I wrote last week that I was having a hard week, health wise. I wish I could say that I picked myself up, dusted myself off and recommitted to the healthy life, but that’d be a total lie. Instead, I made excuses as to why I couldn’t run (and I was horribly exhausted-crampy-icky all week) or work out and chowed down on our leftover housewarming food like it was my job.
I had some major realizations last week that helped me clarify a few things: running four days a week to train for this 5K is sucking the joy out of my exercise routine, I feel like I’ve done so many cleanses and diets in the past year that I feel like I’m always doing something “wrong” or eating something I shouldn’t, and that all of my counting calories and tracking my food and weighing in obsessively is making me a wee bit crazy.
I’ve mentioned over and over again, that if I feel like I’m doing a bad job, I’m going to quit altogether. I’m the classic magazine diet tip failure: if I eat poorly at one meal, I consider the whole day a waste. And then I eat because I feel bad. Repeat.
The thing is that I know what works for me. I know that having easy food is best during the week, that I feel less deprived when I make lists of foods I “can” eat and when I have a small treat each day. Running is a challenge, but spin, lifting weights and hot yoga are a joy—and I need both challenge and joy to keep on this path. I know that as much as I hate tracking what I eat, it keeps me accountable, but I also know that the insanely low number of calories I’ve been eating doesn’t work for me.
With that, here are a few of my old/new goals:
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Focus on eating “real” food: lots of whole fruits and veggies, a healthy amount of meat, cage free eggs, nuts.
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Eliminate dairy, save for a small serving of greek yogurt, not because it’s “bad” but because it makes me feel gross when I eat it.
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Strive for less carbs, and only those that are whole grain (steel cut oats, quinoa, whole wheat pastas).
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Run twice a week, and fill the other four days with spin, weight lifting, swimming and hot yoga (my preferred forms of working out) and write out my schedule each week in order to really stick to it.
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Strive for 7-8 hours of sleep every night.
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Drink only water (and coffee, duh).
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Not everything is a holiday: save splurges for Actual Holidays—not just Fridays and staff potlucks and everyone’s birthday.
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Track food, not just for calories (I’m aiming to stay at 1400-1500) but also to see what foods make me feel best and worst; adjust diet accordingly.
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Substitute tea for an afternoon snack and before bed—two times I always want something sweet.
One thing I’ve realized more and more on this journey is that I don’t want this to be on a diet. I know that I could stick to a serious cleanse and be successful and the weight would come off…but then what? I want to find a way of eating that sustains me now and that will continue to sustain me after I reach my goal. I’m interested in developing a healthy way of life that will last instead of a temporary fix.
What are your health and fitness “rules”?
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New Blog Post: On re-writing my health rules…:
I wrote last week that I was having a hard week, health wise. I … http://t.co/4QQ5pCXJ
I’m not great about eating really well, meaning I do enjoy office treats and reward myself at the end of a long day, but I LOVE working out and really make an effort to ensure that calories in = calories out. This has helped me tremendously. I know I can enjoy something because I’ll work it off later. When I’m working out I know that I have to hold myself accountable and push myself harder, which really motivates me. I’ll tell myself “earn it, earn it, earn it” with every breath in and out while I’m running up a big hill, and that really makes my feet fly. I hope you find your way soon! Good luck!
Oh, Amy, you are so right with the running. Even though I’ve been running for what seems like ever, I still get really sick of it and burned out if I do it too many days a week. And to be honest, I’m training for the NYC marathon and I only run 4 days a week, so you’ll be fine only running twice a week and cross training in preparation for the 5k.
I was sooo committed to eating clean earlier this year and I totally fell off that bandwagon when we were living in the hotel. Now that we’re back in the apartment, I am definitely recommitting myself to that. It’s only been a few days but I can already tell what a huge difference it’s making in how I feel.
The only hard part is I still haven’t quite found a time to workout that I like. Mornings are no good. I can’t wake up early to save my life. Evenings look like the only option, but it’s so hard to motivate myself when it’s dark out. Evening working in my apartment when it’s dark is a struggle… But I guess sometimes you just have to suck it up and get it done!
It sounds like you struggle with a lot of the same things I do regarding healthy eating and fitness. My weight has gone up and down 30 lbs nearly every year. Down one year, up the next. I once lost 50 lbs successfully, but only kept it off for six months before I started to gain again.
And I get down on myself for it–a lot. I just made an amazing realization, however. I realize that I tend to be an “all or nothing” person. When I want change, I want BIG change. I need to eat cleanly, give up caffeine, give alcohol, give up sugar, run 5x a week, etc. Basically, I set myself up for failure because trying to change a lot at once is really hard to make stick. So right now I’m focusing on changing one habit a week. The last two weeks I’ve focused on adding more walking into my day by skipping the bus and walking to work. I’m not thinking about what I’m eating, or how many times I get to the gym. So far I like this technique because I don’t feel the pressure to be perfect. I hope you find a way that works for you. Good luck!
Since I’m in the phase of needing to burn more than I eat, I can’t really afford to treat myself. I figure if I dedicate myself to my “diet” eventually the pounds will come off and I will have created new, healthier habits when it comes to eating. The other day I had some sugar and POW! I felt its effects almost immediately (headache, belly ache, loss of focus). I don’t want to feel that way or go down that slippery slope so I try to keep myself on a routine that allows me to control what kind of food is around me. Sometimes I get grumpy because I wish I could eat like “everyone else” but I don’t allow myself to wallow. I feel best when I am working out, eating lots of protein & veggies and avoiding white sugar/flour/alcohol.
I feel you on this. It’s hard!
Hey Amy! Avid reader of the blog who heard about you through another Amy (Rainy Saturday).
I definitely 100% understand and know the feelings you’re having. I have tried so many times tracking my food and it’s just meh. The days when I used to mess up I would just throw my arms up it the air and say, “oh well, I screwed up already. What’s the point?”
I am having some success with something I found through my BlackBerry, called MyFitnessPal. It’s really comprehensive and holy wow, am I ever more aware of what I’m putting into my body. I just had a pretty lax weekend, where I drank heavily and ate poorly and with it’s stats, I saw how much sodium and fat I used to put into my body without even blinking. Eye-opening for sure..
Even with my crappy days, I meticulously mark everything that I put past my lips, and on those days that I overindulge, I literally read the toll it is taking on my body. I sure felt not only literally hungover, but food hungover as well.
It has fantastic tools (like calculating BMR) and depending on how much you want to lose, it can help you calculate what calorie you need or you can do it manually. It’s really great, and I’ve been doing it for 50 days now.. the longest I’ve stuck with anything like this, well, EVER. It gives you charts and stats and it’s just so easy. I believe there’s an app for iPhone as well, and it’s based online.
My big thing is exercise. Aside from belly-dancing, I haven’t been doing much more and need to get back on that. I’d love to see more results, and I know that’s where they’re going to come from.
You are doing great though, and are an inspiration even when you think you’re not!
I just absolutely, 100% love your approach to losing weight. It’s so refreshing! It’s such a hard battle, but I love the “rules” you’ve set for yourself because they are attainable and not too crazy.
I think those are great new rules to follow Amy. And, really, if you fill your week with cross-training and only run twice a week (one shorter one and one longer one) you will still easily be able to prepare your body for the 5K. And enjoy the journey more than you are now!
These are great ways to try to stay healthy! I may even try the tea trick, because man does my sweet tooth get the best of me. I keep saying I’ll give up sugar, and I mean it…until someone puts cookies in the office kitchen. Which happens, like, EVERY DAY.
word, word, word.
the staff lounge full of cookies? the cupcakes from the 100 3rd graders at my school? gifts of chocolate? – all went away when i found out i am allergic to dairy. have i lost any weight? not a single pound, but i do feel better.
my newest fitness commitment is walking once or twice a day for 30 minutes with the kid, lifting heavy weights twice a week and doing some at home yoga.
we just have to shift to what works and remember some is way better than none.
I’m wondering why you run when it seems like you don’t like it? That would leave you in one of two states: miserable because you are running or angry at yourself for not following through (because you don’t enjoy it). I say stick to things that make you happy… and plus I have an extra pass to hot yoga in Elk Grove if you want to come.
holy crap dude! i know fitness/food is a ridiculously touchy subject and everyone has their $0.02 and I don’t know your height/weight/whatever, and i am saying this in a really nice tone, i know its hard to tell over the internet. but I feel like 1400-1500 cals is just not enough in a day to get adequate nutrients! not to mention that it leaves so much room for beating yourself up if you go over! honestly, if you literally cut down 250 cals a day intake and burn 250 more per day, thats a pound a week! soo sustainable. again, idk what your sitch is, but it doesn’t seem you could live the rest of your life on 1500 and you want to be sustainable!!
but alas, hot yoga is where its at. i love it soo much. and you’ll be burning a tooon of cals as well and feeling great if you keep it up! i’m also going to run a 5k (but next year) i had the smart idea of starting running in mid-june and then a few weeks in by the time i got out of work (a veggie farm) it was soo hot out plus i was beat! and then i started running once i got back to school but of course it has been in the 40′s lately and i’m not down to run in that!
i hope your weather is great in california so you can keep training! good lucky lady!
I second the MyFitnessPal recommendation. It’s available for the iPhone as well, and if you don’t have a smartphone (or even if you do), it’s also a website: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/
It makes it really easy to keep track of everything you’re eating AND of your exercise. Once you’ve added a food (it has a big database of foods, or you can add your own, including adding individual ingredients to create a recipe), it saves it for easy access so if you have foods you eat a lot, they’re right at your fingertips.
It has a “news feed” like fb, except it only posts stuff like “So & so completed their food and exercise diary for 10/24/2011″ or “So and so burned 365 calories doing 40 minutes of Aerobic Dance Exercise, high-impact” or “So and so lost 1 pound since her last weigh-in! She’s lost 10 pounds so far!”
If you get a couple of friends on there, it’s fun to see how each other’s doing and it helps keep you on track and accountable to someone else. I’m friends with one of my best friends from out of state on it, and we’re able to keep in touch more frequently than we normally would through that, so it’s really nice!
Anyway, I’ve found that super-helpful in helping to keep myself more conscious of what I’m eating.
My eating healthy/losing weight/working out cycles keep being interrupted by pregnancies, but there is one rule that I always try to follow- indulgences should feel indulgent. Shoving down a handful of chocolate chips while the kids aren’t looking doesn’t feel indulgent. Having a hot chocolate with whipped cream after they go to bed? Does. Neither is really “good” for me, but if I’m going to indulge I should at least enjoy it!
I think switching up your health rules is a really good idea and will help you to get motivated again! Some of my health rules involve drinking water every day also (and coffee, of course). Another rule of mine is to run every day, but I haven’t the last few days because my legs have been so sore from the temple stay. I fully intend to go running tonight, though. No excuses!
I do the EXACT same thing, Amy. I eat one crappy thing and I’m like ‘oh well this whole day is a waste’. So, so bad. I like your rules. A lot of them used to be mine and I seem to have put them on the back burner. I think, like you, I’m going to start implementing them back in my life slowly. One thing at a time, until they become second nature to me again. I hate feeling bad for eating
I tried Almond Milk today and decided I don’t like it. The extra 30 calories in skim milk is worth it to me. That’s my new rule. I may be able to do almond milk in cereal, but not for my morning drink.
Good for you for sticking with what you ENJOY. If you LIKE to do spin/yoga/etc, then don’t try to force yourself to be runner girl. Be yoga girl. That’s okay.
Big hugs to you xoxo Keep it up:)
I’ve gone off dairy, too! I’m lactose intolerant, but I love cheese, cream, yogurt, ice-cream, etc, so I’ve always eaten dairy even though it makes me feel terrible (and often puts me in awkward digestive situations.) A few months ago I had a really embarrassing (read: STINKY!) social moment involving some ice-cream and I decided to give it up entirely. It’s amazing how much better I feel! I have more energy and I don’t have to worry about feeling gross and gassy all the time. Now I will only occasionally eat dairy as a treat when I really really want it and I know that I don’t have to do anything active for the next several hours.
That’s the toughest challenge, I think: thinking of and accepting this journey as learning a new way of living/eating vs. a diet. It’s tough. Very tough. But, it sounds like you have all the right tools in place. So perhaps it’s just a matter of chipping away, day by day, recognizing that some days you’ll make greater progress than others but hell, you’re still trying! And that counts for something. Rather, it counts for everything!!
I think my next step in this health adventure of mine is to figure out what makes me feel like crap and eliminate it from my diet. I eat pretty well already, but I keep wondering if meat and alcohol are things I’d feel better without. Cutting them out just seems like such a big deal though so I’m hesitant to declare any sort of change just yet. I also need to stop making excuses for myself and get up off my ass every single day and do something because really, I feel better when I exercise.
I’m bookmarking this and using it as a tutorial to getting my own life back on track post-sail. My health has gone to sh*t–no working out, eating all carbs, sleeping like 5 hours a night. I feel terrible all the time, ugh!
[...] this week, armed with this knowledge, I’m going to work on following my own health and fitness rules and simply smiling and nodding when someone else offers their take on what I should try [...]