Kate Curran's Blog: The Klutzy Athlete, page 8

Fitness At Any Age

I’ve exercised all of my life, but I haven’t always been physically fit. In my late 30’s I was out of shape. I didn’t do much aerobic exercise, and it showed. After hiking short distances, I was winded and exhausted.

It wasn’t until my mid-40s that I really got serious about exercise, and it was for two reasons. First, I found losing weight was not as easy as it was in my 30s. In fact, it was darn near impossible without exercise.

Mountain biking at Mt. Shasta California

Second, I was losing muscle tone and didn’t like what I saw. Since I’ve always been an avid bicycle rider, I started riding more. At the same time, I began a weightlifting routine. A couple of years later, I added an aerobics kickboxing class and yoga. In the last three years, I’ve started lap swimming in the summer, mountain biking, hiking, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. Now, at 55 I’m probably in the best shape I’ve ever been.

Mountain biking Spense Mountain Oregon

Some might say this is a bit much at my age. I disagree. I believe anyone can improve their level of fitness at any age. And the great thing about exercising is the more I do, the more I want to do. It just takes the desire and motivation. And it’s important to find that motivation and get fit.

According to Dr. Michelle May, author of Eat What You Love and Love What You Eat, most age-related slowing of metabolism is due to lack of physical activity and loss of muscle tissue. What that tells me is, I need to get moving!

Weightlifting

Weightlifting is very important. First and foremost, bone health. Numerous studies have shown lifting weight increases bone density. Not convinced, consider this. Lifting weights burns more fat and calories and makes clothes fit better. Still not convinced? Check out this link and get lifting—12 Reasons You Should Lift Weights.

Aerobic Exercise
Spense Mountain Oregon

Aerobic exercise is also important because it strengthens the heart and lungs. It can also help lower cholesterol and blood pressure, and improve immune function. Still don’t like the idea of getting sweaty, consider this—aerobic exercise helps shed pounds, tones muscles, improves posture and sleep. Need more reasons to get moving? Check out 10 Reason To Get Physical.

Dr. May had this Mindful Moment, that I have found to be true in my life, “Make time for your health and well-being. If you are too busy for exercise, you are too busy.”

I say there’s no time like the present to get started, and if the Klutzy Athlete can do it, anyone can.

What’s keeping you from getting fit? How can I help?

The post Fitness At Any Age appeared first on The Klutzy Athlete Kathy Coatney & Kate Curran.

Fall Recipes

Leaves turning colors

It’s the end of summer, so I’m starting to think about heartier meals and fall and winter recipes. When it’s 115 degrees outside I don’t want to cook,  and just the idea of adding more heat by turning on the oven isn’t appealing. But with fall and winter on the way, I’ve been browsing for new recipes, and I came across some winners I want to share.

The first is a new twist on mac and cheese from Cooking Light magazine called One Pan Broccoli Mac and Cheese.

One pan broccoli mac and cheese

I have to say I was a little skeptical when I read the recipe because it calls for pureed butternut squash. But I tried it anyway, and I give it a two thumbs up.

The second recipe I tried recently is Grilled Margherita Sandwiches. Super easy and equally delicious, especially if you still have garden fresh tomatoes. I used ciabatta rolls that are the size of a slider bun. They were the perfect size, but if you want a healthier choice, use whole wheat bread. I’ve done it both ways, and they are both yummy!

Grilled egg salad and avocado

A third recipe is avocado and egg salad. Dice up a hard boiled egg and an avocado. Add a teaspoon each of pickle relish, mayonnaise and spicy mustard. Combine all ingredients, then spread onto your favorite bread. I chose a slice of French bread. I cut it in half and filled it with half of the egg salad mix, plus a slice of ham, then grilled it on my Panini grill. Make it more healthy and use whole wheat bread.

Dr. Michelle May, author of Eat What You Eat and Love What You Love had this Mindful Moment, “While some foods are more nutrient rich than others, all food can fit into well-balanced eating.”

French bread

I thought about this when I was choosing the breads for my sandwiches, and I decided I really wanted the white versus whole wheat bread. There was a tradeoff, though. Because the bread was a less nutrient rich food, I had a smaller portion. I savored every bite, and it was very satisfying.

What’s your favorite winter recipe? Have you found some new recipes that you’ve given a five star review?

The post Fall Recipes appeared first on The Klutzy Athlete Kathy Coatney & Kate Curran.

Mirror, Mirror

Mountain biking Bend Oregon

Why is it when I look in the mirror all I see is a new wrinkle, another gray hair, or God forbid a long, curling hair coming out of my chin!

Right now I’m satisfied with where I’m at on the scale, but I don’t always like what I see in the mirror. Too much cellulite, saggy underarms, you name it, I fixate on it. Maybe I’m too focused on my reflection. Maybe what I should be asking myself is what are my strengths? What do I do best? What makes me stand out from the crowd?

I’ve started a top-ten list of things I like about myself that aren’t weight or image related. I found it incredibly difficult to make this list without feeling vain, but I think it’s important. I pushed aside my discomfort.

My top-ten list:

I’m dedicated

Pooped out mountain biking Spense Mountain Oregon
I never give up
I’m committed to my family
I’m someone that can be counted on
I’m funny
I’m different, unique
I march to my own drummer
I have an adventuresome spirit
I’m thoughtful
I love animals

I will continue to add to this list as I think of more things.

Embrace Uniqueness
Can you get any more unique than this?

I am determined to shut down the negative voices in my head. The next time I start to tear myself down, I will build myself back up by going to my list and reminding myself that I’m a good person. I don’t know if it will work, but I’m giving it a shot.

In earlier blogs, I’ve talked about the number on the scale, and how uncomfortable I am admitting I weigh 150 pounds. Why should I cringe at that? If that’s the best weight for me, why do I suddenly feel fat when I hear someone else say they weigh 130 pounds and are three inches taller than I am?

Image courtesy of imagerymajestic at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I have decided I am going to stop comparing myself to others. The fact is, no matter how much weight I lose or make-up I wear, there will always be somebody younger, prettier, thinner and more successful than I am. I can’t change that. It’s inevitable, so I will refuse to focus on it.

Instead, I will focus on the person I am. I’m sure there are many people who can do what I do, but nobody can do it exactly like I do. I am unique, a special human being who has something that no one else on this planet can offer—my own uniqueness.

As Oscar Wilde said,“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”

Rocky Point Oregon

I say it’s time we embrace ourselves. What is unique about you?

 

 

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Blended Vacation Part 3

sunset in Bend Oregon
Mountain biking Mrazek Trail Bend Oregon
Mountain biking Mrazek trail Bend Oregon
Sunset Bend Oregon
Mark trail Bend Oregon
Phil trail Bend Oregon
Phil Trail Bend Oregon

And here are the last of my vacation photos. I will be back on Tuesday with a full blog.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

puppy at Hutches Bike Store in Bend Oregon

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Blended Vacation Continued

Baseball playoff game first day in Oregon

Last week I blogged about blended vacations and since I’m on vacation and have limited internet I thought I’d give you a photo essay of my blended vacation.

 

Mountain biking Spense Mt. Oregon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Boating at Rocky Point Oregon
Boating with Bandit Rocky Point Oregon

 

 

 

 

 

Rocky Point Oregon

 

 

 

 

Mountain biking with Bandit Brown Mt. Oregon

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mountain biking Brown Mt. Oregon with Bandit

 

Picnic near Fish Lake Oregon

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mountain biking Kent’s Trail Bend Oregon

 

Fruit Stand near Hood River Oregon
Fruit stand near Hood River Oregon

 

Will be back next week with more on exercise, diet and leading a healthy lifestyle.

The post Blended Vacation Continued appeared first on The Klutzy Athlete Kathy Coatney & Kate Curran.

Blended Vacations

Blended Vacations
Mountain biking Spense Mt. in Klamath Falls, Oregon

In recent years, my husband and I are taking blended vacations. We do some sightseeing, eating out and relaxing. We also look for ways to explore the areas where we vacation by biking, hiking, kayaking or whatever exercise strikes our fancy.

In the past, I’ve found eating out while on vacation a challenge. I want to splurge all the time, especially if we’ve been exercising. But if I’m listening to my body, that’s not always what it wants.

The two important takeaways from The Checklist Diet by Rebecca Clark that I keep going back to:

Eat when I’m hungry
Stop when I’m full

Following these two steps makes eating out much less difficult for me.

With our blended vacation, we do a lot of mountain biking and hiking. It’s easy for me to think that since I’ve done all that exercise, I can eat excessively.

And I probably can and not gain weight. But if I do that, then I’m not listening to my body and what it needs.

In Dr. Michelle May’s book, Eat What You Love and Love What You Eat she asked these questions about exercise and eating that really resonated with me:

Do I use exercise to earn the right to eat or to punish myself for eating?
Do I have rigid exercise patterns?
Do I do exercise I enjoy?

Before I lost the weight, I exercised religiously, and then rewarded myself with extra food I really didn’t want.

Loving Exercise

Now, I still exercise regularly, but at a level I find enjoyable and much easier to maintain. I’ve learned that after an intense workout, I’m not excessively hungry.

picnic near Fish Lake in Oregon

While on vacation this year, I have become more in tune to what my body needs, and I have eaten more in line with the signals it gives me.

Fernie British Columbia Canada

These days, I’m exercising for the joy of exercising versus exercising to eat more food. This has made exercise more enjoyable because I’m doing it because I love it. I’ve also seen some beautiful country that’s entirely different from the seat of a bike versus the seat of a car.

I have a goal—to love to exercise the same way my ten-year-old lab, Bandit, does. In her opinion, life doesn’t get any better than running uphill at 5,000 feet. Her tongue may drag and her body is stiff the next day, but she’s raring to go the minute I open the door. I want to be like that when I’m seventy.

Mountain biking Brown Mt. Oregon with Bandit

What are your goals for exercise and vacation? What have you done and seen?

The post Blended Vacations appeared first on The Klutzy Athlete Kathy Coatney & Kate Curran.

Hunger Signs

Hunger signs—what are they and how do I know if I’m having them?

This is a question I’ve struggled with since I lost the weight two years ago. Eat when I’m hungry and stop when I’m full. It seems like such an easy concept when I can define my hunger.

My brain says I’m hungry, but my body shows no signs of it, so which part of my body do I listen to?

Signs of Hunger

Dr. Michelle May, author of Eat What You Love and Love What You Eat lists these signs of hunger:

Hunger pangs
Growling or grumbling in the stomach
Empty or hollow feeling
Gnawing
Slight queasy feeling
Weakness or loss of energy
Trouble concentrating
Difficulty making decisions
Light-headedness
Slight headache
Shakiness
Irritability or crankiness
Feeling that you must eat as soon as possible

At first I waited for actual gnawing hunger, but the problem with using that sign is then I’m starving, and I was more likely to overeat.

Defining Hunger

So what does hunger feel like? Before I lost the weight, I ate on a schedule. Breakfast, lunch and dinner with snacks in between—not because I was hungry, but because that was my routine.

But as I’ve gone from losing weight to maintaining it, I want to continue to listen to my body and eat when I’m hungry.

The Checklist Diet by Rebecca Clark offered these suggestions that I’ve found helpful in determining when I’m hungry and when I’m not.

Rebecca says, “If you’re thinking you SHOULD be hungry because you haven’t eaten in a while or you SHOULD be hungry because this is the time of day you usually eat, then you’re not listening to your body.”

Hunger Scale

Rebecca also had these suggestions for determining hunger:

“Think of your hunger as a scale of 1-10

10—Thanksgiving stuffed
7—You feel like you ate a bit too much and are slightly uncomfortable
3—You’re a little bit hungry, but you could wait
0—You stomach is empty and you need to eat right now”

Instinctive Eating

I want to learn to eat instinctively, but it’s not something that’s going to happen overnight. After all, I’ve spent over 50 years eating uninstinctively, so why should I think I can change it that fast?

Dr. May had this Mindful Moment in her book that I’ve found helpful on instinctive eating:

“When you are eating instinctively, you eat what you love, but you don’t obsess about food because you don’t need to. Instead, you trust your body to let you know when and how much to eat.”

My goal is to learn to eat instinctively. I’ve made progress, but I’m not all the way there yet.

What are your signs of hunger?

The post Hunger Signs appeared first on The Klutzy Athlete Kathy Coatney & Kate Curran.

Quick and Easy Colorful Recipes

Quick and easy recipes are a snap with summer fruits and vegetables. I love a colorful meal. In fact, it almost seems sad to eat it, but that sure doesn’t stop me!

I love the large selection of summertime fruits and vegetables. Browsing at the farmers markets, or going straight to my garden for my ingredients, is just plain fun.

Recipes

Spinach salad is a daily favorite for me. I love  a mix of sweet fruit, crunchy nuts and chewy Craisins. This is my Spinach Salad recipe:

Spinach Salad

 

1 cup spinach
1/4 cup kale
1 T Craisins
1 tsp nuts—I prefer chopped pecans or walnuts
1 T Poppyseed Dressing
Chopped fruit—My choice of fruit varies on my particular craving that day, and sometimes I use a couple of different fruits. My favorites are: peaches, nectarines, strawberries, pears, grapes and mandarins

Add all ingredients except the nuts. Mix thoroughly, then sprinkle the nuts on top and enjoy!

Learning to Love a Vegetable
Cauliflower Fritter

I love vegetables, but there are a few I struggle with. Cauliflower is one of the hardest for me. I’ve been on the search for nutritious, appealing, cauliflower recipes, and here is my top pick from Cooking Light Magazine, Cauliflower Fritters. These were delicious and I’m becoming a cauliflower fan!

Tweaking a Recipe
Avocado-Egg Salad Sandwiches

 

My last recipe to temp your taste buds is another pick from Cooking Light Magazine, Avocado-Egg Salad Sandwiches. I tweaked this recipe a little and added a slice of ham. Instead of whole wheat bread, I used half a ciabatta roll. I filled it with the avocado-egg mixture, then grilled it on my panini grill. It’s a little messy, but new personal favorite!

What vegetables do you struggle with? What’s your favorite colorful, summer recipe?

 

 

 

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Finding a Weight Loss Plan That Works for You

Weight Loss

Diane Carbonell recently posted on Fit to the Finish Why I Accept Other Peoples Diet Choices.

Image courtesy of Marianne Oliva (c)/www.123RF.co

I’ve been discussing weight loss for the past several weeks, and after reading her blog I wanted to clarify some points. I’m not a dieting expert. I’m a cheerleader, a motivator. I’ll be there when the burden feels too heavy, when you think you can’t take another step, when you think you will never lose the weight. I’m the one who will hold your hand, offer you encouragement, believe in you when you can’t.

I don’t have answers, but I’ll be sharing what I’m learning. I am not a believer in fad diets. Not because you can’t lose weight on them, but because I don’t see them being sustainable for the long haul. And that’s my goal. Finding a weight loss that is sustainable.

Yo-yo Dieting

I’m tired of the yo-yo dieting. I’m tired of constantly thinking about food. I want to find a place where food is something I eat because I’m hungry. I want to enjoy the food I eat, rather than tolerate eating food that will keep me thin.

I lost about 25 pounds a year and a half ago after reading the The Checklist Diet , by Rebecca Clark.

Mountain biking at Mt. Shasta

I’m currently at my goal weight, but I’m not satisfied. I’m still searching for answers, still struggling with trigger foods, still wondering if it will last.

So, I’ll be blogging about my successes and failures. I hope that you will find something that works for you, too. And what’s working for me is, exercise, diet and embracing life.

As I move forward, I’ll be reading and sharing books that are speaking to me and referring to them often because they’ve worked for me. I’ll also blog about why I think the books have worked for me.

Books List

Right now, there are two books that have helped me change my lifestyle.

The Checklist Diet by Rebecca Clark
Eat What You Love and Love What You Eat by Dr. Michelle May

My takeaway from The Checklist Diet is: eat when I’m hungry and stop when I’m full.

If I could just do that without thinking, I would never have a weight problem! I’m not there yet, but I’m working on it.

Mt. Shasta

Here’s a Mindful Moment from Eat What You Love and Love What You Eat. “When I’m hungry, I eat whatI love. When I’m bored, I do something I love. When I’m lonely, I connect with someone I love. When I feel sad, I remember that I am loved.

I try to remember this when I want to eat for any reason other than hunger. What’s eating at you today?

 

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Make Your Workout a Family Affair

Workouts should be a family affair. Sometimes you might have to get creative, but the payoff is worth it.

Making workouts fun

My kickboxing aerobics instructors, Dana and Gloria Warren are always changing up our workouts and one night there were several kids that came with their parents.

Dana started us off with a game of tag. Think you’re in shape? Try keeping up with a bunch of kids in a confined space who run for fun all day long. The Klutzy Athlete was breathing heavy in no time.

Later in class, we piggy-backed the kids up and down the gym. They may not heavy, but trust me, you’ll get a good workout after a few trips with an extra 30-50 pounds on your back. And even better, plenty of laughter in your ear to make the workout a lot more fun!

Rebecca Clark, a trainer and author of The Checklist Diet said, “When my kids were little, I would do exercise tapes with them in the room. At first, they’d get in the way and hated that I wasn’t paying attention to them.”

Rebecca got creative and bought exercise toys that were only played with when she worked out. She also got them their own workout clothes and one pound weights so they could work out with her.

“Exercise just became a way of life with my kids because they saw mom doing it every day,” Rebecca said. A double bonus—the kids wanted to workout and it helped her stay fit, too.

Here are a few more ideas:

Balance the kids on your feet and push up
Do push ups with the kids sitting on your back
Grab the kids by their ankles and run up and down the gym
Play keep away
Shoot basketballs
Run liners

Exercising is a great way to spend time with your kids and explore the great outdoors. What fitness workouts have you done with your children?

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