I'm in "One"derland!!!

I know it has been an incredibly long time since I have posted a blog.  As you have probably gathered from the title, I am doing great.  I mentioned a little over a month ago that I started WW.  As well as I felt like I was doing before I started up WW again, I realized that even though I was eating all very healthy foods, I was not tracking how much I was eating and limiting my portions at dinner time.  I tell you, my biggest food struggle is dinner time.  Since I started tracking food and getting back in the groove of working out, my weight started to move again.  This week while on my spring break, I took a little more initiative to get workouts done.  The nice thing about having this week off has been that I have been able to de-stress a little bit.  It has been a fantastic week aside from the colder whether that I did not expect after last week.  I have also taken some time to check out another FREE program that I wanted to share with you.  sparkpeople.com   This website is fantastic!  It helps you to calculate nutrients as well as calories.  Very similar to the WW online program, only no points, just calories.  The things that I believe gives this program a boost is their calorie burn tracker and if you want, it will give you a meal plan and a strength training routine.  That is if that is important to you.  I also enjoy the social network, articles, and recipes that they have.  If you decide to check it out, look up KaraBeem.  That is my SparkPeople name.  It is fantastic to see how many calories, carbs, protein, fats, and many other nutrients, if you choose, and be able to track how much you are taking in.  They also list many menu items from different restaurants.  I'd love to hear your opinion about this website.  I have made a commitment to do WW for another 2 months, but I am planning to transfer over to this program once that commitment is up.  Thanks for continuing to read

Starting Weight Watchers

So these last few weeks I have really felt down in the dumps.  I have really had no explanation for feeling this way.  The only thing I can figure is that I have not been working out and eating right the way I should.  I had also seemed to reach a plateau which never seamed to go away.  Then I started to reflect on my life and the times in which I was successful in my weight loss.  The common denominator was weight watchers.  So this week I have decided to start doing weight watchers.  However, what I will be doing differently is working out. In the past when I have done weight watchers I have neglected to make exercise as an important part of the weight loss, so in turn I believe that I lost a lot of muscle and not fat.  When I was at my lowest weight I remember thinking to myself, "my problem areas are still sticking out."  If I had done the workouts with the weight watchers, maybe my problem areas would have diminished more.  Anyways, so the good news is that I am back and I am happy to report that I have lost 5 lbs this week due to my efforts in keeping track of what I eat and exercising at least 3 days this week.  It is a good week thus far.  Hoping for another good week next week. :)  I think it may take me awhile to get back to working out more than 3 times a week again.  But as long as I'm getting the minimum of 3 in right now, I'm happy.

Battling illness & Finding time

So part of the reason I have not been blogging more recently has been that I have not been feeling well.  I tried working out last week and for a normal workout I nearly passed out, so I decided that until I'm feeling better, I should probably take a break.  The other issue has been finding time.  I have been working out, but finding the time to blog has been a challenge.  I think during the winter months I have been feeling a little more sluggish.  Does anyone else ever feel that way during the cold dark months?  My body just wants to go into hibernation.  I am more tired and with that I just never feel like I am able to accomplish as much as I do either in the spring or fall seasons.  If anyone has a remedy for that, I would not mind hearing it.

So I think one of the problems that I have been having with my health is that either I have caught a cold or my acid re-flux is back.  Not fun.  So, in case it is the latter, I have decided to try eating vegetarian style this month.  I may not eliminate meat all together, but I will be reducing it drastically.  When I have acid re-flux problems.  I start to have coughing fits and they just seem to get worse and worse until I do something about it.  Last time I had this problem, I found that eating grains other than processed or wheat tend to be helpful.  Avoiding any types of foods that could potentially either increase stomach acids or mucus production has been helpful.  Until I have lost the excess weight, I'm afraid that I will have to deal with this issue.  Overall, I have found a more vegetable/fruit based diet creates less acids in my stomach.  Hense the vegetarian theme for this month.  If you find that you might have similar issues to myself, please talk to your doctor about it.  Mine recommended that since I also lowered my grain intake that I take a complex vitamin B to help with my energy levels.  If you plan to change your diet in anyway it is always good to consult a Dr whether it be your general Dr or a specialist.  They know your body and it's specific needs and will be able to tell you if it will work or not.

Catching up & SPoH: Day 32 - How Toxins Effect the Body

Ok, so there has been a lot of very stressful, off schedule stuff going on over the last two weeks.  Just as I was getting excited about doing the 5am workouts again, things were happening at work that threw off my whole daily schedule as well as my focus.  However, things are slowly starting to go back to normal.  During everything, I did get up and workout when I could.  I just recently purchased a couple of workout videos that I am very excited about.  Most everyone knows Jillian Michaels who has been branded as America's or TVs toughest trainer.  I liked the last video of hers that I did so much, that I decided to purchase a couple more while the "New Year's Resolution" sales have been going on.  If you are looking for workout videos to do, January is the month to by them.  Many of them go on sale for pretty decent prices.  Anyways, so this last week I started Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred.  Another kick in the rear end workout.  I like her concept of working out.  She has a formula that she uses: 3 minutes of strength, 2 minutes of cardio, and 1 minute of abs.  Really a fantastic idea.  It's set up like a circuit.  In the 30 Day Shred video, she has 3 different levels.  Each level is only 20 minutes long.  Well, about that anyways.  It is not easy though.  Even at the beginning level.  Pushups for a minute at a time is not easy for me.  However, I can tell I am getting stronger.

Aside from starting this program, I have been doing one other activity: Shoveling Snow!  We have finally had our first real snowfall of the season.  I have been well aware that you can burn a lot of calories when you shovel snow BY HAND.  I did not anticipate that my T-Shirt would be soaked by the time I did a half an hour of shoveling.  If you are interested in knowing how many calories you can burn shoveling, use this calculator to get an idea. So instead of doing a workout indoors on Thursday and Friday, I took it outside.  It's a great winter exercise because you are also giving your lungs a deep breath of fresh air.  If you have a long driveway, this is a great activity that you can do together as a family.  Leave the snow blower in the garage for a little while.  Do at least a half hour of shoveling by hand, then pull it out.  You'll save on the gas for your snow blower and burn some calories in the process!  Plus you are teaching your family a number of things doing it together.  You can have fun doing chores when you work together.  They are learning responsibility of how to take care of the driveway for one day when they might need to know that.  Keep in mind that you need to stretch those muscles after spending all that time shoveling.  Otherwise, you are going to be awfully sore the next day or even the next several days.  Last year, I made the mistake of not stretching out afterwards and I deeply regretted it.  This year, I remembered that I needed to stretch out.  I'm not nearly as sore.  I just feel like I had a good workout yesterday. :)

SPoH: Day 32 - How toxins effect our bodies . . .  Body Odor!   Research is showing that a lot of odor is a result of eating red meats.  How interesting! If you have a lot of body odor, try a meat fast.  Specifically Pork and Beef and see what happens.  Vegetarians often do not have the body odor problems that people who eat meat have.  If you have any vegetarian friends, ask them if they have any problems with it.  Colbert said that he met someone who doesn't even use deodorant because she does not have any odors to cover up.  Our body odors are mostly due to the toxins we have in our body.  Toxins in our body open us up to a plethora of other issues such as: fatigue, Heart disease , Memory loss, Premature aging, Skin disorders, Arthritis, Hormone imbalances, Anxiety, Headaches, Emotional disorders, Cancers, and Autoimmune diseases.  What Colbert has to say next totally throws me.  How many of you have allergies, food sensitivities, or massive mucus production?  It could be because of all the toxins your body has been exposed to has caused your liver to be unable to process them all.  Your body may be experiencing a toxic overload!  Colbert recommends fasting as a way to detoxify the body which he talks more about in the next few days.  However, he has also written a couple of books on them if you are interested in reading more in depth. Fasting Made Easy and Get Healthy Through Detox and Fasting.

Day 44 of 5am & SPoH: Day 31 - Toxins that you would not expect

Sorry for the delay.  I was working on this being posted January 3rd!  Keep that in mind when reading this.

So I did it!  I woke up at 5am to do my workout.  Yay!  This is much better than last year.  I was doing pretty well with the workouts up until Christmas break and then I pretty much quit or at least wound up not working out nearly as much.  Anyways, today I pulled out Jillian Michaels "No More Trouble Zones."  Talk about intense!  Of course, I'm going to have to rebuild my body back up to where it was about 2 weeks ago because I did not do much working out over the course of the last two weeks.  I managed to do about 35 minutes worth of this video.  I wanted to do more before I realized that it is a 56 minute workout and not a 40 minute workout like the cover said.  Note about workout times on videos.  Sometimes I have found that they do not include the warm up and cool down in the actual time.  So if you see 40 minutes, plan on it being at least 10 minutes longer.  Anyways, great workout though.  I have  feeling that I am going to feel it tomorrow.  Jillian does a great thing with this particular workout and many others I have seen where she combines working two areas at the same time.  Lower and upper body.  It's nice because it gets your heart rate up a little more and you are maximizing the movement and getting the most out of it as you can.  I plan to use this workout DVD for awhile.  Looking forward to seeing results.  Push ups are getting easier.  Still on the knees.  Not ready for the feet yet.

SPoH: Day 30 - Toxins that you would not expect. Heavy Metals have been known to cause several unpleasant symptoms.  We are exposed to them through our foods and our environments.  To help detoxify our bodies from the metal you should have chlorophyll foods, including wheat grass, barley grass, oat grass, healthy algae, and other supplements.   Many of our dentists in the past have used silver amalgam fillings for those unwanted cavities.  Unfortunately it exposes us to the metal mercury.  Most everyone knows that mercury does not do a body good.  This metal is slowly released into our bodies from the time we receive the filling until we eventually die.  However, you may be exposed to even more if you have them removed improperly.  If you decide to have them removed, make sure you find a dentist that is well aware of the effects and knows how to handle it.  If you or your children have any cavities, it is safer to go with the porcelain.  It is more up front cost, but think of the health that you will be saving!  Less problems down the road. Many of us already know that household products we use contain many toxins that are not good for our bodies.  If you are going to use chemicals, be sure to read the labels and make sure that your skin is not exposed.  Your body has a less chance of being effected by them when you are wearing rubber gloves than if you are washing with bare hands.  Also, beware of the toxins they emit in the air.  A good inhalation of bleach or ammonia can damage your lungs. If you can switch to natural products for cleaning (such as vinegar & lemon juice) and cosmetics (see www.safecosmetics.org), it is much better for you.