Kathleen

Challenge

2008-03-03T03:44:23Z

One of the steps in the CTM program asks you to do something new that will get you moving.]]> Just getting active by walking or doing exercises is hard enough but to step way out of your comfort zone and do something entirely new is hard even if it is fun or interesting or challenging. When you are overweight or even if you don't have a weight problem but are athletically challenged lets say, doing something athletic can make you very self conscious. I decided to try golf. My husband plays, my daughter and her husband play. I would never lack for company to play with and I felt it would be an activity I could do for years to come. After all they do have a Seniors Tour. The closest I had been to golf was to watch it on TV with my husband. Not wanting to take a lesson while on display I picked a local golf store that offered lessons. They have a place set up in the back of the store and late afternoon and dinner time the store is practically empty. This was all part of my plan to be as inconspicuous as possible while learning my new sport. When thinking about playing golf I thought it looked easy to do and I would be able to say I played a real sport. I thought with a little practice I would be able to perform decently but I really didn't see a lot of cardio or exercise benefit to it unless you walked the course instead of using the cart. Not so. A lot of muscles come into play in the game of golf and that's just getting ready to hit the ball. Muscles I had apparently not been using much because after practice I could really tell. This game takes a lot of practice just to go out and not embarrass yourself. It takes discipline and continued work just like any other exercise to see results. I have relinquished my self consciousness over time with the encouragement of my instructor. Not because he says I am doing well (he always gives me positive feedback as any good instructor would) but because he says other golfers are no better, at any given time they can have bad days without continued practice. Having watched some golfers, except for the pros on TV who I'm sure practice all the time, I believe him. Anyway I guess I would advise that you choose some activity that you think you will enjoy and that you will be able to continue. After all you want to get moving and stay moving for life. Don't let fear hold you back. Size, shape or ability do not make someone good at something its determination and perseverance. Don't underestimate the exercise benefit and if you do, don't give up because its harder than you thought but be glad for the extra heart health you will get from performing your activity. In the end you will gain confidence, self esteem and in my case a new activity to share with family and friends. I will never make the Seniors Tour but I aim to be an active senior for years to come.

2008-What's Different About This Year?

2008-01-08T04:03:00Z

This year is alot different as far as health goes than in years past.]]> This year I started with my exercise routine instead of procrastinating about what to do until the end of Feburary. This year I still gained a few pounds over the holidays but down overall for the year. This year I'm ready to invigorate my healthy eating lifestyle instead of continuing to eat holiday style until Valentine's Day. This year because my endurance in walking has improved I am adding bursts of jogging into the mix. I owe my healthy exercise habits to CTM. 12 weeks really can form a habit if you let it. This year I am starting the year healthier than probably since I was in my 20's. My changes are slow but noticeable and very obvious to me. The biggest change I have felt is after working a 12 hour shift at the hospital. Before last March I would wear support stockings and still my knees would hurt and my legs would just ache at the end of the shift. No more support hose, no more pain in the knees, no more aching legs. I used to quietly scoff at the Drs. who would suggest losing some weight would improve the pain in my knees. "That's their answer to everything", I would think to myself. Well maybe it is the answer- incorporating exercise into my life has been the answer for me. Overall my goal to be in good shape as I move into my senior years and to be healthy and able to keep up with my grandchildren when they come along has been fulfilled. My goal for 2008 is to maintain and improve on what I've accomplished. With the skills and habits learned from CTM I am very confident of my success. Thank you American Heart Association and CTM program. 2007 was a great year and 2008 can only be better.

Patience Is A Virtue

2007-11-07T00:00:39Z

One thing I've had reinforced on this healthy journey with CTM is 'patience". When I was younger the "10 lbs in 10 days" ads caught my eye. By the time I joined CTM I had advanced from this wishful thinking. I had realized that healthy eating is a lifestyle and accepted the slower but permanent weight loss that it brought. The added benefits of feeling much better and being healthier helped to reinforce this direction as the way to go. But with CTM and regular exercise came another frustration. Probably brought on by a combination of "the scale is the thing" and "muscle weighs more than fat". Keeping on tract is as much a 'head game' as a 'fitness game'. I feel great. I get lots of compliments. I am about a 1/2 in. from going down another size, one I haven't been in as an adult. Things that used to jiggle are now tightening up. I see bones I haven't seen in years, and I sabatoge myself with sweets because the scale won't show me how well I'm doing. I had a tough fight with myself but am back on track and that stupid scale finally showed some good results. I have to keep reminding myself that the scale moves on its own time frame and keep my sights on other signs of accomplishment. My saving grace was that I kept up my exercise schedule. CTM gave me a gift, the habit of exercise, and I am not going to break it. I did use it as a crutch at first saying to myself that I could afford to eat this chocolate because I would burn it off on the treadmill. This is true to some extent until you begin to add more chocolate than the treadmill can work off. Exercise can make us stronger in body for sure, but also in our resolve to continue on our journey. Healthy weight loss with exercise can be very slow, sometimes nonexistant, but the other signs, the inches, the compliments, the decreasing sizes need to be enough to keep us going and dig us out of our slumps. Its a journey, one with lots of twists and turns and unfortunately backtracts, but one you need to undertake for you to live a healthy life. Robert Schuller said, "Better to do something imperfectly than nothing flawless".

New Years in September

2007-09-15T18:37:13Z

I need the energy and momentum that propels those January diets, now.]]> No-Fad Diet, I am re-reading it and becoming enthused again. My goal is to lose those extra 5lbs before the holidays, maintain through the holidays and start the new year ahead of the game. Then next year when January comes I can start losing weight that I haven't lost before, over and over...and you get the picture. Wish me luck and Happy New Year!

The Demons Will Always Be There

2007-08-26T18:47:46Z

One week I'm writing about a good Dr. visit and then I'm writing about being ill and how it affected my exercise routine. Well thats lifes ups and downs for you.]]> I'm writing this after being back at it for a week. Its very unsettlling to think after all the recent success it could be destroyed by something as simple as a urinary tract infection. I missed exercise for a full week. The first day I missed because of painful symptoms of UTI. If you've had one you know what I mean. The second day taking antibiotics the symptoms were still uncomfortable. The third day the symtoms were better and I packed my bag for the Y after work but in the afternoon the symtoms came on again so I skipped that trip to the Y. I wondered if that return of symtoms was part psychological but it still hurt to much to dwell on and so past the Y I drove. The next day thankfully, no symtoms, bag packed for the Y after work. Then the rain came. Flooded streets in the city and the Y has always been vulnerable. I called and sure enough they were closing. As I drove home hours later, sun shining and no more rain there were cars in the parking lot. Maybe they reopened, oh well I'll go tomorrow, one more day of recovery won't hurt this old body. Next day bag packed, feeling good. Its Friday and my night to work nights at the hospital after work at school. As I left school I began to feel that same old pull, just drive past the Y, you have errands to do, your going to work later, you won't have time to rest before. I drove past the Y again. Even as I did it I thought, I can't keep doing this. There is always going to be some excuse. I told my husband later I was absolutely going on Saturday. I told him because I knew he would remind me and I would be more compeled to go. He did remind me and also went with me which was nice and made it easier. I finished my first workout in seven days, the longest gap since starting CTM, came home showered and felt better that I had in two weeks. Why can't I remember that good feeling when I am fighting with myself to drive into that Y parking lot. Well its a week later and I went to the Y 5 out of 6 days planned. I only missed the day I had a tooth pulled at the dentist (things seem to be falling apart on this old body of mine, thank goodness my heart is healthy). Getting back to exercise quickly after a lapse is really important, the longer it goes the harder it is to get back. In the past that week would have extended to weeks and months. I kept thinking of all the good I had accomplished and what I would lose, getting back to it required a lot of mental negotiation with myself. The exercise demons will always be there. I know I will always be fighting them just like the food demons. You must always stay on the alert for them and keep moving.

Keep Your Doctors Smiling

2007-08-14T02:58:53Z

I love summer, vacations, sleeping late, no routine, changing schedules. Time for home repairs, extra projects. Just more time to get things done. Now its back to work, back to routines and scheduled days. being able to fit exercise in when the schedule is in flux will I hope make it easier to do when I can go back to fitting it into more of a routine again. This summer was not perfect and not always easy. I think that if I were still looking at this as a diet or temporary fitness project instead of as my lifestyle change I would have to say it was a failure. But thinking of it as part of my journey to change to a healthier lifestyle it was a great success. We did better at incorporating healthier eating into our vacation this year than we did last year, and I did better about keeping exercise going throughout. Not perfect but definitely better than last summer when there was no exercise involved. I still feel guilty when things aren't perfect and I miss some days but I am always reminding myself "its a journey". Sometimes I think I may just be kidding myself and I need another way to tell that I'm doing good and not just say "on a journey" as a copout. One way to moniter yourself is with Doctor visits. Everyone should visit their Doctor at least once a year. Its your wake up call that things need to change or your time to shine and give yourself a pat on the back when things go well, a time to get nagging questions maybe about personnal family history answered. I use the last few weeks before school starts to be sure everyone has checked in with Doctors and dentists, including myself. One thing I learned somewhere in my nursing career was you must "care for the caregiver". As mothers we often put off our own health. Don't, if you want to live a long and healthy life with those you love. This year I got to get a little pat on the back. I made my Doctors smile. They love it when patients actually do what they have been telling them to do for years. But I can't be to smug about my success, more work to do, the journey is not done and I'm looking forward to keeeping those Doctors smiling next year.

How To Tell If You Are Really Committed To A Healthy Heart

2007-07-27T15:13:24Z

You are always looking for ways to add exercise into your schedule, whether it is for getting in your 30 minutes most days of the week or something extra just for fun. I have had to put off my golf lessons due to schedule conflicts with my summer job and the availability of the golf pro but I am finally scheduled to start in August and I am looking forward to it. You keep records of your actions, whether it be keeping a diet diary or an exercise diary. Studies show that a greater percentage of people succeed when they WRITE IT DOWN. I have a diary that lasts three months. It is also very encouraging to look back even a few weeks and see how much more I am able to do exercise wise. If you are interested in a diet exercise type of diary go to www.memoryminder.com. You spread the word. If you believe in the importance of heart health you will encourage, not preach to, others to join you in your efforts. Some people will be resistant but your good example may eventually win them over. Be patient, everyone does not get the message at the same time. Thank you to my husband who was patient with me. You follow the program honestly. This is hard. It is so easy to not be completely honest with ourselves, no one else will know. Be good to yourself, follow through. You keep up the program when you finish. Its just a beginning of a life change. Just to get you the taste of success. Everyones success will be different but the positive changes will give you the momentum to continue. St. Francis said, start with the necessary and the possible and you'll soon find you're doing the impossible. Keep moving.

How To Tell If You Are Really Committed To A Healthy Heart

2007-07-20T15:45:00Z

You surround yourself with motivating information and/or people. I signed up for email newsletters from several sites and get one at least weekly that gives me ideas regarding exercise, nutrittion or other health information. This keeps your focus and ideas fresh. No internet, then subscribe to a health and fitness magazine, check out the local library. There is so much informatin you are always learning something new. Now you can't possilbly use all this information but when you get so much there is always one or two tidbits you can use and new healthy recipes to try that may fit your tastes.Some websites that have newsletters are: http://www.nubella.com; http://www.calorie-count.com; http://www.realage.com; and http://www.qualityhealth.com. You are always searching for new recipes or adapting old favorites. Most families eat the same foods or recipes over and over. they find things they like and stick with them. This usually is an evolving kind of thing. You try something new and its added to the mix or replaces some other recipe that you are tired of. This is ongoing and usually takes newlyweds or new families years to have a large list of favorites to choose from. Usually you have winter and summer favorites and your tastes change as you have children in the house and again when they move out. When you decide to eat healthy some old favorites can be adapted but the search for new favorites will take awhile. Remember if you are just eating chicken and tuna this is not a lifestyle change, you are just on a diet. Think long-term, if its going to last it has to taste good. Stay positive.

How To Tell If You Are Really Committed To A Healthy Heart

2007-07-14T02:05:07Z

You clean out your closet of any clothes that are too big for you. Any yo-yo dieter has at least 3 sizes of clothes in her closet. Time to get rid of the larger sizes or have them altered permanently if its something you love or had a financial investment in. Keeping them around and available gives you permission to slip into old habits easily. I finally got rid of my last larger size clothes in June. Not that I wsn't committed in March, I just had to wait for summer vacation to work on that project. Cleaning closets is such a pain but so rewarding when you are done. You clean out your food pantry of any unhealthy elements. Now I'm not saying throw away food. My mother was raised in the depression and she raised me as if I were also. We don't waste food. However as inappropriate things are used up you don't buy them again. While they are being used up search for healthier alternatives. You may need to go down varying degrees of healthy gradually. For example if you are drinking whole milk go to 2%, when that has been accepted go to 1%. You may eventually make it to Soy milk. I'm not there yet. Go from white bread to multi-grain then to whole wheat. Try other dark breads like rye and pumpernickle. They really perk up a plain old sandwich. Out with the old in with the new.

We Can't Rest On Our Laurels

2007-07-03T16:08:21Z

Everyone should take time to celebrate the success in their lives. The C2M success has been wonderful. I had my first trip to New York City. Representing real women in AHA's C2M Program has been very humbling. So many real women we are here for. Meeting Marie Osmond, such a wonderful down to earth real woman herself who is extremely funny, delightful and talented. So much to see and do, it went so fast.]]> Now I am back home, back to reality and being real. The program is successful and it works, we proved it. But we are not done yet. We have more to do to become healthy. The program showed us the way to succeed and started us on the right road. But this road is long and we will be on it for the rest of our lives. Its nice to take a break and celebrate but then its time to continue what we've started. Either keep up the good work and have more success and health or maintain the health we have attained and stay healthy for life. I'm back on my cardio routine, pushing a little harder to get rid of some more pounds to get my BMI down to below the overweight range, get that waist circumference down to 35 or below. I still have goals and now success is motivating me to continue. I can see ahead and the possibility of complete success is a clear vision to me now. I know I can do this. C2M is a great program, but you have to give yourself the gift of sticking with it for 12 weeks, and doing it well. You can't be discouraged at 6 weeks and quit. If the seven of us (C2M ladies) had done that, because most of us saw no change yet at that time, look at the success we would have missed. 12 weeks of your life. 12 weeks to see changes, or 12 weeks to be in the same shape as you are now. Find your motivation and Choose To Move for health and life and then don't stop with the success you get, don't rest on your laurels. Keep on moving and finding more success. We can change the statistics with C2M and move heart disease from being the number one killer of women just by chooseing to move.

Habit-forming

2007-06-18T01:17:14Z

I think making exercise a real habit takes a lot longer than I thought. Depending on what literature you read the habit forming scientists say 21 to 30 days to form a habit. Of course they do mention it helps if it is a really repetitious act you are working on. For example something that takes place at the same time of day and in the same place.Think about the habits in your life that are automatic. Done with practically no thought to the act. Brushing your teeth, putting on your seat belt, eating breakfast in the morning (some of you may still be working on that one but I can say it is a habit with me). All of these habits take place in the same place and time. Exercise may take place in many different places and at different times of the day. Maybe thats one reason its taking longer to make it a habit. Exercise is something I think about daily and schedule daily. Fitting it in my schedule is easier but there is still alot of haggling going on in my brain. During the summer exercise is the first thing scheduled in my day, but I may not get to the Y for 2,3,even 4 hours. I am not actively putting it off, time just seems to slip by while I'm getting ready to leave the house. I really think this is my mind still fighting the idea. I need to get it across to my mind that this body is going to exercise so I can stop wasting all that time in the morning, I have tried getting everthing ready the day before, so I can just get up and go. When I do that it helps get me out of the house quicker. I also try to read every article I find in papers or the magazines about exercise. I think the more informed you are about how benificial to you it is and how you can adjust your workout to get the most from the time you have alotted keeps you motivated to keep it in your life. Also writing it down is very important I think. It really helped in getting the water and breakfast habits going. I write down all the exercise I do. It helps me with knowing when to try to push harder and keeps my goal of exercise 6 days a week always in front of me. I think I can say the writing down of the exercise is a habit. I come back from the Y and automatically record my exercise routine, what heart rate I reached and how hard it felt, without a second thought. Since I don't have the advantage of getting the habit set by doing it at the same time I need to substitute that with other creative ways to make it a habit like sceduleing it at the beginning of the week and writing it down. Whatever you can do to keep motivated to keep exercise in your life just a little longer and a little longer, because I'm counting on this finally becoming a habit for me and I hope you can make it a habit for you to.

It's The Little Things

2007-06-09T23:22:31Z

Now the real women are really real. No more big test at the end of 12 weeks to keep us motivated. No one checking our diet to see if we are eating healthier. Now our motivation and strength must really come from within and hopefully the lessons we've learned in the last 12 weeks will keep us on the road to success. ]]> If you completed the program or are on your way to completing it, hopefully you have re-found a love of exercise or found a love of running or exercise, or your endorphins kicked in while doing your cardio exercises. You may however be more like me. You may have been able to gradually squeeze in 30 min of increasing cardio into your day but you are still tempted on occasion to cut it to 20 min or, heaven forbid skip a day altogether. Your favorite part of the exercise regimen is still when it is over. You may be someone like me who can still use all the motivation I can find to keep up the good work. A wise weight mentor of mine once suggested I write down all the things I could do after a significant weight loss that I couldn't do before I started to lose weight. It can work for exercise as well. Post your list were you can read it in those weak moments. Add to it every three months as you go along your journey. In a year of choosing to move think of the success you can have by just doing whatever you are doing now and increasing it by a little every week. You may think this will take forever. But look at the alternative, sliding back into a state of inactivity. In a year the fat will have slid back on your stomach, your butt and around your heart. Improving health slowly and steadily is better than not at all. STEADY is the key word here. Forward positive movement is the goal. I have started my list including several things that I just noticed in the last week as I started to think about this. 1. Being able to suck in my stomach and it really sucks in. That roll of fat is still there but the muscle behind it works now. I can see all the way to my feet, straight down, when I'm sucking in. 2. Rushing to cross the street with my daughter while shopping in the heat of the day and not feeling like a heart attack waiting to happen. 3. And along the shopping theme, fitting into every size 12 on the rack, not just the occasional one that was made 'big'. Even fit in the ones that are always made 'small'. 4. Actually being able to see my shoulder blades, they really show up when my posture is good. Added incentive for good posture. 5. Getting off work at 7:30am after a 12 hour shift and my legs don't ache and I am not wearing support panty hose. They used to ache even with the support hose on. 6. Looking at the machines in the Y and wondering which to pick to 'fine tune' an area instead of looking at the room and wondering 'where do I start'. I'm still working on my list. I think about it as I sweat during my 30 min of cardio workout. It makes the time pass more quickly. I'm wishing all you women out there struggling, as I continue to struggle, all the small successes that keep you moving for a lifetime on the road to heart health. GET MOVING, KEEP MOVING and COUNT THE SMALL ACCOMPLISHMENTS ALONG THE WAY.

Change Can Upset Your Focus

2007-06-04T02:59:47Z

Anytime you change your routine you are in danger of losing your focus. It could be a life changing event like a new job or a move, or just a vacation, long or short. Once you upset the routine you have set up for yourself it is hard to get it back.]]> The first thing we usually drop when crunched for time is exercise when this is one of the last you should cancel. Just think if you were packing for a vacation you certainly wouldn't forget to pack your blood pressure medication. Well don't forget to pack your time for exercise, it is just as improtant. Healthy eating is also at risk. We may eat out more often. We may be eating with people who are not on the heart healthy bandwagon yet. Think ahead about healthy food choices. Pack a cooler if its a car trip. Take healthy snack options. Planning ahead and staying committed to your heart healthy lifestyle is a must. Think ahead to where you are going, how are you getting there, where will you be staying. Will you have support in your efforts when you get there. Tentitively block out times and places for exercise; hotel gyms, mall walking, walking your relatives dogs. Don't beat yourself up if the outcome is not perfect. Think about the positive steps you took. Maybe you were able to do half as much as usual. This is probably 100% more than you would have accomplished without planning ahead. Summer is, I think, the hardest time of the year besides the Christmas holidays to stay focused on our healthy goals of eating and exercise. Lots of changing schedules, vacations, fun, food and heat ourdoors to take our focus away from our routines. I read a saying somewhere, "If you do not find time for exercise now you will find time to fight illness later". Stay focused on the impotance of why we are making these changes and PLAN, PLAN, PLAN AHEAD for your healthy future.

The End of the Beginning

2007-05-20T01:00:37Z

I've almost completed twelve weeks of hard work, pain and frustration. Who would want more of that?]]> ME!!!! I have more energy than I've had in 20 years. I've lost weight when I had been stalled for 8 months. I've lost inches and dropped a dress size. I've tightened up my flabby arms and increased strength. My knees are in the best shape of my adult life, no pain and feeling more stable and strong each day. I've met many wonderful women on the same journey on the web and they have given me strength and inspiration. While all was not perfect or easy, and sticking with it was hard the results were worth all the pain and frustration. The biggest lesson learned is that I can do it. I started with little faith in my abilities both physical and situational and now I am ready to re-write my goals. Seeing what has been accomplished in 12 weeks makes me want more. I want a stronger core, more weight loss, more energy, more work on the arms, more control of my diet. The gift from this program is I know I can accomplish this and I will. I don't have to see the proof in the treadmill test and lab results to know I am better than when I started but that will be great validation. I couldn't have done it also without my fellow C2Mer's. What an inspiring bunch of women who while struggling with their own nutrition exercise demons have inspired so many. And while we speak of finishing this program it is not over, it is just the beginning of the healthiest part or our lives. We will be continuing to report on our progress so I will talk to you in the next stage of this adventure, maintaining the present results and ramping up, again! Oh boy, more hard work, Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Week Eleven!!!!!

2007-05-16T15:30:28Z

What a difference eleven weeks make. My eyes and my heart are open to the world of active living. ]]> I can't believe what a slug I was, and how I resisted activity. I really did actively resist being active. I stated in my last blog that I would give up exercise in a heartbeat if it was suddenly decided it was not necessary for heart health. I think I need to restate that a bit. I would give up the cardio that I do 30 minutes 6 days a week. It is still hard and not what I would call fun. I would not however give up all the increased activity in my life. I would still swim, walk with my husband and the dogs, do classes that interest me like yoga and pilates for flexibility. Take golf lessons and walk in fun runs in the community. I would also continue the strength training, my flabby arms are starting to shape up. I love that. And while I am far away from a 6-pack abd look and don't really aspire to have one, I can tell that my core is stronger, my posture better. OK and maybe I would still do the cardio because it does give me so much more energy than I had before. Well since they are not going to announce that cardio is not necessary for heart health I will be continuing with it and I'm still waiting with Melanie for those Endorphins to kick in and make us love it.