She's Getting There

My Spark Blog

2009-06-05T10:58:00.000-07:00

So, now that I'm tracking both my fitness & writing goals on sparkpeople.com it's much easier just to use the blog there to make entries throughout the day. I have blogged about 5 times in the last 3 days as a result. I'm pasting today's latest blog below, but if you want to see the rest, please visit my Spark Blog. If you do, you'll see a link that says "Subscribe to this blog" which you can do... but only if you first register for Spark People. Registering is free, only takes a minute, and you can set your options so they don't send you any newsletters or anything else but my blog. I have never received any spam as a result of signing up for Spark People. If you want to really stay up to date with what I'm doing, I suggest you take a minute to register & subscribe. Otherwise, I'll probably try to post on this blog about once a week or so.
That said, here is today's latest blog:

"Ugh."

I so seriously want to be asleep right now! Not because I'd normally be sleeping at this time, but because I went to bed half an hour late and got woken up 45 minutes early. The second I opened my eyes I felt a headache and as soon as I got out of bed my lower back informed me that it was either not happy with the position in which I slept, or the exercises I put it through yesterday, or both. Whatever the reason, it had decided to punish me by being extremely stiff and painful.

I do NOT want to be up, but since I have no choice in the matter, I think I'll try some stretches to try and make my back a little happier and maybe pop a couple tylenol for the headache.

On today's exercise schedule.... well stretching, like I said, and then some elliptical later this evening. I don't particularly like to use the machines, but when I do the elliptical is my favorite. I still don't have a IRL workout buddy (thought I did, but they never got back to me about a set date & time) so going for an early morning jog or hike was out - I just won't get up that early unless someone is meeting me. And today the only half interesting classes started about an hour ago and I just couldn't bring myself to "get up and go" this morning. So I'm going to pray for something interesting to be on the tv's at the gym for a change and try to bang out at least a level 8 intensity for at least 30 min tonight. I'm kinda dreading it cuz machines are SO boring for me now, but .... not much other choice and I do NOT want to skip a day when I am doing so well.

I love ZUMBA!

2009-06-02T12:54:00.000-07:00

I actually got up early this morning just to go to Zumba!

Luke came in at 8:30 to ask when I wanted him to set my alarm for. I told him 8:30. He said "It is 8:30." I said "8:45". So he set it and went out to finish getting ready for work. Then 5 minutes later we got a wrong number (and I swear the guy sounded TOTALLY wasted!) which I answered since the phone was right next to my head. After I hung up I started to try to go back to sleep, but then from the foggy recesses of my mind surfaced the thought that today was Tuesday, which triggered the reminder that I would get to go to Zumba tonight. I started to drift off again when another thought surfaced: "Oh wait, they have 10am class. I wanted to go to that." And then something miraculous happened.

I got up.

I didn't lay there deliberating and vacillating like I do most mornings I have to get up "early" for something (even something that cannot be cancelled). I just...got up! And I was ....gasp....happy.

Okay, so you're probably thinking 8:40am is NOT early. Well, for me it is. Especially after the sleep deprived extended weekend I just endured. (For details visit my newest blog at http://justanotherdayinparadise.webs.com/)

So anyway, I totally enjoyed the class even though I had to rush so much to get there on time that I only managed to get down one bite of a PB sandwich and one gulp of milk before dashing out the door and leaving my breakfast on the counter. (Meanwhile the kids, of course, had full bellies.) Still, when I left, I felt totally motivated. I am determined to start living my life differently. I am going to stop avoiding the stuff I hate and JUST DO IT. Because I will be happier and everyone around me will be happier if I do. To that end, I am finally going to just freaking CHOOSE an exercise support group and stop vacillating about which one and worrying over whether the group will be a good fit. If it's not I'll just join a different one- it's not the end of the world.

Sometimes my own fear of failure and embarrassment really annoys the crap out of me.

So anyway. That is what I am doing.

Right now I'm focusing on a few small but firm decisions.

I am going to divide my day by hour long sections and if something takes more or less time, whatever. It will work itself out. No more microscheduling- I can't stick to it.

The things I am most focused on accomplishing are these:

1 hour devoted to exercise each day + 1 hour prep & travel time
1 hour devoted to working on my novel each day
2 hours devoted to Ethan's school time each day
and a minimum of 1 hour devoted to cleaning/picking up the house each day

The Complete Truth

2009-05-28T10:00:00.000-07:00

Okay, here I am in May, almost June and I have yet to establish a regular exercise routine. Have I been busy? Yes. Could I have found the time to exercise anyway? Yes. I recently realized the truth is I just have a bad attitude about it. Deep down I felt like, well we're hoping I get pregnant again in the relatively near future, anyway, and then I'll gain back anything I've lost, so what's the point? Also, many things have seemed out of my control lately and I've been self medicating with food again. I've been eating when I want, what I want, and how much I want.

And I am sick of myself.

I finally reached the "Enough!" moment yesterday. I was watching a show about losing weight and I just decided I was tired of being so over weight and I was tired of being so glutenous with my food and feeling like crap as a result. I know I can change these things and that's what I'm going to do.

So, the fire, at long last has finally been lit under my butt. However, I know myself well enough to know that without something fanning it, it will quickly fade and go out. So.... I'm looking for a support system. The first thing I've found that should help is a class at my gym that I absolutely love! It's called Zumba and it's like combining all my favorite home exercise videos with the extra fun of other real people. On top of that, the style of the class is such that if I'm totally beat one day, I can still show up and just do a half-crap job. No one will say a thing and I'll be happy just to have done *something* that day.

As great as the class is, it only meets once a week and eventually I'm going to need to more. Also, I know me, and if I'm going to be successful, I'll need more personal support. Therefore, I have placed an ad on craigslist looking for someone to meet me at my gym 1-3 times a week. I'm not sure if this will work out or not, but I figured it couldn't hurt. I am also looking at the different online exercise message boards and online "teams" to see which will work best for me and might help keep me motivated. Last time I was successful it had a lot to do with a great online support group, so I'm really hoping that will be the case this time, too.

I'm also toying with the idea of doing an online photo diary of my success....not yet sure if I'm brave enough. We'll see.

Just in general lately I've been feeling overwhelmed by the list of things I want to accomplish every day. I've been resorting to my worst defense mechanism. I'm a lot like an ostrich. When I sense imminent danger (a.k.a. failure), I stick my head in the "sand" and pretend I can't see it (a.k.a. don't even try). This of course does nothing but make things worse. Rationally I know this, but even after all these years, I still find myself resorting to this behavior now and then. Good thing I've got a great husband who calls me on it and encourages me to get my head out of the sand and just take one step at a time.

A journey on hold

2009-02-17T17:08:00.001-08:00

First, our family got sick. Nothing major. Just colds that took turns moving from one family member to another. Of course I didn't go to the gym when I was sick, but then I couldn't go when the boys were sick because they wouldn't be accepted at Child Watch & because I wouldn't feel right dropping them off with strangers when they were so miserable. But eventually they got better.

Since then it has been one thing after another that has so completely monopolized my time that I have yet to return to exercising.

I have also fallen way off the track with my food choices and portion control.

I think, however, that I tried to take on too much too soon. I started about 5 major commitments around the same time and realized that it was just too much to keep up with. I am therefore going to take a step back and try to do things one at a time. As I have successfully integrated one new commitment into my life, then I will move on to the next.

With this in mind, I hope to return to exercise soon, but do not plan to immediately begin tracking my food again. I will wait until I have been successfully exercising for about a month. Then I will try integrating food tracking once more. It may take longer this way, but I feel more assured of success.

Poor Choices

2009-01-23T10:45:00.000-08:00

Well, this time around it looks like I am just too busy trying to accomplish too many things to post as regularly as I would like to. However, I am going to make it my goal to post at least once a week from now on. That said...

Last weekend I weighed myself to see how my first week of the new diet & exercise had effected my weight and.... I LOST 5 lbs IN THE FIRST WEEK! Woohoo! The first week went very well. I stuck to my diet, felt my stomach shrink so that I didn't feel hungry after a few days, and got in all the cardio & strength exercise prescribed by SparkPeople. :-D

However....

This past week has not gone nearly as well. I started off pretty good, sticking to my diet pretty good & even impressing myself with my exercise accomplishments on Monday. But then... my oldest child suddenly realized he hadn't truly lived up to the legendary "terrible twos" and decided he could make up for it with the "terrible threes". At least that's the only explanation I can think of. He has been a total terror for the majority of this week and has really pushed my stress level to the brink and beyond.

So, being an emotional eater... I then caved and in 3 days I ate a very large slice of cheese pizza from Costco, 3/4 slice of totally fattening Carrot Cake, 14-16oz of full blown Coke, 1/2 a whole beef hot dog (it didn't sit well), and I ate far larger portions of the healthy stuff than I should have.

In addition the stress, I also caught a cold that has given me an insatiable appetite while keeping anything from being truly satisfying. Thus rendering me unable to exercise & too tired/ambivalent to think clearly enough to even measure my portions let alone write them down or enter them on SparkPeople.

My husband had this cold first and if his experience is anything to go by, I am still just on the front end of this cold. :-( Never the less, I am determined to stop eating the junky comfort foods and start trying to measure at least half of my portions and write them down. If I can't exercise I can't afford to eat crappy or else I'll just gain back whatever I've lost.

That said, I did weigh myself this morning and.... I actually managed to still LOSE another 2lbs this week! I would have been satisfied with not having gained anything after the crappy choices I've been making. Losing 2lbs? I WILL TAKE IT! YEAH!

Now, back to my sick bed... but with a glass of juice instead of the bag of veggie chips keeping me company yesterday (90% of which is now gone anyway). I'd take water but this cold makes it taste awful.

Listen to the Experts

2009-01-05T01:11:00.000-08:00

Since my youngest is sick and has decided to keep me up late, I figured I'd get a little research in so my lost sleep would count for something. (He refuses to be put down & I can't let him cry or he'll keep up the rest of the house.) So I went ahead and researched the number of calories I should be eating each day. After checking with 3 or 4 different sites and calculating at least as many formulas, I then compared those results to what SparkPeople had already suggested for me on their site. Wondering how they came up with their numbers, I read their article explaining this and was impressed enough to just chuck my numbers in the trash. Seems those people actually know what they're doing (go figure ;-D ). So I'll just be using their recommended calorie range after all............ so much for doing something productive with my time. LOL Now if only there were a formula for convincing a sick child to go back to sleep!

Starting Measurements

2009-01-04T22:00:00.000-08:00

Okay so the measurements are in and here's where I'm starting from:

Today's wait at about 5pm = 204lbs.

Waist 43"
Hips 45.5"
Neck 13.5"
Thigh 28.5"
Calf 16.5"
Wrist 6.75"

Now, using those measurements and a handy little online calculator I discovered that I have approximately 28.4% body fat. Which means I am carrying around about 57.9lbs of fat. According to the website the calculator was on, this calculation should be accurate within 2% meaning my possible range is 26.4% - 30.4%. However, according to yet another calculator claiming to use formulas developed by the U.S. Navy & the YMCA, my body fat percentage is 42.32% or 41.65% respectively. So what should I believe? Well...I guess I believe that since I can't get an accurate water displacement measurement... I won't be worrying too much about that body fat percentage and focusing on the other more reliable numbers.

I've also chosen a new calorie counting website: www.sparkpeople.com And I've set up accounts for me and my husband there. I'm excited that we'll be doing this together this time. I think it will really help to keep the motivation going. I've already entered today's food entries and I did better than I thought for a first day (just 8 calories over), but not nearly as well as I should (need to make healthier choices). In addition to which, I need to evaluate whether the website's recommended calorie and other nutritional goals are ones I want to stick with or if I need to adjust them. For now, though, I'm heading in the right direction.

Here We Go....Again!

2009-01-04T01:51:00.000-08:00

Okay, this is it. Commitment time. New year. New start. Time to make goals, take steps, and get moving.

So, here I am announcing my new goals for this year:

Weigh 165lbs by my birthday (July 12) - this year!
Lower my BMI to under 25.
Lose enough inches off my waist that I measure no more than a 35" circumference.
Lower my Body Fat Percentage to 20% or lower.

Be able to walk 1 mile in under 13min 30sec. (endurance)
Be able to run a mile in under 12min. (endurance)
Be able to drag 200lbs of dead weight for 50 feet. (strength)
Be able to do 34 women's push-ups in under 1 minute. (strength)
Be able to carry 55lbs for 1 mile. (strength & endurance)
Be able to stand on one foot for 20 seconds on each side with eyes closed & hands overhead. (balance)
Hop on one foot for 20 feet without losing balance - on each leg. (balance & strength)
Increase overall flexibility.

My hope is to accomplish all of this by the end of 2009. Time will tell if this is realistic or not. However I look at this as simply a "to-do" list and each item will be crossed off as I come to it, without any worry over getting it done within a certain time frame. The exception to this is the first part of the list concerning specific health issues. Those I am aiming to achieve by my birthday. When I told my husband this, he promised me a "big reward" if I am successful. :0)

Well, now we know where I am going, but where am I starting from?

Well, my current weight is 203lbs. (203.5 if you want to get nit-picky)
My BMI 29.1 (just .9 shy of obese!).
My waist... to be measured tomorrow.
My Body Fat Percentage... to be determined soon.

I will also be posting my nutritional and exercise goals here soon.

At the moment, it is very late (or early depending on how you look at it) and I have sleeping to do if I want to accomplish anything tomorrow.

Weight & See

2008-06-25T03:36:00.000-07:00

Well, what happened?.... I got pregnant! We found out in June 2007 that I was pregnant again. Nine miserable months, 64hrs of active labor, and a horrifying cesarean later, we had another beautiful boy to raise (whom I love dearly, of course). And I have another ton of weight to lose. (However, I did NOT have P.I.H. with this pregnancy! YEAH! Goal accomplished!)

I'm not sure what my current weight is. I refuse to step on a scale at the moment. Last time I weighed myself a few weeks ago it was about 203lbs. I am currently doing absolutely nothing about it. I am eating as I please and getting no other exercise beyond the riggers of daily motherhood to two little boys.

We have recently moved, my recovery following delivery has been rocky to say the least, I'm currently wearing 5 very painful temporary crowns, and I'm just plain tired all the time! So, no. I will not be getting on here next week to tell you about the lovely 4 mile walk I just did. I will, however, come back eventually and begin another journey into weight loss and healthy living.

Just not yet. Wait until I can get a few consistent nights of at least 6+ hrs of straight-through-the-night sleep. Then talk to me. Until then.... See ya!

Long Overdue Update

2007-04-11T09:46:00.000-07:00

On March 24, I reached my goal weight and goal waist measurement. Actually, I surpassed it! On that day I weighed 171.5lbs and my waist measured 34.5". Since then I have continued to eek away the lbs and as of last Friday I weighed 170.5lbs!!! I haven't weighed that little since high school! In addition to this amazing accomplishment, last weekend my mother took me shopping and I bought two new dresses....in size 10!!! I can't remember EVER wearing a size 10!!! I mean, I'm sure at some point during puberty I wore a size 10, but I remember wearing size 12 in high school! I can't believe I can fit and look GREAT in a size 10!!! It was awesome! I picked up size 12s and 14s at the store, tried them on, and realized I needed something even smaller!!! So cool! Unfortunately some recent events have sent me off my path and I haven't been exercising or eating like I should. This morning I weighed myself (earlier than usual) and I appear to have gained 2-3lbs, but it's hard to tell how much is actual gain vs daily fluctuation. Either way, I'm taking it as a wake up call to stop indulging and cut out the sweets and sodas, as well as to get back on the exercising road. My goal is to exercise at least 2 times between today (Wednesday) and Sunday. We'll see how that goes.

Headed up hill

2007-01-29T16:01:00.000-08:00

I took yesterday off because it was Sunday and I was tired, dang it! ;-D However, I used that "extra" time to reevaluate my exercising habits. Up to this point I have simply been picking any one of my many videos at random each day depending on what I felt like doing. I've recently had the desire to return to running at least once a week, but wasn't sure when I'd find the time. I also noticed that I was doing more and more of the easy to moderate videos and that the difficult ones were beginning to gather dust. So... last night I sat down and did some research on intensity levels and whatnot and came up with an actual exercise schedule to follow. Novel concept. ;-P Actually, the idea of a schedule would have put me off the idea of exercising in the beginning (having to do what I didn't want to just because it was on the schedule). However, my motivation has been seriously waning of late, and I knew I needed some additional structure to keep me going. It took me a while to figure out what might work to keep me accountable, and finally I came up with making a schedule. I've also made myself a count-down calendar. I've extended my "ending" date until April 30th, as well. Why April 30th? Why not. Actually, I have no idea what I'm going to do after April. My original goal was to get fit so that we could try for another kid again with me at a healthy weight from the start. However, those plans have been pushed back 6mths in favor of buying a house. So, now I have a TON of extra time to meet my goal and I'm kinda wondering what I'm going to do with it all. I guess I'll just get as fit as I can and enjoy the results for a longer period of time, as opposed to getting fit and immediately forfeiting my body to pregnancy again. Ooooh imagine if I actually looked GOOD in a bathing suit this summer?! Wouldn't that be amazing! Hmmm something to think about.
Anyway, I digress. :-)

Not only have I made myself a schedule. My schedule ups the ante. On Mondays, Tuesday, & Saturdays I will be doing a minimum of 60 minutes exercise. On Wednesday I'll be doing 65 minutes minimum. Thursday will be my day to get out and run or hike, so my exercise time will vary between 90 and 150 minutes. Sundays I'll be doing 80min but some of that is including the relaxation poses of my yoga video, so that will be my "easy" day. Also, included in each of the above mentioned times is a minimum of 15minutes of ab work EVERY DAY.

I've included abs every day because I've realized that that is my biggest hurdle to jump right now. According to most charts I'll reach a healthy body fat % when I'm 174lbs or lower and I'll lower my risk of disease when my waist is 35inches or smaller. Right now I'm at 179lbs and 36.5inches. It may not sound like a long way to go, but I've already lost more than I ever have with a deliberate diet (as opposed to being deathly ill) and I can sense my body wanting to plateau. Also, I'd like to go a little farther and get down to at least 170 if I can. Once I'm there, we'll see what I think about getting down to 165 (my dream weight).

Measurements Update!

2007-01-22T15:58:00.000-08:00

WOW! Seeing the difference in where I was in November compared to where I am now is SO awesome! I am so proud of myself and SO grateful for the wonderful support I've been getting on the forums at MCC! Just to give you an idea: My waist was 38in but now it's 36.5 (I lost an inch and a half!). My body fat percentage was 30 but now I'm down to 25.9!! That means I'm only 0.9 away from my ideal percentage!! Yipee!

According to the gov't website I was at today I need to be no heavier than 174lbs and have a waist of 35" or smaller to lower my risk of disease and to be healthy at my height. Well, just 6 more pounds and 1.5" to go! Woohoo!

I can't imagine how awesome I am going to look and feel when I meet those goals! :-D

A very bad day

2007-01-11T00:00:00.000-08:00

So, yesterday I found out that Discovery Health has this thing called New Body Challenge 2007 or something like that. Anyway, part of it is that they offer a free 8week pass to any Bally's location good from now until March 10 to anyone who registers. So, no brainer, I registered.

I was going to try the yoga class at Bally's tonight. It would have been my first time doing anything there besides the tour that I did last night. Well, during my tour I had made sure to get all the details on the child care: costs, screening procedures, safety and germ factors, etc. (I've never left him with a virtual stranger before.) At that time the employee told me that child care would only be $10 per month, unlimited time. Great! I could actually afford that! I went home that night, talked it over with my DH and we decided that I would sit in the kid area with my son for half an hour the first time we went so that he could be acclimated and I could get a better sense of things, yata yata yata... all these plans on how to make it work and make sure my son was safe and happy. Well, I get there tonight, son on my hip and the employee says, "So you'll need to pay for tonight." I'm like, "Yeah, I need to pay the $10 for the month." And he says, "Oh, it's $10 per month with a paid membership. With a free pass it's $5 per visit." WHAT?! Ummm that's quite a difference! He apologizes for "not being clear" (more like blantantly misinforming me!) and says that I can "just go ahead and exercise for tonight", obviously not planning to charge me for the care, but at this point I no longer feel the least bit comfortable about leaving my son there and frankly, the whole cost difference (which immediately dashes all my hopes of using the gym several times a week) has me so upset that I just leave before I start crying. I'd already had a bad day and I'd gotten myself so excited about finally being able to go to the gym for the first time in over 6yrs and actually having someone to watch my son.... I just broke down in the car and had to sit there for a few minutes to collect myself. (Probably doesn't help that I didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night.)

So I ended up taking my son to McDonald's to play on the playground since I'd promised him he was "going out to play" and what happens? On his second turn down the slide with me just in front of him, he somehow flips from his butt to his face in the blink of an eye and ends up with an egg bump on his left eyebrow, a large bruise higher up on his forehead, a cut in the crease of his left eye, and a red mark streaked across his upper lip and nose where he obviously skidded across the surface of the slide! Feeling like a horrible mom for letting him go down the slide without being actually in my lap (despite it being something he's done without problems dozens of times) I give him his first taste of chocolate in the form of a chocalate chip cookie and down my own sugar cookie while I'm at it, saving the last of the 3 for dada. He's only ever had 2 other tiny desserts (one for his birthday and one for Christmas) so I rationalize that he's not going to suffer from one guilt motivated cookie and anyway, I wanted one dang it!

When we get home later I'm terrified to try the muffins I'd just made from a new recipe and pulled from the oven before heading for the gym, because with the way my day had gone I'm certain they'll be just awful. I try one anyway and I'm shocked! They taste like carrot cake even though they are actually Zucchini Yogurt Multigrain Muffins and not too bad in calories or fat! Great! I can't wait to have my son try some.... nope. Nothing doing. He won't even TRY one tiny crumb! He turns his face away and hides in the corner of his high chair when I try to feed him a piece even though he's said he was hungry. So I put it on his tray figuring he wants to feed himself. Instead he rips the half muffin I give him into pieces and tosses the pieces onto the floor! Nice.

So, no. I'm sorry. But after a day like this I did not have even the slightest, teeniest, itsy-bitsiest, ounce of desire to exercise. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

Oh yah

2007-01-06T13:28:00.000-08:00

In my remorse over yesterday's dinner choice I completely forgot to mention yesterday's GOOD news. When I weighed myself at the appropriate time & place yesterday (and I did it several times over an hour and a half, just to confirm) I had the wonderful shock of discovering that I was actually 1.5lbs LIGHTER than I was before Christmas!!! I couldn't believe it! Yeah me! ....
or at least that's how I felt at the time. After last night's dinner it's a little more difficult to feel really excited. Still, that does mean that I have officially reached the 10lbs mark! That's a good reason to be positive, don't ya think?

What I did last night

2007-01-06T12:47:00.000-08:00

OH MY GOSH!!! Last night I commited diet suicide!

Someone hit a fire hydrant near our apartment building yesterday afternoon so we didn't have any water last night until about 10:30pm. And since our pantry was really still very bare due to our vacation absence, Ethan and I went out for dinner while Dada went to a church meeting. Well...

We'd gotten these gift certificates for Carl's Jr. in our Christmas Stockings this year, so I decided to go ahead and eat there even though I had been boycotting them since they started their "men are morons" commercial campaign. NOT a good decision! When I got there I quickly located their poster size nutrition menus on the wall (one for the original CJ and one for the Green Burrito which they now serve as well). I was completely floored by the grams of fat in EVERYTHING on the menu! The lowest thing I remember seeing on there was 32g of fat!

Ordinarily I probably could have navigated my way through the choices and by subtracting things like sauce and cheese, ended up with an acceptable meal option.

Ordinarily.

Last night, however, I was EXHAUSTED and STARVING and the guy at the counter was having a hard time understanding my English (when I said sauce, he thought I said salsa) and I wasn't doing so well figuring out his thick accent. So, just wanting to finish my order and be done with it, I picked something at random that SOUNDED like it would be reasonably healthy and ordered that and a kid's chicken meal for Ethan (I think it was his first real fast food meal).

What did I order? A "Grilled Chicken Burrito Plate" without the soda. GRILLED Chicken! Yes, it's a burrito, but how bad could it be??? Well folks... BAD!! REALLY BAD!!!

My only consolation is that due to the shockingly enormous size of the burrito, I only ate half of it, and then I spent nearly an hour crawling up and through and around and down inside the tunnels of one of those playground things with Ethan. That helps. A very little. *groan*

Just to give you an idea... we're talking 43g of fat and over 2000g of sodium in just the portion I ate! Ugh. I am sick just thinking about it!

Well, I suppose there's nothing that can be done for it now. What's done is done and there's no going back. I'll just have to be WAY more careful for the next week if I have any hope of making my goal. *sigh*

Post Holiday Report

2007-01-03T10:15:00.000-08:00

Well, the chaos of the holidays have finally come to an end, and although our apartment looks as though a tornado has struck, things otherwise are looking good.

For Christmas day and the week that followed I gave myself permission to pretty much eat whatever I wanted whenever I wanted with one catch- I had to enjoy it. In other words, if I wanted chocolate, I could only eat it as long as I was consciously enjoying it- no mindless binging. Well.... let me tell you, I sure know how to enjoy my food! lol

Actually, by the end of the week I was craving healthy, fresh, nongreasy foods and drinking water by preference. As I mentioned before, I've become more conscious of the changes that poor food choices bring upon my body and my energy level. So, switching back to healthy foods wasn't nearly as difficult as I had anticipated. What is proving difficult is sizing down my portions to an appropriate size and fighting the strong desire for another Coke and some more chocolate. The desire for chocolate can be combatted with a piece of fruit, because what I really want is a sweet capper to the end of my meal. The portion thing... well that's just going to take time for my stomach to shrink itself back down to pre-vacation size. But the Coke.... oh the Coke! I want it! I want it! I want it now! lol Seriously, you know those people who drink like 4+ cups of coffee a day? That's how I could be with Coke. In fact, there was a time I drank up to 3 Cokes a day on a regular basis... and I know there were a few days when I had as many as 5 in a single day! Looking back, I can't imagine why I didn't gain even more weight! So.... unfortunately, for me, the desire for Coke is always there and the only way to combat it is plain old self-discipline. Something I am NOT good at. I am so grateful that I have a supportive husband who is also trying to limit his soda intake. This means that we just don't have soda in the house unless we are expecting company or if one of us is sick (and then it's a clear soda). If it's not here to drink, it's a lot easier to resist. ;-D

So, what are the results of all these Holiday & Vacation indulgences?
My scale is still debating itself.

Yesterday I weighed myself at the appropriate time of day, in the same state of dress, and on the same tile in the bathroom that I always weigh myself on, and........I weighed 185.5 .... then I tried again and weighed 187.5.......then 185.0.......then 186.5.......then 187.0.... then 185.5.....then 186.0......then 186.5..... I think you get the picture. So... I have decided that since the range is 0.5lb to 3.0lbs in weight gain, I'll choose the approximate middle ground of 1.5lbs and go with that.

Not too bad, I think, for a whole week of indulgence. Of course, it probably helped that I spent two days hauling Ethan around in a sled and "walking" in snow so soft I was often in it up to my knees. And it probably didn't hurt that another two of those days I spent attempting to kill myself (& a few innocent bystanders) by flinging myself down the side of a mountain on a couple of flattened out sticks. And on my one day spent entirely indoors, I still managed to do about 15min of Dance Baby Dance, as well as some yoga that left my muscles trembling for half an hour afterward. All of that probably had something to do with my lack of massive weight gain. ;-D

Pre-Christmas Update

2006-12-22T16:49:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I don't have much time, but I wanted to let you all know that my reason for not posting lately is that first I was out of town, then shopping like a maniac, and most recently Ethan has been sick. He's been fighting a high fever for the last 4 days, but as of the wee hours of this morning, the fever seems to be gone, so we will see. We're really hoping he's going to recover quickly, not only because it makes the poor little guy miserable to be so sick, but also because his being ill would basically mean NO Christmas celebrations with any extended family- something we were really looking forward to. It would also mean no ski vacation with my family- something we've been planning for over a year. It would also mean that our Christmas day at home would consist largely of my pulling down his diaper every half hour or so to check his temperature.... not exactly the Christmas I pictured for my 1 year old's first real experience of Christmas. (Last year he was too little to enjoy things like tearing Christmas wrapping to shreds.) So, like I said, we're really hoping this is the end of it and he'll just keep getting better from here on out. :-D

As for my diet & exercising. Last week I only managed to get in 4 exercises and had to REALLY squeeze them in (twice exercising after midnight), and this week I only managed 2 because of Ethan's illness. I have not entered food into my online food journal since last Wednesday, but I have been mentally keeping track of what I've been eating and trying to stay on track- with the exception of a very few tastes of the cookies and candies I'm making - just to make sure they are coming out right. However, I DID manage to make my goal of losing at least 8lbs by Christmas!! Yeah! As of today, I weigh 184.5lbs, but I didn't weigh myself at the correct time so it's possible I weigh up to 1lb even lighter! Either way, I met my goal and I'm thrillled!

Due to the holidays and a family skiing vacation (assuming health) I will not be posting between now and the new year. So, Merry Christmas to everyone and a Happy New Year!

(P.S. If you're wondering where your Christmas card is, it's filled and addressed and sitting on our kitchen table. -I finished them minutes before discovering Ethan's fever. Hopefully you'll get it before the New Year! lol)

Woops

2006-12-13T18:42:00.000-08:00

First of all I would like to report.... that I am a total idiot! In my post on the Monday I said that last Friday (the 8th) I had lost 2lbs but I told you the WRONG weight! (Picture me rolling my eyes at my own stupidity.) Last Friday, December 8th I weighed 186.5lbs! So for those of you confused by my math, now you know why. Ugh.

Triangles, spoons, and other thoughts on dieting

2006-12-13T17:11:00.000-08:00

Have you ever noticed that sandwiches taste better when they are cut into triagles? This is especially true with peanut butter & jelly sandwiches. I also think that milk tastes better when you drink it from a glass rather than from a plastic cup.

Now that I'm keeping a close eye on portions my two new best friends are the tablespoon and the measuring cup. Yes. I actually pour my cereal into the measuring cup before I pour it into my cereal bowl. (Okay, so sometimes I eyeball it, but only with the cereals I've measured a dozen times.) And every now and then I'll still measuring out my peanut butter with the tablespoon to make sure I know what it looks like. In fact, that is what I was doing this evening when it occured to me. What about the peanut butter that is hopelessly stuck to the measuring spoon? Do they somehow measure the miniscule amount when they're calculating calories and whatnot to put on the nutrition label? How exact a science is it? And if they are including that miniscule amount, does that mean I should be adding just a touch extra to my serving to compensate for what's lost in the measuring process? You may be laughing, but when you repeatedly assemble a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that looks just like two pieces of bread stacked on top of each other, you'll begin to wonder too.

Another thing I'd like to know. If I measure myself 10 times and get 5 different results, which one is right? Should I go with the one that shows up the most times or with the one that is the lowest? And what about the difference between scales? Why is it that I can measure myself at home as 187 and go to the doctor's office and be told I'm 193? Which one is right? If I go by the doctor's scale does that mean I was actually 199 when I started my diet instead of 193 like I thought? I mean, 6lbs is a LOT!

While we're on the subject of doctor's offices, I would like to state for the record that it is my opinion that they are all haunted. That's right. Haunted. There is no other way of explaining that I can weigh myself on ANY other scale I like, at any time I like, and I it will ALWAYS be lighter than whatever the doctor's office scale tells me. The only explaination is that all medical offices are haunted by weight adding ghosts who love to get on the scale with you just to screw with your head.

Can someone please explain to me what the heck I was thinking starting a diet right BEFORE the holidays? All the signs point to this being a very bad idea. No, seriously. Have you been to a store lately? Let's start with the candy. Not only is there more candy on the shelves, they've all dressed up in the hopes of grabbing your attention and convincing you to take them home. It's not just that they're wrappers are now metallic, brightly colored things of wonder, but they've even changed who they are. Now they're holiday colored, special variety, gourmet versions of who they used to be, and all sitting right there on the end cap waiting for you to walk by and pick them up. But it's not just the candy. Just walking through the grocery store I'm assaulted with signs advertising every imaginable holiday treat. The bakery is in over-drive preparing special delights for all those holiday parties and until the hosts come and whisk them away, I have to resist the urge to indulge. Thank goodness Luke does most of the grocery shopping. Not that I'm not greatful for this lesson in self-discipline, but a girl can only stand so much!

Random thought: Isn't New Year's the holiday that's all about starting over with a clean slate? So, what does it matter if I do well or rotten from now until then? It'll all be forgot, right? Do you suppose my body knows the point of New Year's? Probably not. Bummer.

Well, that's probably enough ranting for now.
You'll probably want to know that I have done very well over the last 3 days. I've made healthy choices and gotten in at least 30 minutes of exercise every day. Yesterday I was so busy I started my exercise at midnight, but I hadn't gone to bed yet, so I figure it still counts for Tuesday. :-) I finished my exercise by doing the video I got for free from the arthritis foundation which has an excellent stretching focus to it that is almost like Yoga and is extremely relaxing.

Oh. Totally off subject note: Do you know what is NOT relaxing? Being notified by two ear-peircing bleeps at 2:22am that your smoke alarm needs it's battery changed! Only, we didn't know it had a battery since we were told that it was hard-wired. Just the same, when it went off again at 6:20am Luke unscrewed the thing but couldn't find a battery. That is, he did this after I jumped instinctively out of bed crying "Get Ethan!" So when I got up this morning I called the leasing office and this afternoon maintenance came and showed me the hidden compartment in the side that holds the battery which is supposed to be a back up in case of power outage. Would have been nice to know before Luke stuck his head out in the hall to check for flames, before I stood beside Ethan's crib sniffing the air for signs of smoke, before I lay awake at 3am wondering why in the world my smoke alarm had gone off in the wee hours of the morning with no smoke or flame within sight or smell! Well. At least it's fixed. And now I know.

Stumble & Recovery

2006-12-11T11:48:00.000-08:00

First of all, I want to report that not only did I get in all 5 of my 30min exercises, last Friday my weigh in was 189.5lbs!!! That's another 2lb loss for a total of 6.5lbs lost so far!!! Yeah! :-D

However, that was Friday....

I have to really kick my butt today (Monday). Not only do I have a TON of housework that piled up over last week's busy schedule, but I also ate like a pig this weekend. My husband and I had our first "date" in months Saturday night and we went to Olive Garden where I ate better then expected (just 2.5 breadsticks, salad, and one piece of chicken) but I did have 2 glasses of full blown coke (my greatest weakness) then I had about 1 cup of M&M minis when we went to the movies...definately not good. Then yesterday, my sister-in-law had her 19th bday party yesterday and they ordered chinese take out for lunch. I resiste having more soda, but then "dinner" was a slice of homemade apple pie and a scoop of icecream that I let them talk me into and immediately regretted eating. So when I got home I was still hungry and had the left over piece of chicken from Olive Garden and a HUGE plate of garlic green beans cooked in a little bit of margarine. Ugh. I could feel the effects of so much junk on my body before the weekend was over. So, like I said, back to the grind stone. I'm going to eat especially healthy and focus on fibers to clear my body of all that junk that's got me feeling yech, and I'm going to work my butt off exercising and cleaning. So... better get to work, huh? :-)

BTW does anyone else feel the effects of poor food choices the way I do? It's almost like feeling sick... it definately drains my energy. The soda is especially bad for my body, I've reluctantly noticed. (I used to say, "I don't drink coffee, I drink coke". There was a time I was drinking 3 cans of coke, or more, EVERY DAY starting before breakfast!! Now I try to only drink it on special occasions and limit it to one or two glasses.) If you drink a lot of soda but haven't noticed this, you might experiment with going without it for one week. I didn't have a clue how much it affected me until I went without it for a while and then had it again. I've noticed that, for me, colas effect me worse than clear sodas and it doesn't seem to matter whether it was diet or regular (in fact, diet is sometimes worse). Obviously some people will be more affected than others since we're all different, but I would try it, if you haven't.

My hope today, is to do by my 1hr Richard Simmons video AND my 30min Denise Austin Video- both of which can really kick my butt. Add to that, dishes, running & folding laundry, vacuuming, and picking up toys & other stuff, and I'm hoping to burn many, many calories today!

Doc Appt & Overzealousness

2006-12-05T13:23:00.000-08:00

Well, first of all I just want to announce that I worked my butt off yesterday! I did over 1-1/2hrs of exercise & over 3hrs of heavy (sweat-producing) housework, and burned a TON of calories! :-D Yeah me!

Okay, so this morning I had a doctor's appointment. There were several things discussed. Among them the fact that I seem to have given myself a repetative use injury in my right thumb and wrist. My thumb has been bothering me for a little over a month and then this past saturday on the drive home my whole hand just started twitching/jerking involuntarily in rythm with my heartbeat. Not good, right? So the doctor says I need to start taking Advil to reduce any swelling/inflamation and to get a finger brace and a wrist brace and..... wear them for 6-8 WEEKS!!! Good grief! That is going to SUCK! She says I need to try to wear the braces as much as possible during the day (taking it off to wash dishes or take a shower is fine) and especially to wear them at night. Ugh.
I also got the referral to a nutrionist that I had hoped for as well as a referral to a podiatrist to see if they prescribe orthodics. I have to wait 3-5days for the referrals to go through and then who knows how quickly I'll be able to get an appointment, but at least things are moving along nicely.
Anywho. That's the report on that.
Today I am suffering the ramifications of yesterday's overzealousness and last night's poor sleep due to overly-real-seeming dreams. Since my appointment was so early this morning I haven't exercised yet, I still have to go out and buy the braces, and all I want to do is take a nap. It's going to take an extra amount of determination to get my 30 min in today.
Well, I better get going to the store so that I can get back here and torture myself. ;-)

Weekend Review

2006-12-04T11:43:00.000-08:00

So the weekend wasn't fabulous, as diet and exercise go, but neither was it a total disaster. I allowed myself a "vacation" meal of IHOP pancakes Saturday night and didn't exercise at all Sunday, but otherwise made very healthy choices and did get in a couple hours of walking around carrying/chasing Ethan on Saturday. So, it was a weekend and I enjoyed it.

Now it is Monday and I'm already back on track. I started my day with 16oz of water, 16min of ab work courtesy Claudia Schiffer's Perfectly Fit Abs video, and a bowl of Total cereal. Once Ethan wakes up (which I expect any minute now) we will do the Dance Baby Dance cardio workout and then I will finish the rest of the CS Abs video. (My abs had reached failing point so I stopped in favor of better form later.)

I think that this week I will really focus on my abdominal and back muscles. I'd love to see my waist measurement drop even the slightest bit again on Friday, but either way I know that having a stronger core helps me in performing not only my daily tasks, but also improves my ability to properly execute other exercises.

Speaking of core... lately I've been noticing a lot of exercise videos which use the ball and really focus on "the core". They basically make sure that whatever other part of the body you're exercising, you're also working the core simultaneously. For example they've figured out how to do bicep curls AND work the core at the same time. Talk about bang for your buck! Sounds good to me! Only I don't really need to go out and blow a precious ten dollars (or more) on another exercise video- especially since our video & dvd cases are already overflowing- so I'm going to try to look these exercises up online and see if I can't incoorporate some of them in somehow.

Still learning

2006-11-30T22:31:00.000-08:00

Okay so I just spent like at least 20 minutes typing this big long entry with all the quotes and explainations and everything just to have it all go away due to a stupid computer error! ARGH! So, unfortunately, you will all just have to make do with the following short and sweet version:

Today I set out to figure out what my minimum fat intake should be each day. Turns out there is no minimum. There is only a maximum of 30%. However, in doing this research I also discovered that the minimum protein for a healthy adult is 0.8g per kg of desired body weight and that 10%-20% of your daily calories should come from protein. I also discovered how to figure out how much carbohydrates I need each day so here are the new numbers I have come to:

240 calories from protein =60g =16%
441 calories from fat =49g =30%
795 calories from carbohydrates =199g =54%
1476 total calories per day =100%

For more info on how I came to these numbers, please refer to the following websites:
http://espn.go.com/trainingroom/s/1999/1001/90270.html
http://diet.ivillage.com/plans/plowcal/0,,gdf,00.html

Thank you and have a nice day! :-)

The last 4 days

2006-11-30T22:29:00.000-08:00

When I made the decision to change my lifestyle to lose weight I never thought my problem would be not eating ENOUGH calories! Yet, looking back over the last four days I know that that has been a problem. The trick is meeting the higher calorie target without exceeding my other targets (such as carbs & sugars).

I've also been a little low on fats, but my history tells me that low fats is good for helping me losing weight so I'm not too worried about that.

Another problem I've noticed is my sodium level. However, I'm not too sure what to do about that, if anything. I need to look into how the standard "average" amount is decided and figure out how crucial it is to meet that. It seems nearly impossible to not exceed the level unless I completely cut out EVERYTHING commercially made. I mean, I'd have start baking my own bread.... and I don't know WHAT I would do about meats. Well, for now I'm not going to worry about it.

It's a beautiful day and I think I'll take Ethan out for a nice long walk. :-)

The amazing shrinking stomach!

2006-11-29T16:11:00.000-08:00

I can't believe how quickly my stomach seems to have shrunk. Having discovered that my daily total of calories was too low, I've made the appropriate adjustments. So, today I ate something for lunch I probably wouldn't have even thought of eating yesterday. I had a bagel, chicken, and tomatoe sandwich. This is something that MIGHT have filled me up just enough prior to beginning my diet, but probably would have required some pretzels to really top me off. Today, I am STUFFED! Ugh! The idea of eating one more bite is not even remotely appealing. I don't even want to drink any more water for a little while. Don't get me wrong... it tasted SOOOOOO good! But I am SOOOOO full now. :-)

It's kinda weird knowing that I am totally stuffed AND I haven't blown my diet. However, it does make me feel like I NEED to exercise to burn it off... but I guess that's a good thing, right?

It's strange the tricks your mind plays on you. Logically, I know that I made a good, healthy choice for lunch, but emotionally I ......have to resist the urge to over-exercise. I feel like if I'm stuffed than I should do at LEAST 1 1/2 hrs of exercise and probably another hour tomorrow just to "make up" for today's lunch. I wonder where this comes from? Isn't it odd that I think the more full I am the more I have to kill myself exercising? hmmm

You know, I think I believe that the only way to lose weight is to be just a little hungry all the time. Maybe that's not true. I'm going to try to stick to the numbers I've come to and really focus on moderate exercise every day. Then time will be the judge. If I haven't lost any weight in a month, I'll have to reevaluate. If it's working...yippee!