The woman who eats in her car

I am sitting in my living room as I am working on paperwork and the piles and piles of day care mumbo jumbo that is required.  Who knew that taking care of kids was so much paperwork each day.

The day is a bit on the gloomy side and as I am glancing out the window off and on I can't help but notice a woman.  This woman is probably similar in age to me, she has 3 kids and hers is a story that I don't know.  Here is what I see though...

• a woman who waddles (I am not being rude as I say that because the reality is that she truly does walk differently because of the weight that she is carrying) to her car
• three kids also get in the car and drive somewhere and come back just a few minutes later
• all three kids...who are all overweight...come back with bags of fast food and walk in the house
• the mom stays in her car and I can see her eating french fry, after french fy
• the mom finishes off her meal with a cigarette or two...still in her car
• this entire family is obese, no doubt about that in my mind
• it is now 25 minutes later and the mom is still in her car, sitting in the driveway, eating, drinking or smoking something

Sad.

I don't know her story.  I don't know what is going on that makes her think she needs to eat in her car.  It's not the first time that I have seen her doing this though.

If I tapped on her window and invited her to the gym, do you think she would come with me?

I know for a fact that when a person is ready for a change it has to be a personal decision.  I highly doubt that this woman would join me for a workout or even attempt a sit-up.  Habits, like eating in your car, have to be broken but there also has to be a desire for those habits to stop.

My friend is writing a blog series about how to make changes and turn those into habits, one step at a time.  Check it out here!  You may not be eating in your car and smoking (it has now been about 45 minutes and she is still there) but maybe there is something in your life that you are thinking about that should be different.

Must 43% of Americans be obese by 2030?

Must 43% of Americans be obese by 2030?

Seriously?  43%!  We do realize that this number is pretty much close to half of our population.  Right?  I read an article today that states this fact.  The article is below for you to read too.

I know that my family didn't appreciate the healthier version of pizza that we had last night (the looks, comments and nibbles confirmed that) but this statistic is the exact reason why I made pizza with corn, tomatoes and black beans rather than the traditional pizza of hamburger, pepperoni and piles of cheese.  (you can find this here on Pinterest...I used the oven though...not the grill)

My kids will not be part of this statistic.  It is my job as their mom to make sure that what they are eating is a healthy choice.  What I make for them should be good for them, not make them become just another statistic.  By the way...the pizza was good and I finished it earlier today.

Healthy choices aren't just for me as I am working to get healthier.  Healthy choices have to be for everyone.  So...America...get out of that fast food lane that you are driving through.  Go to the grocery store, go to the outside areas of the store and get some fresh items and then make something with them.  Cooking isn't hard.  Changing your routine and developing some healthy habits is really the hard part.  Once you do it once, twice...7 times...you will not only realize that it isn't so hard but that you actually feel better eating good food rather than all that grease and fat.

Must 43% of Americans be obese by 2030?
By Leslie Barker Garcia
McClatchy-Tribune

By 2030, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicted last week, 43 percent of Americans will be obese. More than one-tenth will be at least 100 pounds overweight.

So are we going to order the cheese supreme and take this sitting down? Not if Armando Chavez has anything to say about it. He's fitness director for Larry North Fitness in Dallas's Preston Royal Village.

"I'm passionate about this," Chavez says of his determination to get people fit. He sends health and fitness tips to thousands via his Twitter and Facebook accounts, plus offers some ideas to help America defy the CDC prediction:

Lead by example. Today's kids will be the adults of 2030, so their moms and dads need to be eating healthily now. "If you try to feed your kid healthy food and you're eating fast food, then you just set the worst example possible," Chavez says. "If you set the correct example, your child won't crave such food."

Think of healthy food as the norm. Avoid calling it "bad food" or "good food." It's food, it's fresh, it's delicious, and it's what will make you healthy. As a parent, "don't tell your kids, 'This is bad,' because they'll want to try it," he says.

Skip diets that cut out categories of food. "All those crazy Slim-Fast, Atkins, South Beach diets don't work," Chavez says. "They don't work because they take out something your body needs. Low carb. High protein. No fat. They're good for the short-term but not the long-term.

Remember that working out needn't take hours. "Most people think you have to exercise for hours and hours to get fit," he says. "You can work out 30 minutes, and that would be sufficient, depending on your goal.

Be efficient in your routine. Instead of doing calf raises, which work only your calf muscles, or curls, which work only your biceps, aim for compound movements like a seated row, squats or lunges. "Using more muscles requires more energy, and with that, you lose body fat faster," he says.

Get the community involved. Fitness festivals are fine, but Chavez recommends more ongoing efforts. "We have to find ways to develop retention on a more massive scale," he says. Start small; meet a friend regularly for a walk or workout.

Emphasize the good taste of nutritious food more than that of processed food. "Show Americans healthy food choices and how to prepare them," he writes. "Show the benefits of how it will affect their own personal well-being."

Get athletes behind a healthy-eating campaign. Let kids know that fresh and nutritious food is part of being a good athlete, he says.

"Kids will think it's cool to eat certain healthy foods," Chavez says.

"That has never been done."


Source

"Do I eat this or that?" Jessica's Journey...February 27th

My husband thinks that I have found some hole in our universe and climbed through.

I have made a few changes this week that has caused him to wonder who I am.  These changes are things that are not normal for me and really are unlike anything that I have been the last 11 or 12 years.

I am learning 2 things about change:

1. Make little changes.  If I make little changes then I will probably stick with the changes I have made.
• I would love to overhaul our entire eating here at The Williams House.  That isn't going to happen.  We have replaced a lot of our food with healthier choices and we will continue to change things out gradually.  I recently was reintroduced to Trader Joe's in town and am amazed at how comparable their prices are for the same food that I buy at the grocery store, or even a better option than the store...like organic!  
2. Replace some of the things I used to consume with healthier choices.  
• Diet Pepsi needed a replacement.  I have found it...coffee.  I even made my own pot of coffee today, all by myself!  I have NEVER made a pot of coffee.  Yes, I am thirty (cough, cough) years old and I have never made a pot of coffee.  I can see myself drinking more of this dark liquid :)  Luckily I have access to some great coffee beans ;)
• Bread can easily be replaced by eating yogurt, almonds and some fruit or some other snack that includes a protein and a fruit or vegetable.

I found this picture recently on Pinterest (yes...many ideas come from this great site).  I think it sums up a lot of what we think we want to eat and what our body is really telling us to eat.  I really enjoy the one labeled PMS and the other category of Alcohol or Marijuana.

source

Ultimately I do want to eat cleaner...meaning, reducing our processed foods.  Am I perfect with my eating?  Nope.  

I know that I write a lot about food. If I am serious and truthful about my journey, food is a huge part of this for me.  Writing down what I am trying to do may help someone else see that they too can conquer this issue that so many of us have with all those items on the shelf.  

I am super motivated right now too because one of my friends just reached a goal that she had been working on for a long time.  I am very happy for her!  I realized though that there were things that I can change to help me reach the goals that I have for myself.  If I want to reach those goals then I must be honest with myself and sacrifice my taste buds for the foods that they loves to taste and find alternatives that are healthier.  

My workout today:

It's been awhile since I wrote about a workout that I have done.  Sickness, blah, blah, blah.  I am thinking I am now back on track.  

I started a new phase today.  I didn't get to finish everything and since I was short on time I decided the one exercise I would need to skip today was the Romanian Deadlifts.  I will do those tomorrow along with some cardio intervals.  

Today included several new exercises so I had some learning to do.  I already know that I did some wrong or with technique that wasn't the best.  Of course I didn't figure this out until after I was done but at least I have the knowledge for next time.  It did feel like most of my time today was spent on squats.  Squat this, squat that, hold this squat...squat, squat, squat.  I was finishing up with some squat intervals at the end (jump squats...I hate, hate, hate these!...squats and then holding a squat) and at the second set I thought my legs were going to fall off.  My legs were no longer holding muscles and bones...it was just a Jell-o mold.  

Today was also different for me because I forgot my headphones.  Music inspires me, gets me moving and sometimes wakes me up as I sit on the floor in the gym.  No headphones.  I even searched the car to see if the kids had a pair in the back.  (they cleaned the car out yesterday...so no headphones for me).  And...yes, there is an and...the music at the gym was off.  What?!?  The one day I don't have my headphones is the day that they decide to just leave the music off.  I made it through though but I will make sure that I have my headphones for tomorrow.  

The trainer that I work with also has some information on his site about change.  You can view that info here!

Jessica's Journey...January 4th "no excuses"

The Biggest Loser started up again yesterday.  I don't usually watch commercials or too much tv lately so I didn't even know that it was on.  But I was so excited to see it when I scrolled through the shows that we had recorded.

"No Excuses"

This motto or theme for the show during this season is "no excuses".  I have had so many excuses that I have used as to why I shouldn't work out, why I SHOULD eat that piece of chocolate, why I SHOULD just sit on my butt and watch a show without doing anything else...the list could go on and on.

Saying that there will be "no excuses" is pretty big.  That means that you are going to go the gym even when you don't feel like it.  That means that you will always eat what you are supposed to.  That means that you are on board 100% and you aren't backing out...because you don't have a reason to.

"No Excuses"

I am trying to wrap my mind around this and it is tough.  It is almost as if my mind is saying...you are doing this healthy thing but my body is saying...you are getting older and you aren't in shape enough to do this and everything is tired.

I know I wrote once before about how getting healthier is really something that you have to accomplish not only physically but mentally.  This is a mind thing.  The conversation that I had with another fellow gym member led me to realize this.  This woman was working so hard.  She was there everyday, just like me.  She did so many different things and was trying everything.  There was determination in her eyes.  During our conversation I mentioned that I was proud of her for being at the gym each day.  I didn't know her but it was more of a casual acquaintance, someone that you grow accustomed to just because you see them everyday at the gym.  She mentioned to me that her mind has to be in this game of getting healthy.  If her mind wasn't in it this would all be so much harder.

Sadly, I have not seen this women in a few months.  She has gained weight just from what I could tell from the last time I did see her at the gym.  I am not sure if her mind is still in this game and am wondering if the excuses are having more control than her mind.

I also think of all the new people that are now trying workouts, trying a gym and trying to get healthier.  I haven't seen a lot of new faces but there are a few...and they are trying really hard.  But, will I see them in 2 weeks, in 3 weeks or in 4 months still?  Only time will tell.  It all depends on if their mind is in the game or if their excuses are back in control.

My Workout Today:  I realized today that I am on week 4 of Phase 3.  All along I thought this phase ended at 3 weeks.  No wonder it feels long.  I knew today was going to be tough.  I tried to prep myself ahead of time though and get a few new songs to help motivate me through my workout.  I found one that worked great!  It is called, "One more" by Superchick.  My 1st and 2nd sets I do pretty well.  My 3rd set needs an extra push...especially when I am doing 14 reps of an exercise.  Just imagine...pushing a barbell over your head that is 40 lb 14 times, then 14 times again (as your arms are screaming at you to stop) and you still have to do it again 14 more times.  If I could scream at the gym I probably would have but there is a nice, big, white sign that says no screaming.  :)  Today I had a really hard time with my deadlifts.  My hands and lower parts of my arms were just tired and I could feel the muscles in those really get fatigued.  I am not sure that I have ever felt that before.  I also don't have grips yet and I think if I had them I would be able to do these better.  I ordered them (along with a foam roller!) and I should have these sometime over the weekend.  At the end of the workout I walked into the locker room.  My arms were hurting and were feeling like Jell-O.  I then realized that I need to ask myself at the end of each workout, "Could I have gone any harder today?"  Today, I don't think I could have.

Funny thing and then a fun thing...
I always seem to do something funny or embarrasing at least once a week while I am at the gym.  This morning I was stretching and knew what was around me but since it was 5am I must have still been sleeping just a tad.  I went to stretch my quads and as I was pulling my foot up I hit a stack of steps that someone had made a nice tower of.  It was pretty loud as they all tumbled down.  (Isn't it great when people don't put their stuff away after they use it?)

The fun thing was something we did at day care yesterday.  This was really fun for the kids!  Great exercise for parents!  Do push-ups (not the whimpy, girly ones...as I told my daughter) and have a kid on your back as you do them.  I was able to do a few push-ups with Quinn on my back.  Kindof cool!  See...something you can do at home with your kids.  They love the free ride, even if it is a quick one.   :)

Jessica's Journey...January 3rd "in...out...in...out"

In...Out...In...Out...In...Out...

I am looking at our schedule for January and...I can breathe!  Other than 2 more Christmas celebrations with families that is about it as far as extra activities go.  February we start up with swimming lessons and karate again for Micah (as long as I get him registered...mental note to do that) and then our weekends are busy again, birthday for Micah along with a party somewhere and sometime and I'm sure there is a production at school or something that we will have to go to.

For now...I am going to breathe in...and breathe out...breathe in...and breathe out...and just enjoy January.

What a good month for us to get some snow, have a nice cozy day sitting in front of the fireplace as fluffy, white snow lays on the ground for us.  Not!  (at the moment in Minnesota I can still see more grass...dead grass...than snow)  It's coming though people.  God has not forgotten that the people who live in Minnesota expect some sort of a winter.

As I am breathing in...breathing out...I am also reflecting on my choices of what I put in my mouth during the month of December.  To say that I made great food choices and only had salads when eating out would be a complete lie.  I am going to be honest and tell you some of the food choices that I ate.  Feel free to look these up and see the calorie content.  I am not going to do that...I already know that these were high calorie items.

• Kwik Trip brownies...sometimes with walnuts, sometimes without.  This was a trigger food for me for some reason.  I'd go to Kwik Trip, I would buy brownies.  I have no idea why and they really didn't taste all that good.
• Pie.  Not just any pie...pumpkin pecan something or other.  I had some at Thanksgiving and I made 2 that I took to my parents house last week.
• chocolate covered pretzels. 
• Oreo truffles.  Oh my goodness.  These were awesome.  Not sure that I actually regret eating these...they were amazing!  Hanna Lucier...I ate them all.  Do not ever share this recipe with me.  
• Orange slices.  I love these little fake pieces of fruit.  Pure sugar.  I know.  But, I love them.
• Spritz cookies.  My mom made these and they bring me back to being a kid.  I can't make them like her.  I've tried and they just don't work (probably a good thing in disguise).  Family recipe though and it is awesome.  
• Diet Pepsi.  Not as bad as I was but at least 1 a day.

Is that enough or do I need to keep going?  I think that is enough for now.

Today I was really feeling guilty over all the horrible things that I put into my body.  Those were my choices though and I am owning up to them.  

The last couple of weeks (while consuming this food) I have felt tired, run down and just not motivated.  Any correlation?  I think so.

As the guilt was weighing on me I received an e-mail.  The title was "What to do after a binge" and was from Sparkpeople.com (great resource for those looking to get healthier...and it is all free!)  I am going to say that the entire month of December was a binge so on I read.

Want to read this article too?  Here is a link for ya.  Go ahead.  You know you feel guilty about what you ate too so read this and learn from it.

Today's workout...I ran today.  It was great!  I knew that I would have a hard time getting back into the routine of things so I didn't want to start my week with day care kids again by getting up at 4:30am.  Getting up at 5:00am seemed so much better.  I did some interval running today and finished by running at a speed of 7.5.  I usually run at 4.5 or 5 so this was really a big accomplishment.  When I run I have to do the hip abductor and adductor machines to help keep my pelvis aligned and where things should be.  Running does irritate my hips if I don't do these machines so it is important that I keep up with these exercises after running.  I can move a lot of weight though with those machines.  Want to know how much I did today?  Ok :)  I started off 2 years ago being in the 40's and 60 lb weight range.  Today, I did a max of 165 lb with one and 215 lb with the other.  I do a set of 10 reps and repeat these 3 times.  Hips are good to go!

Tomorrow I will be starting day 1 of week 3 in Phase 3.  Week 3 is tough!  Week 3 is tough!  Oh...I already said that.  Well, it really is.  14 reps in most exercises.  There are a few where that is going to be very hard, like really hard.  Gotta keep the saying, "I can do it" in my head though.  Even if I have to stop for a second and then keep going...I will finish this week.

Jessica's Journey...December 5th

When I think about quitting I will read this to myself.

When I get to my goal I will be reading this out loud for anyone to hear.