Multigrain Cheerios and Modified Jumping Jacks

So a few weeks have passed, and perhaps you've been anxiously wondering if I dropped off the blogger world to escape the shame of my previous public announcement about my newest endeavor to become the next Biggest La-ooser, only to fall of the wagon and gain 15 lbs. I'd like to think that you'd even think about my last blog post, but more likely you've forgotten about me completely and could care less about what I'm doing, I'm okay with that too.

But in case you were itching to know and dying in wonder, I'm doing fabulously, and the two pounds I packed on in my first meager attempt to begin this weight loss journey is a mere distant memory. 2.3 weeks and 8lbs down, I must admit much credit goes to my friend the flu who decided to pop by and give me a jump start, but I've got a few other tricks up my sleeve...

Tip # 1
Give it two weeks...at least. Alright so I'm 2 weeks and 2 days in, and you may think my advice is slightly lacking credibility, but this is my second time through a major detox from junk and incorporating a healthier repertoire of food choices to my daily life, and each time around it took about 2 weeks to kick the bad habits.

Whatever you are doing - whether it's dieting (which can help to kickstart a healthy lifestyle, but is not a long term solution), or cutting out sugar, your body needs time to kick the intense cravings for the nasty addictions you've developed. My 2 biggest addictions: snacking on anything - crackers, spoonfulls of ice cream, chips...etc, and sugar, ANYTHING sugar.

Fact: Okay, disclaimer: I'm probably off on my stats, but, well...you'll get the idea: The average Canadian/American eats approximately 75 lbs of processed sugar a year. AAH! That's nearly half my body weight (stop crunching numbers, I'm not telling you what I weigh). The amount of sugar we should eat: 5lbs. Yuck.

Tip #2

Stop eating multigrain cheerios for breakfast, they're not good for you. Say whaaaaaat?? If this is your weightloss program, it's not going to work, and you've been suckered in by deceptive advertising and brilliant marketing tactics. I don't care that they eat them on The Biggest Loser (my husband just informed me of this), they've got to get there funding from somewhere. This along with most other commercially proposed weight-loss solutions are not answers to a healthier lifestyle. Multigrain means nothing (in this case), and empty carbohydrates are not getting you anywhere. They make a good snack or nibble between meals, but breakfast truly is the most important meal of the day, and cereal is simply not the way to start off right. My good friend and author of the helpful cashew offers amazing recipes and information on the purest forms of food that are most beneficial for your body. Try a hearty breakfast of steel cut oats with berries and agave syrup in place of your usual bowl of soggy cheerios.

Tip #3
Jillian Micheals is right on the money..."If you want results, they're not coming for free"..."you are capable of working out, and workout out hard" so..."if you're looking for a modified version of a jumping jack...look elsewhere". She may be small, but she's got serious feist, and she'll kick you in the pants and make you sweat, A LOT. If you can't drag your butt out for a run, or don't have time to hit the gym for 2 hours everyday, burning your extra calories by eating stalks of celery is not the way to go (which, as a sidenote, isn't gonna happen anyways when you soak them in ranch dip or smear them with cheez-whiz)

Pick up Jillian Micheals 30 Day Shred for a quick and serious 20 minute workout.

I don't want to share all my secrets...it's possible my fellow competitors are scoping my blog for ideas, and that could jeopardize my future in first place.

Cheers for now,

    -   Sagacious Mama

Rain. Run. Rinse. Repeat.

Blog number two, and the tables have certainly turned from last time. The sun has disappeared into the abiss, my son chucked his morning nap into the grey, blistering skies, and I've showered 3 times already. Mind you, my second shower wasn't your traditional type - it was the - went for a run and got caught in the rain - type shower, and as refreshing as it actually was, I wouldn't recommend it, but its highly probable that I will do it again, and again, and again, and likely a few more times after that.

It's not January 1st, and I'm not making resolutions, but I recently committed to get active and healthy starting September 1st. How is it going? Well, its now September 6th, and let's just say the scales are not leaning in my favor. In fact I've tipped them 2 lbs in 5 days. But I promise you, that will soon change.

I recently joined a competition against 29 other ladies to become "The Biggest La - Ooser". I put my 20 bucks in the pot, and I hope to take $600 out in 12 weeks from today. I've become way too comfortable in my skin - and especially that skin underneath my skin - you know, that cushy layer that keeps you warm over winter in the Arctic North? Yeah, that skin.

I've never been overly active or dedicated much time to sports and vigorous exercise. I enjoy walking and being outdoors, but I've always leaned toward focusing most of my energy and time towards creative outlets such as writing and music. Unfortunately playing guitar burns about as many calories as were in the 10 mini carrots I just ate, and blogging - well, it keeps my fingers trim enough to stop them from turning into sausages.

Diabetes runs in my family, and heart disease runs our nation. I'm shocked at how complacent I've become (and let's face it, most of us are...) towards health and wellness. I hope to post some of what I learn and suggestions to get on track with your health, and hopefully it will take some of the focus off yesterday's zucchini cake that I foolishly made knowing it would taunt me to succumb to its goodness, but I won't!

And so it begins, today is the day, and tomorrow will hopefully be even better than this one. I will run, jump, squat, plank, push, and burn as many calories as it takes to get this body into shape, and hopefully win some cashola to boot!


 - Sagacious Mama