarian for 8 years and had no problem doing it. I know it’s completely psychological and maybe I need to approach it from a different angle. I can be very self deprecating and unfortunately I see that trait forming in my son. So, I REALLY need to change my attitude before he gets as bad as me. On the exercise front I’ve been busy the last month with redecorating my bathroom and landscaping my backyard so that is a convenient excuse for not exercising as well.

July is a new month and really the start of my son’s summer vacation since he was in summer school all of June. So, the challenge of finding time to work out will be even greater now. I will also have to feed him lunch instead of doing my own thing on those weekdays we are at home together. So, I hope I don’t backslide on the diet either.

Anyway, any encouraging words or suggestions on how to get my butt motivated would be greatly appreciated. (Btw, I haven’t changed my weight loss ticker because I can’t remember my stupid password.)

Have a safe and happy 4th of July weekend!