Monday, April 21, 2008

Quit Smoking = Weight Gain

Alright, so today I try yet again to quit smoking.  No biggie - not worth mentioning - except…

The question always looms as to whether or not I will gain weight.  I have quit before, although only for a few days at a time, and have felt like I was eating more, but for the most part you don’t gain weight because of what you eat after you quit smoking, you are gaining weight because your metabolism is actually slowing down… yeah, like I need THAT to happen. 

Did you know that smoking cuts 200 calories per day in a heavy smoker?  Well apparently I wasn’t smoking enough to really reap the benefits of that one.  Did you also know that Nicotine is an appetite suppressant?  No way - really?  Um, then why didn’t it suppress the 3 chocolate chip cookies I had last night?  Also, smoking boosts your metabolism.  Up, not seeing much of a difference in that one either. 

But again, those are the reasons you gain weight… you are essentially gaining 200 calories per day and you actually feel hungrier when you quit smoking.  Well, I’m screwed then.  I’ve got my carrot sticks all stocked up, plenty of nicorette gum, websites galore giving me the benefits of quitting, and lots of water - I’m ready to go!  Now, if only I didn’t feel like killing someone we’d be good.  But at least I know the reasons why I won’t gain weight - because I’m not falling for it when my appetite tells me it wants food.  Nope, not doing it. 

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Workouts make you happy

It is a proven fact that working out can improve your mood. Why is it then that when we are stressed out or otherwise feeling crappy that the first thing we do, is skip this vitally important mood enhancer? Yeah, I don’t know either.

I learned early on, after I began my TKD classes, that there is nothing that makes me feel better than kicking the crap out of bags and other padded and protected cohorts in my class. So no matter how horrible my day has been, if I think that I can hold my emotions in check, I attend class. I work myself into soreness and ultimately, happiness. Scientifically, I really am not crazy. I looked it up. This is what I found:

Exercise has long been touted as a way to maintain physical fitness and help prevent high blood pressure, diabetes and other diseases. A growing volume of research shows that exercise can also help improve symptoms of certain mental health conditions, including depression and anxiety. Exercise may also help prevent a relapse after treatment for depression or anxiety.

Research suggests that it may take at least 30 minutes of exercise a day for at least three to five days a week to significantly improve depression symptoms. But smaller amounts of activity — as little as 10 to 15 minutes at a time — can improve mood in the short term. “Small bouts of exercise may be a great way to get started if it’s initially too hard to do more,” Dr. Vickers-Douglas says.

Just how exercise reduces symptoms of depression and anxiety isn’t fully understood. Some evidence suggests that exercise raises the levels of certain mood-enhancing neurotransmitters in the brain. Exercise may also boost feel-good endorphins, release muscle tension, help you sleep better, and reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol. It also increases body temperature, which may have calming effects. All of these changes in your mind and body can improve such symptoms as sadness, anxiety, irritability, stress, fatigue, anger, self-doubt and hopelessness.

So there you have it. When you feel like you want to just punch the crap out of someone. Or all you want to do is cry and scream...go workout. You will feel happy in no time. 

Friday, April 18, 2008

Yep… Still Friday

I woke up this morning praying it wasn’t Friday.  Before I figured out that it really was I was already thinking - Oh please don’t make me weigh-in - PLEASE!  But alas, it is still Friday and I weighed in.  It wasn’t AS bad as I thought but I did indeed put on 1.8 pounds this week.  Man did I screw up!  Barely any exercise, a big juicy cheeseburger, side of fries, and a salad loaded with blue cheese dressing!  (Shhh… don’t tell anyone, but I ordered EXTRA blue cheese!) Of course I put it on the side so I didn’t actually use all of it, but enough to make me very very happy - and very very regretful. 

I screwed up and good - don’t get me wrong, it was delicious!  But I didn’t need the blue cheese, the burger, and the fries all at once.  Which brings me to a problem that a lot of us have.  We screw up and we screw up big all at once.  If I had just eaten the salad with blue cheese it wouldn’t have been so bad, especially if I had mixed it with grilled chicken or something.  Or I could have chosen the burger with a big heaping side of veggies.  Or perhaps I could have gone with the fries on the side of healthy piece of fish or something.  But no… I had to have it all together in one sitting, in one meal.  It was bad, bad, bad, but tasted sooooooo good.  But isn’t that why we are heavy to begin with?  We like the food that is bad for us - which isn’t necessarily horrible, but we have to limit how much we have all at one time!  So, next time I am going to choose one or the other - but not all three at the same time! 

I hope your week was better than mine - I want to see BIG losses on the scales!  Tell us ladies - how did you do this week?