Monday, December 8, 2008

Breaking it down...but not too far down, lol!

Well, I said I had "stuff" bursting..... All of these subjects deserve a seperate blog post, but anyone that knows me know that I'm a "long story teller"....too many details, lol! So here I can break down the first 3rd, only writing about one paragraph to each title and lead you down my thought processes a little farther...until I get the time and energy to elaborate more.....

How much food do we really need? Not much! If you weigh more than you want to, or should I say, if you are of an unhealthy bodyweight.....because many of us are of a healthy bodyweight, but say we want to weigh less (for whatever psychological reasons)....then mostly, plain and simple, too many calories in, not enough calories out. Eat less, exercise more or do both.

Come to terms with what it takes to maintain the bodyweight you say you want to be. It may or may not be your body's natural setpoint......

The biology of food obsession. I used to feel bad about my constant thoughts about food, until it hit me...... I believe it is in our genetics, to a certain degree, to have constant thoughts about what we are going to eat and what our next meal is going to be. Why?

Well, if you think about what life was like before these modern times of abundance and convenience, we had to grow, kill and prepare all of our own foods, and the foods of our families. That's pretty time consuming, lol. From the time we wake up, to the time we went to bed our only jobs were to survive, and a large part of surviving meant making sure we had food.

What? You mean we didn't always have grocery stores? lol

Living like an athlete. I am an athlete. I think of myself that way, and so should anyone and everyone that knows the importance of scheduling, and following through, with a physical activity (s) that is progressively challenging in a way that makes the body, mind and spirit healthier and stronger. Humans are animals....you have to move it or lose it.

Never stepping on the scale, ever again, for the rest of my life....so extreme. Do I always have to see things so black and white? I'm just asking...lol..... To weigh, or not to weigh? I guess it all comes down to this.... how does seeing a particular number, or not seeing a particular number make you feel? Personally, when I expect a "bad" number, I'm not surprised and I take it like a grown up and use the number simply as "data". But if I'm expecting a "good" number, and I don't see one, then I give up, eat like crazy, and then expect a bad number....which I get, it's no surprise, lol....then I start again. It's very demotivating to me to work so hard training and dieting and not get rewarded. I've been very short sided in my thinking that way.

Bottom line, do I feel good? (about my body) Do my clothes fit? Am I able to preform, athletically, the way I need to? Am I eating in a healthy way? Not just healthy foods, but healthy eating habits......

Too much food. Again....more about too much food? Well, when I wrote this I was thinking about my fridge and freezer. I simply can't eat the amount of food I can cook and prepare and maintian the bodyweight I say I want to be. I don't like buying food to let it go bad and throw it out, I'd rather not buy and prepare so much. But it's so easy for me, and I love to do it, I had to come to terms with the fact that I have to stop, or at least slow the heck down!

That's one reason why you haven't seen many food posts, because I am not cooking as much as I was....I still have 2 qts. of applesauce in my freezer, along with squash and tomato soup from summer. I have yet to roast a winter squash, and it freakin' December! Please, can I finish summer and catch the bounty of winter before spring? Good Lord!

Cute underwear. I never throw out my old underwear when I buy new ones....why not? Well, I guess they still have a few more "miles" left in them, lol! But the problem is that I always grab the old pairs when I workout....which is everyday, sometimes twice a day, because I don't want to wear my "good" ones to get sweaty in.

Well, guess what? I own a washing machine, that's what doing laundry is all about lol! I can wear my cute ones to workout in, in fact I deserve to wear cute underwear not matter what I'm doing, Why buy, and own, cute underwear and then chose to wear the old crappy ones? I'm throwing out all of my old underwear.

Overtraining out of fear. I don't think it's good to do anything out of fear. Easier said than done. This thought is in relation to trying to out-exercise fat. If you have healthy eating habits, and again, what you eat is as important as how you eat, then, in a perfect world, you would never have to try and "out-snatch" a donut.

The straight and narrow. 4:30pm yoga sucks. It sucks especially since I wake up around 4am, so by the time 4:30pm rolls around I've been up over 12 hours. But, because of Mark's work schedule it's the only time that works for him, so I have to manage my food to accomodate this late 90 minute workout.

I can't starve myself and be strong for class, but I can't overeat and survive 90 minutes of intense endurance training in a room heated to a humid 104 degrees....it's keeping me on the staright and narrow.....big time!

No sympathy / having compassion. Good freakin' Lord, this one is tough! It's tough because I'm such a hard-ass. I am so sick of hearing fat people say this...."I've tried every diet known to man, and it's never worked"....bull shit. You know what? If you have an eating disorder, then call it what it is. Say instead...."I'm a compulsive overeater and I haven't made up my mind to stop, because, for now, I like overeating more than not overeating.", Or this...."I'm addicted to food and eating, and although I may be able to find the discipline and willpower to control this addiction long enough to lose a few pounds here and there, I haven't found a way to deal with my addiction."

Every diet works, but can you live on it? Can you find a satisfying way of eating that supports health for the rest of your life? I think you can....I did. So I'll have compassion for "the struggle", "the fight", "the doubt", but none of us are victims, overweightness is not something that has been "done to us", we do it to ourselves....take responsibility.....and for that reason I have little sympathy.

Prioritizing. I can only speak for my lifes' schedule....I know people are busy, but if you are too busy to find the time to do what you need to do to move toward health, then you should be too busy to find so much food to eat!

Life's too short to not eat oatmeal. I love oatmeal, I could eat it for every meal. I love it with milk, 1/2 & 1/2, cream, yogurt and even vanilla ice cream. I love it with sugar, honey, or maple syrup, and/or raisins and dried fruits. I try and eat it as my "carb only " meal, usually a few hours before yoga class, because I try and eat alot of veggies, and veggies are about the only thing I don't like with my oatmeal.....maybe a sweet potato (aka garnet yam), but that doesn't really count as a veg in my book. But Mark said to me the other day, "You know, you can eat oatmeal more than once a day!".......Oh yea, I can! LOL

Look next for my recipe for chocolate oatmeal.........

I'll be back with more "blog post thoughts" soon....in the mean time feel free to comment! In fact, I encourage your comments.

14 comments:

leslie said...

Hi Tracy. I've missed you! I haven't even read your post yet, but wanted you to know that I'm thrilled to see that you've written something new!

Beth said...

I really related to your comment about not weighing...I moved our scale into the other bathroom. I would like to stop doing that myself, though I know that once I get back into those smaller sizes, my curiousity is gonna get the best of me.

Diana said...

Loved the "no sympathy/compassion" section! If I only had a dime for every time I hear this one! Even with family. If you want to lose weight, you will. If you want to quit smoking, you will. If you want to..you get the idea. Just frickin' do it and quit bitchin' about it. I have no one to blame but me for getting to over 300lbs and I have no one but my inner self to thank for getting out of the shit life and into the best one ever. I know with the scale section, I too wonder why I own one anymore. I haven't made it move lately, but yet my clothes fit great and even getting looser. DAMN, THOSE KB'S JUST KNOW HOW TO DROP THE FAT LIKE NO OTHER MEANS OF EXERCISE CAN!! I have kicked up the kb training a lot since I can't get outside to run and bike like I used to due to massive amounts of snow! Pulling a sled with my kb's on behind my snowshoe outings only does so much-it's those swings and snatches that really bring it home. OK, now this is totally sounding like a commercial for kb's, but it's true-I've never been addicted to exercise like this before in my life! Everyday I go to work, I hear comments about how good I look and how they wish they could get themselves into doing something. Talk is cheap, body language is HUGE! Just go and do it. I'm glad (for the most part!) that winter is here, it gets me to really concentrate on the kb's.
Happy (and healthy) Holidays!

Jen said...

Hi Tracy,

AMEN to everything! Wear the cute underwear definitely! I don't have any myself but I think that might be a good thing for Santa to bring this year. These old ones just ain't right LOL! As I was reading you post I realized that :)

Your thoughts are always so clear and true. Thank you for sharing them and putting yourself out there for everyone all of the time. I for one cherish your posts and appreciate you. Everytime you blog you send me a little gift through the internet. Thanks! Plus I always learn great stuff too!!

I'm making matzo ball soup right now for my sicky husband... it's so nice on chilly nights.. can't wait to hear about your chocolate oats.

xoxo Jen

leslie said...

Wow, there's so much food for thought in this one! You invited comments, so...

Biology of food obsession: What you say is so true. In addition, I'm convinced that there is some sort of connection between how fat we are and how much HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) is in the foods we eat. It's like our bodies don't recognize it as food and don't know how to say "enough" you know?

Never stepping on the scale: Gosh I don't know about this one. I broke up with my scale, but sometimes I come back. My problem is that my "ideal" number (123 - 125) is a number I haven't seen since high school and is a number that's probably not based in reality. When I get honest, I know that losing more than 10 pounds would probably take me from looking healthy and feminine to looking emaciated. So why am I still stuck on "my number"???

Cute underwear: I've never told you how delighted I was when you switched to Lululemon fitness clothes. You look awesome in jeans, but at the Healdsburg kb seminar when you said you'd switched, I was delighted. But I wasn't sure why. I think it was because of what you said about the underwear. (Gotta run and toss a few nasty pairs out.)

Ok, I'm back!

Overtraining out of fear: You can't out-exercise a poor diet, but sometimes I sure do try! I just finished a race and need to take some time off and I'm concerned that I'll "get fat" if I don't exercise. If my diet is healthy and my portions are sane, that just won't happen.

Prioritizing: I think I read that if you won't make time for fitness now, you will have to make time for health problems later. And goodness sakes, who doesn't have 20 minutes to swing a kettlebell? You can even do it when you're watching TV if you must!

Finally, I'm happy you're back!

Tracy Reifkind said...

leslie,

Pictures will return again soon too....(and maybe a video or two!)

Tracy Reifkind said...

Beth,

I think it's important to weigh yourself regularly considering it's so easy in these modern times to overeat. But the key word is "regularly", that would mean different things to different people. For me at this time, once every 2 weeks, or so, will probably keep me happy and sane, lol!

Tracy Reifkind said...

Diana,

Somehow I knew you would like my thoughts about "no sympathy"...we are both "hard asses, lol!

Nike really hit the nail on the head with "Just Do It", it's so simple and true, but not easy! The real point, however, is to quit complaining about it and putting blame on other things, because I'm not claiming that it's easy.

The excitment about your kb training is so motivating, maybe its time to consider getting your RKC, lol!

Tracy Reifkind said...

Jen,

Seriously, go get some cute underwear, lol! Throw out all of the old shit, you're better than that!

It was great talking with you the other day, and I hope to see you soon....in fact if your up here this month I'm taking you shopping, lol!

Tracy Reifkind said...

Leslie,

There is scientific evidence about HFCS causing a physical reaction in our bodies to crave more HFCS! Can you believe I saw a commercial on TV the other day PROMOTING HFCS? I swear! Their claim was that "in moderation" HFCS is the same as sugar....blah, blah, blah

I saw 123lbs last year and it wasn't pretty! Thank God vanity got the best of me, lol! I hate to say it, but as we get older, super skinny just isn't nice!

My Lululemon addiction is out of control! The managers at the 2 stores nearest my house (Santana Row and Palo Alto) know my name! The only problem is that since I own 5 cats I can't wear it around the house for very long, lol! But taking so many weekly yoga classes I live in the stuff.

I'm never afraid of getting fat beause of missing any workouts, I'm afraid of not having that hard lean "pumped" feeling I get from my workouts, that's the part of training I love. If I could truly keep my portions sane, exercise or no exercise I would never have to worry about bodyweight. (I really dislike saying things like "if I could". Somehow I feel that claiming that I "can't" do something makes it true. So how can I re-phrase that?)

Fitness. I think the resistence to getting fit for alot of people is resentment (I'll have to write a blogpost about that, lol). We as a culture just don't move enough. When you think about how little time is involved, compared to a whole weeks' time, then not finding, or making, 20-60 minutes 2-3 times a week seems ridiculous....really, doesn't it?

Even Oprah after her announment of her regaining bodyweight has claimed to settle for, at the very least, being "fit and fat"...something I don't believe you can do......

I swear if Oprah hired me for one year to teach her how to prepare her own foods and swing a kettlebell I'd have her down to 140-150lbs....I swear I could!

Diana said...

Hmmmmm!!!! Hehehehehe!


PS/I'd love to see you kick Oprah's ass!

Keturah said...

I also have this thing about wearing my old underwear when I workout. But like you, I'm throwing out my old knickers. It's much more inspiring to workout in a new, cute pair.

I love oatmeal too :-) Here's another fabulous way to enjoy it: cinnamon, raisins, and unsweetened coconut flakes. It's a favorite in my house. Also, cinnamon and homemade (beet) applesauce is really yummy.

One more vote to see you train the fat off of Oprah. (I'm getting so tired of the Oprah acai diet advertisements, too!!)

Keturah said...

Oh, one more comment: I don't do the scale. I know when I'm fat because my clothes don't fit. I limit myself to once a month. When i'm not focused o the scale and numbers, it's easier for me to listen to my body and eat accordingly.

Jen said...

Tracy,

Yeah, I know, those Costco undies just aren't that cute, huh?! LOL!

*right hand raised*

I promise to buy some cute undies ASAP!

Yes, it was great talking to you too!! I would love to go shopping if we make it up there this month... we're still in negotiations, but you'll be the first to know if we can make it!

xoxo Jen