Losing it one pound at a time

I know, it looks like 3 pounds but I gained two pounds during my first week. So I’m going with 5.

This blogging idea seemed a little strange, I mean, you’re supposed to GO somewhere to lose weight, right? Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, Lindora…..but I lack the time and I tried WW so I know how I’m SUPPOSED to eat. For whatever reason, I wasn’t doing it. I read about blogging for weight loss in a Fitness magazine at the gym. I had no idea what it would do for me. I feel like I’ve met MY kind of people - those who are willing to share their weight struggles, share what’s working for them and share the motivation and focus. And the weirdest part is I feel strangely guilty when I even consider eating more than I should because I don’t want to let these fellow bloggers - whom I’ve never met - down. This sense of community is really powerful stuff. I was lucky to get invited to belong to a weight loss group on buddyslim, and reading the forum has become one of the highlights of my day. I like to read it mid-afternoon when I normally would be roaming the office digging for the peanut m&m’s. I like to hear what the rest of you have been up to and how you’ve managed to stay focused on your weight loss goal.

One of my highlights this week was putting on a suit and it was loose. Not super loose, but extremely comfortable loose. Over the last year whenever I put the suit on I had to start with pantyhose so I could get the zipper pulled up. It was a torturous 8 hour day all sucked into those pants. So for those of you who think 5 pounds isn’t a lot, think again. Five pounds made me feel like a superstar. I had a “five pound high” for the rest of my week.

This week, I will wake up early and hit the gym every morning because when I don’t I’m pretty cranky all day. This week I will drink more water and take my vitamins because they do make a difference. This week I will take 5 minutes at the end of my day to recognize what I’ve done to be a better mom, a better wife and a better me. I’m taking my life back, one pound at a time.

we’ll do the same bike ride again tomorrow. By then, hopefully Aunt Flo will have packed her bags and moved to someone else’s place for a week.  Don’t let the door hit her on the way out. See? Cranky.

I’ve been seriously engaged in changing my eating habits, exercising every single day and everything has been moving along just as I had planned. And then I got my period. I could tell it was on it’s evil way because I was getting really cranky but for the first time I did not go to the local Trader Joe’s and buy a mud pie to share with my office (that’s my wat of putting a caution sign up - “I’m working under the influence of crazy hormone changes. Enter at your own risk”), nor did I did into the dozens of candy bowls around the office. But you know what, I gained a pound anyway. I’m so mad. I’m probably not really mad, but I’m cranky so I feel mad. If menopause didn’t bring on weight gain, I’d say “sign me up”. I’ve talked my husband and the 3 monkeys to go for a nice long bike ride today and we’ll do the same

I should have weighed in today for the competition because I weighed in slighly less than before and I’m at 153.6. Yeah! My goal is to lose 1.6 pounds per week which means I hit my goal a week early. This means I get to shop a week early, wear those cool clothes early, feel better early.

I took a long bike ride today with my youngest, my 3 year old, in the bike trailer. We rode about 6 miles. The way down to the beach is a slight grade downhill and then flat along the coast. The ride back is a beast. Especially pulling that bike trailer. I brought my phone just in case I wanted to chicken out and call the calvary..uh…my husband and the rest of the boys to pick me up but I decided to just do it. Thankfully I had my heart monitor which assured me I was not dying, but was in my anaerobic (sp?) zone which is good for interval training.  So I made it and then I weighed myself and the number went down. What a great weekend.

I started on buddyslim the day after Christmas and I’m happy to see it’s working. All of this positive feedback, and also being part of a weight loss group has helped. I’m at 154.2 which is great. I’m also down 4 inches in 2 weeks. Overall my week was very strong. I made time to exercise every day. On Friday morning I chose to sleep in rather than take my spin class and I have to say, I was in a pretty foul mood all day. I decided to improve my mood for my family that night and took the 6pm Happy Hour Spin, which was great. I felt back on track and my mood had shifted. Love those endophins! I had a few minor slip ups on my eating but I feel like I made much better choices on a consistent basis than I had before. Even today while shopping at Costco, I passed on all the fattening samples and chose the healthy ones instead.

I’m extremely optimistic that if I keep doing what I’m doing I will hit my goal on time! I told my husband this summer I will not have belly rolls at the beach. It is just not going to happen. I’m excited too, to shop for cute spring dresses and summer tank tops without concern about that weird place I get fat (between my arm pit and where my bra starts - what is that?) and just continuing to feel proud that I have not let myself down. That’s what matters.

In my life outside of trying to exercise, lose weight, be a great mom to 3 busy boys and also try to be a good, supportive wife, I also work full time. I am a sales manager. On Monday I did my Goal Setting seminar for my reps and thought it definitely applies to what we’re all doing here.  Here’s a little tidbit:

1. What is your goal weight?

2. What will your life be like when you accomplish this goal? (be very descriptive…i.e. will you be wearing all the clothes you’ve been wanting to wear but couldn’t? Will you be healthier and more active? Will your cholesteral levels go down (I know mine need to…..))

3. How will you feel when you accomplish this goal? (again, be very descriptive about your internal feelings)

4. Break your goal weight into a realistic time period to lose it. Most people say it is reasonable to lose a pound a week with not a lot of drastic changes. Post your monthly and quarterly goals on your calender.

5. What are 5 action steps you are willing to commit to to help you achieve your goal? Make sure each step is s.m.a.r.t. (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely). 

And lastly, write all of this stuff down somewhere where you can see it everyday and stay focused on the end result. Reward yourself for the small milestones. Review your plan on a regular basis and make changes when you don’t see the desired results.

Hope it helps. Good Luck!

5

DOWN! I’M DOWN! 8 ounces, but hey, it’s something. It’s these little tiny glimmers of hope that keep my motivation going.

I ended the week at 155, which is where I started on the 26th but 2 pounds lower than where I was on the 31st. I’m keeping myself focused with the end in mind - which is sitting on a beach chair without 3 tire rolls below me. Getting rid of back fat will be nice, too. I hate that stuff. I watched a fear inspiring shows this weekend (I love how the first of the year there is an abundance of weight loss shows, commercials, etc) one of them was “How to Look Good Naked” on Lifetime ( i think). Anyway - great show. I loved that Carson made the girl on the show feel great about herself and empowered her to stop dieting and embrace her body the way it is. It is so true that our society is a little (a little….HAH!) out of whack when it comes to a realistic body image. Anyway, we all know that. But it was a great show. And then today I was able to catch “You on a Diet” with Dr. Oz. I have the book too and I love that. It’s been rainy here in beautiful Orange County California so I’ve been camping out in the house for most of the weekend. But Dr. Oz motivated me to get off my booty so I drove to the gym and did the treadmill for 40 minutes. I tried an interval guide that I ripped out of a magazine a few days back. It worked! My heart rate monitor proved it.

I stopped by the grocery after the gym and picked up granola, cottage cheese, apples, Go Lean Crunch and some protein bars. Since it’s been rainy I’ve been making TONS of soup, and I have it all separated in little containers. I’m set for the work week. No Del Taco bean burritos for me!

Hope you all had a great weekend! If you’re willing to share what’s working for you I want to hear.

Somehow when I know that I will be reporting  back on this blog at the end of the day and back to anyone who will be reading it, I feel like I really need to give it my best shot. So thanks for making me acountable, that’s what this whole thing is about for me.

I had another good exercise day - I started at 6 am with a one hour spin class and it really kicked my a$$ today! Might have been all the stair climbing from yesterday but boy, my legs were sore and I struggled to keep those pedals moving. But I did it and I was really happy. My co-worker and I did one flight of stair climbing. Work was crazy for me and I could only escape once.

Breakfast was 5 pieces of turkey bacon and 1 egg (I was hungry after that spin class). The turkey bacon is just 35 calories a slice so my breakfast was still less than 350 calories. Lunch was take out from Lucille’s. I don’t know if you guys have Lucille’s, but it is this amazing BBQ restaurant. I got baked chicken, veggies and a cajun shrimp salad. It came with homemade buttermilk biscuits, which I swear for the first time in my life - I passed on eating them. I ate all of my salad and 1/2 the chicken and veggies. Dinner was 1/2 a piece of spinach pizza. Not the perfect eating day, but not the worst either.

Thanks for reading and again, keeping me accountable. Have a happy Friday!

I

I really kicked it into full gear today. I started off at 5:50 am at the gym. I did the treadmill, bike, stair climber and then back on the treadmill. Cardio: 1 hour. Using the heart rate monitor gave me the boost I needed to make sure I was in the fitness and aerobic zones.

I had to go back to work today after nearly 2 weeks off. I talked one of my co-workers into climbing the stairs 3 times a day for 10 minutes. That way we get out of the office, get some energy and re-vamp for the rest of the day. In 10 minutes we were able to climb up and down 5 times (4 story building) and then we finish up with a walk around the building for a cool-down. I looked it up and we burned around 205 calories!

I did well with my eating today too:

b - 1 egg and 2 slices turkey bacon     

s - soup at hand - tomato

l - lean cuisine sesame chicken

s - 10 almonds and 2 small clementines (they’re so yummy)

d- 2 small egg/steak burrito

Clearly, I need more veggies but I am happy with the caloric intake.

Hope you all had a fabulous 2nd, too!

Food Log

Exercise Log