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SPARKGIRL32's Recent Blog Entries
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Friday, October 22, 2010
Soooo...I'm on day 2 of my revisions and I must say...it was just what I needed. I have been having problems with staying on track as far as food goes. I even binged a couple of days, which hasn't happened in quite awhile. Psychologically I don't know what was going on. haha. I had the same "I don't care attitude" when it came to food that I used to. The weird thing was that I WAS getting my exercise in...and almost looking forward to it after work. I think it's because I made it so that is my reading time..and I loveeeee to read. I wasn't getting in enough time to read and I wasn't working out because I was too tired...so I realized what I needed to do is just do light working out while reading. It worked! haha...and I am back to having time to read!
I went back on the Hilton Head Metabolism Diet....which I absoluteeeely love. It's high in complex carbs, moderate in protein, and low in fat. The food is actually good, my energy levels are super high, and the pounds seriously just melt off on it. The only problem is WEEEEEKENDS. I know I've talked to you guys before about how bad I am on weekends, but now that I'm losing that last 15ish pounds..they are giving me hell! They pretty much take away everything good I do during the week. So I have really little 1/2 pound or less losses for the week. Plus I wasn't getting anything done because I was being lazy..although I was starting to work out. If I go out and drink, it messes with my blood sugar and I crave junk the next day too (like a lot of people, haha). Should probably figure out a solution (i.e. not going out or not drinking, heh).
The points system is working VERY well for me though..it's causing me to remember to do things that I sometimes forgot to do in the past.
I'm down to 141.2 now...1.2 more pounds (or two more weeks in the gold or better category for points) until I can book my reward of an hour long massage AND am officially out of the "overweight" BMI category! WOOHOO!! Although...I think BMI is kinda stupid because everyone's body frames are different...I don't consider myself overweight as I'm in the the middle for the ranges for healthy body fat percentage. Take that BMI scale! haha.
How are you guys doing?
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
So tomorrow is supposed to be a check-in for my Boot Camp to New Years Challenge...and I have decided to make some changes. haha. I know, I know...I make changes to my program all the time..but honestly, that's what works for me..keepin' it fresh.
So I have determined that I am going to have to work extremely hard for each pound I take off. As most of you probably already know, this normally happens when someone gets closer to their body's natural "set point"--or where it feels healthy at. I'm now at like 28% body fat (which is pretty healthy-especially considering I just got measured and my boobs are a 34E--YIKES!). Any weight I take off is pretty much "vanity weight" as far as my body is concerned. This has pretty much been happening since I hit the 50 pound lost mark (147). Oh how annoying it is...first of all, I can eat healthy and exercise and lose weight..but the second I have a "bad" day..I gain like 2 pounds back. Normally I would just eat healthy for a day or two and my weight would go back to what it was..but NOPE..not anymore. haha. I have to REWORK off the two pounds now. Pretty much has been resulting in me getting somewhat restless...because I can pretty much eat whatever I want (within reason) and maintain a 145. I am comfortable where I am at..even though I still want to lose about 15-20 pounds.
Well...I have found myself lately to be getting super annoyed with the scale since it's so MOODY haha..and I have to be so so good so I decided I'm going to step away from it. I am helping 3 of my friends lose weight and I think I am going to implement the same system I have for myself...
Here's my idea...since it's pretty unrealistic for me to be losing 2 pounds a week...I am going to implement a POINTS system. If you guys remember correctly, I gave myself an "award" each week depending on how much weight I lost. If you don't remember..it looked like this:
PLATINUM = 2 lbs./week = 24 (~122)
GOLD = 1.75 lbs./week = 21 (~125)
SILVER = 1.5 lbs./week = 18 (~128)
BRONZE = 1.25 lbs./week = 15 (~131)
GREY = 1 lbs./week = 12 (~134)
YELLOW = .75/week = 9 (~137)
BROWN = .5/week = 6 (~140)
Well..as much as I realllllly would like to think I could lose 2 pounds each week, it's just not going to happen for me. And it probably doesn't make sense for it to. If I lose 2 pounds in a week when I was 160..it was considered a good week for me...now that I'm almost 20 pounds lighter, I should probably re-evaluate how much I expect to lose.
But it's more than that...I always tell everyone to throw the scale away and that it's not about the scale but about the healthy CHANGES you are making for your life. With these healthy changes obviously comes weight loss...but it also builds great habits that will make you happier for the rest of your life.
Since this is the case, I have implemented a points system for myself and encourage you guys to do the same! Every day I am going to have a checklist of things I have to do, along with what exercise I want to do and what I should be eating (following the Hilton Head Metabolism Diet). Everything I do is worth points and those points are going to be what ultimately get me my prizes (instead of weight loss). If I'm following the program, I WILL eventually get to my goal weight. I have been getting restless and having days where I don't watch what I eat (*cough *cough today-haha) because it doesn't seem like it matters anyway (I just stay the same weight either way..haha). I am also only going to weigh in once a week (just because I want to update my main page like I have been doing since I joined Sparks)..after all, the number on the scale isn't important, it's that I'm making healthy decisions and following through with my plans.
This was week 3 of my program. Week 4 starts tomorrow. I've lost like 3 pounds so far..further proof I am going to have to really fight for each pound. haha. No big deal though.
Points
+5 for each meal eaten exactly as planned (15 points/day)
+2 for each snack/minimeal eaten exactly as planned (4 points/day)
+1 for each meal tracked before I ate it that day (5 points/day)
+.5 for each glass of water I drink and track (4 points/day)
+3 if I split my workouts up into 2 different sessions to keep metabolism up (3 points/day)
+3 for not eating after 7 PM so I can get a good night's sleep (3 points/day)
+6 for burning 600 calories (6 points/day)
+10 for having a deficit of 1,000 calories each day, 400 from food and 600 from exercise (10 points/day)
+3 for taking all herbal supplements three times a day (3 points/day)
+1 for every 25 points I earn on Sparks each day (2 points/day)
+1 for blogging (1 point/day)
+1 for checking on the Lose 8 Pounds Team (1 point/day)
Out of 56 points
Weekly Points
+1 for each sauna I do during the week (minimum 2 points/week)
+1 for each foot detox I do during the week (minimum of 1 point/week)
+1 for going to the gym (minimum of 3 points/week)
+2 for creating a challenge for the Lose 8 Pounds team (minimum of 4 points/week)
Out of 10 points
Bonus Points
+1 for every 100 calories extra I burn working out
Subtracted Points
-1 for every 100 calories extra I consume over my planned amount
My calorie range is going to be 1250-1400 each day.
So now, my weekly awards will be based on what I DO... not how much I lose, because the fact that I am doing it is WAY more important than losing the weight.
PLATINUM = 95-100% of the daily points = 53.2-56
GOLD = 90-94.99% = 50.4-53.19
SILVER = 85-89.99% = 47.6-50.39
BRONZE = 80-84.99% = 44.8-47.59
GREY = 75-79.99% = 42-44.79
YELLOW = 70-74.99% = 39.2-41.99
BROWN = 65-69.99% =36.4-39.19
This old paragraph from my old blog still is right:
For every week I follow my plan 90%+ as far as working out, eating healthy, and following my plans, I get to spend $40 on whatever I want. Whether it be a movie, nails, pampering..whatever. For every week I also make my goal weight in the "silver," (1.5) "gold," (1.75) or "platinum" (2) amounts, I get a $10, $20, or $30 bonus to add to this that I put in a separate account for after the 13 weeks (for a total possibility of having almost $400 saved up for a bonus reward on top of all my other rewards). Why such a high percentage #? Because..this is a BONUS to my other rewards and only excellent behavior deserves such a bonus!
My first reward was going to be a massage at 140...now if I spend the next 2 weeks in the Platinum award zone as far as doing everything right, I can book my massage, regardless of what my weight is.
Cheers...anyone feel free to join me!
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
OK..so this entry doesn't really have to do with being healthy or losing weight. It has to do with my emotional awkwardness when it comes to vulnerability. Most people would never guess it..but it's very hard to invest my emotions in people. The only people who may have an idea are obviously my close friends and guys I have liked or dated because they see it firsthand.
There's a couple reasons for this. For one, my dad cheated on my mom all the time. Obviously that's going to make me a little bit resistant to guys. It's not like I think that every guy cheats..but it causes me to emotionally withdrawal whenever I feel vulnerable or like I could get hurt. It could be the tiniest thing too. For two, my family was constantly proving to me my whole life I could never rely on them. As a result, I grew super independent. When my family would let me down when I was younger, I'd get really upset and I'm going to be honest..there were a couple of times where I would think about how great it would be to just disappear. As a result, I started expecting them to let me down and these feelings stopped effecting me as much. I think this was the beginning of my emotionally awkwardness that never went away..that's how I was conditioned. And then there were the very rare times where I would get REALLY upset and cry. But to me it was better than doing it whenever anything negative happened. My parents don't believe you should show negative emotion-whenever something bothers me, it has always been "you're overreacting," or "it's not that big of a deal." This is from calling me fat when I was younger/letting my grandma be mean to me to people DYING and me being upset about it more than a week after it happened. It's sooo messed up. They just deny how they feel so they don't have to deal with it. My dad says "It happened-you can either cry about it or move on"..well, thanks to seeing a therapist for a year I BELIEVE in "it happened-you should deal with it and then move on and it's OK to revisit it later if you feel like you need to..because that's what keeps you happy."
My whole life my parents tried to invalidate how I have felt if it was a negative emotion (sad, mad) and still do to this day. They don't deal with their emotions..they admit they don't. When I first starting seeing my therapist..I would APOLOGIZE when I would start crying when I was talking about something that upset me. She made a very valid point--I don't need to apologize for how I feel like my parents have made me feel like I should my whole life. It's just so annnnnnoying, I feel like just a weirdo sometimes because things don't effect me like they do other people.
The only people that I'm open with are like six of my girl friends because I know I can always count on them and that's been proven since we were extremely young. I can still emotionally connect with all sorts of people, but there's very few people that I actually let in. I guess it goes back to my family, if they prove to me they can let me down and I can't trust them..that's it for them. They don't get second chances. Which is messed up..but I seriously feel like I can't control the aspect of my personality. It's so cynical, it's almost sad..but most people would never know that about me because I do have such a wide circle of acquaintances..people are my thing, making them happy makes ME happy. But I feel like this is something I REALLY need to change about myself.
Does anyone else relate to this? Have any of my older SparkFriends grown out of something like this? It's soooo annoying to me and any tips would be appreciated!
Monday, October 11, 2010
Welp, this weekend was Homecoming weekend. As most of you guys know..I gained CRAZY weight in Carbondale. Partially because of my issues with food due to my parents always obsessing about my weight and what I ate, partially because it's college, and partially because I'm stubborn. haha. Whenever I go and visit, I usually always make bad food choices!
Well, the good news is on Friday and Saturday..I did pretty good. There was more to do than usual because it was Homecoming weekend..so we didn't go out to eat but once Friday and then I got 2 meals to take home with me for Sunday (turkey sub and a chef salad-but even though they sound like good choices..haha..they had mayo and realllly fattening ahhh-mazing ranch on them and tons of cheese)..haha. Eating at someone's house instead of out makes it sooo much easier to stay on track.
It was funny...people were telling me they almost didn't recognize me...ahaha..which if you guys remember correctly, when I got my fattest...people from home didn't recognize me. So it's funny that I've come so far that the opposite is true. Seeing people I hadn't seen in awhile made me realize how far I truly have come and how far I have come since I started on my journey. I owe everything to you guys--my #1 motivators!!!!! :)
I got my period on Friday (HOW PERFECT--haha, just want I want to deal with while out of town...). I have noticed that my periods aren't as bad as they used to be (watch me jinx myself) because I'm eating better and working out. I'm not sure if I went up due to water weight because I obviously didn't bring a scale with me. ANYWAYYY...I weighed in today at 144.4...lots of sodium Sunday though so I was really retaining water. I must have peed 10 times today...getting all that extra retained water out. haha. I worked out and drank plenty of water today and weighed in after I got back from working out and I was down to 144 with food in my stomach. So far I guess I've lost a pound since last week! Woohoo...haha, considering I was stuck at 147 for so long...FINALLLLLY.
I've gotten back into the groove of working out! I took a little break from Jillian's Slim Down (haven't done it since Thursday because I was out of town and WAY too tired this morning-haha). BUT..after work I went to the gym and got in a fantastic work out. I didn't want to stop! haha-I can't believe how much stronger I am and how much my fitness has improved since starting Sparks! It's like night and day! Excited!
Hopefully by Wednesday I'll lose another .5 or so when the water weight drops off so I can get in the "silver" category for my Boot Camp to New Years Challenge!!
Hope everyone is well!!
Thursday, October 07, 2010
So I'm going to my college town for Homecoming weekend. Usually I would use it as an excuse to eat all the unhealthy food (that is SOOOO delicious there). I think I'm going to allow myself two meals out down there (one for Friday and one for Saturday). I always feel like crap when I come back there for a weekend...and a lot of it probably has to do with what I eat. So I'm going to make a trip to Wal-Mart when I get there and pick some healthier alternatives up.
I just finished day 6 of my second round of the 30 Day Slim Down...so far, so good! Instead of bringing my workout DVDs to Carbondale, I'm just going to do this weekends' workouts tomorrow morning before I leave. For my workouts on Friday and Saturday, I'm just going to make sure I walk everywhere for everything. I should definitely get a few miles in each day.
I'll probably write tomorrow before I leave!!
xoxo
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Member Comments About This Blog Post:
Sounds like your ready for this trip! You seem to have everything planned out and the walking everywhere will be great exercise while you are there! Have a safe trip and have fun!
