Simplify

Here's a post from one of my favorite blogs, Zen Habits. Food for thought :) Have a great weekend Simplify Your Life with Balance Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Anastasiya Goers of Balance In Me. What is the most difficult part about simplifying your life? It is fairly easy to clean your closets and organize your belongings. It is possible to eliminate activities that are not really important to us (watching TV, web surfing.) Even simplifying your finances is not too complicated if you have a general plan. The most difficult part about simplifying life is dealing with emotional attachments. Let’s say that you have an old picture frame (vase, shirt, shoes etc.) in your house. If it’s just a thing that you picked up on sale or bought ten years ago you will probably be able to change its permanent residence to “trash.” But how would you deal with this thing if you got it from your late grandmother? Maybe your parents gave it to you as a graduation present? Parting with this thing (even if you do not like it too much) gets much more difficult. Another difficult part about simplifying life is going against social approval. We are so used to a certain order of things and certain cultural rules that we do not even doubt them. We assume that we need to have cable with 200+ channels only because everybody else has it in their homes. We break our backs to sell things for the fundraisers at our kids’ schools just because everybody else does. This list goes on and on. I had trouble simplifying my life for all the reasons mentioned above and this is when I found a balanced approach to simplicity. Balance helped me find the simplicity that I was personally comfortable with. I didn’t have to limit my belongings to just 100 things and I didn’t get rid of all social commitments. However, I realized what is really important in my life and what is just clutter. Here is the balanced approach to simplicity that I use in my life. Can you use it in yours? Don’t try to win social approval Our life is full of tasks and responsibilities that we assume important only because they are traditional in our culture. Most of these social norms do nothing but clutter our life and waste our valuable resources. TV and cable. Most people believe that it is a must to have a TV and cable in your house. Why? You can save hundreds of dollars a year if you just cancel your cable. You can free up several hours every day if you quit watching TV shows and news. You can spend this time pursuing your passion, enjoying your time with the family, working out or fixing a deliciously healthy meal for your family. If you are in the mood for a good movie – pop in a DVD and enjoy your movie without annoying commercial interruptions. Cell phones can be quite useful in emergency situations but there is definitely a limit to how much they should be used. I personally have the bottom-line model which I got for free when I signed up for the cheapest cell phone plan. You can save your time if you stop reading and writing emails on your cell phone, checking social media updates and sending text messages. Actually staying connected and plugged-in all the time causes enormous amounts of stress and clutters your mind. Do yourself a favor, simplify your cell phone. Car is another necessity that most people cannot imagine their lives without. Granted, it is difficult or even impossible to survive without a car in certain areas (I live in an area like that.) However, you can always limit the number of cars in your household (currently we have only one car in our family of four and this is enough for us.) Actually having only one car helps my family spend more time together.You can simplify your life even more if you don’t buy a new car. Considering how fast cars depreciate over time (a new car automatically loses at least $2000 of its value when you drive off the dealer’s parking lot) it is always a better idea to buy a good used car. By choosing a used car you will be able to avoid a car payment that sucks a lot of money from your budget over time. Kids’ activities. Some parents believe that their kids must be involved in every possible activity out there. I believe that some moms actually have an unofficial race of how many activities they can take their kids to. Let your children pick activities that they truly like and focus on those. If you teach your kids to find their focus from their early years then they will be able to maintain this focus in their adult life too. Don’t you wish your parents did that to you? Don’t always be part of the team. Social commitments can be a good thing sometimes but they can also be a huge waste of time. Fundraisers at your kids’ school, social events at your work or at school, even family reunions can be a huge waste. There is no point in supporting causes that you do not feel strongly about or visiting events that are not interesting to you. We are often afraid of what others would think if we do not participate. Be brave enough to break away from the crowd and make room for what really matters in your life. There are plenty more examples of social standards that we try to follow in life. How many social norms are you ready to break away from today? Find the strength to let go We feel uncomfortable letting go of things and memories that we are emotionally connected to. This connection makes simplifying life very difficult. We feel responsible for keeping certain things (gifts from our relatives of friends) and holding on to memories. Over time it leads to enormous amounts of clutter and huge emotional baggage that does not let you move on in life. Gifts. Pick only the most important mementos that mean a lot to you. If your late grandmother gave you a present as a child – by all means, keep it to preserve her memory. However, it does not mean that you have to keep every single thing that she gave you. We do not need things to remember our loved ones, we just need true and pure memories of them.If you are afraid to offend somebody by throwing away a gift (like a hideous vase that you got from your mother-in-law) – talk to them honestly. Stuffing your house with things that you do not like and do not need won’t make anybody happy. You can even create a list of things that you do not want people giving you (I am personally pretty particular about interior decorations and kitchen utensils.) Let your family and friends know about them and ask them to create similar lists for you. Memories. Some memories (especially negative ones) can suffocate you. You need to find strength to forgive the person or even yourself for what happened. There is no way to change your past but there is a way to change your future. Grasp the moment and focus on living in the present. Stuff. Don’t let your house turn into a junkyard by preserving every drawing that your child made or keeping every single thing that your family members gave you. Thankfully today we can document most memories with pictures or videos that take no physical space (if you keep them on your computer of course.) Keep only mementos that are truly important (your child’s first drawing or a vase that have been passed through generations in your family) and preserve the other ones digitally. Simplicity becomes very easy and enjoyable if you approach it with balance. Keep decluttering your life until you feel completely comfortable with the results and until you feel simply in balance inside and out. Read more from Anastasiya at her blog, Balance In Me, and check out her upcoming virtual retreat Simplify Your Life with Balance: 30 days to declutter your lifestyle.

Meet Carrie Hedstrom!

Hello My Friends;

I'm pleased to share with you this guest post from someone many of you may already know, Carrie Hedstrom. For those of you who don't know Carrie, she is a wife, mother of five (she gave birth to all of them), ironwoman competitor, triathlete, Zumba groover, Sacred Sweater, and an inspiration to me.

Carrie has every reason to say that she is just too busy to exercise but she refuses to make excuses. Instead, she has decided to work on her six-pack abs goal and is doing an amazing job.

This post is a little longer than usual but worth the read. Prepare to be inspired! Thanks for taking the time to share some of your secrets with us Carrie.

In 7 weeks I lost 5 lbs of fat and gained 5 lbs of muscle (130lbs to 125lbs) and dropped from 18% bodyfat to 15%. Not just any 7 weeks of the year: the 7 weeks starting with Thanksgiving and ending right after the New Year! I consider these weeks be the toughest “eating” weeks of the year! Here are some of my secrets.

· Setting goals and Priorities is the first step. Your goals must be specific, have a timeframe and must be positive in nature. For example, “It is April 18th 2011 and I weight 122 lbs and have 14% bodyfat.” Second, your priorities must be in line with your goals. I am in a place in my life right now when I can make fat loss my priority. In a few months, however, I will start to ramp up my Ironman Triathlon training. When that happens, it will not be realistic, safe, or even possible to maintain a significant calorie deficit for fat loss while putting in long hours and crazy mileage of tri training.
· 4 key factors to success
1. Set you goals. Write them down. Pick out some trusted and supportive friends to share them with. Surround yourself with positive and supportive people with similar goals or at least similar attitudes about success and fitness.
2. Nutrition. My eating plan consists of 5 meals a day that include a protein, carb and healthy fat. I eat them about every 3 hours. (no less than 2, no more than 4 hours apart). I cycle my days so that I eat 3 days at 15-20% below my baseline caloric intake and then I have 1 day of baseline caloric intake. This technique accomplishes a few things:
1. It keeps my metabolism at a steady rate of burn and revs it up again after 3 days of deficit so that I do not go into “starvation mode” and adapt to the low calories.
2. It keeps my energy levels, blood sugar, and hormones balanced
3. Provides a psychological relief from the “dieting” of the low days.
4. I can plan my high days when I know I have something I want to enjoy that involves food like going out to eat or a party.
* I also plan in one “Free Meal” a week. This is not a feeding frenzy. But a scheduled meal in which I simply do not think at all about the nutritional value of the meal. This is a huge help especially if you plan it. That way if you are tempted during the week, you can ask yourself, “Is this better than my treat I know is coming up?” If the answer is yes, then go ahead and make that your treat and adjust your plan accordingly and if the answer is no, then it will be easier to resist knowing you have something better planned.

Within my 5 meal a day plan I also organize the meals so that is I am training in the morning, I eat more calories and carbs in the morning. If I train in the evening I eat less in the morning and have more carbs and cals around my work out. So I never cut out carbs, I just taper off the starchy carbs throughout the day so I am eating mostly protein and fibrous carbs in the evening.

For Example: Meal 1: Oatmeal, skim milk, whey protein shake
(pre workout)
Meal 2: 3 egg whites, 1 whole egg, milk, oatmeal, whey protein (post workout)
Meal 3: tuna, rice or baked potato, salad with olive oil dress
Meal 4: greek yogurt, fruit
Meal 5: grilled chicken and broccoli
(note: on the baseline days my extra calories come from more carbs. So basically I add a starchy carb to the last 2 meals on those days) For those who attend HIT on Tues&Thurs, your day would be in reverse of this—bracketing your HIT class with meals 1&2.

3. Training: For the most fat loss I make sure I have a good balance of weightlifting AND cardiovascular training.

Weightlifting: I lift weights 6 days a week. My routine is a 3 day split: Push/Abs, Pull, Legs/Abs with one day off. For beginners, I would recommend 3-4 days a week with 1-2 days of rest in between Total Body Workout or Upper/Lower Split.
Total Body: start with your largest muscles and alternate between push and pull motions. Ex. Back/Chest
Quads/Hams
Shoulder/Abs
Biceps/Triceps
Upper/Lower split: Do upper on one day and lower/abs the next with a day off in between. Ex. Day 1: Chest, Back, Shoulders, Biceps, Triceps
Day 2: Quads, Hamstrings, lower back, abs
Day 3: Rest

Cardio: HIIT (High intensity Interval Training) is the optimal form of cardio for fat burning. This means raising your heart rate within its aerobic zone for 2-5 minute intervals over the course of 45-60 minutes. You can get a heart rate monitor to make sure you are actually working within your target zones. Ally’s HIT class is a fun and dynamic way to achieve this. Some other good forms of HIIT are Group Kick, Zumba, Sacred Sweat at High Mountain Hall, swimming in sprint intervals, running hills or speedwork on the track, spinning class, or intervals on the elliptical machine. I prefer classes because I can set my own intensity and allow the instructor to motivate me out of my comfort zones. I do cardio 6-7 days a week. (sometimes I do a double session cardio day and take one day off)

My routine is advanced. For those of you attending HIT, adding 3-4 days of weightlifting and one more cardio session would boost your fat loss. Group Power at the Y is a good class for beginners to get a total body workout with rest days in between. Because of its timing it would be a good compliment to HIT.


4. Tracking and Accountability. Keep records of your stats and track them weekly. Record your weight and measurements. Don’t rely just on scale weight. It is quite possible to gain muscle and burn fat at the same time and the results of that may not show up on the scale which can be frustrating. Find some way of tracking your body fat that works for you (it doesn’t have to be accurate—just the same method every time so you can have a baseline to compare). Take before and after photos. It is unnerving to take these pictures, but you really can see changes over time that you may not notice by looking in the mirror every day. Having a friend or group that you must check in with and be accountable may deter you from making a poor choice.

I have 5 children (2 are at home with me during the day). My priorities in life are:
1. Taking care of my home and family
2. My personal fitness goals (to include triathlon training and off-season training)
3. My quilting.

Here are some key personal decisions that help me achieve my goals

· I don’t drink alcohol. Alcohol has not been a part of my life for about 13 years. I know if I did drink, it would undermine even my best fat loss and fitness efforts.
· I get plenty of sleep.
· I try to drink a “ton” of water.
· I don’t have TV.
· I have lots of good sex (I don’t know if that helps—just throwing it out there!)
· I always carry around a jar of dry whey protein powder and piece of fruit so I am never caught without a protein and carb and therefore never miss a meal.
· I try to always give 100% effort at every workout. Otherwise, I don’t bother. Every week I try to make one little change to increase the effort or intensity of my workouts. For example, at HIT, you could this week, try to go lower on your pushups, squat deeper, wear wrist or ankle weights, do one more rep, increase your dumbbell weight, lift your knees higher, crunch harder than last week. Pick one thing and commit to it.

I have reset my goals for the next 12 weeks. Starting January 24th and ending April 18th. I will practice what I am preaching here. My goal is to achieve 122 lbs with 14% bodyfat with the idea of getting closer to my ultimate goal: I want to see my abs. I am always willing to answer questions or clarify anything, and I am always open to advice. What works for you? I’d love to be able to add some “secrets” to my repertoire. I appreciate your time and will keep you posted on my progress over the next 12 weeks. Thanks! -~Carrie~

Southern Food Not Good For Six Pack Abs

Hello My Friends;

I apologize for being absent from the blogging world recently.

The picture is taken in Savannah, Georgia at this enormous candy store. Evan was in Heaven, I was sure I was in Hell!

I'm down here in the sunny (but chilly) south and thought I would share with you some of my thoughts on southern food. Well I don't have many thoughts, really. Just this one....IT"S TERRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been complaining about the food down here since David and I started spending time here two years ago. If it's not fried it's so loaded with salt you need to drink a gallon of water after your meal. I remember going to this one restaurant and when the waitress told me that the veg of the day was green beans and I asked her how they were prepared she looked at me like I had just spoken a language foreign to her. She told me they were boiled. What she didn't tell me that they were out of a can and boiled until they were not green anymore but some shade of gray and as mushy as your mind will let you imagine.

Then there's the grits. Can any of my southern friends (I'm sure I have a few out there) tell me exactly what are grits???? Planning on taking my Dad out for breakfast one morning so he can at least say he had grits.

Now don't get me wrong. Not all places that we have tried are bad. We have our favorite sushi restaurant (so far) called The Sushi House just up the street from us and then there is Pompeo's. The most authentic Italian restaurant I have experienced. We love it when Mario, the owner/chef comes to our table to check in with us and talks in his think Italian accent. Just look out when you decide to order your meal without pasta! David has tried this in the past only to have Mario come to the table with a steaming bowl of pasta and say "You musta eata the pasta" When David tries to explain that he is watching his carb intake Mario responds by telling him he is also watching his carb intake. He says this while he rubs in very round belly and says, " Butta you musta hava the pasta, justa little bit." How can you say no to that! We are planning to go to Pompeo's this Sunday and I'm already trying to figure out how I am going to order my meal without the pasta. Mario's son, Mario Jr. is the waiter and I'm hoping that between the two of us we can come up with a plan. Mario Jr. is not quite as "old school" as his father.

It is here in the south that I have seen some of the most obese people that I have ever laid eyes on. I want so badly to go to these men and women and talk to them. I want them to know that I see them and that I see their beauty in spite of their size. I watch them and I watch how other people avoid making eye contact with them. I make eye contact when appropriate and say hello. I want to tell them that they can make a different choice but if they are southern and the southern style of eating has been ingrained in them, that change will be difficult.

As for my six pack abs, I knew being here would be a challenge. I have been eating more carbs and more salt than I normally do but fortunately I have also been working out a fair amount. My Dad keeps telling people that he's at Ally's Bootcamp because I've been dragging him, willingly, to the gym with me. He's learning all about the Body Weight Workout and I'm am learning that my Dad is a pretty tough, stubborn guy. I'm pretty sure that he thought I was going to kill him on day one but he keeps asking for more!

So, to conclude, I'm still on my six pack journey. I'm not there yet, and maybe it will be a long time before I get there but I'm not giving up. NEVER GIVE UP!

I hope you all have a healthy and happy New Year!

Six Pack Abs - Still A Work In Progress

Hello Friends;

Well, my deadline for six pack abs has come and gone and those buggers still won't show themselves!!! It's not their fault, I know, its the fault of the owner of the six pack abs.

When I started this journey back in September I remember being SO pumped, SO motivated, SO ready to do this! I was off to a great start but allowed myself to become derailed in October when my Dad and his chocolate-toting girlfriend (love you Annette!) came for a visit. I just decided to let loose. I tried to get back on track and for a while I did but then our out of town family arrived for an early Thanksgiving. I have been struggling ever since!

Our last family member leaves today (We will miss you and your delicious crab rangoons, Tori!). It is time for me to recommit myself to this process. I have not given up on my goal. My next goal date is January 15th. Yes, I realize that Christmas and New Year's Eve fall in this time period but what I have learned is that there is always some event, holiday or chocolate-toting friend lurking around the corner. I need to learn how to navigate these "events" and not let any one of them derail my goal.

In the beginning of this journey I created some "rules". The only one that was easy for me not to break was no alcohol. I enjoyed a glass of wine at our Thanksgiving meal and have not had one since. I will continue with that rule as it is an easy one for me to adhere to but for now I'll loosen up on the others and see where this journey takes me.

I have included my "before and after" pictures. Not where I want to be but a definite improvement.

I hope this blog will inspire you to recommit to any of your goals that you are challenged by or to pick a new one to accomplish.

Hang in there, take it one day at a time and LOVE YOURSELF NO MATTER WHAT!!!!!!

Sixteen More Days to Six Pack Abs

Hello My Friends;

Yes, it's true. I have just 16 more days to go on this journey to six pack abs. Am I going to be where I had hoped to be? Probably not. I got a little sidetracked along the way but I have made progress. I am seeing a difference, not so much on the scale (which really doesn't matter much to me) but in the look of my abdominals. I still have that pesky layer of fat, but I think it's "thinning out". The Newman's Oreo that I just had to eat today to see if it was stale or not probably wasn't the best choice!

So here's where I am at with this process. Life gets in the way! Well, does it really? I suppose so or is just my inability or unwantingness to be disciplined, to say NO when someone brings me a treat? It goes back to that not wanting to offend people when they are kind enough to bring you a special treat. It means that they thought of you in that moment and don't we all love when someone thinks enough of us to do something special. I will continue to work on this.

My plan for the next 16 days includes more protein shakes, raw veggies, getting outdoors for a hike or walk at least once a week and stretching more. I may not have the six pack that I am looking for my November 26 so you might just have to keep journeying with me until Christmas!!

Where are you at with the goals you planned for yourself? Feel free to leave comments, thoughts or questions.

Six Pack Abs - Obstacles (Week 8)

Hello Everyone;

So, today marks the beginning of week 8 of my journey to achieve six-pack abs. I'm not there YET. Well, the abs are there, but they are still covered by a layer of stubborn adipose tissue (a.k.a. fat).

This week I wanted to talk about obstacles. They are EVERYWHERE!!! My Dad and his girlfriend arrived last Saturday which means that my normal routine has changed, including my nutrition plan. My Dad's girlfriend happens to work for a company that sells chocolate (in case you forgot, I decided to give up chocolate for the rest of this journey). Annette, being the sweet and generous person that I am learning she is, brought along a "few" samples of the chocolate she sells (now the picture makes sense). Here is where the obstacles begin. Not wanting my guest to feel slighted, I decide to sample some of the chocolate. I got to thinking about that. Did I really not want to offend my guest by not trying it, because I'm sure that she would have understood if I told her that, for right now, I had to pass on sampling the chocolate, or did I just want to eat the chocolate and using the "Don't want to offend" excuse worked really well to allow me to do just that?

YES, I really wanted to eat the chocolate, therefore, I used the "Don't want to offend" excuse to my advantage, or would that be to my disadvantage?? If Annette had brought Vegemite with her, would I have been so eager to "not offend"? Probably not.

So, I enjoyed (almost without guilt) a delicious dark chocolate bar infused with lemon bits over the course of two days. A few days later, when David opened up another bar in front of me (to my shock and horror) I decided to resist the temptation. The bar has been sitting there since, quietly calling out to me, but I have not answered it's call.

Yesterday, Annette showed me how to make cabbage rolls. I looked forward to eating them all day! They did not disappoint, nor did the apple crisp with vanilla ice cream that we enjoyed for dessert.

It's really hard (at least for me) to stick to eating perfectly clean when I have guests. Eating is such a social activity. It's fun to sit around enjoying a nice meal together, sharing time, stories and memories. You get caught up in that. On a positive note (because I am a positive person), it has not been a total disaster. When I know that I am going to eat a scruptuous meal, I am careful about my other food choices throughout the day. For instance, tonight we are going out to eat so I will keep it relatively light for the day and enjoy a great meal out with my family tonight. It's all about enjoying life!

I have four weeks left to go on this journey that I started in September. I am pretty sure that I won't be where I wanted to be, but I know that there will be a visible improvement. At this point, I intend to enjoy a delicious Thanksgiving dinner, then get right back to it until Christmas. I WILL achieve my goal of a six-pack, it just might take me a little longer to get there.

What are you working on this week and what are the obstacles getting in your way?

Six Pack Abs - Half Way There

Well, I may be half way there in terms of time but I feel like I have gone backwards instead of forward! I have broken every "rule" that I established with the exception of no alcohol. That is very easy for me. Luckily, for me, I am not the type of person to get bogged down in negativity so onward and upward!

I have decided that I have to eliminate chocolate for now as I just don't seem to be willing to control my consumption of it. Sugar is definitely my Kryptonite for sure! Over the next six weeks I am going to work on eliminating it from my diet. That will surely help with achieving six pack abs but more than that, I think I will just generally feel better.

Over the next six weeks I plan on really refining my diet. I will keep it simple, sticking to lots of veggies, fresh fruit and the best sources of protein available to me. I hope to include a little more cardio in my fitness schedule and would love to try running again but am still working on rehabilitating my right ankle.

I am including a picture that I took a week ago. I see a slight difference but I am hoping for much better results in six weeks.

A big THANK YOU to everyone who has been encouraging and supportive to me along this journey. I truly appreciate your kind words and thoughts. I hope that I have inspired you to work toward a goal that is important to you!