Celebrating Men's Health Month

When I was approached by Lucy at Nuts.com to do a post for Men's Health Month, I'm not going to lie... I thought it was spam. Dirty spam. However, after doing a little bit of research (on my phone. Does anyone else feel like your phone can't get viruses like your computer? Or is that just me?) I realized that they are a legit company with a super resourceful website!

Anyways, back to the issue at hand. I do give advice to men on a daily basis while working at the pharmacy. And while some of it is well received, some men just want to speak to another man. And I get it. So I decided to check in with my resident men's health (and health in general) expert, my brother, Matthew.

So I asked him for his number one piece of advice to stay healthy...

I would say consistency. It takes a long time to get results from training and eating, and an even longer time to figure out what's going to work for you. You just have to be consistent. 

 And he's exactly right. Start with your diet. Consistently put good food in your body. Think of it as fuel. Your body needs fuel to function. And if you want it to function at an optimal level you've got to give it the best fuel. Have you ever tried to workout after eating like crap all day? It's HORRIBLE. Almost as horrible as trying to workout without fueling your body at all. You have to find a balance and be consistent. Experiment with different pre and post workout snacks and find out what works best for your body! Check out this article for ideas! There are healthy snacks for over ten different situations.

And here's my two cents, for what it's worth:  I see people day in and day out at my job who are paying the price for poor health decisions they've made consistently. Type 2 Diabetes, breathing problems, chronic obesity, heart problems, arthritis, etc. You've got one body, do everything you can do to take care of it!

Side note: You'll notice chia seeds mentioned in the graphic. Here is a great resource page explaining all the benefits of this superfood. I sprinkle it on my shakes or acai bowls.   

why i decided to head back to weight watchers and a bit of background on my weight loss battle

so as i mentioned yesterday, i rejoined weight watchers last week. i put a lot of thought into this decision and i really do think it's the best one for me.

some background... i have fought to control my weight for pretty much my whole life, but seriously after i graduated high school. i did weight watchers the summer before i started pharmacy school and had a lot of success. unfortunately, when i went to school i quit going to meetings (i'd been going with my mom and grandmother at home), so i never got lifetime status, and i gained back the weight. i've done various things between then and now and i'd definitely classify myself as a yo-yo dieter. food is my achilles heel for sure.

as i shared on here last year, i worked with a guy who made a workout plan and an eating plan for me. it helped me to lose a little more than 20 pounds. for reasons that i don't really want to get into right now, i gained pretty much all the weight back.

so here we are again. i did a lot of thinking and spent some time trying to figure out what's important to me. i kept coming back to weight watchers.

here are the major reasons why i chose weight watchers over all the other options:

• it's tried and true. they've been around for 50 years and they're constantly updating the program to incorporate new research. they know what they're doing. i have personally done weight watchers twice before (here's hoping the whole 'third time's a charm' thing rings true here also) and when i work the program, it works for me. 
• i am sick of being so extremely restricted in what i can and cannot eat. while i had great success losing weight with the clean eating approach i followed last year, maintenance was very hard for me. i mean, i couldn't eat a peach for goodness sakes. and unfortunately, i'm very much the type who thinks once i eat one thing that's not on the plan i've messed up the whole day, week, etc. i'm not saying it makes sense or is rational, i'm just saying that because of that, my previous plan was no longer an option. plus the guy who made my plans had no idea how to help me fuel to run. NONE. 
• i like the accountability of weight watchers [weekly weigh ins + going to meetings with friends]. 
• my OCD self loves tracking points and looking at spreadsheets/charts (WW has seriously stepped up their online tool game). 
• i want something that helps me to keep the weight off, instead of abandoning me when i've worked so hard to lose the weight. 
• i want something live-able. 
• i enjoy cooking, and i really like that i can try new dishes and cook some!

anyways, i just wanted to share. i'll keep you all updated!

hello marathon hunger... aka holy crap i'm hungry

up until about a month ago i was really pleased with how my eating/fueling was going even as my mileage started creeping up. i did my clean eating routine through the week and had a cheat meal on the day of my long run. if i needed a boost before a run, i'd eat some JIF on toast.

i even lost some weight, but i think it's because i'm losing muscle [not cool].

well that's all changed now. i'm a bottomless pit! i usually eat every 3 hours or so, but i'm even getting hungry in between that!

do you all have any insight? i have worked my butt off to lose this weight [and still have some more to lose] so i do not want to screw this up!

Let's Be Honest... Why do we Sabotage ourselves?

I know we all try to keep it cheery and sunshiney rainbows around the fitness/running blog world, but today's post won't be that. And it's gonna be long. There, I warned you.

So today (actually last night) started with this:

When we got back last night (we had about 15 minutes to change and get to the church Christmas show) and walked into a floor full of water in our kitchen. Coming from the ceiling. Awesome.

Long story short, I had to sit around the house all day, waiting on the plumbers and making sure the whole ceiling didn't fall in (not that I could've done anything about it). Here's the finished product:

I'm just going to hang some ornaments from it since it has to stay open to dry out. Or maybe hang some tinsel. It'll be fine. I'm not telling you guys this dumb story to complain (I much prefer situations like this... It can all be fixed) it's to set up the story about the rest of the day.

I was stuck at the house until 430pm. Not sure why this threw me so completely off. I guess I've really gotten used to working out in the morning. I hadn't eaten since breakfast so I had obviously let my hunger get away from me (stupid mistake #1).

I was getting all worked up because my brother made me a workout plan and went over diet stuff with me this weekend. I knew I needed to shop for groceries, blah, blah, blah.

So what did I do? What any rational completely idiotic person would do. Ordered chinese and skipped the gym. WTF Courtney?!? (obviously this is stupid mistake 2)

So let's break this down:

• Anytime I 'start a diet' I feel like I have to eat everything bad because I'll never get to eat it again.
• Yes, there are things I probably shouldn't ever eat again, but that's never going to happen. I need to learn that. So just because I'm starting a diet, or trying to eat better, or a certain way, doesn't mean that I have to stuff my face with every horrible thing that I think I'll never eat again.  
• If I'm eating something as horrible as chinese or donuts or cake or whatever it is this time... I feel like there is no point in working out because I've messed up the whole day.
• Not smart.
• If I get a plan in my head (I was going to spin in the AM then start my strength training this PM) I competely fall apart if something gets in the way.
• I need to learn to have a plan B. Yes it's good to have a plan and make an effort to follow thru. But just because it doesn't happen it doesn't mean you have to completely scrap it.

It's so easy to look back on this and see the things I did wrong. But somehow, in the moment, I still managed to make all the wrong decisions.

I did do one thing right today, though. Because I'm tired of this dumb routine. So I decided to do something about it. At 830pm (see it's not too late!):

I was sweating soy sauce, but the point was that I was sweating instead of sitting on the couch.

Do you/did you have a habit of sabotage?

What did you do to change it?

Pink Elephant In the Room... Or that's what it feels like at least.

After I finished work on Friday, Brad and I packed up to go to Kentucky. One of his cousins was getting married so it was kind of a like a mini family reunion for his side of the family. It was a really nice wedding and great to see everyone.

He cleans up nice doesn't he?

I've been in a crap mood since Friday. I'm not sure what's up with that. I think a huge part of it (no pun intended) is my current weight situation. I've been trying to figure out how to attack it, and as I mentioned here I plan on resuming weekly weigh ins.

But even during last week I found myself making poor food decisions. I wasn't committed yet.

I have this horrible mentality when it comes to dieting... All or nothing. I know how problematic this mentality can be. Trust me. But I've never had successful weight loss without hitting rock bottom (or an all time high on the scale), then making a conscious decision to make hard core changes.

I (like most everyone else) like to see results quickly and those results are what motivate me to continue. But then I look back over the past 10 years of my life (dang, really 10 years?!?) and I see how I've yo-yo dieted throughout. Honestly, it pisses me off. A lot.

I'm sick of being self conscious.
I'm sick of not being able to wear the clothes I want to wear and be confident in them.
I'm tired of being embarrassed to walk into a running store (seriously I am).

I hesitate to say these things, because once I hit publish it's out there for good. I'm afraid to fail. But I cannot keep doing this to myself over and over. I feel like I've missed out on so much because I've been too worried about my weight.

I hope that I can work on this over the next few months as racing winds down. Then hopefully come spring my running will reap the rewards of me being at least 20-25 pounds lighter. I hope that I can conquer this nagging problem that I have let beat me so many times.

And trust me I know that it doesn't stop once you get to where you want. I've lost the weight twice and gained it back. (Once right before pharmacy school started and again before the wedding, although I didn't get back as low as I'd have liked for the wedding). So here I am again, hoping that the third time really is a charm.

Sorry for the rambling, woe is me post. I try not to be Debbie Downer, especially about situations that I've brought upon myself. I just felt like I needed to get it off my chest. So no more excuses, it's on like Donkey Kong :)

What's your best healthy eating tip?