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Thursday, April 22, 2010

A Jump Start

It's hard to believe that it's the middle of April! My farm co-op will be starting next month and we'll be getting our produce from the farm for the next 20 weeks. What will I do with a 1/2 bushel box of produce every week? My husband says, "Cook it." (Thanks, dear)

Since my last post - sorry it's been so long - I've started some new things to jump start my metabolism. I've been "stuck" at the same weight for more than a month (though I've lost a total of 15 pounds since I started blogging) and I've still been counting calories and exercising. However the exercising on the Wii has been replaced with outside activities. Hmmmm....maybe that's why I'm stuck. I'm outside, but not exercising enough. I've been doing yard work like edging flower beds and mulching them but that was only for 2 Saturdays. I've been riding my NEW bike!! But since I'm so out of shape, it's hard to ride up and down all these hills!! So I don't ride for very long. I grew up in Michigan and we didn't have many hills. It was mainly flat. In Virginia, there are hills everywhere...starting in my neighborhood. We go out as a family around the neighborhood, but the little ones tire out coming up the hill toward our house. My youngest girl rides on a seat on the back of my bike so I'm carting around an extra 38 pounds on my bike. Whew! It's funny...the last time we went out as a family on our bikes, my son was losing speed up the hill toward our house and my husband was trying to stay with him. My son told my husband, "That's OK dad. You go ahead. I'll catch up." And sure enough, slow and steady, my son made it home. As soon as he got off his bike he promptly said, "I'm going in the house. I'm tired!" I know how he feels, although HE is the young one!! LOL...go figure.

I've changed 2 things that I hope will jump start my metabolism. 1: I started the Atkins diet on April 12 and 2: I started Barry's Bootcamp on April 19. Since I started Atkins I've lost 1.5 pounds. I love a diet that lets me eat bacon, eggs and cheese for breakfast!! Anyway, I have friends who have done this before and have started again back in February (after they were inspired by my-and my husband's-weight loss) and I've been watching them as they do this Atkins program. They've had much success and they inspired me to read more about this diet. I had preconceived ideas that it was a hard diet to be on and I couldn't understand how all the "fatty" foods would help you lose weight. The science behind Atkins is that by eating the right kind of foods it will turn your body into a fat-burning machine rather than a carb-burning machine. I was tired of always feeling hungry while I was just counting calories. On Atkins, I'm not feeling hungry and I'm not craving sweets (that much). Part of that is due to my giving up caffeine. Coffee was actually making me crave sweets. When I started phase 1 of Atkins, they suggested that if you have a true caffeine addiction (which I do because when I go off of it, I go through withdrawals and headaches) that you go off of caffeine while going through phase 1. So I did. Today is day 7 of no caffeine! That wasn't the only reason for giving up caffeine. Since I work in a program in my church that deals with addicts, I've learned that my caffeine addiction ranked higher on the list than theirs. Sugar is the #1 addiction in the U.S. with #2 being caffeine and #3 being greasy food. Here we are, as a church, preaching to people about cocaine, drinking, and pornography, while we're having a Coke and waving a greasy pork chop at 'em. I mean, really!! It got me to thinking....I ranked higher on the list than my students. Not that I can't ever have coffee - but it IS a stimulant and one does "come down" from it which makes that person want to reach for more to get that stimulant again. It acts just like a drug. Anyhow.....back to Atkins. Sorry for that rabbit trail.

How can one tell if they're burning fat? By urinalysis. There are test strips that you can find at your local drugstore (I had to go to the pharmacy window). They are called Ketone strips. You pass it through your urine stream and the result will tell you the amount of ketones you are putting out. When I first started, it took about 4 days before my body started burning fat. Since last Friday, the strips have been getting darker which means I'm burning fat in my body!! Yes!!! There are so many benefits to eating this way, I highly suggest everyone try it for a least two weeks. That's the length of phase 1. It helps with blood sugars, cholesterol, etc. Like I said, gotta love that I can eat a McDonald's quarter pounder with cheese - just throw away the bun!

Let's talk about Barry's bootcamp. It's an intense workout that uses a "ball" (that looks like a giant pill) and arm bands for the exercises. Sounds typical, but where this if different, you only do each exercise for 60 seconds. You can commit to anything for 60 seconds, right? The workout lasts for 21 minutes and Barry's right there getting you to push yourself. I really respond to someone like that. What I really like about this is that ANYone can do this. Even if you are so out of shape like me or if you are in shape...there are levels for you. This is NOT the Wii Fit by any means, not Your Shape, and it's more intense than the Active workouts for the Wii. My husband found this program on WOOT. Otherwise, I've never heard of it before this. It's for 30 days at a time and you workout every day except day 7. WHAT??? Yes, every day you workout and every 7th day you rest. My body hurts so much, yet Barry says you work through the pain. Pain means that changes are happening in your body. I agree. I hope this changes my baby-bump-looking belly. I would like for that to go away so I don't have to wear super-sucker pantyhose or a girdle to keep it from...well you know.

Wish me Luck! I'm in the home stretch!