Embellished Truth & Polite Fiction

Those of you who’ve been with me, aka reading my blog, for oh… more than a year, might remember Operation Hot Chick. My wildly UNsuccessful attempt to shed some pounds. I gave up after about 7 or 8 weeks. During that time I managed to gain some weight which required me to go out and buy some more fat pants. Not generally the result people are going for when they start trying to lose weight. Or maybe that’s just me.. I don’t know.

Anyhow. I’m still at the same weight that I was after that little spectacle. And, once again, I’ve decided to make another attempt at this whole slimming down thing. You know, now that all the BMI charts and body fat graphs and hip to waist ratios are all pegging me as ‘obese’. Many of you, like me, probably consider all those little calculations to be a bunch of BS. However, needless to say, I could stand to lose a few. Like say, around 50lb or so. Ideally 50, realistically 40. We’ll see how it works out.

Those of you who have been keeping in touch with me on Twitter and Facebook are up to speed on my efforts and frustrations… and probably sick of hearing about it, quite frankly. Whatever.

Let’s rewind to Memorial Day weekend, shall we? My friend Lisa (many of you know who I’m talking about) had just recently joined SparkPeople.com and had embarked on the Couch 2 5k program. She mentioned getting a treadmill so she could continue her efforts in the colder months (you know, that half of the year where the ground is frozen and covered with oodles of snow? yeah that.). I thought, ‘Hey, I’ll browse Craigslist and see if there’s anything on there that might help her out’. So I did. And I ended up getting myself a stationary bike for $10 and one of Tony Little’s Gazelles for $20. FINALLY. I had a way I could work out during the day in a manner that my children can’t interrupt or stop or prevent that I can do year round. SCORE.

I totally look that happy on my Gazelle too. Totally.

My daughters promptly broke the chain on the bike. My husband fixed it. They broke it again. I still have not used it even once. It makes me sad. But it was only $10. So there.

I began using the Gazelle 6 days a week for an hour a day and also added in some strength training exercises and started tracking my calories to make sure I was consuming the right amount. I was. Yay me. I worked out on the Gazelle for 2 and a half weeks straight. Then Lisa mentions she’s getting a family pool pass and that she could add me on it and would I be interested.. WOULD I!? HELL YES.

now we just need to find a pool like this one

And only the one or two of you who’ve been reading this blog since the beginning are now nodding your heads because you remember about my love of swimming. High 5′s to you.

I’ve added swimming. I still use the Gazelle if I go more than a couple days without swimming. I know that many people have read all the ‘you can’t lose weight by swimming’ articles, and I realize that it’s probably true. Especially if you’re hoping to lose more than a few pounds. I am hoping to actually start running as well, mostly because I hear it’s the best way to lose weight. Count me IN.

Because after 5 weeks straight of using the Gazelle for an hour, or swimming 1500-2000m, nearly every day of the week, I still have not lost a single pound OR inch off of my flabby ass body.

Momma not happy.

Momma frustrated, y’all.

I took the time to map some routes around the neighborhood – .75mi, 1mi, and a 1.5mi – and am hoping that soon I can start adding running in to my day. Somehow.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m very glad that I don’t have to make drastic changes to my diet and eating habits. I eat healthy foods, keep things as natural as possible, and tend to consume less calories than I supposedly need. But it is very frustrating to be ‘doing everything right’ and have NO progress whatsoever.

So. That’s that. I plan to keep things going for at least 4 more weeks before I make any changes. Let’s hope I start to see some progress in those 4 weeks. I’m tired of looking like this.

picture from June 16 with Kiros

Ok. Those of you who follow me on Twitter or are friends with me on FaceBook have heard me talk about Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution on abc. We found out about the show because my fabulously talented husband actually built the video player on abc‘s website that advertises the show.

After watching the promo, I got excited.

This is an issue, topic, whatever.. that is close to our hearts. As parents, we want our kids to be healthy. We want ourselves to be healthy! In my family, we have a history of diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, and obesity. Those are not things I want for myself or my children! I myself had gestational diabetes during my 3rd pregnancy. That was a bit of a wake-up call for us. We made some changes after that experience and I managed to avoid it in my 4th and 5th pregnancies. STILL, it puts me at higher risk for developing diabetes later in life and also puts my son, Torrin at risk.

As most of you know (if you’ve been reading, you know) that we also have mental health issues in our family. I have had problems with depression since my early teens and my husband was diagnosed bipolar 2 years ago. These conditions can also be aggravated or improved depending on our diet and exercise habits.

Being healthy is about so much more than going to the gym or cutting out sweets.

We live in the age of convenience. In this world, today, the more convenient things are, the better. I hate that. This desire and pursuit of convenience has really fueled the changes in the things we eat and the lack of activity in our country. When people don’t need to do things for themselves, then many don’t. When getting off our butts, getting exercise, or making a meal from scratch is only something we do for fun, it becomes something that is done FAR less often.

I know many many people who do make their own ‘real food’ (as my kids call it), many who grow their own food and pay attention to what ingredients are in what they eat. But I also know many who don’t. They are content to buy ‘dinner in a box’ or fill their cart with items that are processed and frozen. ‘Fake food’ as my kids have started calling it.

Do I buy these things? Sure! But they are not the norm in our home anymore. They were once. I’m glad they are not anymore! Through the changes in our lifestyle and choices in food, my husband and I have also discovered a love for cooking. We both enjoy making our own recipes and experimenting with different flavors and foods. It’s fun! Even our kids enjoy it. And our friends on Twitter have enjoyed seeing and hearing about what’s being eaten in our home! We have just one rule in our house – try it. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to eat it. But you can’t turn your nose up at something you haven’t tried.

I encourage you all to do the same!

And tune in Friday nights to abc and watch Jamie Oliver‘s Food Revolution. You might just learn something you didn’t know about the food that you’re putting into your body and your children’s bodies!