Finding the time to exercise

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If you are anything like me, the hardest part of getting in exercise is finding that perfect time.  You know, that 1-3 hour time block where you have nothing important planned, you have plenty of energy, you aren't too full, you aren't starving, AND you are pumped up to get a good work-out.  Since I started working a 9-5(ish) desk job, This has been like finding a Unicorn in Brooklyn.  It tends to take me a long time to get friendly in the mornings, so I usually wake up almost 2 hours before I have to be at work, just so that I have time to greet the day.  By the time I get off work, I have to drive home and make dinner.  After dinner, it seems like I have no more than an hour or two for relaxing before it's bed time, not enough time to digest food well enough to go sweat.

So when I realized my weight was spiraling so far out of control that most of my work clothes were verging on being too tight, I knew there could be no more excuses.  I knew I had to make a choice about when I would exercise, and that I would have to hold firm with it.  There could be no wobbling.  I decided on mornings, because I was already waking up so early, I figured it wouldn't shouldn't be too hard to wake up just one hour earlier, right?  And that physiologically, I should feel more awake and refreshed throughout the day as a result.  It seemed like the perfect option. 

...There is just one small thing about working out in the mornings for me:  many types of exercise first thing in the morning make me want to be sick.  Not figuratively, literally.  For whatever reason, I get really hot at night.  So then, when the first thing I do is go sweat, I am more likely to have problems.  I knew that this was something I would have to overcome if I wanted to succeed at my plan.  Staying up until nearly midnight just to get everything in is simply not an option for me.

On Thursday, I'm going to be talking more about how to pick the right kind of exercise for you. In the meantime, I challenge you to consider where you might be able to carve out time for yourself. Do you wake up early anyway? Are you a night owl who stays up until 2am? Or are you lucky enough to have the ability to take an extended lunch? Whatever you choose, make sure that you can do it every week, and that you can do it several times a week at the same time. By scheduling your workouts each and every day at the same time, you will be training your body to expect and prepare for exercise. You will feel more energized for having invested some time in your most precious asset: yourself.

Menu Plan Monday

I have an admission to make.  I was raised by an expert menu planner.  She is a pro at scheduling an entire week worth of meals, shopping for the ingredients, and executing her plan.  I inherited from her an ability to plan and shop for a weeks worth of meals.  Somehow I manage to fall short in the execution department.  Sigh.  I like the idea of menu planning.  I like knowing that I have everything I need on hand to create a week's worth of amazing, nutritious meals.  Yet when it comes time to make those meals, I sometimes (okay, at least twice a week) find myself in the mood for something else entirely, or not in the mood to cook.

This never stops me from doing my darndest to menu plan though.  I have adopted somewhat of a looser version of my mom's plan.  Instead of assigning specific meals to certain days, I try to pick 3-5 meals for a week that sound good, and then I fit them in throughout the week as I see fit.  It also gives us the option of going out.  The problem is, at least once during the week I end up making a run to the store, because I finally decide on a meal (not listed on the plan), have to buy the ingredients, and then cook.  Since I am limiting our eating out for January to 2 meals/week (not just 2 dinners), I know that I am going to need to plan for 6 dinners.

This week I am pulling my recipes from three sources.  The first is Quick-Fix Vegetarian:

I love this cookbook.  The recipes are simple, and really tasty.  They are also really easy to adapt to your personal preference.  Even since starting to eat meat again, I still find myself reaching for this cookbook for ideas.

Secone, I am going to be trying out a new cookbook that A got me for Christmas.  It's called How to Cheat on Your Man (in the Kitchen):

The premise is all about sneaking healthy foods into dishes that are known for being unhealthy.  A loves vegetables, so I'm pretty sure he just thought the title was funny.

And last, I picked up the Creative Slow Cooker recipes special edition magazine from the makers of BH&G at Barnes & Noble right before Christmas.

Meal #1:  Linguine with cherry tomatoes and 5-herb pasta (from Quick-Fix Vegetarian), with optional baked chicken thighs if we are really hungry.

Meal #2:  Mushroom Bulfur Pilaf (from Quick-Fix Vegetarian) and sauteed kale with garlic and onions

Meal #3:  Japanese Cabbage Stew (from Creative Slow Cooker recipes)

Meal #4:  Barbell Burgers (from How to Cheat on your Man in the Kitchen) with all the fixin's, chipotle mayo, and baked fries

Meal #5:  Not His Mother's Meatloaf (from How to Cheat on your Man in the Kitchen) with green peas

Meal #6:  Fearless Fried Chicken (from How to Cheat on your Man in the Kitchen) with steamed broccoli and salad

I picked the most recipes from my new cookbook, because I am anxious to see how they stack up against my more tried and true recipes.  I am intrigues especially by this book, because they heavily encourage the use of fruit and vegetable purees in every recipe.  While it seems somewhat time consuming to make, if they work it might be well worth it!  Make sure to check back next Sunday to see how our meals turned out!

Your current weight is...

My weight as of today is 160.8 lbs.  Yuck.  This is not a happy weight.  The last time I weighed this much was 4.5 years ago.  I am disappointed that I allowed myself to slip like this, but I am also eager to forgive myself and move forward with positive change.

Since my January goals include losing 5 lbs, my weight goal is 155.8 lbs by January 31.  I am curious to see if I can get there simply by limiting our eating out, dessert intake, and increasing my exercise.

I am so pumped to start the New Year out right, and can't wait to share this journey with you!  I hope that you are all having a fabulous first day of 2012.

Leaving the bad in 2011

Yesterday, my water aerobics instructor Amy said the most profound thing to me.  I mentioned that my mom had to undergo surgery to remove a lump in her breast that she found just before Thanksgiving.  We have had a distracted, stressful holiday season because of it.  I kept telling my mom that this was a good thing to have this lump removed, because it brings her one day closer to remission and being cured.  She agreed with that, but was still stressed (understandably).  There is nothing about breast cancer that suggests that you shouldn't worry about it.

When I mentioned my mom's impending procedure to Amy, she simply said "That's great!  No lumps in 2012!  Leave all that behind in 2011!"  It helped me to smile about something that has been really hard on my whole family.  So I challenge you today, to think about what lump you will rid yourself of in 2011 and not carry into 2012.  My mom is ditching breast cancer.  I am going to ditch suppressing my emotions.  What is it that is hanging around that you are ready to be done with once and for all?  What are you ready to not carry into the next year?  I can't wait to hear from you what you wanna ditch, so if you would be so brave, leave a comment below, so that I know how I can better encourage you!

Why do resolutions fail?

courtesy of cartoonstock.com

I have spent a lot of time thinking about resolutions lately.  I've also spent a lot of time thinking about why people refuse to make them.  I'll even admit, there are years I refuse to make them.  Because, let's face it, resolutions are what we should do, or even what we kinda want to do.  But do we really want to do it?  It seems like a lot of resolutions include diet and exercise, but are they including the foods we like to eat, or the types of exercise we are most likely to enjoy?  Or is it the standard treadmills and salads of years past?  Is this year going to be the same?  Or are you ready to try something radically different?

I truly believe that diet and exercise regimens fail because they do not offer significant enjoyment.  If I had a dollar for every diet plan I have read that has tried to convince me that "food should be fuel", I would be well on my way to a healthy Retirement Fund.  I could probably retire early.  I simply don't buy that enjoyment of food is incidental to actually receiving nutrition.  When we deprive ourselves of our internal desire to enjoy the food we eat, it is only a matter of time before our desire for enjoyable food outweighs our desire to see results.  The diet has failed before it ever begins.  Likewise, it seems like every year, people go out and invest in gym memberships.  They go for a week or two, and they are really proud of that.  But then, all of a sudden, they stop going.  Why?  Maybe they pushed themselves too hard.  Maybe  they have not budgeted their time appropriately.  Maybe it's because they really, really, really hate the gym.

I can relate.  The gym is one of my least favorite places on earth.  I hate it.  I get a pit in my stomach thinking about it.  Don't, however, equate a hatred of the gym with a hatred of exercise.  I love to move my body.  I love the feeling you get after a great sweat session.  I just hate everything about working out in a gym.  I hate being cooped up in a hot, sweaty, stinky, poorly ventilated room with 50-100 strangers.  I dislike watching a tv screen while I blindly plod along on an elliptical or treadmill.  It makes me feel deprived of what is great about working out.  I love to sweat, but I want to feel gently cooled by a breeze.  I want to fill my body with fresh, oxygen rich air.  I want to be able to focus on what's going on with my body as I exercise, not drown it out with media so that I can suffer through 5 extra minutes.  It just doesn't work for me.

The challenge then, comes in finding what to eat, and how to move your body so that it is well nourished, and it gets the movement it needs.  How do you do that?  There are a few options.  You can try everything under the sun, waiting to find the one exact thing that works for you.  Or you can do some internal reflection, and start to rule out things you know will not work for you.  You may love beef, and know you could never be vegetarian.  You may hate running, so you can rule out that marathon that every one of your friends is so keen on running.  You'll still have to experiment, but you'll be so much further ahead of everyone else, that your experiments are more likely to succeed than they are to fail.

So, I challenge you in these last days before the new year, to consider what will really work for you.  If you're stuck, I will be sharing with you information about some of the diets that I have learned about/tried, and alternative ways to get your exercise in that have nothing to do with the treadmill over the next few months.  Maybe one will ring true for you, and you will see great results.  Maybe you will find something I don't mention.  Whatever it is, I hope that 2012 is the year that your resolutions don't fail, and you find a sense of accomplishment.

New Year, New Goals

I have high hopes for this year.  In 6 months I will be 27, and I have so much I want to fit in before 30, that I know I have to get cracking.  So these are my 2012 ideals.  I'll be breaking down all of my ideals into real goals that can be made acheivable each month so that by the end of the year I should have the sense that I accomplished the things listed below:

• Finish at least 10 sewing projects
• Get straight A's in all of my accounting classes
• Get back down to 135-140 lb range
• Find a schedule that helps me not go insane
• Get a handle on my budget so that I do not accrue any additional debt (except student loans)
• Take time to be grateful for my many blessings
• Be accountable for my actions and choices through my blog
• Exercise regularly
• Take time at least once a month to relax and recharge
• Make myself a priority
• Get real about what is worthy of my time, and what is just extraneous junk
• Allow peace to reside within my heart

Yes, I know these are not SMART goals.  I know there is little about them that is acheivable in their current incarnation.  However, these are the jumping off point for everything I want to do and be in the next year.  When I think about what is true for me, these are the ideas that come to my mind.  By setting monthly goals, I will further be able to reach these more nebulous ideals.

So, in no particular order, here are my goals for the month of January:

• Establish a start weight (as of January 1, 2012)
• Lose 5 pounds through
• Exercise 22 times (for at least an hour at a time)
• Limit dessert to no more than 1/week
• Limit eating out to no more than 2x/week
• Limit television time to 1 hour a day, and schedule my tv time in advance
• Make a schedule for sewing projects I would like to complete this year and prioritize them from easiest to hardest.
• Once a week, post a list of things I am grateful for
• Limit the monthly grocery budget to $250
• Schedule at least one "date" with A
• Take one whole day to do whatever I want... even if that's sleeping all day!
• Study a minimum of 6 hours per week once school starts on the 17th.

What are your ideals for 2012?  How are you going to break those down into goals?  What tools will you need in order to accomplish your goals?

A Little Bit About Me

Hi!  Thanks for coming to see me today.  I appreciate you taking time out so that I can share part of my journey with you.  I hope that you will share part of your journey with me in return.  I love meeting new people, hearing their stories, and finding out how I can support their goals.  You can always email me at kristen.seuberling@gmail.com.

So, about me.  I'm in my late 20's, and I'm looking at these last few years before 30 in a different way than I ever have.  I know that I would like to get married to my wonderful boyfriend A, and have a baby in this time frame (although probably closer to the end of it than the beginning).  I want to pay off all of my debt.  I want to get back to where health is not simply a destination, but a vehicle.  Oh yeah, and I want to get my second B.S. degree.  No problem, right?  Oh my gosh, it overwhelms me just thinking about it.  Despite the overwhelm, I really can't wait to get started on making these next few years my best years yet!