“Almost mindless”

weight loss blog

In week two, our blogger A discovers some important secrets to great, lasting weight loss: plan, plan and plan some more.  Leaving your next meal to chance makes it much more likely you will choose unhealthy foods.

Weight: 152 lb Height: 5′ 3″

Day Seven — 1/20th of the way down the road to my new fit body and I’ve lost a total of……negative three pounds!  What!?  I’ve tried to be good, I really have!  Kind of.  There was last week’s birthday bash with way too much rich food, wine and tequila.  And there was the subsequent hangover junk-food day. And cheat night at my sister’s house.  And I skipped the gym one day and two at-home workouts…but really, I’ve tried to be good!

I’m proud to say I feel ready to get back on track though.  I had a great workout today at the gym, and have been paying a lot more attention to what I eat and when and why.  It took me a while to realize how often I eat out of boredom. I often find myself at home around 10pm — too fatigued from the day to start any activity of sorts, but still too wired to go to bed.  When books and TV don’t hold my attention I find myself wandering to the kitchen to kill some time.  Another trigger for me is when I’m hungry and I haven’t had enough water throughout the day.  I start to feel frantic, and I’m reaching for the closest thing edible to snack on while my pre-planned meal is heating.  I’m learning to recognize this and reach for a glass of water instead, which works instantly to calm me down.

Today I realized how important it is to know which fast-food choices to make.   I grabbed a Wheat ‘n Carrot muffin from Tim Horton’s thinking it was probably the best choice for an on-the-run breakfast.  WRONG! When I checked their website later, I found out that the innocent-seeming pastry had 400 calories, 19 grams of fat and over 5 teaspoons of sugar.  I spent less than five minutes on their website to find three options with less fat and sugar, and more filling protein — now these are on my “safe” foods list for the next time I’m running late in the morning.

I try to spend a few minutes each day doing calorie counts for my favourite meals and snacks.  This way, the next time I know I have only a certain number of calories left for the day, I can check my home-made recipe cards to find something yummy that won’t put me over the top.  It also means that I don’t have to do the math everytime I make a turkey sandwich for lunch.  Along with portion-controlled frozen meals, and lots of fresh fruit and veggies in the fridge, it makes it almost mindless to stay within my calorie-range.

Don’t be discouraged if you don’t see the dramatic change on the scale that you were hoping for.  When you look back on your week and realize you weren’t quite as virtuous as you meant to be, it’s easy to understand why you haven’t lost any weight yet.  Regroup and recognize your pitfalls, then PLAN to avoid them.  If you lay your ingredients or meals out for yourself or prepare ahead of time by using frozen meals and recipes to help guide you, the willpower to stick with your plan is the only thing you’ll need!

“What did I sign on for?”

weight loss blog

In the first installment of the Fit Family Weight Loss Blog, our intrepid blogger, A, wavers between excitement and self-doubt as she kicks off her new exercise program.

Weight: 149 lbs          Height: 5′ 3″

Today is day two of my 20-week, 20-pound commitment. Yesterday’s 20 minute treadmill jog felt really good — I didn’t think I’d make it past about ten minutes, but I found a comfortable pace and just kept going. Now that I know I can run at least that long, I have no excuse to do any less. Next gym day I’ll add two more minutes. The strength-training portion of my workout was a little more frustrating — I felt weak doing my push ups, unstable doing my lunges, and just plain fat doing crunches. I left the gym feeling a mix of endorphin-driven energy and “oh my god, do I really have to do this five times a week from now on, what did I sign on for and what the heck was I thinking” terror.

This morning when I woke up I instantly starting thinking about how much I did not want to do my at-home workout. Feeling sore from yesterday’s workout, I started bargaining with myself, trying to think of some other activity I could substitute; yoga dvd? an extra half hour walk? housecleaning? Right about then I got a motivational text-message from my Fit Family personal trainer.  I grumbled out of bed, put my sneakers on, and after only a few minutes of stalling, put a great CD on and started my routine. The warm up just about killed me.

I admit, I did only two of the four sets I was supposed to of push ups, tricep dips, crunches and stair lunges. And I felt guilty for it, so I added an extra 8 blocks onto my jog/walk. Today I did ‘jog two, walk two’ block intervals for the first half, and jog-one, walk-one for the second half of my almost-hour long route. By the time I got to my finish line (Starbucks), I was hot, sweaty, out of breath, and felt amazing.

Great work, A.  Not every workout will be perfect.  To lose weight, you must be active for at least an hour on most days of the week and, so far, you’re two for two!  Keep that as your focus and the days will fly by until your exercise routine becomes a part of your new life.

…next week on the weight loss blog: eating for weight loss.

Fitness is Different for Girls: Alberta Study

what’s in the news

Those days of high school phys. ed. may be long behind us but, for many women, the memories remain and they’re not all pleasant.  Even in our modern day, co-ed sports and fitness activities tend to be dominated by the presence of testosterone and all the gusto and competitiveness that comes along with that celebrated and derided male hormone.  I can still feel the angry stares on the back of my head as I relive in my less-confident moments the feeling of flubbing that volleyball serve or missing yet another basket (I mean, come on… I could barely hold the basketball with two hands, let alone gracefully toss it overhead, one-handed, with the tips of my fingers AND do so with enough precision to send said ball through a hoop barely larger than the projectile itself and angled away from me, a thousand feet over my head… but I digress…).

If we didn’t know it already, here is some support for the general feeling that girls are different when it comes to fitness and physical activity.  They value and need different stimuli and support to be successful in physical pursuits.  The Alberta Centre for Active Living conducted instruction and interviews with girls in grade six to determine the role that social and environmental cues have in girls’ enjoyment of physical activity.  From that paper, here are five key tips to keep in mind when dealing with your own daughters and other little women in your life on matters of physical activity:

• Promote physical activity as something that’s fun to do.

• Don’t focus on physical appearance outcomes, and let girls know that health is not defined by body size. While physical activity is an important part of health, being skinny is not. People of a variety of weights and body shapes can be healthy.

• Avoid assumptions about boys’ and girls’ abilities and about what kinds of activities are right for boys and girls. Promote a wide range of activities for both.

• Free time is important. Kids need time to just be kids and do activities of their choice.

• When possible, make physical activity a part of other activities that girls like to do.

Our daughters will have plenty of years ahead of them to worry about cholesterol, celebrity diets, and living up to expectations in general.  Give your daughter the best start possible and introduce her in a dynamic, fun and open-minded way to the world of sport and fitness.  Incorporate the advice of the Alberta Centre for Active Living and, above all, lead by example. Get out there yourself, pick up an old sport from university, join a powerwalking group in your neighbourhood, take your kids out for an evening bike ride and speak in a positive and healthy way about your fitness and your body shape.  Check out an earlier post for 5 great family activities to help you stay fit together.  Approach fitness from a place of bettering your life and your family’s life and you will build, and instill, strength from within.

Family Activities to Keep You Fit

family fitness

As fall starts to set in and the days become much cooler – and shorter – we find ourselves as parents scaling back our activities during the week to cope with a busier schedule and a sleepier body.  So why not take advantage of those lovely autumn weekends and get out in the sunshine with the whole family.  You can make up for lost time in the gym over the course of the week and enjoy some great bonding time.  After all, the family that plays together…. you get the drift.  Here are just a handful of the ways you can mix fun and fitness.

1. Gardens & Gorges

OK, not exactly a gorge but a valley.  Load yourselves into the car and park (for free!) at Edwards Gardens where you can see the last of the year’s gorgeous flowers and head downhill, straight into the Don Valley trail system.  You can walk as far as the lake or turn back around whenever your littlest hiker starts to tire.  Why not be adventurous and hike uphill on one of the trails less taken?

Edwards Gardens

2. Backyard Soccer

There are few games as uncomplicated and requiring as little equipment as soccer.  Team up and designate nets on either side of the yard (or a quiet neighbourhood park).  A little fuzzy on the rules?  Check out this great Soccer for Parents free rulebook. Be sure to include a family warm-up; try jumping jacks and pushups or a quick game of tag!

3. Family TV Night

The next time you settle in for your Friday night TV and popcorn bonanza, add a little challenge to the mix and burn some calories while you’re at it!  Each commercial break, assign one family member to choose an exercise or activity (squats, pushups, jumping jacks, or a silly dance) and challenge everyone to do that movement continuously until the commercial break ends.

4. Run Away with Me

Charity runs are a great way to instill two crucial values in your children: the desire to care for their bodies and the desire to serve their communities.  Sign up for a family fun run such as the Toronto Zoo Run 5K or 1K Cub Run and share in the spirit of healthy competition.

5. Nature’s Jungle Gym

It’s worth the drive to the Scarborough Bluffs.  At the east end of Toronto’s magnificent Waterfront Trail, Bluffer’s Park is the perfect spot for a weekend picnic and hike, not to mention a great way to reinforce those gradeschool geography lessons.  Hike just a bit up the cliffs and enjoy an unobstructed view of the lake not seen in many other parts of the city.

Bluffers Park