Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Being Moderately Consistent

As a rule, I have incredibly high expectations for myself, higher than I have for anyone else I know.  This means that I have been failing my health and diet report card miserably (for most of my life).  Fortunately, rules are meant to be broken, and my "sauntering toward health" mentality is allowing me to dispense with the "everything-is-a-test-that-you-will-be-graded-on" mentality.


To demonstrate what progress I have been making (because I am, after all very motivated by positive feedback), here is an excerpt from a blog I did not publish last week:

Today I went to a "happy adoption" party and managed to un-do all of my food resolutions in one fell swoop, without an ounce of guilt.

Oh, and yesterday was Valentines.  How did that go in the food department?  Well, it was romantic, but not in a romaine sort of way.  More of a masala and garlic naan sort of way.

My self-bought Valentines gift?  A fitbit, an Apple new-age pedometer that I can clip onto my bra and forget about. (I'm dreading the day it counts the washing machines gyrations instead of my steps!)   So far, my fitbit has been fun to pull out of my cleavage and look at, but I've been so loaded up on food that I've only been able to lumber.

It's our wedding anniversary today and I've got some Bloody Mary's, olives, camembert and French bread on tap for an evening of House of Cards and more celebration.

How am I feeling about it all?  Pretty much okay.  Why?  Because I no longer have a diet mentality that makes sure that if I "fail" once, I might as well go awol in candy land.

After my few planned days of moderately falling off the wagon (which is a ridiculous thing to say because you either fall off or you don't: I guess I was dragged along while hanging on by my stubby fingers), I am back to healthy eating and daily, gentle workouts.

The idea of "sauntering toward health" through consistency and moderation falls into a category that is probably native to Type B people, but is a learned behavior to us Type As.  It feels foreign to me, and I keep waiting for someone to shove a report card in my face with lots of "needs improvement" and "inconsistent"scores on it.  So far that hasn't happened.  In fact, four pounds off the scale HAS happened, and I don't feel like I've done a whole lot of suffering to get there.

Hip, hip hurray for moderate consistency!

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Sauntering Toward Health

I'm now about 16 months away from fifty, and after nearly 49 years of living, I am finally figuring out the value of doing things slowly, including reaching my goals.  Presently, I have a pile of clothes I'd love to wear again, I have a fitbit that is nestled into my bra that buzzes every few hours reminding  me to get off my a**, and I have a hankering for popcorn that I will eat in a reasonable portion, minus the oil.  (Your definition of reasonable my differ from my carbohydrate-addled version.)


Yes, I want to get fit by fifty, but, no, I don't need to do it all today.  I just need to do some of it.  So I'll watch the latest installment of House of Cards on Netflix while doing some exercise, I'll confront the scale the same way I'd confront a spirited horse - whoa, Nellie, it's going to be okay; we're just going to go slow here - and I'll let myself have that bowl of popcorn because I ate healthfully today, and also because I consider popcorn a health food!  (Go look in the archives for my blog that proves this!)

I also don't need to get my novel finished this month or run a marathon ever.  I can just take slow steps toward improving me in the way that I want to be improved.  The lose-it-in-a-week detox method or the boot-camp-beat-yourself-to-a-pulp to get fit have never proven effective for me.  They've just made me waddle in the opposite direction.


So I am going to slowly saunter toward health, stopping for plenty of indulgent breaks along the way.  That's just the way I roll.

I'll keep you posted...

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

How to Fool Yourself into Writing More


I'm certainly not publishing a blog every day, but I AM managing to do some writing every single day, even if it's just for five minutes.  Five minutes times seven days equals 35 minutes a week.  Let's face it, though: once you get started, it usually ends up being at least 10 minutes.  And that's with a minimum of stress.  So let's round up and say seven days times ten minutes equals seventy minutes a week of writing.  That comes to 280 minutes a month worth of words on the page.  With my bad math, that comes in somewhere around five hours a month of writing.  If you multiply five hours times 12 months, you have the equivalent of 60 hours.  (I think.)

The whole idea is that I'm not trying to be accurate here; I'm trying to fool myself.  "Just five minutes a day, Leah, and you can stop," I tell myself.  What do I have to show for my so-called five minutes?  Actually, an awful lot.  Much of it, I haven't published yet.

Why?  Because I need to commit to another five minutes a day of revising, editing and then perhaps yet another five minutes to publishing.  Honestly, that seems pretty do-able to me: so much so that I'm going to slap a picture on this, do a quick edit, and send it out to the world.

I'm not going for perfection here.  I want to write.  I want to share my writing.


I want to inspire you to do what you love.  If you love to write, write for five minutes a day.  Simple as that.  If there is something else you love to do, set your sights at five minutes and see where it takes you.

Let's surprise and delight ourselves with how easy things possibly might be!

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Resolutions: Why Not Now?


Thank goodness for Chinese New Year!  I didn't get a chance to really reflect on what I wanted for the new year back in January, but since then, things have slowed down a bit, and I actually got a week off work since I live in Hong Kong and Chinese New Year is celebrated with a break from school.   Yippee!

As I write this, I am sitting on my balance ball because one of my firmest resolutions is to firm up my core.  A year ago I had a major back surgery (an SI joint fusion and a spinal fusion), and while I am much better, I have put on some weight, and I am not as well as I should be after such a surgery because I have neglected to strengthen and exercise enough.

The fact is, fifty is around the corner for me - if seventeen months counts as around the corner - but I've decided to revolve my resolutions around where I want to be when I reach fifty.  I don't aspire to a perfectly toned abdomen by next month or to be wearing size two jeans in six months (or maybe ever); on the other hand, it sure feels realistic to gradually and consistently change some habits that will help me greet my half decade with grace, beauty and strength.

So what am I going to do?  I'm going to start anew each day - as the blog name suggests - with some rules in place that are flexible in their timing, but firm in their commitment.  They are nothing earth shattering, but they fit into what I aspire to health-wise and what I think I can attain and maintain.

Here they are:

1. Some cardio every single day.  I'm not setting a time yet, just that I am going to get my heart moving for a sustained amount of time each day.  For now, I'll be walking.  I may amp that up to something else later on.  In fact, I want to do a lot of different kinds of cardio.  At the moment, my body can't do much beyond walk so that's what I will be doing.  (And I won't be judging myself for not being an ultra-fit marathoner.  Right now, I walk a bit like a seventy-something lady with a limp.)

2. Pilates and/or strengthening at least five days a week.  How long? Negotiable.  I have some well-loved videos that work well: some that take 25 minutes and some that are an hour.  I have dumbbells and stretch bands.  They all count.  When I wake up in the morning, I am also going to do my back and knee stretches and I'm going to do them again in the evening.  I'm also going to keep sitting on this balance ball, though I think I may need to re-inflate it.  I don't think I should be this close to the ground!

3. Eat a largely plant-based diet.  I'm a pescatarian who largely eschews dairy, but I aspire to pretty much eliminate dairy from my diet, and I'm not doing the environment any favours by continuing to consume fish.  Then there are all those pesky moral issues as well.  When push comes to shove, a plant-based diet is going to keep me alive longer, alleviate guilt, and help make the world a kinder, gentler place.  Without getting on a pulpit, especially since I never said I was giving it all up, it's become quite obvious that living without any form of animal product is going to keep me/us alive longer.  I like that idea.

My personal plan is to allow for two meals a week (if I choose), that can include dairy or seafood.  Otherwise, I'm going vegan.  I'm also going to allow for two desserts (of a reasonable serving size, not an entire cake or galloon of ice cream) per week.  I like a little decadence in my life, but if I don't set limits, it turns into a full-time occupation for me.

4. I'm going to do my own version of the 5/2 diet fad that is sweeping the world.  I haven't read the book - I don't even know what it's called - but basically I plan to eat only fruit and vegetables (that can include any fruit or veg, including potatoes and popcorn!) on Mondays and Thursdays, and eat my regular diet the rest of the week.  Basically, I am not going to eat any processed food or non-plant based food two days a week, and I'm going to not add any fat or sugar to my foods.  So, soups, salads, lovely steamed veggies, green shakes, popcorn, and baked potatoes will be the order of the day on those days.  I've already done it a few times and have quite enjoyed my "clean eating" days and not felt deprived.  I don't want to do any crazy detoxes nor do I want to count calories.  That's not my style.  This feels do-able, however.  I may add in some legumes and nuts, but since I'd like to drop a few sizes, I'll keep to fruit and veggies for the time being.

As I write this down, I feel like this is all quite attainable.  It doesn't matter if a soul doesn't read this blog because the act of writing it makes me accountable to myself.  Self-accountability: that's the new start each day.  I'm happy to hear your resolutions, too.  Remember, you can start ANY time.  Chinese New Year was my excuse to get going, but who needs an excuse to feel better about yourself?