I was asked if I could go into what I eat on a daily basis so here is, first, some background on my eating habits growing up and, second, my eating habits now.
Up until around 4th grade, I really do not recall what our eating habits as a family were. I don't think we really sat down to eat as a family at the dinner table, but I could be wrong. I do know that I had a deep love for Texas "Ranch Style Beans" since before 4th grade because my mom would feed that to me, & it wasn't until 2 years ago that I began to dislike them. We were never really limited on sweets but we were low income so I don't recall every having a bag of chips or cookies in the house either. Once we moved to Washington & lived in a motel, ramen noodles was a daily staple in our...motel table. But, again, low income so never really had other junk around & we were active kids; falling down with our Rollerblades (gift from church), rolling down big hills, chasing after each other in the motel parking lot and laundromat (good times, actually) & all that jazz.
We didn't have video games, never really watched television but we loved to go to the library & play board games. In fact, one of our favorite games was, & is, Battleship. Imagine our surprise when my brother & I realized there was an actual Battleship game. Before then, we used to take a piece of wide-ruled writing paper, use a pen to make a deeply inked circle on one side of the paper, fold it, press on the circle & then see if it "landed" on the opposing players deeply inked circle (battleship). We can't be the only ones that did that......
Anyway, once we got a home, dinner become a nice routine, complete with prayer. But, the truth is, that food was never our focus. Sometimes we had a lot, sometimes we had very little but our lifestyle was healthy in that we were active kids with active imaginations & no real junk food around the home.
Things changed when we moved back to Texas & my mom started working. This was probably my freshmen year in high school &, from then on, our lives consisted of frozen, microwavable anything. I'm talking burritos, taquitos, pizzas, hot pockets, chicken nuggets, fries, pop tarts....& I really don't want to go on because it's making me nauseous. How disgusting! But that was life for a long time. On top of that, McDonalds, Burger King or Whataburger were on our DAILY menu. DAILY.
We were still low-income but the difference was that, in my younger years, low-income meant you bought what you needed (even if you were using government help) and that was it. While now, it means being able to use your foot stamp EBT card on Hot Cheetos and 12-packs of Coke. It's a sad thing. But anyway, I do recall that's when I began to get unhealthy (duh) & what is considered, "skinny fat". I was not big, nor did I appear overweight, but had my BMI ever been taken around that time, it would have shown that I was all fat, almost no muscle and very unhealthy.
So what happened? What made me change?
There was never just ONE "ah-ha" moment were I realized my eating habits were bad. There were a series of events that led me to change my life for the better.
The first one was when I was 16/17 & I began to wake up 3-4 times during the night just to take a few sips of Coke. I actually remember opening the fridge, popping one open, taking a few sips, putting it back for later & thinking, "this can't be good.". I decided then to not drink coke so much. Not quiet the "quit" step but a step nonetheless.
The second was when I was getting ready to join the military. We were going to run 3 miles and I stopped at about 5 yards. Not. Even. Shitting you.
The third was just knowledge. After having 2 kids, being moderately active, kind-of, sort-of working out & not really losing any fat, I began to research on how to fuel the body, what is good, what is not great, how it affects your body, life and health, etc.
Finally, making the decision to become a personal trainer made me step everything up a few notches. I can't expect others to change their lifestyle if I hold on to old habits out of nostalgia.
Either way, it all worked out the way it did for a reason. Tomorrow, I'll go into a few things I learned and how my daily eating habits reflect both my knowledge and my human-ness. :)
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Friday, September 23, 2011
The Truth About Tendinitis
Now, as you are well aware, I am not a medical professional. Rather, I am a physical trainer, knowledgeable on how to train your body for power, strength or fat loss. I can tell you what good form is & how often to do what sets of exercise for your goal.
Physical Trainers are also humans with human bodies, as opposed to robotic ones.
Earlier this week, after a cardio session, I began to notice an uncomfortable feeling in my right knee. It wasn't painful so, for the next few days, I simple iced it for a few hours before bedtime. Then, after weight training session, I felt both my knees get warm from the inside, and then get hotter. I immediately RICE'd my knees and decided that I needed to take a break.
As someone who works out 6x's a week, 1-2 hours a day, the thought of not getting my daily burn on was really a huge bummer. My first mistake, however, was not listening to my body when it gave me the first clue that something was not right. Often times, CPT's do this because we get so into our workout routines, it's as natural as brushing our teeth, and it's very hard to pull away even for a few days.
I am neither the first, or the last CPT that gets tendinitis. Remember, training is our job and, if we have clients, we feel obligated to be there for them no matter what injury we have. There are group instructors that have instructed on sprained ankles, a broken toe, and many other injuries, because we love our client(s) and we will do our job to keep them happy. I don't have, nor am I taking, clients at the moment because of my already very full schedule (mom, wife, full time student thing) but being a CPT is not an easy job, even if it's just to yourself.
Both alone, with a client or a group, we all tend to get complacent because we know the routine or we know the drill and, in my case, when doing high-intensity cardio for an hour, it's not hard to see how the tendon might get inflamed due to over-use.
I know most of my friends/family are not CPT's and might not even be sure what tendinitis is so I thought I'd take the time to explain what it is a little bit. Disclaimer: Again, I am NOT a medical professional. If you have further questions about tendinitis, please ask your physician.
Now, I know why I got tendinitis and the answer is in my routine because aside from doing my 3x's weekly weight training session, I was doing 5x's weekly 45-60 minute cardio session with no real stretching time at the end. I know. I know better but {insert excuse here} and now I have tendinitis due to over-use.
Tendinitis does not always occur because of bad form, but it can. If you do a lot of plyometric moves or play a sport where you're using a specific muscle constantly (basketball, tennis, etc), it's easy to strain the muscle and tendons and develop this injury.
Is tendinitis something only amateur athletes get? No.
Many seasoned, professional athletes have been benched, so to speak, due to this injury. It's very common, unfortunately, because it can be prevented by making sure that you're stretching before and after your workout. I wasn't stretching post-workout because I made an error in judgement. Usually, the little one only gets a 2 hour nap so by the time she woke up, I'd finish up and didn't want to feel guilty about not spending that time with her because I had either been at school in the morning or I was now headed to an afternoon class. In retrospect, I should have just gotten some 10 extra minutes and stretched.
Since my hot-knee incident, I've really just taken a step back and given my body time to recover. It's still recovering and, the truth is, that while I miss my workout schedule, fitness is about ways to affect your health positively, not to do things that are a detriment to it. If I continue because of stubbornness, it could lead to an injury that won't set me back a week or two, but months. I just don't have that kind of time to waste.
You know, I love challenging my body. I know plenty of people who go to the gym, kind-of, sort-of play around with the weights and machines, jump on one, sweat a little & call it a day. I'm not one of those people. I don't stop until I'm no longer in my comfort zone. I don't stop until I'm drenched or my muscles are fatigued. Am I the best athlete out there? Absolutely not and, obviously, I make mistakes and errors in judgement but I'm not upset that I pushed my body. I'd be more upset if I never did.
The key is, and this goes for me as well, to stretch and never get too comfortable to see what is good, or bad for you. I'll keep y'all updated.
Judy
Physical Trainers are also humans with human bodies, as opposed to robotic ones.
Earlier this week, after a cardio session, I began to notice an uncomfortable feeling in my right knee. It wasn't painful so, for the next few days, I simple iced it for a few hours before bedtime. Then, after weight training session, I felt both my knees get warm from the inside, and then get hotter. I immediately RICE'd my knees and decided that I needed to take a break.
As someone who works out 6x's a week, 1-2 hours a day, the thought of not getting my daily burn on was really a huge bummer. My first mistake, however, was not listening to my body when it gave me the first clue that something was not right. Often times, CPT's do this because we get so into our workout routines, it's as natural as brushing our teeth, and it's very hard to pull away even for a few days.
I am neither the first, or the last CPT that gets tendinitis. Remember, training is our job and, if we have clients, we feel obligated to be there for them no matter what injury we have. There are group instructors that have instructed on sprained ankles, a broken toe, and many other injuries, because we love our client(s) and we will do our job to keep them happy. I don't have, nor am I taking, clients at the moment because of my already very full schedule (mom, wife, full time student thing) but being a CPT is not an easy job, even if it's just to yourself.
Both alone, with a client or a group, we all tend to get complacent because we know the routine or we know the drill and, in my case, when doing high-intensity cardio for an hour, it's not hard to see how the tendon might get inflamed due to over-use.
I know most of my friends/family are not CPT's and might not even be sure what tendinitis is so I thought I'd take the time to explain what it is a little bit. Disclaimer: Again, I am NOT a medical professional. If you have further questions about tendinitis, please ask your physician.
Now, I know why I got tendinitis and the answer is in my routine because aside from doing my 3x's weekly weight training session, I was doing 5x's weekly 45-60 minute cardio session with no real stretching time at the end. I know. I know better but {insert excuse here} and now I have tendinitis due to over-use.
Tendinitis does not always occur because of bad form, but it can. If you do a lot of plyometric moves or play a sport where you're using a specific muscle constantly (basketball, tennis, etc), it's easy to strain the muscle and tendons and develop this injury.
Is tendinitis something only amateur athletes get? No.
Many seasoned, professional athletes have been benched, so to speak, due to this injury. It's very common, unfortunately, because it can be prevented by making sure that you're stretching before and after your workout. I wasn't stretching post-workout because I made an error in judgement. Usually, the little one only gets a 2 hour nap so by the time she woke up, I'd finish up and didn't want to feel guilty about not spending that time with her because I had either been at school in the morning or I was now headed to an afternoon class. In retrospect, I should have just gotten some 10 extra minutes and stretched.
Since my hot-knee incident, I've really just taken a step back and given my body time to recover. It's still recovering and, the truth is, that while I miss my workout schedule, fitness is about ways to affect your health positively, not to do things that are a detriment to it. If I continue because of stubbornness, it could lead to an injury that won't set me back a week or two, but months. I just don't have that kind of time to waste.
You know, I love challenging my body. I know plenty of people who go to the gym, kind-of, sort-of play around with the weights and machines, jump on one, sweat a little & call it a day. I'm not one of those people. I don't stop until I'm no longer in my comfort zone. I don't stop until I'm drenched or my muscles are fatigued. Am I the best athlete out there? Absolutely not and, obviously, I make mistakes and errors in judgement but I'm not upset that I pushed my body. I'd be more upset if I never did.
The key is, and this goes for me as well, to stretch and never get too comfortable to see what is good, or bad for you. I'll keep y'all updated.
Judy
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Sacrafices & What We're Made Of
So, first of all, my apologies for having been gone for...too long. I don't really want to get on with excuses & whatnot but suffice it to say that, 3 out of 4 people in my little family (including me) are back in school. It's been very hectic, especially because we decided to give our youngest another year at home (& home school until next year - as we did with our eldest) which is great but my husband and I had to get alternating schedules. The only time we see each other during the day now is switch out the driver of the car so the one who was in school can go home and the one who was at home can go to school. Ha ha. It all sounds very stressful but it really hasn't been bad at all. We both really enjoy school & we realize that there are certain sacrifices a person must make in order to accomplish goals.
We really take pride in that we have been able to focus our goals, time and again, without compromising family time and its priority. We both get quality time with the youngest, I still do lessons with her and get my workout in while she naps and by the time the eldest is home, we're home too.
One thing that did become an issue for me was lunch. I surprised myself because I'm a very organized person but having never had this type of schedule before, I was caught off guard a bit. I always pack a snack & take water in my 32oz shaker, as well as have three little cubes each filled with one serving of my supplements (just in case), especially my Isopure Dutch Chocolate protein. But I must have underestimated how hungry I get at lunch time so I've been buying KIND bars, which I truly love. (You might want to check the nutritional value information to see if it fits into your diet but, for me, it's always, always been more about the pureness of the ingredients rather than just calorie count. That's just me though! I'd rather have an organic/natural health bar that's 300 calories than one with a bunch of things I can't pronounce at 120 calories.)
Aside from the KIND bars, we have had to eat fast food. & I crrrrrringe when I say "had to" because I really did have to BUT because I didn't plan ahead of time. Big mistake on my part. While I did make the healthiest choices possible each time, I always left feeling like crap -- because that's what I had fueled my body with! Crap. You are what you eat, indeed.
I finally set aside some time to plan some cold meals I can take to school, pack in my backpack and eat when I get hungry. Which is often. :)
As far as my workouts, they've been getting GOT! As usual. That's just never been negotiable & I truly believe that when working out BECOMES non-negotiable & it's as natural as brushing you teeth, that's when you can have real success. It would have been real easy to just throw my hands up & say, "Nope, can't do it! Too busy!" (actually, no it wouldn't have. Not for me. Not anymore.) but when someone can do that, it really says a lot about them & their mind set.
I'm not saying there aren't certain circumstances where, yes, you just absolutely must make it up later or tomorrow but far too many people use that easy excuse way too often.
Are you willing to make sacrifices? or just excuses?
Are you important to YOU?
Can you take the time to schedule your time for the benefit of your physical, mental and emotional health?
You can rise above the excuses. Believe that. Because we all have them but you must be able to dig deep and be real with yourself because no one else is going to do it. It has to be you.
YOU control your destiny. YOU make your life what it is. Others can affect it, sure, but YOU have the power to choose HOW they affect your life.
I have wonderful people in my life who always tell me how inspiring I am to them but, most, add they wouldn't be able to do it. BUT THEY CAN! They just won't. It's going to hurt!! It's supposed to! If if were easy, our nation wouldn't be where it is now with the obesity rates. There are plenty of people out there who've lost over ONE HUNDRED pounds just with exercise and proper nutrition. They cried, they were sore, it hurt but they WANTED it. That's the difference.
We take our bodies for granted, many of us.
The things they can do! But instead we poison them to the ground.
Be willing to sacrificed. Show yourself what you're made of.
You have it in you.....let the fire ignite...get angry about it & GO.
We really take pride in that we have been able to focus our goals, time and again, without compromising family time and its priority. We both get quality time with the youngest, I still do lessons with her and get my workout in while she naps and by the time the eldest is home, we're home too.
One thing that did become an issue for me was lunch. I surprised myself because I'm a very organized person but having never had this type of schedule before, I was caught off guard a bit. I always pack a snack & take water in my 32oz shaker, as well as have three little cubes each filled with one serving of my supplements (just in case), especially my Isopure Dutch Chocolate protein. But I must have underestimated how hungry I get at lunch time so I've been buying KIND bars, which I truly love. (You might want to check the nutritional value information to see if it fits into your diet but, for me, it's always, always been more about the pureness of the ingredients rather than just calorie count. That's just me though! I'd rather have an organic/natural health bar that's 300 calories than one with a bunch of things I can't pronounce at 120 calories.)
Aside from the KIND bars, we have had to eat fast food. & I crrrrrringe when I say "had to" because I really did have to BUT because I didn't plan ahead of time. Big mistake on my part. While I did make the healthiest choices possible each time, I always left feeling like crap -- because that's what I had fueled my body with! Crap. You are what you eat, indeed.
I finally set aside some time to plan some cold meals I can take to school, pack in my backpack and eat when I get hungry. Which is often. :)
As far as my workouts, they've been getting GOT! As usual. That's just never been negotiable & I truly believe that when working out BECOMES non-negotiable & it's as natural as brushing you teeth, that's when you can have real success. It would have been real easy to just throw my hands up & say, "Nope, can't do it! Too busy!" (actually, no it wouldn't have. Not for me. Not anymore.) but when someone can do that, it really says a lot about them & their mind set.
I'm not saying there aren't certain circumstances where, yes, you just absolutely must make it up later or tomorrow but far too many people use that easy excuse way too often.
Are you willing to make sacrifices? or just excuses?
Are you important to YOU?
Can you take the time to schedule your time for the benefit of your physical, mental and emotional health?
You can rise above the excuses. Believe that. Because we all have them but you must be able to dig deep and be real with yourself because no one else is going to do it. It has to be you.
YOU control your destiny. YOU make your life what it is. Others can affect it, sure, but YOU have the power to choose HOW they affect your life.
I have wonderful people in my life who always tell me how inspiring I am to them but, most, add they wouldn't be able to do it. BUT THEY CAN! They just won't. It's going to hurt!! It's supposed to! If if were easy, our nation wouldn't be where it is now with the obesity rates. There are plenty of people out there who've lost over ONE HUNDRED pounds just with exercise and proper nutrition. They cried, they were sore, it hurt but they WANTED it. That's the difference.
We take our bodies for granted, many of us.
The things they can do! But instead we poison them to the ground.
Be willing to sacrificed. Show yourself what you're made of.
You have it in you.....let the fire ignite...get angry about it & GO.
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