Celebrating Scale and Non-scale Victories

I'm celebrating two victories today, but the NSV (non-scale victory)  is the one that excites me the most.  I've dropped from a sz 16 to a sz 12 in jeans in the last 12 months, and those quickly became looser in the waist, and now I have a little wiggle room in the thigh and butt area too, although they still fit ok. I tried a couple different sz 10 recently and they didn't work out, so figured this was it.  And I was ok with that.  As I mentioned in a previous post, if I never dropped another pound, I'd be perfectly content.

Well I was able to check that box this afternoon when I put on a sz 10 and they fit perfectly! Bonus: Found them at the thrift store, so they only set me back $3.89. Also grabbed three tops and a denim blazer, for a grand total of $21.89 with tax. I couldn't have found just the jeans for that price, so you know I'm a happy girl all around.

In fact, I was so excited about the jeans fitting that I took pics in the dressing room, LOL. Hair is a mess and needs to be dyed, no makeup, and I'm barefoot. Don't judge!

And for those of you who might be thinking that all the walking/running/biking I've been doing is the reason for the weight loss, and you can't physically do what I'm doing, you'd be wrong. Before starting this particular journey, I was running anywhere from 3-8 miles almost every day (usually 5-6), and it made little to no difference either in the way I looked or on the scale ... I still stayed between 185-200 flipping pounds. I was killing myself for nothing, because you can't outrun a bad diet. I used to have big goals to reach a certain number of steps per day, usually over 25,000, and often reached 30,000 or more. I still get 20,000 or so sometimes but that's not a goal. More often lately I'm averaging 10-15,000 steps per day, and when I first started making changes, I was only walking a mile or so here and there, choosing to focus on other changes first. I still lost weight in those first weeks, and even with that pretty significant decrease in the amount of daily activity these last months, today's scale smiled back at me with 144.5, my lowest since before retiring from the Marine Corps more than 24 yrs ago.

It's all about nutrition. I'm not taking any pills or following any fancy program that will do little except take my money. I'm eating REAL food, not packaged junk, and have eliminated sugars (except natural sugars from fruit). I'm staying low carb (because of the past threat of diabetes), but even without that, just saying no to the processed crap found in boxed and convenience foods has made a tremendous difference. Decades of that junk will kill you! I don't feel deprived at all, and trust me, I eat plenty! I just make sure it's the right stuff ... meat, fish or other seafood, vegetables, cheese, fruit, either fresh or frozen. And I snack on nuts throughout the day. That's it! It's not rocket science.

I've lost a chunk of weight a couple of times in the past, but deprived myself of too much and wasn't able to sustain it for more than a few short months at best. It was a struggle, and for what? As soon as I deviated at all, the weight came back with a vengeance. Last year I decided instead to just eat healthy to stay healthy and not focus on my weight, yet the weight-loss has been a very welcome by-product. It's been almost a year and I still don't feel like I'm missing anything; when I dine out with friends, I do sometimes allow myself a little something from my 'no-no' list, but I don't go crazy with it. I'm pretty confident now that what I'm doing is sustainable for the long term.

I'm not pushing my lifestyle on anyone, but if you want advice or to hear more about how I got here, I'd be happy to answer questions, and can point you to some eye-opening reading material that made a big impact on my decision to stay processed-food free. Again, I'm not following any costly program or taking any supplements or buying foods touted by a specific company ... I'm just being careful about what I put in my grocery cart, bring into my home, and put into my mouth.

~ Marie Anne

Weight loss goals: Should I keep setting them?

I haven't posted much about my weight loss, mainly because I didn't want that to be the focus of my journey towards being the best me I can be.  I still weigh myself every morning (I know, I know, may people say that's not a good idea, but it's what I do. Don't judge!), but I don't stress when it goes up a lb or so from one day to the next, because it does that all the time and I know that it's normal.  I just watch to make sure it doesn't stay on an upward trend more than two days or so.   So far, so good, and I haven't had to make any adjustments in diet or exercise to see that number continue to go down, albeit slowly.

I'm tackling things the right way, very slow and easy. No goal to lose 20 lbs a month for me! Again, while of course I DO want to lose weight, that hasn't been my primary mission.  I'm concentrating on eating good, healthy, real foods and staying away from anything processed, and the bonus is the resulting weight loss.  Go figure.  

I've met two goals so far, so need to set a new one.  At various points in recent years I weighed a little over 200 lbs, but when I started this particular journey towards a better me in June 2020, I weighed 190.5.  My first goal was to get under 160 and see 5 as that middle number, and when I made that, I decided to shoot for being within the Marine Corps current height/weight standards, which I believe for my height is 151 lbs (that's if I'm still 5'4").  Wanting to get below that, I set the second, smaller goal to get out of the 150s.  

Last week I reached that goal.  I'm now officially at the lowest weight I've been since probably 1998, a year or so after retiring from the Marine Corps (has it really been 24 years?).  

While of course I'm excited about the lower number on the scale, I'm more excited about the way I perceive myself.  I feel better physically, but just as important, my emotional health has skyrocketed.  I don't struggle with viewing myself as overweight anymore. I used to wonder who that person was, because even though I was looking at the mirror, it wasn't me I was seeing.  I don't know who that fat person was, but she disgusted me.  She doesn't anymore.

So having met those two goals, what's next?  At 148.5, a loss of 42 lbs so far this go'round, I wouldn't mind losing a few more, but I'm not unhappy where I am.  Should I set another goal or just see what happens?   

I haven't wanted the goal number to be something that I had to work hard for every day, something to stress about and get anxious over if the number went up a bit or plateaued, and that's worked out ok.  Concentrating on maintaining my nutritional goals and seeing the number go down as a result has been good for me, physically and emotionally, so I don't think that picking another lower number is a bad idea in my case.  I think sometimes setting too lofty a goal can set us up for failure, but I think my head is in the right place with it.  Again, if I stay close to where I'm at now, I'm good.  

Having said that, the new non-goal goal is to see that middle number a 3. If I get down to 139.5, that would be a loss of 51 lbs from when I started this particular journey, and over 60 from my highest in recent years.  Don't know if I'll ever get there, but I won't be disappointed if I don't.

Nine lbs to go ... or not.

~ Marie Anne  

Team RWB March Madness Round 2 - March 7, 2021

Sunday, 7 March brings us to Round 2 of Team RWB's March Madness Challenge.  The brackets are set up by state (with a team for overseas participants too), and my team (NC) had a poor showing last week so is already out of the running for the bracket challenge.  There's still an open category, so I'm going to continue get my max points every week in hopes that we can finish with some level of respect.

There are three different events on challenge Sundays, worth 1, 2, and 3 points, and if you complete and check in on all three events, you can grab six points for your team.  I ran over 6 miles last Sunday so got them all, but I  mixed things up a little this morning.  

I started off with 26 pushups for the free-throw (had to do the one extra for Chesty Puller, ya know), then a 3+ mi run on the treadmill before breakfast for the 3-pointer.  Around noontime I grabbed my pack and went out for a 2-mi ruck in my neighborhood, capturing that 2-point layup before fixing lunch and settling in for a relaxing afternoon.

I think that'll be it for me today in the workout department, but since it's nice out I'll probably spend some time in the yard with the dogs, in between binge-watching sessions while parked on the couch. I don't want to overdo it as I still hope to walk that 11+ mile route on base sometime this week, in preparation for running the Marine Corps 17.75K.

What're you up to today? Whatever else you're doing, make time to get up and move!

~ Marie Anne

Unplanned debut marathon

So, Saturday I did a thing.  Totally unplanned, totally unprepared, but totally amazing.

I completed a 26.2 mi marathon.

Yep.  At 63 yrs old, overweight, with osteoporosis and at risk for fracture, a propensity for injury (both from overuse and plain ol' clumsiness), pre-diabetes, very high cholesterol, moderate arterial blockage, and never having done even a half-marathon distance before (even walking), I completed a marathon.  Oh, and I did it fueled only by a hard-boiled egg a couple hours before start, a handful of mixed nuts at about halfway, wearing $15 Walmart shoes with almost zero padding and support (and I even took out the insoles), and working on about 4 hours sleep. (Much more on the 'whys' of the nutrition and footwear another time).

So just how did this all come about?  Let me tell you the story ...

A few of us from Team RWB were going to get together to do a couple mile walk/slow run Saturday morning.  A fellow team member mentioned the night before that he might see us on the trail somewhere as he would be doing his virtual Marine Corps Marathon along that route.  He had been doing a half-marathon just about every weekend up until last year (sometimes a full marathon), but the whole COVID thing set him back (emotionally as well as physically), he had put on a few pounds, and hadn't been out and done ANYTHING since March.  Oh, and he had no crew along his route to support and check on him - he was flying solo.

Ummm, no.  Carrie (our Team Captain) and I decided that wasn't acceptable, so at 10pm Fri evening we agreed to meet up with him at zero-dark-thirty to at least start him off and maybe take turns doing a couple miles with him. Again, no real plan, we were flying by the seat of our pants.  I met her at the main gate on Camp Lejeune at 0545 where I left my car, and we drove to the designated starting point in town to meet up with Mac and help him do this thing.  Another member, Terri, jumped in and said she'd crew for us, and planned on driving to various points with snacks and water available should we need them.  (She also had the traditional motivational Eye of the Tiger blasting as we went by each station. She rocks!).  Terri had run the Marine Corps Marathon 50K (just over 31 mi) virtually the previous weekend, alone.  (Yes, she's a bad-a$$!).

Headlamps in place, Mac rucking 20+ lbs and carrying Old Glory, Carrie with the Team RWB banner, off we went.   I hadn't been doing more than a mile or two at a time for months, mostly at a walk barefoot, so the basic plan was that I'd stay with Carrie and Mac to the main gate (just over 6 miles), where I'd get my car and drive to the next stop, and maybe jump in with him there for a couple miles, and Carrie could drive my car to the next stop, and we'd leapfrog. Well I got to the gate and decided that as slow as we were going, I could definitely do more.  Terri was available to pick me up if needed, so I felt confident in continuing.

After a couple more miles, I decided that since we were so close, I'd at least stick with it to the halfway point so that I could scratch the half-marathon off my bucket list.  I guess 13.1 mi wasn't enough, so since Mac had slowed down even more, I waved Terri off and we kept going, sometimes at a walk, sometimes a slow trot.  We got back to the main gate (18ish mi) and Carrie needed to leave for other commitments, so Terri drove her back to the start to get her car.  That left me and Mac, and there was no way I was leaving him alone out there, so I shrugged my shoulders and we set off again.  

Mac has a number of previous injuries from his time on active duty, including nerve damage, so because he hadn't been training at all for months, and was carrying some extra poundage, he was hurting pretty bad.  The last 6 mi or so were seemingly at a crawl, and the muscles in my legs were tight and starting to seize up, so for a couple of miles I trotted loops back and forth around him, just to stretch a bit while still keeping him in sight.  I relieved him of Old Glory during that time, doing a hand-off later to allow him to finish with flag waving. 

We did it.  Super-slow and much of it at a walk, in well over the cutoff had we done the in-person event, but we did it (there is no time limit on the virtual).  Could I have done it faster had I not stayed with Mac those last few miles?  I'm sure, but this was his day, his marathon, so it never entered my mind to leave him and do my own thing for a better finish time. 

Neither of us could have done it without Carrie along for support, and of course our super-crew, Terri, cheering us on and providing fuel at numerous points along the route.  They are both active duty Marines who are spread pretty thin already, and they willingly gave up their Saturday to help fellow Marines get 'er done.  (I think there's something wrong with  my eyes right now; they seem to be leaking for some reason).  And I wouldn't have even been out there at all had it not been for Mac's determination to complete his 8th consecutive Marine Corps Marathon.

It's a Marine thing, and also what Team RWB is all about.

So there you have it.  I crossed something off my bucket list that wasn't even ON my bucket list.  

Could I have done it (without feeling hungry or needing fuel for energy) without having made the nutritional changes I've made the last few months?  Nope. 

Could I have done it without injury had I not been doing the barefoot/minimalist footwear thing I've been working on the last few months?  Nope.  

I made those changes, not in preparation for any race (much less a marathon!), but for me.  The fact that they allowed me to go a distance that I never in my wildest dreams thought possible is a testament that you can make changes at any age that will allow you to do great things, and feel great doing them. 

~ Marie Anne

 (Part I of how I unknowingly trained my body for this event here).

A is for Achievements, and Achievement!

A large part of today's population has jumped on the fitness-tracker craze in attempt to get healthier, and it seems everyone has something strapped to their wrist that tracks their steps, among other things. Striving to achieve that step goal every day is getting people off the couch and more conscious of how increased activity can have many benefits - weight loss, lowering cholesterol, managing diabetes and high blood pressure among them.  For me, the biggest benefit to walking and running is mental health.

Do you have a Fitbit, Garmin, or other tracking device that counts your daily steps?  Apps like MapMyRun/Walk/Fitness?  MyFitnessPal?  Strava?  Did you know that you can get paid to use them? 

I've been a member of Achievement for a couple of years and have cashed out several times.  It's a no-brainer.  You simply sign up, choose which step tracker you want it to grab data from, and the system does the rest.  You don't have to log in every day to do anything at all, you just sign up and forget about it (unless you want to check your points occasionally, and then of course you have to request to cash out when you have earned enough points to do so).

You get points for your daily steps, and additional points for tracking your exercise.  You even get points if you weigh yourself.  Have you ever been paid to sleep?  If your Fitbit or other device tracks it, you get points for sleeping too!

Achievement isn't going to make you rich.  Even as active as I am, it takes me several months to cash out $10, but it's basically free money.  You honestly don't have to do another thing once you've added your tracking device to sync with Achievement.

Click on any of the links above to get 100 points just for signing up today (I'll get 100 point bonus too), and let me know if you need help setting up your account. 

You're tracking your steps every day anyway; why not let someone hand you some cash to do it?

~ Marie Anne

Pandemic + Challenges + Stubborn Marine = Mission Accomplished

So, the other day I did a thing.

With all the race cancellations from the COVID-19 pandemic, lots of organizations are turning to virtual races, and the Marine Corps 17.75k originally scheduled for 28 March 2020 was one of them.  Those who had already registered for the race have the option to defer their registration until next year's race, transfer it to another upcoming race in the area, or run it virtually.  In addition to the in-person-race-turned-virtual, the race coordinators opened up another strictly virtual run that's open to  anyone.

So what's a 62-year-old retired Marine who

- is overweight
- is pre-diabetic
- has high cholesterol
- has bad knees
- is still suffering from injuries to two parts of her right foot
- did a face-plant four months ago and still experiences minor issues from the concussion
- had a post-run heart rate situation a month ago that resulted in a possible cardiac incident

do?  She signs up to run that virtual 17.75k, of course!  Had to represent Team RWB.  😀

Oh, have I mentioned I've never run that far before, or even walked 11 miles at one time?

The significance of the 17.75k distance is to honor the Marine Corps' birth in a Philadelphia tavern on 10 November 1775.  Birthdays are a big thing to Marines, and always celebrated in a big way.  How could a retired MSgt not jump at the chance to earn a finisher's medal and t-shirt?

So, that's the 'thing' I did.

Honestly, the morning I set out to do it, I hadn't convinced myself that that would be 'the' day to attempt the mission.  I figured I'd go out and see how I felt, walking that first 3/4 mi or so to get off the potential toe-snagging sidewalk and across a main thoroughfare into the quiet subdivision with smooth asphalt roads.  Once there, I eased into a jog and settled into a slow pace that felt comfortable, and just went with it.  I started out later in the morning than I usually do, and since I was probably going to be out there for a couple of hours and the temp was expected to rise, I made sure to wear my CamelBak for hydration, and tucked a snack into the case as well.

Since I was attempting something that would no doubt be taxing for me, I opted not to go to a halfway point and turn around, but instead just trotted up and down the same several block area so that I would never be more than a mile or so from home (and within a half mile from the library so I could take a potty break if needed.  I should have, but didn't).  My heart rate was pretty steady in the 140s, so I was comfortable shooting for the 11.03 mile that I needed.

I started to feel a bit rough around mile 9.  The temp was indeed rising, and by mile 10, my heart rate had pushed into a dangerous zone for me, so I had to dial it back.  I didn't change my gait, but even though I could have crawled faster than I was trotting at that point, it was a mind thing.  After making it that far, I wasn't going to NOT finish.

And finish I did.  It wasn't fast, but I got 'er done.

I'm not advocating that anyone take risks with their health, and had I really felt I was in danger, I would have stopped and made a phone call. I constantly check my heart rate when I'm working out, and I made sure that I was never more than a few blocks away from a couple of friends who could come to my rescue.  I always have a whistle attached to me somewhere, and was running in a large housing area where someone would surely see or hear me if I called out or blew an SOS.

My heart rate was a little weird when I finished, but not nearly as bad as it had been the previous time I had concerns. 💓 It did drop down to a moderate level in a reasonable time frame, but each time I got up and walked even a few paces, it would start to spike again (not to a dangerous level, but definitely higher than it should have been). I have no doubt that it wouldn't have been a problem if I'd slowed down earlier and even walked for a bit so as not to exceed my sweet spot. Exceeding max HR for any length of time isn't smart at any age since it can cause damage to the heart, and since there's no glory in that, lesson learned.

Completing a half-marathon is still on my bucket list, 13.1 miles.  Based on recent experiences, I doubt I'd be able to run the whole thing no matter how slow, but since I proved I could do 11.03 miles, I'm pretty sure I could go the slightly longer distance by sticking to intervals, or even walking the whole way.  I don't know if I'll sign up for an official race, but I do plan to go the distance, maybe with a friend or two along for company after quarantine and social distancing are no longer the plan of the day.  😷

Never quit.

~ Marie Anne

2020 Running/Walking/Fitness Challenges - Run the Year 2020

So ... I've mentioned a couple of challenges in passing, and probably should share some of the details.

The first challenge I signed up for this year was the Run the Year 2020 Challenge hosted by Run the Edge.  The goal is to run (or walk, or other equivalent activity) 2,020 miles in the year 2020.  Because of past/current and the potential for future injuries, the majority of my miles will be accumulated by walking.  There are few rules, and you can choose to count all of your daily steps, or just your intentional workout miles.  You can also join a team with up to four other participants.

I signed up for the whole package with some great swag!  It included a t-shirt, finisher's medal, challenge coin, a couple of stickers, and a cool chart where you color in a spot for each mile.  You can sync your Fitbit or sport watch tracker, and also add or edit your mileage manually, and the site tracks all of your stats.

I get a good chunk of steps in daily by dedicated walking around the house, but it's often not enough to bother starting my watch to track it.  Since those really are additional steps, I'm counting all of my daily Fitbit steps towards the main goal of 2,020 miles by December 31 (an average of 5.5 daily miles ... easy peasy, and I'm already well ahead of the game), but I'm also keeping track of my intentional workout miles to see just how far I can go with that (I'm pushing for at least 1,500 miles, which would be an average of just over 4 miles per day, and I've banked some extra there already too).

Another participant gifted me her coloring chart and I'm using that to visually track my dedicated workout miles.

There is a Facebook group for the main RTY2020 challenge, as well as groups for individual demographics such as walkers, marathoners, those doing it for weight loss, etc, and also one for each state so you could even meet up with others in your area if you crave more than virtual motivation.  It's fun and encouraging to interact with and support other crazy like-minded  people who are taking this journey with you.

In additional to the main challenge, you can also sign up for six additional streaker challenges throughout the year, and I'll cover those in another blog post.

RTY2020 might have been the first challenge to spark my interest this year, but it seems to have started a fire.  Follow along to hear about the rest of the goals I'm striving to meet with other challenges.

~ Marie Anne

Are you doing any challenges this year?  Tell me about them!

More Training Strategies, and Another Running Goal Met

It works.

Alternating days of running and walking, longer and shorter distances, that is.

I'm just a little obsessed with watching my stats and would love to increase my pace, but for whatever reason I never bothered to run shorter distances to try to attain that.  I know that I shouldn't run the same distance all the time, and I know that I should have days without running at all, but knowing and doing are two different things, as I'm sure we can all attest.

I did the 10 miles (majority at a trot) two days ago, and yesterday just walked a mile on my own, then a mile with the dogs, so nothing strenuous.  This morning I wanted to get an early run in before heading to town to beat the masses on a Saturday morning, so I figured I'd do only a mile to see if I could push just a little and finally get a sub 15:00 minute mile.  It's been a couple of years since I've done that, and I've been averaging about 15:30-15:40 on my 4- and 5-mile runs lately.

Opting to do the neighborhood rather than the trail on this beautiful 60° morning, I stepped out with my mind set on that lone mile.  I could tell that my lungs were working a little harder than usual at the pace I started with, but still felt do-able.  The rest of my body felt fine, so I figured I'd do 1.5, then said what the heck, go ahead and do 2 miles so you can see your split times.

After the warmup mile at 14:30, mile 2 time was 14:15, for an average 14:22 mile.  Not only did I bust my sub 15:00 mile goal, I knocked well over a minute off my average pace of the longer distances.  That's still an average walking pace for many, but at this stage, it's a good pace for me.

The concept of training for distance alternated with shorter, faster runs isn't new.  I've known this.  I've preached this.  If you switch up pushing your body for speed and striving for distance, you're working your body in different ways, much the same as having a leg day and arm day at the gym.  Of course running uses your legs, but shorter, faster distances will work your heart, lungs, and even muscle groups of your legs slightly differently than longer, slower mileage.

So my quest to be smart and alternate training days is off to a good start.  I won't do anything fitness related the rest of today, and if I do anything tomorrow (Sunday), it'll be just walking.  I have an appointment Monday morning and could fill up the day with other errands, so might take that as a complete rest day, which are needed once in a while too.

Who says you can't teach old dogs new tricks?  There's hope for me yet!

Be well ...

~ Marie Anne

Goodbye Ohio, Hello NC and a New MA!

So ... in a less than 60-day period, I listed my house in Ohio for sale, sold it, packed and moved to NC, found a house, moved in, and closed.  What a whirlwind!  

During the months preceding all this, my fitness and activity level bottomed out.  I wasn't eating right, often bingeing on carb-laden junk food, got very little dedicated exercise in, and just overall wasn't taking care of myself.  It definitely showed on the scale and directly affected how I was feeling.  After the first week in NC, I was once again at my highest weight.  Nooooo!!!!!

The move is now behind me, and while I'm not completely settled in the house yet, things are coming together.  More importantly, much baggage was left behind in Ohio (and I don't mean the kind you pack), and I feel a great weight lifted.  With that weight gone, it's time to work on the numbers on the scale, fit into some summer clothes, and start feeling better.

This last week has been a good one as far as food choices and exercise.  There's a short paved trail just a block from my house, and I did a mile or two the first few times out so I could see where it went.  The last three times, I trotted around a couple of the cul de sacs in the neighborhood before/after hitting the trail and stretched it to a full 5K (3.1 mi), then hitched up the dogs for a short walk to cool off.  It's not a scenic route by any stretch, but it still works out well for me since I can get a run in right here at the house without having to drive anywhere!  I'm told there are longer trails a short distance away and I want to work up to 10K (6.2 mi) again, so will be checking those out also.

I lost about 1.5 lbs the first few days, but the scale hasn't moved since, but that's ok.  I feel good, and the rest will happen all in good time. I'm a little tired from the added activity, but it's a good tired, not a sluggish, too-fat-and-don't-even-want-to-roll-off-the-couch tired.

It took me 11 years to make it happen, but I'm over-the-moon excited to be back in NC once again.   This is where the road ends, yet welcomes new beginnings.

~ Marie Anne

P.S.  Did I mention I can drive to the beach for a run (or just look for shark's teeth) any time I want?

I Passed the First Test!

I was up and out of bed shortly after 5am this morning, and went about my regular routine - morning ablutions, cup of tea and quick breakfast while I caught up on online stuff, wrote another blog post and published it, mailed a package from an eBay sale over the weekend. Pretty normal morning around here.

I hadn't done any dedicated stepping yet, but as I walked back from the mailbox at 10:30am, I was curious to see what my step count was so far today, so reached down to check my Fitbit One - only to realize that it wasn't on the bottom of my shorts where I was sure that I'd clipped it.

Uh oh ... apparently I had taken off the wrist band when I washed my face and hands this morning, then left it on the bathroom vanity.  MA has only 211 steps right now, when I normally have at least a couple thousand by this time of day.  Oops.

© Marie Anne St. Jean

So what was this test that I passed?  I didn't freak out or say bad words when I found that my morning steps were 'wasted' - go me!  I just clipped my tracker in place and went about my business (and then of course came here to brag about it).  Read this to see why this is such a huge deal for me!

There's hope for this ol' gal yet.

~ Marie Anne

Diet and Fitness Craze ... or Just Plain Crazy?

Anyone who has known me for any length of time knows that I am an all-or-nothing kinda gal.  I will latch on to a new idea or behavior and go full steam ahead with it, until I ultimately lose interest entirely, or burn out.  Be it diet, fitness, writing, crocheting, quilting, a business venture such as my eBay business ... I tend to be very focused on that one thing to the exclusion of just about everything else in my life, and we all how how well that works out.  It doesn't.

I've tried various low-carb and other sensible eating programs (including Whole30) over the years.  They worked, and I lost a lot of weight, with almost no effort.  But I'm a diagnosed carb addict (yes, it's a real thing), and once you let any amount of carbs back in, whamo - the weight comes back, along with the cravings, because the addiction is always there.

I started running again a couple of years ago, (really just a walking pace for most of you, but a running gait), and once I got going, I was up to running a minimum of 3-6 miles a day, almost every day.  I even had aspirations to work up to a half marathon, as slow as I might be.  Nothing wrong with that, right?  Well there is if you're competing with yourself and become obsessed with time, distance, splits, etc.  I would neglect taking the dogs out for any exercise, or when I did, I would rush to adjust the apps when I got home to reflect how fast/far we actually went, because all their sniffing and taking care of business would cause my Garmin watch to stop and start, resulting in inaccurate data.  Again with the obsession.  Who cares about all that?  No one sees it but me!

It wasn't a lot of fun. And I'm now 60 years old, have osteoporosis with high risk of fracture, crazy high cholesterol, and overweight.  Not a good combination to be doing any distance running, especially since I usually go alone in remote areas.  I'm also pre-diabetic, but my blood pressure is good, and my heart is healthy, but I don't think I have to run miles a day to keep it that way.

I had to stop running early this year because of severe sleep deprivation, and it's taken until last month to decide it was time to get back into it.  I had gained all my weight back, and was eating way too much, and all the wrong things, even binging on occasion.  I started to run again a couple of weeks ago - not very far, but wanted to work back up to getting those 10k distances in.  I also decided to try some Leslie Sansone walking/workout DVDs that I borrowed from the library, just to break things up a little.  Well in typical MA fashion, I went out for a short run the next morning, then proceeded to do several 20-30 minute workouts from the DVDs throughout the rest of the day, then repeated the behavior the next day.   Do you see where this was going?  I was obsessing again!

My Three Amigos - Molly, Jethro, Phoebe
© Marie Anne St. Jean

I had a good talk with myself and said no more.  To prove I could do it, I took each of the three dogs out for a walk twice the last few days, allowing them to set the pace and do what dogs do, and just be dogs.  And I liked it.   It didn’t seem like a chore, or that they were holding me back from something I wanted to do.  I love these critters to pieces, but I hadn’t been being fair to them while I was focusing on what MA wanted to do.

So, my new goal is to not really have a goal.  I’ll be practicing moderation, or at least trying to.  I’ve done well the last week or so on a nutritional level, little to no junk food and NO binging,  but not counting carbs either. I plan on running a mile or two several times a week, if I feel like it.  I’ll also still be doing the other workout videos because I did enjoy them, and I’ll be finding others and reviewing them here on this blog also. But no more marathons with several sessions a day, especially on a day I've already run.

Will I pledge to never allow a cookie or potato chip to pass my lips again?  Nope.  And if I’m feeling froggy, I might hit the road for a 5K or 10K on occasion, but those distances will be the exception rather than the rule.  And of course if a friend wants to hit the trail for a gab session, I’m all for it.  Give me two minutes to grab my shoes and I’m there!

I do need to lose weight.  I do need to make better food choices.  I do need fresh air and exercise.  But while I need all three of those things to maintain a healthy mind and body, obsessing about any of it is not healthy.

And that's the end goal, right?

~ Marie Anne

New Year's Day and I've Already Failed?

I'm putting myself on report.  I just made a resolution yesterday and have already blown it within the first hours of New Year's Day.

Ok, maybe not a failure, but at least a setback.  And to be fair, I do have a valid reason.  A couple of them, actually.  Let me explain.

I blogged yesterday that while I've increased my walking/jogging mileage greatly in the last couple of months, the weight still wasn't coming off, so I was going to make a concerted effort to cut back on the junk food (easier said than done when you're a true carb addict, but I digress).  That part of my resolution still stands.

Later in the day I learned about the Whole30 program, which is much more strict and cuts out just about everything except fresh meat, fruits, and vegetables with no added anything.  Convinced that this is what I need to do, I went on record with a second blog post about Whole30 and was going to start it this morning.

After some voracious reading about the Whole30 plan last night, I realize that starting the full plan today isn't the best idea for me.  I have several foods in my house that I thought were on the Whole30 list of acceptable foods, but I was wrong.  Money is more than tight right now and I can't afford to not eat this food that I already have, at least the stuff that's barely been opened.  I'm still going to get rid of the true junk food (no candy, cookies, etc), but will finish eating the small amount of cheese I have, and the big bag of frozen breakfast sausage patties I just bought a few days ago.  I just can't afford to replace those items right now with something that is on the Whole30 list.

I thought the sausage patties were going to be ok, but the ingredient list does show a small amount of sugar.  The Whole30 plan doesn't allow for ANY cheating whatsoever, no matter how insignificant  you think it might be, so I'm doomed before I even start.  They recommend you plan ahead before starting the program, and get rid of things that aren't acceptable, and stock up on those that are so that you're ready to go on Day 1.  I'm not ready.  Rather than say I'm going to start today and then lie about it (which won't do ME any good, which is the goal here), I'm going to put it off for a few days.

So my new resolution is to avoid the really bad stuff altogether, but finish up some of the stuff that might not be so bad, yet isn't allowed on the Whole30 plan.  I might not wait until the whole bag of sausage and every loaf of bread is gone, but I'll see where it goes.  I won't have any extra money available until later in the month to stock up on the good stuff, but will be able to pick up a few necessary items in the next few days, so I'm going to do a modified plan for now and pick a firm start date when I reevaluate what I have in my cupboard and freezer.

I really want to follow the plan exactly as it's designed for the full 30 days, and if it takes pushing back Day 1 for several days or a week, so be it.  I don't want to set myself up for failure right out of the gate, and I want to be true to the Whole30 program's design.

I did throw away the rest of the chocolates I got yesterday, though.  Go me!
(I won't tell you how many were left, however).

~ Marie Anne

Is Whole30 for me?

I was chatting with friends in my Leap4Life Facebook group about changes we're hoping to make in 2016 to help us get/stay fit and healthy, and one friend mentioned that she's going to do Whole30 in January.  Not being familiar with it, I looked it up, and wow, what a program!  It's similar to a paleo diet, but even more strict and requires that you follow it religiously for a full 30 days, with NO cheating whatsoever, not even the tiniest little bit.

I've done the low-carb thing in the past and lost a lot of weight in a very short period with virtually no added activity, so I know this would work for me, but I'm not sure that I'm ready to tackle something with that many restrictions again.  Still, what I'm doing now (which is really nothing!) isn't working.  As a carb addict, I can't control myself and I have no one here to keep me accountable.  The dogs don't care if I sit and eat a whole package of cookies in one day.   I've increased my activity level considerably in the last few months, but it hasn't helped yet, and won't as long as I'm binging on junk in between walks.  I've got to kick the addiction, and the only way to do that is cold turkey.

Is this something I can stick with long-term?  I don't know, but the idea behind Whole30 is to severely limit the type of foods you eat for the full 30 days so that your body is starting with a clean slate, then you can reintroduce certain foods and see what you can tolerate.  It really does sound like a great plan and I think I've talked myself into trying it.  There are a few things I already know will be really difficult for me to give up (No cheese?  Yikes!), but if I just look at it for the short term, I think I can do it.  What's 30 days, right?

The other thing that I know I'll have trouble with isn't food related at all, but will still bug me - not being able to weigh myself until the 30 day period is over.  I always weigh myself first thing every morning and that will be a real change in my daily routine.  Still, if the program requires that I weigh myself the first day and not again until after 30 days, then I guess I'll just put the scale away.

If you want to see what it's all about, check out the Whole30 website. You can find the accompanying books that outline the plan as well as recipe books by following this link to Whole30 on amazon.

So I guess this blog post puts it on record, and I'm now accountable to all of you to at least try the Whole30 plan.  Wish me luck!

~ Marie Anne

Reflections - Where I was, where I am, where I'm going

Who's ready for the New Year?  Me!  It's New Year's Eve 2015, so time to reflect on where I was, where I am now, and where I'm determined to go.

I don't have any specific goals for 2016 other than to keep doing what I'm doing, and try to curb the junk food.  Looking back at where I was and what I've done, moving forward I'm going to try to focus on the things that have helped me the most.

Looking back

I joined SparkPeople a couple of years ago, and while it did help provide a modicum of motivation/accountability, it wasn't enough.  I got lots of trophies, but didn't find any real gratification in it.  I'm still a member, but don't mess with it much.  I think I've outgrown it, and that's not really a bad thing.

I got my Fitbit in September 2014 and it was great to be able to see how many steps I was getting and push harder to meet a daily goal.  I feel naked without my Fitbit and won't leave home without it (Who am I kidding?  I won't get out of bed without it!).  Regardless of what else I do, Fitbit will be a part of it.

In June 2015, I joined the 1,000 Mile Challenge and that pushed me even more.  Not only was I trying to meet my daily step goal with Fitbit, but now I had to keep putting one foot in front of the other in order to complete 1,000 miles in a year's time.  I was off to a great start in June and the first part of July, then life got in the way and I did almost nothing the remainder of July and August, and slightly more in September.  In October, I jumped back on board and have since done enough that I'm back on track for completing the 1,000 miles on time, and even slightly ahead of schedule. 

Since I've enjoyed this challenge, I've also signed up for the new 1,000 Mile Challenge that starts tomorrow, January 1, 2016.  I'm ready to get that first mile under my belt for the New Year!

While these other things have contributed nicely to keeping me motivated and moving, by far the best incentive for me has been Leap4Life.  I was tempted into joining L4L several months ago by the promise of earning money by walking and running, and while that's still a nice bonus, it's just that - a bonus.  You earn points on L4L by being active on the site, and by joining and completing events (goals) every day.  Leap4Life also has team events, and to me, that is key to keeping the motivation at a high level.  Having a workout partner is a great idea, but knowing that others on my team are counting on me to do my part is usually enough to have me lace up my shoes and get moving, no matter how badly I want to just be a slug on the couch.  Having one accountability partner is good, but four others on a team is even better!

Having said that, I found that the communication and interactive process on the Leap4Life site leaves a lot to be desired, so I created a Facebook group and my friends/teammates and I do our communicating there.  I started with one team of five members, and after word spread, created another, and another ... I just started our fourth team yesterday!  Some were Facebook friends years before L4L came about, and others are new friends I've found through the 1,000 Mile Challenge and Leap4Life.  Regardless of how we found each other, we've all become fast fitness friends, and have a lot of fun while we challenge each other to meet our goals.  And yes, there is the occasional bit of friendly competition, but it's ALL good!

Where I am

While all of these things have helped keep me putting one foot in front of the other and logging those miles, I haven't lost any weight, which puzzles me.  My level of activity has increased greatly, in some cases doubled, but it's not reflecting on the scale (and no, my clothes aren't fitting any differently either).  I know I'm still eating more junk than I should, but not more than I had been, so I don't know why the increased calorie burn isn't showing up somewhere.  I'm walking/jogging an average of 3-7 miles a day, with the occasional burst of 10-15 miles when I need to meet a particular goal.

There hasn't been any significant change in my A1C or cholesterol numbers either.  I'm still battling severe, chronic pain, but saw a rheumatologist this week and hopefully some of the tests he ordered will shed some light on the cause.    I'm remaining positive through it all, and not going to stop moving.  Surprisingly (or maybe not), the only time I'm not in pain is when walking.  Once I sit for 3-4 minutes, I hurt from head to toe when I get up, until I've moved around a bit and loosened up.  Once I push  through the pain for a few minutes, walking doesn't hurt and I can walk pretty much all day without issue - so walk I will!

Where I'm going

Moving forward, I'm going to continue what I'm doing, which is ... moving forward!  I would like to do more of my walking outdoors, but Ohio winters won't always make that possible  I've got the treadmill and now that I have the Kindle and can read while walking, I'm able to get a lot more steps in, but I'm also not getting the fresh air that's much healthier (and although probably a negligible amount, the treadmill DOES use electricity, and I'm trying to scrimp and save every penny).  Unless weather conditions absolutely prohibit it, I'm going to bundle up and try to get in at least a short walk up the road and back every day, and longer if time and weather allow.  I do a lot of walking outside in the warmer months, but not so much in winter, so would like to step that up a bit.  I will still use the treadmill, but figure any amount of steps I do outside is better than none.

I'm also going to make a concerted effort to curb the junk food.  I know cutting it out entirely isn't going to work for me, so I'm not even going there.  I do eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, but also more than my share of snacks.  Since money is so tight right now, I'm going to use that to my advantage to help rein in my food budget.  I don't spend a lot on food for just myself, but balk at the price of fresh produce yet will turn around and pick up a bag of candy or cookies.  The plan is to put that back on the shelf and instead buy something that isn't processed.  If I can afford to buy junk, I can afford to buy the extra bunch of broccoli or mushrooms to add to my breakfast omelet.  Sounds good in theory, doesn't it?

What about you?

Do you have a specific plan for 2016 to achieve (or maintain) better health and fitness?  Are you going to continue what you've been doing, or try something new?

If you'd like information about anything I've mentioned here, leave me a comment, or connect with me on Facebook.  You can also find out more information about Leap4Life by looking at the labels at the very bottom of this post and click the one marked "L4L".

I'm going to close out 2015 in style and put on my hoodie, lace up my shoes, and head out the door now.  Won't you join me?

~ Marie Anne

How to Earn Money With Leap4Life and Fitness Trackers

I don't know about you, but if there's a way to earn money from something I'm already (or should be) doing, I'm all for that!  Leap4Life offers us that very thing - you can earn money by exercising every day and tracking your walking and jogging with a fitness tracker like Fitbit.  I've already explained how to sign up and earn with Leap4Life while working out, so this post will be more about how the points you earn actually translate to dollars, and how to get earn bonus points.

With Leap4Life, there are two different point systems -  Status Points and Fitwell Points.  You earn Status Points by just about everything you do on the site - commenting on a group or event page, entering events  etc.  Fitwell points, however, are what you need to accumulate to cash out for money, and they're harder to come by.  Don't scoff at Status Points, though, because when your status increases to higher levels, you will get bonus Fitwell points.

The quickest and easiest way to earn both Status Points and Fitwell points is by entering events.  Not all of them pay out in Fitwell Points, but you can earn quite a chunk of Status Points so make sure you check the events page every morning and sign up for the next one available. There is no penalty for entering an event and not making it, so sign up for all of them, even if some look too difficult to complete.  Most of the individual events that do pay out in Fitwell Points only give 10 points, but there are usually several of those a week, and it all adds up.  You need to earn 2,500 Fitwell points to cash out for $25.  That sounds like a lot, but don't run away just yet, as I'll show you how to earn extra Fitwell points more quickly.

The key to earning more Fitwell Points is to join teams and get in on team events that usually pay out 100 Fitwell Points, but as I said earlier, Status Points also help you earn money indirectly.  The chart below shows the bonus Fitwell Points you will get once you advance in status beyond the basic level.

Bonus Fitwell Points for Status Level

If you join and complete each daily event, it shouldn't take long to reach Bronze Level, and that means for every 100 Fitwell points offered for an event, you would earn 112.5 points (but they round up to 113), and you'd earn 11 Fitwell points for those events that offer 10.  Keep pushing to get to Silver Level and you'd get 125 Fitwell points for the larger events, and 12.5 Fitwell points (but they'll round up and give you 13!) for those that offer 10. The benefits are even greater when you reach Gold and Diamond Levels, so keep pushing!

Teams can have a number of members, but only five team members are allowed on the roster for any particular event.  You can be on more than one team, but only on the roster for an event with one team.  I manage four teams that I enter into every event, and can move members around on the roster to capitalize on individual strengths for that event so that both teams have a good shot at completing the event and getting the points.  I also manage a Facebook group so that team members can communicate and encourage each other daily since the setup on Leap4Life isn't the greatest.

So ... if you want to earn money while exercising, or just need some extra motivation and encouragement (I've got plenty of that to go around!), let me know when you've signed up for Leap4Life and I'll get you headed in that direction.  Leave a comment here or send me a PM on Facebook to let me know that you've joined so that we can connect as friends on L4L (it won't automatically connect us for some reason).

Don't wait until tomorrow.  Make every step count today!

~ Marie Anne

New Challenge - Walk 1,000 Miles in a Year

Anyone who knows me knows that I love a challenge.  I heard about this latest one, the 1000 Mile Challenge,  just last night and debated whether to jump in or not, but knew I'd cave ... and I did.  The challenge starts tomorrow, June 6, 2015 and ends June 5, 2016.  I'm pumped and ready to go!

The challenge is to walk/jog/hike 1,000 miles in one year.  One thousand miles sounds like a lot, right?  But at a full 365 days, that comes out to approximately 2.75 miles each day.  Piece of cake!

There is a business Facebook page for the challenge (you can sign up for the challenge from there) and also an interactive Facebook page  for challenge members, where we can chat about how we're doing, share success stories, etc.  The challenge hasn't even started yet and I already see the group as a great motivator.

There is a fee to join the challenge, but 50% of the cost goes to charity, which you get to choose when you sign up.  Finances are tight for me right now, but that's a small price to pay to keep me moving every day in an effort to take better care of myself.  (I'm still dealing with some health issues, but I'm fighting it all every step of the way!).

You can use any app or tracking system you already have to count your miles, but if you use a Fitbit tracker (which counts ALL your steps every day), they'd prefer that you only log those miles that you actually do consciously, over and above the steps you would walk in a normal day.  You're on the honor system, so if you want to just use your total Fitbit number, no big deal - the challenge police aren't going to come after you.  The idea, though, is to get your butt moving more than you do on a regular day, so set a challenge for yourself other than just walking around the house.

I'm going to look at my Fitbit stats and come up with a number that I think is my average number of steps daily without going for a walk or jog, and deduct that from my daily total and report that number.

There are many apps out there you can use to keep track, but a good app to try is Charity Miles, (available for both android and ios) because not only does it log your mileage, it also donates to a charity of your choice.  There are loads of charities to choose from, and you can choose a different one each time you open the app to log your miles.  I'm going to make a separate post about different fitness apps and the benefits of each.

• Note:  None of the apps or trackers are synced with the challenge in any way, they are just tools to help you track your miles so that you know what to report.  

This challenge will benefit my dogs as much as it will me because it'll be an incentive to make sure I don't slack off on their exercise too.  When walking the dogs, I also use an app that donates to my favorite animal rescue organization, so that's a win-win also.  If I walk all three dogs on our regular route every day, I'll get 2.4 miles right there, so even if I have to fill in on the treadmill on days I don't get out there, I've got this.  1,000 miles in one year?  I'm ready!

Who's with me?

~ Marie Anne