“When we commit to action, to actually doing something rather than feeling trapped by events, the stress in our life becomes manageable.” ~ Greg Anderson

This is so true, and on my journey with self discovery and facing my truths, I have come to know this. My life is a lot easier. Have I met my goals yet? Nope. But I am closer than I was yesterday. And tomorrow, I will be even closer yet! 🙂

Follow Me on Pinterest

Follow Me on Pinterest

A lot of the inspirational material I gather is on my boards at Pinterest. I have a board called “Getting Healthy One Day At a Time” where i gather things from all over the web that relate to my journey. Recipes, motivational views , exercise information and so on. Since I am very neglectful in my blogging (but hey that means I am not setting in front of the computer much) I thought I would give you another place to look for inspiration.

Living Lean

Living Lean

Living Lean is a program I participated in with good results for understanding my brains role in my food addictions and how to outsmart my brain or reprogram it. I am really excited about this journey.

New Labs Are Great!

Okay I posted about my cholesterol and triglycerides being through the roof right? They have been climbing steadily for 3 years. My doctor gave me 3 months to shape up or I would have to go on statins. He wanted me to increase my fish oil to 4 a day. I just could not remember to take them and I could not take all 4 in the morning or it would make me sick. I managed two a day, but was afraid that would not do the trick. Then someone told me about Red Yeast Rice and I did some research online about it. As per most recommendations I saw I decided to take it with L-Caritine.

The results 3 months later were fantastic! All my values were back in normal range. My triglycerides are on the high end of normal and I am pretty sure I can contribute this to my sweet tooth. I am desperately trying to get that under control through behavioral changes and hope the blood work I did today shows an improvement in that. My good cholesterol could also be a little higher and I am working on that as well.

I will come back later and post my before and after lab values. I have to look them up first, not making up shit here.

Fitbit

I have officially converted from fitbug to fitbit. Fitbit is smaller and does a lot more. It tells how many floors of stairs you climb, how many steps you walk, how many calories you burn, how many miles you walk and how well you sleep! It also calculates the number of calories you can have on any given day based on your weight loss goal and how many calories you have burned that day. Uber awesome. Now if it could cook and clean I would be set!

You’re just steps away from better fitness. Try Fitbit now.

My apologies, I have disabled the link above (well actually wordpress did it first, but then I edited and took link out) because I found out I am not supposed to do this. I can put a link to fitbit I think, but cannot have it link to my blog or something. Anyway if you want to check out fitbit, just go to fitbit.com.

Hypnosis

Wikipedia says “Contrary to a popular misconception—that hypnosis is a form of unconsciousness resembling sleep—contemporary research suggests that hypnotic subjects are fully awake and are focusing attention, with a corresponding decrease in their peripheral awareness.^[6] Subjects also show an increased response to suggestions.”

I have purchased two of Glenn Harrold’s apps and am giving them a go. Even if they do not actually help with weight loss, his soothing voice with the soft British accent helps me relax so I can fall to sleep easier. 🙂

The two apps I have are Lose Weight and 741hz Solfeggio Sonic Meditation.

http://www.glennharrold.com/products.html

The 741 is a combination of Glenn’s hypnosis and music by Ali Calderwood based on the ancient solfeggio musical scale. You can read more about this here: http://www.hypnosisaudio.com/product/741hz-solfeggio-meditation-expression-communication-370

I am also reading about the solfeggio scale in other places because it intrigues me. Not that I believe it works, but I find the concept pretty interesting and I don’t think it does harm either. Music is very moving in general in so many ways. Some music makes you want to move, some music can affect your libido, and other music can be soothing and lulling. I’m not sure it can heal you or make you lose weight, but it is pleasant to listen to.

I have lost a lot of my impulse to eat junk food and for emotional eating in general in the last week or so. Is it because of the apps? Can’t say for sure. It could be that as I force myself to stick to a healthier regime, I am becoming more accustomed to this and developing healthier habits. But I want you to know that a full box of donuts were passed around our workplace Tuesday morning followed by pizza at noon in celebration of National Rehabilitation Month and I had no desire to indulge in either. I got out the lunch I brought with me and ate it with no problem and without a feeling of being deprived.

At night I will often eat my supper and immediately crave something sweet afterwards.  Last night after eating my supper I had a mental discussion with myself weather or not I wanted something sweet. Even something healthy like an apple. I was trying to decide if I really wanted to stop what I was doing to bother with eating something sweet just because that was what I always did. I was even arguing with myself that if the desire was not there and I did not really want it, why add the calories? Not adding them will help with the weight loss.

I think maybe the apps are helping. Can’t prove it, but I just feel like they are. I am not saying you should all go buy these apps, you have to decide how you feel about such things. But I think I will continue to listen to them. They do no harm and they may be doing good.  *note to self…you need another topic to write about now don’t you?* I will do some research on other subjects this afternoon, but first I want to pick some pecans up from under our trees.  Have a great afternoon!

 

Creamy White Chicken Enchiladas… Sort Of

Love enchiladas, and this blogger has a healthier way of making them!

Exercise…stop groaning, it’s important.

If you are overweight and have poor nutrition your energy levels may be low and you don’t feel like exercising. You may even be depressed because you are overweight and have low energy which will make you seek solace and comfort, maybe from favorite unhealthy foods. If you eat unhealthy foods and do not exercise it will be impossible to lose weight and increase your energy which is depressing which makes you…..well you get the picture.
Get off the merry go round  in a fun uplifting place. Do something fun that requires movement. Any amount of movement in the beginning for any duration. There is a saying out there “No matter how slow you go, you are still lapping the ones on the couch.”

My current fun place is downtown Corsicana, Tx at Shall We Dance Studios participating in Zumba Classes. The instructors are uplifting and encouraging. There are people at all levels of skill and endurance. I can now make it all the way through and hour class, but in the beginning I had to rest several times during the session.Of course it didn’t help that I skipped the beginners class and dove right into the full thing.

I am also a member of Anytime Fitness Gym and try my best to get there. I have to be honest and say I do not get there as often as I should, but I am working on scheduling so that I can be there more often. (I am also working on deleting all my excuses.) Strength training is good for building muscle and improving bone density. Of course it will make you stronger as well and improve your endurance. There is also the opportunity to do cardio workouts at the gym. Just slap that iPod shuffle in your pocket, strap on the headphones and rock (or jazz, or country or whatever floats your boat) your way to good health.

Something that I have found important to me is feedback. I get my feedback from a device. I wear an advanced pedometer called Fitbug that tracks my steps, and even tells how many of them are cardio. My steps are uploaded to my computer with USB cord (and now they even have a bluetooth wireless one!) and my activity is tracked there on the program with graphs that tell me how I am doing. In addition I am able to enter my nutrition intake and the program tells me if I am in weight loss, maintenance or  weight gain zones. There are many devices and programs out there. Anytime Fitness also has a program online to track your activities and nutrition that comes with your membership. Programs ike Weight Watchers Online and Fitbug also have a recipe builder where you can figure out the nutritional values of your favorite dishes.

Using these tools helps you to be accountable and keeps your views realistic about what you are consuming and how little or how much you are exercising.

Through my company I am enrolled in Power of Vitality and am participating in educational programs provided to help me with my journey. The weight loss class is teaching me that I do not HAVE to diet, I do not HAVE to restrict certain foods I do not HAVE to exercise. It is always my choice. I can eat as I please and exercise (or not) as I please. It’s all up to me.  But I CHOOSE to Live Lean in order to meet the goals that are important to me.

I have a little sign by my desk that says “Your life is a result of the choices you make. If you don’t like your life it’s time to start making better choices. “

Now, push your chair back away from the desk and stand up. Lift your right foot off the floor bringing your knee to your chest. Put it back down and repeat on the left leg. Do this 20 times each then sit back down. Moving mountains? No not yet. Burning mega calories? Not hardly. But you did move, and it didn’t kill you. You are on your way! Find what inspires you and get going! don’t worry, I’ll be here when you get back. (Well unless my A.D.D. dictates otherwise!:) )

wyer’s world

The adventure has begun. Bear with me as I scratch my way through the world of blog and learn the ropes. I hope to take a journey to a healthier me, and if possible help others with their journey. Information shared here will be from research and my own experiences. It is my goal to be a Wellness Warrior more than in name only, fighting for my good health and that of my co-workers, friends and the world at large. Starting off right ambitious aren’t I? 🙂

I will tell you up front that there will be lapses in my presences here because no matter how dedicated I want to be my A.D.D. often whispers in my ear ” screw that, lets go do something else” and off I go. So if you come to enjoy my blog when it is up and going, and I have a lapse, just contact me and tell me to get off my duff and back to it!

Enough blogging for the mo, time to set up the backdrop.

 

Toodles!

Your Body Knows!

Triglycerides are not nice. They put us at a higher risk for all kinds of nasty diseases like heart disease. Your doctor can tell you if your Triglycerides are too high with blood test.

Normal triglycerides = less than 150 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL).

Borderline high triglycerides = 150 to 199 mg/dL.

High triglycerides = 200 to 499 mg/dL.

Very high triglycerides = 500 mg/dL or higher.

Mine were 540 recently. That was not a fasting test, and I had just eaten a large meal, but non-fasting results that high are bad news as well. In fact non-fasting results can tell you additional information about your body . A high non-fasting result that is high is an indicator of increased risk for stroke according to some studies. BTW I am not going to quote studies and sites on my blog. For someone with A.D.D. it is just too much. And besides, I know you all know how to Google. If something I say on here does not sound right, Google it please, and let me know if I got it wrong. I am most certainly capable of error!

Something  I learned that changes the way I think about what I put in my mouth, is what your body does with the foods you eat in regards cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL and LDL. I discovered it in an article when I was researching the cholesterol in shrimp and it’s impact on health. (BTW shrimp are okay, just leave off the butter and/or sweet coatings.) Okay, back to what your body does with stuff.

Three different cholesterols are made in your body in response to foods you eat:

LDL (bad stuff) comes from eating saturated fats. You know, like from that double meat cheeseburger or that 16 oz steak? If it says moo it’s bad for you. In fact all animal products including whole milk products contain saturated fat. That is why these things should be eaten in moderation and lower fat versions should be chosen over full fat. So trim the fat and see where you are at.

HDL ( good stuff) comes from foods high in unsaturated fats, mostly plants. Like nuts and avocados and peanut butter and olive oil . Yaaaaa! SO now you can go out and gorge yourself on those things right? Wrong. Here’s why: If you are over weight and have a high reserve of fat in your body you are increasing your unhealthy state. Fats of any kind are dense in calories which contributes to being overweight. Get the weight off first and figure out how much you can eat with your exercise level and then you will know how much unsaturated fat you can have without problems. So like if you ride a bicycle 500 miles a week up hill both ways, you can gorge yourself on these foods. Otherwise moderation is key.

Triglycerides (not nice at all) comes from eating foods high in sugar and foods with refined carbs causing your glucose levels to spike. So back away from the Twinkie and listen up. There is no sweet treat more important than your health. The next time a piece of gooey chewy sweet treat heads in the direction of your mouth, think about them turning into little cholesterol wax monsters that swim through your arteries until they hit a curve or something and then they start piling up and making a clump and building a little dam across your artery. You can guess what happens next. Yep, shuts off blood flow and then things get ugly. Same goes for white stuff like bread and pasta. Better get a little brown if you want to stick around!

I’ll be back later to add some nifty images. Right now I have to go eat the wonderful supper my husband has prepared!