Overhaul Part 3
Exercise - what am I doing?
One of the biggest problems I had with keeping weight off when I was Superyogawoman was that when I stopped being Superyogawoman the weight flew right back on me. I couldn't keep up with 45 - 90 minutes of yoga 6 times a week and walking 5 miles almost every day. That's fine if you have no life and nothing else to do, which was the case for me at that time. If I got hurt, then all of that would come to an end. If I traveled for more than a week, I was in trouble.
OK so an exercise routine that I can do easily, in 60 minutes or less, and I can travel with is good. Prevention magaine has some excellent simple workouts and I've been doing one recently to tone up some of the loose skin I have now. I just moved from general movement to one of the plans where I do interval walking (moderate-power-moderate-etc.) for 30 minutes and about 15 minutes of toning exercises with weights, about 45 minutes per day.
Cardio is the hardest thing for me and I can't/won't run so walking is the best for me and I love it. Doing 20 minutes of solitary hoop-shooting was the most fun I've had with cardio but I don't have access to that anymore. I like walking and I have some great walking paths around here but it's time consuming.
As for yoga, I'm doing a bit of warm up sun salutations and various stretches for what hurts that day and always my back. I'm not doing hardcore vinyasa or anything, just easy stuff, trying to keep my body loose.
Since I had so many health troubles in February and March, it made working out and even doing yoga very hard. I'm mostly back into the swing of things but, as with all newish exercise programs, working through the various pulled muscles, inflamed bursae, touch of arthritis and all that. It doesn't last more than a few weeks.
As far as diet tracking, I'm using FatSecret.com for most of it. The Nutrition class textbook came with access to an online tracking/analysis system as well but I only used that for my diet analysis paper.
Vitamins, etc. I take an Alive! multi-vitamin in the morning and 1000mg of fish oil in the morning and again in the evening. It's better to get vitamins and such from dietary sources but I'm trying to keep to 100% of RDA for everything. The B's make the biggest noticeable difference for me. I took acidophilus for a while but it didn't seem to make a whole lot of difference.
Avoiding Relapse
Losing weight is all well and good but one must keep the weight off over an extended period for it to be of value. Yo-yo dieting is very stressful on the body and it's better to stay at the higher weight than it is to bounce between it and a lower one. In 2004, I lost 40 pounds but ended up gaining 20-25 of it back when my moods changed and my diet went to hell with my health. I ended up worse off in some ways, and I had a closet full of clothes that only fit me again now, so many years later. It was shameful and humiliating to go back to fat and it was depressing to become less and less attractive and finally end up unhappy and almost alone. Thus, relapse prevention has been an important point since the very beginning.
Step #1: "When Cortez reached the New World, he burned his ships. As a result his men were highly motivated." Cpt. Marco Ramiez (The Hunt for Red October)
Getting rid of my older, larger clothes is a potent tool in keeping me from going back into them. Knowing that I will have to buy more clothes and how horrible that felt last time is a very effective reinforcer. By itself, it is not enough.
Step #2: 90% Vegetarianism
When I binge, the most dangerous ones are long periods of eating burgers, cheesesteaks, fried chicken, meaty pizzas, tacos, etc. My chocolate tastes have changed so my likelihood of binging is small. I can't eat a lot of dark chocolate and I don't eat much of the bingeable stuff like candy bars and malted milk balls and such anyway. I won't binge on fries anymore because I've lost a great deal of my taste for them. I've given up soda again and lost the taste for it so if I can avoid the Danger Candy (sour balls, etc.) then the only thing I have left to binge on is fruit, which is not really a problem, and occasional Italian bread. I ate a piece of amazing fried chicken the other day at a soul food restaurant and I barely made my way through it because my appetite is so small.As long as I keep to the path of vegetarianism, the danger of binging is low and the danger of returning to a problem weight is as well.
Step #3: Appetite Control
Appetite is the psychological component of the drive to eat, hunger being the physical. Appetite can be controlled and modified, which I have been working on. In order to keep weight off and not get crazy, I have to keep my appetite at a reasonable size. When it gets bigger, trying to force it back down is like wrestling with a pack of very angry timber wolves so letting the appetite wolves alone is best. Eating moderately and practicing portion control is the key to this. If I am reasonable then I can sometimes eat more and it won't hurt, sometimes being the key word.
Step #4: Reasonable Exercise Plan
as mentioned above.
Step #5: Tell Everybody About It and Get Support From My Community
That's you. Yay for you!
Step #6: I was not in a reasonable chemical mix at that time. This has been rectified. Maintaining therapeutic levels and regular checks will make this easy.
Step #7: Step #1 of the 12 Steps, admitting I have a problem. : ) More on this later.