Back to the Weigh In Wednesday!
First, a confession. I'm cheating with my diet. I've decided to concentrate on portion control, so I'm doing a "lean cuisine" diet. My biggest problem with tracking my own cooking is how I cook, then trying to figure out what I'm actually eating. So frozen dinners or Boca burgers with specific portions and exact calorie counts for a bit, just to get me jump started with my weight loss again.
I will say that the biggest problem with doing the prepared foods is the sodium. I'm trying to balance that out by drinking even more water.
So since last Thursday (or was it Friday?), I've been eating my normal breakfast, a frozen dinner or Boca burger (which is typical... I sure do love my Boca Burgers!!!) then an afternoon snack, followed by a huge salad and a frozen dinner. Coninuing with the walk/jog treadmill work and Yourself!Fitness on alternate days.
The results? 155.8 lbs.
Dang, it's working (starting weight 157.8 lbs). Calories in vs. Calories out is how to lose weight, and being able to track properly is really the key. So we'll continue this process for a few weeks, then go back to regular cooking again.
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Still here!!
Well, I really want to be more consistant about blogging my weight loss, but I've been distracted by several things...
that includes my workouts and diet.
I'm still plugging along on my current schedule of the walk/jog every other day with Yourself!Fitness on alternate days. I did an hour upper body concentration with Maya yesterday. She decided to take my weights away again, so I just added them myself.
I was able to do a little better than a lap and a half at a jog on Saturday. It's still tough and my legs are feeling it. Today will be an other treadmill day. I'm sticking with the lap and a half thru the rest of this week then I'll push it a little more next week.
The food is still the biggest problem. Partly because of my cooking style (makes tracking it difficult) and partly because I'm basically always hungry. I've bumped the food up a bit, just because I couldn't stand the constant hunger anymore at 1300 calories. If this slows down the weight loss, then it slows it down. At this point I'm focusing on reaching the jogging goal more than the weight loss goal. I think this is a healthier attitude and it's more tangible than weight loss. I don't have any control on how my body loses weight, but I can control the jogging goal.
One day at a time, one goal at a time...
that includes my workouts and diet.
I'm still plugging along on my current schedule of the walk/jog every other day with Yourself!Fitness on alternate days. I did an hour upper body concentration with Maya yesterday. She decided to take my weights away again, so I just added them myself.
I was able to do a little better than a lap and a half at a jog on Saturday. It's still tough and my legs are feeling it. Today will be an other treadmill day. I'm sticking with the lap and a half thru the rest of this week then I'll push it a little more next week.
The food is still the biggest problem. Partly because of my cooking style (makes tracking it difficult) and partly because I'm basically always hungry. I've bumped the food up a bit, just because I couldn't stand the constant hunger anymore at 1300 calories. If this slows down the weight loss, then it slows it down. At this point I'm focusing on reaching the jogging goal more than the weight loss goal. I think this is a healthier attitude and it's more tangible than weight loss. I don't have any control on how my body loses weight, but I can control the jogging goal.
One day at a time, one goal at a time...
Thursday, February 09, 2006
Weigh In Thursday
Ya, doesn't sound as cool as Weigh In Wednesday, but that's the schedule I'm on right now.
So all that hard work, sacrifice and the occassional off day... the result? A 1/2 lb loss. Not bad actually. That's my normal weight loss average.
However, I still am bumping it up a bit. Still keeping the calories to between 1200-1300 calories, but I'm adding a bit more exercise, especially on the treadmill days. Since I'm working my way up to a full mile at a jog, I'm just not burning enough calories on those days.
So the new schedule is: a hard Yourself!Fitness cardio workout for one hour, then the next day is a weight concentration and the treadmill, then the Y!F the next day and so on and so on.
Well see if that bumps me up to a 1 lb loss a week average.
Oh!!! and I did the upper body workout tonight and she finally incorporated the hand weights (I did tell her the last time that it wasn't hard enough). It's just weird that it's such a huge jump. Going from a 12 repeat without weight exercise to a 15 repeat with weight exercise. Weird.
I'll be sore tomorrow...
So all that hard work, sacrifice and the occassional off day... the result? A 1/2 lb loss. Not bad actually. That's my normal weight loss average.
However, I still am bumping it up a bit. Still keeping the calories to between 1200-1300 calories, but I'm adding a bit more exercise, especially on the treadmill days. Since I'm working my way up to a full mile at a jog, I'm just not burning enough calories on those days.
So the new schedule is: a hard Yourself!Fitness cardio workout for one hour, then the next day is a weight concentration and the treadmill, then the Y!F the next day and so on and so on.
Well see if that bumps me up to a 1 lb loss a week average.
Oh!!! and I did the upper body workout tonight and she finally incorporated the hand weights (I did tell her the last time that it wasn't hard enough). It's just weird that it's such a huge jump. Going from a 12 repeat without weight exercise to a 15 repeat with weight exercise. Weird.
I'll be sore tomorrow...
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
Tuesday Update
Things have been a little uneven over the last few days.
I took Saturday off from a workout, but kept my eating in check.
Sunday I didn't track my food because of the Superbowl. I did make as healthy choices as I could, but I didn't want to obsess about it, so no tracking. I did do a light (but late) workout. 30 minutes tempo on the stationary bike.
Monday I was back to tracking the food (but I forgot I had some of the leftover white bean dip from Sunday while I was making dinner and went over my 1200 calories for the day... only by about 200, so I'm not loosing sleep over it). I didn't workout thanks to a foot injury (bruise on the bottom of my foot that kept me from putting any weight directly on the ball of the foot).
Back on schedule for the most part today. I just got off the treadmill. I did a 1/4 mile warm up at a brisk walk, then a little over 1/4 mile at a jog, then back down to a brisk walk. I didn't get a full mile in, as the injured foot started to spasm a bit (probably from walking on it funny yesterday). I'll probably try to get back on and do an other workout on it, just so I get my miles in. No one said it all had to be at once.
I'm going to try to remember to weigh in tomorrow morning. I'm hoping for a one pound loss.
I took Saturday off from a workout, but kept my eating in check.
Sunday I didn't track my food because of the Superbowl. I did make as healthy choices as I could, but I didn't want to obsess about it, so no tracking. I did do a light (but late) workout. 30 minutes tempo on the stationary bike.
Monday I was back to tracking the food (but I forgot I had some of the leftover white bean dip from Sunday while I was making dinner and went over my 1200 calories for the day... only by about 200, so I'm not loosing sleep over it). I didn't workout thanks to a foot injury (bruise on the bottom of my foot that kept me from putting any weight directly on the ball of the foot).
Back on schedule for the most part today. I just got off the treadmill. I did a 1/4 mile warm up at a brisk walk, then a little over 1/4 mile at a jog, then back down to a brisk walk. I didn't get a full mile in, as the injured foot started to spasm a bit (probably from walking on it funny yesterday). I'll probably try to get back on and do an other workout on it, just so I get my miles in. No one said it all had to be at once.
I'm going to try to remember to weigh in tomorrow morning. I'm hoping for a one pound loss.
Friday, February 03, 2006
Friday Update
I did my walk/jog combo yesterday and was able to do the 1/4 mile at a jog. It was harder than I expected. I guess part of me assumes that once I do it, it'll be easier the next time. Nope, it's gonna take a little more effort and time to get to a "comfort" zone with it.
Today I did my 45 minutes of upper body with Maya. It looks like I'm going to have to add my own weights. For some reason she doesn't want me to use my hand weights. Weird.
I've been tracking my food since Monday. I've let Fitday set up my metabolism and I'm tracking my workouts, too. According to it's numbers, I'm about 800 calories down a day. Let's see if that shows up on the scale on Wednesday. I'm hoping for just one pound.
I will say eating approx 1200 calories is tough. I will admit I'm grumpy and easily irritated right now. It's always hard to do a deficit, especially when we live in a society that has such easy access to crap. However, that doesn't mean I need the crap.
The weekends are always tougher, and with the Super Bowl on Sunday, I'm going to have to be very careful not to over extend my calories and blow all this hard work this week. Must decide on some healthy choices....
Today I did my 45 minutes of upper body with Maya. It looks like I'm going to have to add my own weights. For some reason she doesn't want me to use my hand weights. Weird.
I've been tracking my food since Monday. I've let Fitday set up my metabolism and I'm tracking my workouts, too. According to it's numbers, I'm about 800 calories down a day. Let's see if that shows up on the scale on Wednesday. I'm hoping for just one pound.
I will say eating approx 1200 calories is tough. I will admit I'm grumpy and easily irritated right now. It's always hard to do a deficit, especially when we live in a society that has such easy access to crap. However, that doesn't mean I need the crap.
The weekends are always tougher, and with the Super Bowl on Sunday, I'm going to have to be very careful not to over extend my calories and blow all this hard work this week. Must decide on some healthy choices....
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Plugging Away...
So the tracking thing is always fun. Well, it's not really, but completely necessary. It's always fun trying to figure out what I'm eating. I change recipes so much that there isn't a "basic" formula to follow. Oh well, I'm hoping I'm pretty close and the weight will start to come off.
Speaking of weight, I did remember to weigh myself this morning. I weighed in at 157.6 lbs. So I'm up almost 4lbs from this time last year. Not really surprising, since I ate like crap over the holiday and I cut back significantly on my exercise. I'm hoping those come off pretty quickly and I can concentrate on dropping below that 154 lbs. I seem to do this pretty regularly. It always seems to take a bit of a gain to get me motivated to do the next drop.
Yesterday was my upper body concentration with Maya. I did 45 minutes and felt I got a good workout. She did have me use a little more weights this time (mostly with the bicep curls) and my shoulders were sore before I even started. I think that's from the jogging, actually. I must be tightening my shoulders when I jog.
I'll work on fixing that today, as it's treadmill day. I'll try to jog for an entire lap again at 3.5 mph. Should be a little easier... at least I hope!
Speaking of weight, I did remember to weigh myself this morning. I weighed in at 157.6 lbs. So I'm up almost 4lbs from this time last year. Not really surprising, since I ate like crap over the holiday and I cut back significantly on my exercise. I'm hoping those come off pretty quickly and I can concentrate on dropping below that 154 lbs. I seem to do this pretty regularly. It always seems to take a bit of a gain to get me motivated to do the next drop.
Yesterday was my upper body concentration with Maya. I did 45 minutes and felt I got a good workout. She did have me use a little more weights this time (mostly with the bicep curls) and my shoulders were sore before I even started. I think that's from the jogging, actually. I must be tightening my shoulders when I jog.
I'll work on fixing that today, as it's treadmill day. I'll try to jog for an entire lap again at 3.5 mph. Should be a little easier... at least I hope!
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Jogging... one lap at a time.
So yesterday was "treadmill" day. I'm currently working on being able to jog a full mile, slowly building up 1/4 of a mile at a time.
I normally walk at about 3.0 mph on the treadmill. I'm short, and I have short gait, walking faster than that is really hard for me. I can do 3.5 mph for a while, but I start to trip over my feet and can't keep up with the treadmill for any length of time. 3.3 is probably as fast of a pace that I can maintain.
I did the first two laps (1/2 mile) at a brisk walk, then I turned it up to 3.5 mph and did an entire lap at a jog. I did it. That's the first time I've been able to do a whole lap at a jog.
I know that they say it's the miles that count, doesn't matter if you walk briskly or jog, but that's not true. I had my heart rate monitor on. The effort to jog a 1/4 mile put me at about 165 bmp, while the same speed at a brisk walk I maxed at about 138 bmp. That's a significant difference.
I'm going to continue to take it slowly and work my way up. I didn't feel over taxed from a cardio standpoint (thanks to Yourself!Fitness, my cardio capacity is much greater) but my legs sure aren't used to running. With my bum knee, I want to slowly increase up to being able to jog a mile.
So today is Maya day. I'll do the upper body workout on Yourself!Fitness. Probably for an hour.
Oh, and I had my regular morning coffee this morning. I'm going to focus on being more physically fit and try to eat within a healthy diet without going nuts. If my coffee is slowing down the weight loss process, I can live with that. I should still be able to lose 1 lb a week with what I'm doing. A cup of good coffee a day is worth it.
I normally walk at about 3.0 mph on the treadmill. I'm short, and I have short gait, walking faster than that is really hard for me. I can do 3.5 mph for a while, but I start to trip over my feet and can't keep up with the treadmill for any length of time. 3.3 is probably as fast of a pace that I can maintain.
I did the first two laps (1/2 mile) at a brisk walk, then I turned it up to 3.5 mph and did an entire lap at a jog. I did it. That's the first time I've been able to do a whole lap at a jog.
I know that they say it's the miles that count, doesn't matter if you walk briskly or jog, but that's not true. I had my heart rate monitor on. The effort to jog a 1/4 mile put me at about 165 bmp, while the same speed at a brisk walk I maxed at about 138 bmp. That's a significant difference.
I'm going to continue to take it slowly and work my way up. I didn't feel over taxed from a cardio standpoint (thanks to Yourself!Fitness, my cardio capacity is much greater) but my legs sure aren't used to running. With my bum knee, I want to slowly increase up to being able to jog a mile.
So today is Maya day. I'll do the upper body workout on Yourself!Fitness. Probably for an hour.
Oh, and I had my regular morning coffee this morning. I'm going to focus on being more physically fit and try to eat within a healthy diet without going nuts. If my coffee is slowing down the weight loss process, I can live with that. I should still be able to lose 1 lb a week with what I'm doing. A cup of good coffee a day is worth it.
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Discouraged? Already?
Well, now that I'm all "focused" again and I'm back to tracking my calories I'm in full depressive funk.
I went to the Mayo clinic weight loss site yesterday (some great and useful information) and according to their stats, I should be eating 1200 calories a day. That's so little food it's not even funny.
Today I was looking at my standard "breakfast" for FitDay (I eat the same thing for breakfast every day) and I realized that I hadn't been logging it right. I had the wrong sizing in for how I take my coffee. After I fixed it, I'm eating a bit over 400 calories for breakfast. For a cup of coffee and a bowl of cereal. That's 1/3 of what I get to eat a day.
The coffee is gonna have to go. I know that most healthy eating programs tell you to cut caffine out of your diet and I take my sugar with coffee and cream (that's a shout out to the Beastie Boys). So a sugar substitute? skim milk? or just cut it completely and switch over to tea? (I don't drink my tea with anything...) I would save over 100 calories doing that. Can I do that? Am I serious enough to give up my morning cup of coffee?
I'm not sure I am. I've given up so many things that I truely love and my coffee is the one thing I haven't been willing to sacrifice.
Well, I guess I should head to the grocery store to stock up on some fresh veggies... I need to get more fruit and veggies.
I went to the Mayo clinic weight loss site yesterday (some great and useful information) and according to their stats, I should be eating 1200 calories a day. That's so little food it's not even funny.
Today I was looking at my standard "breakfast" for FitDay (I eat the same thing for breakfast every day) and I realized that I hadn't been logging it right. I had the wrong sizing in for how I take my coffee. After I fixed it, I'm eating a bit over 400 calories for breakfast. For a cup of coffee and a bowl of cereal. That's 1/3 of what I get to eat a day.
The coffee is gonna have to go. I know that most healthy eating programs tell you to cut caffine out of your diet and I take my sugar with coffee and cream (that's a shout out to the Beastie Boys). So a sugar substitute? skim milk? or just cut it completely and switch over to tea? (I don't drink my tea with anything...) I would save over 100 calories doing that. Can I do that? Am I serious enough to give up my morning cup of coffee?
I'm not sure I am. I've given up so many things that I truely love and my coffee is the one thing I haven't been willing to sacrifice.
Well, I guess I should head to the grocery store to stock up on some fresh veggies... I need to get more fruit and veggies.
Monday, January 30, 2006
The Weekend Report
It was one of those weekends... some good things, and some not so good things.
Saturday I made the decision to start adding some jogging/light running to my treadmill workouts. For a couple of reasons. It'll give me a goal to work towards plus I want to be able to be more efficient with my workouts. I'm also seriously considering a 5K this summer (might not "run" it, but it wouldn't hurt to jog to get more endurance).
I'm doing it slowly. My treadmill gives me "laps". Just like a track, 4 laps is one mile. So I start with a warm up lap: a slow walk that I gradually increase until I hit "brisk". I then keep that brisk pace until I hit the 1/2 mile mark. I then crank it up a little and see how much I can job. My goal right now is to try to do an entire lap (1/4 mile). I'll then set a new goal once that's done.
I do need more goals like this, and I need to do it slowly, as every time I've ever tried to add jogging, I've pushed too hard too fast and usually end up hurting myself. I'm trying to keep it to a comfortable pace right now, more concerned about distance than speed. After I can jog for an entire mile, then I'll work on my speed.
As for the not so successful part of my weekend, I ate crap food on Sunday. I went yarn shopping with friends and had a great time. We went for lunch and I made bad decisions, ate too much of my bad decisions and felt like crap the rest of the day. Bloated and uncomfortable. Today I feel like I'm hung over (probably from the high salt content of the food). Argh. So screw the thinking of "get back on a regular workout schedule then worry about the food". I'm going to do that today.
I'm going to do 1500 calories a day. I'll also make sure I'm getting better balance (ie: more fruits and veggies), watch my saturated fat intake and my sodium intake. More water, less diet sodas.
So that's the goals... I know I can do it, just need to stay focused!
Today's goal. I think I'll use Monday, Wednesday and Friday as my Yourself!Fitness workouts. That will cover my weight training, then I'll work on the treadmill on the other days to reach my jogging goals.
So 45 minutes with Maya is the plan.
Saturday I made the decision to start adding some jogging/light running to my treadmill workouts. For a couple of reasons. It'll give me a goal to work towards plus I want to be able to be more efficient with my workouts. I'm also seriously considering a 5K this summer (might not "run" it, but it wouldn't hurt to jog to get more endurance).
I'm doing it slowly. My treadmill gives me "laps". Just like a track, 4 laps is one mile. So I start with a warm up lap: a slow walk that I gradually increase until I hit "brisk". I then keep that brisk pace until I hit the 1/2 mile mark. I then crank it up a little and see how much I can job. My goal right now is to try to do an entire lap (1/4 mile). I'll then set a new goal once that's done.
I do need more goals like this, and I need to do it slowly, as every time I've ever tried to add jogging, I've pushed too hard too fast and usually end up hurting myself. I'm trying to keep it to a comfortable pace right now, more concerned about distance than speed. After I can jog for an entire mile, then I'll work on my speed.
As for the not so successful part of my weekend, I ate crap food on Sunday. I went yarn shopping with friends and had a great time. We went for lunch and I made bad decisions, ate too much of my bad decisions and felt like crap the rest of the day. Bloated and uncomfortable. Today I feel like I'm hung over (probably from the high salt content of the food). Argh. So screw the thinking of "get back on a regular workout schedule then worry about the food". I'm going to do that today.
I'm going to do 1500 calories a day. I'll also make sure I'm getting better balance (ie: more fruits and veggies), watch my saturated fat intake and my sodium intake. More water, less diet sodas.
So that's the goals... I know I can do it, just need to stay focused!
Today's goal. I think I'll use Monday, Wednesday and Friday as my Yourself!Fitness workouts. That will cover my weight training, then I'll work on the treadmill on the other days to reach my jogging goals.
So 45 minutes with Maya is the plan.
Friday, January 27, 2006
Friday
Yesterday's workout went great! I got my 45 minute Y!F workout in. I'm still not sure why she doesn't like me using the weights. I've tried upping the difficulty level, but then she makes it too hard for me to finish. I need something in between.
So what's on schedule for today then? Hmmmm... an other attempt to get three miles on the treadmill, perhaps? Okay, that sounds good. I'm trying to mix up my workouts a bit more.
So far, I'm keeping to at least being active every day this week. Hopefully, I'm getting back in to the swing of things... then I've got to tackle the reduced caloric intake (yuck!)
So what's on schedule for today then? Hmmmm... an other attempt to get three miles on the treadmill, perhaps? Okay, that sounds good. I'm trying to mix up my workouts a bit more.
So far, I'm keeping to at least being active every day this week. Hopefully, I'm getting back in to the swing of things... then I've got to tackle the reduced caloric intake (yuck!)
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