Lifestyle changes and other things
Well folks, I've had an interesting day. Well, let me back up a bit...I suppose it's been an interesting few weeks for this particular avenue my life is rolling along through lately.
I have in general, thought for some time now that I really, really need to start taking a healthier, more energetic approach to my physique and daily eating habits. It has been a long road here, but I am currently the heaviest and most out of shape I've ever been - go me. Mostly, I have just gotten incredibly lazy about making healthy choices and moving and instead have added a steady diet of junk, junk and more junk while I schlump-a-lump along on the couch and in the car driving to and fro with my children or to the dozen or more commitments I've got going at any given time (and of course, rarely if ever do said commitments include exercise more excessive than the walk to and from the car in most instances). I know I am generalizing a bit...it's always more complicated than that, but the bottom line is that I am sick of tipping the scale, of feeling tired all of the time and of having new, painful and annoying issues with my body every few months. I'm tired of being the largest person in the room. I don't want to be the mom who's kids currently run circles around her and who in the future potentially becomes an embarrassment to them. I'd like to be the trophy wife for my ever so patient and understanding husband (not that he's in any way said I should be that...he'd just be happy for a healthier me). I especially detest being the largest person in my family, pretty much no matter what part of my family you look to. On my side, very few of us are particularly thin, so that's saying a lot.
Where am I going with all of this? Well, I've been seeing a very wonderful chiropractor over the last two months. He's given me the ability to sit comfortably again for longer stretches which is incredible for those 7 plus hour road trips to Roch-cha-cha with the kids, along with the sense that my back is not the ticking bomb of terror I knew it to be pre-Tate (er...Dr. Tate). He mentioned casually a few weeks back that he was sponsoring a weight loss program beginning in a few weeks and would I be interested in the informational session, which of course I was.
As of Thursday morning last week, I became the proud owner of a $200 package known and Transitional Lifestyles. It is essentially a 12 week program to learn how to change your habits, and how to eat using the glycemic Index or Lower GI diet. The things I like about this program are that it makes sense from a health perspective, you're actually encouraged to eat, no calorie counting, weighing or measuring involved, I'm accountable for the 12 weeks to someone not my husband and not myself (a third party if you will) and in the end this is not a fad, it's a way of life and really the way you should be eating and exercising, so it will also benefit my family.
I had my first meeting tonight. They did my Body Mass Index (BMI), which confirmed for me what I figured would be pretty ugly (I might be brave enough to post actual figures somewhere down the line, but for now, all you need to know is that I'm in somewhat poor shape - probably already visibly evident, I know). During the measuring process (the class includes about 10 other folks) we watched a refresher video about the Glycemic Index. Then there were questions and finally they dropped the bomb - we've got to go on a week long DETOX diet beginning tomorrow. Fine I say. They say, that means fruits and veggies only. Fine I say. They say, that means no meats, no dairies, no junk. Fine I say (I had been mentally prepared for all this anyway). They say, no coffee, no caffeine. Come again, I say?
So, you my small community of readers and fellow LJ-ers (I haven't actually told most of the world at large that I blog), beware, I say! If I inadvertently bite your head off at any point this week, you now know why. I am very sorry in advance. I mean no disrespect, I just haven't had any coffee.
I have in general, thought for some time now that I really, really need to start taking a healthier, more energetic approach to my physique and daily eating habits. It has been a long road here, but I am currently the heaviest and most out of shape I've ever been - go me. Mostly, I have just gotten incredibly lazy about making healthy choices and moving and instead have added a steady diet of junk, junk and more junk while I schlump-a-lump along on the couch and in the car driving to and fro with my children or to the dozen or more commitments I've got going at any given time (and of course, rarely if ever do said commitments include exercise more excessive than the walk to and from the car in most instances). I know I am generalizing a bit...it's always more complicated than that, but the bottom line is that I am sick of tipping the scale, of feeling tired all of the time and of having new, painful and annoying issues with my body every few months. I'm tired of being the largest person in the room. I don't want to be the mom who's kids currently run circles around her and who in the future potentially becomes an embarrassment to them. I'd like to be the trophy wife for my ever so patient and understanding husband (not that he's in any way said I should be that...he'd just be happy for a healthier me). I especially detest being the largest person in my family, pretty much no matter what part of my family you look to. On my side, very few of us are particularly thin, so that's saying a lot.
Where am I going with all of this? Well, I've been seeing a very wonderful chiropractor over the last two months. He's given me the ability to sit comfortably again for longer stretches which is incredible for those 7 plus hour road trips to Roch-cha-cha with the kids, along with the sense that my back is not the ticking bomb of terror I knew it to be pre-Tate (er...Dr. Tate). He mentioned casually a few weeks back that he was sponsoring a weight loss program beginning in a few weeks and would I be interested in the informational session, which of course I was.
As of Thursday morning last week, I became the proud owner of a $200 package known and Transitional Lifestyles. It is essentially a 12 week program to learn how to change your habits, and how to eat using the glycemic Index or Lower GI diet. The things I like about this program are that it makes sense from a health perspective, you're actually encouraged to eat, no calorie counting, weighing or measuring involved, I'm accountable for the 12 weeks to someone not my husband and not myself (a third party if you will) and in the end this is not a fad, it's a way of life and really the way you should be eating and exercising, so it will also benefit my family.
I had my first meeting tonight. They did my Body Mass Index (BMI), which confirmed for me what I figured would be pretty ugly (I might be brave enough to post actual figures somewhere down the line, but for now, all you need to know is that I'm in somewhat poor shape - probably already visibly evident, I know). During the measuring process (the class includes about 10 other folks) we watched a refresher video about the Glycemic Index. Then there were questions and finally they dropped the bomb - we've got to go on a week long DETOX diet beginning tomorrow. Fine I say. They say, that means fruits and veggies only. Fine I say. They say, that means no meats, no dairies, no junk. Fine I say (I had been mentally prepared for all this anyway). They say, no coffee, no caffeine. Come again, I say?
So, you my small community of readers and fellow LJ-ers (I haven't actually told most of the world at large that I blog), beware, I say! If I inadvertently bite your head off at any point this week, you now know why. I am very sorry in advance. I mean no disrespect, I just haven't had any coffee.