Susan Steffen

Actually, it was a let down.  David and I and Virginia drove to Heber-in high anticipation. I ordered a grilled chicken sandwich at the Dairy Keen-and an order of onion rings and a large-yes large-Pina Colada Milkshake.  I ate the tomatoes and the chicken on the sandwich (no bread or mayo); 1.5 onion rings and about 1/2 cup of milkshake. That was it-because it felt-well, uncomfortable eating junk. Yes, the milkshake was really really good-all that I remembered. But I kept tallying up the calories and I came to the conclusion it just wasn’t worth it.I watched many people in the room consume large quantities of fries and onion rings and big burgers . I thought about triglycerides and LDLs and glucose levels. It just wasn’t worth it. It feels so good to know that my cholesterol is now normal, my blood pressure is low and I have energy to hike up the mountain. It is nice to know that I have clothes that fit and don’t bind. So-tomorrow-which is actually day 100 of our challenge-will be another day of healthy eating because the gains definitely outweigh any sense of deprivation. I am just overwhelmingly grateful to whomever started this challenge-it has changed my life.

….but now they are TOO BIG! ! Yippeee

But the  jeans fitting and the weight loss are just nice extras to what the challenge has really given me.  When I started I was not that committed. I signed up because I wanted to do something to inspire my patients to take better care of themselves.  When I was chosen to participate-I was both glad and horrified. Wait a minute-I had never successfully lost more than about 8 pounds in my entire life. I had tried hard to not gain a lot of weight because I was such a lousy dieter. I LOVE FOOD. David reminds me that I am the only woman he knows who could eat him under the table and still want more. I knew that if I gained weight I had a dismal chance of losing it. “Easier to keep it off than take it off”- was my motto. But with age and menopause those pounds crept on and suddenly I felt a little hypocritical suggesting to patients that they needed to lose weight. So 100 days ago I found myself in a room full of excited, dedicated and resolute women. I remember thinking, “Oh, No! What have I gotten myself into?”  I remember telling David that I just wanted to make a good showing. I did not then, and do not now- care about winning. But I didn’t want to let my patients, my staff at the Women’s Clinic,  the Challenge sponsors, or myself, down. I wanted to make a good effort. So I set a goal which I thought was a little more than I could do…and I set to work. I had to sit down and think about what had not worked for me in the past-and what had worked-and how could I  fold all of those ideas into a regimen that would work for me given my fairly demanding life style. As I progressed I began to learn things about myself. I began to discover strengths and courage I was not aware that I had. Determination and Stubborness. The journey has been personally meaningful. I have totally enjoyed the other women and the instructors. I have made new friends and been inspired. But the real wealth has been the knowledge that I CAN do something that I did not think I could do-and be persistent and get up when I had stumbled..

What are my goals now?

1.  Maintain the weight that I have lost. I am not really thin but I have a body mass index of 22-smack dab in the middle of normal.  This is a weight I can maintain reasonably.

2.Continue to log daily what I eat. For me, there is real power in that control.

3.  Do some aerobic exercise for at least 30 minutes 6 days a week (piece of cake after the last 3 months)  and weight training at least 2X/week.

4.  Give up TAB and Diet Coke….Yes, if I can lose this much weight out of sheer determination then I can give up TAB which I have been drinking regularly since Medical School.  Just watch CocaCola’s stock take a tumble and you will know that I have been successful!

5.  Finish a mini Triathalon. David thinks I am crazy. I can do it though-I know that I can-besides-now I don’t have to lug so much body fat around.

Now, when my patients ask me how I lost the weight-they have begun to notice that I am thinner, finally-I can tell them that I did it the right way. I cut out almost all the junk  food (even Pina Colada Milkshakes), I ate good food in moderation .I enjoyed my food more and I exercised at least 30 minutes on most days. And I intend to continue doing just those things. So now, when a woman tells me she can’t lose weight, I can honestly say-”Sure you can! If I did then you can too because NOBODY loves to eat as much as your doctor. Nobody”. And I can help her devise a strategy to do it and be successful. Every patient who loses weight , because I helped her see that she could-every single pound she loses makes all the hard work I did worthwhile.

And, by the way-it is great to look good in snug Levis-I’m a girl after all

Happy Living

Susan

….it was absolutely fabulous but I blew a whole 1.2 days of calories. Ever try to figure out how many calories you ate at a buffet? Generally, I don’t go to anyplace where there are large amounts of food available-however, neither Gram , I or David wanted to cook so we decided to eat out for Mother’s Day. We had an absolutely wonderful meal and I did try to be prudent and just taste a number of things-no potatoes-no rolls. But desserts. I had to check out the chocolate cake, the bread pudding the cheesecake, the chocolate covered strawberries……So I made a mental note of everything I ate and then tried to come home and enter it into the calorie program I use. 1500 calories for one meal-more than I normally eat in a day. But that was my only meal-it was brunch so that was it. Then I took the dog for a leisurely stroll in the evening-that was all that I could manage. This morning I girded up my loins, so to speak, got on the scales with my eyes covered and finally got up the courage to peak. I had lost a pound.:) I just laughed out loud. It was so ludicrous. Tomorrow, it will be up three pounds-just you watch. But it did remind me that the most important thing is to just hop back on the wagon and off we go..  The interesting truth is that I really did not feel good eating so much food. I am happy to be back to my more spartan fare today. 1.5 weeks. I’m with everyone else-no sprinting to the finish line. No fasting-no big calorie deprivation and no 2 hours on the treadmill. I’m in this for the rest of my lifetime. I made a deal with myself that when I got on the scale this morning-if I was up a couple pounds I was not going to panic-just get back to business. Life is composed of events which will sabotage our eating regimens. So the key is to just get right back into a normal regimen and the damage is minimal. it’s when you say-well I blew it yesterday so I might as well just keep over eating today-that is where the damage is. So on we go. However, next Friday night, my husband and I have a date at the Dairy Keen in Heber. One onion ring, a small milkshake and a salad-and I’m hitting the treadmill before we go

S

2 WEEKS TOMORROW IS OUR  SWAN SONG…..

so to speak and I don’t even feel the need to eat the poor fowl.  I have eaten enough chicken in the last 12 weeks to start laying eggs. Good thing I love chicken. Grilled preferably with onions and peppers and black beans. The staples of my diet.  Oh, and enough fruit to stabilize the economy of Mexico and Chile combined.  Not to mention the frozen Costco berries, endless bags of baby carrots and handfuls of almonds. And more almonds. And more almonds……Somehow I can’t bring myself to eat beef. Not that there is anything wrong with lean beef. Don’t get me wrong. But my taste buds have changed. Oh well.  I know that once the grill comes out I will have one of David’s juicy, yummy hamburgers. Piled with onions and tomatoes and dill (not sweet) pickles. Sans bun and hold the potato salad. Fruit salad on the side and berries for dessert mixed with some low fat blueberry yogurt. Yummm……..

I think I can make my 20# goal. 2.5 # more to go. That is about the amount  my-what seems to be-amazingly slow loss-will allow.  But  I really am beginning to feel like it is real fat loss . Not water-not wishful thinking-but real fat-GONE.  My clothes are beginning to bag. I love it.  I went to an Eddie Bauer outlet in St.George last weekend and bought a new pair of pants-on sale of course-in a size I haven’t been in since  I was probably in the 6th grade! And I’m being serious here. I have always been pleasingly plump-now my husband calls me the buttless wonder!  I have to admit that I have probably been called more romantic things in my lifetime-but I’ll take it.  By the way-he is the one that wrote the last commentary on his poor starving existence in the  Sindel-Steffen household! There are rules now you know. NO ICE CREAM-being the first and most steadfast. I know my own weaknesses. I mean-why stop at a scoop when the whole 1/2 gallon is in the fridge for heaven’s sake?  I think that this will always be a rule. I cannot coexist peacefully with ice cream in the freezer. I know that-so if someone wants ice cream-off you go to the BYU Creamery-for a scoop or two.  Or to the Dairy Keen in Heber. Have I waxed eloquently lately on the virtues of their Pina Colada Milkshake? Two weeks from tomorrow I have a date with that place. Of course, I will have to spend two hours on the treadmill and pare down breakfast and lunch but that’s OK-it will be worth it. And I will continue to count every calorie for the next many many days. I have figured out that this-and weighing every day-is the key to not gaining it back.  I can probably add a few more calories to my daily goal to maintain my weight where it will be in two weeks. That’s fine-but I am absolutely determined not to gain any back. I know that we all worry about it.  Studies show that most people who lose weight gain it back. But we have made major lifestyle changes-and we have -I think-changed our ways of looking at food. Somehow it isn’t an enemy anymore. I like good healthy food. And I like eating less of it. I like the feeling of power that I have-THAT I CAN EAT A REAL 1/2 CUP SERVING AND BE CONTENT WITH THAT. That is a major accomplishment. I used to be able to eat my husband under the table. When we were dating he told me that I was the only girl he had ever met that could eat more than he could! I took it as a real compliment-NOT. But I do love to eat. But now, in some ways I love to eat more because I’m not afraid of food. I’m not afraid that I am going to be seduced into eating the entire 1/2 gallon of ice cream. However, someday I probably will-and if I do-then the next day I will get right back on track. And, by the way, I will honestly record how many calories were in that 1/2 gallon of ice cream.  I have carefully and honestly recorded every morsel that I have eaten for 12 weeks-and tried very hard not to underestimate the size. But it has really worked for me-and I plan to continue doing it. And, I plan to continue working out. I have to admit-I could become a gym rat. I love lifting weights! Josh has been wonderful. Today he gave me the ultimate compliment. He told me that I had a little definition to my TRICEP! AMAZING!!! That little muscle embedded in that hangy stuff on the back of my arm. And so I looked in the mirror-and you know-he’s right. If I squint just right-and flex perfectly and tug the flappy stuff to the side a little-there it is! A little tiny sliver of a bulge. VICTORY! Ah it is sweet.:)

The bottom line is that the rewards-the energy, the feeling of self worth and self love, the feeling of control and the utter inexpressible joy of being able to zip up those formerly too tight jeans-and have to send them to DI because they are too big (and hopefully the reward of a lower cholesterol level)-outway any bliss experienced from eating too much of a bad thing. It is too hard to take it off-so I plan on keeping it off. Period. End of discussion. And, I am going to box up my larger size clothes and send them to DI. There’s no turning back if I do that. So let’s hear it for all of us in this challenge. We are a great bunch of tough women and we can do whatever we set our minds to do. REALLY WE CAN! GO GIRLS!!

S

Yes, as strange as it sounds…my desire for large amounts of food has disappeared. Now, I just want to eat small amounts more frequently. Like the proverbial cow, I am into grazing. Granted, I record every morsel of food that I eat-but I eat a small amount much more frequently and this keeps me full. A couple days ago  I went to the gym very hungry and that was a mistake. 3/4 of the way through my workout I just ran out of gas. Lesson learned there. Don’t let your body get so empty of fuel that you can’t function well.

 This email is much more reflective. I have had two seminal events in the last couple weeks. First, I set a best personal record for hiking. I made it from the mouth of rock Canyon up to the trail split where the path takes off behind “Y” mountain or up to Squaw Peak. My previous best time was 45 minutes and I burned my way up the trail in 35 minutes. I was really surprised when I checked the time. It comes from working out and from dropping 15 pounds. That is a lot of weight NOT to have to be carrying up the canyon. My goal this summer is to make it over lightening ridge once the snow melts-the triangular shaped peak you can see when you look up from the Provo Temple. I have hiked it once before and it wasn’t easy-but this summer it should be easier because I will be in better shape and lugging less fat baggage than a year ago. The second event was a black tie dinner event I attended. i had purchased a nice suit two years ago on sale. I loved the color. the top fit “OK”-but I could not get the skirt zipped up. But hey, it was a steel and I figured some day….Well, that day arrived. I put it on and it not only fit-it looked terrific on! So-all this effort is really paying off. It is nice to look thinner-but the best part of this whole thing is feeling better. I have more energy and I just feel better about myself. I am hoping that my cholesterol has normalized so that I do not need medication. Heart disease is the number one killer of women so I know how important it is to have a low bad cholesterol (LDL) and a high good cholesterol (HDL). I am really anxious to see my numbers in 25 days. Tomorrow is day 75! I am going on a trip later this week-no gyms on this one I am afraid so I am really going to have to be extra vigilant. Hope I don’t gain any. I would love to lose another 5 pounds in the next 25 days-that would bring me to my goal-but even if i don’t -I am still thrilled to be down to where I am now. The rest is gravey…uh…well, maybe a Pina colada milkshake! Shelly is obsessiong about a Big Mac-for me it is that milkshake. But I have decided it will be a small one and I will forgo the onion rings and the train burger and get a salad instead. It is a lot easier to never gain the weight back than it is to lose it so I’m not taking any chances!

Sorry about the lack of blogs but I have been in the sunny city of LasVegas at a medical conference.  And I was good. Really good. No sugar. No fat. No slot machines! I got on the treamill every day and lifted weights every day. I walked and walked from my room to the conference center multiple times a day. And I lost a whopping  1/2 pound. :) Yup. 1/2#

Oh well. I’m getting pretty philosophical about this.  My clothes fit more loosely. Someone in the hall actually noticed that I had lost some weight. And those tight jeans that started all this actually are now baggy. Yes, baggy. When my husband gives me a hug he always remarks about how there is less of me to hug. That’s nice. So even though the scales don’t reflect much progress-I am making progress. And, I am learning self control to a better degree than I had before.  I like feeling thinner. I like feeling thinner more than I like goodies I think. The operative word here is-I think. Because every once and a while I get this overwhelming urge to drive up to Heber for-yes-you guessed it!- A PinaColada Milkshake and and order of onion rings.  Then I take deep breaths and close my eyes and visualize what the scale would look like minus 8 more pounds from now which is my goal. It would be pretty amazing actually.  At this rate it will take me about another 4 months- after the end of the challenge. But that is OK-because I am in this for the long haul.

Last time I spoke about my mother. My amazing mother who is 81 and still and absolutely beautiful woman. And thin. 26 years ago when she became my nanny…long story with a happy ending…..I bought a treadmill for her because I did not want her to slip on the icey roads in rural NewEngland where I started practicing medicine. She balked-said it was too much money. But virtually every morning for the last 26 years she has gotten on the treadmill and walked 3 miles. She walks a little more slowly now-though not much. Thumpity-bump. Never had a problem with the treadmill by the way. She says it was the best money I ever spent-and I agree. She is on virtually no medication-except a little for her blood pressure. She is fit and healthy and vibrant and all of her mental faculties are still intact.  Best money I ever spent. So if I would walk on the treadmill 3 miles every day until I die-I could expect to have a similar outcome. Exercise is crucial and there are hundreds of studies that attest to it’s virtues. 

So get out there and do something. Buy a good pair of sneakers and walk. Take the stairs. Mother has worked in the Provo Temple for 8 years and she NEVER takes the elevator. She always takes the stairs. Feeling guilty out there? Yea, me too.

Well, it’s the end of a long day at the office and I am tired. Think I will go home and feed my husband, walk the dog and then hit the treadmill for some interval training. Walking the dog just isn’t enough lately. Besides-it’s cold out there today.

Happy Walking!

S

Yup-that’s right! Those jeans that have been languishing in my closet for the past 9 years-no-not the infamous jeans that started all of this-but the long ago jeans that were in the “someday if I lose weight I can wear these so I had better not give them to D.I….”-those jeans actually fit. This is a minor miracle. Not a Moses parting the Red Sea kind of miracle-but close! Now, that may seem irreverent-but I had long ago given up hope that I woud ever weigh this little again. I now officially weigh what I weighed the day I graduated from Medical School-way back there in the middle ages when phones had dials instead of key pads and ring tones were unheard of. Way back then when gas was about 75 cents a gallon.  Way back then when dinasaurs walked the earth! Uh….well maybe not that far back, but you get the drift. Long long ago. So-somehow it is a major break thru for me. I told my husband yesterday that I feel like I have my body back. The old familiar one-not the puffy foreign one that really isn’t me.   Now the goal is to weigh what I weighed when I graduated from High School. Which is about 4 pounds from now. But what you must understand is that I was never thin. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER. In fact, I was a chuncky kid. I got teased  because I had flaming red hair and was chubby. Really chubby. You know, pleasingly plump. So  when I graduated from HS I surely wasn’t thin. But I was OK in a plumpish sort of way. But, actually, I have more muscle now than I did then-so when I lose 4 more pounds I will actually be a little thinner than when I graduated from HS. ! So I believe that is pretty darn good for a grandmother. Speaking of grandmothers, next time I want to talk about an amazing great grandmother who still walks three miles on her treadmill every morning at the ripe young age of 80!

…which is translated as I finally lost another pound after being stuck for two weeks. Hey-it’s only a pound but by golly-it’s a pound less of flab that I have to carry around every day!  I definitely have slowed in my weight loss-despite more exercise and the same amount of food.  But at least at this point I am pretty sure that what is coming off is ugly gooey globby fat and not lean muscle. I actually can see that there is less of that floppy stuff on my upper arm to flap around in the breeze. And I have a defined bicep-no Arnold Schwarzenegger for sure-but better than it was. And I have more energy to get through my day. And I can go up my hiking trail faster and not get winded. And, I put on a former tight skirt that I had to wear baggy sweaters over so that my butt would not stick out too far-and it was loose! No baggy sweaters for me now.:) So there are rewards beyond what the scale shows. I have now lost 7% of my body weight. That is actually a pretty significant number in terms of people who try to lose weight and then keep it off. I am actually pleased/disappointed that it is coming off fairly slowly but steadily-because it is more likely that I will still have it off in a year. I have, after all, developed better habits. No raiding the doctor’s lounge for DoveBars at 3 pm; no triple deluxe bagel sandwiches at Einsteins Bagels and no-you know what’s. Yes, no Pina Colada Milkshakes at the Dairy Keen in Heber. Have I mentioned how absolutely wonderful and mouth watering the Pina Colada Milkshakes are? How succulent and juicy and to die for the onion rings are? And how juicy and big and yummy the Train Burger is
Not that I think about food all the time. In fact, it is weird but I am actually thinking about food less. I don’t have this push-pull, love-hate attitude toward food anymore. I know that I can eat when I am hungry (OK-carrots and peanut butter instead of milkshakes; but hey, there are starving children all over the world who would love to have fresh carrots and peanut butter, so who am I to complain?) I used to think about food all the time because I worried about my weight all the time. Now, I know that as long as I keep my calorie count under control and do some exercise every day (yes, I walk every day-even on Sunday-I stroll around the neigborhood and say hi to my friends-a great Sabbath Day activity), that I will continue to lose some weight. Then when I get to my goal weight (a body mass index of 21-22 which is smack dab in the middle of normal) I will weigh every day and on days when i am up-I will just keep the calorie count a little lower and work out a little longer and get back to where I want it to be. In the past i would refuse to get on the scales because I knew that i was up and I used to think that it would just make me depressed-and if I was depressed I would just eat. one of the hardest things to do was to get on the scales the first time after a number of years and face the music. once i got over the sticker shock-so to speak-then I could deal with what to do about it. Now, I get on the scales every morning-buck naked with my wedding ring off-and just suck it up and deal-as my friend Virginia would say. if I am down a bit(I have one of those digital scales that I got on sale at Costco that gives your weight in 1/10th of a pound)I am thrilled and if I am up a bit I blame it on water and just keep going. (Remember that evil Easter ham that caused all that water retention?-I haven’t had a piece since Easter-it just sits in the fridge-unloved and lonely
So today I am working out in my garden, trying to get it all cleaned up after the long winter. I was scrounging around in the closet for a pair of jeans-yes those dreaded jeans that started all this. I found an old pair of jeans i bought about 11 years ago in New Hampshire. I have this box of clothes that are too small but I couldn’t bear to give away. Yes, I know, you have that box or closet space too. You know-size 10-14 areas where you wear what fits at the moment. So on a whimmsy I picked out a pair of jeans that I haven’t had on for 11 years….tah dah…drum roll…..did they fit? Find out tomorrow?

that I have gained 1.5# this week. Mid way through the week I had lost 1 # and now this morning-the official weigh in morning,  I got on the scales and fainted. After I fainted I kicked the scales. Same thing. It must be the ham. Isn’t ham full of salt that makes you retain weight? But this is the official weigh in morning and I am suppose to email Traci with my weight. No way am I going to use today’s weight. I’m going to skip all the salt today-hit the gym tonight and weigh in tomorrow morning. She’s going to have to be content with that. Easter should not be in the middle of this Heart Challenge. Neither should Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentines Day or the 4th of July. Those are major food days. It’s unamerican not to eat well on Easter. After all, there are starving children all over the world and my mother made such a lovely Easter feast. How could I not eat? I ate the Ham. I ate a spoonful of yams(OK-the big serving spoon but what do you expect on Easter?). Tons of salad -both green and fruit and a sliver of low calorie strawberry pie. OK-and a sliver of low calorie grasshopper pie. But who’s counting-right? I walked before dinner and after dinner. It must be the ham. Dang it! I was good! I want to be rewarded! I want to be rewarded right now!!!!! Not one Da..m chocolate bunny either! Not one spongey chicken. Not one of those little crunchy eggs with the malt ball center. Not one piece of candy!!!!!!  And I gained 1.5# 

 OK-So I just have to get back on the wagon.. No more ham. No more yams with just a little Real Vermont Maple Syrup and just a touch of I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter.  Yes to the fruit salad and yes to the green salad. Yes to the real live egg -easter eggs. Down with the Chocolate Bunnies. Don’t even bring up the Pina Colada Milkshake. I feel like weeping……putting my head down on my desk and weeping. Must be the Da..n Ham……..

So, onto a happier note-I said before that I would explain the best way to lose weight.  The best way to lose weight-(and believe me I have tried them all…..) is to eat less and move more. Period. So I have commented ad nauseum about exercise. So now the calorie part. I had a patient who came in to the office to see me a couple years ago and she had lost 100#! 100# for heaven’s sake. I had asked her to lose some weight the year before -but no ones does what their doctor asks them to-so when she came in 100# lighter-I couldn’t believe it. So being a doctor/woman-the first words out of my mouth were……….”HOW DID YOU DO IT??????

CalorieKing she said. What?…..CALORIEKING.COM she said patiently. It’s this nifty website that makes it easier to count calories. That was in the middle of my AtkinsDiet days so I kind of blew her off. Dumb Doctor. Bad Doctor…. So when I found myself at the beginning of this 100 Day Heart Challenge-wondering how I was ever going to be successful taking off some weight-I remembered her advice. calorieking.com. It’s a great website. You can use the site free for 7 days and then I bought the softwear and I keep it on my desktop and log in EVERYTHING I eat. EVERYTHING. OK-so I ate one chocolate peanut M&M yesterday. One. But no spongey chicken and no hollow chocolate easter bunnies. And I logged in the darn M&M.Then when I get to 1200 calories a day I stop.(Unless it is Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving-you get the idea…) YUP. Stop eating. Except you can enter your exercise and it subtracts the estimated calories consumed from your total calories consummed and voila-you get to eat some more! So if I exercised 300 calories  worth, then I can essentially eat 1500 calories because the number I take in is balanced by the number I consume with exercise. It’s the math dummy. So there you have it. It is the world’s niftiest program. But they don’t have how many calories in a Dairy Keen Pina Colada milkshake. But they have lots of other places. You will never go to IHOP again after visiting this site. But you can find some reasonable stuff at Chiles.  My husband says I have become a food Nazi. Maybe. But I think he is just jealous because I am 10# lighter and he isn’t. But in all fairness, he has been a great support and is wildly cheering me on. He says he likes the way I look when there is less of me. So, this translates into he thinks I was fat before I started! Men don’t every learn. But, he is trying to say the right thing. And he takes another look so I’m not complaining.

So-log on and get started. it’s easy and kinda fun actually. And you can add to the data base your favorite foods if they aren’t listed.

Tomorrow-I’ll do the official weigh in thing tomorrow-so Traci-save your breath-I ain’t weighing in today. It’s the Ham……Not the spongey yellow marshmallow chicken. I should have eaten that spongey chicken-all the good it did me!

S

OK -so today is Day 34.   At this rate since most of us have lost about 9#-we should all lose about 27# total. It ain’t going to happen unless someone puts duct tape across my mouth or ties me to the treadmill.  Shelly said her scale is stuck. Not only is mine stuck but it showed I gained back a pound this morning. NO WAY!!! That miserable, low down, lying piece of digital scrap metal!  So I reset it and then took off my wedding ring and weighed again. Still up a pound.  How could that be true? My calorie intake is pretty stable…I walked for 45 minutes on the treadmill last night including  sprints.   I stood on my feet all day long in the OR for heaven’s sake-that must count for something.  Water. It must be water…..

 I’m really, really hungry today. And I was really, really hungry yesterday.  And grumpy. Hungry and grumpy-my husband would say that I needed to change my estrogen patch! No, he would say I needed to stick on TWO patches! Hungry, grumpy and estrogen deprived-not a good combo.

So what’s a woman to do? SUCK-IT-UP-AND- DEAL! That is the favorite saying of my  friend Virginia.  My  friend Virginia who goes to the gym with me sometimes just so that she can spur me on. My  friend Virginia who hates to exercise and who hates the cold but was coerced into taking up snowshoeing this winter….now there is a true friend. Anyway, Virginia says to  just suck it up and deal. I can do that.  I’d much rather be sucking up a Pina Colada Milkshake from the Dairy Keen.  Have I told you how wonderfully and delightfully delicious their milk shakes are?  And how on DAY 101 I am going to drive to Heber and order one? The LARGEST one they have!!! With the onion rings (double order) and a Train Burger. I should be seeing my 1 oclock patient right now. Hopefully she is late. I am sitting here writing about Pina Colada Milkshakes. I hope my next patient is , well patient.  She will need me to hear about her problems and I will be using half of my brain to consider how many minutes I would need to walk on my teadmill to work off the Pina Colada Milkshake. Let’s see-probably about 900 calories and about 100 calories per mile at 3.5 miles per hour. Hmmmmmmmm. Not good. Definitely not good.

OK-so there are two questions I left unanswered before. How do you fit in the exercise without being a gym rat or being endowed with all the time in the world?  My philosophy is that you have to do a combination of planning for it and winging it-which pretty much describes the state of my life anyway. So I plan daily to get up at 5am and walk Remi Dog. I actually enjoy walking in the morning-I just dislike getting out of bed-but once I am up I am glad I did it. The second issue is the being flexible thing. I try to get to the gym to lift weights about three times a week. Sometimes I get there and sometimes something else gets in the way-plus I’m pretty tired by the end of the day. So I got some free weights-in 8, 10, 12, 15#-I only bought one of each rather than a set because I usually only use one at a time and it is cheaper that way. I also keep a rubber band thingey in my office-those heavy duty stretch band thingeys which can be use to exercise and when I am really really frustrated I do some exercises with them rather than EAT the chocolate almond fudge ice cream from the little cafe right down the hall from my office. Or the Dove Bars in the doctor’s lounge (have you noticed how your doctor is getting a little rotund around the middle lately?-it just might be the DoveBars in the Doctor’s lounge-you should ask him (or her)).So I just try to fit exercise in when I can-even if it is on the run (literally). I try to park a little farther away in the parking lot and I try to take the stairs to the 6th floor (gasp). I also stand rather than sit when I can…I figure every time I am a little more active I am burning a few more calories. And I fidget when I am compelled to sit through meetings (I hate meetings to the same degree that I love Pina Colada Milkshakes from the Dairy Keen in Heber!). In the end I just do the best that I can. I also try to remember at 5am when I dearly want to stay in my nice warm bed-that people who exercise in the morning are statistically more likely to still be exercising at the end of a year’s time . People who exercise at night are less likely to still be exercising. Duh…I mean…being tired at the end of the day factor is just too great.  So get up and get going! Which means go to bed earlier! By the way-sleep deprived people are more likely to be fat than well rested people. That’s a whole topic for a later time!

OK-so I still haven’t revealed the best way to count calories in my opinion-which will come in tomorrows blog…hopefully! If I can fit it in like my exercise….:)