I love having hard boiled eggs around, but they can be a pain in the tush to make. The pot can boil over if the eggs break in there, making a horrible mess to clean up; there is a risk of not getting them done enough; and there is always the chance that I'll forget about them and wind up with smelly, exploded egg on the ceiling (now THAT'S a riot to clean up!).
Then I read about baking whole eggs, in-shell, on-line and gave it a try. I gotta tell ya- I was nervous. But amazingly, it worked! I am certainly not the first person to blog about this, but thought I would pass this on to my readers in case they did not know about it.
Here's how it's done:
Preheat your oven to 350F.
Put an egg into each of either a regular sized or mini muffing tin. I have two muffin tins that make 12 muffins each, so I can either cook one or two dozen eggs at a time. (Alternately, you can put the eggs right on the racks in the oven, but if one of the eggs cracks I'd rather clean up a muffin tin than the bottom of my oven.)
Stick the tin in the oven and set the timer for 30 minutes. (Now you have something screaming at you at the end of the cook time, so you won't forget and boil all the water out of the pot and risk your whole kitchen smell like burnt egg shells. Nasty!)
Hang on to your egg cartons- You'll store the cooked eggs in them when they are done.
When the timer goes off, take your eggs out of the oven, but leave them in the tin for 5 minutes at room temp. They will have little brown spots on them, but don't worry about it: They will come off in the next step.
In the meantime, fill something with cold water (I just plug up my sink and turn the water on, filling it enough to just cover the eggs). At the end of 5 minutes, put the eggs into the cold water. (I use tongs if they are still too hot to handle.)
The muffin tin is usually clean still, so I just put it back in my cabinet.
When the eggs have cooled, put them in the saved egg carton. Be sure to mark it, so that you know which eggs are hard boiled and which are not in your fridge. I put an "HB" on the sides of mine with a sharpie so I can see it easily when I open the fridge.
That's it- Perfectly cooked "hard boiled" eggs without the watch-time and potential mess of doing them on the stove. Yay!
Friday, October 26, 2012
Sunday, October 21, 2012
For the Guys, On Behalf Of Women Everywhere
I want to apologize- This blog was published in draft stage, before I was done with it. Embarrassing!
I'll come right to the point: Guys, we women like for you to have butts. And it seems that as you age, if you don't get your.... er... butts into the gym, you wind up with flat backsides.
This flattening pretty much expressly comes from sitting a lot. I can spot a guy with a desk job who never visits the gym within 100 feet: Wide, flat, and almost narrow at the very bottom. Yeah, guys- We women notice nice butts on men that are in their 40's and beyond. It impresses us. If you have one, endeavor to keep it. If you don't, get to the gym and get one!
Now, I'm a gal who loves a nicely defined upper body. I'm a self-admitted chest girl. But true fitness is displayed in a man in his midsection and his butt. That's the area that takes the most self discipline for you guys to build up and maintain. So while a moundy muscular chest gets my initial attention, I have respect for a man in mid-life with nice glutes.
Not only is it about appearance, but having a well-developed lower body is good for your health and quality of life. A strong lower body will carry you around longer, be less likely to suffer things like back problems in the lumbar spine that so often start hitting men in their 40's, and greatly reduce your likelihood of suffering broken bones when you fall as you age. (Does hip replacement surgery sound like fun?)
Chances are that if I have inspired you to go to the gym, you will head for variations on the squat and leg press, because not only are those the grand-daddy of moves to develop the lower body, but they're also done on masculine equipment: REAL men use the big plates. (Insert caveman-type laugh here.)
But the fact is that the guys I see with good butts in midlife and beyond are the ones in the gym that aren't too proud to do lunges, step-ups, all variations of split squats, and cable kickbacks. And you'll see them getting cardio sometimes on the step-type equipment. Yeah, I know all those have the rep of being girly, but they do NOT create a girly look for you guys! They create a butt that gets our attention.
We women miss your butts! Please, bring them back!
Guys, are you listening? And women, do you agree?
I'll come right to the point: Guys, we women like for you to have butts. And it seems that as you age, if you don't get your.... er... butts into the gym, you wind up with flat backsides.
This flattening pretty much expressly comes from sitting a lot. I can spot a guy with a desk job who never visits the gym within 100 feet: Wide, flat, and almost narrow at the very bottom. Yeah, guys- We women notice nice butts on men that are in their 40's and beyond. It impresses us. If you have one, endeavor to keep it. If you don't, get to the gym and get one!
Now, I'm a gal who loves a nicely defined upper body. I'm a self-admitted chest girl. But true fitness is displayed in a man in his midsection and his butt. That's the area that takes the most self discipline for you guys to build up and maintain. So while a moundy muscular chest gets my initial attention, I have respect for a man in mid-life with nice glutes.
Not only is it about appearance, but having a well-developed lower body is good for your health and quality of life. A strong lower body will carry you around longer, be less likely to suffer things like back problems in the lumbar spine that so often start hitting men in their 40's, and greatly reduce your likelihood of suffering broken bones when you fall as you age. (Does hip replacement surgery sound like fun?)
Chances are that if I have inspired you to go to the gym, you will head for variations on the squat and leg press, because not only are those the grand-daddy of moves to develop the lower body, but they're also done on masculine equipment: REAL men use the big plates. (Insert caveman-type laugh here.)
But the fact is that the guys I see with good butts in midlife and beyond are the ones in the gym that aren't too proud to do lunges, step-ups, all variations of split squats, and cable kickbacks. And you'll see them getting cardio sometimes on the step-type equipment. Yeah, I know all those have the rep of being girly, but they do NOT create a girly look for you guys! They create a butt that gets our attention.
We women miss your butts! Please, bring them back!
Guys, are you listening? And women, do you agree?
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Coconut Oil- Try it and You'll Never Go Back!
Have you ever heard of coconut oil? I hadn't either, until I read about it in Tosca Reno's "Eat Clean" books. She says she eats 3 Tablespoons of it a day. Now, Tosca doesn't eat any foods that are not clean, so I'm sure that 360 calories of a good source of fat don't hurt her. But for the rest of us it might not be the best idea to consume this quantity if we are trying to lose weight. However, it's a great food to substitute for some other fats in your diet for a myriad of reasons. Here's an article that goes into detail, because I am too lazy to type it all out: www.organicfacts.net/organic-oils/organic-coconut-oil/health-benefits-of-coconut-oil.html
At any rate, I have discovered how versatile this oil is and how wonderful it makes food taste! I have tried substituting it in a myriad of recipes, from stir-fries to baked goods, and every time, without exception, it improves the recipe tremendously. The texture makes even recipes where whole-wheat flour is subbed in for regular white (which usually results in a tougher product) melt-in-your-mouth.
Case in point: I'm GREAT at making pie crust, but have always had to use refined white flour for it to be flaky enough to grant my approval. Last night I made my traditional pie crust (my own recipe and technique), but substituted 1/4 of the white flour for whole-wheat and all of the shortening with coconut oil. It was wonderful! Next time I am going to try it with all whole-wheat flour. I'll bet it turns out terrific.
Coconut oil can be substituted strait over for any kind of fat a recipe calls for, but is especially good in recipes that call for butter or shortening, the latter of which is particularly bad for your heart and arteries.
An unusual property of coconut oil is that it holds solid at temperatures 76 degrees Fahrenheit and below. Above that and it starts to melt. I was keeping it in the same cabinet I always had, but mysteriously it was beginning to liquify. It finally occurred to me that it was being stored next to an exterior wall: With the Texas summer heat on the other side of the wall the coconut oil was getting a little too warm to hold it's solid state. I moved it to my pantry, which is on an inside wall, and it went back to solid.
If you want to use it in a recipe that calls for liquid oil, just melt it first. In a recipe that calls for a solid fat (butter, margarine, or shortening), use it strait out of the jar.
Unlike olive oil (which is also heart healthy), coconut oil is heat stable. So you can use it for types of cooking that call for prolonged exposure to heat and it won't destroy the flavor of your food.
And it's not just good for cooking- I like to stir a teaspoon of it into my oats or whole-grain cream of what in the mornings. It adds a nice flavor and texture to it, and the added fat slows digestion and helps to keep me full longer.
Most stores carry coconut oil on the shelves with other types of cooking oils.
One caveat of coconut oil is that it is more expensive than most other commonly-used fat sources. But I think that once you've tried it you'll be sold and never go back to shortening, at least, again. It's worth the investment to get that artery-clogging stuff out of the diets of you and your family.
At any rate, I have discovered how versatile this oil is and how wonderful it makes food taste! I have tried substituting it in a myriad of recipes, from stir-fries to baked goods, and every time, without exception, it improves the recipe tremendously. The texture makes even recipes where whole-wheat flour is subbed in for regular white (which usually results in a tougher product) melt-in-your-mouth.
Case in point: I'm GREAT at making pie crust, but have always had to use refined white flour for it to be flaky enough to grant my approval. Last night I made my traditional pie crust (my own recipe and technique), but substituted 1/4 of the white flour for whole-wheat and all of the shortening with coconut oil. It was wonderful! Next time I am going to try it with all whole-wheat flour. I'll bet it turns out terrific.
Coconut oil can be substituted strait over for any kind of fat a recipe calls for, but is especially good in recipes that call for butter or shortening, the latter of which is particularly bad for your heart and arteries.
An unusual property of coconut oil is that it holds solid at temperatures 76 degrees Fahrenheit and below. Above that and it starts to melt. I was keeping it in the same cabinet I always had, but mysteriously it was beginning to liquify. It finally occurred to me that it was being stored next to an exterior wall: With the Texas summer heat on the other side of the wall the coconut oil was getting a little too warm to hold it's solid state. I moved it to my pantry, which is on an inside wall, and it went back to solid.
If you want to use it in a recipe that calls for liquid oil, just melt it first. In a recipe that calls for a solid fat (butter, margarine, or shortening), use it strait out of the jar.
Unlike olive oil (which is also heart healthy), coconut oil is heat stable. So you can use it for types of cooking that call for prolonged exposure to heat and it won't destroy the flavor of your food.
And it's not just good for cooking- I like to stir a teaspoon of it into my oats or whole-grain cream of what in the mornings. It adds a nice flavor and texture to it, and the added fat slows digestion and helps to keep me full longer.
Most stores carry coconut oil on the shelves with other types of cooking oils.
One caveat of coconut oil is that it is more expensive than most other commonly-used fat sources. But I think that once you've tried it you'll be sold and never go back to shortening, at least, again. It's worth the investment to get that artery-clogging stuff out of the diets of you and your family.
Monday, September 3, 2012
Tweaking The Weight Watchers Program
I've lost a majority of my weight on the Weight Watchers program. It is the plan that I return to most often when I need to reign things in again, and to this day I log my foods in my Weight Watchers Points Plus food log even when I am maintaining. (I've always done better with a pen and paper than virtual tracking.) But I've found that with the new program that came out last year, I believe it was, I was having a hard time losing weight when needed and others were commenting the same.
Now, let me say before I go any farther that if you are using the Weight Watchers program and losing just fine, don't change a thing! If you hit a stall down the line you can revisit this blog and see if it helps, but in the meantime there is absolutely no point in fixing something that is not broke.
It didn't take me very long to figure out what the problems are, and the biggest in my opinion is the unlimited fruits. Now, I've always thought and still think that fruit gets an unnecessarily bad rap, along with wheat, white potatoes, and corn. But to let people eat fruit without accounting for it can completely stall weight loss, and actually cause people who are maintaining to gain weight.
The problem isn't that fruit is bad for you. The problem is that most people in the weight loss world have an issue with portion control. Fruit is higher in sugars, albeit natural sugars. I don't have enough room in this blog to explain the entire biological process (and you'd probably get bored, anyhow), so just trust me when I say that too many sugars of any source can actually change how the body stores calories, sending more of them to fat.
Yes, the Weight Watchers gurus tell you to eat fruit until you feel satisfied. But lets get honest here: If people who are or have been overweight could tell when they were satisfied.... well.... there wouldn't be a need for Weight Watchers.
Consequently, my proposal is that you count the first two servings of fruit as "free", and account for any after that in your daily points. In case you weren't around for previous Weight Watchers programs, a serving is about 80 calories, or the equivalent of a cup of cut-up fruit. Or in the case of bananas, a half of a large banana. (So if you eat a whole large banana for breakfast, that's the end of the "free" fruits for the day.)
The unlimited non-starchy veggies are still good, though. While it's not portion control, it'd be almost impossible to eat enough of them to mess with fat storage.
The second tweak I would suggest is to up the intake of water from 6 cups a day to 12. And make it real water- not "non-caloric beverages". (To read my blog on why water is so important, click here.)
Another thing I would highly recommend is to rely more on whole foods rather than processed, to include Weight Watchers food products. While I think Weight Watchers is a good program, it bugs me a little that they don't put more emphasis on minimally processed foods. Calories are not all created equal, and the your body turns processed foods into fat much easier than foods the way Mother Nature made them. (This is, by the way, the reason I could never be a Weight Watchers leader: They push the employees to sell their products. I could not in good conscience sell people foods that I know aren't truly healthy.)
And lastly, eat your exercise points earned, but forget about your weekly Points Allowance, unless you are really desperate. Doing so seems to put the daily calories at a more metabolism-friendly level. And when you count your exercise points, err on the side of caution and don't be too generous with your estimations. But do go ahead and give yourself more than the 42 on the log, if you have earned more than that.
I realize this blog is not going to apply to the majority, and I am sorry for that. I just thought the few frustrated might find it helpful.
Now, let me say before I go any farther that if you are using the Weight Watchers program and losing just fine, don't change a thing! If you hit a stall down the line you can revisit this blog and see if it helps, but in the meantime there is absolutely no point in fixing something that is not broke.
It didn't take me very long to figure out what the problems are, and the biggest in my opinion is the unlimited fruits. Now, I've always thought and still think that fruit gets an unnecessarily bad rap, along with wheat, white potatoes, and corn. But to let people eat fruit without accounting for it can completely stall weight loss, and actually cause people who are maintaining to gain weight.
The problem isn't that fruit is bad for you. The problem is that most people in the weight loss world have an issue with portion control. Fruit is higher in sugars, albeit natural sugars. I don't have enough room in this blog to explain the entire biological process (and you'd probably get bored, anyhow), so just trust me when I say that too many sugars of any source can actually change how the body stores calories, sending more of them to fat.
Yes, the Weight Watchers gurus tell you to eat fruit until you feel satisfied. But lets get honest here: If people who are or have been overweight could tell when they were satisfied.... well.... there wouldn't be a need for Weight Watchers.
Consequently, my proposal is that you count the first two servings of fruit as "free", and account for any after that in your daily points. In case you weren't around for previous Weight Watchers programs, a serving is about 80 calories, or the equivalent of a cup of cut-up fruit. Or in the case of bananas, a half of a large banana. (So if you eat a whole large banana for breakfast, that's the end of the "free" fruits for the day.)
The unlimited non-starchy veggies are still good, though. While it's not portion control, it'd be almost impossible to eat enough of them to mess with fat storage.
The second tweak I would suggest is to up the intake of water from 6 cups a day to 12. And make it real water- not "non-caloric beverages". (To read my blog on why water is so important, click here.)
Another thing I would highly recommend is to rely more on whole foods rather than processed, to include Weight Watchers food products. While I think Weight Watchers is a good program, it bugs me a little that they don't put more emphasis on minimally processed foods. Calories are not all created equal, and the your body turns processed foods into fat much easier than foods the way Mother Nature made them. (This is, by the way, the reason I could never be a Weight Watchers leader: They push the employees to sell their products. I could not in good conscience sell people foods that I know aren't truly healthy.)
And lastly, eat your exercise points earned, but forget about your weekly Points Allowance, unless you are really desperate. Doing so seems to put the daily calories at a more metabolism-friendly level. And when you count your exercise points, err on the side of caution and don't be too generous with your estimations. But do go ahead and give yourself more than the 42 on the log, if you have earned more than that.
I realize this blog is not going to apply to the majority, and I am sorry for that. I just thought the few frustrated might find it helpful.
Friday, August 17, 2012
I HATE Cheat Meals!
Man.... I have a real problem with this whole "Cheat Meal", or worse yet, "Cheat Day" concept.
First of all, could we please stop using the word "cheat"? Cheat makes it sound like if you don't over-indulge in foods that are horrible for you, you've failed your mission. Do you really want to cheat yourself out of your healthy eating plan?
Additionally, for someone who is a recovering binge eater (like me), it's an open invitation to gorge. I can easily do 3,000 or more calories worth of damage in the span of just an hour or two. It's really not that hard. (Proof: At Applebees, 1/2 order of onion rings- 645 calories, Riblets platter- 1700 calories, 1/2 Chocolate Chip Cookie Sundae- 775 calories. Total: 3120 calories, even when I shared the appetizer and dessert. And I was drinking un-sweet tea!)
One pound of fat is approximately 3500 calories. If I managed to eat 500 calories less than my daily caloric intake for a week, that should add up to about a pound of weight loss that week (500x7 days in the week=3500 calories). Which would be great, except I pretty much packed all of those calories into the above Applebees meal.
And people wonder why they aren't losing weight with cheat meals.
If we move into a bigger meal, or (God forbid!) an entire cheat day, it's easy to see how weight gain could actually occur despite eating well 6 days out of 7.
Look, I don't mean to be Negative Nancy about enjoying a treat every once in a while. But we need to rethink the way we view foods in regards to how we are going to live our life from here on out. It all really DOES make a difference over the long haul.
In David Greenwalt's book The Leanness Lifestyle (which I have frequently referred to as my Fitness Bible many times), he purposes a Splurge Meal. This is a much better thing to call it, IMHO. You are not going off the rails with cheating, you are planning an indulgence. And it is going to factor into your weekly caloric intake.
How do you make this work? Personally, during the rest of the week I'd shave another 100 calories off of each day. This gives me 600 calories more out of my diet I can "play" with for my Splurge meal. That's step 1.
Next, I'd cut back on my carbs the day of the planned splurge. I'm taking it out of carbs, because let's face it, people don't usually splurge on turkey breast.
Here's how I'd put it into action:
I'd bring my regular morning oatmeal from 1/2 C dry measure (before cooking) to 1/4 C. That's 75 calories. I'd probably also skip my fruit for my mid-morning or after-workout snack and have just protein powder. There's another 80 or so calories, all from carbs. Lunch would be reduced by about a single portion of carbs, for about another 80 carb calories. So right there, I've got 235 calories in the bank. Add it to the 600 I managed to cut back on during the week, and I'm 835 calories ahead. Plus, I still have my regular dinner calories to factor in, which is normally about 500 for me. Add that to the 835 I already saved, and now I'm at 1335. This I can do.
Now, it's time to plan (not haphazardly wing) that splurge.
Before I go to Applebees I decide what it is I most want to splurge on. For me it's the cookie Sundae, which I am going to split with my teen daughter (she's skinny).
Knowing this, I look up the nutritional information online before I ever leave the house. Then when I get to the restaurant I order, according to plan, the 9-ounce house sirloin (I'm hungry!) for 310 calories with the garlic mashed potatoes for 250 calories and the seasonal veggies for about 40 calories. That's 600 calories for a very decent dinner that is still a splurge over what I would normally eat.
Dessert is another 775 for 1/2 of that Cookie Sundae. I'm at 1375 calories, just 40 over my 1335. No big deal.
The trick immediately AFTER the splurge is to stick to the plan. If you are anything like me you tend to go a bit off of the rails once a splurge has occurred. This means I still have my protein shake before bed, even if I don't feel particularly hungry, just to get myself RIGHT BACK on track.
And what's important is that I did NOT cheat, so I have nothing to feel guilty for.
The closer you get to goal the more important honesty with yourself and planning like this will be. Fat doesn't take a vacation, so please don't believe it isn't going to show up if you invite it by eating with abandon.
And for Pete's sake, stop calling it a Cheat Meal. At least, in front of me.
First of all, could we please stop using the word "cheat"? Cheat makes it sound like if you don't over-indulge in foods that are horrible for you, you've failed your mission. Do you really want to cheat yourself out of your healthy eating plan?
Additionally, for someone who is a recovering binge eater (like me), it's an open invitation to gorge. I can easily do 3,000 or more calories worth of damage in the span of just an hour or two. It's really not that hard. (Proof: At Applebees, 1/2 order of onion rings- 645 calories, Riblets platter- 1700 calories, 1/2 Chocolate Chip Cookie Sundae- 775 calories. Total: 3120 calories, even when I shared the appetizer and dessert. And I was drinking un-sweet tea!)
One pound of fat is approximately 3500 calories. If I managed to eat 500 calories less than my daily caloric intake for a week, that should add up to about a pound of weight loss that week (500x7 days in the week=3500 calories). Which would be great, except I pretty much packed all of those calories into the above Applebees meal.
And people wonder why they aren't losing weight with cheat meals.
If we move into a bigger meal, or (God forbid!) an entire cheat day, it's easy to see how weight gain could actually occur despite eating well 6 days out of 7.
Look, I don't mean to be Negative Nancy about enjoying a treat every once in a while. But we need to rethink the way we view foods in regards to how we are going to live our life from here on out. It all really DOES make a difference over the long haul.
In David Greenwalt's book The Leanness Lifestyle (which I have frequently referred to as my Fitness Bible many times), he purposes a Splurge Meal. This is a much better thing to call it, IMHO. You are not going off the rails with cheating, you are planning an indulgence. And it is going to factor into your weekly caloric intake.
How do you make this work? Personally, during the rest of the week I'd shave another 100 calories off of each day. This gives me 600 calories more out of my diet I can "play" with for my Splurge meal. That's step 1.
Next, I'd cut back on my carbs the day of the planned splurge. I'm taking it out of carbs, because let's face it, people don't usually splurge on turkey breast.
Here's how I'd put it into action:
I'd bring my regular morning oatmeal from 1/2 C dry measure (before cooking) to 1/4 C. That's 75 calories. I'd probably also skip my fruit for my mid-morning or after-workout snack and have just protein powder. There's another 80 or so calories, all from carbs. Lunch would be reduced by about a single portion of carbs, for about another 80 carb calories. So right there, I've got 235 calories in the bank. Add it to the 600 I managed to cut back on during the week, and I'm 835 calories ahead. Plus, I still have my regular dinner calories to factor in, which is normally about 500 for me. Add that to the 835 I already saved, and now I'm at 1335. This I can do.
Now, it's time to plan (not haphazardly wing) that splurge.
Before I go to Applebees I decide what it is I most want to splurge on. For me it's the cookie Sundae, which I am going to split with my teen daughter (she's skinny).
Knowing this, I look up the nutritional information online before I ever leave the house. Then when I get to the restaurant I order, according to plan, the 9-ounce house sirloin (I'm hungry!) for 310 calories with the garlic mashed potatoes for 250 calories and the seasonal veggies for about 40 calories. That's 600 calories for a very decent dinner that is still a splurge over what I would normally eat.
Dessert is another 775 for 1/2 of that Cookie Sundae. I'm at 1375 calories, just 40 over my 1335. No big deal.
The trick immediately AFTER the splurge is to stick to the plan. If you are anything like me you tend to go a bit off of the rails once a splurge has occurred. This means I still have my protein shake before bed, even if I don't feel particularly hungry, just to get myself RIGHT BACK on track.
And what's important is that I did NOT cheat, so I have nothing to feel guilty for.
The closer you get to goal the more important honesty with yourself and planning like this will be. Fat doesn't take a vacation, so please don't believe it isn't going to show up if you invite it by eating with abandon.
And for Pete's sake, stop calling it a Cheat Meal. At least, in front of me.
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Punching Bags
This isn't the typical kind of advice-giving blog I usually do. I may
not even keep this one up long. It's more of a story: Something I want
to share, because it will perhaps help someone else somehow.
This has been what I have begun to refer to as "The Summer From Hell". A culmination of events spanning over almost a year that came to a head this summer, with lasting effects. I won't go into specific details, but suffice it to say in many ways it's been like a nightmare I can't wake up from.
I've been under a tremendous amount of stress for the past 10 months or so. More stress than I ever have been before in my 45 years of life. And watching family members go through even more stress than I am going through is the most stressful thing of all.
The reality of the enormity of the situation came to light last Thursday afternoon. I went to the gym Friday morning. Coincidentally, Friday my workout partner, Ivory, was not able to be there. I was on my own.
My first exercise was split squats on the Smith machine. I did my first set, but my heart was not in it.
I stood there, leaning against the Smith bar, and thought of all that had come down: How much all the garbage had impacted so many areas of the lives of so many people. How much I personally ached with the tremendous loss I felt. There seemed to be a suppressing weight on my shoulders that there simply are not words to describe. The closest I can come is that it felt like I was literally being broken inside.
I thought to myself "I don't want to be here." If ever I had justification to leave the gym for emotional reasons, this was it. If you knew the circumstances, you'd tell me I could have left and had no reason to feel guilt, too. I knew this. I was ready to walk out the door.
Normally Ivory would be there to tell me to finish my workout, dang it. Or I would stick around simply to not leave him hanging. But he wasn't there. Maybe, I thought, that was a sign I shouldn't be there that day- that it was okay, just this once, to leave.
Then I looked up, and directly in my range of vision, not 20 feet in front of me, was a man in a wheel chair. I have seen this man at the gym almost every time I've been there since I started coming about a month ago. It is clear his handicap leaves him unable to walk. But still he comes in and does what he can. Which, in our gym, is not a whole lot. Most of our machines and the set up are for people who have four functioning limbs.
But there he was, boxing away at a punching bag- the only form of cardio he can get. And he doesn't even have anyone to hold the bag, so it's just swinging around wildly. Hardly the workout it should be. But still, he was doing what he could with what he had.
As I watched him I slowly began to realized how blessed I was. Did my situation suck? Yeah. Was I under stress? Yes- tremendous stress. Were family members hurting and suffering in ways that were going to more than likely have devastating effects for years to come? Yep.
But the fact was that I still had things to be grateful for. I HAD family to hurt me- Maybe this guy did not. I HAD legs to walk me around- this guy did not. I drive a truck to the gym- This guy drives his wheelchair. I have a workout partner (most days). This guy works out alone.
I still didn't want to work out, but suddenly I didn't feel as sorry for myself anymore. So my mind made a bargain with my body: "I'll just finish my 5 sets of this exercise. If at that point I feel like going home, I can. No guilt."
I kept my deal with myself and finished those 5 sets. The guy in the wheel chair kept punching away at that bag.
And you know the rest of the story, don't you?
Well.... humor me and finish reading it, anyhow, K? (You made it this far!)
No surprise- Exactly what I had hoped would happen, happened. By the end of the 5th set of split squats (15 each leg per set), I had completely forgotten the deal I made with myself and went on to the next exercise, and the next, and the next. I finished a very challenging glute and ab workout (over an hours worth), then did a full cardio routine, and THEN spent 15 minutes stretching. I didn't even think about the fact that I'd wanted to leave until long after I'd gone home.
I've learned a few things about myself over the past 26+ years of working out. One of them is that with my propensity towards severe depression, working out helps to keep me off of head meds. It gives me a sunnier outlook. That was a lot of the reason I made the bargain with myself to stay there- I wanted the mood-boosting effects of the workout, if I could just stick around that long.
Working out also gives me something steady and sure in the often-rocky waters of life. The iron will always be there. It's not going to fail me. It's not going to lie. It doesn't care who believes what about me, and it's never going to sling a zinger meant to pierce my heart. It's just there, steady and sure, giving me a positive place to channel my emotions, be they the height of happiness of the pit of despair. The gym gives me a place to pull myself out of my emotional hole. It's my safety zone.
My problems aren't going away. I know this. But the man in the wheelchair? His problems aren't going away either. And yet there he is, day after day, week after week, doing what he can to make himself the best him he can be. He doesn't use his obstacles as an excuses to quit, so why should I?
Maybe some day I'll thank him. Or.... Maybe next time I'll simply hold the bag for him, and let him slug away.
This has been what I have begun to refer to as "The Summer From Hell". A culmination of events spanning over almost a year that came to a head this summer, with lasting effects. I won't go into specific details, but suffice it to say in many ways it's been like a nightmare I can't wake up from.
I've been under a tremendous amount of stress for the past 10 months or so. More stress than I ever have been before in my 45 years of life. And watching family members go through even more stress than I am going through is the most stressful thing of all.
The reality of the enormity of the situation came to light last Thursday afternoon. I went to the gym Friday morning. Coincidentally, Friday my workout partner, Ivory, was not able to be there. I was on my own.
My first exercise was split squats on the Smith machine. I did my first set, but my heart was not in it.
I stood there, leaning against the Smith bar, and thought of all that had come down: How much all the garbage had impacted so many areas of the lives of so many people. How much I personally ached with the tremendous loss I felt. There seemed to be a suppressing weight on my shoulders that there simply are not words to describe. The closest I can come is that it felt like I was literally being broken inside.
I thought to myself "I don't want to be here." If ever I had justification to leave the gym for emotional reasons, this was it. If you knew the circumstances, you'd tell me I could have left and had no reason to feel guilt, too. I knew this. I was ready to walk out the door.
Normally Ivory would be there to tell me to finish my workout, dang it. Or I would stick around simply to not leave him hanging. But he wasn't there. Maybe, I thought, that was a sign I shouldn't be there that day- that it was okay, just this once, to leave.
Then I looked up, and directly in my range of vision, not 20 feet in front of me, was a man in a wheel chair. I have seen this man at the gym almost every time I've been there since I started coming about a month ago. It is clear his handicap leaves him unable to walk. But still he comes in and does what he can. Which, in our gym, is not a whole lot. Most of our machines and the set up are for people who have four functioning limbs.
But there he was, boxing away at a punching bag- the only form of cardio he can get. And he doesn't even have anyone to hold the bag, so it's just swinging around wildly. Hardly the workout it should be. But still, he was doing what he could with what he had.
As I watched him I slowly began to realized how blessed I was. Did my situation suck? Yeah. Was I under stress? Yes- tremendous stress. Were family members hurting and suffering in ways that were going to more than likely have devastating effects for years to come? Yep.
But the fact was that I still had things to be grateful for. I HAD family to hurt me- Maybe this guy did not. I HAD legs to walk me around- this guy did not. I drive a truck to the gym- This guy drives his wheelchair. I have a workout partner (most days). This guy works out alone.
I still didn't want to work out, but suddenly I didn't feel as sorry for myself anymore. So my mind made a bargain with my body: "I'll just finish my 5 sets of this exercise. If at that point I feel like going home, I can. No guilt."
I kept my deal with myself and finished those 5 sets. The guy in the wheel chair kept punching away at that bag.
And you know the rest of the story, don't you?
Well.... humor me and finish reading it, anyhow, K? (You made it this far!)
No surprise- Exactly what I had hoped would happen, happened. By the end of the 5th set of split squats (15 each leg per set), I had completely forgotten the deal I made with myself and went on to the next exercise, and the next, and the next. I finished a very challenging glute and ab workout (over an hours worth), then did a full cardio routine, and THEN spent 15 minutes stretching. I didn't even think about the fact that I'd wanted to leave until long after I'd gone home.
I've learned a few things about myself over the past 26+ years of working out. One of them is that with my propensity towards severe depression, working out helps to keep me off of head meds. It gives me a sunnier outlook. That was a lot of the reason I made the bargain with myself to stay there- I wanted the mood-boosting effects of the workout, if I could just stick around that long.
Working out also gives me something steady and sure in the often-rocky waters of life. The iron will always be there. It's not going to fail me. It's not going to lie. It doesn't care who believes what about me, and it's never going to sling a zinger meant to pierce my heart. It's just there, steady and sure, giving me a positive place to channel my emotions, be they the height of happiness of the pit of despair. The gym gives me a place to pull myself out of my emotional hole. It's my safety zone.
My problems aren't going away. I know this. But the man in the wheelchair? His problems aren't going away either. And yet there he is, day after day, week after week, doing what he can to make himself the best him he can be. He doesn't use his obstacles as an excuses to quit, so why should I?
Maybe some day I'll thank him. Or.... Maybe next time I'll simply hold the bag for him, and let him slug away.
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Tip For Females to Adjust Cardio Calories Burned
I have a tip I use when figuring out how many cardio calories I have burned. This stems from something I read in David Greenwalt's book "The Leanness Lifestyle", which I consider my fitness bible. In the book he states that it's reasonable to assume that a man working very hard burns 10 calories a minute and a woman 8. Since he goes off of scientific studies and not hunches, I trust David's book and the things he says in it.
I've always felt like cardio machines are a little generous when it comes to how many calories they say I burn. I wanted to adjust it to be on the safe side of realistic for my logging purposes. So, working off of the 10/8 rule above, it's fair to guess that we women burn about 80% of the number of calories men doing performing the same activity at the same intensity. (8 is 80% of 10.) I assume the machine thinks I am a man, since while I have had a machine ask my weight and age, I've yet to see one that asks my gender. Given that, I take the total amount of calories it says I've burned and reduce it by 20% to give me 80%. (This is easier mental math for me than multiplying it by 80%)
So if I worked out on the elliptical machine for 45 minutes and it says I burned 450 calories, I assume I burned roughly 360 calories. (20% of 450 is 90: 450 minus 90 is 360.)
To break it down even further for my usually-exhausted mind at the end of a tough cardio workout, I just double what 10% is to come up with the 20% number, since 10% is easier to tell at a glance. So in the case of the elliptical workout above, 45 is 10% of 450. 45 times two is 90. So 90 is 20%, or what I need to subtract from the total the machine is giving me.
Everyone following?
My personal method for logging my food and exercise is in my Weight Watchers tracker, which we all know uses a point system instead of calories. I assume every 50 calories is 1 Weight Watchers point. So I round the number I came up with (360) down (not EVER up- I am trying to err on the side of caution) to the nearest 50. For the aforementioned elliptical workout, this would give me 350. Then I just divide by 50 to come up with the number of Points to check off in my exercise tracker- in this case 7. (350 divided by 50 is 7.)
This is all very rough and by no means terribly accurate, but I've found it's a good way to guess.
If you are a man, forget it. As long as you entered your age and weight into the machine, just go with the number it gives you. If you are a man using the Weight Watchers system, round that number down to the nearest 50, divide by 50, and there 'ya got your exercise points.
I've always felt like cardio machines are a little generous when it comes to how many calories they say I burn. I wanted to adjust it to be on the safe side of realistic for my logging purposes. So, working off of the 10/8 rule above, it's fair to guess that we women burn about 80% of the number of calories men doing performing the same activity at the same intensity. (8 is 80% of 10.) I assume the machine thinks I am a man, since while I have had a machine ask my weight and age, I've yet to see one that asks my gender. Given that, I take the total amount of calories it says I've burned and reduce it by 20% to give me 80%. (This is easier mental math for me than multiplying it by 80%)
So if I worked out on the elliptical machine for 45 minutes and it says I burned 450 calories, I assume I burned roughly 360 calories. (20% of 450 is 90: 450 minus 90 is 360.)
To break it down even further for my usually-exhausted mind at the end of a tough cardio workout, I just double what 10% is to come up with the 20% number, since 10% is easier to tell at a glance. So in the case of the elliptical workout above, 45 is 10% of 450. 45 times two is 90. So 90 is 20%, or what I need to subtract from the total the machine is giving me.
Everyone following?
My personal method for logging my food and exercise is in my Weight Watchers tracker, which we all know uses a point system instead of calories. I assume every 50 calories is 1 Weight Watchers point. So I round the number I came up with (360) down (not EVER up- I am trying to err on the side of caution) to the nearest 50. For the aforementioned elliptical workout, this would give me 350. Then I just divide by 50 to come up with the number of Points to check off in my exercise tracker- in this case 7. (350 divided by 50 is 7.)
This is all very rough and by no means terribly accurate, but I've found it's a good way to guess.
If you are a man, forget it. As long as you entered your age and weight into the machine, just go with the number it gives you. If you are a man using the Weight Watchers system, round that number down to the nearest 50, divide by 50, and there 'ya got your exercise points.
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