30 Days to ...

Celebration Smorgasboard and Body Fat

2012-03-08T11:41:00.000-08:00

I got home from work yesterday to find some good news. I got a call back for my second interview!

And the icing on the cake is that it's going to be next week which helps greatly as I have the week off. There's nothing worse than trying to find time in your work day to go out on interviews.

So, we ordered from my favorite Italian restaurant (of course) in celebration! I had a little of my favorites and then I had some more :) It was both amazing and crazy filling. I even woke up this morning and was full. Come to think of it, it's 11 am and I'm still full. In any case, I'm very excited and hope next week goes well!

A couple of months ago I bought a hand-held body fat monitor. Ok, I'll be honest, a couple of months ago I bought a hand-held body fat monitor and then I placed it out of my sight and totally forgot I had it. I've been reading online the best way to use it and so last night I took my first, real reading. The results were not so good. I'm not going to take this reading as set in stone as I want to take a few more because they're varying wildly but my first reading was 36.6%. I will take a few more using the guidelines I found and hopefully they will all be somewhat similar and then I will tell you my official reading. I'll be taking weekly readings with my weigh-ins now so I can hopefully see progress with both.

And as you can see from the chart below, I definitely need to get that number down into the average category

And for fun reference - here are some ranges for different athletes. I wouldn't mind looking like a swimmer or tennis player. I guess I have my work cut out for me.

Today's Menu:

B: none (rough, rough morning)
L: Italian Salad, Romaine, String Cheese, Turkey
D:

Week of Weight Loss

2012-03-06T17:05:00.001-08:00

Today turned out to be very exciting. I got a call back from the recruiter I met with last week. We discussed money a little bit and I made the decision to move forward with the job interview. It's not as much as I was hoping but it's more than I'm making now. Not to mention that I'll be starting off at a salary that will continue to rise.

Very exciting!

Also, it occurred to me today that I have yet to take any vacation time at my current job. I get over 3 weeks vacation every year and I'm 6 months in (my anniversary roll over date is OCT) and am FEELING IT. I've been anxious at work lately and that is usually due to needing a break from work. So I will be taking all of next week off.

And since money is tight in my household right now, I'll be vacationing at home. Therefore, I have decided to use my vacation to focus on weight loss. I'll be working out, eating right and trying to lose as much weight as possible for that week. In a typical week, it's pretty hard to get in major workouts and plan for all eating but with my vacation, I'm just going to pretend like I'm at a weight loss spa or something. I'll be blogging every day and hopefully once I return to work, I will be a few pounds lighter :)

That's not til next week but I'm excited already :)

Scale Fluctuations

2012-03-06T09:47:00.002-08:00

I'm pretty sure there's nothing worse than scale fluctuations. I'm aware of how fickle the body is and how it can vary by huge amounts from one day to the next, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

I actually haven't encountered that today I'm just making an observation. I have been going thru my progress over the last 3 months and have noticed how sometimes the scale just doesn't match to what I'm doing and how that is completely frustrating. I know you're not supposed to look at the scale but come on. Also, I just think I'm in a bad mood today ;)

I made the spaghetti pizza last night and I have to admit it was one of the tastiest things I've had in a long time, and I enjoyed every last bite! The portion I made is way too big so I'll probably be pushing it off on my boyfriend but still, I'm glad I made it. Truly a nice treat.

Today is already shaping up to be a less than stellar day. Yesterday it was 80 and sunny and beautiful. Today it's barely 50, overcast, and hideous. Amazing how the weather can affect your entire day. I overslept because it was too cold to get out of bed so I didn't have time to make my breakfast so I went to Starbucks and may I say - their spinach and feta breakfast wrap is quite tasty. Also, it's only 280 calories. Not bad at all.

Anyway - today's plan:

Is to hope the rain holds off so I can go on a lunch walk - if it doesn't, I'll be visiting my gym for the first time in who knows how long.

To eat what I have planned (which happens to include another night with my spaghetti pizza so I'm looking forward to that).

To do strength training when I get home from work (maybe, I don't know, I'm hoping ? )

B: Starbucks latte, spinach feta wrap
L: tuna salad, Italian salad, romaine
D: Spaghetti Pizza

Monday Weigh In

2012-03-05T14:15:00.000-08:00

I had a very uneventful weekend. It was in the 80s, sunny and beautiful out but I was determined to finish cleaning my apartment. You know, one of those semi-spring cleaning deals. I take these very seriously. I'm pleased to say that my apartment looks amazing. I even cleaned the ceiling fan blades. For whatever reason, this always makes me happy.

Also, I'm a little low on cash so I was trying to be good and any venture outdoors inevitably leads to me spending money that I don't have :)

All in all, it was a lovely, kind of relaxing (despite all the cleaning), weekend. And on this fine Monday morning I'm pleased to report that I have lost another 0.6 pounds!!

YEAH!!

That puts me to a total loss of 5.7 pounds since mid December. I'm actually very pleased with that. I am just DYING to get to 10 pounds but slow and steady right? I do have a hard time with the slow moving progress considering I am being diligent and proactive with my eating and exercise, but, I just have to remind myself to look at the big picture. I mean, if I continue on this path, then feasibly by the end of the year I could be 20 some pounds down. Yeah, that sounds much better than saying 0.6 pounds :)

And in case anyone is wondering (because I always am when I read other people's blogs) ...

This past week I averaged a daily deficit of 445 calories thru both diet and exercise. I'd like to get that number to 500 a day to pull a one pound loss but I'm not going to force anything. Also, I'm going to start the pep talks with strength training. I really need to keep the muscle mass that I have otherwise my metabolism might suffer. UGH. Man, I love to whine about strength training.

Today's menu:
B: Protein Shake
S: pre workout bar (they're called PR Bars and I LOVE THESE)
L: Not Pasta Salad (sans pasta - it's just cucumber, carrots, and red pepper diced and tossed with some light Italian dressing with a few colby cheese cubes thrown in) - tossed with shredded Romaine with tuna salad on the side

D:

for dinner I think I am going to indulge my inner child. I'm going to make Spaghetti Pizza! How awesome does that sound? Seriously, this week I just wanted to make something that satisfied some cravings I've been having.

So, I found an easy recipe, exchanged a FEW things to make it a little lighter (low sugar pasta sauce, added some veggies - you get the picture) but overall I'm just going to go for it.

It'll be a nice treat.

I Need Sleep

2012-03-02T17:14:00.000-08:00

It's true. I'm not getting enough shut eye. Oddly enough, when I don't get enough sleep, I'm actually chipper in the morning.

Crazy chipper. Like, if it were someone else in my office, I'd probably slap them.

And though I'm chipper, it doesn't actually mean I'm in my right mind.

So, due to this lack of sleep, I had a rough start to my morning. It was odd the way it worked out. Though I slept badly, I woke up way earlier than I had to.   I had plenty of time to get ready, make my breakfast protein shake, pack my lunch AND get out of the door on time.

Pretty good start right?

WRONG

That's when things started falling apart.

I forgot to take my protein shake with me. First ugh. So, once I got to work I decided to walk next door to Starbucks to get a skinny vanilla latte in its stead. Ok, so I'm kind of back on track. Then, I sit at my desk and begin my morning ritual of starting my work day. Things are still ok. However, for whatever reason, the skinny vanilla latte is just not cutting it today. My email goes off. It's the receptionist letting us know there are bagels AND donuts in the kitchen. This is usually not a problem for me but today I'm just starving. Second ugh. I go to the kitchen ONLY to get a bagel. But while I'm toasting my bagel I end up eating an ENTIRE donut. Third UGH! It kind of just snuck up on me - I didn't even know I was doing it. It was as if the room went black and when I finally came to, I was licking the frosting from my fingers. So, I take my bagel and run back to my desk. I eat half of it before I force myself to stop and survey the damage (ie: logging the calories). The damage tells me not to touch the other half of my bagel because I have had plenty. FOURTH UGH! Then, it started happening. I felt horrific. I was on a sugar high and I wanted nothing more than to get off of it. Once it finally wears off, I'm left feeling like I have a brick sitting in my stomach. It was the worst feeling. My body is revolting against me and my food decisions. I sit and moan at my desk for what felt like hours. I even order my assistant to make it his job, NAY his DUTY, to not allow me to eat any more donuts EVER. The feeling continues .. UGH UGH UGH!!!

Finally, after a few hours, it passes.

It was a rough morning. I finally got back on track with the foods I had packed for myself, but I'll be honest, I got myself into a little pickle eating those high calorie foods. Which means I'm going to have to be extra cautious with dinner which isn't too fun on Friday evenings.

Why donuts WHY?

Anyway, the point of the story is I need to sleep. Because when I sleep, I make better decisions.   And when I make better decisions, I don't eat the donuts!!

Stress Management

2012-03-01T10:14:00.002-08:00

Today is March 1st and I weighed in this morning and I posted my lowest weight to date. So, that officially means that February comes to a close with a 0.5 lb weight loss overall for the month - but what impresses me the most is that since February 17th I've lost 1.5 pounds! Trust me, that's quite an accomplishment for this girl.

In addition to my fancy new low weight, I am also in the middle of a potential new job opportunity. I had my first interview on Tuesday and now I'm just waiting for the phone call that will mean the next step. I bring this up because man, is this ever stressful. The job has so much potential so I'm very on edge about this. And like so many people out there, I sometimes soothe stress with eating. But, I'd like to brag a little about how I'm trying to be more aware of this obstacle and I'm using a lot of self-talk to help overcome it (yes, this is one of the tools I wrote down in my long writing session that I talked about in my last post).

How do I do this? Well, for example, I like to call my best friend and exclaim to her excitedly how I have received the job offer and how they've offered me a 50% raise. Ok, so it's not exactly that but I did do that just for laughs and it's incredibly close to what I actually do. Take for instance this morning, I woke up early to get in an extra walk this week and while I was outside I chose to repeat some of my goals:

I have the job offer I want.
I have the salary offer I want.
I have the body I want.
I have control over my eating.
I am happy.

Those are just a few. I always say them in the present tense because I read somewhere that your subconscious actually only understands present tense. Now, whether or not this is true I don't know, but I figure why not? I also make them short, precise statements because it also said that it's more effective to make the statements direct and to the point.

Now, whether or not my statements spring my subconscious into action, I don't know, but they have been helping me maneuver this stressful moment in my life. The statements about the job help to remind me of what I really want. I mean, I LOVE the job I have. I get paid well, I've been there a long time, I have great perks and I have GREAT job security. BUT, I'm over qualified. I've outgrown my position and I've become complacent about that next step because staying is easier. I know in the future that I want more advancement and in order to get that I need to go somewhere else. And you know what, change is scary. Especially a job change in this wonderful economy. So these little statements help remind me of what I ultimately want. I do want a bigger job with bigger money and bigger responsibility and the only way to get that is with action. So basically I'm reminding myself to be proactive. The same is true for the statements about my weight. I'm not going to wake up tomorrow morning and discover I've lost 40 pounds overnight. In order for that to happen, I have to constantly be mindful of my goals and remember that I'll only reach my goals if I put forth the effort.

And for whatever reason, this little thing I do helps keep things in perspective and makes me feel a little better. Does it get rid of the stress completely? Goodness no, but honestly, it does help. And I need all the help I can get.

Today's Menu:

B: 2 eggs, 1 egg white scrambled with 2 pieces of pumpernickel bread, coffee
L: tuna salad
D:

For dinner I think I might have some gnocchi with tomato sauce and fresh mozzarella. If you've never had this wonderful dish, go get some right now.

Happy Leap Day!

2012-02-29T12:18:00.000-08:00

Don't you think everyone should just get today off? I mean, this special day only comes once every 4 years!

So, I have to be honest about my progress for February. If you look at my numbers you'd think that it was just not a very successful month for me. However, I am glad that I've had this month because a few things have happened that I'm really happy about.

First, the numbers. As of this this morning, I am down a total of 0.3 pounds for the month. Like I said, that looks kind of depressing seeing as how I wanted more than anything to beat my January number. You see, after the first week of February, I started gaining. And I continued gaining until around February 17th when I finally stopped myself and said "this is NOT working". I was up 1.3 pounds and needed that to stop instantly.

So I finally did something I'd been planning on doing for a few months now. I started writing. I wrote down all my goals, why I wanted my goals (serious reasons not just the "look good in clothes" reason), I wrote down ways I sabotage myself, I wrote down ways I could positively reinforce myself (you know, positive self-talk), I wrote down ways to curb negative reinforcements, I wrote down possible obstacles, I wrote down how to handle people who inadvertently sabotage, I wrote down strategies to deal with urges, I wrote down a mantra, I wrote down ways to visualize my success, I wrote down who I would specifically talk to if I needed help, and I wrote down EXACTLY what I was going to do if something went wrong and I started failing.

I wrote down a lot.

I sat on my couch for hours writing all this down. And after I got thru the list of specifics that I wanted to write, I wrote down rewards.

I figured, why not?

So I made a huge list of specific weight amounts and what I could give myself if I made it. We're talking a magazine or lip gloss kind of rewards. Fun stuff that I don't always allow myself to indulge in.

And that's it. I didn't make some crazy eating or exercise plan. I just wrote. I read something a long time ago about the power of writing stuff down.

And I read it every now and then as a reminder of what I'm doing.

Anyway, after that day I followed what I wrote. For instance, I've asked my boyfriend or best friend to encourage me to make good choices. I've made sure to take an extra snack to work to eat at the end of the day so I don't go home STARVING and end up ordering pizza or something unhealthy. When I go on my walks I repeat my goals and my mantra to myself and all that positive self talk. I just constantly remind myself of what I'm doing.

And while it's not a miracle cure to the hard work that is required it's really helped with my motivation. So since that February 17th, I've lost .. gasp.. 1.3 pounds.

THANK GOODNESS!!

Another awesome thing that I figured out this month is a balance with my eating. I've kind of figured out how many calories (you know, give or take 50-100) that I need to eat at to see weight loss. This is HUGE for me. The only reason I figured it out is because of my diligent record keeping and my daily weigh-ins with the moving average figure. Seriously, I've posted before and I'll post again, using the moving average is one of the best things I've started to do just in terms of information.

I've also given myself permission to not beat myself up at the gym. I've always been of the mind set that if I'm not sweating profusely and breathing heavily then it does me no good. So I let myself off the hook and downed my intensity BUT upped my total minutes. So, instead of going to the gym for 35 minutes of sprint intervals, I go on a 60 minute walk (not strolling on a flat surface kind of walk mind you - a hilly, walking fast but doable walk). I find I stress out about doing my walks much less and it gets me outside because we've been having the most AMAZING weather out here.

Another thing that I want to work towards is strength training. I know the benefits, I know how good it is for me, and I will eventually do it. However, for whatever reason I can't stand it. But I'm not going to stress about forcing myself to do it. Trust me, I have enough stress in my life at this moment.

And that's it. That's my February thus far. I guess my actual end of the month weight will be tomorrow so I'll record it then but overall I'm really happy with this month for ... mental reasons I guess.

Today's Menu:

B: protein shake
S: Cottage cheese, tangerine
L: chicken salad with whole grain crackers, side salad with light dressing
D:

Perhaps I'll have the vegetarian chili I just made -- it's pretty good.

Mama Mia!

2012-02-22T16:35:00.001-08:00

I don't know if I've mentioned it on here before but I love Italian food. And when I say love, I mean the kind of unconditional love that is rare and beautiful.

Seriously, I love it.

This month I've been on an Italian kick and while it is good for my soul it is NOT good for my waist. I'll admit weeks 2 to 3 were a little difficult for me on the food front. Lots of stresses and stuff and I didn't handle them too well. I ate a little more than I should have and went up a tiny bit. A pound to be exact, but no fear, I am already on my way back down.

So not to deprive myself I have been trying to find ways to continue to love my Italian and eat it too!

First I went w/ a quinoa risotto. I don't know if you've tried quinoa before but it's amazing. It's very reminiscent of couscous in texture and taste but it's technically not a grain. It's actually a complete protein which, forgive the science for a minute, means it has all the essential amino acids that humans need. That's cool because usually your complete proteins come from animals, dairy and what you regularly think of as protein.

Anyway, that was my first foray into an edited Italian experience. The second, was actually not much of a stretch but I always forget how much I love it.

Caprese Salad!

A chopped caprese salad to be exact. I also added some seared beef and that's what I've been having for lunch this week. And it's really, really good. The fresh mozzarella helps to make it taste more decadent than it really is. I mean, for 1 oz., it's only 70 calories. Not bad right?

I've been trying to find workarounds for my precious Italian just due to how heavy in carbs they are. Don't get me wrong, I am NOT a proponent of cutting out carbs to lose weight. I know I had my South Beach experience last year and that proved almost detrimental to my GI tract so I know that I need them. BUT, I am also aware that if I could have my way I'd eat 90% of my calories from pasta, pizza and more pasta. No lie ;) And that's not good for anybody.

I do have some really good whole wheat alternatives for pasta that I've found after much trial and error (although I will never be fully converted because I just love the white stuff way too much!)

In case anyone is wondering, Gia Russa makes a great whole wheat penne. You need to cook it a few minutes longer than suggested but it really holds well. Also, I found De Cecco - they make a great whole wheat spaghetti - again, cook a little longer.

Seriously, they both hold up pretty well.

Today's menu:

B: Protein shake, coffee, string cheese
S: PR Bar (pre-workout)
L: Chopped Caprese w/ beef

I think for dinner tonight, I will have some tortilla pizza! It's just some low carb, whole grain tortillas topped w/ veggies and cheese and broiled until the cheese is bubbly and golden brown.

It's cheap, tasty and most important, very filling!

Today's exercise:
65 minute walk

February 3, 2012

2012-02-03T10:59:00.001-08:00

I can't believe it's February already. I swear it was just New Year's Eve two seconds ago.

So January is gone and I'm down 2.1 pounds for the entire month. Honestly, the last 2 weeks of the month weren't my best work by any means so I was pleased to see that I came out on top for the month. I know that doesn't seem like that much and yes, I'm striving for better, but, look at it this way, lets just say I maintained this rate for an entire year - that's over 25 pounds! I can definitely get on board with that.

My goal is to beat that 2.1 pounds for February. We're 3 days in and things are already looking good. And since it's a leap year - I get a whole 29 days to make the magic happen.

Today's menu:

B: iced coffee w/ scoop of whey protein, whole wheat toast w/ cream cheese
S: grapefruit
L: soup, garden salad, carrots

I was rushing this morning while I was packing my lunch and I'm just now realizing that I really didn't pack anything substantial.

The soup is Zuppa Tuscana - my own version of the stuff they serve at the Olive Garden. Honestly, this batch I made wasn't that great. It's usually one of my favorites but I'm just not feeling it right now.

Hopefully dinner tonight will be amazing and completely fulfilling.

Trending Weight Loss Numbers

2012-01-24T10:02:00.000-08:00

The one thing that I'm doing really differently on this venture is trending my weight loss numbers. One day I found this online book called The Hacker's Diet, and it really interested me.

I've always been a big fan of keeping journals, tracking numbers and recording data. This book was written by a computer programmer who lost an extraordinary amount of weight by doing what he does best: recording data and interpreting the numbers.

If you look through the book you'll find a lot of charts and graphs and even formulas. Now, I love that kind of stuff but if you're not into it then just skip to the pages that talk about trend tracking.

Trend tracking is basically taking your DAILY weight and accounting for all the "noise" that goes with it. For example, on any given day we all know that our weight can fluctuate by POUNDS up or down. And sometimes, we can be ANGELS and still see that scale go strangely upward and it just ruins the day!

So what this guy did was use math (moving averages) to show what was really going on.

This is the example he shows:

November  1990

Date      Day      Weight      Trend       
----      ---      ------      -----       
                               173.6
  1       Thu       172.5      173.5         
  2       Fri       171.5      173.3         
  3       Sat       172        173.2         
  4       Sun       171.5      _____         
  5       ___      ______      _____        
  6       ___      ______      _____

The Date Column: Obviously you put whatever the date is
The Day Column: and the actual Day
Weight Column: The weight that shows up on the SCALE
The Trend Column:

This is where it gets fun. The first number on the Trend Column (the one without anything else in the row) is your initial starting weight. So the first day you decide to start, step on the scale, write this number here. Then the next day step on the scale again: In the example above, the guy weighed 172.5 so you write that number under the WEIGHT column.

Then you do a little math. All you do is subtract that day's weight from the previous day's trend number.

So take day 1's weight and subtract it from the Trend number above it:

172.5
-173.6
______

-1.1

Then you take the -1.1 and shift the decimal point over one place to the LEFT = -.11 and then round up. (EXAMPLE: if you had gotten -1.7 you would shift the number to -.17 and round to -.2)

I know it sounds complicated but hang in there.

Then you take that tiny number and subtract it from the previous day's trend:

173.6
- .1
_____
173.5

Oh wow. I don't know if this makes any sense. Then you continue from there. Take the next day's ACTUAL scale reading (in the chart that would be 171.5) and then subtract it from previous trend number (173.5) and so on and so forth.

And I found that doing this helped with one huge thing. I didn't freak out about those crazy numbers on the scale anymore. If you look at the chart above at the Weight Column - you'll see those numbers just go back and forth back and forth. But the Trend Column is just steadily decreasing.

See, it takes out the noise.

And as long as you're doing what you're supposed to (ie: eating right, exercising) that Trend column will just continue to decrease - even if one day you weigh more unexpectedly. And if that Trend column starts increasing - then you know you're doing something wrong and it's time to reel it in.

I'll post a chunk of mine when I finish out the month so you can see what mine looks like.

I thought it was something worth sharing. I started mine mid December and it takes 2 seconds to do and it COMPLETELY helps with those days when the scale just isn't showing what it should.

Because lets face it, we ALL need help on those days :)

Mondays: Not Always Bad

2012-01-23T17:46:00.000-08:00

The weather outside is absolutely miserable today. Rainy, cloudy, chillingly cold, but I was oblivious to all of that.

I weighed in today and I was down .4 lbs for the week. And that was enough to cast sunshine and rainbows all around me.

Isn't it amazing? One small, tiny, minute measurement had the all encompassing ability to make me insanely happy.

Well, it made me happy for the first hour of my morning. I mean, come on! It's rainy and it's a Monday. A deadly combination indeed.

And if you will indulge me for a moment, I'd like to praise myself for a couple of things over the last week:

1. I exercised 5 out of 7 days
2. I ate out TWICE and still managed to come in under budget for each day.

Pretty good huh?

So, I am 4.6 pounds down total and I am counting the moments til I hit my first 10.

Today's eatin's:

B: breakfast calzone

Oh yes, lets talk about this for a moment. I was coming up w/ easy, portable breakfast ideas for this week because I always eat breakfast at work. And honestly, I was sick of eggs and the normal breakfast fare so I decided to make calzones.

Yup, regular old calzones. I made my own whole wheat dough, my favorite pomodoro sauce and then used rotisserie chicken, cottage cheese and lowfat mozzarella to round it out.

It was my first foray into the wild world of calzone making and it was pretty successful. I ate my first calzone this morning and it was pretty tasty. Don't get me wrong, it was whole wheat dough so it wasn't like eating at a pizzeria but still - not bad.

S: protein bar
L: tomato soup, salad, 2 pretzels

exercise: 2+ mile run

Not bad ... for a Monday ;)

We're Gonna Score Tonight!

2012-01-19T09:38:00.000-08:00

I went bowling last night and for some reason I keep thinking about Grease 2 and the bowling scene and the song they sing.

So anyway, I went bowling last night and it was exactly like Grease 2. Without warning, everyone in the room broke into a perfectly synchronized dance and started singing. It was beautiful.

Wouldn't life be a little more grand if things like that actually happened?

Ok, so it didn't happen but it WAS cosmic bowling. Does that count? You know, lights off, glow in the dark pins, disco ball.

No singing though.

Bowling is fun, but it also leads to bowling alley food and drinks.

And that's all I'm going to say about my evening ;) I started the day off well but lets just say my dinner did not consist of the Chicken Piccata I so lovingly prepared that was both tasty AND healthy.

C'est la vie.

Today's menu:

B: egg + cheese sandwich on ww bread + coffee
S: PR bar (low glycemic delicious thing i eat before i run)
L: clam chowder, cottage cheese, 1/2 grapefruit
D: i'm not sure yet - the world is my oyster

Today's exercise:
run - did I mention that I'm training for a 10k? A co-worker asked me to run one with him and while it's not a hard commitment yet I figure - why not? I trained for one ........ thinking .... thinking .... oh wow 2 years ago. And 2 months before the race I injured myself. I believe there's a post somewhere in here about that. It was my toe :( Anyway, I remember the training being hard, sweaty, intensive, hard, time consuming BUT very worthwhile. So, I'm going to try again. I have a good base - I can do a 5k so why not double it? right?

Exciting Times!

2012-01-18T09:54:00.000-08:00

I logged into my email this morning and I received my usual weekly email from sitemeter who monitors this blog.

I usually don't even look at it because I know I've not been blogging so why would anyone be reading?!

Anyway, I did click on it and it told me that I had 11,000 visitors to my blog.

WHAT?

I thought it was a mistake. Nope. It wasn't. Someone found my jar of rocks entry and put it on pinterest and next thing I know -- BOOM - I've got a lot of people looking at my blog.

It made me laugh :)

Also, it reminded me I needed an update.

I'm doing extremely well. Almost scarily so. I say scarily because I'm starting week 6 and my focus is still there. I know, I know, my focus should ALWAYS be there but I tend to find that after week 4 I kind of get lazy.

Last week, I ate at maintenance all week. Not on purpose but because I think my body needed a break. It's just kind of how the numbers averaged out so that's kind of cool. But Monday was back to the grind and hopefully I will have a loss this week.

Just some numbers for you:
Since December 12, 2011, I have lost, on average, 1 pound a week.

AMAZING!

I don't have an official WI for this week yet but I'm about 5-ish down and I'm hoping to keep w/ that one pound/week loss and hit 6 at my next WI. But really, I'm super excited for any number, even if it's .2 pounds.

(That's the lowest increment on my scale)

And finally ...

Today's Menu:

B: bacon, egg white, LF cheese sandwich on whole wheat - w/ coffee
S: LF cottage cheese and 1/2 grapefruit
L: clam chowder (made my me!), side salad, crispbread
D: (most likely) chicken piccata (me also), brussel sprouts, whole wheat pasta

I Got Hacked!

2011-12-30T10:19:00.000-08:00

It's been since September since I've written. In all honesty, I haven't really felt inspired to write but also I got hacked!

You know, in this day and age your chances of being hacked are so high that it's not really that big of a deal when it happens but when it DOES happen, it feels horrific!

Like I was violated ;)

Mostly, it was just a big pain in my butt to inform everyone who was affected, go check out every account I had online, change passwords, remember passwords and all that jazz. So, the lesson here -- make your passwords crazy. I'm serious. The one that got hacked was pretty difficult but now it's so long and complicated I even have a hard time remembering it.

Now lets play catch up:

Last I wrote I was doing the weight lifting. Crazy things happened with that. I was diligent for a month or so but I really don't think I should have followed that book word for word :) First, the good things: I got some serious muscle. I could actually FEEL the muscles in my back working. It was awesome actually how strong I felt but also kind of scary. I think I was upping my weights too fast and I was looking kind of mannish. Also, I gained weight. I know, I know muscle weighs more than fat but I was also gaining fat along with that strong muscle. I don't know why, but I followed the caloric suggestions in the book EVEN THOUGH I have had my metabolism medically tested and KNOW that it's SLOWER than what it's SUPPOSED to be.

I honestly think I just wanted to eat more food.

Anyway, so I gained my beautiful muscle and some additional fat and the next thing I know I'm up 5 pounds.

I course corrected, holidays occurred, life happened and that brings us up to date.

I did, however, manage to run my Thanksgiving 5k again this year. And though I was approximately 10 pounds heavier this year - I beat my time last year! YEAH!

So anyway, about 3 weeks ago, I seriously had had enough of trying this plan and that plan and so I just got down to the nitty gritty. I started to eat less calories, exercise more, and diligently track my calories.

I'm pleased to say I'm down 4.6 very fluctuating pounds. My body LOVES to hold on to water and other stuff so the numbers on the scale can be very mean but TECHNICALLY I am down 4.6 pounds. I'm not holding that as gospel but I can see a downward trend and that makes me happy.

You know what else makes me happy - that I started this before the proverbial new year. I don't know, it just makes me feel like I've got a leg up on the competition :)

So, here's hoping to another successful 3 weeks.

And in case anyone is wondering my calories on average for the last 3 weeks were around 1500/day and on top of that I averaged a deficit of around 250-300 calories/day from exercise.

Yesterday's Menu:

B: whole wheat tortilla, ham, egg whites, salsa con queso, coffee w/ half/half
L: ham, sweet potato, green beans
D: ham sandwich with hawaiian bread
treat: peppermint patty
Calories: just under 1400
Exercise: 2 mile run

**notice all the ham: last of the Christmas leftovers! Thank goodness.**

Nap Time Would Be Nice

2011-09-08T17:08:00.001-07:00

I wish nap time existed for adults.

How awesome would work be if there was a twenty minute time frame set aside for napping - whether in your office or a nap room? I'd like to think the nap room would be a dimly lit room, slightly on the cooler side, with large, leather recliners that were so soft that you just sank into them. Pillows and blankets would be available and maybe there would even be a TV - set to some movie that would just play in the background on low volume.

Maybe it would be the golf channel. I love watching golf on tv and I love napping to golf on tv.

I'm finding that when I get home from work I am utterly exhausted. Painfully would be a better word for it. Painfully exhausted. It's no mystery why - I'm not sleeping at night. Last night I clocked in a solid 2.5 hours. Yikes. Hopefully tonight will be better.

I know I haven't written since July but I'm just going to pretend like August didn't happen ;)

Lets just say that the beast overcame my best defenses and I had an entire month of unhealthiness. In all honesty, it probably was a good thing. I was a little too focused on what I was eating, and when, and how much, and what were the calories, and what were the macro-nutrients, and when was I exercising and all that jazz.

Lets just say I had a full "30 Days to gaining 5 pounds"

So, at the end of August, I allowed myself to have a clean slate - I took ownership of my weight gain and I buckled down and began again. Just a little more relaxed. I'm focusing on working out regularly (I'm not putting a number on it or minute requirement - just to do it regularly), eating the best food choices I can make, and eating a reasonable amount of food.

I also bought a new book. It's called "The New Rules of Lifting for Women: Lift like a Man, Look like a Goddess"

Long title huh? I was scouring bodybuilding boards looking for a couple new strength training exercises to alleviate boredom I'd been having when I noticed people kept mentioning "NROLFW". It took some googling to find out what the acronym meant and then I happened upon the book on amazon and quite a few positive reviews. So I checked out the free preview and then got it.

It was an easy read with a lot of good information. Nothing too new and drastic but rather a lot of good info just contained in one place. I particularly like the workouts. It has a whole 6 month plan and the moves are not "girlie" moves and I like that. You know, squats, deadlifts, push-ups, pull-ups etc. . . and the goal is to get into the heavy weights. I started on August 25th and I can already tell I'm gaining strength which is awesome. My legs needed to gain some muscle for my running and knee health. Also, I feel more capable when I feel stronger.

In any case, I'm following Stage 1 workouts right now - I'm beginning my third week and so far so good. The Stage 1 workouts actually look pretty simple - and mind you, it only takes about 20 - 25 minutes for me to complete them but they're a little rough. I'm definitely sweating when I finish. I also like to push myself so that helps.

On the food frontier I've taken a little break from cooking. The last two weeks I've let myself use Lean Cuisine like foods as my chef for my lunches at work. I think that also has something to do w/ my not sleeping well. I'm strapped for time in the morning because I'm so tired and I'm waking up later and don't have much time to fix my lunch for work.

For example, today's menu:

B: iced coffee w/ whey protein, egg white sandwich
S: cottage cheese and an apple
L: Smart Ones Thai Chicken
S: handful pistachios
D: don't know yet

Since my do-over I've lost about a pound but this time I measure myself and used my calipers so I feel certain that in a week or two I'll see a bigger difference there. In any case, the scale is kind of third on my measurement list and I'm trying to keep it that way.

And that's all that has been going on.

so for right now, I'm aiming for:

"30 days to not be so stressed about my weight"

The Letter Experiment

2011-07-14T13:42:00.000-07:00

I was reading an article last week about goals. Particularly, how if you write down your specific goal then you will be more likely to attain it.

I won't go into the heady details but basically, when you write something down, the act of using your pen to form the words and have it on paper is more binding than just thinking it.

Interesting.

Then I remembered something. About 10 years ago, I discovered running. I was working at a local news affiliate producing the 5pm, 6pm and 11pm news so I didn't have to be at work until 3pm. Perfect hours for me by the way. Anyway, since I had the mornings to myself I took up running and eventually fell in love with it.

While I was going through this phase of my life, I wrote myself bi-weekly letters. I don't remember why I started but I remember writing them. In fact, I still have them. I would write what I wanted to accomplish in the 2 weeks. It was everything from water intake, to shaving seconds off my pace to how many times I would actually run that week. And it worked. For about a year, I ran 6 days a week. Yes, 6 days a week. I believe I missed one week due to illness but on average I maintained my 6 days. I also lost weight. But that wasn't the goal of my letters at the time. I wasn't concentrating on my food so much as my overall fitness and how I wanted to improve my running.

I have always wondered why, in that particular phase of my life, I had a such an easy time with my health and fitness. I usually attribute it to my age (yes, I was in my early 20s), my hours at the job being conducive to exercise, and basically just it being "one of those things". After I read the article I thought "What if the letters also had a hand?"

Now, I don't think that my letters were the one and only factor but maybe they did help with my motivation and success. I didn't always meet my goals every two weeks, but I always improved in some way. If I wanted to drink 8 glasses of water a day, maybe I got in at least 6. If I wanted to improve my running, maybe I didn't get faster but I was still running TRYING to get faster.

You get the point.

So last week I decided to try my hand at it. I wrote myself TWO letters. The first one was a 6 week letter with 6-week end goals. And the second was a week letter and in my week letter I wrote 3 simple goals:

1. To eat between 1200-1500 daily or on weekly average
2. To do cardio 5-6 times
3. To do strength training 3 times

I added a line or two about some motivational thoughts but all in all it was simple. At the bottom I left a place to right down the results.

Now, the 6 week letter is a little more detailed but not much. It basically states the same calorie, cardio and strength training goals but I added ONE addendum. I go on vacation next week and I added slightly, slightly more lenient calorie/exercise goals that are only to be followed on the exact days that I am out of town. For instance, my calories increased to 1500-1600/day/average for vacation days only (I'm gone 4 days) and I excused myself from cardio and strength on the same 4 days. I wanted to be realistic about my vacation. I'm meeting family up in San Francisco and am aware that getting my gym time in is probably not going to happen seeing as how I have 4 days with these people that I only get to see once a year. I'm also hoping that sight-seeing/walking will keep me active. At the bottom I left a place for physical results as well as motivational and emotional results. Oh yes, and weight results.

I bundled the two letters together to help me keep sight of the big picture and also to remind me that it's a week by week battle.

That was a week ago.

Today I get to open the letter. It's at home right now but when I do I get to write the following in the results column for my week letter:

1. calories: 1475 average
2. cardio: 5 times
3. strength: 3 times

Did I mention that I also get to add that I lost 3.2 pounds this week! Not too bad right? Granted last week's weigh-in came right at that time where I was carrying some water weight but still I think I would have a put up a good number regardless.

So today another letter gets written. It'll say almost exactly what the previous one said except with different motivational words this time because I figure if it ain't broke don't try to fix it.

Here's to another week of success :)

Dance Dance Revolution

2011-07-06T15:27:00.000-07:00

I couldn't muster up the strength to go to the gym yesterday. Opportunity after opportunity passed me by as I lazily chose to sit on my tush. When lunch time hit and my scheduled workout at the gym stared me in the face, I was desperate for a plan of action. I did NOT want to go to the gym. I just didn't have it in me.

So I made alternate plans. I called home and had my boyfriend hook up my old Playstation 2 so that when I got home I could get out my old Dance Dance Revolution games. Yes, I am a thiry-something who used to LOVE to play DDR. Some 5 years ago when I first got it, I used to play that thing for HOURS. Sweating it up in my tiny, studio apartment. Dancing on that flimsy mat til my feet were sore. It used to be so much fun.

I'll admit, I got home, ate some dinner then went into our workout room to have a look at it. I honestly haven't played or looked at in YEARS. The graphics were ancient looking and I laughed at how primitive the whole system is compared to the new PS3. I toggled through the menu then went to go sit on the couch with my boyfriend and let my food settle a little. Honestly, I wasn't feeling it. But I sat there and committed myself to at least 20 minutes. I told myself if at the end of 20 minutes it wasn't doing anything for me, I was free to walk away.

So I put on some "play clothes", strapped on my heart rate monitor and went to work. I was a bit rusty. I used to play on the difficult settings but when I tried it out, I was having a hard time keeping up. Not to mention my heart rate was SOARING! That's a good thing though :) Long story short, I ended up playing for an hour. I had to go back to the beginner settings to unlock songs that I wanted and so I wasn't working out as hard as I wanted but I did burn a little over 300 calories.

Not bad for playing a video game :)

My Health

2011-06-28T17:22:00.000-07:00

So, it has been a fun and exciting week. Just after I wrote that last post I had a visit with my doctor. I know in a previous post I mentioned issues with my gallbladder. Well, I finally went to see a specialist to make sure everything was fine because it runs rampant in my family. Last week I had an ultrasound and my doctor gave me an 80% likelihood that I had gallstones and would probably need to speak to a surgeon.

Well, he called last Friday and he was surprised but I did NOT have any stones and seemed to be ok. We're doing a follow up in a month because like I said, it's very common in my family.

He concluded that my way of eating is what was causing me pain. As weird as it sounds, the ultra clean eating and lower carb diet was wreaking havoc on my digestive system. He hypothesized that my body just couldn't handle it.

So I did some fiddling with my diet and found he was right. As odd as it sounds, following the SBD made me feel sick! It doesn't make sense because I, for one, think that the principles it's based on are very healthy and should, in theory, make you feel healthy. But, for me, it just doesn't work. Actually, some days I find that when I feel super bad, if I eat something higher in fat and carbs I immediately feel better. Strange right? My doctor is as baffled as I am.

And so I begin again. I'll be honest, I'm sick of having a plan. Apparently, plans and I just don't mix. I was looking over my journals from this time last year. It pains me to say that I was eating more overall calories and I weighed about 10 pounds less. Oh yes, and I was probably in the best shape I've been in in about 5 years. AND ... I was on no sort of plan whatsoever. It just ... worked. Like magic.

I've tried to wrap my head around why it worked and why the weight just kept coming off but that's the beauty of the human body. There is no rhyme or reason to it.

So, it's been back to the drawing board for me and my journey. And what have I decided to do?

I'm going to follow the simplest non-plan I can manage.

I'm going to try to eat good, healthy food that doesn't cause me pain that stays within a 1500 to 1600 cal range and I'm going to workout consistently.

And that's it.

Today's menu:

B: coffee w/ creamer, 1egg+1egg white, peppers, onions, laughing cow wedge, salsa, taco sauce all wrapped in a warm low carb tortilla.

S: fresh strawberries and a mini babybel light

L: taco-less tacos at my awesome work desk (ie: seasoned ground turkey, kidney beans, onions, tomatoes and green chilies wrapped in romaine leaves w/ cheese and salsa!)

I have a tentative plan to go spinning after work. Truth be told, today is a substitute rest day for me but a co-worker wanted to go spinning so I said I'd go with him. I desperately don't want to go because not only is today a rest day for me but this particular class that we're going to is beyond brutal. And that is NOT an exaggeration.

Well, in case we do go spinning, I have a Cliff bar packed in my bag to eat beforehand as my pre-workout snack.

And if I make it to spinning, at this point in my eating day I'll be at 1085 calories.

That's plenty of room for a decent dinner!

Now if only I could think of something inspired to make .....

Food Gone Wild

2011-06-20T11:37:00.000-07:00

So it looks like I'm winning half of the battle.

On the workout front, I can honestly say I'm kicking serious butt. Since last I wrote, I have completed every workout I have scheduled for myself. Getting back into the swing of things wasn't nearly as hard as I had originally thought it would be. Don't get me wrong, there were some days where it was sheer will that propelled me to finish, but I think I always imagined it to be much, much worse. Or perhaps it's that I can feel my body firming up that allows me to ignore some of the struggle :)

Wed: 35 minute cardio/strength combo
Thur: 60 minute spinning
Fri: rest
Sat: 35 minute strength/40 minute cardio
Sun: 45 minute cardio

On the eating front. How can I say this delicately? Well, lets just say thank goodness I have been working out so much to counteract what I've allowed myself to eat.

Don't get me wrong, it wasn't all bad.

Thursday was a great day:
B breakfast casserole
L chicken sandwich on whole wheat w/ lettuce and avocado
S whole wheat toast with peanut butter
D chicken and vegetable soup

Friday:
B tall skinny vanilla latte, pita, chicken, hummus and raw veggies (aka Starbucks breakfast)
S ww toast with Peanut Butter
L sushi: salmon sushi, yellowtail sushi, miso soup, 2 pieces Godzilla roll

**This particular restaurant does not offer brown rice as an option. However, I've found that sushi with brown rice is something that I just don't like. I figure it's a trade off. I choose more of the sushi items and less of the rolls and that helps keep the calories/white rice in check. I ate salmon and yellowtail sushi and just ate 2 pieces of the roll**

D ww pasta with tomato sauce and crab meat

And then we hit the weekend.

Saturday
B ww toast with peanut butter, skim milk
S milk chocolate candy!!
L whey protein, raspberries, skim milk
S 3 triscuits, babybel lite
D 4 slices of pizza (2 w/ bacon and pineapple - 2 w/ tomato and basil - medium)

Sunday
B 2 slices of pizza
L 2 slices of pizza (did I happen to mention we had leftovers!?)
D taco bell (mexican pizza no meat/extra tomatoes, volcano taco, 1/2 crunchwrap supreme)
and finally
a slice of chocolate cake

Whew!
Trust me, it was a lot of food. Needless to say, I got way way off course. And now it's Monday and I'm sitting pretty at work with my lunch bag filled with my good, healthy food and I'm back on track. Cause that's all that matters. Getting back on track.

Monday's plan:
B egg sandwich (1 egg, 1 egg white, sandwich thin, laughing cow wedge)
S chicken and vegetable soup
L roasted chicken breast 3oz, green beans, roasted potatoes/peppers/onions
D i'm supposed to be making a mushroom risotto from Rocco DeSpirito's Now Eat This! cookbook - Hopefully I'll get to it - it's his version of risotto that uses Textured Vegetable Protein instead of the traditional Arborio Rice. It'll be my first time cooking with TVP so I'm curious to see how it turns out.

Hopefully it'll be great. So far I've been extremely pleased with the recipes I've tried from that cookbook!

Working Out Is Fun!

2011-06-15T12:56:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's double workout was a smashing success.

Somehow I managed to get up in the morning and do some strength training. Trust me, it was sheer will that got me out of the bed. I am just NOT a morning person. But an added bonus of the double workout: I had good energy throughout the whole day. My lunch break workout completely revived me for the rest of the day.

In other awesome news, I also got up early TODAY to get in my cardio workout. I'm meeting up w/ an old friend after work today and so I wanted to get my workout out of the way, otherwise, I might have used meeting her as an excuse to not do it. In all honesty, it wasn't the greatest workout but I figure something is better than nothing.

This is what I have planned each week for working out:

MON: OFF
TUES: Cardio/Strength Training
WED: Cardio
THUR: Cardio/Strength Training
FRI: Cardio
SAT: Cardio/Strength Training
SUN: Cardio

I do a minimum of 30 minutes continuous cardio and right now I'm doing a full body strength training program that also takes around 30 minutes. As I increase strength I will probably move to a split routine but we'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

Today's schedule:

workout: AM/done (250 cal burned)

B: Whey, Rasp, Skim milk smoothie (263 cal)
S: Breakfast Casserole (230 cal)

L: Chicken and Vegetable Soup (165 cal)
D: Dining out

That's all I have planned so far. Oh, I think I might be heading to GNC to pick up some more whey protein. Exciting right?

It's Been Awhile ...

2011-06-13T17:01:00.000-07:00

I've been off the grid the past 3 weeks. Lots of life events that had to take priority over my wonderful blog.

I got injured, then my boyfriend got injured and then my dog got injured. The dog is still being nursed back to health. She hurt her back last week and we've been treading lightly ever since. I'm hoping that she's getting better but I can't honestly tell. We have a follow up visit to the vet on Friday and I'm hoping for good news.

On the health and wellness front, life still continues on. I was debating trying to make a "catch-up" blog post about the last 3 weeks but decided against it because honestly, nothing has really changed.

On the weighing in front, I am up +.6 lbs from my last post. It's been up and down since I last posted with nothing major in either direction. So basically I have been maintaining.

And since I haven't really seen any gains in my weight loss last week I started incorporating a few things.

First, I'm tracking actual calories again.

I happened across the blog of a woman who was doing South Beach and saw good strides in the beginning (Phase 1) but who did nothing but maintain while following Phase 2 - so she started tracking calories in addition to applying the Phase 2 rules and for her she needed that discipline to get the scale moving. I mean, tracking calories has worked for me in the past very well so I'm going to start trying to keep my calories in the 1400-1500 range.

Second, I've gone back to the gym. Who was I kidding? I have always done extremely well on an exercise heavy program and to leave it out of the equation just doesn't make sense. I'm on a 6 days of cardio/3 days of strength training schedule right now. I know that sounds like a lot but that's pretty much par for the course for me. I'm aware that my body needs a consistent workout schedule in order for change to occur. And more importantly, I feel much better when I am on a moderately heavy workout schedule - I think for me it's a great stress reliever.

Today looks like this

AM: strength training / 30m

B: whey protein, milk, org. raspberry shake with flax seed oil
S: breakfast casserole (eggs, egg whites, red pepper, mushroom, sweet potato, cheese)
L: Roasted chicken, green beans, twice baked sweet potato

PM: cardio / 30m

S: 1.25 c. chicken and vegetable soup (homemade)
D: ??

Also, I'm going to start tracking my body fat %. I bought calipers and am now practicing with them. I find that right now I'm extremely inconsistent with my readings so I'm going to keep practicing until I get the hang of it. No need to track measurements when I'm not very good at it. I've read that it takes quite some time before you start getting consistent readings so that's what I do in the morning. I stand in my bathroom and practice w/ my calipers :)

I'm thinking in another week I should get the hang of it and when I do I'll start tracking that too.

Birthday Dinner

2011-05-26T13:38:00.000-07:00

Today is my boyfriend's actual birthday and this evening he wants us to celebrate together tonight by having his favorite dinner. I, of course, will oblige. However, his favorite dinner is not exactly of the healthy variety.

Steak, macaroni and cheese (boxed), and crescent rolls. It's so funny how much he loves this meal. Simple, cheap and extremely easy to make. Of all the restaurants we have to choose from, of all the meals that I can make, this is what he wants.

And since it's his birthday, it's what he's going to get. It's not exactly on par with how I'm eating, so I'm adding some roasted broccoli (maybe with some red/yellow peppers) as my main side dish and eat just a few bites of everything. It should be good.

This week's menu has been pretty good so far. Couple of snags but I've managed.

Monday I ended up eating the tomato bisque for lunch and didn't have time to make "the sauce" so I ended up tossing my pasta with a bunch of tomatoes, seasoning and the ricotta cheese. Admittedly, not the best thing but it was a blah kind of eating day.

Tuesday I ended up at the doctor's office for three hours which really threw a wrench in my day. Just a check-up but I kept getting bumped for emergency appointments. Because it took so long, my eating plan had to be revamped so I went to Subway and got a veggie sub on whole wheat bread and ate that throughout the rest of my work day.

When I got home I made my sauce:

onions, carrots, celery, EVOO

add zucchini, garlic, basil and chicken stock

simmer with tomato sauce

delicious!

I made enough to freeze half the batch. I thought I would mainly use this to toss w/ some whole wheat pasta but I've found that I'm enjoying it for breakfast in omelets with some sauteed spinach, garlic and light cream cheese. It's a good combination and pretty filling. So for the past couple of days I've eaten this.

My snack this week has pretty much been low fat cottage cheese and an apple. And, Wednesday and Thursday lunch was 1/2 a veggie burger on ww bun.

As for weigh-in this week. I am up, again, but I definitely came down from that over 2 pound gain I saw. +1.2 lbs. Working out has been lack luster because of the shuffling of my schedule but I did go to a concert last night and danced around for 4 hours so that must count for something!

And this weekend is Memorial Weekend! The weekend that is traditionally filled with barbecues and parties. I've come up with some fall back ideas in the event that I need to face any terrifying food decisions so I'll let you know how that goes.

P1:
Week 1: -4.4
Week 2: -1

P2:
Week 1: +1
Week 2: +1.4
Week 3: -1
Week 4: +1.2

You know, looking at it this way I'm noticing way too many + signs. I'm really going to do my very best to get a - sign come next weigh-in!!!

It's Been One Week ...

2011-05-23T09:40:00.001-07:00

since last I posted.

Once again, a week feels like an eternity. However, not much has really happened. I'll recap a few items and some of my food choices.

It was Monday the 16th the last time I wrote and in case you're wondering ...

Monday night, instead of my vegetables, vegetables, vegetables I had Italian food. And not just any Italian food, I had fettuccine alfredo with garlic bread. I found it to be delicious in the moment, but I had some horrific heartburn afterwards.

Tuesday was a day filled with normal eating and then I went to Korean BBQ for a friend's birthday. I found online where on South Beach Korean BBQ is actually encouraged. The meat was very tasty but I found the extreme lack of vegetables to make me feel very unbalanced. Also, I don't think that much meat sat well in my stomach. If I go again, I will order meat as well as vegetarian options to round it out.

Wednesday was weigh in and I was happy to see -1 lb on the scale. Woo Hoo! Also, I got in a nice lunch workout on the stationary bike.

Thursday I ate an entire calzone for dinner. Yup, Italian strikes again. However, I managed to take a nice walk to Universal on my lunch break.

And that brings us to the weekend where I had a mixture of food. Some examples: I had a lovely caprese salad Friday, turkey dogs on whole wheat buns with sweet potato fries (baked) on Saturday, and a pulled pork BBQ sandwich with cole slaw and french fries, and junior mints at the movies on Sunday. The bbq sandwich was from a diner and pretty much straight forward. Afterwards, I wished I had been a little more selective in choosing my meal but I enjoyed it.

I AM pleased to report that I got in two really good workouts on Friday and Saturday but all in all, I do NOT think that I had a successful weekend food wise. In fact, I'm pretty displeased with the entire week.

That brings us full circle again to Monday where, as of this morning, I am up 2.4 lbs from my Wednesday weigh-in. Ideal? no. But I'm pretty positive it is the result of foods I've been eating.

I chose not to cook anything last week. In fact, I didn't even go to the grocery store and kind of just ate what was left in my fridge. It was both a good and bad thing. It was good because I got rid of a lot of produce and other food items that I would have otherwise wasted. It was bad because I really had no plan in place for my meals. I found myself scurrying each morning to try to figure out decent snacks and lunches and then I'd go home for dinner and without a plan in place, ordering food seemed ideal. Hence, the Italian nights.

So for this week, I made sure to plan.

My food for today is pretty normal, eggs for breakfast, vegetable chili for lunch - I also have some tomato bisque that I'm going to try.

And for dinner, tonight I'm going to be making a tomato sauce heavy on vegetables: carrots, celery, onions, garlic, tomatoes, zucchini, mushrooms and a few sweet peppers - and then I'm going to throw it over a half serving of whole wheat pasta with some dollops of fresh ricotta cheese.

I thought it sounded decent enough.

So goals for this week:

I feel pretty good about my menu and if I stick to what I have planned and continue working out, I have no doubt that my weight will ease its way back down. Also, I'm going to try to not let so much time go by before I blog again because writing down the food on here is like a check point for me.

P1:
Week 1: -4.4
Week 2: -1
P2:
Week 1: +1
Week 2: +1.4
Week 3: -1

Great Weekend!

2011-05-16T12:28:00.000-07:00

I had a fantastic weekend filled with lots of birthdays and fantastic food.

On Friday night, I went to the Cheesecake Factory to celebrate the first birthday of the weekend. It was just a quiet dinner with one of my friends and my boyfriend. There was, of course, lots of talking and great food. We started with a celebratory drink in her honor and ordered some sweet potato fries for the table. For my entree I went with a chicken dish that included mashed potatoes and broccoli. I knew dessert was a must so I ate just a bit of everything and actually we were talking so much I took plenty of time in between bites which helped a lot.

We ordered cheesecake to share and left half on the plate. I walked away from the restaurant feeling very satisfied with not only my food choices but my fullness level. It's hard to walk away from the Cheesecake Factory and not be overly full. The portions are GIGANTIC. The next morning though, I did wake up and feel dreadfully dehydrated most likely from the sodium intake.

Other than dinner, Friday's menu was pretty good:

B: 1/2 egg sandwich on ww bread w/ peppers, lettuce, cheese, coffee
S: romaine tossed with broccoli slaw, edamame and dressing
L: vegetable chili w/ shredded cheese

I also got in 2, yes TWO, workouts. I woke up before work and did strength training and then took a 45 minute walk on my lunch break.

The next birthday event was to be at my house but not until Sunday so Saturday was spent cleaning, cleaning and more cleaning.

I also got in a 45 minute working running intervals and ate ..... um ok.

brunch: portobello mushroom cap topped with sauce, tomatoes, and cheese
s: skim milk, handful cadbury mini eggs
dinner: pad thai with pork

Sunday Sunday Sunday!

Started the day with eggs over easy and a small glass of skim milk.

Got in a 30 minute elliptical workout followed by 15 minutes walking on the treadmill.

Ate a slice of muenster cheese.

And then we had our birthday dinner for my boyfriend. He cooked his favorite Thai dishes and we had many, many people come over to help us celebrate.

I enjoyed Jasmine rice with Green Curry and shrimp accompanied by a glass or two of wine. And topped it off with a few bites of pie and ice cream.

We started dinner at 5pm and everyone was still having fun at 10:30pm so we ordered some pizza and I had 3 slices of cheese pizza.

I probably could have done without the pizza at the end of the night if I had eaten better after my workout. All I had after that workout was the slice of cheese because I was in the kitchen cooking and before I knew it guests were everywhere.

No matter, everyone had a lot of fun and it was definitely a successful evening.

I did, however, throw the merriment into Monday morning. My boyfriend drove me to work this morning and we stopped at Carl's JR. and got some greasy breakfast goodness!! Yeah, this party needs to come to an end pretty soon.

Lunch is going to be vegetable lasagna w/ whole grain noodles and then dinner will probably be vegetables, vegetables and more vegetables.

I enjoyed everything I did and ate but I'm ready to get back full time to my better way of eating. I feel a little heavy and sluggish but I'm sure it's just from the foods I ate.

Hopefully Wednesday's weigh-in will be kind to me :)

Carb Cravings

2011-05-11T10:05:00.000-07:00

Ok, that didn't take too long. This is an excerpt from the boards I read:

"life happens and you will, on occasion, find yourself eating an off-plan meal or a slice of birthday cake. Enjoy! Do not berate yourself, and most importantly, DO NOT GO BACK TO PHASE 1! Get back on track with a healthy P2 diet, continue to exercise, and move FORWARD. P1 should only be revisited if your cravings have returned or you've been off of P2 for a long time."

Ok, that seems like sound advice. With that in mind, I'm going to continue on as I'm supposed to. If I notice that the carb cravings continue, I'll go back to P1 for a few days and hopefully that'll kick it. Also, I had a banana for breakfast yesterday. That's the first time I've had fruit in the morning and maybe that also was a factor.

Unfortunately, I had a banana for breakfast today too. I'll see what happens tonight and then I'll move it tomorrow and figure out if that was a culprit too.

Week 2 ends ...

2011-05-11T09:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I woke up feeling great. Truly, I had amazing energy and felt like the world was my oyster.

That's all - nothing exciting happened -- I just wanted to share because I LOVE days like those. Where everything just seems to go your way even if it doesn't.

Anyway, I recently divulged my over-indulgences and I stand here now needing to make a correction.

They did have an affect on me. Last night for dinner I ordered Pad Thai. And as I was eating it, I had a revelation:

"SON OF A GUN!!! This is a carb craving"

Didn't even see it coming til I was almost done.

So yes, my little jaunt over the weekend DID have an affect on me. When I got home from work it didn't occur to me that I was overly thinking about eating pad thai or anything. I had had a wonderful day of eating and somehow in a single thought I convinced myself that I would eat it and be ok and blah blah blah. Truly I performed some excellent jedi mind tricks on myself. Very crafty I have become.

Anyway, now that I've indentified it I'm not so sure what to do now. I don't know if I'm supposed to go back to phase 1 or not. Hopefully I'm not because I really don't want to do it again - maybe just a day or two. So today I'm going to peruse my resources and get some advice from people who've "been there done that".

Also, today is Wednesday - so that means it's WI: +1.4 lbs

Yeah, that's a big jump but I was expecting that due to certain choices I made that I am going to forgive myself for and move on ;)

P1: 5.4
P2:
week 1: +1
week 2: +1.4

I'm not too worried about the gain because week 2 for me was *head bowed in shame* not the best for me. No worries though, I will come up with a plan and turn it around.

In food news, I made a dish that I'm very pleased with.

Vegetarian chili:

It's kidney beans, garbanzo beans, pinto beans, onions, carrots, and red peppers with all sorts of chili seasonings. I just mixed it all together and let it simmer for a couple of hours. Very filling and tasty.

Yesterday's menu:
B: banana w/ PB
L: chili w/ 1T shredded Portuguese cheese
S: yellow pepper strips, plum tomatoes, carrot strips w/ hummus
D: pad thai :(

Today starts week 3 for mean and technically I am to add a grain today (yippee!) but before I officially do that I'm going to go see what I can find out about my carb cravings.

My Confession

2011-05-09T13:26:00.001-07:00

Guess what I did this weekend??

I cheated and I cheated hard :)

Friday night I had pizza. Saturday, well Saturday, I ate normal. And then came Sunday. Sunday I had candy, doughnuts and nachos!!!

The lesson: If anyone out there is reading this. Don't do it! If you want to cheat, cheat small. Just have a tiny cheat meal or cheat snack. Why? Because I got super sick.

Well to be fair, I think I've been having issues with my stomach ever since I started this diet. The drastic change in my eating has had some sort of affect on me and I'm hoping to get it all figured out in my upcoming annual w/ my doctor in 2 weeks. My mother also recently informed me that gallbladder issues run all sorts of rampant in my family so that may be the problem. Whatever it is, how I am feeling right now is not worth it.

On the bright side, I don't have any sugar cravings. Maybe that's because I have yet to eat any food today. I feel so sick that the thought of eating ANYTHING makes me feel more sick.

I just thought I needed to get that off my chest. You know, full disclosure and all.

As far as my other meals, nothing new or exciting was made. I pretty much stuck to the same foods.

Up ahead:
WI is Wednesday. Before I took my little excursion, I was looking good at having a loss this week. But we'll see what happens.

Phase 2 week 1 results

2011-05-06T09:39:00.001-07:00

My first week on Phase 2 was good. I really have no complaints about it. I think I was super worried about starting because I thought that eating just one serving of grain would be enough to make me go back into a stupor because I really like my carbs. However, I found that the one slice of whole wheat toast that I chose as my grain this week really worked well for me. I switched back and forth between peanut butter toast and half a roasted turkey sandwich. I ate them either at lunch or as my post dinner snack.

I started w/ the PB toast as an after dinner snack because honestly, I was afraid that if I moved it up earlier in the day, it would set me up for cravings for the rest of the day. After a couple of days, I moved it to my lunch and that didn't seem to do any damage so I gained more confidence.

So, as far as my results. I know I weigh in on Thursdays but now I'm thinking I just need to move it to Wednesday because that will make it coincide w/ my SB starting date. So, I'm trading my Thursday weigh-ins for Wednesdays. And thus, my results are below:

P1: -5.2 lbs total
P2: +1 lb - week 1

During the first week I went up almost 2 pounds before things started settling. It also dropped lower but that +1 was my final number so I'm sticking w/ that. And other than the tummy troubles early on in the week, I feel good and have recently noticed my clothes seem to be getting bigger which is always nice.

As of right now, I'm on day 3 of my second week. This week I added back fruit and honestly, I'm not doing so well. Wednesday I added some strawberries and yesterday I forgot completely. Today I have an apple so I'm going to try super hard to remember to eat it. I know it could be worse - I COULD be cheating left and right. I have cheated a little but all I've done is go over my 100 calorie limit of SF treats and eat too much Pad Thai one night.

So far so good.

Today's menu:

B: Southwest omelette (seasoned beans, tomato and cheese omelette topped w/ salsa, guacamole and a dollop of sour cream)
S: yellow pepper strips, carrot slices, plum tomatoes w/ hummus
L: half roasted turkey sandwich, garden salad w/ kidney/garbanzo beans and Ital. dressing

Still here

2011-05-04T09:48:00.001-07:00

I've had quite the time since last I posted.

I did finally decide what to buy at the market and what to eat for the week. However, this is the first week where I'm not all that impressed with my selections. Oh well. Maybe I'll come up with something grand for next week.

Many things to discuss so lets talk about food first.

This weekend I had two, yes TWO, different dinner parties to attend. I think I did pretty well :) The first was at a close friends house and they had a plethora of options. I know for a fact that there was sugar in some of the dishes but I think I did pretty good considering. I enjoyed some salad, some peppers and sausage, and a chicken wing. I sat down and talked to the host about how he prepared everything and honestly, it was a little worse than I thought :) But it's all good.

I ate enough to not be starving and then I just sat back and enjoyed my friends company. Once I got home I ate a nice dinner.

The second dinner was with my boyfriend's sister's family. My boyfriend is half Thai and his sister cooks AMAZING Thai food. Now, I LOVE Thai food so I was afraid this one would be just a hair more difficult. Nope! And I have a wonderful boyfriend too. He asked his sister what was in everything and how much sugar. And we both helped cook so I saw first hand. Also, when he saw "bad items" go in, he'd pull me aside and tell me. It was really cute. I had a little bit of everything. And again, just enough to not be starving. When we left, we stopped and got a bite to eat before we drove back home.

So yes, I did well at my first two tries at eating out of the house. It was a lot easier than I thought. The first dinner party I had no idea what they were making so I had a snack before I went to make sure that in the event I had to not eat that I would be ok. The second dinner, I knew beforehand what dishes were being made I just didn't know how they were being prepared. But I feel confident that in the future, I'll be able to maneuver the situation.

Now, if it had been a pizza party that might have been way more difficult ;) Man, I love pizza.

Anyway, Monday was a different story. I got through breakfast and then I was sick to my stomach all day long. I'm not sure if it was something I ate over the weekend or if it was because maybe I had more off limit ingredients (ie: sugar) than usual but I didn't eat anything all day. When I got home from work I was really hungry and my boyfriend wanted Thai. So I ordered Pad Thai. Now, I can have rice noodles but I'm pretty sure restaurant Pad Thai is just off limits in general. Fat, sugar, deliciousness and whatnot. But I ordered it and I ate it. Not the whole thing because I get full really quickly lately. And some interesting things happened.

First, it didn't taste as good as I thought it would. This restaurant has my favorite Pad Thai of ALL TIME so I was a little shocked at this. Maybe it was a bad batch (hey, it happens) or maybe my taste buds have changed (that happens too) - in any case, it just didn't wow me. Second, it KNOCKED ME OUT! Seriously, I ate it and then we sat down to watch a movie but it was no use. By 8:30pm I was gone. It might have been from being sick, being full or eating such a heavy dish when I wasn't used to it. Who knows.

That leads to Tuesday which was ... ugh. So, I'm assuming it was the Pad Thai but I was sick to my stomach all through the morning and afternoon on Tuesday too. I wasn't in as bad a shape as Monday - I still could eat food - but my stomach was gurgling and churning and doing not fun things off and on. Not fun and it will definitely make me think twice about eating such a heavy dish that I'm not really used to.

And that brings me to Yesterday's Menu:

B: omelette w/ onions, mushrooms, cheese, salsa, and sour cream - I didn't prepare myself grocery wise for the apparent mexican breakfast cravings I've been having the last couple of days - so this is my improvisation.

L: Soupe de Pistou (yeah, still eating this and I still like it - but it's gone now) and a half Roasted Turkey Sandwich

I roasted a turkey breast over the weekend. That was a good idea - plus it was on sale!

and dinner .. I tried to come up w/ a new idea for dinner. I'd been wanting barbecue food lately so I tried to come up with some recipes to simulate a SB barbecue

behold:

That's chicken sausage, cole slaw and baked beans. I made a bbq sauce that had no sugar in it - which, mind you, is pretty difficult. I got the recipe off the internet and the ingredients alone made me doubt the whole thing but I made it anyway. The cole slaw was a Bobby Flay recipe but instead of cabbage I used broccoli slaw and instead of sugar I used Splenda. I also was leery of this one.

And guess what? I was right. I wasn't too pleased with either of these. I'm actually going to give them both a second shot today. I brought a little cole slaw for lunch and I might try the baked beans again for dinner. Sometimes food tastes better after its been sitting and the flavors meld. But we'll see.

And now on to my weight.

Today ends my first week of Phase 2. Adding back the carb wasn't all that difficult or mind blowing. In fact, for the first few days I almost forgot to do it. My weight HAS been fluctuating all week. I said I wasn't going to look at the scale but I did anyway. It's just been going back and forth between my P1 ending weight and one pound up. Tomorrow is Thursday and that's my weigh in day so from now on I'm going to use whatever pops up on Thursday as my reference point. So, as of this morning, I weigh the same as I did last Thursday and tomorrow will be the official number for the week.

Also, today is the first day I add back fruit so here's to another week of seeing how my body handles me messing with it :)

Indecisive Friday

2011-04-29T13:18:00.001-07:00

It's Friday and usually by this time, I have my grocery list and menu ready to go for the upcoming week

Today, however, I'm at a loss. I have no idea what I'm going to eat. None.

Nothing sounds good. I don't want to go haphazardly to the market/grocery store and end up with a bunch of stuff that I won't use. That makes me feel wasteful and every time I have tried it I have, in fact, let most everything go to waste. Besides, this week's food money is a little tight due to some random overspending on my part last weekend.

Also, my boyfriend and I are planning on buying an air conditioner for our workout/art room this weekend so I need to stick to my food budget to compensate for that extra expense.

Last night we ordered out from this Italian restaurant we really like. I got the caprese salad and a little caesar salad. The caprese was so good that's all I can think about. I just want fresh tomatoes, basil, EVOO, and balsamic. I can't get tomatoes out of my head and I can't wait until they are in season at my local farmer's market. Right now the tomatoes at the grocery store are hit and miss. More miss than anything so I don't want to count on them and make a crappy caprese salad.

So what do I do? I guess I'll go scour the internet looking for recipes that use in season veggies. Hopefully I'll find something.

Also - my food so far.

B: 2 egg omelette w/ spinach, onions, garlic, and a little cream cheese

and plan on having

L: vegetable chili w/ side salad
S: turkey swiss roll ups

Also, I would like to report that yesterday I went to the gym and got in a run. My energy level was great and I finished w/ no problems. I am a little sore today because it's the first time I've run in a couple of weeks but nothing I can't handle!

And in full confession, I stepped on the scale this morning. I know, I know I said I wasn't going to but I was SO CURIOUS.

I was up another .8 ish. It was flashing between .8 and 1 pound so I'm going with .8 - I'm not fretting at all yet. But I do feel way more bloated these past 2 days. I'm going to give it another day or two and then I might swap out my whole wheat bread for another grain. I don't really want to because I'm enjoying that toast at the end of the day but I really hate feeling bloated and that's the only thing I can attribute it to since my eating has remained pretty consistent over the last 2 1/2 weeks. I'll let you know what happens.

Phase 2

2011-04-28T12:55:00.000-07:00

I made it through all 14 days of Phase 1. In retrospect, it wasn't that bad but I do remember a couple of moments during the first couple of days that were rough.

In any case, I did it and I lost 5.4 pounds during Phase 1.

Yesterday was my first day of Phase 2.

Phase 2 is where I can add back in my good carbs and fruits. So, whole wheat bread and pasta, whole grains and fresh fruit. Good stuff indeed!

I was at a loss actually at what to eat. I had been reading message boards and everyone has their own suggestion as to what to add. I noticed that almost everyone said oatmeal but I just couldn't do oatmeal. I also hadn't decided if I was going to add back my fruit this week or my grain. So, I chose grain and I chose whole wheat bread!

Honestly, I almost forgot to eat it. I'm just so used to my way of eating right now that eating the bread kind of felt like I was going off track.

So as my after dinner treat I had peanut butter toast with a glass of skim milk.

Simple, filling and delicious. I'm pleased that it didn't have a huge affect on me. I'm not overly craving carbs or anything and when I was figuring out my meals for the day I noticed I gravitated toward the usual foods so that's also good.

However, when I weighed in this morning (Thursdays are really my official WI days) I was up a whole pound. I was prepared for this because almost everything I had read said the beginning weeks of Phase 2 will most likely result in a gain. Not the most motivating thing but knowing ahead of time at least helped a little. When I cut out the grains and fruits I was depleted of my glycogen stores thus resulting in a loss (water weight). Adding back my grain means also adding back to my glycogen stores (which is a good thing!) and thus water weight gain. According to others, it should take my body a couple of weeks to adjust and then I should start losing again. Now, the only thing I can do is stay the course and see if it happens. I'm going to definitely stay off the scale until next Thursday morning and then depending on what I see I might wait 2 weeks for my next weigh in. One person commented that for her it took 6-8 weeks until she started losing weekly so I don't want to get discouraged.

In case you're interested yesterday's menu went something like this:

B: SF/NF latte, turkey/swiss, lettuce roll ups (I'm taking a much needed break from eggs)
L: fake tacos (see previous post)
D: Soupe au Pistou (french soup I made Tuesday night for P2 because it has delicious carrots in it)

and a portabello mushroom pizza
D: PB toast, milk

The pizza I made was very, very good. Even my boyfriend said he would eat it on nights he craved pizza. I used a large portabello mushroom cap as my crust then made a meat sauce with turkey sausage and just topped the mushroom as you would a pizza and broiled it.

It looks like a big pile of cheese and sauce but that's because I put too many toppings on it. The one I made the previous night actually looked like a pizza. But it sure was good.

And today, so far the menu looks like this:

B: ham, swiss lettuce roll-ups, coffee
S: carrots with jalapeno/Gouda spread
L: Soupe au Pistou, cottage cheese
D: ?

Whatever I do for dinner it will have plenty of veggies in it. I need to add more veggies to my breakfast but I recently hit a slump when it comes to eggs and I wasn't really prepared for finding alternatives so I made do with what I had. Oh yeah, I forgot about my grain again. I think I might do the PB toast and milk again. It really fit well in my dessert spot.

And one more thing, now that I'm adding in my grains and fruits I'm going to up my exercise. During Phase 1 I did long walks for my exercise a couple of times a week. In the first week they were actually kind of difficult because of the energy thing. But I feel good and I think it's time to up the ante a little. Besides, I really really want to participate in this 5k that's coming up at the end of May. So hopefully you'll start seeing me log my workouts too.

Almost There!

2011-04-25T11:50:00.001-07:00

It's been an interesting couple of days since I posted.

I think it was Friday that I had some trouble. I didn't want to quit but I was ready to just start the next phase. I just wanted a slice of bread. Also, I was incredibly cranky. I think it goes back to not eating enough food. I got out of work early for Good Friday and by the time I got home, I had missed my lunch and a snack and I was so tired that I took a nap instead of getting food. By the time I got up I was in rare form. Truly, I was a beast. So, I fixed some food and voila! I was better.

The weekend was ok. I have a hard time with the weekends and this particular program. Not in that I want to go off course but just in that I don't eat all my foods. Not to mention my water intake suffers. And you know what happens when I don't eat enough food...

So what did I eat?

Saturday:

b: eggs and bacon
l: none
s: SF/NF vanilla latte
d: tacos
d: SF fudgesicle and SF syrup

I ended up starving around bedtime so I cooked some more eggs and bacon. I really didn't eat that great. My veggies were limited to my taco dinner which wasn't really all that much. I cooked some kidney beans in some mexican seasoning and then filled romaine leaves w/ the beans, cheese, salsa and sour cream. And honestly, it was very, very good.

Again, very good. I will definitely be putting that back on the menu at some other point in time. In addition to not eating enough healthy foods, I overate on my sugar free foods. I had the latte and then I had the fudgesicle. And not only did I have the fudgesicle, I even took it off the stick and drizzled some SF chocolate syrup over it and ate it like a sundae. Yeah, not the best eating day I've had so far but I still didn't do anything too destructive.

I woke up Sunday determined to at least get all my meals in and more vegetables.

Sunday:

b: eggs, bacon, spinach, tomatoes

s: garden salad w/ ranch
l: panda express beef and vegetable dish
d: tomato, avocado, turkey sausage, cheese omelet w/ salsa

It was a decent day. I went to Panda Express and got some new beef dish. It was just beef and vegetables in some spicy sauce. I'm positive there was sugar in the sauce but I added mixed vegetables to it and basically ate off of them. I ate a few pieces of beef for the protein but what I'm finding lately is that it honestly doesn't take too much to fill me up. For dinner we met friends at a cafe and I ordered the omelet which also came w/ fried potatoes and fresh fruit on the plate. And you know what? It honestly didn't affect me at all. I really think my carb cravings are at a nice controllable level. But, I am super excited to eat fruit again. Super excited!

And now here I am on Day #13 and I am proud to say that I have stayed the course. I had a horrible stomachache last night and into this morning so my food consumption today has been minimal. I'm just taking it easy to make sure everything is ok. Although, I did take the time yesterday to pack myself wonderful food.

If I feel up to eat today I have:
ham roll ups w/ gouda and romaine
deviled eggs
and
fresh veggies w/ spinach and artichoke dip for snack

Dinner tonight is going to be sushi. I hope. I bought the stuff to make salmon handrolls (w/o the rice of course) and it'll be my first attempt at making it.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Phase 1 News!

2011-04-21T17:12:00.000-07:00

Today is Day #9 of my phase 1. At weigh-in this morning I am officially down 5 pounds and I'm very excited and very pleased with that!

Yesterday was actually a really hard day for me. I think it was emotional though and nothing to do with my diet. I was a little cranky and annoyed and somehow that turned into anger over not being able to eat whatever I wanted. Was I having carb cravings? No. I believe this was completely just emotional. In the past, carbs, to me, equaled comfort and because they were off limits I got very agitated and somewhat angry. Almost like a child being told they couldn't have something.

It was interesting and I'm glad it happened. It showed me two things: 1) I think my actual carb cravings are getting close to being under control and 2) I need to be more aware of my emotions and find things other than carbs to make me feel better.

The episode passed and I had another successful day eating wise.

Today has also been a really nice day!

I was running late this morning and managed to pack everything but my breakfast. No worries though as we have a Starbucks right beside us. I treated myself to a SF latte and a turkey and swiss sandwich. I just threw away the bread and had turkey, swiss and lettuce roll-ups. They actually were very tasty and very filling. Starbucks actually has roasted turkey and not the deli sliced kind. I always find that to be extra satisfying.

Work has been kind of hectic today so I had to sneak in my first snack really quick. It was just a mini babybel.

Nothing too fancy and actually I should have eaten more but I figured a little something was better than nothing at all.

The next thing I knew it was my lunch break. I had my gym bag sitting by my desk ready to go but it was so beautiful outside. Actually, I had no desire to rush to the gym, get in a workout, do the shower thing, rush back to work. My gym is 3 buildings down from my office so I have the luxury of walking there and getting in a decent gym workout. It does require some rushing to get showered and office ready again and sometimes I just don't have it in me to do it.

So I went on a walk instead. I usually walk over to Universal Studios. It's sort of 4 buildings down from my office and a really nice walk.

Me passing my gym and heading up to City Walk

It was so nice out today

I go up there a couple times a week. It takes about 10 minutes to walk there and then I just walk around the shops and people watch with my ipod on.

I should probably just a buy a ticket into the park because it's "buy a day get a year" - so I'd get a season pass. Then I could spend my lunch breaks in the theme park and ride some rides!

It was a nice walk today. I was gone almost the whole hour. Sometimes I don't spend my whole time up there. If I'm in the mood to just speed walk, I'll book it the whole time to try to get my heart rate up. I still wear my HR monitor when I take my lunch walks. It motivates me to walk a little faster even when I don't feel like it. Either way I get between 5000 and 6000 steps in by going up there. It's a real boost as I try every day to get in my 10,000.

And on the way back to my office

That's the wonderful LA traffic. It's usually not so busy this time of day but Obama is here and that means by the time I get out of work, there will be complete gridlock on at least one freeway.

Anyway, back in the office I had my lunch. I wasn't really hungry so I had just one component. Vegetable Soup. I usually eat this with some protein but today I'm just not feeling it.

I wanted to get in my veggies so I ate it.

And now I'm a little sleepy which probably means that I haven't eaten enough calories today. It's true, eating this way, I find that I'm hungry less often but I have to make sure to get in my calories because my body needs them to function! And when I don't eat enough, I get really, really tired.

UGH. OK, I'm getting really tired, I think I'm going to go have some cottage cheese :)

South Beach Phase 1 continues

2011-04-18T12:20:00.000-07:00

So I had a very productive weekend. We did some good shopping at the farmer's market, did a lot of Spring Cleaning, and I got the chance to cook up my first attempts at "SB approved" dishes.

On Saturdays, we head to the farmer's market as soon as it opens, so I grabbed my last Egg Muffin as I ran out the door. We have to get there early because parking is always a hassle. Also, it was an unusually hot weekend and at 8am it was already in the 80s and rising so we didn't want to be out there in the heat.

After we finished all of our grocery shopping, I came home to cook some food because I was starving. This was kind of my first chance to go about preparing something on the spot that was on program.

So I sauteed up some spinach and garlic in some olive oil and then topped it with a tomato sauce that I had leftover in the fridge. The sauce was just crushed tomatoes, cottage cheese, garlic, and parmesan cheese. It doesn't look that appetizing but it's one of my favorite things to eat.

I then cooked two fresh eggs over medium

And then ended up with a very satisfying, very filling breakfast:

I went the easy route with this breakfast. This is actually close to something I make and so I knew I would like it. In any case, score one for me!

After I finished that I started in on one of my recipes. It's a Garden Lasagna (without noodles) and it takes quite a bit of time to prepare.

I started the sauce.

I sauteed lots and lots of onions, celery, garlic, mushrooms, plum tomatoes, and green onion in some olive oil then added ground turkey that I had previously browned.

Then I added a jar of no sugar added marinara sauce and lots of fresh basil. I let it simmer on the stove for about an hour.

So while it was doing that, my pup and I decided to pass the time playing a little Call of Duty

That's my dog Chloe. If I'm sitting on the couch watching tv, playing video games, reading or doing anything at all, she has to be sitting right in the middle of my lap. It gets pretty crowded but it's very cute.

After the hour, I pieced together the lasagna. I forgot to take pics of this part. Basically, instead of noodles I just thinly sliced a couple of zucchini length wise and used those instead. I layered the zucchini with the meat sauce, ricotta cheese, fresh spinach and mozzarella cheese. I did about 3 layers and then topped it with fresh parmesan and baked it for almost 2 hours.

This is absolutely delicious. And the zucchini actually gives you a semi noodle texture. Yes, you can definitely tell there are no noodles but both my boyfriend and I thought this was absolutely wonderful. And the fact that it's full of vegetables is just a bonus.

I even ate it for two of my meals on saturday!

lunch: garden lasagna

snack: broccoli, celery, plum tomatoes with black bean hummus

dinner: garden lasagna, side salad: romaine with kidney beans, parmesan and caesar dressing

dessert: SF fudgesicle

Also I went to the gym Saturday night. I got in 35 minutes or so on the treadmill and had a really good amount of energy. I was worried to push myself too hard. I didn't run but I walked at an incline and kept my heart rate at about 80% of my maximum and it felt good.

Sunday morning I had another pleasant experience cooking breakfast. Since I've started this phase, I've been trying to get beans into at least one meal a day for the fiber. So, I chose breakfast this time.

I sauteed fresh broccoli, garlic, onion, a couple of tablespoons of my wonderful tomato sauce and about a quarter cup of kidney beans.

And then I just topped it with, of course, farm fresh eggs.

This was my favorite of the 2 weekend breakfasts and it kept me full for what felt like forever.

Since I eat breakfast everyday I usually cook something that I can eat on for the whole week. So I cooked a breakfast casserole for me to take to work for the upcoming week. It was something new and I was really pleased with how it turned out.

That's a slice of it on a very fancy paper plate at my work desk.

All it is is tons of vegetables, some smoked ham, cheese and eggs. It came out creamy and delicious.

The rest of my meals for Sunday:

lunch: breakfast casserole

snack: skinny vanilla iced latte

dinner: garden lasagna

snack: broccoli, celery, plum tomatoes, black bean hummus, skim milk

I did have some pretty major energy problems late afternoon on Sunday. It was around the 3pm hour and TJ and I were out running errands and I was just exhausted. Sitting in the car, I couldn't even keep my head upright and my eyes open.

It finally hit me that I hadn't eaten enough food that day. I told you that my breakfast was extremely filling. It was so filling I wasn't hungry til about 2pm and that's when I just ate a slice of the breakfast casserole. So I missed my snack and my lunch was smaller than normal. I remembered reading that you shouldn't miss your snacks even if you're not hungry. So I won't be missing those snacks again. It felt horrible.

So all in all a very good weekend!

Today marks day #6 so I'm almost halfway done with Phase 1. My weigh in will be on Thursday which will be my 9th day on the plan. I'm actually looking forward to it. I can tell something is working. My clothes fit nicely and I feel fantastic so hopefully I'll have a good showing :)

Maybe I spoke too soon?

2011-04-15T16:36:00.000-07:00

The day is dwindling down slowly. And when I say slowly, I mean S L O W L Y. Nothing too exciting has occurred.

Until now. I went into the kitchen to fix my lunch. Yes, it's late in the day but it's 3 hours since last I ate.

And there in the middle of our kitchen was a giant ice cream cake.

Here's the thing. I don't like ice cream cake. I mean, it's not the worst thing in the world to eat but if I had my choice between regular cake or ice cream cake, I'd choose regular cake every time. And don't even think about putting a scoop of ice cream next to my regular cake either. Gives me the willies just thinking about it. Soggy cake. Yuck.

Anyway, there is cake in the kitchen at my work and I'm thinking about it. Not thinking about eating it, just thinking about it. And I'm finding this extremely entertaining. I was browsing the internet and the next thing I knew I was looking at cake.

Did I google images of cake? No, I actually googled a line from an old tv show that had the words "chocolate cake" in it and the next thing I know BAM! pictures of chocolate cake everywhere.

It was funny.

I just want this day to be over. I want to go home. There's no cake there. It's safer.

:)

South Beach Progess Report

2011-04-15T09:01:00.000-07:00

I'm officially on Day 3 of my phase 1. Honestly, it hasn't been that bad. I sneaked a peek at the scale this morning and yes it has gone down.

How much?

A good bit but I'm not going to say how much until the end of the first week. I know I was holding on to major water weight so this is it just finally going away.

They say you are to lose 8-13lbs in the first two weeks. I've cut out sugar before in my diet and I didn't experience those numbers but I did experience the water flush. It's not fat but it feels good. I feel less bloated and that helps especially since we women tend to bloat a lot around certain times. I'm hoping for 6 pounds. Why 6? It's just a number that will get me to a vanity point on my bathroom scale. What do I really want? Just a clean slate. To feel like my body is ready for nutritious foods. To get a hold of my reese cup addiction. Oh how I love those things.

I'm also very excited to get my whole grains and fruit back. When the time comes I will eat them with appreciation.

Now, the pros and cons so far of this phase:

Cons:
- I got headaches. The first day at the end of the day, I had a horrific headache. I took advil and it just ever so slightly eased back the pain. I had read that these were a possibility and the length of time they lasted depended on the person. The second day I had a minor one at breakfast, but eating and some tylenol zapped it quickly. Today, so far so good.

- The proverbial you're going to want what you can't have. My meal choices have been great and my selection has been abundant but I still feel restricted because well, I am. I came up with at least twenty different ideas for supper the first night but none of them seem to fit. Even after I chose and we prepared dinner and it tasted fantastic it felt like something was missing. Was I really missing a dinner roll? Probably not. My stomach was pouting because it couldn't have it.

- Energy falter / weird feeling. Just every now and then I have felt a little "off". I went on a walk last night and I definitely felt my energy zapped. I know this is due to the low carbness of it all but what I found was that making my meals well rounded really helped. For instance, bulking up on kidney beans in my afternoon vegetable soup did wonders. And a glass of milk with dinner helped too.

Pros:
- I'm bulking up my meals with vegetables instead of bread and pasta. I'll be honest, I love bread and pasta and given the choice I would bulk up with those instead of my veggies. Now, I have automatically hit my daily servings for vegetables over the last 2 days and it's been nice. So, I'm going to try to keep this balance when I get my grains back.

- Oddly enough, waking up in the morning has gotten marginally easier each day. This is my third morning and I woke up fairly easily. Please keep in mind waking up in the morning is one of the worst times of day for me so if eating like this will help make that easier I say bring it on!

- My pants are fitting better.

And that's it so far.

Today is Day 3 and here's a rundown of my eating plan:

B: spinach and mushroom egg muffins
S: vegetable soup and cottage cheese
L: chicken salad in lettuce wraps w/ chopped tomato
S: string cheese
D: chunky tomato and seafood cajun stew

But we'll see how it goes.

A Day at the Beach

2011-04-13T16:57:00.000-07:00

So after much time spent online and reading books I decided that today I would begin Phase 1 of the South Beach diet.

I went to bed last night with my email inbox full of recipes, snack ideas and tips and my lunch bag filled to the brim with "on program" food.

How am I doing? So far so good.

Breakfast was egg muffins that I had already made which happened to be "on program" (OP). Basically, just fresh vegetables, some low fat cheese, fresh eggs, herbs and seasoning poured into a muffin tin and baked.

For my morning snack, I had some low fat cottage cheese with a small bowl of fresh vegetable soup that my wonderful boyfriend brought me.

Lunch was a chicken caesar salad - no croutons of course and my post lunch snack which I'm eating right now is almonds. 15 precious, little almonds.

Oh yes, I had some green tea w/ my breakfast and water throughout the day.

I had originally thought to begin on Monday - that way I could spend the weekend shopping for groceries and cooking. However, when I went to check out my fridge and pantry, I discovered that I had the necessary foods to start today. Also, I WANTED to start today. My meals are a little simple because these are things I'm throwing together with "OP" food that I have at hand but this weekend I'm digging into my treasure trove of recipes and I'm going to be doing some cooking.

The dinner I have planned in my head for tonight: filet mignon, roasted tomatoes w/ crusted parmesan, green beans and deviled eggs (my boyfriend wanted some so I am obliging).

Dessert = Sugar free something. Probably fudgesicles because I actually love them.

As for cravings, I had a five minute episode where I had a desperate need for toasted bread with butter. Desperate. So I had my almonds and it went away nice and quiet like.

I went on a 50 minute walk during my lunch. Nothing too strenuous but it was amazing outside and work is that much easier to handle when I can get out of the building.

Tomorrow - I really, really want to get up before work and do some circuit training. But it's a fact that me and mornings just do not mix.

1 day sort of down / 13 to go

Teeth, Farmers and the Beach

2011-04-11T12:10:00.000-07:00

My tooth has stopped aching and I'm super happy about that. Now if I can just get my jaw to work again normally then all will be right with the world again.

I still can't open my mouth very much because my jaw is still very stiff and sore but it is much, much better than last weekend.

My weigh-in came and went on Thursday. I was up .2 lbs so I'm pleased with my success given my diet.

Speaking of diet. I am having a little difficulty in controlling my food intake right now. My soft carb diet last week opened up a huge door for me. I was eating more processed food and more refined sugar than I have in quite some time. Correction, I still am eating those things and I need to get control quick. Let's face it, those things are incredibly easy to eat. They are things your body will just keep craving if you keep eating them. When I first had my dental work, I was eating those things just out of convenience to avoid pain but I don't need to be eating those things anymore. Honestly, I feel crappy.

Last weekend I went to my local farmer's market for the first time ever and I loved it. I'm fortunate that where I live I have a plethora of markets to choose from and I also have a wide variety of health food grocers surrounding me. And it's about time I started taking advantage of this so I am.

This week, all of my meals are made by yours truly with produce from my local farmers and all natural, organic ingredients from my grocers. It's a good jumping off point but I'm getting ready to take it further.

I've decided to try the South Beach Diet. I bought the book about 7 years ago and I believe I got through one week of Phase 1. I remember receiving quite a few compliments on my appearance but I stopped. There were a few reasons why and one of them was money. 7 years ago I was not in the best place financially and lets be honest, eating fresh produce and good quality protein takes some money.

Fast forward 7 years and after a lot of hard work I finally am in a place where my food budget has a lot more wiggle room. Also, I've reached a place in my life where I'm concerned with the quality of my food and how it affects my overall health. Unfortunately, pesticides, hormones, and chemicals are rampant in most foods these days and I've decided I'm going to try to avoid them to the best of my ability. I'm at an age where I've started to consider my health. I want to have a long, healthy life and opting to buy better, albeit more expensive, food is just an investment in my healthy future.

Also, in full disclosure, my body just can't handle the junk anymore. I can immediately tell the difference as soon as I consume these things. My energy takes a dip and all I want to do is nap. And lets not forget the scale. My body just loves to hold on to every bit of sugar and fat that is ingested.

Seriously, when I eat those things it's like I'm providing my body with the ammo to defeat me in the "battle of the bulge".

I've always been one to avoid diets like South Beach and Atkins - I don't like eating plans that tell me I can't have something. But the more I looked at South Beach the more plausible it seemed. The first 2 weeks (Phase 1) are without breads, pasta, potatoes etc. and fruit. I'm not too keen on the no fruit option but it's only for 2 weeks. This phase is meant to help get rid of/control sugar cravings and then you gradually start adding your fruits and whole grains back in. I would start right at Phase 2 but I have a mean sugar craving right now and it needs to be stopped. Seriously, you'd think Reese cups were my best friends.

So, this week, I'm enjoying my freshly prepared foods and coming up with new ideas for my South Beach diet. I haven't pin pointed the start day. I just came to a solid conclusion today that I'm doing this so I'm going to do some planning over the next 3 days or so and then start with a solid blueprint in place. In all honesty, I desperately just want to start right this minute but I'm a planner. And my best effort is always given when I have a well laid plan in place.

The Giant Hole

2011-04-06T10:22:00.000-07:00

Friday, April 1st I had my lower left Wisdom Tooth removed.

No, I was not asleep, I was heavily, heavily numbed and I sat there as my dentist, whom I love, had a heck of a time getting it out. I thought my jaw was going to break. No lie. That sucker did NOT want to come out.

I have known for a month now that I was getting this done and yet somehow I had convinced myself that it would be no big deal. Well, I guess I should have planned better. I was and still am in quite a bit of pain. I still can't open my jaw and chewing is a huge problem. Thankfully, I'm 5 days in and it's getting minutely better each day.

The big obstacle for me this past week has been food. I've managed to eat soup, mashed potatoes, pasta and scrambled eggs and now I am DESPERATE for some other varieties of food. I've tried fruits and cooked vegetables and soft breads but those still required me to open my mouth way too much. The problem has been my calories. Usually I eat a variety of fruits, vegetables, meats and whole grains. Yes, your standard healthy diet. And because these are all very filling I am able to keep my calorie count in check. Well, since I've been on a mainly soft carb diet, I find that these foods don't keep me satisfied long and thus my calorie count has been kind of out of whack.

Ah, the perils of healthy teeth.

I have, however, managed to keep my exercise in check. I haven't done anything too vigorous. I found the harder I worked out the harder the pain in my head pounded. So, mainly walks and ballet strength training for me.

Now I sit and wait for this giant hole in my mouth to fill, for my jaw to start working again, and for the ability to chew food on BOTH sides of my mouth.

It's funny. Pure bliss for me right now would to be able to take a huge giant bite of a sandwich, or hamburger or anything that A) had some sort of meat B) had crisp, fresh vegetables on it and C) required me to open my mouth more than half an inch.

You know, it's the simple things.

Clarity

2011-03-31T09:54:00.001-07:00

It's been a whole week since I last posted. It's funny how when you have a weekly goal how slowly those weeks go by. I swear I wrote that last post a month ago. I mean, it was just a week ago that I was having that horrendous day and it feels like a lifetime ago.

Thank goodness it didn't last.

I had an interesting week. I think it was more a "tongue-in-cheek" kind of week. I was aware of my goals but kind of let them hang out towards the back of my mind. Granted, I didn't do anything that was reckless or throw caution to the wind. But I made mindful choices weighing my consequences and all in all - it was a good week.

My goals were:

Eat:1450 calories / day - with as much clean food as possible
Exercise: 6 workouts
Rest: 1 - 2 full days

How I did:

Ate: 1688 / day - average -- some clean / some not so clean
Exercise: 6 workouts
Rest: 2 full days

I know last WI was a little dramatic and I was still coming off of some sort of horrendous attitude and my weight showed a gain of 1.2 pounds. Well this week, I lost those 1.2 pounds and that's it. I looked at my last two weeks and I worked out the numbers and it was a perfect maintenance week and I'm pleased with that.

So for the month of March I have lost 1.4 pounds. While I'm pleased with that I am certain I can push it further. For instance, I was going over my calorie intake for the last 2 months. When comparing Feburary to March, I ate about 5,000 less calories and burned twice as many calories in the month of March. And there is still some wiggle room so I'm hoping the month of April will be even better! So hopefully that 1.4 pounds can be ... dare I say doubled?

I'm pretty confident I know what I'm doing now :) I know that it's not an exact science but it's close enough that I'm aware of what I can and can't do.

I have to walk that fine line -

For me - I need to keep it under 1450/day to lose weight. Mind you, if I just did that I would be losing at minimal, minimal, minimal losses per week - I mean to lose a pound a week you have to cut 500 calories PER DAY and eating 950 calories a day is just a little too crazy. So, for me, exercise is a MUST. However, I have to be careful and find that balance. When I exercise too much, I get too hungry. And when I'm hungry, I eat more. See what I mean? I have to find a way to exercise as much as I can without disturbing my calorie intake.

That's why I keep my calories around 1400. My goal is to slowly, slowly lower my weekly goal by 50 calories every month or two but for right now, I need those calories to fuel my workouts. I'm the kind of person who likes to go all out in a workout. I find those kinds of workouts so refreshing. Great stress relievers. And also, my hope is that the more I workout, the more muscle I'll build so maybe my metabolism will get to a point where I will have some more wiggle room with cutting calories.

Yeah, it's all about the wiggle room

For this week:

Eat: 1400 calories / day - with as much clean food as possible
Exercise: 6 workouts
Rest: 1 - 2 full days

The Clouds Have Moved In

2011-03-24T11:04:00.000-07:00

Literally and metaphorically.

I've been having a bad couple of days. Well, yesterday and today to be exact. I was on cloud nine rolling into Tuesday. I apparently even wrote my best friend an all inspiring email.

And then Wednesday happened. I lost my mojo. It was a culmination of lots of things: stepping on the scale, overcast and dreary weather, and most likely hormonal issues.

I lost it. I got angry and irritated and just fed up with the process. I felt tired and defeated. I mean, I had a GREAT run of nothing but positive and healthy thoughts and I know there will be bumps along this great journey. Yesterday was just a bad one.

So I took the day off. Completely off. I was so overwhelmed by everything - the planning and evaluating and it was stressing me out. Big time. So I took the day off. I did not work out and it felt good. No guilt, no stress at all and that means I needed it. I also took the night off from menu planning for dinner and had unscheduled/scheduled Thai food. What that means is that I planned to have Thai food from our favorite Thai place for dinner but I did not plan the calories and even THAT felt good. It just felt good to go with the flow.

I had to let go of the stress and just be.

And today, I feel better. Not perfect but so much more in control of things.

Yesterday was Wednesday so that marked the last day of my "week". So lets take at look at how I did with my goals.

They were:

Eat: on average 1400/day
Workout: 6 workouts
Rest: if my body needs it and don't feel bad or guilty

Eating: I averaged 1450 for the 6 days I ate "on program" and when I add in my estimates for last night it's more like 1640/day
Workout: I got in 5 workouts
Rest: I took off yesterday and I do NOT regret it :)

The scale is up 1.2 lbs but I am not even counting this. In fact, I'm going to write "opt out" on my side column tracking because of my dinner last night.

I'm not sure when I'm going to start tracking again. Part of the reason I had such a bad day yesterday was because I stepped on the scale to get a sneak peak. And it in no way reflected how I was feeling or how hard I was working. And I think I let all those bad things get into my head.

Once again, I let some small device dictate how I was feeling about my progress and effort. It honestly was, well I don't want to say devastating but the feeling was something horrible.

In any case, today marks the start of a brand new week. I'm tweaking my goals for this brand new week.

After I stepped on the scale, wallowed in my misery and had some time to think things over while enjoying some delicious curry, I had a thought. I was doing great up until my premature weigh in. The calories were on point, the working out was on point and I felt positive about those things which is why I took it so hard when I saw the number. However, looking back, my food was not the greatest in QUALITY. I was eating the correct quantity but I ate a few more processed foods than I would have liked.

And when I do that it not only affects my numbers but my mood, energy levels, and progress.

So with that in mind, I give you my goals for this week:

Eat:1450 calories / day - with as much clean food as possible
Exercise: 6 workouts
Rest: 1 - 2 full days

The Bar Method

2011-03-22T10:47:00.000-07:00

This morning I got up to my workout before work. On Tuesday and Wednesday (and sometimes Thursday) mornings, I get up early and do one of Jillian Michaels circuit training sessions from her website.

These CT sessions are pretty intense as I like to put in an all out effort. This morning though, I could feel it as I was waking myself up. If I had to do one of those things I wasn't going to make it.

Then I remembered that a week or so ago I had ordered a DVD at the recommendation of a friend. It was The Bar Method: Change Your Body dvd.

I had seen a clip of it online and all I knew is that it was a ballet based workout. So lots of isometric moves, small tiny moves. You know, those little moves that just BURN.

I scrambled to find it because I remembered reading that it was close to an hour long and the clock was ticking. I had to enlist the help of my boyfriend and he finally found it still in its packaging.

So, I popped it in and got to work.

WOW. Burn was right. I only got through 50 minutes because I couldn't find it right away but those were a good 50 minutes. I wore my heart rate monitor to see what kind of workout I got and I was surprised. I would be standing doing the tiniest, tiniest movement and the burn would be so intense I'd watch my heart rate rise - nothing too extreme but I was practically standing still mind you.

I really enjoyed it. I didn't get a great cardio in but I definitely felt like I did some sculpting. In fact, at times I just wanted to quit because the old legs were burning.

So I ordered another one :)

I'm going to try to add these workouts in at least twice a week. From what I've read online in reviews, 4 times a week is ideal but I will be honest, I get bored easily with DVD workouts cause it's just the same thing over and over again. But as a motivator to get 4 in, a couple of people on the collage video website wrote in their reviews that by doing this workout they were able to drop inches, even a pant size in about 2 months.

I don't know about you but I could definitely go for that.

Finally!

2011-03-18T11:25:00.000-07:00

I would have posted this yesterday but it was just one of those days where everything else got in the way.

I weighed in and I am down 1.6 lbs. Needless to say I was very pleased with myself. In addition to seeing some movement on the scale, I also accomplished most of my goals for the week.

So my goals were:

Calorie goal: 1400/day
Exercise goal: 6 workouts
Water goal: minimum of 6.5 glasses

I ate on average 1409 calories per day - not too shabby. I exercised 6 of the 7 days and I actually did a couple of double workout days! I did NOT make my 6.5 glasses of water per day. I tried but I am still up on average where water intake is concerned so that's good. If I keep trying to add more I feel that my average daily intake will keep increasing.

One other thing I figured out was my "cheat day". I'm not sure if that's the correct term for it but the week before I went "off program" for a meal and didn't like how it turned how so I was toying with ways to make me feel more comfortable doing it and I think I figured it out. I cycled my calories for last week. That's why I said I ate on average 1409 calories per day. I cycled my calories every day so that on Saturday I had 1800 to "spend" so I could enjoy some higher calorie food.

For example on Thursday I ate 1400, Friday 1250, Saturday 1800, Sunday 1250 .. you get the picture. So at the end of the week it all averaged out to just over 1400 calories. It actually wasn't hard - it required SOME restraint but nothing too difficult.

This week I plan on doing the same thing. I will cycle my calories to equal 1400 on average, I will get in 6 workouts, and lastly, I will stretch my calves every single day.

I said 6 workouts instead of 6 days - generally when I say 6 I mean that I want to workout 6 out of 7 days. yesterday was my first day and I took it off. I had to. I was utterly exhausted. I think maybe I pushed it a little too much last week. I worked out 6 days but in total I did 8 workouts. Yeah, double workouts on 2 days. The old body isn't as young as she used to be and she started aching a little. Also, the coughs, sneezes and runny noses are hitting my office again. And once again, everyone is still coming in when they should take at least one day for themselves.

I know this is off the subject but it really annoys me when my coworkers feel bad and then come into work. Hand me papers, share my phone, do all sorts of things to share germs with me and then tell me later on that "yeah, I've really been feeling like I'm getting sick. Sore throat and fever and all that". I don't know why it shouldn't just be standard operating procedure to stay home and rest for a whole day when you start feeling sick. I don't generally get sick, but there is nothing I can do when my office is just infested with germs. Oh, and one more thing. It should be a rule that you can't bring sick children to work with you.

End rant.

Anyway, I had it bad, bad, bad just ONE MONTH ago and I will NOT go through that again. So, I need to listen to my body and when she's tired, I'm going to make sure she gets sleep.

So with all of that in mind, my third goal for the week is going to be a little different. My 3rd goal is to not let my obsession with getting this weight off stop me from listening to my body. If I'm tired (not lazy - i'm talking about that achy, tired feeling), I need to take a rest. It is better to take a day off than to over train or weaken myself so I get sick and be out of the game for a week or even longer. And yes, I know this goal is in complete contradiction to my second goal - or something like that :)

Goals for this week:

Eat: on average 1400/day
Workout: 6 workouts
Rest: if my body needs it and don't feel bad or guilty

30 days to properly stretched calves

2011-03-15T11:16:00.000-07:00

My feet have been causing me all sorts of trouble over the last couple of years. I've fallen and stubbed toes and overtrained -- just all sorts of stuff that have caused me pain.

2 years ago I really, really got into running. In hindsight, I probably was increasing my weekly mileage too quickly but I have problems with restraint when it comes to running. Anyway, one day after one of my long runs I noticed that my right foot, heel and calf were acting funny. Everything was tight and sore. The pain went away after some rest but would reappear periodically in the form of just throbbing heel pain. Nothing too major but definitely annoying.

A couple of months later in that same year I fell and did some damage to my right ankle. I went to the doctor and he did an x-ray - I had just sprained it pretty bad. But, the x-ray also showed I had a bone spur on that foot. He also threw out a word: plantar fasciitis. He told me not to worry about the bone spur yet and to go do my physical therapy and get myself better. I did do my physical therapy but I'll be honest - I probably did like 20% of the at home work and then had to suddenly stop due to the combative HR person at my place at work. You see, this was a work injury so they were footing the bill. In hindsight, I should have stood my ground and finished my PT (they told me I definitely needed more) but I let some HR guy who is absolutely the most difficult person in the world get the best of me and instead of dealing with his attitude I quit going. Anyway, when I met with my physical therapist I mentioned to her that the doctor had said in addition to the sprain I had something called plantar fasciitis. She explained it to me and I realized that that was the cause of the pain that I had started experiencing.

Cut to:

1 year ago, I hurt my toe on my right foot. This one happened at home. After confirming with 2 different orthopedists that I just had a long road of healing in front of me, they also told me that I had plantar fasciitis. They also told me some physical therapy would help me out tremendously. This time I didn't do physical therapy due to some insurance and money retraints.

If you don't know, plantar fasciitis is irritation and swelling on the bottom of the foot and manifests as lots of heel pain. My bone spur is most likely the culprit of mine. Also, my Physical Therapist told me I have really tight calves which also contributes to it.

So what's the point of all this? I've been recently back into the working out game full force. And due to all of this, my foot has flared up again. And from what I've read on the condition, I should count my blessings that I don't have it as bad as some people - apparently it causes immobility from the pain. So I need to get a handle on this now. From the knowledge that I gained at my physical therapy and information online I need to incorporate a stretching program to see if I can get a handle on this pain. I really don't want it to become an "issue" because to be honest, I'm sick of being sidelined due to injury.

So I am going to do a stretching program for 30 days to see how much of an improvement I can get.

It's 2 stretches for my calves - each to be held for 40 seconds 5 xs / 3 xs a day.

That's a lot of calf stretching and I will have to find a place to do it at work but I will be a fool if I don't at least try.

30 days to flexible calves!
March 15 - April 13

The Body is a Mysterious Thing

2011-03-11T09:14:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was Thursday and those are my official weigh in days - I reported that I had gained .6 lbs since the previous WI. Well, since March 11th was officially the last day of my 30 day lose 4 pound challenge I weighed myself this morning to be fair.

Ok, to be fair and in hopes that it would say something else ;)

It did. I am down a total .6 lbs for my 30 days. Not exactly what I wanted but there were some hurdles and obstacles along the way. But a loss is a loss!

So I'm going to do it again!

Here's to 30 days and 4 pounds gone. I swear I will continue this until I hit that mark :)

Sometimes I wish the mainstay of measurement for weight loss wasn't the scale. I mean in my case, the difference of one day made a huge difference to me and my motivation. And I didn't do anything different between the 2 days. I ate the same amount of calories, I exercised at the same time of day, I drank the same amount of water and I went to bed at the same time. But I'm aware that sometimes none of those things matter.

I also know there are a host of other ways to measure progress but none of the accessible ones are that reliable.

The scale: you have to take into account so many factors of what's causing your weight to fluctuate. I mean, if we all know our body weight differs by a couple of pounds in a single day then how do we put such a significance on what we way on a certain day. Lets not forget that us females also have hormonal fluctuations to worry about.

Fat Calipers: two words - human error. Like the scale they will give you an idea of what's going on but you need someone who is trained to precisely measure you. It's not something you can do at home.

Body fat scales: Same as everything else - they give you a good idea but they can't give you an honest score. These scales use formulas to just estimate/predict what your bodyfat percentage would be. Great for showing you progress but again, not accurate.

Tape Measure: Probably the best one. It won't be dead on accurate because you're measuring yourself and even a slight miscalculation on where you placed the tape or how tight you pulled it the last time could make a big difference on your final reading.

The scale is just the easiest to use. You step on, wait 2 seconds and VOILA! Your number in bold print before your eyes.

There are medical tests you can do but who wants to spend the money on them?

I guess it should just come down to how you feel and are your clothes getting smaller? Because if they are something is working. And it also comes down to making sure your day doesn't revolve around tests that do have a certain degree of error.

Things for me to remember come next Thursday.

Is it Thursday already?

2011-03-10T13:02:00.000-08:00

A week has passed and I will admit confidently that I am absolutely pleased with what I've done.

Six out of the last 7 days were excellent for me. I pretty much ate within the range that I have set for myself and I also exercised 6 out of the last 7 days. That seventh day was last Sunday and I had chosen that day to go out to dinner with my boyfriend and have an "off program" meal. It didn't go exactly as I had planned but it did, however, give me insight into how I will treat said meal in the future. We went to a chain restaurant and I should have done a little looking at the menu beforehand. It's just what I'll do next time so lesson learned. Even with that one day I feel both emotionally and physically good about it. I just feel good and I love that.

Now with all of that being said, I did have weigh-in today and I'm up .6 lbs.

Six rocks back in my jar :(

Why did I gain? No idea. However, it wasn't as heartbreaking as I thought it would be. I think it is because I feel so good. Also, I was sort of prepared. Wednesday morning I got up early to do my workout before work and I took a sneak peak on the scale and that's what it told me. I think I was more shocked on Wednesday. I knew I felt good and I assumed the scale would mirror how I was feeling. So, I took out the old tape measure and started measuring. I can't believe I haven't done this yet because I am super aware of the fact that my body does not like to give up pounds. It will, however, give up inches. So, I measured. And I will continue to keep fighting the good fight to see what happens to those inches. If the inches start coming down then I'm not gonna worry about the scale so much because obviously I'm doing something right. If the scale and measurements both stall, then it's back to the drawing board!

Also tomorrow marks the end of my most recent 30 days. The goal was 4 pounds and as of right now I am up .6 lbs - I will give the official number tomorrow.

I will be tweaking a few things for this upcoming week ( my "week" runs Thursday to Wednesday ).

This coming week:

Calorie goal: 1400/day
Exercise goal: 6 workouts
Water goal: minimum of 6.5 glasses (I know this seems small but for me is HUGE)

And that's it.

My Jar of Rocks

2011-02-28T15:46:00.000-08:00

I love having visual reminders of things. I just like having something tangible that I can see - probably the reason for all of my notebooks and why I do so well keeping up with my food journal.

I've been thinking about ways I could make my weight loss tangible so that I can not only see my progress but have a reminder out and about in my apartment to always be mindful.

So I came up with this:

It's just a gallon size mason jar that I bought at a craft store filled with decorative rocks. There were many different styles and options to choose from for the glass jar so I just picked what would look good in my apartment. Same goes for the rocks. The craft store had tons of different rocks and beads - all with different colors and sizes and levels of sparkle.

I want to lose 40 pounds so I filled the jar with 400 rocks. Each rock represents .1 lb so every Thursday when I weigh myself, I will take out the appropriate number of rocks from the jar until the jar is empty!

I've also been toying with the idea of doing the opposite- you know, filling an empty jar with the pounds I lose. We'll see.

The jar sits on the breakfast bar that separates my kitchen from the living area - I chose colors that match my decor so to the naked eye, it's just a nice decorative piece. But when I go into the kitchen to cook something, it's sitting right smack dab in front of me. A nice little reminder that what I do in the kitchen will affect how many wonderful rocks I get to take out at WI - because I do NOT want to add anymore to it.

And speaking of WI - it was today. I lost .8 lbs so that means:

I got to take 8 out!

The Contract

2011-02-24T12:27:00.000-08:00

My best friend and I are both in the market to lose some weight this year. We've both been on the getting healthy journey for years now and we both had some major setbacks in 2010. I had my out of commission injury and the stresses that come with that and she discovered she has aversions to foods and has had to COMPLETELY overhaul her diet. On top of that we both had some very emotional, stressful situations with our respective families as well as jobs. 2010 definitely was not a banner year. Also, I personally feel as if I've not been "in the game" since June of 2010 (that's when my injury occurred). I'm trying to find my way back and making progress but I'm not there yet.

So after a lengthy discussion on IM (as we live literally on opposite sides of the country) we decided enough was enough. 2011 was going to be the year we finished. Because you know what, we're tired! We're tired of thinking about it, wishing for it and TALKING about it. We just want to get there and start the next phase of our lives.

Which brings me to: the contract. I don't know how it started but all I know is that after our IM discussion I wrote a contract. It's pretty severe too. There are penalties and promises and dates and exact number amounts. It's a 2 parter actually. The first part of the contract ends July 1, 2011 and the second half takes us to November. Anyway, the first half of the contract indicates how much we want to lose by July 1 and what happens if we don't. Long story short, money will exchange hands, egos will be deflated :)

We signed this contract February 11, 2011 which was exactly 20 weeks from July 1, 2011. My goal is 20 pounds. Hard? Yes. Doable? Absolutely. The thing is 2 days after I commit and sign this thing, I got my sickness. The same sickness that is still around some 2 weeks later.

I'll be honest, I'm a little discouraged and anxious at the "waste of time" but there's nothing I can do. I can't get that time back. I can only move forward. I mean, in all honesty, it's going to happen again. Whether it's another cold, or headache, or bruised appendage, something will happen in my life to throw me off course. To make me miss a workout or forget to pack a lunch or not be prepared. Part of the journey is learning how to deal with the twists and turns. Learning how to adapt. Because if I stop at every single hurdle that comes at me during the next 18 weeks, then I WILL fail.

And failure is not an option. I'm on a very specific saving plan this year and having to hand over money will throw me off course :)

Also, I hate failing - to a fault.

Also, don't forget I'm still in the midst of my most recent 30 day goal. I wanted to lose 4 pounds which, consequently, would put me right on track for my July 1st deadline. However, things didn't go according to plan. Not gonna stress, it is what it is. I'm up .8 pounds. I have 16 days left for my 30 days to lose 4 pounds (well, 4.8 pounds) and I'm going to do everything I can to move closer to that goal.

Yes, I got sick but it doesn't mean I can't get right back into eating at my calorie goal and exercising.

So today's goal is to eat 1200 - 1300 calories and take a walk on my lunch break.

And I'm going to go take care of that walk right now.

Fever!

2011-02-17T15:15:00.000-08:00

*** I wrote this days ago while having a fever apparently because I don't remember much of this :)

Sickness has struck. It was running rampant through my office and I held out as long as possible. I actually think I'm the last person to get it.

Needless to say, it's been a rough, rough week. Before it started to hit, I was a workout machine! Ok, so I was working out with purpose, eating well and even my steps were good. I'll get back to that but I'm aware that my body is going to take some time to heal.

In the meantime, if I can't workout like I want, I'm going to have to be extremely conscious of what I'm eating. The first two days of the sickness didn't produce such great results. I was miserable, laid out on the couch, hurting all over and easy food was well within my reach. I just couldn't bring myself to cook all the healthy food I had bought for the week. Also, my sweetheart bought me the most wonderful valentine sweets :) Have no fear though, I have since rejoined the bandwagon.

***** Yeah, I apparently wrote all of that while still pretty sick because I had no idea it was in here waiting to be published. It's all true though.

I'm still out of the workout loop because I'm just plain tired and I have chest congestion which is causing me to hesitate on my heavy cardio routine. I'm going to definitely try tomorrow as it's Friday and I feel safe trying it out as I can sleep in on Saturday and not worry about a bad night's sleep.

On top of the horrible sickness that is in its 12th day (however, diminishing nicely) I have been having problems with one of my wisdom teeth. I never got them out and one of them decided to cut its way on through this past week. I have to be honest, I have never experienced pain like this in my life. I was horrified at how much it hurt and STILL hurts. It started LAST Tuesday and while it is relinquishing its hold on me it is a slow, slow process. What once was a stabbing murderous pain has softly turned into a burning, ripping pain. I don't care who you are neither one of those are fun. If this is what happens to babies when they teethe I say scream away. Scream til the world can't take it anymore. It's horrendous.

And yes, I'm going to the dentist. I made the appointment the day after the pain started and I still have another week to go. Don't you just love insurance and their rules!?! So convenient and helpful to the masses.

I can't wait til the day when all pain is gone. No coughing, no sneezing, no stuffy nose, no PAIN IN MY MOUTH. Oh sweet day, please hurry.

Step by Step

2011-02-10T09:59:00.000-08:00

So I've been toying with the idea of getting a Bodybugg. A girl in my office has one and tells me I should get it. I, of course, took to the internet to read as many reviews as I could about it. My main concern was that it calculates your RMR based on what's normal for your weight and height and I know that my RMR is not normal.

I found examples of people who, like me, had a lower than normal RMR and they said you just had to mentally be aware of it and make the necessary changes because you can't actually set your own personal number even if you have had it tested. I don't know. I figure if I spend a couple hundred bucks on something I want it to be able to just do what it's supposed to without any fiddling from me. Also, I don't know how I feel about wearing something on my arm all the time. On one hand, it would be a constant reminder to make good choices. On the other hand, it would be a constant reminder and would probably create a monster. I would probably obsess over the numbers and the logging. Not that that's a bad thing but sometimes I already think I think too much about everything.

Along with the Bodybugg there are many other products out there that do sort of the same thing (GoWear, Exerspy, FitBit, etc.). Again, I'm hesitant because everything is mathematically set for individuals who fall within that normal metabolic range. If I was +/- 5% I think I'd go for it but at -18% it's just too big of a stretch for me to toy with.

So after long consideration I chose to go the old fashioned route. I've kept a food diary for years. I have little notebooks strewn about that have several years worth of my calorie intake, my exercise/calories burned and my weigh in numbers. I'm meticulous like that. Sometimes I go back through them just to get ideas of foods to make. When I feel like I've cooked everything in existence, I go back and usually find a recipe or two that I've forgotten about. It's nice actually.

Last week I took out some of my notebooks. I think I took about a year and half worth and I made an excel spreadsheet with all the data. I added, I subtracted, I averaged and I saw patterns. At one long stretch in the data, I was in heavy exercise mode. I was in the midst of training for a big road race so I was running tons and cross training even more. I would do two workouts a day at times. And I noticed that even though I was burning more calories than ever, I was losing only about a .5 pound a MONTH. The one piece of information that was missing was that I had yet to get my RMR tested. So when I ran the data, I realized that even though I was eating within a calorie range that was completely appropriate by normal standards, it was way too much for me.

Month after month, I ran the numbers and they all told me the same thing. I finally found my number. I found that 1450-1500 calories is what I can eat to maintain my weight. I have no idea why I never thought to do this before. So, now that I had the number, I had to find a way to create a deficit. Well, there are 2 options: eat less and exercise more. In the end, I opted to eat in the 1200-1300 range and exercise enough to burn 500 calories a day. If my math is correct, I should ideally lose between 1 - 1.5 pounds a week. Well, I SHOULD lose that but we all know that the body has a mind of it's own.

So now it's a matter of being honest about calorie intake (measure, measure, measure).

**Oh and fun fact, don't trust nutrition labels. It's horrible I know. But if you buy one of those digital food scales and measure a food item (do it on grams) and compare it to the nutrition label on the packaging, it's different. For instance, a label may say a serving of one slice of bread equals 90 calories. Well, at the top it tells you that a serving is 46 grams. If you actually weigh that slice of bread, chances are it's not going to say 46 grams. I've done it and one slice weighed more by a couple of grams. So, when you think that you're eating 90 calories, you could really be eating 98 calories. I know 8 calories isn't much but if you add up all your food intake for a month, it could potentially throw you off.

End rant.

And counting my calories burned. For my exercise calories I've always used a Heart Rate Monitor when I exercise so I use that information for calories burned.

Also, I recently went out and bought the most fantastic thing ever. I bought a pedometer. I had no idea how much I would love this little thing that cost me $10. I wear it all the time. Even after I get home and change into my PJs, I clip it back on. It's a game now. I want to get in as many steps as possible. I used to think that I moved around a lot at work. I actually don't. I realize that I like to use my assistant to do most of my walking for me. Now, I do it myself because it adds up. I aim for 10,000 steps/day which is actually pretty hard to reach. In any case, I love my pedometer. I'm already on my second one. The first I lost at the gym. It was very frustrating. I had just finished a really, really good run/walk and I had made a point not to look at it so I would be surprised by my progress. But by the time I got to the locker room and reached to take it off - POOF - it was gone. I went back and scanned the area but to no avail. It's ok because by the end of the night I had pedometer #2 in my hot little hands. Hey, it was $10 I wasn't that crushed. In fact, I like my second pedometer much better because it's smaller.

So yeah, instead of the fancy device, I'm going to try it old school and see what happens. I'm going to give it a couple of months on my plan and then run some numbers again and see what happens.

In the meantime, I'm only at 645 steps for the day so I better get crackin'.

30 days to what?

2011-02-09T14:10:00.001-08:00

I had so many intentions when I started this blog. I wanted to change so many things in 30 days. My finances, my weight, my eating habits, my exercise habits, my relationships, procrastination skills, social activities - the list goes on and on.

However, when I think about it there is only one thing that I really want to work on this year. Ok, that's not entirely true. When I obsess, I obsess mainly about 2 things.

My health and my finances.

It's true. One of my favorite pastimes is scouring the internet for information on money, savings, retirement, investing, and debt reduction. The other is looking for information about health and fitness. I can say with confidence that it can and does take up most of my free time. I absolutely love it.

So that being said, I'm not going to concern myself with the millions of other topics that I WILL eventually one day get to. Because right now, I want to focus on these two topics that I LOVE. In 2011, I'm going to spend all my 30 days worth on my health and my finances.

I want to lose 40 pounds this year. That's a big number and it will require hard work. Hard, hard work but I want to do it. So, any challenges I do for my health will probably center around getting me to that finish line.

As for my finances, I have two very specific goals in mind. First, I am in the process of building my emergency savings. For me that's 3-6 months worth of living expenses. As of right now, I'm at the 3 month mark but by the end of the year, I want to be at the 6 month mark. Second, I want to make a dent in my student loans.

You see, student loans have been looming over me for some 10 years now. It's truly my last great obstacle. I chose to go to school not once but TWICE. And after the second go 'round, I moved to Los Angeles where it took months and months of hard work to land my first job in entertainment. And after that, it took years and years and years of hard work to work my way up. And in the meantime, I accrued a lot of credit card debt and a lot of capitalized interest on my student loans. In February of 2010, I made my last payment to the credit card companies and now all that is left between me and a sweet debt-free lifestyle are 4 monstrous student loans. So this year, I want to rework my budget to start chipping away at it. I've got a plan in place but I've got to be set for the long haul. TEN YEARS long haul. If I can just get year one (2011) out of the way then we're getting somewhere.

I guess all that's left is to say what I'm going to do w/ my first 30 days of 2011.

Ok, in the next 30 days I am aiming to:

Health: lose 4 pounds. Very general, very broad, I know but it's what I want to do.

Finances: make ONE extra payment towards a student loan - I know this doesn't sound difficult but trust me, it's going to sting. A lot.

End Date:
March 11

The Results Are In!

2010-12-01T11:42:00.000-08:00

We found the scale! HOORAY :) I weighed myself yesterday morning and I actually am up 2.2 pounds. It's all good - I'm ok with my results as its so close to the end of Thanksgiving. See, I think most of it is just water and bloat from the salty holiday food because as of this morning it's almost all gone. So, in the past 30 days I think I wavered around +/- 1 pound.

In full disclosure, I didn't really commit to anything except not weighing myself in the past 30 days. I started out with good intentions, but I got caught up in the whirlwind of getting ready for a holiday, getting ready to go back home for Christmas (I actually leave next week - I do Christmas early so my flights are cheaper!), life and other stuff. However, after my boyfriend found the scale, he decided to weigh himself and he was NOT happy with what he saw. SO, I asked him if he wanted to have a little 30 day challenge with me and he agreed.

Ergo, we are having a Biggest Loser challenge that starts today and ends December 31st. I know that's 31 days but it just fits so well being the last day of 2010 and all. We're going to be doing it based on % of body weight to try to even the playing field - that's where the Biggest Loser part comes in. Now is the tough part, I'm up against one person (unless anyone else out there wants to join in!) who is first and foremost a male, and we all know they have a slight advantage on us, and secondly, it's a known fact in our household that he has a pretty good if not great metabolism, so I have my work cut out for me. This is good though, I love challenges and I love winning even more so it's good motivation.

We even have stakes. Whoever wins get a "Date Night" of their choice and the loser has to foot the bill the whole night.

I'm going to have to work super hard to win but I need to be working hard anyways. Also, I have a few tricks up my sleeve. Maybe some well timed baked goods in his honor will help my chances. He's a sucker for brownies and I just happen to be very good at making them. It's not cheating - just think of it as a "temptation" - it's totally up to him whether or not he wants to participate :)

Biggest Loser December Challenge:

Day 1

% lost: 0

Weigh In ..

2010-11-29T10:43:00.000-08:00

or lack thereof.

I know I haven't commented on my WI yet. That's cause I'm still waiting on weighing myself. My wonderful boyfriend is having a hard time remembering where he put the scale!

I don't really mind as it's just after Thanksgiving and who really wants to weigh themselves after the biggest eating holiday of the year?

I know he hasn't really given it that all out effort as we were busy over the weekend so I'm sure he'll find it. I'm going to remind him again after work to give it a go.

To be honest, I'm sort of dreading it.

Gobble Gobble Gobble

2010-11-25T12:27:00.000-08:00

Turkey trot completed! I went to bed last night a little pessimistic. I was tired and just DID NOT FEEL LIKE RUNNING. But I sprung out of bed this morning nervous and excited for my 5k. It was freezing outside. Well, freezing by Southern California standards. A cool, breezy 40 degrees.

I ran this particular race by myself but I had a lovely cheering section. My boyfriend and my pup stood on the sidelines clapping for me. It was a nice run. There were hills which I really did not expect. Very long, gradual hills that go on for what seem like miles. I did better than I expected overall. I only walked for about twenty seconds when I hit the 2 mile marker. I don't even really know why I stopped I just did and then before I knew it I was running again. Oh yeah, and I did walk one more time at the peak of a hill for a bit to catch my breath before the long, long stretch to the finish line. I don't know my official time as we were chipped and it took me some time to cross the timing mat but I'm thinking between 36-37 minutes. It's slower than my usual pace but I'm very pleased all things considered. My foot held up too! It started aching halfway through, but honestly, other things started hurting worse so I just ignored it :)

I am VERY happy that I signed up and even more ecstatic that I finished. I was a bit disappointed that I knew I was going to have to walk because I knew I wasn't back up to my 5k standards - also I'm very competitive that way but none of it mattered as soon as I was out there. This was also the first race I've done completely solo so it was nice to know that I can do it on my own. Actually, I made a running buddy at the last third of the race. This woman had been right in front of me the whole time and then we hit the final stretch and she started walking. So, I sidled up next to her as I was passing her and told her to "come on!" - we ran the last stretch together and right when we hit the final portion I encouraged her to go faster and sprint. She met her family at the finish line and I told her good race and she was very thankful for the encouragement. I always appreciate when people tell me I can do it so when I'm out there that's what I try to do for others who look like they're struggling. Cause lets face it, running is rough!

Now, I sit on my couch, turkey in the oven and I'm starving. I put up a good fight this morning and now I can't wait for my special dinner.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

PS: So, today was the end of my 30 day no scale challenge. I forgot to get my boyfriend to unhide the scale before we left for the race so since I want to weigh myself in the morning as usual, I guess it's going to be my 31 day challenge :) Update tomorrow!

Holiday Road

2010-11-22T17:11:00.000-08:00

That time of year is upon us again. I can't believe it's going to be Thanksgiving in THREE days! Amazing how time flies. This weekend I did the grocery shopping and got everything for my Turkey Day Feast. I'm only planning on cooking for two which makes for an incredibly easy shopping venture. I had decided awhile back that I was not going to try to do anything different for the holiday eating wise. I was going to prepare the usual suspects and enjoy them along with everyone else on Thursday. However, I do have a plan for everything else. I'm going to "frame" Thanksgiving Day healthfully. I wish I could take credit for this one but I got it from the Biggest Loser. What it means is that on the days leading up to the big day I'm going to make sure that I get my exercise in, get my good sleep in and get my fruits and veggies in. And ON Thanksgiving, I'm going to get in my workout (hello 5K) and then once it's time to eat, I'm going to sit back, relax and enjoy the time with my loved ones. Then once Friday hits, it's back to the grind. See? I'm "framing" the holiday.

I was very intrigued by this idea. I have a tendency to feel like if I take a day off I might as well take the weekend off. Not a good mentality. And I especially don't want to do that for Thanksgiving because I have a 4 day weekend. I could do some damage on a 4 day weekend :)

3 days to Thanksgiving also means 3 days to my 5k. I registered over the weekend so that I don't have to be there at 6am. I'm excited. I know I said I wasn't going to run but something snapped last Wednesday. I just got sick of my foot hurting and interfering with my running. It's not a severe, I have to go to the doctor right now pain. It's a: this doesn't hurt enough to do anything other than annoy me pain. It's been extremely frustrating and I got fed up. Also, it hit me that no matter what, walk or run, I signed up so I was finishing the race. And I knew without a shadow of a doubt I wouldn't be happy unless I was running. Even if it was only a portion. Unfortunately, I hadn't run or done anything to "train" since the first week of this month. So, on Wednesday, I set up 3 training sessions to see what I could do. I did my last run today and managed to run just over 2 miles solid. Not bad for a week's time huh? So, tomorrow if I work out at all I'll do either light walking or some other non-weight bearing exercise. Just something light. Wednesday will be a complete rest day and then Thursday we'll see what happens :)

And for my reward, I get to eat Thanksgiving dinner.

Not a bad trade off at all!

Shhh, I'm hiding

2010-11-15T15:22:00.000-08:00

Not really. I just haven't been in a writing or sharing kind of mood. It's the time change. i do this every year and every year i wonder what is wrong with me. And then every year I figure it out. It's the time change.

So, I have to make sure I get plenty of sunshine, exercise and most importantly sleep.

I have 10 days left of my no-scale challenge. In 10 days I get to get back on my scale. But what I've discovered from my challenge is that after I get on my scale, I'm going to hand it back to my boyfriend so that it can go back into hiding. That's right, I've THOROUGHLY enjoyed my scale free month. I had a couple of days where I felt lighter than air and I enjoyed every moment of them. Who knows what I would have felt like that day if I had jumped on the scale and seen a gain. Also, I will be honest, there were a few days where I indulged and it was nice not to have to face the number the next day.

That all being said, I will address one major concern I have. What if I get on the scale and I show a gain - I mean a significant gain. Is that a sign that I'm retaining water (which folks, unfortunately, the day I'm supposed to hop on the scale IS prime time for that BOO!) or is it a message that I need to tighten up the reins. Sometimes those daily or weekly weigh ins did serve as a nice indicator of how things were moving.

Definitely things to consider. However, I'm pretty definite I will NOT be going back to daily weigh ins and probably not even weekly. I think I will either incorporate 2 week or 30 day weigh-ins. I just love not weighing myself too much. Oh yes, and I ALWAYS forget that I can measure myself. I have the numbers documented I just never remember to follow up. Maybe I'll do that tonight.

Also, I'm kind of trying to forget but it's 10 days til my 5k. I'm super not excited about this one. I previously wrote that I started with running again. It really didn't last long. The pain in my foot just increased too much to feel like I was doing the right thing by pushing it. I will be completing the race most definitely but I will not be running the whole thing. A disappointment? Definitely, but hey, life goes on.

Oops, Break’s Over

2010-11-03T13:51:00.000-07:00

So I took a little breather from writing. I ALSO took a breather from eating right. Man, did I take a breather.

My birthday was yesterday so last week I told myself that since my birthday is so close to Halloween I would combine the two and allow myself to have some treats on Halloween. The deal was, Sunday I’d indulge but come Monday, I would go back to healthier eating.

Everything was business as usual until Sunday. Then on Sunday, in lieu of cake for my birthday I chose my favorite donuts and for my dinner I chose my favorite pizza. I went to bed Sunday night feeling HORRIFIC. I felt bloated and just full of yuck. Though my taste buds thought everything was all good, my stomach was very angry at me and before I went to sleep I told my boyfriend “never again.” Monday came and I was still sick at work for the better part of the morning. It was definitely a result of the food I ate the night before.

I got through the rest of the work day eating normally, but when I got home that evening, it hit me. I wanted pizza. I wanted it bad. So, I ate 2 slices that were left over from the evening before. I had it in the calorie bank so I said “Why not?”. Bad idea. It just led to Tuesday. This time, I used the “but it’s my birthday” excuse. I got through work eating all the proper foods and journaling everything. I even planned my dinner. Everything was going great and then I got home. I wanted a Big Mac and French fries. I told my boyfriend what I wanted. He hesitantly asked if I was sure because he knew about my plan. I pulled the “but it’s my birthday” card. Seriously, how can you say no to that?

I got my Big Mac and French fries. It was so strange. I was eating this giant burger and French fries and I was almost finished when I looked at him and said “Why am I still hungry?” And I was. I couldn’t believe that I was eating all this food and was still hungry. Then I took a second to consider the nutritional value of WHAT I was eating. It made sense.

Once again, I went to bed and I felt HORRIFIC. I woke up this morning and I felt HORRIFIC. In fact, I still feel horrific. Just bloated and gross. I KNOW it’s because of what I’ve been eating. If indulging is going to lead to three days of this, I don’t want it. I would trade all the bad food I’ve eaten in the past 3 days for how I felt on Saturday in a SECOND.

However, lesson learned. My body was used to eating low fat, whole foods and once I introduced these processed, sugary foods into the mix it fought back. And that’s a GOOD thing. My body is telling me that I definitely don’t need this crap in my system. So, next time, I’m going to take it easy on myself. Maybe I’ll have just ONE treat at a time. Not a whole meals worth. I also will have some ammunition on hand for when the cravings hit. You know, some healthy alternatives to the pizza and hamburgers I will inevitably want. :)

I'm hungry. My foot hurts. I want to complain.

2010-10-27T17:24:00.000-07:00

Today is day 2 without the scale. It was weird, I got up this morning and I had this overwhelming desire to step on it. Probably because I did really well yesterday and I wanted to see a good number. It was a fleeting moment and passed quickly. I’m feeling more and more certain that this challenge is a good thing for me. Well, I hope so at least.

I also ran today in preparation for my big old Turkey Trot. It was an odd experience. I was glad that the lungs and legs were there. I didn’t have any problems breathing or with turnover. In fact, I’m fairly certain my pace could have been much quicker. But, I did start feeling tenderness in my foot at the end. I was going to extend the run but I figured why push it. I did 3 minutes run / 1 minute walk for 3 sets. So, only about 10 minutes running time total but it was a good gauge. My cardio is still there which is good; I just have to baby the foot now. My next running day is Friday and hopefully I’ll have an even better idea of where I’m at.

This running injury has really been the dark part of my year. You see, over the past four years or so I’ve lost 40 pounds. It’s an amazing accomplishment for me but I am not done. I still have about 30 left. And this year started on a good note and my progress was really going well due to my running. Until my injury. After it happened, I laid low for a little too long and before I knew it, things just sort of went awry.

I’ve gained about 7 pounds since July. I know that doesn’t seem like a lot but allow me to put this in perspective. The most I’ve EVER lost in a single month is 4 pounds. And I’ve never repeated that. In fact, my average since 2008 has been about 1.6 pounds per month and that was WITH running. So, to me, 7 pounds represents an uphill battle.

As I’ve said before, my metabolism is slower. I’ve had it tested and I’m planning on talking to my doctor when I go back in about my thyroid but I feel confident all is well in that department. I just think I’ve been “blessed” with a slow metabolism. I’ve been trying to not let it get me down but there are some days (read: today) where it just seems unfair.

To end on a positive note: as of my last weigh in I was down 2.4 pounds of that 7 so at least I’m headed in the right direction. Also, my foot will get better! It has to. And even if I continue to only lose 1.6 pounds per month, I’ll still weigh less by this time next month. Right?

To The Races!

2010-10-26T16:16:00.000-07:00

I guess without trying I also committed to another 30 day challenge today.
I signed up for a 5k on Thanksgiving morning which just happens to be 30 days from now. Now, I’m not going to make this a 30-day challenge for running but mark my words, I will be doing one some time in the future. As previously stated in an earlier post, I’m just now getting back to running and I fear re-injuring myself far too much to try to push myself to a magnificent 3.1 mile finish in 30 days.

Now, let me get 3-6 months of solid, injury free running under my belt and then we’ll talk about a challenge!

I‘ve wanted to sign up for a 5k for some time now. Even though I can’t fully run yet, the act of registering and participating in something organized and TIMED is a great way to ensure that I continue working out. Sure I can walk 3.1 miles, but if I’m going to only be able to walk, then I’m going to walk at a good, fast pace! I participated in my first official 5k back in April and it was awesome!

I’ll be honest; I really want to run this race. I’ve even gone so far as to chart out a 30-day training program for getting myself back in running shape by Turkey Day. I’m going to start it and see how far the foot takes me. If all goes well and there’s no pain then a runnin’ I shall go. However, if I have one ounce of hesitation then it’s going to be an all-walking event for me. Because there WILL be other races!

Either way, at least I’ll have gotten my workout in before the big day. I will feel a lot better eating on Thanksgiving after putting in an all out effort for 3.1 miles, running or not!

Countdown to Turkey Trot:
30 days

No Scale Challenge:
1 / 30 days

Decision Made

2010-10-26T11:30:00.000-07:00

I was sitting at my desk this morning and it hit me. I know what I want my next 30-day challenge to be.

For the past week or so the same conversation has been going on between different friends and myself. How many times a month, week, or day do you weigh yourself?

The conclusion: My friends and I like the scale way too much.

So, I’m not going to weigh myself for 30 days. This might not seem like the most difficult thing for some but for me I think it’ll be tough. I’ve gotten into the habit of a daily weigh-in and all too often I let that number dictate my day.
That number tells me how I’m going to feel in my clothes that day, how I’m going to feel when I pass by a reflective window, basically, how I’m going to feel about myself overall. And more than half the time that feeling is not good – even when I step on, feeling proud of my accomplishments, that number can deflate me in a second.

So I weighed myself yesterday morning and for all the reasons I mentioned above, I did not get on the scale today. So, I’m starting this thing today.

If anyone wants to join – come on in!

30 days of no scale:
October 26, 2010 – November 24, 2010
Next WI: November 25, 2010 – hey, that’s Thanksgiving!

French Fries Are Delicious.

2010-10-25T12:43:00.000-07:00

I ate French fries last night. I’m not eating refined sugars. So obviously, I ate French fries last night.

With ketchup!

And instead of beating myself up, I thoroughly enjoyed every bite. I had a talk with myself this weekend. As I’ve written before, I am definitely enjoying the cutting out of refined sugar in my diet. I think it’s something that I can keep up. But, I’ll be honest with all of you. When the occasion strikes, and I want French fries, I think I’m going to eat the French fries.

Now, when this special occasion starts popping up more than once or twice a month, then we may have a problem. I want to eliminate these things enough so that my body will crave them less. And if my body craves them less, then I’ll eat them less and then eventually maybe they really will be just those once in a while, I forgot you existed kind of things.

That being said, may I add, I didn’t really feel all that great afterward. I had a heavy, dragging feel about me. Kind of like I ate some wet cement and it solidified in my stomach. I didn’t like it. I sat in the living room last night, cradling by rock hard stomach (due to the cement feeling, not because of my invisible washboard abs), and planned out my entire day of eating for today: lots of lean protein, vegetables and fruit. I just wanted to get back to the eating that made me feel lighter.

So, in conclusion, I basically learned this:

I am capable of enjoying French fries on a special occasion basis. But when I eat the French fries I don’t feel good after and wish I had not eaten the French fries. But I’ve realized that I’m capable of enjoying French fries on a special occasion basis.

Crazy.

Sugar Challenge:

6 / 7 days completed

Exercise Challenge Completed

2010-10-25T12:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday marked the 30^th day of my first 30 day challenge and I’m pretty pleased with myself.

The results:

Days 1-7: 258 minutes

Days 8-14: 250 minutes

Days 15-21: 195 minutes

Days 22-28: 250 minutes

Days 29-30: 50 minutes

In the past 30 days, I exercised a total of 1003 minutes.

That averages out to:

*Over 16.5 hours of exercise total

*Over 4 hours of exercise per week

*Over 33 minutes of exercise per day

Not bad huh? It’s weird to look at the info this way because while I was doing it, I just kept aiming for the 250-minute mark. Even on the third week when I only came in at 195 minutes, I was a teeny bit discouraged. But not after looking at it this way.

I’m definitely going to solider on with this one. 250 minutes a week seems to be doable. It’s a challenge to get it all in but not overwhelming. I also lost 2.4 pounds which is amazing for me.

I’m going to be thinking about my next 30 day challenge. I want it to be something that pushes me forward in my health and fitness. I have a few ideas but nothing has really struck a chord yet. If anybody has any ideas please leave them in the comments section!

The Sugar Dilemma

2010-10-23T14:24:00.001-07:00

So these past few days without refined sugar have shown me a few things. I really DO feel pretty good. I have more energy, I've lost a few pounds - I just feel better all around. It's made me want to try to continue this way of eating permanently. But the cupcake confrontation made me realize that I need to start researching alternatives. I can't go the rest of my life avoiding desserts. If I ever have a party to go to, I'd rather go armed with my own dessert then sit and rely on sheer willpower to see me through. So I started looking at alternative sugars. I don't mean splenda or equal, I'm talking about the natural stuff here. I figure if I'm working so hard to eat healthy and without refined sugars, then eating chemicals probably would just cancel out the hard work I'm doing. I do use Splenda, but it's usually just in my coffee. I just don't want to make a whole dessert using it cause that's a whole lot of Splenda.

So this morning I tried my hand at my first Sugar Free Dessert. Since I'm not eating white flour either that really limits what I can make so I thought - hey, what about cheesecake!

So I made cheesecake! Actually, I made mini cheesecakes.

And I used organic agave nectar instead of sugar.

First, I mixed together cream cheese, eggs, cream, lemon juice, vanilla and the agave nectar.

Here's the batter:

I also made a strawberry puree so I could make half of them strawberry cheesecakes!

Then I poured the batter into muffin tins and swirled the puree in some of the cups to make half regular and half strawberry cheesecake.

This was the hard part. I had no idea how long to bake them for. I think it ended up being right around 35 minutes and this is how they came out.

I tried one and it's not bad at all. I'm still waiting for my boyfriend to eat one because lets face it, I haven't had sugar in 4 days so I'm pretty sure anything sweet is going to taste good to me!

I think I'm going to hit a couple of bookstores today to see what I can find in the form of sugar free baking. My next challenge will be cakes and cookies!

Oh, and in case you're wondering, each one has 140 calories. I think that I could easily lower the calorie count but I'm already not using sugar. I think trying to substitute anything else would make it borderline inedible :)

Sushi and cupcakes and the gym .. oh my!

2010-10-23T14:02:00.000-07:00

It's Saturday. That means I have successfully maneuvered my way around 4 days of sugar free living.

Friday was the true test. I started the day off well by getting up early for my morning walk, but I guess I was dragging a little getting ready for work because I wound up not having enough time to pack my lunch. I had a contingency plan: I managed to pack some veggie sticks w/ dip and I decided that I would eat those and go to the pizza place that's next to my office for lunch. No, not for pizza. They make one of the best little salads ever- lots of veggies and kidney beans. It's delicious and very filling.

But life as it seems always has other plans. I was invited by one of my good friends to go out for lunch. Not a problem. I can find something to eat most anywhere. Then he makes us reservations at what is arguably the best sushi place in Los Angeles. This sushi place I only get to frequent every once in awhile due to the price and of course I get the opportunity to go smack dab in the middle of my challenge. Now, there are some sushi places out here that will gladly serve you brown rice in place of the traditional sushi rice but this place is a purist sushi restaurants. No substitutions. I made a plan of attack and was set on sticking with. He hadn't been to this restaurant in years so I did the ordering for the table. I ordered him my favorites - rock shrimp tempura, baked crab roll, 4 1/2, crispy rice spicy tuna. For me, I ordered salmon sashimi (that's just raw salmon without rice), seared ahi tuna w/ mustard sauce (has no rice and is garnished with a small salad), and miso soup.

The food came out. I had ordered him a lot and he told me that if I wanted to cheat I was more than welcome to his food. I won't lie. It was difficult. I sat there and watched him eat these things KNOWING how good they tasted. But, in the end, I stuck w/ my own choices. I'll be honest, they have amazing fish so it's not like I was short changed. The salmon melts like butter in your mouth. Delicious!

I went back to work thoroughly proud of myself for sticking to my guns, making a decision and enjoying my choice. However, I got back to my office desk and stopped dead in my tracks. Sitting in front of my computer was a cupcake. A delicious, sprinkled, sweet smelling cupcake. I'm not lying when I say I could smell it before I saw it.

I just started laughing because I had just gotten through one of the biggest temptations at the sushi restaurant and I was hoping I had enough in my reserves to forgo the cupcake.

I held it, I took inhaled the sweet aroma. I laughed and took a picture of it to send my friend who I had just left. I found out one of our clients sent them to us as a thank you so I took it to my colleague and told her I wasn't eating sugar this week and to send it home to her daughter. Success!

But my day wasn't over yet. I was already mentally exhausted from all the will power I was having to dish out to ward off sugar, and after work I still had to hit the gym to get in 70 minutes to make my exercise challenge for the week. That was also rough but I did it.

All in all a very successful day. I just hope I have the strength to get through the weekend :)

Exercise Challenge Totals:
250 / 250 week 4

Sugar Challenge:
4 / 7 days completed

Third Day is the Charm

2010-10-23T14:00:00.000-07:00

**wrote this yesterday - just late in posting :)

Day 3 of no sugar was rough. It wasn’t that I was craving doughnuts or anything, I was just hungry all day long. And while I was able to stay away from sugar, I just ate too much of everything else. Which goes to show, just because you’re eating healthy doesn’t mean you can just go overboard.

Want to see how much I ate:

B: omelet w. spinach, onion, tomato, ham, mozzarella w/ whole wheat toast

S: cottage cheese and apple

L: roasted chicken w/ tomatoes, basil, evoo, slice of whole wheat bread and strawberries

D: Caesar salad sans croutons, whole wheat pita with cheese, no sugar tomato sauce, and some turkey pep and ham broiled into a delicious cheesy fake pizza delight

I think eating the bread at every meal made me want to eat more in general. Even though everything was 100% whole wheat it still makes me want to eat more. Man, I love bread. In light of this, I have decided to go easy today on the delicious bread.

However, I can say that today: so far so good. I got up early again to do a morning walk and I was oddly alert. I’m seriously hoping that is due to the lack of refined sugars in my diet. If it is – then I will happily stay away from this stuff forever! I have THE hardest time getting up in the morning. In fact, saying I have a hard time is an understatement. It actually borders on painful. I have long looked for ways to make it easier but nothing has worked so far.

Exercise Challenge Totals:

180 / 250 minutes week 3

I love Doughnuts

2010-10-21T11:32:00.000-07:00

Day 2 of no sugar done. In case you were wondering, it was SIGNIFICANTLY more difficult than Tuesday. Did I give in? No. But I did talk an awful lot about doughnuts. I was watching Man vs. Food (which by the way is a VERY entertaining show) and it was a re-run. Adam went to Texas and ate doughnuts. Delicious, round, frosted doughnuts. In retrospect, it probably wasn’t the smartest thing to watch as my dinner was NOT all that I thought it would be. I actually sat there in my chair, watching Adam eat giant doughnuts, trying to visualize how bad I wanted doughnuts.

I imagined someone coming through my front door – and this person had a big slice of my favorite pizza in one hand and doughnuts in the other and I got to chose one thing to eat. Doughnuts won. Then it was Reese’s Cups vs. Doughnuts. Doughnuts won! Then it got bad and it was Plain doughnuts vs. Raspberry Filled doughnuts vs. Custard filled doughnuts. Doughnuts won again! What’s amazing is I’m not joking at all ☺ It was quite entertaining actually.

And while it may seem that this was a particularly distressful evening for me, it actually was quite a motivating one. You see, in addition to my no sugar challenge I’m still on my 30 day exercise challenge and somehow I noticed last night that I was still only at 60 / 250 minutes for the week. My “week” ends Friday night so I realized I needed another 190 minutes before Saturday morning. So, I figured, if I can say no to delicious, wonderful, amazing doughnuts, I can also reach my exercise goal.

Last night, I went on a nice 30 minute walk with my pup and boyfriend. And we were BOOKING it. Seriously, my boyfriend was doing his best impersonation of a speed walker and it took all I had to keep up. While we were walking I was telling him how far behind my minute goal I was and right then and there I decided that I was going to make it. I was going to get in ALL my minutes. So I woke up this morning before work (which I do NOT do – I can’t even begin to describe how painful it is for me to wake up early) and hit the streets by myself. I strapped on my heart rate monitor to make sure I did not slack. I don’t think I have ever walked so fast in my life! Ok, that’s an exaggeration but I was pretty pleased with my performance. So between last night and this morning, I’m down to 130 minutes left for the week. COMPLETELY doable.

Exercise Challenge Total:
120 / 250 minutes

No Sugar Challenge:
2 / 7 days completed

I Want Candy

2010-10-20T10:34:00.000-07:00

Day 1 without my sugar is over and gone. Honestly, it wasn't so bad. In anticipation for this week I made a batch of butternut squash soup on Monday night and so I was very excited to have that for my lunch yesterday. I kind of threw 2 recipes together and did my own thing. I was pleased with the outcome. I basically roasted butternut squash, onions, celery, carrots, a sweet potato and then slowly simmered them in some vegetable stock and then let my immersion blender have its way with them and voila! Soup. When I try new recipes I get really excited and that becomes the focus of my day. It's kind of a nice distraction really. Also, when I got home for the day I wasn't feeling so hot so I wasn't really in the mood to eat anything. Maybe that also had something to do with it as well :)

What did I eat?

Breakfast: spinach, onion, ham, egg, on whole wheat english muffin.

Lunch: butternut squash soup with dollop of fage 0% greek yogurt on top

Snack: salad: romaine, carrots, cucumbers, gala apple w/ dressing

Dinner: roasted chicken and sweet potatoes with seasonings and EVOO

I came in at the lower end of my calorie range without really trying and I was pleasantly satisfied the whole day. What I'm really hoping for in this week long challenge is to open myself up to more vegetables in my daily eating. I still probably eat more than the average person but I want to add more to my diet. I also want to curb my sugar craving. Lately it's been worse than it's ever been. I've been craving cakes and cookies and candy like I never have before so I'm really trying to get a handle on that.

It's pretty well documented that sugar has ill effects on the body and overall health. If you're wondering exactly what kinds of bad things, just type "sugar and health" into google and have at it. You'll see all kinds of studies. As in most things regarding the human body and health, there are differing opinions on the subject. However, I've decided that the amount I've been eating can only be described as OVERLOAD. I've read tons of online articles about detoxing from sugar and cleansing yourself of this deadly flavor but in all honestly, I just want to find a balance. I want to be able to go to a friend's house for dinner and partake in whatever they make and not worry about "ruining" anything. I want to be able to be on a vacation with my family or friends and not be the one to yell out "I can't eat there!". I would like to have balance. That on any given, normal occasion, I'm going to reach for the vegetables, fruits, lean proteins and whole wheat products, but on the occasion that's out of my control, I'm just going to go with the flow and not get bent out of shape over it.

Balance.

Exercise Challenge:
60 / 250 minutes week 3

Life or Something Like it

2010-10-18T16:13:00.000-07:00

So it's been many, many days since I posted.

It's amazing how life gets in the way like that. I've continued exercising, however, I will come clean and admit that last week's minutes came in under my goal of 250. I did pull in 190 minutes though. I knew it was going to happen and I didn't let it get me down because 190 minutes is over THREE HOURS of working out and how can I be disappointed in that.

I also weighed myself on Saturday morning and this week was -2. So yeah, that's probably why I wasn't too disappointed.

I also left Saturday morning to go camping up north so being without technology is also why I haven't updated anything.

Camping was good - I made sure to get in 2 days of solid walking to keep my minutes in check. I did, however, eat a little more than usual. Little more candy and hamburgers around than usual but I did good to indulge but not go overboard.

I'm starting a new side challenge this week. Kind of scared about this one but I think it's going to be good.

It's another eating challenge. I'm going to go one week eating NO REFINED SUGAR. No white bread or pasta, no candy, cakes, doughnuts etc ... ! In case anyone cares, these are wonderful things to my taste buds. BUT, I'm aware of the impact they have on my body so I'm going to see what happens when I nourish my body with only good things. I'm going to have the base of my diet be fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy, lean meats, fish, and eggs. I will have whole wheat products but only if they are truly whole wheat, so that means careful label reading. I'm really not into cutting out any food group completely so I feel ok with keeping these around. I do want to try to keep the main focus on vegetables and protein though.

I'm going to make my lists right now and hit the grocery store. I was tempted to make this a two week challenge but I settled on one with the option to extend come next week.

Exercise Challenge Summary:
258/250 minutes week 1
250/250 minutes week 2

Current:
60/250 minutes week 3

Weigh - Ins:
October 9: +1.6
October 16: -2

Side Challenge #1: Days 5, 6, and 7

2010-10-11T12:56:00.000-07:00

Side Challenge: Days 5, 6 and 7 (Thursday, Friday, Saturday)

Interesting things happened the last couple of days. Day 5 was pretty much the norm. I came in at 1398 with very careful planning.

Speaking of planning.

Day 6’s total is quite different. I came in at 1625. Everyday I use a fitness journal to write down my food and exercise for the day.

I pack my breakfast and lunch everyday for work so I take my journal and I write everything down first thing when I get to work. I stick to what I write down and then I know exactly what to plan and eat for dinner. I didn’t realize how useful this tool was until today. Yesterday, I forgot to take my journal to work. I wrote down my food on a piece of paper and forgot about it. When I got home, I THOUGHT I remembered exactly what I was doing for dinner but I didn’t. I should have taken the time to fill in my journal before I started dinner but I didn’t. I ended up going over my calories. I knew I was pushing it and instead of checking, I just “winged” it. I’m not too bent out of shape about it. I’ve always known that writing down and planning were important but now I know how important it is to me. I need that organization and planning in order to make informed choices.

I made sure I had everything in order for Day 7: 1429. Not too bad. The week is over and although it wasn't too difficult the real surprise came when I weighed in on Saturday morning. I had gained 1.6 pounds. I have to say this is extremely disappointing and really doesn't make any sense. Then again, my body has NEVER made any sense to me. I've eaten perfectly and exercised a lot before and gained weight and I've eaten poorly and sat on my butt and lost weight. I'm trying to take it in stride but in all honesty that little voice that says "what's the use?" is driving me insane.

Just have to keep on going.

Side Challenge #1 End Results:

Day 1: 1227

Day 2: 1375

Day 3: 1386

Day 4: 1397

Day 5: 1398

Day 6: 1625

Day 7: 1439

Weigh In: +1.6 lbs.

Exercise: Days 12 ,13 and 14

2010-10-11T12:55:00.000-07:00

Day 12 – Wednesday / October 6

I hop scotched around this workout. I had made an appointment with myself to complete my workout straight after work. I even told my boyfriend exactly what to say to me when I walked through the door of our apartment. I knew I was going to need extra motivation to workout. I got home and everything looked more interesting than going into the workout room. I stalled and distracted myself. Thank goodness for him – he gave me a stern talking to and just told me to get it over with. So I did.

I did a strength training DVD: Jackie Warner – Power Circuit Training. I noticed that my heart rate wasn’t as high as when I do Bob’s or Jillian’s but boy did I feel it the next day. In a good way. My butt ,thighs, arms, and chest were SO SORE, again, in a good way.

Sometimes working out is mental for me. If I feel like I didn’t sweat enough or if my heart rate wasn’t high enough, I sometimes feel like it was a wash even though I know ANYTHING is better than nothing. So, when I do a good strength training workout and I have that soreness the next day I know all was not for naught.

Total time: 35 minutes

Day 13 – Thursday / October 7

I took another day off. I think my insomnia is catching up with me. I finally slept some the past two nights and I definitely needed it. People are dropping like flies at work. They’re going home with flu like symptoms and if I get too tired I’ll just become one of them. I knew I was going to do a really long, intense workout Friday night because it’s one of my favorite workouts of the week so I figured, why press my luck?

Total time: 0 minutes.

Day 14 - Friday / October 8

I hit the gym ferociously after work. Got in 30 on the treadmill, 15 on the elliptical, 25 on the recumbent bike and a 5 minute stretch. I wore my HRM and stayed within 80% of my maximum heart rate the entire time. I was pretty please at the end of the night when my calorie burn hit 600+ for the entire workout. I don't know what to think about the calorie burn that my heart rate monitor says. I used to take it at face value but ever since I got my metabolism tested I'm not so sure. If my metabolic rate is 20% lower than the average person for my size and height, does that mean I should take 20% off the HRM readings? I think so because wouldn't those values be set for the "average" person. In any case, I record the actual reading, then take 20% and look at both numbers.

Total Time: 75 minutes

Exercise Challenge Goal:

250 / 250 minutes week 2

Side Challenge #1: Days 3 and 4

2010-10-06T13:12:00.000-07:00

SIDE CHALLENGE #1: Days 3 and 4

Day 3/4: Monday & Tuesday / October 4th & 5th

I came in at 1386 and 1397 respectively. I will be honest, it was a fight to the finish on both days but I overcame the peppermint patty and pizza that would have pushed me up and over the 1400 mark.

It’s strange how we can fight with food. I’m sure it’s happened to everyone. Where you sit and you see the food. You look at it, you can imagine how it would taste and how satisfying it would be. Then you stop and think about how eating it would make you feel bad about yourself. How it would make you feel like you “gave in”. Then you bargain with yourself. You’ve been doing the work, you’ve been good, why can’t you have it? And then telling yourself you can’t have it makes you want it even more!

What’s interesting in this though is that if you eat it, you are more than likely going to regret it. You’re going to have maybe a twinge of guilt, maybe a moment of “I really wish I hadn’t eaten that” and maybe the feeling of self-defeat. However, I can’t remember a single time in which I have resisted the temptation and thought, “Man, I really wish I would have eaten that”. Same goes for exercise. I’ve skipped workouts and had that inner struggle with myself. The thought of “I wish I had worked out” but I have never finished a workout and thought, “That was a bad idea”.

I guess I should remember this the next time that peppermint patty comes stalking me at 9:00 at night.

Side Challenge Goal:
Day 1: 1227
Day 2: 1375
Day 3: 1386
Day 4 1397

Exercise: Days 10 and 11

2010-10-06T13:05:00.001-07:00

Exercise: Days 10 and 11

Day 10: Monday / October 4

I went to the gym on my lunch break. I got in a 65 minute workout due to an extended lunch break (awesome). I did the elliptical, recumbent bike and stretching as per usual and I am pleased that my foot held up well considering that 60 minutes is the longest I’ve pushed it in one sitting. Had some residual pain but nothing that lasted too long.

I can’t wait for it to fully get better because I will definitely get bored with that routine.

I need new workout clothes. I want new workout outfits. For some reason or other they make me feel better about myself which in turns make me more confident on the machines which in turn makes me work out harder. Is that weird? Probably. But I need every advantage I can get. If wearing a cute outfit makes me workout harder than I’m going to do it.

And if I get new outfits I probably need new shoes too.

Total time: 65 minutes

Day 11: Tuesday / October 5

Today’s workout was extremely difficult. Just exhausting. I have been going through a bout of insomnia lately. I do it every year. It’s not fun. So far it’s lasted about a week and so when I get home from work I am completely and utterly exhausted. And unfortunately I had already schedule a night walk for my Day 11 workout and I knew that I HAD to do it because I need to get in 250 minutes this week. I had mentally prepared for a 7:45pm walk with my boyfriend and dog so that we could come home and watch Glee (man, I just love that show although I thought that particular episode was a little boring). Anyway, when my boyfriend looked at me and asked if I was ready to go, everything inside of me screamed “NO NO NO – I just want to sit on the couch and not move a muscle”. But I kept quiet and got up silently and went through the motions of getting ready.

There are other factors that would make this walk difficult; for starters, we’re having quite the unpleasant weather out here in CA right now. It’s raining and cold, so I knew that I would be out walking, exhausted, in the wet and cold. And secondly, my beloved puppy dog, Chloe, recently hurt her back. She’s a miniature dachshund and they are extremely prone to back injuries. Fortunately, this time the vet thinks it was just a sprain but in any case we have had to be EXTREMELY careful with her. She just started back on her night walks but we’ve been easing her back into the 30 minutes she usually does. Tonight was going to be her first 30 minute and there was the chance that I’d have to stop and carry her. Now, she only weighs just over 10 pounds but carrying her while walking, exhausted, in the wet and cold would definitely be a challenge.

That’s her. And I’m proud to say, thankfully, she made it through the entire walk on her own. As did I. I will admit at one point I asked my boyfriend to carry me the rest of the way but I managed to make it on my own.

Total time: 30 minutes

Challenge Goal Total:

140 / 250 minutes week 2

Side Challenge #1: Days 1 and 2

2010-10-04T10:27:00.001-07:00

SIDE CHALLENGE!

So Saturday was the first day of my calorie challenge - to eat between 1300 and 1400 calories consistently for 7 days and record my weight loss. As I mentioned previously, calorie restriction has always been the stumbling block for me. However, I am pleased to report that I did it!

I've read lots of books and magazine articles and online articles about ways to successfully control your calorie "spending". One book I read recently, "YOU: On a Diet - Dr.Oz" said that if you take away a lot of your eating choices, it's easier to control how much you eat. For instance, try to eat the same thing for breakfast and lunch and then vary your dinner choices. The reasoning is that when you give your body consistency it's going to crave less foods. And I guess if we crave less then we want to eat less. Anyway, I've been doing it for over a week now and I'm going to say so far so good.

For breakfast, I make a simple breakfast sandwich on a whole wheat english muffin and then lunch is soup. I'm really big into making soups. I think soup is one of the most comforting foods in the world - especially this time of year. It's also great way to get in your vegetables and the varieties are endless.

Just in case you're wondering, this week I'm eating a tortellini and vegetable soup. I just made it last night - I'm going to be completely honest, I tried some last night before I put it away and it's not one of my favorites. I'm secretly hoping that letting it sit overnight in the refrigerator will help bring out more flavor.

We'll see.

Side Challenge Goal:
eat withing 1300 - 1400 calories

Day 1 / Saturday: 1227 calories
Day 2 / Sunday: 1375 calories

Exercise: Days 8 and 9

2010-10-04T10:20:00.000-07:00

The sweet fog of exhaustion is all around me so I apologize upfront if this post makes no sense.

Day 8 (Saturday 10/2)

Ah yes, I attempted my Bob Harper DVD again. While I did not finish it I am proud to say I got through 40 minutes. That's 10 minutes longer than last time. It is honestly a really good workout. My arms felt like they were on fire the whole time. I think that by doing this one consistently I am DEFINITELY going to see results. No disrespect to Jillian because I do enjoy her videos but there's something about this one that just makes you believe it's going to give you results. Bob's pretty demanding in it and the people exercising behind him show serious pain which makes you feel better about your own. I followed it with 5 minutes of GOOD stretching to keep the aches and pains at bay.

Total time: 45 minutes

Day 9 (Sunday 10/3)

Just did errands and things. I took the day off from formal exercise. I love my rest days!

Total time: 0 minutes

Challenge Goal Total:

45 / 250 minutes week 2

Exercise: Day 7

2010-10-01T22:52:00.001-07:00

Day 7

Hit up the gym after work even though I am going on less than four hours of sleep. I think that's quite the accomplishment. I also was actually quite motivated by finishing up my first week of 250 minutes which is awesome.

I did the same workout as Wednesday - 20 minutes on the elliptical doing intervals, 18 minutes on the recumbent bike on level 7 and then 5 minutes of stretching.

43 minutes!

That means I hit my first week time goal with 8 minutes to spare :) It wasn't too bad either. Just took some planning and follow through. Tomorrow starts week 2 as well as Side Challenge #1 - eating within my calorie range.

Challenge Goal total:

258 / 25o minutes week 1

Exercise: Days 5 and 6

2010-10-01T12:20:00.000-07:00

Day 5 - Wednesday / 9/29

Went to the gym on my lunch break. Since I'm on a time constraint when I go during my lunch break (my gym is actually the next building over from my office!), I have to maximize the time I have so that means HIIT (high intensity interval training).

I hit the elliptical first and did twenty minutes of 1 / 2 minute intervals and then immediately got on the recumbent bike while my heart rate was still high and continued. I did 15 more minutes on the bike.

Hit the mats and did 5 minute cool down stretching.

Good workout.

Day 6 - Thursday / 9/30

Back story: Running is my workout of choice. I have a love/hate relationship with it. I hate doing it. I find it difficult and extremely challenging. But for those reasons, I LOVE it. Almost like an addiction.

Earlier this year I signed up for my first 5k and 10k races. It was very exciting. In April, I ran my first 5k and had an absolute blast training and participating. My 10k was set for August of this year and I was right on track to be able to hit the 6+ miles. Please know that I am NOT a fast runner, my goal was to just run the entire race without stopping.

Anyway, in June I was on my training plan and had already hit the 4 mile mark and running those half-way comfortably. I was VERY confident for my race. Then one night right before bedtime I was walking in my room barefoot and caught my little toe on the edge of one of my hand weights. PAIN! I hobbled into bed breathing deeply waiting for the pain to subside as a normal toe stub usually does. It didn't really go away though. In fact, my foot swelled just a tiny bit. I just figured it was a worse than normal stub and I went to sleep. The next morning, I still had pain and tenderness in my little toe on my right foot. So I did the mature, responsible thing and I told myself I was NOT going to run on it until the pain went away. Too many times in my past I have ignored small injuries due to my overwhelming running addiction and small injuries became big injuries.

For instance, once I ignored a nagging pain in my quad. My body was asking me to take a break. A small, tiny break. I just couldn't do it and I continued running. Well, that nagging pain turned into a partial tear of my quad and sidelined me for over 6 months. 6 painful months of not being able to do more than a casual walk due to pain. It was horrific. If I had just taken a day or two, I wouldn't have lost 6 months. But, lesson learned.

Back to my foot - my toe was still hurting the next day so I stayed off of it completely. After 3 or 4 days the pain was almost completely gone and I felt confident things were ok but I wanted to err on the side of caution. I waited two weeks. Exactly two weeks from that fateful night, I laced up and got on the treadmill. I was going to do things right. I set my sites on only 1.5 miles. I knew that trying to punch out a 4 mile run was not smart so I told myself to take it slow and steady. I got through that run with just one moment of a hint of pain but everything looked good. I rested a day and then did the run again. Rested a day then ran again. That last run was July 3rd. I woke up on Sunday July 4th and my toe was in PAIN. Same pain I felt the very first night I stubbed it.

So, once again, I stayed off it. Long story short: 3 months and 2 orthopedists later here I am. They did x-rays and nothing was broken but neither doctor could explain why the pain was there. One thought I needed an MRI and surgery so I went to the second who felt certain I just messed it up bad and told me I needed time. UGH. We also discussed what I was capable of doing as far as working out. So, I've been waiting and I can confidently say for the first time since June 12th (yeah, I know the date) I feel like it's FINALLY showing signs of improvement. I still have pain when I walk but it's NOTHING compared to even 2 weeks ago.

So, when you see my workouts they're gonna look a little on the easy side. My ortho told me I could do whatever I wanted (obviously not running) as long as what I was doing didn't cause pain. And right now, that's the elliptical (on LOW levels), the bike and walking (which sometimes I have to grin and bear it).

What's hardest about this injury? The fact that I was in pretty good, no, really good shape. I was burning calories left and right. And now, I'm on the elliptical doing intervals at levels 1 and 4 and yes, it FEELS difficult. It's amazing how long it takes us to build up our endurance and how quickly it dissolves.

In fact, my level 1 and 4 workout was so intense to me, that I actually tweaked my back Wednesday night. Right before bedtime I must have turned the wrong way because I spent the rest of my night on a heating pad. I even traded in my tough strength training DVD for just a 30 minute walk on Thursday because it still felt tender.

I know I'm doing what I need to do to get better but sometimes it's hard.

Anyway, just felt the need to share that.

Goal total:

215 / 250 minutes week 1

SIDE CHALLENGE #1

2010-09-29T11:03:00.000-07:00

My 30 day goal is to exercise at least 250 minutes per week for 30 days. My HOPE is to build a good exercise habit and continue exercising beyond the 30 day mark. However, my ultimate GOAL is to lose weight. While exercising for 250 minutes per week is sure to get me on my way to losing those unwanted pounds, it's not going to do much good if I don't create a calorie deficit.

Please understand that calorie restriction is my Achilles heel. I struggle. I struggle big time. The thought of weeks upon weeks of eating in a certain calorie range takes it toll on me. I understand that in order to see continuous results this is something I'm going to have to do for quite some but sometimes baby steps are the best way to get things going. So maybe I'll just take it week by week.

So, to ensure that I'm going to see a loss, my side challenge is going to be staying within a certain calorie range. My goal is to stay within 1300 - 1400 calories for one week starting on Day 8 of my Exercise challenge (Saturday October 2nd).

I'm choosing the lower end of the calorie range because earlier this summer I had my metabolism tested by a registered dietitian and I'm sad to report I have a lousy metabolism. My tested RMR (resting metabolic rate) is only 1238. That's about 20% less than what it should be. In fact, the RD told me that in order to lose decent weight I would have to eat in the LOWER half of the 1200's - possibly even lower. I don't feel comfortable doing that so I'm trusting on good old exercise to see me the rest of the way.

In any case, I haven't really tested my new findings til now. So, this Saturday, I will weigh myself and then we'll see what one week of calorie restriction and 250 minutes of exercise will do. And hopefully, I will see some results!

The Side Challenge:
Calorie Restriction

The goal:
1300 - 1400 for one week

Start date:
October 2, 2010

End date:
October 9, 2010

Exercise: Days 3 and 4

2010-09-29T10:48:00.000-07:00

Day 3

So we've had a bit of a heat wave over the past few days and unfortunately, I don't have central air in my apartment. However, I was not going to let that stop me. I set out to do a strength DVD. This time, it was Jillian Michael's No More Trouble Zones. This was also the first time I had ever attempted it. So I set out to begin it in my workout room which was a balmy 95 degrees (at the least). I went through 2 huge ice filled giant bottles of water within twenty minutes and had to throw in the towel just at the 30 minute mark. I was sweating, my heart was beating and I was way too hot. However, I do think that I got in a decent workout.

I went into the main room of my apartment that has A/C and put in 5 minutes of a cool down and stretching and once I decided I was in fact NOT having a heart attack, I gave myself a pat on the back for adding another 35 minutes to my goal.

I wanted to add more minutes to my ever growing number, so I planned to take a walk with my boyfriend once the temps cooled off. I kept waiting, but there was no cooling. We set out around 8:15p in 80+ degree heat. At least the sun wasn't beating down on us. We kept a good pace and rounded out a familiar route in our shortest time yet. Add another 2o minutes.

total for the day:
55 minutes

Day 4

This is the best kind of day. REST DAY :)

total for the day:
0 minutes

Goal Total:

145 / 250 minutes for week 1

Exercise: Days 1 and 2

2010-09-25T20:00:00.000-07:00

Saturday was Day 1 and I decided to do Bob Harper's Inside Out Method: Pure Burn Super Strength DVD.

There are 2 workouts on this: one is 60+ minutes, one is 30+ minutes. I chose to do the 60+ minutes because I really don't consider myself a beginner.

I only got through 35 minutes! It was an awesome workout and I am excited to get my level up to complete all 60 minutes. Still, 35 minutes is not too bad.

Day 2 I went to the gym and did a little circuit with the aerobic equipment. 15 on the elliptical, 15 walking on the treadmill, 25 on the recumbent bike followed by stretching. I have to admit, I'm still pretty sore after Bob's DVD yesterday. Everything hurts.

But I'm down 90 minutes and I think that's a pretty good start.

Tomorrow, I'm going to do another strength DVD. Hopefully my hamstrings will be working by then.

Challenge #1: Exercise

2010-09-24T23:38:00.000-07:00

Everyone knows exercise is a good thing. It helps keep you strong, healthy, younger looking - the list goes on and on. I've always been on the exercise bandwagon but I've been on a hiatus lately. An injury sidelined me for longer than necessary and I've been using it as a crutch to stay away from my gym.

Exercise is one of those tricky things, when you're in the groove, nothing can stop you from your workout. But take some time off, and I find it to be one of the more difficult things to pick up again.

I not only want to pick up my habit again, but my time off halted my ongoing weight loss and caused me to gain back a few pounds, so I want to do enough to take those back off and more. So how much should I aim for?

Back in 2009, an online article suggested that a person needs to do at least 250 minutes of exercise per week in order to see significant weight loss.

That sounds like a plan to me.

The challenge:
Exercise

The goal:
30 days / 250 minutes per week.

Start date:
September 25, 2010

End date:
October 24, 2010

The beginning ...

2010-09-23T12:25:00.000-07:00

I've recently been having problems with motivation and self-discipline. It's been horrific actually. There are so many things that I want to do: eat better, exercise regularly, watch less tv, wake up earlier, save more, just DO more. The thing is, I always start off ok and then before you know it, I quit. What I lack is self-discipline.

I recently came across a wonderful online article that talked about self-discipline - how it's like a muscle and the only way to make it stronger is to work it. So, I've decided to do just that.

I'm going to try something new for 30 days. Maybe I'll love it, maybe I won't but I'll give it a fair chance for 30 days and I'm going to document it here.

I'm going to start off easy, no need to bite off more than I can chew right?

So how's this going to work? Well, I'll pick my awesome 30 day goal and then take a few days to make a plan of attack and then I'll begin.

My hope is to not only work on my self-discipline, but to gain new experiences and maybe some new (GOOD) habits.