Muscle Bound

Yesterday marked the end of my eight-week insurance program; I managed to log my intake and exercise for every day of that time, and lost a total of 19.6#.
I was hoping to go over 20, but only lost 0.2# this week, I suspect because of my Easter celebration, dining out last night and time off from work last week. I didn't work out at all last Wed., and Thur./Fri. I counted housework as exercise. I did take a killer hike on Saturday, and picked up working out Mon. (power pump weight training class @ the Y) and Tue. (a brutal 30-min. spin class followed by 30 min. on an elliptical). This morning I went to 30-min. spin. It seems to be time to pick up the exercise.
Another bummer is that, the less you weigh, the less you burn per activity, and the fewer calories you are recommended to eat. That will take some adjustment.
I'm trying not to get impatient and frustrated. As long as the needle continues to work its way down, I can keep the motivation going. I continue to feel more fit with each week that passes, and I'm not sleepy at 2 in the afternoon (I'm sure the iron helps!). At 218.4#, I'm still 59.4# from my goal weight of 159. UGH!! At the rate I'm going, I should hit goal and retire the same week!
After the 8-wk program, I immediately started on a 2-wk follow-up, so the logging continues. It helps to stay focused. One trick I play on myself is to log the calories of what I PLAN to eat; then I know that I've already written it down, and how much it would add to my daily total if I doubled up on anything on impulse. Nobody said it would be easy; but it is totally doable. I hope that you are doing well, too.
One hour, one day, one week at a time!

On Holiday

Easter. The first holiday landmine of my weight-loss program.
I started off well, with a breakfast sandwich made from a 100-calorie bagel (those flat ones), an egg, a little feta and a little cheddar.
I stayed out of the Easter candy; in fact ate nothing else until I got to my Aunt's house at 2:30. Then I ate ham, mashed potatoes and gravy (about a full tablespoonful), hashed brown potato casserole (about 1/3 cup), green beans, 1/4-1/3 cup broccoli casserole, 2 meatballs, 1/3 cup red jell-o with a pretzel & cream cheese crust, 1/4 cup corn pudding, one dinner roll w/ butter, and 2 glasses of red wine.
Wait- I wasn't through yet. I had a small rice krispy treat, a small piece of peanut butter pie, and a piece of cheesecake. I came home and had some jelly beans for good measure, and I'm contemplating having a brownie.
This is actually a demonstration of restraint compared with holidays past. I kept the portions small, but had everything I wanted. You don't have these foods everyday, so I feel comfortable that I will be right back on track tomorrow. We'll see what Tuesday brings, but I know that my actions have consequences.
Last night, knowing this was coming, I took a major hike of approx. 6 miles with major hills- an hour and forty minutes. It was a significant workout. There was none significant today; just a bit of housework.
I'm bothered that I feel something like failure from one freaking holiday. I'm trying not to over-emphasize or analyze it in my mind, but that's what I do. It's just food, it's just a day, as they say it's not what you eat on holidays, but what you eat in between them that does the damage.
Of course I hear the rationalized and bargaining tone of this post, and I don't like it. That's the burden that chubbies carry, and I believe wholeheartedly that with a chubbie's mentality, it is impossible to change your life. And isn't that the goal, after all?
Sometimes it feels a long way off. 

The Magic of 49

Week 7 weight: 218.6. Down 3.2# this week, and 19.4 overall! that's 0.6 away from 20!
I'm 49 years old, and in 49 days I've accomplished 25% of my goal.
The process hasn't evolved without struggle. I had a day when I came home early, and ate dinner immediately (3pm). That's always been an issue of mine; wanting to eat the minute I walk through the door, regardless of the time of day. It's one reason why I don't mind working late; at least then I arrive home at a reasonable time to EAT. After all, isn't that what keeps the universe spinning on its axis?
Anyway, that day I ate, felt a guilty about it, felt tired and took to the couch to watch tv. I thought about what reverting to old habits and behaviors would do to me. It was all cons, no pros.
I got up, changed, and made it to the Y by "suppertime". And worked my tail off, when I hadn't felt like it, and it felt great. Working out took that 'dead space' out of my evening, so there was no danger of eating dinner AGAIN (believe me, I've done it). I can see why that would sound completely piggish to some people, but chubbies understand. We do irrational, sometimes piggish, things.
But hey, we're funny. And smart. Complex. And fun at parties.
Carry on, friends.

Week Six, Still Alive!

WEEK SIX WEIGHT: 221.8#; that's 2 pounds for the week, and 16.2# overall.
Calories in: 1844
Calories burned: 1005
Net:            839
Exercise: 30 min on an elliptical and I used a technique my son taught me; go as fast as you can for the final 15 seconds of every minute. There was a 5 min. cool-down on that machine, then I got brave and tried the stationary climber for 15 minutes with a 3 min. cool-down. WHEW!! I knew I had done somethin'! Then I stretched to make it a full hour.
I haven't posted for a week; it seemed boring to me to post what I ate and did every single day; I mean, who cares? I guess that's the point of a blog, but it started to seem like a bit much.
Don't for a second take that to mean that I've abandoned the plan- not at all. I have done some type of work-out or activity every day, and continue to eat balanced, healthy meals and snacks. For example, today's bkfst., Special K with sliced strawberries and almond milk. lunch, spring mix salad w/ grape tomatoes, cucumber, chopped red pepper, edamame, garbanzos, blueberries, and strawberries with light ranch dressing, and a serving of Special K crackers. Dinner, a cornbread-mix casserole that I make with bulk sausage, eggs, spinach, peppers, mushrooms, a little leftover smashed red potato, and cottage cheese; about 1 and 1/2 cups, then about a cup of leftover mac n' cheese with veggies in it. Snack: 4 cups popcorn with 1/4 cup lowfat granola and 1 tbsp raw almonds and some diet cranberry juice cocktail (5 calories a serving; I love the stuff).
My daily diet is pretty much like that; some days I'll do the egg beaters and veggies for bkfst with one of those thin, 100-calorie bagels, I'm trying to up the fruit and veggie servings daily, I eat lean meats, whole-grain pasta, sugar-free, fat-free puddings, etc. My daily caloric range is generally 1400-1800/day, although I usually have a 2000-3000 calorie day at least once a week, and I don't fret about it. I just keep exercising, and the pounds are being shed slowly but steadily.
I've increased the intensity of my workouts as I can tolerate more. I change it up to avoid plateauing and boredom; doing spin class, 'power pump' weight training class, walking outside, elliptical machine, spring cleaning, and dancing.
I still drink wine, about two nights a week; one to three glasses, depending. Surprisingly, I drink most often on work nights, not weekends (what does that tell you?)!
Overall, I'm doing well and feeling better. I still have quite a way to go, but I don't dwell on that.
The class that I went to last night was held in a room with a mirrored wall, and I found that I could bear to look at myself, which was good. You know how we tend to use shoulders-up mirrors... Still big, but stronger and toned.
Accentuate the positive.
Hope you're doing well, too.

Cinco de Weeko



Week 5 Weight:  223.8. Another 2.2# down!
Calories in: 1488

Calories burned: 773

Net:           715

Exercise: 30 min. on elliptical, 10 min. stair climbing.

I've changed up the mode on the elliptical; I'd been using 'fat burn' mode, which targets a lower heartrate, and doesn't really work you out. 'Cardio' mode, targets a higher heartrate (think 115 vs 157); so you're working harder. I used the machine with the arm movement also, for a more complete workout. The stair climbing is actually at work; I take the stairs ANYTIME I change floors, which is probably more than ten minutes, but I'd rather err on the lower side than take credit for too much burn.

I'd been feeling very tired, napping, getting sleepy at 2:00 in the afternoon, and didn't feel well overall for all of my healthful efforts. I saw the Dr. and had some labwork done; and I'm anemic/iron deficient. That explains it! So I'm taking a multivitamin with iron in the morning, and an extra iron tablet in the evening. I'm looking for foods that are good iron sources. It might be my imagination, but I'm feeling better after just a few days.

Today's meals: Bkfst, honey nut cheerios, almond milk, banana & blueberries. Lunch, 1 1/2 cups whole wheat spaghetti & sauce made with ground turkey w/ a little parmesan and an orange. Dinner, homemade lentil/black bean/tomato soup (LOTS of iron!) and Special K herb crackers. Snack, 1 cup mixed berries with 1/2 cup cool whip free.

I've rewarded myself with a few new clothing items, which is nice. Looking forward to Spring (the warm one) when I can break them out. Knowing I'll be wearing them is incentive to keep on going.

Gotta play head games with myself :-) So far, it's working.

Go Speed Racer Go-o!

And another weekend comes to a close... hate that they're so short!
Saturday calories in:  1580
Calories burned:         878
Net:                              705
Exercise: 45-min. spin class, 20 min. walking.
Sunday calories in:  1958
Calories burned:       407
Net:                           1551
Exercise:  45-min. 5k walk event (well... it was a run event, but we walked.)
I took Friday off and didn't exercise at all. I had the day off from work, and just relaxed, watched a movie, shopped, and recharged.  I did make some lentil soup that was to-die-for; I need to make more.
Saturday I got up and went to spin class; it was an intense session, but I loved it. Spin appears to be my 'thing'. It's amazing that I could barely endure a 30-minute session 5 months ago, and now can go all-out for 45. Sweating is great!
Today's event was held at Long Point State Park. The course, along the lake, was beautiful, the sun was shining, and we enjoyed it immensely. We pushed it and finished in 46 minutes, or roughly 3, 15-minute miles (4mph; a decently brisk pace). It's humbling to see the participants who, having finished (running) in under 30 minutes, come jogging casually back to check on the rest of us. But Daddy & I (Mike, my husband) at ages 54 & 49, were pleased with our finish; which we accomplished without dying. And they had coffee in the pavillion!
Meals Saturday: Bkfst, honey nut cheerios, almond milk, blueberries. Lunch, lentil soup, Special K crackers, sf/ff chocolate pudding with sf cool whip. Dinner, 1 pc. of homemade, deep dish pizza.
Meals Sunday: Bkfst, 1 pc. wheat toast w/ peanut butter & all-fruit raspberry jelly, Lunch, the other pc. of toast, a leftover pc. of pizza, tossed salad, and 1/2 cup sf ice cream. Dinner, pb& j sandwich with banana slices, Barbara's puffed cereal w/ almond milk and blueberries. It was a weird eating day.
Back to the napping thing; I slept 2 1/2 hours today! I'll be able to stay up and watch Meatloaf go ballistic on the Celebrity Apprentice tonight.
One more thing I didn't mention in the 'Week Four' post- I lost 4 inches from my waist in the past month. Boo-yah!
Goal for this week; I'd like to get my real bike out of storage and give it a spin; see if the classes have made me more able to ride up hills. I hope so.
That is if it doesn't SNOW all week... Yeah, it's April in New York!

A Day off and a Night Out

Post for Thursday, March 31st.
Calories in:  2258
Calories burned: 1028
Net:             1230
Exercise: 45-minutes spin class, 15 minutes fast-dancing, 15 minutes laundry and 15 min. cleaning.
(I actually did laundry and cleaning for longer than I claimed, but tried to think about how much of that time was ACTIVE; i.e. climbing stairs, really moving, before taking credit.)
As for the night out, I went to Olive Garden... 2 glasses of wine at the bar, chatting and waiting for a table (it was packed), then a smoked mozzarella dip with bruschetta appetizer- 3 pcs., one breadstick ( noticed on my calorie-counting program that a serving is 1/2 breadstick; it would not even occur to me to eat half)- the Olive Garden salad, and Mixed Grill dinner of grilled beef and chicken medallions, roasted potatoes and zuchini/ yellow squash mix. And one more glass of wine. We had a great time- when you go there, you're making an evening of it!
In what way is this balanced, you might ask?
Because I knew I would be going out, I ate light for breakfast and lunch, so I went into the evening with <800 calories for the day. I also burned extra calories by going to an intense midday spin class (a 30 minute class, but I got there 15 min. early and pedalled the entire time).  Before that I cleaned the kitchen, did a few loads of laundry, tidied up the house (all a total of about 2 hrs steady activity) and took some time to dance- fast dancing to your favorite music is a fun way to work up a sweat.  You're all by yourself; get intense!
I do like my wine. My insurer's healthy living program recommends drinking less than daily, and never more than three drinks in one day. I use that as a guideline. Yes, they are calories that I could cut, but as they say, Life is Short. I went with my son, and he could see a difference in me over the past month, which was encouraging. Good company, great conversation, good food and good wine.
I've got my priorities straight!