My Weekend and Planning for the Week

This past weekend, my husband and I went dancing, did some cooking, and continued to "train" for our upcoming vacation. Friday, we went to our ballroom dancing class, we are learning the Tango, and I think we finally have it down to the point where we can "graduate" to the next level next time around - Yay us!! We have found that dance is really difficult for the first month or so, but once it starts to click, it is awesome fun! 

Saturday, we went on our "train walk,"our 17 mile walk down the coast from Oceanside to Solana Beach. It was a gorgeous day, shorts weather, and we had a beautiful, relaxing walk (and burned a good amount of calories in the process). We stopped at the half way point and had a yummy picnic lunch of oranges, apples, and dry cheerios (I know, dry cheerios probably do not sound great, but they did the trick - usually, we take blueberry yogurt muffins, but we just didn't have the time to bake them the night before). After our walk, we went out to lunch, we had Mexican food. Lots of calories. We still do go out to eat now and then, we're just careful about it. Even though our dinner was heavy and calorie-laden, the exercise we did throughout the rest of the day kept us within our calorie budget. So, we certainly wouldn't do this every day, but it's fine for a treat once in a while. And we treated ourselves on Saturday. 

Sunday, we woke up early and went for a beautiful hike at Torrey Pines in La Jolla. Gorgeous. We arrived early enough to beat the crowds and hiked around for 3 1/2 hours. It was beautiful, it was fun, and it put me in a really great mood for the remainder of the day. What a fantastic way to start the day! Sunday afternoon, we prepared for the week by cooking an enormous pot of minestrone soup (I say "we," really, it was my husband).  We ate pretty light all day on Sunday and I ended up netting just over 700 calories for the day, and I wasn't hungry once. Fruit and veggies, baby! 

Every week, I try to have at least some idea of how I'm going to eat right and exercise enough to make my daily and weekly goals. So the plan for the week, Monday (today) is a low exercise day, so I need to keep my calories low. I try never to go an entire day without doing any exercise, this is not too difficult except when I travel. I always try at least to go for a walk at lunch, and that is the plan for today, to go for a good lunch walk and then to go for a nice walk with my husband when I get home. This is not Zumba or an intense work-out, but it will do along with a bit of a stricter diet. Tuesday, I have a lunch meeting for a board on which I serve. I will check out the menu and order responsibly, but it will likely still exceed the calories I generally alot for lunch, so that means breakfast and dinner need to be light and I need to watch my snacking really closely. Breakfast will probably be the same as usual and dinner will be white fish and veggies. Snacks on Tuesday will be fruit and veggies and I will be avoiding bread products and salty foods (restaurant food is always more salty than homemade, in my experience, even when the restaurant food doesn't taste particularly salty). Wednesday through Friday will be my typical Wednesday through Friday - no eating out or anything like that around which I need to plan, and I'm not travelling or anything, so my exercise routine shouldn't be disrupted. 

Enjoy your week!

Seriously?!

Okay, here is my little rant for the day
Feeling a little lethargic in the morning? Hey, instead of getting more sleep or exercising a bit, Mountain Dew has your answer - they are introducing a new breakfast drink. WTF?  Well, apparently, this is quite the healthful concoction because it has 5% juice and vitamin B and C.  AND it has only like a third the caffeine when compared with a 16-oz cup of Starbuck's coffee. Yeah, that's where we want to set the bar. sigh. Is it any wonder that diabetes is a rising problem in this country? Who drinks this stuff for breakfast? (says the person who used to drink a 16-oz peppermint white chocolate mocha EVERY morning) ....oh...currently dismounting my high horse...

Relaxing Weekends

It used to be, before this whole weight loss / lifestyle-change undertaking, that I would look forward to my relaxing weekends. At that time, when I thought about relaxing, I thought about very sedentary activities. To me, relaxing was going to a movie or two, going to the theater  going out to dinner, snuggling on the couch with my hubby watching T.V. and the like. At the end of the weekend, after all of my "relaxing," I was not really relaxed. I would often feel tired and lethargic, I would not sleep well, I would toss and turn and wake up several times during the night, and there were many days when I would barely be able to stay awake or focus. I still like to snuggle on the couch with my husband and go to movies and the theater occasionally, but these activities no longer occupy the majority of my weekend time.

This weekend, I relaxed. My husband and I went dancing on Friday night, we are learning the Tango this month. On Saturday, we went for a nice long walk. We have season passes to Disneyland and we have a "circuit" that we walk around the park and the surrounding hotels. We will walk around the parks and do our "circuit" for about 5 or 6 hours. We pack a lunch of fruit, lots of water, and a couple of blueberry-yogurt muffins (or some other low-calorie snacks) and we avoid the food in the park (except the fruit, we will eat that in a pinch).  It is always a fun, active, and relaxing day. Sunday, we went for a beautiful 3 hour hike at Torrey Pines State Park. It is about a ten to fifteen minute drive from our house, and it is absolutely gorgeous. Finally, Sunday evening, we went dancing again - more Tango lessons. After our dance class on Sunday night, I was blissfully exhausted. Tired, but a different kind of tired - not lethargic. Even though I was exhausted, I felt relaxed and de-stressed. And I slept beautifully last night. I find myself refreshed and ready for the week this morning. It may seem counter-intuitive, but our "active weekends" are far, far more relaxing and enjoyable than our sedentary "relaxing" weekends used to be.  If someone would have told me that two years ago, I would never have believed it.

Training for Vacation

Whoever thought I would need to train for my vacation?? But I am. My husband and I have booked a hike in Ireland for June (yay!!!). The hike is about 140 miles, we booked an 11 day hike with one extra day to rest on day 6, so we will be hiking it in 9 days because the first and last days of the hike are just checking in and checking out. We will be hiking 15 - 20 miles a day, so for the past several weeks, we have started going for very long hikes and / or walks every weekend day to prepare. As soon as the days start to get longer, we will start to do long walks after work. I have no doubt that we can do this, I just want to have the stamina to enjoy the hike and then to enjoy the little pubs and towns at the end of the day - to get the most out of the experience. So, we are training for our vacation, and I have never looked forward to a vacation so much in my life!

It's also nice to have a goal that, while it will help my husband and I stay fit and maintain our weight, the main thrust of the goal is not necessarily weight loss, but to be in shape to make the most of our summer vacation. We are going to take these new, fit bodies out for a spin!

Return of the Monster Migraine

I am allergic to Vegas. Seriously. I am allergic to alcohol, I break out in hideous hives every time I drink anything containing alcohol and, apparently, I cannot abide prolonged exposure to cigarette smoke, dry weather, and salty food without ending up with a hideous migraine. So, this weekend's trip to Vegas was quite a learning experience.

I have mentioned before that, prior to my weight loss, I got regular, severe migraines. Since I have lost weight those have all but completely disappeared. I will start to get one every once in a while, but they are much easier to stop in their tracks than they used to be. So on Saturday night, when I woke up with the worst migraine I've had since I lost weight, I panicked. I thought I had solved the problem. I hadn't prepared for this vacation like I used to, by packing all manner of migraine medication, because I have not needed it in over a year. Thus, at 1 am, I got online and started to look at natural remedies for migraines. In doing this research, I found a lot of information about migraine prevention. It turns out that quite a bit of what I did to lose weight falls within the scope of "natural migraine prevention strategies."  I had heard most of these suggestions before and I was aware that some of the lifestyle changes I made to lose weight may have played a part in my migraine relief, but a couple of the articles I read put into stark relief just how much these lifestyle changes paralleled the changes I needed to make to help reduce and relieve my migraines.

One suggestion was to increase intake of Riboflavin, which is found in found in milk, meat and green vegetables. One major diet change I made to lose weight was to greatly increase my intake of vegetables and two of my favorite vegetables, that I eat all the time - probably 5 or more times a week - are broccoli and spinach. Apparently, these are great sources of riboflavin. Another suggestion is to increase intake of Omega 3. Part of my dietary change was to increase the amount of fish I eat and decrease the amount of red meat I eat. The fist to which I will default is salmon, I eat it at least once or twice a week. Salmon, it turns out, is a great source of Omega 3.  Drinking more water is one way to help to prevent and relieve migraines. As part of my weight loss dietary changes, I had to start drinking more water. I still do not drink enough, to be honest, but I drink a lot more than I used to. In fact, one of the first things that I did on Saturday night / Sunday morning to get rid of the monster migraine was to drink a LOT of water. Increasing exercise is a migraine prevention strategy and another lifestyle change that I made to lose weight and one that I will continue. Finally, there were several prevention strategies related to reducing stress and relaxation. I have found that several of the activities I do to get my exercise are also incredibly relaxing: walking, hiking, and swimming, for example, are all quite relaxing for me. I always feel refreshed and de-stressed after I am done with a good walk or a nice swim.

So what brought on this monster migraine despite all of my great lifestyle changes, after over a year? I'm not a doctor and only time will tell - but my best guess is that I walked around the strip all day on Saturday, hung out in smoke-filled casinos, and - though I was pretty proud of how I balanced my calorie intake / output for the day - the calories I ate were not exactly healthy. I ate a lot of bread, and a lot of salt, and I didn't drink nearly enough water in Las Vegas' dry climate. I think that all worked together to result in a hideous migraine. Happily, after I drank a huge quantity of water (like 5 glasses), took two Advil, and got some sleep, my migraine was completely gone by 8am Sunday morning. A year and a half ago, that may not have been the case. On Sunday, I avoided the smoke-filled casinos, drank more water, spent some time at the end of the day in the spa, and ate a bit more reasonably (still not great, but went out and bought some fruit to eat) - and Sunday ended much better than Saturday did. No migraine. whew! Hopefully this was a one-time thing, and I have learned how to have a great time in Vegas without the resulting migraine.

WTF?!

This may very well be the first of a series of these WTF  posts...because just when I think I have everything figured out, my body decides to do something unexpected. So, this blog post will not really provide any brilliant insights, this one is just more of a vent.

I have been sick for a few days. Not on death's doorstep sick, but generally miserable, missed-a-couple-of-days-at-work sick. I had a sore throat, ear ache, headache, fatigue, and felt crappy. So all I've been eating for three days is oranges, minestrone soup (with a little cheese on the soup - about 0.5 ounce of Parmesan), veggies, and Robitussin Oh, and I had a bit of stir fry yesterday with about 2 oz. of chicken, veggies and 1/2 a cup of brown rice. I didn't get my usual workout for three days - but I've been tracking my calories, and I've been well within 1200-1400 calories / day. I should not be gaining any weight. I generally know what to expect from the scale and today, I was expecting to maintain or be slightly down. But low and behold, I stepped on the scale this morning and was UP FIVE pounds from Monday. sigh. WTF?! I do not get it and I'm really frustrated at the moment. I'm at another one of my stupid plateaus, I've been back and forth within this five pound range for like a month and a half. Gah!

Okay, that said, I know how to do this and I am going to keep plugging along. This has happened before and it will probably happen again. Generally when I bounce like this, it is right before I lose another couple of pounds. My clothes are not tight, in fact, the skirt I just had altered 6 weeks ago is a bit loose, so that is a good sign. As long as I don't keep on gaining, I'll be fine....breathe.....okay. I feel much better, thanks to lots of rest, and I'm back to the gym and my routine tonight, and I have a really active weekend planned. So, I'll see where I am on Monday and go from there. This can be a frustrating process, but the rewards are worth it. I've been at this for a year and a half now, and I'm still learning.

1/18/2013 Update: I still have no idea why I was up so much yesterday morning, but I'm back down to within a pound of my low weight again today - whew!

The Big BMI Freak Out

This month, the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) published a study done by Dr. Katherine Flegal. The study looked at data related to BMI and mortality.  The study looked at data from studies worldwide which examined the link between BMI and any cause of mortality. The Flegal study found that, while people who were considered to be "class 2" (BMI between 35 and 40) or "class 3" (BMI >40) levels of obesity did indeed have higher levels of mortality for any cause, those with a "normal" BMI (between 18.5 and 25) actually had a higher risk of dying (of any cause) than those in the overweight category (BMI between 25 and 30). And in fact, those who weighed in at a "class 1" level of obesity had no higher risk of dying than normal weight individuals.

Okay, I just spent all kinds of time and energy losing weight and now this #%^@$ study is telling me that I'm not increasing my chances of living longer. And this opinion piece in the New York Times seems to agree! Gah! I'm calling Pizza Hut right now!

I am kidding, of course. Actually, I found this article in Forbes that breaks it down nicely. I find that I really agree with the level-headed, analytic approach that the author takes to the Flegal study.

The problem with obsessing about BMI is that it is not the only indicator of health (note that the study looked at ANY CAUSE of death) Frankly, I hate the BMI. It has been the bane of my existence during this weight loss process because, even though I have lost over 125 pounds and even though I look great and I feel great, my numbers are spectacular (my cholesterol, my blood pressure, my triglycerides...), and I am healthier than I've been my entire adult life, the BMI still says that I am "overweight." Blah! And a big middle finger salute to the BMI.

Though the BMI is useful as one tool to determine a healthy weight, I don't think that one should obsess over it. As the author in the Forbes article points out, there are several other factors that are just as, if not more, important. Cardiovascular fitness, losing fat around the midsection, cholesterol, and blood pressure are all important. Being a non-smoker or quitting if you are a smoker is important. Exercising regularly is important. So, we should not ignore the BMI entirely, it is important as one measure of health.

The danger I can see with the Flagel article and in articles like the New York Times opinion piece is that people who really do need to lose weight will look at these things and decide that they are not really unhealthy enough to make the difficult changes they need to make. Why go through the hard work of changing your lifestyle if the payoff is not going to be a longer, healthier life?  That mindset is dangerous. One thing that I have learned on this journey is that weight loss is a complicated and, surprisingly, controversial issue. Oversimplifying data that shows a relationship between obesity and health risks to the point of overemphasizing the importance of BMI in one's health profile is dangerous. So is oversimplifying data showing that mortality risk is lower for people who are "overweight" according to the BMI.

In my experience, losing weight (and lowering my BMI) has improved my health in more ways than I can count. I used to get migraines, I don't anymore. I used to get winded WALKING up stairs or up hills, now I can run up several flights of stairs without getting winded and I can walk 15-20 miles in a day. I used to get tired quickly and had no energy to do anything by sit on the couch at night - now I am active and go out nearly every night. I'm happier. I have more energy. I look better. I'm more confident. I don't get heartburn anymore. My cholesterol (and my risk of heart attack and stroke) is WAY down. My blood pressure is fabulous. My blood glucose levels are normal (no more borderline diabetes)....and on and on..... So, in the end, regardless of what the BMI says, I'm way more healthy. And it was / is totally worth the effort. So, while the experts are arguing about the importance of the BMI, I'll be enjoying my time learning to swing dance with my husband, hiking (Iron Mountain this weekend!), swimming, and kayaking...all thanks to my weight loss and the health benefits that came with it.