So I’m feeling pretty good about myself.  I’ve eaten a 95% vegan diet for the past month.  I’ve been exercising  a little more, but I still have a l0t of room for improvement in that area.

I started a nutrition class this past Tuesday, and had my blood pressure checked by a nurse.  Much to my chagrin,  I was told that it registered in the range of  Stage 1 Hypertension / borderline Stage 2.  I had noticed that it was creeping up over the past couple of years, but I had no idea it was that high.  My diastolic was 100!  I wonder if it was higher before the 8 pound weight loss?   This is nothing to play with.  I plan to chart my blood pressure  for the next couple of weeks so my doctors and I can make an informed decision about whether I can lower it to a safe zone with diet and exercise, or if I need to begin taking high blood pressure medication.  If I can do it naturally I’d prefer it.  So I have more incentive to lose weight and exercise daily.

So I ask you, have you checked your blood pressure lately?  Most of us  just wait until we have our annual checkup, but 12 months is a long time.  If you don’t have your own blood pressure machine at home, stop by the Walgreens, CVS, or other pharmacy in your neighborhood.  Most of them have blood pressure machines you can use to take your blood pressure.

In the mean time, here are some articles I found helpful and they apply to anyone, not just women and not a specific ethnicity.  They will help to educate you on Hypertension, the healthy range for your blood pressure, etc.

• High Blood Pressure (Hypertension), Enemy #1 in the African American Community – This article will define the systolic and diastolic numbers and what is a healthy range.
• Pressure Points:  Preventing and Controlling Hypertension
• Stroke – The Facts
• Controlling Hypertension Throughout Your Life

On March 8th I made a decision that seems right for my body.  I decided to transition to a vegan diet.  Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not bashing people who eat meat.  But for me, I’ve noticed that my body doesn’t metabolize animal based foods well.

About four years ago I decided to try a raw vegan diet and I must admit, I had more energy and felt great.  Then I started traveling for work and was gone 3 weeks out of each month.  I started eating at restaurants and went back to eating poultry, dairy and fish in addition the fruits and veggies.  It’s much easier to order chicken or fish sandwich then a veggie plate when you’re on the run.   Everyone who was around me, felt that I ate healthy.  And based upon what you read in the papers and magazines, I was eating “healthy”.  However, for my body, it was not the best I could do.

So in the past 15 days my diet has been about 90% vegan and my body is responding well.  I’ve been eating about 50% raw fruits, veggies and salads and I plan to increase the percentage  to 70%.   I start out each day with a green smoothie.  For those of you who’ve never heard of a green smoothie; it is basically fresh or frozen fruit mixed with organic spinach and liquid that can be water, juice or almond milk.   I have greatly reduced my intake of refined sugar foods as well.  I’ve lost 7 pounds over the past two weeks.

I’m interested in hearing if any of you are vegan or eat a raw food diet.  I’m also interested in hearing from those who eat a more traditional diet but are achieving weight loss success.  I definitely feel that the success of your diet (and I mean that in the generic sense of the word) depends upon your body chemistry and makeup, and that biochemistry impacts the way that you metabolize food.

I hope you are still out there, and if you are, please give me a shout out.

And, feel free to share your recipes.  We’re in this together

Lori

A Wii or similar video gaming systems, may be exactly what one may need to get their exercise on!

I feel like I’m starting from scratch. I still have over 20 pounds to loose. I must admit this time around it’s been a little harder then I thought it would be. Last summer as I trained for the marathon I was eating healthy and running several times a week. When I got sick everything went out the door. But I realize that any commitment to living a healthier lifestyle begins in the mind. You have to mentally commit and then “tell” your body to cooperate. I’ve been pretty lazy recently. Let’s face it, ice cream takes better then spinach (at least most people think so) and sitting down watching TV is easier then jogging for a couple of miles. But for me, once I make my mind up that I’m going to do something, then I just have to “do it” and not think about it any more.

So this week I started with walking and some simple floor exercises . Next week I’ll work in some visits to the gym.

Let me hear what’s working for you. I can use the encouragement.

During the two weeks leading up to the marathon, I was not sure if I was going to compete or not. You see, earlier in the training season, in May, I suffered an knee injury and had been in physical therapy until early September. I wasn’t able to resume training until mid-September. I began walking and my longest walk had only been 7 miles.

Logic told me that I should abandon my dream and wait until next year to do the marathon. However, Friday night (Oct. 5), I was unable to sleep because although my head was telling me to stay home, my heart was saying “you can do it”. Saturday morning I prayed about it and asked the Holy Spirit to help me make the decision. I went down to pick up my bib and other entrance materials. I made up my mind that I was going to finish what I started… I would finish the marathon even though I was going to have to speed walk it. Once I committed to the decision, I knew that the Lord would bring me through it.

Completing this race has built my faith. You can believe that you can do something, but if you don’t “act” on that belief, that’s the faith part, then the belief really means nothing.

As you may have heard, for the first time in the history of the race, officials stopped the race after 3.5 hours due to extreme heat. I was able to make it past the half-way mark before we were told to turn around. I walked back to the finish line and officially finished the race. I’m so happy I decided to follow my dream. It was an exhilarating experience. It would have been nice to go the distance, but I have to admit, I was happy the officials stopped the race. It was extremely hot and the weather was beginning to take it’s toll on me. But I did it! I walked over 15 miles and crossed the finish line. I’ve got a beautiful medal to prove my participation. But most importantly my faith is strong and I know that with Christ I can do ALL things.

Maybe I’ll see you out on the walking trails or in a future marathon or half-marathon. I’m hooked.

I hope you enjoyed our first day of fall this weekend. We had a beautiful weekend, if you don’t take into consideration that my team, the Chicago Bears lost miserably on Sunday night to the Dallas Cowboys.

I was out of town last week in Vegas. If you ever get a chance to see the comedian, George Wallace, you have to do yourself a favor and go see him. You will not be disappointed. They say laughter is good for the soul, and you will definitely laugh long and hard. George is known for his “I Be Thinkin” jokes and he got me “thinkin.”

Why do some countries and ethnic nationalities seem to be healthier then others? Is it their diet, their approach to life, their environment? Or is it a spiritual? It’s probably a combination of all of the above. What can we learn and apply to our own lives to live healthier and longer?

I visited a statistics site called Nation Master and compared the health statistics of various countries. So I’ve been thinking. Why is it that out of over 200 countries, the United States expends the most per capita for health care (includes public and private funding), but we are only #44 when it comes to our life expectancy at birth? You would think if we spend the most on health care we’d be the healthiest. But that is not the case. And why do almost all the countries in Africa lead the world in persons infected with HIV (e.g. 194 out of every 1000 adults in Swaziland, 192 out of 1000 in Botswana or 146 out of 1000 in Zimbabwe) yet most of the Asian countries have a very low rate (e.g. .094 out of 1000 adults in Japan, 0.099 out of 1000 in the Philippines) of people living with HIV?

We need to be aware of our world around us and be tuned to what the Lord has to say to us about how we should protect our own health.

It’s suppose to be in the low 90’s today so I’m off to take a brief walk during my lunch hour.

Talk with you soon.

Once you know your BMR, then you can determine your Total Daily Caloric Expenditure by adding to that number, the number of calories used (i.e. energy burned) in your physical activity and the energy burned in digesting your food … yes digesting your food is work and uses caloric energy.

Once you have estimated your total daily caloric expenditure, you can more accurately calculate how many calories you can afford to eat (i.e. your daily calorie budget) and how much exercise you need to do every day to maintain, gain or lose weight to meet your healthy weight goals.

Basic Daily Caloric Expenditure Calculation

1 – Estimating your BMR

Calculating your BMR can be a very scientific process, but here is a quick “back of the envelope” sort of calculation which gives a good estimate.

BMR = your body weight (in pounds) multiplied by 10.

Example: 186 pounds x 10 calories/pound = 1,860 calories

Another more accurate way of calculating your BMR is called the Harris-Benedict Formula This formula takes into consideration your gender and age along with your weight. Visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basal_metabolic_rate for the formula.

Alternatively, you can visit this site for an online BMR Calculator that takes your age, weight and gender into account. http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

2. Next factor in Calories Used in Physical Activity

Multiply your BMR by the appropriate activity level factor, as follows:

Physical Activity Calories = (BMR x Activity Level):

• Sedentary: 20% (Sitting most of the day)
• Lightly Active: 37.5% (Walking here and there; daily chores)
• Moderately Active: 40% (Constantly moving around; daily exercise)
• Very Active: 50% (Heavy exercise for prolonged periods of time, such as training for a sport)

Example: 1,860 calories x 0.20 = 372 calories for a sedentary person.

3 – Next Factor in The Calories Used During Digestion

Calories used during digestion, are estimated at 10% for the general population..

Digestion Calories = (BMR + activity level ) x 10%:

Example: (1860 + 372 calories) x 0.10 = 223 calories

4. Total Daily Caloric Expenditure = (BMR Calories + Physical Activity Calories + Digestion Calories)

Therefore, in order to maintain my current weight I burn an average of 2,455 calories every day to support my body’s most basic needs, activity level and digestion of food.

Now that I know my daily caloric expenditure, I can figure out how many calories I need to reduce in my diet in order to reach my weight loss goal.

Keep in mind that one pound of fat is equal to 3,500 calories. Therefore as a general rule of thumb, to loose 1 pound per week, I must take in a negative 500 calories a day or negative 3,500 calories per week. I can reduce the calories by a combination of eating less and exercising more to lose weight. So you see it’s pretty simple, if the total number of calories burned is more then the calories consumed it will lead to weight loss.

My goal is to lose 30 pounds over the next 6 months; that’s approximately 1.15 pounds (4,025 calories) of fat in per week or 575 fewer calories each day. My plan is to eat 375 fewer calories and maintain a daily exercise routine that will burn up 200 calories per day.

So I’m off to the gym to find out what how long I need to exercise on the elliptical to burn at least 200 calories . I’ll let you know how things go.

My question for you:

What exercises do you do? How frequently do you do them? How many calories do you burn while exercising? Okay that’s 3 questions but you must admit they are all closely related.

Talk with you soon,

Lori

I did exercise while I was away to help compensate for the increased calories. I walked and did a sequence of core strengthening exercises. I’ve found that using exercise bands allows you to add resistance to your workout to build muscle, but they don’t take up much room in your luggage and you can use them anywhere.

Well summer is over and I’m back on track. Now if I can just eliminate some of the desserts and refined sugar in my diet, I think I’ll be in good shape. Get it… good shape!

This brings me to my question of the day:

1. What are your favorite healthy foods to eat while loosing weight?

I’m looking forward to hearing from you.

Lori

Last October a close friend of mine came to visit me. I had not seen her in several years and I must say I was a bit surprised at how much weight she had gained. She couldn’t walk more then a block without getting short of breath. She had also become a diabetic due to her obesity. As she talked with me, I could tell she was not happy.

Last month (approximately 10 months later), I went to visit her and she looks like a completely different person. She has lost over 105 pounds! She and I walked for almost a mile and she didn’t even break a sweat! Her self image had improved and she seemed very happy. Prior to my visit she had told me that she had lost weight; I just had no idea how much. She has always been a very beautiful woman, but now she looked healthy again. Not only has she lost the weight, but her sugar is in the normal range again.

She has been an inspiration to me. My sister-in-laws and I have been trying to loose between 20 and 30 pounds each for the past 7 months with little success. So I spent some time talking with my friend to understand the secret to her success. I know you might say that 20 or 30 pounds is not very much; but for me it’s just as big a mountain as 105 pounds was for my friend. After visiting with my friend, I have a renewed commitment to reach my target weight of 160 pounds (I now weight 186). Most importantly, I want to feel healthy again.

Here’s some of what she shared with me.

• You have to be motivated: My friend was not healthy, she knew it and made a choice to do something about it. She wanted to get her diabetes under control and be able to do something as simple as walk a block without getting winded.
  

• Set a realistic goal for your unique situation: Too often we see celebrities or friends that have lost weight and wear a size 2, 4 or 6. That may not be right for you and your body type. In the case of my friend, her goal is to loose another 20 pounds. That will put her in a size 18 dress (when she started her program she was between a size 32 and 34). For her, size 18 feels good to her; she feels energetic and her sugar levels and other health measurements are in the normal range at that weight. Most importantly she feels she can maintain her weight within that range. That’s more important then the constant yo-yo effect when you go on a crash diet, loose lots of weight, but cannot continue to exist at that low weight.

• Exercise is a key for success: Exercise is a big part of my friend’s program. She works out 5 times a week. She sees a personal trainer once a week, but even if you can’t afford a trainer or a gym membership, walk 30 minutes a day… you will see results.

• Portion Control and Discipline: My friend’s weight loss program is a medically supervised program. For those who are very obese, a medically supervised program may be necessary, and it may be covered by your health insurance so check with your primary care physician. She told me that there were many programs she could choose from, but the key is that she was committed to the program and exercised the discipline to follow the program as perscribed. When I saw her we were at a Jazz and Rib festival. Everyone around her was eating barbeque ribs, ice cream, etc., but she brought her raw vegetables and salad with her and remained focused and committed to her goal. She enjoyed her friends, the music and the outing. She didn’t need the food to have a good time. She made a choice to eat the foods that were good for her.

• You Must Have Support: Like many of us, this is not the first time my friend has lost weight. She had lost about 50 pounds before but it was short lived. I asked her what is different this time? Her resounding response was that she is now taking advantage of the classes and support groups available to her. She said that previously when she was on one of the national weight loss programs we see advertised on TV, she would just pick up her food each week but not avail herself of the support classes offered. This time around she goes to the classes each week. Her colleagues share recipes, the best snacks to eat, etc., and if she falls off the “wagon” they are there to pick her back up and encourage her and let her know it’s not the end of the world. Her colleagues at work, family and friends are all on her cheer team and fully engaged in helping her reach and maintain her goal.

• Success Stories Help: At the center where my friend goes each week for weigh-in, classes, etc. they have a “Success Story of the Month” posted. It’s basically a before and after (or at present) picture of one of the clients along with their weight loss and the time it took to loose the weight . She says these are very motivating to her. She wants to be the one with the highest success rate…so this keeps her going. Everywhere you look, we’re hearing about weight loss challenges and there’s a reason for it. Most of us are competitive by nature. There’s also something about seeing other’s who have succeeded…I’m talking about your average sister, not a rich celebrity with the personal chef to prepare their meals and the personal trainer who works them out for 3 to 4 hours a day, but people like you and I who work, take care of our kids and prepare our own meals.

Now let’s keep it real. I know that we’ve heard a lot of this before, but here at BlackWomensHealth.com we have an opportunity to share and support one another to live healthier and happier lives. I’ve decided to go public with my weight loss goal and over the next few months I’m going to share with you how I’m doing. I will give you a quick update in each month’s BlackWomensHealth.com newsletter, and I’ll be providing a weekly update on this blog.

Will YOU be on my support team?

Please send me your success stories so I can share them with others. If you have a before and after picture you want to share, send that along as well.

If you are on your own weight loss journey I’d like to hear about that as well. Tell me your current weight and your goal weight and/or dress size.

Together we can do it. I’m looking forward to hearing from you.

Lori

Weight and dress size on August 22, 2007: 186 Ibs, Size 14,
(Height 5’7″, Age 52)