Workout vs. Playout

Friday, March 11, 2011

After reading SUGIRL06 and TUACADOLL1's blogs today, something hit me...and I thought I would share.

Let's just start here. "Work" What does that word mean? Dictionary.com has more than a dozen definitions, but the words that strike me in them are "labor," "toil," and "exertion." None of which I consider fun words, really.


thematter.wordpress.com/2010/01/13/s
o-hard-for-it-honey/

Let's be honest...like most of us, I'm not a big fan of "work." So is it any wonder that sometimes even the idea of a "work"out makes me want to run away and hide (usually under the covers of the bed or to the cozy couch)?

But I have a little secret for you...it's something I've been toying with since I started back in April and now I'm going to share it outright. Are you ready?.....

Workouts don't have to be so much work.

There, I said it.

Sure, there are plenty of times when it's good to push yourself - at the gym or out on the road. Show yourself what you're made of. Make yourself proud by proving that you can do something you never thought possible of yourself. But at times, it's just fun to have...

Playouts.

There, I said it.

Again, Dictionary.com has a wealth of definitions for that particular word - "play," but the words that strike me most are "fun," "jest," and "freedom." Now THOSE are words I can stand behind and smile about.


www.cafepress.com/+love_play_smile_c
ry_live_mousepad,60795045

Work looks like this to me in my head:


But play looks like this:


And how's THIS for a definition of play:
"brisk, light, or changing movement or action"
dictionary.reference.com/browse/play

Now I like that!

Workouts can certainly breed results, but they require work. Walking on a treadmill for 30 minutes at a 19 min/mile pace will burn me about 161 calories*, according to Spark. But if I really work at it, I can see better results:

Treadmill at a 15 min/mi pace will burn me 317 calories.
Treadmill with a 10% incline, 19 min/mi pace will burn 367.
Treadmill with a 15% incline, 19 min/mi pace will burn 412.

I have to WORK at it to burn the calories I want to burn...and sometimes, it's all I can do to push myself through and not just throw in the towel and go home, feeling like I'm wasting my effort.

But if I think out of the box a bit, I find myself with better results...

30 minutes of Cardio Dancing (like Zumba) will burn 423 calories.
30 minutes of Kickboxing = 625.
30 minutes of beating the crap out of a punching bag = 368.
Even 30 minutes of Wii boxing will burn 364 calories.

And these are all more fun than that stupid dreadmill!

itunes.apple.com/us/app/dreadmill/id
327173877?mt=8
(BTW - that game sounds hilariously fun! *lol*)

But, let's take this a step further and get into real play. Let's see what Spark has to say about that...

30 minutes - Playing with Kids - 364 calories burned
30 minutes - Badmiton - 371
30 minutes - Canoeing - 589
30 minutes - Fishing in Stream - 328
30 minutes - Ultimate Frisbee - 459
30 minutes - Horseback Riding - 445
30 minutes - Ice Skating - 494
30 minutes - Kayaking - 589
30 minutes - Kickball - 459
30 minutes - Paddleboating - 253
30 minutes - Ping Pong - 224
30 minutes - Riding a Jet Ski - 212
30 minutes - Rock Climbing - 611
30 minutes - Rollerblading and Rollerskating - 494
30 minutes - Scuba Diving - 591


And my favorite -
30 minutes Skipping burns 803 calories! SKIPPING, people. Do you remember skipping when we were 5 just because we were bored at the hardware store with our parents? Do you remember skipping with your friends, singing a song? I can't even imagine skipping for 30 minutes straight, but just think on this --- 5 minutes of skipping burns 134 calories! That's almost as many calories I would burn walking on the dreadmill for 30 minutes at a 19 min/mi pace! And skipping doesn't require thought, or mental self-talk to "keep going" because this isn't wasted time. Skipping is just plain fun.


kimandjason.com/blog/2005-12-31/skip
ping-into-the-new-year.html
(Go read that blog and visit iskip.com and read about the guy who SKIPPED a 5k in a sub-30 time!)

Now doesn't skipping sound more fun than "Insanity?" Sure does to me!

Or how about this one...jumping rope slow for just 15 minutes burns 352 calories!

Now, I'm not saying a good hard workout isn't good. It is. It's great, in fact! Lord knows I get my share of hardcore workouts throughout the week. But if you're dreading the going to gym and just don't feel like putting in the work, try thinking outside the box and do a PLAYout instead of a WORKout.

You'll be burning calories, doing great things for your heart, and encouraging your soul. It's like giving your inner child a chance to smile and remember those carefree days of summer when exercise wasn't even a word in your vocabulary. Run like a 6 year old. Skip down the street. Grab a couple friends and double dutch your way fit! Don't think of it as a "toil"...think of it as "fun."

Still not convinced? Here's a few more things to try 30 minutes of:

Basketball - 564 calories burned
Bowling - 212
Boxing - 634
Fencing - 382
Flag Football - 564
Golf (carrying clubs) - 247
Racquetball (casual) - 494
Soccer - 494
Softball - 352
Swimming (general) - 423
Tennis (general) - 569
Sand Volleyball - 564
Surfing - 423
Whitewater Rafting - 352

This is why my fitspo (fitness inspiration) for today includes:



(all from: www.crossfitoahu.com/archive.php?mon
th=2010-04 )


So get out there and play!

And, just once today, I dare you to skip...just to remind yourself what it feels like.
-----

*Of course these are Spark calculations with my weight figured in, so your calorie burn results will vary.

EDIT: And PLEASE go watch this amazing, euphoric high of a vlog! It made me fall in love with just the thought of exercise once again!
www.sparkpeople.com/mypage_public_jo
urnal_individual.asp?blog_id=4083163

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Cake

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Yes. I ate some. And?

Seriously, my attitude is nowhere near where it was two days ago. I was so on point, so sure that I just needed to do everything right. A at this time. B at this time. 5 of these and 10 of those. And it was a great day. But today? Today I feel the need to just be kind to myself.

I spend a lot of my workout time and, well, anytime lately telling myself what I've done wrong, what I could do better, how I've screwed everything up, and why I'm such a failure. But late last night, after another pretty successful day - after facing challenges and overcoming them - after eating another healthy dinner at 9:30 p.m. while completely exhausted from a tough workout --- I had a thought. I need a night off.

I actually planned these into my original 2011 plan...did I ever tell you that? I gave myself one day every month, picked COMPLETELY at random, to have what I like to call a "guilt-free rest day." It was supposed to signify a day off from the worries and hassles of working out, counting every single calories, overcalculating "just to be safe" and all the headspace nonsense that comes along with that. One day out of 30, 31, or 28 in which I could just BE without thinking about what dinner would do to my thighs, if I could afford to steal just one of my son's french fries, etc. It sounded reasonable to me in my head when I made this plan (actually, I planned this out back in like September or October of last year).

But then something happened. I guilted myself out of my guilt-free days. I told myself that I had been TOO BAD all the other days of the week/month/year, that I now needed to punish myself. I told myself I couldn't waste this day, no matter what the plan said. Following a schedule for workouts for me is MUCH easier than following a plan that allows me to give everything up for just 5 minutes, 10 hours, or even a whole day. I get tense. I freak out. I think I'm being a loser, I'm fooling myself into thinking that I can have "cheat" days at all when I cheat way too often already. I don't deserve a reward, I deserve punishment. So I have not yet allowed myself ONE guilt-free rest day AT ALL.

And I had no problem with that until last night. Because last night I realized that I'm exhausted. I have BEEN exhausted for some time now. Sure, I put on the brave face, but I'm completely pooped. Too much excitement. Overstimulation. Sure, that's part of it. In my effort to make myself a year of adventures, I've scheduled myself into pure exhaustion. Even Hubs comments that I plan too much and am always scheduling something. And when I have great days, they look something like this:

6:00 am - wake up, make coffee while checking Spark and weigh-in for the day

6:30 am - hop in the shower, pop on some clothes, pack gym bag, make bagel, make coffee to go, grab bags and head outside

7:00 am - leave for work, drive nearly 1 hour in whatever crappy weather the day might have in store for me, eat bagel and drink coffee all the way to work

8:00 am - work starts, turn on computer, check email, check mailbox, organize the day, maybe make a to-do list, put on makeup and put contacts in, turn on digital photo frame

9:30 am - first scheduled snack must be found and eaten, then any leftovers put away after measuring and before eating, be sure to begin drinking water

10:30 am - work break, which involves 15 minutes outside reading a book of my choosing

12:00 pm - lunch must be found, cooked, and eaten, and breakfast, snack and lunch must be logged to take stock of how many calories I've eaten and what I can afford for snack 2-3 and dinner, remind myself to drink more water

2:45 pm - take second work break, again reading my book

3:30 pm - snack two, with lots of water, guage how I'm doing on water and if I need to pound more before leaving work

5:30 pm - prepare to leave for work which includes shutting down anything running on my computer, saving files, marking places for the next day, perhaps making a new to-do list for the following day, packing my bags again, peeing, refilling water bottle and turning off my digital photo frame, and mark with post-its the gym ST exercises for the night in my notecard binder

6:00 pm - drag everything out to the car, drive the one hour home constantly whining about how I have to pee AGAIN, and continue the long process that started around 4pm of talking myself INTO going to the gym and eating very healthy, perhaps eat a small snack on the way home if I didn't eat it at 5:30 or so

6:45 pm - arrive at the gym, swipe card, bolt to bathroom and pee, change clothes, put on tennis shoes, talk myself into a great workout, grab water bottle, towel, headphones, phone, and strength training notecard binder

7:00 pm - after a quick stretch, see what cardio equipment is free and hop on a treadmill or elliptical for 5-10 minutes for a warm-up, ensure heart rate is going up properly and further talk myself into a great workout by reminding myself how much I NEED to do tonight

7:15 pm - after a slightly longer stretch, head into weight lifting area, begin to follow through the set recommended ST moves, moving up the weight each time as I decrease the reps, teach Hubs same moves, talk him into doing them correctly and talk him into increasing the weight, stretch between each move/set slightly to loosen muscles once again, talk myself into each and every rep, especially the last 2-5

7:45 pm - after a short stretch, admit to Hubs that I need more cardio and watch him leave or encourage him to stay, then choose my weapon for the evening, hop on and complete no less than 30 minutes, spending the first 10 trying to excuse my way out of it, and the last 10 trying to talk my way into more, and the middle ten pushing like I've never pushed before

8:20 pm or so - long stretch sequence to end out the night, refill water bottle and head downstairs to gather belongings, begin the 15-20 minute drive home feeling pretty darn good, though

8:40ish - walk in the door, drop all my bags that I collected from the car and dragged in, set the mail down that I retreived from the mailbox, begin the process of making dinner, drink a gulp or two of soy chocolate milk just to give my body something to feed off of as I grow increasingly hungry, tell the boys to take showers and do spelling words with them (if Hubs is busy)

9:30pm-ish - serve dinner to both kids and Hubs, then make a plate for myself, at which time I am then allowed, finally, to sit down and relax a bit as the kids get ready for bed, remind kids to brush teeth and kiss them goodnight before finally laying back on the couch with a huge sigh and finding something mindless on TV to watch or popping in a movie, pop up several times to make sure cats are in and fed and any leftovers are put away, sometimes even prepare the next night's meal and put it in the crockpot (if I have the energy to even attempt that) and start thinking about what I'll make for dinner the next night (because things will probably need thaw time anyhow)

10:30pm - midnight - at some point I finally peel myself off the couch after taking out my contacts and head to the bathroom to wash my face, brush my teeth, change into my jammies and finally head to bed, hoping I remembered to set the alarm

And then I wake up and do it all again the next morning. I fill the spaces with work, and thoughts of work, and thoughts of weight loss, motivation, what I'm doing wrong, what I could do better, and how much better everyone around me looks than me. It's an exhausting life, and I finally got a moment to realize that last night. I finally turned to Hubs and said, "I've got an idea. How about I let you take us out to dinner tomorrow night?"

I don't know why I said it, but I'm not sorry I did.
I've tried to focus all day on the calories and salt and meaningless of it all, but I can't focus beyond a simple, "I'm tired."

So when I had that piece of cake today, I didn't give it more than a second, "Do I REALLY want this?" thought. (The answer was yes...though I didn't much enjoy the sugar rush that followed.)

And when I go out tonight, likely to a buffet because that's one thing our town LOVES (seriously, of the restaurants we have that cannot be considered fast food we have: 2 chinese buffets, Pondarosa, Shoney's, an expensive greesy Italian spoon, 2 Mexican joints and a pizza joint that is NOT Pizza Hut or Gino's -- which I consider fast food.), I don't know what will happen.

I get bursts of guilt over agreeing to it.
In those moments I tell myself that I'm ruining all my hard work.
But, all day today, my inner peaceful self just keeps saying, "STFU!"
I really have worked hard today - it's been basically non-stop. Yesterday I went from having 1 case to having 6. Today they added 2 more. I also spent half the day checking on our job fair person outside in the hall to make sure she got breaks (which is how I got the cake).

And through writing this blog and thinking ALL DAY about this, I can't tell you one way or another whether I'm going to be alright with going out tonight or not.

Worst case - I go off the rails and I punish myself tomorrow.
Best case - I wimp out and go to the gym anyhow.

Maybe better than best case - I go, eat sensibly, enjoy my evening off and spending time with my boys, and have a nice, peaceful evening of relaxing, no-guilt fun.

I had cake today.
*shrug*

So sue me.

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A Successful Day

Tuesday, March 08, 2011

Well, I guess I talked myself back into the right frame of mind yesterday. After I wrote yesterday's blog, I had the distinct feeling that I had regained my mojo and hope again. It was a fleeting moment in the car, in the sunlight, while reading a book on my lunch break, but it felt amazing to feel that "right" feeling again...so I acted upon it.

When I got stiff in my chair later, I pushed my chairs to one side and did about 10 minutes of Yoga, testing myself with a new move. I forgot how amazing Yoga feels! Why did I ever give it up? I don't care that it doesn't burn enough calories - the things it does for my body and my mind and self-esteem far outweigh the "low cal burn" factor! I'm going to add it back in wherever possible! (It's funny, I saw the yoga instructor at my gym leaving last night as I was coming in and I just smiled super big and thought to myself, "I have no shame in seeing you because even though I couldn't make it to class, I made my yoga my own today.")

Later, when I got super bored and felt a push of motivation (that tried to fade, but I caught it again!), I laid down a blanket and got to work on some ST moves on my core. I started with a plank. I thought I was going to wimp out at 45 seconds, but I used my favorite line - "You've done it before, you can do it again" to push through to a minute...and then I went past it. 90 seconds later, I felt like a champ. I went from not being able to hold a plank for more than 2 seconds to holding it for a minute in a half in less than a year. That, my dears, is progress.

Also in my ST round-up at work:
4 sets of 25 reps of crunches
4 sets of 25 reps of crunches with twist
3 sets to total 50 bicycle crunches - the most of those I've ever done in one ST session
30 second modified plank
15 second modified side plank

...well, we know where my weakness is. Time to get working on improving those numbers now..and work my way to my new plank goal - 3 minutes. (Crazy, right?!)

After work, I headed straight to the gym. I had told Hubs when to expect me there, but made no thought as to expecting him. If he came, great! If not, great too! I would get done what I had promised myself. I changed, stretched and then hopped on the elliptical by the front door to watch TV for my warm-up session. About 3 minutes into it, in walks Hubs with the boys. I felt giddy and I don't know why. Part of me had been afraid all day he would hold me back or suggest Mexican for dinner, or otherwise, unknowingly, thwart my plans for a successful day...but when he walked into the gym, I felt giddy he was there. He popped onto the treadmill next to me, and I waited for him to get his 5 minute warm-up in, and took myself to 10 minutes (he was at about 7 minutes when I hopped off, but I told him I would wait, and he matched my 10 minutes. *big grin*).

I then headed over to the weight room section.
4 sets of Front Dumbbell Raises, getting up to 20 pound weights
3 sets of Dumbbell Wrist Curls, getting up to 20 pound weights

Funny, I used to shake in terror when I looked at the 20 pound dumbbells. Now they are my friend.


We headed upstairs next, to Hubs' favorite cable machine - the small one, shoved between the elliptical machines and treadmills. We did 4 sets of One-Arm Cross Cable Laterals getting up to 40 pounds. It felt great, even as Hubs was complaining. ("I love this machine, but this is the worst exercise on it!" *lol*)

Another stretching session, and then I popped right onto the elliptical next to me, making no insistence that Hubs do the elliptical as well, only informing him that I was headed there. I refilled my water bottle and by the time I was back to the machine he was on the one next to me, ready to go. We worked the Weight Loss setting on the machine. When we started, Hubs said he wasn't doing it all. I conceded to myself that I could get away with only doing 25 minutes, since my goal was 35 for the day and I already did 10 minutes of Yoga and 10 minutes in my warm-up. But by the time I got to 22 minutes, I turned to him and said, "You want to stop at 25, or should we keep going because we're almost done?" He picked keep going. I knew that after the 28 minute workout there would be a 5 minute cool-down, but I didn't let him in on that fact. At minute 30 he wondered why we were still going. I explained we were in cool-down mode and we only had 3 minutes left. He scoffed, but we finished it out. I ended up burning 500 calories and went 2.23 miles on the thing. He burned 280 and went 2.33 miles. (At one point my competitive nature kicked in and I was miffed that he had gone farther than me, but then I realized, I didn't care. I was after the minutes, not the distance. Gotta pick your battles.)

After we got off, I worried he would mention going out for dinner, but he didn't. We both drove home and I started to work on grilled chicken and roasted vegetables. By 9:30pm we were eating the most delicious meal and happy with ourselves. And even though I was exhausted and wanted to go to bed, I made myself get up after dinner and start the Slow Cooker Jambalaya that is now smelling up the house with all kinds of goodness. I finally made it to bed by my final cut-off time of midnight.

On the eating front, I stuck to my schedule. I made my lunch smaller so my snacks could be a little bigger and that seemed to work just fine.

7am - 1/2 whole wheat bagel with 1 Tbsp. whipped cream cheese with 16 oz of coffee with cream
9:30am - Blueberry Greek Yogurt with Granola
12:00pm - Meatball and Mozzarella Lean Pocket
3:00pm - One pita with 2 Tbsp. hummus
5:30pmish - One medium pear and a granola bar
8:30pm - a bite of pumpkin bread, just to tide me over
9:30pm - grilled chicken and roasted vegetables

So, yes. It was a successful day. And I hope to follow that up with another to get some consistency going. Of course, I woke up today with the worst TOM cramps I've had since probably summer of last year (before I started depo). Full blown headache, muscle soreness, fatigue out the ying-yang, and cramps that could stop an elephant in its tracks. I wanted to die this morning. I got up anyway and took a shower, sure I could just battle through, but as I sluggishly got the coffee ready, I realized that I needed sleep and rest and time to myself. (I'm also struggling with the fact that my boss resigned yesterday and I just want to stay in bed and cry over the fact that I might never see her again. I love her for who she is and for all she's done for me in the past 4 years and I hate that she won't be a part of my daily life anymore.) So, instead, I'm at home...I haven't even eaten yet because my stomach feels like it's holding a brick inside it, but I have had 3 cups of coffee. ....I think I'll go back to bed soon.

Plan for the day:
Have another successful day.
Food - Stay around 1700 calories - eat on schedule when possible (TOM is really messing with me on this one!)
Exercise - 35 minutes cardio, 30 minutes ST at the gym later

Boy, do I wish they'd call and say the car is ready today...would save me from taking off more work later in the week. I hate that I called in sick, but it was necessary. Gotta get some sleep and rest so I can tackle what's ahead of me.

Wishing all of you a successful day!

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Battle of Wits: Getting Back to Basics...I mean the basic basics.

Monday, March 07, 2011

I've been beating myself up lately, berating myself for not being as successful with my weight loss in the past few months as I was last year. Lately it's been a whole lot of negative talk in my head and it needs to stop...like NOW.

Admission time.
Food is my enemy. Okay, no, that's not right. Time is my enemy. No, that's not it either. I AM MY ENEMY. I'm standing in my own way.

When I joined back in April of 2010, I didn't hold any preconceived notions about this being THE SITE or THE TIME when I would go for it and lose all my weight. I joined to start logging my calories. I joined to get real with myself about what I was really doing to my body. I didn't search for weight loss sites or social networking sites or any of that. My Google search was simply "free calorie tracker." That's how I found SparkPeople and that was my original intent when I joined.

I started logging almost immediately...and I found that when I logged, I was more conscious of what I ate. I didn't want to log my 5,000 calorie Chinese binges, so I simply didn't have them. But as time rolled on, I started a bargaining stage with myself. I told myself it wasn't that important. I told myself I could have whatever I wanted and just make up for it later. I pushed myself at the gym and then went home and ate my ice cream. I stopped measuring anything because I was too good for it. I wanted it to become more intuitive. I tricked myself into thinking that having lost 90 pounds, I didn't need it anymore. I knew what I was doing. I knew better than anything Spark could tell me. I rebelled.

In many ways, it's like the stages of growing up.
In April, I was a child taking my first steps. I did what I was told because I didn't know I could do anything else.

By August I was getting ambitious. I started questioning things and starting pushing myself to see how far I could go. I had reached the tween years and I wanted to discover what my life could really be like, wanted to know how much I could get away with.

And then came December. I was a teenager by then. I was rebellious. I thought I knew everything. I was sure that I knew how to beat the holiday weight gain...and I did. But I didn't have any real success then either. I told myself it was okay. I told myself that I wanted to enjoy my life, not be tied down by all the rules.

In some ways I wish I could go back to being a child again, but you can't change what you know once you know it. You have to work with what you have now and move forward from there. So, what is it that I know now?

Eating 1700 calories is harder than eating 2500 calories.
Is it really? Because that's what I've been telling myself. But looking back upon my first few weeks here on Spark, when I weighed over 400 pounds and had amble supply of calories at my disposal in my Spark range, I realize that I was having trouble then getting all my calories in. One day I started freaking out at dinner because I had only eaten 1,000 calories. It was amazing to me that my body was requiring less calories than I had been eating for so long. Honestly, I think I thought it was going to be easy. But then my calorie count went down again and again as the weight went down. And now that I'm shooting for 1700 calories I find myself struggling. Why?

Well, because I want to eat what I want to eat.
Because I eat out, thinking I have the self-control to keep doing that.
Because I think I should just eat another snack.
Because sometimes I eat when I'm not hungry, hoping it will thwart my overeating at night or at events, only to find myself overeating anyhow.

This just isn't working for me anymore.

I'm an exercise machine.
This one I know. I know how to burn calories. I know what burns the most calories. I know about strength training and heavy lifting. But what I've forgotten is how to take care of my body. What I've forgotten is the little things - breaking a good sweat while giving it your all, for example. My all on the elliptical used to be around 98. Now I'm at a 120 easy pace, but do I ever really push myself to do more? Do I need to? Wasn't I more concerned before with time, not energy output? Why am I suddenly trying to cram everything in so quickly?

Maybe I need to get back to timed workouts, to not worrying so much about burning the right amount of calories. When I started on Spark, I was getting the 30 minutes in that was recommended without ever reaching what Spark thought should be my calorie burned goal - and I was still losing weight consistently. Now I push, then back off. I get up and then fall down. I go too fast and then injure myself and have to take a few days off. There is no consistency in my workouts - and there is no consistency in my weight loss either.

An ounce is an ounce.
This goes way back to my time losing weight when I was still living in Ohio, when I had no clue what Spark was and I was trudging through with help from an MSN Group and with slow moving workouts and structured meals. I had to drive a half hour to get to a scale at the clinic that would weigh me. But every week, I got in my car, I drove into town, I did the walk of shame in and out of the office virtually undetected, and I weighed myself on the huge digital scale...one big enough to accommodate wheelchairs for those who had lost their mobility to obesity.

Each week, I copied my weight down in a little notebook and kept track of how much or little I was losing. There were weeks when I recorded a .4 loss and cried the entire way home...until about 25 minutes in, 5 minutes to home, when I finally wiped my tears and told myself, "Okay, Esther. That's .4 pounds you don't have to deal with any more. No more tears. A loss is a loss." There were weeks I gained and wanted to binge just out of spite. But somehow I convinced myself (most times) that it just wasn't worth it, because I didn't want to see ANOTHER gain the next week.

Each time this happened, I didn't change everything I was doing. I never really changed anything that I remember. I simply went back to what I knew was working. (I honestly think having the scale so far away was a benefit to me, and it makes me wonder if I should take mine up to my MIL's house and leave it there so I have to drive to weigh myself.)

Sometimes it IS possible to be overloaded with TOO MUCH information. Just as my body starts to think one thing, I change it and it needs time again to adjust. So why do I think this constant change is going to help me? Why do I think cheat days will work for me? They never have before. Why do I think I need to change everything in my life, try a million different recipes, and do a million different minor adjustments every single day in order to be successful? Truth? I was more successful when I was consistent and BORING.

I think I've come to the realization that I want my life to be different than what it is. I've been trying to change how my body works and, well, I don't think that's possible. I can change my body's size and shape, but I cannot change how my body responds to certain foods. I will always get gas from certain foods. Too much sugar makes my tummy a mess. There are just certain things that make up my body chemistry and how MY body processes food that I CANNOT change. I need to accept that. I always knew I could never be the girl that ate whatever she wanted and stayed thin, but I guess I hoped I could cheat all the time and still win. I can't.

If I want this to work, I need to take the guesswork out of it. I need to become boring. I need to make up some tried and true things that DO work, that I do love and that help me reach my goals. I have to stop trying to fit this square peg into a round hole!

I am me. And that has to be alright. I have to be alright with that if I want to learn to live my life with joy. I can't get hung up on things I'm not -- I can't keep harping on how much my body sucks because it won't let me run like I want to. Screw that! I have to rejoice in what my body can do. I have to go back to what works and stop being such a dang flake when it comes to getting it done!

Cardio 35 minutes a day, 5 days a week.
That's what my tracker is set for. It doesn't say what kind or at what intensity, it just says DO.

Strength Train 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week.
Monday - Upper Body
Tuesday - Lower Body
Wednesday - Core
Friday - Lower Body
Saturday - Upper Body
No more double ups. No more 60 minute ST sessions that eat into my cardio time. No more "not at the gym excuses." Push-ups can be done anywhere.

Consume between 1770 and 2120 calories.
It does not say where it must come from, just that it must stay in this range. If I splurge and eat a piece of pie, then I will be hungry the rest of the day. It's important to learn my lesson of what the body I eat does and doesn't do for me.

8 cups of water a day.
More is okay, but less is not. Make it happen.

Eat every 2.5-3 hours, approx.
This worked for me in the past.
7:00 am - Breakfast
9:30 pm - Snack 1
12:00 pm - Lunch
3:00 pm - Snack 2
6:00 pm - Snack 3
8:30 pm - Dinner

Unfortunately, my schedule will not allow me the no food after 7pm habit right now, but I think we can work around that. We shall see.

Get 6-8 hours of sleep a night.
I have to be up by 6 am, so I must be in bed by midnight, though I should try for 10 pm. That's not that early, geez!

It's time to stop changing everything and time to start making it right and consistent. It's time to find my groove and stick in there. Change is only necessary when the path you're working no longer works for you, and it takes a couple weeks to really tell if that's the case or not.

Other things to remember:
TOM is not your friend, but it is not your enemy either. It will pass.
Eating out is evil, but can be enjoyed if planned well in advance.
Don't stress over everything, pick the things you CAN control.
Do what you do. Don't worry about the rest.
Stop negative talk when it starts. You wouldn't let someone berate you for hours without stepping up to defend yourself, would you? Why do you let yourself do it to you?
Exercise is exercise. Stop being so darn "all or nothing" demanding!
Every MINUTE counts!

And finally:
You CAN do this. You have done it before, you can do it again. Do what works and then be patient! Results will come, they always do.

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Weigh-In: #$(*&$*# Edition

Sunday, March 06, 2011

Weigh-In Day

Weight Last Week: 325.8
Weight Goal for This Week: 323.8
Actual Weight This Week: 327.2
Weight Loss/Gain: + 1.4

FML!

I knew I wasn't going to be happy before I even got to facing the scale. I woke up all bloated and BLECH and knew my body was holding onto pounds instead of letting them go. It's partly my fault, and partly not.

Partly me:
Eating healthy went kinda out the window this weekend.

Friday included Shoney's breakfast, Arby's lunch, ice cream, and beer. And while I did go to the gym, I didn't get near enough cardio in (though I did a fair amount of walking around and climbing stairs that night...and did a tiny bit of dancing when I could or felt it. I felt I did well at breakfast, much better than I have in the past - but this still needs some work. Lunch? Well, let's just say I ate too much and it wasn't exactly great for me food. I did have ice cream, which my stomach informed me almost immediately was a BAD idea. *shudders* And I had one light beer at the concert. I did stay away from the pretzels and popcorn though, so that was good. And the concert was pretty good...well, until George Strait came on. Let's just say I'm not a fan. We left early, but I would've been happier leaving even earlier. *lol*

Saturday started with a healthy breakfast - egg beaters, a little 2% cheese and some turkey sausage. Then we walked around Jungle Jim's for about 2 hours. OMG! That place is insane. I ended up spending 70 bucks and got some great stuff: pitas approved by even my Lebanese friend *lol*, a huge thing of sea salt for 6 bucks!, some tomatillo salsa (YUM!), a bit of off the wall candy items for the boys, some Fu-ki plum wine (YUM!), Tahini paste (can't find that anywhere around here), and Chia seeds. For lunch we ate at my mother's favorite place, Mimi's Diner, where I let all of it go out the window for a buttermilk spice muffin, some quiche lorraine, and 2 small bites of mouse cake. I even brought some muffins home for the boys here. I didn't eat the rest of the night until I got home late and the boys and I went and had Mexican, where I couldn't seem to get enough food. *sigh* I guess I didn't really realize what was coming on...

What wasn't my fault:
TOM. #(*#$&! You see, I've been on depo for some time now, and I can never predict when or if I'll get a TOM anymore. I haven't had a serious TOM for a little while. Sometimes I get TOM for All of the Month or sometimes I get nothing. This time is started with spotting Friday, grew into full blown cramps yesterday, and today I got the wonderful bloat and UGH that is TOM. *sigh* HOPEFULLY it will only last a week. Hopefully once it leaves I'll see weight loss again. HOPEFULLY.

What also wasn't my fault was riding in a car for four hours Friday, and another 3 on Saturday. By the time we got home my butt was numb! I keep wondering how I'm going to survive the 16 hour drive here in 2 weeks and still lose weight, but I have a feeling I'll be doing some sort of mini exercises when I stop along the way, just to keep myself limber. And LOTS of water drinking.

Recap of my goals for the week:

Get back to the gym.

Monday I had to skip out dealing with car shopping nonsense, but by Tuesday I was hitting the gym again hard. Did my Zumba and my leg ST workout. Wednesday I doubled up on ST and only got 10 minutes of cardio in. (That will have to change.) Thursday I had the paper, but I did take a one and a half mile walk at lunch. Friday I did ST but no real cardio as I was hurrying to get home, pack and meet my friend for our drive up to Cinci. I did walk a lot in Cinci, including several flights of stairs into the concert and back out again. Saturday was that 2 hour walk around that enormous "grocery" store.

Back to calorie counting and logging
I did a great job of this through the week, but this weekend it all went out the window. I honestly don't want to see what my calorie counts were for these days, because I'm not going to like it, but I may go back and try to figure it out anyhow. *sigh*

Don't lose sight of my goals
I certainly didn't for the first part of the week. I did schedule another boxing lesson at the end of this month. I'm seriously considering Zumba this weekend. And I thought about this a lot this week. Last night it snowed. WTF?! I'm supposed to do 4.5 miles today but with the cramps and the snow, we'll have to see how that goes. I'm going to try to talk myself into it, but I don't know how well I'll do. *sigh*

Water flush!
Totally got this one. I'm averaging 12-15 glasses a day and peeing a lot of clear liquid by the end of the day, so I'm doing good on that one.

2/4 right? Maybe 2.5 out of 4. Not bad, but not where I could be. This week is going to be different.

Plan for the week:
Sunday - Convince myself to do that 4.5 mile walk. *sigh* I just know it's freezing outside, but I need to get used to that since my walk will be up north and likely just as cold. (I can't effin' believe it snowed last night! *GRRRR*) I need to watch what I eat and just be conscious. And I've already scheduled myself a bath with leg shaving and some other light pampering, which I hope I don't wimp out on. I need this time to myself...hope the boys cooperate.

Monday - We may be going down to get the car, which could eat into gym time again. GRR! Going to take a walk at lunch, just so I'm covered. Going to do some home ST at work just in case too.

Tuesday - Zumba and ST...maybe. I think my instructor had surgery last week, so I don't know if Zumba will be canceled or taught by someone else. Either way, unless we're at the dealership, I should be at the gym working out Tuesday night.

Wednesday - Shouldn't have any problems getting in 35 minutes of cardio and my ST for the day. Again, unless at the dealership (we're not sure when the car will be ready).

Thursday - Zumba and ST...maybe. Again, not sure if Zumba will be canceled or taught by someone else. Either way - 35-45 minutes of cardio and my ST should fit in.

Friday - I'm going to try to do an hour long cardio session on this day, with my ST thrown in before. I may have to skip out on breakfast and just go it alone...Hubs gets bored and wants to leave before I'm ready. Worse comes to worse, I take him with me, do my ST, and then go back after I drop him off to do my cardio.

Saturday - There are 2 Zumba classes in Charleston - one at 1pm and another at 6pm. I'd like to do the early one and AM said she might go as well. I'll have to make sure there is still room available.

Goals for the week.
Even out the ST with the Cardio.
For every minute of ST, there should be a minute of cardio - no exceptions. It should actually come out to more cardio than ST minutes at the end of the day. I may just start instituting walking lunches again now that the weather is improving, just to make sure I get my cardio in.

Yoga Sundays
I had decided that March would include Yoga Sundays, so I need to get in 20 minutes of yoga today whether or not I convince myself of that 4.5 mile walk. MUST YOGA 20 MINUTES!

BOX!
I need to do at least 30 minutes of boxing this week. I don't care if it's shadow boxing or hitting the bag at the gym. I need to practice so each time I'm with CT I get better. Just as musicians need to practice outside of band class, I need to practice my boxing as well.

Stop eating out!
Ugh! It's been awful lately. I need to limit myself to 2 times per week or less. Make healthy things at home. Make my lunches or fall back on frozen dinners. I'll save money that way too!

Keep drinking!
I'm going to keep up this 12-15 glasses of water a day. It's good for my body and keeps me away from bad foods and keeps me focused, for the most part.

LOG!
Finally, I MUST log everything. MUST LOG. MUST LOG. MUST LOG. I can worry about how to do this on my own later...I need to get back to it so I can be the success story you read about someone losing 200 pounds, going from 466 to 266. I can't do that if I don't pay close attention and make it work for myself.

Weight Goal for the week? Honestly I'd love to see a number I haven't seen yet - 324. I'd be happy to just get back my 325, but I'd be overjoyed if I could see 324.

I'll be honest. With this week, I almost feel like I squandered it away - like I lost a week. But if I think back to who I was when this started and who I am now, I'm a much different person. I choose the stairs over the elevator now. I think about how many calories I've had, how much I've eaten, I ask myself if I'm really hungry and if I'm now full. I think consciously about these things because I used to be a woman living in the moment and enjoying everything that came to me without a second thought - now I'm the woman who wants to enjoy now and LATER. And I know the only way to enjoy later is to not feel guilty about missed opportunities to make myself a healthier person.


Concert Adventure done.
Next Adventure - Solo Road Trip and an Uncertain 7K Journey.

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