In Search of a New Starbucks!

Remember that show, Cheers? Where everyone knows your name? That's my Starbucks. The people there (the behind the counter ones. I don't really talk to the patrons because I'm really shy, actually!)...oh, sorry. Okay, the people there are great. They talk to their customers. They engage their customers. They are happy and bright and shiny people who make a person want to come back to their location for reasons other than only the coffee. Plus, they make a mean-a** tall non-fat with whip two pump mocha, which is very important in my world. I love going to my Starbucks. Most of the time, I don't even want the mocha. I just want someplace to go and that's where the car takes me. I'm sure if I had a full time job I'd feel differently but for me, it's part of my social interaction for the day. Truthfully, most of the time I don't even finish the mocha, though I do get every single bit of the whip cream I can because that's just yummy. I just simply like the people.

But now it's time to find a new location. Some of the people there are now my FB friends. I like that. It's fun to interact and you learn funny things, like one calls her boyfriend creepy and one thinks those Star Wars of Star Trek events are fun. One has trouble not spilling and one likes Pandora almost as much as I do. One suffers from the same tendinitis issue as I do which makes me feel a special bond. Anyone who suffers my annoying and sometimes painful issue gets nothing but respect from me. So as I said, it's fun to have them as my FB friends.

Who knew there would be one of them actually reading my blog? That's just not right.

How can I go into my Starbucks and order the yummy, wonderful Morning Bun and be told NO! Yes, you read that right. My Starbucks friend told me I COULD NOT have my Morning Bun. She read my blog about my efforts to control my weight and said I couldn't have one. I considered jumping over the counter and stealing one but it's a big counter and I can't really jump that high. Plus, I didn't want to split my shorts.

I just can't mix my blog life with my Starbucks life. They're two separate things and must remain that way. She broke the cycle. She crossed that very small, very fine line between what I want for myself long term and that immediate, spontaneous desire to snarf down a Morning Bun because it's there, looking all yummy and needy. Really, who has the right to cross that line? I certainly would never hold anyone accountable in the Morning Bun department. Hey, they're your buns people, have at them, right? But no, she had to go and be all supportive and motivating and guilt me into no bun. I considered reporting her to the Starbucks police because she was stopping a sale but she did suggest I eat the yogurt.

Yogurt schmogurt. What's that when you can have a Morning Bun?

I mean, have you ever seen a one? It's a flaky, light, yummy, sugary, cinnamon type doughy thing filled with delight and yumminess.


Resisting the urge to have one is like sitting in a movie that's just at the climax yet you have to pee so bad you can barely concentrate. It's an evil, terrible feeling and yogurt just ain't gonna make it better.

Yogurt schmogurt. Plu-eeze.

So I have a plan. Since I'm on this darn 'eating better' thing and my current Starbucks location is so darn supportive, I'm going to switch. There are three within a mile of each other, so it's not like I have to travel far. I'll go to one where Morning Buns call to me and I can give in to my weakness without hearing that little "NO!" from across the counter. I'll spend my mornings happy, bun in hand, joyfully licking my fingers after I've consumed every last, sugary crumb, just slightly freaked out by the scary guy watching me do so. He's not going to interrupt my little bit of Heaven. And I won't talk to these Starbucks people. They won't be my friends. I won't tell them my silly stories. I won't friend them on FB. It will be strictly business. Mocha, Bun. Nothing more. Maybe a Peppermint Mocha for the season but nothing more. I can do it.

And if I can't, I can always go to My Starbucks, get my mocha and conversation and then go to the other location for the morning bun. Probably I'll get the bun first. They don't have many and they sell out quick.

See, if you just think things through, there's always a solution.

Fitness & Nutrition Principles of Carolyn

I've been working on this for some time...the exercise plan, that is. So I'm posting what I'm going to do...let's hope I have the gumption!

Fitness & Nutrition Principles

Fitness Principles

Cardio: 45-60 minutes six days a week (mix it up so as not to do the same type of cardio daily)
Weights: (see exercise plan below)

1.Three days of full body compound exercises supplemented with smaller muscle exercise in superset/cardio interval style with four sets of each exercise.
2.1 minute rest between sets
3.Keep a journal of progress

Nutrition Principles

1.Drink eight 8oz glasses of water daily (not including replenishing of water loss during work out)
2.Eat five small means every 2-3 hours
3.Eliminate sugars except for one snack daily
4.Maximum of 1200 calories daily (approximately 200 calories per meal plus sugar snack)
5.Eliminate soda
6.Eliminate whites (flour, bread, pasta) stick with whole grains only
7.Eat a protein and complex carb at each meal
8.Reduce processed foods as much as possible and increase veggies
9.Take multi-vitamin and calcium twice daily
10.Take Flaxseed or Fish oil daily
11.Keep a journal

 


Monday (approximately 45 minutes)
EXERCISE
Bench Press
Lunges
Crunches
Squats w/Bicep Curls
Military Press
Back Extension
Push Ups w/One Arm Raise
Plank
Dead Lifts


Wednesday (approximately 50 minutes)
EXERCISE
Bent-over Rows
V-Sits
Lunges w/Side Shoulder Raise
Captains Chair
Leg Press
Chest Press
Inner/Outer Thigh
Push Ups
Leg Extension
Oblique Twists

Friday (approximately 50 minutes)
EXERCISE
Cable Row
Walking Lunges
Tricep Pull Downs
Lat Pull Down
Barbell Shoulder Press
Cable Crunch (Abs)
Barbell Bicep Curls
Squats
Bent-Over Low Pulley Side Lateral
Leg Press

Diets DON'T work!

Really. I know this for a fact. Medical, scientific, personal fact. I can verify that every single diet I've tried has not worked. Temporarily? Maybe but I have not once kept the little weight I've lost off and yes, I've done what everyone else complains about...put on even more. So I'm done. D....O...N...E...DONE!

The Oxygen 10 lbs in 21 days? Sure, I'm sure I could lose the weight. Who wouldn't? You are required to eat so much fiber and drink so much water there's no way you can't lose weight. Then again, you'll spend that 21 days on the toilet and I guess you have to ask yourself, is it worth it?

Let's take a quick look at each diet I've tried...Oxygen's as mentioned above. South Beach. Atkins. Weight Watchers. NutriSystem (GROSS!) Suzanne Summers. Eat Clean Diet. Body For Life. The Zone. Flush the Fat. The Biggest Loser. Five Factor. I've even recently ordered the Acai berry and cleanse thing I've seen all over FB. (Yes, I've been THAT desperate!) So far, none (sans the last) have worked. To name a few...

Why? Because one cannot stay on a diet forever. So let's change the way we're looking at this.

Really, all of these (but a few really freaky diet ideas) have the same concepts in mind:
1. Eliminate whites (sugar, bread, flower, pasta, etc.)
2. Drink at least 8 8oz glasses of water daily
3. Eat veggies
4. Eat good fats
5. Eat five to six small means a day consisting of a complex carb and a lean protein, fish or chicken
7. Cut the sweets (goes into #1 but bears mentioning again!)
8. Exercise (weight bearing exercising and cardio exercise) at least 5 times weekly
9. Eliminate processed foods
10. Eliminate soda (diet and regular)

SIMPLE. Right? Should be except you have to have the want. You can't do anything without the want. And after the want, you have to have the gumption. Gumption is what makes a diet work.

Wanting is important. Gumption makes you ACT on the want. I want to lose weight. I want to be in the shape I was a few years ago. I want to feel better physically and mentally. I want to take better care of myself. But I've not had the gumption to follow through on it. I've certainly had the gumption to complain about it but that's about it.

So I've decided, with my personal training background and all of the research I've done on nutrition (I have almost every book ever written on it, trust me!) I am going to design MY OWN weight loss and better health program based on the 9 principles listed above and see how that works for me.

I've got a nutrition and weight training journal and I'm going to use it - including weigh myself and take those nasty photos that no one ever, ever wants anyone to see until they don't look like that anymore (except Jillian Michaels. She got rid of hers entirely. Wuss ass!)

I'm going to start designing the program today and I'm going to post the official Carolyn's Cut the Crap Better Health program on my blog. Then I'm going to track it - from the lies, to the motivations, to the screw ups, on this blog and HOPEFULLY I'll find this to be a successful route. Between us, (don't tell anyone else, please), I'm kind of tired of the lack of success.

Wish me luck!

Up and Running (I hope!)

Things are sort of almost starting to get back to normal for me. I'm not quite sure what that means except that I'm beginning to feel like myself again so I figure that's got to be a good thing, right?

After my mom passed, I couldn't eat much. I lost a few pounds and sent a special thank you to my mom in Heaven. I'd told her that if the ending of a dating relationship could cause me to lose weight, certainly she could take a few pounds of mine with her went she passed. We laughed and smiled because she knew me well and knows how much I identify myself with my appearance.

The weight loss lasted a few days and then suddenly I found I was packing it on, by the minute it seemed. Daily I look up to Heaven and speak softly to my mom, saying things like, "CAN'T YOU DO ANYTHING ABOUT THIS? COME ON ALREADY! WTF?" As always, she's probably just ignoring me.

It's medically proven that stress causes weight gain. Death of a parent certainly qualifies as a stress. Sitting on my butt for two months barely doing anything but breathe and eat because of that stress and the weight started piling on. I'm not fat. I'm actually not even 'over weight' (depending on what charts you view as correct) but I am unhappy with myself and unable to fit into my clothes.

I've struggled with my weight all of my life. Born half Italian, (the bottom half of me mostly) and German, I'm short and like to eat. Oh, and stubborn. So fixing this issue has not always been easy for me. Up until recently I really didn't struggle. I could eat whatever I wanted and exercise and then the weight would magically disappear. Then I hit 40 and that stopped. My metabolism took a dive and instead of losing weight, I gain, gain and gain. I workout. I gain. I cut my calories. I gain. I breathe. I gain. It's a vicious cycle of frustration and motivation and I haven't been able to figure out a solution.

I've not been writing down what I eat lately. Truthfully, I think I'm scared to. Maybe I'm better not knowing? Really then I have no right to complain. I have just found myself feeling that I deserve to eat what I want when I want it and I have a sorry addiction to Starbucks mochas. I can find any reason in the book to eat what I want and then I suffer the consequences and berate myself for it later. Is that the way to live?

Women all over the world, most bigger than me, commit to eating healthy and losing weight and THEY DO IT. What's my problem? What happened to my motivation? I was once a certified personal trainer. I KNOW what to do. I just choose not to do it and instead look for reasons outside of reality as to why it happens. I'm really starting to piss me off.

I've succumbed to Atkins, Zone, South Beach...you name it. Except the maple syrup thing. That's even too nasty for me. All of them work for a bit and then I gain the weight (and the dreaded more that everyone else talks about) back. Then I get frustrated and eat to make myself feel better. Obviously that's working for me, huh?

It's a matter of motivation. Where is mine? If someone who eats 5,000 calories a day can commit to eating 2,000 and do it, why can't I commit to eating fewer calories?

I have no more excuses. I've decided to try an eating plan (notice the choice of words here) for 21 days. If this plan, which is not easy and does not include any yummy things like chocolate, mochas or Mexican food, doesn't do what it's supposed to, then it's back to the doctor for a plethora of tests to see if something truly is wrong.

This new eating plan is Oxygen Mag's "Lose 10 lbs in 21 days". It was in their spring issue and I've read a lot of great things about it. So today was my first day.

I had a banana protein smoothie for breakfast. I did NOT have a mocha (though I did go to Starbucks and talk to a friend). For my snack, I had an apple. For lunch I had tuna, 1/2 cup of Jasmine rice and some lovely sauteed zucchini. I usually eat mine friend. I did travel off of the plan a bit - added olive oil to my zucchini (only because I don't know how to cook it so I just sauteed it) and I added 1 T of mayo (reduced fat) to the tuna. Everything can be tweaked, right?

So we'll see where this takes me. On September 30th I will weigh myself and see if I've lost weight. If I have, great. If not, then we'll set that doctors appt. I'm going to work very, very hard at not cheating and doing the right thing FOR ME because I deserve it. It's really just time to get over the excuses.