Money In The Bank

Saturday I was watching some TV with my roommates (and Andrew) when the show Made came on. The premise is simple. High school students write in and tell what they want to be made into, like "I want to be made into a soccer player", "I want to be made into a model", "I want to be made into a cheerleader"... etc. I think that they pick the ones that have the least likely chance of achieving their goals. So, these people are given coaches and enrolled in programs and "made" into their dream in five weeks. This episode was about a very socially awkward and slightly overweight girl that wanted to be made into a pageant queen. While she was with all of her trainers I thought, wow, I should get a personal trainer. Then, after some serious thought I realized: 1. I don't have the money and 2. Why have a trainer when I have access to everything that can make me healthy without one. Before the show ended Andrew and I were out the door in our running clothes. Our work out was free.

There was an article online that I read about the money we spend on losing weight and in that article they came up with the same conclusion I did. Eat healthy portions of good foods (lots of fruits and vegetables) and exercise more. That's it! And we are doing it... Well, I'm trying to do it. So, here are a few points of interest from the article I was reading.

• The holiday season is right around the corner, and while scientists have disputed the popular belief that most of us gain between five and ten pounds between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day, there's no denying that some heavy eating is ahead.
• In 2004, Americans spent an estimated $46 billion on diet products and self-help books.
  But much of that money is wasted. In fact, a government review found that two-thirds of U.S. dieters regained all the weight they had lost within a year, and 97% had gained it all back within five years. Besides, following these regimes is significantly more expensive than the tried-and-true technique of eating less and exercising more.
• Does it really cost more to eat healthily? It doesn't have to, according to Dr. Pamela Peeke, a Pew Foundation scholar in nutrition and metabolism, "as long as you keep it simple."
• According to Ernst Schaefer, a professor at Tufts University, "The fundamental misconception about diets is that most people are looking for a magic bullet." He--and many other nutritionists--claim that the most effective way of losing weight is to restrict caloric intake, and the most effective way to maintain the loss is through regular exercise. Marian Nestle, professor of nutrition at New York University, agrees. "Eat less, move more," she suggests.

Unrefined Sugar

After talking to Aaron, I realized that maybe everyone didn't notice that in avoiding refined sugar, we can still enjoy unrefined sugar. This can be fruit juice sweetened cookies or raw sugar, etc. I'm sure it's better to avoid sugar altogether, just like it would probably be better to lift weights or run for half an hour than go on a fifteen minute walk. But, the fifteen minute walk is as much a healthy change as the unrefined sugar (in moderation) instead of white sugar or corn syrup and would get a point in our health club. I hear that chocolate made with unrefined sugar is expensive but extra tasty. There is also unsweetened cocoa that can be sweetened at home with raw, unrefined suger. Hmmmm.... :)

Stagnant Water

This Sunday Willow and I attended marriage prep in my ward. Our bishops each have asked us that every other week we switch between Willow's marriage prep class and my marriage prep class. Anyway, the teacher started her class by writing in big letters the word "FITNESS." Willow and I looked at each other and thought of this blog, the Family Fitness thing and everything that has already been said about being fit and its importance to our spiritual selves. We were both surprised when the teacher instead of talking about running, and eating healthy asked us all to turn to a scripture, as she gave a quote by President Ezra Taft Benson. The quote went something like this 'In all the scriptures there is one verse that explains all that we must do to be happy,' she then asked us to read Luke 2:52.

"And Jesus increased in wisdom, and stature, and in favor with God and man."

This makes sense, because the best way to achieve happiness is to excel in all areas. Because the body and spirit are one, we need not just body fitness, but entire fitness. Just like the Savor we need to increase in wisdom, and be mentally fit. We also need to increase in stature, and be physically fit. We need to increase in favor with God, and be spiritually fit. And we also need to be socially fit, with man.

Elder Ashton said, "A commitment to improve on a daily basis should be a high priority in those who would move in the right direction."

The teacher then led the class in a discussion on how entire fitness helps improve relationships. Relationships with our Heavenly Father and also with those around us. Willow and I don't have the best understanding yet, but we understand that in marriage and family its important to be evaluating the individuals direction (mental, spiritual, physical, and social) in order to be happy with each other. We need to be evaluating ourselves regularly and continually working to change and grow in the right direction. Stagnant water gets stinky. We don't want to stink.

Work those abs...

Fellow HealthyandHappyites,

This is Aaron grabbing the microphone... (and requesting a Blogger invite from Willow). Anne and I have been wanting to share a great (and quick) ab workout with everyone. I downloaded this 8 minute abs video a long time ago for Anne and she has really enjoyed it. Now that we are being more exercise conscious, we've adopted this into our routine. We figure that by doing this ab workout on a regular basis for several months, we will be able to lose that strange bulge in our mid-sections and have our inner xylophones poke through... So enough background on us, how bout this exercise.

Quick sidenote first (sorry). When trying to find this workout online, since it's not the easiest think to describe, I stumbled upon a webpage (another Blogger page) that I thought I should share: http://weightloss-tips-guide.blogspot.com/2006/09/how-to-make-my-stomach-flat.html. It's not that thrilling, but I noticed that almost every point made describes the H&H program. And notice the title: 'How to make my stomach flat'. Since one of the exercises recommended is working the abs (and Yoga, for those interested...), I thought this blog posting could add a new layer to H&H. We can be Healthy and Happy AND flatten those stomachs (if needed). Now on with the show...

Surprisingly enough, this video is all over YouTube. So all you have to do is go and get it. I had to dig to find the one with the best quality and had the audio in synch. Here's the link, which I will chatter more about as you read on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uIHRKwUH6Y. I'll quickly describe how to get this in a form that you can hang on to and not have to keep reloading it on the web. It might look lengthy, but it really quick and easy.

To save the video to your computer you can do it one of 2 ways:

(1) If you follow the link to the video and let it buffer completely, the file is actually saved for you in your temp internet folder C:\Documents and Settings\\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files. You can sort the files by size so that the biggest one will most likely be the video (with a name starting with 'get_video'). Just copy that file to your desktop or where ever you want to keep it.
or
(2) To save on time, you can just go straight to http://www.youtubex.com and enter the link above and hit download. It'll find it and then just hit download again. All this does is download that same 'get_video' file.

Once you've got the video, rename it to something exciting and then add a '.flv' to the end (short for Flash Video). Then you'll want to go back to the web and download a piece of software to convert the file to something easier to use. Get this program: http://www.download.com/CinemaForge/3000-2169_4-10496506.html?tag=pdp_prod. Install it and then run it. Set the Input to the file you renamed above. Then change the 'Doc Type' to .avi (my preference). You can change the quality to High if you want and Channels to Stereo, but make sure to change Thumbnail to None (otherwise it'll create an extra jpg image you'll have to delete). Hit encode and where ever your file was located, you'll soon have a new .avi file along with it.

Phew... When you're done, you can clean up all the extras other than your new ab workout video. It is kinda cheesy but you can really feel the results. Ouch! For those of you having trouble making time for exercising, this is great because it's only 8 minutes... And when you know the routine you can ditch the video and just set a timer.

I don't want to blabber for too long here, but I thought I'd share our exercise plans and ask for some comments on what other people are doing. As the cold weather sets in, it'd be nice to find some good indoor exercises like this one. We originally were thinking that doing only the 8 minute abs was not long enough, since it is only 8 minutes, so we were doing jumping jacks and stair stepping as well. But now we think if we're in a rush (and don't want to tear all our muscles), this 8 minutes abs really can pack a punch so it could count as exercising for the day (not sure what others think about this). So currently we are planning on jogging for ~20 minutes at least twice a week, the 8 minute abs every other day, and then sprinkle in tennis for ~20 minutes, power walking and the jumping jacks/stair stepping combo according to our mood. That's what we've come up thus far, any other ideas?

So if y'all decides to start crunching those abs along with us, we can all compare washboards come wedding time. Wouldn't that be sweet?

I'm in this for the duration, but...

Is anyone else finding this to be harder than they thought? I thought it would be a breeze and that I would earn 5 easy points a day until the end of the year. I haven't had a perfect 5 day yet! I refuse to give up though. I want to make some healthy habits and good habits take time and effort. I do notice that I have been more aware of what I'm doing the last 2 days.

Water water everywhere...

Matt brought up a good suggestion in one of his comments. How much water should we all be drinking... not just how much we can get by with, but how much do we actually need. Just like Matt I've read that a good rule of thumb is to divide your weight in half and that's the amount of ounces you should drink. This means that all the men should be reconsidering only drinking 6-8 glasses a day. But there are a few other things to think about.

• The Institute or Medicine advises that Men consume roughly 3.0 liters (about 13 cups) of total beverages a day and women consume 2.2 liters (about 9 cups) of total beverages a day.
• If you exercise you should drink another 8 ounce glass of water for every 20 minutes you are active (some places say an extra 1-2 cups for short bouts of exercise-under an hour-should do it)
• When it's cold or hot outside you are going to need more water.
• When we're dehydrated by just 4.3%, performance drops by 22%.

These are some important facts about water:

1. Drinking water may decrease your appetite.
2. Drinking water helps body fat burn more efficiently.
3. Drinking water is the best treatment for fluid retention.
4. The more you weigh, the more water you need to drink.
5. Drinking water helps to maintain your energy level and reduce fatigue.
6. Drinking water helps to rid the body of waste products.
7. Drinking water can help relieve constipation.
8. Drinking water can help reduce the amount of dietary fat stored in your body.

P.S. Summer gave me the great idea of adding a water calculator, so make sure to check out the link on the side!

Sunday exercise

I was thinking I'd go on a nice walk on Sundays for my Sunday exercise point. The other days, I'll probably use a workout video. What does everyone else plan to do? Or will it just depend on how you feel that day? :)

Love Your Tummy

Tomorrow is the big day! Hopefully everyone remembers. Andrew and I decided to prepare for this upcoming healthy life by eating ourselves into a sugary comma... ok maybe it wasn't that bad, but we ate A LOT of sugar. In fact we both woke up with stomach aches! Turns out this might actually be a positive thing. My tummy is reminding me how bad I treat my body! Turns out triple fudge ice cream (with little peanut butter cups), rich dark chocolate hot cocoa (with marshmallows), pumpkin-chocolate chip cookies, and homestyle popcorn are all bad for me.

So, lesson (hopefully) learned. Not only is no refined sugar earning me valuable points, but it also makes me feel so much better.

Fruits and Vegetables: Do You Get Enough?

Anne was talking to me about what constitutes a serving of fruits and veggies, so I added a link to an article about fruit and vegetable serving sizes. The Living Smart Guide that it mentions at the end can be found in PDF form at http://www.cancer.org/, the same website that the article is on. Just type 'living smart' in the search window. I haven't read it yet, but I'll download it and let you know if it's worth the time.

Point System

Ok, so here is how you earn points:

A full night's sleep (7-8 Hours) - 1 point
6-8 glasses (8oz.) of water a day - 1 point
Avoid refined sugar - 1 point
Exercise - 1 point
At least 5 fruits and veggies - 1 point

This is just a rough outline of how the points will be. They are definitely up to discussion.

We will be starting Monday, October 9th, 2006 (Dad's birthday!)

the second of many

I am so excited about doing this as a family! The page looks great, Willow.

The first of many

Here it is, our new family health forum. Hopefully this will be a valuable and entertaining resource on our way to creating an uber-healthy family. I happen to love food and candy and recently have been using this love as a reward system and way to reduce stress. This has a down side... I've noticed that my small frame is getting a bit doughy. With an upcoming wedding I would like to feel healthy and look pretty.

Please post often and comment on other's posts! Mom and Summer have come up with a fabulous way to keep track of our goals with a point system. This should help provide incentive and support. Maybe I'll stop rewarding myself with sugary goodness and start rewarding myself with points!