reflections

Health Activist’s choice: How do you deal with unsupportive people?

The challenge? Thirty health-related posts in 30 days, using prompts prepared by the folks at WEGO Health.

Day Seven: Health Activist’s choice. Write about what you want today. Maybe try a bonus prompt.

It can’t just be my  friends and family that are sometimes maddening, right? Surely others bump up against folks who refuse to understand.

What I want to know is how to handle them.

What do you do when someone pushes food they know you won’t eat? What do you do when your lifestyle is attacked? How do you get them to understand that you can’t eat even one bite? That, yes, that one bite leads to another … and before you know it, you’ve devoured a half-dozen chocolate-covered donuts and an entire sleeve of Thin Mints?

It’s tough for me to handle the comments. Usually I laugh them off … or think of the appropriate response hours too late. (Why is it that the best retorts always come to you long after you need them?)

The next time someone tells me I really should be eating carbs, I know what to say:

I do eat carbs. Veggies have carbs. So do nuts and dairy. I eat plenty of carbs. What I don’t eat is crap carbs. The junk carbs in sugar, white flour, white potatoes do nothing for me — except make me want to eat more of that kind of thing. And eating that crap is how I regained most of the weight I lost the first time I did Atkins.

So no thank you. I’d rather stick to my low-carb diet and continue making progress toward my goal weight.

I was down another 0.8 pound when I got on the scale Friday morning. Not much, but I’ll take it. Any loss is better than no loss.

Best Body Bootcamp Week 4 wrapup

Hard to believe we’ve been doing Best Body Bootcamp for a month already. Even more amazing? This is the first week I’ve let life get in the way of my bootcamp workouts, but I still managed to get in my exercise sessions.

After Monday’s disappointment, I managed to work out Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I just did the workouts a day later than scheduled. I took Thursday’s workout (Workout B) to the deck because it was a gorgeous morning. The dogs probably thought I was nuts, making several trips outside with various pieces of exercise equipment.

Then Friday ended up being an unplanned rest day, but instead of doing absolutely nothing, I snuck in some squats every time I hit the bathroom at work. (And with all the water I was drinking on Friday, I hit the bathroom a lot.)

I started my Saturday off with Workout C, and plan to do some cardio Sunday morning before I head to Starbucks for writing time. (Edited to add: No workout Sunday morning. This is the one morning the Boyfriend decided NOT to wake me up. When I opened my eyes, he was already gone, so I had to leave quickly to maximize the rest of my writing time.)

I think I’ve said it before, but I’m loving bootcamp. The plan is truly flexible, which is good because it means I don’t feel like I’ve failed if I don’t get things done exactly as outlined. And the support from fellow bootcampers — and Tina — on Facebook is fantastic.

If you’d told me a month ago that I’d be popping out of bed and throwing on my exercise gear to get in a workout first thing in the morning, I’d have laughed long and loud. But it’s true. Working out is becoming a habit.

I hope it becomes a hard habit to break.

Phase Three scares me, though. I took some time to peruse the instructions tonight and it looks … umm … intense. I’m going to have to watch the videos to see how to do most, if not all, of the exercises in each workout.

Monday morning could be interesting, for sure. I’ll just have to trust that Tina hasn’t given us more than we can handle. I was worried between Phases One and Two, too … and that worked out just fine.

Signing up for bootcamp was one of the best decisions I’ve made this year. I should definitely add it to my “Making 2012 my best year yet” page.

And so it begins

On Sunday, after writing my Week One Wrapup, I mentioned to the Boyfriend that I feel better when I exercise. He replied, “Well, yeah. It releases endorphins.”

Says the tennis pro. Exercise is second nature to him. Maybe I’ll soon be able to say the same thing about myself.

Don’t laugh. It’s not completely out of the realm of possibility. When I belonged to the gym, I sometimes went more than once a day to attend classes (like step aerobics in the morning, yoga in the afternoon).

Having started Week Two of Tina’s Best Body Bootcamp today, I feel like I’m on my way to re-establishing exercise as a regular part of my life.

I still only made it through two circuits, because I started to feel lightheaded during the second one. But it did seem like the moves were a little easier today.

Note I said “a little.” The workout still kicked my butt. It just seemed like my butt was kicked a tiny bit less. I guess that means I’m getting stronger? Maybe next week I’ll be able to do all three.

I sure feel stronger already. For my first set of bicep curls this morning, I used the Boyfriend’s 10-pound weights. Ten pounds! (Yeah … I went down to the smaller weights for the second set. I couldn’t stomach the thought of lifting those 10-pounders again.)

I did a quick 10-minute warmup before I started the strength circuit. While I was on the elliptical, I looked down at my yoga-pant-covered thighs and didn’t recognize them. They seemed thinner and more toned. I really need to take some measurements so I can keep track of my progress.

On Tuesday’s agenda? Cardio … and the purchase of a new sports bra. Any of you fellow C-cups have recommendations for me? I used to have three of the Target C9 ones that I liked (in black, aqua and peach), but can’t find a one. (They must be hiding out on the Island of MIA Workout Equipment, along with the dumbbells I have yet to track down.)

I think I’ll keep the same goals for this week, then switch it up in Week Three:

1. Track my eats using my Atkins iPhone app. Missed Friday and Saturday afternoon/evening last week.
2. Brush and floss every night before bed. I did this every night last week, and my teeth are happier for it.

I’ll leave you with a very different picture, taken Friday morning after I attempted to do Workout C.

Yeah. I should have known I was in trouble when I couldn’t get the lid on my water tumbler. But I continued on my merry way — and liked to have died before I got partway through the first circuit.

I don’t think there’s anything anyone can do to make me love pushups.

I can’t wait to see who wins the Week One prize.

Results will be announced on Tina’s blog this morning.