I admit, I scared myself there. I've been so focused since February 2010 on getting healthy, losing weight, and just in general being happy. And slowly I got comfortable with my weight (148-150 with the intent to eventually get down to 140), with my eating (a treat isn't a bad thing), and my schedule (well, if I don't work out every day it won't kill me). And then comfort turned into complacent. And then just lazy. No more!
9 day ago, I came back from a business trip immediately followed by a weekend in Jersey, stepped on my scale and saw 160.0. I was angry and frustrated, but there was a new feeling I haven't had in a few months. Pure motivation! I've seen that number before, a year ago, and it was on a downward trend to 150. I hadn't seen my weight go up more than 2-3 pounds in many months. And it made me realize that I need to finish what I started!
And of course, I picked the worst possible time to get "back in gear", but is there ever a perfect time? Life happens. I have my birthday and 1st anniversary with my boyfriend this Saturday. I have a friend's wedding next Saturday. A weekend trip in November. But that isn't going to stop me from keeping my focus. I've been bad about fitting in working when I get busy. And letting myself completely go in restaurants. Really with no excuse other than I got lazy. And I know as well as anyone that losing weight and being healthy takes effort. So here's what I'm gonna do:
1. Work out at least 5 times a week. Even if it's for 30 minutes, it's still keeping my metabolism going. I've been able to work out all but one day since last Tuesday and it's helped so much. And a few extra hundred calories to absorb any birthday treats always helps!
2. Be smart when ordering food that I didn't make. Restaurants have been especially bad, and I know I'll be drinking beer on my birthday. No need to compound the beer calories with crap food calories. There are delicious, healthy things i can choose instead.
3. Don't go over my 1500 calories, preferably stay around 1300. That's the biggest change I've made in the past week, dropped my calories down from an entirely too generous number. I'm eating lots of protein, fruits and such, I just need to minimize the extra snacking. Therefore, no more Triscuits, hahaha.
Hopefully with keeping these things in mind, I'll have a great birthday weekend and I won't be playing catchup for 2 weeks after it. I have my friend's wedding next weekend too, so fitting in workouts will be a bit trickier. Hopefully working out Mon-Fri with Sat and Sun off will be OK. I feel so much better and my clothes look better that I'm not giving up now. Maybe this will give me the push I need to finally get further into the 140s! It started with just getting back down to 150, but if I'm losing and it continues, that would be AMAZING. We'll see how it goes, a week at a time.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
A Neverending Battle
It had to happen at some point: I got comfortable. I got a bit complacent, and I got, I'll admit it, lazy.
After taking a step back from being completely neurotic about the numbers on the scale, I felt a bit better about not having to worry about every bite and every workout. I was OK with being around 150, knowing that if I let my body settle a bit and then kicked it into high gear again, I could start losing. Well, I took a few too many steps back...
All the way back to October 2010. The last time I saw 160 on the scale (probably more like Sept. actually). But anyways, I've been traveling non-stop it felt like since the last week of August. A few days in California for business, a trip to Phoenix to see a friend, spending the entire weekend at my boyfriend's place, another business trip (this one was 9 days) and two weekend trips to Jersey mixed in there too. The result, a month of eating out too much and only getting in 2 workouts a week if I was lucky. And then I realized what I really had done last night. I stepped on the scale after finally being back in my apartment after 4 days of being gone.
160.0
I thought I was losing my mind. So I reset the scale and tried again. Same exact number. SERIOUSLY? I went from flirting with below 150s to flirting with above 160? In A MONTH??? It's possible to backpeddle that much in a month???
It was a wake up call that I needed. I saw how easy it is to completely erase what was effectively a year of work. I've been great at keeping right around that 150 point, but I know now that I can't let myself have that much leeway with what I eat and when I workout. I think the food is the biggest issue. All the restaurant food I've had lately, between traveling and with friends/boyfriend/family, is adding way too many calories that I'm not burning off. I need to make smarter decisions when I choose what to eat, I don't need a pizza with 2 beers and some dessert. There are plenty of healthy options out there, and I don't need to drink that much beer (although it is delicious).
And as for the working out, I haven't been making time for it and I need to. Part of it was the crazy schedule, but the other part is just not feeling like it and letting that side of my brain win the battle. I finally packed some gym clothes for tonight, and I'm going for an hour after work. I need to get in the habit again and I'm in dire need of some cardio to burn off lots of calories.
So the moral of this cautionary tale... ANYONE can slip up. I know a lot of people like to read my blogs for advice and a point of view from someone who really successfully conquered a weight problem. But, here's proof that it's possible to take a few steps back while trying to move forward in life. I don't like that my work pants are a tiny bit snug. Or that I didn't want to wear a shirt I liked because it was a bit tighter around my stomach. Or that I couldn't run a full mile outside without stopping (when I've done 5K+ at a time before).
But, it's a place I can get back to with some hard work and focus. I've already gone food shopping to get things to make for my meals (especially packing my lunch), I packed the gym clothes, and most importantly, I'm aware that there's a problem. And I'm going to fix it. I have a week and a half until my 25th birthday (Oct 22nd) and my one year anniversary with Randy (on the same day, haha) and I want to get most of this extra weight gone. I know a lot of it is water weight from all the restaurant food, so I'm hoping it comes off fast. I need to look hot in a new dress for that day! I saw 157.7 on the scale the morning (I know, terrifying!) but I don't doubt that I can be back around 152-153 by next week. And hopefully a few weeks after that be back into the 140s. I need to get that fire back that I've had for the last year and a half.
And most importantly, learn to balance life and the scale. It's not easy, as I've learned, but it's something I'm going to have to do if I want to make this change permanent.
After taking a step back from being completely neurotic about the numbers on the scale, I felt a bit better about not having to worry about every bite and every workout. I was OK with being around 150, knowing that if I let my body settle a bit and then kicked it into high gear again, I could start losing. Well, I took a few too many steps back...
All the way back to October 2010. The last time I saw 160 on the scale (probably more like Sept. actually). But anyways, I've been traveling non-stop it felt like since the last week of August. A few days in California for business, a trip to Phoenix to see a friend, spending the entire weekend at my boyfriend's place, another business trip (this one was 9 days) and two weekend trips to Jersey mixed in there too. The result, a month of eating out too much and only getting in 2 workouts a week if I was lucky. And then I realized what I really had done last night. I stepped on the scale after finally being back in my apartment after 4 days of being gone.
160.0
I thought I was losing my mind. So I reset the scale and tried again. Same exact number. SERIOUSLY? I went from flirting with below 150s to flirting with above 160? In A MONTH??? It's possible to backpeddle that much in a month???
It was a wake up call that I needed. I saw how easy it is to completely erase what was effectively a year of work. I've been great at keeping right around that 150 point, but I know now that I can't let myself have that much leeway with what I eat and when I workout. I think the food is the biggest issue. All the restaurant food I've had lately, between traveling and with friends/boyfriend/family, is adding way too many calories that I'm not burning off. I need to make smarter decisions when I choose what to eat, I don't need a pizza with 2 beers and some dessert. There are plenty of healthy options out there, and I don't need to drink that much beer (although it is delicious).
And as for the working out, I haven't been making time for it and I need to. Part of it was the crazy schedule, but the other part is just not feeling like it and letting that side of my brain win the battle. I finally packed some gym clothes for tonight, and I'm going for an hour after work. I need to get in the habit again and I'm in dire need of some cardio to burn off lots of calories.
So the moral of this cautionary tale... ANYONE can slip up. I know a lot of people like to read my blogs for advice and a point of view from someone who really successfully conquered a weight problem. But, here's proof that it's possible to take a few steps back while trying to move forward in life. I don't like that my work pants are a tiny bit snug. Or that I didn't want to wear a shirt I liked because it was a bit tighter around my stomach. Or that I couldn't run a full mile outside without stopping (when I've done 5K+ at a time before).
But, it's a place I can get back to with some hard work and focus. I've already gone food shopping to get things to make for my meals (especially packing my lunch), I packed the gym clothes, and most importantly, I'm aware that there's a problem. And I'm going to fix it. I have a week and a half until my 25th birthday (Oct 22nd) and my one year anniversary with Randy (on the same day, haha) and I want to get most of this extra weight gone. I know a lot of it is water weight from all the restaurant food, so I'm hoping it comes off fast. I need to look hot in a new dress for that day! I saw 157.7 on the scale the morning (I know, terrifying!) but I don't doubt that I can be back around 152-153 by next week. And hopefully a few weeks after that be back into the 140s. I need to get that fire back that I've had for the last year and a half.
And most importantly, learn to balance life and the scale. It's not easy, as I've learned, but it's something I'm going to have to do if I want to make this change permanent.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
It's Not Gonna Get Any Easier...
I keep waiting for a break in my schedule, a few weeks where I can really focus on eating right and working out every day, and hopefully that would get the scale down enough that I didn't have to deal with it bouncing up to 150 every Monday morning.
But I don't see that happening any time soon, and it's almost to the point of being frustrating. I really do enjoy my weekends, I get to spend them with Randy, we do fun things around DC, friends come visit me. It's a great time! Until I see the aftermath of it, the scale has been above 150 for 3 days in a row as of today. Something that hasn't happened in a while. And it upsets me, even though I wouldn't really do anything differently this weekend. It really was the beer that put me over, that's what happens at a Beer festival!
I don't want to have to choose between having a good time and enjoy my weekends, and being healthy. I REFUSE, absolutely REFUSE!!!! to gain any of this weight back. But it's crept back a tiny bit since June, only 2 or so pounds, and I can usually get the scale back around 148 if I'm good Mon-Thurs. But it bounces right back up again come Monday. So, I do I have to choose?
Either I say, screw it, I'm sticking around 150 and as long as I'm not higher than that by more than a pound, it's good. It's maintaining over 65 lbs of weight loss. I guess I can be happy about that. But I'm still left unsatisfied because I'm not where I want to be. I'm still sucking in a bit when I wear some of my more fitted tops. And there's definitely a muffin top in my fitted size 6 NY&Co jeans that I HATE! And I still don't feel completely confident in a bikini. AND I WANT TO! I want to be happy about all those things. And the only way to get there is to lose the last couple pounds I've been holding on to. I was all excited in June that I might actually do it. I was down to 147, it stays there for a good 2 weeks, and then I get sent on my business trip and everything collapsed from there.
I'd love a few weeks where I didn't have to worry about any of it, but that's not realistic at all. I'm already looking at a chaotic Fall because of several trips up to Jersey for a friend's wedding stuff, my sister's birthday, my birthday (probably going away for the weekend with Randy), and people wanting to visit me and me going to visit people. There's not way I can hide for 3 weeks and get my weight back down. So I'm just going to have to do it amid all the chaos. I'm not 100% sure how yet tho...
My first intention is to reel in eating crap for an entire weekend just because I'm not home with my usual supply of healthy food. I've been staying over Randy's a lot more. I'm gonna have to start stashing snacks or something there. And when we eat out, I need to stop automatically picking something unhealthy just because we're out. There're are plenty of healthier choices out there that I can go with, and he's never said no when I ask not to go somewhere because of not being able to find something healthy.
The second thing I'm gonna have to do is really focus on the workouts. I haven't been getting to the gym as much as I should, usually only that once a week with my trainer. I need to start going at least one or two more times during the week and get some good cardio in. Turbo Fire is good and all, but it's not the same as an interval run or something. At least it'll be fall and I can run outside again as much as possible.
So, there you have it. My confession. I've slacked off and I'll admit it. I just didn't have the same motivation the last few weeks and it seems it's caught up to me. I also need to stop buying gouda cheese from Trader Joes and eating a few ounces of it with crackers at night. That CAN'T be helping right now. Ugh, kinda makes me want to throw things and tell everyone to leave me alone for a month so I can lose 5 pounds and be happier. But I know it's dangerous to tie my happiness to my weight. I just need to focus, find the positive in things, and keep chugging along. God, how I want to see 140 on the scale, but I don't know if it's gonna happen, and that sucks. I'm not admitting defeat, I'm just admitting that it's a tough road ahead if I ever want to see that number. I've just got to be willing to do it... not sure if I am right now, but I'm gonna try.
But I don't see that happening any time soon, and it's almost to the point of being frustrating. I really do enjoy my weekends, I get to spend them with Randy, we do fun things around DC, friends come visit me. It's a great time! Until I see the aftermath of it, the scale has been above 150 for 3 days in a row as of today. Something that hasn't happened in a while. And it upsets me, even though I wouldn't really do anything differently this weekend. It really was the beer that put me over, that's what happens at a Beer festival!
I don't want to have to choose between having a good time and enjoy my weekends, and being healthy. I REFUSE, absolutely REFUSE!!!! to gain any of this weight back. But it's crept back a tiny bit since June, only 2 or so pounds, and I can usually get the scale back around 148 if I'm good Mon-Thurs. But it bounces right back up again come Monday. So, I do I have to choose?
Either I say, screw it, I'm sticking around 150 and as long as I'm not higher than that by more than a pound, it's good. It's maintaining over 65 lbs of weight loss. I guess I can be happy about that. But I'm still left unsatisfied because I'm not where I want to be. I'm still sucking in a bit when I wear some of my more fitted tops. And there's definitely a muffin top in my fitted size 6 NY&Co jeans that I HATE! And I still don't feel completely confident in a bikini. AND I WANT TO! I want to be happy about all those things. And the only way to get there is to lose the last couple pounds I've been holding on to. I was all excited in June that I might actually do it. I was down to 147, it stays there for a good 2 weeks, and then I get sent on my business trip and everything collapsed from there.
I'd love a few weeks where I didn't have to worry about any of it, but that's not realistic at all. I'm already looking at a chaotic Fall because of several trips up to Jersey for a friend's wedding stuff, my sister's birthday, my birthday (probably going away for the weekend with Randy), and people wanting to visit me and me going to visit people. There's not way I can hide for 3 weeks and get my weight back down. So I'm just going to have to do it amid all the chaos. I'm not 100% sure how yet tho...
My first intention is to reel in eating crap for an entire weekend just because I'm not home with my usual supply of healthy food. I've been staying over Randy's a lot more. I'm gonna have to start stashing snacks or something there. And when we eat out, I need to stop automatically picking something unhealthy just because we're out. There're are plenty of healthier choices out there that I can go with, and he's never said no when I ask not to go somewhere because of not being able to find something healthy.
The second thing I'm gonna have to do is really focus on the workouts. I haven't been getting to the gym as much as I should, usually only that once a week with my trainer. I need to start going at least one or two more times during the week and get some good cardio in. Turbo Fire is good and all, but it's not the same as an interval run or something. At least it'll be fall and I can run outside again as much as possible.
So, there you have it. My confession. I've slacked off and I'll admit it. I just didn't have the same motivation the last few weeks and it seems it's caught up to me. I also need to stop buying gouda cheese from Trader Joes and eating a few ounces of it with crackers at night. That CAN'T be helping right now. Ugh, kinda makes me want to throw things and tell everyone to leave me alone for a month so I can lose 5 pounds and be happier. But I know it's dangerous to tie my happiness to my weight. I just need to focus, find the positive in things, and keep chugging along. God, how I want to see 140 on the scale, but I don't know if it's gonna happen, and that sucks. I'm not admitting defeat, I'm just admitting that it's a tough road ahead if I ever want to see that number. I've just got to be willing to do it... not sure if I am right now, but I'm gonna try.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Losing My... Motivation? Or Just Getting Back to Normal?
Lately, I've started to question my level of motivation. I haven't wanted to work out every single night that I'm free during the week. I haven't been packing in extra workouts on the weekends to make up for going out for drinks or something. And I haven't been always picking a salad with dressing on the side when I go out to restaurants.
But is this a bad thing?
The way I look at it, if I'm ever gonna make this whole thing stick for the rest of my life, I've gotta do it in a way that means I can keep it up! I never thought 6 days a week of working out and eating like a saint were sustainable in the long term, who can keep that up indefinitely! But in the process of this transition, I've realized a few things.
First off, I'm not gonna gain back weight just from "living a little", something I was seriously afraid of. I thought the second I slowed up my usual routine of angelic eating and exercise, the weight would start to come back on. But it's been since January since I really lost weight... but at the same time, NONE of the weight I lost has come back on. And I've definitely been a bit devilish with my eating, drinking, and workout habits at times. Not a complete reversion to my old ways, but definitely not as diligent as I was when I initially got myself down to 150.
Secondly, I can keep up the healthy lifestyle without too much pain and suffering. I don't mind working out a few times a week, I'll workout on the weekend if I'm home, and I'll happily pick a delicious healthy option from a menu most of the time. And these are things I can keep up in the long term. I'll always have my workout DVDs and a gym membership, but that doesn't mean I have to commit to them 6 days a week!
So, what does this mean for me in the long run? I'm still anywhere from 7-10 lbs away from my goal weight of 140, depending on how well I've behaved in the last few days. So is this an admission of defeat? NO WAY! I'm just realistic. With some renewed dedication and a less busy schedule, I can get that weight off. And I intend to. It'll be a slow process (as if it isn't already as slow as possible!), but I know I can do it once I stick to my guns. It might happen a pound at a time, gradually knocking off a little bit of weight that doesn't come back. When I had 3 really good weeks in June, I was able to get down to 147 for over a week and now that's the point I get back to when I'm good. Before it was 149 or so. So my lows are getting lower. And my highs are getting lower too! I RARELY see 150 anymore, and that makes me happy.
The whole point of this is that it's OK to slow down, take a breather, and reassess. I don't want life to pass me by while I'm busy looking down at the scale. I'm still gonna weigh in, keep myself in check, and hopefully with time I'll get to my goal. But it's the last 2 weeks of summer! Who wants to waste those? The important thing is to make as many days a possible "good days" so that I can enjoy myself on the "fun days!"
But is this a bad thing?
The way I look at it, if I'm ever gonna make this whole thing stick for the rest of my life, I've gotta do it in a way that means I can keep it up! I never thought 6 days a week of working out and eating like a saint were sustainable in the long term, who can keep that up indefinitely! But in the process of this transition, I've realized a few things.
First off, I'm not gonna gain back weight just from "living a little", something I was seriously afraid of. I thought the second I slowed up my usual routine of angelic eating and exercise, the weight would start to come back on. But it's been since January since I really lost weight... but at the same time, NONE of the weight I lost has come back on. And I've definitely been a bit devilish with my eating, drinking, and workout habits at times. Not a complete reversion to my old ways, but definitely not as diligent as I was when I initially got myself down to 150.
Secondly, I can keep up the healthy lifestyle without too much pain and suffering. I don't mind working out a few times a week, I'll workout on the weekend if I'm home, and I'll happily pick a delicious healthy option from a menu most of the time. And these are things I can keep up in the long term. I'll always have my workout DVDs and a gym membership, but that doesn't mean I have to commit to them 6 days a week!
So, what does this mean for me in the long run? I'm still anywhere from 7-10 lbs away from my goal weight of 140, depending on how well I've behaved in the last few days. So is this an admission of defeat? NO WAY! I'm just realistic. With some renewed dedication and a less busy schedule, I can get that weight off. And I intend to. It'll be a slow process (as if it isn't already as slow as possible!), but I know I can do it once I stick to my guns. It might happen a pound at a time, gradually knocking off a little bit of weight that doesn't come back. When I had 3 really good weeks in June, I was able to get down to 147 for over a week and now that's the point I get back to when I'm good. Before it was 149 or so. So my lows are getting lower. And my highs are getting lower too! I RARELY see 150 anymore, and that makes me happy.
The whole point of this is that it's OK to slow down, take a breather, and reassess. I don't want life to pass me by while I'm busy looking down at the scale. I'm still gonna weigh in, keep myself in check, and hopefully with time I'll get to my goal. But it's the last 2 weeks of summer! Who wants to waste those? The important thing is to make as many days a possible "good days" so that I can enjoy myself on the "fun days!"
Friday, August 12, 2011
Slow and Steady Is Getting Annoying
I miss the days where I could log a 2 lb loss for the week and it wasn't a rare event. Much more gratifying. But now that I've basically been maintaining for the last 7 months or so, I've started to get used to the daily ups and downs of the scale. And when I do have a loss, it's a small one. And usually it doesn't last. Bummer...
This morning I was hoping to be able to record ANYTHING, even 0.1 lb. But I opted to live a little and had one beer before kickball and I ate dinner at 9:30, so no loss this week for me. I've started to realize this whole thing is about tradeoffs. I could skip out on things to avoid a bad situation, or I can adapt and deal with it. I went to a coworker's going away lunch yesterday, but ate a sandwich first and nibbled on a caesar salad (hardly any dressing) while I was there. And I let myself have the tinest slice of pizza, which I don't really feel guilty about. Same goes for kickball last night. I had one beer, low calorie, and I stopped. But I still got to spend some time at the bar before the game with my friends.
Going forward I know I still want to get down to 140, but it's going to be a slow process if I want to have any freedom to eat and do what I want on occasion. But it's having the number in mind that keeps me in check when I do. Yesterday I could have easily eaten a few slices of pizza, or had more than one beer, but knowing that I didn't want the scale to swing back up to 150 kept me from going overboard. I'll take a jump of half a pound for my efforts.
So, I've realized that setting boundaries and goals is a good thing. I'd LOVE to be down into the 145 range by the end of the month, and I'm slowly working my way there, halfway there so far. But I also know I have my sister visiting this weekend and a baseball game and crab and beer festival with Randy next weekend. So it's gonna be about balance. Be as good as I can on the days where I'm not doing something out of the ordinary, and enjoy myself a bit when I'm doing something special... but not too much!
So my goal for this weekend is to eat as well as I can, but I'm getting Thai food with Krissi tonight! Our favorite! And hopefully come Monday morning, I haven't completely reset myself. I'll be working hard next week so that I can see a loss on Thurs/Fri. It wasn't in the cards this week, but that doesn't stop me from trying next week.
This morning I was hoping to be able to record ANYTHING, even 0.1 lb. But I opted to live a little and had one beer before kickball and I ate dinner at 9:30, so no loss this week for me. I've started to realize this whole thing is about tradeoffs. I could skip out on things to avoid a bad situation, or I can adapt and deal with it. I went to a coworker's going away lunch yesterday, but ate a sandwich first and nibbled on a caesar salad (hardly any dressing) while I was there. And I let myself have the tinest slice of pizza, which I don't really feel guilty about. Same goes for kickball last night. I had one beer, low calorie, and I stopped. But I still got to spend some time at the bar before the game with my friends.
Going forward I know I still want to get down to 140, but it's going to be a slow process if I want to have any freedom to eat and do what I want on occasion. But it's having the number in mind that keeps me in check when I do. Yesterday I could have easily eaten a few slices of pizza, or had more than one beer, but knowing that I didn't want the scale to swing back up to 150 kept me from going overboard. I'll take a jump of half a pound for my efforts.
So, I've realized that setting boundaries and goals is a good thing. I'd LOVE to be down into the 145 range by the end of the month, and I'm slowly working my way there, halfway there so far. But I also know I have my sister visiting this weekend and a baseball game and crab and beer festival with Randy next weekend. So it's gonna be about balance. Be as good as I can on the days where I'm not doing something out of the ordinary, and enjoy myself a bit when I'm doing something special... but not too much!
So my goal for this weekend is to eat as well as I can, but I'm getting Thai food with Krissi tonight! Our favorite! And hopefully come Monday morning, I haven't completely reset myself. I'll be working hard next week so that I can see a loss on Thurs/Fri. It wasn't in the cards this week, but that doesn't stop me from trying next week.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Reversing a Bad Week (Or Two or Three...)
Here's a primer on how to reverse those bad habits that have crept back, the pounds that have slowly snuck back on, and the exercise plans that vanished or were severely limited.
I started my week at 150.6, after a solid few weeks of hardly working out, drinking, traveling, eating, lazying around and in general just not being very on top of things. That was a serious departure from what got me down to my all time lowest weight of 147.2 just at the end of June. I was pretty fed up with myself for letting it get to that point so I thought, what is the best way to fix it in a hurry?!?
Step 1: Get my butt to the gym! Or at least workout. No more "oh I'm a little tired, I'm taking a rest day" or "I don't feel like working out after grocery shopping on the way home". PUHLEEZZZZ... excuses excuses! Just get to the gym, do ANYTHING, it's better than nothing. And daily, I don't care if it's for 30 minutes, it's more than I was doing the last few weeks.
Step 2: Grocery shop for good, healthy food. I had to make a few stops to the store, but I got low sodium lunch meat, more yogurt, supplies for my protein fruit smoothies, and the fixings for healthy breakfast sandwiches. And that's all I ate! No fast food for lunch, no unhealthy snacks at work or after dinner. No alcohol (yeah, that's a hard one). After 4 days of that, things were looking better.
Step 3: Get moving on the water consumption. I was definitely slacking lately, and it's an excuse to get up from my desk, so I started drinking more water again. Definitely helps flush your system of sodium, and that was a major problem for me in the last few weeks.
Step 4: Relax! I've been pretty stressed out the last week with some other issues I've had going on. This week I just told myself to chill out, stop worrying about things I can't control, and focus better on one of the things that I can: my weight! So that's what I did this week. Workout every day, eat healthy food, get enough sleep.
Step 5: Watch the scale drop! Monday = 150.6, Tuesday = 149.6, Wednesday = 149.3, Thursday = 148.5, Friday (today) = 147.4!!!!!!!!!!!! That's a whopping 3.2 lbs in 5 days. And guess what I didn't do?
- Starve myself (look at my food diary, I was at 1500+ calories most days)
- Do any sort of wacky cleanse where I drank only juice or something
- Dehydrate myself
- Workout 3 hours a day (it was between 40-70 minutes each day)
So, there you have it. When you get off track, it's not impossible to get back on. It doesn't require any crash diets. Your body LOVES healthy food and some exercise, and it will reward you if you stick to it for a couple days. This is my motivation going into the weekend to keep myself in check. I will workout this weekend! I will enjoy myself and relax! And I will keep the restaurant food and beer to a minimum. A salad with dressing on the side won't kill me... in fact... that sounds delicious :)
I started my week at 150.6, after a solid few weeks of hardly working out, drinking, traveling, eating, lazying around and in general just not being very on top of things. That was a serious departure from what got me down to my all time lowest weight of 147.2 just at the end of June. I was pretty fed up with myself for letting it get to that point so I thought, what is the best way to fix it in a hurry?!?
Step 1: Get my butt to the gym! Or at least workout. No more "oh I'm a little tired, I'm taking a rest day" or "I don't feel like working out after grocery shopping on the way home". PUHLEEZZZZ... excuses excuses! Just get to the gym, do ANYTHING, it's better than nothing. And daily, I don't care if it's for 30 minutes, it's more than I was doing the last few weeks.
Step 2: Grocery shop for good, healthy food. I had to make a few stops to the store, but I got low sodium lunch meat, more yogurt, supplies for my protein fruit smoothies, and the fixings for healthy breakfast sandwiches. And that's all I ate! No fast food for lunch, no unhealthy snacks at work or after dinner. No alcohol (yeah, that's a hard one). After 4 days of that, things were looking better.
Step 3: Get moving on the water consumption. I was definitely slacking lately, and it's an excuse to get up from my desk, so I started drinking more water again. Definitely helps flush your system of sodium, and that was a major problem for me in the last few weeks.
Step 4: Relax! I've been pretty stressed out the last week with some other issues I've had going on. This week I just told myself to chill out, stop worrying about things I can't control, and focus better on one of the things that I can: my weight! So that's what I did this week. Workout every day, eat healthy food, get enough sleep.
Step 5: Watch the scale drop! Monday = 150.6, Tuesday = 149.6, Wednesday = 149.3, Thursday = 148.5, Friday (today) = 147.4!!!!!!!!!!!! That's a whopping 3.2 lbs in 5 days. And guess what I didn't do?
- Starve myself (look at my food diary, I was at 1500+ calories most days)
- Do any sort of wacky cleanse where I drank only juice or something
- Dehydrate myself
- Workout 3 hours a day (it was between 40-70 minutes each day)
So, there you have it. When you get off track, it's not impossible to get back on. It doesn't require any crash diets. Your body LOVES healthy food and some exercise, and it will reward you if you stick to it for a couple days. This is my motivation going into the weekend to keep myself in check. I will workout this weekend! I will enjoy myself and relax! And I will keep the restaurant food and beer to a minimum. A salad with dressing on the side won't kill me... in fact... that sounds delicious :)
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Cupcakes in the Gym Followup
Just a few things to add to the blog post from yesterday (Cupcakes in the Gym).
I wasn't really mad at the trainers who brought in the cupcakes and ate them in the middle of the training area. They're free to eat whatever they want, and chances are they earned it from working out. They're all in great shape and have INSANE metabolisms from all that. Why shouldn't they be allowed a treat? And that was the only time I had seen them doing something like that in the 7 months I've been a member. So, I don't hold any (well, not much) resentment towards them.
The main issue that I was trying to get across was the interesting situation i found myself in. I was in my gym, where I tend to focus on fitness and being healthy more than any other place. And right in the middle of that gym was maybe the one food item that most represents everything I was before: red velvet cupcakes! They are seriously my favorite food in the world. And to see them invading my healthy space threw me off a bit.
And it made me think. There were days where I'd inhale 3 cupcakes and not think about it at all. Didn't care how unhealthy it was or how many calories it had or if it was somehow shortening my lifespan. They were just delicious, icing-coating mini cakes of goodness. Same with all the crap food I was eating on a regular basis. I was flat out unconscious of what it was really doing. Yes, I knew I was overweight, but I didn't really have any drive or know how to fix it. At least until after I graduated college and got my act together.
Anyways, seeing that cupcake in my sacred workout space reminded me why I'm there! I'm working hard every day, when I slip up I get back in gear, and there are times where I'm allowed to have a treat because I'm not gonna go my whole life without another treat. When I have a treat, I don't need that as an invitation to throw the entire day or weekend out the window. It's a conscious effort to do that, and I'm getting more aware of when I do. Since seeing that cupcake, I've had even more resolve this week, and it's paid off! I've eaten healthy every day this week, and the scale is down to 148.5 already. That's only 1.3 lbs from my lowest weigh in. So I didn't do as much damage as I thought in July, and I know my body will get back to normal quickly. Now I just have to keep it up! Even if that red velvet cupcake appears again, there are times to say yes, and times to say no!
I wasn't really mad at the trainers who brought in the cupcakes and ate them in the middle of the training area. They're free to eat whatever they want, and chances are they earned it from working out. They're all in great shape and have INSANE metabolisms from all that. Why shouldn't they be allowed a treat? And that was the only time I had seen them doing something like that in the 7 months I've been a member. So, I don't hold any (well, not much) resentment towards them.
The main issue that I was trying to get across was the interesting situation i found myself in. I was in my gym, where I tend to focus on fitness and being healthy more than any other place. And right in the middle of that gym was maybe the one food item that most represents everything I was before: red velvet cupcakes! They are seriously my favorite food in the world. And to see them invading my healthy space threw me off a bit.
And it made me think. There were days where I'd inhale 3 cupcakes and not think about it at all. Didn't care how unhealthy it was or how many calories it had or if it was somehow shortening my lifespan. They were just delicious, icing-coating mini cakes of goodness. Same with all the crap food I was eating on a regular basis. I was flat out unconscious of what it was really doing. Yes, I knew I was overweight, but I didn't really have any drive or know how to fix it. At least until after I graduated college and got my act together.
Anyways, seeing that cupcake in my sacred workout space reminded me why I'm there! I'm working hard every day, when I slip up I get back in gear, and there are times where I'm allowed to have a treat because I'm not gonna go my whole life without another treat. When I have a treat, I don't need that as an invitation to throw the entire day or weekend out the window. It's a conscious effort to do that, and I'm getting more aware of when I do. Since seeing that cupcake, I've had even more resolve this week, and it's paid off! I've eaten healthy every day this week, and the scale is down to 148.5 already. That's only 1.3 lbs from my lowest weigh in. So I didn't do as much damage as I thought in July, and I know my body will get back to normal quickly. Now I just have to keep it up! Even if that red velvet cupcake appears again, there are times to say yes, and times to say no!
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