RazNoggle

So I’m not a nutritionalist, and if one were to read this they’d probably just laugh at my ignorance. That’s okay, I’m not trying to be all knowledgeable, just sharing some conclusions that I’ve come to. Oh and they’re not set in stone of course. Just like most fitness “advice” that we’ve all seen come and go (eggs anyone?) perceptions do change.

Anyway, so in my fitness challenge that started in March we were able to ‘earn’ a bonus point by avoiding sweets. Since sweet is such a broad term they basically clarified it as refined sugar. So… with that in mind I went about seeking ways to stay away from sugar but still satisfy that sweet craving that I often get after lunch.

By the way, I have read a bunch on different sugar and sweeteners and the way that they impact your blood sugar (glucose levels) and so most of what I’ve come up with is based on different articles and such that I’ve read from time to time.

The first time I ever heard of the glycemic index was shortly after getting married. Stuart and I started reading about it and it’s really quite interesting. I couldn’t really wrap my head completely around what foods were “high” on the index (bad) and which were “low” (good) at that time. I printed out this HUGE pile of papers that had the index and where foods fell on it, but it was difficult to navigate. Since then I’ve read and understand much more about the whole thing. I still couldn’t break it down to someone who had no clue though, and again I’d hate for a real nutritionalist to critique my “info” but for me it works.

White sugar (and flour for that matter) are HIGH on the index. Which means that when you eat something with a lot of sugar in it, your body metabolizes it FAST and it causes your blood sugar to spike. In turn this makes your body release more insulin to cope with the spike and all kinds of bad stuff happens to you on a molecular level. Make perfect sense? If you are trying to eat a balanced diet, and lose or maintain weight and keep your body chemistry in balance, your goal is to avoid spikes in blood sugar. SO you eat things that don’t metabolize that quickly. Think protein, nuts, veggies and some fruits as well if eaten with other stuff, and fats.

As far as sweeteners go, I’ve already made the decision that I do NOT want to go the chemical sweetener route. Sugar may be bad, but fake stuff is WAY bad. That is my opinion, and you are certainly welcome to disagree. Do what works for you. I’m not a fan of chemicals. So my choices for “not chemical” sweeteners are Sugar, Honey, Agave Nectar and Maple Syrup. Sugar is bad so that’s out. So between the other 3 here are some interesting things that I have learned.

Agave and Honey are LOW on the glycemic index. They contain all kinds of vitamin/mineral stuff, but are more like natural fruit sugars and less like refined sugar. So the impact of these on your blood sugar is much less dramatic, especially if eaten with other low GI foods, than white sugar. Maple Syrup is good for you in a lot of ways, however it is molecularly closer to sugar than the other 2. So my advice there is to go easy on the Maple Syrup. I can’t give it up totally because it’s just too yummy! Besides it is still better for you than sugar.

So when I am trying to squash that sweet craving without using actual sugar, I resort to those 3 things. I sweeten my morning coffee with a bit of Agave. It has less of it’s own “taste” than honey. I use Honey in my tea both hot and iced. I use Maple or Honey on my plain yogurt. Yum! I also make coconut oil chocolates with some Maple syrup, and my “energy bites” with honey. Those 2 things were my life savers when I first started the challenge.

The thing is, once I had been eating less sugar for a few weeks I found that I didn’t crave as much sweet stuff. I make a frozen fruit smoothie after my workouts in the evening and that stuff is just as good as ice cream and, of course, MUCH better for me!

So in a rather large nutshell that’s where I’m at for now. Say no to white sugar, say no to chemical sugar and say yes to natural sweeteners!!

So my fitness challenge that started in March wrapped up on Mother’s Day. Funny timing, huh? SO after my thoughtful hubby told me to “keep sleeping” when my alarm went off, I took my measurements once I did wake up. I was somewhat nervous about this “after” proof from the challenge, but boy was I happy I had those numbers to compare. Here’s my results:
Chest: – 2.5 inches
Waist: -4.25 inches!!!!
Hips: +1.5 inches
Arms: -.5 each
Legs: -1 inch each

I was pretty thrilled with these shrinkage results. Granted my hips measurement went up, but that’s either because I mismeasured the first time (possible) or my “glutes” are just getting into shape. And that’s fine with me. My rear view has been a little flat, ha! Not that anyone cares but me. Ha ha!

Anyway, I’ll go ahead and tell you that I have not lost a pound. Not one. One thing this challenge has done for me has helped me to realize that the scale is the WORST thing to use as a measurement for fitness and health. There’s plenty of examples out there, and I’ve seen and read a few, of people going from a tiny weight, but unfit body to a fit body and a “higher” weight. We’ve been conditioned for a couple of generations at least, to be so closely connected to that number on the scale that we can’t fathom a healthy body without an “ideal” number to go with it. If that’s the only concept that I took away from this challenge it would have been worth it. I can’t tell you the number of times that I’ve felt discouraged by looking at that ridiculous number on the scale, somehow thinking if I could make that change that I’d be “fit” and feel good. Nopers, it doesn’t work that way. So if you’re staring at the scale on a regular basis, STOP IT! They are not your friend, and they are not an accurate way to gage what’s going on in your body.

There are a few other things that I’ve taken away from this challenge, besides inches. One is a lot more energy! Yay! That was one of my original goals in the challenge. I want to be able to have the energy to keep up with my kids. Maybe that’s a physical impossibility as they seem to have boundless energy, but I still wanted to feel more energetic than I did. It may have been a combo of things including taking my vitamins regularly, and the fact that summer was approaching, along with the regular exercise that did it. Whatever the reason, I do feel much more energetic now than I did pre-March. It may not seem like it as there are days when I still don’t get much done, but I at least feel more energetic at the end rather than like a pile of flesh and bones that can’t wait to drag itself to bed. Another thing is just being much more aware of what I eat. In our challenge we got a point each day for eating our 5 servings of fruit and veggies. I hadn’t realized before this that I was NOT getting enough fruit and veg each day. Who knew?? Now I make more of a conscious effort at EACH meal to get those in, along with having them for snacks. And water intake. That’s always a struggle for me for some reason. Having to think about it and consciously make myself drink more to get my point has really made an impact. Plus the getting fit part has been fantastic!! I still have a ways to go to be where I want to be, but I know I’m much stronger than I was! Push-ups anyone?

Overall I’ve been so amazed at what a little old fashioned competition and accountability will do for a person. I know there are others in the challenge who have seen awesome results as well, and I know we’re all happy that we jumped in and stuck it out together. Even though we mostly only knew each other through Facebook, we were able each day to encourage each other to keep going, and we could also whine to each other about our sore muscles or lack of motivation and get that little nudge from everyone to keep going and stay strong.

That’s why I am going to be starting my own informal fitness challenge on June 4 for friends on FB who might be interested. I’m not a coach, I don’t claim to be a fitness OR nutrition expert. You would still be responsible for your own health and wellness. This is simply a group to have fun with and brag to and whine occasionally if you need it.

Here’s how it’s gong to work. First let me know if you want “in” on the facebook group, I’ll add you to the group, that’s the first step. Second, you need some kind of program. I don’t care if it’s Insanity, like I have, or another of the Beachbody workouts, or it can be Jillian whoever-she-is workout, or Tai-bow or Pilates or whatever! Something that will get you moving for at least 30 min a day that you can do 6 days a week. That’s pretty easy… I mean Richard Simmons could even do that for you. (hurk) Just choose a workout that your comfortable with, but that you know will push you as well. Third… well… let’s get through the first two first, and then we can talk about the rest when it’s time to make it all happen.

That’s it. If you want in, and believe me you do even if you don’t realize it yet, then let me know. We can get fit(er) and stronger together, and have a little fun while we’re at it.

So today starts our last week of the “official” fitness challenge. Yes, it’s true. It will be 63 days after starting out in March. When we started this it seemed like it would take forever, and now it’s nearly done! I am a week behind in my program because of the week when I was sick, blah. But I’ll still be finishing it. At the end of this week I get to take all of my measurements and “after” photos. I’m interested to see what those results will be.

I have to say that I’m SOOOO glad that I started this challenge. I did go into it a tad reluctantly because I was in a slump and LAZY and didn’t really want to put the effort into those insane workouts that I knew they would take. BUT a little competition goes a long way and now I can say that I’m super happy that I took that plunge.

The workouts are insane, especially this second month workouts, wow! I have seen myself grow stronger though. One day I actually did 16 pushups in a row, ON MY TOES!!! This, my friends, is progress! I have lost inches, I know, though I don’t know what the end result will be with all of my measurements, I’m a little nervous to take them. I’ve become more aware of my water intake (or lack of it, on some days) and now I rarely drink anything BUT water…. well, except my coffee in the morning, of course. I’ve been working on eating more fruit and veggies, and that has been harder than I thought. I didn’t realize that I wasn’t eating enough of them before I started this challenge, but now that I think about it on a daily basis, I’ve been doing better with those.

The scale still isn’t my friend, though I have not been on it for a couple of weeks. At the beginning of the challenge I anticipated losing weight right off the bat because of the crazy cardio I’d be doing. Imagine my surprise when not only did I not lose any, but I actually gained in those first few weeks!! That wasn’t pleasant, but I’ve been learning, slowly, that I can’t measure my progress by the numbers on the scale. One of the coaches mentioned a gal who weight 140 and was a size 12 and then she was a size 2 and STILL weighed 140. That was encouraging to me because like I said before, if I could have those abs of the people in the video, I wouldn’t care if I weighed 200! Ha!

I’ve started making my workout time my “me” time. So instead of plopping on the couch with a good book or browsing the internet when the kids are napping, I use that time for my workouts. It’s helped me look forward to them more, and helped me enjoy them more. Sometimes I can’t get them done during the day and I do them at night after Ella is down. When that happens, I get the boys occupied doing something else, and remind them not to talk to me because I’m exercising. Besides… it’s hard to answer them when I’m just trying to breathe! And that’s another perk of the workouts. I thought that my breathing would be an impediment because it’s always seemed to be such a hurtle for me, but through these workouts I’ve gotten much better at controlling my breathing, and even when I’m breathing hard, it’s not going into that panicked asthma feeling. Nice.

So anyway, the challenge has been a huge boost to wellness/fitness for me. I’ve been tossing around the idea of starting my own challenge group for friends on facebook now that I know how successful they can be. Successful in lifestyle change for sure! I’m not sure if I’ll go for that right now or not, we’ll see. I also haven’t decided if I’ll publish my “results” to the blogospher yet either. There are so many intangible results that I’d hate to discourage anyone from trying it if they don’t think my tangible results are good enough. I will say though, that I did a little shopping last week and got several tops in a size SMALL!! And found a swimsuit that didn’t cause a complete mental breakdown. This is progress indeed! ha ha! Some of the gals on my team are interested in continuing the challenge past the official end, so I’m going to keep on going strong. Start the program again, and see if I can still meet some of my own goals… the biggest being to banish the jelly belly for good. Time will tell…..