The Next Hundred Pounds

I STOP WHEN I'M DONE

When you start something new, it's really tempting, really easy to make grandiose plans. (New Year's Resolutions, anyone)? You're going to cut out all processed and fast food overnight! Henceforth you will never drink a real Coke or have a Big Mac again (even though you currently average three or four a week). You're going to get up at 4 a.m. every day and run 10K! You're going to stop going out for beers with your co-workers every night ... well, you'll go, but you're only going to drink diet soda!

And most of us know how well THAT turns out. We manage our stringent new curriculum for a short time, and then it gets to be a drag. There's a special occasion, or a night out when you're tired, or a morning when it's rainy and you have a big presentation, so it becomes easy to let your resolutions slide, just this once.  Somehow, just this once turns into rationalizations and more slips and before you know it, you've completely abandoned your shiny new regime. You feel worse than before, because now you feel guilty, and are probably indulging in all kinds of negative self-talk about your lack of willpower.

Why set yourself up for this kind of failure? Have we learned nothing from the fable of the Tortoise and the Hare? Slow and steady wins the race. Have we learned nothing from the Winter Warlock in Santa Claus is Coming to Town? Put one foot in front of the other ... Perserverence, not perfection, is the goal.

This article from Paleo nutritionist Diana Rogers illustrates the point beautifully; and although she's specifically talking about making the changes to a Paleo lifestyle it really applies to any lifestyle and diet changes you want to make. It's much more effective to make them in increments, and to be true to the philosophy you are ostensibly embracing, rather than simply trying to replace your old, bad habits with "healthier" versions. This isn't reality TV! Nobody expects you to be an instant expert, or instantly successful! You can take your time, make mistakes, start over as often as it takes.

I would add to Rogers' words of wisdom ---perhaps unpopularly, but I am absolutely convicted of this idea --- that it is also important to take the time to discover, step by step what you can and will do on a longterm basis, even if it means you're only embracing your new philosophy 75 or 80%. That may change over time. You may find yourself willing and able to do more. It may be what you crave.

I feel I am finally emerging, after a period of some months, from my slide back down the mountain path that is my lifelong journey to best health and fitness. I finally feel capable again of a firm and steady commitment to working out (a lot!) and to challenging myself more physically. And as I've gotten stronger again in that capacity, I also have come to feel that I can begin to pay stricter attention to diet. But I am easing back in to both. Exercise came first; it's less of a mental hurdle.

Back in 2007, when I first decided to make major changes to my lifestyle, I knew this effort had to be different than any that had come before, and that it was crucial to do it MY way. After all, I'd had all the expert advice in the world. It wasn't that I didn't know how to eat properly or work out. Something else was lacking. There is no program in the world that you can stick to slavishly exactly come scritto, as we say in opera --- as written; at least not forever. It's important that you individualize it and make it work for you, and don't apologize for doing so.

Do, however, be honest with yourself. Let's face it, you are not going to lose 100 pounds if you say to yourself, "I can live with exercising for thirty minutes three times a week, and having a salad for lunch every day along with my can of Coke and bag of Cheetos." Certainly, you will see some improvement, but you're probably not going to become a cover model for Fitness Magazine. Be honest about what you are doing for exercise, how much effort you are actually putting in,  and how much good it's doing you. A thirty minute walk per day is not going to "pay" for half a pint of ice cream and fried chicken for dinner. Be honest about what you are eating, and how much. The simple act of teaching yourself to weigh and measure food, to understand portion sizes and nutrition, and to make sure you ARE aware of how much and what quality of food you're putting into your body, will help you make better choices. Maybe not every time, but more of the time, if you are serious about improving your health.

But take your time. That's okay. When you feel good, when you feel secure in your new habits, when you maybe start to feel that you need something more, harder, different, that's the time to kick it up a notch.

And that's the place, at long last, that I find myself coming back to on my own fitness journey. Yeah, I've been here before. I may well end up here again. Not going to worry about it. Today, in TRX class, I did those damn planks. I held them the whole time. The lady next to me, who does Crossfit, was having just as hard a time as I was, and she weighs less and is in better condition. Today, after a hard hour of kickboxing, I joined my TRX classmates in 50 jumping jacks at the start of class. I was TIRED. I was drenched in sweat from the first class, and we had an hour to go. I got to #30 and thought I was going to have to stop, but I remembered a poster I'd seen the night before.  It read:

I DON'T STOP WHEN I'M TIRED. I STOP WHEN I'M DONE.

Today, finally, I was in the right mental place to push a little. I kept repeating that to myself throughout class. And I did all 50 jumping jacks. And then I went and did those hateful, hateful planks. Three weeks ago, it wouldn't have happened. But I showed up, I did the work, and even when I hated it, I started to like it.

I need a nap now, but I figure today, I earned it.

STRIPPER STRETCHING: FIVE HOT GIRLS AND ME

Viveca Jenson's Piloxing class (mixture of Pilates and boxing)

Ever noticed how, in photos of people engaged in fitness activities, there are never any fat people? I'm not talking about candid shots, but any sort of marketing or publicity photo. I get regular newsletters from LiveStrong, C25K, various magazines, and all sorts of other fitness organizations, all with lots of colorful pics of people engaged in all sorts of healthful activities, and there is never even one person who is even slightly overweight, unless it's in some sort of rude way, meant to show a lazy slob or a before/after pic. Or if it's a Richard Simmons product, 'cause Richard is not afraid of having the big people in his videos. Yaay, Richard. In fact, most of the people in the pics, especially the women, are oddly matchy-matchy in size and body type. And they usually have a lot of makeup on, and their hair looks bizarrely good for people who are supposedly engaged in sweat-inducing activities. I don't know about you, but when I'm working out, the last thing I want is makeup dripping in my eyes. My hair is in a ponytail and tucked under a bandana, which is not at all attractive but keeps hair and sweat out of my face.

I get why marketers want to do this. They want to present the most attractive people possible in order to 1) make you think this is a hot place/product filled with shiny beautiful people; 2) make you feel bad if you don't look like that, so you'll buy whatever they're selling in order to get yourself looking like that; 3) make you think that you are going to be one of that good-looking, well-groomed club if you buy what they're selling. I mean, if you're really using a gym the way it's supposed to be used, you are going to be disgusting, stinky, and dishevelled, at least til you hit the locker room. But reality don't sell memberships. So, shiny people.

Ironically, feeling out of place, or worrying about what they might look like, or how they'll keep up, actually keeps a lot of people from joining a gym or doing a physical activity. It's a fallacy, by the way. Sure, there are jerks out there, but this isn't your high school gym class anymore. Most athletes are really happy to have anybody join their club, and they admire effort as well as results. They will cheer you on.

Nevertheless, I often experience fish-out-of-water moments at the gym. Last night's new stretching class was a perfect example --- everybody else in there was slender, graceful, lookin' hot in their cute exercise togs, and all seemed to have dance training to match their dancer bodies. I don't begrudge them any of this, BTW. But then there was me, wearing a stained Livestrong T shirt, bike shorts, and a bandana. I did not feel sexy. I felt like a beached elephant seal as we rolled around on the floor. I immediately nicknamed it Stripper Stretching. It didn't help that we did it in the dark, accompanied by sexy music,  in the pole dancing studio. There was a lot of writhing around. If there had been men there, those ladies would have walked out with a lot of cash tucked in their spandex. And they would have deserved it, because they are marvelously athletic with beautiful, toned bodies, and boy are they bendy.

If I tried to protect my ego by never doing anything where people might look at me crossways (not that anybody did; no one at this gym has been anything but friendly and supportive), I'd never do anything at all. I made a decision a long, long time ago, way before I seriously set out to transform my body and fitness level, that I was not going to let being fat stand in my way of doing anything I really wanted to do --- assuming it was safe, affordable, and legal --- and that included dressing nicely. So when I go to the gym, sometimes I feel embarrassed because hell --- *I* don't want to look at myself in cute spandex workout outfits; my workout clothing mantra is "comfortable, cheap, supportive, covers the fat rolls". Or because I can't shake my entire body the way some of those girls in Zumba class do, at least without throwing my hips out  of whack or just looking like I'm having a seizure; or because I'm still really crappy at planks and sure as hell can't do them with my feet through the TRX handles, at an incline (but I can do pike pushups on the floor, and that's by God what I do when everybody else is doing'em with the TRXs).

This philosophy extends to other areas of life, too. The very high probability that I will look like an idiot doing something is not a good enough reason to keep me from trying it, if it interests me.  The very high probability that I will fail, or not be very good at it, at least at first, is a damned lousy reason not to try something. Because the fact is, morons with low self esteem and big mouths aside,  the majority of the people you encounter in any given situation are too worried about how inadequate they may appear to give a second thought to you.

There was a lady in Zumba class today wearing a great t-shirt that read STRONG IS THE NEW SKINNY. I found that inspiring (as did a lot of other women in the class, who clustered around to admire it). This shouldn't be taken as a dig against skinny people; but skinny isn't attainable for everyone, and all things being equal, strong is, if you're willing to work for it. So I approve that message.

The point is, don't let anybody hold you back from your goals. The most important thing is not whether you fit in, whether you look good doing it, whether it takes you five times or five thousand to get it right. The important thing is that you are out there doing it, because you want to, or because you want what it will bring you more than you want to indulge whatever is in your way.

Go out there and get your share.

TELL YOUR INNER BULLY TO BITE IT

One of the things that often keeps us out of the gym, especially out of classes or other group work environments, is that fear of not measuring up. Of how we'll look. How we'll compare to everybody else. We'll be the fattest, the oldest, the least coordinated, the weakest. We won't be able to keep up.

Well, friends, if you're going to a class where you are made to feel inferior because of where you happen to be in your fitness journey, that class is CRAP. That instructor should be ashamed. Class  --- any kind of class --- should be a place where you are safe to work at your own pace, safe to make mistakes, safe to learn, safe to improve, without worrying about whether you're wearing the right brand of clothes, whether you aren't as accomplished as others, whether you look foolish. Don't waste your time on people who want to tear you down.

And don't tear yourself down, either. Give yourself permission to go to Zumba class and flail about sweating buckets, even if you can't keep up with all the steps and don't look as hot as the professional dancer who is probably leading your class. Just MOVE.

Give yourself permission to show up to Pilates and do 70's instead of 100's, if that's what you can handle right now. Yes, there will be a tough old lady there who is totally kicking your ass. Admire her, don't fear her. Make it your goal to be her one day. And next time, do 75.

Give yourself permission to run a 5K or a 10K and not worry about your time or the fact that you're being passed by the wheelchair athletes. Just get out there and put one foot in front of the other. Groove. Do your own thing.

There's a big difference between challenging yourself and setting the bar too high, then punishing yourself for not being able to reach it. If you're in a class where you really can't keep up and it more discouraging than fun, talk to the instructor and find out if there's a meeting for people who aren't as advanced, or ask what you can do to improve your fitness to the point where you will be comfortable in that class. Then go work on it.  But if you can more or less keep up, then get in there and do what you can. Do maximum repetitions of whatever exercise is being done, and don't worry if that isn't as many or as fast as everybody else. Take a lighter weight for now, if that's what you need. By all means push yourself, work to failure, but don't berate yourself if you are really in there trying and not quite getting it. It will come. Negative self-talk is not going to make it come faster, or better.

I continue to be very grateful and inspired by the women and instructors  in my classes at Ironflower Fitness. It's such a positive atmosphere, and people help each other out and encourage each other. Lord knows I can't do 10 burpees as fast as they can, but I can do 10 at my own pace, or I can do 6 or 7 at theirs. And one day, I'll be able to do 10. The mirror confirms that I look quite ridiculous doing Zumba, so I don't look at the mirror --- I look at the instructor's amazing butt, and remind myself that the important thing is to get my own in gear and in shape.

And I'll tell you something else. If you're working as hard as you should be, you don't have time to notice anybody else and you certainly don't have time to stand around gossiping. Or, for that matter, listening to gossip.

This is what I find so amazing and wonderful about communities of athletes. Most of them are encouraging and don't care what kind of shape you're in. They are just happy that you're there to work, and they will help if you ask. I've written about this before but I personally need reminding, and I think probably other people who are not natural athletes do, too; especially if you have memories of being treated badly in your high school gym class.

This isn't high school any more, people, and you don't have to put up with crap from bullies. That includes your inner bully, whose one goal in life is to keep you from getting where you need and want to go. We don't have time for these people any more. Any amount of time and attention they've ever been given is already too much. We've got work to do.

Loved, loved, loved my kickboxing class today, followed by TRX which is just the coolest thing ever. I want a set of those suspension bands; they could go everywhere with me. Kickboxing is a great cardio workout and it makes you feel very powerful! Magda, our instructor, always asks me to sing a phrase in class, so I always try to choose a strong opera heroine to quote. Today was Joan of Arc (Tchaikovsky's Orleanskaya Deva), just the end of her big aria "Prastitye vi". My class wants to come to hear me in Romeo & Juliette. Now that's support!

SET YOUR OWN PACE

Another costume fitting and another kickbox/TRX two hour class combo survived. I won't lie, my triceps are hella sore.

The costumes are really lovely. I will confess to being slightly dismayed when I first saw them on the rack. They're a bigger size that I'm happy with. But I countered this thought by reminding myself that I had come straight from the shower after Zumba class and logged plenty of workout hours in the last week. It's not like I've been sitting on the couch eating bon-bons.

They were actually a little big this time, and will be tweaked to perfection, but over all they are gorgeous and very flattering. They fall quite beautifully. Another reminder: proper fit is what makes clothing look great on you. The size on the label has nothing to do with it. If you want to look good, get GOOD underpinnings that fit and support you properly, and make sure your clothes are the right size and fit well, even if you have to have them tailored.

I was excited for kickboxing class today. We start off with five minutes of jumprope or cardio of some type. As I lack the coordination to jump rope, I usually do jumping jacks, running in place, and knee lifts. Then, the class does 50 jumping jacks together (usually several times throughout the class), and some boot camp activities. Today's favorite was burpees, this time with handweights. These are HARD! I just go my own pace. I don't really count, I just do max reps.

See, I think this is where a lot of us fall off the wagon. It can be psychologically hard to go to a class, or even to do a DVD, when you are surrounded by people who are thinner and fitter than you. It's easy to focus on the fact that you aren't always keeping up, doing as many reps, doing them as well  or as fast as others. But this is a mistake. Being competitive is fine, but compete with yourself first. If you set the bar for yourself so high that you have no hope of ever winning, eventually you're going to quit from discouragement, and probably end up worse off than before you began. And if you set the bar too low, you're not working hard enough and you're not going to see the benefit. Today's experiences reminded me of when I first started to really work out, and I decided to give myself the freedom to concentrate first on just showing up, which was hard enough without having some inner --- or external --- drill sergeant screaming in my ear. Nowadays, I quite enjoy a good drill sergeant. But a good drill sergeant is one who knows how to motivate, how to take you to your limits, not to make you feel lousy when you're really working hard.

Today in kickboxing class, everybody was doing wheelbarrows --- just like the races you did when you were a kid. It's a kickass core workout. Magda looked at me speculatively, and I could tell she was trying to figure out how to kindly suggest that I shouldn't do it. For one thing, I outweigh everybody else in that class quite significantly, so it would be hard for them to hold my legs. And I stood there trying to find a way to tell her she wasn't going to hurt my feelings. Finally, she said, "Can you do this?" and I said, "I don't know. Let's try." So the tallest woman in the class took my legs, and I managed to do it for a short time, but ultimately, I'm just too heavy and frankly, it's hard on my wrist which was broken and now has pins (I've been paying the price for the rest of the day). So I ended up holding a plank while everybody else did wheelbarrows back and forth across the room.

BUT. The good thing is that I tried, and did a little, and maybe one day I'll be strong enough to do it right. Best of all, in that moment, I made a conscious decision not to get upset about it. I am there, in class, doing what I can. I am not slacking. I am pushing myself. And when it came time for the burpees, Magda told me to just step through rather than jump, and I thought to myself, "Hell with that!" and jumped. I can't bring my legs very far forward, but that is not due to my weight. I couldn't do it when I was slimmer, either; it has to do with how my hips work. Strangely, however, I am very flexible. It's just that certain directions of movement don't work that well.

Anyway, point being, the goal is to GET FITTER and to STICK WITH IT. And I am willing to do that in the way that seems best to me, which isn't always the number one expert recommended way. I'm not saying to ignore expert advice, but rather, to filter it through what you are capable of doing and can maintain.

Those classes wiped me out. I came home, took a two hour nap (which I NEVER do during the day) and spent the evening running all over the stage in rehearsal. And you know what? Even though I have gained back a chunk of weight, I still don't get out of breath doing that, because I've increased my fitness. Not justifying, not settling, but also not discounting what I have managed to achieve.

As for smaller costumes ... well, next time, I hope. I'm workin' on it.

EATING HEALTHY IN THE HOSPITAL

I'm happy to say that I've never had to stay overnight in a hospital (knock on wood!). My one surgery was an outpatient procedure that had me home in time for dinner. But this post from PrimalGirl really got me thinking --- what would/should/could someone who is determined to eat healthy do if they were required to spend a few days in the hospital?

Hospital food is a joke ---  literally and figuratively. It's true that many hospitals have, in recent years, made efforts to offer healthier meals to their patients and employees. In researching this post, I came across several menus that sounded pretty decent, nutritionally and gastronomically. For example check out the menus at Bronson Methodist in Kalamazoo, MI. There's plenty of commerical goo on the menu (sugary name brand cereals, margarine instead of real butter, the ubiquitous Jello) , but you can also find healthy, fresh choices like salads, fresh fruit, and grilled chicken.

But my guess is that if you find yourself at a less-wealthy hospital, or a military hospital as PrimalGirl describes, you might be stuck with sad --- nay, tragic ---  Standard American Diet choices, with most selections heavily processed and injected with who knows what --- not healthy, not tasty, and not appealing.

Now, if you're really sick or injured, food is unlikely to be foremost on your mind anyway. But it still shudders me to think about being forced to ingest chicken bouillon which contains no actual chicken (but plenty of salt --- witness the ingredient list on Hormel's salt with chicken flavor chicken bouillon cubes) , Jello (gelatin --- aka collagen extracted from animal bones, connective tissue, and skin; artificial colors and flavors, and lots of sugar), reconstituted juices, eggs made from a powder, and other such delicacies. I mean, the whole idea is to get well, right?

So if you find yourself in a situation where you yourself can't go out and get healthy food, or if you are on a very specific diet (vegan, Paleo, what have you) what can you do?

PrimalGirl has some great suggestions. Here are mine:

1. LIE LIKE A CHEAP RUG  about having  allergies to any foods you wish to avoid (dairy, gluten, soy, etc.) --- but still check the ingredient list on what you're served.

2. Be prepared to compromise on quality; go for the best nutrition you can get at the moment and don't worry too much.

3. Avoid the stuff you wouldn't eat on the outside. Turn down the processed stuff.

4. Request whole foods: whole fruit, plain, unseasoned pieces of meat (you can add your own seasoning to taste), fresh vegetables and salads without seasoning or dressing, whole grains. You may have to request a special meal, but don't be shy.

5. Get a loved one to bring you supplies. They may be able to bring you healthy food from home, but if they can't be there for every meal time, ask for a small cooler where you can easily store yogurt, hard-boiled eggs, low-fat cheese, carrots and hummus, and other healthy snacks for a few days. Ice should be readily available. You can also stockpile peanut butter, apples, and protein bars. In other words, food you could travel with.

Lest this seem like overthinking, or obessessive behavior, or just a little much, my take is this: it takes a tremendous amount of commitment and focus to stick to a healthy eating plan. It's so ridiculously easy to get thrown off. I have a lot of friends who are singers, and are committed to special diets, often out of necessity. Our bodies are our instruments, and we have to take care of them. We travel a lot, and it's often just as hard to find good, healthy food, especially that which fits a restricted diet --- on an airplane or in an airport, in a foreign country, in a host's home, at a fancy dinner party where you're a guest of honor, or in any strange town where you don't have cooking/storage facilities, or reliable transportation.

It would be very easy to throw up your hands and have that fast food cheeseburger just this once. The problem is, not only is it bad-tasting and bad for you, but it makes it easier to give in the next time. And garbage in = garbage out --- poor quality food is not going to help you heal or make you feel better.

So stick to your guns, even when you're down. If nothing else, you'll leave a beautiful corpse!

INSPIRATION AND BURNING

One finds inspiration where one may. I was inspired by this poster from The Rogue Cookie,
whose FaceBook page features funny and inspiring graphics. (I just wish they didn't have to rag on vegetarians; they're a Paleo-friendly site if not downright Paleo. Can't we all just get along)?

I also loved this,  from Cave Girl Eats; I may not espouse the Paleo thing 100% but the basics make a lot of sense and are doable by anybody.

Awesome! We all need reminding, especially when somebody brought doughnuts to work or your mom just made her famous chocolate cake filled with deep-fried Twinkies or you just would kill for a gallon of ice cream and a big spoon and a dark closet to eat it in. I'm going to print these out and carry them around as part of my new little collection of reminders, along with my "Just for Today" mantra.

Saturday was a double workout day: Ballet Barre Burn and TRX Suspension Bands. Wow! My quads are a little cranky but my shoulders and upper back are WEEPING today. Weeping, I tell you.

Barre workouts are one of the latest fitness crazes, but here's a little secret: you don't need a barre to do a lot of them. The back of a chair will do.  The focus is on ballet training moves to tone and strengthen while giving you a long, lean look; but our class moved at such a fast pace that there was plenty of cardio and sweat going on. My only complaint was that there was not sufficient stretching before or after the class. In the future, I'll get there early enough to do some warming up on my own. We did some fast-paced jumping jacks , knee kicks, and a move they call "locamotive" in P90x (it involves putting your hands behind your head and bringing opposite knees to elbows) to warm up, and then it was an hour of leg lifts, squats, calf raises, work with resistance bands (standard stuff like bicep curls, rows, and presses), and a little mat work for core at the end. It was challenging and fun, and a good full-body workout. There are a lot of studios offering barre workouts, and there may even be classes at your local gym. Pure Barre, Barre Fitness, and Barre3 Fitness are a few of the pro studios; and there are also lots of DVDs you can try.

After class, I went next door to a nice little vegetarian cafe which advertised smoothies. It smelled great and several of the instructors from the gym were in there, having snacks. I grabbed a menu and had just started to salivate when I saw the prices --- EIGHT BUCKS for a smoothie? Yikes! No wonder all those girls are so skinny; they can't afford to eat much. I hightailed it out of there and down the street to the Starbucks, where you can get a perfectly decent, healthy smoothie for $4.25.

The second class of the day was TRX Suspension Bands. These are long nylon bands with handles at the end, which attach via D-clip to a beam on the ceiling ,over a door frame (with the door shut), to playground equipment, tree limbs, fences, etc. --- anything that's sturdy enough to hold your body weight. They were originally developed for the Navy Seals and the really cool thing about them is that they use your own body weight for resistance.

I loved this class! It was tough, especially since I was already tired from doing Barre Burn, but I got through it just fine. We started off with more cardio and did plyo breaks throughout the workout. Almost everybody in the class was new to the bands, but they are really easy to figure out and use, especially if you already have some fitness knowledge about good form and so on. It's also very easy to adjust the resistance, by moving closer to or further from the point where they are hanging. We did fast, energetic bicep curls, presses, squats, butt lifts --- every muscle got a workout. I was dripping with sweat and DONE when it was over, but it was terrific and I can't wait to go again.

I love that I can see all the classes online and plot out what I want to take --- especially since I don't know my schedule more than 24 hours in advance. I can go ahead and reserve, and then cancel if it turns out I won't be able to make a class. Tonight, I'm going to take it easy and do yoga --- all that stretching should feel really good.

It's really exciting to have the time and place to concentrate on intensive workouts again for a while. It's only a short time, unfortunately, but it's giving me a great kickstart. Hopefully I'll lose some weight, get toned up, and when I move on to my next singing adventure --- back to beautiful Princeton in June --- I will find something else. Back to P90X and biking, perhaps. However, this does inspire me to want to find a gym with great classes for the times I am home. I thought sadly that I had lost my taste for working out, was sliding permanently back into sloth, but now I realize that not only did I really need a little time off (Christmas break) and a little time to ease back in (Sarasota); but when I do have the time and easy access, I'll do it with gusto. Another lesson --- do what you can, when you can, and forget about the rest.

 

INTRODUCING THE SHAMBASSADOR

I just have to give a shoutout to Dr. Barbara Berkeley and her Refuse to Regain blog (which, obviously, I need to be reading regularly). Check out this recent post about Paula Deen, the queen of health-horrible cooking. There's been a  Big Announcement about Paula Deen's Type II diabetes --- she's had it for three years, but is just now "coming clean" to her audiences , just in time to announce her signing as a "Diabetes Ambassador" for one of the giant pharmaceutical companies. Irony, anyone? A star whose entire brand is built around selling the most unrepentantly fattening, unhealthy food on the planet, is now capitalizing on her illness by dispensing health advice? And this same star has stated for the record that nothing will change about her cooking methods. In other words, she is going to unabashedly continue to encourage poor eating habits AND make money off her fans who are unfortunate enough to develop diabetes. What a sweet gig. And by sweet, I mean disgusting. Paula Deen, Shambassador!

Speaking as someone who has successfully managed her Type II Diabetes for seven years now, the last three without medication ... diet and exercise is the very best way to manage your diabetes, and the least expensive. And you don't have to lose very much weight at ALL to see really great results.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, folks: don't get your advice or information from the people who are trying to sell you something. They will never have your best interests at heart. Paula Deen is an ambassador for the Paula Deen brand, and that is all.

Before we leave the Refuse to Regain topic, be sure to scroll down and read the comments from Alexie about the current emphasis on the social obligation to be healthy. I've never heard anyone put it quite like that before, and she raises some very interesting issues that I want to explore further.

Continuing with the unhealthy food theme, here's a recent article about foods you most likely want to avoid, and why. Several of these I knew about: farmed salmon, conventional apples, cornfed beef, milk full of hormones. Microwave popcorn is an occasional treat for me, but after reading this, I'm striking it off the list. It's highly processed, anyway --- it's just a good idea to stay away from processed foods, because of all the low-quality ingredients, additives, and harmful processes that alter the basic food. The biggest, saddest surprise were the canned tomatoes, 'cause I do love my Muir Glen!

Last but not least, I tend to go on and on about the importance of organics, but this cute little girl and her science project is one of the best demonstrations of why you should eat organic that I've ever seen!

 

Way to go, Alyse!

And now, it's a beautiful, sunny, cool day, and I am off for my walk and Diva Warrior Resistance Training. Eat well today, friends!

 

 

THE VALENTINE'S DAY DIVA CHALLENGE

One of my friends added me to a Facebook fitness group composed of performers and their pals. I've belonged to such groups before --- Social Workout (which I loved before they radically changed formats thereby eradicating their established community) and another FB group called Athletic Performers. Groups like this are great because you get as much reinforcement and encouragement as you want and need,  you can offer the same, and you can also get some great advice and ideas.

And you can be challenged ... or issue a challenge. The ladies in the group were discussing how the guys are always posting about their muscles and their lifting workout, and the need for lady muscles. It was suggested that someone throw down a challenge. Well, you know me ... I went for it. Here's the Valentine's Day Diva Challenge, and any of you are welcome to participate, too. It's designed for people who are new to weight training and/or getting back to it after a hiatus ... like moi.

Duration: Between now and Valentine's Day

Frequency: Minimum 3 times a week

Exercises:
15-25 pushups  of your choice
15-30 tricep dips
 30-50 squats
Side planks, 60 seconds per side
25-50 crunches  of your choice

The only equipment you need is a chair (or bench, or the side of your bathtub) for the tricep dips. I started today, and incorporated each set as part of my walk. I paused at benches  and the workout area in the park along the way. So many more benefits when you work out in the fresh air!

For lunch, I cooked up a big ol' mess of chard with some mushrooms and garlic. MMMMM.  Leafy greens are so good for you  --- spinach is my favorite easy-to-use veggies. You can throw a couple of big handfuls in just about anything. Omelettes. Salads. Soups. Stir-fries. Pasta. One of my favorite things to do with it is fill a big bowl with fresh spinach and then layer anything else I was planning on eating on top of it. (Leftover Chinese food? Black beans? Vegetarian chili? A little pasta and sauce? All terrific on top of spinach). Pop it in the microwave for a couple of minutes and you have a very filling meal, plus you've gotten your leafy greens for the day. Also, if you fill most of the bowl with spinach, there will be less room for the "topping" which is bound to have more calories, so you're getting plenty of TASTE of the "good stuff" without overdoing it on the calories. And you'll be strong like Popeye the Sailor Man. And who doesn't want THAT hot physique?

ON LIMITATIONS

I'm having a sort of crappy day, energy-wise, and it really pisses me off.  Everything's been great for a week, and bam! Today is a weepy, fatigued day, and I don't feel up to walking, which makes me mad. It's got to be hormonal. But I'm going to try not to stress about it; instead, I made an appointment to see my gynecologist, and next week I have a physical scheduled. It's pretty cold today anyway, so I'll stay in and ride the stationary bike later.

Meanwhile, there's been some great inspiration floating around the interwebs today. I love this post from Joshilyn Jackson, especially since I am usually the fattest girl in yoga class (even after having lost weight), and I especially love that my skinny Bikram-lovin' friend Chuck is the one who posted in on his FaceBook status, bringing it to my attention. I don't practice yoga as often as I'd like, but one of the things I was kind of thrilled to figure out about myself after years of Fat Yoga followed by Not So Fat Yoga is that my bendiness and/or ability to easily accomplish certain asanas has a lot less to do with how much weight I'm carrying and a lot more with how my body is put together. I've always been pretty bendy. On a good day, I can touch my nose to my knees from a standing position, and I can do the splits, and I could do them when I weighed over 300 pounds. My downward dog is great, despite chronically tight hamstrings. But I have never, ever been able to do that thing where you jump your feet up next to your hands or step your leg through to runner's pose. I can do a great, low lunge from a standing position, but I can't step through very far --- I always have to put a hand on my ankle and move the foot up, which if you practice yoga regularly, is SO ANNOYING. I always thought this was due to my fatness, but now I know that it's because I am simply not flexible through the hips, not in that direction. Anyway, this article was a great reminder that WE ARE NOT OUR FAT. It doesn't rule us and it doesn't have to limit us, if we don't let it.

In a world where we are so often reminded of our imperfections, mostly as a way to make us BUY MORE STUFF, I found this video not only funny but inspiring.

 

Don't get me wrong; I like makeup as much or more than the next girl; I get my hairs did; I love mani/pedis and facials and fancy shower gels and creams that promise all sorts of things but don't really do much more than feel and smell good; and quite honestly, at this point if I could afford to have everything that sagged tightened up, I'd totally do it.  There's nothing wrong in trying to look your best. But there is something wrong in being desperate about it. All this stuff should be FUN and if it's not, it's not worth doing. Besides which, if you are over 40 your goal should not be to look young --- it should be to look fresh. Current, age-appropriate clothes and makeup, complexion glowing from drinking lots of water and plenty of fresh air and exercise,  a good attitude, and lots of interests in life and the people around you will make you beautiful and fascinating until the day you die.

You are enough. Don't let anybody --- especially people who are trying to get in your pants (to get your wallet, or anything else, for that matter) --- tell you otherwise.

 

 

 

 

SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION AND A REPORT

Do me a favor, folks.

Go to this link, read the rules, and nominate The Next 100 Pounds as your favorite blog in the Best Health or Wellness category. You have to make at least three nominations for yours to count, so if you don't have any other favorite blogs, may I suggest:

Dr. Grumpy for the Best Humor category.

Stonekettle Station for the Best Weblog about Politics Category (but only if you're progressive or open to hearing views not your own, please, because otherwise this site might give you an aneurysm).

Veterinarians Behaving Badly for the Best Pet or Animal Weblog category.

I'd really appreciate the vote. I don't do a lot of publicizing of this site, and it'd be great to get more hits.

And now, back to your regularly scheduled program.

If you've been following along, you know that over the holidays I was experiencing a worrying amount of fatigue, so much so that I finally made a doctor's appointment.  Ironically, the day I visited the doctor was the day I started to feel MUCH better, and have continued doing so. But my EKG  was completely normal. My heart's in good shape; my blood pressure was great; the bloodwork just came back completely normal which means my greatest worry of all, that my Type II Diabetes was reasserting itself, was not founded.

I'm still planning on going in for a physical to rule out anything else, but on reflection,  I'm pretty sure it was the effects of longterm stress. This year has marked a big change in lifestyle for me, with a lot more travel and a great deal more rushing around; for five or six gigs in a row I literally ran off the stage at the final performance and jumped on an airplane to get to my next gig, sometimes flying overnight to make it. It's no news to anyone that the economy sucks and that has had some major implications for my industry --- opera companies are continuing to close left and right, and the ones that are hanging in there are heavily into cost-cutting mode. We've had our share of tension over jobs and money in my household, like just about everyone else in the world. And to be perfectly honest, there's been a sort of  Catch-22 centering around the stress of weight gain and lack of motivation to work out, which in turn contribute to the general stress level.

But, the important thing is to keep working on it, and I feel I have been doing that, and am finally starting to get back on track. Yesterday I cooked up a big mess of kale and it was so good that that is all I had for dinner. I ate two bunches of kale and it was delicious. I bought lots of veggies at the grocery store on Sunday, and am bringing no refined carbs into the house whatsoever.

So there is it. There is nothing magical about it --- it's a day in, day out slog and sometimes it's better than others. Find the tools that help you and don't be discouraged if you have a bad moment --- it doesn't have to become a bad day. And a bad day doesn't have to become a bad week. And even if it does, you can recover from that. All you have to do is start over, as many times as it takes.

Every one of them counts.