Whole30 - Week 2
My week one ended with a bad car accident. Car totaled, pain pills for neck issues kind of bad accident. But a few things came of this:
1) I am more grateful than ever to be alive and with all functional limbs (minus the toe I bruised up pretty badly)
2) I am overwhelmed by the love of my friends. I had no less than 6 offers from people to pick me up on the side of the GW Parkway.
3) I need a new car.
Day 8 (Tuesday)
This was a ROUGH day. I woke up in a lot of pain, tired and hungover from the pain killers and muscle relaxers. As a result, I had a Lara bar for breakfast, half heartedly ate some more eggplant leftovers between what would be breakfast and lunch, and some veggies, I think. I don't actually remember and I'm writing this on Wednesday. Rough.day.
I got in bed when I got home and was like...eff it. Beer and pizza me. But I did not. Instead, I got up and made indian spiced hamburgers on portabello mushroom "buns."
Breakfast: Lara bar
Lunch: leftover eggplant, squash
Dinner: hamburger on portabello mushrooms
Day 9 (Wednesday)
Another crazy day, but this time I managed breakfast...but not lunch. I swear to you all, I never want to eat eggplant again and I can already tell the biggest problem I will face with this diet is getting sick of whatever it is that I'm eating. Note to self: make leftovers, but not THAT many leftovers.
The real challenge came when it was time for dinner. Tomorrow is a holiday. Chadd and I haven't spent a lot of time together lately, so off we went to Lauriol for dinner. Normally? Chips and salsa forever and bring on the cheese enchiladas and a margarita. Tonight? Yeah, that's not happening.
Breakfast: eggplant strata
Lunch: skipped, I know I know, though I did sneak in an apple and almond butter
Dinner: fried plantains, guacamole, chicken and steak fajita meat and grilled veggies
Day 10 (Thursday)
I feared this day. Well, feared is a strong word, but I was apprehensive about getting through the 4th easily. What is more American than a beer and a burger? Originally, Chadd's dad's family was coming in, but that changed at the last minute, so we were without plans. I am seriously burning out on food. I need to get the energy and motivation to make new foods. Not working out due to the car accident has been a real bummer, too. I just feel irritated and listless.
Chadd did drag my butt to the pool down the street and after an easy 500m, my neck felt better than it did going in, so that was a win.
Breakfast: More sleep for breakfast!
Lunch: Eggplant strata (so help me God I never want to eat this ever again)
Snack: apple and almond butter
Dinner: Stirfry with chicken and veggies and spaghetti squash
Day 11 (Friday)
Yesterday was ridiculous. I wanted to punch someone for a milk shake. I guess we're in that realm of weird cravings. I wanted everything sweet. ANYTHING. Milk. I wanted a huge glass of milk. I don't remember the last time I drank milk straight. Friday, not so bad. I had to be up early to meet with Geico to get my claim check, I still struggle with getting up early enough for breakfast.
The hardest part of today was working with Danny and not being able to test much of the food we made. I did eat a lot of steamed veggies and proscuitto.
Breakfast: Egg, leftover veggies
Lunch: leftover stir fry
Dinner: veggies, proscuitto
Day 12 (Saturday)
I made some rookie mistakes today. As in. I forgot to plan. Totally, 100% spaced out. I got up, made a late breakfast (more eggs) and then off we went to test drive cars. Out of the city. Away from anything but fast food. Cue dangerous hangry music. After fussing around at CarMax (fail), we wound up grabbing food at a place where I could, not even kidding, only order a chicken breast with tomato and lettuce. And an unsweet tea. And fruit. I was not happy. But I tried to calm the hangry monster inside and quickly ate my gross lunch. I celebrated making it through this with some cashews and sparkling water before we went and looked at more cars.
On the fun side, on the way back into the city, we stopped at Whole Foods and I spent an obscene amount of time with the butcher playing "what is in that sausage." #TWSS
Breakfast: Eggs, veggies
Lunch: grilled chicken, lettuce, tomato, fruit cup
Dinner: grilled salmon with green beans and spaghetti squash
Day 13 (Sunday)
Brunch brunch brunch. Every self respecting DC girl enjoys a good brunch. I happen to love brunch, but really hate that it can lend itself to wasting the day with day drinking. I decided it was wise to try brunch at a location that would probably accomodate my odd needs. Chef Geoff's, it was.
I warned the waiter in advance, who very nicely, asked if I had allergies or was just special. Just special, I assured him, as I took out my ziplock container of whipped coconut milk that I spooned into my coffee. Very special.
Brunch: Just egg omelet (really more like a flat mix of egg and egg) over oil sauteed onions, peppers, and spinach. Fruit plate, avocado, and sweet potato. Plus more fruit. Bless our waiter.
Dinner: Chicken with artichoke hearts, capers and lemon, broccoli, and spaghetti squash
Day 14 (Monday)
Today felt like a normal day. I got up, had a left over burger thing and portabello mushroom. This did not seem odd to me. Lunch was normal. I found myself distinctly NOT thinking about the Whole30. Breaking news: I have learned to enjoy black coffee. Old news: I'm addicted to Whole Foods. It's blissful picking up produce and meat there.
Breakfast: Leftover indian burger
Lunch: Lamb meatballs in sauce, spaghetti squash, peach, nuts
Dinner: Grilled flank steak, asparagus, onions and mushrooms, sweet potato, berries with whipped coconut cream
Week Wrap Up:
After the first week, I knew this week (and next) would be the hardest, simply because the excitement would have worn off and it would be harder to avoid "normal" life with the 4th, friends in town, etc. But the week went better than expected. By the end of it, Whole30 felt very doable and I'm pretty certain we'll be sticking to a modified version of it (read: I won't freak out when there is sugar in my bacon).
Positives:
- I feel good. Even post accident, I feel GOOD
- The sleep is black and dreamless and I don't have insomnia or wake up unable to sleep again
- I've never trimmed down this fast - ever. Ever ever.
- Saving money. I know that a lot of people disagree and say they spent MORE going paleo. Maybe we just ate out a lot...
Negatives:
- I can't measure my athletic performance since I can't do anything aerobic
- When you have unexpected plans and you must.eat.right.now.
- Sorry, there is SUGAR in bacon?? Surely you jest.
- The whole foods employees are about to restrict me from accessing the building
- Sometimes, the idea of having to cook for a half day to prep for the week is overwhelming, but once I get started, it's pretty nice and relaxing
Half way!
Showing posts with label Weight loss. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Weight loss. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Mia Cooks: Prep for the Week Edition
Christine and I had a chat earlier this week about better planning for food - it's too easy to be slammed with work and eat whatever instead of eating real food.
We agreed that the best way to stay accountable would be to cook every Sunday (or once a week if I have Sunday plans) and do a #miacooks along with it. I don't blame you if you want to mute my twitter feed every Sunday.
Today, I got up, felt rested, then wandered over to farmer's market. When Chadd asked what I got, I said, "If it was green, I bought it," which is pretty accurate.
(not pictured: ricotta, greek yogurt, and mozzarella from Blue Ridge Dairy)
I spent the afternoon cooking, with a couple of #sportz breaks, most notably a "restorative yoga" class which was basically guided nap time. Suffice to say, I feel incredibly peaceful today.
Here are all the recipes that showed up on #miacooks this afternoon:
Bacon Brussel Sprouts
I had these at a barbecue the other weekend and they totally blew my mind. I've made them twice in the past week.
You need:
- Brussel Sprouts
- 3-4 slices Bacon
- Salt
- Cayenne Pepper
- Olive Oil
1) Cut sprouts. Take the rinsed sprouts and cut off the stem bottom, then chop the sprouts in half.
2) Prep the sprouts. Drizzle the sprouts with a little olive oil. Add sea salt and cayenne pepper.
3) BACON. Chop uncooked bacon into small pieces and add to the brussel sprouts.
4) Bake. Pop the sprouts into the oven at 350 for 15-20 minutes (check a couple of times, they'll start browning, but be easily stabbed)
Kale Chips
Best snack food. Ever.
You need:
- Kale
- Salt
- Cayenne Pepper
- Olive oil
1) Rinse and thoroughly dry kale. Seriously - it needs to be DRY.
2) Cut kale into chip sized pieces and toss with oil, salt and pepper.
3) Bake. Spread kale onto a baking sheet and cook in 350 oven for 15-20 minutes (check a few times, it should be totally dried out, but not totally brown)
4) Storage - I put my kale chips into ziplock bags so they don't get stale. I wouldn't throw them into fridge, either.
Pesto
I really love this pesto recipe - I put it on spaghetti squash, shrimp, chicken, or eat it with carrots. It's a very basic, but delicious recipe.
You need:
- 1 bunch cilantro
- 1/2 c. macadamia nuts
- 1/2 c. olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic
- salt and peper
1) Prep. Clean up the cilantro (rinse, take out any brown leaves)
2) Mix. Put all ingredients into food processor.
3) BLEND.
4) Enjoy over pretty much anything.
Christine's Death Metal Chili
I took Christine's Chili Recipe and made it tonight so I could have a bunch in the fridge/freezer for emergencies. Her other soup recipes have blown my mind, so I knew this would be good. Let me assure you - it's delicious. Our recipes are a little different - I used Rotel and you'll see she has tempeh in her recipe. Soy makes me sick, so I avoided it. I also added cayenne pepper (have you seen a theme in all these recipes yet?)
You Need:
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
2 cups kale, ripped to shreds
2 (14.5 oz) cans Italian style diced tomatoes
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
1 cup water
1 (15 oz) can kidney beans
1 (15 0z) can pinto beans
2 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1 Tbsp sugar or honey
1/2 Tsp cayenne pepper
1 Tbsp sea salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1) Prep. Chop up the onion and garlic, drain the beans, but keep the tomatoes in their water (also: don't mind me, I didn't see I needed two different kinds of diced tomatoes, so I used Rotel instead). Shred some kale.
2) Sautee the onions and garlic in a little olive oil until translucent (2-3 minutes).
3) Add everything else to the pot and cook on medium for 20-30 minutes.
4) Enjoy!
Chard
I love chard for getting my greens - it's a little less spicy than kale and a little faster to cook. Chard has almost a buttery taste to it. Think spinach, but a little more rich.
1) Clean chard - rinse and dry.
I also made some sweet potatoes earlier in the day.The recipe is here. I quickly threw some asparagus into the oven with olive oil and salt and pepper. When that came out, I put some lemon juice over it.
I've got a couple more things I want to make for the week, but I'm out of steam for the afternoon and with the time change, I'm going to tuck myself into bed.
Christine's Death Metal Chili
I took Christine's Chili Recipe and made it tonight so I could have a bunch in the fridge/freezer for emergencies. Her other soup recipes have blown my mind, so I knew this would be good. Let me assure you - it's delicious. Our recipes are a little different - I used Rotel and you'll see she has tempeh in her recipe. Soy makes me sick, so I avoided it. I also added cayenne pepper (have you seen a theme in all these recipes yet?)
You Need:
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
2 cups kale, ripped to shreds
2 (14.5 oz) cans Italian style diced tomatoes
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
1 cup water
1 (15 oz) can kidney beans
1 (15 0z) can pinto beans
2 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1 Tbsp sugar or honey
1/2 Tsp cayenne pepper
1 Tbsp sea salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1) Prep. Chop up the onion and garlic, drain the beans, but keep the tomatoes in their water (also: don't mind me, I didn't see I needed two different kinds of diced tomatoes, so I used Rotel instead). Shred some kale.
2) Sautee the onions and garlic in a little olive oil until translucent (2-3 minutes).
3) Add everything else to the pot and cook on medium for 20-30 minutes.
Chard
I love chard for getting my greens - it's a little less spicy than kale and a little faster to cook. Chard has almost a buttery taste to it. Think spinach, but a little more rich.
1) Clean chard - rinse and dry.
See why it's called "Rainbow" Chard?
2) Chop off the stems, then chop the chard into 3rds.
3) Heat up olive oil in a skillet, add a little garlic and toss in the chard.
4) Cover and cook for 2 minutes, then stir, then cook another 2, for maybe 6-8 minutes.
Tonight's dinner was a quick one, but a Chadd favorite.
Lemon Artichoke Chicken
This is an easy easy dish, takes maybe a half hour from start to finish.
You need:
- chicken (we used about 1.5-2 pounds of boneless, skinless breast)
- 2 shallots
- 1 can artichoke hearts
- 1/4 c. capers
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 tsp lemon juice
1) Chop up shallots and quarter the artichoke hearts, preheat oven to 375.
2) Season chicken with a little salt and pepper, maybe garlic salt or whatever you prefer.
3) Melt butter in the pan
4) Sautee the shallots for a minute or two
5) Add ingredients - artichoke hearts, capers, and lemon juice
5) Add chicken and sear on either side quickly
6) Bake for 10-12 minutes (check to make sure it's cooked through - it'll be just slightly pink when done and finish cooking in the pan.)
I also made some sweet potatoes earlier in the day.The recipe is here. I quickly threw some asparagus into the oven with olive oil and salt and pepper. When that came out, I put some lemon juice over it.
I've got a couple more things I want to make for the week, but I'm out of steam for the afternoon and with the time change, I'm going to tuck myself into bed.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
5k and Ham Salad
This morning, despite the fact that the bed was warm and it was f'ing freezing outside of the covers (I have a boy and two cats to suffice as heaters, so we save the electricity and turn off the heat at night...)
But I got up because I promised myself I would (and I didn't wash my hair, so there's always that motivator). More snow this morning--it actually stuck on parts of the street. I did 15 minutes on the bike, then 30 minutes on the treadmill.
This morning was a bit more difficult than yesterday, probably because my muscles were cold and tired. But I did hammer out a 5k in 28:55, which, while not awesome, isn't my worst time by a long shot (remember the F*ck You Hills 5k aka the Wolf Traf Howloween 5k). I pulled out a 3.25 in 30 minutes.
My chest is tired, which is to be expected. Doesn't hurt that I did some chest work yesterday.
I made ham salad last night from Dad's recipe, which breaks down as follows:
[a little more than] 1 c. diced ham
1 hard boiled egg
1 Tbsp mayo
1/4 tsp. dry mustard
1/2 TBSP dried onion
1/2 tsp. dried parsley
1/4 tsp. paprika
Food process the ham to a grainy consistency (shouldn't be powder, but shouldn't be big enough to individually pick out the pieces), put aside
Food process the egg to same consistency, put in same bowl as ham
Add spices and mayo and mix. You can add more mayo, if you want, but I found one TBSP per batch was more than fine.
Caloric value: for 1/4 cup, you're looking at about 110 calories. I was really careful with the ham and sliced off as much fat as possible.
My lunch today:
2 pieces whole wheat bread: 123
Pickles: 20
1/2 cup ham salad: 220
Total: 343
Carefully budgeting the day around a drink tonight with an old friend from a previous internship. Small world that we'd both end up in DC!
But I got up because I promised myself I would (and I didn't wash my hair, so there's always that motivator). More snow this morning--it actually stuck on parts of the street. I did 15 minutes on the bike, then 30 minutes on the treadmill.
This morning was a bit more difficult than yesterday, probably because my muscles were cold and tired. But I did hammer out a 5k in 28:55, which, while not awesome, isn't my worst time by a long shot (remember the F*ck You Hills 5k aka the Wolf Traf Howloween 5k). I pulled out a 3.25 in 30 minutes.
My chest is tired, which is to be expected. Doesn't hurt that I did some chest work yesterday.
I made ham salad last night from Dad's recipe, which breaks down as follows:
[a little more than] 1 c. diced ham
1 hard boiled egg
1 Tbsp mayo
1/4 tsp. dry mustard
1/2 TBSP dried onion
1/2 tsp. dried parsley
1/4 tsp. paprika
Food process the ham to a grainy consistency (shouldn't be powder, but shouldn't be big enough to individually pick out the pieces), put aside
Food process the egg to same consistency, put in same bowl as ham
Add spices and mayo and mix. You can add more mayo, if you want, but I found one TBSP per batch was more than fine.
Caloric value: for 1/4 cup, you're looking at about 110 calories. I was really careful with the ham and sliced off as much fat as possible.
My lunch today:
2 pieces whole wheat bread: 123
Pickles: 20
1/2 cup ham salad: 220
Total: 343
Carefully budgeting the day around a drink tonight with an old friend from a previous internship. Small world that we'd both end up in DC!
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Thursday: Mid-distance Run or Sleep
Hope you went out for a run last night!
My beginning runners' group is growing with astonishing success. Week two, up from 1 person to 4. Everyone is a much better runner than they thought, and I find it so interesting that they all have told me "I'm afraid to run." It's a concept that I'd forgotten many many miles ago. That's not to downplay it at all, because I definitely had that fear. I was afraid that I'd get too far out and my knees would hurt, that I'd be too tired to come back, etc. etc. etc.
Last night, we ran the small indoor track at the Y:
2:30 minutes jogging
30 second sprint
1 minute jogging
1 minute walking recovery
We did 5 sets of that (25 minutes), 5 minutes of squats, abs, core, then another 3 sets (15 minutes). Pair that with about 10 minutes combined warm up and cool down.
Tonight, if you were me, you'd be getting into bed sometime around 8 to sleep for about 11 hours since you're afraid you're getting your boyfriend's cold.
But if you were me last week, you'd be headed out for an hour long serious run with your running partner. So, if you're the me from last week, get to it, get out there and take a serious mid distance run. If you're the me from this week...make pasta sauce and then pass out watching real housewives of dc.
Tomorrow morning, hit the gym for a spin class!
In other news--Hi Mom! Don't worry, I'm not getting sick, I'm just stuffy. Blame Chadd. I'll call you when I get home!
My beginning runners' group is growing with astonishing success. Week two, up from 1 person to 4. Everyone is a much better runner than they thought, and I find it so interesting that they all have told me "I'm afraid to run." It's a concept that I'd forgotten many many miles ago. That's not to downplay it at all, because I definitely had that fear. I was afraid that I'd get too far out and my knees would hurt, that I'd be too tired to come back, etc. etc. etc.
Last night, we ran the small indoor track at the Y:
2:30 minutes jogging
30 second sprint
1 minute jogging
1 minute walking recovery
We did 5 sets of that (25 minutes), 5 minutes of squats, abs, core, then another 3 sets (15 minutes). Pair that with about 10 minutes combined warm up and cool down.
Tonight, if you were me, you'd be getting into bed sometime around 8 to sleep for about 11 hours since you're afraid you're getting your boyfriend's cold.
But if you were me last week, you'd be headed out for an hour long serious run with your running partner. So, if you're the me from last week, get to it, get out there and take a serious mid distance run. If you're the me from this week...make pasta sauce and then pass out watching real housewives of dc.
Tomorrow morning, hit the gym for a spin class!
In other news--Hi Mom! Don't worry, I'm not getting sick, I'm just stuffy. Blame Chadd. I'll call you when I get home!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Tuesday and Wednesday, Week 1
Tuesday's challenge!
I know, end of Tuesday, but if you could go back in time after reading this, today should look like this:
1 hour of group fitness
1 hour of yoga, stretching, or casual walking
Tomorrow, go for a walk/run for an hour tomorrow night! Run with friends, this is a casual run kind of night!
I know, end of Tuesday, but if you could go back in time after reading this, today should look like this:
1 hour of group fitness
1 hour of yoga, stretching, or casual walking
Tomorrow, go for a walk/run for an hour tomorrow night! Run with friends, this is a casual run kind of night!
Monday, August 2, 2010
More Exciting Things: A Month in the Life of Me
My Trainer Bob inspired me--he has a 4 week program (involving his videos) that you follow with his commentary.
If you give me 1 month, watch what you eat/drink (don't cheat) and do what I'm telling you to do here, I'll show you at least 5 pounds of weight loss. Ready? Sure you are.
Monday:
- Run, jog, or walk for 1 hour. This may also be elliptical, biking, or swimming. If you are walking, keep the pace going. Got some energy? Give me 1 minute of jogging per 2, 3, 4, or 5 minutes of running. Try to spike your cardio at LEAST 1 minute for every 10.
- Stretch
- Drink 3 full bottles of water throughout the day
- Tell yourself one thing that you love about your body. Mine? I love my slight ab definition at the top of my abs.
Tomorrow is group fitness!
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Day One, Good to Go
I will never take a week off of running during training season again.
You all know how freakin hot it's been here, so it makes sense that all will power I had totally got zapped as the temperatures rose above 100 degrees.
Last night, I had to get real, so I went to the gym and jumped onto the dreadmill for a 5k. Worst 5k ever (aside from the Wolftrap 5k, which was heinous due to the billion hills). I barely made it alive off the treadmill, then I did a quick set of weights for shoulders, biceps, triceps, chest/back, glutes, quads, and inner/outer thighs. Horrible.
However, I'm glad I did it. The first run back after time off is always the worst; I expect Wednesday's run with my beginner group to be a lot smoother and my Thursday night run to be awesome.
Anyway, I got back in the exercise saddle and hit my caloric burn of just over 2500 (target).
I did a great job with food:
Breakfast:
- protein packed kashi crunch cereal (HIGHLY recommend)
- banana
Snack:
- yogurt
Lunch:
- pita sandwich with turkey, pepper jack cheese, onions, and tomatoes (used our toaster oven to make it melty and crispy
- 100 cal. pack of cookies
Snack:
- 100 cal. popcorn
- Peach
Dinner:
- HUGE salad with homemade dressing (mom--the Karen Otteinger dressing with the Ramen noodle seasoning)
- Radishes with french bread and a little butter
- 1 glass of wine
Calories came in around 1400, which is a bit low for my target (1500). I'll probably make up for it tonight at the BierGarten Haus (mmm), but I'm already planning on the salmon with the herb butter on the side and a big beer.
Tonight is Step, so cross training is a go!
What did y'all do in the heat? Did you keep working out or crap out, like me?
You all know how freakin hot it's been here, so it makes sense that all will power I had totally got zapped as the temperatures rose above 100 degrees.
Last night, I had to get real, so I went to the gym and jumped onto the dreadmill for a 5k. Worst 5k ever (aside from the Wolftrap 5k, which was heinous due to the billion hills). I barely made it alive off the treadmill, then I did a quick set of weights for shoulders, biceps, triceps, chest/back, glutes, quads, and inner/outer thighs. Horrible.
However, I'm glad I did it. The first run back after time off is always the worst; I expect Wednesday's run with my beginner group to be a lot smoother and my Thursday night run to be awesome.
Anyway, I got back in the exercise saddle and hit my caloric burn of just over 2500 (target).
I did a great job with food:
Breakfast:
- protein packed kashi crunch cereal (HIGHLY recommend)
- banana
Snack:
- yogurt
Lunch:
- pita sandwich with turkey, pepper jack cheese, onions, and tomatoes (used our toaster oven to make it melty and crispy
- 100 cal. pack of cookies
Snack:
- 100 cal. popcorn
- Peach
Dinner:
- HUGE salad with homemade dressing (mom--the Karen Otteinger dressing with the Ramen noodle seasoning)
- Radishes with french bread and a little butter
- 1 glass of wine
Calories came in around 1400, which is a bit low for my target (1500). I'll probably make up for it tonight at the BierGarten Haus (mmm), but I'm already planning on the salmon with the herb butter on the side and a big beer.
Tonight is Step, so cross training is a go!
What did y'all do in the heat? Did you keep working out or crap out, like me?
Monday, July 26, 2010
False Starts
It is so hard to get started back on a routine, isn't it?
I did a lot of great planning this weekend (see last post). I went to the grocery and did a power sweep through the store--bought lots of fresh veggies, stuff for healthy lunches, and good filling snacks. I made a running plan that I'm comfortable with...then last night, the sneaky Sunday night time warp happened.
It's that weird time vortex where one second, it's 9:30 and you're excited that you're going to go to bed before 11, then something happens (I called my mom because I thought I had SO much time to kill before 10:30...) then I looked up at it was 10:30. No big deal, takes me 10 minutes to get ready for bed...I'd still make my mark of before 11.
I was certainly IN bed before 11, but somehow I wasted like 2 hours on the internets and all of a sudden, past midnight.
I knew then that my 6:30 gym time was just not gonna happen. Didn't help that one of the cats is on steroids, and they make him thirsty...and because of course he's the special one and of course, he only drinks water out of the running faucet...so I was woken up twice through the night because he was thirsty. Poor kitty.
So, my gym time didn't happen this morning. It's okay because, unlike most of my days, I actually have time for the gym tonight.
20 minutes on the dreadmill, then 20-30 minutes of weights.
I did a few good things though--my bodybugg subscription recently expired, so I renewed it for 6 months. I'm getting back on this daily, even though I need to be careful of obsessively calorie counting, because with training, I need to keep an eye on my intake and on food trends that might show up in my training/recovery.
I also packed a healthy lunch last night (turkey breast, pita sandwich, carrots, and a beautiful peach from the market) that was ready to go when I woke up late this morning (typical.) It seriously takes 5 minutes to make lunch the night before, I need to make a commitment to just do this.
The thing I don't want to do? Get on the scale.
It's such a headgame because I recognize I've gained a little weight back (I'd guess about 5 pounds), but somehow, I feel like if I don't step on that scale it won't be true? Go figure.
I should take my own advice: "don't obsess on the number because it's one of the least accurate representation of how healthy you are when you're a fairly healthy weight to begin with...and because it can always always change...it just takes time."
So here's to taking time...
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Weekend of Car Problems
Hello from hot and humid DC...I had intended to spend this Saturday morning getting up early and getting out for my first long run...but in case you weren't aware, we're in the middle of a sever heat wave. It literally says on the weather map "oppressive" across the DC area. I didn't even know that was a category...
Anyway, it doesn't matter anyway because I had to take the car to the dealership at 7:30 for repairs (sigh. $$$$$) and I'm still there right now. It's only been an hour, but it feels like some sort of time warp. And place warp.
I'm not kidding, the guy to my right is drawing some sort of psychadelic butterfly woman with a rainbow background. Not like doodling, either, like full on massive sheet of paper with pastels. Sooner I can go home, the better. There are at least three other people in the room with me who are conversing with the tv. Not in a crazy kind of way, but in the way that they're literally having a conversation with the today show. Example: TV: "If you have an allergy to wheat gluten...it can cause *list symptoms" Person: Mmmmmhmm, sure nuff!
I'm in a real conundrum. I took about a week off of working out. Mostly because this week was hell on wheels at work. Don't get me wrong, unlike my last job, I actually enjoy my work and so it hasn't been horrible, but it's taken a toll on my exercise and sleep time.
But that's not the conundrum. The real reason I've taken a week off is because I really hate running on a treadmill. Really hate it, but it's been too hot to go outside unless I'm up really early, and I've been too tired to do that.
I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to motivate myself to get up and get out there. I have a marathon AND a Ragnar relay breathing down my neck, so I really don't have a negotiable way out.
Since Chadd's out of town this weekend, I have plenty of time to plan. What do I do well? I plan.
If I ever get to leave the dealership, then I'm going to go home and after some fun time with my weightloss buddy, start doing some planning. I'm going to come up with my meal plans again, I always prefer to do that because it takes all the last minute what to eat guess work out of my nights, especially when making a quesadilla sounds like the only option.
I'm also going to brainstorm things to do instead of running ... maybe it's that I have to go and spend an hour on the bike or cross trainer (x-train), maybe it's that I go swimming at the Y (in this heat? yes please...), or a walk. It's still hot outside, but I could probably manage walking (knowing that I'll likely jog)
So. That was written a while ago, in between then and now, I stopped by the diner next door for food, then walked the mile to Ikea to look for a new solution for our desk (we're getting rid of it, since we never use it...) but we need something to put all the stuff in that was in the desk.
Can I just tell you....it's ridiculously hot outside. I literally was sweating through my shirt walking the mile back from Ikea. I'm sure I looked like a crazy homeless person, walking down the highway, but whatever, better than sitting here in the mechanic's...which is playing some terrible 3-d animated kid's show about dogs that race car.
Okay. Thank God. I'm writing this at 10:45 at night...the car is almost repaired (a long story that isn't worth getting into) and my weightloss buddy and I had a great day at Joann fabrics, crafting, eating pizza, and chatting.
Hopefully I'll actually get my food/workout plans together tomorrow. I'll share them soon, whether it's tomorrow or the day after...or the day after that!
Anyway, it doesn't matter anyway because I had to take the car to the dealership at 7:30 for repairs (sigh. $$$$$) and I'm still there right now. It's only been an hour, but it feels like some sort of time warp. And place warp.
I'm not kidding, the guy to my right is drawing some sort of psychadelic butterfly woman with a rainbow background. Not like doodling, either, like full on massive sheet of paper with pastels. Sooner I can go home, the better. There are at least three other people in the room with me who are conversing with the tv. Not in a crazy kind of way, but in the way that they're literally having a conversation with the today show. Example: TV: "If you have an allergy to wheat gluten...it can cause *list symptoms" Person: Mmmmmhmm, sure nuff!
I'm in a real conundrum. I took about a week off of working out. Mostly because this week was hell on wheels at work. Don't get me wrong, unlike my last job, I actually enjoy my work and so it hasn't been horrible, but it's taken a toll on my exercise and sleep time.
But that's not the conundrum. The real reason I've taken a week off is because I really hate running on a treadmill. Really hate it, but it's been too hot to go outside unless I'm up really early, and I've been too tired to do that.
I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to motivate myself to get up and get out there. I have a marathon AND a Ragnar relay breathing down my neck, so I really don't have a negotiable way out.
Since Chadd's out of town this weekend, I have plenty of time to plan. What do I do well? I plan.
If I ever get to leave the dealership, then I'm going to go home and after some fun time with my weightloss buddy, start doing some planning. I'm going to come up with my meal plans again, I always prefer to do that because it takes all the last minute what to eat guess work out of my nights, especially when making a quesadilla sounds like the only option.
I'm also going to brainstorm things to do instead of running ... maybe it's that I have to go and spend an hour on the bike or cross trainer (x-train), maybe it's that I go swimming at the Y (in this heat? yes please...), or a walk. It's still hot outside, but I could probably manage walking (knowing that I'll likely jog)
So. That was written a while ago, in between then and now, I stopped by the diner next door for food, then walked the mile to Ikea to look for a new solution for our desk (we're getting rid of it, since we never use it...) but we need something to put all the stuff in that was in the desk.
Can I just tell you....it's ridiculously hot outside. I literally was sweating through my shirt walking the mile back from Ikea. I'm sure I looked like a crazy homeless person, walking down the highway, but whatever, better than sitting here in the mechanic's...which is playing some terrible 3-d animated kid's show about dogs that race car.
Okay. Thank God. I'm writing this at 10:45 at night...the car is almost repaired (a long story that isn't worth getting into) and my weightloss buddy and I had a great day at Joann fabrics, crafting, eating pizza, and chatting.
Hopefully I'll actually get my food/workout plans together tomorrow. I'll share them soon, whether it's tomorrow or the day after...or the day after that!
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Update! I AM alive!
First of all. I am so so so sorry.
I know I've been neglecting the blog for about a month. It's been busy here, to say the least. I love my new job and have done a fairly decent job of staying healthy and keeping my work outs in line instead of ditching them like I did with my last job when things got busy.
I have a status update on my own fitness journey:
- I haven't stepped on the scale in over a month (mostly at the recommendation of my dietician who agrees with me and suggested I live by my own words that weight is the least accurate representation of your health)
- I fit into a size 2 levi jeans (ah!)
- I feel fantastic enough to not worry about the actual number on the scale
- Chadd and I are going to the beach with his family at the end of July (which has inspired me to whip my butt back into shape eating right)
I'm at that magical point in my life where I am 95% confident with how I look. I am still struggling (as I think I always will) with looking like a hard body runner's world model...because that's just not how it ever will be. I will always have a little softness because, well, women are supposed to. That's just how we're built.
Better milestones are shaving time off my races, having better endurance, and being able to eat an extra cheeseburger per week.
I concluded my sessions with my dietician the other week. She showed me how far we'd come--from me obsessively logging calories and having honest to goodness bad moods over going a few calories over my allotted calorie intake, measuring progress really only by weight loss, etc. I feel like I graduated from the school of learning to eat better. Now, I just need to enroll in the school of better time management.
I'm finding myself continuing to eat well, but I'm doing it by walking across the street to get a lean veggie curry dish from the Thai restaurant, or stopping by trader joe's for a salad, when I really need to be saving the money and just making food at home.
Currently, to keep myself at a place where I am comfortable/happy/confident, I need to do the following:
- 1 hour session with my personal trainer on Monday (extremely painful, extremely beneficial)
- 1 hour yoga on Tuesday morning, teach 1 hour step class on Tuesdays
- 1 hour workout on my own (usually running) or rest Wednesday
- 1 hour Body Pump class on Thursday
- Rest on Friday
- 1 hour Body Pump class on Saturday
- 1 hour 20-20-20 class on Sunday
At best, I get three days off if I'm not teaching a Thursday or a Saturday (usually I do one or the other).
The problem here is that I don't have a lot of time for running. It's already June which means I should be warming up my marathon training this month. My plan for my modified schedule looks like this:
Monday: AM: 5 mile run; PM: 1 hr. training session
Tuesday: AM: Yoga; PM: Teach Step
Wednesday: AM or PM: 5 mile run
Thursday: PM: Body Pump or 6 mile run
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Body Pump or Long Run
Sunday: 20-20-20 and Long Run (if Long Run wasn't done on Saturday)
It looks like a lot, but just like some people like to come home from work and read, or go for a walk, or go out for drinks, I really do enjoy going to the gym, coming home to feeling physically relaxed, making dinner, popping on the tv, and chilling out.
When Chadd changes jobs, we'll likely move a few of those workouts to the morning so that we can spend time together in the evening. I have four more sessions with Kimina (my awesome awesome awesome trainer), once those are over, I'll probably use that time for more running, then sign up again for another 8 sessions closer to the marathon.
New feature to blog will be food planning. Probably will appear this weekend!
In the mean time, where are you with your fitness goals?
I know I've been neglecting the blog for about a month. It's been busy here, to say the least. I love my new job and have done a fairly decent job of staying healthy and keeping my work outs in line instead of ditching them like I did with my last job when things got busy.
I have a status update on my own fitness journey:
- I haven't stepped on the scale in over a month (mostly at the recommendation of my dietician who agrees with me and suggested I live by my own words that weight is the least accurate representation of your health)
- I fit into a size 2 levi jeans (ah!)
- I feel fantastic enough to not worry about the actual number on the scale
- Chadd and I are going to the beach with his family at the end of July (which has inspired me to whip my butt back into shape eating right)
I'm at that magical point in my life where I am 95% confident with how I look. I am still struggling (as I think I always will) with looking like a hard body runner's world model...because that's just not how it ever will be. I will always have a little softness because, well, women are supposed to. That's just how we're built.
Better milestones are shaving time off my races, having better endurance, and being able to eat an extra cheeseburger per week.
I concluded my sessions with my dietician the other week. She showed me how far we'd come--from me obsessively logging calories and having honest to goodness bad moods over going a few calories over my allotted calorie intake, measuring progress really only by weight loss, etc. I feel like I graduated from the school of learning to eat better. Now, I just need to enroll in the school of better time management.
I'm finding myself continuing to eat well, but I'm doing it by walking across the street to get a lean veggie curry dish from the Thai restaurant, or stopping by trader joe's for a salad, when I really need to be saving the money and just making food at home.
Currently, to keep myself at a place where I am comfortable/happy/confident, I need to do the following:
- 1 hour session with my personal trainer on Monday (extremely painful, extremely beneficial)
- 1 hour yoga on Tuesday morning, teach 1 hour step class on Tuesdays
- 1 hour workout on my own (usually running) or rest Wednesday
- 1 hour Body Pump class on Thursday
- Rest on Friday
- 1 hour Body Pump class on Saturday
- 1 hour 20-20-20 class on Sunday
At best, I get three days off if I'm not teaching a Thursday or a Saturday (usually I do one or the other).
The problem here is that I don't have a lot of time for running. It's already June which means I should be warming up my marathon training this month. My plan for my modified schedule looks like this:
Monday: AM: 5 mile run; PM: 1 hr. training session
Tuesday: AM: Yoga; PM: Teach Step
Wednesday: AM or PM: 5 mile run
Thursday: PM: Body Pump or 6 mile run
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Body Pump or Long Run
Sunday: 20-20-20 and Long Run (if Long Run wasn't done on Saturday)
It looks like a lot, but just like some people like to come home from work and read, or go for a walk, or go out for drinks, I really do enjoy going to the gym, coming home to feeling physically relaxed, making dinner, popping on the tv, and chilling out.
When Chadd changes jobs, we'll likely move a few of those workouts to the morning so that we can spend time together in the evening. I have four more sessions with Kimina (my awesome awesome awesome trainer), once those are over, I'll probably use that time for more running, then sign up again for another 8 sessions closer to the marathon.
New feature to blog will be food planning. Probably will appear this weekend!
In the mean time, where are you with your fitness goals?
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Old Habits, New Ways of Life
I had some awesome ideas on what to blog about today, but go figure, they literally flew out of my head. So instead, I'm going to talk a little bit about how I'm trying to stay healthy with my new life.
When I joined my last job, I was more focused on the fact that I was working my first full time job and that I wanted to make a good impression. My focus was entirely on my career, which was the right mindset...but it blew up in my face because I neglected everything else.
Over the course of two years, no joke, I gained nearly 20 pounds. I can't even tell you how hard it is to write that. We've all read those magazine articles about how if you do x (ex: drink a whole milk chai latte) x times a week (how about 3 times) over the course of x years (let's say 2), you will gain x pounds (how about 20?). My downfall was not chai lattes (at least not totally), it was the general lifestyle where I didn't focus on the pizza, the happy hours, the venti coffee drinks...and then I woke up one morning (when I started this blog) and asked myself "what have you done?" I lost 8 pounds. Then I celebrated and crapped out. Gained the 8 back, plus 1.
About the time that I began to realize I couldn't be happy and stay in my previous job, I also began to realize that I couldn't continue to treat myself the way I was treating myself.
You've read the story of how I managed to get through those months before I joined my new company, so now you know it's possible, but I was really worried about the transition. As unhappy as I was, I had a schedule I knew how to maintain, but I also had horrible habits.
If I didn't get up to go to the gym, I was usually up about 15 minutes before I had to walk out the door. I was hitting the right caloric intake, but at the risk of of getting the wrong nutrition. How do you make a day's worth of food in 5 minutes? Easy! You throw a lean cuisine, a 100 calorie pack, and some other processed stuff into a bag and off you go.
I promised myself when I started this job that I would live my life in a way that I was enjoying it. Every minute of it.
I have promised myself to do the following:
- Make a meal plan every weekend that does not involved processed food
- Wake up an hour before I have to leave
- Eat breakfast EVERY morning
- Make my lunch every day or have a plan if I have a client lunch meeting
- Make a gym schedule and stick to it (schedule must be flexible)
- Enjoy every meal that I eat (because calories suck if they taste bad)
I know it's only day three, but I've gotten up consistently an hour before I had to leave for work, gotten to work early for 30 minutes alone to have coffee and watch the news. I made a menu plan, cooked on Sunday, and have stuck with it. My gym schedule hit a bump tonight, but because it was flexible, I'm going tomorrow night and taking tonight to relax.
I have 8 pounds to go--I added two pounds to my goal weight loss, otherwise, I am proud to say that I've maintained my weightloss for the past two months and that as soon as I sign up for my trainer, I'll be back on track with all systems go to burn off 8 pounds by the middle of June.
I think the bottom line of this meandering post is this: if you're unhappy with where you are, nothing says you cannot change that. I know that I need milestones to help me change things, but think about what it is that you're dissatisfied with. Do you rush in the morning? Skip the gym? Rely on take out? Make an action plan and change it, because from where I'm sitting, and maybe it's the new job talking (it's so awesome, btw, I love being there), but changing something that makes you unhappy, as small as it may be, magnifies in how happy it makes you when you change it.
When I joined my last job, I was more focused on the fact that I was working my first full time job and that I wanted to make a good impression. My focus was entirely on my career, which was the right mindset...but it blew up in my face because I neglected everything else.
Over the course of two years, no joke, I gained nearly 20 pounds. I can't even tell you how hard it is to write that. We've all read those magazine articles about how if you do x (ex: drink a whole milk chai latte) x times a week (how about 3 times) over the course of x years (let's say 2), you will gain x pounds (how about 20?). My downfall was not chai lattes (at least not totally), it was the general lifestyle where I didn't focus on the pizza, the happy hours, the venti coffee drinks...and then I woke up one morning (when I started this blog) and asked myself "what have you done?" I lost 8 pounds. Then I celebrated and crapped out. Gained the 8 back, plus 1.
About the time that I began to realize I couldn't be happy and stay in my previous job, I also began to realize that I couldn't continue to treat myself the way I was treating myself.
You've read the story of how I managed to get through those months before I joined my new company, so now you know it's possible, but I was really worried about the transition. As unhappy as I was, I had a schedule I knew how to maintain, but I also had horrible habits.
If I didn't get up to go to the gym, I was usually up about 15 minutes before I had to walk out the door. I was hitting the right caloric intake, but at the risk of of getting the wrong nutrition. How do you make a day's worth of food in 5 minutes? Easy! You throw a lean cuisine, a 100 calorie pack, and some other processed stuff into a bag and off you go.
I promised myself when I started this job that I would live my life in a way that I was enjoying it. Every minute of it.
I have promised myself to do the following:
- Make a meal plan every weekend that does not involved processed food
- Wake up an hour before I have to leave
- Eat breakfast EVERY morning
- Make my lunch every day or have a plan if I have a client lunch meeting
- Make a gym schedule and stick to it (schedule must be flexible)
- Enjoy every meal that I eat (because calories suck if they taste bad)
I know it's only day three, but I've gotten up consistently an hour before I had to leave for work, gotten to work early for 30 minutes alone to have coffee and watch the news. I made a menu plan, cooked on Sunday, and have stuck with it. My gym schedule hit a bump tonight, but because it was flexible, I'm going tomorrow night and taking tonight to relax.
I have 8 pounds to go--I added two pounds to my goal weight loss, otherwise, I am proud to say that I've maintained my weightloss for the past two months and that as soon as I sign up for my trainer, I'll be back on track with all systems go to burn off 8 pounds by the middle of June.
I think the bottom line of this meandering post is this: if you're unhappy with where you are, nothing says you cannot change that. I know that I need milestones to help me change things, but think about what it is that you're dissatisfied with. Do you rush in the morning? Skip the gym? Rely on take out? Make an action plan and change it, because from where I'm sitting, and maybe it's the new job talking (it's so awesome, btw, I love being there), but changing something that makes you unhappy, as small as it may be, magnifies in how happy it makes you when you change it.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
My Second RD Appt and the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run
I met with my Registered Dietician (RD) last Thursday after many a rescheduled appointment.
I have to say, if you've never sat down with an R.D., stop what you're doing, stop reading this blog, and go make an appointment. Get 4 sessions, and trust me.
The last time I met with my RD, I had brought her a food diary from about a week to two weeks of eating. I'm fairly meticulous with writing down what I eat, so that was the easy part. We talked about my goals, my life style, and some general rules, then she asked me to write down the emotional feelings I had every time I ate until our next meeting.
While that went out the window when I got busy, I did make note of my emotions while eating enough that this picture became clear:
- I woke up not hungry (even before and after a morning workout), got the office and wanted a cup of coffee, no food. Halfway into my coffee, I wanted to eat my desk and the hunger came out of no where.
- I ate again around 10:30 because I was starting to get the munchies. Usually a piece of fruit cured this.
- Since my team tends to eat together at noon, I was never hungry at the beginning of lunch. The hunger picked up halfway through lunch, then I finished ready for a food coma nap.
- 3:30 I get bored and want to snack. Has to be a slow to eat food--popcorn, grapes, anything that requires time to eat.
- Not hungry when I get home and especially not hungry after I workout. At all. I have to force myself to eat after a workout. But about an hour after my workout, again I am ready to destroy an entire pizza.
My RD and I went through discussing that pattern and it basically followed exactly what she suspected/had seen in my food log:
I'm not eating enough. Hi, shocker! I'm a really big proponent of calories in, calories out for weight loss and while it still holds through, I'm highly active and not fueling my body to that level. Am I starving myself? No, but is my body going "eh, let's not burn off that fat, we're a little worried about our caloric intake?" in a word, yes. It sounds a lot more like a bad thing than it actually is.
Think about your body as a car. Let's say that the gas tank can fuel for the energy needed for exactly 1 day, plus a little bit of top-off fuel. When you wake up in the morning (start your car) without eating breakfast, you're essentially running on fumes till you hit the gas station (first meal). If you're like me and try to get in a few morning workouts, you're running on fumes, then pushing your car to the gas station if you fail to eat before hand.
Of course, you want to fill up the gas tank all the way (stuffing yourself). Same thing happens if you decide to put in more miles in a day than your gas tank can hold (second workout) and you wind up filling up again before you take your car home and putting it in the garage.
Essentially, I burn on fumes, over load on food, get really tired, burn all my food off again, then eat a ton or not at all, then pass out and repeat. My consumption looked more like a tiny hill followed by a valley, then a big hill, a steep valley, a little hill, then a huge hill, then right back down and repeat.
My R.D. says that I need to fuel before and after my workouts and definitely eat a breakfast and fuel through my day.
I don't have the papers in front of me, but she outlined the amount of stuff I need to be getting in these food groups:
- Grains
- Protein
- Dairy
- Fruits
- Vegetables
It's a LOT of food. I know she was thinking that I'd be mentally tabbing up the calories from a sample meal, so she said something that I guess I knew in the back of my mind, but hadn't actually fleshed out into full thought.
I might have been eating the right amount of calories, but the nutrients? Who knows. I mean, what do you REALLY get out of a 100 calorie pack of chocolate pretzels? Probably not much. So we turned the attention to what kind of calories I was actually eating. Cutting out a lot of prepackaged frozen junk and turning to "whole" foods.
While I'll be eating a lot more food, I'll probably be eating the right amount of calories, with all the nutrients. I added milk back into my diet, which hasn't been there in years. My stomach and I are still trying to decide how this is going to work out, but it has been nice to induldge in a big frothy glass of milk, especially post workout for the perfect blend of carbs and protein (and it cuts off that huge hunger pang I have about an hour post workout).
I'll post the sample menu that my RD gave me when I get home.
We also talked about setting SMART goals. I think I've talked about smart goals, so I won't go there again, but if you're interested, just google it. We wound up setting two SMART goals for me with three supporting goals.
I'll post those, too, when I get home so I make sure I have them down right.
So far, so good. I'm on 5 of eating more like the way we discussed and I feel really full all the time and I have energy. Double win.
In totally different news,
The Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run was this weekend. This was my second 10 Miler, my first one, I came in with like a 1:26 something because I was running with my friend, Maureen, from work and she pushed the hell out of me. This year, by total accident, I ran into her among 15,000 people. We wound up running together again, all the time pushing the other by total accident. We each thought we were slowing up the other, so we kept pushing and pushing and pushing. Before I knew it, we'd crossed 4, just after mile 5, I saw Chadd where I handed off my jacket, then 6, then 7 (oh man, just a 5k left), then suddenly 8 and we only had about 17 minutes left to endure. Then 9 went by and holy moly there was a hill. Maureen put the pedal to the medal, and amazingly, my legs kept up with her. We crested the hill to see the arches were not exactly right around the bend. Falling back a bit, we tried to pick up the pace again and flew through the finish line.
Time: 1:21:29; Pace: 8:09
And just like that, another PR this year.
I can tell you that one of the most beautiful sounds to me in the world is the sound of silence and a thousand runners shoes hitting the pavement all around you.
I have to say, if you've never sat down with an R.D., stop what you're doing, stop reading this blog, and go make an appointment. Get 4 sessions, and trust me.
The last time I met with my RD, I had brought her a food diary from about a week to two weeks of eating. I'm fairly meticulous with writing down what I eat, so that was the easy part. We talked about my goals, my life style, and some general rules, then she asked me to write down the emotional feelings I had every time I ate until our next meeting.
While that went out the window when I got busy, I did make note of my emotions while eating enough that this picture became clear:
- I woke up not hungry (even before and after a morning workout), got the office and wanted a cup of coffee, no food. Halfway into my coffee, I wanted to eat my desk and the hunger came out of no where.
- I ate again around 10:30 because I was starting to get the munchies. Usually a piece of fruit cured this.
- Since my team tends to eat together at noon, I was never hungry at the beginning of lunch. The hunger picked up halfway through lunch, then I finished ready for a food coma nap.
- 3:30 I get bored and want to snack. Has to be a slow to eat food--popcorn, grapes, anything that requires time to eat.
- Not hungry when I get home and especially not hungry after I workout. At all. I have to force myself to eat after a workout. But about an hour after my workout, again I am ready to destroy an entire pizza.
My RD and I went through discussing that pattern and it basically followed exactly what she suspected/had seen in my food log:
I'm not eating enough. Hi, shocker! I'm a really big proponent of calories in, calories out for weight loss and while it still holds through, I'm highly active and not fueling my body to that level. Am I starving myself? No, but is my body going "eh, let's not burn off that fat, we're a little worried about our caloric intake?" in a word, yes. It sounds a lot more like a bad thing than it actually is.
Think about your body as a car. Let's say that the gas tank can fuel for the energy needed for exactly 1 day, plus a little bit of top-off fuel. When you wake up in the morning (start your car) without eating breakfast, you're essentially running on fumes till you hit the gas station (first meal). If you're like me and try to get in a few morning workouts, you're running on fumes, then pushing your car to the gas station if you fail to eat before hand.
Of course, you want to fill up the gas tank all the way (stuffing yourself). Same thing happens if you decide to put in more miles in a day than your gas tank can hold (second workout) and you wind up filling up again before you take your car home and putting it in the garage.
Essentially, I burn on fumes, over load on food, get really tired, burn all my food off again, then eat a ton or not at all, then pass out and repeat. My consumption looked more like a tiny hill followed by a valley, then a big hill, a steep valley, a little hill, then a huge hill, then right back down and repeat.
My R.D. says that I need to fuel before and after my workouts and definitely eat a breakfast and fuel through my day.
I don't have the papers in front of me, but she outlined the amount of stuff I need to be getting in these food groups:
- Grains
- Protein
- Dairy
- Fruits
- Vegetables
It's a LOT of food. I know she was thinking that I'd be mentally tabbing up the calories from a sample meal, so she said something that I guess I knew in the back of my mind, but hadn't actually fleshed out into full thought.
I might have been eating the right amount of calories, but the nutrients? Who knows. I mean, what do you REALLY get out of a 100 calorie pack of chocolate pretzels? Probably not much. So we turned the attention to what kind of calories I was actually eating. Cutting out a lot of prepackaged frozen junk and turning to "whole" foods.
While I'll be eating a lot more food, I'll probably be eating the right amount of calories, with all the nutrients. I added milk back into my diet, which hasn't been there in years. My stomach and I are still trying to decide how this is going to work out, but it has been nice to induldge in a big frothy glass of milk, especially post workout for the perfect blend of carbs and protein (and it cuts off that huge hunger pang I have about an hour post workout).
I'll post the sample menu that my RD gave me when I get home.
We also talked about setting SMART goals. I think I've talked about smart goals, so I won't go there again, but if you're interested, just google it. We wound up setting two SMART goals for me with three supporting goals.
I'll post those, too, when I get home so I make sure I have them down right.
So far, so good. I'm on 5 of eating more like the way we discussed and I feel really full all the time and I have energy. Double win.
In totally different news,
The Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run was this weekend. This was my second 10 Miler, my first one, I came in with like a 1:26 something because I was running with my friend, Maureen, from work and she pushed the hell out of me. This year, by total accident, I ran into her among 15,000 people. We wound up running together again, all the time pushing the other by total accident. We each thought we were slowing up the other, so we kept pushing and pushing and pushing. Before I knew it, we'd crossed 4, just after mile 5, I saw Chadd where I handed off my jacket, then 6, then 7 (oh man, just a 5k left), then suddenly 8 and we only had about 17 minutes left to endure. Then 9 went by and holy moly there was a hill. Maureen put the pedal to the medal, and amazingly, my legs kept up with her. We crested the hill to see the arches were not exactly right around the bend. Falling back a bit, we tried to pick up the pace again and flew through the finish line.
Time: 1:21:29; Pace: 8:09
And just like that, another PR this year.
I can tell you that one of the most beautiful sounds to me in the world is the sound of silence and a thousand runners shoes hitting the pavement all around you.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Abs/Core Cheat Sheet: The 6 Moves Everyone Can (and Should) Do
Oops. Ran out of time yesterday to finish this post. Abs. Blah blah blah summer body blah blah. Whatever.
Summer bodies come and go, but a good posture is forever. No, I'm not channeling your ballet instructor from years ago, I'm telling you how to avoid being a little old hunched over man/woman.
I think we all know why abs are important, but I want to reiterate what the article from last Tuesday's links said: Core Strength (not just your abs) is the key to fitness success, pain relief in back/neck/shoulders, etc., and will make you all around stronger and leaner. Develop your core correctly (make sure you include lower back work, obliques, quads, and glutes) and you'll be one more step away from avoiding your back creeping up on you in your golden years.
Whether your new to core work or an old pro, here are my standbys that I almost always make my classes do:
1. Rope Pull:
2) Lower back lift:
3) Bicycle and Modified Bicycle:
4) Modified Sit-Up:
5) Invisible Chair:
Summer bodies come and go, but a good posture is forever. No, I'm not channeling your ballet instructor from years ago, I'm telling you how to avoid being a little old hunched over man/woman.
I think we all know why abs are important, but I want to reiterate what the article from last Tuesday's links said: Core Strength (not just your abs) is the key to fitness success, pain relief in back/neck/shoulders, etc., and will make you all around stronger and leaner. Develop your core correctly (make sure you include lower back work, obliques, quads, and glutes) and you'll be one more step away from avoiding your back creeping up on you in your golden years.
Whether your new to core work or an old pro, here are my standbys that I almost always make my classes do:
1. Rope Pull:
- Lie on your back, feet on the ground.
- Imagine that someone tied a rope around your chest and tied it to a beam in the ceiling.
- Grab the imaginary rope and "pull" yourself up the rope, hand over hand.
- Your shoulders should be coming off the ground.
- Tip: If your neck gets tired/starts to hurt, put one hands behind your head to support your neck.
- Tip: Make sure your chin is lifted off your chest (think about having about the space of a tennis ball between your chin and your chest).
- Beginners: 2 sets of 30 seconds with a 30 second break between sets
- Intermediate: 4 sets of 30 seconds, 15 second break between sets
- Advanced: 6 sets of 30 seconds, 10 second break between sets
- Challenge move (try this after you can go a full minute pulling yourself up without a break): lift feet off the ground so your knees are bent, shins are facing the ceiling (90 degree angle between your body and your thighs, 90 degree angle at your knees).
- Advanced challenge: legs straight up in the air.
- Start lying on your back, put your hands to your sides on the floor to balance yourself, feet flat on the ground.
- Squeeze your glutes and lift your hips up to the ceiling. Your body should be in a straight line from your shoulders to your knees.
- Tip: If you need more support, hold your lower back up, gently, with your hands.
- Beginner: Hold for 30 seconds, lower and rest for 30 seconds.
- Intermediate: Hold for 1 minute
- Advanced: Hold for 30 seconds with one leg extended, foot off the ground. Switch legs.
- Challenge move: Hold your hands up towards the ceiling, this will require balance and stability, keys to core training.
- Bonus Move: Do single glute squeezes, touching the ground with your glutes, then squeezing your glutes, lifting your hips up. Try to do 20.
- Still lying on the ground, hands behind your head, chin lifted off your chest.
- Twist your core so one elbow moves towards the opposite knee.
- The opposite leg should extend fully. Switch sides.
- Beginner: 10 on either side
- Intermediate: 20 on either side
- Advanced: 40 on either side
- Modified Bicycle/Challenge Move: Elbow to knee, opposite leg fully extends. The leg that is fully extended remains straight, lower it down to tap your heel on the ground, then back up. Switch sides.
- Instead of having your hands behind your head as you would with a normal sit up, put your arms straight out in front of you.
- Count to two as you sit-up, then slide back down, to the count of 2.
- Make sure you keep your chin off of your chest and sit up with your chest leading--it should feel like that same rope from the first exercise is around your chest and pulling you up towards the ceiling, then down.
- This doesn't have to be a full sit up, just shoulder blades up off the ground.
- Beginner: 20
- Intermediate: 30
- Advanced/Challenge move: Hold a light weight or a ball in your hands.
- Sit up with your heels on the ground (your knees will be a little more than a 90 degree angle), back straight.
- Hold your arms out in front of you.
- You will likely feel this in your quads and your lower back.
- Beginner: Hold this position for 30 seconds, rest, then another 30 seconds.
- Intermediate: Lift feet off the ground and hold your knees for balance. Hold for 30 seconds, rest, then another 30 seconds holding.
- Advanced: Lift feet off the ground and hold your hands out in front of you, not touching your knees. 2 sets of 30 seconds.
- Start on your hands and knees, hands should be directly under your shoulders, knees under your hips.
- Come onto your toes, into plank position. Your body should be in a straight line from the back for your neck to your heels.
- Hold this position without your stomach dropping (making dip in your back) or your butt rising (causing an arch in your back) for 30 seconds.
- Beginner: If you can't do a full plank, you can start on your knees. Just make sure you keep that straight line from the back of your knees up to the base of your neck.
- Intermediate/Advanced: Just hold it for longer! Other options include holding your plank while on your elbows/forearms instead of your hands.
- Challenge Move: Walking Plank: Start in a full plank (on your hands), then shift 1 arm at a time down to a plank on your forearms/elbows. Go back to your hands. Continue for 30 seconds.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Frozen Food Review (3)
A few days late, but nevertheless, a third frozen food review for you on my quest to find something beyond a lean cuisine pizza.
Fat: 11g
Carbs: 37g
Protein: 11g
Taste:
Surprisingly fresh. It really did taste like I'd just cooked it myself--the peas in the pasta were crunchy instead of mushy. I was very very pleased with how flavorful the meal was. Pesto was salty without being processed, the veggies were crisp, and the pasta had life instead of being, well, again mush.
Rating:
Presentation (1-10): 9. Top of the charts, but something green over brown pasta is never stunning to look at. The veggies were different colors though (they retained their color) and the food had texture. I wasn't going...eww when I opened the package.
Taste (1-60): 53 Not quite as good as the Amy's tamale, which was a tough act to follow. The pasta was great, but I needed more variety. The food tasted fresh and clean, though, so a 55 is almost unfair.
Satiety (1-15): 8.5 Needed just a few more bites...then again, that's why it's 290 calories and not 310.
Nutritional Balance (1-15): 13, same as the tamale. Less food, less calories. I liked the protein appearance and I expected a high carb count there for the pasta.
Total (out of 100): 83.5
Would I buy it again? Yup. It's steep ($4.75), but it's fresh, and a nice pasta option (especially over the Lean Cuisine ravioli). Just make sure to bring extra fruit and veggies, it'll leave you hungry.
Kashi Pesto Pasta Primavera
The Skinny:
Calories: 290Fat: 11g
Carbs: 37g
Protein: 11g
Taste:
Surprisingly fresh. It really did taste like I'd just cooked it myself--the peas in the pasta were crunchy instead of mushy. I was very very pleased with how flavorful the meal was. Pesto was salty without being processed, the veggies were crisp, and the pasta had life instead of being, well, again mush.
Rating:
Presentation (1-10): 9. Top of the charts, but something green over brown pasta is never stunning to look at. The veggies were different colors though (they retained their color) and the food had texture. I wasn't going...eww when I opened the package.
Taste (1-60): 53 Not quite as good as the Amy's tamale, which was a tough act to follow. The pasta was great, but I needed more variety. The food tasted fresh and clean, though, so a 55 is almost unfair.
Satiety (1-15): 8.5 Needed just a few more bites...then again, that's why it's 290 calories and not 310.
Nutritional Balance (1-15): 13, same as the tamale. Less food, less calories. I liked the protein appearance and I expected a high carb count there for the pasta.
Total (out of 100): 83.5
Would I buy it again? Yup. It's steep ($4.75), but it's fresh, and a nice pasta option (especially over the Lean Cuisine ravioli). Just make sure to bring extra fruit and veggies, it'll leave you hungry.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Correction: Registered Dietician
Back from my first appointment with my REGISTERED DIETICIAN.
Remember This Post about the difference between an R.D. and a nutritionist? Review! I've been calling my awesome R.D. a nutritionist, which is incorrect, so disregard all that nutritionist talk :-)
Anyway, about the appointment:
She is awesome! This appointment was a get to know you session--we talked about my basics--my weight, my goal weight, my heaviest weight (oh man) and my lowest weight (Chadd gets the award for causing that one when he broke up with me...5 years ago?) and what I considered my ideal weight (my goal weight...minus 5 pounds would be like *ideal* though probably hard to maintain).
Highlights:
1) A glass of wine a day is fine. Two is not. Noted, though I probably average that out, but it's a good target to keep in mind.
2) Until we meet again (in three weeks, post Colorado trip), I need to keep an "emotional" diary in conjunction with my food diary. I'll be targeting how I feel--am I full? am I hungry? am I bored/tired/sad/happy? when I eat. This, I'm sure, will be a HUGE wake up call. I haven't really been tracking those patterns, and it will be interesting to see how those line up to my eating habits.
3) She said that my original body fat percentage measurement (remember that disasterous night?) is likely very inaccurate and gave me direction on how to make an appointment to use the BodPod. This, guys, is literally one of the most exciting things to happen to me. I have been DYING to find one of these. Do yourself a favor and get a giggle out of the video at the bottom of this page: http://www.lifemeasurement.com/products/testProcBodpod Seriously, watch it and tell me you don't crack up. Houston, we have lift off. Blast me into space.
I'm so psyched, can't wait to see what she has to say in 3 weeks!
Tomorrow--post about how I'm helping my NYC best friend, J, work on a project for med school!
Remember This Post about the difference between an R.D. and a nutritionist? Review! I've been calling my awesome R.D. a nutritionist, which is incorrect, so disregard all that nutritionist talk :-)
Anyway, about the appointment:
She is awesome! This appointment was a get to know you session--we talked about my basics--my weight, my goal weight, my heaviest weight (oh man) and my lowest weight (Chadd gets the award for causing that one when he broke up with me...5 years ago?) and what I considered my ideal weight (my goal weight...minus 5 pounds would be like *ideal* though probably hard to maintain).
Highlights:
1) A glass of wine a day is fine. Two is not. Noted, though I probably average that out, but it's a good target to keep in mind.
2) Until we meet again (in three weeks, post Colorado trip), I need to keep an "emotional" diary in conjunction with my food diary. I'll be targeting how I feel--am I full? am I hungry? am I bored/tired/sad/happy? when I eat. This, I'm sure, will be a HUGE wake up call. I haven't really been tracking those patterns, and it will be interesting to see how those line up to my eating habits.
3) She said that my original body fat percentage measurement (remember that disasterous night?) is likely very inaccurate and gave me direction on how to make an appointment to use the BodPod. This, guys, is literally one of the most exciting things to happen to me. I have been DYING to find one of these. Do yourself a favor and get a giggle out of the video at the bottom of this page: http://www.lifemeasurement.com/products/testProcBodpod Seriously, watch it and tell me you don't crack up. Houston, we have lift off. Blast me into space.
I'm so psyched, can't wait to see what she has to say in 3 weeks!
Tomorrow--post about how I'm helping my NYC best friend, J, work on a project for med school!
Recipes and Nutritionists
Update on the recipe for the grilled chicken and salsa recipe in the Tuesday links--
Very good, I was missing the rosemary, but other than that, it turned out well. I needed to add salt, which is no surprise, but with a side of rice, it was a great meal. Just don't be like me and start making the recipe without reading the whole thing through (I'm terrible at doing that). I could have been doing two things at once, but instead I wound up doing one process (the marinating) only to find out I could have been roasting my tomatoes at the same time. Alas. Glad I had the Biggest Loser to keep me company while I cooked. The only beef I had with the whole thing was that it didn't reheat well. Though I've been having that issue with chicken lately. When I reheat it, the whole thing is tough and chewy and tastes...weird. Maybe I'm cooking it too much? Suggestions?
I was going to go for a run tonight, but our weather up here is drizzly and cold and I have my first appointment with my nutritionist at 7:45 tonight. I had to stay a tiny bit later at work than I expected, so by the time I got home, I was going to be cutting it close for running, showering, and walking down to GW. It's okay though. I was going to sleep in tomorrow, but instead I'm meeting up with my morning gym buddy to hit the weights, then my evening gym buddy after work to get in a run....oh, and Friday-Sunday I'll be working out intermittently through the days for my Les Mills Body Pump training!
Here are the concerns I plan to raise to my nutritionist:
1) If I am working out almost once a day, if not more than once a day, what staples do I need to have in my diet? What's the balance of nutrition that I need?
2) What kind of things should I add into my diet as I increase my endurance training for the 10 Miler and the Half Marathon (and eventually, the marathon)?
3) If I'm logging my calories very accurately every day (measuring food, etc.) and my body bugg is 90% accurate, then why am I not losing 2 pounds a week? Am I eating too much? Too little?
4) What kind of supplements should I be taking?
Here are my bets on what she'll say:
- I need to eat more
- I need to drink less wine (and/or prosecco)
- I need to cut the diet coke (currently at 1-2 cans a day)
- I need to eat more protein and find more calcium
- Iron is a must add to my supplements (which are currently at 0)
Update when I get home!
Very good, I was missing the rosemary, but other than that, it turned out well. I needed to add salt, which is no surprise, but with a side of rice, it was a great meal. Just don't be like me and start making the recipe without reading the whole thing through (I'm terrible at doing that). I could have been doing two things at once, but instead I wound up doing one process (the marinating) only to find out I could have been roasting my tomatoes at the same time. Alas. Glad I had the Biggest Loser to keep me company while I cooked. The only beef I had with the whole thing was that it didn't reheat well. Though I've been having that issue with chicken lately. When I reheat it, the whole thing is tough and chewy and tastes...weird. Maybe I'm cooking it too much? Suggestions?
I was going to go for a run tonight, but our weather up here is drizzly and cold and I have my first appointment with my nutritionist at 7:45 tonight. I had to stay a tiny bit later at work than I expected, so by the time I got home, I was going to be cutting it close for running, showering, and walking down to GW. It's okay though. I was going to sleep in tomorrow, but instead I'm meeting up with my morning gym buddy to hit the weights, then my evening gym buddy after work to get in a run....oh, and Friday-Sunday I'll be working out intermittently through the days for my Les Mills Body Pump training!
Here are the concerns I plan to raise to my nutritionist:
1) If I am working out almost once a day, if not more than once a day, what staples do I need to have in my diet? What's the balance of nutrition that I need?
2) What kind of things should I add into my diet as I increase my endurance training for the 10 Miler and the Half Marathon (and eventually, the marathon)?
3) If I'm logging my calories very accurately every day (measuring food, etc.) and my body bugg is 90% accurate, then why am I not losing 2 pounds a week? Am I eating too much? Too little?
4) What kind of supplements should I be taking?
Here are my bets on what she'll say:
- I need to eat more
- I need to drink less wine (and/or prosecco)
- I need to cut the diet coke (currently at 1-2 cans a day)
- I need to eat more protein and find more calcium
- Iron is a must add to my supplements (which are currently at 0)
Update when I get home!
Monday, February 1, 2010
How to Achieve a Situation (Or Issue)
I don't want to follow in Mike the Situation's footsteps, so Chadd and I have agreed to call my abs "an issue." They may be upgraded at some point, but for now, they're an issue.
Anyway, I had a few people ask me how I did it. Basically, here it is, here is what I did. I'm not saying it will work for everyone, I'm not saying it's easy, this really is a change of lifestyle. But hey, here I am to tell you that it works and that it really wasn't that painful.
1) Set a goal for yourself and make it realistic. My goal was 22 pounds by my birthday (in 2 weeks) and I made this goal late October/Early November. I knew it was a bit of a stretch, so I had a modified "I will be happy with myself if I do X instead." That goal was 15 pounds. I could go all consultanty on you and say to make it a SMART goal, but I can't remember the acronym, so just make sure that it's measurable and that you have a date attached to it.
2) Enlist Help. Remember my Pact buddy? She's been great and without her, I wouldn't be here. We blog every day on our private blog. This person keeps you accountable and also gives you someone who will be sympathetic to you when you have a "I really need pizza and wine" day. You may need to join weight watchers or something to find that person, but it's easier/better if its someone close to you. If you're that kind of person, you can also find free online communities. Check out Peer Trainer for a good resource.
3) Count Your Calories. I know that this went the way of the mixtape--why bother listening to the radio to record songs when you could log onto itunes, right? Wrong. In this case, the old way is the best way. Measure your food. Look up calories (you can google it, or use SparkPeople). Read labels and stick to the serving sizes. Depending on how many calories you burn, you need to cut between 500 and 1000 calories a day to see weight loss. 1 pound = 3500 calories. So if you want to lose 2 pounds a week, you need to be cutting back 1000 calories a day. It starts by writing down everything. I mean everything. I never said this was a quick fix!
Example:
Breakfast:
1 packet instant oatmeal: 120 calories
Snack:
Apple: 81 calories
Also, I think it's ridiculously important to know what goes into your food. Take back control of what is put in your food.
4) Determine your burn. This one is hard. Here are a few sites that will at least help you:
Calorie Count (this is pretty accurate)
Health Status
To be honest, I use my BodyBugg for this. It's the one thing that I've found to be the most accurate and my burn was my missing piece. You need to determine what you burn to make sure that you're accurately achieving the deficit that you think you are. Write this down every day next to your calories consumed, deficit written as well.
5) Plan it all out. Make it easier on yourself, instead of getting to the end of the day starving and only having 10 calories left to eat, sit down on Sunday night and write out your menu for the week. Go to the store and pick up those 100 calorie snacks, lean cuisines, whatever it is that will make it easier for you to space out your calorie needs.
6) Give yourself 1 day to splurge per week. I'm not saying to go out and clear out the all you can eat buffet. But now is the time to have a slice of pizza, or go out for a nice dinner and not worry about the calories in the steak. It makes it so much easier when you know that you have 1 day to fudge, whether you use it for a celebratory dinner or for a day when you're captive to office food. Life happens. Your diet must be flexible.
7) Weigh in 1x a week, same time, same day, same scale. Weighing in once a week under those circumstances gives you the most real picture of your weight loss. Try and do it first thing in the morning. If you notice your weight going up, reassess your meal plan/burn goal. Ladies, keep in mind we do have more fluctuations than men...
8) Reward yourself at milestones. I recently bought a groupon for a massage that I plan to use at -20 pounds. Only 7 pounds away! My Pact buddy is eyeing a pearl necklace to match her goal weight dress. Just make sure your reward is NOT food based, unless it's something fun like healthy cooking lessons.
9) Give yourself time. I've given myself about 3 months to get here and I know I'm not done yet. This is not a quick fix, but this is a realistic life style change.
10) Forgive yourself. This is the most important one. We all slip up now and again. But when you have a bad moment/day/week, get over it, forgive yourself, and start anew. Just because you slid backwards does not mean that you have to start all over again. You just need to keep going from where you are.
It all comes down to this simple fact: when calories in < calories out, you get weightloss. I encourage you, if you are pursuing weightloss, to boil it all down to this simple fact. Learn what you consume, learn what you burn, and make it part of your daily routine.
If you want a day in the life of me, I'll post one tomorrow. But there are the guidelines. Tune in tomorrow! A day in the life of me.
Anyway, I had a few people ask me how I did it. Basically, here it is, here is what I did. I'm not saying it will work for everyone, I'm not saying it's easy, this really is a change of lifestyle. But hey, here I am to tell you that it works and that it really wasn't that painful.
1) Set a goal for yourself and make it realistic. My goal was 22 pounds by my birthday (in 2 weeks) and I made this goal late October/Early November. I knew it was a bit of a stretch, so I had a modified "I will be happy with myself if I do X instead." That goal was 15 pounds. I could go all consultanty on you and say to make it a SMART goal, but I can't remember the acronym, so just make sure that it's measurable and that you have a date attached to it.
2) Enlist Help. Remember my Pact buddy? She's been great and without her, I wouldn't be here. We blog every day on our private blog. This person keeps you accountable and also gives you someone who will be sympathetic to you when you have a "I really need pizza and wine" day. You may need to join weight watchers or something to find that person, but it's easier/better if its someone close to you. If you're that kind of person, you can also find free online communities. Check out Peer Trainer for a good resource.
3) Count Your Calories. I know that this went the way of the mixtape--why bother listening to the radio to record songs when you could log onto itunes, right? Wrong. In this case, the old way is the best way. Measure your food. Look up calories (you can google it, or use SparkPeople). Read labels and stick to the serving sizes. Depending on how many calories you burn, you need to cut between 500 and 1000 calories a day to see weight loss. 1 pound = 3500 calories. So if you want to lose 2 pounds a week, you need to be cutting back 1000 calories a day. It starts by writing down everything. I mean everything. I never said this was a quick fix!
Example:
Breakfast:
1 packet instant oatmeal: 120 calories
Snack:
Apple: 81 calories
Also, I think it's ridiculously important to know what goes into your food. Take back control of what is put in your food.
4) Determine your burn. This one is hard. Here are a few sites that will at least help you:
Calorie Count (this is pretty accurate)
Health Status
To be honest, I use my BodyBugg for this. It's the one thing that I've found to be the most accurate and my burn was my missing piece. You need to determine what you burn to make sure that you're accurately achieving the deficit that you think you are. Write this down every day next to your calories consumed, deficit written as well.
5) Plan it all out. Make it easier on yourself, instead of getting to the end of the day starving and only having 10 calories left to eat, sit down on Sunday night and write out your menu for the week. Go to the store and pick up those 100 calorie snacks, lean cuisines, whatever it is that will make it easier for you to space out your calorie needs.
6) Give yourself 1 day to splurge per week. I'm not saying to go out and clear out the all you can eat buffet. But now is the time to have a slice of pizza, or go out for a nice dinner and not worry about the calories in the steak. It makes it so much easier when you know that you have 1 day to fudge, whether you use it for a celebratory dinner or for a day when you're captive to office food. Life happens. Your diet must be flexible.
7) Weigh in 1x a week, same time, same day, same scale. Weighing in once a week under those circumstances gives you the most real picture of your weight loss. Try and do it first thing in the morning. If you notice your weight going up, reassess your meal plan/burn goal. Ladies, keep in mind we do have more fluctuations than men...
8) Reward yourself at milestones. I recently bought a groupon for a massage that I plan to use at -20 pounds. Only 7 pounds away! My Pact buddy is eyeing a pearl necklace to match her goal weight dress. Just make sure your reward is NOT food based, unless it's something fun like healthy cooking lessons.
9) Give yourself time. I've given myself about 3 months to get here and I know I'm not done yet. This is not a quick fix, but this is a realistic life style change.
10) Forgive yourself. This is the most important one. We all slip up now and again. But when you have a bad moment/day/week, get over it, forgive yourself, and start anew. Just because you slid backwards does not mean that you have to start all over again. You just need to keep going from where you are.
It all comes down to this simple fact: when calories in < calories out, you get weightloss. I encourage you, if you are pursuing weightloss, to boil it all down to this simple fact. Learn what you consume, learn what you burn, and make it part of your daily routine.
If you want a day in the life of me, I'll post one tomorrow. But there are the guidelines. Tune in tomorrow! A day in the life of me.
There Is No Finish Line
Today begins a new month and according to a variety of sources, this is supposed to be a month of great change and new beginnings and wonderful things happening. Whether or not that's true, focus on it and it will happen. "Thoughts become things, so choose good ones."
Keep in mind that health and fitness is not an end goal, it's a way of life. Weightloss may come to an end and maintenence may begin, but that doesn't mean to abandon everything. This is one of my favorite Nike ads:
Second post coming later today about how I got to where I am!
Keep in mind that health and fitness is not an end goal, it's a way of life. Weightloss may come to an end and maintenence may begin, but that doesn't mean to abandon everything. This is one of my favorite Nike ads:
Make health and fitness a way of life this month and you'll never have to worry about it again.
Second post coming later today about how I got to where I am!
Friday, January 29, 2010
The Trouble with Results
I had the blown up ego and even took a picture, but it looked a little 14 year old naive myspace user, so I ditched the idea of posting pictures of my situation. I also have sore abs due to the fact that I spent over an hour walking around flexing.
In other news, I want to talk about results today. I've had a few conversations with a friend of mine (who may have convinced me into a three way pact with the devil to do another marathon and my first ironman...hahah, I know, right?) about results. We'll call them...WB for work buddy. WB's currently doing something called The Insanity Workout, which actually legitimately makes me tired to think about, but WB's been very patient indulging my fits of whining.
Bottom line. K and Chadd have both noticed my weight loss and WB promises me that if we were in the same city, they'd have noticed too.
Basically, the other day, when I hit 11 pounds of weight loss, I went "dammit, why hasn't someone said something?" K suggested that I'm around her and Chadd most of the time and they noticed. My coworkers, dude! We are three to a cube in our client's office! I see them more than her and Chadd combined!
The other possibility, which is legit, is that since I work in a very conservative environment, my clothes just really aren't showing it (and most of my weight loss has been around my midsection and thighs).
Regardless. I just wanted someone to be like "hey, you look like you've really slimmed down!" and I'd be all like "boom, look at my situation!" except not because that might get me fired. The point is, I have to remind myself that there's a fine line between losing for myself and losing for praise. Praise is nice, the actual loss is a far better gift since it's healthy/life lengthening. Self praise should and needs to be a bigger part of my routine. Every woman out there rips on herself entirely too much. I'm seriously guilty of it, and despite my dad's never ending quest to get me to kill that inner mean voice (he doesn't like or allow self-deprecating comments, which I've always thought is one of the best dad-things he's done), it's pretty persistent.
My solution is this. I will start telling myself one positive thing a day and I'm not talking "hey, nice hair." More like "damn girl, your arms are getting toned!" in my very very white girl ghetto voice. I will also freely tell people about my success (granted, at appropriate times). I will also build and maintain a good support group. Everyone needs outside input, so find the group that is likely to give it to you (honest feedback) and ask for their support. They'll give it.
So that's part one of the results discussion. The second part is not about recognition of results, but more about the effect of results.
I am guilty of the yo-yo, as I've discussed before, but the real issue is that at a certain point, we're really happy with what we've done and the next x pounds are part of the goal...but damn, we have a situation! I can kick back and relax, right? Yeah, no. I do that every time. I feel like counting my calories and working out and generally being fitness minded is great, but it's only around when I want to lose weight. I know that most of America struggles with this issue. We feel like we've done without or we've adjusted our schedule--temporarily. Except that's not how this works. You go right back up if you treat this is a temporary lifestyle.
I think I was on the dangerous edge of getting there. Two parties this weekend, each with their share of fatty foods and alcohol. I'm here, teetering on the edge of being close to the next set of ten pounds and I'm like...I've been so good, I can do a splurge weekend. Yeah, no. I can plan for the parties, have a slice of pizza, a drink or two, then call it quits. Soooo hard to reel ones self back in, isn't it?
I say I WAS on the dangerous edge. Last night, I went to the gym and had my body fat percentage measured. Now, not to make excuses here, but the guy said that they only use the scale, which is apparently the least accurate means of measuring body fat. But still. The number on that scale was horrifying. I might have lost 11 pounds, but that didn't mean that my body fat was gone. It meant that I must have been a lot worse off than I'd thought. I shudder to think about what would have happened without my Pact buddy.
I was so upset by the % last night that I couldn't remember my weight. He said I'd lost a pound but I couldn't remember what I told him I was the week before.
So this morning, at a more appropriate time (after cycle, before I'd eaten), I stepped on the scale at my gym and weighed in. You guys, I lost 1.75 pounds since Sunday. I had gained a half pound in Vegas, which I think is a victory, and then lost 1.75. Woohoo! I have moved from the 1X0's to the 1(X-1)0's! ie, if I were in the 180s, I'd have slipped into the 170s.
I am officially 9 pounds away from my original goal weight. 13 pounds lost (well, 12.75)! Sometimes that number seems huge and sometimes, inconsequential. I told my Pact buddy that I added a new goal to my weight loss--a body fat percentage change of 7%, then I'd reassess.
Bottom line:
- Surround yourself with a good support group and stay positive yourself.
- Don't be satisfied with results. Keep going or maintain. Never slide back!
In other news, I want to talk about results today. I've had a few conversations with a friend of mine (who may have convinced me into a three way pact with the devil to do another marathon and my first ironman...hahah, I know, right?) about results. We'll call them...WB for work buddy. WB's currently doing something called The Insanity Workout, which actually legitimately makes me tired to think about, but WB's been very patient indulging my fits of whining.
Bottom line. K and Chadd have both noticed my weight loss and WB promises me that if we were in the same city, they'd have noticed too.
Basically, the other day, when I hit 11 pounds of weight loss, I went "dammit, why hasn't someone said something?" K suggested that I'm around her and Chadd most of the time and they noticed. My coworkers, dude! We are three to a cube in our client's office! I see them more than her and Chadd combined!
The other possibility, which is legit, is that since I work in a very conservative environment, my clothes just really aren't showing it (and most of my weight loss has been around my midsection and thighs).
Regardless. I just wanted someone to be like "hey, you look like you've really slimmed down!" and I'd be all like "boom, look at my situation!" except not because that might get me fired. The point is, I have to remind myself that there's a fine line between losing for myself and losing for praise. Praise is nice, the actual loss is a far better gift since it's healthy/life lengthening. Self praise should and needs to be a bigger part of my routine. Every woman out there rips on herself entirely too much. I'm seriously guilty of it, and despite my dad's never ending quest to get me to kill that inner mean voice (he doesn't like or allow self-deprecating comments, which I've always thought is one of the best dad-things he's done), it's pretty persistent.
My solution is this. I will start telling myself one positive thing a day and I'm not talking "hey, nice hair." More like "damn girl, your arms are getting toned!" in my very very white girl ghetto voice. I will also freely tell people about my success (granted, at appropriate times). I will also build and maintain a good support group. Everyone needs outside input, so find the group that is likely to give it to you (honest feedback) and ask for their support. They'll give it.
So that's part one of the results discussion. The second part is not about recognition of results, but more about the effect of results.
I am guilty of the yo-yo, as I've discussed before, but the real issue is that at a certain point, we're really happy with what we've done and the next x pounds are part of the goal...but damn, we have a situation! I can kick back and relax, right? Yeah, no. I do that every time. I feel like counting my calories and working out and generally being fitness minded is great, but it's only around when I want to lose weight. I know that most of America struggles with this issue. We feel like we've done without or we've adjusted our schedule--temporarily. Except that's not how this works. You go right back up if you treat this is a temporary lifestyle.
I think I was on the dangerous edge of getting there. Two parties this weekend, each with their share of fatty foods and alcohol. I'm here, teetering on the edge of being close to the next set of ten pounds and I'm like...I've been so good, I can do a splurge weekend. Yeah, no. I can plan for the parties, have a slice of pizza, a drink or two, then call it quits. Soooo hard to reel ones self back in, isn't it?
I say I WAS on the dangerous edge. Last night, I went to the gym and had my body fat percentage measured. Now, not to make excuses here, but the guy said that they only use the scale, which is apparently the least accurate means of measuring body fat. But still. The number on that scale was horrifying. I might have lost 11 pounds, but that didn't mean that my body fat was gone. It meant that I must have been a lot worse off than I'd thought. I shudder to think about what would have happened without my Pact buddy.
I was so upset by the % last night that I couldn't remember my weight. He said I'd lost a pound but I couldn't remember what I told him I was the week before.
So this morning, at a more appropriate time (after cycle, before I'd eaten), I stepped on the scale at my gym and weighed in. You guys, I lost 1.75 pounds since Sunday. I had gained a half pound in Vegas, which I think is a victory, and then lost 1.75. Woohoo! I have moved from the 1X0's to the 1(X-1)0's! ie, if I were in the 180s, I'd have slipped into the 170s.
I am officially 9 pounds away from my original goal weight. 13 pounds lost (well, 12.75)! Sometimes that number seems huge and sometimes, inconsequential. I told my Pact buddy that I added a new goal to my weight loss--a body fat percentage change of 7%, then I'd reassess.
Bottom line:
- Surround yourself with a good support group and stay positive yourself.
- Don't be satisfied with results. Keep going or maintain. Never slide back!
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
The Realist's Situation
Last night, Chadd came home and woke me up around quarter of 1 to show me the new coat he got that finally came in the mail.
Normally, this would have irritated me, save two things:
1) This coat literally caused a fashion emergency in Vegas. Only my boyfriend would be as straight as he is (he's basically 1 degree away from being a lumberjack, no offense to gay lumberjacks) and have a fashion emergency. Long story, we had the coat shipped in from California.
2) I had something to show off too. (See below)
Slightly related...
Did you watch The Jersey Shore? If you didn't, that was dumb. It was an awesome good/bad/so bad it's good MTV trash show. There is one clown in particular on this show you should be aware of--Mike. Mike the Situation.
Wait for it at 12 seconds. That's his "Situation." Literally, people, his abs are a situation and he calls himself Mike The Situation because of his freakish abs.
Back to point 2 of why I didn't mind that Chadd woke me up.
Folks. The Realist has a situation. It's not enough of a situation to be capitalized like properly named abs or be called "The" anything...but it's a freaking situation! I HAVE A SITUATION, HERE!
I'm almost at the point where I need a unique nickname for my developing situation. Like "the business" or something. Suggestions are welcome.
I went to bed prepared in a sports bra and running shorts. I wouldn't exactly say that I "hopped" out of bed, but once Chadd managed to get me to open my eyes and get out of bed to see his coat in the gleaming light of the kitchen it suddenly dawned on me why I was freezing to death instead of wearing sweats.
"Look at my situation," I told him.
I was praised adequately and sent back to bed where I fell asleep in less than 1 minute. If I get a big enough ego, I'm posting pictures.
Normally, this would have irritated me, save two things:
1) This coat literally caused a fashion emergency in Vegas. Only my boyfriend would be as straight as he is (he's basically 1 degree away from being a lumberjack, no offense to gay lumberjacks) and have a fashion emergency. Long story, we had the coat shipped in from California.
2) I had something to show off too. (See below)
Slightly related...
Did you watch The Jersey Shore? If you didn't, that was dumb. It was an awesome good/bad/so bad it's good MTV trash show. There is one clown in particular on this show you should be aware of--Mike. Mike the Situation.
Would you like to know why he is called Mike The Situation? Of course you would.
Wait for it at 12 seconds. That's his "Situation." Literally, people, his abs are a situation and he calls himself Mike The Situation because of his freakish abs.
Back to point 2 of why I didn't mind that Chadd woke me up.
Folks. The Realist has a situation. It's not enough of a situation to be capitalized like properly named abs or be called "The" anything...but it's a freaking situation! I HAVE A SITUATION, HERE!
I'm almost at the point where I need a unique nickname for my developing situation. Like "the business" or something. Suggestions are welcome.
I went to bed prepared in a sports bra and running shorts. I wouldn't exactly say that I "hopped" out of bed, but once Chadd managed to get me to open my eyes and get out of bed to see his coat in the gleaming light of the kitchen it suddenly dawned on me why I was freezing to death instead of wearing sweats.
"Look at my situation," I told him.
I was praised adequately and sent back to bed where I fell asleep in less than 1 minute. If I get a big enough ego, I'm posting pictures.
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