Battling the Bulge - Part 1 #Fitness by Leah St. James

When I started writing this piece a few days ago, I had thought to write about how depressing it is to pack away all the Christmas decorations. And then I checked my email. It was like a switch had been flipped in the email world when the calendar turned to January 2. Gone were the ads for post-holiday sales, and in their place, a flood of ads for workout gear, workout clothes, workout equipment, promotions on diet aids...and on it went. In fact, according to this article at finder.com, fitness is the No. 1 resolution for 2018. So I figured, why fight the tide? Let’s talk getting in shape.

I must confess, I have a personal reason for tackling this topic. After a lifetime of being overweight (or downright obese), I went on Weight Watchers back in 2008 and lost 80 pounds, reaching my goal clothing size. Since then I’ve managed to keep it off for the most part until the past year. I don’t know if it’s the elevated stress of my current job, my age, or just my lack of attention before and after Son No. 2's wedding, but I’m at the point where I have to either get a grip on myself (again) or start buying bigger clothes, and I’m far too cheap for the latter.
 

 
So for this post and my next post (January 22), I figured I’d share with you what I’m doing to get back in shape, let you know how it’s going, and invite you to share your story (advice, commiseration, whatever) with us.

Let’s start with the “E-Word” – Exercise. (I know, I know...I’m groaning in my head too.)

First a disclaimer: These are my opinions and mine alone. I am not a fitness instructor, expert or in any way professionally trained or certified. What I do have is years of experience trying different programs, and a few opinions to share.

So....

Q. Do I really have to get off the couch? It's so comfy there. And I'm snuggled up with my new book!

A. I’m sorry, really sorry, but I believe (again, my opinion) that if you want to lose weight and keep it off (meaning eating well in real, everyday situations), you  have to move. 

But that’s okay because exercise is good for your overall health, even if you don’t actually drop pounds. Check out this article for some information about the great benefits of exercise, including improved cardiovascular health, cognitive functioning and metabolic health.

So it should be a no-brainer to add movement to your everyday life, but for many of us (myself included) it’s more like, “Noooo....don’t make meeeeee!!

For me, the key has been finding what I like and sticking with it. After trying everything over the years from line dancing to Zumba classes, to gym memberships, I’ve discovered what works best for me are at-home workouts. There are tons of them out there, but my current favorite is fitness expert Jessica Smith’s Walk On Walk Strong programs.

I love, love, love Jessica Smith. She’s young and beautiful and peppy (which is enough to make me snarl some mornings), but she’s so NICE. And she works out with her mom (who’s  about my age) and her dog Peanut! Seriously, you can’t stay cranky with this woman too long. You might be stiff and grumpy when you start, but before you know it, she’s got you doing something you never thought you’d even try – like these torturous moves called planks, or push-ups, of all things.

What I like about her workouts:

Variety
I have a low boredom threshold for exercise, but Jessica offers a number of well-rounded and comprehensive programs including aerobics, strength training, muscle sculpting/toning, circuit training, interval training, yoga, stretching, Pilates...I can’t remember them all. She even has workouts that focus on brain teasers for mental agility. 

I think it’s important to vary your workout. If you work the same muscles in the same way every day, even if it’s a great exercise, the effectiveness starts to diminish in my experience. So variety is great.

Accessibility
She has hundreds of free videos on YouTube, but also produces workouts available for purchase on DVD (Amazon) or digitally for streaming (via her website). The quality of the exercises is the same for both, but the free ones are more of a DIY experience, where the ones for purchase are a professional production quality. In addition, she usually has one or two people with her (demonstrating modifications) on the paid versions, where she’s mostly by herself on the free YouTube videos.

 

From Walk Strong 3: The Complete 8 Week Home Fitness Program for Women

Customization
Jessica’s routines can be really tough (I can't lie), but she stresses safety and that each person should do a movement or program to her own abilities. So for those who have arthritic knees (like yours truly), she’ll show modifications to keep the strain out of the knee joint. In her for-pay workouts, her mom, Debbie, usually works out with her and does the beginner form of the exercise. Friend Beth does the advanced form (like the super jumping jacks), and Jessica takes the middle level. Sometimes I start with Jessica, move to Beth and end up with Debbie. The important thing, according to Jessica, is to challenge yourself to your own level.

Positive Focus
“Practice makes progress” is one of her favorite sayings, and it’s really helpful to hear when you’re panting like a marathon runner when she’s barely breaking a sweat. She often teases her mom about the harder moves. It’s cute. It makes me smile, and who doesn’t need a smile while exercising?

Health vs. Cosmetics
She stresses in every program that the goal is to improve physical health. Even though an added benefit might be fitting in a favorite pair of jeans (or showing off abs in a bikini for the those of you who might dare), the real benefit is improved functionality for everyday life. Movements are designed to help you with what you need to live a full life every day, like the ability to pick up kids or groceries, stand from a seated position on the floor, or build a house. She wants you to have the strength and endurance you need to achieve your daily (and life) goals.

Cost
YouTube videos are free.
The for-pay videos range from around $15 to up to around $80 for the long, multi-disc programs. The one I’m doing right now is an 8-week program consisting of six separate discs of three programs each, so 18 separate exercise routines. It’s on the pricier side (around $80, I think), but it’s been really worth it for me. With each of the multi-disc programs, she provides a suggested rotation for the videos. Even for the free YouTube videos, she’ll come up with playlists and series to help you get in the mood.



Results 
When I started working out with Jessica about 18 months ago, my aerobics capacity was pretty good, but stagnant. Now I'm doing much more advanced (for me) moves that make me feel younger. Strength-wise, I was working with 3-pound weights for light and 5-pound weights for my “heavy” weights. I’m now up to 5, 8 and 10 pounds. It doesn’t sound like much of a difference, but I can sense a real increase in my everyday strength, and that makes me feel good.

Jessica Smith is my current favorite, but here is a short list of other workouts I’ve tried:

Leslie Sansone Walk at Home
Leslie's at-home walking workouts start with four basic steps (walking in place, knee lifts, side-to-side steps and kicks), and she builds on those. She also offers a variety of programs including strength training. I loved Leslie’s workouts and did them for years, but I eventually hit my boredom threshold. If you're new to working out, check her out.

Margaret Richards' Body Electric
My favorite from the mid-‘80s, this made me feel like I was doing ballet while building muscle. Margaret has a Kickstarter campaign to get her original free PBS shows up for live streaming. If you’re interested, check it out.

Yoga flow 
Many people swear by yoga, but it wasn't such a great experience for me. The 15-minute program I did claimed to melt off the fat as quickly as 30 minutes of aerobics. It didn’t. But I did manage to kill my knees. I’m sure my form wasn’t great either. I probably would have benefited from a class with an in-person instructor.

Tabata training
High-intensity movements for 20 seconds followed by 10 seconds of rest, for eight rounds. I used to do this and liked the fact I could get done in under 20 minutes. 

Tae Bo
Loved watching Billy Blanks but nearly killed myself trying to keep up with him. Enough said.

So that's my take on exercise. If you're looking to ramp up your own fitness program, I hope I've given you some ideas and some encouragement. If you're currently doing a program you love (or don't love), I'd love to hear about your experiences.

Here's to a happier, healthier 2018 for all!

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Leah writes stories of mystery and romance, good and evil and the power of love. Learn more at leahstjames.com

Tipping the scales...again ~ by Leah St. James

When we first decided on January’s theme of forward and back, I swore to myself there was one topic I would NOT write about. I swore. I said to myself, “You’re a woman of a certain age. There have been plenty of forward-and-back moments in your life to choose from. Just not THAT topic.”

Yet here I am, writing my blog for this month, compelled to address the one subject I wanted to avoid: weight loss and weight gain.

Sigh. I find it’s inescapable, so here I go.

Hello, my name is Leah, and I’m a foodaholic.

I truly am. I can place my surrender to foodaholism to my early childhood when my mom—whose husband (my father) dumped her with two little girls—would offer food as comfort for my many tearful episodes.

Me: “Mommy, I miss Daddy.”

Mom:  “I know, honey. Have a cookie.”

I don’t blame my mom. She had more than enough to deal with outside of my whining about an absent father. In truth, she gave more than enough love for both parents, and I often think my older sister and I did better without him.

But the point is, I (subconsciously) replaced my father’s attention with food, and I paid tribute to that relationship with all my energy for many years. When I was sad, I ate. Happy – I ate. Scared – I ate. Frustrated and overworked – I ate, often and mindlessly with a manic sort of attention to stuffing as much into my mouth as I could … You get the picture. 

I started out plump as a preteen, grew to be large in my adolescence, then much larger in high school. By the time I went to college, I was obese, at least 50 pounds overweight. 

There were periods when I slimmed down—like after giving birth to my first son, amazingly. I was working full-time with a 45-minute commute each way. I think I was too busy to eat.  Then I got pneumonia and dropped about 20 pounds. (I would not recommend that as a method of weight loss, by the way.)

When son number two came along, my stress level—and reactionary eating—spiked, and the weight packed on. Did I take a good, hard look at myself, try to rein in my habits? No. I blamed the dryer for shrinking my clothes. I told myself the scale lied so stopped using it.

By the time my children were grown and our nest emptied, I was a hefty size 18W, and my weight had ballooned into the morbidly obese category. My knees hurt so much I had to pull myself up stairs, and I was taking expensive blood pressure medications to stem the possibility of stroke and heart disease.

Oddly, it wasn’t the physical problems that woke me up, it was a job application.  I saw a posting for a position with the local police department and went for it, only to realize, with sheer horror, that I was required to state my height and WEIGHT on the application.

The thought of admitting that number in public paralyzed me. I’d become so adept at lying about my weight over the years, to myself and others, I almost did again. Then I pictured myself in an interview. The hiring manager would look from me to the application, me to the application. I’d be fired before I was hired.

So I finally took that good, hard look. I joined Weight Watchers and learned to choose healthy alternatives. I weighed in faithfully and, in faith, prayed for help with my food obsession.

Eighteen months later, I had dropped 85 pounds. I took up Kate Moss’s mantra: “Nothing taste as good as skinny feels.” Not that I was skinny by any standard, but skinniER. More important, my health improved. I could climb stairs without huffing and puffing, without pain. My medications reduced to much more manageable amounts. I felt physically like the person I’d felt mentally my whole life.

I’ll bet you can guess what happened, though. After a couple years, I grew complacent…cocky even. Five pounds slipped on, then another five. I went back on Weight Watchers. It didn’t help. No matter what I did, I kept losing and gaining the same three pounds. I told myself it was muscle weight because my clothes were fitting fine. 

When another five slipped on, I ramped up my exercise routine from three days a week to five. I lost five pounds and took a small breath of relief. 

That was right before Thanksgiving this past year. Over the holidays I cooked and baked and enjoyed our favorite family recipes. I haven’t stepped on the evil scale since, but my clothes aren’t feeling quite as loose as they were.

So here I am, taking a good, hard look again, hoping I can stop the backward motion. Hoping I can once again find that place where nothing tastes as good as healthy feels. Because believe me, these ten-or-so pounds feel just as insurmountable to me right now as the 85 did a few years back.

Wish me luck, would you? I need it! :-)

Leah writes stories of mystery and romance, good
and evil, and the redeeming power of love.
Visit her at LeahStJames.com.

Growing and Shrinking in 2013 by Vonnie Davis

Making the leap from a technical writer to a romance author five years ago should have been easy. After all, I certainly knew how to craft a sentence. Sadly, what I didn't know was the craft of writing. I've been working hard ever since to catch up. And, boy oh boy, has there been a lot to learn. In these last five years I've written a book that will never see the light of day--for good reason, too. I've also secured an agent, have three full-length novels either published or waiting to release and four novellas contracted. I should be happy and I am--to a degree. I'm also eager to improve some more. There are just so many pesky weaknesses in my writing. Bad habits I can't seem to overcome. Like repetitive use of words or phrases, to name one. Oh, and there are so many more. Sigh, folks. Just sigh.

So one of my goals for 2013 is to grow as a writer.

 

I'm also the heaviest I've ever been. Glucose tests show I am pre-diabetic. I'd like to say I contacted this from Calvin, who has diabetes, and NOT from the candy, pies and pastas I consume. But Calvin's not having any of it and neither is my doctor. Drats! And it was such a lovely excuse, too. 

 

But I have to lose weight and build muscle mass. I promised Calvin I'd try my best. So, I'm pleased to announce our stationary bike and I are on intimate terms now. I'm adding a minute to my ride everyday.

 

The excersize I can handle. It's the food cravings that wear on me.

 

I haven't eaten garlic bread in nearly a year. Now that I'm trying to cut down on carbs, I'm craving it like a pregnant woman craves ice cream and pickles. What is it about diets that make us crave foods we normally don't eat? I want a foot-long from Subway, something I haven't had in six years. I want fried rice and donuts and coconut pie. Heck, even fruitcake sounds good right about now. Why do our bodies do this, I wonder? Someone, quick, wire my jaws shut!

 

Another goal for 2013 is to shrink as a person.

 

We've all heard the expression--I don't know if I'm coming or going. Well, I'll be struggling through 2012, not knowing if I'm growing or shrinking. But those are my goals. Tell me. What are yours?

 

Vonnie writes most sub-genres of romance. Her most recent release, Mona Lisa's Room is a romantic suspense set in Paris. Check out her website at http://vonniedavis.com

Two Pounds a Week, the Organized Way!



Laura Breck

 My main goal for 2012 is to lose weight. I'm guessing right about this time of the year, it's about half the population's goal, too. I've tried a lot of different diets, programs, regimens, hypnosises. But this year, I'm organizing a five-pronged attack.

Exercise, diet, motivation, reward, and support.

Exercise - self explanatory, but here's what I figured out. I have an exercise DVD that I just don't like. I'm going to sell it on E-bay and buy one I do like. Something like belly dancing, or hip hop, or maybe...would hubby let me put in a pole??? I'm much more likely to exercise if I enjoy it.

Diet - I have a sweet tooth. I've purchased mass quantities of gum, hard candy, and dried fruit. I'll use them in that order to curb the sugar monster. Fresh fruit works, too, but for some reason, it never cures the crave for me.

Motivation - have you heard of The Secret? If not, check out the book from your library. I'm using a positive mantra which I repeat constantly during the day. "I am losing two pounds a week." Keeping that reinforcement running through my head reminds me to eat only what I need and in appropriate portions. It also reminds me to be active. Walk up the stairs a couple extra times each day, walk to the neighbors instead of driving. Do leg lifts while I'm watching television. Turn on the radio and dance around the kitchen.

The positive reinforcement of this type of mantra solidifies my willpower and becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

And now to my favorite - reward. There's nothing I like more than to surf the web for a good deal, buy it, and enjoy the anticipation of a package heading my way via UPS. Every week that I achieve my goal of two pounds lost, I will buy something inexpensive. A new bead for my bracelet, a new face cream, and when the pounds are really dropping - along with my dress size - new clothes. I'm truly lookng forward to shopping as an instant reward for reaching the tiny goal of two pounds.

I've never tried the reward approach before, and I have a good feeling that celebrating tiny goals, instead of waiting to reward myself once I reach that final, huge goal, will bring me more success.

The other side of the reward prong is consolation. If I don't reach my goal of two pounds that week, I will not be shopping, and instead will choose a slip of paper from the To Do jar. On these slips, I've written chores that need to be done around the house. Big, ugly chores, like Clean Out Credenza, and Straighten Pantry. Clean Refrigerator, and Reorganize File Cabinet.

This will not only give me an extra dose of exercise toward reaching my goal that week, it will set up good habits for me as I feel the pride of a clean closet, or organized drawer... (I just rolled my eyes at that pride hoo-haw. Gosh, I hate cleaning!)

Support - I've just joined the Facebook page Romance Biggest Winner. Starting in February, this group of romance lovers will organize to support one another under the leadership of Helen Seely, a really great person who has more dedication and energy than anyone I know. Published authors and readers will be competing. Participation is not free, but spending a little money makes it motivational, as well.

To find out more, Like the FB page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Romance-Biggest-winners-part-2/128300167287718, then check out the rules (these are last year's rules, and I'm told they're changing a bit this time - more to come soon!) http://romancebiggestwinner.blogspot.com/2011/06/romance-biggest-winner-competition-is.html

While this site is very supportive and motivational, it's also rewarding. The author and reader who lose the most weight will each receive $1,000 at the end of the event. And each week, the winning team gets free books!

I hope you'll join me on the Biggest Winner challenge, and if you're one of those lucky people who are hoping to lose weight this year, tell me how you're doing it. What is working for you?

Have a great day,
Laura
LauraBreck.com