weight control

Getting Active

Getting Active

For those who aren’t following me on Facebook, I’ve taken on the challenge of participating in the Pole, Pedal, Paddle next April. It’s a six part event. My part of the event is the five mile run and the half mile sprint.

I have NEVER been a runner. I plod along at a pace that’s hard to distinguish between walking and running, but I decided I could do this. Since I started running in May, I have gone from a 15

exercise Walking the dogs at sunset

minute mile to last week a 9:35 mile.

Some of you might think I’ve always been committed to exercise, but that’s not true. It’s really only been in the last 10… Read More

Sedentary—Exercise

Last week I blogged about my job and my concerns about how sedentary it is. I’ve worked to change my work habits, and I have been successful.exercise

Start Exercising

First, I reduced the amount of time I sit. If I’m on the telephone, I stand up and move around so far as the phone cord allows. Second, instead of sitting and editing, I print the edits and ride the exercise bike or stand at the kitchen counter and do leg raises. An added benefit is, I’m getting more fiction writing done. Third, I’m investing in a standing desk, but that is still a few weeks out. While I’m pleased with the changes, I still have to remind myself to get up and move.

Exercise… Read More

Get Up and Move

Sedentary Equals Health Risk

Even though I’m a fairly active person, my job puts me at risk because it’s sedentary. And if I’m under deadline, I can sit for long, long periods of time, which is part and parcel with being a writer, but these facts are making me rethink those habits.sedentary

Research

The Mayo Clinic reports research has linked long periods of sitting to increased problems with:
  • Blood pressure
  • High blood sugar
  • Excess body fat around the waist
  • Abnormal cholesterol level
  • Obesity and metabolic syndrome
  • Cardiovascular disease
  • Cancer
Adults spending less than two hours a day in front of the TV or other screen-based entertainment compared to those who spent more than four hours a day had nearly a 50 percent increased risk of death from any… Read More

Emotional Eating

emotionalLast week I talked about my issues with stress or emotional eating. Usually blogging about something helps me get back on track, but not this time. All week long I found myself eating when I wasn’t hungry and unable to stop. With everything going on, I’m eating for reasons other than hunger. Because I had several other readers comment that emotional eating is an issue for them as well, I went online and found a site that helped me, How to Recognize and Stop Emotional Eating. The opening paragraph resonated with me. “We don’t always eat simply to satisfy hunger. We also turn to food for comfort, stress relief, or as a reward. Unfortunately, emotional eating doesn’t fix emotional… Read More

Stress Eating

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, I kicked off the new year with a huge life change which has generated plenty of stress good and bad. We sold the house we’d lived in for 20 years and moved out of state. We have been homeless for the last five weeks. Even though we found a home, we couldn’t move in for six weeks after we sold our house. stress Our empty house Now, five weeks after our move, I’ve started to settle in, but in 10 days we move again—the second time in less than two months.

Stress

I’m beginning to feel the stress again. No regular meals, no time to prepare meals, no time to exercise, and a… Read More

Setting Weight Loss Goals

Weight Loss Goals

I’ve always been a goal setter—from work to exercise to weight loss. I recently read a post by Diane Carbonell on are you focused on the right thing when losing weight. goals Crash mountain biking in Bend, Oregon. Good news the bike survived! Her blog was about goal setting, and it made me realize that setting a goal to just lose a certain amount of weight wasn’t enough to be successful. For me, it also included an attitude change. I was no longer just losing weight, but changing my lifestyle by eating when I was hungry, stopping when full and getting plenty of exercise—not just a set amount of exercise, and even challenging myself… Read More

Fighting the Obesity Epidemic

The Klutzy Athlete is out being her Klutzy self and rerunning a blog today.  Will be back soon with more nutrition and exercise. We have an obesity epidemic on our hands, and no one seems to know how to stop it. If you have a loved one who is obese, you’ve probably tried anything and everything to get them to lose weight. Guilt, shame, bribery, badgering, coercion, but nothing works, does it? So what do you do? obesity image courtesy of (c) Jason Stitt/123RF Having recently lost someone I loved to complications from obesity, I want to take on the obesity and knock it into outer space. It’s time we all start fighting. All out cage fighting. No more… Read More

Exercise Tips

exercise Doing Push-ups I’ve been following Rebecca J. Clark's 30 Day Weight Loss Challenge on Facebook, and it is loaded with fabulous exercise tips. Did you know that after just two weeks of being a couch potato you could lose 25 percent of your strength? That made me sit up and take notice, especially with winter on the way.

Exercise Tips

exercise Elbow Planks Rebecca said doing this circuit workout one to two times a week can maintain your strength.
  • Sit and stand from chair—20x
  • Jumping jacks—20-50x (if you can do 50, do 50)
  • Push-ups against the wall/counter/floor—15x
  • Step ups (up, up/down, down on step)—20 each leg
  • Elbow planks—hold as long… Read More

Dieting Again

32639157_s Image courtesy of Okolaa at FreeDigitalPhotos.net I’m dieting again. The three most dreaded words in my vocabulary. Fortunately I haven’t used those words in almost two years, but they still haunt me. They lurk in the back of my mind. What if what I’m doing stops working and I start gaining weight again? Ever find those thoughts and fears becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy? In the past, that’s what it’s been for me, but I’m starting to feel more confident that what I’m doing is working, and will continue to work. I attribute much of this to the fact that I no longer deprive myself of foods I love until I lose weight or until I go off… Read More