Getting my priorities straight

A few days ago I had a ligtning-bolt thought. There never seems to be enough time for all the things I want to get done. Then I realized something, I'm putting too much time into things that aren't really that important, and the really important things in my life are being ignored.

I spend too much of my precious time on my hair, makeup and nails. It's become a borderline obsession with me. Is my hair healthy? Is it the "right" shade of blond, should it be lighter or darker? If I wear it straight, is is straight enough or is that a bit of natural curl I see? If I wear it in "beachy" waves, is it too curly or not wavy enough? Is that a split end I see?! It's ridiculous how much time, energy and money I put into worrying and fussing over my hair, and I won't even go into my makeup and nails.

My thought that woke me up:

Does any of this stuff really matter when my body is at least 75 pounds overweight?

Maybe I should focus on my biggest problem, which has nothing to do with my hair, makeup or nails. My body is the first thing people see when they look at me. I doubt they notice the perfect hair, flawless makeup, and the perfectly manicured nails. Okay, I exaggerate a little  - those are my goals that I spend a lot of time trying to obtain, and never really reach. Which means it's pretty much a big waste of time.

It's the body that makes the biggest impression. Beyond what other people think of me, isn't the most important thing for myself is that I'm living a healthy lifestyle? That I feel physically healthy, and I have energy to get through the day. Packing around an extra 75 pounds doesn't feel good, and it's exhausting. Who cares about the hair, makeup and nails if I feel horrible because of my weight.

I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but I work with mostly young men (early 30's) that are all physically fit. I'm a sixty-year old female who is terribly out of shape. I already don't "fit in" to the mold, but with the added weight, I'm even more of an outsider. I can't change my gender or my age, but I can sure do something about my weight.

I've made some very conscious changes this weekend, that I plan on carrying into my workweek:

1. A simpler hairstyle

This is going to be a struggle, but I don't need to look like I just stepped out of a salon when I go to work (I work in IT - software development). I haven't quite figured out an easy style that I don't hate, but I'm trying different things. So far a simple blowout seems the fastest and easiest. Surprisingly, it doesn't look as hideous as I thought it would.

2. Less makeup.

This one is easier for me - this make-up for older women article helped. Somehow I got carried away with eye shadows, eye liners, lots of mascara, and trying to get flawless looking skin. Seriously, it's 60-year old skin. It's never going to look flawless again, even with a lot of expensive products.

3. Bare nails

I've worn nail polish for most of my life. This will probably be the biggest challenge for me, although not worrying about a chip in my polish will be very freeing. I loved gel nails, but I gave them up after the cancer. Somehow soaking my nails in acetone for ten minutes every couple of weeks didn't seem to be a good idea. Most nail polishes contain toxic chemicals so I've already thought I should stop because of the cancer.

This is going to free up a lot of time (and money). You may be wondering what I'm going to do with all that free time.

New Priorities

1. Morning gym

For almost three years I went to the gym at least four times during the work week, at 5am. Then one day in 2012 I stopped. I don't even remember why, but I just stopped. The weight came back on (75 pounds) which made it even harder to get my big, fat butt out of bed in the morning and off to the gym.

2. 10,000 steps

I was diligent about this with my FitBit. Even at my highest weight, I would get in my 10,000 steps on most days. Then I stopped caring. Again, I don't know why. I'm also really disappointed that the Weight Watcher app no longer supports the Apple watch, my extravagant Christmas gift to myself. I love all the Apple watch features, but I miss syncing my activity.

3. Track my food in my Weight Watchers app AND stay within my Point limit

This is easier if I eat healthier, but when I eat poorly I don't want to see how bad I did. If I always track, it's an incentive to stay on the right track.

4. Weigh every day

This works for me. A lot of people disagree, but I need to do a daily checkin on myself. It's so easy to avoid the scale and gain five pounds (I just did that!).

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I downloaded the Habit List app on my phone. It's not fancy, but is just a list of habits that you set up yourself. You can set reminders and at the end of the day you can check off the things you completed. Then it tells you your "streak" of days of being successful, and it has a completion rate.  So far, it's really helpful in keeping me on track. Please note that "Update blog" is on the list, so I will be back tomorrow!

Day 2 of my plan (and still excited!)

I'm still psyched about having a short-term goal. If you read yesterday's post, I have 6-week plan to reach 152 pounds. That's not my final goal weight, but it's a step in the right direction (final goal weight is still 135).

Yesterday was a near perfect day for eating and exercise. I know I can't be that perfect every day, but it's what I'm striving to attain on a fairly consistent basis.

My workout yesterday
10 minutes warmup on the elliptical
30 minutes on Sadie (StairMaster)

For my strength routine I do the pyramid sets, starting with the lighter weight, more reps, then higher weights with few reps. Below are the reps/weight for each set. I always do three sets of whatever exercise I'm performing, and on the last rep I go as heavy as I can handle for a minimum of eight reps. I read about this in the New Rules of Lifting for Women.

45 minutes lower body strength workout:
Leg extension 12/65 10/67.5 10/70
Seated leg curl 15/65 12/72.5 10/75
Prone leg curl 12/65 10/70 8/75
Back leg kick with cable ankly cuff 12/40 10/45 10/50
Curtsie lunges 3 sets - 20 reps
Prone leg press 12/70 12/70 12/70

Total calories burned according to my heart rate monitor was 499. According to the Activity tracker in eTools this earned me 7 APs. I only planned on using 4 of those a day.

My food was just about perfect, although a rather weird breakfast because I didn't eat before my Weight Watchers meeting at 11 a.m. Afterwards I wanted to work out so I stopped at the store and bought my breakfast, which is definitely not something I would normally eat.

Breakfast
2 boiled eggs - 4 Points
1 Lucerene light raspberry smoothie - 2 Points
1 WW Red Velvet bar (I caved and bought a box at the meeting - not very good. Tasted like chemicals.) - 1
ttl = 7

Lunch
Blackberry Smoothie:
2 cups blackberries - 2.5
WW smoothie mix - 1
1 cup 1% milk - 2
2 scoops goat whey - 3
3 cups spinach - 0
lots of ice and 1 cup water
ttl = 8.5

Dinner
Grilled 5 oz. Sockeye salmon fillet with lemon pepper - 6.5
Stuffed eggplant (delicious! I promise to share the recipe soon.) - 3
ttl = 9.5

Dessert at 9 p.m.
Jello sugar-free chocolate cup - 1
Light Redi-whip whipped cream - 1

Snack at 10 p.m. - still hungry
Sugar free hot cocoa - 1

Total = 28 Points

That was right in line with what I want to eat. My goal is a maximum of 29 Points a day. I still have some junk food in my diet, like the WW smoothie mix and the sugar-free jello pudding, but I can't go all natural. It would sort of be like me going without makeup, it's just not going to happen.

I'm not going to post all my food every day, since I'm sure people could care less what I eat. I'm mainly posting it to let you know I eat a lot, and I'm not starving myself. Looking at what I ate though, I see things I need to change. Smaller meals, and more snacks.

I also posted the "152" stickies all over the house. They're really helping me stay focused. I'm going to put them in my car too, as well as in my cubicle at work. I really don't care if people know what I weigh.

Today I'm riding my bike for 50 minutes and going to stop on the way back to pick blackberries, I love my blackberry smoothies.

I'm still....soooooo excited!