Set Backs

So I don't need to weigh in to know I'm up this week. I think it all started falling apart on Wednesday after work when I bought a pretzel at the mall and decided to skip dinner. Then Thursday I skipped breakfast because I was attending a farewell luncheon at work courtesy of the Buffalo Wing Factory. Then I had a very late night Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger from Wendy's because nothing else is open at 11:30pm. Friday I skipped breakfast again and had a huge lunch w/ the test team at Three Thai Sushi. Who knew sushi could be so filling. I think it's the rice (and 2 spring rolls). Then I had another very late dinner at Noodles & Company on Friday. By Saturday my eating was back to normal. But on top of three days of bad eating I missed my workouts on Friday & Saturday due to late nights out and early morning doctors appointments. So, no doubt that if I weigh in today (which I'm not) I'll be up at least a pound maybe more.

So as punishment for my mistakes this week I have to implement the following rules:

1. No Cookies, No Donuts, No Muffins, No Pretzels
2. No Fast Food
3. Complete 5 Workouts
4. No Carbs at Dinner
5. No Snacks After Dinner

OK. That's all for now. I'm of to step class. Oh, here's my workout schedule for the week.

• Sunday - Step Class
• Monday - N/A
• Tuesday - Running (AM)
• Wednesday - Boot Camp (AM)
• Thursday - Running (AM) or Step Class (PM)
• Friday - Boot Camp (AM)
• Saturday - Running (AM)

Milestones

I'm going to cut to the chase. The news everyone's been waiting for. I had my official Weight Watchers Weigh-In this past Sunday and I’m down another pound!! Yippee!!! I also joined the Kingstowne Striders this past week. (Don’t tell Arlington Road Runners.) I ran about 4 miles only stopping 3-4 times to drink water and there was this hill.... But, I deliberately did not engage any devices that would measure time or distance, because I just didn’t want to get preoccupied w/ those numbers. Instead I just ran. The course was relatively flat and it wasn’t hot yet. So, I’m hoping this coming Saturday I can do the same with 5 miles. That means I’m halfway there.

Since I’ve been doing well with eating I thought now’s the time to post my incentives. These are the rewards for each milestone that I will grant myself in order to keep motivated.

Milestone #1: 170lbs – Wine, massage and a manicure

170lbs is my running weight. This is what I use to weigh back when I ran full marathons. When I reach this milestone, that would mean I lost all my wedding weight and then some. So I will pamper myself w/ a well earned spa day.

Milestone #2:  160lbs – Shopping Spree (?)

I cannot remember the last time I weighed 160lbs. In the back of my mind, I feel as if I was 185lbs for the majority of my life. So at 160lbs, I’m ready for a new wardrobe. I question marked this, because when I originally came up with milestones I think I had something else listed like an iPod Touch. But I lost that piece of paper where I wrote it down. I may change it to something else when I get closer to this milestone. We'll see.

Milestone #3: 150lbs – Motorola Xoom

Yes,. I’m a gadget nerd. But I can’t bring myself to buying a cool gadget just to buy it. I have to have a reason to buy it. So, at 150lbs I’m getting a Xoom or something like it to have as my reward for reaching my goals.

Milestone #4: 140lbs – iPhone 5

At 140lbs I would have reached my goal weight and I will finally get me an iPhone. I’m assuming that I won’t reach this milestone until next year at which point I’m hoping the iPhone5 will be available so that’s why it’s at my goal weight where I will celebrate with my new iPhone.

Now, keep in mind all these milestones are out the window if I get pregnant, but they can still stand as something to look forward to for now.

That's it for today. I’m calling it quits for now. I’ll check back with you next week. Have a great week people.

Still Off the Beaten Track

Based on the title of this post you can assume two things: 1) I haven’t been running and 2) I haven’t been tracking my points. 

Running

Last week I was all talk about getting up on Saturday and running w/ the Kingstown Striders. But alas, I had a late night Friday and slept in on Saturday. I really hope no one was waiting for me to show up.  Tomorrow morning I will definitely get up and run even if it kills me. Because I felt like such a blog last Saturday. I get like that when I miss a workout. Working out and exercising is something that I really enjoy and I’m a mess when I don’t get in a good workout. So right now I really need to focus on running. If you remember my goal is to run the entire Army 10 Miler w/o stopping. But at this point I haven’t ran 3 miles w/o stopping. So, I need to really work on that.

Dieting

In the food and weight loss arena I’m doing OK. I had really good results on the scale this past Sunday. I was down 2.2lbs. But when I hopped on the scale the past two days, things haven’t been looking so good. My excuse (we love excuses) is that it’s girly time. So, my weight is up a little. But the truth is that I’ve been lazy about tracking. I don’t think my eating has gone overboard. But I did make this dish from Weight Watchers recipes, which was so good that I ate more than a serving on two nights. On Wednesday, I also ate 3 butter sugar cookies. This was really stupid because it’s practically there on the label, “Butter Sugar Cookies”. It might as well have read, “Bigger Stomach Cookies” because that what they were. Why do we (I mean women) feel a stronger urge to eat sweets and snacks during this time of the month? I don’t understand what’s wrong with me. If I had tracked points on Wednesday and Thursday I would probably cry. 

Books

Jillian Michaels once said “In order to be successful at weight loss, you must become an expert at it”. So, how do you do that? You start a blog and read a lot of diet books. So, I just downloaded The Spark by Chris Downie to my eReader because it got a lot of great reviews and it’s only $1.99 at the BN.com store. I’ve barely started it. I’m still on chapter one titled “My Story”, where the author describes how he got into the health and fitness business. So far it’s OK. But I’ll give you my review once I’m done. 

I also have the New Abs Diet for Women by David Zinczencko which I picked up from the library. The title “Abs Diet” is a pneumonic device for the best foods to eat to lose weight.  I read the old Abs Diet, so I’m curious what’s new about this one. It’s hard to get into it because so far a lot of the information is the same.

I’m also interested in reading the Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf, which I believe talks about eating only foods found in caveman days. This diet is getting a lot of buzz, but I’m guessing it’s Atkins in disguise. I’m also interested in the No S Diet by Reinhard Engles, which I heard is like the common sense approach to weight loss.  If you’ve read any of these books or have any other recommendations please let me know.

This it for now. I need to go grocery shopping. Not sure what I’m doing for dinner. But I’ll come up with something. So until next time, stay focused.

99 Days and Counting

Soooooo.....

Training Update
It's 99 days until the Army 10 Miler and training has been... well... let's say I actually need to start training. I've been enjoying my love affair with cycling, but alas the ATM is not a bike race. So, I'm putting cycling on the back burner and putting running back on the front lines. Tomorrow, I'm going to try running with this group called the Kingstowne Striders. They have a 3- and 5- mile run every Saturday. So, I'm going to try and do the 5 mile run with this group. I know it'll be the slowest 5 miler this year. Why not run with ARRC, you ask? Well, they meet at 6am. They're already up to 8 miles according to their schedule. And they're sooooo far away. So, I'm going to try this new group on for size. If all else fails I'll have to commit to training on my own.

Weight Update
After weeks of staring at the same number on the scale, I am finally down a pound!!! Most of you are probably thinking, "BFD, one pound." But it's like finally descending after a long, bumpy flight. I felt relieved that my hard work for the last 2 weeks is finally starting to pay off. I've been incorporating a lot of changes to my daily eating habits and cutting out most of my indulgences. So here's what I've done so far.

1. No Fast Food. If it has a drive-thru it's off limits.
2. No Wine/Alcohol. One glass of wine after dinner usually turned into 2 glasses and I can't enjoy 2 glasses of wine w/o something to eat. So 2 glasses of wine and several snacks later I've added an additional 500-700 calories after dinner.
3. No Low Cal Snacks. I use to have a shelf stocked with 100-cal cookies, crackers and cakes. Nothing but refined carbs. So, I ditched them. Only thing I kept on my shelf is Pop Chips and whole grain Fruit Bars.
4. Reduce Processed Foods. When shopping for groceries, I've banned myself from buying processed foods. The trick is if it has too many ingredients or lots of stuff I can't pronounce then it's off limits.
5. Cut back on Starbucks. I'm down to twice a week.
6. High Protein Breakfast. I've been eating mostly eggs w/ fruit, yogurt and a low cal protein shake for breakfast. I end up feeling fuller for much longer.
7. Reducing carbs at dinner. I've heard that you shouldn't eat carbs after 5pm. I'm trying this out to see if it makes a difference.
8. Eating more fruits and vegetables. 'Nuf said.

So, thanks to all that hard work, I'm finally dropping the lbs which is totally awesome!!! I need to go to bed now. I'll update after this weekend with the results of my weigh in. Good Night, Everyone.

Goals for the Week of June 20, 2011

 No time for a full update. I'm just going to post this weeks goals before I leave for work.

• No vending machine food
• No wine/alcohol
• No snacking after dinner
• Avoid free office treats
• 5-6 workouts (45min+)
• 3 fruit/vegetables each day

I'll post more later. Let you know how my week went.

One Year Later

Wow
Today I was thinking about blogging again and I wondered when was the last time I updated my blog. It’s amazing that it’s been exactly a year to the day since my last update. I’ll try to do better this time around. So let me tell you how things have been going this past year.

Boot Camping
By mid to late June 2010, I wasn’t seeing any physical changes and I got bored w/ Jillian’s workouts. The fact that I got to the point where I could breeze through the level 3 workout was clear evidence that I needed something new to push myself. So, I joined a boot camp that met less than 2 miles from my house! Boot camp has been great. I’ve been w/ them for almost a year now. They meet every M, W, F at 6am. In the summer it’s outside. In the winter they meet at the local volunteer fire department. I really enjoy it and I feel I workout better in a group rather than by myself.

Running
My interest in running has been fading over the last year. My mom passed away in July and I stopped going to the Saturday long runs. I had already missed several runs due to moving and taking care of my mom. So, there was no way I was going to catch up. Plus I was not registered for any fall races. I kind of gave it up until fall/winter training started. I came out as often as I could, weather permitting. I managed to get back up to speed and ran in the 2011 Shamrock Sportsfest, which is held in Virginia Beach every March. I ran in the 8K and the Half Marathon. Although I finished strong in both races, they turned out to be my slowest 8K and Half Marathon ever. Undeterred, I entered the lottery for the New York City Marathon, but I didn’t get in. So as of now, I’m registered for the Army 10 Miler on October 9, 2011 (115 days from now). I haven’t returned to Arlington Road Runners this summer. And I’ll explain why in the next section. As a result, I’m going to have to train for this race on my own. Eeek!

Cycling
After completing the Shamrock Sportsfest this past March, running went on another hiatus in favor of cycling. I have an outstanding road bike which I’ve hardly had a chance to use because it’s been in storage during the moves. Then came winter and I vowed this spring I’d start cycling. I joined a class at the community center called “Cycling for Fitness” and we meet for rides every Saturday at 9am which conflicts with ARRC’s Saturday long runs. I’m having a great time cycling. It’s a lot more fun than running, but not as physically challenging.

Weight Watching
Despite the running, the cycling and the boot camp; by November 2010 I was at my heaviest due to the fact that I’ve done nothing to control my eating habits. So, I rejoined Weight Watchers in December for like the 4th or 5th time. This time I was excited that the program changed to allow more points and unlimited fruits and vegetables. My running buddy, Jim, had great success on the new program, so I decided to jump back on the wagon. So far it’s been going well. I lost 11lbs in the beginning without really trying. Then I gained back 5lbs in April and May because I totally neglected to track my points and stay on plan. Now I’ve refocused my efforts and I’m back down to 10lbs lost. I vow to stay on track this time because I have a new found motivation.

Getting Back on My Feet
So here it is June 2010, one year later. I’m doing Boot Camp. I’m cycling. I’m tracking my points and watching what I eat. Now I’m focused on getting back into running. When I started running again this past Tuesday, I felt like I hadn’t run in years. It was a struggle. I finally had new shoes that didn’t hurt my feet, but I was so slow. Cardio-wise I was fine, but physically my legs felt heavy and I had almost no stride. I was pretty much shuffling around my neighborhood. I like to run, but like I mentioned before I perform better in a group. So, when I’m just out there alone I don’t push myself like I would w/ a group. I really need to find that extra push because I plan on running the entire Army Ten Miler WITHOUT TAKING ANY WALK BREAKS. This will be a first for me. I’ve see other heavy set runners do it and so can I. I figure if I stick with the healthy eating and the cross training while running 2 to 3 times a week, I can lower my weight and improve my stride. I read somewhere that losing 10lbs can take 4 minutes of your finish time.

Biological Clock
Another reason for my new found focus is that I’ve been trying to get pregnant for the past year with no success. I’m seeing a fertility specialist, but I’m hoping to improve my chances of getting pregnant w/ proper diet and exercise. Although I’ve seen friends twice my size that do almost nothing in the way of exercise get pregnant w/o even trying. But I don’t have much time. Tick Tick Tick.

This Weeks Goals
I want to keep this blog updated on a weekly basis (or less if there’s time). Each week will feature my progress (weight and exercise) along with my weekly goals. This week’s goals are as follows:

• No wine or alcohol (I’m into my 3rd week alcohol free!)
• No vending machine (I got caught in that trap twice last weekly and it’s usually always crap.)
• Track my points
• Strive for 5 workouts

Sorry for the long update. I promise my next post will be a lot shorter. Until next time, stay focused.