Phase 2 / Workout 15 thru 20 - Big News after not having blogged in a while

I have continued to connect with my neighbor "J.S." who is motivated to walk even if I am not available. I love that. She saw that I walk after she goes home. If I am unavailable, she'll start without me and I'll catch up with her. I walk her home (we enjoy talking) and then I go back for more laps if my ankle and schedule allow. I also do my arm pumps when I walk by myself.


Two more neighbors expressed an interest in walking with us. That's a total of five! We may have to use Twitter to coordinate our walking schedule. I'm dreaming. I may be the youngest among the walkers, so we'll probably use a telephone tree.


I have been taking plastic bags and rubber gloves to pick up trash as I walk. Surprisingly, I've found that all the bending really gives me a workout that is more intense than walking. Its not that much trash. I love my triangle and it is looking much better without the empty beer bottles, candy wrappers and fast food containers.


Last Saturday, I took advantage of a 50% off sale at my favorite women's store on-line. I had never done that before. They offered free shipping to any of their locations. When I went to pick up my items, I dove into the clearance rack as I usually do. The staff was wonderful in assisting me with putting together beautiful clothing combinations. The savings were even greater than half. But this is not a blog about bargains. The reason I am sharing this is:


I have begun to fit into smaller clothing! I can now wear one size smaller that I have been wearing (and last year almost out-grew). I haven't even tried it in years! This, added to so many people noticing my body change, helped a lot considering the pounds have not been coming off the way I hoped or expected since the beginning of my journey. But wait...


My trusted friend and I went to the scale today and (drum-roll - symbol crash) I am down 8 pounds! 


The plateau has given way and I am finally losing some significant weight. She and I talked about the fact that the metabolism change (and the noticeable loss of low density fat replaced by higher density muscle) I have clearly been experiencing set up the momentum that has now begun to manifest when I step on the scale. She and I think the same when we go to the scale. She says something and I was just about to say the same thing.


Although I have not blogged in a while, my walks have been at least five laps around the triangle or up and down my block in front of the house. Today, I walked 8 laps around the triangle. I entered my walking totals for each day on www.startwalkingnow.org. Anyone can track their activity and nutrition on that site.


Do something beautiful for your heart today.


~ Cheryl ~

Phase 2 / Workout 8 - Workin' hard for my body!

The list of salad ingredients will be large so I will build it a little at a time:


Nuts/Seeds: Pine nuts, walnuts, almonds, peanuts, pecans, sesame seeds...


Fruits:dried cherries, dried cranberries, diced apples,  pineapple, mandarin orange sections, raisins...


Vegetables (non-leafy): tomatos carrots, corn, artichokes...


Legumes: black beans, kidney beans, garbanzo beans...


Leafy greens: spinach, romaine, iceberg...


Grain products:corn tortilla chips, croutons... 


Cheeses: cheddar, colby-jack, feta, parmesian, cream cheese...


Dressings:french, italian, ranch, vinaigrette. russian, honey mustard...


I am ready to create some amazing salads from these lists albeit hypothetically. I have to have the ingredients in the house. Next I will create my first custom salad from listed items I like, post it here with a photo.


My results for March 2nd (Phase 2 / Workout 8) are:

Time: 20 min. 
Average Speed 14.8
Distance 4.8
Calories 132
Average Heart Rate 126
Watts: 71
Level: 4 (Program: Manual)

Do something beautiful for your heart today.

~ Cheryl ~

Phase 2 / Post 4: My GIGL To-Do List

  1.  Acquire and set-up my journal as instructed in the Complete Idiot's Guide to Glycemic Index Weight Loss (this has a to-do list of its own).
  2.  Create my GIGL "treasure map" (this is going to be FUN!).
  3.  Plan a week's worth of GIGL menus.
  4.  Write a shopping list based on those menus.
  5.  Obtain/organize equipment and utensils for measuring food.
  6.  Start a binder for printed resources from the internet. This will include: 
          - newsletters
          - menus
          - a copy of the food guide pyramid for weight loss
          - recipes (w/ GI estimates)
          - lists of food items and their GI values.
  7.   Dry clean the garment(s) I used to fit into at my ideal size (I will post a photo).
  8.   Schedule my daily meal and snack times (I may consider sharing this on-line).
  9.   Write my affirmations (personal - for my journal only).
10.   Customize my personal exercise repertoire (low impact, allows intensity, contains variety while protecting and supporting body parts undergoing physical therapy).
11.   Set my start date for eating according to Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load (GIGL).
12.   Develop a stress-management strategy.
13.   Empty and clean the refrigerator; reorganize with reserved shelves/drawers to accommodate my new plan.
14.   Reorganize the pantry similarly (actually they're kitchen cabinets).


You can see I have my work cut out for me. Some of these objectives will be completed before I start my GIGL eating program. Others will be finished later. 
I am hesitant to set a date in the near future because there is so much to do. But just as hotels and restaurants open before their "Grand Opening", I guess I could start my low glycemic eating before my official start date. I'll be just as committed but I might make a couple of rookie mistakes and follow-up with the necessary adjustments. That makes sense, doesn't it?


Do something beautiful for your heart today.


~Cheryl~

Phase 2 / Post 3: Getting ready to GIGL

The way it's worded in the book I've been reading sounds very awkward when I say it from my mouth: "eating the glycemic way" & "living by the glycemic index". Although that is what I am about to do, these phrases sound very clinical and promotional, like a health care program marketing campaign.


Am I supposed to be so excited about this that the words just roll off my tongue? They don't, despite my excitement about what I've read (those phrases notwithstanding). You've probably figured out that words are very important to me... so much that I had to do something most other people probably wouldn't do: change the words. Actually, I created a new one:


GIGL: verb  (pronounced "giggle")  sounds happy and fun, exactly what I want this experience to be. It creates the expectation in me that the hard work I have to do will be a joy. 


Of course the word is an acronym/acrostic (?) that comes from 

"Glycemic Index Glycemic Load" 

and it's a homonym, too. Right?

Do something beautiful for your heart today.

~Cheryl~

Phase 2 / Workout 4 - Beginning to appreciate my progress

I let a big gap develop between workouts. Physical therapy did happen last Thursday (and I do not record the details of those results). However, I can say my ankle is improving despite some continued but diminishing pain. My knee is definitely the more compliant patient.

My reading in the Complete Idiot's Guide: Glycemic Index Weight Loss has confirmed and clarified what I suspected about my progress. My doctor also alluded to it during my last visit with her. My metabolism has increased or become elevated... oh, it's just better. 


Although I didn't lose much weight in the first months of this project, my exercise did count for something. Muscle mass, more dense than fat, increased in my body. I am certain I lost fat and got somewhat smaller visually, the change on the weight scale was marginal because muscle is heavier per unit of volume (if you had a marble made of fat and a same-sized marble made of muscle, the latter would weigh more). All this to say, I lost some of my marbles and gained some better ones.


This also explains how I could be away from exercising with no change in my eating throughout the majority of December, and not gain weight during the entire holiday season.


I have finished reading through chapter 7 of my book and I've found some potentially helpful supplementary resources in line with my winter goals. One, I will mention here. On Facebook, the Glycemic Index page contains discussion and resources for people who are pursuing healthier eating habits using Glycemic Index/Load. 


My experiences at the University of Phoenix. where students are required to write and post substantive answers to instructor questions and responses of fellow students in the on-line classrooms, motivated me to look for a place where I could participate in constructive discussions on this topic. Although I joined the group a few days ago and the most recent posts were many days earlier at the time, when I checked in today, I found two fresh posts there. Both were questions, to which I knew a good answer from yesterday's readings. 


I initially returned to the page to see how vibrant the discussion was because I wanted to question a paradox I found in my reading concerning pH balance (I will explain in a future post). I didn't want my post to just sit out there unanswered. I observed that many people have been posting to this page but few recent posts had responses. So, I decided not to post my question there at this time. But...


Since the best way to prove that you know something is to share it with someone else, I wrote responses to two of the questions. This was easy, especially since I would not be  graded by a professor. Still I wanted to give it my best as if a professor was reading. In this forum, one or more probably will. With book in hand, I dove in and attempted to respond to the two questions posed. After all, these would not be my answers but what I learned from my studies. You already have enough information to find the page on Facebook. I am interested to see if you agree with what I wrote there.


My results for January 19th (Phase 2 / Workout 4) are:

Time: 20 min. 
Average Speed 15.2 
Distance 4.9
Calories 135
Average Heart Rate 126
Watts: 77
Level: 4 (Program: Manual)

Do something beautiful for your heart today.

~ Cheryl ~

Phase 2 / Workout 3 - Weigh-in day (the first for the new year)

Originally I set out to bike and listen to the Daily Audio Bible on the iPod today but I ended up listening to music instead. 


My brother stuffed my cell phone's mp3 player with music from his collection that he thought I would like. When I couldn't get it to play on the phone, I transferred it to the iPod. He gave me so much, it will probably take me a few months to listen to it all and at least a couple more months to create playlists for my workouts according to each song's tempo so I can listen to them during my walks, rides and other types of exercise I may choose in the future.


Certain songs I picked helped me keep my pedaling at a targeted speed and motivated me to push when I felt like slowing down (regardless of the tempo). I am going into iTunes tonight to create "Bike Ride" playlist. Every time I hear a song I can pedal to, I'll add it. In a month or so I'll have accumulated a diverse collection from which I can mix and match to keep things interesting. I'll have to do my DAB (www.dailyaudiobible.com) at another time while multitasking with something else or in solitude.


Trusted Friend and I went back to the scale for the first time in months this afternoon and I am very happy to say that my starting weight for 2010 is my lowest recorded weight since I began this journey on Sept. 1st. So, I am picking up where I left off somewhere between September and November at my maximum net loss of 4 lbs.


Why am I so happy about this? Hello!? Look at the calendar! Two and a half weeks ago was Christmas. Nearly a month before that was Thanksgiving. In between, before and after were social events with lots of... you know... food and I didn't gain weight over the holidays (cue the Halleluia Chorus) despite the fact that I was limping to physical therapy and not doing much else with respect to exercise. Do you get it now?

I am still uncomfortable writing my weight for others to see. That is why I have a designated Trusted Friend who can look at the scale and verify the current weight and subtract it from the starting weight which she saw back in September to make sure I did my math correctly.

My results for January 12th (Phase 2 / Workout 3) are:

Time: 20 min. 
Average Speed 14.3 
Distance 4.6
Calories 125
Average Heart Rate 120
Watts: 66
Level: 4 (Program: Manual)

Do something beautiful for your heart today.


~ Cheryl ~

Phase 2 / Post 1 - How will I change my eating?

I have finally decided on an eating plan: the Glycemic Index method for weight loss. One reason for this choice is that diabetes is present in my family. I don't have it and I don't want to get it. I already cut out granulated sugar from my diet long ago. I do continue to eat things that have sugar in them but my original problem many years ago was the huge amount of granulated sugar I was adding to things.


One day about 7 years ago my doctor at the time wanted to diagnose me with diabetes because she said I was headed there. I guess she had seen it so many times and didn't expect me to make any changes. But I did immediately. Since then I can count on one finger the number of sugar sacks I have purchased.


Another reason I chose the Glycemic Index method is that it is sensible. It is not so much about deprivation as it is about balance. Many eating plans minimize consumption of important nutritional components of a balanced diet. The glycemic index approach encourages eating and cuts out nothing. That seems more realistic. This method seems to have no controversy associated with it and the medical community apparently approves of it overwhelmingly.


Last weekend, I found the Complete Idiot's Guide: Glycemic Index Weight Loss at a decent price on amazon.com and ordered it. Tonight, I started reading it and feel assured I made a good choice. A quick look at the table of contents reveals the book has 29 chapters organized into seven parts that I will read over the next seven weeks. I will research additional resources as I go. Of course I will blog about what I learn and report changes I am motivated to make.


Do something beautiful for your heart today.


~ Cheryl ~