making weight loss fun

Weight loss is all about the food?

fitbitI have been wearing my Fitbit consistently over the past week and one thing has really jumped out at me as I look at my statistics.

If you look at the two screenshots above you can see that no matter if I have an terrible day or a kick-butt day, I saw only 90 calorie difference in the calories burned!

How crazy is that!  I had some idea that food had far more impact than exercise on weight loss but seeing in black and white (or teal and orange) like this is mind boggling.

As I started researching I came across this great article by Dick Talens where he explains this phenomenon.  Here are a couple of tidbits which I found interesting:

Most of the calories we spend in a day we do so without even getting out of bed:wlbed

Here he says spend more time in the kitchen prepping your food and cooking and, whatever you do, make sure you can sustain it.wlquote

I enjoyed these tips because they encourage us to be practical.

wltips

Obviously the gym and exercise are supremely important to HEALTH so I enjoyed this:

wlhealth

The Fitbit is definitely getting me up and walking and taking the stairs.  So I think for now I will just ignore the calorie bit, what do you think?

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Self care – What the hell is it?

selfcarewheel

We’ve moved into the new/old house and so far it’s been great.  We are closer to work and daycare, the backyard is huge, my bathroom while smaller has a bigger shower and the house is mostly carpeted which makes it easier for the kids to rip through the house and chase or be chased.  Who doesn’t love that?

Now that we are here, we should have more time to exercise which was a big pro when we were thinking about whether to move. Now we actually have to put this pro into place and do it!  Last night I got on the elliptical for 10 minutes which I considered a major victory.

Exercising is something I think is important to my self care so I started contemplating self care and what it actually is.  This is a tough one and has perplexed me for quite a while.  I think what I am realizing is that it’s going to be different for each person and we each really need to sit down and do some hard thinking about what our own self care looks like.  Here are some of the questions I considered:

  • What do I care about?
  • What do I find fun?
  • What brings me peace?
  • What can I do to lighten up my schedule, slow things down?
  • What can I do that will make me feel proud?
  • What activities or scenarios make me happy to do or imagine?
  • What gets in my way and how can I plan around the obstacles?

The wheel at the beginning is also a good place to start.  So I sat down and made my list today, I really gave it some thought and I think I have a promising list.  One thing on the list was post to this blog so I’m starting with this ONE THING to get me going.

What will you include on your list?

Wednesday Weigh-In – Getting pumped!

pumped

 

I made a goal for myself that I was going to try to make weight loss fun!  There are so many difficult and frustrating things about trying to lose weight but I believe it can also be fun and exciting.

Every morning I come into the office and force myself to use the stairs.  So I started thinking, what could I do to make this more fun?

1. Sing the Rocky theme song in my head.  Who doesn’t get motivated to exercise when they think of that song and that movie.  He was sexy to the ladies and men wanted to be him and everyone remembers the scene where he runs up the stairs exercising!  This really works.  It makes me smile and laugh a little and gets me up the stairs every time.

2. Pretend like someone is chasing you.  And not in the scary ‘I’m going to be attacked’ way but in the fun ‘I’m playing tag and someone’s going to get me!’ way.  Do you remember that feeling of someone running after you and how your stomach goes all oogy and your adrenaline rushes?  I can see it in my kids faces when I chase them, they love it.

3. Imagine your favorite movie about transformation.  I love a good movie about transformation.  Some of my favorites are Love Potion No. 9, The Boyfriend School with Steve Guttenberg (LOL), Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, Dirty Dancing, Miss Congeniality.  Or you can imagine your favorite movie with someone exercising in it.  I like Runaway Bride and The Cutting Edge.  Sorry for the 80s and 90s movie references!  Guys can find ideas here, here and here.  This list is also really funny.

I’m sure I will think of a hundred others as soon as I post this so I’ll keep adding as I think of them.

still-of-d.b.-sweeney-and-moira-kelly-in-the-cutting-edge-(1992)

4. Imagine the fat just melting off your body.  With each step you take, each stair you climb, each weight you lift, imagine the extra fat just slipping away.  That’s what’s happening anyway, right?  Just at a much slower pace than we’d choose.  Imagining that makes me feel sleek and strong and proud.

5. Remember that every second you spend exercising is another second that you are working toward your goal.  It won’t happen overnight but every single moment I spend taking care of myself is, in fact, progress.  This goes for so many things, getting my hair done, taking a shower, taking care of my skin, preparing healthy food, taking the stairs, parking far away from the store.  This falls in line with Roni’s #wycwyc challenge, do what you can when you can, everything is a step in the right direction.

What do you do to help you make the best choices for yourself?  I’d love to hear that as well as any inspiring movies you love!

UPDATE: I lost a few pounds!  It makes me feel good to know that I can do this without counting calories.  I’ve been eating protein combined with healthy carbs, listening to my hunger and fullness and trying to take the stairs and walk a lot!