Downward trend

Whew, the plateau has been broken! I'm down to 165.4 lbs this morning. I really see how the workouts are making a difference. I can only do so much with diet. I can only cut so many calories, eat the right balance of foods, etc so much. After that it becomes an issue of physical activity.

As I've increased my intensity (I now bike 15 miles instead of 10 and walk 3 miles instead of 1-2...6 days a week), the weight has started to drop again. There is only one way to be healthy. Eat right and exercise.

I saw an interview with Chris Carmichael (Lance Armstrong's coach) about diet (his new book is coming out on July 30th) and he says (this is VERY paraphrased) that these low/no carb diets are the lazy person's diet. They allow you to lose weight without physical activity. I've also discovered that diet can only do so much.

I just wish it wasn't such an emotional rollercoaster. I'm an impatient person and I resent how easy it is to gain weight, yet it is soooo much work to take it off.

Not giving up

I haven't given up. As a matter of fact, I've been trying harder and it's paying off, as I'm back down to 167lbs. I did weights yesterday for the first time in a long time. I feel like I've got so much going on, that I didn't want to add one more thing I needed to track. I'm a big advocate of weight training and I know all the benefits. Not just for weight loss, but the long term benefits (my mother is 4" shorter and I would like to keep my bones strong).

I will say that we've been moving away from the high fiber diet a bit... More meat has snuck back into our diet. I would really like to keep our meat consumption down to 2-3 times a week rather than nightly. So tonight we'll have a white bean soup with a spinach pesto and a toss salad. Yum.

One step forward, two back

So by Sunday, my weight was back up to 169 lbs. Lovely. It's the story of my life. The feeling of complete failure is unavoidable. It doesn't matter how positive of a spin anyone puts on it, I'm completely discouraged. I've been meticulous with my eating (minus one dinner with friends). I'm working out (and have steadily been increasing the intesity) 5-6 days a week. The numbers don't add up. I'm not going to stop... as I still need to worry about the cholesterol. It's just that I was trying to use weight loss as the gauge of how I'm doing... and obviously not well.

Slow, but steady

I finally broke the 168lb plateau point. I'm down an other pound. It's a relief, as we've had a "challenging" meal plan this week. I've been steadily increasing my workouts and keeping the eating in line. There are days when it seems that the work to results ratio isn't worth it, but I know in the long run I'll be healthier and feel better as I get in better shape. I'm also hoping that it's helping the cholesterol numbers (especially since they just came out with new LDL numbers this week).
 
I'm hoping this drop in weight continues, as I have a goal of 166lbs by the end of July.  I think with continual effort, I can make it.
 
 

It's all just a pain

I don't mind fatigue. I don't mind being sore. I don't mind being stiff. As a matter of fact, I find a certain pleasure in being stiff and sore. It shows me that I'm working hard. What I do mind is the pain. I can't seem to get into an exercise routine without pain. Sharp, white searing pain.

Before Christmas last year it my my groin. Sharp pain that caused me to suck in my breath and grab onto to something so I wouldn't crumble to the ground. I stopped working out because it hurt so much. I gained 11 lbs over Christmas (well, the soda and other "treats" at Christmas didn't help). Now I've got a knee/ankle thing (I'm guessing related. I'm probably walking/jogging differently on my bad knee and caused some inflamation in my ankle). I'm going to try using my knee brace when I walk, and I think I'm going to have to give up jogging. Which means longer workouts to burn the number of calories that I need to burn.

I have to honestly say I'm really discouraged right now. It's hard to make exercise a routine when I can't find something that I enjoy doing.

Trudging Along

Well, I'm still struggling a bit with logging my food. This is dangerous for me. If I don't log/track what and how much I'm eating, I don't lose weight. There are times when it's just so much work to figure out what I'm eating.

I did weigh in this morning and I'm still at 168lbs. So that's good. I would love to see it drop, but realistically, I can't expect to eat the way I did over vacation and "lose" weight. Instead I feel really good that I balanced the "treats" with the exercise and mostly healthy eating.

I also realized that I've got to remember to wear my knee brace when I walk/jog. I felt my kneecap slip yesterday while jogging. I know part of it was the very humid weather, but why take chances. My knee hasn't dislocated since my surgery back in my teens, but this is the first time I've tried jogging as exercise. I've always avoided jogging, and I did use my knee as the reason, but in fact it was more a breast/gravity thing. Now that I have a good support bra, I felt better about the higher impact exercises. I may have to re-evaluate that today. Today I'll do spinning rather than the treadmill.

The Vacation Curse

I always hate how any kind of break in routine throws off my attempts of a healthy lifestyle. I'm hoping this time I can get back into the swing of things quickly. Ironically, I'm very good during vacation, but because exercising is part of the "vacation" process (extra walking and I still try to be aware of what and how much I'm eating), it's the post trip that's always the challenge. Post trip depression? Probably. Since this trip was with family, I still was able to control a lot of my more of my eating, but we did eat well with some "treats" (yes, I know pecan pie with homemade ice cream isn't low cal, or the funnel cake... or the ice cream from the Creamery... but they also aren't usual foods and I don't get an opportunity to have them very often).

So the goal this week is get back on schedule with the workouts (thank goodness I've still got 2 weeks of the Tour to watch) and to track my food again.

Knowing that life is full of fun opportunities for food isn't going to keep me from enjoying them... but I can't make that kind of treating a habit.

I hate this process

I swear it doesn't matter how much I work out. It doesn't matter how I eat, I can't break this stupid 168 plateau. This is why I "relaxed" the last time I lost weight. I figured that my metabolism needed to get used to this weight before I tried again. So it fluctuated between 168 to 173. Well, I got it back down to 168 and it won't budge. Yet. I know it's going to come, but it's so nice to see a steady drop. I hate when it just "stops". Especially as I leave for a little trip when I know that my diet and exercise routine won't be as consistent as when I'm home.

And They're Off

I have to say that nothing gets me as motivated for working out as the Tour de France. I watch all 3 of the big cycling races, but there is something special about "Le Tour". I guess part of it is the knowledge that these guys are the best athletes in the world. The physical conditioning these guys do is simply stunning (I remember the Lance Armstrong ad for Nike: "what am I on? I'm on my bike 8 hours a day"). There's so much skill involved in what they do... it isn't just a matter of getting on a bike and riding very fast. There's strategy, there's the whole bike handling skill (which is a matter of life and death), there's the "etiquette" of pack riding. The amazing part to me is the 8 guys on each team that give their body and soul for one person, going all out so someone else will get the win. No other sport expects such sacrafice from team members for one to succeed.

Anyway, the first stage of TdF was today and I've worked out twice. It was a short time trial race, but I look forward to the mountains. Knowing that I'm sitting in my nice comfortable house riding a stationary bike or jogging on a treadmill makes me feel so wimpy while I watch them suffer in all weather conditions (100 degree weather, rain that you can't see in front of you, and yes, even the occassional mountain top snow storm...) for a 150 mile ride. Day in and day out for 3 weeks. Who am I to complain?

New Habits

I've been trying to change when I work out. It's amazing how hard it is to change something as simple as that. I've been working out before dinner for a while now. During the winter, Matt rides the trainer, since he can't ride outside. He'd come home from work, we'd throw on Around the Horn and PTI and workout together. My body and mind set is still in that zone. I'm trying to get in the habit of working out during the day, but it feels weird. It's a bit like deciding to brush my teeth before I shower... habits are hard to break.

I will say that it will be easier to workout in the mornings for the next 3 weeks. Le Tour starts tomorrow and I love to get on the stationary bike and ride while I watch the big cycling races.

I'm hoping that I can do my cardio during the day and Matt and I get into the habit of weight training together before dinner. Weights are much better to do together, especially for things like bench presses (we do have a Smith machine, but nothing beats a spotter).

I just want to break this 170lb plateau; I can't seem to get below 168lb and it just sorta fluctuates between 172 to 168 no matter what I do. Right now I'm less concerned about it, as the focus is dropping my cholesterol, but I really really want to break this plateau.

My New Fitness Blog

Well, after trying to use my own domain and then using FitDay, I've decided I'm going to use the FitDay PC version (it was only $20, and it is much more detailed tracking capabilities, including body measurement and mood tracking). Well, I still want to journal my experience and I just don't have room on my Knitting Park domain. (plus it's a graphical program rather than a blogging program, so it's a little labor intensive).

So we'll see how blogger works (I may even switch my Game Blog over if it's easy to do)

Anyway, keep checking here as I'll add info on how I'm doing, sharing the joy of the world's longest weight loss program.

Now let's see if I can add the Timmy Tag and Timmy Talk to this...