Health and Fitness, October 2013

[Harriet]

Food, glorious food! October makes it official - we are heading into the food-treat season, lol ! First, every possible variety of candy will be placed at eye-level on the supermarket shelves all month , then seasonal cooking will gear up with it's crescendo at Thanksgiving. And THEN we'll start thinking about food gifts, cookie trays, entertaining with fruitcake and all things sweet.

Foods may not be the most important part of our health and fitness. But we do worry about them a lot. And making better food choices is one marker we can use to gauge our health progress. So in that spirit, here are some food quotes that really stuck with me lately!

To say, "you are what you eat" is wrong.
But you are what your body does with what you eat. - Eric Westman

Calories (noun): Tiny creatures that live in your closet and sew your clothes a little bit tighter every night. - Jorge Cruise

I've been on a constant diet for the last two decades. I've lost a total of 789 pounds. By all accounts, I should be hanging from a charm bracelet. - Erma Bombeck

Most of what we need to know about how to eat we already know, or once did until we allowed nutrition experts and the advertisers to shake our confidence in common sense, tradition, the testimony of our senses, and the wisdom of our mothers and grandmothers. - Michael Pollan

The FDA sets nutritional standards for food labels, but the Institute of Medicine (IOM) sets nutritional standards for dietary intake. In 2002, the IOM suggested that the maximum level of intake of added sugars (as opposed to those naturally present in foods) should be a whopping 25% or less of calories. Americans (already) typically consume around 20% of calories from added sugars. Taken at face value, the IOM suggestion made it sound as if current intake levels were just fine. The sugar industry happily viewed 25% as a recommendation, not a maximum. - Marion Nestle

How is your health journey going? Have you had any successes, learned about your needs and how your body works?

What are the new plans, the goals, the schedules you are paying attention to for October?

Do you have a calendar event coming up, which may inspire you to greater fitness?

We'd love to hear and encourage!

[Twins' Mom]

Ummmm, not doing so well with actually writing down what I eat and figuring points but am mostly eating things that I know are "safe" from prior WW journeys. I was particularly proud that on the road yesterday, I had lunch at Subway and then got supper after I got home - and that was a wrap with turkey, a little hummus, roasted red peppers, olives and basil. I had one Diet Coke on the road and after that was able to opt for unsweetened ice tea sweetened with a bit of the minute maid light lemonade. Oh, and had one scoop of ice cream with dsis. I also had a couple of bananas along for snacks.

[Harmony]

I'm still mindfully watching, trying to come up with the ultimate good plan, one I can stick with. Have tried a couple things. My clothes are looser. I look better in the mirror without clothes.

[Harriet]

Harmony, great job seeing results in the mirror and having looser clothes.

Twins' Mom, that sandwich sounds scrumptious. Smart of you to have a snack for the road.

My report for September is a TaDa, because I'm at my "healthy weight" again. As ya'll know, I keep records on 4x6 gridded cards, one card per half-month. Started counting sugar calories on the 18th, staying under 100, and as of now, just for the last 12 days of the month, this proves to be the most successful weight-loss half-month change I've ever written on a healthy habits card. I always write new weight lows on the backs of the cards, and as I looked at this one, I wondered if I'd ever seen so much written on the back. So I went back through all my healthy habits cards to be sure. Even my best effort at calorie counting (and I'd noted hunger on that card) didn't match this.

Evidently, this was what my body needed. I may have had a lot of hidden sugar in my diet. I had described my weight loss that began Oct, 2011 (and only netted about a pound a month for the following 9 months), as "slow as a turtle slogging through molasses". That took me to my healthy weight (not a "goal" weight). But a year later, with my ddad's death and all that went with that, I went backward. Now I'm even again. I'm almost up to OKay's rate-of-loss standards, yay!

Another TaDa for September is that I spent time learning how to blend veggie drinks ("green drinks") that I like well enough not to make a face! I had one this a.m. and it was acceptable. big handful spinach, stalk chopped celery, 1/3 kiwi, 3 frozen cherries, 1 tbls pumpkin seeds, 1 packet truvia stevia, 1 cup water/crushed ice.

Looking forward to the shrimp tonight. It's thawing. Fresh lemon for it is in the fridge.

Goals and calendar event goals - well, it wasn't a goal, but the upcoming weekend makes me glad I paid this good attention to my way-of-eating. Saturday I have a baby shower with my maternal family and a wedding for my late dh's family (always the most competitive). Further goals - hey, maybe there really is hope for a "goal weight" in my future. Dfirstsisil hasn't announced the date of that family's Christmas party yet, but I'd love to lose a pound a week until then, and be consistent with exercise.

[Nancy]

I, ve done two rounds of yd. Wk today and walked w dgd.

[Ivy]

I timed my walking for 6 minutes today, but I did several loads of laundry, so there was walking back and forth, reaching, hanging, folding, etc... I'll do some stretching before bedtime, I've remained on my plan today, food-wise, and haven't eaten any sweets. My weight was up a bit this morning, but a lot of it could have been from dinnertime's food. Also, tonight I ate a healthy salad with a microwave dinner, so the dinner may cause me to bloat tomorrow a.m., too. I'm not going to let that deter me from healthy eating or make me throw in the towel and blow it again!

I'm so grateful this thread is here and for everyone who posts their journeys with us all here. It's wonderful to read everyone's escapades, and to learn new things, too. I just love this thread.

[Ivy]

I did some yoga stretching, worked hard on the linen cupboard, working up a sweat. I decided, rather than doing a timed-walking session, I'll do housework as activity today. I need to:
- dust & dust mop the rooms and fir floors
- do toilets
- dust powder (from DH) in the master bathroom (b/c of my asthma) (powder's a trigger).
- I'll clean the tiles or Formica counters in the powder room, main/guest bathroom, master bathroom.
- I'll take baby steps, will try to not overdo, but if I work up a sweat, that's good exercising. And I'll have a dust-free house that's cleaner.
DH is burning dry fir wood in the fireplace insert, which dries out the air, so I'll need to dust more often. I have a super-duper humidifier, which helps with my dry eyes and helps the wood furniture not get so dried out. While I take care of my fitness, I'll kill 2 birds with 1 stone, getting my house clean at the same time.
As long as we're moving, that's important. We can't ALL train for Triathlons or Marathons. Wish I was younger and fitter, so I could though! HONESTLY! But wishes don't get the present job at hand done, does it.

[Nancy]

I did shopping for some of my walking today, I walked the hill, and then did some more looking for dgson found him.

[Twins' Mom]

I did weigh in at WW this evening and had lost 3.6 pounds. I recall that losing the first week is pretty easy and I also weighed in wearing lighter clothes than last week, but I'm claiming it all.

Dh had lost 6 pounds but got fussed at because he's not eating enough protein. He was whining as we were leaving about how it's so hard to use all his points and I told him I was tired of hearing about it.

We got sandwiches at J immy John's before going to temple; I left off mayo so mine was dry, forgot about asking for mustard instead.

[Ivy]

I did yoga stretches, walked 15 minutes while on hold on the phone. I'll try to do better at my activity tomorrow, but today was a day of business calls, and conversations on the phone.