exercise | All Things Gwen

Posts Tagged ‘exercise’

Being Healthy Can Make You RICH

March 22, 2011

I had dinner with a close girl friend last week. We tell each other EVERYTHING. We talk about fitness, healthy eating, relationships, work stress, holistic practices, etc. We like to explore the unconventional stuff.

She told me about her friend Courtney* that has relationship issues and is always disappointed, even when the situation is not “make-or-break.” For example, Courtney will get really bent out-of-shape and take it personally if her boyfriend, Mark* doesn’t call at the exact time he said he would. Courtney’s therapist suggested that she create a “checkbook” to record and monitor Mark’s positive and negative behavior. So, when Mark calls on time, she writes down +$50. When he takes her out to a nice dinner, +$75. When Mark is late, -$25. Courtney determines the worth/dollar amount for everything. And, the list is a way for her to determine what’s meaningful and focus on the positive things Mark does. Instead of flipping out, she’s programming herself to “check herself before she wrecks herself.”

I’m not endorsing or putting down this concept. I do feel bad for Courtney and her negative associations, but I’m happy that she’s working it out by getting help and using techniques that work. My thought though, is how to apply this idea to exercise and healthy living. Why not keep a checkbook of the things you do each day to get to your health and fitness goals? Assign the amount you’ve “earned” based on what you think you deserve.

My list would look like this:
Drank a full glass of water to start the day = $10
Packed my lunch(es) = $15
Avoided eating the coconut patties at work = + $15
Taught kickboxing at 30% exertion (injury) = + $20
Jogged for three miles and sprinted the last quarter mile = + $35
Ate consistently, four small meals, four hours apart = $30
Got to sleep before 10:30 pm = $40

With time, hopefully, your “bank” account will be exactly where you want it to be, you’ve “saved up” the “amount” you want and you have reprogrammed yoursef to have positive, happy associations with being healthy. Now, feel free to send me a real check in the mail!

Please share your list! I’d love to see what you think things are worth.

Photo by jridgewayphotography.
*Names changed!

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Feeling Young and Fresh

February 23, 2011

With my brother. We're young and fresh!

Day 8 on Four Hour Body and down six pounds!

First off, I am so amazed at the positive feedback. So many people tell me that they can relate to my battle against emotional eating and they say I’ve inspired them.

I feel amazing. My attitude and mood have been positive all day long. I find myself really wanting to write (which I love to do) and my head is really clear. Not only have I lost weight, my friends (well, friend – singular) and I can see the difference. Spent some time today with my girl friend Amanda – she hasn’t seen me in a few weeks. She says she sees the difference in my face, my legs and belly. She says my skin is glowing and I look young and fresh. I’ve begun to see that too. I FEEL young and fresh too! Funny thing is that she’s known me for years and says that if I can do this diet/lifestyle change than she can — meaning she knows how crappy I used to eat and how I’ve never been disciplined ever. Heee heee!

Sample Meals
People have asked me for some sample meals and I am happy to share some of my favorite recipes. They’re coming soon, I promise. Here’s what I ate today to give you ideas:

MEAL 1, 7:30 am – One egg, two egg whites topped with two tablespoons of organic salsa and a black bean mix I made – sautéed garlic and onions with diced red peppers, mushrooms and black beans. (Goya Black Beans – drained and rinsed.)
MEAL 2, 11:30 am – One egg white (from a hard-boiled egg).
MEAL 2.1, 12:00 pm Belated Birthday Lunch out with co-workers at Pizzacato. I had the “Mixed Greens” salad. It was mixed greens with roasted red peppers, balsamic onions, grilled chicken with roasted garlic vinaigrette on the side. Told them to leave off the Gorganzola cheese. It was really yummy and barely used the dressing because I didn’t really need. it. The peppers and onions gave the salad a lot of flavor.
MEAL 3, 3:30 pm – Some chicken and a bit of baked eggplant and baked zucchini.
MEAL 4, 7:30 pm - Taco salad – lean ground meat, romaine lettuce, tomatoes, black beans (drained and rinsed), a smidgie of corn and my new bff, organic salsa. Wasn’t sure about the corn, but I also made a recipe from the Four Hour Body cookbook for Chicken Tortilla Soup and it called for corn. (Soup is for tomorrow.)

See? Good food! Full all day and not feeling starved. My energy and mood was stable all day, no sugar highs and lows. LOVE IT.
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No Excuses, No Emotional Eating

February 22, 2011

Cupcakes from Ben's First Birthday!

“Good habits, once established, are just as hard to break as are bad habits” ~Robert Puller

My life, WAS a bunch of oxymorons — mixed up and confused. See, I love to work out, teach group exercise classes … and eat my face off. I’ve never been disciplined with eating healthy or followed an exercise plan. (I’m Filipino and all we do is gather around food.) I’d run a 10K without training, sign up for all kinds of races and just do them. I never felt strong while doing them though, and always chalked it up to — I don’t have time to do my own workout since I’m teaching so many classes. Regardless, no matter what I knew was right to do — for diet and nutrition with all that activity — I never did it. I’d answer everyone’s questions and be encouraging for them, but I was always a “fraud” so to speak. I always felt like it.

Bad Scene
In fact, I’ll never forget the time I drank one Diet Coke the day before a 5K. One Diet Coke and that’s it. No water. In the summer. On the way to the race, I barely drank any water for fear I’d have to pee (stupid excuse!) . The race was brutal. It was insanely hot and I felt horrible. I barely drank water after because it was a long ride home. I ended up getting crazy dizzy and barely being able to drive during a major storm. Yes, I made myself sick for days because I was dehydrated. Could barely get out of bed. Stupid.

Emotional Eating
I realize now that life is always going to be hard, there are always going to be challenges and I need to stop the emotional eating. During 2008 – 2010, I gained about 25 pounds from my stressful job from which I’d later get laid off from. I’d start at 7 am after an hour commute, be falling asleep all day, and when I came home just wanted to eat everything in sight and decompress. And, I did. My excuse then was — I work so hard, I deserve to eat this! I know now that that job sucked the life out of me and eating gave me joy. Life didn’t give me joy. Thank goodness the door closed there for me, because it was emotionally unhealthy for me and the other people in the department that were let go/left as well.

More Excuses
Here I am now, married. Before the wedding, I was watching what I ate (sorta) and lost about ten pounds simply by not eating late at night. I still look back and wish I tried a little harder … but again, I had an excuse. At that point, it was — I’m stressed! We have so many expenses! I got laid off months before and was bugging out about what to do with my life. I had a flood of emotions associated with losing my job.

More Unhealthy Habits and The Turning Point
Recently, we’ve been going to a lot of family parties. My hubs and I have tons of cousins, and we have a lot of close friends. That means first birthdays, showers, weddings … all that. Last weekend, we went to a first birthday and they had an insane amount of desserts — vanilla ice cream with caramel and toffee, ice cream cake, a candy bar and gigantic sugar cookie favor. I ate all of it. These aren’t even my favorite sweets! It was there and I ate it. Did the same thing at a baptism the day before. GROSS. I was really feeling like I was eating sugary stuff I didn’t need and felt like crap about it.
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