21 Day Challenge: Day 14

This week is just whizzing by! I have more work to do than I have hours, technological bugs that have made life interesting, and a few out-of-the-ordinary things to fit into an otherwise tight schedule like a surprise birthday party. Plus remember I started the week in a funk?

Today marks two weeks into the January 21 Day Challenge, so I had to be sure to at least stop by and post here. Fitting an hour walk into my schedule 3-5 days a week is a priority and guess what? I've stuck with it. I've walked 4 days so far. Both my eating and exercise have stayed constant! I didn't succumb to the stress that in the past would send me into a feeding frenzy more commonly known as binge eating. I weighed in today and I'm just .2 pounds short of losing 4 pounds this first two weeks. My goal is 1 pound a week so I'm ahead of the game.

One week to go on this challenge and then we have the rest of the month to evaluate how things went, what we need to change and what we want to accomplish for the February 21 Day Challenge! One day at a time, we can establish new habits that will change our lives.

21 Day Challenge: Day 12

Yesterday I woke up with the blah Monday blues. Doesn't happen to me all the time, but when it does, I feel it before my feet hit the floor. I don't want to do the things I need to do, and that leaks over to the things that I should do like eat right and exercise. Days like this used to send me on a eat-what-I-want binge. But it didn't happen yesterday!

Instead, I focused on my diet goals. No sweets, no snacks, no seconds (except for days that start with an S--and it wasn't Smonday). The blah feelings might be linked do the fact that I was able to eat what I wanted over the weekend and Monday marked an end to that and back to the weekly restrictions. The fact is that I am totally satisfied physically during the week without snacks or desserts, and I think my blah feeling was tied to my mental and emotional connection to food. I often used it to help me through boredom or stress, not just to feed hunger. Mondays are busy and I didn't have food to pacify me.

Once I got past breakfast and lived until lunch without snacking, I regained my momentum. Losing weight certainly isn't about eating what you want when you want. Once I got my head on straight I changed my focus to the benefits I'll see down the road. My weight is dropping along with my BMI. I even went out for my hour walk in our balmy 40 degree weather. That's huge progress for me! I'm heading in the right direction!

21 Day Challenge: Day 7

Wow, the first week of 2010 is already under the belt.... So how's your belt fitting these days? It is so easy for people to make New Year's resolutions and even easier to not keep them. I've said it before, but it is worth repeating. I set goals each year, but instead of New Year's resolutions I'd rather think of what needs to be done as a New Day resolution. Each new day is a brand new start. If you haven't met your diet or exercise goals for this year, and feel like a failure, don't give up. It is never too late to start! Come on! You can do it, if I can do it.

Along with the completion of the first week, I have to report that I do like my new scale. Along with letting me know I lost a little more than 2.5 pounds, it also told me I am more hydrated than I was a week ago, have lost some body fat, and even gained .001 bone mass. How about that! All in one week--7 days. I'm on target!

21 Day Challenge: Day 4

I don't know what the weather is like where you are, but here it is COLD. It didn't get above freezing today. That's just about enough to make me reconsider going for my 3 mile walk...almost. Having this challenge before gave me that little extra push to get out there. Once I get moving it's okay. I'm told I look like an umfa loompa, but I don't care. I rather be warm than fashionable.

If you look back at Day 1 of the challenge, you'll see that my goal is to exercise 3-5 days a week. I set it that way because it is attainable. It leaves room for life's unexpected road bumps. My ultimate goal is to walk for an hour 5 days a week. When I set the goal, I left myself some wiggle room.

Today I had the grandkids join me on the walk. They are almost as tall as I am these days, and one of them was raring to go and the other was complaining before we made it up the first hill. It's a great opportunity to share the discipline. Today, for most kids, there is no walking to catch the bus...or walking to the store...or walking in general. It's one of the reasons more than 50 percent of our society is considered obese. In the StarTrek movie, Insurrection, one of the characters says, "When you create a machine to do the work of a man, you take away from the man." That is so true of our health in many ways. I'm trying to watch for opportunities to expend energy even in the little things I do during the day.

21 Day Challenge: Day 2

For years I've had writers ask me how I do all that I do. As a result, I started a group to help other writers. I have facilitated this goals-oriented group for years. We show up each New Year with our annual goals, post monthly goals at the start of each month and weekly goals each Monday. Why do I mention this?

I became a successful writer because I learned how to break tasks into little pieces and reach a target--the goal. That's how I need to approach losing weight. While I'd like to lose 25 pounds in January, I've made a goal of 4 pounds. I'm also making an appointment to exercise, so that when the time comes...it's time to exercise. Otherwise it is so easy to stay busy. I have plenty to do.

One other thing that helps with the writer's group is the accountability. We all know what is expected, and we also know we aren't perfect. Goals are flexible, but offer a target to aim for. One small failure doesn't have to send us into a tailspin. To help see things through, if we break things into smaller steps, they seem more manageable.

Feel free to join in with comments. Set your goals for the first 21 days of this month. Then Feb. 1 we'll start again. For now, January 1 is behind us. Together we can get in shape! Let's do it!

New Year, New Approach

This is my first post for the New Year, and that tells you something. But what? When I disappear it is often because I've gone off the deep end with my eating and I don't want to face my readers. This time, that's not the reason. My workload has tied up most of my time, and let's face it, that takes precedence over blogging. However, I'm here now, and thank all my readers who have contacted me to see that I'm okay.

I'm really more than okay. I've started to exercise regularly again. That always makes me feel better. I've started thinking about my upcoming garden plan and adding a section for herbs. And for my eating...it could have been better over the holidays, but it could have been worse. We chatted about this quite a bit over at the diet forums.

Currently my plan, if you want to call it that, is to limit snacks between meals to fruit. I'm also trying to plan ahead to know what I'll have for breakfast or lunch so I don't grab something on a whim that triggers a binge. Eating healthy is a one day at a time process. Instead of saying I'm doing this for six weeks, I say, "I'm doing this today."

How to Lose Weight in the New Year

It's that time of year. Among the top group of New Year's resolutions you'll find that ever elusive goal--to lose weight or go on a diet. But what is the success rate? How many people are still on target by the end of January? I won't even tell you...at least for now. I don't want to discourage you.

Instead, lets make a plan for how to be successful. First, make a plan. Don't choose a diet that you know on the front end will be impossible for you. That's a plan for failure. Instead, consider the basics. The reason you gain weight is that you are taking in more calories you burn. That's what has to change. There's two three approaches:

• Eat less calories
• Exercise more so that you burn more calories
• A combination of eating less calories and burning more calories.

Whether the doctor tells you to lose weight or not, if you're carrying around extra body fat, you know it. You don't really have to go on a diet--let's face it diets end and weight comes back. Instead, it's time to learn a measure of self-control and discipline. Eat less and exercise more.

Low-Calorie Frozen Snack

I sit here staring at the blank page wondering what to tell you. I'm bummed. Since the time change, I haven't found a way to fit exercise into my schedule, which is a little fuller than normal. What many people don't realize, or choose to ignore, is that exercise needs to be part of a healthy lifestyle. My goal this week is to rearrange my schedule to find what works for me. I prefer to walk outside, because nature is so inspiring and it gets me away from the temptations that tug at me to do something else. And once I walk away from the house, I have to walk back, which isn't always true on a treadmill.

My favorite snack of late is frozen grapes. I have sisters and a daughter who have raved about them for years, but I'm not a big grape eater...or should I say I wasn't until now. Frozen grapes makes a satisfying snack that's sweet, cold and takes time to eat. Three ounces only have 58 calories. That's less than one iced oatmeal cookie and lasts so much longer! If you're looking for a low-calorie frozen snack, this might just be the one!

One Day at a Time Weight Loss

Life is a bit hectic right now, but I haven't cut exercise from schedule, though my blogging time has been whittled down as my regular readers may have noticed. I'm on day 13 of my cleanse, and feeling good. I've lost 7.5 pounds, though I know some of that will come back when I'm done with the cleansing process. One of the main things I've noticed is how much better I'm sleeping. Which tells me that what I eat can affect that!

My writing responsibilities continue to grow in a good way. I have a second interview with LoveToKnow tomorrow to possibly take on more responsibility there. Time will tell what is next. Either way I'll be satisfied as I'm very happy with my current role there as Site Editor for Diet, Exercise, Vitamins, Business and Home Improvement, along with my writing responsibilities.

Along with this, I'm setting up a couple more blog tours for Promo 101 Virtual Blog Tours. Two very interesting books. One is young adult fantasy and the other is non-fiction written by a man who grew up in a crime family!

I'm also making slow but steady progress on my next novel, looking for reviewers for Beyond the Fifth Gate, and reading a mystery for review.

With this kind of schedule, in the past, I've snacked when I hit a snag, or have to take care of something I don't feel like doing, or if I feel overwhelmed or too busy to make something healthy. Following this cleanse has helped me take my focus off food. I don't have to think about what I can or can't have. There's one thing. The fresh lemonade mixture I make each day. It satisfies, gives me all the energy I need and more, plus when I'm at our weekly pot luck, or sitting at the dinner table...it's okay. I don't obsess about what I can't have! I take it one day at a time.