Splenda is my Friend

Yes, here I find myself in need of losing weight yet again. I weighed myself almost every day while living in Virginia, during my extended Christmas break, (something I have never done) and that daily reminder of just how heavy I have grown helped me make good food choices each day and kept me eating wisely throughout the holidays,which resulted in no weight gain.

Yesterday I spent some time reading through my Weight Watcher books and I have decided that I will try a new program called Switch. And I will spend this week on the “no count” program.

No count is a slightly inaccurate title because I still have to count certain things like: Bread, Chocolate, sweets, certain cooking ingredients, dried fruits, nuts, fats & oils, juices and sodas, milk with a higher fat content than semi-skimmed, salad dressings & sauces and some spreads. But the reason I have chosen it is that I don't have to count every single thing that goes into my mouth, if I eat food from the “No count food list”. This plan seems more likely to succeed because I have a really hard time counting accurately with Russian labeling which more often than not does not tell me the calorie and fat content. Something I need in order to do the regular Weight Watcher program. On no count I get 21 points a week to spend on the above listed “counted” items. So yesterday I spent 3 points. 2 on the yoghurt I ate that wasn't fat free and 1 on the low fat homemade onion gravy I ate with my lean roast beef that is free/no point if I eat a sensible portion. I also drank another 1 point for dessert a lovely hot chocolate Dean stirred up for me. That I earned by exercising.

Yes, it looks like this month the only desserts I'll be eating are the ones I earn by exercising. I have the handy slide rule in which I formulate how many points I earned by deciding how hard I worked, low, moderately, or hard, then the length of time. Then I look on the other scale find my current weight and that tells me how many points I earned. I jogged strenuously for 30 minutes which earned me 4 points. And I saved 3 and spent 1.

So with persistence and a bit of time I hope to be a lighter trimmer me.

Now for the fitness part of the plan:
I will begin following the “Escape your Shape” workouts from the book of the same name. My shape is “ruler”, so each day I will do the unpleasant Ab work the author proscribes as well as the other resistance exercises. And do at least 30 minutes of strenuous aerobic work 5 days a week. He has set for me the challenge to be able to jump rope for 20 minutes continuously. (Last time I tried I made it to one minute before the rope bumped a chair) He says once I am proficient at jump rope jumping then I will have no weight problem, if of course I jump rope at least 3 days a week.
This month my favorite aerobic activity is cross country skiing. Or what I think of as “over the river and through the woods” skiing. (Although I don't have a Grandmother's house to end up at.-)
It is also Sasha's favorite pass time too. She loves snow so while I huff and puff I get to watch her cavorting through the snow.

So now you know and hopefully having people to report to will give me that little edge of self control. I really want to establish the habits before I face my week of temptation in Sharm Egypt.

Why do I want to do 50,000 push ups this year?

When I was 36 I managed to talk my doctor into getting my insurance company to authorize a bone density scan. Turned out my spirit guide had been right, I needed to know that I had the bones of a 50 year old. My legs and hips were okay probably a result of all my youthful dancing. Unfortunately my arms, spine and neck were severely osteopenic. I began exercising even more diligently than I had been. Three hours a week lifting weights, on “off” days doing push ups and lat raises and other exercises to strengthen the arms. I also increased my consumption of calcium rich foods. I was told that in order for calcium to actually strengthen bone mass exercise must be done. Otherwise the calcium might be deposited in soft tissue and organs.

Bone strength is usually directly related to muscle strength, which is why most men do not loose bone mass as fast as a woman. They have more muscle to begin with. My doctor told me that it is not uncommon for women over 30 to lose up to 1% of bone mass a year. Scary information for me to digest, I was only 36 and had the arms of a 50 year old and it could get worse.

Several years later my bone density was again scanned though on a different machine in a different country. I had increased bone density and lost some which resulted in about the same percentage as before. Frustrated I rededicated myself to diligent exercise.

Five years later the same machine scanned my bones and showed an increase in bone density of 5%!!! Wahoo! I had gained instead of holding steady.

They say there only two types of motivators in life, things you avoid and things you move towards. I developed a movie to play in my head when I was tempted to skip a workout. First I would experience being in a hospital bed, the sounds of the heart rate monitor, the feeling of dark hopelessness because I had broken my arms and back and therefore was incapacitated. I would feel significant pain from the broken bones and because I was thirsty and unable to get myself a drink of water. The room was dark because I could not reach the light switch. Then I would smash through that experience with a brilliant view of the mountains surrounding Garmish Germany and experience the pleasure of powering up the beautiful mountain trail with my children and Grandchildren. I can picture the wild flowers and the hay barns and gorgeous meadows because my children and I used to climb it. I imagine laughing and playing with my grandchildren and being an energetic vibrant example to them. With that image in my mind going to spend an hour on the weight bench seemed like a great investment of my time.

Now that I am in my 50th year of life I hope that my bones are younger than my age. And when younger woman ask me why I do Tae Kwon Do and push ups I tell them I am preventing broken bones and osteoporosis and investing in my unborn grandchildren. 