You get what you measure

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So measure  what you want.

Not as easy as it sounds when what you want is to be a little more active. How do you measure an entire day’s activity?

Turns out, there’s an app for that.

The fitbit is a small device you wear all day that measures every step you take. But it’s more than a pedometer. It tracks when you’re active and when you’re sedentary. At night the fitbit is worn on the provided wristband and it tracks your sleep. All this data uploads wirelessly to your account and is displayed in a convenient dashboard.

FitBit

Image by mrcd@sbcglobal.net via Flickr

You get what you measure. And this measures what I want.

We can do this!

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Does this study prove Plan B is right?

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Plan B is not about a workout routine and *shudder* diet.

Plan B is about lifestyle. And, now, there is a study that seems to validate that.

Cancer Linked to Prolonged Sitting: MyFoxDC.com

Now this doesn’t mean a daily workout is a waste of time.

It means that if we start every day with a 30-minute run and then go sit for 6 or 7 hours we undo all the good our workout accomplished.

So get up outta that chair once an hour and get active for 5 minutes! How hard can that be?

We can do this!

Study Links Sitting to Cancer Risk – Fox News Video – Fox News.

Step 3 Control and Substitution

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The last step I took was the big cutback of sweets.

I only ate very limited sweets as a treat and only up to 75 calories. One Hershey Kiss usually took care of the desire for something sweet. And I could eat just one at this point. It helped to switch to lots of natural sweets like fruit which keep you satisfied and full. That’s what the Mayo Clinic recommends in its newest food pyramid.

Truthfully, by the time the first 2 steps were firmly established I wasn’t craving the sweets any more. My son and daughter-in–law bought us an ice cream maker so we could make our own fruit and sugar-free concoctions. It was a change to a way of life that was unhealthy. Processed sugar was bad, natural sugar is good. Limit the artificial sweeteners if you can. Before the advent of food processing, our ancestors made everything from scratch and their everyday living kept the weight off. Our lives are too convenient as are our foods. Once again. Time to keep it SIMPLE. And Healthy. We are only granted one life. Shouldn’t we try to make it the best life we can?

K.I.S.S.

You know, you won’t be so stupid anymore if you learn to keep it simple and healthy.

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Sealed with a KISS?

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On to Step 2, the next 3 months.

After about 3 months of getting control of my portions, it was time for the really hard step…elimination of “white”. White sugar, white rice, white bread, white flour, white potatoes. I switched to brown rice, whole grain bread, whole wheat flour. I don’t like sweet potatoes, so I just eliminated potatoes altogether. For the whole wheat flour, I would just go ½ and ½ with the white flour or the recipe would end up dry and heavy. As to the white sugar, that’s another story.

As a carb addict, white sugar was a staple in my diet, whether it was candy, cake, cookies or some other sweet confection. This was going to kill me. The deprivation feeling kicked in. The other “whites” really weren’t too hard, but the sugar…

sweet!

Image by happy via via Flickr

I elected to use Truvia in my cooking. It leaves little after taste and is a natural plant product called stevia. And it didn’t work at first. It didn’t give my cookies the right consistency like regular sugar does, So, I started experimenting. It took using ¼ of the sugar to ¾ of the Truvia to make it right. And then I found sugar-free chocolate morsels!

And found out if you eat more than a couple cookies made with them that there were a few extra trips to the restroom. Just like with most sugar-free candy. But I could still have chocolate chip cookies once in a while in stage 2.

By going back to the less refined, SIMPLE things, I could give myself a healthier diet that would keep my weight going down.

I once heard an acronym, K.I.S.S.

Keep It Simple, Stupid.

I remind myself every day that the simple things in life are best. KISS. I like that. And I could have my hubby give me a kiss as a reminder when I might head off track. Much better than words that could hurt my feelings and make me give in.

KISS. I definitely like that.

Lipstick Kiss

Image by Enokson via Flickr

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I’ve lost about 50 pounds.

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I still have a lot more to go.

It was a small triumph in a lifelong battle with obesity and one I’m still fighting. None of the normal approaches to weight loss seemed to work for me. And I was tired of asking for a seat belt extender on planes, of sitting in an uncomfortable narrow seat at the movies and of people looking at me like I was a disease they would catch if they sat next to me. So I decided to search myself and find what would, hopefully, work for me.

 

What I found out about myself is that I have an “addictive” personality. I can fast for days without a problem, but that’s not healthy when you have a lot of weight to lose. I have issues with feeling deprived. Tell me I can’t have something and it becomes an obsession to have it. These are just two of my issues and I’m sure there are others, but these are the ones that seemed to be my biggest problems with my inability to control my weight. So I decided that I needed to change how I managed my weight issues.

 

Step 1- I decided not to rush. It took me 30 years to put the weight on, so I was going to go slower than I had in the past in getting it off. I decided that the first thing I would change was the portion size I ate. I would eat off a luncheon plate. A smaller plate would make it appear that my plate was full but I was actually eating less. This is a common recommendation to dieters. At restaurants, I would order off the children’s menu. Surprisingly, most restaurants had no problem with that. And I always tipped the server a little more since the child’s portion was considerable less in cost. If what I wanted wasn’t

on the children’s menu, my husband and I would split an order or I would only eat half of what was on my plate. My Dad used to have them put half in a to-go box before bringing his order out to the table. No temptation to eat more than half. We’d laugh at him, but its actually a good idea. I’d still have any foods I wanted and my dessert, but only within the “eat half” guidelines.

That was Step 1. For 3 months I did that. What those 3 months accomplished was to get me used to eating less and accepting it as a new habit. No rush, no deprivation. My A1C blood sugar levels started dropping lower and so did my cholesterol.

 

I kept it simple. I felt good. And I dropped a dress size. Time for the next “change”.

 

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Aging and Metabolism

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This article caught my eye.

Weight gain is a common occurrence as people get older because the body’s metabolism slows as we age. Thankfully, exercise can help mitigate this weight gain…

Physical activity plays a role in both body composition and metabolism during the aging process. Research shows that most individuals gradually reduce their level of physical activity as they age, which further reduces their number of calories needed to maintain weight. Less activity also means less use of the body’s muscles, which contributes to the general decline in muscle mass and subsequent changes in body composition… Several studies have shown that resistance (i.e. weight) training alone can boost metabolism and offset the decline seen with aging. There is also some newer research that is suggesting that endurance (i.e. aerobic) exercise can be beneficial in offsetting the decline in metabolism and associated weight gain with aging.

via Aging and Metabolism.

Simple and logical. It doesn’t say we have to go to the gym or to aerobics classes. Most of us don’t have time for that these days. I know I sure don’t. However, by strapping on some ankle weights while walking around the office or even sitting in your chair and marching in place under your desk, you can achieve a similar result, maybe just a little slower. And wrist weights while filing and typing can add a little weight training to your  upper body for a start. Be creative with your weight training, small steps at a time and eventually you may find ways to increase your range  by finding different ways to utilize your office space without changing your work flow.

Same works at home. I’m a recliner potato, but there is no reason I can’t  do upper body work with wrist weight while watching my favorite shows on TV, or marching in place while washing the dishes. Or doing squats while loading the dishwasher instead of straining my back bending over, or vacuuming with enthusiasm and long stretches. Use what you do regularly already and add weights or speed or stretches to keep those muscles tones and heart pumping. Who needs a gym? Not me. By the way, various sizes of food cans and detergent bottles make great weights. Just move them around a whole lot more.

My daughter-in-law straps old socks on and mops her floor by doing side sliding back and forth. She plays her favorite music. Great work out for legs and heart. It improves her core muscles. Her nieces and nephew wanted in on the action and they had a ball while getting a chore done and spent some fun time together. Brilliant!

The idea of Plan B is a great one. Plan A didn’t work. Find what does work for you and use it to your advantage.

Sometimes the simple things work best.

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Plan B: Measure what matters

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Not everything that can be counted counts.- Attributed to A. Einstein

Wellness plans almost always start with counting things.

Dieting? Count calories. or carbs. or points.

Exercising? Count miles. or reps. or steps.

For diabetics like me, none of those matter.

Calories don’t matter.

Pounds don’t matter.

Steps don’t matter.

What does matter?

Annual A1C Blood Test 1

Image by programwitch via Flickr

A1C.

Fasting glucose.

Total cholesterol.

Nothing will impact the long-term wellness of a diabetic more than those three numbers. Nothing.

Every MBA in the world knows you get what you measure.

So measure what matters.

And then adapt your behaviors so that you get the results that matter.

We can do this.

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Plan A: Join a gym or start running every morning.

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How’s that workin’ out for you?

According to Medical News Today, 80 percent of 40 million Americans who have bought gym memberships are not using them.

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/348-smart-shopping-gym-memberships/#ixzz17vX28cZs

Plan B is about finding something that you will actually DO!

What if exercise could be fun? What if you enjoyed it so much that you couldn’t wait to start?

That would be a game-changer, wouldn’t it?

By now, you must have figured out that I’m going somewhere with this.

What if you could join something like that?

That would be fun. I bet you wouldn’t miss it. Ever!

And, while you’re having fun, you’d be getting a great cardio workout.

But, where could you find something like that to join?

You’d be surprised.

This past Saturday I toured a place where you can do just that

The Patel Conservatory.

We can do this.

They can help.

I’ll explain in the next post.

 

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Slow and Steady: Sounds like Plan B to me

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We won’t find wellness in a bottle of pills.

Boston - Copley Square: The Tortoise and the Hare

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We really want to believe there’s a magic bullet, but sadly, weight loss is as unsexy as loading up on veggies and getting some exercise everyday.

When I hear people talking about the latest fad diet, it reminds me of the people that talk about what they’d do if they won the lottery — it’s easier to daydream than to hunker down and do the work.

via Slow and Steady: Physical and Fiscal Fitness – FoxBusiness.com.

We’ll achieve wellness by eating a little smarted and being a little more active.

We can do this!

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Eating smarter can be tricky

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Unfortunately, there are a number of calorie counting myths that people fall for that will cost them results in the long run. By making yourself aware of these myths, you can be sure that they won’t to affect your progress.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2010/11/24/calorie-counting-myths/#ixzz16Wl64Wn6

Gimmicks, fads,and myths will lead to failure.
Knowledge leads to success.
We can do this!
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