WHAT I HAVE LEARNED SO FAR:
If you are like me at all, you have to keep notes. So much has happened over the last 60 days that I decided I needed to do a special posting to capture some of what I have been taught and what I am learning. So I am going to endeavor to try and capture some of it and put it into categories so that not only can I share it with you, but I can keep track of it myself! :)
here are the categories: Overall: Eating/Diet: Training: Exercise:
OVERALL:
In order for me to to do this, I had to learn and have to keep in mind that this is ONE DAY AT A TIME just like everything in my life. Everytime in my life I have tried to do any change in weight or exercise, I got impatient, stressed by lack of change fast enough, or I got off track one day and gave up. Even more important, I got overwhelmed by what seemed like the enormity of the task at hand. If someone said, "ok, you now have to go to the gym 6days a week, change all of your eating habits, give up all your comfort foods, eat things that you have never been comfortable with before, and make great changes to everythign you have been doing for practically your whole life", I would have just packed it in, ordered a pizza, sat in front of the tv and kept on going. But not this time. Each day is the first day..each day is the gift that builds on the next to progress. Each day is THE ONLY DAY that I am going to the gym. Each day is the ONLY day that I am eating right and making changes in what I have been eating. And I hope that the next day will follow suit, but it is about TODAY! And so far, one day has lead to another and I am seeing amazing results.
Now, the biggie..I had to start LISTENING to someone smarter than me! Oh yes, believe it or not, there are those who are smarter than Bo Dean and they need to be listened to. Once you have recovered, as I did from the shock of that discovery, we can continue....:)
But not only did I had to listen, I also had to trust that if I am doing what I am directed to do, if I listen and follow the advise of those who know better than I, then there will be progress. Trust is not blind faith. I am still asking questions and participating. But when my trainer says jump...you can be sure I say HOW HIGH..and when he says not to do something, I don't.
It took years to get me here through my own thinking and action, and I know now that listening to those who know better will lead me in a better direction. But to progress.... it will not change overnight, so the second big overall thing I have to stay focused on is PROGRESS NOT PERFECTION! I have to remember to really focus on the changes that are happening for me and no set myself up for "well, I cannot be perfect, so I might as well just quit"...now isn't that convienent (and for those of you old enough..say it like the church lady from SNL!)
The last overall that I learned so far is to focus on what is right for BO DEAN, not on what others are doing...if you have followed this at all, you know I have gotten in trouble watching others and thinking I am not doing enough or doing it right. Fortunately, I have confessed such sins to my trainer who quickly admonished me and said "don't...i repeat don't look at what others are doing". I have known about "COMPARE AND DISPAIR" for many a year, but this brings it home more so, becuase if I am trying to do what others are doing, I could first, hurt myself, and secondly, they may (and I have found this to be very true) most likely be doing something incorrectly. Stick with the plan!
EATING/DIET:
Ok..so I went to Heidi Kauffman at Wilmington Indocrinology and got a diet. It was a plan I could live with. One of the basic things that we went over was not eating things I don't like..but trying things that would help me and seeing how to integrate it all into better health. For me as a type two diabetic, my sugar stays way to high..so eating three squares a day with little to no snacks and trying to eat the heavier meals at breakfast and lunch were essential. So based on that model, I put my mind to it and things have not only been better, I have rarely felt deprived, and always felt full!
At this stage, it is just amazing to see what I was doing in terms of eating and what is going on now:
Think of it: in the last 60 days, I had not had, to stuff my face with:
Potato chips
Cheetos
Cheese (that was not no-fat)
Crackers
Candy bars
M&M's
Doughnuts
Cookies
Ice Cream (Ben and jerry's full on fat)
Nabs
cheez-its
sourdough bread (usually toasted with lots of butter)
white chocolate crunch mix from fresh market (by the pound)
Instead I have had in appropriate amounts and at appropriate times:
Pretzels in appropriate amounts
Wheat thins
triscuits
salsa and Baked Tostitos
Pickles (love some mt. olive dills)
apples
fruit cocktail in its own juice (no syrup)
pears in their own juice (no syrup)
peaches (sugar free in pear juice, no syrup)
blueberries
no fat low cal yogurt
no sugar added ice cream sandwiches
no sugar added ice pops
sugarless gum
carrots
In the last 60 days I have not had for meals
chicken biscuits
sausage egg and cheese biscuits
biscuits
heavy pastas with white sauces
pastry wrapped chicken (had about once a week)
tons of cheese toast
cheese grits
eggs with cheese
bacon and sausage
Pasta at all!
french fries AT ALL!
loaded baked potatoes
white bread at all!
butter
canola or vegetable oil
pizza! and that is big one.we were eating 2 a week
FAST FOOD AT ALL!
ribeye cooked in butter
Mexican food (fried chimichangas, etc)
Chinese take out with egg rolls
Instead I have had:
one egg, candadian bacon and fat free cheese with whole wheat english muffin
(egg cooked in microwave, so no butter or oil)
Salad with low cal dressing
Broccoli (and I have learned to cook and LOVE IT!)
Chicken dishes made without oil or butter and NOT FRIED
tuna with low cal mayo (duke's makes the best!)
Hibachi Grill take out (without the rice)
green beans
mixed Greens
Spinach (floretine chicken)
Corn
a couple of times lean steak
WHOLE WHEAT BREAD (which I swore I would never eat..and now I love)
lean turkey slices
chicken sausage for entrees
low fat marinara's on chicken and vegetables (without pasta)
Pita Delight Chicken Salad take out
the occassional low fat breakfast sandwich from Starbucks (340 calories, 9grms fat)
In other words..I am eating fruits and veg! :) for the first time I can remember regularly!
and the most amazing thing is I do not feel deprived, hungry or wanting of anything! I am enjoying this food and the feeling that is coming from it!
To drink:
I still am drinking diet coke, but down to 2 a day instead of 6
coffee, black, without cream or without fat free creamer (but not a lot of coffee, b/c I have so much energy)
Got brita's at home and office and drinking 6-8 glasses of water a day.
TRAINING:
As I said, I had to listen..but especially about exercise. Adam has been amazing with this gift of training to help me on the road to this new life! His expertise is not only changing my life, but hopefully helping anyone who is reading all this.
The big things that he has for me in training began with working on the smaller muscles first to get them built up to prepare for more strenuous exerices latter.
If you have read this, you know that over the last 60 days, there has been a progression of my ability to do exercises and in each training session, Adam has taken me to new levels as I am able to handle them.
I have to remember that it is not a race. Getting the form right when doing the exercise is crucial because it can effect the actual utility of the exercise and by just getting through things fast, I can:
1.) not get the maximum result
2.) possible get no result
3.) have an unintended consequence and hurt myself
4) or do something that creates pain and therefore makes it discouraging and i don't want to do it anymore.
By finding my pace, trusting what that I can do these things as they come, and as I am directed, and really focusing on the way it is to be done correctly, the results come out beautifully.
Certainly in 60 days I am have not overturned a lot of years of bad habits, but yes, I am seeing changes and in some ways, big ones already!
The philosophy around this is sound in that it is great for me to loose weight, but if I am not turning this fat to muscle, if I am not changing this body, it is just the same body, only smaller, and one that is lying in wait to get fat again. By adding muscle and getting tone it is going to be a whole lot harder to get fat again because just sitting around with muscle burns calories as opposed to a body with a high fat content.
I get it and I am ready, one day at a time to keep this up and keep this going!
Here's to the days ahead!
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