Week 4 Round-up: How'd I Do?

Week four of 2012 has come and gone.  I realize this particular submission of "weekend round-up" is a little late, but nevertheless, let's see how I did.

Resolution 1: Take better care of myself

I flossed every day this week! 

I exercised twice this week!  I haven't written about it yet, but I'll post on it in the next few days.

I did not do a very good job of keeping a consistent bedtime.  I've been trying to squeeze in the rest of my resolutions into this week, which has made it difficult to keep this one.

Resolution 2: Stay in touch with my family

I talked to my Mom twice this week.

I talked to my Dad twice this week.

I talked to my sister once this week.

I haven't written my second monthly letter to my aunt and grandma yet, but I hope to do it in the next couple of days.

Resolution 3: Stay organized

As I mentioned before, I completed this month's home improvement project!  I'll share pictures and details in the upcoming week.  I know I've said this the past couple of weeks, but I mean it this time.

I have been using my planner every day to keep track of important dates and write down to-do lists.

I swept, mopped, and vacuumed this week.

Resolution 4: Save money

I made lunch for me and David every day this week.

I made  several vegetarian meals this week: a baked veggie pasta that lasted for several days (recipe forthcoming), roasted vegetables and quinoa, and a homemade pizza topped with leftover roasted vegetables.

I finished knitting my first hat!  It's not perfect, but it's good for a first try.

The verdict?  I did pretty well this week.  It seems like the resolution that I keep falling short on is the 8-hours-of-sleep resolution.  I will hopefully do better in February.

Netflix Instant Workouts: Crunch - Cardio Salsa

Note: To fulfill my exercise resolutions, I am trying every single workout program that Netflix Instant Watch has to offer.  Join me each week as I try out a new program.

This week, I decided to try out the first of several "Crunch" dance workouts that Netflix has to offer.  Though Crunch Cardio-Salsa was released in 2003, it seems like it's at least a decade older.  The opening segment, in which the instructor excitedly invites you to dance with her while the camera zooms manically in and out of her face while her seven neon-clad back-up dancers gyrate in hyper-speed in the background, reminds me of early 90s MTV. 

The video was broken up into seven segments: 1) warm-up, 2) salsa combination, 3) merengue combination, 4) merengue salsa combination, 5) samba combination, 6) latin funk combination, and 7) cool-down.  I'm not sure if the instructor presented authentic moves, but if she did, boy, oh boy, do I suck at samba.  I'm not sure how all the dancers did it, but I felt like I was limping around the living room with a broken leg.  The video breezes through these segments fairly rapidly, so the workout went by quickly.

I appreciated that the workout was fairly heavy on the "cardio" half of the title.  It incorporated a lot more aerobics moves, like lunges and knee-lifts, than the previous dance workouts I had done.  I didn't really mind this, as I felt like I was getting a better work-out.  While the workout wasn't too intense, it was a lot faster-paced than the "Dance Off the Inches" workouts.  The dance moves were also a bit more complicated and involved than the other videos, and there were a couple of times when I got lost and fell out of sync with the video.  This got better the second time I did it, and I suppose that if I were to do it again, it would be easier to follow. 

One thing that was completely unnecessary and made things complicated was the live drummer in the background.  There were times when I was struggling to figure out what it was that I was supposed to be doing when the video would randomly cut to the dude, drumming away.  They also sometimes cut to the back-up dancers, some of which are doing the wrong moves and fumble in correcting themselves, which made me fumble as well.   

Would I do it again?  I would probably do this video before I did any of the previous two.  If anything, I would just do it again to see if I can get all the routines down without getting lost.  However, I'm not crazy about it, and I'm looking forward to trying the rest of the programs.

Week 3 Roundup: How'd I do?

Week two of 2012 has come and gone.  Let's see how I did!

Resolution 1: Take better care of myself

I flossed every day this week! 

I exercised twice this week!  I haven't written about it yet, but I'll post on it in the upcoming week.

I did not do a very good job of keeping a consistent bedtime.  One reason is that I had some friends staying over in the first part of the week, and I stayed up late to talk to them (it's not very often that I get to see them).  Another reason is that this week has been really busy - I had two evening meetings this week, which made it harder to get to bed by 9:00.

Resolution 2: Stay in touch with my family

I talked to my Mom twice this week.

I talked to my Dad once this week.

I talked to my sister once this week.

I wrote and mailed letters to my grandma and aunt last week, and I plan to write them another letter by the end of the month. 

Resolution 3: Stay organized

As I mentioned before, I completed this month's home improvement project!  I'll share pictures and details in the upcoming week.  I know I've said this the past couple of weeks, but I mean it this time.

I have been using my planner every day to keep track of important dates and write down to-do lists.

I did not do any cleaning this week.

Resolution 4: Save money

I made lunch for me and David every day this week.

Sadly, I did not make any vegetarian meals this week. Since I had evening meetings, David made his specialty: tuna pot pie.  However, I did get free pizza at one of my meetings, so it could be said that we saved some money there.

No DIY projects this week - but I did start working on knitting a hat.

The verdict?  I did not do very well this week.  I did keep at least one sub-resolution for each resolution, so that's good, I guess.  I am disappointed that I did not keep my cleaning and vegetarian sub-resolutions, but I suppose I should cut myself some slack since this week was so crazy.  I'm glad that I have David to keep me motivated, or else I would not have done my second day of exercise.  Accountability - it helps!  Hopefully, this week will be better. 

My Motivation Plan

I think it's safe to say that my resolutions are a reflection of what I value.  I value my health, I value my family, and I value financial stability.  I value organization in that it helps me structure my time and space in a way that gives me more time and mental energy to focus on the things that are important to me.  However, there are some circumstances where it is hard to behave in a way that is consistent with the person I would like to be.  For example, I might come home from work exhausted and want to eat out instead of cook.  I might want to veg in front of the tv instead of exercise.  On these days, I need a little extra motivation beyond wanting to be a better person.

I have been using a calendar as a positive reinforcement behavior chart.  Each day, I keep track of whether I've been keeping my resolutions by writing it down.  At the end of the week, I stick a star sticker to the page if I've met my weekly resolutions.  If I floss every day, I get a star.  If I exercised twice, I get a star.  If I had two conversations each with my mom, dad, and sister, then I get one star (not one for each person).  If it is a monthly resolution, like writing a letter to my grandma twice a month or completing a home improvement project once a month, then I get a sticker at the end of the month.  Once I get to 50 stars, then I get a reward.

I'm having a hard time figuring out what a good reward would be.  I don't want my reward to conflict with my goal save money, so I don't think I necessarily want to reward with things that would cost a lot of money, like a mani-pedi or massage or new shoes or eating out at a nice restaurant.  I tend to feel really guilty when I spend money and I don't want guilt to contaminate my reward. 

When I was in college, I learned about something in one of my psychology classes called the Premack principle, which states that more probable behaviors will reinforce less probable behaviors.  In other words, people are more likely to do things they don't necessarily like to do if they have to do it in order to get to the things they love to do.  For example, kids are more likely to do their chores in a timely manner if they can't play video games until their rooms are clean.  So I've been thinking lately - what is it that I love to do?  And can I do that without spending too much money?

I love to read.  I love to bake.  I love to eat out for breakfast.  I love to get coffee with friends.  I love to travel.  I love going out with my husband.  I love to go to the movies.  I love to play Settlers.  I love going to fairs and carnivals.  I love scavenger hunts.  I love to admire and eat elaborate and decadent desserts.

Maybe 50 stars can equal $10 to spend on whatever I want, be it a pizza or a fancy dessert or ice cream or a book.  If there's a new hardcover book I want that's more than $10, then maybe I'd need to earn 75 or 100 stars to be able to get it.

Does that sound reasonable?  What do you think?

Week 2 Round-up: How'd I Do?

Week two of 2012 has come and gone.  Let's see how I did!

Resolution 1: Take better care of myself

I flossed every day this week! 

I exercised twice this week!  Check out my post on Fat Burning Jam.

While I went to bed around 9:00 almost every night (except Thursday night, when I stayed up til 9:30 to watch The Office), I'm not sure I can say that I slept for 8 hours each night.  There were a couple of nights where I couldn't fall asleep right away, and a couple nights when I woke up in the middle of the night.

Resolution 2: Stay in touch with my family

I talked to my Mom twice this week.

I talked to my Dad twice this week.

I talked to my sister once this week.

I wrote and mailed letters to my grandma and aunt. 

Resolution 3: Stay organized

As I mentioned before, I completed this month's home improvement project last week!  I'll share pictures and details in the upcoming week.

I have been using my planner every day to keep track of important dates and write down to-do lists.  I don't know how I survived without one for this long.

I vacuumed and dusted early in the week, then swept and mopped later in the week, so the floors would be freshly cleaned for friends who are staying over.  Plus! I also cleaned the bathtub.

Resolution 4: Save money

I made lunch for me and David every day this week - mostly sandwiches, but also salads and leftovers.

I made two vegetarian meals this week!  Check them out here.

No DIY projects this week.

The verdict?  I've been doing fairly well.  The only resolution I didn't keep this week was to talk twice to my sister, but we did have a nice, long mid-week conversation.  I didn't do any DIY projects either, but I didn't really set any time frames on that, so while I can't say that I succeeded, I also didn't fall short of expectations.

Vegetarian Dinners: Week 2

As you know, I have been trying to save money on groceries by making vegetatarian dinners twice a week.  While I did not surpass my goal like I did last week, I did make two vegetarian dinners this week. 

Tuesday: Tortilla Espanola and Spinach Salad with Apples

When I studied abroad in Spain, my host mom used to make tortilla espanola a lot.  Tortillas in Spain are not like Mexican tortillas - they're basically huge potato omelets - and they are delicious.  You make them by cutting three large potatoes (I used four, and it ended up being insanely huge) into thin shards, frying them in olive oil, mixing the cooked potatoes in a bowl with about 10 eggs, then pouring the whole mixture into a medium frying pan and cooking it on low heat.  Once it's mostly set, you have to figure out a way to flip it over, which is always scary, but oh my goodness, the results are worth it.  My host mom always served this with a spinach salad with diced apples, walnuts (I used candied pecans), and manchego cheese, all drizzled with honey.  The salad is very simple and delicious.

Thursday: Teriyaki Tofu with Broccoli and Carrots

This meal was pretty simple - I cut up a block of tofu into cubes, threw it into a wok with some broccoli and sliced carrots, cooked it with bottled teriyaki sauce (I didn't measure - I just poured it on until it looked like enough), and served it with steamed rice.

I could have had another vegetarian meal on Monday - I used a lot of leftovers to make fried rice - but I ended up putting in turkey bacon.  You can't have fried rice without bacon.  Seriously.  If there's no bacon, then what's even the point of fried rice?

Since I made the fried rice using leftovers, and since David and I ate leftover tortilla on Wednesday and are eating leftover teriyaki tonight, I only spent about $10 on dinner ingredients this week.  I feel pretty darn accomplished.

Netflix Instant Workouts - Dance Off the Inches: Fat Burning Jam

Note: To fulfill my exercise resolutions, I am trying every single workout program that Netflix Instant Watch has to offer.  Join me each week as I try out a new program.

I know what you're thinking, and I would have to agree - wouldn't it be great if we could burn fat by eating jam?  Sadly, this workout video did not involve any peanut butter sandwiches.  I should sue for false advertising.

I thought that since I had so much fun with Tummy Tone Party Zone, I would try out the other Dance Off the Inches program offered by Netflix Instant Watch.  Like the other program, there were three different sections, but the third section was another dance routine instead of a bunch of crunches.  Another difference that I enjoyed: the instructor and back-up dancers interacted more with each other, making jokes that resulted in stilted, awkward laughter.

I am not even sure if I can attribute a dance genre to the first section.  It mostly involved stepping side-to-side and swinging our hips.  I suppose this is the type of dancing that occurs at a "jam" (An aside: whenever I mention "jam",  for some reason, it makes me visualize A Night at the Roxbury).   Despite being ridiculously easy, it was much faster-paced than the other program, which I definitely appreciated. 

For the second section, we did a dance routine that apparently involved going "south of the border." (What if we had been in Canada?  Then would it be an American dance routine?)  This section started off with a "spicy march", which sounds like an oxymoron, but makes sense if you think of it being done at football halftime show by a trombonist who ate one too many chile rellenos.  While the routine did incorporate more Latin-based moves than the last program (for example, the mambo and cha-cha), it was still pretty vanilla. And when I say vanilla, I mean that one move involved walking in a circle and shimmying as though you were trying really hard to lose a game of limbo at a retirement home's tropical-themed party.

The third section was a jazz routine, and I imagine that this section might have been a bit more difficult for those who hadn't gone through the step guide section (which, like with the last program, didn't show up until the end).  This section involved a lot of sliding and turning, which is not easy to do on carpet.  It also involved a lot of hopping while raising your arms, like the Easter Bunny having a religious moment of transcendence while on acid.

Would I do it again?  I actually got really into it and had some fun (but then again, I tend to take the attitude that it's not worth doing anything if you don't do it wholeheartedly).  However, in the end, it was a bit too repetitive, it was too difficult to slide around on the carpet, and all the hopping was hard on my weak ankles.  Still, though, I'm glad I did it at least for one week.

"Boomerang" Tasks

Lately, I've been reading "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Rubin, partly because it might contain something useful and applicable for my new year's resolutions, and partly because it was 20% off at Target.  Plus, the cover looks so happy - like a bright sunny morning.



In her book, she writes about what she calls "boomerang" tasks - something you try to cross of your to-do list but ends up creating more work.  I have been experiencing a bit of this lately, and it is interfering with my sense of productivity and accomplishment.

For example, in cleaning out my closet, I wanted to do something with my wedding dress, which has been hanging in the back in a garbage bag, taking up a ton of space.  I took it to get it cleaned or preserved, or whatever you call it, and it ended up costing $250, which I wasn't willing to pay.  The woman at the store referred me to a place that would be cheaper, but now I'm considering just dry cleaning it and selling it, either online or at a consignment shop.  Unfortunately, this creates a bit of extra research and work.

I've also been trying to finish my fieldwork for my Master's program.  I'm in the process of transitioning from a middle school internship to a high school internship.  I finally got around to e-mailing the program director, which I thought would bring me closer to my goal.  Instead, it ended up adding about seven more steps to the process, and I feel even farther away from my goal.  I think the most frustrating part is that many steps end up being dependent on the responsiveness of other people, which I have no control over.  Crossing tasks off my to-do list "unclutters" my mind, so to speak.  It's frustrating to me to have extraneous tasks circling around in my head, like thought-vultures waiting to dig into my mind-carcasses.

Something the head counselor at my school always tells me is, "It's a process."  I think this is important for me to remember (easier said than done!).  I think that sometimes I am so focused on the end-goal that I forget to pay attention to the journey.  Accomplishment is great, but I think the process of growing and self-betterment is valuable as well, which, of course, is why I made my resolutions in the first place.  I'm hoping that if I repeat this to myself enough, it will help me to feel less stressed.

Vegetarian Vindication!

While searching for some vegetarian recipes online, I stumbled across an article from Eating Well on how to save $3,000 a year on groceries.  I felt slightly vindicated to see that my resolution to make more vegetarian meals AND my resolution to pack a lunch every day both showed up on the list.  I doubt that I will actually save $3,000 a year, as that number was based on the amount of money the average family of four spends on food, but nonetheless, it is encouraging. 

You know how on receipts at grocery stores, they have a number that is supposedly the amount of money you've saved by shopping sales and using coupons?  I think it might be fun to transfer that money into our savings account after every grocery trip to see how much money we save in a month.

Speaking saving money on groceries, thanks to a confluence of sales and coupons, our apartment is currently overflowing with cereal.  I kid you not, we have 10 boxes sitting on top of the fridge, including Frosted Mini Wheats, Special K, and Cheerios (new flavors - Dulce de Leche and Peanut Butter!).  They were each less than $2, which is great when you consider how expensive cereal is these days.  These will hopefully last us for a couple of months.

A Jump-Start on Organizing

I started on one of my New Year's resolutions before 2012 came around.  The week after Christmas, I spent a pretty significant about of time cleaning and organizing the house.  I guess I wanted to start the new year with some momentum.

Anyways, here are some of the projects I did:

1. I cleaned out my closet.  I havn't really touched the clothes yet (though I will) - just the boxes sitting on the shelves and floors.  I came to the realization that I had no idea what was in those boxes, but whatever they were, I haven't needed them in the past 2 1/2 years.  So I took them down, sorted through them, and consolidated what I wanted to keep into one shoebox.   The rest I either trashed or donated to the local Mission Rescue thrift store.  I also got one of these purse organizers for my closet.  My purses had been sitting in a box on a floor, and I think this makes my closet look and feel a lot more clean and organized.  The best part about cleaning out my closet was finding an IKEA gift card (which I thought I had lost) and a little cash in a birthday card from my grandma.  Which leads to my next project...

2. I reorganized the bathroom.  David and I went to Ikea and bought a new bathroom cabinet (we had been using my old broken-down college bookshelf to store toiletries).  I also went through all our toiletries and trashed everything that was too old.

3. I reorganized our cleaning closet.  David and I hung a shoe organizer to the back wall and are storing our cleaning supplies in the pockets.  Previously, our cleaning supplies were stored either in the cleaning closet, under the kitchen sink, or under the bathroom sink.  Now everything is consolidated in one place, and it clears up a lot of under-sink space.

I've done some other projects since then, but I want to take some pictures before I share the updates with you.  I'll be sure to post pictures of these projects, too, once I get the apartment looking respectable enough for pictures :).

Week 1 Round-up: How'd I do?

Week one of 2012 has come and gone.  Let's see how I did!

Resolution 1: Take better care of myself

I flossed every day this week!  Yay!  By the way, did you know that it is really hard to floss behind your back molars?  Hopefully, practice makes perfect.

I exercised twice this week!  Check out my post on Tummy Tone Party Zone, my first installment of my Netflix Instant Watch challenge.

I slept for 8 hours every night.  Of course, this was fairly easy as I'm still on winter break...we'll see how things go once I have to wake up at 5:00 every morning for work.

Resolution 2: Stay in touch with my family

I talked to my Mom twice this week.

I talked to my Dad twice this week.

I talked to my sister twice this week.

I started composing letters to my grandma and aunt...mentally.  In my  head.  It has yet to appear on paper.  But it will.

Resolution 3: Stay organized

I completed this month's home improvement project!  I'll share pictures and details in the upcoming week.
I have been using my planner every day to keep track of important dates and write down to-do lists.  It has been wonderful so far.  My grandma told my mom that I was the first one to call her and wish her a happy birthday.  Thanks, planner!

Cleaning...I have not done it.  My home improvement project took a while to complete, and I just finished it this afternoon, so I have yet to clean up the aftermath.  But! I washed out my vacuum's HEPA filter earlier this week, per my doctor's instructions AND David and I cleaned out the fridge today, so that kind of makes up for it...right?

Resolution 4: Save money

I haven't been working, so I haven't been packing lunches...but I have eaten leftovers for lunch almost every day (except for Thursday, when I had a lunch date with a friend).

I made three vegetarian meals this week!  Check them out here.

Well, you could say that my home improvement project is also a DIY project.  I mean, I DID do it myself.

The verdict? I haven't perfect, but I think I've been doing pretty well.  Plus, imperfection means that there's room for improvement!  I hope that I can keep everything up once my schedule gets crazy again.

Vegetarian Dinners: Week 1

This week, I made three vegetarian meals.

Tuesday: Almond-crusted tofu with steamed broccoli and rice

For this recipe, I adapted a recipe for Eating Well's almond-crusted chicken fingers to make it vegetarian.  I had tried the recipe once before with chicken, and David ended up liking it a lot, so I thought that he might like the tofu-version as well.  I only used about 1/8 teaspoon of garlic salt instead of the prescribed amounts of salt and garlic powder (since I'm worried about my salt intake).  I ended up liking it a lot, but I can imagine that someone not accustomed to eating tofu might find it to be a bland, lesser version of fried chicken.  I used half of a 16-ounce block of tofu and cut them into eight squares. I was worried that it wouldn't be filling enough, so I prepared lots of broccoli to go with it.  As it turns out, half a block of tofu was plenty for me and David, which is fortunate, because I used the other half to make...

Wednesday: Spice-crusted tofu with roasted zucchini and rice

This recipe is also from Eating Well.  I found it while searching for recipes that would be beneficial to those looking to lower their blood pressure.   The recipe uses spices like paprika, cumin, and coriander, as well as a glaze made from lemon juice and honey, to make up for the lower amount of salt. 


Thursday: Roasted Vegetables with Quinoa and Spinach in Sesame Dressing

I cut up thick pieces of carrots, zucchini, broccoli, and cauliflower, drizzled it with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkled it tiny bit of flaky sea salt (which apparently isn't as bad as table salt, according to this article).  I got the recipe for the spinach with sesame dressing from "Let's Cook Japanese Food!" by Amy Kaneko.  I just got a bag of microsteamer spinach from Fresh and Easy (you can pop the bag in the microwave and steam it - as easy as making popcorn!) and squeezed the water out before tossing it in the dressing from the cookbook.  Recipe below:

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Sesame Dressing for Spinach
Adapted from "Let's Cook Japanese Food!" by Amy Kankey

1/4 cup sesame seeds, toasted
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons sake (I didn't have any, so I omitted it)

In a food processer, grind the sesame seeds into a rough powder.  Add the sugar and grind again briefly to combine.  Transfer the mixture to a large bowl.  Add the soy sauce and sake and stir to mix well.  Add the spinach and mix to combine the dressing throroughly with the spinach.  The spinach should be generously coated but not wet.

Serves 2 generously as a side dish.

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All in all, I spent about $12 on dinner ingredients this week ($25 total after I bought groceries for breakfast and lunch), which is not too shabby for two people.

Netflix Instant Workouts - Dance Off the Inches: Tummy Tone Party Zone

I never really had a problem with exercise before college.  I was in tumbling and dance classes from when I was very little up until I left home for college.  In college, I tried exercising through walking and tennis, but tennis never really stuck (I have terrible hand-eye coordination) and while walking was better than nothing, it wasn't really keeping me in shape.  After I got married, David and I got gym memberships and I started working out on the ellipticals.  It worked well enough - I have very weak knees and ankles, so I felt like I got some good exercise without any strain on my body parts.  Unfortunately, we cancelled our gym memberships a little while ago when our schedules got crazy and funds got tight.

I thought that a fun and cost-effective way to meet my twice a week exercise resolution would be to try every single workout video on Netflix Instant Watch (we already have a Netflix account, so we're not paying any extra).  Every week, I'll try out a different video and report on the experience here.

There are currently 31 offerings in Netflix Instant's "Workouts" category, with a couple of them offering more than one "episode".  Some of them are broken down into five 10 or 15 minute segments.  I figure if a workout is not broken into parts, I'll go ahead and do the entire thing, even if it's an hour long, like the yoga videos.  However, if it's a week where my schedule is a bit crazy, I might try a workout video that is broken into segments and do either three 10-minute segments or two 15-minute segments for a 30-minute workout.  If Netflix doesn't add or take away any of their offerings, this gives us a minimum of 33 weeks and a maximum of 40 weeks of workouts.  I'm not sure what I'll do for the remaining weeks of the year, but I have some time to figure it out. 

I decided to kick off this series with "Dance Off the Inches: Tummy Tone Party Zone", because with a name like "Tummy Tone Party Zone", how could it not be fun?  Plus, I'm a sucker for anything dance-related.



After a brief warm-up section set to techno Mario Kart music, the program launched into a cheesy disco-like dance workout.  Every time I did a body roll, I wished that I had thought to close the blinds to our apartment window.  Despite - or maybe because of - the cheesiness, I found it impossible to keep myself from smiling the whole time, mostly because of my awareness of how ridiculous I looked.  Plus, the instructor kept insisting, "Remember - this is a party!" So, of course, I had to comply.

The instructor also incorporated the word "funky" into every sentence:  "Get funky!", "This is our funky two-step!" "Make it funky!"  Then, she'd ask her back-up dancers (for lack of a better word), "How are you doing?" And they'd say, "I'm doing funky!"  So not only was this program fun, it was also educational - I hadn't realized that there had been a 70s renaissance in 2005.

The next section was a Latin-based dance workout that was slightly faster-paced, but just as cheesy.  The instructor told us to "Make it spicy!", which is hard to do with the most white bread, vanilla "Latin" dance moves in existence.  It involved a lot of pointing at nothing in particular and miming bursts of sunshine.


Kind of like this.

After a short cool-down section, there was a section of core-strengthening exercises - aka, crunches and lots of them.  This was probably my favorite part, as I could definitely feel the burn in my stomach.  However, I think I hurt my neck a little bit from craning it to look at the screen to see how to do "crunch pulses" without looking like a broken marionette having a seizure.

Although the program is supposed to be 55 minutes long, the workout section was only 35 minutes long.  The last 20 minutes was a step guide, so you could learn the dance moves before doing the workout - it probably would have been more helpful if it had come before the actual workout section of the program.  Even without the step guide, it was really easy to catch on to the dance moves, as they were very simple and basic.

Would I do this again?  I actually had fun doing it, and the crunches section seemed fairly helpful.  The dance workout was a bit too slow-paced and easy, but I started to work up a little bit of a sweat once I started exaggerating all the movements.  I think I would get bored if I did it regularly, but I might occasionally revisit it if I'm in the mood for cheesy, easy exercise.

Pre-hypertension: Not just for the Pre-old

My mom is 46 years old and has hypertension. When, a couple months ago, she ended up in the hospital after not watching her salt intake closely enough, I gave her a lengthy lecture about taking care of herself.

A couple days ago, I went to the doctor for asthma-related problems.  My blood pressure was 137/85*, and the nurse told me that I am at pre-hypertension levels.

Oh, the irony.

What is pre-hypertension?  I'm glad you asked.  Pre-hypertension means that I do not yet have hypertension, but my blood pressure is a bit too high and it could develop into hypertension if I don't make some lifestyle changes.  As I am only 25, it's definitely not something I anticipated having to worry about for another 15 years.

In my defense, hypertension is hereditary, and I am inheriting it from both my mom's and dad's side of the family.  On the other hand, I haven't been exercising since David and I cancelled our gym memberships a couple months ago (and even before then when I got busy with school and my internship).  Also, since David and I are both busy because we are grad students and work full-time, and because funds are tight because only one of us is actually getting paid for working full time, we've been making a tradition of eating frozen pizzas every Friday night.  Not exactly habits I should have when I am doubly predisposed to hypertension.    

According to the huge glossy poster in the doctor's office, hypertension puts me at risk of stroke and heart attack, which is kind of scary considering that my mom's grandma had a stroke and my grandpa on my dad's side had two heart attacks.  The poster also said that hypertension can be combatted with the following lifestyle modifications (which I copied word for word into my planner):

• Increasing physical activity
• Losing weight
• Losing dietary sodium
• Limiting alcohol consumption
• Consuming a low fat diet
• Eat more fruits and vegetables
• Tobacco cessation

There's some faulty parellelism in there, but I'll let it go since the poster was so useful.

Fortunately, I've already made exercising and eating vegetarian meals part of my New Year's resolutions, and these will hopefully lead to some weight loss.  I don't smoke or chew tobacco, and I rarely drink alcohol - just the very occasional glass of wine.  Unless I start to deep fry my vegetarian meals, I don't think the low fat diet will be a problem. 

I wish that cutting my salt intake could be as easy as giving up potato chips, but other than the frozen pizzas, I already try as much as I can to eat healthily.  I make almost every meal from scratch.  I avoid canned and/or processed foods as much as possible, with the exceptions of tomato sauce, tuna, chicken broth, and cheese.  I rarely ever eat junk food.  For me, drastically cutting down on salt would mean to stop cooking with salt.  I know it's possible - I have a friend who never, ever consumes salts - she just uses garlic and herbs in her cooking.  While I'm not sure I'm ready to give up salt competely, I have no problem with giving up frozen, processed foods - no more weekly frozen pizzas for us.  I read somewhere that pre-packaged deli meats are high in sodium, so I might get my sandwich meat from the deli counter from now on.  Hopefully, these small changes will be enough.

I'm going to see how these modifications work out for me.  My mom, who absolutely flipped out when I told her about it, is mailing me a blood pressure monitor so that I can track my blood pressure.  If my blood pressure is still too high by June, I'll try being more strict with my salt intake.

* For some perspective, readings equal to or greater than to 140/90 is considered to be hypertension.  You need below 120/80 to be healthy.  I'm definitely closer to the hypertension readings than the desirable readings.

Habits, Good and Bad

In the past couple of days, I've read a couple of interesting articles that got me thinking about habits.

The first is from Zen Habits.  In the article, the author shares his disdain for resolutions and proposes that, instead, we should be forming habits to establish long-term change.  I thought it was interesting because most of my resolutions involve forming new habits.  I don't really have a fixed objective, like to lose 20 pounds or to save $5,000 or what have you (though those are very good objectives).  Most of my resolutions involve completing a task on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.  The wording of my resolutions wasn't really a conscious decision on my part, but I'm glad I'm focusing on habits instead of set objectives. 

This isn't to say that I agree with the author - I don't think that setting fixed objectives is necessarily a bad thing to do.  I think that different types of resolutions work better for different personality types.  Most people need a goal - a prize to reach for.  This might be true for people who are very competitive.  I think I have the kind of personality where I need to focus on the process more than the endpoint, so that I don't drive myself crazy or get discouraged.

The second article is from Real Simple.   This article is about breaking bad habits, like poor posture and gossiping.  As I read the article, I realized that none of my resolutions involved breaking bad habits - just forming good ones.  Of course, this is because I don't have any bad habits to break [Insert SarcMark here]

In a way, my resolution to use a planner was a way to break my bad habit of forgetting birthdays (as I wrote this sentence, my mom texted me to remind me that my grandma's birthday is this week - how fitting).

I think that it was important to me to use positive language in making my resolutions, for the simple fact that it is easier to measure the presence of something than the absence of something.  In one of my college psychology classes, we learned that when making requests or giving commands, it's important to use language to convey what we would like the person to do rather than what we don't want the person to do.  For example, if you're in a grocery store and your toddler is sitting in the the cart and keeps reaching out to knock things off of shelves, it would be more effective to say, "Keep your hands in your lap" instead of "Stop knocking things off shelves!"  The branch of positive psychology tries to focus on people's good qualities - and trying to get people to increase behaviors that makes their life better - rather than trying to fix neuroses or deficits.  I tried to apply the same principles to making resolutions.

I'm pretty sure that this strategy, combined with my positive reinforcement behavior chart, means that I am my own lab rat.  There's got to be a good country song in there somewhere.

Thoughts on Flossing

I flossed my teeth last night - gold star for Alli!



Even though flossing helps prevent gingivitis and tooth loss, I have to say that my biggest motivation to floss is to avoid extraneous appointments to Western Dental.  As a kid, I did not mind going to the dentist at all, but at Western Dental, they manage to make a simple tooth cleaning the most painful experience of the year...that is, unless you have cavities.  Every time I sit in that chair with the dentist picking away at my teeth, hitting every nerve I have (literally), completely missing my mouth with the water spray and getting it all over my face, I promise myself that I am going to floss every day and give up sugar and soda* and anything acidic (like lemons) that can corrode my teeth.  I'm not sure how feasible it would be to accomplish everything in that list, I can at least start the habit of flossing every day.

One of my biggest deterrents to flossing has been that I didn't want to add one more task to a nighttime routine that is already very long.  However, thanks to this Web MD article, I now know that I can floss any time of the day since the purpose of flossing has more to do with preventing plaque buildup than it does with cleaning bits of food out of your mouth before going to bed.  If flossing before bed ends up being too much of a hassle, I might make it a habit to floss as soon as I get home from work.

If, like my 2011 self, you do not floss and have what you think is a valid reason for skipping it, check out the aforementioned Web MD article.  It addresses all the reasons why a person might not floss, plus gives lots of helpful tips.  For example, now I know that switching to waxed floss can help with that pesky problem I have with floss getting stuck between my teeth.  Also, did you know that you're supposed to floss behind your back molars?  I did not do that last night, but I certainly will from now on.

Happy flossing!


* My husband and I actually ARE giving up soda, but I didn't make it one of my official resolution because I don't drink soda a ton anyways - just when we eat at certain restaurants.

My 2012 Resolutions

Happy New Year’s!

I’ve never made a New Year’s resolution before.  I guess I never really wanted a change badly enough to make a resolution.  Or maybe it seemed silly to turn what is otherwise known as a “goal” into a “New Year’s resolution”, which makes it sound a lot more daunting and difficult to achieve.

But for whatever reason, I am making not one, not two, but four resolutions this year, each broken down into sub-resolutions (because according to my friend/co-worker, who spent eight weeks leading a goal-setting group at a middle school, goals are supposed to have very specific wording if you ever want to achieve them).

Resolution #1: Take better care of myself.
Sub-resolutions:
    a. Floss every day
    b. Exercise at least twice a week for 30 minutes
    c. Get eight hours of sleep every night

Resolution #2: Stay in touch with my family.
Sub-resolutions:
    a. Call - and have a conversation with - my mom and dad at least twice a week (each)
    b. Twice a week, have a phone or text conversation with my sister
    c. Write and mail a letter to my grandma and aunt twice a month.
   
Resolution #3: Stay organized.
Sub-resolutions:
    a. Once a month, complete a project that will make our home a more pleasant place to live
    b. Use a planner every day - no more forgetting birthdays!
    d. Sweep, mop, dust, and vacuum once a week

Resolution #4: Save money.
Sub-resolutions:
    a. Pack a lunch every weekday
    b. Make a vegetarian meal twice a week (save money on meat)
    c. Try more DIY projects (bake my own bread, make my own household cleaners, etc.)

Why am I sharing this?  According to this CNN article, publically declaring our resolutions can help us stick to them.  Also, I'm hoping that by writing about my resolutions throughout the year, I can be more mindful of them and can develop a better awareness of what strategies are or are not working.

I'm thinking about making some system of positive reinforcement - for example, giving myself a gold star on a chart every time I floss, and rewarding myself once I get to 50 stars, or something like that.  We'll see.