One Week, One Goal

I’m on a countdown to my 50th birthday. As you can see at this publishing I approximately 11 months out til I hit that magical number.

At first, I won’t lie, I cried. I turned 49 and thought to myself ‘I don’t feel 50….50 is old right?’ I used to think that like most arrogant teenagers, 20something and even newby -30 yro. Then, I took a breathe, then another and when I opened my eyes my son was staring back at me perplexed at what I was doing. I smiled, he smiled back and then slowly walked away looking at me with what I would describe as funny trepidation. It was at that moment, I decided when I turn 50, I want to be the version of me possible. I want to kick off this second journey of life knowing I entered with a healthy mind, spirit and body. My kids are young and I’ve done the math when then start/finish college. I’ve done the math on possible marriage for them and if I am lucky to see their children born. I want to be around for all of that but I won’t be if I do not enter this second half the way I need to.

So, I embark on this 1 week, 1 goal challenge for myself. I was happy I accomplished 2 in the last 6 days (1+pounds and wrote this blog). I know I will not always have more than 1 goal reached, but that is not the goal. Only 1 goal each week. If I can do that, I will have obtained more goals accomplished than any New Years resolution, I’ve ever tried.

Imagine what you could accomplish if you just told yourself 1 week, 1 goal….1 goal, 1 week! It’s a small step but a step no doubt. Sometimes, that is the hardest, scariest and biggest step to overcome. Take the challenge with me!

Grab a notebook (I bought a $0.97 composition book at Office Depot). If you are super creative you can give the inside page a beautiful title. I’m not creative, my first page went right to the point. At the top center write today’s date. Skip a few lines and write out your 1 Goal for the week. Skip another line to two and place the date for the accomplishment. Skip another line and write the title Barriers. Now answer HONESTLY do you have any barriers to accomplishing this goal? Is there anything holding you back. Probably not is the answer. But for the sake of planning it’s always good to write it out. Now, what are one to five things you can actively do to accomplish this goal? Think reasonable, economical and let’s face it, actionable things that will work towards this goal. After all, the goal is but one and it will benefit you greatly by taking this step.

As you can see with my horrible handwriting, my goal is simple, my barriers non, my to-dos manageable, actionable.

Now, since I am a frugal gal, I plan on using both sides of the paper in my book. Plus, it makes it easier to reflect what was done and allows me to focus on the next 1 week, 1 goal.

On the back page of my goal, I write out what I accomplished. Did I reach my goal or more? How do I feel? Did I accomplish more than one goal? Fill in as much as you want here. There have been many studies on the benefits of journaling (Positive Journaling) so write whatever is in your mind for those analytical thinkers or in your heart for those creative souls. This does not need to be a novel. Keep it simple.

Now, we are ready for week 2! Check in next week for more updates!

Accountability for childhood obesity

I had a hard time sleeping last night. So, like most people I turned on the television and started to channel surf. I happened to land on television program My 600 pound Life. For those that have never seen this program, it is about people struggling with obesity and while the success rate is less than 5%, the individual has decided to try gastric bypass surgery as a solution to regain control of their life. First off, this is not about shaming anyone, I was personally rooting for and think very highly of anyone wanting to take control of their life for the better. Second, this is one person’s observation, not medical endorsement of or advisement of the surgery.

Now, the story I watched had two sisters, both were traveling down this journey of the surgery. In the story line, of course interview are done with family members and their thoughts on the primary subject (patient) as well as their opinions on the personality and struggles of the person the storyline is based on. The grandmother of the two sisters was assisting with the surgery and living expenses of the two girls. The mother on the other hand, seemed as though she had done her duty and she had wiped her hands of the girls. That made me sad. But what I noticed during the interview with the mother, was the reflection of the photos while the girls were growing up. Each photo was of the girls eating something unhealthy, such as cake, ice cream, chips, large soda bottles etc. One picture was them around the age of 7 or 8 and at that age their girls were on their way to obesity. The mother had the audacity to blame the girls for eating so poorly as children. Since when does a 7 or 8 year old go grocery shopping for everyday items? My kids are 11 & 10 and don’t go shopping today. So, what on earth was this mother thinking? Obviously she doesn’t but this leads me to the topic at hand, at what point do we stop blaming,…well others for the choices parents make for their children when it comes to healthy eating? Has the PC era placed our children in jeopardy because we don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings with the truth, but it is ok to allow them to hurt their insides? I think many pediatricians today simply do not tell parents their kids are overweight out of fear for losing the patient (i.e. livelihood) or being labeled as someone who fat shames. If you Google, childhood obesity, you get more than 3.1million hits. So to say there is not enough data out there is preposterous. The Mayo Clinic shows that childhood obesity can lead to depression and other problems once reserved for adults, such as diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. The depression is what got me, considering the increase in child suicides across the nation. So, when and where does the accountability start? Have we gone so far to one side of the equation that we have created a generations(s) of children that are battling obesity, heart disease, diabetes and depression because parents are not willing to take accountability? When we rid our society of personal accountability, ie it is always someone elses fault, do we not create bigger problems, such as childhood obesity?

I cried when I watched the show mentioned above. I cried for the struggles both of those ladies were now facing and I cried for the children whose parents are in seemingly denial about the junk food they allow their children to consume and then make the excuse, ‘oh they’ll grow out of it’. Because, in the end, they won’t grow out of it? Those percentages are low. Instead, those children will battle social media bullying because of their weight. They will battle diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. They will battle circulation problems, shortness of breath and isolation. They will now face depression at earlier ages because they do not have a snow balls chance in hell to to break the mold their parents have set for them.

I cried for those two sisters and all those that children that will face a battle they should never have had to face as children and it was at the hands of an adult.

I Thought I Was Fit

My first blog entry. Talk about writers block. I sat here awhile even wondering, where does one start? Where does one even begin to talk about their journey to a healthier version of me? Well, let’s start at the beginning, as most people would say.

Well, let’s just say I’ve been on a health journey for awhile. About a year ago I tried the Advocare 24 Day Challenge. Stuck to it and was religious about the process. Day 25 rolled around and I had not absolutely nothing. Zero, zilch, nada. Big EGG. I had lost inches but my weight stayed the same. Trying to stay positive and tell myself at my age, it would be baby steps now to get back to a healthier version of me.

Fast forward, after one year I’m still the same weight. I fluctuate up and down but overall, exactly the same. My boss, who is COO of Memorial Hermann Ambulatory Services and also a IronMan competitor, kept telling me I needed to go see the nutritionist at the Memorial Hermann IronMan (Human Performance). I politely smiled when he first suggested it, gritted my teeth the second and by the third time (which was only recently) did I finally let down the guard a little to say okay. Mainly, I thought if I just said yes, he would stop asking me if I had gone. My fear of course was walking into a place filled with super duper lean muscle triathletes and size 2 Barbi dolls. Who has time for that noise? NOT ME! So I put it off, again. Until now.

BODPOD : My first appointment I scheduled myself for the BodPod and nutrition counseling. I heard from Brett Singer, Nutrition Extraordinaire. That’s not really his title, but he has a slew of initials after his name and more titles in Sports Nutrition that I can count. He also is an adjunct professor and head sports nutritionist for the Skeeters and Houston Baptist University. Sure, that’s nothing to be intimated about. (insert rolling eyes here) I completed the necessary paperwork which consisted of a meal log and health history form. I had recently gotten a FitBit Charge2 for my birthday so it was rather easy since for the past week I had been logging everything like a newbie does with a Fitbit. I sent those off and took a deep breathe wondering if I could cancel. Brett quickly responded as one would expect from a supercharged nutrition expert at IronMan, giving me instructions for the appointment :

Body Composition:

The body composition test is taken using a BodPod.

No eating or drinking – 2 hours prior (some water is ok)
Women can wear: tight swim suit (without ruffles) or tri shorts and sports bra
Men can wear: Tri shorts, spandex or lycra underwear (ex. Under Armour), or compression shorts

OK, first off, I failed to follow the instructions for no eating or drinking. Totally forgot about this. Next, it’s cute he would need to remind me to leave my ruffle swimwear at home, because I really like showing that off! But the whole, partial nakedness in front of someone so they can tell me my body composition? I seriously wanted to cancel now and give my boss some choice words for even suggesting something like this. But I am soldiering on.

Monday, October 17 : I arrive for my appointment and the happy shiny young girl at the front greets me. She is all smiles with lots of energy. Sure, deep down inside I want to hit her, but instead I smile back and take the clipboard she has handed me for some additional paperwork to complete. I’m not there long and Brett Extraordinaire comes to the door, ‘Ms. Collins are you ready?’ No I’m not ready you over zealous energizer bunny. But it comes out as ‘You bet! Let’s go’. Now, let me say, Brett is VERY professional. Upon entering the room he remembered that I had already given him the ‘don’t judge me if I have ice cream’ email. He goes through the instructions for the BodPod and politely turns his back so I can take off my shirt and be just sports bra and tight shorts. Trying to maintain my professionalism in all of this, I smile and take a step into the BodPod. It’s hard plastic and cold so when I lean back it totally shocks me and my professionalism goes right out of the window with a quick ‘eeeee, that’s cold’. I narrowly missed bumping my head on the top of the Pod. Yep, smooth I am.

Now, after having air pushed on me and Brett being ever so patient, we made it back to his office to talk about food. For more than a year I had been working on a caloric deficit. Hoping that I would drop a few pounds considering all the workouts I had added. I’m an early morning road runner. As I rambled on about my fitness regime and feeling rather proud of my FitBit tracking, I finished up with saying (and making a mistake at this) ‘overall I think I’m doing pretty good’. That gentle (and let’s face it condescending) smile came across Brett’s face, he slid my BodPod results across the table to me. You know you are in trouble when he starts the conversation with ‘No Ms. Collins’. As I looked down at the page the first thing that grabbed me? My scale at home SUCKS! because it has been wrong and wrong in I mean wrong numbers in the wrong direction. I made a mental note to myself, throw that piece of crap out the window when I get home. Second, was the big RED section of the table that gave my results. Brett was careful in his explanation and even was encouraging saying, ‘now if you can see you really are not that far off from the next level down, which I think is good’. Yeah, Brett, bottom line the big RED area and what you were not saying is ‘I’m FAT’. I’m not confident enough to share my numbers just yet, but while Brett never said I was fat, the numbers don’t lie. This is not social justice math, it is hard core, black and white 1+1=2 math. And it read way out loud, FAT. After my moment of silence, I’m sure Brett was talking, but I had tuned him out over the red on the paper, I focused back on what he saying. ‘Ms. Collins, you are not eating enough’. I’m sorry, what? Yep, I had heard him correctly, not eating enough. As he went on educating me, I learned that I had essentially tricked my body into thinking no food was coming so therefore, whatever was coming in should be stored to fat not energy. He asked if I had been struggling with my workouts on increasing my mileage, which I admitted yes I had been struggling. ‘You body is telling you to stop because it needs more

Brett, Nutritionist Extraordinaire, Patience of a Saint

food’. I proceeded to tell him obviosuly, I’ve got enough to live off the land a bit by the numbers he presented. Again he gave me smile that was now reminding me of the smile I give my children when I’m counting to 10 in my head because I’m trying like hell not to say anything highly inappropriate. So, I closed my mouth and allowed Brett to continue. He had some massive spreadsheet that he would type into from time to time. It looked all highly scientific as I’m certain most of the people are at IronMan. Then he printed out a short novel for me to read when I got home. In actuality it was only 6 pages with lots of big graphs. Again, reminded me of the things I do for my children to keep their attention. I’m seeing a pattern here with Brett.

So, now I am on this new healthier me journey. I return to IronMan today for a gait analysis, VO2 testing along with strength and conditioning consultation with an energizer bunny named, Allyson. I’m told I should be worried as she is tough. I’m just hoping Allyson knows that I’m old and I have more insurance than her as she prepares to torture me today. See everyone on the flip side.