Food (and lifestyle?) reset, day 19
Things have been going really well. Really well.
1)My job is extremely tough but equally rewarding. That deserves its own post.
2)I have been exercising! It's been a very slow progression. When we first moved, I'd spend all night after work unpacking. After we got things moderately under control, I switched to watching TV after work to relax. It took me a month to realize that TV wasn't so much relaxing as an entire evening time-suck, and I switched to reading. Major upgrade, but I was still having a lot of problems motivating myself to exercise. What I realized (again) is that everything in my life is so interrelated that I had to change one thing in order to change another.
I have this thing I like to call car-to-couch syndrome. I get in the door and drop my keys and my bag and I just want to lay there with a snack, a book, TV, whathaveyou. And once I'm there, it's very difficult to get back up. Damn you, inertia.
Part one of amending my sedentary situation was to have exercise that is convenient and that I enjoy doing. In behavior analysis we try to make a non-preferred activity more enjoyable by identifying and modifying the specific aspects of the activity that are the most aversive. For me, that is the unfun-ness of the exercise itself coupled with the effort it takes to engage in. So I got tons of really fun Wii programs and yoga and pilates videos that I can do right in my own living room. As you know, I adore the Just Dance Wii games for cardio. I also purchased Gold's Gym Dance Workout for Wii http://www.amazon.com/Golds-Gym-Dance-Workout-Nintendo-Wii/dp/B003OZZJGS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1345476107&sr=8-1&keywords=gold+gym+dance+workout+wii
It uses two remotes and has tons of dancing, boxing and minigames in almost every possible combination. The "dancing" is more like step aerobics moves (without the step), but boy does it get my heart-rate up.
Another good buy was My Fitness Coach for Wii: http://www.amazon.com/My-Fitness-Coach-Nintendo-Wii/dp/B001H0RZX2
My personal trainer, Maya, Identified my starting stats and fitness goals and allows me to choose from yoga, cardio, upper body, lower body, abs, and flexibility programs. I set the amount of time I want to spend working out, and throughout the routine, I give her feedback about the workout, which she uses to shape the routine for next time. Love it.
For yoga, Rodney Yee is definitely my favorite: http://www.amazon.com/Power-Yoga-Total-Body-Workout/dp/B0000A2ZQE/ref=wl_mb_hu_m_6_dp
He's challenging but also so relaxing.
And since I'm new to pilates, I really like the ones from 10 Minute Solutions. They are wonderful when I'm not feeling very ambitious. If I can get through the first 10-minute segment (there are 5 total), I usually end up going on to at least one or two more. I also use the stretch portion after a lot of my other workouts whose cool-downs are usually lacking. http://www.amazon.com/10-Minute-Solution-Pilates-Perfect/dp/B001AYWY7C/ref=pd_cp_mov_2
Part two was addressing my energy problem. I honestly had no idea how to change this. I knew intellectually that if I could just START exercising, I would actually feel more energetic, but I didn't want to start. The answer to that ended up being food reset. I have to laugh now that it didn't dawn on me sooner. Lunch at 12:30pm, maybe a snack at 3pm, and I'm surprised that I have no energy at 5:30pm!? Come on, girl. Now that I am continuously chowing down on high protein snacklets, I actually have gas left in the tank when I get home.
Part three was the most surprising. This weekend, Carey and I finally got serious about organizing our apartment. He told me that walking into the 3/4 finished living room every day after work, with its cluttered surfaces, unhung pictures, and random boxes, makes him feel depressed. He asked if we could spend some time on Sunday REEEEEEEEALLY tackling it. We did the living room as well as the kitchen, whose table was looking like a repository for evil. You are going to laugh, but I was at the "As Seen On TV" store and I picked up the Wonderfile: https://www.buywonderfile.com/?mid=1136875&gclid=CKCjzMO_9rECFUTrKgodnmMADA
It ended up being exactly what we needed to wrangle the bill, receipt, coupon and mail pile that had taken over the kitchen table. The rest of the cleaning job was just about painstakingly putting everything in its place, or finding a place if there wasn't one. And after that almost day-long process, guess what? The space felt amazing and I TOTALLY felt like exercising. Tackling such a big project had given me energy, and having that extra room made me feel like putting it to use. I'm not a literal believer in feng shui, but I have to agree that clutter drains energy and clear spaces are very freeing.
I got poultry back on Thursday and we had taco salad with ground turkey on Friday night, turkey sausage from the farmers' market Saturday afternoon as part of brunch, marinated chicken breast on Saturday night, and same of that same chicken in a big salad Sunday night. I'm going poultry crazy.
Here are some more food reset discoveries I'm loving right now:
Egg white scramble with spinach, tomatoes, soysage, onion, and minced garlic. I made it for dinner and had enough for lunch the next day, too:
See that pasta next to the chicken breast? That's not pasta. I shaved zucchini with a vegetable peeler and briefly sauteed it with tomatoes and pesto. The zucchini is very delicate and you have to squeeze it to get the water out (and then I pressed it between two clean dish towels to dry it our further), but after that you can treat it just like pasta. The corn we got at the farmers' market too, and it was so sweet to my taste buds that it was like candy!
I continue to love these tofu noodles so much. When Carey was away I was in the mood for something quick and easy, so I sauteed them with olive oil, canned tomatoes, garlic, and siracha. It took literally 5 minutes to make. It's a good thing I was alone because I literally licked my bowl, and it wasn't cute.
1)My job is extremely tough but equally rewarding. That deserves its own post.
2)I have been exercising! It's been a very slow progression. When we first moved, I'd spend all night after work unpacking. After we got things moderately under control, I switched to watching TV after work to relax. It took me a month to realize that TV wasn't so much relaxing as an entire evening time-suck, and I switched to reading. Major upgrade, but I was still having a lot of problems motivating myself to exercise. What I realized (again) is that everything in my life is so interrelated that I had to change one thing in order to change another.
I have this thing I like to call car-to-couch syndrome. I get in the door and drop my keys and my bag and I just want to lay there with a snack, a book, TV, whathaveyou. And once I'm there, it's very difficult to get back up. Damn you, inertia.
Part one of amending my sedentary situation was to have exercise that is convenient and that I enjoy doing. In behavior analysis we try to make a non-preferred activity more enjoyable by identifying and modifying the specific aspects of the activity that are the most aversive. For me, that is the unfun-ness of the exercise itself coupled with the effort it takes to engage in. So I got tons of really fun Wii programs and yoga and pilates videos that I can do right in my own living room. As you know, I adore the Just Dance Wii games for cardio. I also purchased Gold's Gym Dance Workout for Wii http://www.amazon.com/Golds-Gym-Dance-Workout-Nintendo-Wii/dp/B003OZZJGS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1345476107&sr=8-1&keywords=gold+gym+dance+workout+wii
It uses two remotes and has tons of dancing, boxing and minigames in almost every possible combination. The "dancing" is more like step aerobics moves (without the step), but boy does it get my heart-rate up.
Another good buy was My Fitness Coach for Wii: http://www.amazon.com/My-Fitness-Coach-Nintendo-Wii/dp/B001H0RZX2
My personal trainer, Maya, Identified my starting stats and fitness goals and allows me to choose from yoga, cardio, upper body, lower body, abs, and flexibility programs. I set the amount of time I want to spend working out, and throughout the routine, I give her feedback about the workout, which she uses to shape the routine for next time. Love it.
For yoga, Rodney Yee is definitely my favorite: http://www.amazon.com/Power-Yoga-Total-Body-Workout/dp/B0000A2ZQE/ref=wl_mb_hu_m_6_dp
He's challenging but also so relaxing.
And since I'm new to pilates, I really like the ones from 10 Minute Solutions. They are wonderful when I'm not feeling very ambitious. If I can get through the first 10-minute segment (there are 5 total), I usually end up going on to at least one or two more. I also use the stretch portion after a lot of my other workouts whose cool-downs are usually lacking. http://www.amazon.com/10-Minute-Solution-Pilates-Perfect/dp/B001AYWY7C/ref=pd_cp_mov_2
Part two was addressing my energy problem. I honestly had no idea how to change this. I knew intellectually that if I could just START exercising, I would actually feel more energetic, but I didn't want to start. The answer to that ended up being food reset. I have to laugh now that it didn't dawn on me sooner. Lunch at 12:30pm, maybe a snack at 3pm, and I'm surprised that I have no energy at 5:30pm!? Come on, girl. Now that I am continuously chowing down on high protein snacklets, I actually have gas left in the tank when I get home.
Part three was the most surprising. This weekend, Carey and I finally got serious about organizing our apartment. He told me that walking into the 3/4 finished living room every day after work, with its cluttered surfaces, unhung pictures, and random boxes, makes him feel depressed. He asked if we could spend some time on Sunday REEEEEEEEALLY tackling it. We did the living room as well as the kitchen, whose table was looking like a repository for evil. You are going to laugh, but I was at the "As Seen On TV" store and I picked up the Wonderfile: https://www.buywonderfile.com/?mid=1136875&gclid=CKCjzMO_9rECFUTrKgodnmMADA
It ended up being exactly what we needed to wrangle the bill, receipt, coupon and mail pile that had taken over the kitchen table. The rest of the cleaning job was just about painstakingly putting everything in its place, or finding a place if there wasn't one. And after that almost day-long process, guess what? The space felt amazing and I TOTALLY felt like exercising. Tackling such a big project had given me energy, and having that extra room made me feel like putting it to use. I'm not a literal believer in feng shui, but I have to agree that clutter drains energy and clear spaces are very freeing.
I got poultry back on Thursday and we had taco salad with ground turkey on Friday night, turkey sausage from the farmers' market Saturday afternoon as part of brunch, marinated chicken breast on Saturday night, and same of that same chicken in a big salad Sunday night. I'm going poultry crazy.
Here are some more food reset discoveries I'm loving right now:
Egg white scramble with spinach, tomatoes, soysage, onion, and minced garlic. I made it for dinner and had enough for lunch the next day, too:
See that pasta next to the chicken breast? That's not pasta. I shaved zucchini with a vegetable peeler and briefly sauteed it with tomatoes and pesto. The zucchini is very delicate and you have to squeeze it to get the water out (and then I pressed it between two clean dish towels to dry it our further), but after that you can treat it just like pasta. The corn we got at the farmers' market too, and it was so sweet to my taste buds that it was like candy!
I continue to love these tofu noodles so much. When Carey was away I was in the mood for something quick and easy, so I sauteed them with olive oil, canned tomatoes, garlic, and siracha. It took literally 5 minutes to make. It's a good thing I was alone because I literally licked my bowl, and it wasn't cute.