Last night I mentioned how I suspended in-studio weather coverage at 11:30pm. I was actually reactivated and headed back to the studio at 1:20am, finished and was back home shortly after 3am, overslept for obvious reasons and was an hour late joining my morning show, already in progress, shortly after 7:00am.
I made it through the rest of my show, daily after show duties and to a remote broadcast from the VFW's 70th Anniversary of D-Day event. As soon as my broadcast ended at 1pm, I was done for the day. I didn't get home until after 2pm. I prepared a nice lunch, stayed up a little while and then took a much needed nap.
Even though it was a crazy schedule today, I didn't sacrifice my resolve to eat better and take extraordinary care. This is the season for these kinds of fluctuations in my schedule and as long as I'm aware of what I need and make taking care important, I can get through. And really, this type of inconsistent schedule only happens about 2-3 months out of the year. It just so happens we're right smack dab in the middle of it now...at the same time I'm doing my best to take extraordinary care. I suppose my definition of extraordinary care is somewhat forced to change and adapt along with the schedule. Today it meant making sure I had adequate food and a solid nap as soon as possible. I did both.
I hit the YMCA for my workout late this afternoon and I must admit, I didn't want to do it at all. Despite the fact that I'm certain of how good it feels to do and the positive transformative effect it has on my mood, I still preferred to not do it today. I had just finished a wonderful nap where I slept soundly and with excellent quality, so I couldn't necessarily say I was tired. I just wasn't feeling it. Not everyday will be a rah rah rah kind of day. Not everyday will be ripe with exclamation points. Some are just days where we're happy making it through doing the absolute minimum we must, while promising a bigger effort later. I get that.
Trusting in the certainty of sports science, specifically how the body experiences a bio-chemical reaction while exercising, I got all Mr. Wizard on myself, and in little time was convinced I needed to climb aboard the magical elliptical. I did and as expected, it was awesome. Maybe I talked myself into feeling better than normal, I don't know--but I must say, I walked out of that workout feeling twice as good as I normally do.
My body is experiencing a bio-chemical reaction. A tangible substance has been released into my blood stream. I feel like fighting a tiger.
— Sean Anderson (@SeanAAnderson) June 6, 2014
Adding to my gratitude list: Thankful we don't live around wild tigers. I'm pretty sure I'd get in over my head real fast.
— Sean Anderson (@SeanAAnderson) June 6, 2014
Perhaps the better than normal feeling was because I overcame my own resistance. Usually I head to the Y with an attitude of let's go! Today it was Do we really have to today? I have allowed myself a day off from exercise every now and then and I will on a regular basis, but today's resistance wasn't necessary. I'm so glad I did it anyway.
I'm so glad the weekend is here. I've been well intentioned about replying to comments and emails this week but I've done a poor job actually doing it. The weekend gives me an opportunity to get caught up and I'm looking forward to doing this tomorrow morning and afternoon. I have a three hour broadcast from a car dealership in the middle of that plan. Interacting and engaging in conversation with you about the challenges and successes along this road is one of my favorite things to do. It helps me tremendously to be supportive to those who have been incredibly supportive to me. We're all in this together. Our paths might be different, what works for me may not work for you, but we share some commonalities and truths that are universal to our journey, and in those we find a powerful connection. It's a connection that creates a mutually positive experience.
I enjoyed dinner out tonight with my oldest daughter Amber and her boyfriend KL. I enjoyed the Hawaiian Fajitas again. It was phenomenal as usual. It feels very strange to be able to go in with a plan and stick to it without hesitation. My strategy involved eating three of the combination steak/chicken/shrimp/grilled pineapple fajitas with corn tortillas instead of flour (almost half the calories of the flour) and a smear of sour cream on each. No beans, no rice, no guac and no chips. I enjoyed a fabulously satisfying meal out and I kept it under 500 calories. This is working for me and I feel very good about how I enjoyed the meal and the conversation.
One of the things I'm working on is finding a balance within my relationships while taking extraordinary care. I'm making a point to call my daughters more often, talk with mom more and basically enjoy this process of transformation without getting overwhelmed and all consumed. I feel good about my progress in that department. I wasn't very good at this during my initial weight loss. But now I recognize how imperative it is to take a well measured approach and not lose touch with the ones we love in the name of focus. Ultimately, this journey for me is about incorporating the standards and practices giving me the best chance at a well balanced life of recovery, while still maintaining a life--and if I can do that, I believe it's then something I can maintain for the rest of my life.
It was a good day today despite the crazy work schedule of the last several days. Storms are rolling through as I write this and it's nice to hear them roll without rushing to the studio for coverage. A colleague of mine is doing the coverage tonight.
I invite you to join me on Twitter for the live-tweeting of my food and exercise along the way. The twitter feed is one of the best accountability measures I've taken. It's having a tremendously positive effect on my eating habits. My love of cheese was mentioned recently and yes, I admit--I love cheese. One thing you'll notice, I don't allow "block" cheeses and I rarely have cottage cheese. I love cottage cheese too much. My previous doctor once suggested look at the sodium content in cottage cheese, so I did and was shocked at how much salt it contained. I don't trust myself with block or cottage cheese. I stick to pre-portioned slices with set calorie counts. I'm feeling good about my behavior around the Laughing Cow wedges. I'm eating them in moderation. I was initially worried about if I could keep them in the fridge without binging on them and so far I've been successful. When I eat a shredded cheese variety, it's always measured and counted--either 28 grams for a full serving or 14 grams for a half serving, if that will do.
If my food scale ever breaks, it'll be something I immediately replace!
Thank you for reading and your support,
strength,
Sean
"One of the things I'm working on is finding a balance...and basically enjoy this process of transformation without getting overwhelmed and all consumed. I feel good about my progress in that department. I wasn't very good at this during my initial weight loss. But now I recognize how imperative it is to take a well measured approach.... Ultimately, this journey for me is about incorporating the standards and practices giving me the best chance at a well balanced life of recovery, while still maintaining a life--and if I can do that, I believe it's then something I can maintain for the rest of my life."
ReplyDeleteGreat minds think alike. I talked about obsessive focus while trying to lose wight on my last post, too. You you wrote it better and more succinctly.
Deb
Great minds do think alike, Deb!! And I'm honored to be in your company! We must have enough compassion for ourselves to find the balance. Headed over to your blog... ;)
DeleteGreat job taking care of yourself. I definitely find spending time with my friends and love ones so important to my mental well being. Supporting others really supports me more too :) so nice having your words to read each day I always look forward to your posts :)
ReplyDeleteDawn, you're truly one of the best, thank you. It is so crucial to make time for family and friends and make time to offer as much support as possible to others along this road. It all comes back to us ten fold. I sincerely appreciate your wonderful support!
DeleteI would like to specifically comment on cheese. This may shock some, but I have lost 85 pounds these past 160 days eating 70 pounds of full fat cheese, or about 3 pounds per week with little or no exercise. Cheese has become a great alley, weight loss food for me with my new natural eating habits which includes no sweeteners or sugar. When I do not have the normal time to prepare my daily food like I prefer. When I know I leave my house and will have to rely on bringing me something with to eat during the day. For those days, my day always starts out with 4 eggs over easy, 14 grams of butter and half carton of egg beaters, gone to the farm and work all day packing just a 6 1/2 liter pack of water, 4 ounces of cheese and two whole fruit. I find this combination, 500 breakfast, and 580 lunch takes me effortlessly all day until evening when I have time to finishing out the day loading up on 7-8 servings of vegetables & meat. In fact these busy on the run days are also my greatest weight loss days. The 4 egg plus egg beaters breakfast at 8AM takes me to 12-1pm, for 2 ounce cheese snack and one whole fresh fruit followed up the same around 3-4pm. After having my 6-7 serving vegetable and meat dinner I end the day with a late evening 2 ounce full fat cheese. Which helps keep the fat burner going a little more when I am sleeping.
ReplyDeleteIf I am working late at night I can not think of or have experienced any 220 calorie snack that would keep me more satisfied than 2 ounces of cheese and a bottle of water. I have come to the conclusion the most important benefit of cheese is it speeds up my metabolism when sugar, starch or wheat is not present. Fat is the first nutrient, my body will burn when sugar, starch and wheat are not present. Because my body is forced to burn fat from the morning eggs and afternoon cheese it turns on the fat burners. Once my fat burners have been turned on, shortly after eating a meal high in fat I will continue to be full for very long times due to the fullness associated from the body burning the fat from the cheese then the body. I storngly believe my metabolism speeds up causing my body to burn as much as 500 more calories per day.
Lastly, I noticed eating with meals, cheese is more of a calorie burden, however when having cheese alone, as a snack or meal, it can't be topped. I guess being a cheese-head from Wisconsin, 70 miles within 10 cheese factories, worlds best cheese curds, monterey's, coby's, and Guada's it's no wonder I am so excited to let you all know it's very possible to consume 2-3 pounds of full fat cheese every week of your life, loose and eventually maintain a very healthy & normal weight. Funny part is my old eating habits I always went low fat trying to loose weight or not and thought cottage, fat free, reduced fat thinking the amount of fat I had in my diet was the problem. Here all along fat content in my diet was the most helpful while sugar, starch and wheat mixed with the fat was causing all the problems.
Sean, this is a suggestion only I am hopeful you will consider, one that might surprise you. Maybe once a week, reserve 330 from your calorie bank and have a three ounce piece of your favorite full fat cheese as a meal or snack during day or evening. During the days your planned schedule changes the most, for example working late at night. If I can do 6 ounces everyday, loosing 15 pounds a month I see your no reason to be concerned about cheese. I honestly believe consuming enough of the food highest in fat you enjoy most will also help turn your fat burner on, speed up your metabolism. Replace the reduced fat versions for full fat. For your love of cheese, my love of cheese I positively encourage you to experiment.
Jon, thank you for this! I'm a lifelong cheese lover, indeed. I'm always impressed with your knowledge and how much you've discovered about yourself along this road. Your love of cheese is a joy to read about and makes perfect sense, since you hail from Wisconsin! The best cheese I've ever enjoyed was during a trip to Wisconsin several years ago. I'll see about your suggestion once a week... By the way...your last line had me smiling ear to ear... because in my mind, I added a patriotic sounding soundtrack to it... "For your love of cheese, my love of cheese I positively encourage you to experiment." You're awesome, Jon.
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