Empty Nest – Good for my diet?

As of this month I am officially an “Empty Nester”. I have son in his third year of college. My youngest son is only a senior but decided to move to another city to play hockey. So the empty nest status came a year earlier than I expected. I have been reading many articles on empty nesters. “They say”... this syndrome usually effects women more than men. Claiming we don’t know how to fill the time and void in our lives and we turn to food. You lose touch with your regular schedule, your social group may change, and you can feel isolated. Our metabolisms slow down, hormones are changing, and we are losing muscle mass. WOW, I’m getting depressed just reading all these facts.
Now I know its only been a week since the boys have left the house, but I am not feeling these side effects at all. Don’t tell my boys but I’m kind of enjoying myself. I miss them dearly, but there are some positives. For instance, I do not have to have chips, sugary cereals or ice cream in the house anymore. There isn’t anybody asking me to make them pancakes at 1:00PM, as they get out of bed, or a toasted cheese sandwich in the middle of the day. I can exercise anytime of the day, and not feel guilty about not being home with them. I Love The Biggest Loser cookbooks, so I have been trying new healthy recipes without having to cook seperately for them. Usually when I try a new healthy recipe, I will cook them a frozen pizza just in case they wont eat it. This is the latest dinner recipe I made. I thought it was a little dry, but good and filling.


 
BENCH PRESS BELL PEPPERS
2 large green bell peppers
1 lb of extra lean ground turkey breast
3 tablespoons of fresh minced garlic
2 cups cooked brown rice
2 large egg whites, slightly beaten
1/4 cup chopped mint (I didn’t use this because I didn’t have it)
3 ounces reduced fat feta cheese crumbles


Pinch of salt


preheat over to 375. Cut tops off of peppers and boil for 5 minutes. Cook turkey and garlic in a pan, chopping turkey to bite size pieces. When dine transfer to a bowl and add the rice, egg whites, mint, feta and salt. Mix well and spoon not the bell peppers. Put peppers in a ceramic baking dish and add a little water. Bake for about 20 minutes.  

            


311 calories, 38 grams protein, 30 grams carbohydrate, 5 grams fat, (Not bad for a meal)




Thank goodness for facebook. It keeps me in touch with my boys. Below are pictures I found of them on their pages. I guess if you are this active you can have ice cream once in awhile. Since I don’t think I will be doing any of these things in the near future I will stick with my healthy eating habits!

Pay It Forward

Have you ever done a "Pay it Forward" good deed? Just recently I felt the need to do this for a person I have only met once. You may know her, Karin was a competitor in the 2011 News Herald Lighten Up Contest. I follow her blog. You should check it out. It is very inspirational. http://lightenupwithkarin.blogspot.com/

I was reading her blog and she closed it by saying "I need Help". I felt like she was talking to me, saying..."Charlene I need help". So first thing I did was talk to the doctors and owners of Slim&Fit in Mayfield about Karin. I told them I wanted to offer her free training and nutritional help. You see, I was a contestant in the 2010 lighten up contest. After losing 35 pounds in the contest my entire career changed. I am now a certified Personal Trainer and am studying to get certified in Sports nutrition. The contest put me in the public eye and my new career sky rocketed.

Well, the owners gave me permission to help Karin with her training and nutrition! I can not do this for her. After all, I will be with her two or three hours a week. This leaves her 165 hours in a week when she has to make the right choices without me. We started last week and the first thing I gave her was a journal. I told her to write EVERYTHING down...what she eats, exercises and weekly goals. I want to see what choices she makes during those 165 hours.

I have complete faith in her. She is determined. I can't wait to post before and after pictures of her on my blog. Give us about 6 months to work hard and then look for the pictures. We (Karin) can do this!

Changing My Drivers License Weight

Today I got to do something I have never done before in my life...lower my drivers license weight! This morning I trained a few clients then I headed to the school to vote. When I showed them my drivers license they informed me that it had expired on my birthday on July 10th. I had about 25 credit cards with me and even a pay check from Slim & Fit but that wasn’t good enough to prove that I was Charlene. I was very aggravated. After much complaining one of the workers made a phone call and I was able to do a paper ballot.

Now an unplanned trip to the BMV. I went through the normal paper work and eye test to renew the drivers license. When she asked me my weight, I was so tickled to tell her. It was 30 pounds lighter than my old drivers license! This day is getting better by the minute. I hope the next time I renew my license it will be another 20 pounds lighter. Now I have a great goal. I sure hope it doesn’t take that long.

On my way back from the BMV, I decided to stop at this new smoothie shop called Pulp. Have you been here yet? One of my clients told me about this place and asked me if it was good for her. So, I decided to stop and check it out for her. Looking at their menu and flyers I could not find any nutrient labels anywhere. When stores do not offer this information up front, I become leery of them right off the bat. I asked the gentlemen behind the counter if this information was available and he pulled out a laminated info sheet for me to see. The lowest calorie drink on the menu that I saw was 360 calories, YIKES. As someone who can only have 1200 – 1500 this seems high. The store clerk told me I should not worry about calories but more about the fat content. Now the fat content was low, but I know that calories in VS. calories out is how you lose and maintain your weight. I believe you can have anything you want in moderation. So is this something you should have everyday after a work out? Absolutely not. Would it be a better choice than heading to the ice cream shop on a Saturday afternoon. Absolutely, it would be. For the record...IT TASTED SO GOOD. I love the quote “If it taste GOOD spit it out, it can’t be GOOD for you”

My LOVE & HATE Relationship with RUNNING

As a kid I couldn’t even run 1 mile. I was relatively athletic, playing backyard baseball with the neighborhood kids, and volleyball in my high school days, and competitive bodybuilding in my early twenties. During any of this time, never could I run. I did every kind of aerobics class there was, step, spin, jazzercise, and boot camps. But running? No Thanks

At age 47 after being selected as a 2010 News Herald Lighten up contestant, I decided to try it. I’m not sure what came over me to make me want to try it. Maybe I just needed something new. I told my husband I wanted to run and he supported me. He actually bought me a timer and started running with me. I set the timer to ring every minute and every two minutes. I would run for one minute and then walk for two. This is how I started! I could barely run for one minute. It was so hard. My lungs just would not cooperate. How can I do an hour of aerobics and not be able to run for one minute? I hate when I can’t do something. It drives me even more. So I pushed through all the pain, and somehow I caught the running bug.

Some things I learned along the way. Most days I still find it miserable. You get sweaty, your legs burn and your heart races. Then when you finish...totally worth it! My husband kept telling me its all mental. This really pissed me off when he would say this. Because it hurts and still does. But once I made that mental switch, I was able to do it. “The mind will always give up before the body”. Don’t let your state of mind hold you back.

I wish I was sitting here telling you that I am running marathons. For a girl that started running at age 47 I am happy with my 5k races. You know the saying “never say never”? I’m not going to say I will never run a marathon but I don’t see it happening anytime soon. I am very proud that I can run three or even five miles without stopping.

Sometimes I have to trick my self. “Oh, I’m just going to run one mile today...no biggie”. Then I start feeling good and decide, hey I can do another mile, what the heck. If I head to the gym (I’m mostly a treadmill runner) thinking I have to run 3 miles, I may not show up to the gym at all. So I have to play mind games with myself.

I love when my 17 year old son asks me to go to the bike trail and run with him. He runs to trains for hockey and keep his stamina up, and I run to keep my weight under control. I love that it is something we can do together. Most 17 year olds do not want to do anything with their mother. Now, he has to run at my pace but it’s still a work out. He sprints at the end of our run. I try to keep up with him but its impossible. Gives me a great goal though.

Do you LOVE or HATE running?

FITNESS JOURNAL

Have you started writing a fitness journal yet? Each week my clients come in and I ask to see their journal. I have seen them in various ways...on cell phones, on the web site “lose it”, emails and on paper. I don’t care how you record it but get it down on paper. Most weight loss facilities require this and I am no different. I have heard every excuse as to why they don’t have them. If you want to lose weight this week, write it down! It’s that simple.

In your your journal you should have these things:

1. Your measurements and weight, goals and plans
2. Everything you eat and drink (even if it’s bad) and make sure there are 8 glasses of water
3. Daily exercise

At the end of the day read over your entry, this will help motivate you for tomorrow. Hard work is easier when there is a plan to follow. By writing it down and and reading it, you set your mind in gear for success.

Beginners will find it rewarding to record their progress, as they usually see improvements in a short period of time. Women who are part way to their goal can look over their progress anytime they need some motivation. It has been proven that people who keep a daily journal with their food intake and exercise have a greater chance of losing weight that those who do not.

Do You Exercise on Vacation?

So what is going to be my game plan when going on a cruise? At first I was thinking, I have worked hard for 2 years at losing weight and keeping it off, I just want to go on vacation and not think about diet or exercise! I plan on eating whatever I want...after all this is a cruise with lots of food and drink everywhere you look. I don't plan on getting a stomachache from eating to much food...but if it happens once or twice it won't ruin my vacation :) So now that it has been decided I will eat what I want, the next decision is about exercise. Should I or shouldn't I fit in some exercise while cruising? I'm not talking about snorkeling and swimming, I know that does burn calories but I am talking about lifting weights and running. I did some research about the ship, Oasis of the Seas, that we are going to be on. They have a state of the art fitness facility and a running track. HMMM? I just can't decide, so I posted the question on my Facebook page.

Trying to figure out what to pack for vacation. Should I take work out clothes or not?

Each time I prepare for vacation I take work out clothes and some resistance bands. Each time I vacation I never use them. Isn't this what vacation is about, to escape from EVERYTHING? Now that the airlines charge you for each bag, and they can't weigh over 50 pounds, I don't want to take something I wont use. Here are the comments that I received on my Facebook page.

-Absolutely you should. You may have to modify what you do but you don't want a vacation from the great feeling you get from being active and healthy.
-Pack them! You'll be happy you did. Running on an outdoor track while the boat is at sea sounds fantastic.
-Yes! Even if you only get 2 or 3 workouts in, you won't feel like such a slug when you get back. Plus, it boosts your mood your mood and energy and it's always fun to workout in a new setting.
- What would you tell your clients?
-Pack your workout clothes char...I always love running the track in the morning while the boats is at sea...so relaxing...you will be glad you did...
-No, but you will because you worked out on hockey tourney weekends

Even personal Trainers need a little boost now and then. I guess these responses have guilted me into packing the workout clothes. The key now is to actually take the workout clothes out of the suitcase and use them. I did receive a few No responses on my page like these:

-Nope. What else is vacation for but to relax.
- Work-Out clothes and vacation do not go together...we don't like putting the words "work" and "vacation" together!

I think the pro's to working out, out weighed the cons. I am happy to say I packed the workout clothes and I used them. Only three times but at least they got used this time. I ate and drank whatever I wanted so I felt a little less guilty about that.

I have not weighed myself yet and I have been home for 3 days. I plan on doing that after having a week of eating right and exercising. I know if I weigh myself now, I will become depressed and it will ruin my week.

In the 3 days that I have been home, I have taught 4 bootcamps, trained legs, shoulders, back and biceps, and ran 2 miles. I have also ate healthy...I am feeling much better about stepping on the scale on Friday.

I had to take some pictures for proof that I worked out, just in case you didn't believe me.

Check out all the elliptical machines!

The Running track was awesome. Some of it indoors and some of it outdoors.

Some motivational signs along the running track.

Its a SMALL dessert! It can't have that many calories..can it?

Drink of the day! I'm guessing about 800 calories, YIKES.

I LOVE this ship! It was worth all the exercise I have to put in this week.

Letter to my Clients...Don't give up!

Dear Clients,

I hope that one day you can see what I see in you. Understand that you can change your reality.  We always talk about the things you know you are doing wrong and how you want to change them… but you don’t. Sometimes, instead of moving forward you backpeddle and fall short of your goals, and feel worse.

Most of you ask me how many times I fell off track and had to start over again. The truth is, I am human and I fell of the track too.  I sympathize with all of you on this road because it is a daily struggle with food and exercise.

When I watch you not taking care of yourself, it’s like rewinding my life again on a daily basis. We both know inside exactly what we need to do, to get it done. I hear you say “I’m not sure why I stopped because I was doing so well”. We know what will make us feel better, and we can only help ourselves.

Eventually I hope the light bulb turns on for you, and you realize you are ready to do what is right for yourself, no matter how long it takes.  Even when you take that plunge it will not be perfect. Restarting a healthy routine is not a game.

I know first hand that I can’t motivate someone who is not ready for it. All of you start out strong and ready to take on the world. Your more than busy schedules kick in and I watch you slip away. 

As unpleasant as it may sound, it’s the control of your life that you must regain to overcome these moments of weakness. When we take care of our mind and body with proper diet and nutrition we limit the crap that eats us from the inside out.  Anything worth having is worth busting your butt for.

Sacrifice or regret…you decide.

Charlene

NFPT Certified Personal Trainer

http://www.fitforcefitness.com/Index.html