Move that Muscle

Ruminate these words from Bob Greene's Total Body Makeover: "Muscle is the most calorie-hungry tissue in the body; maintaining it uses about four times the amount of calories that maintaining fat does...Strength training can do wonders to reverse muscle loss...Some research suggests that you can reverse two decades of muscle loss in just eight weeks if you stength train conscientiously."

And if that weren't enough, listen to this: "Strength training with weights also builds bone, lowering your risk of osteoporosis, and increases the body's ability to use insulin to clear sugar from the blood, reducing the risk of diabetes."

OK, but what if all that weight training makes me sore, I wondered? (Don't worry. If you do it right, you'll be a little sore.)
Remedy? Get a massage!

Research indicates that massage can have a positive effect on your muscle-building capabilities and fitness levels, which in turn increases your capacity to control or lose weight. Other research shows massage bursts the fat capsule in subcutaneous tissue so that the fat exudes and becomes absorbed. In this way, combined with proper nutrition and exercise, massage may actually help in weight loss. (Read more...)

Soooo, I've got my first follow-up appointment with a trainer this morning. Later this afternoon, my brother and niece arrive for a long weekend. Guess what we're doing tomorrow?
Thermal baths and massages!

Tight Tuesday

First the good news. I am pleased to report another two-pounds plus 3.25-inch loss this week, bringing my BestLife totals to 18 pounds and 17.75 inches lost since January 15. Right now, I am two weeks ahead of schedule on my seven-month trek to goal weight and fitness. (DH has also lost 22 pounds.) Additionally, I have reduced my waist-to-hip ratio from .94 to .89 - which is still in the high-risk category; but we're making progress!

Next, the other news. Yesterday is the first day in over a month I missed my regularly scheduled aerobics class and strength-training session. Surveying my calendar, I realize commitments have piled up again. During dinner time last night, I caught myself gulping down food and not putting my fork down between bites...an old habit of eating unconsciously.

After only 3-1/2 hours sleep (because I was on deadline to finish a story), I woke up this morning to find the ground covered with snow. My body feels stiff, begging me to go walk or go work out, but I'm buried with work that's due now. The words from Dr. Phil's opening chapter are ringing in my ears: "If you are chronically overweight, I know that your manner of living can be characterized as inert, harried and chaotic."

My next intention is to set aside a specific time each week, and a smaller amount of time at the end of each day to structure my schedule to accomplish priorities first as part of my commitment to "positively manage the stress in my life in order to stop overeating in response to stressful events."

No, I didn't overeat, binge or indulge yesterday. But I thought about it, and that's a signal I need to re-balance. Again.

Have you found this journey to be like holding a baseball bat upright in your palm?

(Quotes from 2 Book Set: The Ulitmate Weight Solution: The 7 Keys to Weight Loss Freedom/The Ultimate Weight Solution Food Guide)

Stop Living Like a Lazy Slug

A refined Southern lady, my mother used to whisper a familiar reminder over the top of her fan during the heat of Louisiana summers, "Honey, we don't sweat; we glisten."

Dr. Phil isn't quite so genteel when he tackles the statistic that
66 percent of all Americans do not exercise. Unfortunately,
flopping a fan back and forth doesn't count as exercise.

*Failure to put exercise at the top of your priority list, or leaving it off the list altogether, is a deal breaker, because you are cheating yourself not only out of a way to shed unnecessary pounds, but also a way to stabilize a normal weight and stay healthy for a lifetime.

*Your mission is to overcome the inertia you now have and replace it with the forward momentum and direction you want.

* To really get your weight under control, you must stop living like
a lazy slug.

* Either you get this or your don't.

Sooo, this morning I popped out $25 to hire a personal trainer to set me up on a strength-building program. Toward the end of each set of 20 reps, I had to visualize a clear blue sky, sparkling turqoise water, clean white sand and palm trees blowing in the salt breeze.

I sweat. I hurt. But I did it. And I'll do it again. I am not a lazy slug. Not anymore.

Tips from:
The Ultimate Weight Solution: The 7 Keys to Weight Loss Freedom