Moving to a New Location

While it’s been fun having the blog on wordpress.com, I’ve decided that I’m taking this blog and several others that I maintain and merge them into one Big Blog at www.dontbeapicklebump.com.

The great thing is that I’m still using WordPress but will also have added flexibilty and control over the presentation of my writing and pictures.  So come visit me and check out the new digs. There’s still some construction going on, but it’s all good!

Sustainability

I think the gardening has officially gone to my brain. One thing that I’ve been thinking about lately is sustainability…. in my life overall and the impact I have in my daily life in terms of trash, etc. I grew up on an acreage and we raised our own food when I was growing up. We had a good acre’s worth of gardens and raised our own chickens, ducks and turkeys. We also raised pigs for a while. I grew up in a house where not a lot was wasted and Christmas sometimes came from the thrift store. I’ve changed some habits – I’ve begun recycling stuff; I have a plate, bowl, cup and flatware in my desk at the office so 1) I’m not always eating out of plastic bowls, and 2) I’m not putting more plastic into the garbage bin and throwing away a bunch of paper plates or styrofoam cups. The magazine I picked up last night, Experience Life, is put out by Lifetime Fitness and I really like the approach. They look at fitness, but the editors definitely realize that if you don’t integrate it into your life, fitness is not going to be sustainable. They take a whole body and soul approach. I also like the fact that the editors actually talk to the people who did the studies instead of just quoting them and I like that they treat me, the reader, as if I have a brain. And the magazine walks the walk and talks the talk – they give you the option of either a traditional paper magazine subscription ($19.95) or subscribing to the digital edition for $12. I’m pretty impressed, even though I haven’t finished reading yet.

Million Pound Challenge Update

42990 lifted. Not as far as I wanted to be. but I’ll take it. Gardening has been whupping my butt the last few weeks.

I’m up to 32,790 lbs lifted. I would be further along but the week after I started this whole little project, I managed to get an infection in one of my fingers and it took a while to get it all cleared up. But I’m on like donkey kong baby and at least when I lifted on Monday evening, I wasn’t as sore as I was when I first started back at it at the beginning of the year.

My Frustration with The Biggest Loser

If you couldn’t tell from my last post, I was really frustrated after watching the Biggest Loser on Tuesday. Two things I really noticed this time were product placement and the perpetuation of the myth that it’s all about the scale. Let’s tackle the product placement first.

I’ll admit that I haven’t been a regular watcher of Biggest Loser over the past few seasons, however I was really irritated by Jillian and Bob obviously plugging Cheerios and Fiber One. The Brita ad over the sink is kind of annoying and I can live with the 24 Hour fitness logo splashed across the Gym wall, but I was irritated that Jillian made Kristin throw away a perfectly good bowl of oatmeal so that she could eat the sponsored cereal, especially since they are doing the thing with the food banks around the US. It was a waste of food and oatmeal is a perfectly acceptable choice for breakfast. 

You can mix up a bowl of oatmeal in 5 minutes and spice it up with a few nuts, some cinnamon, a banana, or a few raisins, and a splash of skim milk. Add a couple eggs  or egg whites on the side with some salsa and you have a great breakfast that keeps you fuller a lot longer than a bowl of cheerios. It has healthy fats, carbs, and protein for you to start your day with.

I think the thing that really got my panties in a bunch is Jillian’s comment about “losing inches is just some bullshit that trainers feed their clients.” Anyone who has recomped their body knows that it’s not always the scale that is the best indicator. I lost a significant number of inches when I first started lifting but my weight maybe changed 10-15 lbs. I laid in a lot of muscle and lost a lot of fat, but you couldn’t tell it from my scale measurements. It was only when I took progress pictures that I realized that while it’s useful, the scale is not a great  tool, nor is it the only tool to indicate weight loss. The tape measure and pictures are also good indicators.

Anyone who is has a trainer who is relying on one method to track their weightloss ought to fire that trainer.

Question of the Day

On The Biggest Loser tonight Jillian said something that made me stop. She said that it’s bullshit when trainers tell people they’ve lost inches and not pounds. Yet when I first started on my journey, that is what happened to me. I’d stay very steady in terms of my weight and lose weight occassionally, but inches would down steadily.  I don’t think the friends who were there with me and saw the pictures were blowing smoke.  And I could see changes in the pictures.

So what that change all in my head?? Was I blowing smoke up my own ass?? Is it bullshit???

Leave a comment and let me know.

Downward the Weight Goes

The decision to eat 2-3 servings of whole grain, 5 servings of fruit and 5 servings of veggies seems to be a good one for me. I’m down 5 lbs for the month and the weight is not flucuating as much as it was.  It appears to be a more steady trend. I’ll see if I can get a pretty little graph from Open Office here in a bit to illustrate what I mean.  If I just look at the numbers, I seem to be bouncing around a bit more.

So for now, this goal continues as is, even though at times all those good things seem like a pain in the rear end to eat because it’s a lot of food!

Getting Back on the Wagon Baby Step 1

I have to admit, I’ve been struggling with staying on the wagon. I know what to do, but I just can’t quite get fully there. So I’m taking babysteps to get back up on the exercise and diet wagon.

The first step is getting out of the fast food habit I developed over the course of the hurricane and it’s aftermath. So I’m focusing on making sure I prep my own food. While I’m not counting every single calorie that goes into my mouth (babysteps remember!), I am making sure that  I focus on the following things every day when I prep my food:

• Eating 2-3 servings of whole grain/legumes/dried beans. Seriously you get lots of fiber and can add some protein to your diet by doing this. Not to mention that it fills you up and keeps things moving from all the fiber.
• Eating 5 servings of fruit. This one was eaiser to achieve than I thought. A banana added to my oatmeal; berries in my plain yogurt; an apple, orange or tangerine here and there to help curb my hunger. The sugar from the fruit definitely helps curb my sweet tooth.
• Eating 5 Servings of veggies – and I’m not talking about huge bowls of salad (there’s only so much salad a girl can take!). I’m talking sweet potatoes, corn, turnips, beets, peas, green beans and broccoli just to name a few. I try and eat at least two servings of veggies with my main meals. Although I am finding that a small salad before I fix my main dinner is a good way to stop me from gnoshing while I cook.

The best thing is that by eating this way I can eat more volume without packing in a ton of calories and I feel fuller longer.