50 cubed - week 6

I am happy to report that I am on my 9th day of ZERO SODA. This is huge. I almost caved last night because I really, really, really wanted a Mr Pibb at Chipotle. But then I knew I couldn't break the streak. I just couldn't. So no Mr Pibb. I drank iced tea instead.

Some days I'm not drinking as much as others, but I'm well on my way to drinking more water, dumping the soda habit (and other sugary drinks). This week will continue the increased water journey and next week, I'll venture into some other area of well-being.

I'm thinking it may have to do with fresh produce.

If you want to find out how the soda deal was clinched for me, check out last week's post here

50 cubed - week 5

Sometimes life forces your hand. All my lamenting over not drinking enough water has now been addressed in one fell swoop, thankyouverymuch.

I have some dental issues. The kind that involve pain. A lot of pain. And not sleeping. So I made a last-minute trip to the dentist on Tuesday. After x-raying a few teeth, assessing my issues, assigning me rinses and pastes and such, he mentioned that I should stay away from low pH sodas and other sugary drinks.

I assume he was referring to Cherry Dr Pepper.

Well then.

I guess I'll be drinking water, won't I? In fact, I've had no soda of any kind since Monday. I have, however, had a LOT of water. A pretty glass makes it taste better, too. Along with a fun straw.

Yes, it was my WW shot, but it fits. So there you go.

50 cubed - week 4

I almost wussed bailed on posting this week. I mean it's kind of a downer to just hear how much I can't drink water. I do not know what on earth is wrong with me.

{We interrupt this regularly scheduled blog post. Dianne just hit some keys that caused a crazy window to show up at the bottom of the screen with all her blog code. What keys did she hit? Where did that come from? Can she do it again? The answer to these and other questions may never be known. So we return you to your in-progress blog post.}

In the past, I've done a MUCH better job of drinking more water. It's almost as if the more I want to drink water, the less I do. It's insane, really. The big water jug? Yeah, that's working out great. NOT. The Mio? Ditto. I still can get a couple of days in with good water consumption and the rest? Not so much.

And it's been HOT here. Like upper 90s! Usually when it's hot, I'm MUCH better about drinking water.

I think I need to ground myself or something. Because I'm really not obeying well. At. All.

So yes, this is a couple days late. Yes, I tried to skip it. But I felt sorta guilty. What kind of accountability is that to myself if I just happen to not post? None. Zip Nada.

So, true confessions. Other than today, I've still been doing poorly with the water. Oh. And while I'm at it? The flaxseed is still sitting on the server. I stopped consuming it, too.

I am my own worst enemy.

One tiny victory, though. While I did have iced chai latte this morning, I went the entire day without soda - as in drinking WATER - until a late dinner tonight. But even then, I didn't have much. It just wasn't cutting it for me. Which is a good thing.

It's the beginning of a new habit. Right? One small step for . . . oh never mind. You get the picture.

50 cubed - week 3

This water thing is getting the best of me. Or maybe it's actually not. I am terrible about drinking enough water. So this past week didn't result in much change. I can get a good day or so in, but that's about it.

Enter my new water dispenser.

I've marked on the side how far to fill this each night {so I have nice, super cold water in the morning} with how much water I'm supposed to drink in a day.

I might've gotten half of it in today.

I might be floating away this next week as my body adjusts.

But I'm not giving up. I'm going to rise to the challenge. I WILL drink all my water.

fifty cubed - week 2

You know when you ride on the roller coaster and that first hill is the biggest, fastest, most intense part of the trip? The rest of the ride is still fun and all, but it's the big hill that's the best.

That's kind of like my motivation.

I creep up that big hill and come screaming down with light speed motivation, but the rest of the time never gains quite the momentum.

I am very much like a three year old. Short attention span. Terribly short. Ditto on the motivation for just about everything.

That's precisely why I'm blogging this self challenge. I will need a kick in the pants to keep going. I need FastPass so I can quickly regain my motivation atop Disney's California Screamn'. Over and over and over again.

So what I'm pretty much saying here is that I did not succeed in my week of drinking more water. Well, I guess I did drink some more water than normal. But not nearly enough. I think I need to take a slightly stronger approach to this matter. Perhaps fill up a pitcher with all the water I should drink in a day and stick it in the frig. Then I have a visual reminder each time I open the refrigerator. That's probably a good thing, since I'm a very visual person.

Funny thing, that visual stuff. I'm getting more and more visual as the years go screaming past me. Toilet paper rolls left on the bathroom counter so I can remember to bring up a new package. Milk jugs by the front door so I'll remember to pick up more milk. It's no wonder my house is such a mess. Out of sigh, out of mind is truly the reality in my world. Therefore, I should never put anything away, right?

But I digress.

Speaking of digression. The flaxseed? Yeah, it's sitting on the server. You know, my visual reminder to take it. That's not panned out so well, either.

So this is my FastPass Kick in the Pants to get crackalackin' this week. {Try saying that three times fast}

Go ahead and remind me. Give me a nudge on Twitter or FB. I won't mind. Question me, even. Something's gotta give, and I'm hoping it's some excess weight, not the zipper on my pants.



To find out how this all started and what it's all about, check out the first post or the tab at up there below my header.

fifty cubed - week 1

Week 1: FLAXSEED

I did well the first part of the week. It totally helped that I had prepared smoothies to mix up and drink. I definitely need to do that more often, because I'm a little on the lazy side when it comes to prep.

Beyond the smoothies, however, I sort of forgot my flaxseed. I even had more already ground and in the freezer. Oh well. The 4-5 days I did have it were a good start, I figure. So I'll be working this one in and starting on my Week 2 change.

Week 2: WATER. AGUA. H2O.

Of course I know how important water is to the human body. I know how much I'm supposed to have each day. I know how good it is for me. But getting this one from the brain to reality is a HUGE ongoing challenge. The reason? When it leaves the brain, there's this big old obstacle called MY TASTE BUDS. You see, the taste buds have a real thing for sweet stuff. Especially Cherry Dr. Pepper. So when they check out that water coming down the pike, they quickly rebel, because the straight stuff has no particular flavor. Sometimes, it actually tastes bleh.

Well, leave it to my brain to allow those silly taste buds to override its better judgment.

However, there is a pretty amazing new product called Mio. It's a water flavor enhancer. It's also a taste bud happifier. Yes, happifier is now a word. I just made it up. My taste buds are happy, happy, happy when presented with Mio enhanced water. This means I've been able to increase my water consumption. Which is a very good thing.

However, the Cherry Dr. Pepper still has a larger role in my liquid intake than it ought. So for Week 2, I will ramp up the water drinking. With the help of Mio, of course.

fifty cubed

AKA...

50 in 50 before 50

In exactly 50 weeks from today, I will turn 50 years old. I'm tired of weighing more than I ought/want and being less than healthy. I really dislike the idea of going into the second half of my life in this condition, physically speaking.

So I'm issuing myself a challenge. And I'm doing it publicly. I'm not good with accountability. It works for awhile, but eventually, I just slink away into hopeful obscurity, sort of like Carl does after blowing up the golf course.

But it's time for a change. Time to step off this downhill escalator of apathetic, eat what I want, get no exercise nonsense. For some reason, that plan hasn't worked out so well.

It may seem a little vague here right now, but that's okay. I am not following a particular plan. I know what I should and shouldn't eat. How much I should and shouldn't eat. I know all about the water I should drink, the exercise I should get, etc., etc. But at some point that knowledge has to make its way into active reality to be of any value. At this point, I intend to make at least one simple change each week. And then I'll blog about it.

I'm not posting a before picture or weight. At least not yet. Eventually, I imagine that I will want to do that. But I can't just now. Not publicly.

This isn't a meme, although I made myself a cute little button to put on my posts. It could be a meme, although I doubt that anyone else out there will turn 50 in 50 weeks and wants to lose 50 pounds by then. If there is, feel free to join in.

If a week goes by and you don't see me post about this, feel free to call me on the carpet. You can email me at bunny dot trails at yahoo dot com.

WEEK 1: FLAX SEED

I learned about the benefits of freshly ground flaxseed a number of years ago. Those little seeds are practically a wonder drug. Which makes me wonder why on earth I don't use it. But that's in the past, right? From the class that I took, some of the benefits include:

• Assist in lowering cholesterol
• Helps joints and arthritis
• Improves mood
• Excellent for female hormone balance and peri-menopause
• Helps with both osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis
• Can diminish food allergies
• Helps with dandruff and skin problems
• Lessen fatigue

My instructor also mentioned that flaxseed is the only significant plant source of Omega-3. A definite plus for people who don't like fish.

I actually have a big container of flaxseed. Which I don't didn't use. So today, I pulled it out and made myself a smoothie with some leftover berries, vanilla yogurt, milk, local honey, and freshly ground flaxseed. Since I was feeling industrious, I went ahead and prepared the ingredients for a few more smoothies in the extra cups, covered them, and stuck them in the frig. Now all I have to do is pull out a cup, toss in a few ice cubes and blend it with the Magic Bullet.



My primary goal this week is to have fresh ground flaxseed on a daily basis. I'll track any other improvements I make as well, but this is the focus for Week 1.