Quick Lower Body Stretches and the Nighttime Snack Attack

Getting right into the fitness area, today I was going to change up with my resistance training and walk a 5K after dinner with an organized group downtown.  But at the last minute, it fell through.  So, a quick lower body workout it is.  Followed by some stretching of course.

It's kind of cool that stretching is like my favorite part of my routine now.  It's also the part that gets skipped most often due to time, but I so enjoy it.  There's just something about it that is so rejuvenating - it makes me feel like my body is saying thanks for taking care of it.  Silly, huh?

But in case I haven't shared, here are some of the lower body stretches I do - there are a few more, but these are the "go to" group for me...

It really helps to know how to stretch properly.  I was surprised at how many of these stretches I was originally doing incorrectly (butterfly & calf), but now that I read up on how they're supposed to actually feel while stretching, I am getting so much more out of my stretch routine.  The other stretches are fairly easy because if you just do what's in the picture you get the stretch - though I have found that tilting the pelvis aids a bit in a quad stretch.

Butterfly Stretch

Butterfly stretch  - Sit on the floor or ground and bend your legs so the sides of your feet are touching the ground.  Pull your feet toward your body and get them as close to your inner thighs as possible.  You want the bottoms of your feet to touch.  Grab your feet with your hands and pull your body forward until you fell the stretch in you inner thighs.  Hold for 30 seconds. Repeat. (from Livestrong.com)

Calf Stretch

Calf Stretch - Stand about an arm's-length from the wall.  Lean forward and place both hands on the wall about shoulder width apart.  Extend one foot (the side to be stretched) behind you with heel on the ground and one foot closer to the wall.  Lean into wall with your hips until you feel a stretch in the calf of the extended leg.  Hold this stretch for about 30 seconds and change sides.  For a deeper stretch, move your foot farther back.  (from About.com - Calf Stretch for Flexibility)

       

Quad Stretch

Standing Hamstring Stretch

 

Ab Stretch

I stuck to my menu plan today until after dinner.  Then I got all snacky - no idea why, except I wasn't satisfied at all with dinner.  Everything tasted blah.  Fortunately all my after-dinner snacks were fairly healthy, but still, I didn't really need those calories.  I can't even say I was hungry, but after the third and final snack I was, FINALLY, satisfied.  Anyway, has that ever happened to you?  It's like you know you shouldn't, but you do it anyway?  Wow, that's a lot like life in general isn't it?  Interesting.

Golden Rules from Kathrine Switzer

As I was planning this week's menu, I decided to change things up again this week.  With the rainy weather we've been having lately, I've been feeling very lazy.  I know that feeling will roll over into mealtimes tempting me to hit the drive-thru.  So, I switched all  my meals to choices I will DEFINITELY look forward to and that are also VERY EASY to prepare.

Dinner meals are the only ones where I have the desire to hit the lazy button.  So here are my quick and easy yet tasty dinners for the rest of this week...

Tues: Beef Au Jus w/ Mashed Potatoes & Green Beans
Wed:  Skillet Tostadas (This is probably my favorite meal of all 4 weeks of meal plans!)
Thur:  BBQ Meatballs w/ cauliflower/whole wheat pasta/cheese
Fri:  Shredded Pork Tacos and fresh corn-on-the-cob
Sat:  Subway Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki on flat bread w/lettuce, tomato, cucumber and spinach

Did I mention that I was reading "Born to Run" by electronically checking it out from the library?  Well, apparently my checkout time was up, so I had to put the physical book on hold and wait for it to be available.  (I could probably check out the electronic book again soon, but I don't know the requirements.)  So in the meantime, one of the other "running" books I put on hold became available - "Running and Walking for Women Over 40" by Kathrine Switzer.  I don't know if I'll do a review of this one or not just yet, but I wanted to share something I just read...

Golden Rules for Running and Walking: 

1.) Running or walking regularly makes you feel good about yourself.  And when you feel good about yourself, your relationships with others are better as well.

2.) Move fast enough to puff a little and work up a sweat, but avoid going too fast too soon.  Your goal is sustained exercise that is comfortable but keeps you working.

3.) Drink water all day long.  No matter how much you think you're drinking, it's almost never as much as you need.

4.) Keep a training log.  You'll be amazed and proud of your progress. (You also won't skip workouts.)

5.) Have a goal. Whether it's completing your first mile or entering a local fun run six months from now, a goal keeps you motivated.

There are actually 17 of these "rules", but these are the ones that really caught my attention.  I think this book is geared more for women who have just decided to start working out.  It doesn't really matter to me though, good advice is good advice, whether we're seasoned veterans or brand-spanking newbies.

I almost forgot to mention the weigh-in.  Honestly, I almost forgot to weigh-in.  I was running late Saturday morning, so by the time I remembered to step on the scale I had more than PJs on and had food in my belly.  So I have no idea what the true weight was BUT with food AND clothes I was only up a pound from last week.  At the very least, I maintained.  I'm very happy with that.

Looking forward to a fantastic week!  Hope you are too.  Oh and if you haven't done so already, you can sign up now to receive my posts via email.  There's a sign-up gadget on the left side of the page - I tried it out and it works great!

Hill Running Technique

In reading "Born to Run," I'm being introduced to all sorts of interesting people.  Scott Jurek is one such person.  So far in the book, he's my favorite.  I'm over halfway through the book and promise a review soon, but meanwhile, I've been trying to gain as much technical knowledge as I can before jumping into running again.  (Hehe - jumping into running... get it?  Yeah yeah, I know - dork.)

Scott Jurek is an American ultramarathoner.  What's an "ultramarathon"?  It's any sporting event involving running or walking longer than the traditional marathon length of 26.2 miles.  The ones I've been reading about typically cover 50-100 miles.  Can you believe people actually run that?  I have to motivate myself to DRIVE 100 miles, much less RUN it!  Anyway, Scott has won many of these type races.  To top that, he's a maintains a plant-based diet.  He co-authored book called "Eat and Run" which I haven't read yet, but would like to soon.

Here's a video where Scott talks about hill running...

I'm going to practice "falling" and the bowl and rod thing, I can just tell.

But I still have another week to go before running again.  I still feel a bit of stiffness, but not near as bad as it was.

Today's healthy choice was going to the grocery store to pick up a missing dinner ingredient instead of saying "screw it" and going out.

My unhealthy choice was not getting as much time as I wanted for exercise.

How was your day?

Hope you have a most excellent weekend!!

Rainy Day

Today, was a rainy day.  If you watch the news, you probably saw the reports of flash flooding throughout Colorado.  Actually, I think there are several parts of the country getting really bad weather.  I tell you though, for being in the high plains desert, it sure has been wet lately!  Anyway, the rain is steady and makes me sleepy - I got home from work today and crashed.  But this wasn't just some cat nap - oh no!  I slept for over 4 hours!!!  Can you believe that?  Needless to say, no workout/ate out for dinner.

So those are my poor choices for today.  The only healthy choice I can think of was no in-between-meal snacking.  I was tempted, but was looking forward to my leftovers for lunch.  Then, work got too busy to even think of snacking after lunch.  That may have contributed to being so tired when I got home though - the lack of food I mean.

Well, my thoughts are all jumbled, so I'm just going to sign off now.

Best/Worst of Fitness

What was the healthiest thing you did today?  Unhealthiest?  Did the smart choices outnumber the not-so-smart?  What will you do differently tomorrow?

So, I was asking myself these questions today and decided to write about it.  We honor ourselves and our bodies by making healthy choices.  If I keep honoring myself with the smart, I'm hoping they will outweigh (literally and figuratively) the not-so-smart.  What if I track some of those choices and really look for areas I'm doing well in versus beating myself up over the bad.  Limit the number of poor choices I make each day and continue re-enforcing the positive should, in theory, work very well.

Let's start with the good.  What was the healthiest thing I did today?  Well, I walked at least a half mile during my work day.  It was probably more, but that's not the point.  The point is that instead of taking the bus one way, I wanted to walk instead.  Plus it was a nice day - overcast and in the 60s.

What about the unhealthiest choice I made today?  Well, I probably had one or three or five too many pieces of homemade bruschetta that someone brought into work today.  It was so fresh and yummy though!!!!  I kept thinking that these are healthy ingredients - tomatoes, garlic, etc.  It's the little slices of toasted bread that make the calories add up quickly though.

It's funny, as I'm writing the two things above, I started remembering other choices I made today.  So, I'll just make a quick list...

Good Choice:

Not parking in the front row at work - instead parking 10 rows away.

Avoided my 17th week of donuts!

Had a spinach/strawberry salad tonight with dinner (I sometimes skip making it)

Bad Choice:

Ate the remaining handful of chips/crumbs from a bag of Doritos leftover from who knows when.

Did make the water quota today.

YAY!  The good outweighed the bad - sweet.

What will I do differently tomorrow?

Drink more water.  My goal is 80 ounces and lately, I'm doing good getting half that.  

Soooooo, what kinds of choices did you make today?  Come on, it's not bragging - you know you did great - let's hear it!!  Or if it wasn't such a great day, did you make at least one healthy choice?  Two?  Do you have a smart choice goal for tomorrow?

Ooooh, I just thought of another smart choice I can make right now.... All I need to do is publish this post and I can go to bed early!  G'nite all.

Walkin' the Walk

If I talk the talk, I've gotta walk the walk, right?  So today, I worked hard on the "7 Ways" list I posted yesterday.  Here's how it went:

1) Got moving!  Took a couple walking breaks at work - not long ones because we were a bit busy, but I walked none the less.

2) Stuck to the meal plans.  I varied a couple things because I looked at the wrong day, but it was all good anyway.

3) Haven't eaten out and don't have any plans to for the rest of the week.  I moved things around this week so that I look forward to every meal!

4) Found some motivation. Here's one of the pic I found (just getting started on the pics).  I also found this neat recipe for BBQ pulled pork biscuits - only 211 calories for TWO!!  

5) Got me some iTunes gift card for my b-day and now I'm loading up my playlist with songs that have a beat and just make me want to MOVE!  What's in your playlist? ;D

6) Changed it up.  Today's workout was upper body weight training.  Last week, I had made notes on some of the sets that needed more weight.  Well, I added that weight and really concentrated on the muscle group I was using.  WOW!  What a difference in the workout.  I made sure to stretch real well afterwards too.  It was rather difficult making dinner with my arms shaking though, so next time maybe I should prepare dinner for the oven before the workout!  

7) Check. Check. And Check!

I think I will revisit this list every once in awhile and post results to be sure I'm staying on track.  Those 7 things aren't that hard to track, so it was fairly easy to accomplish.  And I am really motivated which is very... uh motivational - hehehe.

Ok, so it's been awhile, but in the spirit of motivating and getting on track, I updated my weight loss chart.  This is what it looks like as of this past weekend:

I like looking at that overall downward trend.

Finally, I was so busy writing the list yesterday, I forgot to mention what we did Sunday.  In teaching a young friend some tips and tricks of photography for his yearbook, we ("Claire" and I) assisted our young friend by being motion models.  We pretended to play football, soccer and baseball so he could practice taking motion shots.  Here's thing about our pretending - we only pretended to keep score.  Everything else was fairly real.  We threw, ran and caught the football, we played one-on-one at the soccer goal, and we took turns pitching and hitting a baseball.  Oh and did I mention it was like 90-something degrees outside?  Anyway, it was an hour and a half of fun with the kiddos.  That's not something I could've done 6 months ago.  I am very happy with the progress I am making.  This journey doesn't have to be all hard work and no fun.  I think doing things like that will keep me way more motivated than a treadmill ever will.  Speaking of the treadmill, my calf is getting better every day!!

7 Ways to Get Back on Track - NOW!

Great news!  I was down one pound this week, even after taking a "pass" on my b-day weekend.

Then, I don't know why, but I ate terribly the rest of the weekend.  When I weighed in this morning, I was up THREE pounds!!!  Sooooo, I've got to get back on track!  Again.

You've read it before too, right?  (Not just here!)  I consistently read where folks are doing awesome - working out regularly, eating great, then suddenly a weekend like Labor Day rolls around and bad choices happen.  Then a half-hearted attempt to make better choices the next week, but STILL those choices aren't so great.  Now, it's a slump.  We get depressed and say, why bother?  I am constantly failing.  

That thinking is the path that will take me in the WRONG direction!!  I don't want to stay on this path - I need to change something or else things will continue to back slide.  NO WAY!!! I'm not doing that - not again.

So, in an effort to "Get Back on Track" and stay there, I'm making a list...

7 Ways to Get Back on Track - NOW!

1)  Get moving.  If I'm off track due to injury, (which I am now) then even though I have to take it easy, I still need to move.  Take a short walk - don't wait!  Do it NOW.

2) Stick to the meal plans.  I've made the effort of planning 4 weeks worth of menus including snacks.  All I have to do is stick to it!  What typically happens here is one of two things.  Either I don't feel like cooking and we eat out, or I don't really want what I have planned and we eat out.

3) Just don't eat out.  Even if I resort to a bowl of cereal instead of whatever is planned for dinner,  it will save a massive amount of calories over eating out.  I usually plan to eat at Subway if I decide to eat out, but lately, once I get on the road, the car seems to avoid Subway.  Therefore, I just won't eat out.

4) Search for motivation.  Go through fitness magazines and clip pics, recipes, and quotes.  Choose motivational stuff and put it everywhere - in the house, the car, the lunchbox, etc.

5) Make a new workout playlist.  Update the playlist and get rid of the songs that just don't do it anymore.  Then take the new playlist and workout!

6) Change it up.  Change up a workout and instead of using my same workout plan, do something different.  It's something different to look forward to doing.

7) Stick to the basics... Don't over-complicate things.

• Make smart food choices

• Drink more water

• Move

What have I left out?  I'm sure there's something.  Please feel free to add comments on how you've done this in the past or are doing it now (if of course, you've ever had a backslide =P)