Weekly Update

So, I gained 0.4 pounds this week, which is a minor miracle, considering this was probably my unhealthiest week since the first of the year.  I partook in another chili cook-off where I ate too much and had about 5 beers, skipped 2 days of workouts, went out to a very rich happy hour, and went out to dinner last night where I had far more pasta saltimboca than I needed.

Luckily, nothing else on my body changed, except I really haven't been feeling up to par recently, but that's no surprise.  I'm back on track with minor damage done.  Still, it's not great.

I was talking to Trainer Wade about my projected progress today and he said he thinks I'm probably at the point now where if I want to see significant change in my weight I'm going to have to start making more significant lifestyle changes - decisions about bread and cocktails.  I haven't had a plateau problem just yet, so I'm going to stick a pin in that idea and come back to it later if I am hovering for too long at 153.

I ran six miles yesterday and another four today so I feel good about getting ten miles in the first half of the week.  Let's hope I can keep this momentum going.

Checking In Before the Weekend

Every winter Andrew and I schedule the Broncos v. Zags games as date nights, drumming up our Alma Mater rivalry for some good old-fashioned competitive fun.  We'll go out to a sports bar, order beers and nachos, and trash talk throughout the game.  This year, we've started doing it a little differently: sofa seats.  We've decided to forgo the bar and recreate it in our "home theater."  Andrew streams the game on our luxurious 24-inch television, and I handle dinner.  We decided to go with sports bar type food in the spirit of the event (burgers and beer), but I'm working really hard to stay on track and Andrew's being supportive, so we changed it up a bit.

Dinner was black bean turkey burgers on whole wheat bageleans with pepper jack cheese, avocado, lettuce, and tomato.  I also picked up honey mustard pretzel bites (one of my favorite snacks) and some bud light.  The burger ended up being giant, and in its entirety was only 490 calories.  I had some pretzels and a single beer, which brought my daily total above what my recommended net intake is (if you're trying to lose 2 lbs a week), so after the game, I powered out a Jillian Michaels six-pack workout.  It's hard after a beer, man!  But I did it, and I didn't puke.  Go me.

I am pleased to say, last night my Broncos kicked Andrew's Zags' asses 85 to 71.  This is a huge upset, because it's always been the other way around since we started dating almost five years ago.  I'll admit:  I gloated.  A lot.

And Now I'm Back.

Hello.  I'm still working out and watching what I eat, just nothing seemed update-worthy as of late.  Namely because I gained back about three pounds and now I'm in a holding pattern.  I think I need to get back to two moderate workouts a day and just force myself to get up early in the morning to make it happen.

I bought my wedding dress today.  It looks great, but I still want to kick that extra 10 lbs before I get fitted for alterations.  I guess that's just double motivation for be to do what I know I need to do.

Running seems to be my thing, so I'm going to go with that as my main exercise still.  I'm also going to start wrapping up half my sandwich (I'm a sucker for sandwiches, especially if they are grilled) and setting it aside for the next day.  I can get by on less, I just love to eat delicious food.  It's all a matter of retraining myself.

My challenge for the next month:  work out 6 days a week, and at least two of those days will be double work-out days.

I'm a Salty Dog

I stepped on the scale this morning and I'm down another three and a half pounds from when I pouted about my weight, making it a total of 5.5 pounds that I've lost in just a couple days.  Looks like that excess salt came with a lot of excess water weight.

Yesterday was my first day of not additionally salting anything, and according to the Daily Plate, I was still over my recommended sodium intake by about 350mg.  This might sound like a fail to you, but when I looked back over my nutrition intake from the last couple weeks, I was averaging about 1000mg to 2000mg over my recommended dosage.  Some select days I was up to something like 4000mg of sodium in a day.  Yowza.

Today is day-three of no Coffeemate.  I had two cups of French press coffee, black, and not an ounce of me wanted to break down and buy creamer.  My two slices of peanut butter toast may have had something to do with that - the peanut butter was sweet and creamy enough that it almost felt like I needed the black coffee to cut the richness.

Tomorrow evening I leave for Sacramento for a friend's wedding.  Wish me luck in staying on track!

A Belly Flop and Breakfast

I'm not going to tell you about how much I ate and drank over the weekend, but I will tell you I felt like a salt-cured pig by last night.  I weighed myself and pouted about it, not that I was surprised.  Usually I can tell if I'm retaining water because I feel it in my fingers, but I was feeling it all over my whole body, even my shins.  Before I went to bed I chugged a ton of water and over night, I kid you not, I sweat out two pounds of water.  Maybe more.  I have no idea what the weight of the water was that I had between when I stepped on the scale and when I went to bed.  The biology nerd in me is thinking, "Whoa!  That's awesome!"   But also, truthfully it's kinda gross.

Either way I look at it, I woke up this morning feeling a lot better.  Not 100%, but at least I didn't feel like Violet Beauregarde anymore.  Since I was awake at 5:30 and there was no chance I was going to fall back asleep, I decided to go for a run.  It felt fantastic to be running, so I increased my speed a little.  Michael Jackson came on my ipod and I went into the zone.  I was rockin' and rollin' around a tight corner when my toe caught on some rockery.  I desperately tried to catch my balance, but it was all in vain... I had too much forward motion, and I was going down no matter what.  As I watched the pavement rush toward me (in slow motion, of course), I had to decide how exactly I wanted to take the impact.  With the footing I had left, I hurled myself forward in an attempt to miss as much of the concrete as possible and land on the parking strip. 

Now as if that's not enough of a visual, picture this:  as I'm plummeting toward the ground I'm thinking, "I don't want to hurt my wrists," so I throw back my arms.  Then I realize I'm about to face plant and get all worried about my teeth, so I throw my head back, lock open my mouth so my teeth don't bite down, and stick out my midsection to bear the brunt of the impact (yes, this is all going through my mind in the half second it took to actually fall).  So I belly flop onto the grass, mouth open, looking skyward.  I think I let out a noise that sounded like "huah!" when I hit the ground.  I can't remember; my adrenaline was pumping pretty good.

Stunned, I sat up on my knees and surveyed the damage.  Grass stains all down my front, a hole in my coat, and part of the plastic zipper shredded.  Otherwise, I was golden.  The woman who was parking her car as I was diving toward the grass leaned her head out the window.  I have no idea what she said, but I'm assuming she was asking if I broke anything.  Just my pride, girlfriend.  I was still catching my breath, so I gave her a thumbs up and got to my feet.  I was only about a half mile into the run, so I thought I'd finish it.  When I got back to the apartment, I snapped a pic with my phone so you could see the damage.  It's grainy, so I've embellished it for you:

Awesome, right?  I really wish you could see all the levels of green in the grass stains.  They're all over the front of the jacket, but it looks like the camera on my phone only picked up the darkest parts.  I can't believe I wasn't hurt at all.  Looks like this girl knows how to fall.

Then I made myself a delicious breakfast of egg white tacos with black beans and zucchini.  No added salt.  For those of you who know me well, you also know that me not add a shake or three of salt is HUGE.  I thought the tacos would be bland and boring but they were actually delicious.

Also, as you can see today was day-one without Coffeemate.  I'm going off it.  It's not good for me and I don't need it.  I haven't decided if I'm going to allow a weekend cup or not.  Right now I'm going to play it by ear and definitely abstain on week days. Wish me luck.

Balancing Indulgences

Sometimes it's ok to drink 4 glasses of wine in an evening.  Sometimes it's ok to have little extra snacks outside of meals.  Probably best not to do both in one evening.

The Elephant in the Room

I know I am super late posting my update.  I have a million excuses, but this blog is about not hiding behind excuses, and so I dug a picture out of my recent adventures to tack onto my stats.  Here's the ugly truth:  I fluctuated in weight a lot this month.  I had many glasses of wine and late dinners.  I was putting off weighing in as long as possible.

This morning I stepped on the scale and got the exact weight I brought to you last month.  I did, however, lose an inch of my chest, waist, and hips.  This caused my body fat percentage to read higher than last time.  Curious.  I'm beginning to question the accuracy of those calculators.

May will be a better month.

Small Steps and Trying New Things

I'm finding that when I get busy I let my fitness plan suffer.  To me, this is an indicator that I am approaching it wrong.  Sure, I want to work toward an ultimate goal and keep the big picture in mind, but when my schedule is full, as it has been lately, it helps me more to focus on smaller tasks to keep on track that way.

Abby and I discussed, and it seems that the secrets to our success in dropping extra poundage two years ago were in focusing on specific changes:

• drink more water
• eat more fiber
• cut out beer
• spend more time walking

Anyone can do these things, and there is no room for excuses.

It's time to go back to those simpler times and reteach ourselves good habits and make those priorities.  It seems easy when it's not a complete overhaul.  Today's goal:  drink a hell of a lot of water.  It's an easy thing to forget, so taking a day to be conscious of it might just help kick-start that habit again.

Another thing I'm bringing into my life is an hour of gentle yoga.  I've never been really into yoga, but it's worth a shot, right?  My mom gave me some yoga dvds she was bored with, and I'm enjoying them quite well.

The one I've been focusing on lately, Yoga for the Young at Heart, is actually perfect for what I'm looking for: serious stretching.  I may have mentioned that my right knee has been sensitive recently.  I've talked to a physical therapist and gone to see a massage therapist, and the general consensus has been that I need to be stretching more, and stretching right.  In this dvd, SWW doesn't have you do any crazy poses - it's all really simple and low key, but very targeted.  Here's to hoping this works!

Regrets and Regressions

The past week has been one long over-indulgence and disregard for what I know is good for me.  in addition to enjoying the culinary side of life in excess, I ignored my promise to my body to stop eating wheat products.  When I stepped on the scale a few days ago I confirmed what I already knew: much of my hard work was undone.  I was even chided by my wii fit, not that I didn't deserve it.  You can see how puffy I am in the picture; most of it is due to wheat consumption.  I regret my absence of will-power and lack of determination to stay on track, and the way my body felt as a result, but we're here to admit our mistakes and move on to focus on positive progress, so let's look ahead.

Sunday evening I paid for what I've done with a long walk in my neighborhood, and then vowed to do better the next day.  I did.  I got some brisk, low-impact exercise in at lunch, skipped snacks and sweets, drank no empty calories, and had a lovely (gluten-free, thankfully) sushi dinner.  I feel a whole lot better today.

Yesterday:

Total Calories: 1627

Net Calories: 1424 (45 under)

H2O Intake: 40 oz

Total Exercise: 45 min

Cardio: 0 min

monthly weigh-in!

Weekends.  Weekends are my challenge.  I love checking in each weekday about sticking to my plan... or not.  However, weekends are sticky.  I like to go with the flow, have drinks with dinner, and generally eat whatever.  It's been two months now and I'm not exactly losing weight at a break-neck pace, but the numbers are still going down and that's a good thing.  I still have about 10 lbs to go.  I don't think I can do it in a month, but maybe two?  I do feel less doughy, and my waist is a lot smaller than it used to be.

I decided to take this week off running for knee sensitivity issues, and I'm going to rely on my own determination at the gym.  My circuit training cardio plan has been good for keeping the boredom at bay (limit only 10 min per machine) and my buddy Jeff has been singing the praises of interval training on the elliptical machine so I'll give that a whirl as well.

And as always, it's all about portion control.  I love eating and when I taste something delicious, it's hard for me to stop.  I read something in Shape yesterday that might help: visualize the bikini bod.  I'm going to try that.

See y'all tomorrow with some stats to report!

will power: work for me, please!

 

This is what I saw sitting by the coffee pot when I walked into the office this morning.  Just so you're all aware, it's directly behind me on the other side of the partial wall.  I can smell the sweet fried goodness and fresh-brewed coffee right now.  I'm trying to tell myself it's not worth it on multiple levels: it will go straight to my ass, my fingers will swell, and my tummy will do somersaults.  That being said, they look so good and the maple iced old fashioned especially is taunting me.  Oh yeah, and wii told me I gained a pound since yesterday morning.  I'm positive it had something to do with the super-salty fries I had for dinner last night.  Sad face.

I have been working out regularly, which is an improvement.  My lunch-break gym trips are my saving grace.

Yesterday:

Total Calories: 1556

Net Calories: 1157 (91 under - not sure I believe this)

H2O Intake: 48 oz

Total Exercise: 30 min

Cardio: 30

Day before:

Total Calories: 1802

Net Calories: 893 (355 under)

H2O Intake: 80 oz

Total Exercise: 90 min

Cardio: 50

first monthly check-in

So I'm off to a positive start.  I've lost 4 lbs, 3.5 inches from my waist, 2.5 inches from my hips, 11% body fat (holy moly!), and am down 0.6 points on my BMI.  I want to continue to work toward my goal at a faster rate, but I want to make sure it's sustainable and realistic for my lifestyle.

I'm also feeling the need to keep myself accountable with more hard numbers, so each post I'm going to report what I did the day before to work toward my goal, diet-, exercise-, and hydration-wise.

Yesterday:

Net Calories: 1,778 (529 over)

H2O Intake: 40 oz

Total Exercise: 40 min

Cardio: 20 min

guilty.

I couldn't help it.  Even greater than my popcorn weakness is my cheese weakness.

Last week our office was host to a group who used our large conference room as a classroom space.   The acoustics of our building amplify everything.  We're used to it and adapt our voices to the environment.  These folks are used to regular buildings, and therefore made a ruckus.  As a thank-you and a peace-offering, they sent us a giant cheese plate today.  Brie.  Chevre.  Stilton.  I sampled everything and then went back for seconds.

I'm bustin' outta my belt, folks.  This is not cute.  I generally have a rule - if I've had a tasty treat and enjoyed it, I don't need to go back and get more.  Cheese apparently doesn't feel that my rules apply, and it insists I continue to indulge.  I can't say no!  Argh!

a serious test in restraint

Ladies, wish me well.  I have a whole tupperware of molasses spice cookies in my file cabinet drawer and I'm starving.  Not only did I make them with regular wheat flour (for other people), but I'm also trying to limit my carb intake to 55g per day.  I'm at 53.  Basically I need to eat a giant hunk of meat and nothing else.  That means none of these:

Oh the pain!

I'm pumped to get together with some of my favorite ladies tonight and tune in for another episode of Biggest Loser!  Maybe we'll wii-hulahoop too!

popcorn problem

I was doing so great yesterday.  I worked out twice, avoided treats, limited myself to one cup of coffee with coffee mate, and drank a ton of water.  Then I went to a movie with friends after work.  I was going to be strong, I really was.  I even ate two cups of greek yogurt (a protein powerhouse) so I would have better will power.  But I didn't realize how strong my love of popcorn is.

Ani said she'd split it with me, which made the idea of getting movie popcorn not such a bad idea.  Then I went ahead and ate the whole damn thing.  Sorry Anster; I didn't anticipate having that reaction.  I woke up this morning totally swollen and sleepy.  Dang salt.  I should probably just stay away from popcorn altogether.  It's for the best.

*As a side note, I would like to add that It's Complicated is definitely worth seeing and I LOVE Alec Baldwin even more than before.