Month: December 2019

In This Together

201920Looking back over 2019, as it draws to a close, doesn’t exactly leave me with a warm, fuzzy feeling.

This past year has been a tough one: a lot of change, a lot of stress. The year went by quickly, but only because I was constantly dealing with one issue or another, juggling as fast as I could, with barely enough time to breathe, let alone reflect or think or properly process what was going on.

I am ending the year heavier than I started it.  Quite a bit heavier, actually.  Of course, I’m not happy about that.  But as I stand at the end of the year, looking back, I see it was not a complete failure after all.

I had a small loss last week, which was the week of Christmas. Even with days off and holiday treats both at work and home, I managed to eke out a loss instead of a gain.  I even worked out on Christmas day.

I had two choices of how to handle constantly getting smashed over the head with a sledgehammer this past year.  I could have fallen, stayed down, and given up.  Or I could have decided to hell with this, I am not going to just lay here and give up all control over my life.  I chose the latter.

Granted, it took me until the end of the year to do it, but I did it.  I decided to grab the steering wheel and take back control over the things that are in my hands.  So I can’t work out every day because of my schedule.  Does that mean I should give up and just not work out at all?  It would be easy to fall into that trap, but I decided to just do what I can.  Some days all I have time for is a 15-minute walk during my lunch.  Days I have enough free time to really work out, I knew I had to make it count, work up a good sweat.  It’s not ideal, but it’s the best I can do right now, and I have learned that’s okay.

I will never be accused of being too bubbly or chipper, but shifting my mindset this way, to taking care of me, to doing what I can, has helped immensely.  Instead of feeling frustrated and not good enough and staggering under the dark cloud of “why bother”, I feel like I am doing the best I can, and I am proud of that.  It would have been easy to give up altogether, and instead I switched gears and just found a different way that works for now.

So, 2019 won’t go down in the books as my happiest, easiest, or most fun year ever.  But it is a year that I learned a lot and finally cut myself some slack to be human, eased up my perfectionism, and patted myself on the back for hanging in there.  It is the year I finally stopped beating myself up, and I gave my inner self a hug and said, “Hey you, we’re in this together, buddy.”

Now…let’s go kick some serious butt together in 2020!

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LoseIt Premium vs. Free Review

LoseItMy free 7-day trial of LoseIt Premium is just about over, so it’s time to share with you guys what I think of it.

I have used the free version of LoseIt before, so I was curious about what a paid version would add to the experience.  But let’s quickly go over what you get for free first, in case you have never used it.

LoseIt is a food and activity logging app, backed up by a website (LoseIt.com).   Both the app and the website have a food diary and activity tracker, but only the website has the forums, which I have read will not be supported much longer.  You can access groups and challenges from both the app and the website.

One thing I like a lot about LoseIt is that if you join a challenge, your progress in that challenge is tracked from what you enter as your workouts, weigh-ins, etc.  For example, I joined a fitness challenge to reach a certain number of exercise minutes in January.  When I log my workouts, those minutes will automatically be tracked for my challenge too.  So if I join a weight-loss challenge, the information I enter in my weight tracker will be used to track my progress in the challenge, too.  It seems so basic, but other sites, like MyFitnessPal, can’t do that.

So what extra bells and whistles come with the $39.99-a-year Premium account?  One feature I liked was tracking my water intake, but I honestly wouldn’t pay extra for that.  I like the more in-depth breakdown of my food diary, like the My Plate Report, a simple but effective visual to remind me to build healthy meals based on the USDA’s food groups (vegetables, fruit, grains, protein, dairy).  I’ve actually eaten more fruit the past week, trying to fill in that plate.

There is an Insight feature called Patterns that is exclusive to Premium users, but even after 7 days, there is apparently not enough data yet to give me any feedback here.  That was disappointing.  I really wanted to see what kinds of things are revealed here.

Other Insight features I have been able to see, though, are a graph of my nutrients, plotting my carbs, proteins, and fats anywhere between the last 7 days to the last 10 years; graphs of daily calories for the same choice of time periods; and daily or weekly summaries of nutrients and calories.  (I honestly couldn’t tell if this is part of Premium or the free version.  Guess I’ll find out when my 7-day trial expires tomorrow).

I like LoseIt.  I have used MyFitnessPal but keep coming back to LoseIt.  I like the little graphics in the food diary, like a little picture of a meal bar beside the Zone Perfect breakfast bar I logged today.  I love how challenges are tracked automatically for me, and the progress graph I get for each challenge.

Groups don’t seem very active, but that seems to be the norm.  That is definitely not unique to LoseIt.  Finding a group with people still participating can be difficult.

Finding challenges is not difficult, though. There are more challenges available to Premium users, but even people using the free version can search and join challenges.

This morning I got an email with one more reason to really like LoseIt!  In January, LoseIt will kick off Pennies for Pounds: for every pound lost, LoseIt will donate one penny to No Kid Hungry, a national campaign working to end childhood hunger in America.  Everyone who logs a loss on LoseIt during January will be helping kids in need.  How cool is that?

I cancelled my Premium trial, but I will watch for coupon codes to buy the Premium membership later.  I really want to see what the Insights tell me, after enough information is collected.  And since eating healthier is a goal of mine, all the nutrient breakdowns and the My Plate Report would be helpful.  With the new year coming up, I am pretty sure I will be seeing coupon codes for Premium soon.

Does anyone else use LoseIt?  If so, send me an email, and I will send a link to my profile so we can buddy up!

Feeling It

It’s so quiet in blogland lately!  You would think there was a major holiday coming up or something 🙂

Yesterday I gave myself an early gift: I signed up for a 7-day free trial of LoseIt Premium.  I decided that since I have so little free time, I need to make my workouts count when I have time for them, and I need to really focus on what I am eating.  Like it or not, I need to get back to serious calorie-tracking.  I want to see what other features are offered with Premium and whether they are worth paying the fee for an annual membership.

I went to the gym yesterday, and I ran on the treadmill for a bit, then switched over to the elliptical.  I won’t have time for much today, but I will make sure I fit in at least 15 minutes of walking during my lunch.

After my workout last night, I pampered myself with a face mask, a long, hot shower with a body scrub, then painted my nails in Christmas colors.  I guess it doesn’t sound like much, but just taking that time for myself and focusing on me for just a little while was luxurious.

This morning, I opened my calendar, then signed up for a Spinning class later this week. I was tempted to sign up for an early morning class, but I figured, hey, let’s not get carried away and all overly-ambitious, shall we?  Maybe someday I will feel up to morning workouts.  Hell, it would make sense on my jam-packed, long days to work out before work, then have my lunch break all to myself.  But it’s so hard to get out of bed when I know it’s my only time that day to snuggle with my husband, and that I won’t see him again until that night.

For now, I have my workouts scheduled for the week, and I am back to logging my food.  Maybe the week of Christmas wasn’t the most ideal time to decide to get back to it, but if I am feeling it, then I am going to run with it!

I leave you with this important, research-based diet tip:diet-tip-bacon-is-healthier-than-cocaine-sarcasm-only-⠀-3456832

You’re welcome!

My One

It was dark by the time I got home from work yesterday.  And cold!  We’re talking take-your-breath-away, bone-numbing, just-stay-inside chill.  As I turned down our street and approached our house, I could see, through the tree branches, our Christmas lights twinkling on the house and in the yard.  I smiled.  It was like the house was welcoming me home.

I ran into my stepson in the driveway, who had just stepped out to walk his dog.  I had to laugh, because I could tell by the look on his face that being outside, in that temperature, was far from what he really wanted to be doing at that moment!  (The dog, however, was thrilled with the temperature drop.  Go figure.)

As I finally, happily stepped inside the house, I was greeted by our lit Christmas tree, my husband waiting to hug me, and a warm fire crackling in the fireplace.   Any tension remaining from the long day melted away.

There are so many jokes about being married, making fun of the spouse, winking knowingly about the shared distaste for married life, the drudgery, the boredom, the old ball-and-chain crap.  I don’t feel that way.  I feel sorry for anyone who does.  At the end of a long day, like yesterday, I could think of nowhere else I wanted to be, and no one else I wanted to be with, than at home with my best friend, my partner in crime, my one, my husband.

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