Changing our Mind-Set

Good morning, everybody. Today is Wednesday, which usually means a weigh-in for me. But since Leah and I are using Thursdays as our official weigh-ins for our November Throw Down Challenge, my official weigh-in days will be Thursdays for the time being. I'll just let you all in on a secret, had today been an official weigh-in day I would have ROCKED this week. I did lose 1.5 lbs between last Wed. and Thurs. and since Thurs. was my official starting weight my loss may not be as great tomorrow. However, up until this morning I was pretty worried about my weigh in. Let's just say it usually always evens out. I guess that would be an argument against weighing yourself every day. The ups and downs can really get to you.

My thoughts today center around our mind-set. Have you been on a healthier living journey for awhile now, but still consider yourself an over-weight, over-eater and out-0f-shape person? Have you forgot to look at your progress along the way? Have you increased your exercise and still consider yourself the out-of-shape Sophomore in High School who came in last in the mile run in PE? (Oh, wait is that just me? I wasn't even really overweight, but still came in last. I did kick butt in the speed walking event, though).

Last week I laid out my exercising and eating goals for the month on here. One reader, Christina, warned against not taking in enough calories if I was upping my exercise. I read it and thought, "ppppphhh, I definitely take in plenty of calories!". Well, after feeling like I wasn't seeing the results on the scale that I would like for a couple of days. I went back to Christina's comment. I pulled out a book I own called, "Losing It!". I love this book, it is a no non-sense book about living healthily. No gimmicks, just good sound advice about eating more healthily and moving more. In the book, she has a chart to look up how many calories you should be consuming per day. It takes in account age, exercise habits and goals. I found my age (31-50) and my goal (weight loss of 1-2 lbs. per week) and then looked at the exercise options. The first being sedentary, the next moderately active and finally Active. I have been basing my calorie budget on being sedentary-moderately active during this journey, which would mean 1400-1500 calories a day. Yesterday, I decided to read the author's definition of "Active".

Here it is: "physical activity equivalent to walking more than 3 miles (or 30-90 minutes) at 3-4 miles per hour on most days of the week"

I thought, "Ha, that's me! I am physically ACTIVE!" Now, why had I not realized this before? I think we think of people who run 7 miles a day and train for marathons or triathlons to be the really active ones. I am not that active. How could somebody who is still considered overweight on the BMI chart be considered an Active exerciser? That was my mindset. So I have adjusted my calorie goals to be 1700/day. Now, because I have been too much in the "diet mindset" it scares me to death to think I should be upping my calorie intake. It really does. But I will trust it for this month and see what happens. Of course, this means I cannot let up on my exercise routine. Also, I realize that I should make those extra calories good ones. I think I'll add more nuts and peanut butter. Love those!

Have you noticed ways that you need to change your mindset? Take a look at yourself wherever you are at in your journey. You may still have a long way to go to meet all your big goals, but take the time to see how far you have come. Today I celebrate the fact that I walk/run 3.25 miles on most days and in the beginning just getting to 2.25 miles was cause to rejoice. And then after I do that, I ride the exercise bike for another 10 miles . AND on T/TH I add 45 minutes of strength training into the mix. Yes, I am physically ACTIVE! What will you celebrate?