Ok, hear me out. I was skeptical too. But it’s actually good.
Salsa is pretty good for you. It’s the tortilla chips that’ll get ya every time. So try enjoying your snacky salsa with a different kind of crunch. Try celery or my personal favorite, baby carrots. Yummy and low calorie. Satisfy your craving without blowing your budget. Plus the ‘caliente’ in the salsa can help heat up your metabolism.
Give it a try and let me know what you think.
You work out, you’re eating better. But the scale isn’t budging. A lot of times, it could be because you have a liar in your midst. The fitness equipment.
Often times the elliptical, treadmill, or cycle can overestimate the calories burned by 30-50%! Well, if you use that number to calculate you net calories, you might be blowing your budget without meaning too. Example: You are trying to budget for 1500 calories. If your elliptical says you burned 1000, then that means you have earned the additional 1000 calories. So you eat a total of 2500 calories for the day. And you are gaining weight. Because in reality you only burned 500 calories. And if this pattern keeps up everyday, the 500 calories over budget per day would make you gain one lb per week.
Fitness equipment is notorious for lying to make you feel good and get back to the gym. Here is a link that I like to use to calculate how many calories I’m REALLY burning.
http://www.webmd.com/diet/healthtool-fitness-calorie-counter
So if the scale is stuck, maybe you need to block out the info panel on the treadmill and recalculate your budget.
When you eat, do you have dog-like tendencies? Here’s what I mean
Is this you?
Or maybe this one over the last buffalo wing?
Maybe this one hits home.. staring longingly and begging for a taste of the food you can’t have.
Allow me to take you to my Spanish class today. When I handed my teacher the homework, she commented that I had “really nice arms”. So what immediately pops out of my mouth? “Yeah if you like sausages.” To which the teacher responded, “You like sausages?” (she’s from Peru… lost in translation)
Point is, when someone offers me a compliment, I feel the need to add a little bit of self deprecating snark. Do you do this too? Why are we so ready to see the bad and flaws, yet so reticent to jump on the success train?
In my pysch class, forever and a day ago, I heard it takes 5 positive comments to balance one negative. If you have a little inner critic, complaining about body parts all day, is it any wonder the scale leans heavily on the negative?
So here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to try to make a conscious effort to take the darn compliment. With no additives. And not just hear it and brush it off, saying the snarky little comment in my head. Internalize what the person is saying. Give the person’s opinion weight and validation.
Join with me in telling the little monkey in our heads to stop throwing poo. What’s that song? “Accentuate the positive… eliminate the negative…”
You should always listen to what your momma says you know. If you can’t say something nice, keep your yap shut. Especially in politics.
If you haven’t noticed, there’s a pretty big election coming up this year. And so far I have no clue why I should vote for either one of these yahoos. I’ve heard an earful of why I shouldn’t vote for the other candidate though.
It makes me ill that every time I turn on the news or check Facebook, there are pictures of Romney in a KKK outfit, or Obama looking like Hitler. Come on people. How exactly is this helpful, to anyone? To swipe a line from Buddha, It’s like poisoning yourself and hoping the other guy falls dead. Because make no mistake, this negative crap is poisoning you and everyone around you with hate. If you are a person that spreads these offensive and often false images and stories, do you realize how that makes you look?
So here’s my impassioned plea to my friends and family on both the left and right… stop throwing poo at the opposing candidate. This goes for the campaigns themselves too. All we hear is how one of them is going to ruin America. I for one would like to hear what you- or your candidate of choice- are going to do to make America better.
Stop using bully scare tactics. Stop kicking the other guy in the nuts. If the only reason to vote is so the other guy doesn’t win, we are screwed.
Today I am up to my ears in homework. So I am going to let someone else do the heavy lifting. This is a great article/video from Studio 5’s Fitness Correspondent, Melanie Douglass.
http://studio5.ksl.com/?nid=56&sid=21275419
Check it out!
One month ago I was running 26 miles. This week I’m topping out at 6. And even then I’m going slower than molasses.
But that is the point. After an injury, it’s tempting to try and make up lost time. I know that’s what I’m itching to do. I’ve just had 3 weeks of low impact exercising which means that I have burned about a 1/4 of the calories per week than I normally do. My weight loss is slow and I can see my calves turning to jello.
But if I tried to pick up where I left off, I would injure the healing muscles and be out for even longer. So when coming back from an injury, take your time. Literally. Make each mile a minute or two slower than pre injury. If you were at 60 minute sessions on the elliptical, try 30 minutes with stretching before and after.
Most importantly, listen to your body. If you feel sharp pain… STOP. Right then. Not after you’re done with your workout. Sore is ok. Pain is not.
Injuries happen to athletes at every level. Stretching and slow increases in intensity will not only help your recovery, but help prevent injuries in the first place.
I truly believe that the Serenity Prayer, used in AA and other support groups, fits perfectly for people with body issues.
Here’s my version of the Serenity Prayer for weight loss.
“God grant me the strength to stick to a healthy lifestyle. Give me the will to persevere and change the things I can and accept the things that I can’t. And the wisdom to tell the difference.”
I can change my body into a healthy, fuel efficient machine. It can be smaller and sleeker and stronger. But no matter what I do, I can not be in my 20s again. I cannot change my body type into one of those slight elf like creatures. I can’t get any taller. And my face will always have chubby cheeks.
So why spend precious time and energy bemoaning the aspects that I cannot change. Next time you get discouraged, think of this post and say my Serenity Prayer. Save your energy for the stuff you actually can change and let God bless us with the acceptance to love ourselves as we are.
Weekly weigh in 152.2 -1.8 lbs
Are you trying to lose weight? So you automatically pick the salad off the menu? Sadly, salad does not always equal low calorie or healthy.
Most commercial salads have cheese, croutons, some have breaded chicken or bacon, maybe guacamole. None of these things are bad per se. But they certainly hike up the calorie count. The worst offender is the dressing! You can easily use 300+ calories just on 2 tablespoons of dressing. Ugh that’s a bag of M&Ms.
So make your own fresh and yummy salad. Here’s mine: fresh diced tomatoes, cucumber slices, fresh lettuce. Tossed with balsamic vinegar straight from the cooking bottle. Not the vinaigrette dressing. Yum and under 150 calories.
Long title. I know. But nonetheless that is the question I find myself asking.
Little background info. BYU (Brigham Young University) and the LDS church are seeking to build a 9 story addition to the MTC ( missionary training center) in a little neighborhood named Pleasant View in Provo, Utah. To say some residents are a bit unhappy would be an understatement.
Normally if a company or organization wanted to build something against city code, they would present their case, residents would object, the planning council would decide. End of matter.
This story is a wee bit trickier considering the organization in this case is the church to which most if not all of the residents belong to. In fact the leader of the neighborhood resistance is also employed by the church. How’s that for tricky?
Initially when opposition was voiced to church about the matters, the LDS church stated the matter was secular and would be dealt with as such. The residents of the neighborhood were free to voice their conscience.
That ended about a week ago when stake president Chris Randall read and spoke from the pulpit on Sunday July first. He reiterated a message that is purported to come from Elder Nelson of the 12. A higher up in LDS church organization. Anyway, the message “invited” the neighborhood opposition to support and “sustain” the church leaders in their decision that the building is necessary to the church and an important ecclesiastical matter.
Hmm. Anyone in the LDS community knows that when you are invited to sustain something, there is a deeper implication at hand. Those words in particular imply certain things with a certain religious connotation.
When I related this story to my friend, she immediately said it smacked of fascism. Perhaps. I think that is a little far personally though. It is interesting to note that immediately following the “invitation” the leader of the opposition and a good many members, dropped their protests. Did the leader, Paul Evans, feel like he might lose his church standing and more importantly his job if he dissented? It could definitely be implied as such. He does not state that as the case though, let me be clear.
What about the members on the planning committee? If they are LDS will the “invitation” from church leadership put them in an awkward position? Or put undue pressure to cede to the will of a church versus the city?
I don’t know. It’s an interesting quandary to say the least. In my opinion, the notice from the pulpit was in poor taste and poor wording. But the Mormon faith is one where the needs of the gospel, God and church comes first. The view from your front window would be second. There is definitely a doctrinal case that could be made for a member of faith.
I’m not disputing that. Not questioning whether or not you can be a faithful member and disagree with the church at times. Just questioning the transition from stating it as a secular issue then changing to an ecclesiastical one when the chips were down.
Faith and politics is not a new discussion. Nor is it unique to the Mormon faith. I have seen people using this case as a reason not to vote for Romney. Because the church would influence his decisions. What about a Catholic? Would the Pope order a justice or president to strike down Gay marriage or face excommunication?
As Americans we like to point to a separation in church and state, but the lines are never drawn as clearly as we might think. School prayer, in God we trust, one nation under God, etc.
So I ask you dear reader, did the LDS church go too far bringing a civil city matter into church meetings? Exerting pressure or merely asking for help from the congregation? And the broader implications… Can anyone truly consider themselves a member of faith and not have that leak into their political decision?
Leave a comment below. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
And before the haters start hating, I am a member in good standing with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Just looking at some hard questions.
