Cardio Blitz - day 19 - 40 min

My rest day yesterday was needed. Though I'm still store, I don't feel quite as bad as yesterday. This morning's workout was quite refreshing, and I'm ready to get my butt kicked again tomorrow. There's a class called HABIT: Hips, Abs, Butts, & Incredible Thighs! (oh my!) I'm sure that class will work muscles I haven't worked in ages, and I'll be cussin' & fussin' about the soreness come Saturday. Oh well, no pain, no gain, right?

This AM I got in exactly 40 minutes of cardio. 20 minutes on the elliptical and 20 minutes on the treadmill. I didn't do the cool down at all.

One more day and I will have reached my goal of 40 minutes of cardio at least 4 days of week for the entire month of December. Almost there!

Cardio Blitz - day 3 - 45 min

I wanted to do an even split with this morning's cardio. The stairmaster lady was there, but she was on an ellpitical machine. Yay! I hit the stairmaster first for 20 minutes of cardio with a 2 minute cool down. I moved to the elliptical for 20 minutes and a 3 minute cool down.

I stepped on the scale yesterday morning to document my weight. At the end of the month, I aim to either be the same or slightly lower. The goal is no gain!

One day

...soon I will get back to posting in this place regularly. For now, I've got to get back in the swing of things professionally.

I was off for 2 weeks beginning May 28th. I went to London & Pairs! Here's a photo of me with the London Eye in the background:

We had a great time in London, Canterbury, Dover, and Paris. I'll have more pics at some point!

I returned on a Wednesday evening and by Friday I was traveling again to my college reunion. That was over the weekend. I got back fairly early Sunday afternoon and did a few things around town (like grocery shopping!).

I was all ready to go get back into the gym after a 2 week hiatus on Monday morning. I packed my gym bag, packed my lunch, and laid out my workout clothes. I awakened prior to my alarm clock at 4:15 (clock set for 4:30). I got up then and decided to get a head start. I was in the car and ready go go by 4:45 and the car wouldn't start. Huh? This can't be happening. I just had it serviced it on Thursday upon my return!

15 min. later and I was still at home. Mad! I was so looking forward to my gym workout. I resigned myself to the fact that it wasn't going to happen and I moved on. I used my mom's car as I'm in a training this week that I can't miss. It may not come around again for another year, and it is a valuable training. Therefore, I have yet to get my car back into the shop which means no gym workout this week before work. Booooooo!!!

On top of that, I haven't walked/run in the evening. By the time I get home, prepare my lunch for the next day, and prepare dinner, I'm whipped. I'm ready to go to sleep by 7 pm. I really think I'm not over jet lag or the time difference yet. The weekend trip to my college reunion didn't help as we up way late into the night and up really early in the morning. Plus, the training is quite intensive so I must be own the entire time I'm there.

Next week, I'm in New Orleans for another event. So I don't foresee a return to my regular schedule until another week or so.

My Tipping Point

Mary, over at A Merry Life, posted today about her Tipping Point for getting healthy. I commented that my Tipping Point occurred in 2002. During the fall of 2002, I was starting my first year of grad school at UGA. That part of GA is a bit hilly and my parking area was at the base of hill, and the building I needed to be in was at the top of that hill. It wasn't a big hill, but there was an incline. By the time I got to the top, I was winded. There was a red light and I was really glad when the light was red. It allowed me to catch my breath.

Taken in 2002

I didn't quite get it together that fall. Though I started to exercise, I didn't change my eating habits. I was of the mindset that if I'm exercising, I could still eat whatever. Well, this image from 2003 will tell you that not much changed:

Nor in 2004:

This image, from 2005, was the one that put me over the edge. It was taken on the beach in Hilton Head, SC. It was on that trip that I rode a bike for the first time in years. I really liked it, but again, it was hard! That was it. A change was needed.

Upon returning to Athens, I made a change. I really committed to working out and eating healthy. I worked with a personal trainer at the rec center on campus, I joined Weight Watchers, and I tracked everything I ate. It paid off! I lost 60 pounds and transformed myself!

Taken in 2006:

51.73

11 miles over my March goal of 40 miles! Hooray!

2 walks

I got in 2 walks this week. One was during a 15 min break at work: 1.09 miles. The other was last evening at a local park: 3.05 miles.

It appears that Nike+ is now forcing all to use their new beta site, which really does look much better than the old site. I can't, however, seem to find the code to post my walks to the blog. That really bums me out because I really liked the information that those widgets provided.

There is a way to link your account to twitter and/or facebook, but that doesn't seem to be working for me either. Oh well..

Good & Bad

Good
I made 7 dozen tea cakes between Saturday & Sunday. I only 1.

Bad
I didn't track my eating very well this weekend.

Good
I got in a 2.3 mile walk Saturday morning.

Bad
I didn't eat as healthy as I normally do on Saturday.

Good
I only ate when I was hungry.

Bad
I didn't drink a sufficient amount of water on Saturday.

Good
I ate healthy on Sunday.

Bad
I didn't drink a sufficient amount of water on Sunday.

Good
I chopped, washed, & cooked some healthy food for the week.

How about I end on a good note!

Weight update & tracking

Since my last post about weight, when I didn't weigh in, I'm down a total of 4.6 pounds. Slowly but surely the pounds are shedding and I'm okay with that. The slower the better!

I'm not really tracking like I should, and I don't know why. Well, what happens is the weekend throws me off. I do really good on Wednesday, Thursday, and half-day on Friday. I'll update my tracker on Saturday morning and then I don't think about it again until Monday. See...it's the weekend.

Perhaps I should change my weigh-in day day. I think Saturday would be a good day except, once football season rolls around I travel on the weekends. So that's not good. Perhaps if I were to weigh-in on Monday, my points would reset on the 1st day of the week and I would do better. Then again, I like weighing-in during the middle of the week. I feel like I have time to redeem myself from the weekend, if I don't eat right.

Ohhhhhhh...such a conundrum! What to do? What to do?

What I need to do is track! No matter what.

I recently acquired an iPhone. I have booked marked the WW mobile site so that I can enter my food anytime/anywhere. I have no excuse. I am going to commit the next week to diligent tracking. I know that I need to for success, and I'm aiming for success.

No weigh-in & plans

I've been out of town this week preventing a weigh-in at a meeting. In all honesty, I'm thinking about going back to online only membership as I am back on track now. I needed the past 3 months to relearn the program and the accountability of someone else weighing me each week. Now, I think I've progressed, with blogging & twitter, to not needing that anymore. That is a good thing for two reasons: 1) less dollars to shell out to WW each month and 2) the online support is awesome. I feel accountable to those that read/comment on this blog and those that I interact with on twitter.

I'm not going to renew my monthly pass this month, but I will keep my online membership. I like the points tracker and that is really what I need. I'm not really a user of the WW online forums, but I do like to peruse the recipes online and use the recipe builder. So there are some aspects of the online membership I like.

While I don't post on here as often as others post, I have this space for when I need to. For some reason, I just can't find the time do so each and everyday, but it is useful when I do. I appreciate those of you that read & comment when you can. Your support is valued! Being healthy is not easy to do and requires support. This is one of my outlets and it truly works.

Staying accountable, up 2.8

This has been a crazy week and the next 2 weeks will be the same. I've not been following the program to a T, but that is to be expected right? We can't be perfect and we make mistakes. I think we would all be Stepford Wives if we were all perfect, and how boring would that be?

I missed my weigh-in yesterday do to an event, but I didn't want to not weigh. So I went to another location and I'm 2.8 pounds. I'm not upset in the least about that development. Why you ask? Well, off the scale successes are just as great. I've definitely lost inches because my size 12 pants don't feel quite as tight as they did 2 months ago and my size 14 pants are really loose. Hooray for successes that aren't tied to the scale!

Up a bit

At my weigh-in on Wednesday, I was up .6. Not too bad, to me considering I didn't really track my eating like normal. Plus, I traveled to a wedding a few states away. All in all, I'm satisfied with that small gain knowing that I didn't go totally off program.

I exercised all of the days I was home, I walked (instead of taking the train in the airport), and I'm making it a habit of not parking close when I go places. I purposely park further away from the door so that I can get in extra steps (every little bit, right?).

I also was conscious of making sure I ate plenty of veggies and drank water. I even went to Cheesecake Factory for lunch and ate a double serving of steamed veggies and no cheesecake! If you don't know that place has the best cheesecake. Quite decadent and I looooovvvveeeee cheesecake! But I didn't indulge. Go me!

I'm back to it this week, and I hope to see a decrease once again.

Getting back on track

I was down 4.4 pounds at weigh-in this week. That makes me happy as I was extremely diligent this week with tracking my food intake, getting in exercise (each day), and drinking at least 90 oz of H2O each day. I think that combination led to my success this week.

I look forward to going down a few more pounds in the coming week. Perhaps not as much as I do have to travel this weekend which means less exercise over the next 7 days. I will aim for staying on program with eating while on the road though. Additionally, getting in extra steps when I can.

I have a few posts floating around in my head about various thinking healthy topics...I hope to those up over the next week as well.

Faced it

I stepped on the scale at weigh-in and I'm up 3.6 pounds.

Was I happy about that? No.

Did I expect a gain? Yes.

Will it set me back? Absolutely not!

As I stated earlier, I have to face the scale each and every week. I won't know what I'm doing right or wrong if I don't.

So, let's examine what I did wrong:

• roast beef, fried fish, fried chicken
• no tracking
• 2 sodas
• cheesecake, chips
• french fries

Here's what I did right:

• drank water each day
• limited coffee to 1 cup each day
• exercised each work day
• helped a friend move (some exercise)

While a 3.6 pound gain is surely not good, I'm not going to let it set me back. I'll get, I have gotten right back on track.

I had a great workout this AM at the gym. I've downed, at least, 40 oz of H2O thus far, and I've consumed healthy snacks (fruit). I'm also tracking. That, I know, is another key for me. If I put in my mouth, I must track it! Another plus, is my schedule should be pretty sane over the next week. This is the only day that I'll be out of the office and tempted to not stay on track.

All in all, I hope for a loss next week, not matter how small.

Facing it

Today is weigh-in day. No matter what how well or poorly I ate over the previous week, I will always weigh-in. I need to do so to hold myself accountable for my actions. I may not like what the scale has to say or may be pleasantly surprised - the thing is, I won't know if I don't go.

Therefore, I live by the creed of Facing it! I made the decision to do this, that, & the other so I think I have to accept or celebrate the consequence.

Up & Down

This has been an up & down eating week for me. I was out out of town Monday & Tuesday. I worked all day Wednesday (weighed-in - down 1 pound), worked half-day on Thursday, and out of town on Friday. Needless to say, my eating has been off. Way off. The one consistent is water. Hooray!

I will be in town, finally, every day this coming week. Here's to getting back on track and doing what I *know* I should be doing.

Some progress is better than no progress

After traveling for a full week and eating out for 6 days straight, I weighed in on Saturday (my normal weigh-in day is Wednesday) and I was up 1.2 pounds. I debated about weighing-in 3 days after I normally do, but I did it anyway. If I'm really committed to doing this, I have to face the scale each week.

So I committed to doing really good the rest of the week. I weighed in today, and I'm down 2.6 pounds for a total of 6 pounds lost. Not bad for 8 weeks where I have struggled to get back on the program. I think I'm finally there, and I hope to see small incremental losses over the next few weeks. I know that small losses are the key and that's what I'm aiming for each Wednesday.

I'll accomplish that by doing the following:

• getting in at least 90 oz of water each day. I have a 1 L Sigg water bottle that I carry with me each day. Generally, by 7 am I've downed 1 L at the gym. By 2 pm I've down antoher 1 L and I aim to get in the 3rd L by 8 pm. Doing so will actually get me over 90 oz.
  
• enjoy my food. put the fork/spoon down between bites. Take a swig of water between bites. Doing so will allow me to feel full.
• Fiber! Fiber! Fiber! Eat filling foods that will fill me up over time.
  
• Eat a fruit with breakfast.
  
• Eat a veggie with lunch and dinner.
  
• Snack on items such as dried mango, WW 2 point bars, 100 calorie packs of almonds, cookies, and fruit.

Thus far, I've been following those tactics since I've returned from my trip last Friday. I think doing so, along with exercise, helped with my weight loss this week. I've just got to keep it up! And that is the plan!

Still here

Okay, I'm back in the mix. I was out of town all last week, and I didn't really follow my plan. Oh well, such is life. I'm back on it this week though!

I've started out by going to the grocery store over the weekend and stocking the kitchen with healthy, filling foods. I made it to the gym yesterday and today. I'm drinking plenty of water, and staying positive.

I'm staying healthy every day!

Been a minute

I tell ya, it is amazing how fast time flies! So here's an update one what's going on...I've doing pretty good with my eating plan. I will say that I was too successful with not eating meat prior to 6 pm the weekend of MLK. But hey, that was only a weekend. I got right back to my eating plan that Tuesday. Mistakes happen. Since then I've been consistent. I'm still eating a substantial amount of fruit and veggies during the day and drinking plenty of water. When I do eat meat, I'm trying to eat only chicken & fish. If I do have beef, I make sure it is lean beef.

All in all, things are going okay.

How'd I do?

Not too bad! As I stated previously, my biggest challenge will be not drinking coffee. I broke down and had a cup this morning. I did decrease the amount of sugar that I put in it, but I just couldn't pass it up. Anywho, I was good the remainder of the day.

I never let myself get hungry. I ate a little bit of something every few hours. Luckily I have the type of job that I can do that. I recognize that everyone doesn't have that luxury. I'm thankful that I can eat as needed at my desk.

So, back to my day, I balanced my eating out and I wasn't hungry or missed the idea of eating meat or items with refined sugar. For dinner tonight I did have meat, since I can after 6 pm and I didn't actually eat until after 7 pm. I had smother okra with shrimp served over rice.

I was quite consistent with drinking water. Oh gosh, almost too much! It seemed I was in the bathroom ever 45 minutes.

My food items are ready for Tuesday already. Generally, I prepare my food items for the next day as soon as I get home from work. If I don't, then I stay up too late. Getting it done immediately gives me more time to relax and do much of nothing later in the evening.