Mmmm, Tuna Salad

Before I started eating healthier on purpose, I loved cold tuna salad with fresh chopped tomato. Even back then, I made it with light salad dressing. I still use the Kraft Light, but now I pay attention when I spoon it out. A little really does go a long way, especially if you ring the container with the chopped tomato. (The juice takes care of any lingering dryness.)

In my tuna salad I also toss in some chopped apple, celery, sweet pickle relish, and sometimes a chopped boiled egg. On rare occasions, if I just happen to have some that need to be used, I'll add some sliced black olives. Before I became a mindful eater, I loved crackers with my tuna and tomato. And lots of 'em. Now I use whole grain crackers and only five or six. Add a wedge of watermelon on the side and on hot summer days, I can't think of anything better.

The whole luscious meal is around 225 calories total, and I'm full forever. Or until dinner, whichever comes first.

What's your recipe for tuna salad? Any "secret" ingredients I'm missing out on?


Thanks to the kiwi girl for reminding me that I haven't made tuna salad in a while.

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Link Love

Great post on Dumb Little Man yesterday about the sometimes demoralizing and program-destroying effects of winter. I've noticed a lot of us have been having problems with winter doldrums lately and wanted to share the link with you. Nothing most of us don't already know, but it's always nice to see "our story" in print. There's safety in numbers, you know.

And that, my friends, is all I have for today. Wayne kicked my butt tonight (I was not put on this earth to do chin-ups, assisted or otherwise), and I am pooped. Make that Pooped.

Hope you all had a good day and an even better tomorrow.

Healthy You Challenge - 02/26/08

Wow, another week zips past! It was a pretty good one for me:
1) I hit all my exercise goals and even made it through 882 minutes of my1000 minute cardio goal. I might just make the goal after all. Then again, my body is NOT happy that we haven't had our rest day, so I may have to pamper the silly thing and take a day off. (I keep telling it, "We restedf or 40+ years!", but it doesn't always listen.)
2) Mostly-healthy eating continues. I doubt I'll ever make it to healthfood maniac, but I have definitely reformed.
3) To my complete and utter astonishment, the scale went fickle the other way this week, and I showed a 3-lb. loss! That makes a total of 74 lbs.gone! While I'm grateful, I'm not preparing my side panel for a new badge just yet. It would not surprise me at all to have a flat week or even a small gain next week. (Or perhaps a huge gain if the product placement people don't quit putting pizzas on every channel.*G*)

No new goals, really, except to get back into the swing of decluttering the house now that the pesky flu is gone. My father's men's club at church is having a rummage sale, and that has really inspired me to re-evaluate some of the items I'd previously held onto because they were "too good to just give away." Never mind that I'm not actually using or enjoying them.*Sigh.* I never said I was bright. :) Anyway, somehow the knowledge that the men's club will benefit from the sale of these items seems to have unlocked a hoarding mechanism in my brain, and many items are on their way O-U-T.

Oh, and Susie asked about a new photo. I hope to have one soon! I have to take new photos for my work ID and career profile database. Those are usually head shots, but I'll ask someone to snap one in a head-to-tippy toe view.

I'm planning to have a marvelous week, and I hope all of you are, too! The only problem with trying to be all healthy and organized is that it takes up valuable blog-reading time. Please know that I'm wishing you well, and while I might not get to your blog today, I'll catch up with you sometime this week!

New Fitness Community from John is Fit

Dang, Cammy, why don't you just put the whole of your message in your subject line!

So now it's no surprise that John is Fit has started up a new fitness community. I dunno, but it looks like it could be fun. :)

And that is all I have for now. I have a date with my hairstylist and then off to the bike shop to drool.

Have a great Saturday everyone!

Oh, and GO TIGERS!

Where Kindness Matters Most

Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love. ~Lao Tzu

I came across this quote today and I copied it down, thinking I'd use it to remind myself to be kinder to others. While I'm generally a pretty nice person, I could certainly use a little reminder every now and then that the world is not really all about me.

So on about my day I went. Work, lunch, work, manicure, cardio--another exciting day in Cammy-land, as you can see.

Oh, but I forgot to mention the ritual! It's a new thing I've started recently, whenever I'm changing clothes, and it goes something like this: I pause to look in the mirror and obsess about my droopy breasts, my flabby belly, and my sagging thighs. I count the wrinkles, the ones that weren't there this time last year because my cheeks were so fat, and twist my neck from side to side to see the folds of excess skin ripple as I do so. And then I sum it up with one of two words: Yuk! or Gross!

On rare occasions, in the right lighting, I use both.

It was no different tonight, until a tiny inner voice piped up with, "Now exactly how is that 'kind'?"

I didn't have an answer, not a good one anyway, because it's not kind. It's downright cruel. There's no way I would ever say that to a friend, so why in hell would I ever say it to myself?

My body is not beautiful just now, at least not in the conventional sense of the word, and I'm not going to try to convince myself otherwise. For the record, I wouldn't do that to a friend either. But if asked, I'd damn sure be kind with my answer. I'd point out that this interim body is a work in progress, maybe add a reminder that the caterpillar-to-butterfly transition gets kind of icky in the middle part, but it all works out beautifully in the end. If we're talking close friend, I might even joke about the number of crunches in her future, and the newer, healthier me would offer to do them with her. Maybe I'd find more words of wisdom, but I know none of them would be "gross" or "yuk".

This is what I thought about when I was on the treadmill tonight, and I vowed to be kinder to myself, to give myself the gifts that build confidence, profoundness, and love. When I finished my cardio (and caught my breath), I dug out this poem I copied down years ago, and it's now taped to my bathroom mirror. It's the kindest thing I knew to do for myself.

SOME ME OF BEAUTY
By Carolyn Rodgers
(as read on Oprah many years ago)

I took a good long look at myself in a full length mirror
Sometimes it's good to look in a full length mirror
And what I saw was not some soul sister poetess of the moment
But I saw just a woman
Just a woman feeling
Just a woman human
And what I felt was
What I felt was a spiritual revelation
And what I felt was a root revival of some love coming on
Coming on strong
And I knew then, looking in a full length mirror,
That many things were over
And some me of beauty was about to begin

Don't mind me, I'll just be here.

Waiting.

Patiently.

Whole Grain Goodness

If Dr. Penny Kris-Etherton is right, whole grains may be good for the belly in more ways than one.

In a study of obese adults at risk of heart disease, researchers found that those who trimmed calories and increased their whole-grain intake shed more belly fat and lowered their blood levels of C- reactive protein or CRP.

I made the switch to mostly whole grains last year, and I have to say...not noticing a big difference in the area of belly fat. Maybe I'm just being impatient. It doesn't really matter anyway, because I'm staying on the whole-grain train just because it's the right thing to do. Plus there's the teensy issue of my addiction to whole wheat crackers.

If you haven't made the switch to whole grain yet, here is a really good resource for learning more.

Healthy You Challenge 02/19/08

Another week, and oh what a week! The flu is not fun, but I'm happy to report that it is survivable!

If you'll look to the right of the screen (and you may want to put on sunglasses first to avoid the shiny glare) is my brand new badge! That's right, I tippy-toed across the 70-pound mark! Given the large amounts of orange juice (Simply Orange - medium pulp) I was drinking last week, along with the relative lack of exercise, I wouldn't have been surprised to see a small gain or even a flat spot. But that didn't happen! So off we go in pursuit of the next new shiny. Four more pounds!

Exercise was pretty much a bust for most of last week, but I did limp to the 600-minute mark on cardio. I may not make the 1000-minute goal, but it won't be because I didn't make a good try for it. I suspect it will cut into my blogging time, so please bear with me...

Finally, I'm doing much better on drinking water now. Most days I make the 8-glass goal without a problem; at minimum, I'm getting half that amount daily. Ah, progress!

Hope you all have most marveleous week!

True Confessions: Bonehead Diet Moves

While commenting on a post on Chai in the Sky the other day, I was reminded of the old Ayds diet products from the 1970s. They were appetite suppressant "candies" that came in all sorts of flavors. The idea was that the dieter would eat one or two of these candies before a meal with a glass of water to inihibit the appetite. It worked! Sometimes. :) Of course, now I know that the water was the inhibitor. A little wisdom is a wonderful thing.

Through the years, most of my diet attempts have been some variation of a healthy eating plan, usually Weight Watchers. The lone exception was a stint with a diet "doctor" in the early 80s. I was around 20 years old, and probably 40 pounds overweight. I was also missing about that many IQ points, apparently, because I took pills this doctor prescribed without even really questioning their merit or potential side effects. I know that one pill was a diuretic, one was a laxative, one was a vitamin, and one was a "metabolism booster". It's that last one that concerns me now. I suspect it was ephedrine. A few years ago a doctor (a real one) asked me if I had ever taken ephedrine, and my first answer was no. But then I had to backtrack and explain about the diet "doctor" and how I really have no idea what I took.

So now I have a teeny cloud of worry that a bonehead diet stunt from 20+ years ago will cause my aging body a problem in the future. It's not a prevalent worry, but it will resurface from time to time, I'm sure.

Friends of mine have shared their bonehead diet choices. Some are serious, some are sad, some are laugh-out-loud funny. Nothing but bananas and cheese for a week? Puh-lease! :)

So what's your biggest bonehead diet move? C'mon, we promise we're laughing with you, not at you. :)

P.S.
Thanks to all of you for the well wishes! I think the flu is fading and I'm left with a nasty little cold in its place. I feel like I will survive it!

Healthy You Challenge Update - 02/12/08

Since I missed my workout last night due to this flu thing, I didn't get to have an official weigh-in. The unofficial ones last week showed me over the -70 mark, but I'm going to wait until I weigh in on Thursday to claim a shiny new badge. It will be interesting to see what my body does with this illness. Given the way I feel and what I've experienced the last few days, I would expect to be down another five pounds or more, but I know that the body manages calories differently when it's ailing. I'll be happy if I maintain the same weight.

As far as healthy eating, I'm trying to stay focused on fruits (mainly caloric-but-oh-so-wonderful-on-my-throat orange juice) and fluids. The only "danger" food in the house right now is peanut butter, which is tasting salt-ily delicious to me. I'm doling it out a tablespoon at a time on my skinny bread. I think I'm okay on calories, but to be honest, I'm just not sweating it. My body's doing enough of that on its own. :)

On the exercise front, I've reached Minute #412 in my 1000 cardio minutes for February challenge. Go me! I hope to get back to it really, really soon!

Okay, back to the sick bed (which I'm starting to despise). I hope you all had a great week, and most especially, that you're healthy!

Should've Taken That Flu Shot After All

I never quite got around to getting the flu vaccine this year, and I think I might be paying for it now. Every inch of my skin hurts. My hair hurts.

It occurred to me this afternoon that I've never had an illness while I've been changing over to this healthier lifestyle, and I have to tell you that laying in provisions isn't nearly as much fun without snack cakes and potato chips. No, my comfort foods of choice this time around are orange juice, sugar free hot cocoa, and vanilla-chai tea. (I don't know how the tea and I are going to do, but I thought it was worth a try.)

I've been surfing around for some flu-diet advice, and I found what looks to me (the lay person) as pretty sound advice. I especially liked that the author suggested moderate exercise in the case of moderate illness:

The first thing many people give up when they are ill is exercise, but mild exertion can be very beneficial when recovering from the flu. Naturally, individuals who are very weak or suffering harsh cases should conserve their strength as much as possible, but brief bouts of gentle exercise can stimulate blood flow. This will help flush even more toxins from the body, as well as help the patient regain their strength and stamina more quickly. Exercises that individuals recovering from the flu might want to attempt are:

Short walks – no hikes or jogging, and if walking outdoors, clothing should be appropriate.
Yoga – the stretches and poses can gently help recondition the body.
Swimming – light exertions in a buoyant environment can be refreshing.

The mental effects of light exercise can also be beneficial as the flu sufferer sees their recovery progress and allows time for their bed to be aired and cleaned while they exercise. Exercise periods, however, should be brief and not strain the patient’s recovery.

This explains why I felt a teensy bit better this afternoon when I walked down to the deli for a turkey sandwich. I made the trip (a little less than a mile all together) just fine, but crashed when I got home. After a half-hour I woke up, wondering why I was so uncomfortable and realized I'd fallen asleep with my sneakers on. :) So maybe I'll leave the walks alone for a bit.

I'm going to cancel my workout for tomorrow night, which means I won't have an official weigh-in for Tuesday. Bummer, because the sneak peak last Thursday night had me in a Very Good Position. :) Oh well, hopefully this will pass fairly quickly (Please, God...) and I'll get good news on Thursday when I weigh in with the trainers.

This and That 02/09/08

Odds and ends from surfing adventures:


How I spent last Tuesday evening:


My office building is about a half-mile from the location of the video. Locally, three people were killed; overall, 54 people died Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning as a result of this weather system. I consider myself blessed.


On a less somber note:

Leo Babauta of zenhabits.net shares 17 Fitness Truths To Get You In Great Shape, things most of us already know but maybe need to be reminded of now and then. I plan to used it as a periodic checklist to make sure I'm staying focused on the right things.

When my life is kind of jumbled (as it seems to be quite frequently), I eat on the run. The one place I try to find when I'm looking for something quick and easy is Subway, which made me especially grateful to find 17Tips to Cut Calories at Subwayfrom financeandfat. I'm not sure wy the number 17 is suddenly so popular, but anytime I can find ways to cut calories in smart ways, I'm happy.

And here's What Do Richard Simmons and Arnold Schwarzenegger Have in Common, a really good article from Weight Loss Without Worry that talks about belief in ourselves and how we grow it.

"We develop belief just like we develop muscle — with exercise."

How much do I love this quote?

And finally, if you're having trouble sticking to your goals, you might consider putting out a contract on yourself. Check it out at stickk.com.

Eau de Change

Living in the southern U.S., I've expended a fair amount of sweat in my lifetime. I've never liked it. My hormonal teen years were filled with angsty days of triple deodorant applications and excessive showering, and still the tell-tale dark rings appeared under my arms. I might have even written to Teen magazine at some point--I was that traumatized by sweat.

As an adult, I've liked sweating even less. In the summer months in Memphis, one can spend an hour doing her hair and makeup in the morning, only to see both vaporized by noon. The hair goes limp and lifeless, except for the glistening band of perspiration around the hairline, and the makeup--well, the makeup winds up somewhere around the waistline. It's not pleasant, to say the least. On the positive side, the sweaty armpits seem to have been lost to my youth.

So imagine my surprise when, while working out this morning, I felt the dampness of sweat trickling down the back of my neck...and I smiled. It may sound crazy but I was positively gleeful! This was welcome sweat, downright desirable. I couldn't believe it. Here was proof that I could push myself beyond my sedentary comfort level, without trainers egging me on.

And then a stream of sweat trailed down my temple and into the corner of my eye. I raised an arm to wipe it away...and almost passed out.

I smelled, for heaven's sake!

My first instinct was to stop immediately and head for the showers. Ladies shouldn't smell like this. Not proper Southern ladies. It was embarrassing! Fortunately, there were only a few other people in the gym, and since they were some distance away, I kept exercising. And thinking.

It's not like this was the first time I broke a sweat during this lifestyle change. The trainers have made sure of that three times a week, plus I do a fair job of it when I'm on my treadmill. (It's why I keep a remote-controlled fan in front of it. *g*) And last August, when I was walking in 100-degree (F) temperatures, sweat was pouring off of me and I smelled absolutely foul by the time I got home.

No, the novelty is that today was the first time I was conciously happy about it, the first time I saw it as something other than a symbol of being overweight and out of shape. Today, I realized my sweaty/smelly state as a symbol of change. Evidence of effort and determination and achievement and hope faith. It's the aroma of newborn pride.

And I love it!

Healthy You Challenge Update - 02/04/08

Wow, these Tuesdays do roll around quickly, don't they? So, let's see how it went:
1) Big NSV in getting rid of my too-big clothes. In fact, I'm claiming it as a victory on two fronts: weight loss and clutterbugishness.
2) Great workouts, but a little bit of slugginess on the cardio. I'm taking an off-exercise day today, which I'm hoping is the response my body is looking for. I'll use the workout time to declutter...something. *sigh* So many opportunities, so little time....
3) Despite a splurge meal with my family on Saturday, the scale budged a little! I'm at -68.4 pounds, which I consider amazing given the number of carbs consumed at said family meal. I'm going to push hard for -70 next week! Oh, the drama, the excitement....

I'm looking forward to using some of my off-day time to check on your progress. I hope you had a great week and that this one is shaping up nicely, too!

Cardio: Mixin' It Up

Thanks to Carol, whose comment in the 'I Dare You' post reminded me of an interesting article I read a few days ago (and I could almost swear I read the same article about four months ago, but oh well.) Anyway, Carol wrote:

I don't want to set a specific time goal each day because if my body gets used to it, I may plateau and I've got so much weight to lose, I have to avoid that possibility so my cardio must be switched up and changing constantly.

I agree with you, Carol. So does Debbie Rocker of Yahoo! Health. Among other things she writes about in her January 28th article (and possibly another one four months ago *g*), Ms. Rocker suggests:

So exercise efficiently – two short, very intense (relative to your level of fitness) training sessions weekly, like a 15-minute fast run/walk or fast cycling sprint intervals, and two moderately long, moderately intense sessions (30-45 minutes) of strong walking, cycling, or yoga, with one long day (60-90 minutes) of a moderately paced walk/hike. That’s a great five-day/week training schedule.

That's sort of how I manage my week. On training days, I usually only do 15 minutes, 20 if Ashley left me any legs to work with, and on other weekdays I walk about 35-45 minutes, and then on weekends I try to get two 60 minutes walks in, but I don't always manage that for both days. I almost always take one day a week as a rest day. (I've got to get better at that!) The idea is that I average 35 minutes per day for each day of the month.

For February I'm right at the 35-minute average, but tomorrow is a rest day, so I'll try to add 5-10 minutes here and there for the remainder of the week to catch up.

Letting Go

For months now, I've been piling up clothes that no longer fit. Most were clothes from my largest days, but some were "interim" clothes. I've hesitated to take that final step of letting them go (they'll be taking so much more with them than fibers), but today is The Day. When Goodwill opens at noon, I will be there.

Me, and my six hefty bags of too-big clothes.


For the record:
2 full- length coats
14 cardigans/sweaters
15 pairs of shorts
50 pairs of pants
90+ shirts/blouses

What's especially sad is that I still have about 40 blouses and a dozen or so pairs of pants to take to a resale shop in a few weeks.

Next up on my lifestyle change agenda is frugality. Until then, I'll focus on the imagined happy faces of too-large women shopping at Goodwill over the next few weeks.