Stay Vigilant My Friends

[Dan The Man]

One of the things I've learned over and over again is to stay vigilant. Have I mentioned that I'm thick headed?

By staying vigilant I mean always keep your eye on the prize. The prize is loosing weight so you live a longer healthier life.

The minute you stop paying attention everything goes downhill and you start backsliding.

I'll give you a recent example from myself: Two weeks ago, I took a week off from walking due to a heat rash. I didn't want to aggravate it more by walking and sweating so I crossed walking off my to-do list for that week.

Not walking lead to me slipping off my diet. In my mind, I was like I'm not walking so whats the point of keeping to my diet? I see the fallacy in that logic but that doesn't mean I stuck to my diet. *face palm*

Eating crappy food became a regular thing again, late night snacks became the norm again. Not walking on top of crappy eating compounded the problem. I'd guess that one week I took off from walking set me back about 2-3 weeks as far as weight loss goes.

Getting back into the habit of walking this past week has been a bear. My joints got used to not moving as much in that week so my arthritis has been flaring up pretty good which leads me to cut my walks short. I still got 5.1 miles in this week but it would have been double that had I stayed on track.

Getting back on track diet wise has also been a battle. I was doing very good with eating at least 1 salad a day and staying away from the crap foods but now I'm almost back to square one.

Had I stayed vigilant, I would not have messed up my diet at all and maybe did some light workouts around the house.

 

[wildbirdy]

Bananas are full of potassium and are good for aches and pains after exercising, or if you have high blood pressure. Good idea to always have water with you, when you are walking and working out. A water bottle with a sling, helps keep your hands free. Hiking another great calorie burner. Take a camera along your hike won't seem as along. Snacks in the evening
I would make up a vegetable platter with some low cal vegetables such as celery, cherry tomatoes, a few pieces of carrot, and maybe just like 5 crackers, and have a low cal yogurt dip with them. Some plain popcorn with some added herbs You can do this by adding a drizzle of cooking oil over your popcorn and mixing in some favorite herbs, and if you like heat add in some hot pepper flakes.

 

[wildbirdy]

When working out, baby powder in your socks, helps with sweat and friction, and you can avoid blisters this way, especially when walking or running.

 

[wildbirdy]

When eating out lemon water with ice, is a good alternative to soda pop. I believe healthier then diet drinks.
Soup and a sandwich, better then a burger. Baked potato another good choice, without added fat toppings. a bit of Green onion, low cal dressing if desired maybe added, some mushrooms if you like them. Don't be deprived. Eat smart. Its not a diet, its a life change plan. The more fluid you add in your day, the better. Its a filler. Helps with dehydration, and keeps you more full throughout your day. Instead of nibbles. Sip.

 

[wildbirdy]

Craving a sugar fix. Try fresh strawberries, can frozen pineapple slices, frozen grapes , these are great on really hot days.
Want chocolate, that is fine, dark chocolate, have one square every other day till you have your fill. Ice cream craving, try yogurt or a homemade smoothie.. If wanting ice cream super bad, order one small one. Always think small when ordering. Try and never have sweets in the house. Make yourself have to go out for treats. Never at home. Set time up once a month you get to have something special like maybe pizza night or a favorite food just that one day you allow yourself to splurge a little.

 

[Dan The Man]

When working out, baby powder in your socks, helps with sweat and friction, and you can avoid blisters this way, especially when walking or running.

I get foot powder for $1 at my local dollar store. It's worth it, I think it's mostly talc maybe with some menthol in it. Helps keep away the atheletes foot and stuff like that by keeping my feet dry. I've found that if I walk over 2 miles (~3.2 KM) I sweat right through the powder though. Also the powder appears to deactivate the glue the holes the insole in place over time. No biggie just something I've noted.

When eating out lemon water with ice, is a good alternative to soda pop. I believe healthier then diet drinks.
Soup and a sandwich, better then a burger. Baked potato another good choice, without added fat toppings. a bit of Green onion, low cal dressing if desired maybe added, some mushrooms if you like them. Don't be deprived. Eat smart. Its not a diet, its a life change plan. The more fluid you add in your day, the better. Its a filler. Helps with dehydration, and keeps you more full throughout your day. Instead of nibbles. Sip.

I dropped soda almost completely a couple years ago. It's a rarity that I have soda now-a-days maybe once in a while at a friends house or if I'm out to dinner. It amazes how pungently sweet soda now tastes to me. It's almost disgusting. I'm usually either drinking coffee, water, iced coffee/tea. My coffees and teas are made with Splenda so I don't worry about the sugar calories.

Craving a sugar fix. Try fresh strawberries, can frozen pineapple slices, frozen grapes , these are great on really hot days.
Want chocolate, that is fine, dark chocolate, have one square every other day till you have your fill. Ice cream craving, try yogurt or a homemade smoothie.. If wanting ice cream super bad, order one small one. Always think small when ordering. Try and never have sweets in the house. Make yourself have to go out for treats. Never at home. Set time up once a month you get to have something special like maybe pizza night or a favorite food just that one day you allow yourself to splurge a little.

Oooh, I love frozen grapes and had forgotten about them! I usually buy a bag or two of frozen tropical fruit from the store. It has mango, pineapple, etc. I love eating it fresh out of the freezer. My mother thinks I'm nuts -- she'll only eat it defrosted. I find that it kills my craving for ice cream most times.

The store across the street from me has fresh fruit cups. Strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, watermelon, cantaloupe, and honeydew. I usually get them two or three times a week and will have one before bed. Even though it's natural it's still a lot of sugar before bed but I suppose it's better than eating cake before bed.

I made the mistake of buying a box of Oatmeal Cream Pies from Little Debbie a few weeks back. Them and Dunkin' sticks are really the only 2 snack cakes I like. Anyhow the box was gone in two days so now I know not to buy them anymore. I used to keep a snack drawer stocked in my nightstand but have gradually cut down to stocking nothing but gum in the past couple years.

 

[Dan The Man]

Bananas are full of potassium and are good for aches and pains after exercising, or if you have high blood pressure. Good idea to always have water with you, when you are walking and working out. A water bottle with a sling, helps keep your hands free. Hiking another great calorie burner. Take a camera along your hike won't seem as along. Snacks in the evening
I would make up a vegetable platter with some low cal vegetables such as celery, cherry tomatoes, a few pieces of carrot, and maybe just like 5 crackers, and have a low cal yogurt dip with them. Some plain popcorn with some added herbs You can do this by adding a drizzle of cooking oil over your popcorn and mixing in some favorite herbs, and if you like heat add in some hot pepper flakes.

I missed this post. I love Bananas too but they're so hard to keep in my house. They go like hot cakes.

I do like hiking and being out in nature my only issue with hiking is the often uneven terrian. I fall enough on flat land - forget about tripping over tree roots and stuff like that. I think I'll try and do some hiking at the local state land this year. I really do worry about bears in the country out here.

 

[wildbirdy]

Pure tomato juice can be another beverage that works anytime of day if you are thirsty.

 

[wildbirdy]

I missed this post. I love Bananas too but they're so hard to keep in my house. They go like hot cakes.

I do like hiking and being out in nature my only issue with hiking is the often uneven terrian. I fall enough on flat land - forget about tripping over tree roots and stuff like that. I think I'll try and do some hiking at the local state land this year. I really do worry about bears in the country out here.

Yes, I am not fan of bears, unless they are far from me, and pose no threat. I would take something with you like maybe a cow bell, to make lots of noise, and bear spray, and yeah a knife or something for protection.

 

[Dan The Man]

Pure tomato juice can be another beverage that works anytime of day if you are thirsty.

I love the taste of tomato and orange (for that matter) juice but both give me terrible heartburn so I don't drink either often.

 

[Dan The Man]

Yes, I am not fan of bears, unless they are far from me, and pose no threat. I would take something with you like maybe a cow bell, to make lots of noise, and bear spray, and yeah a knife or something for protection.

I've been thinking about getting a can of bear spray but it isn't really practical for walking in the summer. No real place to put it from what I've seen they're all fairly large aerosol cans. A cow bell would be cool but then everyone would hear me coming.

I would do a can of bear spray hiking in the woods and such but not walking beside the road even if they are country roads. Technically, I'm legally not allowed to carry any sort of pepper spray (long story) but if I'm gonna get attacked by a bear I'd rather have pepper spray than not.

A knife? Not in NY at least not one big enough to do damage to a bear I'd be arrested in a heartbeat. I think anything longer than 3-4 inches is considered a deadly weapon or something like that.

I often walk towards my local dump. It's the only flat land around and of course garbage attracts bears. I've been pretty lucky in that the few run ins I've had I was alert and far way enough to turn around before I got too close and became a bear's dinner.