Moving to www.liberatinggrace.net

Thank you everyone who has come to visit my blog. I have switched over to wordpress and obtained my own domain name. You can find my new and improved website at www.liberatinggrace.net. I hope you enjoy!

Fitness Freedom

The summer may be the season of bikinis and skin showing, but the spontaneity is throwing me off kilter. Summer is a time to enjoy the season, relax and enjoy. In fact, I just got back the other day from vacation in Montreal, Canada. And yet today I want to be lazy and lay by the pool. Bruno Mars had it right in "The Lazy Song" - "Today I don't feel like doing anything." After all, our bodies and minds need to relax and there is nothing like the warmth of the sun to move us to tranquility. Freedom to enjoy the summer is what I want, strawberry shortcake and all.

However, I also want to feel my best. In Montreal my husband and I ate a lot of food. Very little of it contained vegetables. We probably ate dessert twice a day. It was a food fest. Delicious. But that kind of routine is only enjoyable for so long. And I think a week is the max for me. I can honestly say I started to miss my spinach. After a while, loose eating habits shackle you. I started feeling kind of gross, heavy, sluggish. In fact, I literally caught a mini-cold.

Have you ever heard of the book "Decisive" by Chip Heath and Dan Heath? It was recommended by my Operations Management professor and even though I'm just getting started, I will second his recommendation. This book discusses the 4 Villains of Decision Making, one of which is narrow framing. I'm going to take the advice of this book and expand the scope of my fitness decision. I do not need to decide whether I should enjoy the freedom of summer or enjoy the freedom of feeling my best. Rather, I will ask how can I maximize my health this summer with freedom to enjoy, relax and feel good?

Measuring Fitness

There is a glut of ideas about how to lose weight and get fit, and there are just as many theories about the best means of measuring your results. Even if you want to move forward with an intention for wellness instead of a specific goal, it is still a good idea to take some baseline measurements to better understand your development. That is why I compiled a list of ways to track fitness and the pros, cons, tips & tricks that go along with it. 

-          Number on the scale

*Pros: It is super easy to just hop on a scale and record a number.

*Cons: Your weight fluctuates and even if you see a sustained downward trend, you don’t know if you are actually losing fat, water weight or muscle. Also, you may either get cocky if your weight is dropping or get discouraged if your weight is not changing as quickly as you hoped. Additionally, determining your “ideal” body weight can be quite fiddly, especially if you’ve never had a point in time where you felt good about your body.

*Tips: Weigh in the morning after you go to the bathroom. Some people swear by weighing every day, others weigh once a week or every other week. Still other people have sworn off the scale because it hurts instead of inspires their motivation. My Fitness Pal is a great app to record your weight. This is a good website to help you calculate your ideal weight. 

-          BMI: BMI stands for Body Mass Index. It is just a calculation related to male or female, your height and your weight. You can use the same website listed above for BMI guidelines. 

*Pros: It is easy to calculate.

*Cons: If you are particularly muscular, BMI may indicate you are overweight when really your body is quite healthy.

*Tips: Play around with different weights on-line to pick your goal BMI. As you get closer to your goal, be mindful of other factors to decide if you should adjust it. 

-          Body Fat Percentage: Just like it sounds, this test measures your body fat percentage.

*Pros: Unlike the scale or BMI, this measurement distinguishes between fat and the other components of your body (water, muscle, bones etc.) 

*Cons: It can prove challenging to identify the best healthy ranges to use; there are many out there. Also, it can be tricky to actually get this measured accurately. Results differ depending on the person doing the measuring and the instrument used.  Additionally, it is not as easy to purchase a body fat percentage measurement instrument.

*Tips: Get the same person to measure you. Recognize that there may be some fluctuation.

Check out this article from CNN about the different ways your body fat can be taken. As I said, I've seen a variety of ranges, but  here is the WebMD version. 

-          Measuring

Take measurements on your chest, hips, waist, legs, neck, arms, whatever you would like to see shrink.

*Pros: It is relatively easy to measure yourself. The only tool you need is a tape measure.

*Cons: It can fluctuate with no actual change in your body shape because the measurements were taken differently.

*Tips: Do your best to measure in the exact same place in the exact same way as you had previously. I recommend measuring yourself. Even if you are in something like Jenny Craig where they will measure you, you may have different people taking the measurements and that makes a difference. Record your measurement in your myfitnesspal app.

-          Clothes sizes

*Pros: You don’t have to spend much time recording information to know if your clothes size goes down.

*Cons: Especially if your fat is distributed quite evenly, it could take a while before you actually go down a size.

*Tips: Keep those pants that get too big on you as a reminder. Also, everyone loves those pictures where you wear those baggy jeans and smile at your weight loss.

-          Before & after images

*Pros: This hones in on what you are probably really looking for - a healthier, more attractive appearance. While it is nice to see a smaller number on the scale, it is pretty much only you and your doctor that see that, whereas everyone sees your body.

*Cons: It is hard to put in words what the image shows. You have qualitative evidence of your progress, but it is not quantified.

*Tips: Take pictures with different ranges of modesty. I’ve heard advice about taking pictures of yourself naked. That is actually a pretty good idea but you may want some pictures you wouldn’t mind showing people…

-          Heart Monitoring

o   Resting heart rate

It is not news that your heart is constantly beating. However, you may not have considered the importance of lowering your resting heart rate. The premise is that your heart can only beat so many times and by lowering your resting heart rate, it will take longer for your heart to reach its last beat.  Your resting heart rate is how fast your heart is beating when you are just sitting around (resting). This is typically measured in beats per minute (bpm). You can either put your fingers on your pulse, watch a clock or timer and count or you can use that free machine that most pharmacies have. That machine is nice because you can find your blood pressure at the same time and it is free. Historically I aimed for below 60 bpm, but lately I strive to be below 50 bpm.

o   Recovery time

The less time your heart takes to recover from exercise (return to a resting heart rate), the healthier it is. You could do a certain exercise to reach a certain heart rate then use a stop watch or clock to see how long it takes to return to your resting heart rate.

*Pros: This focuses on heart health, not just appearance.

*Cons: Recovery time in particular can be challenging to consistently measure.

*Tips: If you want to very accurately measure your exerted heart rate to resting heart rate consistently, you’ll need some kind of device to detect your heart rate. Often treadmills or ellipticals will do this or there are different wrist bands or thing other items you can wear. An unscientific option is to do the same exercise until you can no longer hold a conversation, or some other intensity indicator, and then count the time until you feel normal again. 

-          Stamina Tracking

o   Time tests

Run, cycle, swim, row or do any other kind of activity for as long as you can.

o   Distance tests

Do one or many of the above activities, but this time travel as far as you can.

Do the same thing, but see how far you can go in a set amount of time. Your distance in a fixed period of time is indicative of the intensity you can maintain.

*Pros: This focuses on cardiovascular health, not just appearance.

*Cons: You have to do these things to get it measured so you won’t be able to measure any time you feel like it.

*Tips: In elementary school they did a one mile running test each year and that is a good starting place. You may want to decide whether you want to increase your intensity within a certain distance or time or if you’d rather increase the distance or time you can maintain the same intensity.

Some other aspects of fitness you may want to try to measure are flexibility and strength. You could consider which yoga poses you are able to hold for a certain number of breaths or track reps and sets and the amount of weight you can lift. 

Perhaps you are seeking results that are even more challenging to quantify such as pain reduction, energy or confidence. You could find a quiz or survey or come up with your own questions and take it at different times to see the different result. Get creative.

Think about what you truly want out of your personal fitness and pick one or two ways to track your fitness.  Get your baseline levels written down on paper so you can look back on how far you've come!

Don’t forget to comment about which of my ideas you use or would like to start using. Also, please do share if you have some other ideas. 

Intuitive Eating

Image courtesy of Dino de Luca www.freedigitalphotos.net

I am exploring intuitive eating. There is a book aptly titled “Intuitive Eating” by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch that further explains what it is about. What I have taken so far is that intuitive eating is about respecting your hunger and fullness and following your body’s natural instincts. It is an anti-diet, with no good foods, bad foods or judgment.

Eat Convenient, Cheap, Healthy and Tasty

www.pixabay.com

Unless you are a vampire, you need to eat food. Everyone does. However, that does not make us entitled to eat whatever food and however much food we desire whether we have the money or not. This is a category that sometimes gets out of control for me. I hope to continue the conversation about this huge budget item beyond this post and we can start more closely aligning our spending with our aspirations together.

Grocery Transformation

There was a day when all I bought was frozen foods, bread and sweets. If I was being healthy, I would buy a banana or two. For the last couple years my grocery habits have changed for the better. I have found that my nutrition for the week is much more closely aligned with my nutritional intentions when I take a few minutes to plan out my week. I think through my day and the different food groups and add specific items to my grocery list. That way when I am in the grocery store I’m just grabbing items off the shelf instead of making impulsive decisions.  Here are a few ideas for the different food groups to get your brain going as you make your grocery list.

Hungry Girl

Image thanks to HotelMonacoMuenchen at pixabay.com

As I am writing this, I really want to get an ice cream sundae. I feel hungry. And I want ice cream. Unfortunately I’ve used up my calories for the day. Not that a sundae is the best option when you are hungry and trying to lose weight.

Why is it so hard to lose weight? Probably because it takes 5 minutes to down 800 calories and an hour of intense cardio to counter act that one decision. So what is a hungry girl who wants to be a skinny girl to do?

Oldie's Grooves to Get You Swinging

Image credit to Geralt at pixabay.com

Sick of your work out playlist? Get some fresh energy from a flashback in time. 

9 Reasons Yoga is Awesome

Not sure what is so great about Yoga? Here are 9 reasons.

Escaping the After Work Binge

Image credit to Hans at pixabay.com

Feeling ravenous, you do all you can to avoid speeding on your way home. When you finally arrive, you turn on the tv, kick off your shoes and start digging through the fridge. You grab whatever you are able to make edible in the shortest amount of time. Once that food has been consumed you feel magnetically drawn back to the pantry and the night continues with the same pattern. You end up feeling gross, angry at yourself for such little willpower and tired because somehow it is difficult to get yourself in bed despite the low energy night. Sound familiar?

Dream Seeking

As I discussed in Un-goalifying , I am moving toward my purpose by dream seeking. What does that mean? I’ll tell you.

100 Fun Ideas to Get Active

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Sick of your work out? Here are 100 ideas to spice it up. 

Un-goalifying

Photo courtesy of Luigi Diamanti / freedigitalphotos.net

By both nature and nurture I am a high achiever. In certain ways, I love to create long lists of ambitions; the more items to check off the better. The high of placing the Nike swoosh next to my accomplishments is elevating. Yet goals choke me.

5 Ways to Sneak in a Calorie Burn

If you are limited in time but want to start moving toward a more active life style, these ideas are for you.

Overwhelmed with Goals?

There are so things to works on in this world, do you ever feel overwhelmed? I do. I could make lists and lists of the different things I want to learn, the skills I want to use, the people I want to meet and places to visit.

Diet Lapse?

I do not know what was going on, but yesterday I just couldn't stop eating dessert. Easter candy started really haunting me and the birthday cake sundae from Braum's has been calling my name for awhile and yesterday I decided was a good day to go for it.

10 Guidelines to Sustainable Healthy Eating

I’m in the middle of a dietary revolution and my fresh outlook is making it possible for me to slim down permanently. By focusing on adjusting habits, rather than barreling through a diet with short-lived superwoman willpower, my success will be stay.

Stretching (or Contemporary dance) Playlist

I used to think slow songs were boring. Now that I am more involved in dance, I love them.

Workout Playlist

I have no idea how some people workout without music. Of course my workouts are pretty much always some form on dancing, so I guess music is mandatory for me. Anyway, I hope these songs get you PUMPED.

To Be or To Diet

I am 5'8, 161 pounds and I am at the high end of the healthy weight range for my height. This is how I've always been. I have the desire to lose weight, if for nothing else to just see what I could look like 15-30 pounds lighter. However, I am one of those diet addicts that don't get results. Actually, the net result is excellent weight maintenance, but I can't seem to actually lose weight for more than a few weeks. When I fail at dieting, I start thinking maybe I should just try to accept where I am at. Sometimes I just want to be. However, I know I can't just end defeated; I want to press on. Can anyone relate to this?