Weight loss competition

I haven't done very well with my eating or with working out in the past few months. I could make a million excuses... oh I've been sick, too busy taking care of the kids... blah blah blah. The truth of everything is that I just haven't made taking care of myself a priority. I need to change that.

Tomorrow, I'm starting a weight loss competition along with some other Zumba ladies here in the KMC. I'm looking forward to it and hope it motivates me to get my butt in gear and move. I'm excited and nervous all at the same time. I hope I can do it this time.

New plan

I'm a pretty bad blogger aren't I? My blogging here disappeared right around the time my diet disappeared as well... But I'm here and back on track.
Weighed in at 204 this morning. Today was day 1 of P90X. I have NO idea how I am going to make it through this program. Not that it is sooo overwhelmingly hard or anything, I just have a hard time finding an hour a day to exercise consistently. I decided to get ready for bed at 9:30pm in order to wake up at 6:00am (before the kids, hopefully, most days) to do my days' exercise DVD.
My friend Christina was just here for a visit. She was really good about gently nudging me to get back on track with my eating. She is a great example for me to follow. That girl eats so many veggies and fruits, it's insane. :)
So, here's my update. I'm back, I'm focused, I'm motivated. :)

Vacation kicked my butt

I gained 2.5 pounds this week. Yuck. So once again I'm up to 205. I did too much eating and relaxing I guess! So this week, I started a new 6 week abs program (3 times per week) that I found in the Women's Health Training Guide. Both times I've done it this week, I've wanted to throw up for an hour afterwards. It doesn't make me want to keep doing it. Yuck...

I bought a few cookbooks last week and they arrived in the mail yesterday! I bought 2 from the Sneaky Chef and one called Deceptively Delicious. I bought a ton of ingredients and a food processor yesterday. Can't wait to get started! :)

what???

What the heck happened to my blog background? It just disappeared on me!!! I'm too tired to fix it right now... Later.

Going down!!!!

Today I weighed in at 202.5! Yahoooo! I call it the "get sick" diet. Works every time.

I haven't been to the gym in two weeks, but I HAVE been deep cleaning my house, which burns a surprising amount of calories. :)

Green Smoothie Recipes

Martin's been gone for about 10 days now, and I was 204 this morning. Yay! I've been drinking a green smoothie in the evenings to replace my supper. It's a nice nutritious one, so it's not like I'm not eating. I'm logging all my food diligently, and it's making a difference!

Smoothies are an easy way for me to get in my fruit servings, and by drinking "green" smoothies, I can sneak in extra servings of my green leafy vegetables. I feel like I'm getting a treat, and I've really discovered that I enjoy them. This week, I started trying milled flax seed in them and it thickens the smoothie really nicely, and I rather like the texture. It's probably not for everyone though! It adds healthy fats, fiber and protein to the mix.

Here's a recipe for one of my green smoothies (I use FROZEN fruits and veggies for all my smoothies, it's easier to just pour out what I want to use, and everything stays nice and fresh. Plus it makes for a nice cold smoothie):

PINEAPPLE/MANGO GREEN SMOOTHIE

1 cup collard greens

1/2 cup pineapple (about 6 chunks)

1/2 cup mango (about 6 chunks)

1 Tbsp Splenda

3 Tbsp ground/milled flax seed (optional)

1 1/2 cups water (can substitute milk for all or half for a creamy smoothie, good protein)

Dump everything into the blender and blend until smooth.

Calories 278

Fiber 15 g

Fat 11 g

Carb 35 g

Prot 9 g

PEACHY GREEN SMOOTHIE

1 cup turnip greens

1 cup peaches

1 Tbsp Splenda

3 Tbsp ground/milled flax seed (optional)

1 1/2 cups water (can substitute milk for all or half for a creamy smoothie, good protein)

Dump everything into the blender and blend until smooth.

Calories 246

Fiber 14 g

Fat 11 g

Carb 31 g

Prot 10 g

I use collards and turnip green interchangeably. They both are pretty mild in flavor, so they work really well in smoothies! Even 2 out of my 3 kids will help me drink these, especially the peach one! Yum. :)

OK!

I have this persistent tickle in my throat that I have concluded must be due to the "ash cloud" from Iceland. It has kept me tired and fatigued. That, and the fact that I have had a steady trickle of children and other visitors flowing in and out of my house for the past two weeks. Some leave and the next ones come in. My house is sooo trashed. Laundry is overflowing. Same complaints as always but magnified because of how I feel physically and also because there really IS more dirt and laundry to do with all the extra people! haha. And less time to do it because I'm "entertaining". Despite my whining right now, I really have had a lot of fun the last two weeks!

I decided yesterday that even if I can't make it to the gym because of my schedule and feeling fatigued, I can still watch my eating better. Yesterday was good! Yesterday I weighed in at 208.5. I felt really fat all day, but I tried to be careful about what I ate and I logged everything. This morning I felt thinner and I weighed myself. 207!!! There we go! Now the scale is tipping the right direction. I know it's silly, but I really need to see some sort of result in order to stay motivated!!!

Anyway, there's a little update on me. Now I need to check on my 3 kids + 1 extra to make sure they are not reconstructing the living room...

Ug...

I haven't done very well this week. Still trying, but not so good. I'm not feeling the best, so I haven't felt motivated to get to the gym much. I will try to go to Zumba in the morning if that works out. I haven't even weighed myself this week, because I'm scared! LOL

Still here

Well, I've had a few good days with eating, and a few not so good days... But the good thing is that I've been back to the gym and running again! :)

The bad thing is that my right arch is hurting me. :( I talked to my yoga instructor today, and she thinks it may be plantar fasciitis. It hurts and sort of spasms when I stretch it and put pressure on it for an extended time. I have also noticed for several months now that my heel aches in the morning, or after a period that I haven't used it. I need to see a doctor about it to get it formally diagnosed, but that is totally what it sounds like. :( And that is chronic. Ug. That bites. But I'll figure out how to work with it.

Zumba tomorrow again! :)

Ooof.

Boy, this weekend was rough. I had a GREAT Monday through Friday with my workouts AND my eating. Things were just falling in place and I was getting in my burn PLUS more every day. And then Easter hit. And chocolate and cake and barbeques with friends. I really overate the past two days. :( But tomorrow is another Monday, and I'll get back into the swing of it. The kids go back to school on Tuesday so I'll get back into my nice new routine.

Feelin' good!

I've had a good couple of days with my eating. I did eat 1 1/2 chocolate croissants yesterday, but still had a 1000 cal deficit at the end of the day thanks to Zumba! That class rocks and I was surprised to learn that I burned nearly 800 cal during the class. I don't really feel like I'm "working out", it's so fun! There were 120 people in class last night. It was like a big party!

I feel like I've figured out a few good things about my eating, which is helping me to stay in my calorie range. I just don't NEED a big breakfast. I usually have my dry Fiber One cereal mixed with Craisins and a yogurt. That tides me over easily until lunch, even when I work out. When I work out, I do usually have a protein shake or smoothie afterwards. I had been trying to eat a bigger breakfast in order to avoid the mid-afternoon munchies I always seem to get, but it doesn't seem to matter! So, I'll stick with the smaller breakfast and snack smarter!

This morning, I did not go to spin and yoga. Instead, I spent an hour on the elliptical and then walked a few laps on the track as a cool down. That was a great workout and my legs are like jello right now, they are so tired!

Weigh-in

This morning I weighed in at 208.5! Progress. I always want it to go faster, but the scale is definitely tipping the right way!

Last week I did make it to my spinning and yoga class on Monday. Tuesday, Martin worked late so I didn't go to Zumba, but I did run stairs and jog at home. Wednesday, I ran a mile and did yoga. Thursday, I planned to go to Zumba, but again, Martin worked late so it didn't work out. Friday, I worked out on the eliptical for 30 min and then the treadmill for 30 min. Saturday, I went to Zumba! Not perfectly according to my plan, but I have been out and moving.

My eating is getting better. Not perfect yet. Work in progress...

I love my bodybugg. It's a pretty neat gadget. When you set it up, it lays out a plan for you based off of your body and current fitness and plans for you to reach your goal through setting up a daily "burn" or calorie deficit. It uses the basic mathematical principle of "calories in - calories burned = weight loss or gain". No gimmicks or fads. Just basic common sense. But the fact that you can see it all laid out on the computer screen makes it very real.

My program was based off of what I reported my activity level as: moderate to low. Or at least that's what I thought! I was recommended to try a 1600 calorie diet and then burn 2600 calories per day. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to eat under 2000 calories a single day. But the good thing is that I easily exceed 2600 on days that I am active. So I adjusted the plan so that I now eat 2000 calories a day and my goal is to burn 3000. It's a tough goal to reach most days, but as long as I end the day with a deficit at all, I should still be losing weight, just at a slower pace.

You'll notice that 1600 cal in and 2600 cal burned = 1000 deficit. And the updated program of 2000 cal in and 3000 cal burned = 1000 deficit. That 1000/day calorie deficit should equal out to about 2 lbs of weight loss per week, which is my goal. And the program even told me that if I am able to accomplish that (-2 lbs/wk), I should reach my goal weight of 155 lbs by October 8. :)

I honestly haven't gotten my 1000 deficit yet, it's been more like 300 or 150. But I'm still figuring out how I can manage my eating better. I tend to overeat in the afternoons and after the kids go to bed. I love to snack. I decided I'm not going to eat after supper, unless it's just an apple or yogurt. And that will be only if I really NEED it. I tried eating bigger breakfasts, but that just put my calorie intake WAAAY up. So I'll stick with my normal breakfast that works for me, and try to snack more sensibly in the afternoon.

As for my workout plan this week:

MONDAY

I already went and did 30 min eliptical and 60 minutes yoga!

TUESDAY

I HAVE to catch up on housework, so I will focus on my steps today.

Zumba in the evening (60 min)

WEDNESDAY

Spinning (60 min)

Yoga (60 min)

THURSDAY

Zumba (60 min)

FRIDAY

Treadmill/Eliptical (60 min)

SATURDAY

Zumba (60 min)

SUNDAY

Walk? Recovery day.

Long post, but I had lots to catch up on! :)

I'm still here!

I promise I will update my progress better today or tomorrow. So far I really like my bodybugg. I'm still figuring out the program and I have to do some troubleshooting because every 1 time out of 3, I have to reinstall the driver to sync my bodybugg with my computer. Martin doesn't have that problem with his, but he's got a regular PC not a Mac. I have rarely had problems with this, but I guess this is one! There are Mac specific help items on the bodybugg website, so I 'll get it figured out!

I stepped on the scale this morning and I'm at 211. I FEEL lighter. Perhaps because I haven't eaten breakfast yet? LOL... OK, gotta get the kids ready for the day and then run errands. I need to get to the gym as planned, but we are junking the white car today, so I HAVE to be there to sign some paperwork. Hopefully that won't take long...

Do SOMETHING!

Haha, it seems to be the theme today between me and my sis. Maybe I can't work out perfectly and as intensely as I think I should, but as long as I do SOMETHING, it will benefit me.

Today, I went to spin class AND yoga! Yay! Two gold stars for me. :) And as a reward, my bodybugg came in the mail! Double yippee! I've been setting up my program little by little this afternoon between getting the kids down for nap, showering myself after the gym, and getting snackies for us all.

Kids are all busy, gotta go...

Perfectionism

Perfectionism. It's the name of one of the little devils that helped me get to where I am now. Ironic, isn't it? Perfectionism, the force that drives me to be “perfect” has taken me to a place that is quite imperfect.

I consider myself to be quite a logical person when it comes to most things, but my eating one area that I am madly illogical.

I am an “all or nothing” person with my diet. If I can't do it right, then why try? So in the past, I either go to the gym AND eat perfectly, or I stuff my face with everything that I can find and sit on the couch. There just seems to be no middle ground. In my flawed way of thinking, if I eat a Snickers bar, I've screwed up the entire day. So I may as well finish off the day with 2 cheeseburgers, a bag of Funyuns, 2 bowls of Ben and Jerry's ice cream with extra fudge topping, and maybe even the rest of my son's bag of gummy bears (even though I know I'll hear about that from him tomorrow). By doing that, I turned a 300 calorie treat into a 3000 calorie disaster. When I step on the scale later that week and see that I gained a pound, what can I blame? Did that Snickers bar make me gain a pound? NO! It was my negative catastrophic attitude. My perfectionism helped me to fail.

I need to learn to let it go. Just move forward. And it's a great time to practice since I'm going into a new week. As far as dieting goes, I always count my weeks as starting on Monday.

I have grand plans for working out this week. Lofty goals. Perhaps I am going into my perfectionism phase and planning too big, but I'm hoping that if I hit it hard and see some results, I will be more motivated to keep going. Plus I just watched the Biggest Loser, and I feel inspired to push myself further than I usually think I can.

Here's my tentative workout plan for the week:

MONDAY

Spin class (1 hour) followed by yoga (1 hour). Yoga is optional and only if I feel good after spin, and if the kids are able to all go to preschool for long enough for me to do it!

TUESDAY

Zumba! (1 hour) Wow, soooo fun! I went to my first class on Saturday, I totally forgot to blog about it! But it was so fun that I actually went and found videos on youtube just so I could relive the fun-ness... Time passed so fast during that class that I didn't even realize I was exercising, and sweat was pouring down my face!

WEDNESDAY

Spin (1 hour) and yoga (1 hour)

THURSDAY

Zumba (1 hour)

FRIDAY

Spin (1 hour) and yoga (1 hour)

SATURDAY

Zumba (1 hour)

SUNDAY

Break day, go for a walk and take some Motrin.

Wish me luck. I'll be back to update on my progress throughout the week. My BodyBugg should be here this week sometime too! I'm so excited!!!

Whoops.

Last night, I did indeed have my salad, and it was AWESOME. A nice bed of fresh lettuce sprinkled with feta cheese, pomegranate, vegetarian turkey burger chopped up, and spritzed with balsamic vinaigrette. Delicious and surprisingly satisfying!

However, so far today, I'm not doing so good. Really.

I had 2 pastries, 2 big candy bars, 2 pieces of stuffed crust pizza on top of all the other semi-healthy things that I should be eating. Why do I do everything in twos? And now I feel sick and guilty. Oh, and I did not exercise. Not doing so great at losing my "mom butt" today...

Consistent

"Consistent"

What does it mean?

Right off the bat, it brings to mind boring mundane normal-ness. Doing the same thing over and over. Being consistent seems so much less fun than being spontaneous. But being spontaneous when it comes to diet often leads to impulse eating. On that note, when's the last time you impulse ate a carrot or a salad? Why is it always the fattening, sugar or salt loaded things we impulse eat?!? Because it's mindless. If I PLANNED before I just jumped in and ate, I would not eat the crap I've been eating.

Being consistent means I know what to expect. It means I plan to succeed. “If I fail to plan, I plan to fail.” That is a quote taken straight from my dad, who no doubt got it from somebody else!

So for the rest of today and for tomorrow, I'm going to PLAN MY MEALS right now. I'm going to plan to succeed the rest of today, even though I did eat two chocolate croissants after I dropped off my kids at preschool. All is not lost.

In other news, Martin is working late tonight, and I'm using that as an excuse to not go to the gym. I should have gone this morning, but I did not. I did, however, clean my house. I'm also going to do laundry standing up. And I'm going to have a salad with vegetarian "turkey" for supper. :)

Ooooh, boy. The truth hurts.

I came back on vacation three days ago and stepped on the scale. The bright red digital numbers screamed 215 at me. 215.

How did this happen? The only two times I've seen such a number when I was standing on the scale were the two times I was in late-pregnancy stages... Unbelievable. And I did it all on my own this time!

My sweet little sissy has been blogging her weight loss journey, so I figured I'd join her. Misery loves company. Just kidding, that's not why I'm doing this! I'm hoping the accountability will help me face the truth about where my body is right now, and help me visualize where I want to be in 3 months, in 6 months, in a year.

I'm 31 years old now. I don't want to live in this heavy body for the rest of my life, having joint problems and high blood pressure. I want my clothes to feel good on my body. I want to have more energy so I can play with my boys. I want to live with no regrets, and being overweight for a length of time will hold me back in countless ways. I want to feel younger at 32 than I did when I turned 30!!!

Lofty goals? Perhaps. Attainable? Definitely!

I'm going to choose a word to focus on periodically, and my first word is going to be:

CONSISTENT

More to come on that.