December is here

Well it is December 3rd.  It has been a while since I have posted. Where has this year gone????

Tiger and I are still doing the biggest looser challenge we will wrap it up when she returns from her trip home.   A while back she and I signed up for Myfitnesspal.com it is a site you can put in your goals lose X pounds a week and what you activity level is and it will set you up with calories and such.  It is an okay tool. I have heard it is similar to the WW site, but this one is free.   I have noticed that when you exercise it allows you more calories to eat.  I am still trying to figure it all out.  I am happy to report since doing it I have lost 7 pounds.

I am up to level 6 on my sprint 8 program,. but it is very hard! I have to slow down the walking from 3.5 to 3.2 and work up to the 3.5.  John suggested I jog the whole thing. Tried it and I will say I have to work up to that too.

After taking a vacation to Iceland for 5 days and the treadmill not having power for a few days I will get back on track and drop down to level 4 and work my way back up.  I will be back on 6 in no time.

Iceland at the divide of the North Atlantic and North European tectonic plate

I am on track for my new years goal and I am feeling very proud of myself.   I have noticed my clothes are a little looser. I am also waiting for the moment when someone else asks "have you lost weight?"  I guess I was larger than my own world view.

Before our vacation I went to get some new jeans to take with me.  I tried on 1 size down and they were comfortable. I tried 2 sizes down and they were a little tight.  I figure 5 pounds more and I am there.  I decided not to buy the jeans.

Iceland was awesome.  It was cold and we walked a lot.  I ate okay.  after returning home I got on the scale (after eating breakfast) and I was down 2 pounds.  I can take a vacation and not sabotage my weight loss goals.

Snowy Landscape

Northern Lights

I have started thinking about goals for the end of 2011 and 2012.
It is always good to have short and long term goals.

My goals
Be in the 240's by new years.
Use my fitness pal to track food and exercise daily
walk 10,000+ steps a day

Get my own pedometer and return the one I have been borrowing from Ellen

Get back on the treadmill sprint 8 program.  3-5 days a week (vacation made me stop)

Start a weight training program 2 days a week
walk a 5K 1 time a week.
In February I am going to start the couch to 5K program to train for the lilac 5K
Start the 30 day shred DVD on Monday Dec 5

58 days till Christmas

I set a New Years goal a few weeks back October 3 to be correct.  I wanted to drop 20 pounds.   I am getting there I have about 16 pounds to go to make it to that goal.   I have started to wear a pedometer daily.  I am doing good.  I have been over 6,000 steps since I started.  I have actually made 10,000 steps 5 of the last 7 days.  It all helps to get there.
I know weight loss is a slow process. I did not gain it all over night.  Still no changes in my clothes, and no one has said I look like I have lost weight.  I see my mom and sisters in 2 weeks and maybe one of them will notice.   Only time will tell.  I am really waiting for the day that my clothes start to feel to big.  I am not there yet.   I will be one day.
  I think my girlfriends are all starting to not have any interest in this new life style.  One as I have said really never started, the other was doing great for a while, but has admitted many bad food choices and is starting to make excuses.  I am sure she will come around.  The last one is struggling with her own 3 pound plateau.  I can not make them do this, but I hope they stick to it, because they are keeping me motivated.  

Tracy

Natalie, Ellen, Heather, Stacey

  Natalie is not loosing weight with us.
 
 I am just about down 10% of my fat debt and I am thrilled.

My biggest looser challenge is going well too.  Tiger and I were both down this last weigh in.  We were going to measure too, but I could not find the measuring tape.   We will do it next weekend.  We also talked about what would we do with the pounds pot.  Originally the one who lost the most would get it, but I have really been thinking about it and I think we should donate it. A food cupboard or toys for tots.  I talked with her about this and she agrees.  $9 will not go far, but if we each decide to match what is in the pot for charity that would be a good thing.  especially with the holidays coming. With Thanksgiving around the corner as well as all the other food holidays the pot may increase.  fingers crossed NO, but only time will tell.

Sprint 8

I have never been a fan of the treadmill.  We have had one in our home for as long as I can remember.   I do not like to use it, but it is great for cold days and rainy days.   After the fire in 2007 we replaced our treadmill with one that is much more sophisticated than the one we lost.  This one has a great program called sprint 8.  It is an interval program.  It changes speed and incline.   It is actually a great program.  I still prefer to walk outside, but it will do as winter is coming.  
   I was thinking about doing the couch to 5K program that many folks are doing these days, but again with bad weather coming I figured I would not be successful on that program.  Maybe I will give it a go this spring.   I remembered the sprint 8 program and made the decision to do it.   I started on Wednesday September 21 and did level 1.   I have been doing the sprint 8 program nearly everyday since I started.  On Sunday 10/16 I began level 5 and it was freaking hard.   I am thrilled to post that I did finish it and I was so proud of myself.   I had to slow the speed on my cool down, but today my third day at level 5 I did it all without feeling like I need to slow down.   I am so excited about this.   It is a huge accomplishment. I am sure I will be at level 5 for a while, it is still hard, but I will know when I am ready for 6.  
   The biggest looser challenge with Tiger is going ok.   Week one I was down Yeah!  Week 2 up 4 pounds.  Not sure why?   I did not like not knowing so  I  started a food journal.   Week 3 I was back down all I had gained and a little more.  We have $9 in the pot now with 5 weeks to go in this challenge.
   I have lost about 20 pounds since this journey began.   I had a long plateau, but I pushed through and did not let it get me down.   I worry about my friends who stated this with me back in August.  One  really has not been involved, one had major "slips" this past weekend, and the last is going strong, but is battling her own plateau.   John is working crazy hours and is doing what he can.  I think the long days and weeks are getting to him.   I do not like cooking for one!   I am ready for his work to go back to 9-5.
   I am doing great.  I feel good, I am happy and very proud of myself.  

Biggest Looser Challenge

I am doing a Biggest Looser challenge with a good friend Tiger.  I was down 5.4 at the end of the first week.  Yeah me, but this weekend I think I put it all back on. I ate far to many applesauce chocolate chip cookies!

I am again fearing the scale I have eaten so much bread this weekend I thought my body was going to go in to shock because of it all.I do not keep much bread in the house anymore so I do not have to try and avoid it. I will hop on the scale later tonight to calm my nerves and get an idea of how much I have to make up.

Saturday I did ok.  I ran and cleaned the house.  I line danced for a good 30 minutes so a good work out.  I think I ate an egg with spinach.  Lunch whole wheat pasta salad with spinach, chicken and veggies
dinner super late because Michelle as in the ED.  I had some steak, green beans and onion rings.

Sunday ( Apple Picking with family)
Breakfast scrambled eggs with herb pepper and 1 turkey bacon and 1 pancake leftover from earlier in the week.  it was yummier the first day.
Lunch and Dinner you can see Ihad a huge FAIL!
lunch potato chips, salad, meatball sub on a white roll  1/2 a loaf of garlic bread (white)
snack 4 apples while traipsing through the orchard
Dinner white Italian bread with brie cheese.

Today My folks and I took a nice stroll around the neighborhood this morning my guess was about 1.5- 1.75 miles.  it was a slow pace.  but better than nothing with the day I am about to have.

breakfast was a yummy apple french toast.  White Calla bread, apples eggs cinnamon.  I ate a piece that was 2 X 2  not huge, but not small still yummy
Lunch that whole wheat pasta salad ice tea
Dinner????

Both yesterday and today I am super low on my water. So far today I have finished just 32 oz.

My folks are still here till tomorrow.  I am working today 130 - 4, class 5-7, work 730 - 830  and 930 - 10ish
I got my morning work covered tomorrow so I do not have to work till 1 in the afternoon.  I gave up 6 hours, so now I need to try and replace the time.

I will get back on track today and tomorrow with my healthy new lifestyle.  I guess sometimes you have to shake things up a bit to drop weight.
I am happy to break my plateau.  I have set a goal by Christmas/ New Years drop  25 pounds  in 84 days. I think it is do able.

frustration is rising

 I feel like I am on this plateau.  I am back to having my fear of the numbers on the scale.  Nothing in my body do I feel has changed.  

I love that I am waking up with more energy.  I am ready to face the day.

Today I started a new treadmill program.  it is called sprint 8.  It is about a 20 minute interval program in both pace and amplitude. I picked level 1 today.  At the fastest pace it is 3.7 and you are at the fast for 30 seconds and then 90 seconds at a slower pace 1.5.  I bumped it up in pace between 1.7 and 2.  I was thinking about doing the couch to 5K, but with the cold setting in I am not as likely to get out there and walk/ run.  This program will have to do.

Once we get things moved around in the basement work out area I hope john will help me set up a program.  We have kettle bells, a 10 pound medicine ball, the treadmill, weights, and several DVDs.  I guess I need to get a TV and DVD player down there.  I have the 30 day shred with Jillian.  takes about 20 minutes.

Maybe I could do the 30 day shred every other day with the sprint 8.  The 30 day shred says you are supposed to do it very day.  I should see what the library has too.

I am not going to get off this plateau till I get moving.

I promise I will get on the scale on Friday, but not a day before.

meals....  i don't think I am eating right.  some days it is to much, or too little or bad choices. I start the day great, but it goes downhill from there.  I feel like Mother Hubbard.. I open the fridge and it feels so bare.  I was so sick of left overs, but now we have none.

Breakfast was an orange before my "work out" then eggs one white, 1 whole and 2 bacon.   It is time to switch to turkey bacon.  I prefer the pork, but if I am eating bacon everyday I need to switch.

Lunch???

Dinner chicken breast BBQ grilled corn and grilled zucchini.

I also had my 1 month pictures taken.  I have yet to compare them to see if I can see changes.  at First glance- none.

plateau #1

I believe I have hit my first plateau.   I am hovering around the same weight for 10 +days now.  It is plus or minus a pound or three.   I got out for a walk 3 times this weeks.  A walk must not be enough.   I keep thinking I want to do couch to 5 K but I keep finding reasons to not do it.  I think fear is the biggest reason.  I am not sure what I am actually afraid of-success.  I have tried walking programs, and after a week or so I just stop.  why keep doing this to myself?

This week I realized I do need a food journal.  I had talked about it in an email with my friends who or on the road to this lifestyle change with me.  I was thinking nah.   In those emails we talked about our food plans.  What we were eating at each meal including snacks.   I guess in a way it was my food journal.  I wrote to them every morning.  I mapped out the meal planning.  It was in black and white.  Lesson learned.  I must admit to journal it is the worst part of this lifestyle change.

It is not that I am not moving enough or not using a journal that I had a blah week.   I guess it felt more like a competition with the girls around. we all have a similar amount of weight to drop.  So with them it is more even.  Men lose faster traditionally, and John has a lot less to go than me.  He is a great encourager. Good and Bad!  I am so lucky he is here, my huge fail he sent the sweetest text.  he said "not a fail, just a slip for this meal" It ended as a slip day. I made cookies. I think there is just one left.

I need to figure out how to break the plateau.  A 3 day cinch cleanse?  greens and proteins?  time for some web research.  keep your fingers crossed for me!   I still have a lot to go!

diet fail- I am a bread junky!

yesterday was a huge Diet fail.  I can only blame myself even if I am trying to blame others.  First, I blame my girlfriends. They went on vacation. I know my husband is also a support, but ....

So you ask why the fail???   I was asked by a friend (not one of the 4 on the diet with me) to go to lunch.  I of course said yes. I love time out with friends.  she had a craving for pizza so we went to the hut.  I was actually better than I have been in the past, but still 3 slices and 5 bread sticks will not help me to loose 150 pounds. After a decent dinner I failed yet again and made chocolate chip cookies.  they were from a frozen dough so not too hard to resist.  I had 3 with a nice cup of hot tea.  
I have had 2 today also.  Not to many left in the house to tempt me.  At least I baked up only a dozen.
I really need to get focused.  I can only blame myself..
Today I put on a pair of pants I don't think I have ever worn.  they were in my closet and I am sure I got them from one of my fat friends.  They fit, but I still had to lay on the bed to get them buttoned.
I really wonder how much damage this week has done.
I started out good.  Got 3 nice walks in and ate pretty well. Till Wednesday.  Time to gear up again.  Next week we are going to Olive Garden for dinner.  It is a friends birthday celebration.  Hard to say no.  I am a bread junky!

It is all in the mind set.  I have to get back on track. 18 pounds is a good start, but I am feeling a bit of a plateau.  I need to push on through. I have lost the same 30 pounds again and again and then I give up.  I do not want to give up.
Why did I get this motivation at the end of summer. it is getting cold now and who wants to walk outside.
Still need to get my butt to the gym.

All in good time.
Do you feel my frustration???

it has been a while...

I finished the full 5 days of the Cinch fast forward. it was a success 8.6 pounds lost. i then went to Canada for a party and ate and drank with some limitation as expected do you the cleanse i put 3 pounds back on.  I think it was a lot of water loss.  I just finished a week of greens and proteins and I am down another 3 pounds.  I am not doing so hot with getting exercise in my schedule.  I really need to work on it.  I know to loose weight it is a diet and exercise change.  I am working on it.  Work has ramped back up and I need to just put exercise in my schedule and then I hope to have better luck with it.  I did call my gym to get trained on the 30 minute circuit, but the trainer was being trained and it was not an option last week
.  Now I need to get my motivation back up.


My friends who are taking this journey with me have gone on vacation for a week.  I can do this without them.  Thankfully I have my hubby to help and support me.

I am afraid that if I do not limit myself to a week of greens and proteins or stuff like that then I will go way off track.  I know no carbs is not the way to go. Ellen said she heard about a 17 day diet.  Maybe we will check it out.
 I do still think about the Cinch 5 piece puzzle when I am making my lunch.

I just wish I could see or feel the weight loss.  next pictures will be September 21.

Day 5 is here!!!

  I am sick of raspberries.   Today was the first day I felt this.  I can  not be anymore creative with them. I have just 3 more cups to go. My scramble this morning was just so so.  I think I am going bonkers.  Thankfully I love the almonds!!!!  I must admit I am so afraid to get on the scale tomorrow.  I have followed this to a T, except missing meal 4 on Wednesday, but I never got the feeling of hunger.   That is what makes me worried.  I have been peeing like crazy too. Can I flush the fat out in my pee?   If this is a cleanse, cleaning the digestive tract, then I have not really cleansed too much.  Sorry for the bathroom talk at 930 in the morning.  I keep thinking and I reread a part of the book is all of the foods have essential things my body needs.  So I am giving my body that only and nothing is really being consumed that is waste.  ( enough bathroom talk)

I do not think I will eat raspberries for a very long time.  I was never a huge fan anyhow. 

I have actually enjoyed the scramble till today.

John has been working crazy hours and has been tempted with food all week.  He has stuck with this program.  I am nervous and excited for us.   One would think a 5-8 pound loss would change how our clothes fit.  I have not seen that for me.  I am really sucking at the exercise thing.  I need some help with that.   I know John and I talked about going for a walk everyday together, but it only happened a few days about 2 weeks ago.   

 

As of now I am nervous for the scale tomorrow.  I want great results or I will feel this was all for nothing.  It was expensive too.  Raspberries are not cheap and I purchased enough for the 2 of us.  I want to see a high number 8-10 pounds.  What if it is only 5.  Will I be happy with 5.  Sure I think I will, but who knows.

Only 3 meals to go....

Cinch! day 3

I am tired of the spinach salad.   I love the breakfast. I never liked cooked spinach, but with so cracked pepper it is very good.   Still not feeling the hunger they said I should feel.
I actually missed meal 4 on day 3.  We went out and when we got home it had been 7 hours since I last ate.  I did not feel hungry and I NEEDED to go to bed.   So I went.
John is starting to get grouchy.  He is a doll to do this with me, but he is always saying he is not getting enough.  He is feeling hungry. His new "job" also keeps tempting at lunch with the food they bring in.  He is such a doll.  He wants to drop 40 pounds too, so this my get a jump start for him.

I think the girls are starting to peeter out too.  there are fewer comments on the email about how things are going.

DAY 3 DONE!!!!  two more to go.  Feeling like I can make it, just hope the scale awards me too.

Cinch! day 2

I am wrapping up day 2 with my final meal of the day.  The smoothie.  Yesterday I made it as suggested with the almond butter mixed in- BIG MISTAKE!   Today I picked up frozen berries to have with my yogurt.  Much better.  I will eat the almond butter separate. So far this has not been so bad.  I have enjoyed the meals (for the most part.)
Today for dinner I mixed the berries with white balsamic- not bad, not great.
I am having issues because even at 5 hours I am not feeling hungry.  I think this is a problem.  The point of the cleanse is to reset the self and feel when you are hungry.  Not happening here.  I really hope I can lose over this 5 days.  The book says 8 pounds.  Fingers crossed!!!
I am feeling good, but I would not say I have more energy than normal.  So far I am just eating the same 4 meals for 5 days.
Friday I will weigh and photograph.   I have talked with some folks on the Cinch facebook page and the results are mixed.  people are losing inches not pounds. Maybe this will not be for me.  Am I in it for the full 30 day program?  I guess we shall see.

Cinch! 5 day fast forward DAY 1

It is the first day of the fast forward.  I took before pictures, but I will hold off posting them till after.   I am horrified by the before pictures, but a visual record of this event of a better me will keep me encouraged.   As I mentioned the scale has been wonky.  I have decided my 2nd toe will be at the top of the silver bar on the scale so I hope to have accurate readings from here on out.  I will say since I was at the Biltmore I am down 10 pounds.  I think my girlfriends are also having success.  On is down 8.5 the other 3 or 4. the last really has not said anything.  Then my husband is down about 3.

For this 5 day fast forward I must admit several of the foods are not in my top choices not because they are good for me, but taste and texture do not satisfy.

My husband, John, is doing the fast forward with me.  As a support, or even to get to his goal of 200. He will be modifying the plan this is how he will change it " Due to my larger muscle mass and having more caloric requirements, I am modifying it only to add more protein. I don't want to risk losing too much muscle, which as our calorie burning furnaces would, if lost, would lower caloric output. My only planned modifications are adding a glass of milk and 1 extra egg at both breakfast and dinner."  He is in the picture with me on my profile.
I had the scramble this morning.  I used the garlic and black pepper as suggested.  I do not like cooked spinach, but over all the breakfast was edible. I did start to think about food at around 11, but I would not say I was hungry.   Maybe I was, but I am not sure what that feels like as Cynthia says in the book.   I waited till noon to eat.

Lunch is the yogurt and raspberries and almonds.  the best part of lunch, the nuts!!!

I just had dinner.  A spinach salad with hard boiled egg, crushed raspberries, almonds, and a balsamic vinaigrette made with clementine.  

I was not hungry for dinner, but it had been 5 hours, and I have to leave for work.   One more "meal" to go.   Day one was not so bad.  the worse part was the cooked spinach.

I think I can do this.   I am hopeful for the results the book "promised"

The Scale- friend or Foe

    I got on the unlikeable scale this morning.  It is so frustrating.  I had  an 8 pound range.   I like to be sure I get the same number 2 or 3 times to trust it is right.   My husband asked "how do I stand on it?" DUH-  With my feet.   How else?  He was not to happy with my chipper sarcasm this morning.   Even though I have eaten this morning, I will run up and give it another try before I go out for the day.
   So I really have no known success for this last week.  I could be +1 or down 5.   I like the down number.

At what point do your cloths not fit right, or you do down a dress size?   I have heard -10, but I have lost 30 before and the clothes still fit.

Next week (tomorrow)  I am planning on starting the Cinch! 5 day fast forward.   UGH.  I am not a yogurt fan, but maybe in 5 days I will love it.  an 8 pound loss would be awesome, with my wonky scale ( which is new, 2 weeks ago)  I may never know if I lose.  I will ask my hubby to snap some pictures.  Something to see the change since I am not feeling it!

Round is a shape

While on vacation I stepped on the scale.  Why would they have a scale in the bathroom at the Biltmore????  why would I step on it while on vacation?  Well I was beyond mortified.  I knew I was fat. This number just confirmed it for me.  UGH!!!!  It was at that moment I decided i needed to do something.  I still had 5  days of vacation.  Still it was time for a change.
   While on this trip my husband and I were reading Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover.  It is an excellent book about debt and how to get out of it.  One analogy Dave used through the whole book was getting out of debt is like getting into shape. Now  if you know me I HATE debt.  Hate may not be a strong enough word.  I have been out of debt except for my Mortgage for a long time, but more on that later.
   So I am fat.  I have known it a long time.  My file at the doctor office says morbidly obese. I am not happy.  So what am  I going to do about it???   I enlisted the help of a few girlfriends ( the 4 of us are in the same weight range) and my husband and we are on a diet together.  I am happy to report that I have lost 13 pounds (from the number while on vacation) I am so embarrassed about the number I will not even post it here (yet)  I have not even told my husband.  My goal is 150 pounds. I know I can do it. I did not put it on in one day it will take a while to get it off.
  One friend sent an email the first Monday to say how her first day went. It was great we all commented shared our thoughts and what we had planned to eat that day.   I did not save it, but the others I have saved.
We all had Success!  Week one we did greens and Proteins.  We all had our own idea of what it looked like. I was thinking chicken, beef cukes, green peppers, lettuce you know green food.   Another included apples.  Granny Smith they are green. 
   Week 2 - just eat healthy.  I weigh in tomorrow. Fingers crossed I have a loss!
Next week I am thinking of doing the Cinch! 5day fast forward.  It is a "cleanse."  It says I can lose 8 pounds in 5 days and inches too.  I will get pictures for this.  I will let you know how it goes.  I have seen posts about how it was hard, it was easy blah. blah. It is ONLY 5 days!!!!  And my hubby as a support will do it with me. So he says.  He already plans to modify the program. 

Wish me Luck!!!