Tuesday – Still going strong!

Today went well! Thanks for the comments and suggestions yesterday. I ate healthier today in general – didn’t have as many empty calories. Skipped the sugar free pudding today! The only sweet thing I had was an apple w/ dip. I did another exercise video today – Cathe’s Rhythmic Step. And believe it or not, I was slightly sore from Leslie Sansone’s Walk Slim yesterday! There’s not a whole lot else to say about the day. Tomorrow promises to be a super-busy day, and I will really struggle to fit exercise in, but I’m really going to try. My concern is that I have to be ready to leave my house at 6:30pm and I have a meeting tomorrow afternoon at work, so I may not be able to leave work in time to workout.

Here’s the menu:

• Breakfast: Omelet w/ .5 oz of cheddar cheese and .5 oz mozzarella cheese (250)
• Morning Snack: About 2.5 serving of melba toast and 2 saltine crackers (150)
• Workout: 45 minutes of Cathe Friedrich Low Impact Step (-350?)
• Lunch: Southwest Turkey Burger w/ .5 oz of Cheddar Cheese (210)
• Afternoon Snack: A large Granny Smith apple with some fruit dip (210)
• Dinner: Sam’s Choice Spinach Artichoke Stuffed Chicken Breast, Green Beans, and a Pillsbury dinner roll (450)
• Total cals eaten: 1270
• Cals burned through exercise: -350?

Hooray for a Fresh Start!

Today actually went really well. I think it’s helping that I feel like I’m starting over with a clean slate. I was more motivated to get through a lot of things like the 2pm slump where I really wanted a snack. I was also genuinely hungry, so I definitely need to plan better. The problem was that I ate all my snacks in the morning. But I didn’t give in. I also came home and did a workout video (Leslie Sansone 4 mile Walk Slim), which was actually a very good workout. She does jogging intervals and I was actually sweating by the time it was over. And the time flew by – I think because I hadn’t done that video in a while it seemed new. I only dipped into my “flex calories” by 50 cals, so not too bad. My only real “mistake” for the day was some munchies (melba toast crackers and 3 saltines) when I got home from work before I worked out. I should have immediately started working out, but instead I lingered for a few minutes and I was so hungry that I started munching. I also stuck with my no-spending plan and I feeling that is very acheivable and it’s also helping a lot that I’m not buying any snacks. I know it’s not an option at all, since I’m not allowed to spend any money – so I avoid the mental battles of “well, could I maybe fit this vending machine snack into my calories for the day?” I just know that I can’t get anything from the vending machine, so I didn’t even argue with myself. I’m off to bed now, because I’m going to try a morning workout tomorrow (keyword: TRY). I hope to have some time to catch up on blog-reading tomorrow!

Here’s what I ate today:

• Omelet w/ cheese (250)
• Two sugar free puddings  (120)
• Two Southwest Turkey Burgers w/ cheddar cheese  (410)
• Two servings of Melba Toast  (100)
• 3 Saltine crackers (50)
• Smart Ones Breakfast Burrito (220)
• Green Giant frozen Immunity Blend Steamed Veggies (100)
• Total: 1250
• Flex Cals Remaining: 1450
• Workout: 40 mins of Leslie Sansone 4 mile walk slim (-350?)

Survived this weekend

Well, I survived the weekend. Didn’t do great, but didn’t do horribly either. Weekends are often tough. I have decided that tomorrow I’m giving myself a completely fresh start. I’m starting a new weight chart on my progress page and I’m basically trying to think of it as a whole new start. This is because I keep getting discouraged when I look at the weight chart and when I think about the five pounds I’ve regained. Yes, I gained five pounds that I had worked really hard to lose, but that’s life and I’m putting it behind me. I think part of avoiding the on-a-diet or off-a-diet mentality that is so destructive IS actually being able to “start over” or forget the past at any time. The time is always right for a fresh start. Anyway, that’s my current line of thinking. And I also feel that I need a specific goal instead of “I”ll try to eat healthfully and exercise.” Therefore, this coming week I will basically do the weight watchers plan except with calories. So 1200 calories a day with 1500 “flex calories.” Anyway here’s the goals:

• 1200 calories a day with 1500 “flex calories” (extra calories for the week to be used however I want – all in one day or spread out evenly or however I want)
• Journal every single bite I eat
• Write a blog post every day before I go to bed.
• Exercise four times (for a minimum of 30 minutes)
• This is non exactly directly weight loss related, but I exceeded my food budget last month (mostly because I bought some junk food which was of course bad for my budget and my weight). My freezer, fridge, and pantry are well stocked. Therefore, this week I will not spend ANY money shopping except for my planned purchase of diet Pepsi’s for $2.00 for  a 12-pack at Target.

I feel better already. It’s been a long time since I set specific goals. I think this will really help me.

Thursday

Well, it’s my second day back and I’ve already encountered some challenges. There were many challenges at work – some that literally showed up on my desk! A coworker had the vending give her two packages of ding dongs when she bought one so she gave me the extra one. I just threw it in the grocery bag of stuff I was taking home instead of eating – which was of course good. However, it should have gone to the trash because in the car on the way home I mindlessly picked it up and ate it! What was I thinking!? Then of course I was frustrated with myself, but i didn’t let that mistake cause me to spiral out of control. I tell you, I just fight and fight and fight with that all-or-nothing mentality.

I’m back!!

Well, I’ve been completely MIA for over two weeks! I wrote this great post a couple weeks ago about how I was just going to buckle down and do it. Then I proceeded to completely leap of the wagon in a way I haven’t done since I started this effort last September. And once you are off track, it is SO much harder to get back on track. Oh, it was bad! I was sick and tired of struggling so much – I had struggled since Thanksgiving and had managed simply to maintain playing with about 5 pounds. Well, what can I say? I just gave in. Stopped telling myself no and started telling myself yes. If I wanted to snack on a few M&M’s, I would. If I wanted to go out to lunch with a friend and eat shrimp fondue and pizza with her, I did. If I wanted to save a few bucks and order a chicken sandwich instead of a salad, I did. If I had too much to do to squeeze in a workout, I just skipped it. I stopped blogging as you can tell. And I stopped reading blogs almost altogether – I think I popped into to Roni’s Weigh a couple times and that’s it. I have 350 unread posts in my Google Reader. The worst part is that I’ve gained five pounds! It’s so discouraging. I worked SOOO hard to get those five pounds off and then to gain them back in a couple weeks of carelessness.

Well, I’ve had enough so I’m getting back on track. I started this morning. I worked out on the elliptical for 30 mins today. Here’s todays menu:

• SmartOnes English Muffin w/ Egg and Cheese (210)
• Lunchables – Turkey and Cheddar (340)
• Wheat Thins Veggie Crisps (230)
• Medium Apple (90)
• Some Saltine crackers and some cheddar cheese (120)
• Sam’s Choice Artichoke Stuffed Chicken Breast (220)
• Can of green beans (70)
• Two Sugar Free Puddings (120)
• Total Cals Eaten: 1400
• Total Cals burned through exercise: -250
• Net cals: 1150

Time for Some Drastic Measures!!

Well, folks, it’s time for some drastic measures. This just isn’t cutting it. I am STILL at the same weight I was just before Thanksgiving. In the 3 months prior to that, I did lose fifteen pounds. In the past couple weeks I’ve just kept getting more and more off track, and a little more discouraged, a little less optimistic and confident. This has to stop. NOW. I will not, I WILL NOT gain back one stinkin’ pound that I worked SOOO hard to lose. And I will lose more weight, and I will eventually reach my goal. This is getting ridiculous. I know I can do this. Instead of me looking back over the past weeks and pointing at all the mistakes I’ve made and all the places I’ve gone wrong (which I believe I have done on this blog recently), I’m going to do something else. I’m going to focus on what DOES work. I’m thinking back on the times that I have been successful and I’m going to implement what has worked for me. So here are the things that have truly worked for me:

• POSITIVE MOMENTUM. I truly believe that this has been about the greatest contributor to my weight loss success. Success just keeps building on itself. I do much better on any given day if I did well the day before. This is why a good decision now has far more impact that just the results of that one decision – it creates more and more good decisions. This is not to say that I won’t ever make a mistake, but the quicker I recover, the better.
• CONSISTENT BLOGGING. I do so much better when I am consistently posting on my blog and reading other blogs. Reading the weight loss journey’s of others is so helpful and my daily blogging is something that really keeps me accountable and helps me reflect on the things I’m doing well and the things I need to change. Lately I’ve gotten lax about reading (tonight there were 190 posts in my google reader, because I hadn’t read blogs for nearly a week) and I’ve gotten lazy about posting. I’ve skipped a couple days this week, and most of my posts have been very short and not as thoughtful.
• MEASURABLE RESULTS. Nothing is more motivational that positive results. I’m not quite as sure how to control this. I really can’t directly control the numbers on the scale. Sometimes my body is slow about dropping the weight. I think I need to measure something else. There really is a part of me that wants to throw the scale out the window (figuratively, not literaly – although that might be fun, too). I think I need to measure something I can control.
• EXERCISE, EXERCISE, EXERCISE. This is critical for me, and in the 10-12 weeks that I lost 15 pounds, I worked out an average of 4 days/week. I can’t say enough about the psychological benefits of exercise for me. It helped me stay on track with my eating. I slacked off this week and only worked out twice. I need to get out there and work!
• AVOIDANCE OF SWEETS AND BAKING. Unfortunately, I just can’t be around sweets and I can’t bake. This week I’ve baked three or four sweets – always with some excuse, but every time I ended up snacking on what I made. I need to stop.

Still Hanging On

I think that’s been the title of my post far too often in the last few weeks. I am really in need of some serious action, strong motivation, and awesome results. Instead I manage to make it through without doing anything too stupid too often, and I’m still maintaining. Made a couple eating mistakes today. I think it was partly because of how tired I was (stayed up way too late last night.) So today I’m off to bed super early, and I’m going to eat well tomorrow. Tomorrow is a new day.

Wednesday – Still on Track

Well, I was on track again today! However, I still feel there were some areas for improvement. I snacked on a few too many crackers at work today and had a small piece of cake tonight. No workout today – I just had too much to do. However, I feel okay about that because I should have plenty of time for a nice, long workout tomorrow and I’m kind of looking forward to it! I’m keeping this post short because I need to lots of catching up on my blog reading – I haven’t read any blogs since last Thursday – my Google reader shows 154 unread posts! Wow, I’ve got some catching up to do.

I think I’m back on track!

For some reason, I just seem to be stuck at this weight. Stuck. And it’s not because I’m plateauing. It’s because I keep losing 3 or 4 pounds and then getting off track and gaining the 3 or 4 back. I’m so frustrated. This weekend was not the greatest eating wise. Then I think a combination of things made me have the highest possible weight for my weigh-in on Monday (yesterday) morning. Natural fluctuations at their peak, lots of bad eating over the weekend, a big dinner late on Sunday night – it made for a very discouraging weigh-in yetserday morning. I am still maintaining what I was just before Thanksgiving!! That’s 3 months with essentially no change. It’s seriously time to turn things around. I have to start make consistent progress. And I can’t let the slowness discourage me. I’ve done fairly well yesterday and today. I worked out on the elliptical for forty-five mintues and ate well – no sweets.