Not too shabby of a weigh-in! I'm a bit concerned about being behind for my monthly weigh-in goals, but progress is progress.
My meeting with the nutritionist went well. She said I've lost 14 pounds since I first met with her, but I think I gave her a different number (i.e. my weight from the doctor's office, which would have been higher.) Either way though, she seemed happy! We modified my meal plan a little bit so that I'm not as hungry come 3:00 - 4:00 p.m. (hopefully!)
It would be nice to get to a point where we don't have "bad" days. We always worry about how the weigh-in will turn out because we eat at restaurants a couple/few nights a week or we indulge or we don't watch our sodium intake. And I am noticing more and more than when I do make a bad choice, I tell myself it's okay because you have to indulge once in a while. Once in a while is fine, but it shouldn't be a couple-times-a-week motto! Must curb that!
Monday, October 24, 2011
Thursday, October 20, 2011
224.8 - 99.8 pounds to go
I'm a bit late posting this week. Good grief!
Sunday's weigh-in wasn't a surprise thanks to our new scale - completely water retention. So last week was horrible in terms of working out thanks to being sick, and this week wasn't so great either. I don't think we ate so well the whole time either, though we are learning that even bad choices now aren't as bad as they used to be, and we are mindful of how much we eat if it is a bad choice.
I'm hoping this week's weigh-in will be a bit better. So far, according to the scale, I'm back down to about 223. Maybe with a couple more workouts and eating a better over the weekend will result in a loss!
Sunday's weigh-in wasn't a surprise thanks to our new scale - completely water retention. So last week was horrible in terms of working out thanks to being sick, and this week wasn't so great either. I don't think we ate so well the whole time either, though we are learning that even bad choices now aren't as bad as they used to be, and we are mindful of how much we eat if it is a bad choice.
I'm hoping this week's weigh-in will be a bit better. So far, according to the scale, I'm back down to about 223. Maybe with a couple more workouts and eating a better over the weekend will result in a loss!
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
The Elliptical Was My Bitch
Last night when we left the gym, I was angry at myself. I rode the elliptical for 7 minutes as my warm-up before strength training and I was so tired. The longest I had ever gone on one was 15 minutes and it took all I had (imo anyway.) So leaving last night, I swore, "Someday, I'm gonna own that damn thing." Not own as in purchase, but ya know, more like defeat it. But I just could not use the elliptical.
Tonight, that changed! I went in thinking I would only ride it for 20 minutes. The husband had said he was aiming for an hour and I thought he was crazy. But slowly, the minutes climbed and I thought "if I can physically still push down on these steps, I can keep going." And keep going I did!
It should have been a nice round number, but half way through I decided to listen to music instead of watch TV. Dummy me, however, had the phone leaning against the "cool down" button so as I was doing something, I hit it. I about cried. I knew I was aiming for another 25+ minutes so I could take a picture. I had it all planned out in my head, and even considered trying to be in the shot. Instead, all I could do was prey that I could keep increasing the cool down minutes (to over 30!) and guess at how long it had been. Either way though, I'm proud. I set out to defeat that machine, and I think I did just that!
Tonight, that changed! I went in thinking I would only ride it for 20 minutes. The husband had said he was aiming for an hour and I thought he was crazy. But slowly, the minutes climbed and I thought "if I can physically still push down on these steps, I can keep going." And keep going I did!
It should have been a nice round number, but half way through I decided to listen to music instead of watch TV. Dummy me, however, had the phone leaning against the "cool down" button so as I was doing something, I hit it. I about cried. I knew I was aiming for another 25+ minutes so I could take a picture. I had it all planned out in my head, and even considered trying to be in the shot. Instead, all I could do was prey that I could keep increasing the cool down minutes (to over 30!) and guess at how long it had been. Either way though, I'm proud. I set out to defeat that machine, and I think I did just that!
Monday, October 10, 2011
223.8 - 98.8 pounds to go!
Less than 100 pounds to go! WOOHOO!
Last week I was a bit worried. I started out the week craving so much food. We ate out a few times right off the bat simply because we were lazy (er, I was lazy, he was sick). Husband stayed home *all* week due to being sick, which I caught by Tues., which also meant no gym. Yup, zero trips! I remember on Sunday evening, as he was feeling cruddy from the cold just kicking in, we settled on pizza and a movie. I knew it was wrong, that it was a lot of calories, that I should only eat maybe 2 slices of pizza and 1 bread stick, but I just couldn't help myself. 3 pieces and 3 pieces of Crazy Bread later, I didn't regret my choices at all! If anything, I wanted more! >.< Come Tuesday, I ate the leftovers. I had a horrible doctor's appointment that was excruciatingly painful. So what did I do, I ran to food for comfort. /sigh
Add to that the trip to a Mexican restaurant where our fav. waiter changed to and who always gives us free dessert. We tried to eat relatively well. I chose fajitas again, which I never eat more than maybe a third of, and husband chose some steak thing. He had looked up the cals, added it to his journal, specified for the waiter which dish it was and he still got the wrong one (one that was WAY higher in cals). We're both too nice to have pointed out the mistake, esp. since the waiter is someone who we've requested for over 2 years now. But to drive the sword in even further, he brought us this huge brownie sundae. Omg, it was incredible! (It probably wasn't, but we don't eat dessert very often anymore, so it was!) Yeah, see what kind of a week we are talking about now?
We got better as the week went on. The colds let us, we ate at home, we kept checking the scale throughout the week to make sure things were okay. And while on one hand I keep thinking "don't you dare step on that scale other than weigh-in day!" I kind of think checking a couple/few times is good. It's good to know the difference between morning pre-food/dehydrated weight and end of the day post-food/hydrated weight. And it's good to catch things before they are out of hand. While I hope it doesn't happen, if I were gaining weight, I would want to catch it as early as possible to fix things.
We took pictures and measurements yesterday and decided to make them coincide. It'll be much easier looking back to say "I weighed X in that photo" if it's on the same day as a weigh-in rather than in-between. I was a bit disappointed that after combing over both photos and trying to spot differences, I saw none. I could tell the husband's double chin is getting smaller, but nothing for me. It might be too early, as he said, I was just hoping 20 pounds would show somewhere.
The new measurements didn't help much either. I think the hard part there is that it's hard to measure in the exact same place. I have freckles/moles I use as landmarks for certain ones, but not all. So while some measurements were down, others increased, which made no sense. I know, like he pointed out, that it could just be that he pulled the tape measure too tight last time, or it was in a different spot, but darn it, they better come down!
Current Weight: 223.8 pounds
Current BMI: 40.93
BMI Lost: 3.87
Pounds Lost: 21.2
Pounds to Meet Mini-Goal #2: 23.8
Pounds until BMI is 'obese' instead of 'morbidly obese' (218): 5.8 pounds
Last week I was a bit worried. I started out the week craving so much food. We ate out a few times right off the bat simply because we were lazy (er, I was lazy, he was sick). Husband stayed home *all* week due to being sick, which I caught by Tues., which also meant no gym. Yup, zero trips! I remember on Sunday evening, as he was feeling cruddy from the cold just kicking in, we settled on pizza and a movie. I knew it was wrong, that it was a lot of calories, that I should only eat maybe 2 slices of pizza and 1 bread stick, but I just couldn't help myself. 3 pieces and 3 pieces of Crazy Bread later, I didn't regret my choices at all! If anything, I wanted more! >.< Come Tuesday, I ate the leftovers. I had a horrible doctor's appointment that was excruciatingly painful. So what did I do, I ran to food for comfort. /sigh
Add to that the trip to a Mexican restaurant where our fav. waiter changed to and who always gives us free dessert. We tried to eat relatively well. I chose fajitas again, which I never eat more than maybe a third of, and husband chose some steak thing. He had looked up the cals, added it to his journal, specified for the waiter which dish it was and he still got the wrong one (one that was WAY higher in cals). We're both too nice to have pointed out the mistake, esp. since the waiter is someone who we've requested for over 2 years now. But to drive the sword in even further, he brought us this huge brownie sundae. Omg, it was incredible! (It probably wasn't, but we don't eat dessert very often anymore, so it was!) Yeah, see what kind of a week we are talking about now?
We got better as the week went on. The colds let us, we ate at home, we kept checking the scale throughout the week to make sure things were okay. And while on one hand I keep thinking "don't you dare step on that scale other than weigh-in day!" I kind of think checking a couple/few times is good. It's good to know the difference between morning pre-food/dehydrated weight and end of the day post-food/hydrated weight. And it's good to catch things before they are out of hand. While I hope it doesn't happen, if I were gaining weight, I would want to catch it as early as possible to fix things.
We took pictures and measurements yesterday and decided to make them coincide. It'll be much easier looking back to say "I weighed X in that photo" if it's on the same day as a weigh-in rather than in-between. I was a bit disappointed that after combing over both photos and trying to spot differences, I saw none. I could tell the husband's double chin is getting smaller, but nothing for me. It might be too early, as he said, I was just hoping 20 pounds would show somewhere.
The new measurements didn't help much either. I think the hard part there is that it's hard to measure in the exact same place. I have freckles/moles I use as landmarks for certain ones, but not all. So while some measurements were down, others increased, which made no sense. I know, like he pointed out, that it could just be that he pulled the tape measure too tight last time, or it was in a different spot, but darn it, they better come down!
Current Weight: 223.8 pounds
Current BMI: 40.93
BMI Lost: 3.87
Pounds Lost: 21.2
Pounds to Meet Mini-Goal #2: 23.8
Pounds until BMI is 'obese' instead of 'morbidly obese' (218): 5.8 pounds
New Goals!
I didn't think about this at the start, but now that I've actually exceeded my first mini goal, I realize I need to plan out some others! So, I'm going to write down not only some mini goals, but also a monthly progress chart. I remembered yesterday that the head trainer at the gym had asked how much I wanted to lose, and I think I said 100 or so. It should have been more, but I know the chart he made was for 100 pounds in a year. I scoffed at him like he was insane - I know not to set myself up for failure and look long-term like that! I know there will be set backs! But yesterday I created a little table to plot out 3 month "goals" to meet that 100 pounds in a year and what do ya know, I'm actually on track so far! So, I'm going to include those monthly goals as well, realizing full well that esp. with the holidays approaching (ugh!) there *will* be setbacks. There just will....
Mini Goal #1: 225 - Met 10/09/11
Mini Goal #2: 200
Mini Goal #3: 175
Mini Goal #4: 150
Ultimate Goal: 125
Monthly Goals / Recorded Weight:
09/18/11: 230.0 / 230.6
10/16/11: 221.5 / 224.8
11/20/11: 213.0
12/18/11: 205.0
01/15/12: 196.5
02/19/12: 188.0
03/18/12: 180.0
04/15/12: 172.0
05/20/12: 163.0
06/17/12: 155.0
07/15/12: 146.5
08/19/12: 138.0
Monday, October 3, 2011
227.0 - 102 pounds to go!
Not a great week, but not as bad of a week as I had predicted. We keep saying we won't step on the scale before weigh-in but come Wednesday or so, we break down and do it anyway. All last week the scale was inching up, not down, which set the tone for the week (which is why I keep saying I won't peek!) Best as I can tell from the food log, it was most likely due to high sodium. We were doing really well with not eating out but we've gotten lazy again. On the plus side though, we are making better choices when we do go out! I don't know what I would do without a smart phone. Before I even order I start checking the MyFitnessPal database to see what dishes are reasonable.
I met with the nutritionist on Friday to review how things have been progressing. My recorded weight when I met with her the first time was 234 (which I think is what the doctor visit that day recorded, which was a little high) and Friday it was 228.5. Not too bad I guess. She made some suggestions based on what I've been eating, mainly that I need to watch sodium and that I can split my snacks up into smaller snacks if need be. She also suggested that we start doing less strength training and more cardio, which I do not plan on doing. Her point was that cardio will burn the fat faster, but building muscle will burn more calories and help tone as I lose the weight. She also wants me to start getting up every hour while at work and walking around the building, as well as going on a walk at lunch. I know both are great ideas, I will just have to get over being anxious. The building doesn't bother me so much, but walking at lunch will probably be a solo venture. I have a walking buddy right now if I want, but she will soon be moving, and others that walk have buddies and they go much faster than I can. So, time to suck it up, put on some music, and go!
Hopefully this next weigh-in I'll meet my mini goal of 225!
Monday, September 26, 2011
227.8 - 102.8 pounds to go!
So clearly Sunday was a great day! I was really hoping that the scale would wiggle down to 227.6 so I could lose 3 pounds even, but oh well!
The bigger part of my week was the class we took at the gym on Friday. The sign for the class showed kettlebells, so I was a bit excited thinking we'd be getting to play around with those. HA! Not even close! Here's a list of the exercises we did (all done twice except stretches):
Everything was extremely difficult for us. The first jumping jacks were fine, and then it all went downhill. I could maybe do 3 modified push-ups, and I held the plank for maybe 10 seconds. Pelvic thrusts were fine even through the second set. The stiff leg lifts I had to modify. He wanted us to lift our legs up straight and alternately lower them down and back up. Instead, I bent at the knees and kicked straight out. The should touches were brutal! I can't stay in a push-up position, let alone on one hand as I slap a shoulder. Ugh! And the kneel to stand drills hurt my knees.
The sprints were difficult only in that he wanted us to run to a cone and back, then across the room and back in long strides. "To the cone should be 3 steps!" HA! I think I was taking like 6-7. In comparison to the squat thrusts though, it was easy. I could at least just run. The thrusts made me feel like a frog and all awkward.
Come stretching time, I suddenly felt sick. I remember giggling during the arm circles as the instructor explained that in the military he was called "Giggles." He was telling us about a time when he challenged his instructor and I noticed my arms were super tired. We moved in to the arching side stretches and I recall feeling really tired. He came over as I put my arms down and forced me to stretch over toward my husband. I remember him explaining how it should arch like a bridge and made us into a bridge. And then I felt ill. The room was spinning, my eyes couldn't focus, I felt like I would be sick. I stood there, not sure of what to do. Was I going to puke? Could I walk to the bathroom? The sick feeling left but the urge to pass out was creeping up on me. Thankfully the instructor noticed and brought me a glucose tab while the others did some cat/camel stretches (of course, the one I really wanted to learn properly!) I felt a little better within a few minutes, enough to learn a lower back stretch (bend at the waist, hook fingers under toes or grab calves, alternately bend one knee at a time like walking in place). I felt sick for a good hour or so afterward.
Now the gym is asking us if we want to sign up for any of the classes on a regular basis and as time goes on, I think "we really should do something to push ourselves!" But being sore from Saturday through today makes me cringe at the thought of doing that class on a weekly basis.
The bigger part of my week was the class we took at the gym on Friday. The sign for the class showed kettlebells, so I was a bit excited thinking we'd be getting to play around with those. HA! Not even close! Here's a list of the exercises we did (all done twice except stretches):
- circuit 1: jumping jacks, push-ups, planks
- circuit 2: pelvic thrusts, stiff leg lifts, shoulder touch push-ups, kneel to stand drills (or kneel stand kneel drills)
- circuit 3: long stride sprints, squat thrusts
- circuit 4: traffic cone leg/arm swaps (we basically put our left leg out and touched the cone in front of us with our left hand, then jumped and swapped to the other side), Bosu ball arm thrusts (quickly), stability ball arm squeezes
- stretching: hamstring stretches, forward arm circles, backward arm circles, arching side stretches, camel/cat stretches, butterfly stretch.
Everything was extremely difficult for us. The first jumping jacks were fine, and then it all went downhill. I could maybe do 3 modified push-ups, and I held the plank for maybe 10 seconds. Pelvic thrusts were fine even through the second set. The stiff leg lifts I had to modify. He wanted us to lift our legs up straight and alternately lower them down and back up. Instead, I bent at the knees and kicked straight out. The should touches were brutal! I can't stay in a push-up position, let alone on one hand as I slap a shoulder. Ugh! And the kneel to stand drills hurt my knees.
The sprints were difficult only in that he wanted us to run to a cone and back, then across the room and back in long strides. "To the cone should be 3 steps!" HA! I think I was taking like 6-7. In comparison to the squat thrusts though, it was easy. I could at least just run. The thrusts made me feel like a frog and all awkward.
Come stretching time, I suddenly felt sick. I remember giggling during the arm circles as the instructor explained that in the military he was called "Giggles." He was telling us about a time when he challenged his instructor and I noticed my arms were super tired. We moved in to the arching side stretches and I recall feeling really tired. He came over as I put my arms down and forced me to stretch over toward my husband. I remember him explaining how it should arch like a bridge and made us into a bridge. And then I felt ill. The room was spinning, my eyes couldn't focus, I felt like I would be sick. I stood there, not sure of what to do. Was I going to puke? Could I walk to the bathroom? The sick feeling left but the urge to pass out was creeping up on me. Thankfully the instructor noticed and brought me a glucose tab while the others did some cat/camel stretches (of course, the one I really wanted to learn properly!) I felt a little better within a few minutes, enough to learn a lower back stretch (bend at the waist, hook fingers under toes or grab calves, alternately bend one knee at a time like walking in place). I felt sick for a good hour or so afterward.
Now the gym is asking us if we want to sign up for any of the classes on a regular basis and as time goes on, I think "we really should do something to push ourselves!" But being sore from Saturday through today makes me cringe at the thought of doing that class on a weekly basis.
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