Weighing In with Wynonna ~ week three

Week three of the 7MSN 12-week fitness challenge has come to an end. Let's check in with Wynonna to see if she has any words of wisdom to keep us all motivated as we move onward.

Me: Excuse me, Wynonna? Could you stop eating for a second? Your adoring public awaits your sage advice.

Wynonna: nom-nom-nom-nom-nom

I think she said "eat your vegetables."

For me, getting started with this challenge was the hard part; sticking to it is getting easier as the weeks go by. Here is what I have learned so far:

1. Living in the middle of nowhere is a serious advantage when trying to eat better and drop a few pounds – Domino's doesn't deliver.

2. My willpower only has to last as long as I'm in the grocery store, then I'm good for the rest of the week. If I don't buy it, I can't eat it. 

3. I am a total creature of habit, and my newest habit is turning on a workout DVD after the evening news.

4. Seeing results is a huge motivator. Being able to put on my tightest jeans straight from the dryer and having them feel loose is just plain great. Makes me want to dig to the bottom of my jeans drawer, find that smaller size that's been buried since 2005, and keep on working to fit into them.

So what's keeping you motivated? Any self-discoveries that you can share to keep us going for another week? Do tell.

Weighing In with Wynonna ~ week two

Here we are at the end of week two of the 7MSN 12-week get-in-shape-by-spring fitness challenge. Just when I said I would never use the weather as an excuse not to go for my daily walk, in comes the storm of the century. So I missed a couple of walks, but I think I made up for it by doing "extreme chores."  Heck, just getting dressed to go outside was a calorie-burner. I've been able to stick with the 30-day shred DVD, too, which surprises me. I thought I'd be totally bored and over it by now. What I really like about it is that it's a 20-minute workout, albeit a very intense 20 minutes. I can do anything for 20 minutes. And I'm amazed at how much stronger and fit I'm getting with each day's workout.

Anyway, last week, we talked about the exercise component of getting in shape; today, we'll focus on the other part of equation – eating.

Sorry, Wynonna, seconds are not part of your daily calorie allotment.

I'm not crazy about counting calories, but I know if I limit myself to around 1,200 calories per day and get more exercise than I usually do, I will lose weight. I'm a weirdo who can eat the same things every day and be perfectly content. So when I started this challenge, I came up with a 1,200-calorie daily menu of satisfying foods that I like and would normally eat anyway. It makes grocery shopping easy, I'm not starving, and it's been a piece of cake to stick to...minus the piece of cake.

Breakfast:
2 packets of sugar-free maple and cinnamon flavored oatmeal = 200 calories
2 giant cups coffee with a little half and half and a teaspoon of sugar = 56 calories

Lunch:
Progresso Light Santa Fe Style Chicken soup = 160 calories
Saltine crackers = 72 calories
Dried apricots or craisins = 70

Dinner:
Caprese Frittata with sun-dried tomatoes, mozzarella, and fresh basil = 338 calories
Here's the link to the original recipe - I've modified it to use 3 eggs instead of 2,  and 1/3 cup of shredded part-skim mozzarella instead of the fresh, whole milk kind
Roasted fresh vegetables (green beans, sweet potato, brocolli, cauliflower, zucchini, yellow squash or some combination thereof) = 200 calories

Bedtime snack: Yoplait Lite Yogurt = 100 calories

Total = 1,196 calories


This is dinner – a plate full of very tasty food:

I could eat this every day even if I weren't trying to lose weight. It tastes great, it's filling, and there's a whole lot of food there.

My latest guilt-free snack discovery is this "dessert gum." I've tried the Key Lime and Mint Chocolate Chip flavors, and they're spectacular.

So that's what I'm eating these days. What about you? Got a favorite recipe or meal that works for you when you're trying to eat healthy? A guilt-free snack perhaps? Do tell.

Weighing In with Wynonna ~ week one

Here we are at the end of week one of the 7MSN 12-week get-in-shape-by-spring challenge. There is no official sign-up sheet, but if you're participating, let us know how you're doing!

My approach to the challenge is to eat sensibly (sticking to around 1,200 calories per day) and burn more calories than I usually do, mainly by doing what I usually do with more intensity. Wynonna, my official trainer, had a great piece of advice for me early in the week, which I've taken seriously:

Whenever I'm outside doing chores now, instead of my casual, laid-back stroll, I run. For example, I'll scoop a pile of poop, look for the next pile, then run to it, pulling the poop cart behind me. By the time the cart is full, I'm running and pulling a 50-pound load (and sweating and gasping for breath). It's a simple way to burn more calories doing an activity that has be done anyway.

When I started this race-for-the-poop thing on Monday, it was torture, but – like the shred workout DVD – it gets easier by the day and now it's sort of fun.

So how are you getting your exercise? Have any ideas you can share with the group to keep us moving? Do tell!

Motivation

In yesterday's public proclamation of my fitness goal and desire for baggy jeans, I alluded to a recent development which is proving to be a great weight-loss motivator and which might change the course of history at the 7MSN.  I'll get to that in a minute. I think we should first put all of this into context.

Many of you were around last February when I unexpectedly lost my beloved Lyle. Will I ever be able to type that with dry eyes? Probably not.  Several weeks later, I kicked the elephant out of the room and told you I planned to get another horse because I couldn't imagine my life without riding. I even went so far as to say it would be a saddle-trained BLM mustang. But then I took Hank to the vet and learned it might be a really bad idea to bring a new horse into the herd, given the condition of his knee. In order to do right by Hank, I decided there would be no new horse in our future and life would just have to go on.

Over the course of the next eight months, we grieved and adjusted and grieved and adjusted some more, and Hank, George and Alan became a band of brothers, albeit with one of them getting more than his fair share of the hay. Then in November, Bernard from Morning Bray Farm came over for a play date with George and Alan. Hank didn't play or get physical with our guest donkey as he would a horse, and I got to thinking that maybe I could bring a new donkey into the herd permanently. The next day, I announced that my search was on for another donkey, maybe one that was saddle-trained. That was November 8. The more I thought about it, the more I knew that adding a riding donkey to the herd would be a huge win-win for Hank and for me.

But little did I know that riding donkeys rarely come up for sale. I kept checking the national equine classified ads, to no avail. I wish I could remember who said "the horse you want to buy is the one that's not for sale." Anyway, I remembered that sage advice and placed this wanted ad on Meredith Hodge's website in mid-December: I am looking for a saddle-trained donkey/burro - large standard or small mammoth, gelded male. He would be used for trail riding. I can offer him the very best home and lifestyle (learn about us at www.the7msnranch.com). Am willing to travel to find the perfect match.

I never heard from anyone.

Until last week.

I got a message from someone who had checked us out and said she may be interested in selling her donkey – her saddle-trained, in your pocket, do everything, sweetheart of a donkey. A few more messages and a long phone call later, I was ready to hook up the horse trailer and go get her. Cooler heads prevailed and I realized that the middle of winter is not a good time to be traipsing through the Rockies hauling a horse trailer. It may be April before the coast is clear to make the trip. And it may turn out that once I get there, this may not be the perfect match. But in my heart, I know it is. Still, a lot can happen between now and April and this could all blow up. But in my heart, I know it won't. Anyway, without further adieu, meet my motivation to get back into riding shape:

If this gorgeous 14-hand jenny turns out to be my new ride and I'm 99.999% certain she will, I think she'll appreciate me more if there's about 20 pounds less to appreciate. You all know there's nothing I wouldn't do for my animals, present or future, and she's all the motivation I need to meet the goal.

 *****

A few of you expressed interest in joining me in my 12-week fitness challenge - whoohoo! The more the merrier! Let's plan on meeting back here on Saturday to swap ideas on what's working, share healthy recipes, commiserate and otherwise kick each other in the butt support each other. Wynonna told me she plans to weigh in with some of her favorite weight-loss tips.