Here I Am!

"Have you given up?!"

Well hello, how are you today?

"Updates! I want updates!"

Nice to meet you too. Thank you for contacting me. :P

No I haven't given up...I'll admit that I wanted to but after talking to my coach, we had to come up with a solution. One of them , I really liked which was he was going to start working out with me when he gets home and the other wasn't a good one which was, if I miss a day of exercising, his beloved goatee would be shaved...

It took me years to get him to grow that thing and I'm not ready to part with it! In addition, I had to figure out some other things. Yes, you know what? I'm still going to keep things secret in my life. I am not an open book, I don't want people to see what happens behind closed doors becuase most of what I get is:

"It's all right."

"Why aren't you doing this?"

"Meh, you could do better."

Guess what? That's what I hear inside MY head all the time, I don't need others saying it and discouraging me.

Then I started to think of other things as I was getting my workout on, and Scott got me a journal so I could jot down the exercises that I'm doing. I tried it a few times and realized that I like it because at the end of the day, I can record how many minutes I spent exercising, how may steps I took, and I can even plan out my day so when I realize that it's the :50 in the hour, I won't waste time wondering what I will do to fill that 10 minutes or when it comes time to get in my workout, I can go, "Okay today is my cardio day, so let me grab my Bally's Boxing DVD and workout on my Wii.

That's a good plug, Bally's Boxing on the Wii. It's not like the Wii boxing on the sports one, it's pretty cool so if you aren't into boxing and you want to get into it, check it out. :D

I guess you can say that I'm in plan mode, hence my silence, but dang people, it's not like I'm sitting around surrounded by cake and ice cream. Anyone can come our house right now, do a surprise inspection and you may find rice cakes. 

Now, where does this leave us?

On wants updates! Updates! Well, I'll take the averages of the days and give you your stinkin' updates. lol Maybe even see if I can take what I jot down foodwise on SparkleDiet.com and post it here.

I do have something to slow me down a bit. I have a cut on my leg and because it's not healing right and it's on the same leg where I broke my ankle so that place has swollen BIG time,  I have to wear compression wraps, which kinda messes up my walking a big. Scott calls it my peg leg walk and that's really what it is, but it's okay because right now, our walking area is covered with snow and ice. There's nooooo way I'm going out there. Our building doesn't believe in salting things so we have to rely on God to send us warm weather and rain...Lots of rain...to clear it.

Does God accept prayers for rain?

So tonight, I'm going to see if I can set up a template for my blogs from now on, so it makes it easier for me to fill in these things. This way, you guys can note my progress and honestly? I know myself, I HATE regressing!

That is all for now. It may not be what you all want to see, but it's what you'll get for now.

Love, Peace, and Hair Grease!

Maxine 

Happy Year 2013

First...Happy New Years! :)

Mine was a good celebration and so was Christmas considering. When I say considering, this is Scott's and his family's first Christmas without his father so it was kinda bittersweet, you know? Sigh.

Okay, I was asked about updates. First, I'll be straight up, Christmas I was like, "Paleo wha?" I had things that I hadn't had in a year. Meaning I had them during Christmas of last year. I'm not going to apologize for not being the sad looking person while others got to indulge a little bit. Nope, not at all.

There are somethings I find about the Paleo diet and there are somethings that I don't like about it as I stay on this path, but that will be discussed in the next blog as Scott and I tweak it a bit. The main thing is my body doesn't really like all the meat. I miss the bean option. I miss tofu.

The way I see it, we make our beans fresh, no cans. We don't salt the tofu or do anything bad to it, so why can't I have it?

I know what the book says, Donnell. But more of this tomorrow. :)

Exercise and Blogging by Disco Light!

This is my baby. My original one broke a few years ago and I thought, "Well, since I actually use it, I want another one!" I THINK Scott actually got me this one or I did and he replaced the light when I came out to Canada because it broke...

In either case, today, the thought of exercise bored me in between my work shifts, but instead of doing what I normally do...Push it back until I don't feel like doing it anymore, I decided to turn on this bad boy, crank up the music and to dance. The 15 minutes that I proposed to myself turned into 20 minutes, then it ended 30 minutes later. I'm even blogging by disco light. :D

I think it's time that I put the fun back into exercise, huh? Walking is done because I HAVE to walk. I strength train because I HAVE to and the same goes for boxing...Well my Wii game allows me to break it out for 10 minutes between shifts to keep myself going throughout the day.

What's so wrong with dancing, huh? People dance all the time. Yes, someone is going to gripe at me about doing it and tell me that I should be doing more, but you know what? I just knocked out 1/2 hour of my exercise regime, so stick that in your coffee pot and let it percolate.

Friday is coming up and Friday is weigh in day. I hate weigh in day. The scale is my arch-nemesis. It has thwarted me for many years. If you've never experienced the annoying stab of fear whenever you know that you're about to be weigh, then you are just a skinny bizznatch and I despise you. lol

Just kidding! I'm only slightly agitated. :D

I am more than just a number on a scale...That will continue to be my mantra until the day that I won't have to step on that sucka until I go for my yearly checkups.

Love, Peace, and Hair Grease groovy people!

Max & Her Disco Ball

Meals.

Hola to all those who read this! I am a mess! At least that's how I feel. I had some Coke Zero, pardon me, I'm jittery.

All right...

So my big brother said, "I'd like to see your daily progression with your diet and activity along with your thoughts here too!"

Hmmm...Well first I've learned a few things:

1. Getting to 5000 steps is INSANITY right now! But I know I have to keep trying. I think back to college and high school and I know that I had to be doing that plus more considering that sometimes my classes were on the opposite sides of the campus, now I'm like, "1000 steps, I need to sit." Don't worry, I'm not giving up! It's not going to happen. Neither is the man who calls himself my husband. He's like a gnat sometimes, "Max, can you push yourself to do more?" Most of the times, yes, I can and I do. Every once in a while, the answer is no. I cannot.

2. Blogging everyday. It's...HARD. Good grief, sometimes I don't want to sit in front of a computer after a hard day of work...In front of a computer. I am going to start out with twice of week for now. As more news comes in, I will create more but until then, 2 times a week. No more getting yelled at by a certain extra tall blonde dude. :P

3. I like the Paleo Diet. I had a friend say that it was a meat based diet and in a way it is but in a way it isn't.

First, I FINALLY get to work in the proper amount of protein in my diet each day.
Second, it doesn't make fruit out to be a bad thing! It encourages you to add tons of fruit and vegetables to your meals, plus certain nuts and fats.
Third, the recipes are easy to create. We don't have weird things to buy, most of them are in our house.
Fourth, all of their recipes are very low in salt and very low in sugar...PLUS and PLUS!
Fifth, I get to have leftovers for breakfast! YAY, lazy cooks unite!

4. The hardest part is the motivation. Motivation to do everything, including cooking.

Before another day passes, I should post this blog. I swear it's a few days old. Eh, I don't know. Just...Here.

Love, Peace, and Hairgrease!
Max

One Second...

While I try to figure out how I want to set up this blog. My brother mentioned that he wanted to see my progress. I wonder if that progress will come at the end of the week or if it should be every day. Then I wonder how should it look? How could I set it up so that it's easy from my end yet it's something that you all can see and go, "Ah, look at her go" or "Hmmmm...How can I cheer her on so she can do better?"

I've been researching diet blogs but so far, nothing has struck me as interesting...

I'll keep looking. I have not given up on this, I just need some time to construct it. :D

Love, Peace, and Hairgrease!

Maxine

Protein Deficient...Ugh!

Have you ever heard of this place called Sparkdiet.com?

It's a pretty cool website that helps me to track everything from what I'm eating to my workouts.  I was introduced to this place by my lovely PCP, Noelle and since then, whenever I get uber serious about working out and stuff, I always gravitate back to this site...

Only to be disappointed.

At the end of the day, it breaks your food groups up into 3 categories: Protein, Carbs, and Fats. It's in the shape of a pie chart and every time I get to find out that I'm not eating enough protein. I spent most of my life a vegetarian...But gosh darn it, how do I get more protein?! I noticed the Paleo diet incorporates more lean protein into their meal plan...

Is this what I need? Will this help me to get to the protein levels that I've desired? It's not like I kill it with carbs, but still, I feel like protein is laughing at me. As if it's saying, "Ha! You can't handle me, you tofu eater!"

Is protein to sexy for my mouth?

All joking aside...I am really happy that this book is going to help me revamp how I eat because then, I'll be able to laugh at the protein section. Perhaps...I might even get me over my Iron deficiency?

I'll keep you posted!

Love, Peace, and Hair Grease!

Max

Goals?

This blog is brought to you by Mr. Kalin Mitchell, who managed to remind me that I promised a blog a day. I have excuses, they are pretty good ones, but his reaction to hearing them showed me one thing...They are still excuses and they hinder my progress.

So...Thank you, Kaylay.

The purpose of this blog is for me to write out my goals, right?

“He who fails to plan, plans to fail”

Perhaps that has always been my problem? Who knows? All right my goals. I realize that I have to start small first. Another problem that I have always had was, I set these crazy goals, expecting for me to be as strong and as active as I used to be, yet when I try to do them and I fail, I quit.  In a way, I set myself up to fail, I think. You can place me in front of a mountain and if I'm all hyped up, I will say, "I'm going to climb that sucker like NOW!"

But, where's my equipment? Most important, when did I prepare myself for this adventure? That's right, I didn't. So to kick off my new lifestyle change, I'm going to set some short term goals, so I can work up to the long term ones.

Oh and if you have any suggestions on how to achieve them or if you have a suggestion, let me know. Thanks!

What I Already Do:

* Drink 64 oz. of water/day.

* Limit myself to 2 teaspoons of sugar that I place in my coffee/day.

* Use almond milk as a substitute for regular milk.

* "Try" to get in 10 minutes of moving for every hour that I am sitting. This works well because I work from home on my laptop.

What I Want To Do (Long Term Goals):

* Walk up to 10,000 steps/day.

* Be able to dance for an hour straight (I used to be able to do it)

* Play tennis once again. I miss it and the Wii game isn't cutting it because Scott cheats.

* Lose Toooooooons of weight. Well duh.

* Have a baby. Just one though.

* To get my license and drive.

* To not have to worry about a place only having chairs with arms.

* Most of the food that I eat is homemade. I would say 95%.

* Oh and did I mention that food is low salt/sugar? Yup, they are. 

What I Can Do Now (Short Term Goals):

* Start with 5000 steps/day. The suggestion of my hubs.

* Get it down to 100% of the food that I eat is homemade.

* Break up the 1 hour of dancing into 10-20 minute increments/day. Then as I get stronger, combine those things.

* Incorporate the Paleo Diet into my meal plans. Hey, it works for my brother, why not me too?
* Edit: And go to be earlier. 2am? Not a good idea.

 What am I missing? Any suggestions or is this a lot already? Talk to me, I'm listening!

Love, Peace, and Hair Grease!

Max