Transformation Tuesday

Like your average American woman, I struggle with my body sometimes. I've talked about it in the past on the blog. (See my thoughts on the Advocare Cleanse, my thoughts on healthy eating, and any of my "healthy" recipe posts.)

Me this winter, as you can see my suit jacket is too tight!

Last winter added a lot of insulation to my body; it didn't help me stay any warmer and you may have noticed that I kept mentioning that my suit jackets weren't buttoning anymore. I knew I needed to do something so that I wouldn't have to buy a whole new closet and that something was exercise. Hubs and I already eat fairly healthy though I do know that my position sizes were sometimes larger than necessary.

I also knew I needed to be more active because my doctor said that exercise was the best way to keep my bad cholesterol down at a healthy level. I used to run in the lead up to my wedding and I had enjoyed that but there was no way this wimpy asthmatic was going to keep running in the dark, in -16º weather, and in 100" of snow so even if I started running in the spring I couldn't keep it going all year round. I has played WiiFit on our Wii and then I transitioned to WiiFitU when Hubs bought a Wii U but I found it dull and it took way more than 30 minutes to get 30 minutes of activity because of the wait between the mini game exercises. So I started looking around and I found the 21 Day Fix and it was amazing. I started in March; I completed one 21 day round of the Fix and I've been using the videos pretty regularly for the past six months!

Me July 4th 2014 and July 4th this year in my Lilly Pulitzer Sparks Fly Shorts.
My blue polo shirt (left) is last July and my pink cardigan (right) is this July.
I may not look much different but I feel different in a good kind of way!

I've been exercising regularly for about half a year now and my legs are so strong and they fit into my shorts so much better! My suits fit perfectly again! My asthma is better as well; I haven't had to use my rescue inhaler all summer. I'm kind of excited to go back to my doctor's office and get blood drawn; my cholesterol levels must be normal, or close to it, now because of all the exercise I've been doing. And, I maybe this winter will be better than last because, while fat insulates, muscles burn energy and that makes you warm! Oh and also I lost about 15 pounds and a few inches from both my hips and my waist.

Because of the really positive experience I've had with the 21 Day Fix, I've decided to become an online health and fitness coach so that I can share the 21 Day Fix with others and help them out with their health and fitness goals! So count this as an invitation to message me about trying 21 Day Fix, Shakeology, and/or joining my next fitness accountability group! If you're interested, comment below, email me at eah081112@gmail.com, or visit my beachcody coach website! Starting next week I'll be working through the 21 Day Fix Extreme with whoever joins my accountability group for the month, I'm still looking for a few more people! I can't wait to see how much stronger my body gets.

Best,

EAH

PS As a Beachbody coach, I receive commissions when I help Beachbody sell their products. Like someone who sells Scentsy or Mary Kay products. 

So Excited . . . for a Cleanse?

Wish me luck! I ordered the Advocare 10 Day Herbal Cleanse last Wednesday. It was delivered last Saturday and I will start the cleanse today!

I'm really excited to give this a try. I've been feeling down about my body lately and doing something makes me feel better. I stopped exercising in August and September was so stressful. I started playing Wii Fit again on Monday in preparation for the cleanse and I am almost looking forward to avoiding added sugar for the next ten days.

Yesterday I measured out single serving sizes of unsalted cashews and sunflower seeds. I hard boiled a whole lot of eggs and I made my own carrot sticks. I'll be eating extra clean for the next ten days and I'll let you know how it went for me after it's over.

Eating Healthy

Yesterday one of my coworkers asked me where to go to get lunch. I bring leftovers almost everyday so I don't know why he asked me (I suppose I was just there). Then he said he'd want something healthy. And said he should go to the sandwich place near by. He looked at me oddly like I had said something crazy. But then I asked what he meant by that because I remember a conversation I overheard a year or two ago in in law school . . .

I was checking my email, waiting for class to begin, and eavesdropping on two men in my class. (I like eavesdropping) One was a tall, incredibly lanky guy who looked like a classic New Englander and the other was a husky frat guy from the upper midwest. And I found this conversation fascinating to over hear because I could not imagine that either of them cared about healthy food but that's what they were talking about.

They were talking about cashews (or maybe pistachios) I think and they said they weren't healthy. In my head I thought they were crazy since nuts are totally healthy, much more so than soda, oreos, or low-fat Doritos. They agreed on nuts cashews (or pistachios) being unhealthy and said it was because they had too many calories. I was thinking "no duh" that's the point of nuts they have all the nutrition needed for a little seed to start growing. But high calorie doesn't mean unhealthy. (While I am not a fan of rampant weight gain in myself.* I do not think high calorie food are unhealthy.)

Bacon is healthy!
By the why, Walker Bros

I guess I would call myself a member of the Michael Pollan school of thought regarding healthy food--traditional foods are healthy (regardless of calorie count) and mass produced industrial foods (like low fat salad dressing) are not. If you're interested in this concept I would read Pollan's In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto I read it in college and I finished it before returning it to the library.

To illustrate! To me these things are healthy: homemade fruit pies; butter, bread, fruit, vegetables, cheese, olives, avocados, bacon, ham, crispy chicken skin, &c. I think these things are unhealthy: oreos, margarine, sandwich bread from the store (one of my favorite things about college was that I could have white bread and margarine at every meal), Doritos, Diet Coke, low-fat almost anything, &c.


On some of the other blogs I read, the bloggers talk about clean eating and I believe that most of them understand it to mean something very similar to what I've described thought it seems like they always choose lower fat options than I would. I'm at a healthy body weight right now and otherwise living a high stress life so I need to have joy where I can find it--like on the outside of a roasted chicken.

I do avoid certain delicious food that are generally healthy because of my specific health concerns. (I have alluded to this in my recipes where I say butter or olive oil.) I have high cholesterol (just the bad kind) and I do not want to take medication for it since I take so much for my allergies and asthma so I avoid butter and other high cholesterol foods.  But, just because its bad for me, I don't think it's bad for everyone. And, fat itself isn't bad since you need some to insulate your neurons and held absorb vitamins.


I'm interested to hear why you guys think of as being "healthy!" It had never occurred to me that there was such a range of opinion about this before a year or so ago.



*Mr. Handsome must be the skinniest man alive and I try so hard to get him to gain some weight to no avail. I feel like Mr. and Mrs. Jack Sprat when we're out in public together.