Empty Calories

Hahaha!  I’m such an idiot!  Whenever I heard the term “empty calories” before, I always thought it meant there were no calories in the food/drink being consumed.  Wrong.  What it actually means is that there is no nutritional value in the calories being consumed.  I often hear that alcohol has empty calories… hmm… taken as a once in a while treat is good but indulging in it regularly gives you nothing but unhealthy extra calories. 

 Other foods that have empty calories (taken from Wikipedia):

• Sweets, soft drinks, beverages with a low juice component, and other foods containing sugar
• Margarine or shortening
• Butter, lard, and other high-saturated fats

While these foods are tasty (damnit!), it’s more healthy to eat them rarely or not at all.  Even eating them in moderation seems to be too much.

Nutritional Knowledge Quest

Eating right is the most challenging part of being healthy for me. I have always LOVED my McDonald’s cheeseburger & fries, baked potatoes, rich desserts, and cheese crackers. If someone puts a plate of anything (except vegetables) in front of me, it doesn’t have a prayer - I will attack that thing like there is no tomorrow. I realize that exercise is not enough for me to be healthy, I must be healthy on the inside as well as on the outside. And if I don’t start now, I will have a much harder time later in my life. So, I am on a quest to be conscious and smart about what I put into my body.

I bought three books the other day to help me with this. The first I purchased on Amazon.com called Nutrition for Dummies (I must start at the very beginning since I know nothing), and the other two I bought from a bookstore, Eat Better, Live Better and Diet & Health.  I have already started reading Eat Better, Live Better and am very excited about what I’m about to learn.
One thing that I have done to help myself eat better is to plan my meals.  I pack my lunch and snacks the night before so I am not stumped as to what I will eat for lunch the next day.  Whenever I find myself unprepared, I usually buy the most unhealthy things.  So, planning my meals for the next day is one way that will help me stay on track.

As I read and learn, I will keep you updated on how well *crosses fingers* I am doing.  Cheerio!

Staying Motivated To Exercise

How does one stay motivated to exercise?  How does one become motivated to exercise?  I think one important thing is having an end-goal in mind.  Is it losing weight?  Is it training for something?  Is it to just get you off your butt?  Think of something that you would like to accomplish with your workout and do it!  That’s another thing - at some point you have to stop thinking and just exercise because if you think long enough, you are going to think your way right out of doing it.  I came across an article by Jennifer Murray today that gives some tips which may be helpful in motivating you to work out.  I found it on www.suite101.com.  I hope it helps!  Article:

1.  Keep an Exercise Journal

Keeping a log of how long your workout lasts, the amount of weights lifted or the distance covered is helpful in setting goals. With every workout, push little harder to do just a bit more than the last workout. A strong motivator is setting a pre-workout goal and then meeting that goal.

2.  Vary Workout Routines

Performing the same workout day after day, week after week is bound to get boring. With such a wide variety of activities available to choose from, there’s no reason to do the same workout all the time. Mastering a new workout routine is exciting, so changing up an exercise routine every couple of weeks will keep your motivation level high.

3.  Find a Workout Buddy

Being held accountable is a strong motivator. Find a like-minded friend as a workout buddy to have someone who will not let you off the hook just because you don’t feel like working out. Also, you can hold your buddy accountable when they’re struggling to fit exercise into their daily schedule.

4.  Determine Your Why

The are many benefits to working out regularly, including improved mood, weight management, better sleep, stronger immune system, increased energy, decreased stress, plus numerous other benefits. What are your reasons for wanting to exercise? Write down all of the benefits you experience from exercising regularly and place your list in an area that you can look at it every day. Frequently reminding yourself of the reasons you want to exercise will keep you motivated to stick to your workout.

5.  Reward Yourself Often

Set a goal to work out a certain number of days per week. Each and every time you meet your weekly goal, reward yourself by buying something small and inexpensive that you’ve been wanting. Another way to reward yourself is to schedule a couple hours of “you” time away from the demands of every day life, where you can do any activity that you enjoy.

I Love Me My Turbo Jam

I like to work out at home. I have heard people say that they cannot exercise at home because they don’t feel motivated and that they need people around them to be motivated. I guess I work better alone. I’d rather not have anyone around when I am exercising so I can push myself to the limit without having to worry about anyone else around me. So, I exercise at home, and I use exercise videos. I LOVE exercise videos. Previously, I have tried Taebo with Billy Blanks, The Firm (sucked), Zumba (Oh yeah!), and now, Turbo Jam!

My favorite is Turbo Jam. The workout is intense and Chalene Johnson, the instructor, keeps you motivated the whole way through. She seems to say the right things at the right times to help you stay focused and energized. The level of intensity depends upon your own fitness ability and in her videos, there is room to be a lazy butt or to rock the house! I love that each new video is more challenging than the last so the exerciser can continually push themselves to the limit. The moves are easy to learn and the music is awesome! Turbo Jam has been the reason for my addiction to exercise… it is so much fun! I wholeheartedly recommend these videos to anyone who wants to get into shape but has trouble sticking to a routine - Turbo Jam will keep you coming back for more.

Paddles Up! Huki!

Oh yeah!  I am so ready to “reach-and-pull”!  I have joined the paddling club Na Wa’a Hanakahi and am so pumped up and excited to get back into the groove of paddling.  It has been 2 1/2 years since I have been so involved in this sport (in the 2 years since the end of my 2005 paddling season, I have raced in the Businessman’s canoe race with my family but it was a month of practice and only one day of races). 

My first day of practice was last Wednesday and it felt so awesome to be in the boat and paddling with strong and competent paddlers.  I think what felt so great to me was that I had the confidence that I could slip right back into the paddler’s mindset and paddle with technique and power, and I did!  As I dipped my paddle in the water, I allowed myself to get lost in the empowering feeling of gliding through the ocean and knowing that I was a part of the force that was driving us forward.

One thing I love about paddling is that the person you are competing against is yourself.  You have to constantly fight within yourself to reach and pull, all the time reminding yourself to keep your technique sharp and your motions powerful.  And at some point, you may just want to drop your arms, jump out of the canoe and swim away because you don’t think you can sustain so much concentration and energy, but then you remember your crew - those 5 other people in the boat with you giving all that they have, the girls with whom you have bound yourself to and made a commitment to to stick with them until you reach the finish line - and you realize that there is no way you are about to become the slacker in the team and that they depend on you to give just as much and be just as dedicated as they are.  Your mind is an integral part of this sport because there comes a time in the race that it is the only thing that keeps you going.  The challenge of paddling is that it’s not only physical - it is mental, emotional, and spiritual because, seriously,  you  will  pray. 

I am hoping to be pushed to my limit, to grow personally and as a paddler, and be forced to step out of my comfort zone.  I so look forward to this season of paddling and I predict that it will be pretty incredible. 

The Beginning

I began my fitness journey about one year ago.  And I started it because I wanted to look fit - not necessarily that I wanted to be fit, but I wanted to look it.  It’s shallow, I know, but that is the long and short of it.

Growing up, I always worried about my weight.  But I guess I didn’t worry about it too much since I didn’t really do anything about it.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I have never been “fat” but I was never skinny.  I was average.  And my sisters (with the exception of my oldest sister) were of average weight too, so I figured that as long as we were average together, everything worked out.  However, as my two middle sisters reached their twenties, their weight just magically dropped off and they became incredibly skinny… to my dismay.  And, unrealistically with a hint of desperation, I thought, “Okay, if that happened to them when they reached 21, that might happen to me, too… right?”  Well, it didn’t.  The binge eating didn’t help much either, but I didn’t pay attention to that - all I knew was when I reached the age of 21, I was 150 lbs and the heaviest of all my sisters (there’s 3 of them).  Now, while you would not have called me athletic, I wasn’t a couch potato either.  I was more of an in-and-out exerciser - I would start but not have the discipline to stick it out so my exercise bouts would last for a couple of weeks and then stop.  Also, I LOVED TO EAT - I ate when I was emotional, I ate when I became bored, I ate to have fun, I ate at mealtimes, I just loved to eat.  So, my typical exercise/eating cycle would go like this:

“I need to exercise, I’m getting fat!”

*begins to exercise.  starts to feel good.  then gets lazy*

“I don’t feel like exercising today.  Missing a day won’t hurt.  I feel better anyway.”

*takes a day off of exercising. next day: *

“I don’t want to exercise today.  This is so unfair!  Why can’t I be thin without having to put in so much effort?  I’m depressed, I don’t want to exercise now.  I’m gonna eat.” 

*eats something delicious yet incredibly fattening. stops exercising completely and a couple of months go by.*

“Omigod, I’m so fat.  I have to exercise.”

*starts to exercise.*

This is the cycle that I continually went through.  Last year, though, I got downright sick and tired of it and thought to myself: “What in the world would happen if I actually stuck to an exercise routine?  If I ever were consistent with exercising, can you imagine how much thinner I would be now?” (Remember, I wanted to look fit, not necessarily be fit.)  So, in March 2007, I began to exercise.  I looked for an event that I wanted to look good for and I set my goal that I would exercise regularly until that date.  And when that date came around, I set my sights on another date, then another, and then another.  So, I just kept on exercising so when the event would arrive, I at least knew that I was doing what I could to feel better about the way I looked.  And to my surprise and delight, not only was I losing weight but I was also curbing my appetite, regulating my mood and bowels (I know, a little TMI, huh? :), desiring to eat healthy, and having heaps of energy that I never had before.  I loved being so active and felt so good about the way I looked and felt.  But now, I went to the other side of the spectrum and became obsessed with fitness.  I worried that if I missed just ONE day of exercise, I would immediately gain weight and would fight against anything that would potentially stop me from exercising.  *sighs* Can I ever win?  ;) 

Where I am at now: I am still a little obsessed with exercising but am aware of it and working towards finding a balance between living my life and fitting in exercise.  This blog will follow me from here on as I try to achieve this balance.  It will also have information or articles about fitness/healthy eating that I find particularly interesting and other little tidbits that I find here and there.  So, let’s get started!  Enjoy!