Posts Tagged ‘food

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22
Jun
12

Mirror Mirror

By garagegym107 1 Comment
Categories: Living Fit Daily
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This morning I stood in front of the mirror criticizing my perceived flaws.  As I realized what I was doing I stepped back and thought “hold on now, lets take a look at what we really have here”. 

I have a healthy body that allows me to trash it working out 5-6 days a week.  It doesn’t give up, it doesn’t quit.  It just keeps responding to the physical challenges I dish out everyday.  

Did I get there overnight?  Absolutely not.

What’s even more important than what I see staring back at me in the mirror is what I’ve built up on the inside. 

My mind, confidence, willingness to succeed, discipline and consistent dedication to living a healthy lifestyle.   Being able to stop myself from comparing my physique to that of another is invaluable.  I am me for a reason.  Why would I change that?   

You want instant gratification?  Get yourself moving.  There is nothing more gratifying than taking that 30 or so minutes a day to work on your goal of getting fit. 

Want more instant gratification?  There is a tremendous feeling of empowerment that comes from making healthy food choices every day. 

Need more instant gratification?  Stop comparing yourself to other people and focus on becoming the very best you that you can become.

Sooner or later your instant gratification vault will be running over with results.

08
Jun
12

Making Long Term Change

By garagegym107 Leave a Comment
Categories: Morphing of a Fit Woman
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Over the last couple of days, I seen the reports of the 600# Virgin regaining 400# that he lost.  It’s been on my mind and I decided to write about when real long-term changes started happening for me and how they happened.

The mis-leading thing about all of these tv specials about weight-loss don’t really tell you about when everything is over.  I know I’ve seen one of the Biggest Loser’s, the pizza guy from up North gained all of his weight back.  

In a perfect world, every person could go to a fitness camp, have world-class trainers and chef’s preparing perfect food. 

But in reality we have lives that aren’t put on hold because we decide we want to get healthy.  It can be done but it won’t be without sacrifice. 

One of the hardest realizations I had to come to was that there were people who have always known me and they just weren’t willing to accept the person I was becoming. 

Whether they realize what they are doing or not, there will be the tempting lunch invitations, happy hour invites, your favorite cookies or candies showing up etc. 

It took awhile for me to realize that my change was making people around me uncomfortable.  Change is hard.  Not just for you, but for those who know the old you.  Some want to stay in the old comfortable place they’ve always been and they’d like to keep you there with them.

Change takes courage.  You don’t have to be mean or rude, just say “thanks for the invite, but I can’t make it”.  After the first decline it will get easier. 

You may lose a friend or two over it, but remember there ARE like-minded people out there who want to socialize with other fit people. 

One of my fondest memories was this past fall while watching a college championship game with a group of people who I had just met from a local gym.  Every single dish was healthy and tasted great!  I felt as if I were in a safety zone.

One of my clients is a young 24-year-old professional.  One of her greatest obstacles is hanging with her friends.  We plan her workouts and weekly nutrition goals around her social schedule so her free meals fall on the day of the event she has scheduled.  It allows her to enjoy life without feeling restricted.

Being fit isn’t about giving up everything you enjoy and feeling miserable.  It’s about having the courage to make the choices day in and day out to be better today than you were yesterday FOR YOURSELF not for anyone else.

06
Jun
12

Random Food Thoughts

By garagegym107 7 Comments
Categories: Random Thoughts
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

–  You control food, it doesn’t control you.  It has no feeling, it’s not out to get you.  It doesn’t sabotage your efforts.  Get over it.

–  You can overcome emotional food issues.  It starts with accepting the statement above.

–  You can still have your cake and eat it.  It is far better to go to the store and buy one cupcake every couple of months instead of home-baking a whole dozen for the same price.  You don’t need a whole dozen of anything.  Get over it.  Well except maybe shoes.

–  You can live without mac & cheese.  In fact you’ll likely live a lot longer without it.

–  Healthy fat won’t make you fat. 

–  It takes about two weeks to get over sugar cravings once you relinquish your strong hold on sugar.  Try it.  You’ll see.

– You can always find an excuse or justification for eating poorly, don’t kid yourself in to thinking they are legit.

– It takes minimal planning to make sure you purchase what you need to make great, simple meals all week.  Failing to plan = planning to fail. 

– There is not one thing that you can put in your mouth that will make your emotions feel better so H.A.L.T. first.  Hurt. Angry. Lonely. Tired.  Identify if you are truly hungry or just messing around with a cover-up of one of the other emotions.

–  Remember, that fork doesn’t get up off of that plate and fly in your mouth.  YOU put it there.

– Water.  Sometimes you just think you are hungry.  Hydrate instead.

Vacation Food

More Vacation Food

04
Jun
12

Square Peg in a Round Hole

By garagegym107 2 Comments
Categories: Living Fit Daily
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I love reading.   In fact it’s not uncommon that I have more than one book going at a time.  Sometime there is fiction/drama and it’s generally counter balanced with something that is non-fiction.  Right now I have two non-fiction books going at once.  One is Switch by Chip Heath and Dan Heath and it’s about making lasting change when change is hard.   The other is a book called Paleoista by Nell Stephenson.   

I bought Paleoista because I was interested to see a woman’s perspective on Paleo eating.   I’m just over halfway finished and so far I find it rather idealistic. 

In example…”you’ll no longer need that microwave so go ahead and donate it to the thrift store” and in the same chapter, “plan your meals so there is enough for lunch the next day”. 

Ok in a perfect world of having access to a working stove and a skillet to reheat lunch meals at work would be great.   Not using a microwave is fine if you eat salad every day. But realistically does this author always eat her leftovers cold?  Leftovers that she discusses how wonderful the meals are fresh and hot off the stove?

Ok, so I’m nit-picking.  Or am I?  I eat a very clean diet.  I have for several years.  One of my greatest discoveries was that I was eating too many cold meals and wasn’t satisfied 50% of the time.

Instead of telling people to ditch the microwave (I’m not trying to start a debate here so hold your comments on the damages of using a microwave) why not instruct them how to properly re-heat those awesome leftovers?

I live in the great state of Alabama.  North Alabama to be exact.  The land of fried, smothered and covered, eat everything on your plate, and “thanks for dinner, I enjoyed it”.  We don’t have a Whole Foods.  Thankfully this time of year we do have a farmers market.  I’ve found one source for a grass-fed cow, but I’ve yet to jump on the 6-12 month waiting list.

Another hot button?  Squeezing all women in to the same one size fits all box.  Ironically, I do eat a Paleo style diet mainly because I have a wheat intolerance and it takes exactly 3 days for strange things to happen in my body.  I do include the occasional dairy, wine, dark chocolate,  and sweet potatoes. 

That being said IT TOOK ME YEARS to get here from morbid obesity.  Attempting to make Paleo appear to be the fashionable thing to do rubs me a little.  When you are 168# over weight, you don’t really feel very “ista” anything, instead you feel lost, lonely and perhaps even a bit broken.

I would not recommend this book to one of my clients unless I knew in advance that they had their head on straight. And that there was no yo-yoing going on.

What I mean by that?  Heavily restricting the diet of a person that is extremely overweight can wreak havoc on that persons emotional eating issues not to mention their metabolism.  Some folks don’t do so hot with cold turkey.

I’ve never been able to understand the statement “eat until your full”.   Some people just simply do not have that “full” mechanism until they learn to become mindful.  And trust me, that is a process and depending on the person they could see results quickly or as in my case of strong denial it could take much longer.

Ok, I’ll settle down now and finish reading the book this week.  If nothing more than for the sheer humor of it.

When I’m further in to Switch, I’ll let you know my “opinion” on it. Remember, we all have opinions and you are free to consider it or not.

01
Jun
12

Speed Bumps in The Road

By garagegym107 Leave a Comment
Categories: Living Fit Daily
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Thank goodness for auto insurance!  Needless to say, the boy has learned a whole lot about responsibility from his decision to not notify the police of the accident. 

Note to all of my friends and anyone that I don’t know who is reading this blog:  I assumed my child understood that no matter what, when there is an accident he must report it to the police.  Don’t make the assumption that your kids know this. 

Explain to them that no matter what, it matters when it comes down to who pays the bill for repairs.  I’ve raised my kids with the understanding that in every situation they have choices and no matter what choice they make, they must be prepared to handle the consequences   The boy is better for the experience although his summer will be spent paying off the deductible debt he owes me.

I have been sitting here thinking about the rather crazy week I’ve had.  I’ve managed to get all but one of my workouts in.  I do intend to make up that workout at some point this weekend.  I usually take both days as active rest days.  I’m going to have some pull-up skill work and 10 x 100m sprints.   That ought to work me over pretty good and then I intend to stand-up paddle board if the mound of laundry will allow for it. 

My eats have been pretty close to 90% clean which I’m ok with.   I’ve run the gamut of the eat bad, feel bad, eat bad cycle and then transitioned over to the perfectionist cycle of 100% clean 100% of the time and plenty more phases smashed between the two extremes. 

These phases I now see very clearly and understand how they came about.  It has only been since I realized the difference between 90% and 100% is minimal in terms of my results that I’ve become more comfortable.  Now my body, mind and soul are a lot happier when I selectively choose my 10% meals.  

I do believe that 80% clean eats is a good solid goal for everyone.  I’m personally not as comfortable with that being my choice.  I prefer to keep a slightly tighter reign because I am more comfortable with that structure. 

For those struggling to find balance out there, it’s doable.  Just be patient with yourself and don’t be afraid to fall down from time to time.  Just don’t stay down because no-one will come along and pick you up.  You have to do that for yourself. 

Have a great weekend!

 

 

31
May
12

Bumps In The Road

By garagegym107 7 Comments
Categories: Morphing of a Fit Woman
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Last night the boy comes to the garage door that leads in to the house and says “mom, I need you to come here for a minute”.   There was something in the ashen color of his skin that gave away the truth that he was up a creek.

I walked outside to discover that the back drivers side bumper of his car was pretty darned crumpled up.  Then came the bad news. 

Me “honey, did you call the police?”  the boy “Uh no, but I got her name and phone number”.  Me “so no accident report?”  they boy “Uh no, I didn’t know I was supposed to”.   At that moment I had a flash to Bill Cosby saying “you know, I brought you into this world, I can take you out”.   But that would just make me sad. 

So this morning starts the search for Catherine C.  Ironically in the past an event like this would have resulted in the soothing food coma but my how things have changed.

Nope, nadda, ain’t happen in this house.  Clean eats for breakfast and lunch and not even the remote desire to be in a food coma. 

I used to use food to fix everything.  Food doesn’t fix things, it’s not out to get us with temptation, it’s not good or bad or even evil.  Food has no power.  It only gets power from us giving it power.   And for those of you who’ve never struggle with food, just remember you don’t know what trauma someone else may be going through.

For so long I lived as if food could literally make all of my problems disappear.  Unbeknownst to me at the time, it was just playing head games with me.  It has been a great part of the morphing of a fit woman.   At times it has been painful but over the past several years things have fallen into a good place.  Awareness is huge.

23
May
12

Random Thought

By garagegym107 3 Comments
Categories: Random Thoughts
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Want an eye opener?  Go sit in an emergency room for four or five hours.  Then leave there and make a list of what you can do to improve your overall health.   Start checking things off that list one at a time.

I spent four hours in the ER plus an hour at the pharmacy last night with the spousal unit and his pet kidney stone.  Needless to say I left with a renewed interest in my mission to help others get fit.

I’m in the pull-up your boot straps mood today and if you are easily offended stop here. 

Rarely do I get up on my soap box but come on people.  If you really want to make changes in your life YOU have to be the initiator.  No one is going to swoop in and rescue you.  

This is your life, you must be the one to change it! 

Sure it’s hard, but not any harder than paying our bills and being responsible for all the other stuff we do. 

It takes committment.  It takes a strong resolve that will ebb and flow. 

When we’ve got our motivation everything is easy.  When you first start your fitness program, no matter what it is, you are all excited and filled with determination (much like dating).  

Next thing you know you realize this is HARD and it takes work (much like marriage).  It takes a commitment to yourself to take care of you first.  What will you do to make it happen?

I’ve been working out at 5:00 or 5:30am for years because that’s my me time.  Everyone else is still snug in the bed and I’m busting my booty because I’m committed to a healthy lifestyle.

YES, the odds are stacked against us.  Foods that may seem healthy by someone’s marketing standards really aren’t.  Learn to live by these two rules when it comes to food and it will solve a lot of your trouble and questions.

  • If it will spoil in 3-5 days, eat it. (meats, veggies, fruits, healthy fats, nuts & seeds and little or no sugar.
  • If it keeps for months or years in your pantry in bags or boxes, just skip it. 

If you don’t know how to cook, then find a local cooking class.  Just make sure the class doesn’t specialize in fried chicken!

11
May
12

experimenting Day 2

By garagegym107 Leave a Comment
Categories: Nutritional Cleanse Experiment
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It’s FRIDAY!!  I love Friday.  Just because it’s the end of the workout week for me and the end of the professional work week for me too.  Don’t get me wrong I do adore my day job but like anyone I adore the weekends more.

Update on the boy and his girlfriend.  Day 1 I thought I might have killed him.   Day 2, I thought surely she was going to meet her maker after running up and down the hill in front of garage gym 107.  Day 3 they both came to win, win, win…no matter what, what, what and both refused to stay down.  Being a CrossFit Level 1 Trainer allows me to show them such variety that just about the time they think they are dying the workout is over. 

Ok, let’s get on with the cleanse discussion.  I should really learn to read and pay more attention.  Yesterday I short-changed myself a delicious small organic apple. That my friends will not happen again, this girl will get her food.  Uh huh, no wonder I was famished by the time dinner rolled around. 

OH WAIT!!  It wasn’t me that had dinner, it was the spousal unit and the boy who had dinner.   For those of you who don’t know I am married to the junk food king of the world.   Although I must say as his awareness grows he’s getting better. 

Last night I was going to send the boy to get the two of them some take out.  It was a great plan until the spousal unit says “fried chicken is not good unless you eat it there”.  Ever wanted to punch someone?  But instead I grabbed my keys and headed out the door to sit with them while they ate dinner. 

I came home and immensely enjoyed my shake.  Seriously, by then I was hungry and it was good.   I slept like a rock last night and felt great when I woke up this morning.

A couple of things to note about these shakes.  They contain whey from grass-fed dairy cows.  Why is that important?  I’m a primal eater.  I eat meat, A LOT OF VEGGIES, some fruit, nuts, sweet potatoes and eggs.  I eat gluten-free oats from time to time and I will occasionally have dairy.  Not likely to risk it any time soon after the vacation fiasco though. 

In comparison to my Sonic foot long chili cheese dogs, large tater tots and chocolate milk shakes that I consumed during my 2 year 150# weight gain, I’m a pristine eater.   If I can lose 158# ANYONE CAN!

Today I’m fully prepared for day two of the pre-cleanse and have a much better understanding of the purpose of these two days.

Today is day two of being totally caffeine free.  That may have something to do with the good nights sleep.  I lifted like a beast in the gym this morning so there is no impact on my lifting so far. 

One other thing.  The word “cleanse” strikes fear in the heart of many a woman.  In the back of your mind you are thinking “I’ll be on the john all day every day for nine days” yeah, I know you’re thinking that but that has not been the case at all. 

Tomorrow and Sunday are the first two official cleanse days.  No food allowed.  I’ve done intermittent fasting from time to time but never for two full days in a row.  We shall see what my iron will is really made of. 

Stand-up paddle board here I come!  That ought to keep me busy.

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