The scale must be broken…

…in a good way!!!

I’m a daily weigher, and I have to say, I’m shocked at out how quickly the number is going down. I think I overreacted a bit when I saw how high it was a few days ago – I think it may have been artifically high because I’d been eating a lot of sodium and eating pretty late at night. My official “weigh-in” day is Wednesday so I can’t wait to see how it goes then.

Today went fairly well. Calories were a little high. I went to the park again and jogged. I was so worried that I it would go horribly because yesterday’s workout was sooo incredibly painful. Well, it was actually the easiset jog yet! I couldn’t believe it. I even stretched several of the 90 second jogging segment to two minutes. And ran for 3 minutes on the last one. Burned three hundred calories! And the weather was absolutely perfect! I love being able to exercise outside.

Report for Saturday

Another original title. Not too much to say today. I went “wogging” in the park again today. This was the first time I started without having gone to the Y and done the elliptical first. And let me tell you, it was painful. Seriously. Like I had to force myself to take every single step. I think not being already warmed up somewhat by having done the elliptical affected me. I’m doing a modified version of the Couch to 5k program, so I was doing 8 repitions of 90 seconds of jogging followed by 90 seconds of walking. It was all I could do to accomplish it. It didn’t help that there were a lot of hills. I got it done. Burned 300 calories. And I honestly have to admit that if I did not have someone jogging with me I don’t think I would have completed the workout. It really does help to have someone with you who can help keep you accountable.

I did have dessert tonight – I tried to exercise self control. I had a brownie and one serving of ice cream. But then I did graze some on the pan of brownies through the evening. However, when my guests left, I wisely threw away the remainder of the brownies. There were only about two left, and they really weren’t that good – I recently bought Aldi cocoa, and nothing I have made with it turns out well. It even looks pretty different than “normal” cocoa. I don’t think it’s worth the few cents I save to buy that. I’ll stick to the national brands next time.

I’m posting a new little graph of my calories/net calories for the day:

Report for Friday

I’m so bad at coming up with titles.

Just wanted to quickly report on yesterday. Things went well. Although I had a bag of M&M’s again. I think I’m addicted. My calories were a little high – around 1700, but with my workout my net was 1200, so not too bad. My goal is to lose two pounds a week, so I need a calorie deficit around a thousand a day. Meaning my net calories should be about 1000. Anway, I also worked out for a few minutes at the Y and went “wogging” in the park.

Here’s my food journal:

I’m back!

Well, I’m back. Sorry I’ve been MIA for the past couple weeks. At first, it was because I was busy and had company and all that good stuff. But that excuse only goes so far. After that, I must confess, it was because I was totally “off the wagon” and what’s there to blog about when you are doing so poorly? And when I say that I fell off the wagon, I don’t mean that I just sorta slipped off, I mean that I was launched off and it took me a while to even find my way back to the wagon. But, alas, I have found my way back, and I’m here. I weighed myself for the first time in a few days yesterday morning, and, let me tell you it was terrible. If I weren’t in such a hurry, I think I would have sat down and cried. Good thing I was in a hurry. I also considered grabbing a hammer and smashing the scale to smitherines, but that would have be a dangerous mess since the scale is glass, and my smashing energies would be better spent smashing all the chocolate in the world. Maybe the scale’s broken. Maybe I’ll keep buying new ones until I find one I like. Nah, buy the time I’d spent enough money to find one that actually shows a nice weight for me, I could have paid for liposuction five times.

I am not going to write a serious post analyzing all the causes of this latest catastrophe (if you want my thoughts just go back and read my archives – trust me, there’s no lack of catastrophes in there). But I do want to briefly update you on my approach and provide just a bit of explanation. So, if  you have been reading my blog for any length time, you know that I have really been struggling with my weight loss efforts the past several months. I started this blog along with my weight loss efforts last September. I quickly (quickly for me anyway – I think it was about 20 weeks) lost almost 20 pounds. In December, January, February, and March I simply maintained but that wasn’t easy. In April and May I gained back about half of the 20 pounds I lost – despite my many efforts to actually lose weight. So that begs the natural question: what was I doing differently back when I actually was losing weight?

Well, folks, I know the answer to that question quite well. As much as I hate to admit it, I was intensely focused during those weeks or Dave Ramsey would say “gazelle intense.” Granted, there were several annoyances that came with that type of intensity. I counted every calorie. Logged every bite. Weighed every morsel. Measured everything sight. Blogged every single day. Read hundereds of weight loss blogs and other encouring websites. Exercised 4-5 times a week every single week. Without fail. Exercised every single Monday to start my week off right for 13 weeks straight. Went cold turkey on desserts and snacks. For some, this may seem a little ridiculous. A lot of things you read will tell you “start small” and “everything in moderation.” Trust me, I think that is a wonderful theory. And I know that it works for many people. And I wanted to work for me and I tried it for months. I tried not journaling every bite and loosening up a bit. It clearly didn’t work for me. As much as I wish it would work for me, it hasn’t. Ever. And the intense approach has worked. It has a proven track record for me. I’m not saying the moderation thing will never work for me in the future – but now it clearly isn’t. Nor am I saying that it’s a bad approach, and I know for many it does work. I read an article recently that sums it up quite well. The article was on personal finance, not weight loss, but it’s amazing the similarities between the two (and as a side note: I continue to marvel at the fact that I have so much control over the personal finance side of my life, but so little on the healthy eating and exercise side.). Anyway, basically the guy was defending his approach of being very focused – saying that small changes may work well for some people, but not necessarily for everyone, and I like the way he said it.  Alhtough the strict approach comes with some additional “stress” and worry and definitely consumes  a lot of time and energy, I’ll take that type of stress anyday over feeling out of control and bigger than a hippopatumus. Anyway, bottom line is that I’m going back to the strict calorie counting approach. I feel like I have learned a lot in the past few months of my struggles, including becoming more convinced that this is the best approach for me. So, without further adieu, I present to you my food journal for today (and I also burned 600 calories through exercise – the elliptical at the Y and jogging in the park):

This Is the Song That Never Ends

This is the song that never ends, my friends. Some people started singin’ it not knowin’ what it was and they’ll continue singin’ it because this si teh song that never ends, my friends . . .

Do you remember that song from when you were a kid. It goes on and on and never ends. That’s how it’s been going for me the past few months. I can’t seeem to break this viscious cycle and you’re probably getting tired of reading about it. I do pretty well for a week, then the next week mon-wed I started doing worse but I’m still hanging on. By Thursday I throw in the towel altogether and go crazy. Then I restart the next cycle. It’s a viscious, viscious cycle that never ends. Well, today (Thursday) I definitely went crazy. Have I lost my ever-lovin mind? Now that I add it all up I literally ate a little over 3000 calories! (No, that’s not a typo I did say THREE thousand, yep THREE.) It’s amazing how easy that is when you are eating little bits of super calorie dense foods all throghout the day.

Well, guess what, my friends???

THIS SONG IS GOING TO END.

RIGHT NOW. N-O-W. NOW.  This is ridiculous. I’m a reasonably intelligent human being and I shouldn’t be letting this stupid cycle control me. It will stop now. Honestly, I’m at my wits end when it comes to figure out why this is happening. It seems like I’ve tried many reasonable approaches. I have struggled through like this for about five months. It has taken a tremendous amount of effort just to maintain this weight (even though I have a lot to lose – we’re not talking losing the last 10 or 20 pounds so I can fit into a size 6 or 8 – I’d love to be there, honestly.) This is the longest period of time that I have actually maintained my weight and been trying since I was about 12. I honestly don’t if I’m making progress or not. I don’t know if that’s good or bad. But I do know this: it stops now. Oh, and did I mention that I was ending this viscious cycle now???

So here’s the plan:

• Go to bed early (be in bed by 8:45pm – I’m getting a cold, so I need a lot of extra rest)
• Eat a healthy breakfast
• Pack a healthy lunch and healthy, easy-to-eat snacks for work
• Workout for whatever amount of time that I can find, even if it’s not a lot

Almost Terrific Tuesday

So today was an “almost” terrific Tuesday. I say “almost” because the day started out with a bit more chocolate than I really should have had – for breakfast, anyway. But I worked out for 75 mintues – I love lunch hour workouts because the Y is not the least bit crowded and I can get an elliptical with a TV!

A Marvelous Monday

Happy to report that today went well. The weekend was starting to get a little shaky. I did have some “junk” food today, but in moderation. I also got in a good, hour long workout that burned 660 calories! Oh, and some of my plans so I will have time to workout on Wednesday! As a spot check I logged my foods eaten today and I’m right on track – 1500 calories.

A great accomplishment

I know I haven’t blogged for a couple days, but, don’t worry, it’s not a bad sign. I’ve just been busy and I’ve had company. My eating went well until Friday night, and just okay after that. Friday night, I ate about 5 chocolate chip cookies at a friend’s house (at least I didn’t make thme or anything). They were just sooo good. The best ever, seriously. And it was the kind of thing were I just nibbled on like half of one here and there throughout the evening, but it keeps adding up. Saturday I did well, I think. Then today I came pretty close to losing it. One of those chocolate cravings hit and I gave in. I was in the grocery store because I really needed to pick up some batteries, because the battery in my mouse is almost dead. Well, while there I grabbed some Little Debbie cakes. And of course I ate them. Not dwelling on it. Just moving on. Although I really do wish I could do better at avoiding these things. Why is it so hard??

Now for the accomplishment: I worked out six times last week (Mon-Sat)! I knew that I would be eating with friends a lot this weekend and would be consuming extra calories, so I worked out every day. Mon-Thurs workouts were pretty good workouts. Friday and Saturday’s workouts were a rather piddly. Friday it was all I could do to make myself do it, and I couldn’t get into it so I stopped after 30 minutes and only burned 230 calories. So it was not intense at all. Saturday I did a little better because I stuck with it for 50 minutes, but I still wasn’t very intense – burning just over 400 calories. I think it was so hard because I had company and friends over and lots of plans and really want to spend time with them instead of working so it was hard to get my heart into it. But I still gave it my best shot. By the way, this completes number 65 on the list.

Thursday

Don’t have a lot of time today, since I need to get to bed soon. But the day went well. I did get my workout done despite not really having time. Yippee!

A Shout-out to my iPod Nano

First of all, I just have to say that I think the iPod Nano (I have 3rd generation) is about the most durable thing ever invented. I seriously dropped it today, and I’ve done it twice before. The kind of drop that is quite embarrassing actually. It flys off the elliptical, goes sprawling across the ground, and the hard case goes in two different directions. The iPod is perfectly fine. I had to say excuse me to a lady who was exercising on the next elliptical so I could reach under and grab a part of my case. The case, by the way, is perfectly fine too. It’s made to in two pieces that kinda snap together.

Anyway, not a whole lot to report today. I did well with eating and exercising. I feel very good that I got the exercise in today when I really didn’t have time. I was supposed to be at friends house for dinner at 6pm, but I told them I wouldn’t be getting there until 6:30 but they could start eating without me, because it wouldn’t have been possible for me to workout and still get there by 6. I did workout for 50 minutes – I think I worked out harder than usual because I knew I was sacrificing time when I could have/should have been somewhere else, so I really wanted to make it worthwhile. And by the way, I truly had only one small little sliverine of the chocolate Bundt cake we had for dessert.