Healthy Eating is a Learning Process

In 2011, I lost a quarter of my body weight, dropping 45 pounds between January and December. People assume I must have been dieting to achieve this, but there was no planned diet about it. I kept eating many of the same foods I had eaten for years, added a few more salads and fruit smoothies, and accidentally turned most meals into snacks for lack of time.

The trajectory of weight loss went like this. From January to early May, I used my treadmill when I could, lifted weights at the local recreation center, gardened, took tap dancing and Zumba lessons, and went about my abnormal life. In that four months, I lost 8 pounds. Not great, but it felt like a good start after several mostly unsuccessful attempts over the past years.

On May 2nd, I tried a different Zumba class, recommended by a friend from college.*  She warned me to bring two bottles of water the first time, because there would be some serious calories burned. She was absolutely right! The dancing itself was more intense and challenging than a typical Zumba class, the people were friendly, and the instructors were a couple of hot Brazilian guys who actually interacted with the crowd. What was not to love? I began coming to their classes several times a week, and eventually got to be friends with more than a few people there. By early September (my 40 year high school reunion, did I mention that before?) — also four months — I lost 25 more pounds and dropped my cholesterol so far that my doctor canceled my prescription.

In August, the same instructors added classes using Kangoo Jumps boots, which I fell in love with immediately. By the beginning of December (three months), I had lost 10 more pounds. Christmas treats did me in, because I had counted on hours of fun fitness every week being enough to keep the weight off. Zumba and Kangoo were no match for the holiday (eating) spirit. I had to figure out another piece of the health and fitness puzzle.

2012 was a year of learning about better ways to eat, balancing workouts and paying work, realizing that sleep is not just that nuisance time between fitness classes, and going up and down a small roller coaster of weight. Admittedly, some of the gain was building muscle (muscle weighs more than fat), but some was just bad eating habits.

It was either late 2012 or early 2013 that a couple friends became vegan in their food choices. This is a nutritional choice even more stringent than being vegetarian, as vegans do not eat dairy foods or eggs, in addition to not eating any form of meat or seafood. They happily shared information with anyone who would listen. I am nowhere near a convert at this point, but because of talking with them I have tried an assortment of healthier foods in addition to, or instead of, things I already eat.

I don't eat 100% healthy at this point, but I feel like I eat in a more healthy way than I used to. I enjoy the texture of foods, and timing is also a big factor in what I eat. So, for those who have asked me about my eating habits, here is a typical day. I start with two cups of coffee, usually with whole milk in them. Next is often an English muffin, half a bagel, or a slice or two of cinnamon toast. Other days, there are eggs embellished with onions, cheese, and whatever else is handy. Breakfast depends on what's on the agenda for the morning. I take a fruit smoothie to work with me and it gets me through the rest of the  morning, along with a handful of nuts. My favorite lunch is mushroom ravioli with pesto sauce and roasted red peppers, but other choices include corn chips with salsa, hummus, or guacamole, or sometimes a bottle of whey-protein-enhanced coffee if lunch has to be done while driving. Afternoon is usually a snack instead of dinner, because of fitness class timing. It could be a salad (today was iceberg lettuce, baby kale, and matchstick carrots), the other half of the morning bagel, or even a bottle of b-vitamin-enhanced blue juices. After evening class, I am most likely to drink a big glass of chocolate milk, or have a few more corn chips with hummus or salsa. I don't pay attention to calories or carbs much, but I do make sure I get enough protein and water. Some days the choices are more healthy, and some days ... not so much. 

If anyone wants to adopt me and feed me on a regular basis, I will consider offers. For now, I am getting more sleep than last year, taking fewer fitness classes in order to get more sleep, and trying to at least notice my food choices, so that they move along the continuum from less healthy to more healthy. Life is a work in progress, people. Change is the only constant.


*Thanks again, M.A. Mulligan, for introducing me to Chakaboom Fitness. And thank you to Roberson Magalhaes and Leo Lins for creating the energy explosion that is the heart of Chakaboom.

I Never Knew That About You!

We all like to settle into familiar patterns, whether traffic routes, breakfast routines, or interactions with friends. While there is a lot to be said in favor of familiar and comfortable, sometimes it's good to get outside that comfort zone. One way to do this is to find out new things about old friends. For example, I am going to share five things here that most people don't know about me. That might be enough to make you wonder what you don't know about other people you think you know, and explore a new side of those friendships.

I have taken tap dancing lessons three separate times in my life. When I was four or five years old, I barely remember being there. When I was about 10 years old, I have a photograph of me and my younger sister in tap shoes and tutus for the recital at the end of the year. Just a couple years ago, the same sister talked me into taking a few lessons again with her. We did not remember as much as we hoped we would (seriously, more than 45 years later?), but we still had a great time.

I am a convicted international smuggler, on a technicality. When I was stationed in Iceland in the Air Force (two more things most of you don't know about me! Bonus!), I had borrowed a car to drive downtown to get my new contact lenses. (Another bonus, I used to wear contact lenses.) I intended to drop off a turntable at the on-base post office to mail stateside, but the post office was closed. With no time to drop it off at the dorm, I told my story to the gate guard when leaving the base for the eye doctor, and he said "sorry" but had to confiscate it because of concerns about American electronics and the local black market. I went to an administrative hearing, and had to admit I had heard that rule before that day, so I was technically guilty of attempting to take electronics off-base, or international smuggling.

The fingers of my left hand are numb as I type this. I have had carpal tunnel surgery on my right wrist and hope to arrange for it on my left wrist soon. I knew they both needed it back when I had the first one done in 2006, but just "didn't have time" until this summer to take care of the left wrist. Besides, I am SO right-handed it was almost irrelevant that my left hand was not as capable as my surgically-improved right hand. When it got to the point that I could not open a plastic juice bottle without help, it was time.

I ate my first taco in Iceland, at a Coast Guard party, on a Navy base, while stationed there in the Air Force. The whole Coast Guard contingent on-base at that time happened to be from Texas. I saw Blazing Saddles at the NCO Club on-base that year too, when the movie first came out, not knowing ahead of time it was a comedy and not a typical western. Another first in Iceland, I was a DJ on the base radio station for a couple weeks.

I gave one of the speeches at my high school graduation, and forgot the words partway through. I started coughing to stall for time until I could remember the next line (memorized, baby, no notes or teleprompter). The only person who knew what really happened was my English teacher, Ms. Deemer, who had coached and rehearsed us all. My own stepmother wondered if she should go get me some water! After a few seconds, I regained my place, leaving out only one sentence. I've been a fan of improvisation ever since.

I have to get to work now, but here's your "homework." Don't wait until you have to take out a personals ad to find someone who will "like pina coladas, and getting caught in the rain..." Find out something new about someone you think you know today.