What's Your Ideal Size?

A close friend of mine asked me a very personal question about my fitness and health. “Through your exercise, what size or weight are you aiming to reach?”  You should never ask a lady her weight or size, it’s just impolite.  But this was a good friend and I laughed because I had fought with this issue for several years.  In my short lifetime, like many other women, I have battled with what my “ideal” size and weight should be.  I have had the years where I went into healthy overdrive and shrank to an unhealthy weight and I have had the years where a change in lifestyle and stress level caused me to rise to an unhealthy weight.  I know as women we change sizes so much and let’s face it, it effects our self-esteem and our confidence.  It’s ridiculous what women will put themselves through in order to try to gain back their self-esteem.  Then one brilliant day, I came to terms with one outstanding revelation: no matter my shape, size or age, I will always be ME, and I love ME, so why not just keep on being ME. 

So, what’s my ideal size or weight? ME!  I want to be a healthy ME.  I want to be able to physically play sports that I enjoy or go on a long walk without getting winded.  I want to be able to eat chocolate cake guilt-free but also make a healthy dish with vegetables and fruits.  I want to go to the doctor for my yearly physical (yes, I do those) and not fear my blood tests and heart checks because I know I am in good health. I want to be able to run after the cows when they get out of the pen, to stop them from going onto the highway.  I don’t want my lifestyle to revolving around my workout schedule or feel like I am in competition with other women.  I want to have the freedom to go on a leisurely Friday night walk with a friend but also veg out on my couch and watch movies on a Saturday.  I want to be able to put in my ear buds and enjoy a podcast and nature while out on a hike on a beautiful Tuesday night, after work.  I want to use this time to collect my thoughts and get back in touch with my soul.

I have been doing a little bit more running since it is finally nice outside again, and this is what I am after.  I want more of this!  I have lowered my resting heart rate 10 beats per minute, to 52 beats per minute and I’ll bet my blood test is awesome.  Have I lowered my weight or a pant size? Nope, and that’s ok, because I want to like exercise and I want to look forward to eating.  Health is about balance.  It is a balance of nutrition, fitness, mental, social, and spiritual.  Here’s to your health journey, and finding an ideal size or weight for yourself!

Generations that came before Me



Doing calf chores on my family's farm.

I had the pleasure of milking cows with my dad last night.  I took advantage of the situation and asked him about his memories of his dad and grandfather.  He started sharing stories from the past. The stories that are so awesome that you hope you can remember them forever.  While dad was talking about his family, I asked him what his grandfather, my great grandfather, would think about the happenings at the farm (new parlor being constructed).  My dad smiled with a big grin, “I think he would be proud.  I think he would say to me, ‘That’a boy! Way to go!’” I smiled.  I know dad would be right but what I didn’t expect was the reason dad thought his grandfather would be proud.  My dad smiled again, “Your great grandfather would be proud because we are still working and milking cows, in fact almost 130 cows in the original barn that he built when he started farming here years ago.”  It was the idea that we were still using something that my great grandfather built and that through the generations has become a legacy of farming for my niece and nephew.  I couldn’t help but smile and be proud also.  It has been such a blessing to be the collection of the generations that came before me: the ideas and dreams that they had, the hard work that they did, and everything that they strived for.  If it wasn’t for certain decisions at a certain times by these ancestors, I might not be who I am today doing what I am doing.

A path was laid out for me before I was born, this I know and I have complete faith in.  A perfect example of this path is when my father was a graduate from high school.  My grandfather asked him what he wanted to do with this farming career, there was no doubt my dad was coming home to farm it was just a matter of what was he going to raise and grow.  My grandfather had a variety of crops: corn, soybeans, oats, wheat, alfalfa and he even grew peas for the local canning factory.  My grandfather also raised dairy cows, beef steers, hogs and in his younger years, horses.  When my dad was a senior in high school my grandfather was moving towards having only pigs and beef cattle.  He had built a hog barn and he was breeding his Holstein milking cows to Herefords, starting his beef herd and transitioning out of dairy.  When my dad was faced with the question of what he was going to raise, he couldn’t get himself to have a farm without dairy cows.  My dad and my grandfather went on a shopping trip for Holstein heifers which resulted in a replenishing of the dairy herd as well as breeding all of the dairy cows back to Holstein bulls.  If dad had not made the choice to have dairy cows on our farm, my siblings and I would not have had the opportunities that we had growing up.  Sure, we would have had beef cows and pigs, as well as crops, but there is something special about dairy cows, something special in all of our hearts.  Without dairy I would have never had the opportunity to show cows for 4-H or be a finalist for Princess Kay and have my head carved in butter at the Minnesota State Fair.  Perhaps I wouldn’t have gone to college for dairy production, had the opportunity to operate a family farm or work in a career where I am able to help other dairy farmers.  Based on that single choice that my dad made, because he wasn’t ready to have a farm without dairy cows, I am who I am.  I am the collections of all the generations that came before me and that is just cool!  It’s this very reason that I enjoying spending a little time asking my dad these questions and learning more about those who came before me.  I have so much to learn from them. 

Fair Life Gets Two Thumbs Up!

I stopped at the grocery store last night and decided to try out Fairlife Milk!

I'd give it 2 thumbs up! Delicious!

I tried chocolate flavored Fair Life milk tonight. Coca Cola recently unveiled this new product, and when I heard about it I wanted to make sure I got the chance to try it out.  I just about jumped for joy when I saw it at our local grocery store this week!  Coca Cola is getting into the milk industry and as a dairy enthusiast it is very exciting to see a company that was once our competitor dip their feet into the fluid milk market.  Even more exciting is the fact that this innovative product has some serious competitive improvements.  I am a self proclaimed chocolate milk expert.  I have a picky palette when it comes to chocolate milk.  I don't like overly thick chocolate milks, and I hate it when the chocolate flavoring is too over powering in addition to a sugary sweet flavor.  There have been some chocolate milks that I have diluted with white milk (hence why I also bought a white milk just in case I needed to dilute it).  So I am picky. 
So what makes this chocolate milk special?  Well I encourage you to visit the link above to see the specifics but with the technology of ultra-filtration this milk has 50% more protein, 30% more calcium, no lactose, and half the sugar as compared to ordinary chocolate milk.  I honestly expected this milk to be thick and chewy, knowing the added protein and calcium but it was pleasantly light and just sweet enough to still be a treat without the guilt.  I love a tall glass of this milk after a work out at night!  It goes down great because of the flavor.  It's filling because of the higher protein which is also good for muscle health and it is a great way to cool down!  I plan on continuing my purchases of this milk because it fits in nicely with my active lifestyle and my desire to maintain a healthy body weight and muscle tone.  Thank you Fairlife for a great product!!! Two Thumbs Up!