The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman

Thinner, bigger, faster, stronger... which 150 pages will you read?

Is it possible to:
Reach your genetic potential in 6 months?
Sleep 2 hours per day and perform better than on 8 hours?
Lose more fat than a marathoner by bingeing?
 
Indeed, and much more. This is not just another diet and fitness book.

The 4-Hour Body is the result of an obsessive quest, spanning more than a decade, to hack the human body. It contains the collective wisdom of hundreds of elite athletes, dozens of MDs, and thousands of hours of jaw-dropping personal experimentation. From Olympic training centers to black-market laboratories, from Silicon Valley to South Africa, Tim Ferriss, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The 4-Hour Workweek, fixated on one life-changing question:

For all things physical, what are the tiniest changes that produce the biggest results?

Thousands of tests later, this book contains the answers for both men and women.

From the gym to the bedroom, it’s all here, and it all works.


YOU WILL LEARN (in less than 30 minutes each):
How to lose those last 5-10 pounds (or 100+ pounds) with odd combinations of food and safe chemical cocktails.

* How to prevent fat gain while bingeing (X-mas, holidays, weekends)
* How to increase fat-loss 300% with a few bags of ice
* How Tim gained 34 pounds of muscle in 28 days, without steroids, and in four hours of total gym time
* How to sleep 2 hours per day and feel fully rested
* How to produce 15-minute female orgasms
* How to triple testosterone and double sperm count
* How to go from running 5 kilometers to 50 kilometers in 12 weeks
* How to reverse “permanent” injuries
* How to add 150+ pounds to your lifts in 6 months
* How to pay for a beach vacation with one hospital visit
       
And that's just the tip of the iceberg.  There are more than 50 topics covered, all with real-world experiments, many including more than 200 test subjects.

You don't need better genetics or more discipline. You need immediate results that compel you to continue.

That’s exactly what The 4-Hour Body delivers.

Price: $27.00

Click here to buy from Amazon

My Knock It Off! Challenge

I’ve been here before. Five pounds up. It happened in 2008 and I wrote about it at Refuse to Regain. (See “A Tale of Five Pounds.” )

Those five pounds were due to my sensitivity to “S” foods: starches, sugars, sorbital and sucralose. I got careless with my diet and from August to November, I gained five pounds. When I restricted the S foods to 2-3 a day, those five pounds went away in three weeks.

These current five pounds are post-surgical pains in the butt, but last Monday, I put on my big girl undies and challenged myself to knock those bad boys to the curb. I’m calling it my Knock It Off! challenge.

It’s been a long time since I’ve committed to a challenge. Sure, I’m committed to walking normally again and am faithful to physical therapy, but I’m talking about a personal challenge. Something I do only because I want to. To prove I can. To fit into my skinny jeans again.

You know me, I always have a plan. I didn’t wake up on Monday and say, “Gosh, I think I’ll lose five pounds!” I journaled over the weekend, answering these questions:

1. Why do I want to lose five pounds?
2. If I didn’t lose five pounds, would I be OK with that – physically and emotionally?
3. How will I lose five pounds?

My answers (The Readers Digest version):

1. I want to lose five pounds because I don’t like how they feel around my middle. I feel bloated and my pants are tight. There’s a point at which – usually around 126-130 – that I feel truly thin. My stomach is flat and I move lithely, bending effortlessly. I remember that feeling and I miss it.

Other than that, I have no “reason” to lose five pounds. At 135, I’m totally within an acceptable BMI. However, I know that if I don’t care about these five pounds, when will I start caring? At 10 pounds gained? 20? 50? As with any weight goal we establish for ourselves, it’s a personal preference as to what is acceptable. For me, five extra pounds is the top of my acceptable. I like being at the low end of the BMI scale. I am at home there.

2. If I don’t lose, will I be OK with it? In a word: no.

I know my body functions better at a lighter weight and so, if it’s within my power to do so, I will lose five pounds. If, however, my body will not give them up despite my best (and not crazy) efforts, I will make my peace. But in the meantime, no, I’m not OK with these five pounds and I want them gone. I will, however, be patient and give my body the time it needs to disperse of them.

3. How I’ll lose these five buggers is probably the toughest question. I eat roughly 1300-1500 calories a day, so eating less really isn’t an option. However, my choices are subject to change.

Just as I did the last time, I’m restricting my S foods to 2-3 a day. While I haven’t eaten as “badly” as before, my current intake could use a little tweaking. I’ll also increase my activity level the best I can and get back to a regular meditation schedule to lessen my stress. Weight gain isn’t solely a result of eating more and moving less. I’m under a lot of pressure these days and I know I need to deal with it in a more loving and kind fashion. That I recognize this is 99 percent of the battle. The other 1 percent should be a cinch once I get my brain around it.

You all know, it’s easier to lose four or five pounds than 104 or 105 pounds. It’s best I start now. Besides, I can’t afford a new wardrobe! (And I really like these new jeans.)
What do you challenge yourself to do? What do you strive to do with your body? What motivates you? How do you plan for it?

Knock It Off! has begun. I’ll let you know if and when I get there. Thanks, as always, for listening.

View the original article here

Joy vs. Drudgery: Weight Loss and Hopping

Every time I see Claire lately, we have the same conversation:

Claire: Grammy, your boo boo all better?
Me: Almost.
Claire: You can hop wiff me?
Me: Not yet, honey. Soon.

Claire’s a hopper. And a jumper and a skipper and a runner and a tricylcer. But mostly she’s a hopper. It’s in her blood.

I introduced Claire to hopscotch last year. I drew a great big hopscotch grid on the driveway, and while she didn’t understand the rules, the grid gave her hopping a focus. Now she hops up a curb, she hops down a curb. She hops over cracks in the sidewalk, hops up stairs, and hops from one brick to another on a cobblestone street. When we went camping in August, she found two logs she could hop between. In parking lots, she hops between the concrete parking guides.

We think of hopping as fundamentally easy, but if you watch a child hop, you’ll see much more than carefree fun. Hopping is serious business. In the year that she’s been hopping, Claire’s fallen enough times to know hopping requires her full attention. Before she hops, even if it’s a split second, she concentrates, calculates how much oomph she’ll need in regard to distance, and executes her move with precision.

A lot of people think of weight loss as fundamentally easy, too. The formula – eat less, move more – is simple enough, right? So why is it so damn hard to lose and even harder to keep it off?

I think it’s because we forget that weight loss and maintenance can be fun

Watching Claire hopping yesterday, I saw fun within her determination and concentration. She knows hopping takes a lot of energy, but she also elicits a great deal of joy from it, and it’s that joy that makes it worth all the effort.

In my last blog, I wrote about finding balance in how we lose weight, incorporating healthy eating into our everyday routine rather than viewing it as temporary, like it’s some kind of injury (see “Lynn’s ‘Balance Plan’”). In a comment, Ruth wrote: “…the reason for such high recidivism in 'dieting’…(is) the view that it is a restriction, not a choice.”

Weight loss – or any big change toward the positive we make in our lives – is tough, but it can be fun, too. Maybe not circus fun or theme park fun. But fun is knowing you won’t be so full that you’ll have heartburn every day. Fun is knowing your body is running more efficiently. Fun is dropping a pants size. Fun is learning to work parts of your body you’d ignored for years. Fun is waking up in the morning fresh, knowing any “falls” you might have had the day or week or month before are all in the past.

I can’t wait to hop with Claire again, to not be on the sidelines or on the outside looking in at total joy. The same was true with weight loss. Almost six years ago I got off the sidelines and allowed weight loss to become the joy I’d been looking in at for so many years.

So…how are you having fun with weight loss or maintenance?

View the original article here

Set of 5 ProSource Premium Latex Resistance Exercise Bands Tubes Cords w/ Door Anchor and Exercise Manual.

The number one selling set of resistance bands on Amazon.com. Don't believe us that this product is high quality? Look at all the reviews. Don't be fooled by the imitators, get that beach body you always wanted courtesy of ProSource Fitness! All the bands measure 48 inches, and include cushioned foam handles to ensure a secure, comfortable grip. Plus, the bands come with a convenient door anchor, so you can do your exercises anywhere in the house.

Resistance bands are a great alternative to free weights and workout machines. They are also perfect for all types of physical therapy including rehabbing torn rotator cuffs, bad elbows, and damaged knees. This resistance bands set is light and compact enough to travel with you anywhere and supports some of the latest workout routines, including but not limited to P90X, CrossFit, Slimin6, Insanity and TurboJam.

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The Thing About Weight Loss Is…

Reading blogs about the ways in which weight loss/maintenance are integrated into everyday life never fails to inspire me to keep going. And I know that’s why many of you read my blog, too. You expect me to be honest with you about my perspectives on weight loss and maintenance. So with that in mind – the honesty part – today’s blog comes from the center of my life as it is right now.

Over the last month, I’ve instigated some major changes for my life; painfully necessary changes that will take me away from many of the comfort zones in which I’ve cloistered myself since losing weight. But why I’m forging ahead into this unknown is because if I’ve learned nothing else in the last six years it’s that the person I am inside – at any size – is the person most in need of my love and protection.

I believe this is true for everyone, even those of you who have children or other family or friends who you say “come first.” I used to feel that way, too. I used to put everyone and everything else first and me somewhere way down the list. But the only way I could start this path – this time – of weight loss was to accept the fact that if I didn’t acknowledge, value and protect my self-worth, I would be perpetually…in a word…screwed.

Every time I lost weight in the past, I thought when I got to goal, my problems would be solved. And every time I was wrong. This time was no different. I readily admit that I wanted to run away from 300 pounds as fast as I could; leave it buried somewhere in my past. But 300-pound me tagged along, and it was around 200 pounds that I learned that life was what I made of it, obese or not, and I couldn’t run away from 300-pound me, or the me who weighed 139 pounds for five minutes in 1990, or 170 in 1987, or 120 in junior high school. I was all of those weights yet only one person. Me.

When I was 300 pounds, I took comfort in the fact that no one really looked at me – not “that” way, anyway. I didn’t dress to impress, and the expectation of me stemmed usually above the neck. I was smart, I loved what I did for a living (I was an antiques dealer as well as being a writer), and my family loved me for me. Then I lost weight and people DID start looking at me “that” way, and for awhile I allowed the expectation of others to become my expectation: stay pretty and happy because that’s what thin is all about.

Wrong. Thin can solve or prevent a lot of physical ailments, but thin does not resolve issues of self-esteem.

For example, I still apologize excessively, and sometimes I feel I don’t have the right to ask for what I need. These behaviors stem from deep-seeded, long ago issues that I chip away at resolution year after year, the ones that can’t be solved in a few sessions with a psychologist or through ice cream or retail therapy.

And so here I am in 2010, thin and still chipping away at the me underneath.

But, as Martha says, “It’s a good thing.”

I’m not the keeper of the keys, or have all the answers for weight loss, maintenance and life. But I will continue to share here what I observe and know to be true for myself. I will also continue to do my best to stay at this weight because it feels like home to me, which is good because I’ll be moving soon and I need the comfort of the way I feel about myself in this body. We are one, after all, my body and my mind, and while we’re far from perfect, we’re all I’ve got.

From the outside, and even to me sometimes, it seems like I have everything I wanted at the beginning of my journey. But I don’t and that’s OK.

Maintaining this latest and largest weight loss is part of my life, but it is not my life. My life is me, and I’m taking care of me, even though this new path will be bumpy as hell. But it’s with a smile and only a little timidity that I say to the uncertainty of the next few months, “Ready or not, here I come!”

And I promise to take you all with me.

View the original article here

Shark Navigator Upright Bagless Vacuum Cleaner, NV22L

Shark Navigator Upright Vacuum, Lightweight & Easy To Maneuver For Faster Effortless Cleaning, Deep Carpet & Superior Bare Floor Cleaning, Infinity Technology Traps Dust & Dirt So It Never Loses Suction, Easy To Carry, Under 15 LB, 2 Motor System With Brush Roll Shut Off, Navigator Power Nozzle Provides Powerful Pet Hair Removal, Lifetime Belt, No Replacement Filter Costs, Super Stretch Hose, 12' Long Cleaning Reach, Large Bagless Dust Cup, Ergonomic Grip For Comfortable Hand Position, Accessories: Pet Hair Power Brush, Crevice Tool, Dusting Brush, Cleaning Wand, Extra 24' Crevice Tool.

Price: $249.99

Click here to buy from Amazon

When Occum Is Wrong

Yesterday was g-baby Claire’s 3rd birthday party. She’s a princess, isn’t she?
As always, most of my son-in-law’s family was there. They are kind, boisterous Steelers fans I’ve adopted as my family.

I met Matt’s parents in 2005 after losing the first 70 pounds in this journey. Here’s what I’d posted on Lynn’s Weight-Loss Journey back then:

“It’s September 18. Larry took this picture before we went out to dinner with my daughter's boyfriend's parents. This was the first time we'd met them. Driving there I told Larry that I would have felt so uncomfortable if I'd weighed 296. He said I would have found an excuse to cancel. That hit me hard, but he's right. I probably wouldn't have met them at my high weight. I would have avoided it like the plague.”

Meeting Frank and Julia the first time took a great deal of courage for me, even though they are two of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. Courage because I was a social hermit. And why was I a social hermit? Because of my weight, of course. Right?

You know how when you assume something’s true, you don’t think too deeply about it or question it? You just allow it to be what it is because on the surface it makes perfect sense. It’s Occam’s Razor: the simplest explanation is usually the correct one.

Usually, but not always.

During my morbidly obese years, I assumed my weight was the reason I was reserved and shy. When I starting losing weight, I honest to god expected that at the end of the journey, I’d be a social butterfly, completely forgetting that before I was 300 pounds, I was NOT a social butterfly.

Remember what I wrote in my last blog? “Thin can solve or prevent a lot of physical ailments, but thin does not resolve issues of self-esteem.” I re-read that line a few times while thinking about this blog and a truth worked it’s way out: It’s OK to be shy. It’s OK to be introverted. It’s NOT OK to NOT accept that about myself and to constantly work against the grain and expect me to be something I can never be.

Self-esteem isn’t just about “feeling good” about ourselves, but accepting wholly and without reserve who we are inside and out. When we constantly think we’re going to change “some day” because our weight and/or circumstances will be different, we’re missing out on getting to know who we really are at the core.

For instance, on Friday, my friend Janet – whom I hadn’t seen in 3 years – came for a visit. We went out. Did a little bar hopping. Janet is assertive and has always been about talking to folks and having a good time. Friday night she was on top of her game. I, on the other hand, other than talk to a few people I knew, stayed to myself and did a lot of people watching.

Contrast that to yesterday when I felt comfortable among people I know love me no matter what I look like. And yet, like Friday, it took a lot of self-encouragement for me to be social and to interact.

Aha!

Here’s what I know about me. I am kind, I know how to throw a good party, I like to help out, I love meeting new people, AND it takes a lot to step outside my comfort zones.

The cool thing is? THAT’S OK!

It’s time I stopped blaming weight for what is not wrong. It’s not wrong that I am shy in public. It’s not wrong that my first tendency is to avoid social situations.

I feel like a refrigerator’s been lifted off my shoulders. Amazing what a little thinking and perspective will do, isn’t it?

This weekend, Frank and Julia’s daughter is getting married. (This is a photo of some of my adopted family. My daughter Cassie is in the middle, pregnant with Claire three years ago. The bride is on the far right.) There will be 460 people at the wedding, significantly more than Sunday’s birthday party. Dressed in my new black dress (and a bit of Spanx), I will attend the wedding and reception, all the while encouraging myself into self-confidence rather than talking myself into being something I’m not.

Heck, I might even dance a little :)

One more photo from the Claire's b-day party.

View the original article here

Fit & Active Nonfat Cherries Jubilee Yogurt

With a name like "Cherries Jubilee," one would expect Fit & Active Cherries Jubilee Yogurt to taste like an amazing fruity dessert. What I found with this yogurt, however, was that it was sour, thin, and bland. Not what I was expecting (or hoping for)! I should have known better than to think this might be great - I had tried the Fit & Active Strawberry Cheesecake flavor before and found that it was pretty similar to just strawberry yogurt (no cheesecake to speak of). What I couldn't know, however, was how straight up BAD this yogurt was.

NUTRITION FACTS
Serving Size: 6 ounce
Calories: 100
Total Fat: 0%
Sodium: 85 mg, 4%
Carbohydrates: 16 grams
Fiber: 0%
Sugars: 12 grams
Protein: 6 grams

I picked this up because it was just 50 cents at Aldi (it's their store brand), but it wasn't even worth that . As far as nutrition goes, each 6-ounce cup of Fit & Active Cherries Jubilee Yogurt provides 100 calories, no fat or fiber, 12 grams of sugars, 6 grams of protein and 15% of the daily value for calcium and phosphorus.

The ingredients are cultured paturized grade A nonfat milk, cherries, modified cornstarch, crystalline fructose, kosher gelatin, natural flavors, citric acid, aspartame, malic acid, potassium sorbate, red 40, and blue 1. Yucky taste and yucky ingredients.

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It's been a while since I had a product this bad - I've just got to think that this was some weird experiment gone wrong. The only other experience I've had with Fit & Active products has been with the Strawberry Cheesecake Yogurt is better - as long as you don't expect any cheesecake flavor or texture.

{Website: Aldi}

View the original article here

Dannon Light & Fit Vanilla Yogurt

My favorite Dannon Light & Fit Yogurt flavors so far are Key Lime, Lemon Chiffon and Blackberry. Of course, I'm always on the lookout for varieties I haven't tried before, and when I spotted the Vanilla flavor, I couldn't believe that I hadn't tried this classic. Well, I was about to take care of that situation.

NUTRITION FACTS
Serving Size: 6 ounces
Calories: 80
Total Fat: 0%
Saturated Fat: 0%
Sodium: 75 mg, 3%
Carbohydrates: 16 grams
Fiber: 0%
Sugars: 11 grams
Protein: 5 grams

Unfortunately, the taste of this didn't thrill me. Sure, the flavor was un-mistakenly vanilla, but it also tasted artificial and sweet. The consistency was very fluid, not thick, and it was more like melted, milk-ified candy, and I didn't like that.

Each 6 ounce cup of Dannon Light & Fit Vanilla Yogurt provides 80 calories, no fat or fiber, 11 grams of sugars, 5 grams of protein and 20% of the daily value for vitamin D and riboflavin along with 15% of the DV for calcium and phosphorus.

sponsor

The ingredients include the sweeteners fructose, aspartame, acesulfame K and sucralose. I paid $0.75 for a 6 ounce cup of this Dannon Light & Fit Vanilla Yogurt, but I probably wouldn't buy it again. This definitely is not one of my favorite flavors in the Dannon Light & Fit line - although it's better than the Yoplait Fiber One Vanilla Yogurt.

{Website: Dannon Light & Fit}

View the original article here

Crazy. Busy. Avoiding the Second Arrow

I don’t get too busy too often, and when I do, it’s usually not for more than a day, maybe two. This last week, though, has been non-stop busy, and it’s given me a huge appreciation for those of you who’ve told me how hard it is to plan your menu for a day, let alone a week, because your schedules are so hectic. I kind of get that now.

I forgot to eat dinner on Thursday night and ate a bowl of Grape-Nuts when I woke up very hungry at 2 a.m. I slammed down a Subway Veggie Delite on my way home from Pittsburgh late Friday night and it sat in my stomach like a lead balloon. (For the record, I love Subway’s veggie sandwich, but the bread was overkill after a day saturated with simple carbs.)

Saturday I was up early, went to a bridal shower, had lunch with my daughter, came home, showered and went out again…another missed dinner. When I got home at midnight, I had a PB2 sandwich and a Hershey Bliss. Granted, that’s a far cry from the days of grilled Spam and Velvetta sandwiches or 3-egg ham and cheese omelets, but still…chocolate and peanut butter at midnight?

It’s not easy to be prepared for everything and all circumstances, but I had advanced warning for several of the things that made me busy. But rather than plan my food like I usually do, I flew by the seat of my pants. Not my most stellar move.

The crazy business of the week involves many things: Mathilda’s death (we put her down last Tuesday, poor girl’s legs just weren’t going to work anymore), my knee, the lack of hard-core aerobic exercise, and, without boring you with details, a kinda sorta messy personal life. When it rains it pours.

It’s rained like this before when I’ve lost weight and…surprise, surprise…I was unable to maintain my weight loss. The culprit was always eating whatever whenever and not giving any thought to my body and what it needed. The things that were falling apart around me superseded that and I sought comfort in food rather than a fully alive and functioning body.

I can see how this could happen again, but I’ve got a rock solid maintenance mentality on my side. I trust that all I’ve learned in the last four years will keep me from straying too far.

I also trust the guidance of the Buddhist teaching of the second arrow, that when we encounter pain (when we’re shot with the first arrow), we have the choice of how we handle that pain. We can blame or whine or indulge (hello chocolate cake!), trying to run away from the pain (thus shooting ourselves with the second arrow), or we can experience the pain of the original arrow and live from within that pain and work out the best course of action that will not further our suffering.

Sometimes it sucks to feel that first arrow. OK, who am I kidding? It usually ALWAYS sucks to feel the pain of the first arrow. But in maintenance, I’m going to do all I can to not further my suffering by piling on a few or 20 pounds.

This week I will do my best to stay mindful, to treat myself and my body kindly. Not eating, carbohydrate shock – these are second arrows. And god knows I’ve got enough to deal with with that first arrow than work around the emotional complications of that second one.

In terms of food and taking care of yourself, how do you deal with that first arrow?

View the original article here

Oikos Organic Greek Yogurt (Honey)

I received a couple of coupons for free Oikos Nonfat Greek Yogurt 4-packs a while back, and I've had a heck of a time finding them! When I finally found them at a D'Agostino's near me, I opted to try the Honey flavor. This cost me $5.85, but I've seen it on sale for $3.99.

NUTRITION FACTS
Serving Size: 4 ounces (113 grams)
Calories: 90
Total Fat: 0%
Saturated Fat: 0%
Sodium: 40 mg, 2%
Carbohydrates: 13 grams
Fiber: 0%
Sugars: 13 grams
Protein: 10 grams
The yogurt had kind of a strange flavor - a little more tart and sour than even regular non-fat Greek yogurt, and the honey was quite sweet on it's own. In fact, a little too much so. When it was mixed with the yogurt, though, they did balance each other out fairly well. As with the other Oikos yogurts I've experienced, this isn't as thick as Fage, but in this fruit on the bottom format (or rather, honey on the bottom), that wasn't necessarily a bad thing as it made mixing it together a little easier. sponsor

Each 4-ounce cup of Oikos Organic Honey Greek Yogurt provides 90 calories, no fat or fiber, 13 grams of sugars, 10 grams of protein and 10% of the daily value for calcium. The ingredients include cultured pasteurized organic nonfat milk, organic honey, organic sugar, pectin, organic carob bean gum, and five live active cultures.

Overall, this yogurt is just a "meh" in my book because I couldn't get used to the flavor which just seemed a little off. I prefer to just buy Fage 0% Greek Yogurt and dress it up as I like.

{Website: Oikos}

View the original article here

Packing, Periods and Purging

This was probably not the most prudent time for me to take the 10-day progesterone regimen my doctor wanted me to start to rid me of my “endometrial issue.” But I did, and it’s working…sort of. Only now I’m packing while cramping and hyper and bloated with a few brain farts thrown in for good measure.

Thank goodness for Carlene and Tammy. They helped keep me sane yesterday.

Carlene, as you know, is my daughter, and Tammy is my friend who I met three years ago when she agreed to be the person who cleaned my house after I was diagnosed with severe osteoarthritis.

I wish all of you a Tammy in your life. She is crazy attentive to bathtubs and can scrub a white linoleum kitchen to sparkling like no one’s business. Just 5’2”, she somehow cleans the fluorescent ceiling light in the kitchen – 10 feet in the air – balanced between the kitchen sink and a stepladder. I can’t watch.

Tammy also introduced me to Mary Kay products. I love TimeWise everything. Makes my skin feel like I’m 16 again. Well, 30 anyway. The wrinkles just keep coming, but as long as my face doesn’t feel like leather, I’m good to go. Bring on old age.

Tammy came over yesterday and helped Carlene and I pack up the dining room and living room – the two rooms that contain my most precious possessions. They aren’t pricey by any means, but I’m a collector of memories and everything I own has meaning.

I have my great-grandmothers stereoviewer and the 3-D cards she’d brought with her from Norway; a carnival glass relish dish my grandmother Katinka won at a raffle at her local movie house in the 1930s; a collection of postcards from my hometown in Minnesota; German porcelain pitchers and cups painted with Victorian roses; and an unusual collection of books*. Carlene and Tammy wrapped everything and boxed them while I went through photo albums and tried not to cry. You don’t live somewhere for nearly 20 years or be with someone 14 without a few photos.

Leaving Clarion and leaving my relationship is hard enough without the emotional upheaval that hormones bring. I feel like I swallowed Lake Erie after I went to Presque Isle last week. That was the day I started this 10-day progesterone hell, the third (fourth?) time my doctor has prescribed it to get things moving.

Only having a few periods in nearly four years is a lot like allowing dust bunnies to accumulate under your bed. You can’t see them, but eventually you have to clean them out. I tell you this only to advise you to be vigilant about your body and how it functions. Make sure, as you lose weight, to pay attention to your girlie parts. If you aren’t menstruating the way you used to, tell your doctor. If something feels “off,” tell your doctor. Losing weight – especially a lot of weight when you are over 40 – creates havoc in your body. The poor thing gets confused.

Purging my body is like purging my house. It’s painful and it’s cathartic, poignant yet rote. I want to stay with what’s safe and familiar but at the same time I need to move beyond what I know and discover more truths.

I don’t always understand my body, but I’m not afraid of it any longer. I don’t completely understand why my marriage fell apart, either, but I’m not afraid of my future outside of it. It’s just different. A forced period, an unexpected move…in many ways they’re exciting in the same way you anticipate walking into a Halloween haunted house. You know the monsters aren’t real, but they’ll scare you just the same.

Have a healthy weekend, steer clear of the trick or treat candy, and move around a little. I’ll blog again from my new home.
------------------
Congratulations to Tabatha, who won the Denise Austin “Hot Body Yoga” DVD this morning! Look for another Carlene DVD review and giveaway in the next few weeks. I think she’s got her eye on a Pilates workout.
----------------------
* I’d written about my book collection a few years ago on ZenBagLady. Just to warn you, it is rated PG-13. Click here to view.

View the original article here

Laryngitis Lynnie

My son-in-law loves me, even though he insists on calling me Lynnie every chance he gets.

“Goodbye, Laryngitis Lynnie!” he said yesterday as I was leaving Pittsburgh, big grin on his face.

Love you, too, Matt. *eyeroll*

It happens every couple of years, this laryngitis nonsense that always eventually makes sense. I felt it coming on Saturday afternoon, and sure enough by midnight, my voice was toast. I talked (actually I whispered) a little too much early yesterday which made it worse before I got smart and shut the heck up. For 28 hours I’ve been silent and must remain silent for at least another 24-48. Doctor’s orders.

I’m relegated to texting, emailing and hand-writing people I’d normally just talk to. I may have no vocal chords to speak of right now, but I still have a lot to say. Too much, perhaps. Just ask my massage therapist. A normal person with laryngitis would go in and write, “I have laryngitis and cannot talk” and just enjoy a silent massage.

Not me.

My massage therapist doubles as my shrink. I brought my note pad and pen into the room today and wrote to her while she worked the kinks out of my neck and knee. Only when I was on my stomach was I rendered speechless, so to speak, but it was then that I truly relaxed and heard that voice in my head say, “Chillax, woman.”

It’s not like I yammer on constantly. In fact, my days are usually filled with a lot of silence. But it’s silence born from being alone, not from an inability to talk. On silent days, I have the option of picking up the phone and calling someone. I can chat with the mailman. Say hello to my neighbor or the person who makes my latte. This self-imposed silence takes concentration. Mindfulness.

The reality is that right now, I can’t talk. It hurts. And when something hurts, you take care of it, right? Isn’t that what you do?

Probably not always, is my guess. How often do we put ourselves first, even when necessary? We’re busy, we have things we absolutely have to do, and we tell ourselves it’s OK – maybe even preferred – to care about everyone else, but not ourselves. We have too little time, we’re not that important, and so we suffer in silence instead of appreciate or welcome silence.

I thought it was funny (not “ha ha” funny, but funny) that it is this silence – this “I can’t talk even if I wanted to” silence – that showed me that I fill my vocally-able times with a whole lot of bullsh*t. Sorry for the expletive, but it’s the truth. How many times do we say exactly what we want to, with no preludes, no great big explanations and no apologies? How often do we just get to the point? Say what we need?

I’m certainly not the queen of succinct talking, especially when I have to ask for something. I hem. I haw. I try to read the other person to see if I have the right to ask what it is I want to ask. It comes down to self-esteem and self-worth, and I waste a lot of words winding my way through that maze. That was my MO when I was 300 pounds, that’s for sure. I hardly ever stuck up for myself or asserted what I needed unless I was sure I’d get it. My self-esteem was minus zero back then. Glad to say it’s on the plus side now, but still could use some improvement. I’m working on it.

It’s “helps,” if you will, to get laryngitis. I’m beholden to a pen and a piece of paper. A phone with 100 characters of texting capability. I have to be very succinct when I convey what I need. No BS, no fluff stuff that rarely belongs in a conversation.

“Will U buy me Vit C?” I wrote to Larry before he went to work. If I could talk, I’d have said my doctor said I should take vitamin C while I’m sick, then had a big long debate with him about whether vitamin C really does any good and maybe I shouldn’t waste my time and money, when in the end I know I’d have asked him to buy it for me anyway. So I bypassed the BS and simply “said,” will you buy me vitamin C? And he said, “Yes.” That’s all. Just, “Yes. 100 tabs OK?”

I wish it didn’t take such a drastic condition for me to wake up and appreciate silences; to knock off the BS and get to the heart of what I want to say. I’m sure it will be a few more laryngitis episodes before I learn that lesson completely.

My voice is toast. I just tried to say something and notta. I can’t even laugh. I even sneeze in silence. So there will be a lot of time in the upcoming day or two for silent thought and reflection. I’m not going to waste it. Because like the women in the Loreal commercial, I’m worth it. I’m worth this silent time. I just hope deep down I absorb it, believe it, and speak more mindfully when my voice returns.

View the original article here

Ozeri Elite Series II Digital Bathroom Scale With 5" Blue Backlit Xbright LCD and InstaOn Technology

Newly updated in August of 2010, the Ozeri Elite Series II Digital Bathroom Scale now features a 5 inch Blue Backlight LCD screen, the largest in the industry. The 5 inch blue backlight LCD screen utilizes xBright technology that makes viewing from any angle easy, regardless of ambient light conditions. Whether your goals are weight loss or muscle gain, the Ozeri Elite Series II Digital Bathroom Scale features the latest generation of InstaOn(TM) technology to display your body weight upon stepping onto the scale. Unlike other scales, with the Ozeri Elite Series II, no tapping is ever required to turn on or activate the scale. The Ozeri Elite Series II Digital Bathroom Scale accurately displays results in increments of 0.2 pounds or 0.1 kilograms on its ultra bright screen. This Ozeri scale uses 4 latest generation G sensors to capture weights up to 400 lbs with industry leading accuracy. With its new Dynamix Processor, the Elite Series II boasts one of the fastest response times in the industry. It also turns off automatically to conserve battery power, and runs on 4 AAA batteries (included). This Ozeri Elite Series II Digital Bathroom Scale combines an oversized platform, impact resistant tempered glass and durable construction. It is designed with accuracy, convenience and ease of use in mind. Your Satisfaction is 100% Guaranteed.

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White or Whole Wheat Bread - What's Your Preference {Poll Results}

There were 121 votes in our poll, White or Whole Wheat Bread - What's Your Preference. 54% of you selected, 100% whole wheat all the way!

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A distant 2nd choice was the "I do whole wheat but I don't check if it's 100%" option which 23% selected followed by 10% which selected I buy whole wheat sometimes but still buy white too. There are still some white bread fnas out there, and that got 6% of the votes along with "I don't eat bread." There were 4 votes for "other" which including baking your own bread - pretty cool!

All polls (past and present), can be found on our polls page.

View the original article here

Is Being Ready Enough? Someone Needs Your Advice

I love getting email from Lynn’s Weigh readers. I really do. And I try to answer it as best I can and in a timely manner. But this week I have so much on my plate – out of the ordinary things that are consuming my thoughts – and I wouldn’t be able to answer the following email in a thoughtful way.

So I need your help. Can you, particularly the veteran weight-loss folks, answer this email I received today from Stacey? When I get a chance I’ll refer her to what I’ve written in the past, but I know we each have our individual answer to the questions she poses.

Variety being the spice of life, your answer may be just what Stacey needs to hear to get her on the path of permanent weight loss.

Here’s her email:

“I am looking for advice. How did you stick with it at first? I have a very hard time getting motivated to do it. I know it is pure laziness on my part. I loved WW in the past when I have tried it. When seeing results I get excited and all that but as soon as I fall off the wagon or have a bad day it is all over and I'm back to square one.

I am 36 and at 290. I am so ready for a life change. Any help you can give would be wonderful.”

Leave a comment or send me an email to lynnbering@verizon.net and I’ll be sure to forward it to Stacey. Thanks a ton, you guys.

A quick update on Mathilda. She’s not doing well. Her back legs just aren’t working. We may need to put her down this week. The only saving grace is that we got that second chance, that extra time to spend with her. And we’ve been savoring every moment.

Thank you again for all your kind comments and well wishes. I know so many of you have been down this road before. It’s never easy.

View the original article here

The gift of an injury.

(Ms. Gertie Gluteball. Still my BFF.)

Or, to give you what I’d initially called the post , The bigass silverlining I discovered to my workouts being derailed & my life-habits being tossed into a freakin tizzy (see? too long. hence the more adult title above).

As I chatted about on this post Im no longer running the Las Vegas RocknRoll half-marathon.

I talked a little bit there about all Id learned from this random injury & decided to gift myself this post as yet another episode of navel-gazing.

I wanted to share how, for all my whining & frustration (& inability to heal this thing quickfast&inahurry), Ive been repeatedly surprised what a gift this experience has been.

Being injured was a happy reminder Im not addicted to exercise.  To spend any time with me is to hear me say exercise is not my passion.  To my mind a passion is something one wants to constantly discuss, read about, watch movies about, view tv programs about–you get the idea.  My passion is helping people & that I can do whether Im temporarily out of commission or not!I was stunned how much extra time I had in my day. For the first time I realized 30 minutes of cardio is not 30 minutes. There’s typically at least 10 minutes of whining beforehand (I wont be doing THAT anymore) & then a minimum of ten minutes spent in front of a fan to cool down afterward (gross? yes. true? yes This misfit is a bigbig sweater).  Some injured peeps might have chosen to spend the  time exercising in other ways.  I chose to spend it exercising my right to party not. I wrote fiction. I hung with the child. I made Barbie houses out of empty MetRx boxes.  I generally lolled about with sporadic intervals of ass glute self-massage.I got grumpy, I felt the grumps, I forced my way through & found the other side. To say I was pissed about being a right angle is to put it mildly.  I wanted to run in Vegas.  I was out fees for a pretty pricey event. I wanted to meet up with other bloggers heading to Vegas.  I was in the position of helping people locate their workout mojo when Id have given ANYTHING to be able to workout. And I acknowledged all of this.  Loudly & in many of your collective ears.  Im completely certain what prevented me from turning to destructive, frustrated behavior (hello! New York Super Chunk Fudge!) is the fact I embraced my emotions. I allowed myself to fully experience what I was feeling and, as a result, was able to claw my way out to the other side.I was forced to get creative & re-discover old coping mechanisms.  I dont do a lot of cardio—but I do it consistently. 30 minutes a day 6 days a week.  In the back of my mind I was always aware it kept my stress-level down, but I never gave it much thought until it was gone.  It was a gift to be forced to get creative and also to remember what had mitigated my stress in the past. Meditation. Reading for pleasure. Reading for education. Writing fiction. Writing poems.  I was happily surprised, once I quit grumping, how many resources for stress-relief I had at my disposal.I laughed. Long and hard.  In the end I was forced to.  I gots me an injury which afflicts hardcore runners & cyclists merely from sitting too much.  I’d developed LanceArmstrongAss & hadnt been on a bikebike in decades.  And really what’s more humorous than that?

*glances up from star-encircled navel to see if anyone is still here*

I know from your emails & tweets many of you are my Brothers & Sisters in Healthy Living Derailednessment (technical term).

I look to you now to chime in with the gifts youve discovered in this forced situation.

Did you find your relationships improved because you simply had more time to spend on them?

Were you able to uncover a hidden passion/new hobby that you might not have explored were you CrossFitting away your day?

Do you wish this post included a giveaway of Gertie & her partner-in-crime Betty the Booty Ball?

Please to hit us all up in the comments.

Tags: I gots an owie, learning from injury, piriformis syndrome

View the original article here

Losing my Berings

“Deadlines and commitments. What to leave in, what to leave out.” Bob Seger

Whether you’re a blogger or a reader of blogs, you know that what you put out on the Internet is open for the whole world to see. Discerning what should be written and not written takes a great deal of thought (although my stepsons have not learned that lesson on Facebook).

I’ve written in the last few weeks that I’m facing a lot changes in my life. I’ve hemmed and hawed about what to reveal and put out here, but I decided that if I’m going to continue blogging about weight loss and maintenance, I need to tell you what’s going on in my non-blogging world.

My life in two sentences: My husband, Larry, and I have decided to separate. I’ll be moving to Pittsburgh next week.

I’m not putting details out here except to say that our split is amicable and we are committed to being friends and the best grandparents we can be. And I will miss him. The rest of the details aren’t necessary.

What is important in terms of my blog is how I integrate this loss into my life of weight. This change is a huge challenge for me as I reacquaint myself with living alone and getting comfortable with my new surroundings.

Things are raw right now. If I’m a little late in my replies, a little distant, a little confused, I hope you’ll understand. But I need this blog and I need you. I’ll stay on this path, though. I promise.

I’m just keeping it real. Thank you for everything. You have no idea how much your reading and participation in Lynn’s Weigh means to me.

View the original article here

Change From Within (Plus a review & giveaway of Joy Bauer’s new cookbook!)

I have a friend who works in a field that to me, sitting on the outside looking in, seems oppressive to a number of minority groups. She believes in gender and economic equality, so her work seems in contrast to her belief system. However, when I asked her why she chose her career, she said that by working on the inside, she creates real change and believes through her efforts that one day, the institution in which she is affiliated will be transformed.

Seems everywhere you look these days there’s someone saying or writing something about the obesity epidemic. “We have to do something about obesity!” cry politicians, school administrators, and even military officials. But like my friend said, change is best made from the inside out; made by the folks in the trenches.

In the six years since I made the decision to take back my body and health, and especially in the two years I’ve known nutritionist Joy Bauer, I’ve caught the fever for creating dietary changes within our culture. As I wrote in my interview with Joy at the beginning of this year (See “My New Year’s Interview with ‘Today Show’ Nutritionist Joy Bauer”), “I believe in Joy’s message. Her commitment to and passion for teaching and supporting healthy food choices and good nutrition is – in a word – infectious. The minute I met her, I knew I’d met a kindred spirit.”

I’d thought about going back to school to study nutrition, but thinking is all I did until I had surgery in June and spent three days in the hospital eating wretched, wretched (I’m not kidding, it was wretched) food. That’s when I decided I needed to be on the inside formulating change rather than on the outside dictating change. I found a 2-year dietetic technician program at Community College of Allegheny County in Pittsburgh to which I applied, was accepted, and will begin in January. (The program is mostly online. For more information, go to CCAC’s information page.) 

Expanding my knowledge of nutrition in this way will put me in a position to suggest and hopefully implement changes from inside institutions such as hospitals or nursing homes. (A bit of Lynn Trivia: My first “real” job when I turned 16 was as a dietary aid in a nursing home. I loved it, although I doubt I’ll be engaging in mashed potato food fights anymore.)

While Joy Bauer is a big name in the “industry,” her education and expansive knowledge of nutrition puts her squarely on the inside where she implements change within her practice, online, and on Today. In my own transformation from the inside out, learning about food and learning to cook in a more healthy way was imperative. That’s why I recommend Joy’s new cookbook, “Slim & Scrumptious.” It not only includes healthy recipes, but solid (and non-intimidating) information about food selection, spices and cooking in general.

I picked up my copy in April and have made several recipes, including the Banana Pecan Bread, which I include at the end of this blog. So far, every one I’ve tried I’ve loved. “Slim & Scrumptious” includes breakfast recipes, stews and soups, an awesome lentil burger and a quinoa salad that made me fall in love with quinoa. Next up, I’m making the Roasted Cumin Cauliflower and Carrots.

Joy includes several meat-based recipes as well, and nutrition information is listed for each recipe.

I have a copy of Joy’s cookbook to give away! All you have to do to throw your name in the hat is leave a comment or send an email to lynn.haraldson@yahoo.com. I’ll draw a winner on Friday, Oct. 22.

As promised, Joy’s Banana Pecan Bread recipe (with a few notes from me because I didn’t have all the ingredients when I made it Sunday).

½ C pecans (I used walnuts that I toasted in a dry fry pan on the stove)
1 C whole wheat flour
1 C all-purpose flour
2 t baking powder
1 t ground cinnamon
¼ t ground nutmeg
1 ½ C mashed ripe banana (2 large or 3 to 4 small bananas)
2 T reduced-fat trans-fat-free tub margarine spread, at room temperature (I used 2 T Land O’ Lakes light butter)
½ C packed light brown sugar
2 large egg whites
1 t grated orange zest (I omitted this)
Juice of 1 small orange (I used ¼ C bottled orange juice)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9x5 loaf pan with oil spray and set aside.

Spread the pecans in a single layer on a baking sheet. Roast the pecans in the oven until they are lightly toasted, 6 to 8 minutes. Allow them to cool slightly. Finely chop and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg.

In a large bowl, thoroughly combine the mashed bananas, margarine, brown sugar, egg whites, and orange zest and juice.

Sprinkle the dry ingredients over the wet mixture and fold together until the ingredients are just combines. Take care not to overmix; the batter will be slightly lumpy. Gently fold in the pecans.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool completely before removing the bread from the loaf pan.

Serves 20

Nutrition info: 104 calories; 2g protein; 19g carbohydrates; 3g total fat; 0g saturated fat; 0mg cholesterol; 2g fiber; 40mg sodium.

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I Decide and I Create the Body I Want: A Weight Management and Loss Hypnotherapy Hypnosis CD

Make peace with the process of eating, follow your intentions and lead yourself to health and nourishment by using effective guided meditations, self-hypnosis techniques and Yoga Nidra the ancient art of intentional relaxation. Undo negative cycles of thought and free yourself from anxiety, releasing your body's innate capability to balance itself.

Dr. Siddharth Ashvin Shah uses the best of traditional and modern thinking to craft simple, accessible and highly effective exercises that increase awareness, create stillness and support positive eating behaviors.

Weight Loss Through Mindful Eating is not a gimmick or a magic cure. It is a directed path away from extreme, unhealthy attitudes about food toward a calm, purposeful, healthy center.

Using guided techniques based in meditation, self-hypnosis and Yoga Nidra, Dr. Shah's gentle vocal tones ease you into relaxation as the sounds of tamboura and ocean waves play quietly in the background. Discover self-acceptance and renew your commitment to a healthy lifestyle with this positive, powerful tool.

Track 1 - Brief Guided Meditation for Well Being 10:00

Track 2 - Guided Meditation for Weight Loss and Mindful Eating 15:13

Track 3 - Yoga Nidra Relaxation for Weight Loss

This product is manufactured on demand using CD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.

Price: $27.75

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Van's Natural Foods Belgian Waffles (Multigrain)

I'm working on converting the family to using food products with a better ingredients list, and more whole grain products. Their chief complaint is with the taste, and while there have been a few products that I'm not allowed to bring back in the house (the kids don't like whole wheat bread with seeds/ grains visible), there has also been quite a few successes - including Van's Natural Foods Multigrain Belgian Waffles.

NUTRITION FACTS
Serving Size: 2 waffles (76 grams)
Calories: 190
Total Fat: 7 grams, 11%
Saturated Fat: 0.5 grams, 3%
Sodium: 330 mg, 14%
Carbohydrates: 32 grams
Fiber: 6 grams, 23%
Sugar: 3 grams
Protein: 3 grams

A Belgian waffle is identified by its larger size, lighter batter and higher grid pattern which forms deep pockets and has larger squares - according to Wikipedia. This Van's variety seemed to meet all those criteria, but it also had a darker than usual brown color which was a little off putting. I decided to put these waffles to a kids taste test with 2 boys & 2 girls - Justin, Hunter, Tasha & Alexa - all of whom were slightly reluctant because of the color (a darker color than appears on the packaging I might add).

The waffles were topped with syrup and bananas, and they all liked it. Hunter & Tasha liked it the most - I believe the word yummy escaped their lips between bites . Justin, the oldest, thought it was just okay - but that's high praise coming from a slightly moody pre-teen. Alexa liked it the least, but she's also the youngest & the pickiest eater - she was turned off by a square waffle .

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When I tried them, I have to say they were pretty darn good too. Slightly crunchy, because that's how my toaster oven does it! Move over Eggos - Van's Belgian Waffles are about to become a main stay in this house.

Each serving of 2 waffles provides 190 calories, 7 grams of total fat, 0.5 grams of which is saturated (11% & 3% of the daily value), 330 mg of sodium (14% of the DV), 6 grams of fiber, 3 grams of sugars and 3 grams of protein. Less calories than Van's Natural Foods Organic Soy Flax Waffles, but a few more than Kashi GoLean Waffles (Original), Kashi Heart to Heart Honey Oat Waffles and Nature's Path Organic Optimum Power Waffles Review.

A box with 6 Van's Natural Foods Multigrain Belgian Waffles cost $3.29 which is a little more expensive than some other brands, but since we only eat waffles once or twice a week, it was really worth it. In addition, there are quite a few reviews of waffles that are delicious and have either organic or have an all natural ingredients list and the same or less calories than ... other brands.

{Website: Van's Natural Foods}

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Lynn's "Balance Plan"

I’ve been reading over some of my writing as I research an upcoming Refuse To Regain blog about an aha! moment I had recently regarding exercise and weight maintenance. I came across this blog, “Lynn’s ‘Balance Plan,’” written in June 2008 for RTR, and I thought how, more than two years later, it still represents how I feel about weight loss and maintenance. I wanted to share it with you in hopes maybe you’d relate to some of it yourself. I’d love to hear from you if it does, and even if it doesn't, and why.

Have you seen or perhaps even used a balance board? It’s basically a 2-foot by 1-foot wooden board with a rollerball underneath. The idea is to stand on it while performing other exercises such as lifting free weights. The goal is to teach the body how to balance itself, to be more stable.

The first time I got on one of those suckers, I felt like I was on an amusement park ride. I was all over the place! Wobbling here, wobbling there. I could barely stay on the thing, let alone lift weights at the same time.

Over time, however, my body adjusted to the subtle movement of the rollerball and I learned to trust my instincts – to feel the rocking back and forth and to stay stable – as I concentrated on lifting weights. I found the balance.

And so it is with weight loss/weight maintenance. As reader/fellow maintainer Susan said in a comment posted to Barbara’s recent blog (see “Let’s Get Specific”), “Perfection is not the key to maintenance. It is finding balance you can live with.”

In response to Barbara’s challenge that we name and explain our “lifestyle change” plan that works for us, I offer “The Balance Plan” (or as I’ve nicknamed it: “How Lynn Walks and Chews Gum at the Same Time”).

The Balance Plan incorporates everything in my life. I blog, I answer email, work out, feed the birds, water the plants, babysit my granddaughter, eat, sleep, shower, go to parties, and go on vacation and all the while, maintenance buzzes in the background. It’s always with me, around me, and in me. It is me.

I’m adopting as my credo something my friend Sondra wrote in a comment: “I choose to stand my ground that I will put what is best for me first.”

Amen.

To maintain my weight loss, I’m learning to rely on my instinct and what “feels” right, in the same way I trust my body will keep me balanced on a wobble board. I also eat whole foods as close to their natural state, most of the time. I allow for chocolate and pudding and vices such as that, but always, always in moderation. I still use, as a tool, the Points system to help me gauge my overall food intake, but even that is becoming more “natural” for me to determine. My goal is to one day eat in total accordance to my body’s needs.

I’ve always said there’s a reason why pregnancy is supposed to take 9 months. We need time to prepare. There’s a reason why weight loss isn’t overnight. We need time to prepare for maintenance. Whether you lost weight through diet and exercise alone or with some kind of surgery, how you lost the weight is only a preparatory class for maintenance and forever, and as Sondra said, you have to change your lifestyle to get to goal.

It's frustrating to read posts on my favorite Weight Watchers discussion board from people returning from vacation bragging about how much food they ate and how “off plan” they were. They were on a “food vacation,” happy and content to stuff themselves with all their old favorites.

In real life – in real weight loss and in real maintenance – there are no such “food vacations.” Yes, there are times when we might indulge in some particular food, but we know it can’t be all the time and we know that to continue our maintenance balance, we must plan for such splurges. And as Susan reminds us, “…the most important thing is getting right back to good/clean eating after a couple of not so great meals.”

When these people return from their food vacations, the often post that they are are sad to get “back on plan.” They miss their old lifestyle. They see the new lifestyle they must embrace and resist it, like it’s their enemy.

On the Balance Plan, I understand that I have to be a friend to my body, to my food choices, and my exercise regimen, and to stand on the same side as my “lifestyle change,” to be fully immersed in it and not leave it at home when I go on vacation or out with friends or to a party or on a picnic. I take it with me at all times because it’s who I am, just as sure as I am a 44-year-old female.

The Balance Plan is open to new ideas and research. I educate myself and question “authority.” I ask lots of questions, try new foods and various approaches to obtaining the right nutrients. As I said earlier, I trust my instinct. I trust there’s a balance.

If I fall of the balance board, I get right back on. Not getting back on is not an option just as I can’t choose to not be 5’5” tall. The Balance Plan is innate so its “rules” change from person to person. But in the end, it’s about being your own best friend – walking and chewing gum at the same time, so to speak.

View the original article here

Skechers Women's Shape Ups - Strength Fitness Walking Sneaker

Women's SKECHERS® SHAPE-UPS STRENGTH :: Lose weight, shape your calves, thighs, butt, and core muscles, plus improve posture while you walk! Skechers® Shape-Ups Strength are fitness walking shoes that actually help you work out in your day-to-day routine of running errands, shopping, and more. Shape-Ups Strength walking shoes feature soft, durable nubuck leather upper. Enjoy amazing cushioning and reduced impact on joints thanks to the curved outsole that rolls forward with each step.

Price: $100.00

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Recovered

Of all the things I’ve discovered I love to do since losing weight, hiking is probably my favorite. It’s certainly the most spiritual.

I’ve done on a lot of hiking in the last few years, but yesterday’s hike – while not the most challenging – was the most momentous, especially since it marked the 4-month anniversary of my knee surgery.

Yesterday, October 23, was not only the first day I’d hiked in four months, it was the first day I felt I’d made the right decision to have my knee repaired and not replaced. The pain has been significant and the rehabilitation slow and many times I doubted if keeping my own equipment was worth it. But yesterday, feeling my knee working the way it did years ago, feeling like myself again and doing something I truly loved, I knew I’d done the right thing.

My doctor told me I’d recover in 6-12 weeks. My physical therapist said 6-12 months. Both were right because if I’ve learned nothing else this summer and fall, it’s that “recovered” is a slippery slope of a word that runs the gamut of meaning. For some, recovered means, “Hey, I’m recovered enough to go to the bathroom alone!” (which I did less than a week after surgery). Others aren’t recovered until they can climb Mt. Everest (which I will never do). I’m somewhere in between. Recovered to me means I can hike for 40 minutes through a gorgeous section of Cook Forest that has been my place of solace for almost 20 years.

I had no idea how long I’d last, but I needed to test the waters and to measure just how strong my knee was. I used my Leki poles and worked up to almost a normal brisk pace, enough to get a little sweat on. Twenty minutes in, I felt great. Surprisingly great. But I knew to turn around if I was going to keep feeling great. The overwhelming sense of accomplishment when we got back to our starting point was second only to the feeling I had the day I made goal nearly four years ago. It was a freaking rush.

We found a log and I took off my backpack.
And ate lunch.
Then I laid down in the leaves and looked at the sky.
And I was very, very happy, despite the burrs.
I was happy because of my fabulously awesome knee.
Is there something you do that makes you this kind of happy? I hope so. I really, truly hope so.

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EBI Toning Dress Shoes Prime Mens

Feel the difference.EBi Toning Shoes are for everyday. Whether you are at work, home or just going out for a walk, EBi shoes will provide the ultimate comfort and health that other shoes cannot bring. It will force your body to maintain balance and stimulate your muscles while you are just standing. The moment you put on EBi Toning shoes, you will feel the difference.During your busy day, don¡¯t force yourself to get exercise. EBi Toning shoes will do the rest. EBi Toning leather shoes are great for your office looks. Going out for a walk or working out at gym? Try our EBi Toning Fitness shoes! They are lighter compared to other major brands, helps you to burn much more calories and yet, gives you the ultimate comfort.EBi Toning leather shoes are great for your office looks. Going out for a walk or working out at gym? Try our EBi Toning Fitness shoes! They are lighter compared to other major brands, helps you to burn much more calories and yet, gives you the ultimate comfort.EBi Toning Shoes- a new innovative way for toning your muscles. Hate same routines and grinding workout? Try EBi Toning Shoes and feel the difference. EBi Toning Shoes help to tone muscles, help with right posture, burn more calories, relieve joint stress and much more.It is very simple. Put them on and live your daily life. We call it ¡°3 Step Rolling Walking¡±: Your step starts by back heel landing on the ground first, rolls to middle and to front part of feet. You may think we all walk that way, but you¡¯d be surprised to feel the difference when you put on our EBi Toning Shoes.It helps you with the 3 Step Rolling Walking in one smooth, natural movement without any extra stress to ankles or joints.Here are the benefits!-Muscle toning, not just your legs, but also thighs and buttocks. -Helps you to maintain right posture-Burn more calories-Relieves joints pain and stress

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Jumping in Leaves: A Belated National Love Your Body Day Celebration

I found out through MizFit that Wednesday was National Love Your Body Day. I wasn’t feeling the body love that day, nor was I feeling body hate. I had so many things going on that I really didn’t have time to give the day much consideration.

I guess that’s one reason I love my body. It doesn’t need me thinking about it all the time to function.

Yesterday was different. I gave my body a good early morning workout before picking up my granddaughter Claire for a sleepover. When we got home, the sun was shining, even though rain was forecasted, and when I opened Claire’s car door, she said, “Wow! Grammy you have lots of leaves! Let’s rake them in a pile and JUMP!”

Remember a few weeks ago I wrote how Claire loves to hop and jump, and how since my knee surgery in June I haven’t been able to hop or jump? (See “Joy vs. Drudgery: Weight Loss and Hopping.”) The thought of jumping in leaves scared me a little, mostly because I thought I’d be disappointing Claire if I couldn’t do it. Besides, I had groceries to bring in the houses, boxes to unload and bring to the basement, food to put away, bananas to cut up and put in the freezer, yadda yadda yadda.

But the absolute joy on her face as she walked through leaves so thick she couldn’t see the grass was too much for my Grammy heart to stand, so I put everything on the porch and Claire and I went to the garage for rakes. She found her purple sandbox rake and I grabbed the big rake lodged behind the snow shovel. We marched to the front yard and raked a huge pile of leaves.
And we jumped in.
So did Cooper.

It’s hard to hear on the following video, but Claire is talking about how Cooper misses Mathilda, our dog we had to put down last month. She talks so lovingly and compassionately to him. “Wait for Tilly, wait for Tilly,” she says, assuring him that one day he’ll see her again and they’ll jump in leaf piles together. What. A. Kid. *tear*

Then Claire took a nap. (I could have used one, too!) When she woke up, she said, “Look, Grammy! The sun is shining! Let’s go rake leaves again and JUMP!”

And so we bundled up and jumped in.

So did the dog.

And after all was said and done, I thought, ‘Body, I really do love you. Thank you for the arms to rake and the legs to jump, the heart to love and the mind to think, the smile to assure and the eyes that show compassion, the scars of remembrance and the aches that remind me to slow down. I promise to do all I can to keep you running smoothly.’

So happy belated National Love Your Body day. I hope you find many, many reasons to celebrate the body you inhabit, no matter its size or ability.
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Thank you to all of you who entered to win Joy Bauer’s cookbook, and a big welcome to all you new Lynn’s Weigh readers, both here and on Facebook! I’ve enjoyed your emails and comments, and I especially appreciated your encouragement regarding my new career goals. Congrats to Bonnie S., who’s name I drew out of the hat! I’ll get the book to you as soon as I get your address.

It’s almost time for another workout DVD review and giveaway, so be looking for that blog soon. Also, after Thanksgiving I’ll be giving away another yearly subscription to Nutrition Action Newsletter, one of my favorite publications.

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