40 and fit?

Well, I'm "back on the wagon" and trying to get serious about getting into healthier shape. I turn 40 later this year and I don't want to start my 40s being overweight (or obese). I've managed to creep back up to the weight I was when I gave birth to my daughter over 10 years ago- but this time it's just me!! Yikes. I've been exercising pretty regularly since last summer when I got my stationary bike (with flaking out a bit late in the year when I had some nasty cold for about a month). Unfortunately, the biking led to no weight loss at all. I finally accepted that I would have to monitor my eating to lose weight. So last week, I started WW again. I am not registered with them this time, but am using the points system I used in 2007 to lose a bunch of weight (you can find the formulas online and I never used the community aspects of the program anyway). I am getting up early to exercise every morning (taking one day off per week) and so far think I've lost about 4 or 5 pounds (I don't officially weigh in until tomorrow morning). I know it will continue if I stick with it and the exercise only helps and makes me feel great. I'll plan to post over here every once in a while about my progress and I appreciate that others are doing the same! I should lose a minimum of 30 pounds and it would be even better if I could lose 40 (that would get me to my grad school, pre-baby weight). I've got just over 7 months until my 40th birthday, so I think I can be in pretty good shape by then. Here I go!

Eating Right Can Save the Planet

Mark Bittman, the author of Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating was interviewed on NPR's Morning Edition last week.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99268166&sc=nl&cc=bn-20090125

Giving it a try

So I decided to start the new year off by following some of the tenets of the article I linked to a few weeks back, Simple Till Six - basically, only eat meat after 6 pm. I didn't do to bad this first week. In fact, I was quite successful with not eating meat until after 6 pm. I didn't do that well with not eating any refined sugars during the day, mainly because of coffee. Hey, I figure, only one thing at a time!

Anywho, I made it the gym five days straight, ate plenty of fruits & veggies, and lots and lots of water! So much water that I was sick of going to the bathroom.

I was mostly worried about the weekend due to all of the unstructured time. During the workweek, it was really easy for me to reach 6 pm 'cause I was at work. I get off at 11 on Friday's and all day Saturday & Sunday are just whatever. I'm more tempted to cheat during those times, but I didn't! Hooray!

I'm taking this one week at a time. My challenge this week: travel.

Simple until Six

The author of this article was a vegetarian until 6 pm each day. Over the course of four months he lost over 35 pounds. Interesting concept.

Everything pointed to a simpler style of eating. I started following a diet that was nearly "vegan until six." Until dinner, I ate almost no animal products and no simple carbs (no white-flour products, junk food, or sugar-heavy snacks). At dinner, I ate as I always had, sometimes a sizable meal including animal products, bread, dessert, wine -- you name it -- or sometimes a salad and a bowl of soup. I also took several long walks each week (my bad knees couldn't handle more).

Full article:
http://www.rd.com/living-healthy/simple-till-six-weight-loss-diet-an-eating-plan-for-busy-people/article109150.html