Dumping The Fat

That’s right - sugar is now my enemy.  I don’t really know where the idea came from.  Maybe years and years of reading has finally sunk in that sugar = bad when it comes to the type of results I am wanting.  Now, I’m not talking about fructose, which is the sugar in fruit.  Fruit = very good.  I’m talking about the sugar found in cookies, soda, candy, etc.  What I didn’t realize until grocery shopping this weekend is just how many food items contain added sugar, like salad dressing.  I love Ranch dressing, but it has sugar. 

So I have had no foods containing added sugar in 5 days, except for a tablespoon of Ranch dressing on my wraps, which I’m thinking I’ll give up the Ranch later on.  And I have to say that I have never felt better!  I have so much energy that I actually walk with a bounce in my step, which that hasn’t happened in years!  I feel like, dare I say, that I’m in my 20s!  Yay Me!

It’s amazing what can happen when you get rid of the junk in the diet.

Now, I haven’t checked my body fat percentage yet.  I’m thinking I will Friday.  I do know that I can see a difference in my arms, that’s for sure.  I’m starting to see some definition again in both my arms and my thighs.  That’s always a good sign.  I weigh about the same, though, so I am going to have to do some measuring as well. 

When I saw my chiropractor a couple weeks ago, we talked about the weight training/sick issue and here is what he suggested:

• Build up my cardio first
• Take at least 1 Echinacea per week to keep it in my system
• Be sure to take my Omega-3s
• Ease into weight training instead of jumping in full throttle

While I wasn’t happy that I had to “ease” into it, I have followed his advice and so far so good!  I’m thrilled!

For the first week, I walked on the treadmill 1 mile per day at a minimum for 6 days.  Most days, I threw some intervals in there by walking at a brisk pace for 5 minutes, jog for 1 minute, walk 5, jog 1, etc.

Week 2 - walked on the treadmill 4 days and weight trained 2 days.  I only did 1 set of 15 reps for each exercise I performed.

Week 3 - this week.  I did a 30 minute cardio session and 15 minute stretch session yesterday.  Monday I weight trained for 30 minutes by picking a few exercises and did 2 sets of 15 reps.  I think I did a total of 6 different exercises and worked my abs.  Today is weight training day and so I’ll probably do the same thing - 2 sets of 15 reps.

I have taken my Echinacea every week so far, and have been *trying* to remember my Omega-3s.  They’re in the freezer (to prevent fish burps) and so it’s easy for me to forget them.  I am getting in flax seed every other day, though, so that helps.

I’m getting stronger, I can feel that, and that makes me happy.  I haven’t checked my body fat percentage lately.  I thought I would hold off for another week or two.  I haven’t been sick the past 3 weeks as far as colds/flu/sinus/ears (knock on wood), so I’m hopeful my chiro’s advice is working.

Okay, I am really neglecting my blogs.  I haven’t updated my weight loss blog with any weight loss news since November!  I just have too much on my plate, I think.  Plus, with spring coming and my daughters getting back into sports activities, something has got to give.  I am thinking it’s one of my websites.  I was mulling it over last night, and I am just going to have to give one of them up.  It won’t be this one because this is my personal one.  It’s not here to make me any money, so I feel no pressure to keep it up to date.

Anyway, so I decided in the midst of all this fat loss madness to stop smoking.  What was I thinking?  Fat loss and not smoking, I’m thinking, aren’t going to mix.  Before I started my Chantix prescription last week, my BF % was down another .2%.  Yeah, not a lot, but for someone who isn’t working out intensely, I thought that was good.  Well, I started my prescription, and even though I am still smoking a bit, my weight has increased 2 lbs. already!  It was actually three, but I’m down a pound today, so it’s only 2 for now.  I am walking on the treadmill every day for at least 17 minutes (1 mile for now), but evidently my metabolism is starting to slow down because I’m not smoking anywhere near as much as I was.  I imagine I will be completely done smoking by the end of this week since the smokes are bringing me NO pleasure whatsoever.

This whole experience brings me to the question - why did I ever start smoking?  I don’t know.  I was very young.  I have smoked for over half of my short life.  Stupid I know.  I guess I started smoking because I just wanted to try it because both of my parents smoked.  However, why did I continue?  I don’t know.  There are lots of psychological reasons I have been reading about lately.  They would make no sense to a non-smoker, so I won’t go into them here, but they make perfect sense to me.  A lot of it has to do with the way I grew up, and today just isn’t the day to bare my soul, I don’t think.  I’ll save that for another day.

There is some good news - I am officially a paid writer!  I took on 2 new gigs in the past few weeks, and one of them happens to be as a writer at Suite 101.  I’ve been writing for years, but to actually be paid - wow!  Anyway, that’s where I’ve been - busy, busy, busy.

I did talk to my chiropractor about my sick/weight training issue, and will post the tips he gave me in another post, so be on the lookout for those.  I have been following his advice and so far so good!