Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Diet, What I Did Last Week and Some Recommendations If You Are Just Starting Out

1) Carmon asked me if I changed my eating habits in addition to starting exercise. I would say that for the most part, what I have done is learned what a portion is. I also don't eat a lot of junk or processed food. I do eat carbs, quite a lot of them, but a very high percentage of those are whole grain - mainly brown rice. When I want something sweet, I will often eat some Kashi Honey Almond Flax cereal, a few pieces of 85% Dark Lindt Chocolate or something that has some redeeming value, rather than just a bunch of empty calories.

For a month or so, I used FitDay to track what I ate and the exercise I did, which helped me learn to recognize how much I can eat - and I was really surprised by the large number of calories I could consume and not gain (and actually lose) weight. One of my favorite things to eat is 1 cup of brown rice with 1/4 cup of almonds or cashews, with 1/2 cup of yummy Brown Cow Farm WHOLE MILK yogurt, with instant espresso powder in the yogurt. I often eat that after I exercise in the morning. I also like to make a chicken quesadilla with whole grain corn tortillas, about 1/2 cup grilled chicken, 1/3 cup or so mixed sharp cheddar/pepper jack cheese and some onion - this must be cooked in a cast iron skillet to get the right kind of outside on the quesadilla!! This is sooooo good with the yogurt, too!!

Anyway, did I answer Carmon's question? I guess the answer is that I don't diet per se, and eat whatever I want in moderation, and usually what I want is fairly healthy...but if I want something that isn't, that's fine, too. That way of eating, plus exercise 5-6 days per week, seems to be a lifestyle I can maintain without feeling totally deprived or worn out. I have slowly but steadily lost weight doing this - I don't have a scale, but I weighed 172 at the end of my last pregnancy (only gained 17 with this one, thanks to exercise!!), and two months later at a midwife appointment I weighed 145. I haven't weighed since then, but judging by how my clothes fit and how I look in general, I think I have lost another 10-12 lbs. So, you can see this is not an infomercial on How to Lose That Tub O' Lard In 48 Hours, but it is working slowly but steadily for a woman pushing 40, who is trying to stay as fit and lean as possible. Whether I will need to change things up a bit when I start the menopause thing, only God knows (being totally omniscient, He even knows seemingly trivial things like that.)

2) One thing it took a while to learn is how much of each kind of exercise was best for my body. I think I've figured that out, but I still like to have a variety to choose from within each exercise type - and sometimes I want to put a special focus on a particular thing. Right now I am going to the chiropractor to take care of my long-standing back pain, and so I am trying to focus on my "core" area, which includes the lower back. Plus, I have a friend at church who has really great abs and she has inspired me to work mine more ;-) So, last week I wrote down what my "ideal" week of exercise would consist of, and then I wrote down what I "actually" got done.

Here is my Ideal List (don't worry if you don't know what any of this stuff is, or what the workouts are like...I am going to review every workout I own on this blog eventually)

- 3 cardio or 2 cardio and 1 aerobic weight training (such as The Firm)
- 2 full body weights or 1 weight and 1 AWT
- 3 barre (such as Squeeze, Lotte Berk, Pure Barre, Bar Method, Fluidity) - these workouts are all isometric strength exercises done using mostly body weight...they are tough but fun! The barre you see in the front right of the picture at the blog top is used for this kind of exercise.
- 4x abs/core
- 1 stretch/pilates or yoga

Last week, I did pretty good getting all this in:

M - Various exercises from Squeeze (which includes good ab stuff), some work with a 15 lb kettlebell, and a long walk outside pushing a stroller
T - Leslie Sansone 4 Fast Miles (which has intervals of fast walking and jogging), kettlebell
W - Fluidity Advanced (which has good abs), and a few exercises with 15lb dumbbells
Th - Simply Step with Gin Miller
F - Strong Body, Ageless Body with Erin O'Brien, The Firm Ab Sculpt, short walk with stroller
Sat - Leslie Sansone 2 Mile Express (1 mile jogging on rebounder), Lotte Berk High Round Assets (basically lotsa work fer yer buns), Kathy Smith 10 minute Core Matrix

The only thing I missed was 1 full session of flexibility, but all the barre work includes lots of stretching. So, that was a good week.

And just so you know, just 7 months ago, I physically could NOT have done all this, so you can see how fitness is something that increases as you work at it, and it often sneaks up on you, just how fit you have become ;-).

I want to get this posted tonight, so I will save the recommendations for next time.

9 comments:

Barbieri Family said...

I'm here, reading with interest. I think I feel a little tinge of what might be inspiration to actually start exercizing? Hmm...not sure yet. Keep posting and I'll let you know! (-;

Judy in TX said...

Hey! I'm here too!

Barbieri Family said...

p.s. anyone who follows the link to the blog associated with me, I dont keep it up anymore, sorry.

The Protsley said...

Good stuff. I've had to put my workout on hold indefinitely. I tore up my shoulder and now I can no longer work my upper body. They've even restricted me from riding my bike to work for the next week! Keep it up.

Carmon Friedrich said...

Fascinating, Samantha...and yes, you answered my question beautifully. I'm going to have some more questions after I get home from my wonderful vacation where I'm eating quite a bit more than I do at home, and will need some inspiration to get rid of the results :-). My pre-menopausal body is not as forgiving of those things as it once was :-).

A Hopeful Hollar Knits said...

It's great that you are having that "whole" view of eating and exercise. For me it really seems to take away all those crazy food fears/binges. I look forward to witnessing your continued success.

Mare said...

What an impressive way to get the non-sedentary thing on. You have your own barre, and rebounder? And older children to mind younger children! Such an example of a well-structured life!!!

Yes, it IS amazing how many 'cals & carbs' we can eat... fitness seems to be about metabolism, and we sure seem to be designed for magnificence!

I hope you explain the barre practicalities, like how you came to commit to having your own. Love it.

Marla said...

the uh... barre?? thingy... sounds like an old fashioned torture device, and yet you call it fun?! (Just kidding!)
Since we became friends, you have inspired many changes in my life... but the barre? I just don't know about that one. We'll see!

Samantha said...

Marla, in your delicate condition, a barre workout might indeed feel like torture! I couldn't do much of that kind of exercise until the baby was born!

I also thought I would never be able to do pushups because they were soooo hard, but it was a duh moment when I realized I was 8 months pregnant and trying to hoist up this huge weight on my belly.

;-)