This blog is for and about the Webster family. Each of us want to make choices every day that will result in optimal health and fitness. We represent different generations and different places in life - from empty-nesters to young families to students. Our health goals are as varied as we are, but we want to have a common place to post our progress and our challenges. We will be accountable to each other - to provide support, design incentives, share information we come across, and in general cheer each other on and celebrate our steps toward fitness! If anyone happens upon this blog and is inspired to be more fit and healthy that is icing on the cake. So here we go!

Monday, March 28, 2011

Kathy - Flexible Goal Planning

This is from Spark People:

Does change stress you out? Do you feel anxious not knowing what is around the corner in life? It is unreasonable to expect the world to adapt for you; rather you must change to fit the world. Life is without a doubt, unpredictable. While it is natural to desire stability and consistency, life simply doesn't work that way all of the time. People pass away, financial situations change, relationships end--all without our consultation! The best solution is to develop a sense of humor and flexibility. Continue to set long-term goals, but keep your options and means for achieving those goals adaptable, just in case life decides to throw a wrench in your plans.



I think this is excellent - when our normal routines are shifted by, say, catering a wedding (which I did this weekend and was although it was fun, was also rather exhausting), by trips to Brazil, by house guests, we just need to develop a sense of humor, flexibility, and ask ourselves, "What can I do in this situation to move closer to my goal?" 

Here's to remembering to be flexible with how we reach our goals when life throws us a curve-ball. 
  

Sunday, March 27, 2011

VEGFEST!!!!!

So this weekend Sophie and I got to go to VegFest. We went Saturday after church and then I went again today while Sophie was at work. It was a lot of fun getting to sample new products. There were an amazing amount of vendors, many of whom were giving out free samples. We also signed up for Vegetarians of Washington, which came with a year's subscription to Vegetarian Times and a goodie bag. Here's what we brought home at the end of day one:


























"Melt" there on the right is a butter substitute with coconut butter as its main ingredient. You can bake with it and it tastes amazing. The loaf of bread on the left is "Dave's Killer Bread." It's the best store-bought bread ever. The little boxes of cereal are from Cascadian Farms. It's Dark Chocolate Almond granola. The stuff in the blue packages is a peanut butter substitute made from roasted sesame seeds--very yummy. The canister next to the Pop Chips is a cultured almond milk yogurt. You can seem by kettlebells and swiss ball in the upper right corner. Not pictured is the raft of coupons or our messy apartment. Anyway, here's what I brought home today:

Sophie told me not to get anymore Melt since we already had three, but they were putting them in all the gift bags and one lady just came up and handed one to me. The green bottle is coconut water. The "GoodBelly" stuff on the lower left is a probiotic drink mix. The can of soda is a stevia flavored drink. As you can see we got more bread, more milk and yet more tea. You may also notice that there are a lot of boxes of Cascadian Farms cereal and lots of Odwalla Bars. Let's just say that those booths rotated volunteers a lot and leave it at that. 

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Kathy - FL Injury

Hi Family,  Sad news about FL.  He tore something in the bottom of his foot today at school.  Currently his foot is wrapped, iced and elevated.  The beast and I had to tromp without him this evening.  Hopefully he will heal quickly and be back on his feet soon.

Meanwhile...I was going to share some more about how wonderful rest is for you, but will interrupt that message for this info I thought was interesting about exercise:

"Consider these important benefits of exercise.  Dr. Frank Hu and colleagues at the Harvard School of Public Health discovered that women with diabetes who exercise have a lower risk of heart attack.  In fact, in his study, the risk was 44 percent lower for those who were most active compared with those who exercised least!  The same study showed a 26 percent lower risk of type 2 diabetes and a 40 percent lower risk of stroke for those who were the most active compared to those who were least active.  Women walking about three-and-a-half  miles per hour had half the risk of stroke compared to those walking less that two miles per hour.

According to the World Health Organization, sixty minutes a day of exercise is about the duration required for weight control.  If you are unable to exercise for a total of about an hour per day, gradually work toward this goal."


Sounds like I need to up the amount of time per day I exercise!  The weather should soon be getting warm enough to walk at lunchtime, that plus the tromp, plus the KB workout should put me in good shape time-wise....will work on this next week.  

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Kathy - Healthy Rest

I have been thinking a lot about rest lately - mainly because I haven't been getting very much!  The beast has trained us into letting her out every couple of hours at night and now we are in the process of training her that she can get by just fine without those midnight stretches.  I found this rather interesting information about rest:

"Proper rest is important if you want to avoid diabetes.  Dr. Spiegel of the University of Chicago found that healthy young men had 40 percent lower blood sugar uptake by their tissues when they got only four hours of sleep for six consecutive nights that when they had six nights of adequate rest.  Further, insulin released from the pancreas was 30 percent lower after sleep deprivation that after nearly a week of adequate rest.  And the ability of blood sugar to enter the body cells without help from insulin dropped 30 percent, to a level seen in type 2 diabetes.  In short, sleep deprivation left healthy young men with an ability to handle blood sugar comparable to that of an elderly person with a mild form of diabetes."

More about how very good getting enough rest is for you coming soon, but for now I am off to bed.....good night family!

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Kathy - Racing the Sun

We have been enjoying the longer evenings since Daylight Savings Time began.  Tonight was no exception.  We began our tromp with not a thought of the approaching darkness.  I was quite a bit behind FL, contemplating on why spring cold is so much colder than winter cold, when FL encouraged me to hurry.  He pointed out, in case I hadn't noticed, that the sun was setting.  I decided I had better step it up - after all, the hill is a dangerous place after dark.  And I am not talking about critters - wild or otherwise, I am referring to the large piles left by certain herds of domesticated creatures and large holes left by wild creatures such as badgers and foxes.  Not a safe place to be stumbling around in after dark.  So I hurried and the end of the story is that we made it safely home while it was still light enough to avoid the doggy dangers the beast has made in the yard. I am sure you will all rest easier now. 

Happiest of fitness to you all!

Monday, March 21, 2011

Brooke- New Beginnings

Hello Family! I must say that it has been a few weeks at least since I worked out. I know "boo hiss" but on a happier note I did workout tonight! Chad and I were talking and he mentioned that I was nicer and seemed less stressed when I was working out regularly. Of course that was before the house guest invasion. I do agree with him and so am going to get back to it. Tonight I did the Zumba DVD. It's fun and I really do need to invest in a longer version.

Other good news is that although I have been lacking in the physical department, I have not gained weight! Who hoo!! I haven't lost weight either but that's OK too! So there is my progress report.

As of tonight I am back on the wagon, so to say. Hope each of you is still on the wagon or getting ready to jump back on. Curious to see what the new challenge might be.

Kathy - Springtime Tromping

Meadowlark calls greeted us as we began our tromp this evening. Yes, spring is in the air.  Along with wind and snow!  Brrrr!  The wind flung wet, stinging blobs of snow against us as we trudged up the hill, not too bad when the wind was to our backs, but if we kept the wind always at our backs we would end up in the next county somewhere. Conditions were quite miserable.  The beast, however, was absolutely delighted!  She LOVES snow.  Last week our snow was almost gone and lurked only in small patches in shady places.  The beast would greet each rare, snowy patch with joy and fling herself down in it for a cool, refreshing rest. This evening she was in her element and raced through the wind and snow as if she were trying to embrace the cold.  FL and I asked ourselves if we would indeed be dragging our bodies through the formidable conditions if we didn't have the beast.  Likely we would not - but I couldn't help being secretly glad that we do have her.  There is a perverse streak in me that loves being out in the elements.  I am not saying that I would relish being out in a real weather disaster, say a tsunami or an earthquake, but some something relatively mild like a spring snowstorm is nicely bracing!  

Hope you all are 'Marching"  (really poor pun - sorry) along with your fitness goals. The first of April starts a new and exciting challenge so be gearing up!

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Kathy - Gone and Off

Hi Family,

I was out of town for a couple of days this week - and when I got back I was busy catching up on home stuff - so have been off-line.  Have also been waiting to hear the final results from all of you.  I have heard from Brooke, I sort-of think Katie is the same as Brooke.  How about Tyler and Sophie?  How did you do with challenge #2?  Is everyone ready to try something new?!  Care to share an assessment of how your fitness journey is going so far?  We would love to hear from us!!

Monday, March 14, 2011

Kathy - End of Challenge #2

Hi Family,

At some point this week or next the second challenge will end.  Those of you who participated need to let me know how many days during the 4-week challenge you exercised for at least 45 minutes. When I get the results, the winner or winners will be announced.

Note:  I think this was probably a poorly designed challenge, and it seemed to be a struggle for at least a couple of you.  I know it was hard for me.  Do any of you have any ideas for the next challenge?  I have some ideas for an all-women challenge, but perhaps it can be modified to include everyone.  It involves working together to earn points.  Will post more about it later. This fitness journey is all about finding what works and what doesn't work, so we will keep trying until we find things that are really helpful for us.

What have you liked or not liked about the first 2 challenges?

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Kathy - Interval Training

Hi Family,  Hope you have had a good weekend.  Great here!  Had potluck at our house on Sabbath, then took the beast for a nice, long tromp.  Sunday made a trip to La Grande to fill up the gas cans with cheaper gas. It used to be 20 cents a gallon cheaper, but was only 6 cents cheaper - so much for that brilliant idea!  We also stocked up on groceries and got a large box of dog bones free!  Figured the bones alone saved us about $50.00.  So all was not lost. 

Managed to not get blown off the hill while taking the beast for a tromp today and also did a KB workout!  Hurray!

Anyway - I have said it before and I will say it again - I LOVE interval training!  I found this information on interval training that supports how really great it is:

  "When it comes to exercise, 'no pain, no gain' is a myth.  With interval training you can actually increase the 'gain' and decrease the 'pain' of exercise significantly.
  Dr. Harold Mayer, while an exercise physiologist at Lifestyle Center of America, discovered that when individuals adopt an interval training exercise program, they lose more weight than do those who exercise using continuous training.  In fact, in his study, the interval training group lost twice as much weight in just 10 weeks as  did those doing continuous training.  Furthermore, those using interval training decreased body fat by 1.5 percent - compared to a negligible reduction in body fat among those opting for continuous training.  Interval training may actually help you lose more weight and leave you with energy to spare compared to continuous forms of exercise."

Taken from:  "Dr. Arnott's 24 Realistic Ways to Improve Your Health". 

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Kathy - Good Thoughts

Hi Family,.  Have been checking out good stuff for us to read while on our fitness journey.  Here is a short article by Jesse McFarland that contains some valuable notions.  I think I need to work on mixing it up a little bit with my workouts....any suggestions on doing that?

Jesse McFarland says:

You get up and go to work, you listen to talk-radio when stuck in traffic, you brush your teeth before going to bed…these are all examples of a “course of normative, standardized actions or procedures that are followed regularly, and often repetitiously,” known as a routine. 
So, does it make sense to call exercise part of a routine?  Yes it does.  Exercise should absolutely be part of your time management schedule.  If scheduled on certain days and times, one’s consistency greatly improves.
Yet, I do have a problem with labeling exercise as a “routine” or “workout-routine.”
First, if you are new to exercise and label it as a routine, you might compare it to other daily habits.  An often and typical result from this is boredom.  Boredom can take over like a virus and usually kills exercise-consistency especially for newbies.  Tell your mindset that exercise should be done consistently but separate from daily tasks.  To do this, try to involve “change.” 
When it comes to exercise, fitness professionals usually agree upon the importance of “change.”  Too often I see people doing the exact same exercises, at a similar time and day, year round, and for multiple years without experiencing any physical progression.  Sorry ladies, but I’m calling you out…30 minutes on the elliptical everyday doesn’t get you very far.  You may notice that it’s been a long time since you’ve broken a sweat.  Guys,,,get off the bench press….seriously, you’ve gone straight to the bench press every time you’ve walked into a gym for your whole training life.  Keep in mind that your body physically adapts to whatever you do.  Therefore, without “change” one cannot progress. 

Change doesn’t need to occur for every workout.  If you do the same workout consistently, your body will adapt somewhere between 4 and 12 weeks.  Personally, I change my client’s routine every 4 weeks.  This is enough to experience and witness progression and stay free from boredom.
In conclusion, a workout should be scheduled consistently.  However, the workout itself should NOT always be considered a “routine.”  
 
 

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Kathy - Fun new (and healthy) food.

Tonight for dinner made stir-fry and served it on Shiratake Tofu Noodles.  Interesting stuff!  The noodles have 40 calories and 2 grams of fiber per serving.  They come packed in water (something liquid anyway).  The initial smell (package says this is normal) is bit intimidating, but just rinse them well and pop them in the microwave for a minute and all is well.  Anyway they are quick and easy and a nice way to add a little variety to stir-fry.

What are Shirataki noodles?  I discovered they are made from the root of the konjaku plant and the kind I used had tofu added. The fiber in them is glucomannen, which has been found to aid in blood sugar control, cholesterol control and weight loss!

Looks like there are lots of good recipes for them on the internet - will keep you posted on good ways to use them.

Brooke- Stressed and need space

Hi Family,
Guess I'm not doing great with the exercising. Ok so I'm not. I'll admit it. I'm feeling more stress than anything these days. We are going on week 6 of having Chad's brother and wife live in our RV. Having the extras in the house more than not is starting to wear on me. Being a creature that has come to enjoy her space and quiet I am starting to melt down with the presence of four more people. I know that it will pass but right at this moment all I want to do is run away. This weekend we are taking our little family to Klamath Falls just to have some space. I would love to have the energy to run or exercise or do more than move through the motions.

Don't want to have a pity party so I will stop typing now. I'm hoping that Chad sits down with his brother soon and tells him that they have a 30 day notice to find their own place.

Good job everyone. I will make it through this slump. I know it feels great to feel good and I like the post workout feel too. Just need to figure out how to get back at it.

Love to each of you!

Monday, March 7, 2011

Kathy - Starry, Starry Night

At last!  A clear night sky!  Lovely tromp tonight, LF, the beast and I all trudging companionably along.  Nothing dramatic, just a spectacular starry night.  Hated to come inside. 

Weekend wrap-up:  Nice long hike on Sabbath, Sunday was just a tromp down the road with the beast.  Got lost in a book so didn't do kettlebells, which is a shame because I really do feel so good when I work out with them.  I can relate to your remark about how good the post-workout feels Katie. 

Yummy treat:  Wrigley's chocolate mint gum!  Just what you need when your sweet tooth is driving you crazy. 

Resource to check out:  Made to Crave. 

Hope you are all feeling more fit and reaping the benefits.  I love being able to walk up our hill without getting short-of-breath!  I love being able to do several miles of cross-country skiing without being so sore I can hardly move the next day!

Friday, March 4, 2011

Kathy - Tromping with Leash Training

We have had a warming trend recently.  Pair this with lots of snow and you get really gloppy conditions on the hill.  Thus, we waited until later in the evening to take our tromp and we went down the road.  This is a perfect opportunity to do some leash training with the beast. Leash training falls to me on these nocturnal tromps because FL likes to have his hands at the ready to defend us from feral cats (and other more sinister threats).  The beast is doing great with leash training, she walks peacefully along with us and all is well. There were just a couple of not so stellar moments last evening, such as when we decided to chase a feral cat.  We suddenly lunged onto the shoulder of the road and started up the hill with great speed - I say we because I was on the end of the leash. Fortunately I was able to halt things before they got desperate (now just why do I think it would great to weight less than my dog?!).  The other time was not so dramatic - we just decided to walk on the far side of the road from the electric fence the beast met with her nose.  I was just protecting her from that dangerous fence you know! Great times!  Tromping and kettlebells - who needs a gym?!

Wishing you all adventures on your fitness journey!

Thursday, March 3, 2011

One Step forward...

Hello Family,
Last week I didn't really do much in the way of exercising. It was my birthday and there was a lot of work stress that kind of took the wind out of my sails.
This week has been a lot better so far! I have been faithfully doing my lunch time workouts and yesterday I got in a 450 cal burn which felt amazing!
I have decided to really start running again. I want to built up my endurance to running 2-3 miles a day.

Love you guys! Just remember how good the post workout feels!

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Kathy - Yes!

Watching Biggest Loser a day late - while treadmilling....anyway!  All the contestants had been home for 2 weeks.  When talking about the challenges and temptations of being home, one of them said, "I said no to the temptations and yes to myself!"  What an absolutely fantastic, positive spin to put on things!

SO!  Thought for the day:

Say YES to yourself!

Kathy - Reflections

Yesterday was the first day in, I am at a loss to remember, that I haven't done some form of exercise. I had an evening meeting that disrupted both my tromp and my KB workout.  It seems rather strange!  So I am going to take this brief pause, to reflect on and assess my goals, this blog, and anything else that might happen along. 

How am I doing with my fitness goals?  Weight-wise I am still down about 4 lbs, as I was at the end of the last challenge. Sometimes I bounce up or down a lb  Looking back, though, I am more encouraged.  I actually gained a couple of lbs on the ski trip and have lost that - so I guess I will keep on keeping on and should see more downward movement of the scale in the future.  I still haven't taken advantage of all the features of our new scale (which also, by the way, has a clock and an alarm on it, but who wants to hop out of bed and turn off the scale?!).  I am intending to do this soon - probably this weekend.

How is this blog doing?  I really don't know!  I know I have been enjoying blogging.  I had sort of thought that perhaps all of us might be a bit more involved with posting, comments, encouragement, and the like, but I realize you are all busy, and that is fine - when any of you do post or comment, however, it really makes my day!  For me, blogging has helped me personally be more consistent and committed to my fitness goals - so I will keep on keeping on with this too!

Love you all - don't let life get in the way of your goals!