Dick's Sporting Goods Needs Me! (w/Giveaway Opp)

Disclosure stuff at the bottom of the post

I'm not much on competition. Against other people, that is. I compete against myself all the time. (That way, I always win! :)) But I'm fortunate enough to have been asked by Dick's Sporting Goods to participate in a little online competition to be part of their Starting Line-up. As part of the Starting Line-up, I would have:

• A chance to try out and preview new products
• A spot on an online panel of experts for one season (for approximately 3 months)
• Access to exclusive online surveys
• A chance to sound off on all things sports

Wouldn't that be cool?

Yes, you say, But what's in it for me?

Well, besides knowing someone newly famous for her inclusion in the Starting Line-up, you have the opportunity to win a $50 Dick's Sporting Goods gift card! (And you don't have to be on Twitter to enter!)

Oh, I have your attention now, do I? Good! That was my intention. I'll get to the contest details in a second, but first...

IF you'd like to support me in my bid to win a spot on Dick's Sporting Goods Starting Line-up, here's what you can do:

• Follow http://twitter.com/dickssportcmo.
• Vote for yourself (or someone else, like @tippytoediet) by telling @dickssportcmo who should be on the "Starting Lineup" and why. Sample Tweet: “@dickssportcmo my vote is for @TwitterID because...” Again not to belabor the point, but I'm @tippytoediet on Twitter. :)
• Recruit others to do the same.
• You can only vote for the same person once per day, but you can vote for multiple people in the same day.

*Make sure you're following @dickssportcmo or your vote won't count!

And that's that! I appreciate your consideration, but please know that you do NOT have to vote for me to enter the contest. This is all in fun.

To enter the contest and possibly win a $50 gift card (good in stores OR ONLINE), all you have to do is hop over to Dick's Sporting Goods and do some Windows-shopping (unless you're Linux or Mac, of course). Then come back and leave a comment sharing what YOU would buy from them with your gift card! (I'd buy this: The Wave by The Firm.)


I'll leave the contest open until Sunday night (03/14/10) at 9:00 p.m. Central Time. Contest is open to US residents only. (Sorry, int'l peeps!)


I hope you'll enter the contest, and if you're on twitter, I hope you'll follow @dickssportcmo and let them know how badly they NEED @tippytoediet in their Starting Line-up!  Oh, and feel free to share with your friends! Thanks and Good luck!

Disclosure: The only compensation for this post is the $50 gift card, which I have opted to use as a giveaway opportunity, despite the fact that it breaks my widdle heart to do so since I shop at DSG fairly regularly (Yaay! Asics socks and Life is Good t-shirts!)  I am receiving no other compensation, except perhaps some good Karma points.

5 Weight Loss Habits I Ditched and 6 I Adopted

I was overweight for most of my adult life. After years of habitual dieting, I worked myself into the obese category. Way to go, Cammy!

At some point, I parsed a clue and realized that the customs and habits of "dieting" really weren't working so well for me, and I decided to ditch them. See if any of these habits look familiar to you:

Habit #1 - Changing Everything at Once
I've blogged about this before but it's worth repeating. If I woke up one morning to a to-do list that included painting the house, cleaning out all my closets (*shudder*), washing my car, balancing my checkbook, mowing the lawn, and repaving the driveway, I'd run for the hills. Why I ever thought I could one day wake up and completely overhaul when, what, and how much I ate, add in an hour of heavy exercise, and magically erase all stress from my life with a snap of my fingers, is beyond me.And yet, I did just that. Over and over again. I overcomplicated the process in a big way, and I got bigger as a result.

New habit: Incremental changes. I think of it in terms of layering, or shifting. Smooth and steady progress, with a small jolt or two for kicks and giggles.

Habit #2 - Focusing on weight-based goals only. Y'all know my thoughts on this! But let's go for a refresher in case anyone new is dropping in. I'll be brief(ish). I can't control my weight; it's as simple as that. I can eat healthy, healthy, healthy and gain two pounds. I can sneak in a few treats and lose a pound. Throw in an extra workout, and stay the same. The scale makes no sense sometimes. My previous inability to understand that was frustrating, demoralizing, and ruinous.

New habit: Focus on action-based goals. Ah, these are the goals I have almost 100%.control over. Staying within my calorie range or accomplishing my 6-times-a-week exercise schedule is up to me. It's my choice whether I'll have grilled chicken or fried, one ounce of chocolate or one bar, a 2-mile walk or 3, and so on. Weight loss or maintenance follows eventually, even though it does lag behind sometimes.

Habit #3 - Setting impossible standards.
I swear, I am a reasonably intelligent person. Smart enough to know that a square peg and a round hole are a mismatch, anyway. Yet time and time again, I tried to force myself to eat foods I didn't like (some I loathed), day in and day out. Anyone who was on one of the early Weight Watchers plans will remember the days when you had to eat liver once a week. *pause for gag reflex to subside*  As weeks of joyless meals passed, I would eventually have something "forbidden", thus breaking my "perfect record."

New habit: Eat foods I enjoy in healthy portions. By no longer trying to follow other people's diets, I've  eliminated the pursuit of perfection, a race I was never going to win no matter how hard I tried.

Habit #4 - Hoping for Success, Looking for Trouble
While there's certainly merit in being aware of potential stumbling blocks, I spent more time worrying about the possibility of failing than I did enjoying my successes. What happened was that small blips were magnified far beyond their importance (with zero credit for even trying), and eventually all I saw were the failures.

New habit: Be on the lookout for successes, and celebrate the small victories every bit as loudly as the greater ones. When troubles arise (and they WILL), look for the reasons for the problem and temporarily move the bar lower, or try something new, but always keep the primary focus on what's going right.

Habit #5 - Being So Serious About It All
I'm a person who likes to laugh. A lot. If I'm not finding the world around me to be entertaining enough, I'll make up reasons to give myself a giggle.  But "dieting" is Serious Business, with no room for fun and games, right? It's not possible to--dare I say it?--enjoy the process of learning about myself, trying new things (even when the results are comical), and discovering what I'm capable (and incapable, sometimes) of accomplishing. Yeah, right: Total Bullshit, if you'll excuse the expression. But that was pretty much my approach in years past. Fun and happiness could wait until I was "at goal".

New Habit: If It's Not Fun, Find a Way to Make it Fun! After all, this a life-transforming endeavor, and there is joy in every single moment! Do a face plant while trying to do a stability ball push-up? Laugh 'til you pee! Getting bored with the same old, same old? Invent something fun, like Cake Day, to push you forward. (Yeah, that's what it was, a motivational tool, NOT just a reason to eat cake.)  My point is that life is so very good, and we deserve to enjoy it NOW, rightthisveryminute, not at some (potentially) far-off time in the future.

I have one new habit that I'd never tried with previous weight loss attempts:
New Habit #6: Find a group of warm, witty, and wise folks with whom to share the process. Whether it's an in-person group like Weight Watchers, etc. or an online community like Sparkpeople, seek out a group of similarly-minded people focused on helping each other succeed. My choice: BLOGGERS ROCK! :)

As I've said before, I don't truly consider my previous, unsuccessful attempts to be complete failures. They might not have worked, but they did serve the invaluable purpose of showing me what didn't work. It was by linking all of those together and developing a new way of approaching the same issues that I dropped the 100 pounds.

Now, some of my new habits might not work for you, us being different people and all, but if you're struggling, I encourage you to take a look at what habits or processes you're repeating today that have proven not to work for you in the past. Can you think of a way that you could turn those habits into something with a greater chance of working? Wouldn't it be worth trying?

You might even get a giggle out of it.

For those of you who are on a strong path of finding your way, were there habits or methods you had to jettison to get here?

As alway, thank you for reading. I hope you found something useful!

Companion Foods...and a Couple of Recipes

Cheeseburger & Fries
Cake & Ice Cream
Peanut Butter & Jelly
Biscuits & Gravy
Chips & Salsa

You get the idea, foods that "go together" so well that it's almost automatic to think of them in pairs. Before I decided to take a healthier trek through life, I ate all of these combinations. Not all at once, but it wouldn't have been unheard of to have all of these in the same week. Now I don't have them all in one year!

With 100 pounds to lose, it was clear to me at the beginning that some of these companion foods needed  adjusting. The infrequent cheeseburger I have is now accompanied by a side salad. If I'm available for a splurge, I choose between cake OR ice cream. (Cake always wins!) I still have peanut butter and jelly, but the layers are much thinner and the jelly is an all-fruit spread. Or I have peanut butter & banana and leave the jelly for another day. Biscuits and gravy are a once-a-year (if that) splurge. There simply IS no acceptable tweak for biscuits and gravy that wouldn't be sacriligious.

That brings us to chips and salsa. I present to you my favorite new, healthier companion foods:


Yep, that's celery & salsa! Crispy, crunchy, slightly sweet, and delicious tomato spiciness! I highly recommend it as a lovely side dish for...well, just about anything. It's also a really tasty and filling snack!

What were your favorite companion foods before you shifted to a healthier way of eating? Have you been able to tweak them or adjust to make them fit your new way of eating? Or would you rather have the original less frequently? Have you added any new companion combinations?

Here's a new-to-me-combination: Pan-Seared Tilapia
and Wild Rice with Apples and Cranberries

I've been trying to try new foods and/or new recipes every few weeks, and apparently tonight was a two-fer. (The third item is sugar-free bread & butter pickles. Yum.) I followed both recipes as shown in the links above, with the addition of a splash of apple cider vinegar to the rice and dash of Cajun seasoning to the fish coating.

The cranberries and apples in the rice dish give it a lovely sweetness that wasn't offset by my light hand in seasoning the fish. Will add more spice next time. I'm also eager to try the rice with chicken.

But that will be another day. Now I'm off to prepare my other new favorite food combo: vanilla yogurt with a sprinkling of mini-chocolate chips! :)

Danger at Every Turn

Anyone know how many calories are burned while avoiding danger? If not calories, maybe good karma points? In either case, I hope it's plenty.

I decided to take advantage of mild temps and peek-a-boo sunshine to walk down to Subway for a turkey sandwich. Sounds lovely, doesn't it?  Well, look at what jumped out at me on the way:



Oh no! I forgot about the Girl Scouts! Some of ya'll will remember that I narrowly escaped these beasts of Satan little cuties last year. Apparently, word of my avoidance leaked out (perhaps they're spying on me here?), and they escalated their campaign this year by doing this:



They put photos of the cookies on the signs!! How despicable is that! These people have no shame!

But they don't know me very well, do they? I sailed right by, slowing down only to collect pictorial evidence of the crime scene, and continued my trek toward turkey sustenance.

And that's when I spotted this new threat, right next door to my neighborhood Subway:



A Mexican restaurant! Practically in my front yard!! Cheesy, spicy goodness that I have to pass to get to Subway or Kroger. My life is ruined!

Or maybe not. After all, I've avoided (more like delayed) going to the new Mexican restaurant that opened a mile or so away, and they've been open for months. Of course, we're also separated by a few hundred houses, and I don't pass it every time I travel south from my house.

Oh well, I'll just have to map out routes that always take me north. Or work out a whole lot more. :)

Okay, enough Sunday silliness from me. I hope you've had as wonderful a weekend as I have, and that you avoided the dangers of modern life! :)

For the Love of Chocolate

With my various home projects on hold, pending the return of the professional painters for their final final touch-ups, I decided to declare today a Reno-Free Day. The sun was shining, the temps were headed to the high 50s--a perfect day to be out and about!

So what did I do on my free day? Well, after a brief (hah!) stop at the dermatologist's office, it was on to another potential form of torture:

Yep, I spent part of my free day in the belly of the beast, so to speak, exploring the wonderful world of chocolate. Unfortunately, most of the actual chocolate was shown only in pictures. I suppose the risk of broken display cases was too much for them. :)

The exhibit is really interesting. The ecological requirements of our chocolate source, the cacoa tree, are presented:

 

So, if you're not inclined to protect the rainforests for their environmental benefits, do it for the chocolate!

The exhibit also covers the history of chocolate,  where it originated (with the Maya and Aztec of Mexico and Latin America) and how it became a global commodity via the Spanish conquistadors, European society, and then on to North America.  From there we moved to current technologies, including scientific discoveries such as the medicinal virtues of cacoa's components. All thoroughly interesting and without any effect on my waistline. :)

And yet...I still found it necessary to have a chocolate cookie afterward. :)  It seemed fitting...and the safer choice when compared to the frosted jumbo brownie in the museum cafe. But I made a note to go back for one of those brownies on another day. They looked yummy!

My other splurge was purchasing the book, The Emperors of Chocolate:  Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars at the museum gift shop. It looks like a good read, but I'll let you know if it turns out otherwise. 

I closed out the excursion with a 2-mile power walk and now I'm home and preparing for a 20-minute nap. All in all, a most excellent day and a great start to the weekend! We're looking at a couple more days just like this one, weather-wise, and I do NOT plan to be cooped up in this house!

Wishing you a wonderful weekend ahead! Any special plans?

Some Friday Topic Hoppin'

Greetings from the tiredest person you know. This home remodeling biz will definitely take the wind out of your sails. Having paid someone to paint both bathrooms, with less than remarkable results, I've decided to tackle the next paint project myself. They're two itsy bitsy rooms (guest/exercise room and home office)--what could go wrong? Next week should be fun. :)

In some good-Cammy news, I received the lab results from my recent doctor visit! I'm sharing them here as a measure of my success:

Results	Factor	Goal
168	Total Cholesterol	Less than 200 mg/dL
101	LDL ("Bad") Cholesterol	LDL cholesterol goals vary.
		Less than 100 is Optimal
		100 to 129 is Near Optimal/Above Optimal
		130 to 159 is Borderline High
		160 to 189 is High
		190 is Very High
55	HDL (“Good”) Cholesterol	50 or higher
58	Triglycerides	150
120/80	Blood Pressure	120/80
76	Fasting Glucose	100

I am quite pleased, especially with that "good" cholesterol number. It was 30 last year.

I am also pleased with my snazzy table and sincerely hope it displays properly in your browser. I used a nifty little online app called Tableizer, which requires only that you copy/paste your spreadsheet contents into a little box. Then, presto! They generate the code. FOR FREE! Next, I'll learn how to align it properly. :)

Oh, and in the event you're like me and didn't understand why total cholesterol didn't equal HDL + LDL, you have to add in 1/5 of the total triglycerides. I've checked this off my to-do of "learn something new every day."

Okay, on to starred links from my reader:

From Lifescript Health Bistro: Women: Critical Tips to Recognize a Heart Attack or Stroke

From MakeUseOf: A review of a new app - BetterMe: Self-Improvement with Anonymous Feedback

From Healthy Theory, a post on one of my favorite topics: Napping Does a Body (and Mind) Good

And with that, I'm ready for the weekend. Nothing going on here but work, work, work. Unfortunately, the two rooms I've decided to paint contain all my computers and related peripherals, books, office supplies, files, and exercise equipment. And that all has to be relocated somewhere else in this house.

So unless you can give me a good reason why not, I'll expect you all here tomorrow a.m. at 10:00. How 'bout it? What have you got going on this weekend that's somehow more important than helping me move heavy crap a few things from room to room?

Whatever it is, I hope you enjoy it! :)

Look Who's Talking: Measures of Success

In our first edition of Look Who's Talking, a new series in which I ask a smattering of bloggers the same question, we focused on exercise. This time out, we're talking about success and how we measure it.

Question: Many of us are conditioned to measure success in scale numbers or tape measure results, which is fine, but I've learned (after quite a few misfires) that there are many other measures of success. How do you measure your personal success with respect to health and fitness?

Let's see what our stellar (and I do mean stellar) group of panelists have to say, and then the rest of us can chime in.

Jody, from Truth to Being Fit is wild about fitness and (much to my delight) frequently shares from her vast store of exercise knowledge. Asked how she measures her success, Jody said:

This is a somewhat complicated question for me. Although I do weigh myself every day & try to stay at a certain weight within say 3 pounds AND I do prefer to fit into a certain size of clothes, I think my biggest measure of success is what I see in the mirror AND what I am able to accomplish in terms of goals for myself in the gym which is where I do most of my workouts. Both are important & without my clothes fitting test, I don't know if I would be sure about the scale. Being pretty muscular, the scale is not as good measure for me compared to how my clothes fit. Are they getting too tight to zip for too many days & are they so tight that is is uncomfortable .. I need to address that asap. I have a pair of jeans that I check this too!

In terms of the mirror, I do tend to be pretty hard on myself so I try to see a fit 52 year old that has done the best I can each day. This tags on to my accomplishments in the gym & with my workouts. I have goals each time I work out & as long as I put my all into it, it is a win for me. The fact that I push myself like a person that is 25 years my junior, that I can keep up with my grandkids, that I don't let age be a factor.. to me, that is a success in my book.

Yes, I like the scale to say a certain thing & yes, I use a pair of jeans to make sure I stay within a certain size BUT my biggest measure of success is how much I can do for my age, how I challenge myself to be better & that I just keep trying to improve and stay fit & healthy no matter what my age is or will be. I want to be that 75 year old that is still pounding the weights! If I stay fit, take care of myself, eat healthy.. hopefully that leads to a healthy & full life as I get older. There is no reason why we can't keep doing as long as possible! Healthy body, healthy mind. That is the goal!

Karen, from Waisting Time, has only been blogging for a couple of months, but I (for one) am very glad she started. Like many of us, Karen is a reformed yo-yo dieter and is well on her way to a healthy, fit life--for good! When I asked how she measures success, Karen replied:

When I am doing things right I feel physically and emotionally better, physically and emotionally stronger. I have more energy. I like myself more. I'm happier.

Beyond that are the NSVs, non-scale victories, that I learned to focus on from the fabulous gals on 3fatchicks. It might be as obvious as fitting into pants that used to be too small. But I also try to focus on the little things that let me know I am making progress. Like: eating more vegetables; planning several days worth of meals; having a horribly frustrating computer problem and realizing that it did not drive me to eat. And then there are the exercise advances, for example, this week I added short jogging intervals on the treadmill and only got sore quads from it the first time:)

These little achievements help me stay motivated and give me a sense of accomplishment and progress. Especially when the scale is stuck (or moving in the wrong direction).

Lori, from Finding Radiance,is an amazing success story, having gone from 250 pounds to running a triathlon last year! Now committed to a lifestyle that includes healthy foods and regular exercise, Lori responded to the question with this:

There are a lot of ways that I measure personal success. The scale used to be important to me,particularly when I was first starting to lose, which is normal. What I began to realize, though, was that the scale did not tell the whole truth. When I began strength training, the scale burbled up a little, but tape measurements went down. That helped keep me positive that changes were still happening. It's just way too easy to get focused on a number on the scale and base one's self worth on that.

I also measure success based on what I do. Last year was a year of fitness for me. I did several 5K races, a sprint triathlon, and a duathlon, plus I complete the New Rules of Lifting for Women book. It doesn't matter what place I came in for those races, either. Just doing them was a success. Looking back to photos of me at 250 pounds, it's almost hard to believe I used to be that person. Every finish line I cross, every mile I bike, and every barbell squat I do emphasize that success is not defined by what I weigh or how old I am. These things make me feel very powerful and confident. It also makes me strive to do more. Being more healthy and fit in my 40s than I was in my 20s is success to me!

Lynn Haraldson-Bering blogs at Lynn's Weigh - The Journey Continues, where she inspires us all with tales of life at maintenance. After losing an astounding 170 pounds, Lynn has kept it off for three years! (I sure hope I'm still here and in maintenance at the three year mark!) Curious about how Lynn measures success? Read on:

I’m continually fascinated by what my body is able to do. I remember the first time I went walking for exercise. It was April 2006. I’d already lost 120 pounds, but I could barely do four laps around the track. Still, every week I added a lap and increased my speed. Within six few months I was walking a 5K in 38 minutes. Then in 2007, my husband wanted to buy me a bike when I reached goal. I was like, Me? Biking? But I started out with 8 miles, then 10, and now I can do 20. And I love it! Last fall I took on hiking, and this winter went on a few hikes in the snow. Again, I looked at my body and thought, Damn, Skippy…you really can rock the fitness! I hope this doesn’t sound too vain, but when I’m by myself I flex my muscles in the mirror. That I have definition and contoured arms still amazes me. I feel like a little kid on Christmas when I strength train! LOL

Hmmm, anyone noticing a pattern here? :) Four impressive women, each with a different approach to weight loss and/or maintenance, but one common thread: the scale doesn't tell the whole story! There are many more indicators of your (our) success!

*applause, applause* Thank you, Jody, Karen, Lori, and Lynn, for sharing your successes (and why wouldn't you? They're astounding!) and inspiring us with your stories! I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels a huge debt of gratitude to you!

And now for the rest of us--how do YOU measure your success?

My answer: I didn't even know my weight for the first four months into this thing. I focused entirely on eating better foods than I had been and increasing my endurance with exercise. By doing that, I learned to use many of the same measures described above: the fit of my clothes and how energetic I feel, how many miles or minutes I walk or ride, how many reps and at what weights, how many splurges I've had (that should probably be "how few splurges" *g*), etc. After a while I did begin to weigh myself regularly, but by then I already had built a habit of tracking multiple successes, so that when one doesn't "measure up", something else will!

Thanks again to our lovely panelists...and thank you ALL for playing along!

By Request: Doing Nothing, Almost Explained

After my post yesterday, several of you asked about the concept of "doing nothing." (If you missed it, I first mentioned it in my quasi-book review of Martha Beck's The Joy Diet last week.) What follows is my interpretation of Martha Beck's suggestion to "Do nothing for 15 minutes every day."

I once read a quote attributed to Dr. Stephen Covey that went something like, "A ladder leaning against the wrong wall will only get us to the wrong place faster." We get so caught up in doing every day that we sometimes lose sight of what's truly important to us. The purpose of the daily exercise of doing nothing is to filter through our thoughts and feelings, to tap into the core of who we are what matters most to us.

The only hard-and-fast rule for doing nothing is that you have to remove yourself from the distractions of your life. It may mean that, for fifteen minutes, you have to leave your house, or lock your bedroom door, or sit in your car in the parking lot at work. Let anyone and everyone know that you are off limits and assure them that they will possibly survive it. Then walk away.

The next step is to find inner stillness. Martha Beck suggests either stilling our bodies, or if that feels too restrictive, then to engage in some sort of repetitive motion (walking, jogging, etc.) that requires no conscious thought. [Note: The motion thing doesn't always work so well for me, as I'm sure the startled driver I stepped in front of will agree. It does work well on the treadmill or the elliptical, though. And also while washing dishes, oddly enough.]

As we enter this zone of inner stillness, we should begin to observe the thoughts flitting through our minds, almost like watching them on television. Or, if you have a big life, perhaps a movie theater screen. Ms. Beck suggests visualizing these thoughts on a ticker tape or waterfall or some other moving instrument. {My thoughts ride past on bicycles. :)) Let them go by without judgment, assigning a name or short phrase to each as it passes through.

And that's the point of it all: we're letting these thoughts pass through. We acknowledge the emotion or feeling they create, but we don't let them take root or even find a resting place. Not for these fifteen minutes.

The final component of the exercise is to find our "happy place," a memory of a time when we felt at peace. (If you don't have one, make one up for yourself.) Recalling these times during our observations is relaxing and reminds us that even during times of stress or turmoil, the good things in the Universe are still with us.

It took me a few days to get into the flow of it and to understand the intent behind each of the actions and how they work as a whole together. At first, my thoughts went along these lines:
-I'm tired.
-No, you're lazy.
-Now, I'm being judgmental.
-I'm doing this wrong.
-Oh look! That woman should NOT be wearing that shirt with those pants.

After a few days, it became the intended stream of consciousness stuff:
-Not having a job scares me.{fear}
-The sun feels warm. {gratitude}
-I wonder why I'm so sleepy.{curiosity}
...and so on.

I became more aware of patterns, which is how I figured out I was feeling more anxiety than normal last week. When fear, worry, and nervous appeared multiple times in one day, I kind of took that as a clue. I'm quick that way. :)

I'm sure I've muddled this layman's explanation of doing nothing, and I may not interpret it as Martha Beck intended. You're probably better off reading the book and figuring out a way that works for you. That said, I'll be happy to return to the comments and mop up any muddy water. :)

Chime in with whatever you're thinking, or be on your happy, contemplative way! :)
Hope you're all having a wonderful week!

What Up?

I heard an older man greet a friend with that this morning: What up? I hope I'm that hip (and cute) when I get to be that age.

Lacking anything useful to report, I thought I'd take a moment or two to share my answer to a few What ups?

What are you wearing? The at-home uniform: jeans, red henley, sneakers.

What did you have for breakfast? Yogurt & strawberries. Normally I have two breakfasts, one at around 6 a.m. and another around 9:00 a.m., but I got a late start this morning and didn't have my yogurt until almost 9. So it looks like a lighter breakfast today. I'm sure I'll make it up later in the day. :)

What are you doing for exercise today? This morning, I'm doing about 30 minutes on the stationary bike. Then, because we have sunshine and warmer temps (50s!), I'm going to walk down to Subway for lunch and to Kroger next door for some cameo apples (on sale $0.99/lb.). After that, some yard work. Yesterday, I used my teensy reciprocating saw to cut up a neighbor's fallen tree limb, a victim of our recent ice stormlette. All that cutting and hauling gave me a nice 30-minute workout, which I followed with a brief stint on the stationary bike.

What are you listening to? Birds. A troop of robins is on worm patrol in my backyard. Awesome!

What are you reading? Kimberly asked me that, in response to my Lent-esque intentions. I'm actually reading two books (I do that a lot): Joining the Thin Club: Tips for Toning Your Mind after You've Trimmed Your Body, which I'm mostly skimming. I'm not connecting with the writers, and so far, I haven't seen anything new. I don't mind revisiting past lessons--in fact, I often benefit greatly from it--if they're presented in interesting or entertaining ways. See: Martha Beck...or the other book I'm reading, which is How To Play the Harmonica: and Other Life Lessons. I don't even have a harmonica, but it doesn't really matter. This is a book about unleashing the playful self to promote a happier life. As you probably know, playfulness is not a problem for me, which is possibly why I'm enjoying this book so much. It's laugh-out-loud funny. I like laughing.

What are you doing this weekend?I'll spend some time working on my 40 items, and possibly some time outdoors (clouds are returning), but beyond that, it's a wide-open weekend. Ahhhh....

What are you regretting from the week behind you? I'm kind of regretting that Free Cell "sacrifice". Just kidding. I felt I was playing it too much, but didn't realize how very much! I keep catching myself going for the icon. :) Other than that, the only potential regret I have is signing up to be part of the neighborhood security patrol at last night's neighborhood meeting. I don't have to do anything except ride around the neighborhood and call the police if I see anything suspicious, but I just know some serial killer will choose my day to run rampant through our 'burb. I'm not sure the magnetic 'Security Patrol' signs on my car door and the flashing yellow light on top of the car (the only reason I agreed to do it in the first place) are going to be much of a deterrent. Especially since my shift will be during the daytime, when the light won't be particularly noticeable.

And that's what's going on with me! I hope you all have a most wonderful weekend, but before I go, it's my turn to ask YOU: What up?

My First Lent, My Way

As an unaffiliated (or non-denominational, if you wish) Christian, I've never observed Lent. Many of my friends do, however, and in past years, I've simply nodded to show my attentiveness as they described what they intended to abstain from during the countdown to Easter. Chocolate, alcohol, caffeine, bread, and other such foods were the usual victims, but sometimes activities or perceived bad habits made the hit list: the snooze alarm, unnecessary spending, smoking, watching television, etc. All very interesting, but never enough to lure me into the observance of it.

Easter, on the other hand, has always been one of my favorite holidays. There are spiritual reasons, which I won't go into, but there are also mental and physical components to this holiday for me, probably because it's so handily observed in Spring, when my mind and body are beyond ready to be rid of the winter doldrums. Whatever the reason, I always feel more energized and alive around this time of year.

If you've read here for any length of time, you know that I like to shake things up now and then, to toss something new into the mix. Some things "take", some things don't. The joy is in the trying. And that's why I've decided to observe Lent this year, for the first time in my life.

As I understand it there are three general areas of focus in Lent: prayer, sacrifice, and charity/almsgiving. I've got the prayer/meditation thing covered, which leaves abstinence and charity.

You're probably on the edge of your seats now, wondering just what I plan to give up, aren't you? Well, if you guessed anything food-related, guess again! :) Now that I've cleaned up my daily diet, there's not much to sacrifice without giving up a nutritional component. Not a road I care to travel.

No, I've decided to go another route. When I think about some of my daily practices and habits, along with the ways I want to grow, I've chosen three Lenten-ish sacrifices (I chose three because it's such a big deal number in Christianity):

1) Reading fiction - I don't consider any reading to be time wasted, but I've been spending an inordinate amount of time with my nose buried in a cozy mystery or silly romance novel. I have a shelf full of unread non-fiction books, all obtained with the purpose of enriching my mind and/or spirit. For the next six weeks or so, I'll direct all of reading time to these books and the stack of unread magazines that have accumulated since the beginning of the year. In addition to a recharged inner self, I'll also accomplish a bit of decluttering. A two-fer sacrifice, if you will.

2) Free Cell - I have a healthy practice of using a few minutes of Free Cell play as a reward for getting some task accomplished. Finished my workout? Cool down with a few games of Free Cell. Complete a somewhat difficult item on my to-do list? Two games! Or I'll use it as a distraction from nighttime snacking urges. No problem there, and much healthier than large amounts of popcorn or chocolate. Lately, though, I've noticed that I'll head over to Free Cell when I want to avoid doing something difficult. I recognize it now as a form of fear, a way of hiding from risk, and it's NOT healthy. Taking away Free Cell as an option will give me more time to spend on more enriching pursuits. More on that in a minute.

3) 40 Personal Items & 40 Books - I've been blessed to live a life of abundance, and I'm grateful for that. I'm also embarrassed about the amount of stuff I have. While I've been made progress in ridding myself of some of it, I still have things I don't use, need, or love. In addition, my bookshelves are spilling over again, and many of those books will never be opened again. I've set up two boxes in my office and for the next six(ish) weeks, I'll be filling them with 40 unused items from my house and 40 books from my shelves. The purpose of this sacrifice is two-fold: to rid myself of unnecessary clutter and to put some useful-to-someone-else items back into circulation via a charitable donation.

Speaking of charity, for that component of Lent, I'll be attending a weekly series of Lenten lectures at a nearby church. They caught my attention with this title: Just Eating: Practicing Our Faith at the Table. Some of the topics look very interesting:
A Call to Action - changing our lives with faith in action steps, making our eating just, our bodies healthy & energizing our spirits to serve others.
On Nutrition - food as fuel, how our choices make a huge difference in our energy & our health as we make caring for our body a priority.
Food & Community - creating community with food, the importance of gathering at table and the power it has to nourish our bodies and souls.
Food & Environment - food and our environment, awareness of local cuisine and how to build ties between farmers, food artisans and community.
Food & Hunger - the problem of hunger in the Mid-South. Needs in our community can inform our actions & inspire us to examine our lifestyle.

I expect this series to be personally enriching and also to educate me on how I might better serve my community.

(Any Memphis people plan to attend? Give me a shout! The church is on Quince, just West of Kirby Parkway. There's a Starbucks around the corner that would be perfect for a meet-up! No pastries allowed. Not where I can reach them, anyway. :))

So this is my version of Lent. I'm sure to be breaking some sort of rules, but I don't particularly care. I'll be pushing aside some things (panicky note to self: fiction=temporary) to allow time and space for building a better me, both on the inside and on the outside, to the community at large. That seems to be the purpose of Lent, within my limited understanding of it. And who knows? If it works well, I may create a Supplemental Lent to follow it. :)

Feel free to chime in with your own Lenten intentions. Or not. I know it's a highly personal thing. :)

Whatever your beliefs, I wish you peace...

Book Rec: The Joy Diet by Martha Beck

I fell in love with The Joy Diet: 10 Daily Practices for a Happier Life in the introduction. (I love when that happens.)

The Joy Diet isn't about eating or exercising, despite the title. Author Martha Beck (if you haven't read her other books, you may know her from Oprah) uses the term "diet" in reference to a way of living, how we think and behave. About dieting, she says:

"[If] you're looking for ways to shed that potbelly or firm your buttocks, I'm afraid you'll have to look elsewhere. As far as I'm concerned, your belly and buttocks are absolutely magnificent right now, not that I want you to send me photographs."

Who can not love an author who thinks her (the reader's) butt and belly look magnificent? Maybe she was just sucking up, I don't know, but she had my attention. A few paragraphs later, she had my complete and eternal adoration:

"No matter what complex thing you're learning, from playing the piano to solving calculus equations, the trick is to break the necessary actions down into trivial-seeming behaviors, then practice these behaviors until you can do each one half-asleep, while watching television with one eye and your children with the other."

At the time I first read this book, which was early last year, I had just spent two of the best years of my life (so far!) realizing and learning to practice incremental changes. It's the "Tippy Toe" part of The Tippy Toe Diet, and several of the ten behaviors described are ones I had already adopted for myself. What this book did for me was to remind me of the importance of each and every one, and in several cases, to enlighten me as to why exactly they had worked. It also made me wish I had known about this book when it was first published in 2003.

The Joy Diet's ten "menu items", as listed in the book's jacket:

• Nothing: Do nothing for fifteen minutes a day. Stop mindlessly chasing goals and figure out which goals are worth going after.
• Truth: Create a moment of truth to help you unmask what you’re hiding—from others and from yourself.
• Desire: Identify, articulate, and explore at least one of your heart’s desires—and learn how to let yourself want what you want.
• Creativity: Learn six new ways to develop at least one new idea to help you obtain your heart’s desire.
• Risk: Take one baby step toward reaching your goal. The only rule is it has to scare the pants off you.
• Treats: Give yourself a treat for every risk you take and two treats just because you’re you. No exceptions. No excuses.
• Play: Take a moment to remember your real life’s work and differentiate it from the games you play to achieve it. Then play wholeheartedly.
• Laughter: Laugh at least thirty times a day. Props encouraged.
• Connection: Use your Joy Diet skills to interact with someone who matters to you.
• Feasting: Enjoy at least three square feasts a day, with or without food

It's all fairly simple and fundamental advice, presented in Martha Beck's funny and uniquely down-to-earth (and sometimes appropriately snarky!) way. The Joy Diet may not be a "diet book" (it's a life book), and I hadn't read the book during my weight loss phase, almost every behavior discussed is an area I addressed in order to get to a 100-pound loss. Now that I've read the book, I'm using all of these behaviors as I try to transition to the world of the self-employed. I don't know how much progress I'm making, but I'm enjoying the experience immensely, and that's the only way to fly!

Do you recognize any of these behaviors among those you've incorporated into your healthier way of living? See any that intrigue you? Motivate you?

The link below takes you to my Amazon store, if you're so inclined (and thank you if you are), but I suspect you can find this book at most bookstores or even your local libary. Whatever your choice, I do hope you'll find it somewhere and enjoy it as much as I did.

Blogging with My Heart

I’m asking a special favor of you today. It will only take a minute. Literally.

For just one minute, I’d like you to sit back, close your eyes, and think about all of the influential women in your life, past and present, those who have loved you, taken care of you, taught you, supported you, and inspired you throughout your life. Let your mind's eye see their images: the wisdom and compassion in their expressions, the laugh lines around their eyes, the joyful glow that lights from within. Think about the powerful effect these women had on your life and what your life might have been like without their positive influence. (Guys? You are not exempt. Get to it!)

One minute. Sixty little seconds. Go on, I’ll wait…

…If you’re like me, that minute of reflection overflowed with influential women: mothers and grandmothers, sisters, daughters, beloved aunts, teachers, doctors, friends, co-workers, mentors, and maybe even women we don’t know, like athletes and actresses, writers and musicians.  Bloggers even!   (And yes, I do mean YOU!)  We are all richly blessed by the positive influence of women.

The reason I asked you to join me in this one-minute exercise was not only to honor these amazing women, but to also point out something you may not know: In that single minute of reflection, a woman in the U.S. died from cardiovascular disease. A woman who, no doubt, would be counted as someone else's life-changer.. Mother, sister, mentor, friend--she made a difference in someone's life. And now she's gone, one of the 450,000 women--about one every minute--who die each year from heart disease.It's a sobering statistic, to say the least.

This statistical woman now joins the influential women in my life, and they're ALL why I'm joining the American Heart Association and fitlosophy, inc. in encouraging you to...

Go Red and Go Red For Women are trademarks of AHA. The Red Dress Design is a trademark of U.S. DHHS.

When you consider the following stats from the Go Red for Women organization, it only makes sense:

• As mentioned earlier, cardiovascular disease kills approximately 450,000 women each year, about one every minute.
• While 1 in 30 American women die of breast cancer, about 1 in 3 die from cardiovascular disease.
• More women die of cardiovascular disease than the next five causes of death combined, including all forms of cancer.
• Ninety percent of women have one or more risk factors for developing heart disease.
• Only 1 in 5 women believe that heart disease is her greatest health threat.
• Heart disease is largely preventable. In fact, 80 percent of cardiac events in women may be prevented if women make the right choices for their hearts, involving diet, exercise and abstinence from smoking.

What do you get out of it?

• Research shows that women who “Go Red” are more likely to make healthy choices.
  
• More than one-third have lost weight.
• Nearly 55 percent have increased their exercise.
• Six out of ten have changed their diets.
• More than 40 percent have checked their cholesterol levels.
• One third have talked with their doctors about developing heart health plans. 

Almost anyone who's reading here is in search of a healthier life. We're making wiser food choices, we're exercising, and we're learning to take better care of ourselves every day. So why not add a little spark to that fire and take yet another minute to explore the Go Red site and check out the available information and programs?

And then share it with every woman you know. YOU can be the difference in someone else's life!

I'd be honored if you wanted to give a shout-out to any of the influential women in your life--either here, or on your blogs. And maybe give a nudge to your readers to check out the Go Red for Women campaign for themselves.

We CAN make a difference!

Personal note: This post is dedicated to my friend, Kathleen, who died last year of complications of diabetes and heart disease, at the too-young age of 59.

My Turn for a Recipe: Roasted Chickpeas

Thank you all so much for your tips, advice, and recipes in response to my cooking questions!  I can't wait to try out some of your recipes! (And if you missed those recipes, check out the comments section of my previous post. You won't be sorry!)

Yesterday was a tuna and turkey day for me, which doesn't require much in the way of preparation or creativity. So I decided to exercise my culinary talents by making a recipe I found on Peanut Butter Boy's blog: Peanut Roasted Garbanzo Beans. I'm always in the market for a healthy, crunchy snack and garbanzo beans, or chickpeas, or loaded with protein and fiber for relatively few calories. Perfect combination!

PBB's recipe:

1 (15oz) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
3T PB2 (12%-fat peanut flour)
1/4t kosher salt, to taste
Directions:
1. Drain and rinse chickpeas in a colander until water runs clear. Let drain for 10-15 minutes until mostly dry.
2. Preheat oven to 375 and line a baking sheet with tinfoil and spray with cooking spray. Use a paper towel to further dry the chickpeas if they are still wet (a little moisture is fine). Place the chickpeas into a medium sized bowl and spray with cooking spray. Add PB2 powder and salt and toss to coat.
3. Spread chickpeas into one layer on the baking sheet and bake for 45-55 minutes, shaking the pan every 15 minutes. Watch them closely near the end so they don’t burn. Take one chickpea out at the 45 minute mark to test. They should be dry and crunchy with no moisture left inside. 

I followed this recipe exactly, except for some reason I set my oven to 350. It didn't seem to make a difference, and my peas were ready after 45 minutes.

My Results: Meh, but not hopeless. They're nicely crunchy, if a bit bland. I was expecting something more flavorful, a little explosion on my tongue.  Didn't happen. If I try this particular recipe again, I'll try adding some cinnamon to it.

But I may not try this recipe again, because I went searching for other recipes and hit the jackpot:

Cheap, Healthy Good's roasted chickpea recipe calls for olive oil, cumin, and cayenne pepper. It also dry roasts for 20 minutes before adding the seasoning. (You'll also want to read the funny recounting of the first attempt at roasting.)

Or there's the sea salt and garam masala combo from TheKitchn:

Or maybe toss in almost every spice in my pantry a la this sweet & spicy recipe found on GroupRecipes.

Or  Wasabi Roasted Chickpeas if you like your snacks super spicy.

There are lots of possibilities, as you can see. I think for my next batch, I'll try using up some of my giant-sized bottle of taco seasoning. After that, maybe chocolate PB2 and coconut oil. Then maybe some dry-rub barbecue seasoning with a dash of onion salt. I'll let you know if I hit on anything dangerously delicious. :)

Anything here sounding interesting to you? Any ideas for your own toppings for roasted chickpeas?

Rant: This Post May Have Been Stolen

Please pardon this departure from my normal fluffiness, but I'm feeling a tad cranky.

If you are reading this post on any site that does not have "tippytoediet" in its URL, then you're most likely reading stolen content.

If you are reading this post on a site with the words "thighs" and "thinner" in its URL, then you are definitely reading stolen content. The owner of that site has been contacted by yours truly numerous times since November 2009 and is no longer responding to cease and desist requests. GoDaddy and AdSense have also been notified of this copyright infringement, which is in violation of their stated policies, not to mention a direct violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and International Copyright Law.

And a certain indicator of bad breeding.

Sharing content around the blogosphere is absolutely acceptable, with proper attribution. It's how we share information and learn about other blogs. The more appropriate way to do it is to post a blurb about the article of interest and then provide a direct link to the original content.  It is a great big no-no to publish other bloggers' content in its entirety and present it as your own without express written permission. (Most people add "posted with permission" or words to that effect.). 

If you're a blogger whose content is being scraped onto a just-for-profit blog, there are steps you can take to stop the offender. The folks at NetConcepts.com have compiled a very useful article on how to stop copyright infringement. (See how easy that is?)

An easy way to find out if your content is being published elsewhere is to include the name of your blog in each of your posts or RSS feeds and then set up a google alert with your blog name in it.(You'll want to put the name of your blog in quotes, like this: "The Tippy Toe Diet" to make it an absolute reference.)  You can set your alert to notify you with each occurrence, daily, or weekly.


So, Mr. Content Thief, let's see if you scrape this post as you have done with all my posts since November 2009. As you do with the posts of many other bloggers.

Shame.

Thank you, lovely readers, for your patience in allowing me to take care of this little bit of annoyance. I'll be back tomorrow with my normal fluffy, perky self. Or as close as I can get on a Monday. :)

The Week That Was

This was one of those weeks that peaked on Tuesday and then kind of tumbled and stumbled to a dismal finish. Nothing horrible at all, for which I'm humbly thankful, but a couple of disappointing turn of events, a root canal with feverish complications (I look like a chipmunk!), the apparent death of my treadmill, and endless gray days have me very much looking forward to a fresh new week!

On the plus side, nutrition and exercise were pretty decent this week. When my treadmill went into a coma, I learned that my parents still had an old stationary bike I'd purchased years and years ago, so I hauled it to my house. It's pretty pathetic, as cardio equipment goes, but after I put on my 10-pound ankle weights, I was able to get in a good workout on it. Where there's a will, there's a way, eh? :)

Also on the plus side, I "discovered" a really cool international food market near my house that has fruits and veggies I never even heard of. It's been there for several years, and I only drive past it every two or three days, but I'd never bothered to stop until yesterday. My goal of trying new foods every few weeks just got a whole lot easier.

Another bright spot to the week was that a number of new-to-me bloggers dropped in to comment, and now I have some fun new blogs to check out! Following other people as they achieve their goals always inspires me to keep chasing my own. Funny how that works, isn't it?

Finally, these articles also brightened my otherwise gray-ish week:
- Kat over at BodyIncredible.com shared How to Boost Your Metabolism in 3 Minutes 29 Seconds (Caution: If you need to pee, I suggest you do it before watching the accompanying video.)

- The folks at Wisebread posted some great tips on Frugal Gluten-free Living. While I'm not gluten-free, I know some of you are, and these seem like pretty good ideas.

- Healthy Theory had this informative post: Not All Sugars Are Created Equal.

- MakeUseOf clued me in on this free online food diary, exercise, and weight loss tracker.

And last, but far from least, DumbLittleMan had an awesome post on 50 Ways to Create a Better Day. Today I'm focusing on #27 and NOT wallowing. :)

Hope you're looking forward to an amazing weekend!

~~~

Happy Healthy Hearts

February is American Heart Month and National Heart Month in the U.K. and Canada. It's a great time to learn about or recommit yourself to heart healthy strategies. I blogged about Heart Month on this date last year. Check it out to learn more about heart disease, especially as it affects women. (Note: As far as I can tell, the HEART for Women Act is still stuck in some Senate committee and has not been passed.

Friday, February 5, is National Wear Red Day (February 11th in Australia. Show your support for women's heart health--Go Red! Get your co-workers to do the same. My office did it last year, and it was soooo energizing to see how many people--women and men--showed their support. You can see me in my red finery by clicking here.

In New Zealand Annual Appeal Week will be held February 8-14th. I'm not sure exactly what that is, but it sounds like a fund-raiser to me. So if you're in NZ, give early and/or often! :)

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

In other news, my heart is very happy today! Lots of reasons, but not the least of which can be found at #11 on my List of 10 Things That Make Me Happy. If you recall from the aforelinked post, I had entered Chocolate-Covered Katie's Vitamix Giveaway and in a burst of positivity (and general silliness), added it to the list of happy-inducers at the last minute. Well, guess what?

I won!

Yeps, out of the gazillion people who entered, my name was chosen. (Bless you, Katie! and thanks to all of you who cheered!) After years of pining, I will soon be the proud owner of a Vitamix 5200.

And with fresh strawberry season just around the corner...

Be still, my heart.

Wait! I don't mean that literally. My heart should keep on pumping like it's supposed to, only happier and healthier. :)

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Wishing you all. a heart-healthy and heart-happy February!

Smorgasbord

Greetings from Sparkletown!  It's a nice trade-off for the inconvenience of the ice.

We never did get any real snow in my part of town, despite being promised LOTS of it. We did have lots of sleet, but the main roads were mostly passable.

I survived the weekend in healthy fashion, with no unnecessary snacking. I decided to log my food for the weekend, which may have helped me stick to the plan.

Or maybe it was the stress of hearing melting ice chunks crashing onto my roof from the tree limbs above. Who can say.

How'd you do?

In other news,RunningBetty kindly nominated me for Best Plus-Size Blog. Thank you, Betty, I'm honored that you thought of me! 

I'm not sure all the wheres and whyfores of this contest, but if you've got a second and would like to cast a vote, just click on the icon below:

Thank you.

A few links I bookmarked this week:

If you're struggling a bit staying on plan, maybe it's time to take a step back and focus on some basics with 7 Easy Ways to Lose Weight without Starving or Breaking a Sweat.

If you're like me and spend waaaay too much time at the grocery store trying to weed out the products with high fructosse corn syrup, the folks at StopHFCS have a handy listing of HFCS-free products. They also have a forum in which members share their finds.

Runners who are suffering from tight hamstrings and sore calves might want to check out Yoga's Benefits for Runners at Healthy Theory.

Last but not least, if you're the type who responds better to a little financial incentive, check out MUO's  review of Lose It or Lose It. I can tell you already that my money's on you! :)

And that's it for me! I'm headed to the treadmill and then off to watch "Worst Cooks in America", which is interesting but embarrassing, in that they're all 10 times better cooks than I am. :)

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Product Review: Habit Changer

In mid-December I was contacted by the folks at Habit Changer, asking if I'd take one of their 42-day programs for a complimentary test spin (the only compensation offered or received) and then blog about it--whether my "experience was positive or not."  That seemed fair enough to me!

Habit Changer is a web-based application that uses the concepts of cognitive behavior therapy and (get ready for a new vocabulary word) neuroplasticity to help participants recognize current beliefs and behaviors and replace them with a different perspective.If you're like me, you may be unfamiliar with the term, neuroplasticity (please tell me I'm not the only one), but you're not unfamiliar with the tenets of it. At its most basic level, it's the brain's ability to "re-wire" itself, based on the input it's receiving. Many of us have been doing that for years, but on the opposite side of the field: negative messages resulting in unhealthy behaviors. The old "garbage in, garbage out" dynamic, or as I blogged about some time ago, seeing what we believe. Habit Changer uses a system of positive messages and activities to help users jump-start a reversal of that negative pattern.

The four most popular programs offered are Losing Weight, Stop Stressing, Money & You, and Feeding Your Kids, but there are several other programs offered as well. Most cost $19.95 (last time I checked), but the Feeding Your Kids program is F-R-E-E for parents.

I chose Losing Weight 2 for my test drive. It's designed for those who are at goal weight or who have been at goal weight at least once, and it's supposed to make the process of staying at goal weight easier. I'm all for that!

Each morning I receive a Habit Changer "lesson" on a specific topic, along with a daily challenge. Later in the day, I receive a reinforcing email reminder. I also opted to receive a text message reminder. And as if that's not enough, the system allows for custom messaging, a way of sending yourself reminders in the language that you know will keep you on track. My custom message is simple: What have you done today? ( I have a post-it note on my monitor that asks the same question.) If I get off track or am tempted to blow off planned exercise, these few words should get my thoughts redirected. Or at least, questioned. :)

I'm on day 36 of the 42-day program, and while many of the topics are things I already know and do, each concept was something I had to learn over the past three years. It would've been nice to have this tool to guide my progress. And some topics are nice little reminders or wake-up calls for things I could spend a little time on. Take today, for example.

The Day 36 message was titled "Slim" and really hit home for me. It encouraged me to stop thinking of myself as someone who will always think of myself as having a weight problem and to focus on thinking of myself as "slim."  They suggested these two actions:

* If you have reached or approached your target weight, tell yourself out loud at least once some variant of "I am slim".
* At the same time, visualize how the lines of your body now fit well with what your body was designed to be. Visualize yourself in your mind and think, That's about what it's supposed to be. I am a slim person. And I always will be. That reality is now me.

They ended the daily message with this perspective reminder:

If you are thinking: I'm afraid to promise myself that I'll always be slim. What if I fail, and my weight climbs again?
Try this instead: If I have reached my goal weight at least once, and I am this far into the program, I already know enough that minor setbacks won't change my long-term outcome.

I have no idea how Habit Changer knew that those fears creep into my thinking from time to time, but I've spent today reminding myself frequently that "I am fit" and "I am in control". And just as I was ordering my lunch today, I received a text message on my phone that said: "Now that you know you are in control, doesn't it feel good?" Since I had ordered a turkey sandwich, I was able to give myself a mental backpack and affirm that yes, control does feel pretty darned good.

And you can rest assured that the timing of today's message recap will arrive about the same time as my evening snack. I can't ever catch a break. :)

As I near the end of this particular program, I can honestly say that I haven't seen a single negative about it. The Habit Changer program is well-organized, with easy-to-follow concepts that are, in my opinion, all concepts crucial to building and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. The application is easy to use and adapt to personal needs. I would have considered it money well spent if I had purchased the program. (Remember: I don't get paid to say that.)

And the best news is that there's no high fructose corn syrup!

As I was typing my custom email message above, I couldn't help but wonder what would YOU choose for your custom message? What words would help you maintain your healthy focus or get you turned around again on those days when LIFE happens?

Look Who's Talking: Exercise

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a lovely weekend!

You know, even after two years of rambling around the weight loss/maintenance and fitness blogosphere, I'm constantly discovering new, or new-to-me, bloggers. Just when I think I've been everywhere, I spot a comment from or a link to a blog I haven't seen before! Each has its own distinct flavor or flair, and I'm always learning something new--I love it!

It occurred to me last week that to the the folks just starting their quest for better health and fitness, the breadth and depth of our little corner of the internet might seem a bit daunting. How do we find our tribe-within-the-tribe, those bloggers who are on a similar course to our own? Which people farther down this path will inspire us and motivate us to keep on going? Who might feed us with lots of delicious, healthy recipes? Or keep us up to date with all the latest health and fitness happenings? Who makes us laugh and feel a little less like we're on this road alone?  The possibilities are so far-reaching that it can boggle the mind.

Enter: the Tippy Toe Shortcut. This is the first post of a new series I'm calling "Look Who's Talking." For each post, I'll ask a cross section of bloggers the same question and report their responses here. Then the rest of us have our turn to share!  Given the diversity of blogs and bloggers out there, the results should be verr-r-r-y interesting! I think so, anyway.

HUGEHUGE thanks to this awesome group of bloggers, who so graciously agreed to go first. I asked them:

What is your favorite exercise or form of exercise? And your least favorite?

Lynn, who blogs at Actual Scale, will someday join those of us in the 100-pounds lost club. She's already halfway there! Lynn says:

I think my favorite types of exercise are the ones that do not feel like exercise. For instance, I absolutely love my weighted hula hoop, boxing with the Wii, doing a kid's yoga dvd with my 6 year old and my belly dancing dvd. They may not be hard core workouts, but they are the ones I look forward to doing. They are the ones I will never skip because, "I don't feel like it"...which is what happens with my cardio sometimes.

Least favorite exercise? Hands down it is cardio. Give me weights any day intead of spending 30-60 minutes sweating my butt off, jumping, bending, jogging, kicking, etc...I would rather do a gazillion squats than walk on a treadmill for 30 minutes. I don't mind the recumbent bike, and actually like walking (but only outside & I live in a 4 Season area) but I dread doing them. For some reason I have convinced myself that it is easier to work in 20 minutes of strength versus 20 minutes of cardio. Yep, I'm mental that way.

Thank you, Lynn! We're all mental about something! :) Mine is running. And thank you for continuing to inspire me to master the hula hoop. Someday...

Rebeca at All Vegged Out is a blogger with irons in many fires. Fortunately for us, one of those fires is sharing awesome (and awesomely nutritious!) recipes and meal ideas. Rebeca's favorite form of exercise is yoga, about which she said:

I know that there are a lot of people who shy away from yoga because they claim that they are not flexible but I would have claimed the same thing a few years ago.  I love how it stretches my body and really opens me up.  While I don't subscribe to some of spiritual aspects of yoga there is no denying that its practice makes you more in tune with your body.  For me, this deep connection that I feel afterward gives me such a sense of calm and centers me in a way that nothing else ever has.  I also think that it makes you a lot stronger than you realize as you go deeper into your practice you find all sorts of defined muscles just from your own body resistance that leads to toning.

Least Favorite: Strength Training with Dumbbells. I'll admit that I'm a little lazy at times.  Which makes the dumbbells and I a lethal combination.  Instead of grabbing a heavy set, I'll grab the smallest ones and then fake my way through the reps. Then I end up bored and quit a couple of minutes in.  I really like machines though and like to compete with myself on them, but if I'm alone at home with the dumbbells then they're probably gaining dust while I gain weight!

Thanks, Rebeca! I'm s-l-o-w-l-y building a yoga practice, and it does work the muscles in a different--yet wonderful--way.

Andrew of the aptly-titled blog, Andrew is getting fit has moved from the world of morbid obesity to one that includes multiple marathons. His passion for running is evident in each of his posts, so I knew that was his favorite. I just didn't know why. Here's what Andrew said:

I find running gives me some "me" time where I can ponder the mysteries of the universe, listen to my favourite podcasts or just zone out.  It's also quite helpful with the weightloss efforts!

Least favorite? This is tricky as there is not one I particularly despise as such.  Although if I think about the gym I always avoid the stepper as it just seems a bit too much like hard work!

Thank you, Andrew! I've been following you for some time now, and your commitment to and enjoyment of your program inspire me every day. Plus, I've learned a lot about New Zealand. :)

Sahar blogs at FatFighterTV, and her blog is packed with health news, recipe makeovers, videos, and inspiring stories. I have Sahar to thank for the snazzy Weight Loss Woo-hoo button in my sidebar. About exercise, Sahar has THREE favorites:

Pilates, hiking, and group classes. I love Pilates because of the great strengthening and toning effects it has on my core. I adore hiking in the mountains because I get a such a great workout while I am enjoying all the beauty in nature. And I often get hooked on aerobics classes because the music makes it so fun that I forget I am exercising.

My  least favorite is cardio on the treadmill - I get very bored and feel like I am spinning when I get off the treadmill!

Thank you, Sahar! I'm an outdoor-exerciser , too! I keep saying I'm going to join a local hiking group, but so far no doing. That needs to change--NOW.

Tiff has been blogging at Project 365 for a little over a month now. Her spirit and enthusiasm shine in her posts and are a definite bright spot in my day!  About exercise, Tiff said:

I really enjoy walking at this point. It's low impact and can be done almost anywhere- on my lunch break, at a park, even indoors (thx to the lovely Leslie Sansone!). It's also great because you can go with a friend and chat which helps the time to go by faster; it's an exercise that almost anyone can do!

Least favorite? PILATES...my body was SO not made to do any of those things! :)

Thanks, Tiff! I share your enthusiasm for walking, but I still haven't tried the Leslie Sansone DVDs. (I must fix that.)

And that's what this group of bloggers had to say about exercise! I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know a little bit more about what makes them tick, and I appreciated the reminders of things I want to do, or re-do, in some cases.

As for me, my favorite form of exercise is anything that gets me outdoors. Whether it's walking or riding my bike, there's something about being outside in the fresh air that gets me going--physically and mentally! (I do love the afterglow of a good strength training session, though.)  My least favorite exercise is the pull-up, because it demoralizes me. :)

And now it's YOUR turn. Favorite? Least favorite? We wanna know!

Thanks again to Andrew, Lynn, Rebeca, Sahar, and Tiff for your time and graciousness in sharing your answers with us!

And to everyone else, be warned that I'll likely be coming to you someday with some other burning question! :)

Mailbag and Things You Might Have Missed This Week

Greetings! Don't you just love those weeks when LIFE grabs you by the whatzits and says, "Deal with me NOW!"

This was one of those weeks. In between the tile guys, the plumber, and the electricians (so many men going in and out of my house, it's starting to look like a bordello), I managed to develop an abscess on a tooth. Trying to be gracious with stabbing pains shooting all over my head ain't easy, lemme tell ya. But I made it through, and the dentist was able to see me this morning....only to refer me to an endodontist for a root canal. (In addition to having a curvy body, I apparently have curvy roots on this tooth.) Of course, the endodontist didn't have an opening until February 2nd. Please pardon if my posts seem a bit terse over the next week.

But enough about me. It's on to the show!

I received a couple of questions re: nutrition, and as you all know, I'm not a nutritionist. I did a smidge of research, but I'll count on your kindness in jumping in with any additional info.

Question 1: Are strawberries not good on a regular basis?
My answer: Strawberries are never "not good", especially if they have chocolate anywhere near them :)  And that's mostly true. According to the folks at World's Healthiest Foods, strawberries are "an excellent source of vitamin C and manganese. They also qualified as a very good source of dietary fiber and iodine as well as a good source of potassium, folate, riboflavin, vitamin B5, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin B6, vitamin K, magnesium, and copper." Wow, that's a lot of health packed into one cute little berry! 

But we know there's always fine print, don't we? There's a little wrinkle with strawberries. Conventionally grown berries are high on the pesticide list, so organic is the preferable purchase. Also, these juicy red gems contain naturally occurring oxalates that might cause problems for people with kidney, gall bladder, or digestive tract issues. Might want to talk to your M.D. before eating too many strawberries.

{Insert your answer, amendment, or comment here}

Question 2: Why is soy or almond milk healthier than skim?
My answer: I don't really have a good answer. This is a highly (and sometimes hotly!) debated issue.  Ultimately, the decision for each of us will probably be based partly on our personal philosophies and partly on health goals/issues. For me, the basics are that soy and almond milk are absent any animal fats, but they're both highly processed. Skim milk is lower in animal fat than whole milk, but it also undergoes significant processing. But that just scratches the surface.

When i was in LA last fall, the LA Times ran a fairly balanced article profiling the benefits and concerns of a variety of milks. Also the folks at World's Healthiest Foods have a good discussion on their site.

{Insert your answer, amendment, or comment here}

Surely between all of us, we can provide enough info to be...you know, helpful. :)

Closing out with a few links I liked this week:

44 Ways to Improve Your Health and Happiness  (Wisebread)
Weight Loss Tracker: Monitor Your Weight Loss Online (Makeuseof)
Exercise Tracker: Monitor Exercise Routines Online (MakeUseOf)

Gym Etiquette (Healthy Theory)
12 Questions You Should Be Asking Yourself (The Rat Race Trap)

And I'm finally done. :)

Hope you all have a great weekend!

The Ones Left Behind (and a Giveaway opp)

I have that super savvy Sagan to thank for this topic. You're probably aware that Sagan is in the middle of a month-long raw food challenge. In her post today, Sagan revealed the non-raw foods at the top of her list at the end of this challenge. 

Now, I've never done a raw food challenge and am not likely to attempt one in this lifetime, but Sagan's post made me realize that I have a similar parallel in the conversion to healthier eating three years ago.

Most of you probably know that I didn't lose my weight by following a specific eating plan. I kind of made mine up as I went along, starting simply by developing a habit of eating 5-7 fruit and veggie servings per day, then focusing on lean meats, and then whole grains, and so on. I also allowed one splurge item each week (a serving of non-whole wheat bread OR a slice of pizza OR some other deviation from the norm that left me within my calorie count for that day.) If I followed that plan, I  promised myself ONE monthly splurge meal.

This plan worked for me (still does!), and I actually had a lot of fun with it. As thoughts of foods that hadn't made the cut came to mind, I could evaluate them for potential splurge meals and determine if they were "splurge-worthy." (Seinfeld fans will recognize the appropriation.) At one point, I had six months worth of meals set in my mind. After that, I think the new healthier way of eating had taken hold and I didn't think about many of those foods anymore. Not very often, anyway. Reading Sagan's post today, I realized that there are many foods I simply walked away from three years ago.

Here's a random sampling of foods I used to eat regularly but apparently have left behind:
:

Hostess cupcakes (chocolate or orange)
Little Debbie snack cakes
Rotel cheese dip
Ritz crackers
Peanut butter pie
Multiple slices of pizza with extra cheese
Tater tots
Pizza Rolls (the commercial kind. I do make some at home using wonton wrappers. Thanks, Roni.)
Regular potato chips
Honey-roasted peanuts


Those are just a few, and there are many other foods that I've had very, very sparingly over the past 3 years: french fries (4-5x), pancakes (2x), fried catfish (2x, both times as monthly splurge meals), fried chicken (once), and biscuits (4-5x, always when traveling for some reason).

Everything else I've managed to work into the plan, even if in very limited portions. :)

Foods I've significantly added in include dates, black beans, broccoli, green peppers, spinach (but still only in green smoothies), PB2, hummus, olive oil, pure pumpkin, yogurt, and soy milk. Oh, and air-popped popcorn. 'Cause this girl does love to snack! :)


I'm curious what foods other people have "left behind" in their quest for healthier eating. What foods do you now eat regularly that you rarely, or never ate before?

And speaking of snacking (and I was earlier), the kind folks at Special K have offered one lucky US-reader a Special K Resolution Party Pack, including their new  Special K Fruit Crisps, some cereal, a protein bar, an assortment of protein drinks, and some granola cereal.

Special K also provided me with one for taste testing, and I've sampled a couple of items. I opted for the protein bar one day when the tile guys were "finishing up soon" and my lunch was overdue. Another day, I tried one of the fruit crisps. I found both of them to be quite tasty and satisfying for their immediate purpose. I'll be trying the other products in little servings here and there, due to the ingredients lists, which include sugar and other things that are no longer part of my every day (or every week) repertoire.

If you live in the U.S., and you'd like a chance to win your own Special K Party Pack and make your own informed observation, or if you've tried the products and would love to get your hands on more, just let me know in the comments! I'll draw the lucky winner's name on Thursday morning, 6 a.m.-ish US Central.

Practice, Practice, Practice

The other night, during the first of my two at-home Pilates workouts, I was feeling frustrated with some of the movements, so frustrated that I was thisclose to hitting eject and going for the Rodney Yee instead. Out of the blue, this quote from Les Brown popped into my mind:

You've always heard, "Practice makes perfect." Well, there is no such thing as perfection. Practice makes improvement.

I'm not sure where this notion that I should be able to pop in the DVD and just be able to do all the movements perfectly came from. There's not a single exercise I do that I do perfectly. That's one of the things that makes exercising fun! Yes, it's frustrating, and sometimes embarrassing, to struggle through what seem to be basic exercises. We see other people knocking out push-ups left and right, and an image of ourselves as we fumble through three pitiful ones (pardon author's biographical intrusion) comes to mind, and our spirits and self-esteem tumble.

The trick, I learned after a few months, is to know that where we are now is just the starting point. If we view it as that--a starting point--the pursuit of improvement becomes fun. Joyful, even. One day we're doing three push-ups (and doing them badly), two weeks later we've upped our number to five, a month after that we're doing ten pushups and then another ten after a brief rest. We're improving! The joy and pride in that can't be measured.

Just as with exercise, building and maintaining that positive viewpoint takes a little practice. Two things help me most:

1. Keeping a log of my progress - From time to time, I revisit my exercise calendar from 2007. The one entry always guaranteed to make me smile is the entry that marks the first time I walked a full hour. It has an exclamation point! :) Seeing the miles or reps add up, knowing that you're progressing even when you aren't where you want to be is incredibly motivating.
2. Having a sense of humor - Finding the 'funny' in any situation or event helps. The other night,  I attempted some sort of Pilates maneuver that required I hold my arms and legs in the air, rock onto my back, and then propel myself forward until I was balanced once again with arms and legs off the floor. I could do the initial balancing, and I could rock back just fine. The problem (and hilarity) came in when I tried to stop the forward movement and balance myself.  I would rock too far forward and in trying to regain the balanced position, I'd end up rocking back again. After the first three attempts, an image of me as an old-fashioned rocking horse came to mind, and I was overcome with giggles. Seriously, I had to freeze the DVD until I could compose myself. Once I restarted, I began to see progress (of sorts) on the sixth repition. (On my second workout, I was able to (sort of) do this move by the third rep.)

Focusing on improvement rather than perfection builds confidence and self-esteem. It creates a sense of purpose and building toward something, as opposed to reaching for some future ideal that may or may not exist.

Mantra: There is no such thing as perfection.

Your turn. Do you get caught up in the chase for perfection? Or are you able to take the "bird's eye view" and see the bigger picture? Any tips for the rest of us?