My pedometer made me a better mother.

my feet. circa 2006.

To know me is to know Im an *early* adopter (we had a DVR when most still used VHS tapes) or the l-a-s-t to the soiree (I jumped on the Crocs bandwagon LONG after said wagon had been abandoned).

To know me is to also be aware Im opinionated.  To the point of resembling a Tornado petulant child.

Once I get into my head I dislike something (hello mayonnaise!) I never really give it a chance.

Back in the 90s when everyone was tracking/counting—I decided I hated pedometers.

This disdain had nothing to do with the fact I exercise intuitively (I didnt then) & everything to do making a snap decision.

I encouraged others to wear pedometers, rock heart rate monitors and embrace gadgets—but they weren’t for me.

Until they were.

Recently my back started hurting.

I blamed it on my piriformis/the fact I needed to foam roll more–yet I knew, intuitively it was because I sat too much.

Id become the most sedentary healthy living writer I knew.

It was time for a change, I was desperate for a change, I decided a pedometer might be that change.

It took me one day to learn I walked as much as a bed ridden person.

I exercise consistently—but after 30 minutes it’s workwritingworkwritingSITTING for much of my day.

the life of an UpAtCrack working misfit.

I PLAYout with the Tornado —- but those activities (monkey bars, SKIP IT) do not equate to steps (who knew?).

I’d get stuck here for hours & hours

We’ve gots a canine–but right now he’s hell on a leash not super walk friendly.

not helping…yet!

I realized if left to my own work-housework-grocery-work-childtime-work-bed devices Id plateau at 3 thousand steps EARLY in the day & not add much from there.

I was far behind the average American.

I committed to stepping it up (pun intended) and, to my surprise, more steps made me a better mother in the process.

My pedometer increased my patience. To mother (canine or otherwise) is to spend lots of time cleaning, straightening, retrieving, and organizing.  Even with my foray into the Orange Rhino I wasnt exceedingly patient when the Tornado would say, as we were leaving the house, OH MAMA I FORGOT XXX. WILL YOU GO GET IT FOR ME? until the pedometer. I no longer heard demands of a disorganized child—I heard her saying HERE’S AN OPPORTUNITY TO SQUEEZE IN STEPS!! 

(imagine image here of me happily skipping inside domicile to retrieve fleece jacket)

My pedometer was an opportunity to PRACTICE NOT PREACH.  My approach to parenting life is to practice what I preach & say not a word.  Before my pedometer it hadnt occurred to me a step-count display would be a sign to the Tornado we *both* needed to move!  On days she’d see my count was low she’d take the initiative to suggest we go play.  You dont need to be a mom to know ANYTHING which promotes healthy living *and* spares us nagging is win-win. when did her fingers get so BIG?!

My pedometer was a FLASHING reminder of self-care.   I take care of myself first.  I get up *early* to do so—but Ive learned if I dont place my oxygen mask on first I cannot ‘do unto’ others for the rest of my day.  It quickly became apparent on days I ONLY did unto others my step count was miniscule.  This is inevitable some days—this is NOT fine as consistent practice. SELF-CARE= a relaxing amble around the lake

So there’s my confession: a gadget Id hated without meeting is now a helpful tool in my belt with regards to being a kinder, gentler, misfit-Mama.

And you?

Are you an AVOWED pedometer junkie?What lessons have you learned from increasing your steps?

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Listen to your mother show (AKA leaving the zone of comfy.)

The show on Sunday was fantastic.

The rehearsal on Saturday? Not so much.

I could ramble on and on about precisely why (the podium felt weird, reading from a binder felt wonky blather blather blather), but the only important point is I left the rehearsal wishing I could back out.

I felt panicked in a way which Id never felt before.

I love getting up in front of people.

I’m a performer at heart.

I longed to feign illness.

Not only was the Listen to your mother show a departure from my comfort zone—-it was a tribute to the Tornado.

I wanted, more than practically anything before,  it to go flawlessly because it was essentially an act of love.

For her.

And after Saturday morning I was a frazzled mess.

I spent Sunday morning reading and rereading my essay.

In front of the mirror.  At the breakfast table.  Attempting from memory in the shower.  Alone in my bedroom.

Over and over and over.

Mid oneoftheovers I heard a timid knock at the door & the Tornado came into the room.

“Mama,” she said with the confidence of one who has done myriad presentations.  “When youre reading just pretend it is only Dada and me in the audience.”

And, as trite as it sounds, I immediately knew it would all be ok.

Id stammer.  Or I wouldnt.

Id get tripped up.  Or Id read it just fine.

I’d not make it through because I’d be sobbing too hard.  I’d appear detached because I was working *so* hard not to cry.

I knew no matter how I did—-it would be perfect enough.

After the show was over (when the video is youtube‘d you can see how it all went down) we went out to dinner as a family.

“I knew you could do it, Mama.“  The Tornado told me in her most serious of tones.  “Good job.  Now you know it, too.”

Today begins month number five of striving to live my priorities.

I think it’s a toss up between when Ive learned more about life and about myself: the past 42.75 years or the past five months.

I cant wait to see what the rest of 2012 has in store.

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The Unnatural Mother.

Please to take a seat and stay a while. This is a long post—but a raw honest & heartfelt one. In a hurry? Bookmark Deanna‘s post for when you have the time. You wont regret it.

My story is similar to a lot of women out there trying to lose weight – the classic yo-yo dieter.

The yo-yoing began at the age of 12, I remember being on the grapefruit diet and being  “congratulated” by my mother’s friend for losing weight. I distinctly recall being proud of myself and happily telling this woman how much I lost, yes at the tender age of 12.

Insanity? Absolutely!

I am not sure why I always referred to myself, considered myself and thought that I was the chubby one, the fat sister, daughter, and friend but I did, and because that’s what I thought – if it wasn’t true it definitely became true.

Like most yo-yo-ers I tried every diet out there, the grapefruit diet, the 3-day diet, stay-slim, cabbage soup diet, LA Weight Loss, Atkins, and Weight Watchers. I don’t have enough fingers and toes to count the times I walked through the hallowed Weight Watchers doors.  Looking back, I wasn’t an obese child by any stretch. I was a chubby baby, but looking back now in my childhood pictures I wasn’t the fat kid, hell in elementary, middle or high school I wasn’t even the chubby kid.

My parents were afraid that I had the propensity to be heavy like some family members and in order to make sure “the buck stopped here” they gave in to my dieting whims and because of that I subconsciously recorded this horrible tape in my head that I was fat and not thin at a very early age – a recording that I am still trying to erase, and re-record.

Don’t get me wrong I had a great childhood, a big Italian family, parents who were always there for my four sisters and me.

We were a close knit family, which we still are today and when my Dad was diagnosed with MS my mom transformed our family from healthy eaters to über healthy, make your own yogurt, tofu -bean sprout eating, before it was “in” healthy eaters.

Now unfortunately my well-rounded home life, even with a sick father, was counter balanced by an unhealthy elementary school life. I was in a small catholic school surrounded by mean girls that seemed to go out of their way to exclude me from everything.

Of course I blamed all on this on the fact that I was overweight, except that I wasn’t over weight and this added to the that subconscious insecure recording that told me I wasn’t thin enough, smart enough or pretty enough and this manifested itself into a consistent and unhealthy binge eating habit (one I still fight to this day).

During and after college dieting became my unhealthy obsession. Over a ten-year period I lost the same eighteen pounds approximately twenty-five times. After the triumphant weight loss, I got cocky, slid off my program and gained back what I had lost and about ten extra pounds.

Why eighteen pounds? I’m not certain, but when I looked back at my Stay Slim, LA Weight Loss or my Weight Watcher cards, the magic number is always eighteen. By now I was over 200 pounds and was at this weight pretty steadily for the next few years and even managed to get pregnant. While my pregnancy was easy, I only gained nineteen pounds but my self-esteem was at an all-time low.

After my son was born I suffered from Post-Partum Depression, turned to food, and during this dark, sad angry time in my life I gained at least twenty five more pounds. Here I was with a beautiful healthy new baby and I couldn’t get out of my own way; I had a loving supportive husband, family and friends yet I was miserable because of my weight.  Every time I looked in the mirror I hated what I saw.

I literally shame spiraled faster than Charlie Sheen on a bender.

My self-hatred and abuse came from myself and not from anyone around me. I can honestly say that in all our nineteen years together my husband never once uttered a derogatory comment about my weight. I wish I had it in me to love myself the way he loves me.

It wasn’t until February 2008 that I started to take losing weight seriously; I just had my second son and was just unhappy. My sister and I joined an online MSN Biggest Loser contest which involved starting a blog, tracking your weight loss, and connecting with other contestants.   By the time the contest ended I lost 18 pounds, that magic number –again.  I was scared out of my mind.

While I was blogging I stumbled across MizFit, Roni Noone and Jennette Fulda, all who I still loyally follow today. These women are a huge inspiration – in life not just weight loss.

Mizfit actually left a few comments on my blog. One in particular that became my own personal mantra, “The scale is just a HUNK of metal!”

While I continued to blog with my circle of friends, and found the community of support that I so desperately needed, I managed to lose another ten pounds.

And then one day I hit the sweet spot when  seemingly out of the blue-after a year or so of watching my hot fireman husband train for half-marathons I got it into my head that I had to start running.  I’m not really sure what came over me, but I got up, put on my really bad and not conducive to running sneakers and ran.

Well, I ran/walked, cause let me this was as hard as hell, my whole body hurt from the experience, but unlike any other exercise it I did it managed to over ride, quiet down at times literally turn off the bad self loathing recording that was constantly playing in my head. I’m not sure why this happened.

I felt so damn great when I ran I was a damn Army commercial and was truly being all that I could be; running did for me what years of therapy could never do.

Over the next nine months I didn’t lose another pound, and according to my BMI I was still considered obese.  It was at this time that my dear friend Betsy (from Gluten Free Betsy) on a whim sent me the application to be part of Health Magazine’s Feel Great Weight Loss Program.

I sent in the application at the last possible moment and to my utter surprise I was actually chosen to participate. At the exact moment I was given a free membership at Equinox, a personal trainer 2x a week and monthly visits to a wonderful nutritionist at Nourish, Inc., I lost my job.

I was laid off at the exact moment that I really needed to concentrate on my getting my head and body in shape.

When I found out that I had to write a weekly blog for the magazine I was determined to make the most out of this amazing opportunity the Universe had chosen to drop into my lap.

I knew this was my moment to put this issue to bed.  During my time with Health Magazine I lost an additional twenty-nine pounds, for a total loss of fifty-eight pounds, in the process I gained back the self-esteem I destroyed so many years ago.

It was an amazing education and experience of a lifetime.

Since then I’ve completed 3 half-marathons, 2 duathlon, countless 5k’s, three road relays (two were 24 hour relays covering 180+ miles) and am training for my 4th half marathon,  a sprint-tri, and have committed myself to running one event a month for this entire year, an idea I admittedly stole from Roni!

As I manage my family, work, running and well the normal ups and downs of life, I am committed to purging those last remaining twenty pounds.

I’m steadfast in continuing my healthy relationship with food, my body and ultimately myself – so that my kids can grow up in an active healthy home.

They are picky eaters and it’s a daily challenge – I strive for everything in moderation – because I’ve learned that if I don’t allow myself the occasional treat, my cravings pile up on each other and when the stress of life kicks in I’m more inclined to venture off into the dark side and been there not doing that again!

Deanna blogs at The Unnatural Mother.

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<b>Weight loss</b> success story: Larry Hammack | MNN - Mother Nature Network

The following is one of a series of weight loss success stories featured on Mother Nature Network. Check back for more in coming weeks.Larry Hammack doesn’t drink coffee when he wakes up.“I don’t need it,” said the 54-year-old Atlanta resident. “I have the energy of a 19-year-old.”That wasn’t always the case. In fact, up until a year ago, Hammack was carrying around an extra 65 pounds, and had little energy to do anything. The co-owner of a florist shop, his typical day consisted of four activities: working, feeding the dog, eating and sleeping.   WorldShares lets you earn donations for your favorite nonprofit. Earn up to 20 points now.
Learn More“All I wanted to do was eat,” he said. “I would sneak into the cookie jar and eat oatmeal cookies with my breakfast.”But last April, Hammack got the prodding he needed to lose the extra weight. A visit to the doctor delivered the news he was dreading: he weighed 276 pounds.“I almost fell over when I saw that,” he said.He also learned that in addition to high blood pressure, he had low testosterone, which is associated with obesity, depression and fatigue.And the doctor discovered that Hammack had a hernia, which the extra weight had concealed.Hammack quickly went to work on devising an exercise and diet plan that has trimmed more than 60 pounds off his frame. He took inspiration from several mainstream diets by immediately eliminating white sugar. He now stays away from anything with white flour and he eschews any kind of canned, boxed or processed food. Fresh fruits, grains, raw nuts, grilled chicken and whole wheat pasta are the mainstays of his diet.He’s also attentive to how much he eats.“Make a fist, and anything beyond that size, you don’t need to eat,” said Hammack, echoing a common theme of many popular diet programs.Hammack said it’s easy to overeat at restaurants because you’re paying for the food and don’t want to waste any. But restaurants are notorious for offering super-sized portions, often of food that even in smaller quantities is ill-advised.He estimates he consumed 5,000 to 6,000 calories a day before he went on the diet. Now his calorie-intake is far below the 2,000-calorie threshold.As for exercise, it’s now one of Hammack’s favorite activities.Just as he did nine months ago when his weight loss journey began, Hammack rises at 5:30 every morning to walk before heading to Foxgloves and Ivy, his flower shop.When he began, he could barely walk a block. Now he walks about two miles every day, but he’s considering doubling the distance since he can cover four miles in the same time it once took him to cover two.After work, he hits the gym. Hammack belongs to a small gym where he works closely with the owner, who is a personal trainer. He gets pumped up by synchronizing his treadmill work out to a playlist on his iPod music player. He also goes out dancing several times a week. Since losing the weight, he’s learned how to dance the country two-step.“Find something to do in the evenings,” he said. “Get away from the TV.”Hammack now weighs 210 pounds, down from 276 when he began. He’d like to lose 20 more pounds. His blood pressure a year ago was 190 over 120, which his doctor said was a “walking stroke.” It’s now 120 over 80.Hammack’s advice for others who want to lose weight? Get a complete physical to see if there’s a medical cause for the sudden weight gain. Low testosterone, one known culprit, is at epidemic levels for men, and low vitamin D concentration is also an issue.“It’s never too late to change,” he said. “It’s never too late to do something to change yourself for the better.”With the excess weight gone, Hammack is looking forward to several reunions. A native of Macon, he’ll soon be attending a reunion of his Boy Scout troop.“We keep planning these reunions, and the last time they saw me, I was an old, fat man. Now I really want to show them how I look,” he said.That goes ditto for a reunion with his Air Force buddies. He will soon be seeing fellow vets who were stationed in Germany together two decades ago.“I’m going to show them I’m in better shape now than 25 years ago,” Hammack said.There’s no end to the activities he enjoys. But mainly he’s happy that he doesn’t have to say no to anything because of physical limitations.“If friends say, ‘Let’s go on a biking trip in the mountains,’ I want to say ‘Great, let’s go,’ and just be ready for anything,” he said. $(document).ready( function (){ var so = new SWFObject("/sites/all/themes/mnn/worldshares/WorldSharesAnimation.swf", "worldshares2", "100", "50", "9.0", "#FFFFFF"); so.addParam("wmode", "transparent"); so.write("flashtwitter"); $(".horizontal-social-links td a[href*='worldshares/dopoints/share-twitter'] ").click( function (){ // sendToActionscript("worldshares2","3"); return true; }); });

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