With the exception of yesterday’s holiday cookout, I did well in my portioned eating this past week. And, although I ate with compulsion a couple too many times yesterday, I did not totally go off the deep end. The scale this morning only showed a one pound gain as a result, so it will come back off in no time.
I’m at 153 right now and was at 152 for yesterday’s official Monday morning reporting weigh-in. I don’t foresee any problems getting back to 148 for my August 3rd self-imposed deadline.
Speaking of August 3rd, I am doing pretty well on one of my other 8/3/11 goals — jogging 30 minutes consecutively. I am up to 15 minutes now, having done that each of the last two times I went to the Y. I was thrown for a little loop over the weekend because the YMCA was closed the 28th-30th for floor resurfacing. Because my “every other day” pattern was disrupted, I feared I would have a psychological barrier to getting right back into it. I should have just jogged outsite or on the treadmill I have in my basement. But, I chose to skip it altogether. I did go this morning though and in addition to the 15 minutes jog on the treadmill, I did a variety of weight lifting. I also did 50 reps on the squat machine with an 80# weight stack. I don’t know if that is good or not, or if based on my age, etc., should be doing more, but it was a good start I think and a benchmark for future performance.
Tags: cookout, goals, jogging, squats, treadmill, weight lifting
I have diligently gone to the YMCA at the crack of dawn every other day for ten days (five times) and in each of those visits saw an improvement over the previous time:
- 1st time = 2 minutes
- 2nd time = 5.5 minutes
- 3rd time = 10 minutes
- 4th time = 12 minutes
- today = 15 minutes
I’m half way to my goal and still have over two months to do it. I’m psyched!
I was excited to share, but didn’t get the opportunity to yesterday when it actually happened… I jogged for ten minutes straight on the treadmill and I wasn’t even overly fatigued when I stopped! I could have kept going, but I’ve heard that the recommended progression is only to increase duration by 10% at a time. I’ve done it three times now (every other day) and went from 2 minutes to 5.5 minutes to 10 minutes! That’s way more than a 10% increase, but I was motivated, what can I say? By stopping early yesterday, perhaps I’ll even surpass the 10 minutes when I go tomorrow. 
I’m not sure if going a little later in the morning helped me, but it’s possible. On Sundays, the YMCA doesn’t open until 10am. The first couple of times I went were during the week, when the Y opens at the crack of dawn. On those first two excursions, I was already tired before going, because I had to set my alarm to get up early enough to go.
Or, maybe it was a more engaging show on the television monitor above my treadmill. During the week, it was morning news. That’s kind of depressing and the topic changes every 15 to 30 seconds or so, giving me an opportunity to keep glancing at the treadmill’s readout when they rotate the “breaking news”. By waiting until later in the day, I got some shows with an extended focus. For me, this time, it was Extreme Makeover. They were building a home for a lady that promised her dying sister that she would raise her 10 kids (in addition to the 4 she already had) and she needed a home large enough to raise 14 kids. I love it when Extreme Makeover helps foster, adoptive and extended families. It warms my heart. I didn’t get through the whole show in the time I had allotted to exercise, but I was moved to witness their story and focusing on that meant I was not focusing on elapsed time or distance. In fact, in the ten minutes I jogged, I think I only glanced at the display twice between start and stop!
Tags: 5K, Extreme Makeover, goals, jogging, running, treadmill
I’ve made a commitment to visit the Y every other day, and since starting on Wednesday, I did go again as planned yesterday. I didn’t really want to (woke up tired) but I went, and was glad I did. After the measly two minutes jogging I did on Wednesday, I managed to keep going for 5.5 minutes yesterday before pooping out and returning to a walk! It is still weak, but it’s an improvement. That’s what it’s all about!
The weight is coming back off too. After just three days of eating right, I’ve relost four pounds. I have yet to try any push-ups to satisfy the “ten push-ups” portion of my August 3rd goal, but I did lift weights both of the times I went to the Y — hoping to build some upper body strength that will allow me to achieve the goal.
Tags: lifting weights, push-up fitness test, yo-yo
Well, there are some good and bad things to report about this morning’s workout and the ensuing thoughts coming from my head. I’ll tackle the “bad” first so that I can end on a good note!
- My alarm didn’t go off and I didn’t get up when I wanted to. As a result, I didn’t have first pick of the machines available. Fortunately, I’m not too choosy and as long as something is available, I will feel content. I think I had my alarm tuned to a station that doesn’t broadcast 24 hours a day because when I checked it afterwards, it wasn’t coming on at all. I assumed that I had chosen “pm” instead of “am” when setting the alarm (I have done that before) but this time that wasn’t the case.
- After a five minute warm-up, I could only last two minutes running before I had to resume walking. I hate to sound like a big complainer, but my foot started cramping up! I thought it was better not to “push it” just for the sake of saying I had worked through the pain. I think it’s better to pay attention to the cues our bodies give us and just concentrate on doing better next time. No need to risk injury!
- I actually have more weight to lose than I thought. Instead of the 12 pounds I mentioned yesterday, I woke up to 161 on the scale so I actually have 13 to lose instead of twelve. Sounds unlucky, but since I’m not superstitious, I’ll just treat it as the number it is.
- I’m weaker than I thought. After 30 minutes on the treadmill (to make up for the fact that I wasn’t running more than two of the 30 minutes, I put the incline all the way up to 15%) I decided to lift some weights. I did the bilateral shoulder press (hopefully this helps with upper body strength and gets me able to do at least one push-up) the abductors and the lower back machine. I remember doing all of these machines in the past and being able to set the pin of the weight stack on a lower position (more weight).
So now for some positives!
- I went! Despite having gone to bed later than I wanted to last night and not waking up when I wanted, I didn’t change my mind about going to the YMCA. Getting there is half the battle. It was even raining outside this morning, which is always a mood dampener for me, but I was strong in my resolve.
- The rain was cleansing. Although I just listed it as a “downer” the rainy weather sometimes can have a different association — that of washing away sins and transgressions. I felt that by raining down on me, God was telling me that all of my recent bad eating habits were being forgiven and that I had an opportunity to do better going forward.
- I’m symbolically letting go of bad foods. In a lot of ways, I am a bargain shopper. So, when I saw milk chocolate bunnies on clearance at Aldi I stocked up. Their chocolate, Choceur brand, isn’t too bad. It’s not as good as Hershey in my opinion, but it’s better than some — Palmer as an example! Anyway, buying chocolate in bulk just because it is a great bargain is a terrible idea. Thanks to the suggestion from my mom, I am donating all of it to the local food pantry. I’m going there today.
Tags: chocolate, donating food, exercise, food pantry, lifting weights, running, tolerating the weather, treadmill, upper body strength, waking up with an alarm, YMCA
When I first started my blog, I did such so that I would have some accountability to someone other than myself. I thought that if I could admit my eating failures to someone else, it would be the first step on the road to recovery, so to speak.
Well, I’d like to be able to tell you that I have done wonderfully well in maintenance mode, but I can’t. I have sucked big time! I have so many conflicting emotions. I’m not handling things well right now. Not at ALL. Four out of the last five days have been complete binge-fests, in which I have consumed more than 4000 calories each of those days. (Mostly chocolate, by the way.) After three days in a row, I thought I had made it clear to myself that it was going to stop. Yesterday, I ate 922. Today, it was 4019. Obviously, I had not learned my lesson and that healthy, responsible eating was short-lived.
Today I made my mother late for a very important appointment because the place I wanted to go to for lunch was not convenient and as a result she couldn’t make it to where she needed to go on time. (She met me for an appointment that I had and had to go somewhere else afterwards.) The trouble is, she is too kind-hearted and didn’t want to hurt my feelings. Not only was the place I chose one of the most fattening places to eat on the planet, but it lead me to continue bad choices afterwards. I ate wonderfully for breakfast (lean protein and fruit) but from lunch time on was horrendous. I’m sucking on a chocolate lollipop as I type this, if you can stomach that honesty!
I feel like crap.
Maintenance sucks.
I’m not good at this.
However, being the bleeding heart optimist that I am, I have once again decided that “tomorrow” is going to be the day. I think in order for this maintenance mode to be successful, I am going to have to have other goals other than just weight maintenance. I’ve decided, despite how POOR at it I am, that exercise and strength training will do me good. Not only will regular exercise help me re-lose these TWELVE pounds that I’ve put back on (remember the promise to myself that I’d never regain more than ten? Well, that is shot to H-E-double hockey sticks) but it will give me better muscle tone, greater endurance, and an outlet for stress other than food!
So, my alarm is set for 4:25. The YMCA opens at 5am and if I can get there and back before about 6:30, I might make it back home before my youngest daughter wakes up. Most of my prior excuses about going to the Y have been that I couldn’t schedule it with child care because my preschooler doesn’t like being left there without me around. Well, my husband has volunteered to play Mom if she wakes up before I get back.
Actually, he and I are going to try to alternate days so that we can both work our way to better physical fitness.
I know it seems like a long way off, but August 3rd is the day by which I would like to be back at 148 pounds. That’s 11 weeks away, so with 12 pounds to lose, it’s certainly doable. I’ve chosen August 3rd because that will be the two-year anniversary of the beginning of my blog. By August 3rd, I want to have (re) lost the twelve pounds I gained, be able to run a 5K distance without stopping to walk, and do ten push-ups — which is an average for a woman my age according to this push-up fitness test. (Right now I can’t do any, so this would be a HUGE accomplishment, as I have so little upper body strength.) Between the huge increase in cardio and the workouts my muscles will be getting, my metabolism should get a big boost and those pounds should come back off.
Right now I feel sluggish, lazy, and fat. Hopefully tomorrow the sun will be shining, my attitude will be positive and I’ll be well on my way to meeting my goals.
This blog posting should dispel any rumors that I am some sort of weight loss super-woman. Yes, losing 120 pounds was great. Yes, I look better, feel better, yada yada yada… but I am human and I’ve erred big time. I just have to forgive myself and move on. I CAN DO THAT! I promise.
Keep me in your prayers.
Tags: 5K, accountability, anniversary, binge eating, cardiovascular health, chocolate, comfort foods, goal, maintenance mode, push-up fitness test, yo-yo
I’ve been interested in this for a while… how to monitor if I am getting the right percentage of carbohydrates, proteins and fats in my diet. While it is customary for my daily intake to be about 60% carbohydrates and it on occasion has been up to 70%, I am really happy when it is closer to 50%. I found a link tonight that I thought I’d share, hoping that it is helpful to some: http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/DietaryGuidelines/2010/PolicyDoc/Chapter2.pdf
It is taken from the 2010 Dietary Guidelines from the Department of Agriculture.
|
taBle 2-4. recommended Macronutrient Proportions by age carbohydrate |
Protein |
fat |
|||
|
Young children (1–3 years) |
45–65% |
5–20% |
30–40% |
||
|
Older children and adolescents (4–18 years) |
45–65% |
10–30% |
25–35% |
||
|
Adults (19 years and older) |
45–65% |
10–35% |
20–35% |
||
(In case the table does not display correctly, look at page 15 at the link above.)
Those are fairly wide ranges, which is good, since people tend to eat a fairly wide range of food and our menus are not consistent and predictable one day to the next! But, I am thankfully within those wide ranges nearly every day, so I guess I’m ok!
Tags: carbs, fats, Nutrition Guidelines, percentage of macronutrients, proteins, USRDA
Well, as you may know if you have been following my blog for a while, I am ALWAYS cold. The weather in Wisconsin is finally starting to warm up a bit. However, silly as it sounds, I was still outside with my heavy jacket (over a sweater, over a blouse, with the hood up) yesterday when the thermometer said 61 degrees. Granted, it was windy, but jeez! How abby-normal is that!
Today, it was predicted to be 70 degrees outside and I think it actually hit 78-80! But, until late morning I had to wear two jackets. I had put on a 3/4 sleeve length knit top and a pair of jeans. Over that I wore a windbreaker and headed outside with my daughter to play. After a couple minutes I came back in the house to put on one of my husband’s sweatshirts over the windbreaker. At about 11:30 I could take the sweatshirt off and just wear the lightweight jacket and when we were done with lunch and went back out to play, I could be jacket-free!
It’s really sickening to think it has to hit nearly 80 degrees before I am comfortable without a jacket. It makes me wonder whether I’ll ever get to show off my legs in capris, let along shorts or a skirt! I’ll probably want to be outside this summer whereas in years past the hotter days would have left me begging for the indoors and air conditioning. We’ll see how it goes…
With today’s mail came a catalog for “Woman Within” — comfort, fit & value for sizes 12W to 44W. I don’t believe I have ever ordered from this company, and in fact have only mail-ordered plus-size clothing one or two times in the past, a long time ago. I haven’t received catalogs from any clothing stores in several years, in fact, so why this one came now is unknown to me. Perhaps they just purchased an old mailing list?
Anyway, it was a very odd feeling being marketed to in this way, now that I gave up plus-sizes quite a while back. A huge smile came across my face knowing that I could quickly toss it in the recycle box and not even have a care to browse the contents!
It’s odd though… speaking of clothing. As a 41 year old woman, I feel silly looking at clothing from Old Navy or something like that, because I think they’re targeting a younger crowd. But, I don’t want to dress like an old granny either. I’m not ready for ‘old lady clothes’ for sure! I think I missed my opportunity to wear hip and trendy when I was in my late teens, twenties and thirties. I was always too fat for stylish clothes.
Now that I can fit into them, I have to pick and choose carefully. Any women age 40-50 out there care to tell me their favorite places to shop for clothes?
Tags: clothing, fashion, Old Navy, plus-size, shopping, style
I did ok today, but not great — consumed 1781 calories (a little higher than I’d like) but took in 75g in proteins. I started reading “Joining the Thin Club” last night at the suggestion of a blog reader. (Thank you again!)
I’m enjoying it, but am a little disturbed by something I interpreted while reading it… while fat, a person wants to be accepted for “who they are” and not what they look like and not pre-judged based on appearance. But, after a person joins the “thin club” they often feel disgust towards fat people, wouldn’t see themselves dating or marrying a fat person, and often loses the circle of friends that they had when fat because of incompatible lifestyle and unbalanced levels of confidence and self-worth.
I was one of those fat people that generally did not suffer from low self-esteem or depression (as a habit, but yes, occasionally, I did) so I don’t see my current self as being too different from the person I was 120 pounds ago. But, I can understand the mentality mentioned above, and it bothers me. It bothers me that I have a snippet of those feelings, even if only on a small scale. What bothers me most is when people complain that they can’t do it (lose weight) while stuffing their pie hole with (pie, or whatever).
You can! You just have to want to bad enough.
Anyway, half of last week’s binge weight was gone as of this morning so I feel safe to say that the remainder will come off next week or soon thereafter. I am going to discontinue boring you with my daily routine and go back to blogging when the fancy strikes. Talk to you soon!
Tags: "Joining the Thin Club", binge, confidence, depression, self-esteem
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