I've been doing Pilates for six weeks now. You don't realize how jacked up you are until you start getting straightened out. Maintaining the natural curve in my spine used to hurt. Lying on my back hurt. Sleeping hurt. To sleep, I was building an elaborate pillow nest that tipped the curve out of my lower back and totally flattened it. Rather than trying to fix my gimpy spine, I was doing everything in my power not to make it angry. That meant no back extension, no awkward lifting, and no willy-nilly sleeping. It's funny what bothered it and what didn't. Slamming judo throws were no problem, kettlebell training never hurts, but a careless cobra stretch or falling asleep wrong could leave me unable to walk upright for weeks.

My Pilates sessions have been all about alignment, core strength, and keeping my spine neutral and strong no matter what position I'm in. I understand why people find it tedious. All of the tiny movements and attention to detail, especially in the beginning, especially on the mat, would knock an average exerciser unconscious with boredom. But for someone as crunchy as me, it has been an awesome experience to start seeing and feeling a real difference. Here's a good article on Why Pilates Works for Back Pain.

After years of sleeping with a forced-flat back, I can now sleep with a neutral spine and not wake up yelping. That is HUGE. In the past, every time I tried to sleep like a normal person, I would wake up in so much pain that I'd go right back to sleeping like a propped up freak.

The first few nights without my nest were a little rough. I woke up with a somewhat tight lower back, but nothing at all like the stabbing pain I used to experience. I bought a memory foam mattress topper to help with the transition. I sink into it, so my back can have a natural but supported curve. The new sleeping arrangement, the improved spinal flexibility, and the new emphasis on strengthening the holy monkeys out of every stabilizing muscle in my torso has me feeling pain-free and very bendy.

I still haven't been to a mat class. I love the solo equipment sessions. I'm seeing improvements every week in my strength, flexibility, and ability to control my spazzy limbs. You have no idea how spazzy you are until you attempt some of these graceful, tightly controlled movements and end up flapping and tipping all over the place. My favorite gizmo is the Cadillac. That's it over on the left. You can do pull-ups on it and it has a trapeze!

Posted by skwigg at 10:12 AM CDT

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Amazing factoid - Even though I'm a paranoid hypochondriac conspiracy theorist, I will eat anything that people mail to me.

Gourmet Jerky

This week I received some gourmet jerky from Jerky.com. I tried the buffalo jerky, the teriyaki turkey and the pineapple. I'd never heard of pineapple jerky before. It's a nice option for the non-carnivore. The ingredients are pineapple and honey. The teriyaki turkey was delicious and sweet. It was very tender for jerky. It made a great afternoon snack with a piece of fruit. The buffalo jerky was black pepper flavor, tasted amazing, and I only got two bites of it before my husband disappeared with the whole bag while making "om nom nom nom" sounds.

The pineapple jerky has the core in it. It looks like a pretty flower instead of a pineapple ring. I foolishly tried to bite into the flower and tear it with my teeth. Don't do that; you'll pull your teeth out and/or create an embarrassing drool situation. It's much easier to tear it with your hands and pop bite-sized pieces into your mouth. It's kind of like a fancy fruit roll-up. It made a nice portable carb portion.

Unlike the junky stuff you find at gas stations and convenience stores, this jerky has no MSG or nitrates and uses quality ingredients like sun-ripened pineapple and grass-fed bison. In addition to the standard turkey and beef jerky, Jerky.com carries varieties like venison, ostrich, buffalo and alligator. (No, I wasn't daring enough to eat Wally Gator.) My only complaint is the price. Shipping is free, but if you want to eat gourmet jerky on a daily basis, it's not exactly thrifty. Still, it's a healthy treat and would make a great gift for a foodie.

Protein-Boosted Yogurt

Next up, I received a temperature-controlled shipping container full of high-protein yogurt. I was very excited by the cooler tech! It looked like I had received a brain in the mail.

Better Whey of Life is yogurt with added whey protein. It has 15-17 grams of protein per serving, or about three times more than regular yogurt. It has much less sugar than most brands (about 14g) and is sweetened with natural cane sugar. There's no artificial sweetener and no high-fructose corn syrup.

In the past, I've tried to eat Greek yogurt for the higher protein content but I thought it tasted like goat throw-up. I'm a big kid. I like grocery store yogurt, you know, with flavors. So, I was really happy to find yogurt that tastes great, is high in protein, is not loaded with sugar, and comes in flavors like peach mango, strawberry banana, French vanilla, and acai mixed berry.

Right now, it's only available in health food stores and Whole Foods Markets, but it's not at every Whole Foods yet. So, be sure to check the Where to Buy link before you trek across town looking for it.

So far, I've had the acai mixed berry flavor and it was great. Tomorrow for breakfast I'm planning to have French vanilla with some sliced strawberries and a sprinkle of granola. This is something I'll definitely be eating regularly once I can get it at the store. The air mail brain cooler situation isn't very practical.

I have no affiliation with these products. I like them but I don't make any money if you buy them. See my Disclosure Statement. 

Posted by skwigg at 10:18 PM CDT

Updated: Sunday, 8 November 2009 11:14 AM CST

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I've had Naturally Thin a couple of weeks now and I've had a chance to incorporate some of Bethenny Frankel's ideas. Let me tell you what I did not incorporate - her tiny elf-sized portions. I am not an elf. I don't want to be a size 0. It never occurred to me to eat the same amount she eats, but all of the portion talk did lead to some eye-opening revelations.

First of all, those black and white salad bowls I eat out of all the time are flippin' huge! They're nearly the size of dinner plates and they're deep. That's perfectly acceptable for a big leafy salad, but it's really bad for breakfast. I was still loading them up every morning with half a tub of cottage cheese, half a pineapple, a bunch of berries, a handful of macadamia nuts, and a couple tablespoons of sugar. That 800+ calorie breakfast was perfect when I was training 2-3 hours a day, but it's overkill now. I've scaled the whole thing back to a cereal bowl. It's just as satisfying and frees up a few hundred calories for more variety later in the day. Duh!

The next ah-ha was the "Check Yourself before You Wreck Yourself" chapter where she talks about never binge eating. I haven't had a mindless blackout food-sucking zombie episode in at least a decade. I tend not to hurt myself and I never feel guilty, but I do (or did) overeat fairly regularly out of habit. I can eat a whole thin crust pizza and an entire pint of Ben & Jerry's like it's nothing. It's probably leftover mental goo from the Body for Life "free day" concept. If you only have one chance to enjoy a big splurge for the week, you'd better go for it. I don't need to do that anymore. Lately I've been having one or two pieces of pizza and an ice cream cone. I still get to enjoy the pizza and ice cream thrill but for about a thousand calories less.

And finally, eating in restaurants is more fun with the new strategies. Restaurant eating used to flip me out. Unless it was a designated day to go off my plan, I would get all twitchy and turn down invitations. Or I would agonize over the online menu trying to reconcile what I should eat with what I really wanted. I like her "taste everything, eat nothing" approach. I didn't take it literally! I definitely eat. I order whatever I want, I taste everything that looks good, I share, and I save leftovers for another meal (or two or three). Then I leave the restaurant happy and non-stuffed. I can do this every day of the week, so there's no need to be an anti-social freak when friends want to eat out.

Maybe my take on the book is different since I'm a normal weight and a basically healthy eater. Maybe a desperate dieter would latch onto her exact portion sizes, or a disordered eater would take "taste everything, eat nothing" to mean you can never eat a satisfying amount of food, but I found many of her suggestions really helpful.

I definitely needed to downsize some of my meals. I needed to put the BlackBerry down, turn off the computer and pay attention when I eat. I liked the "point of diminishing returns" concept. Maybe the first couple of bites are fantastic, but the third, fourth, or fifth bite isn't quite as mind-blowing. Why eat the whole thing just because it's in front of you? I had become a plate-cleaner due to years of clock-watching and measured portions. If it was time to eat, I would eat exactly what I had planned and I would eat ALL of it. It didn't matter if I was hungry or if I even liked the food. And sharing? Forget sharing! At the height of my dieting and obsessing, I would have stabbed somebody in the neck with my fork rather than part with a scrap of chicken.

So, I found Naturally Thin to be a friendly reality check, nothing more or less. I don't recommend anybody become a lemming, or jump on a band wagon, or fall off the wagon, or anything with wagons or rodents or cliffs. Thank you. LOL

Posted by skwigg at 8:49 PM CDT

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I just finished reading Bethenny Frankel's new book, Naturally Thin: Unleash Your Skinny Girl and Free Yourself from a Lifetime of Dieting. Bethenny is my favorite Real Housewife of New York City. She's a natural food chef, she writes for Health magazine, and she wears a bikini on television. You may recall that I'm afraid to take nutrition advice from anyone I haven't seen in swimwear. It's a throwback to my eating disorder days when I mistrusted pudgy dietitians in blazers telling me to eat 6-11 servings of bread per day. Seeing Bethenny eating and drinking and looking fabulous every week made me damn curious about what and how much she actually eats. Like an answer to my prayers, she wrote a whole book on the subject. In it, she details her non-dieting approach. This is non-dieting with your brain still attached. It's healthy. It's smart. It emphasizes organic whole foods, mindfulness and portion control, unlike certain other non-dieting authors who give you permission to eat as many cookies as you want. I wanted fifty-seven thousand cookies, so that advice didn't help me find balance, it just helped me lose my abs.

Naturally Thin is divided into two parts. Part one lays out the rules. Normally, I bristle at rules but these rock. They're common sense, catchy and effective. She explains her thinking in detail and backs up her advice with practical examples of how to handle any food situation. She shares how and why she used to binge, how it made her feel and how she was able to stop. She doesn't give cliché advice like telling you to order grilled meat and steamed vegetables in restaurants and to send the bread basket away (woohoo!!). She tells you how to order and eat exactly what you want without any guilt, stress or weight gain (no, it doesn't involve throwing up).

Part two walks you through a whole week of eating. It's not a diet. She doesn't tell you what or how much to eat. You'll follow along with her to get an insider's view of her decision making. The idea is to inspire you, give you meal ideas and improve your own decisions. At the end of part two, she includes three weeks of her food journal, a real treat for people like me who are fascinated with what other people eat. I loved that it wasn't an idealized version. She's not perfect. Sometimes she has hot chocolate and watermelon for breakfast. Sometimes she misses lunch, or has a hangover, or snacks on cupcake icing, but when you look at her food intake as a whole, it's quite healthy, lots of vegetables, lots of variety, tightly controlled portions, and nothing is forbidden. She doesn't deny herself pizza or tequila or whatever is supposed to be off-limits to healthy eaters, but she is smart about it and she doesn't damage herself.

I found Naturally Thin to be a really fun read, like hanging out with her for a week, swapping diet horror stories, discussing strategy and sharing recipes. I kept having ah-ha moments all the way through the book. She says that constantly talking about and thinking about food can result in overeating just because food is on the brain. I think that's the biggest problem with forcing yourself to eat every two hours, or counting calories, or sticking to a food list. Non-stop food thoughts can cause you to go slightly bonkers and eat MORE, even if your goal is fat loss.

She asked a couple of questions that hit me right between the eyes. She says, "Who do you want to be? How do you want to eat?" It's about time somebody asked! Do you really want to be a bodybuilder? Or a Weight Watcher? Or a binge eater? Or a miserable number cruncher? Have you ever thought about it? Or are you just muddling around trying to do what you're told? She says, "Naturally thin people don't eat what other people tell them to eat." My mind blew. Most of us don't think about it like that. If we see somebody leaner or in better shape, we assume they must be better at following rules, counting calories, measuring serving sizes and suffering along quietly. I tend to think everybody has an eating disorder (I know, projecting much?). Well, maybe they're perfectly happy, eat what they want, and are nicely in touch with their hunger and health. Something to ponder!

I use an affiliate link when discussing this product. I will receive a portion of the sale if you buy it. See my Disclosure Statement. 

Posted by skwigg at 12:27 AM CDT

Updated: Sunday, 8 November 2009 11:15 AM CST

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Here's a fun video demo from the Turbulence Training March Madness Workout. (It's one of those $9.95 deals.) This one is designed for variety junkies and people who need to shake things up to get past a plateau. The daily circuit workouts are wildly different to make sure that you don't get bored and nod off. This one alternates kettlebell and body weight exercises.

Posted by skwigg at 10:21 AM CST

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I've created hulking monster squirrels. It started a few months ago when I bought some raw cashews and pumpkin seeds and HATED them. Bleh! Spit! So, I put them outside for the tree rats, who went totally gonzo over them. I tried to control their portions but I noticed that the squirrels in my yard were rapidly becoming twice the size of the other neighborhood squirrels. Eventually, my supply ran out. That's when they began harassing me. They decided it was cool to stand on the porch and cluck, to rattle the storm door, chase me to the car, and peer in the windows at me.

I thought perhaps I could appease the hooligans by buying birdseed at the grocery store. I found something called "Critter Blend." It's a combo of corn, sunflower seeds and peanuts. It's designed to turn squirrels and chipmunks into giant, pushy, territorial hell beasts.

A couple of days ago, my husband was warming up his Jeep in the driveway. He was inside and kind of watching it to make sure nobody tried to steal it. I told him not to worry. Anybody who gets between the Jeep and the pile of Critter Blend will be ripped to bloody shreds by the squirrel mafia.

Posted by skwigg at 10:47 AM CST

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Fascinating. Craig Ballantyne just made all of his individual Turbulence Training workouts available for $9.95 each. These are the monthly workouts that were previously for members only. Now you can grab them up for a bargain, which is handy what with the economy collapsing and all.

Here's a link to all of the TT workouts sorted by category. A couple of my favorites are the Bodyweight 500, which is killer and doesn't require weights, and the 12-Minute Workouts, which I used over the holidays when time was tight.

Most of the workouts are 4 weeks in length. None of them require a gym membership. Many of them don't even require weights. The ones that do call for equipment generally use dumbbells, a stability ball, a bench if you have one, and a pull-up bar if you're strong enough. There are a couple of workouts that use a kettlebell or a medicine ball (and say so in the title).

I did Turbulence Training during my recovery from knee surgery because I found that I could do most of the body weight stuff even in my big dumb, hip-to-ankle leg brace. I like the fact that you can do these workouts anywhere and they're fast. If you do the strength and cardio workouts together, you're looking at 45 minutes three times per week. If you split strength and cardio, then you workout 20-25 minutes six days per week.

One of the big complaints about other programs' extended gym sessions is that they totally obliterate you for other activities. If your first love is running or biking (or working, or watching TV, or spending time with your family), Turbulence Training's quick fat-burning sessions get you back to your chosen activity faster.

For the Turbulence Training fanatics out there, which of these workouts have you done? Which are your favorites? When I was scrolling through them all, I realized that I never did the TT Medicine Ball Workouts and that was near the top of my list of things to try. I may have to go back and check it out. It's an excuse to buy a medicine ball anyway. :-D

Here's the complete list of the $9.95 Turbulence Training Workouts.

I use an affiliate link when discussing these products. I will receive a portion of the sale if you buy. See my Disclosure Statement.

Posted by skwigg at 2:10 PM CST

Updated: Sunday, 8 November 2009 11:17 AM CST

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I was looking at my sent e-mails and found some fun ones. It's kind of weird to post answers without questions, but the questions are the same as always - How do I stick to a diet? Why do I binge? What if I slip?

~~

Lacking body confidence, not feeling sexy, and comparing yourself unfavorably to others is a self-esteem issue. It doesn't have anything to do with what you eat or what you weigh or how you actually look. It's a head thing and not a diet or exercise thing.

When you approach your meals and workouts thinking "I'm hot. I deserve this." you get a very different result than when you think. "I suck. My stomach sticks out. They're better than me. I should hide."

It's not any particular plan that makes the difference; it's how you think about yourself. It's possible that following a plan with rules and structure gave you a temporary kick of confidence and control that made you feel better, but it's that feeling that's important, not whether you got there by eating grilled chicken and dragging a cooler around, or by trusting yourself and being flexible.

~~

I never diet, so it's pretty easy not to mess up something I'm not doing. :-) If you want to be lean and fit, you need to eat well every day. Some days I eat really incredibly well and some days I get creative with the Doritos and chocolate, but I'm always aware of what and how much I'm eating. I always do the best I can. I never "go on a diet" or "start tomorrow" or any of that. If you're thinking that way, you've already set yourself up to fail. Success is about your actions right now in the present moment. If you push it off onto what you may or may not do tomorrow, then you never get anywhere because, of course, tomorrow never really comes. It's just an idea that you can delay indefinitely.

~~

When you fall into a pattern of either dieting or bingeing, a lot of times it means that your "diet" is too strict, too bland, too low in calories and completely unrealistic. To be successful, you have to enjoy your meals. You need the flexibility to eat out and to socialize. You need to include your favorite foods. You can't be a treat-deprived, clock-watching, tupperware-toting robot indefinitely. A lot of people can do that for a few days or weeks but when they lose it they really lose it.
 
Think of it as an ongoing experiment. Sometimes you'll do better or worse, be more or less motivated, have more or less success. But you never just chuck it and say, "Well, that didn't work. I'm done." Somebody smart said, "There is no failure, only feedback." So, if you try something and it's a disaster or you don't get the results you want, that doesn't mean you've failed. It means you've identified something that doesn't work and now you can change it.

~~

The important thing isn't how perfect you can be or how rigidly you can cling to your diet. The important thing is how you handle slip-ups. You want to get really good at making mistakes and getting right back on track. If you never learn how to "cheat" then you make one mistake, the guilt kicks, the bingeing starts and the whole cycle keeps repeating. You want to be the person who can have a piece of cake at a birthday party or a small popcorn at the movies, enjoy it, and carry on like nothing happened. You don't want to be the person who smells donuts and has a psychotic episode.

Posted by skwigg at 1:41 PM CST

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It's only about four hours after my latest Pilates session and I already feel like I've been shot in the transverse abdominus. Holy core muscles! I hope my intestines don't fall out while I'm at work later.

I did more actual exercise this session. Last time was a lot of interview and injury assessment. This time she kicked my ass, very slowly and precisely. We spent equal time on the mat, the Reformer and the Cadillac. I learned many new things. The movements seem so basic but the alignment and control is a bugaboo. I'm surprised at how much I'm enjoying it. Pilates is very simple and also the hardest thing I've ever done. Being graceful and aware is not my natural state. I crash into things. I talk fast. I hit people. I like the challenge of doing something that puts me completely out of my element.

I've also discovered a bonus benefit to spending time in a Pilates studio. I'm eating better. Every wall is mirrored floor to ceiling. Everyone wears clingy lycra, slinky leggings and tiny tops.  I have yet to see an "average" body there. The place is full of dancers and athletes. So, when I'm about to unwrap that second Cadbury Egg, I ask myself, "Self, do you really want to see that on your ass in 15 mirrors?" The answer is generally no, resulting in instant portion control and improved decision making.

I dove into this without knowing one single thing about Pilates, which is kind of fun. Normally, I research something to death before trying it. This time I just went for it. Now that I've tried it a couple of times, I'm eager to learn more. I found this book Pilates by Rael Isacowitz. It has detailed photos and descriptions of a couple hundred exercises. The instruction is very clear and the photos are so inspiring. I want to move like the graceful Pilates women and not like a big crippled moose. Maybe if I practice really hard, I can look like her by the middle of next week. LOL

Posted by skwigg at 2:42 PM CST

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I booked a one-on-one Pilates equipment session this morning. When I have too much time on my hands I get into fitness mischief.

Perhaps the funniest part of the whole experience was the questionnaire they ask you to fill out. On it, there is a list of body parts and you are to check which ones you've broken, injured or had problems with. I checked them all! Foot? Check - broken toes. Ankle? Check - I've rolled/sprained both of them. Leg? Check - fractured tibia. Knee? Check - torn ACL reconstructed with a hamstring graft. Back? Check - tricky disc. Chest? Check - cracked ribs and torn cartilage. Shoulder? Check - rotator cuff injury. Elbow? Check - both have been hyperextended in arm bars. Wrist? Check - stress fracture. Hand? Check - boxer's fracture. Neck? Check - it's crunchy and sometimes my face tingles. Head? Check - blunt force trauma, concussion, vertigo.

By this time I was rocking back and forth giggling to myself. I knew I'd done some damage over the years, but I'd never realized the Evel Knievel extent of it. Yes, I believe I'm a good candidate for rehabilitation and un-crunching.

After I filled out my questionnaire, I got a tour of the place. There's a large equipment room, a big class space, and several private rooms. I had my session in one of the private rooms. My instructor and I discussed my injuries and then she did a thorough assessment of my strength, flexibility and weaknesses. I'm damn strong, more flexible on my left side than my right, and my lower back won in the weakness department. She was able to point out my hinky alignment and explain why "neutral" hurts. She showed me how I compensate for the weakness and what I would need to strengthen to fix it. Then we did some very basic exercises on the reformer. They were hard! Not in a throw-up-a-lung way but in a concentration and alignment way. I worked some muscles that I didn't know existed. She helped me with form and scribbled lots of notes. My mangled right knee seemed to be of particular interest.

Anyway, it was fun! It was not what I expected. It was not a workout. I'm sure that once you reach a certain level of proficiency, it can become a workout, but for me at this stage it's all about rehabilitation and injury prevention. There was none of that crazy hype I've heard about Pilates. She didn't tell me that it would make me taller, change the shape of my muscles, or replace all other forms of exercise. She didn't tell me to stop lifting. In fact, she's a kettlebell fanatic!

If there's a drawback to this fabulous one-on-one attention, it's cost. Solo sessions are $65-$75 for 50 minutes. So, uh, I don't think I'll be going every day! But there are plenty of options. Mat classes are very affordable and group equipment sessions (4 people) are half the cost of private training. I'm intrigued enough that I booked 5 more private sessions and then maybe I'll switch to classes. Or maybe I'll see something shiny and wander off. I'm not known for my attention span.

Posted by skwigg at 2:43 PM CST

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