And a Partridge in a Pear Tree

I gave my pool workout a festive shake-up today!  My weekday swim has been 1200 yards for awhile now, the way I challenge myself is by shaving off time and doing more lengths of each stroke before switching strokes.  I started by doing 4 lengths front crawl and 4 lengths back stroke and repeating that set six times.  recently I had upped that to 8 lengths front and 8 back and repeating that set only 3 times for 48 lengths.

On my walk to the gym today I decided I was going to try to increase my lengths again and try 12 front and 12 back twice.  I also decided to use the 12 Days of Christmas to help me, as I am a total nerd.

For the 1st 12 front crawl I just tried to sort all the 12 Days out in my head, turns out I had my birds mixed up in the beginning and had no idea who did what after 8 Maids a Milking.

The second 12 on my back I sang the song in my head as the members of the Muppets, as anyone of my generation would.

The 3rd 12 length set had me remembering various illustrations of the 12 days, which really helped sort out the problem in set #1.

And finally on my 4th 12 length set I replaced all the original values with alcohol, can't wait for 12 Shots of Patron on January 7th!

In the end I did my 48 lengths in 3 minutes less than my previous best time, proved I had endurance for 300 yards of each stroke at a time and had a really enjoyable swim!

Sometimes the Plan is No Plan

No, I haven't forgotten the advantages of planning all of a sudden.  Nor have I gotten soft around the holidays, but I discovered Sunday at the gym that my plan was holding me back a little.

Lately my treadmill work out has been 30 or 45 minutes, either 2 or 3 reps of this:

1. 5 Minutes Slow
2. 5 Minutes Less Slow
3. 5 Minutes Jog (and that is a very generous term for walking faster but actually lifting both feet off the treadmill at once)


I was convinced that 5 minutes was all I could "jog" at this point and I was set in this pattern.  On Sunday I did the same 45 minutes, but I shook up the order and did 2 "jog" blocks back-to-back.  For those of you with math skills like mine, that means I "jogged" for 10 minutes straight.

By challenging my plan I learned I could do a 10 minute "jog" with relative ease.  The other day in the pool I was set on doing 1000 yards, but once in the pool I felt good enough to do 1200.

Planning is crucial for me, but I can't let my plan convince me of limitations I don't have any more.

On the Road Again

So I survived Thanksgiving!  More than survived actually, I had a great week.  I didn't feel I deprived myself of anything and balanced the delicious food with time in the gym and managed to lose a couple pounds over the past 2 weeks.

My next challenge hits on Monday when I head on a short business trip.  I used to travel a ton for work and that frequency has greatly diminished.  I hope my bad travel habits diminished as well.

If you travel for work you know what I am talking about.  Routine goes out the window, food and booze are abundant and ducking out of a gathering to work out is rude or even a bad career move.  Meals are much larger than normal too, who eats dessert with lunch? Hotel gyms are usually small and not motivating.

Add to that the fact that this trip has been touted as "jam-packed with events" and I am nervous. There is no pre-published agenda.  I don't know what I am walking in to.  The best I can do is walk in prepared.

I have already packed my gym clothes and sneakers.  I plan to stock my carry on with protein bars, fruit and almonds. I am going to stick to 1 glass of red wine at the evening events and try to set my alarm early enough to get a work out in at least 2 days.

Anyone else have any travel tips for the health conscious?  Please leave a comment below, thanks!

Dressing Room Victory Dance

Twice a year my mom takes me shopping for clothes, once for my birthday in the summer and once around now for Christmas. We wander the department and each pick up a few things for me to try on and then I trudge to the dreaded dressing room to see what I can squeeze in to.

On Black Friday I happily skipped around the department selecting items in a smaller size and when I met up with my mother I found she had items TWO sizes smaller than what we bought in July.  I was dubious.  And scared.  I didn't want to try something on that didn't fit yet.

She assured me she thought the things she picked would fit.

They did.

Seriously, I almost cried in the dressing room.  Then I danced.

Planning the Perfect Plate

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and as in all eating endeavors lately I have made a plan.  I have divided my dinner into 3 categories, I am calling them The Good, The Bad and The Expendable.

The Good

1. Turkey -- I only like white meat turkey and have no interest in the skin, so the star of the show is definitely in the good column for me.

2.  Salad -- We are starting with a lovely fall salad of greens, heirloom tomatoes, pears and pomegranate with a homemade pear balsamic dressing.

3.  Veggies -- All our veggies come to the table healthy.  I have a niece with a dairy allergy so no butter or milk in the mashed potatoes, nothing but olive oil & herbs on the roasted squash and brussel sprouts and carrots.

The Bad

1.  Stuffing -- My mom makes the best stuffing in the world (said most people on Thanksgiving).  She makes half in the bird and mixes it with some made in a casserole dish giving it a nice balance of moist and not-greasy, but it is still not even close to healthy.

2.  Gravy -- Speaking of grease....and deliciousness.  I only eat gravy once or twice a year.  I'm having it (see what I'm skipping instead).

3.  Pie -- Homemade pumpkin pie with a delicious homemade crust.  Yep, not skipping it.

The Expendable

1.  Rolls -- I love bread as much as the next gal, but I would rather have a little more stuffing than a roll & butter.  Speaking of...

2.  Butter -- Mom's gravy is so good I skip the butter on my potatoes and just do gravy and pepper.

3.  Ice Cream -- A little dollop of whipped cream on my pie is fine, save the ice cream for the kids!

I figure if my plate has more of the Good and less of the Bad I will be in good shape come Friday!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Ho Ho Holiday Temptations

When I started my path to a healthier lifestyle in July, I set a realistic goal for myself for that month. I knew my birthday and a cruise vacation would be too tempting to result in any significant weight loss.  My goal was not to gain any weight in July and in the end I lost 3 pounds that month.  I set some rules, especially for the vacation that I tried to stick to and in that same vein I present my goals for not gaining weight over the holidays:

1. Not Every Day is a Holiday: For me the holiday season runs from Thanksgiving through the 2nd week of January when I host a big dinner party for my friends, but not every day of those 7 weeks is a holiday.  On the normal days I need to follow normal rules about diet and exercise.

2. Not Every Meal is Special: On those days when there is a celebration or gathering there is no reason to blow the whole day.  Isolate the special meal and truly make it special by eating normally for the other meals of the day.

3.  No Treats Alone: I have blogged about living alone and I do, but during the holidays I spend a  lot of time with my family.  There is no excuse to eat treats alone.  That piece of pie, homemade cookie or box of delicious chocolates will be even sweeter with conversation and shared declarations of how truly tasty it is.  This makes you accountable for what you eat and makes it less about the food and more about the celebration.

4.  Gym 3X a Week (at least):  No excuses!

5.  Hydrate: Drinking water is the easiest of my habits to break and hydration is key for staying healthy and feeling full.

I feel confident in myself that if I stick to these 5 rules I will find the number on the scale to my satisfaction come January 13th!

GOALLLLL!!!!!

You may recall from the early days of this blog that I set a specific goal at the beginning of July as part of a long distance challenge.  I wasn't cut out for the long distance challenge really, but I did try to stick to the plan to achieve the goal.  The goal was a specific # of pounds on the scale by the Friday before Thanksgiving.

I am happy to report that with 1 week to go I have passed my goal weight by over a pound!  This was not a small amount of pounds either, as a coworker told me "this is a really big deal!"  I want to thank all of you that have been so supportive the past 4 months, who have gone on walks with me, eaten healthier in my presence and encouraged me, it has been an awesome 16 weeks.

I wish this meant I was done, but it does not, there are a lot more pounds to lose, but as we head into the holidays my goals are going to shift to maintenance until after New Years.  Tune in next week for my plan to not gain weight over the holidays!

Speed vs. Endurance

Speed v Endurance is the classic Tortoise and the Hare analogy, but does slow & steady always win the race? 

When I began swimming as exercise about 10 weeks ago I had neither speed nor endurance. I could swim 10 lengths of the pool (250 m) in a little under 30 minutes.  Pathetic.

Within a month I had built up both speed and endurance and could swim 30 lengths of the pool (750 m) in 30 minutes.  I was happy there for awhile and decided my next goal was increasing my endurance, swimming more lengths at the same pace and soon I could do 40 lengths in 40 minutes and can now do 60 lengths in 60 minutes.  While my time per length is the same I am keeping pace over a longer time span showing both cardio and muscle endurance.

My new challenge is to increase speed.  This week I shaved 2 minutes off my 40 length swim, doing 40 lengths in 38 minutes.  According to Fitbit that really upped my calorie burn, that little time savings pushed my cardio level up a notch.

This same formula can be applied to any cardio workout, but balancing speed and endurance is key to a sustainable workout plan.  I have 3 pool days a week, right now I am going to focus 2 of them on increasing speed (primarily because they are week days when I truly have less time to spend in the pool) and my weekend swim will focus on endurance when I can spend 60 minutes in the pool.

I would like to swim a mile in under an hour (I know that sounds crazy to you runners, but try it some time) by the end of November.  How do you balance speed and endurance in your cardio workout?

40 Days of Org Update

So I grossly underestimated how long 40 Days of Org was going to take.  It will certainly go long past 40 Days, but I also underestimated how fun it would be.  I have enjoyed unburdening myself and while I have become lighter, it has been a pleasure to make my surroundings lighter as well.

Here is a before and after view of a wall in my bedroom as an example.  Now like all good "before" pics, I took it at the absolute worst:

You can see 2 tall bookcases (one of which I had already unloaded the books from but instead of actually removing it, I just shoved other stuff on it...oy!).  I eventually got rid of both tall bookcases and replaced them with a wider, but shorter one from another room.  This is the result:

Same wall, but it is now much more open and clean.  I am going to hang something in the white space, but for now I am enjoying the brightness.  It also makes the space easier to clean, better access to the floor for sweeping and less to dust on the bookcase.

I am happy to report that after finally switching over my closet to winter clothes, I am officially done with the bedroom ORG.  Also done is the bathroom and living room leaving me just the hall and kitchen, both big projects but perfectly timed to go into the holidays.

Small Victories

First of all, my apologies for the lag time between posts.  This is a particularly crazy time at work and I am reading War & Peace, spare time is slim.

I needed to post today though to report something of note:  I bought NO Halloween candy this year, none.  Not a single bag.

Now before you accuse me of being some child-hating non-American, I don't get trick or treaters in my 3rd floor apartment with the security doors.  Every bag of Halloween candy I have ever bought has been for me.

Last year, as the Boston Red Sox marched towards the World Series Championship, I had lots of baseball-watching gatherings in October and for each I bought a big bag of Halloween candy.  I probably bought 10 or 12 bags last year.  This year...NONE.

40 Days of Savings

While I am wrapping up 40 Days of Organizing (you'll see some photographic evidence of that next week) I am going to launch 40 Days of Savings!

Those of you that read my previous blog will remember that I went on a diet and a budget at the same time and it is amazing how related the 2 issues can be.  They are both about planning and control.

So like the concept of 40 Days of Fitness, my hope for 40 Days of Savings is to set some good habits and put away a little money for the holidays and beyond.

Here are some of my goals:

1.  Open a Savings Account:  I know this seems simple, most small children have Savings Accounts, but I don't. If you have a good online Savings account please pass along the info in the comments.

2.  Piggy Bank the Change: I keep my change in a little milk jug on my desk, but inevitably I cave and cash it in when it is like $10.  I am going to leave it untouched for the next 40 Days and cash it in before Thanksgiving for a little extra Christmas cash.

3.Write it all down: On the back of my weekly plan I am tracking my spending.  I set a spending limit for the week based on my plan and track against it, recording my final balance each week.

I don't expect to save a ton of money in only 40 Days, but like the other 40 Day Challenges I hope this one creates healthy habits that I can hang on to.

Single Girl Rules

So I am single.  Really single.  Not in a long term relationship where we don't need to be technically married because we are so awesome together, but truly single. I have lived on my own for 15 years with no one to share the joys and burdens of day-to-day life.  Sometimes this is great and sometimes this is sad, but most of the time it is great.

Here are some general Pros and Cons of single life:

Pro:  No one else is dictating food choices in my apartment.
Con:  Sometimes my food choices are an entire bag of Oreos for dinner.

Pro:  No one is nagging me to do the dishes.
Con:  No one else EVER does the dishes.

Pro:  All the money I have is mine.
Con:  So are ALL the bills.

The three examples above will all be evident here on this blog as things I struggle with:  food, household organization and money.  I realize these are pretty normal struggles for almost everyone, but managing them alone is different.  No one shares the hardship and no one sees the small victories.

I am not whining.  I have whined about being single in the past and it gets me absolutely nowhere.  I am very good at being on my own, but unless you have lived alone for a long period of time it is tough to truly understand what it is like.  So consider this a shout out to all the single girls (and guys) out there that are getting it done, on their own.

Mixin' It Up

This past Sunday I went on a hike.  Outside.  In nature.  I have lived in a  city for 18 years, sure I went to college in Maine, but I have lived in a city for 18 years.  I don't hike.

The idea was inspired by a local newspaper piece about spooky trails to hike in New England (for those of you in MA, we went to Freetown State park in Assonet, it wasn't the least bit spooky) and I put it out there to our regular Girls' Night crowd as an alternate activity (generally our outings involve vodka and good food).

It was a blast!  Now don't go signing me up for any mountain climbs or anything, I almost fell down standing still, but I kept up with my friends (one has actually climbed some mountains and the other has run marathons) and while I was slightly startled by a dog I thought was a deer... I did pretty well.

The moral of this story is, it was a great work out -- lots of steps, some hills and uneven terrain making it a little more challenging than those same # of steps in the city.   It was a beautiful day and we had a lot of laughs.  It didn't feel like a workout, it felt like a fun day out.

I kicked off 40 Days of Fitness over 2 months ago and while the 40 days are long up I have continued with the goal of making each day more active.  Having fun outings like Sunday make that super easy.

How do you combine exercise with fun?  What do you do to avoid workout boredom?  I'd love some tips, please leave a comment.  Thanks!

Working Out the Brain

Meet my challenge for the next 8 weeks!  For the next 8 Thursdays I am stepping out of the gym and into a classroom to read the one big gaping hole in my Russian Literature cannon.  It is going to be a very different kind of work out.

Luckily I am embarking on the journey with my college roommate.  She and I read a lot of the big long scary Russian novels together 20 years ago, so I have faith we can conquer War & Peace.

Here is some sage advice for those of you still in or much closer to the college experience than I:

1.  You will miss going to class some day, enjoy it while it lasts.

2.  Take calculated risks in college, the stakes aren't nearly as high as you think they are.  To this day I kick myself for not taking a studio art class.  I thought it would be hard, I thought I might not get a good grade, I thought I might embarrass myself with my stick figure drawings.  Who cares?  No one.  I'm not saying load your schedule with every random thing you want to try, but don't hesitate to try the few things you think are too silly, because they are not.

3. Your college roommate can be the person who knows you better than almost anyone else.  That will mean a lot in the years that follow.

And so my War & Peace journey begins... "Eh bien, mon prince, Genes et Lucques ne sont plus que des apanages..." Wait, this book starts in French?  Mon Dieu!

Sweet Enough as I Am

Like most Americans, I eat WAY too much sugar.  Breaking the sugar habit is tough, your body craves the stuff.  Here are a couple things I did to curb the white siren.

1. Swap Dessert -- Even when I was eating my healthiest I always slotted calories for dessert.  Every night.  This time around I am only allowing myself a real sweet treat on the weekend.  On weeknights my after dinner treat is fruit (fresh or dried). It is still sweet and still has sugars, but at least it also has vitamins and fiber.  It also makes the weekend dessert seem like a real splurge.  And those weekend splurges are portion sized (to avoid the fistfuls of Chips Ahoy).

2.  No Fake Outs -- I have almost entirely removed fake sweeteners from my life.  No more diet soda, no more Crystal Light, no more Starbucks skinny syrup, no more artificially sweet yogurt.  Fake sugar may save you calories in the short term, but it tricks your body into wanting more and more of the white stuff.  The last vestige of chemical sweetener in my life is in the occasional piece of gum.  Anyone have a good low sugar all-natural gum?

3. Go Halfsies -- I like Honey Nut Cheerios.  There, I said it, I am a five year old.  I also like real Cheerios, so I buy a small box of each and mix them together.  I enjoy a Pumpkin Spice Latte this time of year, but won't use the fake sugar syrup at Starbucks, so I have them go half on the syrup and it is still plenty sweet. Want a soda? Buy the tiny cans they sell in the grocery store (a friend gave me this idea and it is awesome).

4.  Make Better Choices -- This is my mantra for all things food related.  Want that soda?  Get a ginger ale instead of a Coke and save 10 grams of sugar per 8 oz serving.  Want chocolate?  Buy a single serving of Cadbury or even Godiva, sure it is a splurge but if you are going to eat it make sure it is really good - and portion controlled!

How do you cheat the sugar game?  If you have a good tip please leave a comment, thanks!

The Power of Positive Women

 

 

If I could give one piece of advice to my 20 year old self now that I am 40, it would be to make sure you surround yourself with good women.  I did that any way, but it would have been nice to know it would work out so well for me.  This swirling nostalgia that 40 has brought on, coupled with the great outreach of Social Media has reminded me just how wonderful all the women in my life are.

 

I got off on the right foot, I have a great Mom (my dad ain't half bad either, butt his post is about chicks).  My mother is kind and generous and smart and hard working, she supported my choices (even when they took me very far from home) and she respects the life I have made for myself (even though it is very different from her own).

 

I forged great friendships in school with girls that had ambition and open minds, some of whom I keep in close contact with and some I have rediscovered as wonderful women on Facebook.

 

And there is a special place in my heart for the friends I have made as an adult.  We were not forced together by the rigors of school to unite over chemistry homework or cute boys, we chose each other amidst our busy lives and carved out the time to form bonds.

 

Friendship, at any age, isn't easy; it requires time and commitment and the willingness to listen and share.  Not all friendships succeed and that is another lesson I have come to appreciate.  A failed friendship is not a condemnation, but merely a sign that you were each meant to find a different friend.

 

What I have at 40 is a great group of women who support one another in all things.  We challenge each other to be better, we motivate when needed, we comfort when called upon.  Life isn't always easy, but the hard parts are a little softer with the right kind of support.  Thanks!

 



Stick to the Plan, Ann!

Remember that old adage: "Failing to plan is planning to fail."  Well, it's true - especially in the world of diet and exercise.  Without a plan it is so easy to devolve into take-out and sitting on the couch for hours on end (those things require nearly no planning).

In past forays into a healthy lifestyle I always kept a food journal (and I still am) but the food journal is retroactive to what you ate or how you worked out, a plan is proactive.  Maybe I am just more addle-minded than I used to be (over 40 now!) or maybe I should have been doing it this way to begin with.

The photo above is last week.  I created a simple Excel chart for meals/snacks/workouts and I set it and printed it on Sunday evening.  Throughout the week I marked off those things that went as planned and annotated those that deviated.  Hopefully as I get better at planning the annotations will be fewer.

Life doesn't always go according to plan and if you have partners and kids and pets the weekly plan will likely look a whole lot more complex than mine, but here are some advantages to setting up a plan:

1. Shopping List -- If you know what you are going to eat you can set up a list for the grocery store and then avoid wandering aimlessly throwing Chips Ahoy packages by the fistful into your cart.

2. Identify Danger -- Maybe it is a bunch of social obligations in one week or the opposite and you are facing a whole weekend alone with nothing but you and the thoughts of all those Chips Ahoy, but if you lay out your week in advance you can plan for that instead of finding yourself facing too much temptation.

3. Retrospective -- Like a food journal you can keep these printed plans (I have a binder just calling out for them) and look back on weeks that you succeeded or struggled and see what you did well or could have done better.  If you stick to this for an extended period you can look back year on year and see how you handled the holidays or vacation and tweak your plans as you progress.

Obviously, you do not need to be trying to lose weight to utilize a meal and exercise plan.  This is actually as much a part of #40DaysOfOrganizing as it is anything else, but anyone who has struggled with weight loss knows that one of the biggest issues for many is control.  By having a good plan you are taking control of your week from the beginning and starting off on a good foot.

Anyone else have a good life organization technique they use and would like to share?  Please leave a comment!

40 Days of Veggies Wrap-Up

So 40 Days of Veggies is technically over and I feel it was a worthwhile challenge.  I didn't eat as many different types of veggies as I would have liked, but I did consistently eat more locally grown vegetables than I had been prior to the challenge.

Since it was the height of summer harvest during the challenge I ate a lot of:  tomatoes, corn, zucchini, summer squash, eggplant, peppers, potatoes and carrots from the Farmer's Market in Copley Square.  I also found a lot of herbs and garlic with which to experiment.

A few things I learned during 40 Days of Veggies:

1.  If the vegetable can handle it, chop it and store it chopped.  Zucchini, summer squash and even eggplant would hold up to 5 days pre-chopped in a big Ziploc bag.  Then I could just toss a handful or two into tomato sauce or a stir-fry for those late dinners after the gym.  Pre-cut carrots easily lasted a week for snacking.

2.  The Farmer's Market is a great place to try things.  Most stalls will let you try a vegetable if it can be eaten raw.  And with everything out open to the air you can really smell things and get a feel for them.

3.  Lots of yummy things are still yummy without meat. I had a lot of veggie omelets, pizza and pasta dishes that felt worse for me than they were because I usually had them with meat.  I used meat sparingly over the 40 days, mostly chicken and fish and I never used any fake meat to supplement the veggies.

I have gotten into a routine of visiting the Farmer's Market on Tuesday, it is a nice walk and convenient to the library which I usually visit weekly any way.  It will run into late November, the veggies shifting over to fall, so I am still eager for any veggie recipes out there, especially if they involve root vegetables!

The Joys of Swimming

It has been a month now since I joined the new gym and you may remember I was very excited that it had a pool.  I have always loved to swim.  I remember going through all the fish-named levels of swimming lessons at summer camp, with that goal of diving off the 3 meter board to reach Shark.  I have loved the water my whole life and have always considered myself a good swimmer.

Swimming for exercise instead of fun is a fish of a different color though and I quickly learned that paddling around the ocean is not really exercise.  On my first day in the pool I was barely able to do 10 lengths of the pool in 30 minutes (and it is a short pool).  I was winded easily and had a hard time coordinating my limbs and my breathing to be more efficient.

A month later I can do 40 lengths in that same 30 minutes and I have mixed up my strokes to work different muscle groups.  I can feel improvement to endurance at the cardiac, respiratory and muscle levels and I feel really good.

Swimming works your whole body, especially your core, which I didn't realize is part of what is keeping me from sinking.  By changing up strokes I feel it in different muscles, but I never feel it in my joints.  In fact, if I do a swimming workout the day after a really tough class or gym workout I find my knees, hips and back (the middle-age trifecta) feel better.

After a few weeks of swimming and making the above discoveries I decided to research swimming as exercise and found this article which told me everything I had already figured out.  It made me feel really good about my experience in the pool.

Do you swim for exercise?  Any tips?  Please share in the comments, thanks!

Perspective

I was going to write about vegetables today, but it seemed kind of silly.  Part of being 40 has been this endless loop of nostalgia and gratitude for a happy healthy life and it is hard to go through a September 11th anniversary without some retrospect.

My morning today started with a phone call from a friend and former co-worker who shared a part of that horrific day with me, we always think of each other on the anniversary and I will always remember her mom who was the one who called and told me what was going on in New York.

There are several moments in my life that I remember clearly.  I remember singing Happy Birthday to a classmate in 7th Grade English in January of 1986 when the Principal announced that the Challenger had exploded.  I remember standing in the living room watching the Berlin Wall come down in November of 1989 after having just visited it the previous April.  I can still feel the pain of the day in December 2003 when my mom told me she had cancer.

September 11th was different.  I can see it so clearly, I can remember the whole day minute by minute.  I can see myself in my office before the news had reached me, as if I can see a different me.  We changed that day.  I can see my outfit, jeans and a long sleeve purple tee shirt, comfortable shoes that proved a smart choice as I walked home unsure what was safe and what wasn't.  The blue of the sky in Boston that day was stunning, the air clean and just starting to hint towards Fall.

I went to the grocery store and can remember everything I bought: a roasting chicken, potatoes, Stove Top and cranberry sauce -- I was making myself Thanksgiving dinner without realizing it.  I lived in a  studio apartment and could see the television from my bed across the room, but instead slept folded onto the loveseat afraid of missing something.

I find all the anniversary postings that say "Never Forget"  strange, as I can't imagine I could, even if I wanted to.

Reward for Lost....Pounds

People who struggle with their weight often feel very alone. It is ironic since the majority of people in the United States fight this battle, but it is true, even amongst my closest friends sometimes it is hard to articulate how I feel.  That is why I was so relieved when I brought up the topic for this blog post and found that I really am not alone, lots of people reward themselves with calories.

It can range from a big celebratory dinner, to after work drinks, to ice cream or a fancy coffee drink, but most of the treats we allow ourselves are full of calories.  So I have come up with a reward plan for myself that will support my good habits and not derail them.

Here are some of the keys to the plan:

1. Set reasonable benchmarks:  If you only have a reward planned for your end goal, and that goal is a long ways off, it will not be suitable motivation.  Have a few check points along the way every month or so where there are smaller rewards in place to provide bursts of motivation.

2.  Choose rewards that will propel you forward:  My first goal was 40 Days of Fitness and my reward was to invest in the new gym.  If I could prove to myself that I was dedicated to fitness this time, I was willing to spend the money.  Other rewards have included a subscription to a fitness magazine, some new music from last week's post and the next is a couple new workout tops (mine are getting big!).

3. Pampering isn't bad either, as long as it doesn't involve food:  A pedicure is on my list, my feet hurt from all this working out! My ultimate goal reward is a vacation, your soul needs to be rewarded too.

4.  Budget for your rewards:  Nothing sends me running to the Ben & Jerry's more than worrying about money, so don't bankrupt yourself.  Losing weight and getting fit takes time so plan the money for your rewards accordingly. (stay tuned for 40 Days of Savings coming up in October!)

5. A reward is different than a bribe: While the reward can certainly be a motivation, it should not be your sole motivation, the ultimate reward is how much better you can feel.


Have you found ways to reward yourself with something other than food?  Please share them in the comments, always looking for new ideas!

Soundtrack for Success

The evolution of portable music over my lifetime is staggering.  From my pre-teen days of taking the boom box down to the beach with 30 pounds of D batteries not lasting until sunset to my original Sony Walkman and Discman through an original MP3 Player the size of my thumb that only held 100 songs to one the size of a postage stamp that held 1,000 and now to my phone where all manner of distractions live.  Whew!  It's been an interesting 40 years for walking around and listening to music.

I LOVE music.  All kinds.  It is with this in mind that I am stumped by the fact that I cannot stand any of the 900 songs currently on my phone.  I spend most of my walk/workout fast-forwarding to find the perfect song only to end up listening to Josh Groban sing O Holy Night because I am tired of fast-forwarding..

I need music, not to set my pace for a workout, but rather to distract me long enough to get the workout in or extend it to a decent length.  I get bored easily on a treadmill or distracted by bunnies on a real walk.  I need the focus of good solid song lyrics to keep me on task.

So this is a call for your favorite workout tunes.  Don't be shy, I like the silly pop songs right alongside the deep songwriter pieces.  My favorite music combines great lyrics with unique instrumentation (currently LOVE ZZ Ward) but I am open to anything at this point.  Help me restock my IPod, leave some suggestions in the comments.  Thanks!

Where's My...?: 40 Days of Organizing

Up to now this blog has really focused on exercise and food (and subsequently so has my life), but it is Back to School time and I thought that would be a great time to start organizing.

The above quote spoke to me as I recently spent hours looking for a couple of things in my rather small one-bedroom city apartment.  If I had been more organized I could have used that wasted time on a workout or several episodes of Game of Thrones.

So today I launch 40 Days of Organizing.  Ironically I had to organize the organizing to have any hope of success.  I compiled a list of 40 things that need organizing.  They range in workload from something I could do in half an hour (a singular messy junk drawer) to longer weekend projects like closets.

I also added some life org to the list, things like organizing my recipes and making a gift idea list for Christmas will help ease me into fall/holiday time.

I don't have kids and I haven't been a full time student since Grad School over a decade ago, but early September always brings with it the desire to buy pencil cases and clean notebooks.  I am going to try and funnel that Back to School spirit into an organized apartment!

Please leave a comment with any great organizing tips, especially for small spaces.  Thanks!

Wrap Up: 40 Days of Fitness

So tomorrow marks the end of 40 Days of Fitness (which means I have been 40 for 40 days, yikes!) and I thought I would look back and see what I achieved in 40 Days.

When I came up with the 40 Days idea I really imagined it more as a day by day log of what I had done, but I see it more now as a way to focus on a couple of things during my fairly busy life, to set priorities and form good habits.  As a result, the end of 40 Days of Fitness does not mean I can go back to sitting on the couch for hours on end, it was merely a jumping off point.

Did I exercise every single day, no?  Did I think about it and plan my activity better?  Absolutely!  Here is what I have accomplished:

• Bought a Fitbit to help track movement and have averaged over 8,000 steps a day with that avg going up in the past 2 weeks to over 12,000 steps a day.

• Broke up with my old useless gym and found and joined my fabulous new gym where I have consistently worked out at least 4 times a week for the past couple weeks, including lots of swimming and a regular Zumba class.

• Improved my endurance.  I can walk and swim farther faster than I could 40 days ago.  True confession:  a walk to the library that I used to do without thinking about it had necessitated a break in the middle 40 days ago. Now I am back to an acceptable pace and I don't even think about stopping.

• Lost 15 pounds.  While weight loss is not my ONLY goal, it is one of them and it is the easiest to measure.

All in all a pretty good 40 Days!  Anyone have an idea for another 40 Day challenge?  I still need a few more to round out my year.

Get a Life!

If you, like me, are trying to form good solid habits about diet and exercise it can sometimes lead to many lonely nights and salads for one.  Luckily, at 40, I am not out partying all the time any more to begin with, but I also am not ready to become a hobbit.  How do you have a social life when you are trying to get healthy?

I have a friend who works in my neighborhood and she will often come over after work for dinner (usually take out) and beer.  We will sit and chat and catch up and it is a great way to see each other regularly now that she lives in the 'burbs.  Last Thursday we scheduled one of our post-work dinners, but instead of sitting on the couch catching up she suggested we take a walk before dinner.  It was fantastic, we had a nice walk, still were able to chat and still had delicious take out safe in the knowledge we had burned some calories first.  This friend has an awesome blog too, you should check it out here!

I then spent the weekend at my parents' house. The house I grew up in and the place where I traditionally fall off any sort of diet and exercise wagon.  I managed to channel the power of #40DaysofVeggies and my mom's visit to a local farm stand helped as we had tons of vegetables all weekend.  I also suggested we take a walk after breakfast on Sunday and we did a couple miles around a local town park where we got to talk and spend time together.

I know walking isn't a challenge for many, but it is a very easy way to combine exercise with socialization.  Even if you don't walk with your friend you can make plans to meet a friend somewhere you can walk to instead of driving or using public transport, then you can squeeze in some exercise around your outing.  Here in Boston we are approaching the time of year when you can walk places without sweating too badly and without needing 17 layers of winter wear, take advantage of fall with some good walks!

How do you manage socializing and a healthy life-style?

Group Exercise: The Good, the Bad and the Sweaty

 

In my 4 decades on the planet, I have seen the evolution of Group Exercise from the big hair Jazzercise craze depicted above through Step Aerobics (where no matter how hard I tried I was ALWAYS facing the wrong way on the step), Kick Boxing, Spinning, Zumba, Yoga and so on.  I have actually tried all of the classes listed except Spinning (it terrifies me) and many of them are quite fun.

 

This week I took 2 group classes at my new awesome Y.  Here is what I took away from each:

 

Zumba

 

Monday night I took a 50 minute Zumba class taught by an adorable young woman named Gigi.  She was perfect, she was delightfully curvy in a way a lot of gym instructors are not, she was encouraging without being pushy and she challenged without making the class out of reach. 

 

Speaking of the class I am happy to report that I was neither the oldest nor the fattest person there.  That is one of the benefits of Group Exercise -- Perspective.  Everyone in the class was friendly, there was a feeling of 'we are all going to pass out together so let's do this' and Gigi did a great job of forcing us to interact.  It is nice to lock eyes with another sweaty person and grin sheepishly at how silly you both look.

 

Zumba, if you missed the craze, is an aerobic class designed around Latin Music and Latin Dance moves (there are other iterations as well using African music, but I have never found one of those classes).  There is a lot of hip action in Zumba classes, hence the looking silly part, but it is actually a very good full-body workout. 

 

In the end I kept up fine, felt great and had fun.  Gigi only teaches on Mondays, so this is going to be my regular class.

 

Bars, Bands & Balls

 

This was a strength and conditioning class I took last night that uses free weights, resistance bands and stability balls (although we never used the balls last night - instead we did way too many push ups).  This class was taught by Leoni and she is the anti-Gigi.  Leoni is rail thin and while nice enough did not possess Gigi's encouraging demeanor.

 

The class was less diverse than the Zumba class. I was not the oldest, but I was definitely the least in shape and I felt a little awkward most of the time.

 

I managed about 75% of what was thrown at me, the weights and resistance band pieces were great, but the 20 minutes we spent on the mat doing push ups and planks and what not was kind of hell for someone who hasn't done any mat work in about 5 years.

 

I will likely not be back to Leoni's class for awhile.  I did take away several moves I could do on my own to build up my strength before trying a class like that again.  I am happy to report that I woke up this morning with full use of all of my limbs though.

 

Next on the schedule is a water-based group exercise class if I can squeeze it into my schedule.  What fun or crazy classes have you tried over the years?

Why the Y?

The Village People said it best:  It's fun to go to the YMCA and after less than a week, I have to agree.  I mentioned in my last post that I found a new gym and it is a branch of the Greater Boston YMCA. Finding a gym can be hard, this is how I made the transition:

Snail Mail:  I got a good old-fashioned mailing back in April telling me that the Y in my neighborhood (which I remembered vaguely as having existed) was about to complete a big renovation -- complete with a pool.  I was very excited and planned time to go to the Open House.  Sadly, the reno (like all renos) was not complete on time and I went back to my regular workouts of power-knitting and potato chip-eating. Finally in June they announced it was really ready, but I wasn't.

Breaking Up is Hard to Do:  I hated my old gym, but never had the energy to end my membership.  I was well past my commitment, so technically I only had to give them 30 days notice, but that took me a couple months.  Then I found out I had to give that 30 days via registered mail (hello, 21st century here!) -- so I did that right before I went on vacation.


Trial Run:  The Y offers a free 3 Day Pass to any new potential member.  You can find a form to fill out on the link above. As part of #40DaysofFitness I used my 3 day pass and joined on my 2nd visit.

Why?

1. The pool is absolutely the #1 reason.  There are not a lot of pools in Downtown Boston (and none to my knowledge so close to my apartment).
2. The rate is not bad, at $50 a month it is $10 more than I was paying for the gym I didn't go to that didn't have a pool or many classes. They also have variable rates for couples/seniors/students etc. and offer aid.
3. The classes -- there are tons and I took my 1st one last night (more on that later this week).
4. Location Location Location:  I can use any Y in the country when traveling and I can use the Y near my parents as long as it is not more than I use my local Y.
5. The clientele. During my couple of visits everyone was polite, friendly and diverse.  So were the staff.

If you live in Boston and are interested please reach out, I have a friend pass and I can get a free month if you end up joining!

40 Days of Fitness Update: Day 25

25 Days into 40 Days of Fitness and I am more proud of myself than disappointed (although there were a few days that I would like to forget).  Here are some hints at what I have accomplished:

1. Dusted off the home equipment
2. Researched a new gym
3.  Reduced the number on the scale
4.  Improved my endurance

These, ultimately were my goals.  I like the picture above because it doesn't say "Work out every day. Make sure you get those 10,000 steps in.  Eat only lettuce and salmon."  It says "Make Active Decisions" and it is a very interesting way to think.

Taking the stairs.  Parking far from the entrance to the store. Getting off the subway a stop early.  These little decisions can add up in a day.  What little decisions do you make to add some activity to your day?

Today I checked out the new gym.  It has a pool.  More on that soon!

Motion: Lace Up Your Kicks

So yesterday was a bit of a disaster.  Food-wise. Motion-wise. Breathing was about all I was capable of yesterday and even that got a little sketchy around 3:30 in the afternoon.

Set backs happen, I know this, and the very best thing you can do is rebound the next day.  I have rebounded into a beautiful sunny day with several tasks ahead of me sure to keep me in motion.  Just to insure that I sneak in as much movement as possible I put my sneakers on first thing.

Those of you that know me know that I work from home.  I rarely work in my pajamas, but I often work in very casual clothes and flip flops, it is my uniform.  This morning I purposefully put on decent workout wear and my sneakers right away, before I looked up and noticed it was 4:00 pm and I had barely moved from my desk.

Having my sneakers on makes taking a quick spin around the block possible at any moment and came in handy when the fire alarm went off earlier.  I know not everyone can wear sneakers at work, but hopefully your work shoes are comfortable enough for a little lunch time stroll on a day like today and maybe try out the sneaker thing on the weekend.

Bad news though, my current sneakers are giving me blisters.  I am shopping for new ones, any suggestions?

Nutrition: My Kingdom for a Carrot

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter you are familiar with my #BunnyWatch series.  I live in an urban area with lots of bunnies and lots of greenery.  I am finally taking a page from the bunny handbook and getting on the veggie bandwagon.

Do not read this as Annmarie is now a vegetarian as that will never (ever) happen.  I will not consume fake meat made out of processed soy. I am committing myself to #40DaysofVeggies though in an effort to increase my intake and lower my consumption of other less healthy options.

Why?  I don't eat enough veggies.  In keeping a food journal I realized that I eat a paltry number of vegetables and that is silly because I actually like vegetables.  I like lots of vegetables and generally I like them fairly simply prepared (not a lot of butter or sauce or cheese).

So while #40DaysofFitness continues I embark on #40DaysofVeggies.  I chose now as it is still peak season in New England for fresh produce and I have easy access to a great Farmer's Market in Copley Square.  So today I will venture out and buy some fresh herbs and veggies for a quick stir-fry.

Do you have any veggie recipes that are fairly simple and don't involve fake-meat?  What are your favorite veggies to have on hand? Please share in the comments below!

Motivation! All I've Ever Needed...

At 4:00 yesterday afternoon, on a gray gloomy Saturday in Boston, my FitBit told me I had walked a grand total of 269 steps.  Despite the great desire to return to the couch, pick up my knitting in one hand and the remote control in the other, I threw on some gym clothes and my sneakers and took a 7,000 step walk.

The FitBit did not inform me of anything I didn't already know. I had managed to watch 3 movies while eating pancakes, knitting and chipping my nail polish off all day.  I knew I hadn't moved, but somehow the fact that the FitBit knew it too motivated me to do something about it.

#40DaysofFitness is a struggle.  I am not a gym goer at the moment (hate my gym finding a new one).  My favorite things to do are read and knit and I can't knit fast enough to get my heart rate up.

I did have an easier time on vacation where I spent about 30% of my day swimming and am happy to report that after eating everything I wanted I came back only a pound up from when I left and still down for the month of July.  This gray weekend at home has sapped my motivation though, thank God FitBit is keeping an eye on me!

What motivates you to work out?  What about when you are alone, on the road or live alone like I do, how do you find accountability when there is no one to be accountable to?

Vacation! All I Ever Wanted....

As of Friday this is my home for the next week, a lovely cabin on a ship bound for Bermuda!  I am a lucky girl and I am so ready for a thoroughly relaxing week.

Cruising is infamously problematic for anyone trying to manage a healthy lifestyle though.  Endless buffets and 24 hour access to food and alcohol make dieting hard at best and impossible for most.

I am not for one second denying myself the wonderful food of my vacation, it is not going to happen, but I have set five rules to mitigate the calories:

No Snacking -- 3 huge meals a day is plenty of food.  I will not decline an afternoon cocktail though, it is vacation after all.

Eat Veggies -- A salad with every meal is not difficult to achieve with the great dining options on board, so filling up on greens might reduce portions of other things or at least provide some good nutrients.

Water, Water, Water -- Drinking plenty of water will keep me hydrated and feeling full.  Forcing water in between cocktails will keep the cocktail count down as well.

40 Days of Fitness -- I am sticking to 40 Days of Fitness and this trip allows for many opportunities to get in fun and different exercise.  The ship has lots of classes I could try, a promenade deck to walk faster than a promenade on and Bermuda presents nearly constant water-related exercise which I adore.

FitBit is Going Too -- the Fitbit arrived yesterday and has been set up and is coming along.  I won't have Wi-Fi but I found out it will store 7 days of stats so I can download it all when I get back.

I have planned for this vacation as part of my ongoing Challenge and my goal for July was to break even.  I am down a few pounds right now so if I can come back without gaining all of it back I will consider that a victory.

Any other tips for not spiraling out of control on vacation?

40 Days of Fitness

Happy Birthday, Me!  So here it is, 40.  So far so good.  The seventy minutes I have been awake have not been much different from yesterday. 

I have decided to use today as a springboard into a plan for the next year.   I am calling it #40Daysof...  With a little overlap I can complete 40 Days of 10 different things and hope to adopt some good habits for the 2nd half of my life.

I am going to begin with #40DaysofFitness where I will attempt to do intentional exercise every day for the next 40 days.  This is going to be harder than it sounds because for 7 of the next 40 days I am going to be on vacation.  I thought about waiting until I got back, but I am a sucker for occasion.

I used some of my birthday gift cash to order myself a FitBit and purchased a new pair of sneakers.  So, it is on!

If you have a fun exercise suggestion for this 40 Days or a challenging idea for a future 40 Days endeavor please leave a comment below.

Another Decade Down

I went to the DMV today.  It is kind of mean to have your driver's license expire on your birthday, no one wants to spend time around their festive day at the DMV, but there I was and I was remembering the last time I was there 10 years ago (Massachusetts let you renew on line every other 5 years, but forces you in for a new photo after 10 years).

So what have I done with the past ten years that I can remember so clearly the mundane task of going to the DMV?

I changed jobs and apartments.

I became an aunt.  Three times.

I chaired a national conference on Student Travel in Memphis, TN.

I led a tour group of over 30 through Moscow, St. Petersburg and Minsk, returning to Russia after many years.

But the one thing I have been doing the most for the past 10 years is being incredibly grateful.  The winter before my 30th birthday my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer.  If you or someone you love has received a cancer diagnosis you know that beyond the months of treatment you count years of survival faithfully.  We celebrated 10 years of survival this year.  For the past decade the breast cancer community, particular those involved with the Susan G Komen 3 -Day have been a big part of my life.  I participated in eight 3 -Days and met so many incredible friends these past ten years.

When I think about how different the past decade could have been I am indescribably happy with how it went.

Challenges

The countdown is at a week.  One week to 40!  In the past couple of weeks though I have begun some positive habits:  I started work on a writing project and actually have a plan forward for it, I have settled some outstanding work loose ends and I started a health and wellness challenge.  Today's post is about the latter.

In the age of reality television, shows like The Biggest Loser have inspired lots of workplace and social media weight loss challenges.  America is simultaneously overweight and freakish about diet & exercise (you really have to work hard to achieve both).

I don't have the option for a work place challenge as I work at home, so I devised a long distance challenge with 4 friends (the 5 of us pictured above).  We live in 5 different states, we became friends on Twitter as the result of a common favorite TV show and we recently met face-to-face for the first time (the 21st century rocks).

As you can see from the photo we are all different shapes and sizes, so we needed to customize a challenge that worked for all of us.  Here are the simple guidelines:

1. By Monday July 7th we all recorded a goal on our phones note pad that is date stamped.  The goal can be whatever we want it to be, a # of lbs, a % of body weight, a dress size, a 5K, eating only organic veggies -- whatever we want to achieve by our show's Finale in mid-November.

2.  Through the 5 months we take pics as evidence of our accomplishments (weight on the scale, 2 pieces of clothing in different sizes, food porn of awesome veggie dishes) and hold on to them until November.

3.  We each commit to sending 1 encouragement gift of approx. $10 per person, so a $50 commitment (but everyone will get 5 gifts), we can each pick a month to send the gifts.  The gift can be anything encouraging or pampering as long as it does not sabotage our goals (no boxes of Godivas :) ) Could be a book, a pair of awesome socks, nail polish for a pretty pedi, ITunes gift cards for music, stuff like that.

4.We continue to send encouraging and fun Tweets and Texts and FB posts, etc. (NOTE: We started a private FB page so we could chat with abandon -- a great suggestion from another friend).  We are going to run clever hashtag contests on Twitter with ITunes tracks as prizes and bring in more ideas from social media.

5.  If we are lucky enough to be together for the Finale we bring all the evidence of our accomplishments and if we are sadly not together we can do a virtual reveal.

 

 

There are lots of cool ways to utilize social media for health and wellness.  Do you have any cool ideas?  Would love to hear them!

Are You an Adult?

So, 40 is around the corner and I recently had a discussion about how I really do not feel like an adult.  Clearly I am, as I am almost 40, but what truly makes us adults.

Here are the adult-like things I do: 

• I work a full-time job with benefits and a 401k.
• I live alone in an apartment I pay the rent for myself.
• I pay bills, taxes, student loans regularly.
• I vote.
• I engage in adult activities like drinking and sex (and only giggle about it a little).

Here are the adult things that are completely foreign to me:

• I do not own a home or a car or really anything other than some furniture.
• I do not have a long term partner of the husband variety.
• No kids.
• No pets.

Ultimately I think adulthood is defined by our responsibilities and the weight of them.  I do have responsibilities: I support myself and my yarn habit, I have a plant that might still be alive.  My friends with kids seem so much more grown up than I am though, the weight of their responsibilities in life so much greater.

At the same time, I know there are plenty of irresponsible parents out there, so it isn't solely procreation.

Maybe living alone for this long has desensitized me to age.  While my knees hurt a little more than they used to and I have to dye my hair more frequently I live in a  bit of a timeless bubble (I always knew I would end up like Miss Havisham), which is why the 40 candles on the cake this year is kind of shocking.  Sure I see other people's kids growing like weeds around me, but they aren't my kids, and I don't feel older.

What do you think?  What makes a person grown up?

Hello July!

 

If you know me, or read my last blog, you know I have great affection for the month of July.  What's not to like?  July is the month of fireworks, beach chairs, umbrella drinks and birthday cake.  It is 31 days of non-stop fun.

When you stop going to school, summer loses a little bit of its mystique and a lot of its free-time, so in a concession to adulthood many years ago I decided to make July my summer.  I have tried to do something fun everyday of July for the past 17 years or so.

This year July ushers in the next decade of my life, so in addition to having fun I am trying to cultivate some good habits this July.  I want to make an effort to focus on these three things:  Activity, Reading and Writing.

Activity
Between all the fun things I want to get 60 minutes of activity a day, even if it is just rushing from one fun thing to another.  The NFL supports the "60 Minutes of Play a Day" initiative and that is what I am striving for.  If I think of it as Activity instead of Exercise maybe it won't seem like such a chore.  This may result in me dancing around the living room while watching the Daily Show every night to make my quota!

Reading
This is the no brainer of the list.  I love to read and I really love to read in the summer.  In addition to actually reading I intend to do a better job of logging my reading on Goodreads and writing reviews of what I read so I can reflect on it instead of moving on to the next thing.

Writing
This is the one that always gets shoved aside.  I want to carve an hour out of every day to write.  It can be a blog post or a really clever letter to a loved one.  I could spend that hour on a new piece of fiction or dusting off an old one.  I could focus on the memoir I am trying to write or some just-for-fun brainstorming, something like this.  Writing begets writing and every little bit helps to craft form and style, so I am going to make time to practice my craft.

I have read that it takes 21 days to cultivate a good habit, so if I start now I could master these 3 things just in time for my birthday!  Want to join me in my July of fun and self-improvement?  What would you like to focus on? Maybe we can support one another.  Cheers!

Everything Old is New Again

So I am blogging again, yay!  It has been a  few years since my last blog and while work continues to be crazy, I hope to find time for this on a regular basis.

If you followed my last blog "4 to 40" you will be as shocked as I am to know the count to 40 is down to 3....weeks!  3 Weeks from tomorrow I am 40 and I find myself in an emotional space somewhere between blatant disbelief and perpetual nostalgia.

My goal for this blog is to push through that space and find the way forward as a 40 year old single woman in the city (Boston for those of you who don't know me yet).  I hope to find the things I learned in my 20's and 30's that were positive and sort out what I have yet to learn.

I don't want to label this blog and marginalize the potential for content, you never know what might pop up here, so "Watch This Space" for more!