Another one bites the dust

Another pound down in the journey. Taking it one week and one pound at a time through the holidays but feeling confident so far.

Goal accomplished

Well, one at least. Tonight I wanted to push myself on the treadmill so I thought I'd aim for averaging 10 minutes per mile. Was pretty sure I couldn't do 6mph the whole way so did 1/2 mile intervals. 5.5 mph, 6 mph and 6.5 mph. Needed to stop for 2 water breaks but still feel pretty awesome about the workout on the whole.

Tomorrow morning weigh in. Aiming for a pound but feeling uncertain...

Friday update

Made some poor choices while I was out running errands today. But made the good choice of going for my run tonight even though I REALLY did not want to.

Oh and weighed in this morning down 1 pound. A little surprised but happy with that number and hoping to hit a pound a week for the next little bit.

Yesterday I made all good choices.

Breakfast: Oatmeal with brown sugar (out of blueberries)
Snack: yogurt w/ almonds and an apple
Lunch: chicken wrap
Snack: 100 calorie pack
Dinner: grilled cheese (not the greatest but I've been craving them big time)
Snack : granola bar

And I went for a good hard run.

Today I started the day out planning on making good choices again and did pretty good except for one.

Breakfast: oatmeal with brown sugar
Snack: granola bar
Lunch: salad w/ chicken and 100 cal pack
Snack: an unfortunate incident with butter tarts
Dinner: crockpot chicken and steamed veggies
Snack: probably pudding with cool whip.

I may try to go down for a run but that will all depend on how well DD goes to bed tonight.

Change in Perspective

So for the last little bit I've been using the "just for today" excuse.

"Just for today I'll have that chocolate bar"
"Just for today I'll have that bag of chips"
"Just for today I'll eat whatever I want"

So this morning when this hit me I thought "Well just for today I'll make the right choices all day long"

It's lunchtime and so far, so good.

Tuesday

Sucked out today. Here's what I ate

Breakfast: Oatmeal with yogurt and berries
Snack : granola bar and 100 calorie pack
Lunch: Salad with chicken
Snack: Kitkat bar
Dinner: grilled cheese
Snack: Doritos.

I'm just in this space where it seems so hard to make the right choice and I'm just not sure how to get out of this funk. Although continuing to post here and hopefully have y'all kick my butt should help. I'm fairly sure that if I had remembered I was posting my eats on here I wouldn't have had the Doritos at least. I think part of my indulging might be because I'm just not inspired by my meals. I look at Angie's healthy meals and they look so yummy and my salad just looks blah.

Well that sucked

I totally fell away from the program. Stopped counting points, stopped staying for meetings and the pounds started creeping up again. Last week I even skipped weighing in thinking that I could get it back on track for this week and avoid seeing the number on the scale (or rather having others see the number on the scale).

I think the worst of it is that instead of just starting to track my points again, I started contemplating doing some of the quick loss plans (ie cutting out carbs or sugars) in the hopes of getting back to that number. Silly, silly Leigh Anne. When I look back at the times I've been successful with weight loss, it's been through consistent tracking of my calories/points. So that's where I need to start again. Gonna pull out my week 1 booklet and review the CORE foods and try to focus on them.

And I NEED to get back to meetings again. I even attempted to go this morning only to learn that they have changed their hours/meeting schedule and the new schedule is really not working with my/DH's schedule but we'll have to work around it for now. I am also going to start posting my meals on here each day as well, in all it's glory, the good, the bad and the ugly (and boy has there been a lot of ugly up in here lately).

Week 7 Weigh in

According to my scale I am down the pound I gained last week and another pound on top of that. According to WW scale I lost the 3.4 pounds I gained last week. Either way I"m satisfied but next week I WILL lose 1.4 and hit the 15 pound lost mark.

November 1st goal evaluation

I decided at the beginning of this challenge to update my progress on the first of each month so here goes.

Weight Start 181 Current 175 Goal 160
Waist Start 36.5 Current 35 Goal 33
Hips Start 42 Current 41 Goal 38
Thigh Start 25.5 Current 25 Goal 23
Arm Start 13 Current 12.5 Goal 12


3 mile time Start 36 min Current 32 min Goal 33 min
*****I've decided to modify this and aim for a 6mph pace so 30 min*****

Push ups Start 12 Current 16 Goal 25

So it appears I'm making some good progress and should meet my fitness goals even if I don't meet my weight goals.

I wonder...

...what would happen if I stayed within points every day of November (but 2 that have issues surrounding them)? Let's find out shall we?

Week 6 Weigh In

But first a little bit about my week. I did not track my points and I had a few indulgences during the week. I missed one of my runs. And then on Friday I went away with a girlfriend. There were nachos, onion rings, fries, chocolate, chips and candy. What bothers me most is not that I indulged in these but that numerous times I indulged far beyond that full feeling and well into the BLAH feeling.

I returned home Saturday night and between then an my weighin I kept strictly to my points and avoided the salt foods trying to reduce the water I'm sure I retained over the weekend. Sunday I made sure to get in my run. And on Monday morning I was up 1 pound (from the previous week weighing in at home). I can live with that.

Except when I weighed in at WW I was up 3.4 from my previous WW weigh in. Totally shocked me and blew me away. And to top it off, I didn't feel like I was up 3.4 pounds. My clothes were feeling as loose as always, if not looser. I was feeling trim and strong and good. And while I know this will come off as sounding like an excuse but I think there was a problem with the WW scale. The leader even said that she hadn't seen that many gains at one meeting in months.

It really bothered me for the rest of the night but then I thought, so what. If the scale is wrong, that doesn't mean I can't get right back into the zone. If the scale is wrong that shouldn't impact the way I feel about my efforts and the way I feel about the changes in my body.

So yesterday and today I tracked my points. Sunday I ran 3 miles at between 5.5 and 6 mph with a 1/4 mile warm up and cool down (do this at every workout). Last night I ran 2 miles between 5.5 and 6.8 mph. Then I did pushups, abs and some back work on the stability ball. Tonight I ran 4 miles at 5.5 mph. Tomorrow my plan is to push myself to do 1 mile at 7mph. Saturday I'm going to try 3 miles at 5.8 mph and we'll see what I feel like on Sunday.

I want to lose everything I gained and another pound this week.

Week 5 Weigh In

The last two weeks I have gone to weigh in, completely prepared to have lost little to nothing, and wouldn't have been surprised if I had gained. Last week I lost 1.4 and this week 1.8. Don't get me wrong, I'm pleased to see the scale moving down but I also know that I haven't been tracking and there have been more than a few indiscretions over those two weeks, not to mention Thanksgiving and a birthday party. I know it's only a matter of time before it all catches up and I see a big gain. So this week it's back to journaling my points and making a solid effort to following the plan so the momentum continues in the right direction instead of swinging in the other direction.

Thinking of core

I haven't really been tracking points the past few weeks since I figured out what I normally eat in the run of a day and have been sticking to just that. It's been working well but it gets a little tricky when I have an extra treat or dinner is an out of the ordinary. So I'm thinking it might be worthwhile switching over to core and focusing on the whole not eating extra if I'm not hungry. Anyone have any opinions on the matter?

Becoming a Runner

I have attempted being a runner several times in my life. During university I trained with the triathlon club and ran several times a week and hated it several times a week LOL. After a year of training with them I ran my first ever 5K race in 26 minutes. I stopped training with the club and didn't do much running on my own that I can remember.

6 years later I started losing some of my post university weight and started doing some running bits in my walking. Attempted the couch 2 5k program a few times. Then I got pregnant, had spotting early on and was restricted from exercise until 3 months in. And by then walking was a pretty good workout and all I was willing to risk until I knew the baby was good and ok.

2 months after my daughter was born I started the couch 2 5k program again and stuck with it. 4 months after beginning the program I ran the race for the cure in 36 minutes. One month after that we were preparing to move, winter arrived and I stopped running.

6 months later I got a gym membership and would do 1 to 3 miles a few times a week but not with any consistency and never faster than 5mph, usually there were plenty walking breaks tossed in. I didn't consider myself a runner, I just ran in a vain attempt to lose weight without altering my food intake at all.

In January of this year my sister and I decided to run a marathon to celebrate my 30th birthday. I set up a realistic training program and got to it. 5mph was my standard pace and it seemed difficult, brutal on some days. Trying to go higher than that was a guarantee of quitting before my miles were up. Unfortunately several months in I started having knee pain, my doctor sent me to physiotherapy and they strongly recommended I seriously cut back both my mileage and my speed. So the marathon was put on the backburner and I plodded along at 4.7 mph for a few months.

My knee started feeling better. I joined WW and began dropping some weight. I started BLBE and set some goals for my running. I wanted to be able to run 3 miles in 33 minutes by Christmas; 30 minutes by the summer. It seemed like a reasonable but challenging goal as I seemed to be struggling to hit 36 minutes most runs. But I started pushing myself.

I changed my workout mindset from having to finish 3 miles to running for 30 minutes. I started doing some intervals. 5.2 for 2 min, 5.4 for 2 min, 5.6 for 2 min, 5.8 for 2 min, 6.0 for 2min and then over again. That was pretty doable but a pain in the butt to keep looking at the clock. LOL. So I did 5.5 for 5min and 6.0 for 5 min for the 30 min. When I realized that I was pretty close to 3 miles at the end of 30 minutes I kept going to see how long it took to hit 3 miles. And it was just under 33 minutes.

I've been doing this run for the past 6 runs, never taking longer than 33 minutes to finish my 3 miles. And I've come to the conclusion that it wasn't my physical ability holding me back from running faster but my mental ability. The marathon we were supposed to run is this coming weekend and while there is a tinge of disappointment that I am not running this year mostly I am glad that I had the opportunity to learn that I can enjoy running. And now I'm thinking I could do a 30 minute 5k by Christmas and perhaps beat my 26 minute 5k by the summer........

Week 4 Weigh In

This was a really weird week. I was taking names and kicking butt all week. Then on Friday I was at home all day and wasn't making the healthiest choices even though I stayed in my points. On Saturday there was an incident with a Twix bar and more pizza than I needed at dinner. Sunday I got up early to make sure and get in a run before my Thanksgiving dinner. But I did well. Had one plate of the things I really love and a piece of pie for dessert. Monday I went to a birthday party and had a piece of cake and too many handfuls of party mix. Then went home and got a run in.

I knew the runs would help counteract some of the indulgences but I was really going into weigh in with the goal of losing something. 1/2 a pound would have thrilled me. So you can imagine my shock when I lost 1.4. Not sure why or how but I'm taking it and glad to have a week without special events to taunt me.

And on the NSV front, yesterday I tried on my prepregnancy pants (remember that my DD is 2 1/2?). I haven't worn them since I was about 9 weeks pregnant. Anyway, I could fit into them all!!! There was far too much muffin top for me to feel comfortable wearing them but they buttoned and fit great on the ass and legs. So another 5 pounds or so should make them wearable. This was so thrilling for me!!!!

Week 3 weigh in

My week was not good as explained in my previous posts and walking into my meeting I was seriously just hoping that I would lose something, anything. My husband told me to lose my purse hardeeharhar.

I lost 0.2 pounds.

And was okay with it. Then I started thinking that even if I only lost 0.2 pounds every week from now until whenever at least I would be moving towards my goal instead of away from it. And then I gave myself a mental slap and said "CUT IT OUT!" This challenge is about getting as close to the goal as possible with hard core work for a short period of time.

I took a look at my eating and realized that I am eating a ton of my points through the day and ending up with 4 or 5 points for dinner and an evening snack. Meaning I was using WPA points in the evening. So I decided that 8 points would be a good amount for dinner and evening snack. Subtracted breakfast points and lunch points and had 7 points left over for snacks through the day. Now I only bring that many points and I don't have to worry about counting anything except dinner. Such a weight off my shoulders and it's working well so far. I'm hoping for a good week, Thanksgiving and all!!

Week/weekend recap

But first a vent. Intentionally washed my sports bras yesterday so I could go for a run this morning. Asked DH to toss them in the dryer last night and went off to bed. Dragged myself out of bed this morning which was a battle and went down to find that he had indeed tossed them in the dryer and then went right back upstairs without turning the dryer on!!!!! So annoyed. But I was up and dressed so I threw on a tank with built in bra and went for a 20 minute walk followed by squats and abs. Not what I had hoped but better than nothing

Well, not a good week up in here foodwise. Used all my WPA in silly ways. But I got in my four runs and according to the scale at home this morning I am down 1 pound. We'll see what the WW scale says tonight. I also didn't do the strength training I had planned on doing and have absolutely no good reason for it. On the plus side I had an amazing run yesterday. Ran 3 miles in just under 33 minutes which was one of my big goals for this challenge. It was doubly satisfying in that I had completely given up on going for a run at all but decided to go at the last minute YAY ME!!

But I'm leaving last week where it is and making some new goals for this coming week which will include Thanksgiving dinner!!!!

Get my four runs in.
Make a plan for Thanksgiving dinner that involves small servings of the things I love the most about turkey dinner.
STRENGTH TRAIN!!!

Help please

Someone shed some perspective on the situation. One bowl full of chips is not a reason to throw in the towel. I went for a run and have no desire to eat any more chips. In fact the thought of eating more chips kind of make my tummy roll over. It's not the end of the road, just a blip on the radar and not a very good one. Anyone? Please!

Regroup and Refocus (or It's a slippery slope)

Tuesday and Wednesday night DD was up through the night throwing tantrums. As a result I didn't get up to go for a run Wednesday or Thursday morning. Wednesday was fine, I'll just use it as my rest day. Thursday I made arrangements with DH to go as soon as we got home from work so I wouldn't be too tired. Except exhaustion hit around 3 pm and I felt lucky to keep my eyes open long enough to make it through the remainder of the work day and bedtime routine.

To add insult to injury I had the major nibbles on Thursday and indulged. Not just a regular Twix bar but a jumbo twix bar!!!!! We had meatball subs for dinner and I used a wrap instead of a bun and only had a few fries but nibbled on meatballs past my satiated point.

It's amazing how these 2 simple days had me ready to throw in the towel last night. But I regrouped and started today fresh. One day of poor eating choices and 2 days working out is not the end of the world and easy enough to bounce back from.

I'm going for a run tonight come hell or high water and will get in my fourth tomorrow. It completely throws off all my weekend plans but right now my fitness takes priority! And I am resisting the chocolate today although it is calling my name (must be coming up to that time of the month). I brought lots of low point healthy nibbling options to allow me to feel I can eat all day without going over my points.

Thanks for all the Woohoos on my last point. I'm determined to have more positive news after Monday night's weighin.

Weigh In Week 2

Good weigh in this week. Down 2.4 which puts me over the 10 pound mark and brings me under 180. So happy!!!! It was a good week and this week is going to rock too.

The Mind Games We Play

Clothes were set aside. Ipod was ready. In bed at a decent hour. DD cooperated by sleeping throught the night. Alarm went off. I hit snooze. Alarm went off. I hit snooze. Had this conversation with myself.

Need to get up and go for run.
But I just ran 12 hours ago, surely I can skip today.
If I skip today I have to run the next 2 days straight to meet my goal.
Well that's OK I can do that.
What if DD has rough nights.
Today is weigh in, this is like last chance workout.
But I just ran yesterday (with a whine in my voice)
Is that DD moving around?
Well if I'm going to be up I might as well be running.

So off I went. And although I had to cut it short due to stomach issues, it is done for the day and one more finished for the week.

The Best Laid Plans

This always happens. Last night I was super motivated to get up and work out this morning. Set out my workout clothes. Went to bed at a decent hour and set my alarm. Then at 1:30 am DD woke up and then the cat woke up and started going psycho. By the time I got back to sleep it was closer to 2:30 and there was just no way I was getting up at 5:30.

But I felt confident that I could get in a workout tonight since it is DH's night to do bedtime routine. Even better, I finished work early and was able to fit my run in before dinner. Plus I did squats throughout the day during bathroom breaks LOL. All that's left is some pushups and situps maybe. Stayed in my points but did use my AP points. Tomorrow is weigh in. Hoping for a loss.

Week/weekend recap

Well the week really was a success all in all. Friday and Saturday I went a little of course. There were more jujubes, a planned chocolate indulgence on Friday night and a run in with Timbits on Saturday. DD and I were on our way to pick up DH from the airport and picked up a snack pack on the way. I had enough points to indulge in one and that was the plan. 6 timbits later I had used up 11 WPA points!!!! And really, they aren't all that good. Certainly not as good as the chocolate on Friday. Now I know, don't even bother having the one. Anyway I'm still within my WPA and I shouldn't need them before weigh in on Tuesday.

I did get my 4th run in on Saturday while DD napped. Todays workout was an hour of raking, squats, leg lifts, ab work and pushups. Hurricane Kyle is supposed to bring a bunch of rain and wind overnight but I'm going to plan on a morning run and see what the weather is when I wake up. If the weather is crappy I'll do Jillian Michaels 30 day shred.

Goals for the week:

Use less than 15 WPA (unless true hunger is involved).
4 runs
some sort of strength training every day (pushups, squats, abs, etc)

Today's journal

oooops forgot to post my food journal for yesterday. I was hungry all day and had some major carb cravings but managed to keep it in check and only used to WPA points.

Today was a good day. I just did pushups, squats, and sit ups as a workout so I still have to get one more run in by Saturday but I know I can do it. Just trying to do something physical every day.

Breakfast: oatmeal, yogurt and berries 4pts
Snacks: granola bar, apple 3 pts
Lunch: salad with dressing and chicken 4 pts
Snacks: 100 cal pack, yogurt, almonds 4 pts
Slip: jujubes 5 pts
Dinner: Chicken and Broccoli 2 pts
Snack: FF pudding with cool whip 2 pts

Total: 24 pts

So I know the jujubes weren't the greatest choice and I should have stuck with the banana I packed but at least I tracked them, and stopped at a handful so I didn't even go over my daily points. I call that success!!!

Biggest Loser recap

Well, probably not so much a recap as my thoughts and opinions on the show. To start with, I was happy with the choice to vote the grey team off overall. I think Jerry on the yellow team would have much less success out on his own the Tom and LT did.

2. I think my favorite part of every show is at the end where they show the success so far of the team voted off. It's like a mini final each week!

3. I was so freaking pissed off at the orange? team. After grey team kept them they turned around and went completely against their word. Sooooooo not cool.

4. It's interesting to me how many of them are already wearing wraps/braces of some kind.

5. I don't know if I think it was awesome or scary to see Jerry on the treadmill with the oxygen hooked up to him. Awesome for him to be committed to getting healthy but super scary that it seems they are pushing him beyond what it healthy.

6. How do they do it? After a really kick ass workout I can barely walk the next day and those workouts only last 1-2 hours. These guys are coming from nothing and doing 6-8 hours of exercise per day and they walk normal and do it all over again the next day. Phenomenal!!

Anyone else have thoughts on the episode?

Weigh in and Food journal

I weighed in tonight +0.4 Not a happy camper. Even though I knew last week was ROUGH I was hoping the last 3 days pulled it together enough to even it out at least. But I'm moving on. Hardcore serious from this point until Christmas. I WILL meet my goal!!!

I also didn't go for my run this morning but DH said he would do bedtime routine so I could get it in tonight before Biggest Loser is on. So no butt kicking required LOL.

Today's food

Breakfast: oatmeal, yogurt, berries 4 pts
Snacks : granola bar, 100 calorie pack 4 pts
Lunch : squash with meat sauce 4 pts
Snacks : carrots, yogurt, almonds, banana 4 pts
Dinner : 2 eggs with toast 6 pts

Total : 22 points

Today's journal

Thanks for all the concern about my ankle It was actually fine by the time I got home and i was still able to do a few more running chunks. Just hurt like a SOB when I did it. Now my biggest concern is that I might have twisted my bum knee at the same time. It's been a little more sensitive today. We'll see how tomorrow morning goes.

I did great foodwise today. Didn't get any caramels and stuck to my 2 rules. Although waiting for my 2nd diet soda was NOT easy LOL.

Before running: granola bar 2 pts
Breakfast: oatmeal, yogurt, berries 4 pts
Snack: 100 cal pack, apple 3 pts
Lunch: spaghetti squash with meat sauce 4 pts
Snack: Granola bar 2 pts
yogurt with almonds 2 pts
Dinner: Chicken quesadilla 8 pts
Total: 25 pts

I'm pretty full right now but if I do get hungry I still have 4 AP to have a snack this evening. But I think I'll have a banana if I need to eat. For exercise I had my run, 3 set of 15 squats and I'm going to do a couple sets of pushups to exhaustion and possibly lunges

Plans for the week, new rules and the kindness of strangers

I'm doing the single mom thing from Wednesday to Saturday this week which means I've had to adjust my workout plans. Usually I get up and go running 3 mornings during the week and then get in one run on the weekends. But since I won't be able to go for a run the whole second half of the week my plan is to run Sun, Mon, Tues, Wed. So far, so good although I really wanted to skip this morning. So I'm asking y'all to kick my butt if I skip one of the next two days. Wednesday will be the hardes after staying up to watch BL but it needs to happen.

The new rules are in part to help me with the challenge but also because I saw myself slipping. A few more diet sodas, a little less water. A few too many processed snacks and not enough fruit/veggies/wholesome foods. So the new rules:

1. If I want a soda there has to be 1 liter of water into me first. That goes for every soda I want. 3 sodas today? 3 liters of water first.

2. One processed snack during the day and one during the evening for now. Processed snacks for me are 100 cal packs, crackers, cookies, pudding. I am not considering my homemade granola bars or my yogurt processed.


This morning I left the house at 5:30 for a 3 mile run. About 2/3 of the way through I landed wrong on a stone and rolled my right ankle something good. Cursed for a few minutes then hobbled a few steps to test it out all the while wondering how long it would take me to hobble the rest of the way home. A car slowed on the other side of the road and offered me a lift home. She must have saw what happened and looped around. By that time I knew that I could at least walk if not run the rest of the way so I thanked her anyway, but I thought it was so nice of her to do that!!!

A food journal and positive choices

Well it's only day one of BLBE and already it's having an impact on my choices. I didn't have a singe M&M out of the hubby's bag and I would always have 2 or 3, after all it's not like they are going to make a difference. And then after dinner I made granola bars and had one for my evening snack. When I was cutting them up to put away I seriously considered having another one. Normally I would say it is a healthy snack and I have the points left. I still thought that but today I said, actually I'm not hungry so why sabotage for nothing. Woohooo!

Breakfast: oatmeal, yogurt, 1/2 cup bluberries 4 pts
Lunch : 2 eggs, 2 pieces toast 6 pts
Snack : 100 cal pack, banana 4 pts
Dinner: Sausage and veggie stir fry 5 pts
1 cup ww pasta 3 pts
Snack : granola bar 2 pts

Total: 24 pts

Exercise: 40 min walk/run
3 sets 10 squats
3 sets of pushups to exhaustion
abwork
On top of that I did over 3 hours of housework and painting today. And I'm so happy that I didn't even have to use my activity points. That's amazing for me.

Biggest Loser Blog Edition

I'm resurrecting this blog for my latest get real attempt at losing this weight. But for the first time in a long time I feel like this is the time. I joined WW 5 weeks ago and am down 8.2 pounds with 21 left to go to get to my minimum goal.

But I could feel myself starting to slip. Getting a bag of caramels and not counting the points cause "they're not real food, they're like gum or a mint" UHHHHHH NO!!!!! Or skipping several workouts in a row cause I was tire. Get over it already, you're always tired.

Then someone linked to Angie who is hosting a Biggest Loser contest and it just felt like the right thing to do. So here I am. Committed to hard core for the next 3 months. I know I can reach my goals if I stick with it for the whole three months.

So here's my starting point and my goals.

Starting Weight 181 Goal Weight 160
Waist 36.5 Goal 33
Hips 42 Goal 38
Thigh 25.5 Goal 23
Arm 13 Goal 12

And because this is never just about the weight or size for me, I'm throwing in some fitness goals.

3 mile time 36 min Goal 33 min
Pushups (full) 12 Goal 25

My weigh in day is on Tuesday but will change to Monday next week. I will take measurements and fitness tests on the first of each month. And I will create a sidebar as soon as I get DH to show me how :)

Let's get started!!!

Random Thoughts

***i'm loving Fuji apples dipped in peanut butter

***I really should know by now that making cupcakes is not a good idea

***Work is seriously stressing me out and I don't know how to get out of it

***Run last night was awesome, today's was just okay

***I will complete the action hero workout today

***this video motivates me every time I watch it. I wanna be like Katie :)

Action Hero Workout

**SLAP**

SNAP OUT OF IT GIRL!!!!

You've got goals and they aren't going to be reached with chocolate, soda and chips.

So now you know how my weekend went. I did do my 6 miles on Sunday and mostly running. Go me!!

Today Charlotte announced that the new experiment is
the action hero workout. Since I passes along the link I could hardly pass up the opportunity to participate. Tried one rep of each circuit tonight just to get a feel for it. Hard workout. But i have a few concerns about a couple of the exercises. Could definitely feel my knees twinging up. Going to take those exercises easily until I see how it goes.

Decided on a new goal today. I have a work outfit that I would love to wear comfortably this summer but the skirt is definitely not comfortable. I can zip it but it sits way higher than it should. If I get on the ball and figure out how to post a photo I'll take a before pic a la Glam

Clean Saturday

oatmeal
homemade bran muffin
fruit (from a can but packed in water)
egg with whole wheat toast
apple with peanut butter
chicken casserole with tostitos sprinkled on top

then there was the incident with the min caramel filled cofee cakes at the grocery store. DD has gymnastics in the morning and we stopped to get groceries on the way home. I was starving and got pulled in. EEEEP!!! The tostitos weren't the cleanest but they were the multi grain ones and dinner filled me enough that I didn't need an evening snack.

Workout was just walking. I had a twinging back muscle that was quite painful when running so I just walked 45 minutes.

Weigh in day

Down 2.2 pounds!!!!!! Gotta say I was kind of surprised by this given that I was PMSing this week and ate a lot of salty stuff (and sweet stuff). Plus I didn't do my workout last night. DD threw a major tantrum yesterday morning to the effect that we couldn't get her out the door. So DH stayed home with her and went in to work immediately when I got home. I was wiped by the time she went to bed.

Foodwise today: Don't even ask. A complete wash.

My challenge for the weekend is to eat as clean as possible. I feel so much better when I do but struggle to remember that when being stared down by a chocolate bar or KFC.

Not the best, not the worst

That is how my day was. I'm lacking sticktoitiveness. Think I need some extra motivation. Gonna start posting my daily eating plans in the hopes that the thought of having to write it out here for all to see will keep me from eating a jumbo caramilk bar at 10 am.

UGH

Not a great day for me. Lots of junky snacks, very little food with nutritional value, two sodas and if I'm lucky 1/2 my water. Writing it down and moving on. Tomorrow is a new day.

Last night's run SUCKED. Every step was a chore even at 5 mph. And I was thinking about not working out at all today. But then I remembered an article from coolrunning.com that said you should take as many walk breaks as you needed. Granted they were talking about long runs -- like 15-20 miles long but I figured doing my 4 miles today with a lot of walk breaks was better than none at all. So I did it. There was still more walking than jogging.....I think. I didn't really watch the clock or odometer at all. I wore my new running shoes which have been taking forever to break in. Wore them the whole time. And none of it was a chore or painful. I would even run a little longer because I knew I could stop whenever i wanted. Think I'm going to do things this way until I get my mojo back.

On a roll!!!

Yeah I know it's only 3 posts but I'm feeling pretty good about that. Lots of my bloglines are taking part in the summer challenge so reading their posts remind me to post mine.

Yesterday I was not feeling the greatest. Not much of an appetite and really wiped. Luckily it was a rest day for exercise so I did just that. Fell a little short on my food but I'm a work in progress.

I'm definitely not hitting 100% on my goals of getting in all of my minimums before snacking but I'm definitely hitting a higher percentage than I have in a long long time. I am getting my water before hitting the soda, big improvement for me. And I'm thinking a lot more, instead of just mindlessly munching.

Tonight is a 3 mile run. Taking it as it comes.

Weekend

All right, I almost completely forgot about writing an entry. The only reason I didn't is that Stephanie over at back in skinny jeans posted about weight loss blogging. Wonder how long it takes to get in the rhythm. Maybe it's the same as any other habit LOL 21 days.

Weekend was good. I usually eat nothing but crap all weekend long. I still ate some crap but also had all of my water and 6 servings of fruits/veggies on both days. An excellent weekend for me. Last night when I was going to be I had a bit of a tummy ache and my first thought was "Must have been all of the junk I ate today". And then I thought about it and realized I only had 2 small cookies and a small bowl of ice cream all day. Even decided against the chips I was craving most of the day.

Workout wise. Yesterday I did my longest run ever -- 6 miles. I've been having some knee problems that are significantly worse since I started doing my long runs outside and I wondered if it was from increasing my mileage or running outside. So I did 6 miles on the treadmill and the knees feel better this morning than they have the last 2 Mondays post long run. Is there a better way to ease into outdoor running. Should i start with 3 miles until that doesn't hurt? Any advice.

Leigh Anne

One last attempt

Apparently I really suck at blogging. But I'm going to give it one last go.

I've been struggling with the whole weight loss thing for months now. Lots of automatic eating going on in my life for sure. Not only just nibbling through the day at home but eating 2 or 3 jumbo size chocolate bars in the run of a day. Drinking several diet pepsis and not nearly enough water. Wondering why I'm exhausted and run down, wondering why the weight won't come off even though I'm running 5 days a week.

So I did nothing different but journal my every bite for a week and I realized that I eat nothing but junk. No fruits, no veggies. The healthiest thing in my diet was my kashi for breakfast.

Then I went to the doctor for my annual check up and she asked me all sorts of questions about my lifestyle. One of them was about my diet and I totally lied and said I think I have a pretty balanced diet. What a load of hooey and I knew it. Then she mentioned Canada's Food Guide. It must have hit on something in me cause later on that day I printed out the guidelines and took a look. Then I made up a little notebook with checkboxes to keep track of my daily intake.

And since I know that I'm REALLY likely to binge if I eliminate anything I decided to not eliminate anything. My only rule was that I had to continue journaling what I ate, no matter what it was. And I had to meet the majority of my daily intake guidelines before having a treat like snack. And I had to have my 8 glasses of water before having a soda.

Then Carolyn started a summer challenge and I thought what perfect timing. I'm also going to try to blog the journey over the next 8 weeks. If I can't keep up then my blogging days will be over and I will be content reading all of the other awesome blogs on my bloglines.

Running in place

I got on the scale this morning. Wasn't planning on doing that until Feb 1st but just had to see what the scale said. I think I needed that slap in the face. I knew I hadn't lost any significant amount based on the way my clothes were fitting. But part of me just wanted to see if at least there was a pound or two in the difference. I mean, come on, I've been working out like a maniac. Surely that counteracts some of the crap I've been eating.

But NOOOOOO, I've actually gained a pound. And it's more than a bit sobering to realize that 200-300 minutes of cardio and 3 strength sessions a week are just barely maintaining my weight due solely to the fact that I have been shovelling junk in my mouth like it's going out of style.

So, truth known and spoken, here goes an honest effort to rein it back in. Today I ate the meals and snacks I brought to work with me. I avoided buying a snack with my diet pepsi and turned down a bite of chocolate bar from a coworker. My downfall today: scotch mints. They are like an addiction. So I looked at the calories today and realized I can mindlessly eat 120 calories of scotch mints in under an hour. Never mind the sugar I'm inhaling. So my goal for Thursday (next time I work) is 2 mints per hour. This has worked in the past. Here's hoping...

As for my goals:
workouts according to plan. I took 2 days off last week instead of one due to injury
morning fruit - good on workdays, not so good when I'm home
water - high 90% success rate
no eating after 8pm - every day except Saturday when I saw a movie, this trick has actually kept me from eating on more than one occasion
plan marathon training - check, sat down and did this last week and as a result am feeling both calm and panicked about the upcoming month. Calm because I know my training is thorough, doable and sesible. Panicked because I will be running more miles than I have ever run in my life. EEEEK!!!

I like running!!!!

Never thought I would miss running. But I've been following the Shape plan and there really isn't any continuous running involved in any of the cardio workouts. By Thursday night I was thinking how nice it would feel to go for a good run. So Friday and Saturday I modified the cardio portions to fit in 2 runs. Felt GOOOOOOOOD!! I'm turning into a runner. Never though that would happen.

Doing good on my goals. I struggle with the fruit when I'm at home. It's really going to take a conscious effort to remember it. Yesterday it was bedtime before I realized i hadn't had any. When I'm at work, i get hungry and bored around mid morning. I bring a piece of fruit and so I have a piece of fruit. At home I can get involved in something and the next thing I know it is lunchtime. Afternoon is usually a carby snack and then it's dinner and I haven't had any fruit.
Work in progress.

The water is a lot easier than I thought it would be. I'm still drinking the occasional pepsi but it seems 100 times easier to get 2 liters of water now than it was before Christmas. I'm just going to go with it for now.

Days 1 and 2

Exercise - check
Water - check
Fruit - check
Eating cutoff - check

So far so good on my goals, even if i did eat way too much chocolate.

January's goals

Weigh in Jan 1: 185

Follow Shape's meltdown workout plan
No eating after 8pm
64 oz water daily
mid morning fruit snack
Plan marathon training schedule