Swimming Through Summer

A blurry green smoothie picture. This one was waaaay to thick, I had to use a spoon to eat it. All the greens were kale too, so it was very flavorful. Tasted good, but the texture was a bit too thick. I have been managing one or two smoothies a week. Sometimes it is easier to make them than something else. Other times, I'm really needing some protein at lunch time (usually if I've waited too long to eat) so I make something less green and smooth.

This past week I'm again at the same weight, no change, still down a total of 4 pounds since the beginning of Better-U. Kind of frustrating and disappointing as I did quite a bit of activity and didn't think I ate all that much more than usual. Several of the days my computer was tied up with my son completing his Algebra summer school homework, so I didn't track my food intake, so perhaps I did get off track on the eating. Also my husband took a vacation week, so we ate out a bit more than usual. Plus it is that time of the month which always equals a few extra pounds for me, even at this late stage in the age game...
But enough with all the rationalizing! What exactly do I need to do kick this thing into the dowhill gear again?

I probably need more exercise, and one great thing I did last week was go swimming at the local high school pool. We joined for the year, so I can now go any day of the week and swim laps or just walk around in the water. I really appreciate my husband making me go when I was whining about being tired. It was great, and I felt very energized once I got out of the pool. We swam for about a half hour and I lost track of how many laps that was, but it was definitely aerobic. I expected to be sore the next day, but I wasn't, a very nice surprise! So sign me up for more swimming please. The challenge will be making myself go when the husband is at work, and not here to make me get in the car and drive there. Maybe I can rope my boys into this to help me get there, they do so love ordering me around!

One of the hardest things about going to the community pool is feeling so self conscious about myself in a bathing suit. But I took a look around at all the bodies that were there the evening we went, and yes I was one of the bigger people, but not the biggest by a long shot, and most of the mom types I compare myself to were not looking at me (at least not that I noticed), none of the teenagers or kids made any comments, and I felt happy just to be actually swimming and spending time with my husband. I love that feeling of being so buoyant and floating easily in the water. I noticed that: My lumps don't hurt when I'm floating in the water...

I had several opportunities to eat candy, or buy candy and I found I had enough willpower and was strong enough to not partake. This is several weeks now of success with this effort, and I'll admit that I'm very pleased with myself. A big part of my excess eating this past year has been candy candy candy. So that is a very good thing that I'm getting it under control. I have found that my sweet tooth is still here though, so lots of fruit and dried fruit is being eaten. Another huge thing this week was having sorbet instead of ice cream. My trick of having the boys pick the ice cream flavor (and begging them to choose something I don't care for, cookies n' cream, bleah!) totally worked. I didn't want the ice cream, and the lemon sorbet was just right on all those hot nights last week.
I have to remember to buy and freeze some grapes, I love eating those, the sugar crystalizes just so with the frozen ice, yum!

So this week ahead: continue making those better food choices, keep refusing candy's sweet siren call, avoid ice cream, make more green smoothies, and do some swimming.

Keeping On, Keeping Up

Here we are at the beginning of the third week of Better U. How am I doing? Well I lost one pound last week. So that is three all together. Still movement in the right direction! I'm glad about that.

I haven't been changing my eating habits enough, it was one of those whirlwind weeks (kids graduating and ending the school year) where I just was too tired to make the right choices. A lot of junk was eaten. We also had many meals out in restaurants. And I had to bake two chocolate cakes for my kids to take to school, which required a lot of frosting and bowl clean up. ahem. I really struggle with planning ahead for weeks like this. I know they are coming, I know the schedule we'll be keeping, so I should just stock up and be ready. There is always next time. This is a learning experience, right?! And this week I'll just have to try to make the better choices as they come up.

I did a little bit of walking. But not with Zelda the wonder dog. She was out of commission this week as last weekend my husband took her on waaaay too long of a walk and swim in the river. I think she might be getting arthritis. So some non-dog-walking happened. But not every day, and not nearly enough. Next week I'll do more walking, hopefully with Zelda.

I did spend many hours in the garden though. Unfortunately they were mostly all at once yesterday. I'm pretty sore today and very pooped, it takes a while longer for me to rebound from a big effort like this. And oh do my hands hurt (maybe I'm getting arthritis? pretty early for that in my life I think). Probably just from holding all the garden tools and wrassling with the blackberry vines.
But I felt really energized and UP after being outside and moving and doing and hanging out with my green friends in the garden. I guess I just need to set a timer or something so I don't overdo.
Because today I've done zero exercise. I get so much out of gardening though, it is one of my favorite things to do in the world, and I am very much in the aerobic zone for most of the time, so it is a good workout for me.

I think I had only 2 green smoothies. I misplanned and I found that I was out of crucial ingredients (like spinach and bananas), and oh those other goodies were so much more available and easy and didn't require a blender. Next week I'll do better with this.

And now some thoughts on keeping up with my family. My husband and I used to be really active, we ran together, lifted weights, went hiking and backpacking almost every weekend, etc. Then came the kids and we just slacked off on all those activities and threw ourselves into doing things with our children because that was the most important thing to us. Now we're finding that the boys are at an age where they want to go out and do stuff with us such as we used to. My husband can still do it. I can, but only to a point. And that limit is really bothering me, I've been kind of obsessing about what I can and can't do.

I don't want my children to remember me as that mom that couldn't make it to the top of the hike. And so far I've only done that once, but it was over 100F in Sedona, and I only was about 1/4 mile from the trail's end. But oh was that embarrassing, I hated how I felt. They were worried about me, I felt badly because they were worried, etc. Why bother, just give up and sit back at the hotel eating my woes away. Nope. Not me.


So, I can still hike. Some. But not like I used to be able to. I used to backpack! That sounds pretty unattainable at this point. I'm much slower than I was before. I have to take more breaks. I don't handle the heat as well. Luckily I'm very stubborn. But that can be dangerous, as I can push myself too far and then crash suddenly, with no energy it is hard to make it off the mountain.
Here is a picture I took this spring in Tahoe, after I'd been left behind by my teenaged son and husband as they went scrambling up the snowy rocks off the trail. I wasn't able to follow. I didn't particularly want to. But I wouldn't even have dared to try. I don't have the balance I would need to attempt something like this. The meds I'm on mostly contribute to that, but I have to be more careful. But at that point in the hike I was already kind of shaky and tired, so pushing myself by rock scrambling on icy rocks wasn't a good choice for me. I took lots of pictures and worried myself into quite a state when they were gone for a long time.


And then on that same trip, they tried snow boarding for the first time. But I didn't even bother. Because I am so overweight, I'm really self-conscious about wearing the special clothing sports like this require. It never fits, and so it isn't comfortable. And if I'm renting it, I'm worrying about busting the seams open. Plus the last time I went skiing as an adult I hurt myself, and since then I've had some bad knee problems. And I didn't like skiing all that much to risk injuring myself. But I had to sit there and wait while they had fun together learning something new. I read a good book, and sat in the sun and that was fine. But it was boring, and I felt left out which isn't too great on a family vacation.

So other than feeling sorry for myself and worrying about worrying my family, these thoughts aren't all that useful. But I know that underlying all this is one of the main reasons that I'm interested in making changes in what I'm eating and how I'm keeping my body in shape. So that I can go out and do stuff with my family.

Jeans-o-meter

It is the second Monday of Better U. And so, how am I doing so far?

Well according to the only scale I have available (which usually matches my doctor's scale) I have lost 2 pounds from last week.

I'm not too excited (well ok I am so sue me) because of how far I have to go. In the whole big picture scheme of things, it isn't much at all. Damn those percentages! But at least it is a change in the right direction, ie down down down.

My first overall goal is to fit into the next size down of clothes. I'm judging by the jeans that I recently uncovered while unpacking from our epic house remodel. They were purchased, never used as the tags are still on, and they don't fit me now since I've gone up a size. I only wear jeans during the winter usually, and I can't have them be too tight in the thighs or the waist because of the pressure that puts on my lumps. They have to fit well, on the loose side. I'm not sure how many pounds that goal translates to. But I will try them on every week to encourage myself.

When I look at the price tag, I am reminded of much money this extra weight is really costing me. Buying new clothes just because my current ones don't fit. Sheesh, what a dumb way to spend money I don't really have. Or the extra food, mostly junk food at that, which is rather spendy.

On the green smoothie goal I did get 3 out of 7. Failing grade, but now that I'm thinking about them I'll make the effort to fix one for myself in the weeks ahead.

On the walking/exercise goal I got 4 out of 7 days. Including one day of several hours of gardening. That's a huge increase, so I'm happy with that. I have to be careful with how much I do at once, otherwise I'll be laid out on the couch for days recovering.

Goals for this coming week:

Walking Zelda everyday

Gardening for an hour, 2 times (spread it out, don't overdo)

7 lunchtime (or daily) green smoothies

Ice cream only once this week.

Challenges this week will be the social obligations we have this week where we'll be eating out. That and the end of the school year for my boys, which means a big adjustment. My plan to meet those challenges is to keep walking, and to make good choices when I eat out and what I buy to have for food at home.

Choices Made

Here's my green smoothie from two days ago. Spinach, Frozen Strawberries, Banana, Green Grapes, Agave, Water and Flax Oil all blended together. I didn't have one yesterday since I wasn't home much, and when I was, I wasn't hungry. I'm looking forward to one today because I got some nice fresh spinach at the local farmer's market. So that will go into the blender, stems and all.

I made a much better choice than I normally would have at the luncheon I attended yesterday. Instead of sauce smothered or fried-up seafood, I got a Greek shrimp salad with a vinaigrette. Very nice. Instead of a Coke, I ordered an ice tea and only put a teensy bit of sugar in. Instead of using up all the butter on my roll, I used only about 1/4 of it. This is a really big point here for me, because I lose all sense and discretion and restraint when I'm out at a restaurant. I'm glad that I'm thinking about what I eat as each choice is set in front of me. It helps to have a few guidelines (like baked, not fried) that are at the top of your mind when you go into a restaurant situation.

No dog walking happened, but I took a good walk while I was out. Yes it was through the mall, but I was on a bowtie-procurement-deadline so I was going much faster than mall-crawling, even walking up the escalator. After all the whizzing around I was way too pooped when I got home, sorry about that Zelda.

I'm down to my last banana, time to make up a grocery list using some of the recipes that I found at the BetterU website. One of them involves brown rice (and it says to use frozen brown rice! Never heard of this???), so I have to remember to start that cooking earlier than normal.
Love that nutty flavor of brown rice.

The Raw Truth

I almost failed on the first day of NewBetterImprovedMe, putting off walking the dog at every opportunity, making the usual excuses and rationalizations and finding other things that needed doing instead. But at 10pm last night, my husband and I took a short walk up the street in the beautiful moonlight with Zelda the wonder dog. (and Spike one of our cats who loves to follow his dog).


So yes! Goal #1 on Day #1 just barely accomplished but still accomplished. It is amazing to me, how great I am at putting up barriers and sabotaging my own best intentions for myself. I need to use my awesome powers for good instead of evil...

The second most important goal for me was to drink a green smoothie for most of my lunch time eating. That was more easily accomplished, because I love them, even though I've gotten out of the habit over the last six months or so. From sheer laziness? Or did I get tired of them? I really couldn't say, just that I've been telling myself over the last few months I need to start making those green smoothies again...So here I am actually doing it, yay me!

My recipe is from the

Green for Life book which is written by a really interesting woman named Victoria Boutenko. There are all kinds of reasons to eat raw foods, some of which make complete sense to me, some of which don't. There is absolutely some scientific evidence to back up all the anecdotal evidence in this book. This is not something I could envision doing 100%, going completely vegetarian and to boot, raw, ie. uncooked. But I found that having a green smoothie once a day made a big difference in how much energy I had. So I'm going back to it to see if I'll get that energy boost again. Plus it is a great way to eat more greens and fruit.

My recipe on this day was:

• 1 cup Frozen Strawberries, (which taste great but make the smoothie kinda icky brownish),



• two big handfuls of raw spinach,



• one pretty ripe banana,



• one small clementine orange



• a tablespoon of Flax Seed Oil,



• a teaspoon of Agave Nectar,



• and about a cup and a half of water.



• All blended up really well in the blender.

The fun thing about these smoothies is that it doesn't exactly taste like spinach or fruit, it just tastes GREEN and very FRESH.