Yesterday was FITNESS SPONTANEITY DAY at our house. Woke up feeling restless; an hour later we were off on a family hike in the woods in Kettle Moraine State Park about an hour from our house…SO refreshing. Then we made the random last-minute decision to go to the Jillian Michaels show at the Pabst Theater; no regrets there, either. Jillian was GREAT.

GETTING GREAT SEATS AT THE LAST MINUTE

Protip: I spent most of my teenage/college years working in various theater ticket offices…if you aren’t aware, many times there are great seats released the day of show that the box office had been holding back for possible VIPs. And this is why we decided to go yesterday; I had looked for tickets twice before and come up with crappy, overpriced seats, which I will. not. do. Two hours before the show, we landed in the center of the floor in row P, at a great price. BAM. Done.

INFORMATIVE, INSPIRING, VERY FUNNY…NOT SO FAMILY FRIENDLY

Nutrition, Exercise, Motivation and…Tequila

The other reason we went is that my son – who is 7 years old – REALLY wanted to see Jillian. When your kid comes to you and says he finds someone inspiring and wants to see them – especially when you’ve spent the past 7 years trying to get that kid to eat a fruit or a vegetable – you pretty much say YES.

We’ve watched more than enough Biggest Loser at our house to know that Jillian swears like a sailor. I had hoped she would tone it down for the show knowing that there would be kids in the audience but mmmmmmyeah not so much. Not at all. Goddamn it, Bastards, the F bomb and all…she was ALL IN. I have some proclivity for swearing myself, so I understand, and am OK with it. But it’s not for everyone.

Also (sorry for the sucky I-phone picture) yes that IS a bottle of Patron by Jillian’s feet. I found it interesting that she was offering tequila shots while talking about how to prolong your life…definitely a show meant more for women out with their girls than for fitness-obsessed Moms and their fitness-obsessed little boys.

Still, my son was laughing during this show HARDER THAN I HAVE EVER HEARD HIM LAUGH IN HIS LIFE. Like to the point that women around us were getting annoyed (which I don’t get, BTW. WTF, aren’t we all here to have fun?). Totally. Cracked. Him. Up. Between the kid hearing about nutrition from a master and the laughter – worth every penny.

“I’VE MADE A LOT OF MONEY SHARING THIS SECRET…WAIT FOR IT…EAT LESS AND MOVE MORE”

Bwahaha! So freaking true. Jillian encouraged everyone to stop spending money learning this lesson…and then we all went out to the lobby and trampled each other to buy our $40 t-shirts and videos and hats and mugs and…yeah. We’re never going to stop spending money learning this lesson are we. We know it. We just need constant reminders to DO IT.

EAT CLEAN OR DIE

We buy mostly organics at our house, and have read enough to understand how crucial it is to avoid antibiotics and hormones and nitrites/nitrates in our meat. And even my son is already aware of reading labels and avoiding hugh-fructose corn syrup, trans fats etcetera. But lest anyone waver, Jillian drove these points home brilliantly with photos of appallingly obese corn-fed cattle – and the steaks that came from them – and bloated farmed salmon.

She shared her lists of the Dirty Dozen – produce to ALWAYS buy organic – the Clean 15 – OK to eat conventional – and things to ALWAYS avoid in your food. (This, of course, is extremely effective bait to get us to her website and encourage us to join her paid online community. Not a bad thing to consider if you need more external motivation. I used to subscribe and there are a wealth of useful exercise circuits and recipes in addition to the community features.)

MOVE YOUR ASS AND MOVE IT FAST

Jillian is, of course, a huge advocate for HIIT – high intensity interval training. And I tell you, when I used to actually do the super high intensity circuits in her Making the Cut book, I was in better shape than I ever have been in my life. Even better than when I was running before the ankle injury (*sigh*). As soon as I am healed I am getting back on the HIIT (and of course running) wagon. Right now I am just going to move my ass as fast as I can without hurting myself. Still, I was glad she acknowledged that HIIT isn’t for everyone, and that people should do what they enjoy…just FASTER, maintaining a heart rate of 85% of your max as much as possible during your workouts.

THE MENTAL PART: HOW TO STOP GETTING IN YOUR OWN WAY

Sadly, at this point in the show there was an intermission and I had to get my son home. So the holy grail I was looking for was not to be found this night.

For me, the holy grail is self esteem…how to get some and KEEP IT even when I can’t run. Oddly, running seemed to be a remedy in this area. And now that I can run for the time being I’m struggling with the old self-directed negativity again…putting myself down and, exactly as Jillian puts it, getting in my own way.

Anyone see the end of the show, or have any words of wisdom to share in this area?

Peace.

Spaight

Thought I’d republish this story today on Spaight Talk from a 2009 Posterous blog, in honor of that site shutting down today. (Buh-bye, Posterous…it was real. Sort of.) This could also be titled, How Changing My Outlook On Life Enabled Me To Touch Bruce Springsteen’s Ass. Or, if I wanted to get all new-agey on you, I could call it something about the Power of Possibility. It’s real, man. BELIEVE. Case in point…

AH, TO BE 16.

It all goes back to when I was 16, grounded, and my Dad snuck me out of the house against my Mom’s wishes to go to the Springsteen Born In the U.S.A. show at Alpine Valley. I remember standing on the hill in my *super hot* aqua tube top, white shorts and jean jacket, getting chills up my spine listening to the harmonica wail through the acoustic version of No Surrender. (Or maybe it was just my outfit that was giving me chills; it had nothing on the pink cowboy boots, white Coca-Cola brand jeans and yellow tank top that I wore to the Grateful Dead show, but that’s a different story altogether and one that shall never be told…at least not in its entirety. But I digress.)

ASKING, “WHAT IF…?”

Fast forward from 1984 to 2002, several states of residence, a slightly better wardrobe, including, ironically, a better Gap 1968 jean jacket. I’m in my mid-30s and after being called “the gypsy” by my family for a decade or so, have come back home to the Milwaukee area to “settle down.”

It is the post-September-11 Rising Tour, and Bruce is coming to Milwaukee. On a whim, I decide to stop by the Bradley Center ticket office and see if I can get two tickets to pay my Dad back for that long-ago magical night. I figure we’re going to end up in the nosebleeds, if I can get tickets at all, and I don’t care. I just want my Dad to know how much I appreciate what he did.

MIRACLES HAPPEN.

So, I’m sitting in the lobby waiting for the ticket office to open, and a guy, turns out his name is Bill, comes walking in with a clipboard.

Bill: “You here for Springsteen?”

Me: “Um, yeah.”

Bill: “YOU’RE NUMBER ONE.”

Me: “Um, thanks, but, huh? I don’t even have tickets. What the hell are you talking about?”

Bill tells me that he is a fellow fan organizing the line of fans into the order they will enter the show. Meaning if I can scrounge up two general admission tickets, my Dad and I will be front row, dead center. So, being resourceful, I do. And, we are. And it’s absolutely MIND BLOWING. The heartbreaking City of Ruins is like prayer, and Bruce breathes new life into every person present. The newspaper comes and does a story about how my Dad, an 80-year-old fan, is the first guy in the show, and due payback has been achieved in glorious fashion.

BELIEVE.

Sometimes, you just have to believe in possibility, even if it is against all odds. Sometimes, good things just happen to good people for putting themselves out there.

What are the odds that I would show up at the last minute like that, and end up front row center? Pretty damn slim. But it happened, and it happened because I took a chance that it might be possible.

OH YEAH…BRUCE’S ASS.

Wait, though. You’re wondering about the ass part, and where that comes in, right?

The Milwaukee epiphany leads me to a Bruce show in Miami, where Bruce does a duet of Because the Night with Bono and where I meet my friend Mike from Boston, who accompanies me to a show in Columbus, Ohio, where we get so close to the stage that I get to hold Bruce’s hand during “Mary’s Place” and, yes, cannot resist the very unlady-like urge to touch his ass, just because it’s right there in front of me.

Life, my friends, is right there in front of you. Are you going to grab it?

Imma just put this right here for later.

NOT FUNNY, UNIVERSE. NOT FUNNY.

Evidently the universe, which is usually quite good to me, thought it would be comical to have me run through all sorts of winter darkness and ice and grossness, and then, on the VERY FIRST gorgeous warm sunny day of Spring, tell me that I have a stress fracture in my calcaneous (heel bone). Pending MRI confirmation on Monday/Tuesday, but we’re 99% sure. Frustrating…check. Sad…oh yeah, big time. Not at all amusing…at least not yet.

I feel asinine even posting this, less than two weeks after Boston. Believe me, I am *fully* cognizant of the fact that there are people much, much more gravely injured than I. I particularly think about the dancer who lost her foot in the bombings, who has vowed to run next year’s marathon. Unbelievable resilience.

I just feel that the best way to process/deal with this at this point is to think about what I’ve learned in the *process* of training and getting injured, partially to comfort myself, in lieu of ice cream, and partially in hopes that it might help someone else at some point. There’s a lot I would do differently, knowing what I know now.

1. SCREW “SKINNY.” GET STRONG.

The fitness and beauty industries overall conspire in many ways to focus on our aspirations to be skinny, and much less so on our desire to KICK ASS AND TAKE NAMES. We owe it to ourselves to know better than that.

Through the first 10 weeks of my training this year, I was very focused on limiting my daily calories to drop some lbs. before the marathon. Yes, valid goal. Yes, I dropped 13 lbs and am at a healthier, happier weight. Yes, I feel less gross (except for this whole sitting-on-my-ass-all-Spring-now thing). BUT. Little did I know that somewhere along the way, while obsessing over tracking every calorie, I was developing a slight Vitamin D deficiency, even though I was taking a 1,000 IU Vitamin D supplement every day along with a multivitamin.

2. FOOD IS NOT THE ENEMY. HALLEFREAKINGLUJAH.

With the help of this experience and nutritionist-to-the-stars and rockstar runner and triathlete Amy Friese, from Fearless Nutrition, I’ve learned that food is FUEL, not something to be feared.

Wait. What?! I’ve spent my whole life trying to learn to eat LESS. The experience of NEEDING to eat MORE to fuel training and a LOT of it…*mind completely blown*.

3. DRINK YOUR MILK.

The thing about Vitamin D? It needs FAT to get absorbed. So if you’re using skim milk to stay skinny and think you are getting enough Vitamin D in your body, to ensure you can absorb calcium and keep your bones strong, you *might* be wrong. I’ll never know if my outcome would have been any different if I was enjoying a couple of glasses of 1%-2% (chocolate!) milk every day, but it’s entirely possible. In hindsight, I wish I had gotten my vitamin levels checked BEFORE I started training; I’d also suggest that to anyone training for something like a marathon…especially when you are rapidly heading over the hill like me. There are of course other ways to get calcium and Vitamin D for those who can’t do dairy…the milk thing works for me, not for everyone. I recommend it if you can.

4. LISTEN TO YOUR BODY. THEN LISTEN HARDER.

For newbie runners like me (or for anyone I suppose), it’s hard sometimes to know when you are running through a little “ordinary” pain and when it’s time to STOP and get it checked out. We train ourselves to just keep running, and that can mean not listening well to the signs of an injury. Denial, as they say, is not just a river…

A stress fracture is weird in that the pain comes and goes, so it can trick you into thinking that you’re OK. My foot started hurting about 6 weeks ago. At first, I could get about 6 miles into a run before it would hurt. Then 3 or 4. Then 1. Then…crap…it hurts all the time. I’d better go to a doctor. I wish with all my heart that I had gotten checked when it first started hurting, instead of doing two 20-mile runs with a stress fracture. I’d be in a very different place right now that it’s FINALLY SPRING.

The moral of the story: be smarter than me. If something hurts, GO TO THE FREAKING DOCTOR. If it turns out to be nothing, that’s a bonus.

5. RELATED, ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE/THERAPIES SOMETIMES AREN’T ENOUGH.

Even once I admitted to myself that I am injured, I didn’t go to a “traditional” doctor / orthopedist right away as I should have, in hindsight. I went to a (terrific) physical therapist. I went to an orthotics-guy-acupuncturist. I finally went to the orthopedist seeking clearance to race and peace of mind. I really didn’t think he was going to find anything. HA. HAHAHA. BWAHAHAHAHA *cries*.

Seriously, stress fractures are sneaky little bastards. Don’t be fooled.

6. PEOPLE ARE GENERALLY AWESOME.

Everyone knows the community of runners is amaziballs and my experience during marathon training was no exception. There were people like Anne who offered to be there for support and early morning winter complaints. Like Deb, who offered to chat about nutrition and share her experience. Like Tracey from PowerUp Fitness, who whooped my ass (in a good way) in bootcamps and training sessions and was generally *beyond* awesome. And like COUNTLESS others who offered support and encouragement. Thank. You. All of you.

There were also more than 20 people who donated to Racers Against Childhood Cancer in sponsorship of my run. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT.

7.”EVERY SETBACK IS A SET FOR AN EVEN BIGGER COMEBACK.” ~THE ROCK

OK. So here’s the deal. I’ve cried a LOT yesterday and today. And while I can’t guarantee I won’t continue feeling a little sad over the next several weeks while I am sidelined (the absence of endorphins is a BITCH, yo) and watching people run by my window, what I can promise is that I am going to do everything I possibly can to stay motivated and strong and do what I can physically do during this period (which I don’t really know yet.) Yoga. Recumbent bike *woooohoooo (sarcasm)* Upper body weights. CORE. And I’m drinking my milk, and not obsessing over every single calorie…just eating healthy and trying like hell to not let food be my source of comfort…which is a real challenge for me at the moment.

So that, hopefully, 6-8 weeks from now, I can start running again, and maybe, just maybe, if people smarter than me say it’s semi-reasonable, build back up in time for a fall marathon.

‘Cause that Kelly Clarkson, you know, she may not *seem* like the sharpest knife in the drawer…but that “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” shit? That’s the real deal.

So, while I can’t that Racers Against Childhood Cancer race shirt right now, it’s hanging where I can see it every single day. And know that someday I’m going to cross a marathon finish line in it, and it’s going to be EVEN. BETTER.

If you’ve dealt with a running injury, what advice would you add? And how do I not go crazy?

When I started running last May, it was for a higher purpose: childhood cancer. This cause still calls to me and pushes me forward, which is why I recently joined the great team of people who run for Racers Against Childhood Cancer. This group was founded here in Milwaukee in 2007 by a couple, Cole Braun and his wife Jenny, who have been working together to raise money for childhood cancer research since 1984. {Bravo!} Cole knows from his extensive personal racing experience that many athletes are motivated by something *beyond themselves*, and has put that to work in the fight against pediatric cancer.

Supporting THREE childhood cancer causes.

THREE CHILDHOOD CANCER CAUSES WRAPPED IN ONE.

One of the many things I love about RACC is that the funds raised go to support *three* wonderful pediatric cancer causes: Cure Search, MACC Fund, and Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. Cure Search for Children’s Cancer funds and supports research, and provides information and resources to those affected by this dreadful disease. MACC Fund is dedicated to funding research on childhood cancer and related blood disorders; its goal is to be cured out of existence. {Gooooooo MACC Fund!} And Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin is known for state-of-the-art research.

IF YOU, TOO, ARE CALLED BY THIS CAUSE, I NEED YOUR HELP.

Imagine, being a parent that has to tell your little son or daughter that he or she has cancer, if he or she is even old enough to talk. I can’t. I can’t even imagine. Yet, 46 kids will be given this news today.

My goal is to raise at *least* $1,000 – and my *dream* is to raise $2,620 – in the six weeks remaining before I run the Wisconsin Marathon for Team RACC on May 4…just under six weeks from now. Truly, ANY amount of help that you can give, $5, $20, $26 (dollar a mile, yo) or more, will be appreciated from the bottom of my heart, and will be used well by these tremendous causes. We got almost 20% of the way to my base goal the first day, which seriously made me verklempt – you guys are just amazing.

WHERE DO I GO TO CONTRIBUTE?

If you are able to help, please do so on my RACC fundraising page.

OH YEAH, RUNNING.

As for the running, I’m 275 training miles into this marathon program in the past 12 weeks, including an 18-miler this past Saturday. And I’ve got 168 training miles to go before the big 26.2. I’m feeling relatively good about it and as long as my tweaky right ankle holds out for another 6 weeks, I’ll be crossing that finish line with a big grin on my face, and a HUGE smile in my heart because of your support. Truly…I think of you, my amazing supporters, when I run. You keep me going, big time.

Love. Spaight

Photo credit: Mike Baird

There’s a lot to be learned from marathon training, or any other endurance training. I think it makes you more optimistic. And more persistent. More of a believer, because you have to be, to get out day after day and get the miles in.

I’m nine weeks into training, and frankly I’m still feeling a bit…stunned. I ran 37 miles last week (WTF!?!) and while I felt great after my Saturday long run, the next day after yoga class my legs just…stopped. Laying around, eating and feeling my legs throb seemed like a good time to reflect on the first half of training, what I’m learning, what’s driving me, what anyone might take away.

KEEPING YOURSELF HONEST

When I jumped into this in January, I presumed I’d be doing it for a dual purpose: 1) to keep myself honest and disciplined through the winter and 2) to raise funds for a childhood cancer charity. Not necessarily in that order.

As it turns out, it has been great for keeping me honest; crappy winter weather and all, I haven’t missed a single run/workout in the past nine weeks. Many days, I’ve doubled up. I’ve run 187 miles since January 1 and dropped just over 10 pounds – through a combination of the running and nutritional obsessiveness – and yes, I’m damn proud of that. Yet as I’m about to cross the threshold this week between merely crazy-hard and completely batshit (15 miles? At ONCE? Say what?), that just doesn’t seem like enough of a REASON to start running 15, 16, 18, 20 miles at a time. It should, perhaps, but it doesn’t. There has to be more to it.

TELL ME, ARE YOU JUST GETTING BY?

Last year at this time, I couldn’t run a mile without stopping. I sure as hell couldn’t run 5 or 10 or 13 miles. I’ve been “just getting by” for a long, LONG time. There’s a line in the P!nk song “Try” that gets me every time – “When you’re out there doin’ what you’re doin’, tell me, are you just getting by?”

My answer, now? NO. HELL NO. I am NOT just getting by. I am PUSHING. More. Better. Faster. Stronger. Every. Single. Day.

It stupefies me, to be thinking “Sweet, I *only* need to run 10 miles today?” This is SO ridiculously far outside anything I’ve ever pushed myself to do before, that it is absolutely SHATTERING long-held negative perceptions of myself. Not only is it making me more optimistic, it is, in fact, making me BELIEVE THAT I CAN. Maybe – just MAYBE – even that I’m GOOD ENOUGH. *Maybe.*

Life is short, friends. And pushing yourself, in whatever way you wish, feels a hell of a lot better than just getting by. Whether you are an athlete or not, I would say to you: are you just getting by? Think about it. How might you stretch yourself a bit more?

FINDING A HIGHER PURPOSE

I’ll spare you the details of how frustrating it has been the past couple of months, trying to find a childhood cancer cause, or a child, to represent this year. Tenuous relationships, state law, the IRS, politics and PR…all got in the way. Three strikes later, I really thought about giving up, and *just* running for me. But it still felt…hollow. Then, I remembered the perfect answer.

I could not be happier and more proud to share that this year I will be running for Racers Against Childhood Cancer.

Founded in 2007 right here in the Milwaukee area, RACC is a team of runners, riders and triathletes that uses their passion and competitive spirit to raise awareness and money for research and the fight to defeat childhood cancer. The funds raised go to THREE wonderful causes: Cure Search, MACC Fund, and Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin.

46 children are told that they have cancer every day. And children’s cancer kills more kids than all other diseases combined. I hope you will join me in this fight; I will share my fundraising page in the days to come.

Not hollow any more.

These next 250+ training miles, and the 26.2, 60 days from now, are for the kids.

Last week, the new(ish) Wisconsin Tonight show on WTMJ4 had me come on to talk about fitness tracker bands – Nike + FuelBand, FitBit, Jawbone UP and Body Media. Too. Much. Fun. The anchors, Mike Jacobs and Carole Meekins, were incredibly nice, and the few times I’ve been in the newsroom, I always really love it.

I’ve done a (butt)load of research on these fitness trackers at this point, and have talked to a bunch of people who use them. There was only so much we could talk about in this 3-minute segment; so, for anyone considering which one to buy, there’s also a quick take below the pros/cons/position of each as I see it.

Many thanks to producer extraordinaire – and wonderful friend – Rachael Glaszcz for making this segment happen. -xo

Pros, Cons, Position of Each …

BodyMedia
As I said in the show, BodyMedia is the one to get if you are SERIOUS about truly, accurately analyzing what’s going on in your body and dropping a ton of weight. The armband has a bluetooth sync option and unlike some of the others, it has both iPhone and Android apps. Downsides? The armband thing, and a monthly software subscription fee. Probably worth it, though, IMHO.

Nike + FuelBand
FuelBand is basically the opposite end of the spectrum, and it’s what I ended up choosing. It’s a great pick if you want something super simple and just want to track your movement and get a cool little visual display/reminder throughout the day to get off your butt. It syncs very easily to the iPhone app. Downsides? Limited functionality/data (wasn’t an issue for me); no Android app and no plans to have one (also not an issue for me); older, more battery-sucking Bluetooth technology (definitely an issue). And, as I recently discovered, a bug that, if you leave it plugged in at midnight, will totally bork your data for the next day; according to their website, Nike is working on a fix for that. 

FitBit
I think of FitBit as the “friendly” one. For example, it has a little flower that grows as you move throughout the day. (Hey, whatever lights a fire under your arse.) It’s got the full range of functionality, beyond movement tracking and into nutrition tracking (or syncing with MyFitnessPal) and sleep tracking, etc. It syncs wirelessly, including Android. In addition to the current version that fits in your pocket or on your pants, FitBit is launching the Flex band this Spring which is already getting stellar reviews like this one from David Pogue in the New York Times. 

Downsides? I have talked to a number of people who have had issues with the current model, the One, getting too sweaty and shutting down; FitBit even has a warning on their website to not wear it next to your skin. As a runner, that would be a real issue for me; I wouldn’t want to worry about it and would wait for the Flex.

Jawbone UP
UP is the one many techies talk most about. The design is cool, and it gives you all the bells and whistles/all kinds of data to wallow in. Evidently it has about a 10-day battery life, which (as someone who is really sick of charging the FuelBand every damn day) is pretty sweet. Downsides? There’s no visual display, so if you want to see your progress during the day you need to plug the UP into your iPhone to sync it, and then check the app for your data. In a word: Meh. For some people, that’s fine. For me, I want to be able to see it at a quick glance while I’m out doing my run, lunchtime mall walk or whatever.

I hope that helps! Let me know what you think, or if you have any questions as you ponder which one to try.

Spaight

“Childhood obesity,” aka fat kids. 

In the 70s, they didn’t call it childhood obesity; they called me a fat kid. Little did I know, I was a trailblazer for generations of fat kids to come. According to the CDC, 17% of U.S. kids 2-19 are obese, almost triple the rate of 1980. Even my obsession Biggest Loser NBC is tacking the subject this season, with three kids on the show. Some have questioned whether that is taking it too far; personally, I’m thrilled that they are taking it on. Clearly, a lot of kids need more help than they are getting currently, to learn better habits.

See this kid, on a mission for cake? That would be me, circa maybe 1975 or 1976, In my sweet *custom made* – because nothing in the store fit – shirt. Nice chins!

Luckily, my son has somehow, thus far, defied the genetic odds, and has an abdominal six pack at the age of 7. I think we create a pretty decent environment for him, and thankfully he loves to exercise. There’s a girl in his class, though, who reminds me terribly of the long-ago me in this photo. At the school Christmas party, she quickly polished off a couple of fruit kebobs, a couple of cookies, three mini sweet rolls and came back for more. I told her flat out, “I think you’ve had enough.” It made me wonder if she hears that at home, or if her parents are in denial. I suspect the latter.

Parents are in hard core denial. 

At least one study has found that many parents are in hard core denial on the subject; 76% of parents with an overweight or obese child said their child was either normal weight or underweight. Say what? That, to me, is a frightening statistic. Wake. Up. People.

Were my parents in that denial? I can find no other explanation short of sheer negligence, so I’m choosing to go with denial. As kids, my brothers and I had unfettered access to a giant cupboard full of “food” – and I use the term loosely. Boxes of Lucky Charms and every other crappy cereal on the planet. Bags of Doritos and Cheetos and all the other “-itos”. Candy bars with a side of Ding-Dongs. While some of our dinners were *marginally* healthy, it also wasn’t unusual for dinner to be a bucket of KFC (mmmmmmmm chicken skin *vomits*) or hotdogs stuffed with cheese and wrapped in bacon (OK, that still sounds kind of good, sometimes). Yet somehow it was periodically mandatory that we stayed at the table until we choked down our cooked carrots…as if that was going to do any good. My mother, God rest her soul, was a lot of wonderful things, but a nutritionist was *clearly* not among them.

Teaching kids nutrition, step one: “Step away from the cake, honey.” 

Is it really that hard to teach kids about decent nutrition? Really? Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think it is. I think it’s irresponsible to not do everything you can to try to teach them good eating habits. Yes, I know there are sometimes extenuating circumstances, that it can be much harder for parents in low-income households where maybe both parents or a single parent are working multiple jobs and not around as much as they’d like to be, or they live in a “food desert” and don’t have convenient transportation. I get that. I do. But for most people, I suspect they just get complacent and forget how extremely important this is.

Snap out of it, parents! Stop. Letting. Your. Kids. Eat. Too. Much. CRAP. Just STOP. Look at it this way…

We are teaching our children to form eating habits that they will literally spend a life time either suffering from, recovering from, or living healthy from. 

I’m probably preaching mostly to the choir here. If so, good for you. So how do YOU teach your kids about nutrition? I’m curious to know.

For me, a lot of it is “by example.” Step one: get the crap food out of your house. End of story. Cheetos are NOT food. Neither are Oreos. Teach your kids to eat food not products (h/t Rachel Wilberding on that one, I think). My son doesn’t eat a lot of crap, but much to my chagrin, he also doesn’t eat a lot of plants. Thus far, me regaling him with how delightful the blueberries, orange, salad, green beans, cabbage and mushrooms I ate today were is *not* having the desired impact. Handfuls of meat are really more his style. Sometimes, I guess example just isn’t enough. I need to step up my game, however I can.

Lately we’ve been having a healthy dialogue about balance between carbs/protein/fat (as I work on it myself) and he’s soaking that up like a sponge. I think we need to drill more into the actual *vitamin* content of food next.

I’ve been looking online for great resources to use and to share with you on this topic and, frankly, I’m not finding a whole lot of greatness. Here’s one good tool that might be helpful, probably for younger kids. Dr. Joanna Dolgoff, nutritionist on my obsession Biggest Loser NBC, created a program called Red Light, Green Light, Eat Right, a child and adolescent nutrition program that has helped thousands of kids lose (or maintain) their weight and learn healthy eating habits. It’s based on the principles of the traffic light. Green Light foods are lowest in calories (Go!); Yellow Light foods are moderate in calories (Slow!); Red Light foods are highest in calories (Uh-oh!). Yay! for gamification of kids’ nutrition.

I’d love to see a really smart nutrition game/tracker for older kids, with some meaningful rewards built in. Still looking.

Voila, just a few decades after mmmm cake, we have…”slim fit” pants! 

Miracles do happen, and even a kid raised on Cheetos and chicken skin  and mmmm cake can, eventually, bounce back…with enough reading and enough running and a husband who’s willing to cook enough healthy meals. I’m not completely where I want to be yet…not sure I *ever* will be…but yesterday, for literally the first time in my life, I bought a pair of pants described as “slim fit” and “low rise,” both terms that usually cue me immediately that these are so not the pants I’m looking for. I wanted to weep with joy, right there in the Banana Republic dressing room, with the German-lady-who-accessorizes-much-better-than-I-do.

So..Ta-da. Behold. Slim fit pants!

*Resisting urge to insult my thighs with all my might. They’ve carried me well over 500 miles recently…and deserve kindness from me.* I still have a ways to go to get where I want to be, but I’m pretty happy with my progress so far this year. My nutrition-specific OCD is paying off.

I know some of you know a LOT about nutrition and kids. Please share!

Mom runs a marathon, weeks 5-6…

Plateaus suck. Patience is hard.
It happens to everyone. After a few weeks of satisfying, steady progress at weight loss or better nutrition…nothing. (OK, 4/5 of a pound in week 5, in my case, and nothing in week 6. Which is roughly equivalent to…nothing.) Frustrating? Sure. But sometimes your body just has to slow down and adapt, and there’s nothing you can do but stay the course and find your patience.

This time (yes, I’ve lost weight once or twice or twelve times before), while I certainly have my moments of great impatience/frustration, I’m surprisingly OK with losing slowly, because I feel like it’s SUSTAINABLE. Hallelujah! I just plain refuse to starve myself and put myself on less than 1,600 calories a day while training for a marathon.

So, some days I say screw it, I’m super hungry today, and I’m going to eat at a maintenance level instead of below. And that’s OK. Listen to your body (unless it’s telling you to eat ALL of the Girl Scout cookies).

Such as this week, when I went to Subway. And in spite of having just watched Jillian Michaels on my obsession Biggest Loser NBC pimping the FreshFit menu at Subway, chose very, very poorly. 6″ honey oat with egg and veggies. But I chose the full egg patties instead of the egg white. They put two of those suckers on there and it adds up. I said “yes!” to the cheese…not necessary. A “little bit” of oil which is never a little bit. And of course, a bag of baked Doritos (gross, but YUM) for a rare chip treat. Add it all up, after inhaling it…800 FREAKING CALORIES. Half a day’s worth. Ouch.

After the Subway incident, I was religious for about a day and a half. And then I slipped again, and got right back up.

I’ve learned it’s important to eat ahead of the hunger. When you get to that “over hungry” place, biological mayhem happens and it’s pretty tough to not make poor choices. You can kick yourself, or you can just deal with the fact that you are human and get back up.

Screw “skinny.”
Successes…there have been a few wins these past two weeks. Or at least one significant victory of growing self-confidence. For a while, I was trying to really restrict my carbs at dinner because Bob Harper, another trainer on my obsession Biggest Loser NBC said in his book Skinny Rules that it would make me skinny. Note to Bob: Bob, I love you man, but here’s the thing: I’m NEVER going to be “skinny.” Nor is it what I aspire to be. I’m going to be healthy, and strong, and BADASS, and powerful, with great endurance, and someday, maybe, more speed. And that means that sometimes, I’m going to eat sweet potato oven fries for dinner the night before a run and not let you make me feel crappy about that.

The Runner’s Diet. Unfortunately, not made of pasta and bacon.
I’m doing more reading about nutrition for runners because, with 12 weeks until the race, I still don’t feel like I’m “doing it right”. So I just read Runner’s World‘s “The Runner’s Diet.”

I really can’t recommend the book…it’s way too basic compared to how it was sold, and written mainly towards people who “used to” run, which is not AT ALL how it was sold.

I am going to give the 50% carb/25% protein/25% fat approach that they recommend a shot and see how that goes, and if it improves my energy level. The book asserts, “What runners need to do is flip the food pyramid and make fruits and vegetables the base. This provides fiber-rich carbohydrates, with quick energy but far fewer calories than the starchy items.” It claims that 50-25-25 is the best combination for sustained weight loss, keeping your appetite satisfied, and avoiding post-running fatigue. This eating plan is about the “mutual long-term goals of weight loss and energy for fitness.” AMEN. Sign me up.

The bonus of that is I have something new to obsess about daily (or hourly) - the nifty graph of these macronutrients in my MyFitnessPal app. Fun stuff!

My new favorite MyFitnessPal feature

How about YOU, what helps you through a plateau or to recover from a setback? Nutrition tips you’d like to share?

Hey, if you like this blog, are you SUBSCRIBED? Just enter your email address in the box at the top of the right sidebar and you’ll get the blog in your email box every time a new post publishes. Many thanks. -Spaight

photo credit: Stuck in Customs via photopin cc

Recently, a study reported in Wired Magazine found that tweeting and retweeting may help you lose weight. But, really, what they found is that the *support and accountability* provided by the social networking site made a difference in how much people lost.

Speaking from personal experience, there are a plethora (or two) of great web tools, apps, devices, gadgets, etcetera that can provide ways for you to hold yourself accountable and get support from (and give support to!) friends – or even like-minded strangers. They range from general social media posting to a whole crop of fancy schmancy tracking gadgets.

General Social Media Posting

Some people may just post on their Facebook page or their Twitter feed about their fitness progress (a great workout, a weight loss, a healthy meal), and in doing so, reinforce the behavior, and maybe even get positive feedback from their friends and followers. True, some people find this *annoying* if it’s done excessively; other find it motivational and inspiring. As a general rule, it’s a good idea to balance it out with other types of posts. Ultimately, of course, it’s your choice, and if you’re fine with the fact that some people may choose to unfriend or unfollow you, then go nuts. More often than not, people use one of the other tools discussed below, and then share that entry to their Facebook, Twitter, etcetera; these tools generally make it very easy to do so.

The “Check In”

Foursquare is a ‘geolocation’-based social loyalty platform (app, mainly) on which people check in, earn points, get special offers, and are named “Mayor” of a place if they check in more often than anyone else. I was surprised how many people I talked to about what tools they use for fitness support said that they feel Foursquare check-ins – and sometimes, mayorships – at the gym keep them on track. There’s a strong element of personal accountability and commitment with that, as well as sometimes encouragement in comments on the check ins.

Exercise Tracking Tools

There are numerous websites/apps that enable you track your exercise – what workout you did, miles run/walked/biked, how you felt, even how many doughnuts and cheeseburgers you burned off (Daily Mile)!

Many people use the Nike + app, which works with GPS to track your distance, posts easily to your Facebook or other social networks, and lets you compare your efforts to your friends.

Other sites/apps have developed strong sport-specific communities (not sport-exclusive; they cover multiple activities), such as Daily Mile, Runkeeper and Runtastic with runners and Strava with cyclists.

I absolutely LOVE Daily Mile, as a runner…there is always inspiration to be found in the amazing community there. And I adore seeing the data – it’s so satisfying and encouraging to know that I’ve run 515 miles, burned 19 pounds off (exactly how much I have actually lost) and burned 363 doughnuts. And there’s more to it than that; users give each other encouragement via comments and attached “motivations.” They see how they stack up on the leaderboard, share routes, discuss questions in forums and create specific fitness challenges.

Fitocracy (called “Fito” by its users) is another such online support community. User Maddie Grant (author of Humanize, my favorite social media book of all time) tells me that this site was conceived for “geeks who like fitness.” So it relies even more on gamification techniques like giving “props” to other users, or even using the “prop bomb” to like everything they’ve ever done. Unlike Daily Mile, here members get points for workouts and level up when they reach point milestones. There are tons of group-specific (such as swimming) challenges and quests, and the site is constantly figuring out new ways to encourage competition against yourself and others. Maddie says, “Fitocracy has connected me to so many people who don’t even know how much they encourage me, especially on those days when a workout is the last thing you want to do and at those times when the plateau hits. It’s an integral and essential part of my quest to get ripped.” :]

Another great option here is to motivate yourself by running or biking for a cause. Charity Miles lets you easily earn funds for your chosen cause; walkers and runners earn 25¢ a mile, and bikers earn 10¢ a mile, up to the initial $1,000,000 sponsorship pool.

Nutrition Tracking Tools

Since some of us, unfortunately, can’t just eat whatever we want no matter how much we exercise (*heavy sigh*), there are also great tools for tracking your diet, calorie intake and nutrition.

Some people I spoke with swear by the Weight Watchers app; I haven’t used that one in a while but found the content in the nutrition database to be lacking, meaning I often couldn’t easily find the healthy, whole foods I was looking to track.

My favorite app/site in this category is MyFitnessPal. Though the interface is lacking visually (someone, please design a nutrition tracking app that looks fun and friendly!), the food database is extremely complete, including even the most obscure healthy foods. This tool has been absolutely integral to my weight loss progress, and I highly recommend it. I put it in the nutrition tracking category because that’s what it’s best at, though it does also allow you to enter your exercise. It then adds the calories burned in exercise to your budgeted calories for the day. The benefit of this is that it helps focus you on thinking of the food you eat relative to the exercise it will take to burn it off, or vice versa, thinking of what you can eat IF you go for that run, walk or bike ride.

Fancy Shmancy Wearable Tracking Gadgets

This is the hottest category of them all…things you wear on various body parts that track your movement, your calories burned, even your sleep patterns.

Nike kicked off the craze with its launch of FuelBand this time last year. It’s a sexy beast, indeed, using an accelerometer to measure your movement in NikeFuel, a “universal metric of activity” (copywriter speak for “we own this category.”). You wear it on your wrist and can sync it with the FuelBand app to track your progress and connect with your friends.

My friend Shelly Kramer (named one of the 200 most fearless women online, how cool is that?!) is a FuelBand devotee, and eloquently says “I use my FuelBand and work hard to reach my Fuel goal daily; I am often doing jumping jacks at 11pm so I can get to that goal because I’m so competitive (even against myself) that I can’t stand it when I don’t. I also like that Facebook lets you “compete” against other friends you’re connected to. I love seeing my friends who use the running app and it shows me that they just did a 7.1 mile run or something like that, because then if I had slacking in mind I’ll feel like a loser and get off my butt and go for a walk.”

An alternative that’s getting some traction of late is Jawbone’s UP wristband, pulled from shelves in late 2011 due to functionality issues (as in, it didn’t work) and relaunched in 2012. An Engadget review describes it as “downright subtle, compared to the LED-riddled and overpriced Nike + FuelBand” and details issues with the lack of wireless syncing.

FitBit, on the other hand (pun intended) can go on your pants, in your pocket, on your bra, wherever, if you’re not into wearing a band on your wrist, and syncs wirelessly and easily. It even has a WiFi smart scale that syncs with your online profile and wireless gadget to keep you honest. The scale is quite cool and tempting (though not wholly necessary I must admit…it’s not really *that* much work to just enter your weight).

Linda Neff (another fearless friend, and a chapter author of the Women on Fire Book 2 being published this fall) is in love with her new FitBit, and says “It’s like a pedometer, only better…a quirky little friend who cheers on your healthy lifestyle with badges and messages reminiscent of your favorite grade school teacher.”

Biggest Loser NBC (with which I am obsessed, as is my 7 year old) has been using Body Media tracking armbands for years now. The difference here is BodyMedia uses multiple sensors – an accelerometer plus skin temperature, heat flux and galvanic skin response  - which is supposed to make it the most accurate. As tempting as the increased accuracy is, I just can’t quite bring myself to wear an armband on my bicep all day.

I’ve been considering buying one of these gadgets for the past year, and it’s a tough decision as there are elements I like of each. I have a “thing” for Nike, so the FuelBand appeals from a brand standpoint. I want accuracy, so BodyMedia appeals from a geeking-out-on-data standpoint. After doing more research for this story, I think FitBit is a good combination of form and function; it also integrates with MyFitnessPal so I can still track my nutrition in MyFitnessPal and FitBit will use that data…huge bonus. Maybe the best solution is to get one of each. ;]

The Bet

Some folks use these tools just for personal tracking and some use them for a little friendly competition. Now there’s a popular site called DietBet where you can set up that friendly wager. DietBet is a four-week social dieting game, in which you create your game or join one and watch the pot grow as new players join. At the end of the game, everyone who loses 4% of their body weight splits the pot. If you’re the kind of person that needs a lot of external motivation, this might be a good solution for you in the short term…then use some of the other tools to maintain your loss.

Social Music Sharing

Just for fun, you might want to check out a social music sharing app/site like Spotify. This is a great way to keep your workout playlists fresh and motivating. People build and share their playlists for others to check out and use. Here is my current one-hour run playlist.

So, whether you are self-motivated and need something to help you hold yourself accountable or externally motivated and want to share encouragement with your communities and maybe even set up a little healthy competition…there’s a tool or three out there for you.

I’d love to hear from you in the comments on what tools you’ve tried, and how they have (or haven’t) helped you meet your goals!

photo credit: Vethod via photopin cc

Looking back at my training journal over the first three weeks quickly shows the extent of my sugar problem. “Too much chocolate today.” “Sweet tooth still out of control.” “Excessive sugar; didn’t meet my calorie goal today.” Then: “Totally overdosed on sugar and feel gross (Twizzlers); threw candy away.”

It’s been six days now that I’ve been “clean.” And now my journal says things like: “Felt SO much better at the end of the day.” “More energy by far.” “Losing weight…down another 1.6 pounds.”

Breaking a sugar addiction cycle is a hard, hard thing to do. So hard that even though we know it’s not good for us and we FEEL better without it, we still keep munching away. If I didn’t have the goal of dragging my ass 26.2 miles in 103 days, I probably wouldn’t be dealing with it. But if you’re brave and taking it on, as many have responded on Twitter that they are, here are a few things that have helped me so far.

1. Get the stuff out of your house and out of your office. This is a no brainer, right? If it’s there, and you’re a junkie, you’re going to eat it. I was sent a sample of these little chocolate covered pomegranate thingies from Brookside as a Klout perk. They were tasty, no doubt about it. I may or may not have thrown them away in my office trash can and then dug them out to finish them, the day before I broke the cycle. THROW THE STUFF AWAY if you’re an addict that can’t moderate your intake very well. If you can eat just a few, more power to you.

2. Protein is your best defense. The first day after I quit, I was ravenous and ready to gnaw my arm off all day. The second day, I had a really high protein breakfast and it made all the difference in the world. Some books I recommend for recipes are the Master Your Metabolism Cookbook by Jillian Michaels (try the Jillian pancakes and one scrambled egg with extra egg whites) and Skinny Rules by Bob Harper (Caprese wrap FTW).

3. Find substitutes. For me, and I suspect for many others, much of the root of the sugar habit is just wanting “a little something” to sweeten up the day. I’d love nothing more than to start every single day with a ginormous chai tea latte or vanilla/hazelnut latte. But over the course of a year, a grande Starbucks chai (I wouldn’t get it there, mostly, but they have the most readily available nutrition information) would add up to 76,650 extra calories or an extra 21.9 POUNDS!! Insanity! So, I’m limiting myself to an occasional tall chai or latte, or getting a nonfat latte without the sugary syrup, much as I love it. If I’m really hard up, I’ll make or get a fruity herbal tea. Rishi cinnamon plum can get me through an afternoon quite nicely. This week, I’m trying Republic of Tea “Get Lost” which claims to help curb sugar cravings…we’ll see. The tea thing really is helping me.

In other week three “news”, I got in my four runs for 15 miles, one weight workout, one kettlebell class and my regular Sunday morning yoga class with Jaimi at Yoga Ward. It was damn icy outside all week so I was on the track at 5:30AM Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, which was EXHAUSTING, frankly. This is a lot lot LOT harder in the winter than it was last summer. Thankfully it was 40 degrees on Saturday so we could get outside…now back in the deep freeze. Wah wah wah. So that’s daunting this week but at least I know I am going into week 4 with my sugar jones under control. Woo-hoo!

How about you? What are your sugar challenges? If you’ve kicked it, what have you found that helped? If you’ve made a new year’s fitness resolution – or better yet, a plan – how’s it going so far?

photo credit: bored-now via photopin cc