Down Again!

Hello!

Well, following my checklist of what to do last week paid off!  I am down 2.2 pounds today, losing the weight that I gained last week plus a little extra.  I've been focusing on working out almost everyday (five days this week), drinking a lot more water, and staying under my 1500 calorie limit each day.  We even had a splurge day- Tim and I went to Applebees Monday after our lunch shift.  We went for the $5.99 burgers, and happened to hit happy hour as well.  We went a little crazy, and got burgers, mozzarella sticks, and I had a margarita.  It was wonderful after a rough shift at work, and nice to not think about the calories for a little bit.

I was immediately filled with guilt after we splurged.  We also aren't used to having that heavy food anymore, so we promptly passed out when we got home.  After the nap, I hit the gym for the second time that day, doing 35 minutes on the bike in the morning and 25 in the evening.  To top off the day, we went for frozen yogurt (we did walk there- about 1/2 mile).  Total calories for that day were very high, about 2400!  I burned about 800 at the gym, and serving averages about 150-230 calories burned per hour, so I ended up breaking even.  Still, it is crazy to think that used to be a regular day for us- without the exercise.  Now, when we go over on food for the day, I make sure to make up for it.  I'm ok working off the food, as it allows me to break the healthy food cycle every now and then.  Days like that also serve as a reminder to how easy it would be to slip back.  2400 calories is about 2/3 of a pound.  If we didn't work out, I could easily have gained about a half pound (theoretically) in one day!  I also recognized how terrible I felt after eating.  We fell asleep almost immediately after returning home- I felt so sluggish, and had to make myself go back down to workout again.  I have gotten used to feeling better everyday, and I don't want to give that up for burgers!

This week, we are planning on trying out this recipe I found on Women's Health Magazine for a healthy version of Arroz con Pollo.  We will also be walking to the frozen yogurt place down the street a night or two this week.  As long as we don't pile on the toppings, an 8 ounce serving only has 110 calories, and it's delicious!  This coming from a girl who loves ice cream- got hooked on it from a young age.  This is just as good, and we walk there and back, so it's not a terrible treat to have!

I am hoping to be officially down a size within a month.  I can fit into one size smaller jeans, but they are a little snug for how I like the fit.  I have lost three inches around my waist (so it looks like I am curvy), an inch around my hips, belly and boobs, and about a half inch each from my neck and arms.  That's a total loss of seven inches!! Sadly, I haven't lost anything from my legs yet,  but I'm really looking forward to it!

I hope this is helping some of you get motivated to be healthier!  If I can manage to lose weight without feeling like I'm suffering, I know anyone can!  Feel free to ask any questions, or comment any tips of your own!  I still haven't worked out with the website how to comment anonymously from smartphones, but hopefully that bug will be worked out with blogger!
(you may be able to if you go to the full site version on your phone)

Have a great week!

"Progress"

Hey everyone! 

I'm still doing my challenge- but I think it should be a "fitness" challenge instead of a "running" challenge.  My legs really aren't running legs yet.  It gets really hard on the joints, and I don't want to be walking around like an old lady yet.  Here is my journal from where we last left off: 

Day six:  I went a little bit longer today!  I ran for 23 minutes, and kept up with the warm up for three minutes, then intervals of 2 minutes after that.  I’m getting faster little by little every day!  My pace today was 13.29 minute miles, so I went 1.73 miles!  I’m hoping to be up to two miles next week, in about 25 minutes.  I wanted to push myself today to go 25 minutes, but I don’t want to push too hard and have to stop.  I also went to the grocery store today and got healthy food, because I gained one pound at TOPS today, and I don’t want to be doing all this running and sweating for nothing.

Day Seven:  I opted for the bike instead of a run today.  Running is hard on the hips and knees.  I figured I’d give them a bit of a break.  To keep up with exercising, I went for 35 minutes and did just over seven miles, with higher resistance on the bike.  Thanks to the running, I’ve built up more cardio strength.  I was able to do much higher resistance than normal for both rest and work periods.  

Day Eight:  I got up to two miles today!! I really, really didn’t want to work out.  I almost skipped it for a nap.  A nap wouldn’t have gotten me as sweaty, but I also am really proud of getting up to two miles- at 24:54!!!  I kept going, and did my last rest interval, for a total of 26 minutes, 2.07 miles.  I’m down to under 13 minute miles!! Much better than the 15+ minute mile I started with (or the 17 minute mile outside).  12.56 minute miles to be exact!! I am very glad I worked out when I wanted to do anything but that.  I made myself put on the shoes, and said I was just going to do a short workout.  I ended up doing my longest and farthest run (so far).  Keep at it!!

I am getting a little discouraged with my weight loss so far. I've been working out way more than I ever have (which was pretty much nothing), we have cut out all fast food, and judging by my "cheat days," we've cut out about 800-1000 calories on a daily basis. I've also cut back on beer- I didn't drink a lot before, but now I don't drink any. With all of this that we've cut out, and all the work I've been doing, I haven't had a lot of progress. I'm still only down about ten pounds from my heaviest at the beginning of the year, and have only gone down about three pounds since I joined TOPS. It's very frustrating!!!

We sometimes go out to eat, and I'm sure that doesn't help, but overall, we've made a drastic change in what we eat, and I'm really sad about the lack of results.

On the plus side, I've never been able to do a mile in 12.5 minutes, and today I did two of them! I know my heart is getting in better shape, and I am getting healthier. But can't I get healthier and lose some pounds?

Anyway, things that I've been doing to hopefully be down this week are: stocking up on healthy lunch things. We've been having turkey wraps on either spinach tortillas or using lettuce wraps, with soup or cottage cheese for lunch. We've also been getting back into our smoothie kick. I now know that I can eat lettuce wraps, and that I like almond milk. We put it in our smoothies, and I put some in coffee or hot chocolate when I have a cup.

I have also been getting better at recognizing when I am hungry versus when I want to eat. It gets pretty difficult sometimes to stay under 1500 calories, but I really do try! We have also been trying to take out dinner from the freezer in the morning, and prep meals before we go to work so we have no excuse to make dinner at home.

I hope some of this is helping with your weight loss goals!

Also, I've discovered that mobile commenting isn't working as "anonymous," but it works to comment if you are on a computer. Don't know why that is- but feel free to email me! eringesine@gmail.com

Ups and Downs

Hi all,

Sorry it's been so long!  I've been having a hard time staying focused.  I've stayed at the same weight for two weeks, so at least I'm not gaining, but I haven't worked out since last Tuesday (yikes).  We also had a hard time these last few days staying on track with eating healthy.

We went to the coast for Tim's birthday last week, and that's when the eating took a turn for the worse.  I was able to pick up a few gifts for Tim, and he isn't big on desserts, but he asked for some Chocolate Chip Cookies.  It was his birthday, I had to make him cookies.  Everyone gets treats on their birthday!  We stayed in a small inn for the night, and ordered in pizza.  We went way overboard, but the inn was adorable:

It gets really frustrating trying to eat healthy all the time.  It was nice to not worry about it for a couple days.  And we had wine!  Wine!  I don't drink a lot- maybe a drink or two a week, but it's a lot of calories, so I've pretty much stopped.  Man, wine is tasty! 

We had trouble getting back on track this week, and the two of us went out for trivia at our neighborhood bar (which we won).  

Bar food and a pitcher of beer really adds up and puts you over for daily intake.  Feeling a little queasy the next day (not used to drinking) I stayed home from TOPS.  I wouldn't use myself as a role-model for weight-loss this week.  We ate some junk food yesterday, and made some fried chicken for dinner.  I'm not proud of these past two weeks-but they can't all be good weight-loss weeks, right?

But, on to the Ups!  I've learned a lot overall with eating healthier.  First, I hated drinking water.  A lot.  I used to make myself drink a glass or two a day, some days I wouldn't  have any.  But after making an effort to drink more everyday, I can manage about 5 glasses a day.  And on days I drink less, my body notices.  I've gotten to the point where I need that much water, and I like drinking it.  

Next, I've found that I can make a lot of healthier substitutions and not miss the junk parts of food that I used to eat (too much).  We love making tacos for dinner.  We tried switching out ground beef with ground turkey and made our own taco seasoning.  It tasted great, but the texture of the turkey was a little too different for me.  Now we use half ground beef and half ground turkey, we don't notice the difference at all, and we save a lot of calories and fat.  We do the same for chili.  We've also switched to using turkey sausage when we make kielbasa for dinner.  We double our veggies instead of eating pasta or rice with dinner.  I have english muffins instead of a bagel or toast for breakfast.  Every little bit helps!  I'm learning a lot about what kind of foods I like, simply by trying new, healthy things.  It does make me miss a lot of food we used to eat, but we are working through it.  

I've also struggled with exercising this past week or so.  I get really bored just getting on the exercise bike and peddling for a half-hour.  I try to shake it up a little with yoga and weight lifting, but I needed a new challenge.  Since I haven't been able to make myself do a Zumba class, I am working with a friend from the restaurant to do a 21 day running challenge.  She went down a lot of dress sizes and went from not being a runner at all, to being able to run five miles!  She just did it herself last year, teamed up with a friend, and promised to run everyday for three weeks.  I am using her as my inspiration, and starting tomorrow, will begin a 21 day running challenge myself.  I made a calendar to track my pace, time and distance each day.  Hopefully having a set goal, and holding myself accountable will get me out of this funk- and turn running into a habit!

I'll keep you posted on how the challenge goes, and hopefully will have good news at my next weigh-in!!