Move it! Move it!

I know the title of the blog implies eating to become Fab, but being and living healthy is a balance between eating and exercise! So how should you get moving? There are soooooo many ways, you just have to set a routine. Did you know that after doing something for 42 consecutive days, it becomes a habit! Wow!

So what is the first thing to do to get active? Find what you love!

• Road biking: If you have kids, put them in a carrier! Low impact and at least 400 calories per hour.
• Running/Walking: Take a walk or run
• Rent workout videos/DVDs from the library and do them daily!
• Buy some of the rubber bands and do resistance training.
• Join a community center or gym
• Find a local workout/routine center

Personally, I love going to the gym. First of all, I want to use my membership! There's a pool, weights galore, and cardio equipment. Another great thing, there are free hour long classes and plenty of people who know what they are doing in the gym. Going to the gym gives me a place of variety to go to, but most of all, it gives me motivation. I say, "Cindy, you are going to go to the gym for 15 minutes, that's all" In reality, I am just tricking myself to going. Once I am there, I don't want to not do anything so I end up exercising for an hour! The gym is my motivation. I have some exercise videos, but once I get home, I end up doing everything but working out.

Even before you start your routine, remember that both weights and cardio are necessary. You should build muscles (and I am not talking Arnold muscles ladies). How do you lift your child up? How do you walk from here to there? MUSCLES! Please don't tell me, Cindy I don't want to look like a guy and get bulky! Here's a story: I belong to Gold's Gym and there is a very very very tiny woman there (115lbs. for sure and about 5' 5") who can bench press over 200 lbs! She does not look like Arnold, believe me. I was thinking, girl you going to break something when I seen her with all these plates on the bar, but she lifted it! And repeated! I personal have been lifting weights (more than some men) for two years and I am not bulky!

First, when you start exercising, don't start by thinking that you are going to run a 10 minute mile or bench press 100 lbs. Rather go into a fitness routine with those goals. Say, "I can run a 10 minute mile within X time and I will do this by....." or "I can bench press 100 lbs by (date) by ...." And set up how you are going to do it. For a running routine, I would say write down and plan a routine that says: For the first week, I can walk/run Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for 20 minutes. I will walk one minute at 4.0mph and jog one minute at 5.0mph. Then the next week, add more mph, more time, more days!

Second, if you haven't been exercising regularly, make sure you are healthy by consulting a doctor. Next, if you don't know what you are doing, you can hurt yourself! I have a knee pain from a friend pushing down on my leg in junior high while I was exercising my legs. Please use caution: I am not trying to tell you will get hurt, but make sure you get guidance first! The best place to get help is here: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/alissa16.htm
Really, read through that section of her writing. Second, hire a personal trainer. This will cost you some money, but 5-10 sessions, you will be able have the basics of fitness. A lower cost way is go to instructor lead classes that your gym offers. This will get you some basics too! Or grab a buddy that knows!

Third, set up a routine. Making a routine will encourage you to follow through with a daily fitness routine. For me, I leave work and go to the gym. That's it! Easy? It is.

Last, try reading and doing the Body for Life Routine. You can go to http://bodyforlife.com/ and information can be found!

Well, please ask me questions about routines or I will even review plans!

On a personal note, I am at the lowest weight that I have seen in at least 10 years. I am very excited about this and I am about 10 lbs away from my goal weight. I have built healthy habits that will allow me to maintain this weight loss and healthy style!

An Eating and Movement Plan

I stress that being healthy is a mindset, not just an accessory to life. The many times that I have started a diet plan and exercise routine, it was not something that I could maintain or fit in my life. I find so often I choose a diet plan because I think that I will lose weight faster but this is not a healthy way to live. Yo-Yo dieting just makes me sad that I lost weight and gained it right back.

1. Pick a Diet plan that you can stick with in multiple situations and can grow healthy habits. AND YOU ARE HAPPY WITH IT.

• So when I went to chose a way to eat for life, I turned to weight watchers. It builds great habits even if you don't count points for the rest of your life. As wanders and gathers, humans ate a lot of fiber everyday, so no better way to prevent colon cancer, heart disease, and blood sugar problems than to return to nature. If you are unfamiliar with Weight Watchers, most vegetables are "free" to eat: meaning you can eat til the cows come home from chewing their cud (and you might feel that way too). And fruit is relatively low points. I am not saying that you should go to WW and start their program, all I am saying is stick with something that you can do and build great habits on.
  
• I recommend reading Zonya Focco's books and watching her on public television. Before I started WW, I tried combining diets together or counting calories (just something that I didn't keep up with).

2. Make sure that you can follow the diet routine:

• Do you need to buy pills or supplements that you normally don't take?
• Is the food plan something that you can make/prepare on a daily basis?
• How different is your current diet/eating from what you are looking at doing?

3. Is the eating plan balanced or does it focus too much on protein or carbs?

• Remember balance is the most important thing to do!

4. Keep a food diary

• I have a small 3 x 4 note book that I write the date, weight and time and food amounts in daily. I keep it with me everywhere I go and write down everything.
• I write the quantities of what I eat and the time.
  

5. Just because you eat that oreo or piece of cake with frosting and a scoop of ice cream, doesn't mean that the whole day is shot!

• If you are anything like me, I used to "blow my diet" when someone brought in something yummy, like a donut and go, "Well, for the rest of the day I am not on a diet" So I would pig out. But EVERYTIME you put something in your mouth, it is a choice and you can limit the amount of calories you take in after you have that donut.
• Even before I have that treat, I procrastinate! Hold off and forget about the treat! Walk away and delay the desire!
  
• If I have that treat, I cut a piece of it off. Have some fraction of the treat and don't eat the whole cow. For example, co-workers bring in these great donuts and I want one so I take an 1/8th of it. I savor the taste and then ask myself, "Is this worth the calories?" If I say yes, I have another 1/8th, if I say no, I walk away.
• Then the rest of the day can be filled with healthy fruits and vegetables!
  

So now you are wondering what I eat? Here's a sample of what you can find in my food diary:

7/15/09 163.2lbs
7:00 1c cheerios
1/2c soy milk
1 peach
10:30 1 apple
1c carrots and celery
1:30 3c lettuce
1/2c salsa
3oz. chicken
5:00 2 clementines
8:00 2c lettuce
3oz chicken
7oz baked potato
1/2c salsa
1 oreo

That's 3 servings of fruit and 8 servings of vegetables! Now keep that up and lose those pounds! There really should be additional servings of milk, but I don't really like it.

Well I am getting wordy today so I will talk about exercise (it's a whole different animal) at a later time. In addition, what to look for in a gym, what I consider for ways to become/stay active, and some recipes!

Welcome to my blog!

Thank you for stopping by and reading my story. My name is Cindy, I'm 24, and I have struggled with my weight since I was 8. That is 16 years of my life that I have read diet magazines advertising "Lose 10lbs. in 5 days" or "2 weeks to a bikini body." I also have been on Richard Simmons (diet and video workouts), SugarBusters, Body for Life, and South Beach. I am sure that I have enough diet books that if I did weight lifts with them, I'd have that bikini body. Or if I spend that money on a tummy tuck.

I got tired of waiting for January First or a Monday or the first of the month to start living healthy. About three months ago, I took charge and decided that I was tired of being overweight and unhealthy and I committed to living a healthy lifestyle. I joined weight watchers and continued going to the gym regularly. And I am going to writing about my experiences of living a healthy life. I welcome your comments or questions.

History
I did not come from an active family. I am an only child with older parents that think a good time is going out to dinner or driving around the national park. When I was eight and in elementary, kids would call me fat and make fat jokes. I was a bigger child and would eat to fix the pain that kids caused.

My mother is one of the best non-healthy cooks ever! She used to bake dozens of cookies, pastries, and cakes. She cooks latin food and chinese food and fried chicken. It is hard to say no to a 8 oz piece of fried chicken with 1.5 cups of mashed potatoes and a good scoop of gravy! As a child, I figured that if I ate the same or less (but never less) than my mom, I was doing well controlling what I ate. But by no factor did I exercise or run or play to burn the amount of food I ate off. So I grew up sendintary and eating as a pass time.

As I got older, I started diets like SugarBusters and Richard Simmons. These were not a lifestyle option, rather they were something that I went on hoping to lose weight so I could just eat myself heavy again. I joined a city fitness center in junior high and high school. I did well for a few months after buying the membership, but never really followed through. My stamima would increase and then it would just hit me like a brick when, after 8 months and a whole lot of food later, I wasn't able to run a 10 minute mile.

In high school, I started working for a bank located in a grocery store. Nothing like having junk food 50 feet away. I ballooned up to 210lbs at age 17. I was 210lbs and a size 18 and there was no sign of decreasing. I started dieting on the Zone then I fasted for religious purposes and I went back to 190lbs. Just in time for college. I maintained my weight but still had a very unhealthy and inactive lifestyle. My last year in college (2007), I became obsessed with the gym. I would go to two or three classes and run for 40 minutes a day, I became vegetarian, and just lived exercise. This touches on another part of weight gain: addictive behavior. When I was upset or stressed, I didn't turn to food, I turned to running. I didn't eat much. I replaced one obsession with another. This was a healthier choice, but it was not the healthy balance that life needs. I joined Gold's Gym and thought that if I was working out 2 hours a day, I could eat anything! But it just doesn't work that way.

So here I am. Working on a healthy balance and just not results.
Next time I talk, I want to discuss what I am doing for eating and exercising, what I look for in a gym, what I consider for ways to become/stay active, and some recipes!