{"id":54,"date":"2009-06-08T16:32:28","date_gmt":"2009-06-08T23:32:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/?p=54"},"modified":"2025-11-09T10:34:42","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T17:34:42","slug":"heather-45","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/?p=54","title":{"rendered":"Heather 4.5"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been Upgrading.\u00a0 <\/span>Personally, physically\u00a0and slowly, I have made improvements to the old Heather model.\u00a0 <\/span>And joyously, it has gotten to the point where people who haven\u2019t seen me in a while are saying \u201cWow!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

They are also saying, \u201cWhat did you do?\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>and \u201cHow did you do it?\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>So I thought I\u2019d set it down on paper.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

First things first let me tell you that I\u2019m one of the laziest, over-indulgent sugaraholics you may ever meet.\u00a0 <\/span>And denying myself things I want has never been my strength.\u00a0 Add that to the fact that ice cream is my favorite desert and its no surprise I got up to just shy of 160 lbs.\u00a0\u00a0O<\/span>nly my high energy day saved me from really packing on the pounds.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>Yet, then I\u2019d spend my weekends in my favorite past time which is lounging around and reading a good book.\u00a0 <\/span>That\u2019s my idea of \u2018giving\u2019 to myself, since I’d spend so much of my weekend with my chores, the kids chores and any other extra work\u00a0I gave myself.\u00a0 Then I’d usually snacked the entire time I read!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So the first step was exercise, \u201cfor my health\u201d.\u00a0 <\/span>Yeah.\u00a0 <\/span>At my core I hate exercise.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>You\u2019re fighting your body\u2019s instinct to preserve energy \u2018just in case of emergency\u2019 when you go to the gym or do a sport.\u00a0 <\/span>Then why do people do it?\u00a0 <\/span>Because they get something out of it and\/or they are motivated to do it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I got heel spurs and my ankle snaps like it\u2019s keeping time to a disco beat.\u00a0 <\/span>So I changed out of constantly wearing tennis shoes and into expensive pretty Dansko sandals and Mary Janes and learned to relax by putting my feet up above my head at least once in the afternoons.\u00a0 And I started exercising to lose weight…after all my knees, ankles and heels would feel better not hauling all these extra pounds.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Heel spurs are grown when this tendon that runs from your toes up to the top of your calf swells up, over and over again.\u00a0 <\/span>So naturally after 15 years in heels with never a problem, I spend 5 years as a mother in flats and tennies and suddenly it feels like I have a nail stabbing into my heel every time I take a step.\u00a0 <\/span>Doctors say\u2026stretch it and don\u2019t let it swell\u2026which I did.\u00a0 <\/span>But what really cured it was going back to higher heels.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I guess it was almost three years ago I joined a gym.\u00a0 3 or 4 days a week I\u2019d swim, figuring I could get the maximum work out with the minimum time, because I was juggling so much.\u00a0 <\/span>Then the gym restricted the free swim hours, my youngest left the school it was nearby and I got a great deal at 24 hour Fitness.\u00a0 <\/span>Two years ago I began to go there and learned I can read on the elliptical machine.\u00a0 <\/span>This became very necessary as I discovered I had to fight the running dialogue of my body in my head. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>It went something like this:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOw, ow, ow, isn\u2019t that enough?\u00a0 <\/span>I can\u2019t breathe, I wanna stop, stop, stop, ow, ow.\u00a0 <\/span>Really, ten minutes is good, you can stop.\u00a0 <\/span>Look!\u00a0 <\/span>Look, at all the calories you\u2019ve burned, certainly that\u2019s good enough?\u00a0 <\/span>You\u2019ll do more tomorrow.\u00a0 <\/span>Shit, time seems to slow to a crawl when you\u2019re on this machine.\u00a0 <\/span>You\u2019re close to your period, you should stop now, you deserve it, and you\u2019re probably PMSing!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When I read, I don\u2019t hear the running dialogue, which is good because she\u2019s such a whiny bitch!\u00a0 <\/span>And I found I couldn\u2019t plot (i.e. write) in my head because she\u2019s way louder than my ability to plot.\u00a0 <\/span>And I found the best books to read were light Janet Evanovich books, especially the Stephanie Plum series.\u00a0 <\/span>They are so funny, that more than twice I\u2019ve almost fallen off the machine because I was laughing so hard…really, start\u00a0with those, they all have numbers in the title and you can find them at your library.\u00a0 And Ranger is soooooo hot…all that dark, mysterious Latino…yum!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But like I said, going to the gym is against Mother Nature so it has to either be pleasurable or motivational.\u00a0 <\/span>As you can hear from my inner me, it\u2019s not pleasurable.\u00a0 <\/span>So to motivate myself I would only<\/strong> allow myself the pleasure of reading at the gym.\u00a0 <\/span>Not at home.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>And it worked.\u00a0 <\/span>I looked forward to getting back to the book, so I looked forward to getting to the gym to read.\u00a0 <\/span>Plus I finally found a time that worked with my schedule (it\u2019s changed since then but now I\u2019m firmly\u00a0used to the new time so I can do it…see earlier blog for my typical day)\u00a0 <\/span>I would drop the kids off at school and hit the gym by 8:30 am and manage to get to work by 10:30 am and put in 4 hours a day, and make up any extra hours at home in front of t.v.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That worked for a year and while I felt better and good about myself, I wasn\u2019t really losing any weight.\u00a0 <\/span>Shortly after that I started writing my first novel and as I got into it I would fantasize visualize the book selling, being a huge success and me going on a book tour.\u00a0 <\/span>Then I took a good look at myself and realized\u2026THAT is so not how I want to look ON A BOOK TOUR!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And that\u2019s when I started substituting meals for Costco\u2019s Kirkland Diet drinks.\u00a0 <\/span>Delicious chocolate for breakfast and lunch and it amazingly filled me up.\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019d sip my two cups of coffee throughout the day (now sweetened with Splenda or Nutrasweet instead of sugar, although I absolutely cannot part with my Caramel\/Vanilla Creamer!) and made sure I ate a small snack every two hours.\u00a0 <\/span>Because while the drink filled me up, I would still crave Chewing.\u00a0\u00a0 Ladies that’s our problem…we’re not really hungry…we just want to chew something.\u00a0<\/span>The snacks were a Godsend.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I chose protein based snacks.\u00a0 <\/span>A hand FULL of almonds (I have small hands but even I’m amazed at how much I can hold when its my only snack for 2 hours!), a hard boiled egg, and celery slathered with 100% natural peanut butter or my fav\u2026Granola\u2019s Peanut Butter bars.\u00a0 <\/span>(I also use those bars to get my anti-fruit eating boy to eat at least a banana.)\u00a0 <\/span>Then I eat a regular dinner and make sure if I\u2019m going to have desert it\u2019s at 6:30 when my boys do and not at 9:00 in front of television.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>T<\/span>he hours of 8 pm to 10 pm was my biggest challenge.\u00a0 <\/span>That\u2019s when I would finally sit down and have \u2018me\u2019 time and I was very, very used to rewarding myself.\u00a0 <\/span>My solution\u2026Trident sugar free, bubble-gum flavored gum, if necessary, I\u2019d go through an entire pack in one night.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And it worked.\u00a0 <\/span>I went to a doctor for an annual checkup and then had to go again for something else 6 months later and at that first appointment’s weigh in I had lost 10 pounds.\u00a0 <\/span>I was shocked.\u00a0 <\/span>I mean I knew I was losing weight, clothes were feeling looser but I had sized up because I was like a sausage in my pants, and I wash them a lot and they stretch.\u00a0 <\/span>But to hear them tell me I\u2019d lost 10 lbs in 6 months I was floored.\u00a0 <\/span>And ecstatic!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To date I\u2019ve lost 15 lbs in a year with the goal of another 5 this year.\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019m not in a hurry.\u00a0 <\/span>I don\u2019t even have an agent yet and this system is working just fine.\u00a0 <\/span>I have stepped up the elliptical machine workout to 30 minutes and Gina\u2019s gonna show me how to target my \u201careas\u201d with the weights more.\u00a0 <\/span>But when I see a 24 Hour Fitness I get excited and hear myself think\u2026Ooo, let\u2019s go to the gym.\u00a0 <\/span>Because it\u2019s become my \u2018me\u2019 time.\u00a0 <\/span>There I get to read.\u00a0 <\/span>There I get to watch some of the cubs as they work out (always a plus!) or watch them play a game of basketball.\u00a0 <\/span>And it\u2019s there I get a few moments to pretend I\u2019m Cat and practice her sultry saunter, although I’m in sneakers so I can’t really practice it until I’m leaving and in heels!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

It all in the motivation and finding what really “works” for you.\u00a0 Remembering I was and am sexy did it for me, and NOT having it in the HOUSE!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been Upgrading.\u00a0 Personally, physically\u00a0and slowly, I have made improvements to the old Heather model.\u00a0 And joyously, it has gotten to the point where people who haven\u2019t seen me in a while are saying \u201cWow!\u201d \u00a0 They are also saying, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-narcissist-secrets"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=54"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4594,"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54\/revisions\/4594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=54"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=54"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=54"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}