The Fitness Begins

 I've made some changes in the last two weeks of my life. 

For background, I've never limited myself when it comes to food or wine, and I especially didn't put any limits on myself during the lockdown and quarantine during COVID-19. I have lived my life eating and drinking pretty much whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. I gave birth to four children, easily, and bounced back physically each time with little to no effort. What I'm saying is, I've made it 44 years without really having to think about what I ate or whether or not to exercise, things just sort of worked out, health-wise. 

Two weeks ago, I injured myself on the inside of my left ear and it swelled up terribly. I tried to tough it out but after a few days the pain became so intense I knew I needed to head into Urgent Care and have it looked at. At Urgent Care, a nurse took my vitals and weighed me, as is of course, common in such situations. When I saw the number on the scale I had to stop myself from shouting, "wait, WHAT?" Then for the rest of the visit (and also during the blood pressure check, which was equally alarming) I sat wondering not only WHAT but HOW? I mean, deep down I knew exactly how but clearly hadn't been keeping tabs on my own eating habits or lack of exercise lately. One of my favorite things during the pandemic had been my wine and cheese hour which began anywhere from 3 to 5pm, and lasted straight through to dinner, which most days meant more wine and a complete carb fest. Months' worth of bottles of wine and bricks of cheese had obviously left their mark on me, inside and out. This is usually where someone would post a "before" pic. Nope. 

My decision to do something started small, just installing a nutrition and exercise app on my phone (MyFitnessPal from Under Armour) and beginning to count macros for the first time in my life. Running the numbers of all the calories I consumed each day was a little daunting at first, but it ended up teaching me a lot about how to actually eat in a healthy way. You just search out the food you're eating and enter it for whatever meal or snack you're logging, and it provides the calorie content and relevant nutritional info, such as "high in protein, or low in saturated fat." My goal is to stay under 1430 calories each day, and while it was difficult at first, I've been accomplishing it. Some days I'm under, some days I'm over, but it's becoming a part of my routine, which is what this is all about, I guess. I still just want to eat whatever I want and not have it affect me, but obviously this is not a smart way to feed myself. I suppose that kind of living is a young person's game, and I'm just not a young person anymore. Smells have been the most difficult. I'll walk into my neighborhood Kowalskis and smell the fried chicken and I'm suddenly starved for it. Same for donuts. I don't know how I'll get through Halloween and the allure of my most treasured treat, peanut butter cups, but one day at a time. 

I also installed the MapMyWalk app (also Under Armour) and have walked a minimum of three miles each day, increasing my speed pretty steadily every day. This has been helpful in tracking how many calories I burn. After a week of brisk walks with my husband and a much-improved eating plan, I was down five pounds (so was he!). I wanted to crank up the volume a little, so I kept everything the same and added Denise Austin's Get Fit Daily Dozen workouts when I got home from my walk. The videos are short and easy, twelve moves in twelve minutes, and are a mix of kickboxing cardio and targeted strength training. I found this collection to be pretty low impact, very approachable, and for twelve minutes a day, an extremely light commitment. After a week of this routine, I was down another 5.5 pounds, eating anywhere from 300 to 450 calories for each meal or snack, and not drinking wine at all but drinking a ton of water. 

These are some of the substitutions that have helped steer me toward healthier choices, especially during the 3 to 5pm cocktail hour: 

Gwyneth Paltrow's Beet Juice (It's All Good): 1 to 2 beets, 1 apple, 1 inch ginger, 1 lemon

Gwyneth Paltrow's Green Herb Juice (It's All Good): 1 cucumber, 1 cup spinach, 1 lime, 1 apple, basil or mint

Ina Garten's Hummus with assorted vegetables instead of crackers: 1 can chickpeas with juices, 1/3 cup tahini, olive oil, 1 clove garlic, hot sauce, lemon juice, salt and pepper

Illan Muhlstein's 2B Mindset Pizza Mushroom Bites: de-stem 12 mushrooms, spray a lined pan and bake at 350 for 6-8 minutes, blot dry, fill mushrooms with diced spinach, marinara, pinch of garlic powder, and mozzarella, bake 6-8 minutes more. Garnish with basil

Various no-bake energy balls, brownie bites, and granola bars (Pinterest) 

Sometimes I would drink the veggie juices out of a wine glass, but after a while I quit needing that. Now if I'm feeling the urge (my kids all still love cheese and cracker time) I'll just get myself a big glass of water, which is huge, because I never used to drink water, ever. 

It's only been two weeks, but I'm really excited about the changes even this early. 

1. My face looks different when I wake up in the morning, especially the skin around my eyes. 

2. My eyes seem brighter in general

3. I pee all the time now

4. I have been sleeping a lot more soundly at night, and do not wake up sweaty and hot (this may have been from all the wine). 

5. I have more energy

Stay tuned for more!