Tips to starting your weight loss trek

What's next?   Shifting into 2nd Gear.

You've decided to do something to get back to a healthy weight. You've shifted into 1st gear by making that choice and now you are ready for 2nd gear and to begin taking the unwanted pounds and inches off your HUMAN chassis. Some of these you will have heard before, but when you put them all together, they can be powerful!

1. Begin keeping a journal of everything you eat AND drink! (hmmm sound familiar?) -- Sometimes we don't even realize how much we are taking in, or we find out our habits are starving our body and that is from where the problems stem.
2. START drinking more water -- ideally 1 ounce of water for every 2 pounds of weight. (# pounds/2 = how many ounces you should be drinking daily) -- This allows us to begin eliminating toxins in our system and allows for faster fat burning.
3. Cut back on your sugar intake -- sodas, highly processed carbohydrates, white sugar.
4. Increase your fiber content -- more raw veggies, and use products with higher fiber content --LOOK at the labels.
5. STOP all artificial sweeteners!
6. Increase your activity -- even if it's just adding a short walk after dinner -- Get moving!
7. CONGRATULATE YOURSELF! You are doing something to make your life better and you are setting a great example for our youth!

Give us a call to get started, remove that over-inflated tire around your middle and get back on the track to healthier living! -239-246-9488 We will build your ideal system and get you back on the road again!

If you've got the Drive, we've got the Vehicle!

The Healthy Grease Monkey is a project by Tess Brennan dedicated to writing useful blog posts for consumers who are smart about Nutrition & what they put in & surround their body with, passionate about protecting our environment, and are committed to supporing local entrepreneurs. Those who are about healthy weight loss & dynamic living. If you would like to find out what it is like to live a healthy life, we invite you to explore our product line or find out more about our services. Grease Monkey Marketing promotes sound nutrition, ways to improve your success and a little bit of humor.

If you have topic ideas, feel free to request a story, after all, this site is just for you. You can find out more about our products by visiting our online storeand/or subscribe to an email newsletter by visiting our Smart Grease Monkey website and entering your email in the subscription area on the right pane of the web page or by adding us to your reader by subscribing to this blog.

I don't need no stinkin' water!

Yes! You need water (and more) to keep
the HUMAN engine running.

Our HUMAN engines need more than just high octane fuel to keep up optimum performance.  It needs water and re-hydration to keep the engine cooled and running efficiently.  As I am training for yet, another 60 mile walk as well as my first 5K (as a runner) it is important to keep fluid levels at an optimum.  During heavy exercise it is SO important to maintain, not only your water levels but also the body chemistry needed for optimum performance.

• Your body needs a way to minimize fluid loss during activity, or even daily doings when it is hot or extremely dry. (Winters up in the North would be an example of an extremely dry time. -You know who you are) :-)
• Your body needs a way to maintain steady blood-glucose levels to sustain energy output and to increase stamina.
• Your body needs increased endurance for better athletic performance.

I have found, use, and recommend a clinically proven way to hydrate better than water during heavy training. This product has MORE electrolytes and provides MORE energy than the leading hydration drink purchased from your local grocer to improve my athletic performance. (My hubby even asks for it when he is out working in the yard or on one of the vehicles.)  

In fact, this product is very similar to the drink our astronauts consume while in space and when returning from long stints in orbit to re-hydrate and maintain consciousness upon re-entry to our atmosphere. :-)

Contact us for more information!  Maybe even a sample.

I stand, walk, run, and parent behind my word, so does my vendor.

If you've got the Drive, we've got the Vehicle!

The Healthy Grease Monkey is a project by Tess Brennan dedicated to writing useful blog posts for consumers who are smart about Nutrition & what they put in & surround their body with, passionate about protecting our environment, and are committed to supporing local entrepreneurs. Those who are about healthy weight loss & dynamic living. If you would like to find out what it is like to live a healthy life, we invite you to explore our product line or find out more about our services. Grease Monkey Marketing promotes sound nutrition, ways to improve your success and a little bit of humor.

If you have topic ideas, feel free to request a story, after all, this site is just for you. You can find out more about our products by visiting our online storeand/or subscribe to an email newsletter by visiting our Smart Grease Monkey website and entering your email in the subscription area on the right pane of the web page or by adding us to your reader by subscribing to this blog.

Playing with the Monkey?

Stress is still our Monkey.

The first thing we need to do is identify what is causing our stress. We did that last week.  This week, lets pinpoint what our reaction to that stress. How is it we are playing with and training that monkey?

In a former life, my answer was to eat, nonstop, and to drink heavily. I thought it was helping my stress, but later learned it was intensifying my problems and my situation. I ended up on six different prescription medications, each causing different side effects which seemed to be compounding my already complicated situation.  

I would forget about my issues when drunk, however when I would sober up, the problems would be multiplied as would my depression. I was having difficulties handling the stresses handed to me and by compounding those stresses it was not getting any better. :-(  Even when I began walking 6 miles a day, 4 days a week, I was not losing much, if any, weight.  My energy levels were dropping, I was spiraling out of control.  I thank good friends, family, and my Church for pulling me out of that situation and getting me back on the road to healthier choices. I had to retrain myself how to deal with the monkey and in which lanes to keep driving.

Stress was affecting all aspects of my life and I wasn't dealing with the "check engine" lights that kept flashing.  I needed to look at what methods I was using to deal with the stresses of life, determine if they were healthy coping mechanisms and change course if I found myself off track.

HOW DO I DEAL WITH STRESS?

Common methods for dealing with stress:

• Cravings for Sweets and/or Salty Foods
• Emotional Eating (absently munching for something to do)
• Social Eating (eating with friends to overcome the stress)
• Nervous Energy (biting fingernails, grinding teeth, etc.)
• Stuffing Emotions (eating to quiet uncomfortable emotions)
• Drinking (to numb the overwhelming feelings)

Although I will not address drinking in my posts, it does add to calories and overall body chemistry, causing things to work differently and less efficiently.

Psychologist Connie Lillas uses a driving analogy to describe the three most common ways people respond when they're overwhelmed by stress:

• Foot on the gas - An angry or agitated stress response. You're heated, keyed up, overly emotional, and unable to sit still.
• Foot on the brake - A withdrawn or depressed stress response. You shut down, space out, and show very little energy or emotion.
• Foot on both - A tense and frozen stress response. You "freeze" under pressure and can't do anything. You look paralyzed, but under the surface you're extremely agitated.

This week I want to focus on discovering what my response to those stress triggers are.  Am I reaching for a bag of chips or chocolate chip cookies to keep moving and stay sane or am I chewing my fingernails to the quick in an attempt keep myself aligned and functioning in society. Then, am I driving with my foot on the gas, my foot on the brake or a foot on both?

If you've got the Drive, we've got the Vehicle!

Thank you, Walt Haste, for this photo!

The Healthy Grease Monkey is a project by Tess Brennan dedicated to writing useful blog posts for consumers who are smart about Nutrition & what they put in & surround their body with, passionate about protecting our environment, and are committed to supporing local entrepreneurs. Those who are about healthy weight loss & dynamic living. If you would like to find out what it is like to live a healthy life, we invite you to explore our product line or find out more about our services. Grease Monkey Marketing promotes sound nutrition, ways to improve your success and a little bit of humor.

If you have topic ideas, feel free to request a story, after all, this site is just for you. You can find out more about our products by visiting our online storeand/or subscribe to an email newsletter by visiting our Smart Grease Monkey website and entering your email in the subscription area on the right pane of the web page or by adding us to your reader by subscribing to this blog.