The End Of An Affair. The Beginning Of Change.

Well, I said goodbye, for now, to Taco Bell yesterday evening over dinner. We had become such good friends in the last year. Taco Bell has been such a convenience for us and it's convenience at a reasonable price. Taco Bell is a great fast food restaurant and their new fresco menu has been a great healthier addition. If I am going to meet my goal, I am not going to be able to attend my weekly Taco Bell therapy for the next year. I'm not saying that I can't ever have Taco Bell. I just have to go less often and go when I am not feeling really hungry. One taco once in a while will not break my new eating habits and could be a treat. My relationship with Taco Bell is one relationship where I know that, no matter what, they will always be there when I am ready for them. For now, the affair has to end.

I am feeling good about changing the way that I am eating. I felt so much better when I followed my eating program that resulted in my 20 pound weight loss. I am excited about sharing with others how I lost the weight and about being able to duplicate the results through this challenge. I am going to focus on two specific subjects every day on the changes I am making, one for eating and one for exercise. I hope that those of you who are following this blog will feel free to participate by commenting and adding your thoughts on the subjects that I am discussing.

First Things First: Warning! TMI But It Is Important.

I had physical therapy for neck and upper back pain a few years ago. There was a young lady physical therapist that worked with me that was always talking about some unconventional methods of maintaining good health. The subjects ranged from things as commonly known as being a vegetarian for maintaining a healthy body to things less commonly known (and often a bit strange sounding) such as taking some kind of liquid silver suspension for preventing illness. Let me stop for a second and say that I've heard of some really bad things happening to people who take this silver suspension and I suggest you speak to your physician candidly before you try something like that. Back to the discussion, one subject that we talked about often was the fact that I didn't have a bowel movement every day. I know. TMI and couldn't we find something better to talk about. This is really important though. She was really concerned that I didn't have a bowel movement every day. She talked about enemas and cleanses to me quite a lot. Well, I have absolutely no interest in having an enema. I was, however, interested in knowing more about the cleanse idea. While I really appreciated how much this young lady cared about my well being, I wasn't going to just take her word on the idea. Eventually, I brought the subject up with my back pain specialist. She encouraged me to try a specific cleanse routine. The name of this cleanse is "First Cleanse" and it is manufactured by RENEW LIFE. Her thoughts were that it may not help; but, it certainly wouldn't hurt. She had known some people who had benefits from such a regimen. I discussed it further with my husband and we decided that I would give it a try. I made the decision at the time that if I was going to use a product to cleanse my system and had good results from it that I would change the way I eat to try to maintain my regularity. I took the two week regimen and in that time I actually started having a daily bowel movement. It worked. I probably lost the first 5 to 7 pounds while taking this cleanse program. The fact is that I don't know that the cleanse had anything to do with my weightloss necessarily. It could have been the change in the way that I was eating and the fact that I was exercising. I do know that it helped my digestive system function become more normally. I started having less reflux and continued to have a bowel movement every day to every other day for several months. Since I am wanting to duplicate something that worked in the past, I am going to repeat everything that I did then as best I can. I am starting off with the "First Cleanse." I was planning to begin my cleanse routine this morning but I didn't read the directions before I ate breakfast and forgot that I have to take my morning dose on an empty stomach. It is very important to follow the directions when taking any herbs, vitamins, or medications. Some of these things require an empty stomach to be affective, some require that you take it with food and some don't say because it doesn't matter. Since I didn't have an empty stomach, I had to postpone starting my cleanse routine until tomorrow morning.

*I have no affiliation with "First Cleanse" and I am only endorsing it because it is the cleanse that my doctor recommended and that I used.

Let's Talk About Food: Fiber! Fiber! Fiber!

I am largely convinced that a big part of my success losing weight in the past was due to improvements that I made in my digestive health. These improvements started with an initial cleanse routine and continued as I changed my eating habits to include more fiber. I began my new eating habits in 2008 with the focus of improving my digestive health and ended up losing weight additionally. Fiber has everything to do with good digestive health. If you are wanting to lose weight, I highly recommend that you eat a balanced diet high in fiber. Throughout my daily food accountability you should notice that my diet is very high in fiber.
There are a lot of ways to increase the fiber in your diet so I will occasionally introduce one of the ways that I add fiber to my diet. Today I will share a great and tasty way to add dietary fiber. Try adding at least one apple daily. You can't get much better fiber than the fiber in an apple. I believe that the fiber in an apple has as much to do with why they say "an apple a day will keep the doctor away" as the vitamin C in an apple does. During my successful weightloss in the past, I ate granny smith apple slices with the peel on every night before I went to bed. It was a very satisfying bedtime snack. I know that they say you shouldn't eat just before you go to bed. I get very hungry and do not sleep well if I don't eat something. It worked for me before and I will duplicate what worked before so that I can have success again. If you choose to eat before you go to bed, try an apple. Apples are an incredibly healthy snack and they are very high in fiber.

Our Favorite Subject: Exercise :-(

One of the things about my body that I became fixated on when I looked in the mirror recently were these flabby, floppy legs of mine. I was once a dancer with leg muscles that were strong and firm. I have an especially difficult time with this change. About a month and a half ago, superficial me decided that I needed to find a way to strengthen my legs because I didn't like the way that they looked. Not because it would be good for me. It was just because I wanted to look better. My doctor had restricted me from using the weights at the gym. What was I going to be able to do to fix the appearance of my legs. I watch the biggest loser regularly and everyone on their runs. It is a key part of their exercise routine. I decided that running was definitely the solution. I could strengthen my core, firm up my legs, and maybe even lose some weight. One problem... I have never been a runner. I haven't been able to run far at all in a very long time. Superficial me thought, I don't want to go to the gym and let everyone there watch how terribly out of shape I am as my legs jiggle all over the place while running on the treadmill. What was I going to do? Suddenly, I had come up with a solution. I would learn to run in the privacy of my own home on my own treadmill. Unfortunately, I didn't own one and so I had to buy one to appease my vanity and insecurities. Now 1,000 dollars in hock I would have to spend 1/3 of my income to pay off this treadmill for the next 6 months. Now if only I would follow through and use it.

Good news. Thanks to superficial me, I have used my new treadmill almost every day since we set it up. My treadmill is one of those that has preprogrammed features. It took me a month of running one of these preprogrammed series of walking and running going uphill and downhill for a total of 15 minutes duration before I noticed that my running form had changed. No more of the same sloppy side to side exhausting effort just to get through the 15 minute program. Now when I was running this program I felt as if I was standing upright and barely moving with the exception of the fact that my calves still burn a little before I am done. Boy was that a peacock moment for me. I had really begun to learn how to run. I am planning to test my progress on Friday by running at 0 incline as long as I can. I am very curious as to how far and long I can sustain that kind of running. I will report the results when I blog after the fact. I also am planning to kick my program up to 20 minutes beginning next tuesday. I definitely think that it is time. Until then I will continue to run my 15 minute program daily.

So Where Is My Daily Food Accountability?

I think that the easiest way for me to report what I am eating on a given day is to report about it in a blog post on the following day. Since I officially began to change the way I that I am eating today, there will not be a blog report posted until tomorrow. It may take me a little while to get a routine. I hope, eventually, to be able to post my daily food accountability in the mornings. It is possible that you may not be able to see tomorrow's accountability until tomorrow evening. I will post it tomorrow though.

In Closing: Finally!

Thanks again for following my blog. Please feel free to comment on any subject. I hope that you have been able to find something in my blog that is helpful to you and your situation or at least is mildly entertaining. For those of you who are following solely to support my efforts in this challenge, thank you so very much. Your support means much more to me than you could ever imagine. I wish you all the best. Happy Blogging!