Pilates, yes? no? maybe.

I went to a pilates class on Tuesday. A Tickle quiz had once said that pilates was the perfect exercise for me. This class was sponsored by the local health department. It's within 1 mile of my home. It's FREE!! It was relaxing. I'd need to do some aerobics at some point. Maybe I could walk to class and walk back? I'll hold that thought.

I'm as critical about other people's bodies as I am about my own. That causes issues. I feel guilty because I have this thing about exercise instructors. I want them to LOOK like the exercise is working for them. I want them to be lean and healthy looking. I think that's part of the reason I never purchased a Richard Simmons tape. After all that sweating would I really still want to be pudgy? Anyway, the class is at the right time, it's in a good place, it has low attendance, it's FREE!!, it was slow and relaxing to the point that I could count it as my meditation time. So will I add it to my regular Tuesday schedule?

I'll go this next week and in the mean time read some more about what I'm supposed to get out of it. I'll also check back at the book store. The last time I was there I saw an inexpensive (on clearance) pilates kit. Why don't I just work out at home? What is the source of my resistance?? Am I alone in my apparent laziness? Am I waiting for my body to reach an unbelievable weight? I should spend some time with these questions.

Summer Weight Loss Dreams

Today I finally spent 20 minutes playing on the bowflex in an attempt to get back on track with my summer weight loss exercising. All week I'd been planning to restart the Monday, Wednesday, Friday bowflex schedule AND do some sort of aerobic exercise on the other days. My good intentions were worthless.

I realized while journaling that my dreams for summer weight loss all involve me doing things I don't usually do. That's a prescription for failure. Why would an intelligent MultiPurposeWoman, like myself, set herself up to fail? That's a question worth exploring.

Super Woman Syndrome

The quick answer to, “Why do intelligent women set themselves up for failure?” is Super Woman Syndrome. The features of this pervasive and happiness-sapping syndrome include, I-can-do-anything-itis, Just-Do-It-oma, and Ms-Celebrity-did-it-osis. The cause of this all is unrealistic expectations.

I-can-do-anything-itis

You know you have I-can-do-anything-itis when you hear about some wonderful new diet or other life enhancement and immediately add it to your already overflowing “to do” list. Another sign is that you seldom, if ever, look at all your commitments. A third sign is that you seldom say, “No.” People ask you to do something and you add it to that list.

The cure for I-can-do-anything-itis? Remember and repeat as needed the inspirational quote, “I can do anything. I just can't do everything.”

Just-Do-It-oma

You know you have Just-Do-It-oma when you frequently upbraid yourself for not having “just ” finished everything on your plate”. You give yourself a hard time for only having 16 conscious hours in a day. You go to bed after a full and productive day and worry that you didn't do enough. You feel bad if you didn't accomplish something every waking moment.

The cure for Just-Do-It-oma? Just give yourself a break. Literally, stop, drop down into a comfortable seat (or bed), and do nothing for 15 minutes at least once a day. After your break (if you still feel the need to justify your existence) make a quick list of what you have completed so far for the day. To be fair you have to list everything that took up time.

Ms-Celebrity-did-it-osis

You know you suffer from this abnormal condition when you compare your progress to that of some celebrity or other person whose situation is different from yours. Can you wake up one morning and pledge to start a gluten-free, vegan, no alcohol, no caffeine diet? Sure you can. Can you stick to that diet for 21 days? Most likely not unless you have a lot of support and you took time to prep for the lifestyle change.

The cure for Ms-Celebrity-did-it-osis? Time and planning. If some celebrity touts some fabulous sounding get-some-part-of-your-life-together plan and you really think it'll revolutionize your life for the better then slow down and plan to slowly incorporate it into your life.

A multiPurposeWoman experiment – Can I follow my own advice?

I'm being held hostage by resistance

Need a wake up call? Calculate your body fat

Since Sunday, 23 March I've been weighing myself on my Tanita body fat monitor and scale. Why? Because I need a constant reminder that I have to do more to get to my ideal weight. What is my ideal weight? I have no idea. The charts and the general proclamations don't convince me. So I figure I'll know my ideal weight when I see it.

Another reason I use the body fat monitor and scale is I want/need to know as soon a possible that what I'm doing is working. Yes, I'm impatient AND I need/want immediate gratification and feedback.

Anyway, today my readings were interesting.
(1) despite making a very conscious effort to eat less for the past week and a half, I weight more than ever - 172.2
(2) my fat % is 38.0 - the lowest it's been since I started the daily weigh-in
(3) my hydration % is 43.9 - the highest since the beginning of tracking
(4) my muscle % is 101.2 - the highest

This leads me to believe that something I was doing is working. I'd better restart my bowflex and other workout activities.

I stopped for two reasons. #1 I went out of town and my already shaky habit was disrupted and #2 I was bored and unmotivated partly due to not seeing any improvement. Which is one of the reasons stated for not weighing daily.

I like the daily routine of weighing so I'll keep it up. I'll just adjust my thinking to account for the lag time between doing and seeing results. So if you need a little push get a Tanita body fat monitor and scale and calculate your body fat. I'm looking forward to watching my body fat go down as my muscle % increases. Be happier now.

Search for Food High in Iron

It's been a week since I exercised with the bowflex. How did that happen? I exercised last Wednesday and planned to work out at the hotel where I knew I'd be on Friday morning. Didn't work. Yesterday was the other scheduled bowflex day and there was really no excuse. I watched the time go by.

I have been in search of fiber and iron. I really need food high in iron right now. I'm back on the iron pills. The doctor told me it takes 3 months of the supplements to get right. The last time I only took them for a month, felt better, stopped. I didn't know about the 3 month rule then.

Anyway, in an attempt to eat fewer calories and get some fiber, which is another thing I feel I need, I made and have been eating my gluten free granola as a meal replacement of sorts.

I made a new batch since the one listed in last Wednesday's post. This second batch has more fiber due to the pumpkin and flax seeds I used in place of the sesame seeds. I also got it together to run the nutritional analysis (on both versions). I did this primarily because I'm super bloated and finally figured out I may now be getting too much fiber.

Per the analysis it seems like I may be borderline. 21 grams daily is the recommended allowance for women. The gluten-free granola has 4 grams per 1/2 cup and the almond milk has 1 so that 5 grams every time I have a bowl and I've been eating 4 bowls a day and not much else.

Plus I realized I haven't been getting all my water in so I'm going to fix that starting today. I saw a cup at Target that's a hydration meter. I almost brought it. I'm sure I will soon. The gluten-free granola doesn't make it unto the food high in iron list. No worries I've restarted drinking lemon juice with blackstrap molasses first thing in the morning.

Question of the Day: Do I have the energy to head to the basement and deal with the bowflex?

gluten free maple-walnut granola and exercise

I exercised first thing. Warmed up by walking fast (2.9 mph) on treadmill while listening to the Greatest Hits of Run DMC for 15 minutes. Then did the bowflex workout. Here's my default breakfast and snack. I have it with almond milk since dairy isn't my friend.I make it gluten free by using gluten free oats.)Also, I've yet to find currants so I usually add 2x the cranberries or use another dried fruit AND I change the seeds from time to time: pumpkin, flax, whatever's on hand or sounds good while I'm at the store. This mix can be expensive - it's worth it taste wise and energy wise - it's nutrient rich and the 1/2 cup serving keeps me energized for hours. The expense comes in with the maple syrup - not that corn stuff that flavored - real maple syrup. The recipe software I'm using estimated the cost at $33 for two batches.

Maple-Walnut Granola
Makes 7 servings
perfect breakfast and snack for type A blood
source: "Eat Right for Your Type" page 127

4 cups Gluten Free Bob's Red Mill Rolled Oats
1 cup Ener G pure Rice Bran
1 cup sesame seeds
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup dried currants
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 tablespoons organic canola oil
3/4 cup maple syrup

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.
In a large mixing bowl combine the oats, rice bran, seeds, dried fruit, nuts, and vanilla.
Add the oil and stir evenly.

Pour in maple syrup and mix well until mixture is evenly moistened.
Mixture should be crumbly and sticky.
Spread mixture on a lightly oiled cookie tray and bake for 90 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes for even toasting until the mixture is golden brown and dry.
Cool thoroughly and store in airtight container.

exercised as scheduled

despite not telling you about it I exercised all of my scheduled days. In fact starting yesterday I've added the much needed cardio. Doing it in small bursts. Yesterday, in addition to the bowflex workout I pulled out an old Xmas gift, the belly dance exercise video. Did that for 30 minutes. Then went out into the world to work. When I came back I pulled out another old standby, 10 minute solution fat blasting dance mix. It has five 10-minute segments and I did simple slimmer. It's a silly video and three little girls (okay, young women - my daughters age) breaking down 80's dance moves. I'll have to give an example later. Just wanted to post to say that I did.

Consistency

OK, I'm being regular, I am exercising everyday that I have planned. I may not do the whole scheduled workout, but I do enough to work each muscle group, at least once. When I eclipse my cardio, I make sure to have broken a sweat and I do at least 30 minutes. My diet still needs work, but I am rarely overeating, I am more erring on the side of under eating.Still I have high hopes. Regina 4-30-08

exercised

yes, I exercised. In fact I exercised even though I needed to be out of the house an hour earlier than usual. I even moved the weight up to 50 pounds. It's still easy for most of the exercises so I'll move it up again on Wednesday. I'm thinking to start using more for my legs than my arms despite the fact that the shoulder exercise is hard at any weight. I had a moment a couple of hours after exercising when I felt taller :-) okay that may sound crazy but it happened!! I think I stretched my muscles and it caused me to walk taller - it's like I was doing that exercise where you act as if there's a string attached to your head and you're being pulled upward. Haven't you done that exercise before?

Going,Going,bump....

I have a new exercise plan that is quite ambitious for the relatively lazy me. What drove me to such lofty plans was a lack of progress. I exercised often, not very regularly, but very often, still no major change in the body parts I really want to improve. My new plan, which ,consists of Mon, Wed., and Fri. Total Body Weightlifting, 2 exercises per muscle group, 10-12 reps, 3-4 sets. Cardio Tue., Thur and Sat., minimum 45 min. I'm going, getting it done, but the bump is any distraction. Anything can keep me from my workout. Today it was just too cold in my house to put on my exercise clothes, furthermore my home gym is also cold. I can easily fix the problems, but why. OK, it is the eleventh hour and I finally figured out Why. Why, because last week I actually lost some pounds, exercising today keeps my week on track, exercise relieves the stress my daughter causes, this may be the program that changes my body and missing one will slow down the progress.

BowFlex day 3

Went to 40 pounds and that seems like plenty especially for my shoulders. I never realized that they were weak.

I'd been super tired since Monday or maybe it was last Friday. Anyway, I went to a meeting last night at Heine Brothers and picked up an expensive bag of "Najla's Gone Nuts" they energized me. That was good. When I got up this morning I stayed up. Yesterday, I just kept getting back in bed so I got very little done on a day I had high productivity hopes for.

Anyway, the workout was uneventful. I need to take music down there because I'm already getting bored. I still think I'm not doing some of the exercises right. I can feel my muscles though so that's fun - it's like they're alive.

Trying to write more and get back into the studio. Both things make me want to talk less and see people less so that's a challenge.

I'm writing at MultiPurpose-Woman and on Thursdays as part of the Thursday 13 meme.

As far as getting back to work as an artist - I renewed Gwendolyn Kelly dot com - in anticipation of having work-in-process to show AND I brought some MDO blocks from the Art-o-mat people for use in a divination piece I have all planned.

BowFlex day 2 exercise

Since last time I did a brief walk. I haven't done that in months. I also signed up to get a "metabolic fingerprint of my resting metabolic rate".

AND I'm blogging and YES, I did exercise day two as planned. Well, not totally as planned. What I wrote I'd do is every scheduled day add 10 additional pounds of resistance until 12 reps of the exercises were too much yet 8 was doable. I added 20 instead because I only started out with 10 so I could focus on how to do the exercises. Of course the 10 was like lifting nothing and I felt that 20 would be the same. On Friday, I'll increase to 40 or 50.

Anyway, I following the Bowflex Power Pro Better Body Workout per the glossy poster that came with the machine. My friend Was meticulous about keeping everything, even the recall info and the fix-it stuff sent by bowflex.

The workout exercises are:

1. bench press (chest)
   
2. triceps press (triceps)
   
3. resisted ab crunch (abs)
   
4. seated row (back)
   
5. low back row (lower back)
   
6. lat pulldown (back)
   
7. biceps curl (biceps)
   
8. lateral raise (shoulders)
   
9. leg press (thighs)
   
10. calve raise (calves)
    
11. seated hamstring curl (gluteal & hamstrings)
    

Remember to visit MultiPurpose-Woman

started exercising

Amazingly, I have started to exercise. A friend gave me her bowflex about 3 weeks ago. It's been set up and I've been looking at the manual and making plans and thinking about it and planning my approach, etc. etc. Today I went to the workout room (sounds way better than basement). I took it easy as planned. Main purpose was to just go and DO ANYTHING. Actually, the official plan was to do 12 reps of the 12 exercises listed on the quick-start poster using the least amount of resistance possible. Mission accomplished.

Plan for day 2 was to add 5 pounds of resistance (if I was successful doing 12 reps of all the exercises - which I was) each workout until I found the appropriate amount. Seems silly to wait until Wednesday yet I should because the bowflex workout plan said to wait a day between. I have a lot to figure out about the exercises anyway. The poster leaves a bit to be desired in the way of instructions so I need to look most of the exercises up in the book to figure out how to do them correctly.

Need to start a new weight, fat %, muscle % tracker sheet also. Don't think I can post it here but will do it at Multipurposewoman and link. Later for that, I need to shower, find clothes, eat, change the sheets, and do something else in 40 minutes. That's not going to work.

Call Their Names: Presidential Facts for Women’s History Month

How much do you know about First Ladies?

Show mature women what you know and/or learn something new for women's history month.

Eight U.S. Presidents had 13 letter names.

Can you name their wives?

Well, can you at least unscramble their names then match them up? Here's the Printable Trivia Questions.

freebies to help you uncover these fun presidential facts:

#1 Take the multiple choice version of this test at Tickle.
#2 Capital letters indicate the first and last initial.
#3 One of the 8 presidents had 2 wives.
#4 One of the presidents never married (and “Never Married” is the phrase to unscramble).

First Ladies 1 soeoalcRlnnDhe 2 egStmiMhatrra 3 aNvierMerred 4 dllCezriacEaM 5 uantJilDe 6 ExnAonsell 7 hElatdGit 8 unreyoLH 9 lhmnaeyRTa

The Presidents 1 ridaoRNihnMcx 2 dnnhoe norJsAw 3 ryycaroZlaahT 4 ennmhaBJcasau 5 Wd ilooWornwos 6 vHeHt ereoborr 7 nGyslastUerSs 8 JkncenArasdow

Multipurpose-Woman thanks SuperKids for doing the hard word for the letter unscramble.

Check yourself. Here's the answer sheet.

Hydration and Health

How long will it take my body to get fully hydrated? How will I know when it is? How do I know that it's not? Is dry skin a sign of dehydration? According to my scale/analyzer my level is 43.2%.

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P.S. I'm conducting a poll about women and happiness.

Please go to www.multipurposewoman.com/random_interviews
to take the Happiness Poll and add your input.

Gwendolyn Kelly
www.MultiPurposeWoman.com
gifted63@aol.com
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