"The Spark" By Chris Downie

It's official! I have a quote in the book written by Chris Downie called "The Spark". The book appeared on store shelves today, December 29, 2009. My quote can be found on page 60 in chapter four. It's exciting to see my words in print, attached with one of the most popular healthy lifestyle web sites on the Internet today.

SparkPeople.com has helped me in many ways. It has not only taught me about nutrition and exercise, but it has also taught me how to set attainable goals. It has provided me with all the right tools to track by progress not only with my food intake and exercise tracking, but also with public and private forums to get support from other members on the web site. The site has a special section where you can ask the "coaches" for advice and with help in general. The questions are answered very quickly and the coaches are very knowledgeable.

I have yet to read through the entire book, but I'm about to sit down right now and start reading. I did have to skim through the book right away to see if my quote did in fact may get into the book. I was very pleased to see that it had. Hopefully people who are struggling not only with losing weight but accomplishing other goals will see my words and feel that anything is possible.

The book "The Spark" is available in stores everywhere and I highly suggest going out and buying it right now. I feel that Chris Downie and everyone associated with SparkPpeople.com have the right approach when it comes to losing weight and getting healthy. They understand that there is no quick fix or magic pill to lose weight. It takes a lifestyle change and a want within oneself to make that change. They help people to set attainable goals and help them accomplish what they start.

Also I go to start reading, and I will be smiling the entire time.

Adapting But Still Moving

I've been inspired by the blog called Carrots 'N' Cake. Tina shares photos of her day and posts them to her blog. I decided that I will try and do the same thing, maybe not every day or even every post, but I will try to post some pictures here and there as I see fit.

My exercise routine is going to have to change some again for a little bit due to more shin splints. This time I have shin splints in my left leg, while the last time I had shin splints it was in my right leg. They seem to be switching from one leg to the other. I had just gotten back to doing one mile again after not being able to do a mile for a few months. I just started to have pain in my left ankle and shin last week. Instead of trying to force myself to complete one mile every time I was on the elliptical, I decided to take some time off. I think I caught it in time, because it does not really hurt when I'm off the machine. When I first had shin splints I remember it hurt no matter where I was, I could be standing or sitting or even lying down and it would ache. So I am being smart this time and am not pushing it.















Next Monday is the beginning of Spark People's boot camp called Spark Your Body Boot Camp. It lasts for one month, just like all of their other boot camps. During this boot camp they will show a ten minute workout video everyday for the first week. After that the videos will replay for the following three weeks. Also five days a week they say you should do some sort of cardio exercise for 30 minutes every day. I hope my shin splints are gone by then, but if not I will do some sort of cardio other then my elliptical. Spark People has a few cardio videos that last for ten minutes that I can do as a replacement. The instructor, Coach Nicole, gives alternate ways of doing the movements which I love. These videos are adaptable to anyone's needs.

So because I have to stop my elliptical workouts for now, I need to really pay attention to what I eat. I adjusted my fitness goals to reflect my lack of cardio. Doing this changed my calorie range to 1200 to 1500 calories a day. I'm going to try to eat in the lower range as much as I can. If I have to eat half a sandwich then I will. I am in control of what I eat for breakfast and lunch, but dinner I have no control over as I do not cook that meal.


















For today's lunch I had the last of my left over Domino's pizza. Two slices of Philly steak and tomato pizza, an apple, and for my drink I had my usual water. Not the best lunch, but it could have been worse. Two slices of medium pizza was about 360 calories. So far today I am at a total of 647 calories. My dinner can be anywhere from 563 to 913 calories. I intend on having a banana for a snack in about an hour and I honestly have no idea what dinner will be. Hopefully it won't be anything too heavy.

As far as today's exercise went, I did do my strength training routine, which consisted of my normal ab routine, floor arm routine with eight pound weights, standing arm routine with eight pound weights, and standing leg routine. I did two sets of the arm routines and for the most part I felt fairly strong while doing it. I did get on my elliptical for about five seconds before deciding there was no way. It would be too uncomfortable and I would have injured myself further. I did that last time, and ended up taking a two month forced break.


















On my off days, which are Tuesday and Thursday I intend on doing my workout DVD which is a pilates DVD entitled Pilates Beginning Mat Workout. I bought this DVD about four or five years ago before I really got serious about losing weight and getting fit. I bought this DVD because it has the entire routine on the floor, so I don't have to worry about my balance during the exercises. The trainer in the video, Ana Caban does, the routine the traditional way while her assistant does the routine in a modified format. During this video I try to do the traditional version but on occasion I have to do the modified version. My legs are not as flexible and they won't straighten out totally. While she has her legs straight in the air, I place mine in a tabletop position (90° angle).

This is turning into a long entry so I will end this for now. I will have more things to say soon. New Year's Eve goals, and things like that are to come.

When you have an injury how do you compensate for it? Do you find alternate ways of getting exercise in or do you just take a complete break and do no exercise at all?

Adapting But Still Moving

I've been inspired by the blog called Carrots 'N' Cake. Tina shares photos of her day and posts them to her blog. I decided that I will try and do the same thing, maybe not every day or even every post, but I will try to post some pictures here and there as I see fit.

My exercise routine is going to have to change some again for a little bit due to more shin splints. This time I have shin splints in my left leg, while the last time I had shin splints it was in my right leg. They seem to be switching from one leg to the other. I had just gotten back to doing one mile again after not being able to do a mile for a few months. I just started to have pain in my left ankle and shin last week. Instead of trying to force myself to complete one mile every time I was on the elliptical, I decided to take some time off. I think I caught it in time, because it does not really hurt when I'm off the machine. When I first had shin splints I remember it hurt no matter where I was, I could be standing or sitting or even lying down and it would ache. So I am being smart this time and am not pushing it.















Next Monday is the beginning of Spark People's boot camp called Spark Your Body Boot Camp. It lasts for one month, just like all of their other boot camps. During this boot camp they will show a ten minute workout video everyday for the first week. After that the videos will replay for the following three weeks. Also five days a week they say you should do some sort of cardio exercise for 30 minutes every day. I hope my shin splints are gone by then, but if not I will do some sort of cardio other then my elliptical. Spark People has a few cardio videos that last for ten minutes that I can do as a replacement. The instructor, Coach Nicole, gives alternate ways of doing the movements which I love. These videos are adaptable to anyone's needs.

So because I have to stop my elliptical workouts for now, I need to really pay attention to what I eat. I adjusted my fitness goals to reflect my lack of cardio. Doing this changed my calorie range to 1200 to 1500 calories a day. I'm going to try to eat in the lower range as much as I can. If I have to eat half a sandwich then I will. I am in control of what I eat for breakfast and lunch, but dinner I have no control over as I do not cook that meal.


















For today's lunch I had the last of my left over Domino's pizza. Two slices of Philly steak and tomato pizza, an apple, and for my drink I had my usual water. Not the best lunch, but it could have been worse. Two slices of medium pizza was about 360 calories. So far today I am at a total of 647 calories. My dinner can be anywhere from 563 to 913 calories. I intend on having a banana for a snack in about an hour and I honestly have no idea what dinner will be. Hopefully it won't be anything too heavy.

As far as today's exercise went, I did do my strength training routine, which consisted of my normal ab routine, floor arm routine with eight pound weights, standing arm routine with eight pound weights, and standing leg routine. I did two sets of the arm routines and for the most part I felt fairly strong while doing it. I did get on my elliptical for about five seconds before deciding there was no way. It would be too uncomfortable and I would have injured myself further. I did that last time, and ended up taking a two month forced break.


















On my off days, which are Tuesday and Thursday I intend on doing my workout DVD which is a pilates DVD entitled Pilates Beginning Mat Workout. I bought this DVD about four or five years ago before I really got serious about losing weight and getting fit. I bought this DVD because it has the entire routine on the floor, so I don't have to worry about my balance during the exercises. The trainer in the video, Ana Caban does, the routine the traditional way while her assistant does the routine in a modified format. During this video I try to do the traditional version but on occasion I have to do the modified version. My legs are not as flexible and they won't straighten out totally. While she has her legs straight in the air, I place mine in a tabletop position (90° angle).

This is turning into a long entry so I will end this for now. I will have more things to say soon. New Year's Eve goals, and things like that are to come.

When you have an injury how do you compensate for it? Do you find alternate ways of getting exercise in or do you just take a complete break and do no exercise at all?

Long Time No Post

Well, let's see. The last time I entered anything here was at the beginning, or near the beginning of November. I was busy with NaNoWriMo, and I'm happy to report that I completed it and am considered a winter. As a winner I received three pictures that I have saved on my computer. The one you see here is one of those. It was a great experience to have taken part in the NaNoWriMo, and know that I can complete 50,000 words in one month if I push myself to do so. I am looking forward to November 2010 so I can do it all over again. I will need to do some preliminary work, such as more detailed character creation and also storyline direction.

As far as my exercising goes, I am back to where I was about a year ago. I am back to doing one mile three days a week on my elliptical. I took my time and didn't rush myself. I started out slow doing three days a week at 3/10 of a mile then the next week I did 4/10 and so on. I am still taking a few breaks during my mile, but I am finishing it.

I had to take about a week off, or maybe 10 days because I was sick with a really weird cold. Everybody in this house as well as the entire family got this nasty bug. We had everybody down for a joint anniversary party, and our two year old niece was running around the house with a runny nose and sniffling. We also went to Outback that night for dinner, so it's possible we picked it up there, but I am inclined to think it was from our two year old niece.

The cold hit anybody in a different way. For me, it started out as a sore throat, and then worked its way into my ears and nose. I also had a headache and was very tired, having no energy to do anything. My husband, mother in law, and our 18 year old nephew had those same symptoms as well as a very nasty cough as well as an upset stomach. My brother in law kept teasing us saying that we all had the swine flu. We did not have the swine flu, thank you very much, it was just a nasty cold.

Other than that, not a whole lot has been going on. I enjoyed some time off from writing after a whole month of getting in two thousand words every day. I am slowly getting back into writing however, and that is a good thing.

For now I will keep this short, but I will write more later. I've got a few ideas that I would like to write about. Until then, keep on moving.

Long Time No Post

Well, let's see. The last time I entered anything here was at the beginning, or near the beginning of November. I was busy with NaNoWriMo, and I'm happy to report that I completed it and am considered a winter. As a winner I received three pictures that I have saved on my computer. The one you see here is one of those. It was a great experience to have taken part in the NaNoWriMo, and know that I can complete 50,000 words in one month if I push myself to do so. I am looking forward to November 2010 so I can do it all over again. I will need to do some preliminary work, such as more detailed character creation and also storyline direction.

As far as my exercising goes, I am back to where I was about a year ago. I am back to doing one mile three days a week on my elliptical. I took my time and didn't rush myself. I started out slow doing three days a week at 3/10 of a mile then the next week I did 4/10 and so on. I am still taking a few breaks during my mile, but I am finishing it.

I had to take about a week off, or maybe 10 days because I was sick with a really weird cold. Everybody in this house as well as the entire family got this nasty bug. We had everybody down for a joint anniversary party, and our two year old niece was running around the house with a runny nose and sniffling. We also went to Outback that night for dinner, so it's possible we picked it up there, but I am inclined to think it was from our two year old niece.

The cold hit anybody in a different way. For me, it started out as a sore throat, and then worked its way into my ears and nose. I also had a headache and was very tired, having no energy to do anything. My husband, mother in law, and our 18 year old nephew had those same symptoms as well as a very nasty cough as well as an upset stomach. My brother in law kept teasing us saying that we all had the swine flu. We did not have the swine flu, thank you very much, it was just a nasty cold.

Other than that, not a whole lot has been going on. I enjoyed some time off from writing after a whole month of getting in two thousand words every day. I am slowly getting back into writing however, and that is a good thing.

For now I will keep this short, but I will write more later. I've got a few ideas that I would like to write about. Until then, keep on moving.

Ramblings Of An Insecure Writer

This is the third day of National Novel Writing Month, and I think I'm holding my own so far. I've met my goal of 2,000 words the first two days. I've not written anything today yet. Not sure why I'm procrastinating today. Seems like I'm finding other things to do and not doing what I should be doing. The story I'm writing is coming to me in bits and pieces. I'm not sure I like where it's heading, but it's the only thing that keeps popping up. I don't want to write the cliché suspense story.

I was hoping to delve into the mind of a young adult who had a horrible childhood. Not a very uplifting story, no, but it's what I came up with. And I have to give credit for my idea to one of the contestants on The Biggest Loser (no it's not about weight loss). For those of you who watch the show, my idea came from Shay. For those who don't watch the show, Shay is in her early 20s and was the daughter of a heroin addict. So my story is revolving around that. I have no idea what Shay went through growing up, I'm just going with it.

Anyway, it seems my mind wants to turn it into a suspense story. Sure, my main character is dealing with the memories of her past, that was my main idea. But an idea came to me yesterday, and I'm having a hard time ignoring it. The problem, is it's so cliché. I keep asking myself "Do I really want to go there? Seriously?", and I guess I do. After all, when I first started I said I'd let the story go where it wanted to. So I guess I'll do it.

My other thoughts are, "Am I good enough to write like this? Who do I think I am trying to write a 50,000 word novel in one month? What if I write something 'wrong'. What if I get certain facts wrong? Am I writing the same things over and over? Didn't I write a paragraph like this yesterday? Am I going to be able to meet my 2,000 word count today? I'm going to stuck and am not going to be able to get out of my blockage.".

The doubts are creeping in and it's driving me nuts. I need my mind to shut up and just write. That's the point, just write. It doesn't have to make sense. This is just getting the words out on paper (or screen). Editing will come later. If I even want to edit it. No one is going to read this except me. No one is going to say "This is wrong. This isn't how such and such works.".

So its time to get to work. I needed this mental scream to get myself going. Aye, aye, aye, what am I doing to myself?

Ramblings Of An Insecure Writer

This is the third day of National Novel Writing Month, and I think I'm holding my own so far. I've met my goal of 2,000 words the first two days. I've not written anything today yet. Not sure why I'm procrastinating today. Seems like I'm finding other things to do and not doing what I should be doing. The story I'm writing is coming to me in bits and pieces. I'm not sure I like where it's heading, but it's the only thing that keeps popping up. I don't want to write the cliché suspense story.

I was hoping to delve into the mind of a young adult who had a horrible childhood. Not a very uplifting story, no, but it's what I came up with. And I have to give credit for my idea to one of the contestants on The Biggest Loser (no it's not about weight loss). For those of you who watch the show, my idea came from Shay. For those who don't watch the show, Shay is in her early 20s and was the daughter of a heroin addict. So my story is revolving around that. I have no idea what Shay went through growing up, I'm just going with it.

Anyway, it seems my mind wants to turn it into a suspense story. Sure, my main character is dealing with the memories of her past, that was my main idea. But an idea came to me yesterday, and I'm having a hard time ignoring it. The problem, is it's so cliché. I keep asking myself "Do I really want to go there? Seriously?", and I guess I do. After all, when I first started I said I'd let the story go where it wanted to. So I guess I'll do it.

My other thoughts are, "Am I good enough to write like this? Who do I think I am trying to write a 50,000 word novel in one month? What if I write something 'wrong'. What if I get certain facts wrong? Am I writing the same things over and over? Didn't I write a paragraph like this yesterday? Am I going to be able to meet my 2,000 word count today? I'm going to stuck and am not going to be able to get out of my blockage.".

The doubts are creeping in and it's driving me nuts. I need my mind to shut up and just write. That's the point, just write. It doesn't have to make sense. This is just getting the words out on paper (or screen). Editing will come later. If I even want to edit it. No one is going to read this except me. No one is going to say "This is wrong. This isn't how such and such works.".

So its time to get to work. I needed this mental scream to get myself going. Aye, aye, aye, what am I doing to myself?