Post Superbowl Reassessments

Hey guys! Apart from the Superbowl's very disappointing outcome (freaking lame Packers!), I had a blast of a day! There was SO much food, but at least some of it was healthy! I cooked Grilled Moroccan Chicken Kabobs with onions and zucchini. Which were delicious! And I made a yummy seven-layer mexican bean dip, complete with veggies to dip in it! My friends brought over some unhealthy food (pigs in a blanket, chicken tenders with bleu cheese dip, etc.) which I had a tiny bit of. But, I kept track of what I was eating and did my best to fill up on healthy stuff so I didn't pig out on unhealthy stuff. I did use all my extra points for the week to include alcohol and unhealthy food. But that's why I saved them up!

Having healthy options is a great idea - but that doesn't take away the fact that there will be unhealthy options, too. How well you can/want to contain yourself is up to you. I know I struggle reaching for fruit when there are chicken tenders next to them. But for me, I think about how hard I've been working. Is all that pain really worth that 2 minutes of enjoyment from a little fried chicken? Sure, it's ok to indulge a little bit when you've been working hard. But the bad food just isn't worth it to me right now. Maybe you're not there yet - maybe you still reaaaaaaallly want some fried chicken. It's all about reevaluating how you think about that food. What works best for you? Thinking about the gym? The body you want? Bathing suit season? Just think about your biggest motivation. If you're dying because you can't have something, have a small portion. It will satisfy your craving and keep you from eating everything else in sight.

Also: I haven't done my weekly assessment for last week! Here it is:
Thursday 11/27 - 4 servings of fruits and veggies, worked out (dance game)
Friday 11/28 - 4 servings of fruits and veggies, worked out with trainer
Saturday 11/29 - 5 servings of fruits and veggies, worked out (step class)
Sunday 11/30 - 4 servings of fruits and veggies
Monday 11/31 - 5 servings of fruits and veggies, worked out (treadmill and arc trainer)
Tuesday 2/1 - 5 servings of fruits and veggies, worked out (Zumba class), cooked tilapia with peppers, onions and capers
Wednesday 2/2 - 5 servings of fruits and veggies, worked out with trainer

Lots better with the fruits and veggies this week! And only 1 day of not working out - which can't happen every week but is nice for this week! I think the big reason I didn't lose more weight last week is that I drank a little too much throughout the week. But, things are still going very well. The number on the scale is not what's most important to me. Just the way I look and feel.

More to come soon! Thank you all for following!

Great Day Today!

EEEEEEEEEEE!!! I'm in an awesome place this afternoon!! I was feeling lots better this morning, so I decided to brave the gym and meet my trainer. So, first good thing today is that my cold is going away.

Second good thing - we did measurements again today. I lost 5.75 inches in 2 weeks and 2 days!!!! Here's what my measurements looked like:
1/19/11
Body Fat % - 36.6% Chest - 41.75" Right Arm - 13.5" Waist - 41" Hips - 45.5" Butt - 48"
Right Thigh - 28" Right Calf - 17.5"
2/4/11
Body Fat % - 35.8% Chest - 40.75" Right Arm - 13.25" Waist - 39.75" Hips - 45" Butt - 46.25" Right Thigh - 27" Right Calf - 17.5"
Total Losses
Body Fat % - 0.8% Chest - 1" Right Arm - 0.25" Waist - 1.25" Hips - 0.5" Butt - 1.75"
Right Thigh - 1" Right Calf - 0"

YES! Thank you very much! The only thing that didn't change was my right calf, which my trainer says you see the least change in at first. And also (in her words, not mine), I have muscular calves already. Other than that, the smallest change was my arms, which my trainer also said you see smaller changes in. Other than that, HUGE changes in my waist and butt. Which explains why my pants are fitting better! And body fat percentage is a number that doesn't drastically drop over a short period of time - so almost a whole percentage point is actually a lot.

According to the scale at the gym, I've only lost 2.2 pounds in those 2 weeks. But, in the words of my trainer, there are a lot of fluid fluctuations in the first few weeks. And with as many inches as I've lost, the weight will come, too. Just because the scale isn't showing numbers as big as I'd like doesn't mean I'm doing anything wrong. In fact, my trainer said today, "I love measuring people that are doing the right stuff!" I'm doing a lot of weight training, so my body is losing fat and building lean muscle. It can explain why the weight loss numbers may seem small, but I can see and feel a difference in my body.

Morale of this story - take measurements!!! If you're getting discouraged about your weight loss, measurements may help you see progress that doesn't show up on the scale. Have a friend help you take them so you can get accurate readings. Make sure you take them in the same place every time - for example, measure your thigh at the point where your arm falls if you make a fist.

Last great thing - my trainer kicked my BUTT today! My legs are already sore. :) Keep working!

Weigh-in Day, Feb. 3

200.6. Well . . . . kind of. I've been keeping my scale under my bathroom sink, but I found out today that pretty much every spot on the floor of my bathroom makes the scale read a different number. When I first got on it, it read 201.4. Which is IMPOSSIBLE because I've been working my butt off this week. Another part of the floor made it read 200.2. And yet another part of the floor made it read 200.6. So, I picked the one mostly in the middle. And I've set the scale in a stationary spot and hopefully that will help. Also, I'm supposed to get weighed at the gym tomorrow so hopefully that will give me an accurate reading.

Anyway - that makes 1.4 pounds lost this week. I feel like I've lost a lot more . . . I'm also getting my measurements taken tomorrow. Maybe I've lost more inches than pounds? I have been doing a lot of weight training. I guess we'll see tomorrow.

Small complication this week - I have a cold. I'm not sure exactly how this is going to affect my gym time this week. Yesterday working out with my trainer I got a little light-headed and a lot hotter than usual. I'm not sure if it's the cold or what, but I would hate for it to affect the extra points I can earn working out. Especially with the Superbowl this Sunday.

I'm a little out of it because of my medicine. I'll post more tomorrow when I'll hopefully be feeling better.

Last Day of January!

Hi all! I was just looking at my posts for this month - I posted 10 times!! The last time I did that was last February. Looks like I'm back on the wagon at least for now.

So, this week, as far as workouts go, I've been doing very well. Every day so far except Sunday! I meant to get up early and go to the circuit training class this morning, but I slept in instead. I did still make it to the gym, though!

This weekend, however, I indulged a little too much. I never went totally crazy on just one day, but just enough to eat through all my weekly points plus the ones I'd earned working out. Friday night my friend's band was playing, so I had a couple of drinks at the bar. Saturday night was dinner with a friend that included wine. Sunday was brunch day and then we went to another bar after. Like I said, I never went nuts. And I did still make some good food decisions. For example, Sunday at brunch I had a salad, fruit and a portabella sandwich. But the alcohol just kills your points. ONE vodka is 4 points! So is one glass of wine. So you have 3 of them and that's 12 points. It's a bummer.

I think I may just have to more carefully designate the days that I plan on drinking. This upcoming weekend, since it's the Superbowl, obviously that day will include some splurges. BUT if I do well the other days of the weekend then I should be able to do that.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that it's all about balance. My mom used to tell me, "You can eat whatever you want if you work out!" That's true to an extent. It's not whatever you want, as much as you want, as often as you want. However, it can be whatever you want in small portions once a week. Don't use little sayings like that to trick yourself out of sticking to your diet - they just end up being excuses.

Keep checking in!!

Checking In On My Goals

So, I've decided in order to help me keep track of how I'm reaching my goals, I'm going to post a weekly checklist to show how I've done that week. I'd like to do it on my weigh-in days, but yesterday I was a little busy.

Thursday 1/20 - 4 servings fruits/veggies, no workout
Friday 1/21 - 3 servings fruits/veggies, worked out with trainer
Saturday 1/22 - 3 servings fruits/veggies, worked out (step class)
Sunday 1/23 - 4 servings fruits/veggies, no workout
Monday 1/24 - 2 servings fruits/veggies, worked out (circuit training & running)
Tuesday 1/25 - 3 servings fruits/veggies, worked out (zumba & running), cooked a new meal (thai curry with chicken & cauliflower)
Wednesday 1/26 - 3 servings fruits/veggies, workout with trainer

So - 5 days of working out, 1 day of cooking (with a new recipe), and an average of 3 servings of fruits/veggies per day. This is pretty great! I'd like to get my fruits/veggies up to 4 servings per day, but I'm definitely on the right track. I said I wanted to be in the gym at least 3 times per week, so I'm definitely keeping that promise. And I cooked once this week while trying a new recipe! I might have cooked more, but I had a lot of leftovers from this recipe so I'm still finishing it off. As busy as I am, cooking at all can be a problem. Plus, I work a lot of nights, so I'm often too tired/lazy to cook when I come home. But I'm working towards having more recipes that I'm comfortable with so that they don't take as long to cook. Maybe I can try cooking in the afternoon so I have leftovers for dinner. Either way, it will happen!

My trainer gave me some new recipes to try, and I also remembered that I had a Weight Watchers cook book I bought years ago. Many of the recipes have different points values now, because of the new Points Plus program, but they are still healthy and well portioned. Still, I have to enter in all the ingredients to the WW website, which is annoying since they made the recipe. You would think they would take care of that!! That's one of my issues with the new program - they haven't gotten all their literature caught up. Change is good, and I think overall this new program encourages more healthy eating habits instead of just eating less. But with as many people as they have working for them, you would think they would get on the ball a little bit more. Even their frozen foods don't have the right points values on them yet! Anyway . . . nothing's perfect. Keep checking in, everyone! I love having your feedback!

Weigh-in Day, Jan. 27

202.0 - exactly 1 pound lost. Still lost a pound, thankfully. I'm a little disappointed with the number, because I've worked out a lot this week. BUT I think I know a couple reasons why it's only 1 pound. #1 - my daily points value just went down, which means I was on the brink of eating too many calories to lose weight. But this week, I'll be eating less calories, and hopefully I'll lose a little more. #2 - I'm bloated due to being a girl. :)

SO - still lost weight. That is something to celebrate. But hopefully next week I'll be under 200. Fingers crossed!!!

I must go work out now. Back to the grindstone.

Defensive Eating & Zumba

This morning I took my first Zumba class. It was definitely cool - a mix of a salsa, bollywood, merengue and generally dance that is designed to make women feel sexy and fit. I burned a lot of calories - about 500 in the 45 minute class - and I was tired after. Here's my hang up, though. It was a small class, and although I was getting the steps right, I felt fat. I felt like I was too fat to be doing these moves. Granted, there were mirrors on every wall in front of me, so I was forced to watch myself as I was dancing. And . . . well, it's impossible not to compare yourself to the instructor. She looked cool - I looked silly. She looked firm and strong - I looked jiggly.

I know that I'll get more fit and I will look better doing the moves. Why do I care how I look to the other women in there? The other women consisted of a 20 something skinny girl who couldn't quite move her hips, a large black women, an elderly woman, and one lady who was smoking at the moves. So, 3 women who probably looked just as silly as me. WHY DO I CARE? I think I'm going to keep going to the class - see if it improves.

One more thing I wanted to talk about today. It's something I call "defensive eating." My job sometimes requires me to eat before I am hungry, in case I get hungry later. I can't stop a lesson because my blood sugar is so low that my hands are shaking. And it's pretty difficult to teach when you feel that way. I also can't pause a gig to stuff my face. This is difficult, because I feel like I'm eating more than I need to, and I don't know how much I need to eat to get through the work day. The only possible way around this that I can see, is that I have to eat smaller meals throughout the day, so I can eat right before teaching or my gig. Hopefully that will keep me from getting hungry while I work.

But, if you still feel like you need a snack during the day, it always helps me to try and eat fruit or nuts. These are easily portable, I can carry them around with me in case I need them. Almonds are my favorite kind of nut to eat, and they're one of the most healthy nuts. A combination of nuts and fruit might make you feel fuller longer. If you find that's not enough for you, another good option are snack crackers (especially if they're made form wheat crackers) with peanut butter or cheese, or a granola/breakfast bar. Might be more calories, but it can save you if you're really starving.

Although I didn't have the greatest experience with my last 2 classes, I really like trying new things. If you don't at least go once, how will you know if you like it or not? I encourage you to do the same if you have the opportunity! More to come soon!