threadwalker

"Today is the first day of the rest of my life."
That's the phrase I use to greet myself most mornings as I wake up in the shower. I think it helps me focus on the fact that today has potential for many things and it's up to me to make it happen. It also keeps me pushing forward instead of resting on accomplishments in the past.

When I wake the kids up, I tell them, "Today is going to be a wonderful day. You're going to learn new things and you are going to get to make choices."

When I drop them off (or kiss them goodby cuz daddy is dropping them off), I ask, "Are we going to make good choices today?" (they say yes). "Are we going to be good listeners for our teacher?" (again, they say yes)

Fitness: "Today is the first day of the rest of my life, including how I eat and exercise - long and boring"

The Good Listener:

It's time to change out my fitness program and I'd put it off until after the race. Well, it's officially "after the race" and it's time to change things around. On impulse I picked up 2 books on clearance sale at the grocery store last week:

1. The Butt Book How to Build a Non-Cellulite and Fatt Free Butt in 9 Weeks by Tosca Reno (who also writes for "Oxygen" magazine, which I enjoy)
http://www.amazon.com/Butt-Book-Build-Non-Cellulite-Fat-Free/dp/1552100413/ref=sr_1_1/104-7204552-3493537?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190917489&sr=1-1

2. "Bikini Bootcamp"
http://www.amazon.com/Bikini-Bootcamp-Weeks-Ultimate-Beach/dp/0767925904/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-7204552-3493537?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190918333&sr=1-1

Between the covers and on these pages which are also graced with amazing images of fit tushes and washboard abs, I am looking for exercises, nutrition, menus, recipes, advice, philosophy and (most of all) motivation .

Comments on Reno's "Butt Book", which I finished yesterday
Book Review
This book seems to be a real peak into the hard-core world of fitness, exercise and weight lifting. I guess you can't motivate people to work on a muscle group if you go around saying, "Gee, don't worry if it sags or wobbles, it's all good as long as you show up and do a few exercises." It uses blunt language to describe what makes an unattrative butt and it compares tushes to fruit. With my PC background, this took me by surprise, but I could see that if you were "living" your fitness as a "faith", this is the kind of language and approach that would appeal.

This is not a fitness book for fitness noobs. Despite the title, there is no 9-week map out of fitness and nutrition. You have to take the info here and then "do it" for 9 weeks, so it's not a "butt blast for idiots", it's informational and has some guidelines as well as a FAQ section. This book is a tool so that the knowledgale fitness person can work this into their current routine.

The basic exercises were part of the standard "glute" package and described for both "at home" and "in gym" settings. I found what I was looking for: variations on the basics, ways of making the basics harder, info on number of reps vs results, fresh advice about changing out the exercises and specifics about how often to work this muscle group each week.

The section on nutrition was informational and described an overall strategy. The one-week menu was an example to show how to apply that information. The recipes that go with the menu plan look tasty and fairly easy to make and it was those, in part, that convinced me to get it.

Fruity Butts
And now, of course, I want to find out what kind of butt I have because they sketch and describe all sorts of shapes/tone and relate them to fruit. The desirable being the "round apple" butt. So I guess this is the one time that being compared to an apple is a good thing.

Making Choices

Yesterday I made choices and today I am sticking to them. I like food. Food is good. After reading Reno's book and examining the menu plan, I have decided to try to eat according to the model she set forth for a few weeks (through October 20). It looks tasty and it does not look impossible. The author also wrote The Eat-Clean Diet

http://www.amazon.com/Eat-Clean-Diet-Fat-Loss-lasts-Forever/dp/1552100383/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b/104-7204552-3493537?ie=UTF8&qid=1190917489&sr=1-1

I've never done a "diet plan" before and I have always thought they were gimmicks. I've seen enough women go on various fad diets or do diet pills (or take up smoking!) to demonstrate the falacy of the "diet". Unless you're willing to eat that way all the time, it's a short term solution that screws with your metabolism and probably makes you really cranky. When fad-dieters are done they've shaved off an amazing amount of fat (probably muscle, too), they can wear the bikini or whatever, and they start eating like they used to. They very slowly start putting the weight back on. In my mind, no amount of short term victory dance from weightloss can justify the misery of the process, purchasing a 2nd wardrobe or the sense of defeat that comes from regaining the weight. I like food and I don't like to be miserable. If I can't like what I'm eating, then I won't do it.

Why try this? The nutritional guidelines result in a few tweaks to my current daily diet and not an extreme nutrition makeover. If I was shifting from "Fast Food Freak" to "Lean, mean protein and fiber machine", I'd fail. For me, it looks like I'm cutting refined sugar and white flour out of my daily diet. I was supposed to do that, anyway, but was dragging my feet. I'm giving it a trial basis of a few weeks and then I'll asses it to see if it works for me or if I need to modify it.

I plugged the menu and the recipes into Weight Watchers and needed to tweak my daily plan a little. Between the high volume of food and the high "points", it made sense to cut back a bit on portion sizes. Besides, I don't eat dry toast: that falls under "this is not tasty and I'm not going to force myself to eat it" so I got rid of icky food and dropped a point off my daily total. I did make slow-cook oat meal last night, which is new for me.

Eating Smudged, not Clean
Now that I'm into Day 1, the big difference (to me) is that fiber plays such a big role in my breakfast, I'm eating protein more frequently than I was before, and I've swapped white-flour carbs for whole wheat and fruit. So this is not such a huge deal for me. In fact, it's kind of neat to see that I wasn't that far off from eating clean; maybe I was eating "smudged". hahaha!

Menu comparison, then and now:

Last week, typcial day (eating smudged):
Breakfast:
1 hard boiled egg (2pts)
1 fat free danon yogurt drink (1pt)

mid morning
1 cup grape tomatoes
1 cup sliced bell peppers (red, yellow or orange)

Lunch
1 low carb, low fat tortilla (1 pt)
1/2 cup low fat taco bell refried beans (2pt)
1 tbs salsa (0 pt)
1 pc fruit (1-2 pts)

mid afternoon
1 cup raw carrots dipped in salsa (0pts)
snack (low fat bar, WW 1-2 pt snacks, etc - my carby treat)(2-3 pts)

Dinner:
Chicken+grain+veg 6-8 pts
or
Sushi take out from store (6-8 pts)

Later
1pt lemon cake (WW brand) 1pt

Today, Eat-Clean:
** = feels like a big change to me

breakfast:
**oatmeal with dried fruit, nuts, yogurt, and 1/2 banana (3)
3 egg whites (hard boiled) (1)

mid morn:
small pc chicken (2 pts)
1 cup bell peppers (0)
1 cup grape tomatoes (0)

Lunch:
Tuna (2)
whole wheat wrap (0)
carrots w/ salsa (0)

Mid-day
grapes(1)
peach (1)

Dinner

Tuscan Chicken (4)
Brown Rice (3)
steamed Squash (0)

Later:
small apple (1)
dried fruit (2)

Not a huge difference.

Drags Husband Along...

Last night, after I had my food all laid out, ..(drum roll).. I presented it to Farin and told him that if he came along for the journey, I'd pack his lunch as well because making 2 of the same thing is only a little more effort than making one. He's sort of on-board. We discuss what I'm making for me and then he pointed out how to modify it for him. Like HIS tuna must always have mayo in it. And plain, dry toast is gross and it ain't happening (we both agree on that). And it looks like he'll be eating fruit again. And soda happens. When I was done I spread it out on the counter, and had him take a look. He was overwhelmed with the amount of food, too, so we chucked a few pieces of fruit. He does not like raw carrots, but he's going to try them the way I do, which is with salsa. I give him HUGE kudos for being willing to try them that way.

While we were discussing this his brother called and was put on speaker phone, so he chimed in. His comment: you should listen to your wife. She has figured something out and we should all be eating healthy.

We shall see. After today's nutrition adventure he may say Bon Voyage and enjoy your meal to me tonight or he may have suggestions or he may say "that was nice, you can keep doing that".