The ELFF Diet

I'm in need of a cyber hug

Dude.  I'm having a problem.  It's in my capoeira class.

Now, let me set the scene a bit. I'm 38 years old.  I'm female.  There are 12-15 other people signed up for this class.  All are male.  99% of them are under 25.  50% of them are under 21.  None of them have children. Everyone is SUPER nice and very encouraging.  I really like all of them, and everyone makes me feel special and important.

But I'm different.  I accept that.  I don't fit in. Ok, whatever.  I don't have to fit in. It's not all about me.

I began taking capoeira in June. I've progressed reasonably well.  I was doing pretty well and then I was injured and missed the months of September and October.  So I just started back in beginning of November.  I have forgotten many of the things that I learned.  The evades, the kicks - it all seems foreign to me.  when I missed for those two months, the class learned A LOT.

The end of the questions

The very generous and captivating Hanna asked: How do you handle your frustration over missing a workout, or eating cookies when you know you shouldn't?

Missing one single workout doesn't phase me too badly.  One workout isn't the end of my working out.  I know that there are days that it just might not happen, for whatever reason.  Maybe I've got to many things to do with my family, or too much laundry, or blogging or whatever. It's when a day becomes a couple, maybe due to injury, that I get antsy.  I try as hard as I can not to miss a workout, just to make it a part of my day.  In fact, I'm currently tinkering with my afternoon schedule a bit, to try to fit in some capoeira practice time.

But when I miss a few days because my toe gets broken or my IT gets messed up, I have a tendency to get depressed.  My body, surprisingly, seems to NEED exercise.  I become grumpy with my family and surly with the public.  Pretty soon, someone sends me out to run or tosses me into the gym.  That's part of the reason I try so hard to do it every day - I KNOW how rotten I will be to everyone if I don't.

As far as eating something I shouldn't, I try not to label foods as "good/bad".  If I eat a food that's not as good for me, say, Italian sausage and white pasta, I make certain to get a little bit more of a workout/work harder.  I know that I could get really down on myself if I eat the wrong stuff, so I remind myself of that when I'm face to face with chips and salsa.

And even more questions!

Stupendously great Amy asks:  First 5K is turkey day. I bought the under armor leggings for outside walking/running through fall & winter. Though the size I bought (xlg) kept falling down this past weekend when I attempted running on my 'walk' So I need something warmer then yoga pants for my 5K next week and only have this weekend to get it done. Any suggestions? I also bought an under armor fleece jacket that keeps my middle warm but not my arms. I'm guessing I need an outer layer? I haven't a freakin clue but don't want the elements to be my undoing or my failure to even show up for my 5K....
Help!

I am so sorry that your question went unanswered, and now your 5K is over!  But maybe this will help someone else.  First, I'm not in a frigid climate, but it does get pretty cold here in the winter.  I have the underarmour tights and they rock, but mine are too big as well - they slide down.  So I'd recommend getting a smaller pair.  My typical outfit is the tights, a long sleeve underarmour or the like shirt, a polarfleece jacket (I remove it after about 10 minutes and then just carry it), and a beanie if it is under 30 degrees - an insulated headwrap/ear warmer type thing if it's between 30 and 50.  I also wear the underarmour gloves.  I really like their stuff.  Nike has a good line of comparable stuff for cold weather.  I really get hot when I run, so that's the most I ever wear.  I also never run without my Mace, both people and pet version.

Phenomenal Kendra inquires:  You've said before that you get up at 5am to get your work out in. Could you share some of your tips for time management? Maybe a 'day in the life' type post? I'm not a morning person and am having a difficult time working in a regular cardio time-and I don't work, and only have 3 kids. I know, excuses, excuses, but a glimpse into your days could help me and others figure out when to get it in.   Gah.  The bane of my existence.  How to fit in the exercise.  I do get up at 5 Monday, Wednesday and Friday to work with my personal trainer.  I then take the kids to school, go to work and work from 8:15 to 1:15.  I try to do some housework and cooking after work.  Sometimes, I try to walk or do ab work when I get home, but I'm usually really tired and flop onto the sofa. 

I am NOT a morning person by any stretch of the imagination.  People at the gym know to give me a wide berth until I have completed a few sets of exercises.  Ask me how they learned THAT valuable lesson.  I am finding, though, that I have been getting up easier.  I think once you've done it for a while, your body becomes used to it.   On the weekends, I try to get up early and run.

I take capoeria class Monday and Wednesday nights, which make for a really long day, since it's not over until 9:30 p.m.  I also take capoeira on Saturdays.  I try to run on the weekends or at night when my little guys are in bed.  If my housework isn't too far behind.  I have to force myself, sometimes, to get out there, but I am always happy once I'm actually DOING it. 

The rest of my life fits in around that. Does that help answer the question?

The next question is below the fold!

Question Number Five, and Number Six and Seven as a bonus!

I'm just barreling along here with the questions.  Hopefully, I'm not boring you guys!  I am addressing three in a row tonight, just to mix it up a bit.

The poetic Heatherl asks : Any suggestions for exercise videos?   I know I've said it here before, but I really like the TurboJam series a lot, especially the Ab work out and the body sculpting with weights. I tried the Tae-Bo, and I really liked those for quite a while.  Once I was given the TurboJam, though, they quickly became my favorites.  I've had them for over a year and still use them in heavy rotation.  I also enjoy the HIp Hop Abs.  Anyone else have suggestions?  I recently gave away most of the other dvd's that I use - I get bored quickly.  Check out Netflix or Blockbuster Online for lots of different choices.

The awesome Ashlee asks:  Sooooo, I just signed up for a half marathon. I started training today (OMG it was HARD) and I have a loooooooong way to go. What training regimen did you use? I have the couch to 5K program that I am starting with and then I'm on my own after that. Any advice?

What training regime did I use?  None.  And that probably sounds stupid, but if I committed to a regime, then that would have meant I was actually going to DO a half marathon, and there was no way out of it. I am not good at committing, you see, and always like to give myself an out.  What I did, basically, was two things.  First, I walked a lot and upped my distance that way.  I walked upwards of ten miles three days or more a week.  Then I started running bits and pieces of each mile.  I started off with one minute at a time, and then recovered.  Repeat. I slowly worked up to ten minutes.  But I was hampered by a stress fracture in my left foot, so my practice right before the race was sporadic.  I don't think I'd recommend my plan, although I'm doing it again.  ;)

Question Number Seven below the fold.

Make Elff work for you Monday: Something new

It's Monday again!  How did you do this week?  Did you get your exercise in, eat your veggies, drink you water?  Did you stay away from fats and sugars?

I'm trying, I'm really trying.

For this week, I want everyone to try something new.  The twist is that you get to choose what it is that you try.  Will you try protein powder for the first time?  Mix vanilla with fruit juice, or chocolate with milk and a spoonful of peanut butter in the blender - both are really quite good.  And that's something I NEVER thought I'd say.

Will you try a new form of exercise?  Sign up for spinning, karate, or belly dancing?  Purchase a copy of Hip, Hop Abs?  Start running for the first time? Pass the football with your son or work up a sweat kicking the soccer ball with your daughter? 

Eat a new vegetable, maybe kale or rutabaga.  Drink soy milk in your coffee, or switch up and drink green tea instead. 

The point is, YOU get to pick what you want to do this week - either make a food change or an exercise change.  Pick something and let me know what you decide!

It's Question Number Four

The amazingly talented LC asks:  How did you manage to keep moving when you were at your heaviest? What kept you motivated "beyond the pain" when exercise was hard for you?

How did I keep moving?  I have no idea.  I just did.  I made a commitment to myself that I would do some form of movement every single day.  I'd either walk or do an exercise video, but I had to do it every day for a minimum of thirty minutes.  There were days, in the beginning, when I couldn't walk more than a block without resting.  Literally, I'd walk a block and sit on the side for a few minutes.  It was so hard and I was so discouraged, but I knew that if I didn't keep it up, I'd quit exercising altogether and put on more weight.  Failure was not an option this time.  It hurt. It hurt plenty.  I used epsom salts for baths - when I took them, which was rare as I don't really take baths - rubbed Arnica on sore muscles and bruises - miracle stuff, that - sat with ice packs on injuries.

If I hurt somewhere and a certain exericse was too hard, then I'd do a different one.  Running has been hard with my broken toe - up until this week, when I ran four miles three days in a row YAY ME! - but I did elliptical work.  Messing up my IT Band meant no running or walking, but I was able to do a bit of bike work and concentrated on my heavy weight work.

What kept me motivated?  Simple. My desire to never ever hear my daughter tell me her friends thought I was fat.  My desire to never look like the pictures I had of myself, pictures that I've saved on my computer and still see every day.  I was motivated by a smaller number on the scale and by compliments I heard from others.  If I only lost a pound that week, it helped to look at a pound of butter and see that I lost that much.

Thanks for asking, LC!  I hope that answered your questions!

Strategies For The Big Day

Thanksgiving day.

Duh-duh, DUH! 

It's one of my favorite holidays.  No presents to buy, no costumes to procure, no eggs to dye.  Just sit and eat until you burst, lay around watching football, and then have a snack or twelve, followed by a nap.

Uh, no.  Not for you, not for me.  So how can we make it through one of the best (and biggest) meals that you will face all year?  Try these tips:

• Take a walk first thing in the morning.  Getting out there recommits you to your healthy lifestyle and reminds you that today isn't a free for all.
• Snack on a salad, baby carrots or other raw veggies, a piece of fruit, or a small bowl of soup about an hour before the start of the meal.  That way, you aren't ravenous - the edge of your hunger is gone, leaving you more relaxed to make healthy choices. 
• Have two splurges.  If Aunt Janice makes the best rolls, but you really don't crave marshmallow topped sweet potatoes, choose the roll - not both.  Figure out which food is the more rare - which one you have to wait all year to eat - and choose that over the mundane.
• Use a smaller plate. 
• Commit to one plate full of food, with at least half of that plate devoted to vegetables and fruits.
• Choose your beverages wisely.  For every glass of wine, have a glass of water after. 
• After dinner, stack the dishes, run some water over them, and let them sit for an hour while you go outside.  Take a walk, play frisbee, toss the football, kick the soccer ball. This serves two purposes - you get some exercise and the dishes aren't so difficult to clean.
• Pack up all the leftovers and send them home with your company.

Enjoy your day!  Spend the time wisely, visiting with your family and not burying your face in the mashed potatoes.  It is one day, one meal - don't give it so much weight in your life and on your scale the next day.

Question The Third

Paige and Angie, I need your addresses to mail your exercise dvd/videos.  Email me at momtothescreamingmassesATgmailDOTcom asap, otherwise, someone else will get them!

The visually stunning Leticia asks: Here are a couple... What are a couple of staple meals that you make at your home? What are a couple of quick substitutions that you've made with your lifestyle change (like, you used to buy this, now I do use this instead -- i guess specifically with food)? Are there a couple of habits that you have tried to incorporate into your daily life (like maybe parking far away or taking the stairs, etc)?  Any advice for the upcoming holidays?

Staple breakfast: Fage yogurt with fruit and a handful of homemade granola, iced coffee.  Just about every day, I have this same thing.  If it's not that, it's a scoop of protein powder in water, blended with 2 fruits. 

Staple lunch: About three times a week, I crack open a can of black beans, pour half in a bowl, sprinkle a handful of cheddar cheese, cut up two tomatoes and eat it either with baked chips (salty chips are a huge weakness for me) or in a whole wheat tortilla.    If not this, it's usually a chicken breast with salad.

Staple dinner:  Chicken breast with salad, or green beans, sweet potato, or broccoli.  Once a week or so I'll have whole wheat pasta with homemade sauce (ground beef cut in half with soy crumbles).  I might make a casserole (something like Greek pastitiso with whole wheat noodles) and have a small portion with salad and fruit.  Tonight, I had Fage yogurt and fruit.  I was too tired to do anything else.

Quick substitutions that I've made?  Water for soda, homemade iced coffee with WAY less sugar for full fat white mocha, whole wheat pasta for white, fruit for snack instead of bagels/muffins/scones/breads. Fage 0% yogurt instead of HFCS laden varieties, sometimes with candy on top.   Is that what you were asking?

Daily habit?  That would have to be exercise.  I try to do SOMETHING every single day.  The biggest change that has resulted in is that I am exhausted by 8 p.m.  I fall asleep and, barring a kid waking, sleep straight through.  I do try to park further out, take the stairs when possible, do pushups and squats when I have a few minutes at work. 

I am going to talk about holiday strategies tomorrow.  Pinky promise.  I'm also going to try to get through the questions without leaving you all stranded.  There are some really good ones left!

Something I've been pondering

Warning:  ranting and raving ahead.  If this bugs you, come back tomorrow and we can discuss strategies for dealing with Turkey day.  I've just got to try to get this out and clear up some stuff in my head.

You all know how there is a prejudice against fat people in this society. 

I know I don't have to tell you this.  If you are a fat person, and I was, you are aware of it. You aren't a contributing member of society, according to some people. You don't have the INTELLIGENCE to avoid getting fat.  You are too stupid to know that you need to exercise.  Please don't be offended.  The Good Lord knows that I'm not the one saying this, but these are things that some people say about fat people. I heard them when I was out, read them online, and saw these gross generalizations represented daily on television shows.

I've been very surprised to find that there is also a prejudice against thinner people as well.  I know that when I was fat, I assumed that the thin people had IT ALL.  They had it all together; if you could fit into a size 6 pants, all was right with your world.  You had no worries, no troubles, and everyone wanted to be your friend. 

I have really been stunned by the comments that I've heard in the past year.  "I'm going to watch what you eat," someone told me at a party.  "That way, I can eat like you and lose weight."  Right.  Like eating certain foods is all it took.  I wish.  It would have been easier.

"You aren't any fun when we go to dinner, now that you don't eat!"  Well, I must not have been much fun before, what with the stuffing my mouth.   Goodness knows I probably couldn't speak well around all the food. 

"Are you watching what I'm eating and making a judgment?" Right.  Like I have time for that.

"Look at you, eating fruit.  You are so good, and I'm so bad."  Nope.  No one is good, no one is bad - some food choices are better than others.

When I said that I needed to buy new jeans - and that's all I said, not a complaint about how hard it was to find pants, or anything else, the response was, "I hate you.  I wish I had your body/your willpower/was lucky like you."  Um, right.  There was no luck involved.  There WAS hard work.  Lots and lots of hard work, lots of willpower and giving up favorite foods and making a choice EVERY day. 

How will you know if you have willpower?  How will you know if you can do it if you never try, if you hide behind excuses and try to make other people feel badly about their success?  If you tell everyone that there is no way that you can do it, there isn't.  If you say to yourself, I can't do it, I'm not even going to try - well, then, that's your choice.  Don't try to make people who've made the sacrifices and buckled down to the hard work feel GUILTY about what they've done.  Listen - no one hit me with a wand and granted me a wish of an 80 pound less body. I worked HARD.  You can work hard.  There is no magic formula, no secret.  Just getting out there and getting it done, day in and day out. 

What do you want to do?  Where do you want to be in two years?  Do you want to be the weight and shape you are right now, maybe even heavier?  Do you want to be on your way to a healthier life?

What can you do to get there?

You are worth it.  You ARE.  You can do it.  You CAN.  I KNOW you can.  I will do whatever I can to help you get there.

Just don't try to make me feel badly about my success.

Make Elff work for you Monday: Work On Your Quadriceps!

So, it's Monday again.  How are you doing with your exercise?  Making good food choices?  Drinking lots of water?  Sleeping enough?

Today I want you to add a new exercise to your arsenal.  It focuses on your legs.  First, stand with your elgs a bit more than shoulder width apart.  Turn your toes out just until you are comfortable.  Now, squat down until your butt is level with your knees.  Rise up on your toes.  Hang out there for ten seconds or so. 

Feel it?  A little burn?  Good.  Now, raise up just a few inches, maybe three.  Hold for five, lower back down to your first position and hold for five.  Keep your heels lifted the entire time.  Repeat a dozen times, or until your legs are burning so badly you want to cry. 

Then, take a break and do a few more sets of 12 at various points throughout the day. 

How many sets can you do?