I've used the theory of calories in vs calories out for a while for my weight loss. I find the most sucessful way for me to lose (and maintain) weight is to treat it like my check book. I have a daily balance and I subtract how many calories I've eaten and how many calories I've burned thru exercise.
Just like and check and balance system, if it's not properly tracked, it gets out of balance... and the tendency is to over spend. How come when you don't balance your checkbook, you don't save more money... it always works the other way, doesn't it?
My weight loss is the same way. When I don't track it, I over spend (ie: over eat) and it gets out of whack.. and now I'm trying to balance the books again.
Meaning back to the daily use of Fitday.
It's not fun. No more so than balancing my checkbook is. But just as it's good for my financial health to balance the checkbook, balancing my diet and exercise is good for my overall health.
I'm fortunate to have been using Fitday for a while now.. so most of my eating habits are already logged, I just have to remember to add them.
While I've been keeping my proportions in check (mostly), my food choices haven't been great for a while... and the between meals snacking has increased. It shouldn't be too much of a change... and I've done this before... and I'll be doing it again. I know that I will always be fighting for a healthy weight. I'm not blessed with a great metabolism or a love for exercise. It will be a constant battle. Sometimes, that's the hardest part to wrap my brain around.
It's very easy to get all gung ho about a healthier life style, to make the changes and the sacrifice. The problem is maintaining that enthusiasm. When the plateaus hit or after it's been a daily struggle day in and day out for over 7 years.
Kudos to me for the success I've already acheived... but there are no laurels and there are no finish lines in this race. It's like the hampster on the wheel... you just keep going.
(oh, and the knee is feeling better, and I'll be doing Yourself!Fitness today for the first time since I hurt it... fingers crossed there will be no problems!)
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Monday, January 08, 2007
#@$@#$%##
Ya, my actual swearing right now might be too intense for the average reader (unless of course you know me and know that I can swear like a truck driver with tourette's syndrome).
I've been really concentrating on my workouts. Keeping to a pretty regular schedule, making a hard effort, avoiding the scale (and not back to using FitDay... yet). The usual stuff for me.
I was all up for a Maya crush down (meaning a nice 1 hour cardio with with Yourself!Fitness), then disaster.
We're having some serious weather weirdness, and the rain has finally become an issue with my knee. Plus I spent most of yesterday standing at my cutting table.
I can't put any weight on my bum knee if it's bent. So things like standing up/sitting down/climbing stairs is extremely painful.
I am not happy. I've just been getting into a groove, feeling that the workouts had been part of my daily routine, I was building up my endurance (ya, I'm still &%$#@ sore). I feel this happens to me a lot. So I guess I'm doing something wrong. Not warming up enough, not stretching enough, working too hard too fast. Something. Or maybe I just have a crappy knee!
I'm hoping that I'll still be able to do the recumbant bike today. While it's a lot of knee movement, there's no weight on the bent knee... fingers crossed that I can at least do that. Then maybe I'll do some upper body weights or some ab work.
I've been really concentrating on my workouts. Keeping to a pretty regular schedule, making a hard effort, avoiding the scale (and not back to using FitDay... yet). The usual stuff for me.
I was all up for a Maya crush down (meaning a nice 1 hour cardio with with Yourself!Fitness), then disaster.
We're having some serious weather weirdness, and the rain has finally become an issue with my knee. Plus I spent most of yesterday standing at my cutting table.
I can't put any weight on my bum knee if it's bent. So things like standing up/sitting down/climbing stairs is extremely painful.
I am not happy. I've just been getting into a groove, feeling that the workouts had been part of my daily routine, I was building up my endurance (ya, I'm still &%$#@ sore). I feel this happens to me a lot. So I guess I'm doing something wrong. Not warming up enough, not stretching enough, working too hard too fast. Something. Or maybe I just have a crappy knee!
I'm hoping that I'll still be able to do the recumbant bike today. While it's a lot of knee movement, there's no weight on the bent knee... fingers crossed that I can at least do that. Then maybe I'll do some upper body weights or some ab work.
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Ya An Other Year... and the struggles continue on
Over the last 6 months, I've let myself go. I haven't been focused on either my eating habits or my exercise. Result? A 12 lb weight gain.
I'm trying not to let it depress me, but it's that time of year. Winter looms long and dreary and sunshine seems to be at a minimum.
I've been working with Maya consistantly for the last week. I'm so freakin' sore it's not even funny. I still can't seem to completely make the commitment, especially with food. I'm already so uncomfortable with how sore I am, the idea of being hungry just isn't appealing. The ONLY way I lose weight is to workout "hard" 6 days a week for an hour and eat 1200 calories a day. That takes a considerable amount of willpower.
So I'll keep trying. I'll do my workouts. Try to workout hard and keep an eye on my calories.
I think part of the struggle is that I lack a support structure. Weight loss/exercise is hard. It's easy to become competitive with it, so it's hard to find the right kind of support. Matt's always been very good, but he's so focused on his own and doesn't want to "judge" me that he's not always the best motivation. The online groups can be a little too "this is how you must do it", offering more advice than support.
So I'll struggle along on my own. Ultimately I'm the one responsible anyway and I have to do it for me and for my reasons and in my own way.
I'm trying not to let it depress me, but it's that time of year. Winter looms long and dreary and sunshine seems to be at a minimum.
I've been working with Maya consistantly for the last week. I'm so freakin' sore it's not even funny. I still can't seem to completely make the commitment, especially with food. I'm already so uncomfortable with how sore I am, the idea of being hungry just isn't appealing. The ONLY way I lose weight is to workout "hard" 6 days a week for an hour and eat 1200 calories a day. That takes a considerable amount of willpower.
So I'll keep trying. I'll do my workouts. Try to workout hard and keep an eye on my calories.
I think part of the struggle is that I lack a support structure. Weight loss/exercise is hard. It's easy to become competitive with it, so it's hard to find the right kind of support. Matt's always been very good, but he's so focused on his own and doesn't want to "judge" me that he's not always the best motivation. The online groups can be a little too "this is how you must do it", offering more advice than support.
So I'll struggle along on my own. Ultimately I'm the one responsible anyway and I have to do it for me and for my reasons and in my own way.
Friday, December 15, 2006
Gym?
I'm not particularly fond of working out at a gym. There's a lot of reasons for this. I have to physically go there, and that's just more time given to a workout that I don't want to do. I have to wear "safe in public" clothes (working out at home allows me to stuff myself into old ratty holey workout clothes). There's a whole workout etiquette you have to deal with when you work out at a gym.
So we went and joined the YMCA today. Mostly for Matt. He can't ride his bike right now due to an over use injury in his calf. He also can't run (which he hates doing anyway) so it's off to swim. We bought him some trunks (um, just as an FYI: the long biker short style swim trunks are not made for bikers, btw. He has "thigh" issues... when the guy that owns the store says, "you have really large thighs" and pulled out larger shorts to fit him, I'm guessing Matt has really large thighs... heehee).
I'm not sure why, but joining the gym and looking around depressed me. I mean it's the Y, so it's not like a meat market style gym. There was a wide variety of people using the gym (tho' traffic was light.. mid morning on a Friday seems to be a good time to workout). I'm not sure why it put me in a bad mood. Am I intimidated? Am I self conscious? Do I recognize how much work losing the next batch of weight is going to be?
When Matt first starting biking, he rode by himself. He lost weight and got strong. He thought he was fast. Then he started doing a training ride run by some local racers and got his ass spanked! He worked harder, trained harder and got stronger and now he's a racer, too.
I think that's part of my fear. I know I've been working hard, but I also know that I'm not working hard enough. Going to a gym around other people would force me to be honest with myself on how hard I'm actually working. Not a fun prospect.
So we went and joined the YMCA today. Mostly for Matt. He can't ride his bike right now due to an over use injury in his calf. He also can't run (which he hates doing anyway) so it's off to swim. We bought him some trunks (um, just as an FYI: the long biker short style swim trunks are not made for bikers, btw. He has "thigh" issues... when the guy that owns the store says, "you have really large thighs" and pulled out larger shorts to fit him, I'm guessing Matt has really large thighs... heehee).
I'm not sure why, but joining the gym and looking around depressed me. I mean it's the Y, so it's not like a meat market style gym. There was a wide variety of people using the gym (tho' traffic was light.. mid morning on a Friday seems to be a good time to workout). I'm not sure why it put me in a bad mood. Am I intimidated? Am I self conscious? Do I recognize how much work losing the next batch of weight is going to be?
When Matt first starting biking, he rode by himself. He lost weight and got strong. He thought he was fast. Then he started doing a training ride run by some local racers and got his ass spanked! He worked harder, trained harder and got stronger and now he's a racer, too.
I think that's part of my fear. I know I've been working hard, but I also know that I'm not working hard enough. Going to a gym around other people would force me to be honest with myself on how hard I'm actually working. Not a fun prospect.
Friday, December 01, 2006
Flipping Off Uno's
Matt and I don't eat out much anymore. For several reasons. Since I don't work, it's really my only "job" as a "housewife" (but I spend most of my time knitting or playing video games. Vacuuming? ya, whatever). The least I can do is cook once a day.
The main reason we stopped eating out (apart from the obvious cost thing) is the control thing. It's soooo much easier to prepare our meals and control what we're eating. I've learned over the years how to make some of our favorites in a healthier way. When we eat out, we have no control on how it's prepared and I really struggle making "healthy" choices when I'm handed a menu.
So when we eat out now, I don't worry too much about what I'm choosing since it's not a common accurance. One of the places that we'll go occassionally is Uno's. We split a salad, a pizza and dessert. The main reason we like Uno's is the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup dessert. It's soooo yummy. We split it, so figure that cuts the calorie content in half and not too bad a treat.
Well while discussing it with a friend, I decided to look at the Nutritional Information (the best weapon in weight control). Ya, we won't be eating it again. Ever.
So the dessert serves 2, so we weren't cutting the calories in half afteral... it was already proportioned for two people. Then look at the calories and fat PER SERVING!!!
Calories: 920 calories
Fat: 66 g (26 saturated)
Calories from fat: 590
For half of what's on the plate. So if you ate the whole thing? 1840 calories. 132 grams of fat.
Now I really respect Uno's for putting that information out there. Unlike some resturants, who refuse to give you the nutritional information (hmmmm, what are they hiding?). EDIT NOTE: Huh, I just went to Houlihan's website. They've changed it. They used to have a disclaimer that said that since their food was "handmade" they couldn't give nutritional information on it. Now they don't even have any reference to it at all (with a very very annoying website).
So I thank Uno for letting me look at the nutritional information. I'll chose the apple dessert, which isn't nearly that bad knowing what I know. As much as I enjoyed the chocolate peanut butter cup dessert, I know that there's no way I can justify my entired day's calories into one food.
And yes, I did flip the resturant off when I drove by the other day. How dare they make something so yummy, yet so not worth eating?
The main reason we stopped eating out (apart from the obvious cost thing) is the control thing. It's soooo much easier to prepare our meals and control what we're eating. I've learned over the years how to make some of our favorites in a healthier way. When we eat out, we have no control on how it's prepared and I really struggle making "healthy" choices when I'm handed a menu.
So when we eat out now, I don't worry too much about what I'm choosing since it's not a common accurance. One of the places that we'll go occassionally is Uno's. We split a salad, a pizza and dessert. The main reason we like Uno's is the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup dessert. It's soooo yummy. We split it, so figure that cuts the calorie content in half and not too bad a treat.
Well while discussing it with a friend, I decided to look at the Nutritional Information (the best weapon in weight control). Ya, we won't be eating it again. Ever.
So the dessert serves 2, so we weren't cutting the calories in half afteral... it was already proportioned for two people. Then look at the calories and fat PER SERVING!!!
Calories: 920 calories
Fat: 66 g (26 saturated)
Calories from fat: 590
For half of what's on the plate. So if you ate the whole thing? 1840 calories. 132 grams of fat.
Now I really respect Uno's for putting that information out there. Unlike some resturants, who refuse to give you the nutritional information (hmmmm, what are they hiding?). EDIT NOTE: Huh, I just went to Houlihan's website. They've changed it. They used to have a disclaimer that said that since their food was "handmade" they couldn't give nutritional information on it. Now they don't even have any reference to it at all (with a very very annoying website).
So I thank Uno for letting me look at the nutritional information. I'll chose the apple dessert, which isn't nearly that bad knowing what I know. As much as I enjoyed the chocolate peanut butter cup dessert, I know that there's no way I can justify my entired day's calories into one food.
And yes, I did flip the resturant off when I drove by the other day. How dare they make something so yummy, yet so not worth eating?
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Running Sucks
oh, wait, wasn't that the title of my last post???
Ya, so anyway. What's up? Weigh In? Was yesterday Wednesday? Oh, thanks for reminding me...
Let's say that I'm at 162 lbs and I'm not really concentrating on that. I'm trying to stay positive, keep motivated and workout.
I'm trying to run on alternate days with a walk warm up followed by weight training on the non running days.
Ya, squats with weights sure do take a toll on ya. Then two days later, when I tried to run (that would be today), my legs still felt like jelly. So a nice brisk walk with super pump arm action it was!
I'm basically in a damage control mode right now. Not yet in the panic, OMG I've gain 10 lbs! mode. I just hope that with some concentration and some hard work I can get back on track.
Ya, so anyway. What's up? Weigh In? Was yesterday Wednesday? Oh, thanks for reminding me...
Let's say that I'm at 162 lbs and I'm not really concentrating on that. I'm trying to stay positive, keep motivated and workout.
I'm trying to run on alternate days with a walk warm up followed by weight training on the non running days.
Ya, squats with weights sure do take a toll on ya. Then two days later, when I tried to run (that would be today), my legs still felt like jelly. So a nice brisk walk with super pump arm action it was!
I'm basically in a damage control mode right now. Not yet in the panic, OMG I've gain 10 lbs! mode. I just hope that with some concentration and some hard work I can get back on track.
Monday, November 27, 2006
Running Sucks
It does. Really. Yet, so completely effective that I keep trying to do it.
I'm not sure why. I have knee that hurts (since my kneecap isn't smooth, it grinds with every bouncing step). I have large "let's give Cindy a black eye while she bounces up and down" breasts. Not fun and quite frankly, a little on the painful side.
Yet I continually get on the treadmill and jog (ya, let's be honest... this ain't running. Watching Herm Edwards on the treadmill during the promo for the NFL channel makes me realize that I'll never be that graceful). The heart rate monitor cheers. Wow, Cindy look at how quickly you can get to your max heart rate and just watch those calories burn off.
So while I hate every single freakin' second of jogging on the treadmill, I still do it. One day I will run a complete mile. At a time (not in 1/4 mile increments). It won't be fast (my favorite speed on the treadmill is 3.4 mph. Not 3.5, that's too fast for my short little legs).
Ya, I didn't weigh in last week. So what? I was busy. Cooking. For Thanksgiving. I only cooked low fat, healthy foods. In small quanities. Uh.huh. Ya, good thing the heart rate monitor doesn't tell me how many calories I'm consuming....
I'm not sure why. I have knee that hurts (since my kneecap isn't smooth, it grinds with every bouncing step). I have large "let's give Cindy a black eye while she bounces up and down" breasts. Not fun and quite frankly, a little on the painful side.
Yet I continually get on the treadmill and jog (ya, let's be honest... this ain't running. Watching Herm Edwards on the treadmill during the promo for the NFL channel makes me realize that I'll never be that graceful). The heart rate monitor cheers. Wow, Cindy look at how quickly you can get to your max heart rate and just watch those calories burn off.
So while I hate every single freakin' second of jogging on the treadmill, I still do it. One day I will run a complete mile. At a time (not in 1/4 mile increments). It won't be fast (my favorite speed on the treadmill is 3.4 mph. Not 3.5, that's too fast for my short little legs).
Ya, I didn't weigh in last week. So what? I was busy. Cooking. For Thanksgiving. I only cooked low fat, healthy foods. In small quanities. Uh.huh. Ya, good thing the heart rate monitor doesn't tell me how many calories I'm consuming....
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Wednesday Weigh In
Oh Crap, it's Wednesday. Ugh.
Weight: 160.4 lbs
Body Fat %: 39.3%
Ya, that's up. As expected. I've averaged about 154 lbs over the last 2 years (with lowest being 149 lbs). So that's not horrific, but the difference between a size 12 jeans and a size 14 jeans. Six pounds isn't the end of the world, and it could be a lot worse.
However, it's the wrong way. I hope that I can drop these extra 6 by the end of the year and get back to the 154 before New Years.
The good news is that I'm not the only one who's put on some weight. Yes, I know it's evil, but Matt's weight is up to 140 lbs. Since my main goal is to weigh less than my husband, that's only 20 lbs. Actually, it's not as evil as it sounds. What it means is that I need to watch how I'm cooking. If he's gaining weight too that means that we're not watching our diet as close as we should. Yes, racing season is over and he's cut back on his workouts, but he usually adjusts his eating to the lower workout schedule.
It's ALWAYS easier if we're both being restrictive. He's always aware of what he's eating, but during training for the races, he'll burn 1200 calories in one ride... that's my total calorie allotment for the day! It's really hard to restrict my calories when he's has to increase his.
So I'm back to using Yourself!Fitness again. I had planned on starting a new profile on Monday, but it just happened that my regular Physical Challenge was up. So let's see the results:
Resting heart rate: 62
Max heart rate: 157
Squats: 50 (max)
Crunches: 30
Push ups: 10
The flexibility wasn't as far as usual, so that's two areas I really need to work on: push ups and flexibility. I was pleased with the resting heart rate. The max is about where I normally am, and so that's good too.
I'm also being a lot better about working out in the morning. I like to workout right before lunch and so I'm off to let Maya kick my butt!
Weight: 160.4 lbs
Body Fat %: 39.3%
Ya, that's up. As expected. I've averaged about 154 lbs over the last 2 years (with lowest being 149 lbs). So that's not horrific, but the difference between a size 12 jeans and a size 14 jeans. Six pounds isn't the end of the world, and it could be a lot worse.
However, it's the wrong way. I hope that I can drop these extra 6 by the end of the year and get back to the 154 before New Years.
The good news is that I'm not the only one who's put on some weight. Yes, I know it's evil, but Matt's weight is up to 140 lbs. Since my main goal is to weigh less than my husband, that's only 20 lbs. Actually, it's not as evil as it sounds. What it means is that I need to watch how I'm cooking. If he's gaining weight too that means that we're not watching our diet as close as we should. Yes, racing season is over and he's cut back on his workouts, but he usually adjusts his eating to the lower workout schedule.
It's ALWAYS easier if we're both being restrictive. He's always aware of what he's eating, but during training for the races, he'll burn 1200 calories in one ride... that's my total calorie allotment for the day! It's really hard to restrict my calories when he's has to increase his.
So I'm back to using Yourself!Fitness again. I had planned on starting a new profile on Monday, but it just happened that my regular Physical Challenge was up. So let's see the results:
Resting heart rate: 62
Max heart rate: 157
Squats: 50 (max)
Crunches: 30
Push ups: 10
The flexibility wasn't as far as usual, so that's two areas I really need to work on: push ups and flexibility. I was pleased with the resting heart rate. The max is about where I normally am, and so that's good too.
I'm also being a lot better about working out in the morning. I like to workout right before lunch and so I'm off to let Maya kick my butt!
Monday, November 13, 2006
The Heart Rate Monitor Weight Loss Program
I have a definitely love/hate relationship with my Heart Rate Monitor.
After much procrastination, it's back with brand new spanking batteries (meaning I had to reset everything-including those extra pounds I've put on since it's been gone).
I forgot how much I rely on it. Not only for my workout (my goal isn't time/distance/set, etc... it's all about how many calories I burn), but for the psychological impact of seeing how much work burning calories is.
When I use my HRM on a regular basis and see how many calories my workouts burn, food calories take on a whole new impact. 100 calorie snacks seem like a good idea, but then I stop and think about burning 100 calories. Extra calories are extra workout time and really make me stop and think if I'm hungry or if I'm just wanting something out of habit.
I've been easing back into my workouts. When I take a break and decide to get focused again, I have a tendancy of over doing it (thinking I can just jump back to wehre I was when I stopped). I usually hurt myself doing that, so I've been walking (with minimal jogging... like 1/4 mile) on the treadmill or using the stationary bike. Increasing my time and effort with each workout.
I've been avoiding the Yourself!Fitness. Partly because it's a harder workout than the treadmill and bike, but I also realized that I'm pissed that I won't be getting an update for it. I'm mad at Maya. I still get the best workout from her, but I had sooo been looking forward to the sequel (and it sounds like the company is gone... the customer service number has been disconnected). I don't like the Eye Toy: Kinetics (the eye toy just isn't reliable... and the reason why I'm weary of the new Wii... I want to see a lot more reliable interface on the motion detection before I shell out my money).
So I'm debating if it's time to start looking at traditional DVD's or just get over it and get back to Maya.
After much procrastination, it's back with brand new spanking batteries (meaning I had to reset everything-including those extra pounds I've put on since it's been gone).
I forgot how much I rely on it. Not only for my workout (my goal isn't time/distance/set, etc... it's all about how many calories I burn), but for the psychological impact of seeing how much work burning calories is.
When I use my HRM on a regular basis and see how many calories my workouts burn, food calories take on a whole new impact. 100 calorie snacks seem like a good idea, but then I stop and think about burning 100 calories. Extra calories are extra workout time and really make me stop and think if I'm hungry or if I'm just wanting something out of habit.
I've been easing back into my workouts. When I take a break and decide to get focused again, I have a tendancy of over doing it (thinking I can just jump back to wehre I was when I stopped). I usually hurt myself doing that, so I've been walking (with minimal jogging... like 1/4 mile) on the treadmill or using the stationary bike. Increasing my time and effort with each workout.
I've been avoiding the Yourself!Fitness. Partly because it's a harder workout than the treadmill and bike, but I also realized that I'm pissed that I won't be getting an update for it. I'm mad at Maya. I still get the best workout from her, but I had sooo been looking forward to the sequel (and it sounds like the company is gone... the customer service number has been disconnected). I don't like the Eye Toy: Kinetics (the eye toy just isn't reliable... and the reason why I'm weary of the new Wii... I want to see a lot more reliable interface on the motion detection before I shell out my money).
So I'm debating if it's time to start looking at traditional DVD's or just get over it and get back to Maya.
Thursday, November 09, 2006
I'm Back
As you can probably tell, there hasn't been a lot of concentration on fitness or fitness blogging. A two year plateau can really be tough to deal with.
However, my self confidense is completely broken right now. My weight is up, recent pictures of me aren't flattering and it seems that I avoid responsibility.
So I'm not feeling very good about myself. It's hard to hear my faults then be told not to beat myself up over feeling bad about myself. I'm trying to concentrate on positives about myself, and I have some. However right now I'm feeling a bit low.
That means it's back to the old grindstone. I need to stick to a workout schedule. Plain and simple. As soon as I start "adjusting" it, it starts to thin in regularity then eventually I stop completely. The longer I put it off, the less likely I'll do it.
Hopefully by taking better care of myself physically, I'll feel better about myself psychologically.
However, my self confidense is completely broken right now. My weight is up, recent pictures of me aren't flattering and it seems that I avoid responsibility.
So I'm not feeling very good about myself. It's hard to hear my faults then be told not to beat myself up over feeling bad about myself. I'm trying to concentrate on positives about myself, and I have some. However right now I'm feeling a bit low.
That means it's back to the old grindstone. I need to stick to a workout schedule. Plain and simple. As soon as I start "adjusting" it, it starts to thin in regularity then eventually I stop completely. The longer I put it off, the less likely I'll do it.
Hopefully by taking better care of myself physically, I'll feel better about myself psychologically.
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