10.5 lbs. Lost, 24.5 to Go!

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pHHsYi5YTiPymN-ksOtK-Gw&output=html

Happy holidays! Even though this post is marked 12-26-09, I'm actually typing this entry on 12-29-09! I've been so busy doing practically nothing. One of the awesome benefits of teaching is the winter, spring, and summer breaks. I only have a few more days to enjoy the time off until I'm back on the grind.

I'm a bit worried about managing my weight this holiday season because of so many opportunities to pig out. There were so many obstacles this latter half of 2009. I had to get through:

• Halloween (candy)
• my son's November birthday (dinner outing, cake, ice cream)
• Thanksgiving (turkey & dressing and all the fixin's)
• and worst of all Christmas (potlucks at work, 2 weeks off work SITTING at the house, cakes, food at family gatherings, etc.)

I've still got to get through New Years b/c my dad wants us to get together. He's a great cook and is doing some of the cooking. I'm trying to start the new year on the right foot, but I don't know how that's going to happen w/ the menu we're planning.

I have to mention that last Wednesday (12-23-09) I "officially" got off my diet/workout regimen. I did well the first few days home sticking to the workout plan exercising on Tuesday and Wednesday, but I was honestly miserable. I was tired of waking up early and fighting the urge of not eating all the bad stuff. So I threw in the towel telling myself it will only be temporary.

Well I have to admit I showed out and indulged! You name it, I ate it! I love food, I dream about food. I think the highlight of my eating was the chocolate chip walnut cookies I made Christmas morning and the below cake recipe I made also that morning. Words can't describe how gooood the carmel fudge cake is. I wouldn't allow myself to take any home from where I took it to our family gathering, but I definitely ate my fair share while there. The last time I made the cake was a few years ago when my college buddy came for a visit. We ate on that cake late at night for what seemed like days laughing and catching up and what not. When she headed home, I stepped on the scale and GAINED 7 pounds. I recently read on the intenet how this recipe has a whopping 2200+ calories. Good grief. The worst part about it is that I don't feel guilty.

........Well now, I'm officially back on the diet. I fought the urge late last night to head to the convenience store to buy pretzels, a chocolate muffin (haven't had those in a LONG time), and grape juice. I would've done it had I not been so sleepy. This morning that craving somewhat subsided and I found the courage to step on the scale and was not as shocked as I thought. At one point my weight had risen to 183.5-- a 5 pound gain since my 12-19-09 weigh in, but this morning I was at 181.5 lbs. --the same as my 12-26-09 recorded weigh in. I didn't get a chance to work out this morning so I'll guess I'll have to do that sometime today in order to get my 5x a week work out in.

Lord knows I've got a stressful first half of 2010 ahead of me w/ work, projects, and certification exams, so I'm bracing myself. I'm convinced that stress alone will help me lose this weight and hopefully not have the opposite effect.

12.5 lbs. Lost, 22.5 to Go!

I was really hoping to lose a couple of pounds this week instead of gaining a pound! I shouldn't be too suprised b/c once again I wasn't on my best behavior, but I didn't do too bad either. I managed to stay away from the donuts, holiday potlocks, and what not, BUT I found myself eating those miniature holiday Snickers here and there as well as pretzels this week.

I have to confess to being bad last night eating 2 big slices of pepperoni pizza. I think I'm going to quit eating that on Friday nights b/c I didn't sleep well last night, had indigestion, and woke up w/ a terrible case of the blahs. I was in such a funk that I didn't want to work out this morning. I managed to do so, but I was not into it. Luckily, I managed to get my 5x 1 hour sessions in this week. *****sigh**** I've got so much to do around this house...gotta map out a plan to figure out how to do it all b/c I have no clue where to start.

13.5 Lost, 21.5 to Go!!

(178.5 lbs on 12-12-09)
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pHHsYi5YTiPymN-ksOtK-Gw&output=html

Yay!! I lost 2 lbs. this week! I'm out of the 180s lb. range and want to stay OUT! I have to honestly say I'm suprised because I misbehaved a little bit. I wonder how much I could've lost had I behaved? I felt so good last Saturday morning b/c I had worked out an hour and a half, but ooo-wee Saturday afternoon I showed out eating BBQ. I told myself I'd just eat a yogourt parfait that night, but no. I ate a huge chef salad, which isn't bad, but I drowned it w/ dressing. I didn't do too well the remainder of the week either.

I had felt so guilty about Saturday night that I told myself I would start working out 6x a week since I'm still having trouble w/ portion control. I had intended to rest Sunday AND Monday. I rested Sunday, but woke up early Monday and Tuesday to work out. I was so exhausted from only having 1 day off after working out 5 straight days. I wasn't at all into the work outs. I was unhappy and instead of feeling energized, I was sleepy both days at work. I went home and went STRAIGHT to bed. I ended up not working out Wednesday and Thursday. I resumed working out Friday and Saturday and felt much better. So I worked out 4x this week. I can't handle 6x yet, but 5 days will probably work best for now.

I need to develop a dinner menu plan TODAY so I can avoid what happened last week. I'm grateful to have a husband willing to step in and cook, but he's a meat and potatoes type of guy. I hate to make excuses, but 14 years of dating and marriage to him is how I put on this weight. I'm convinced.

11.5 lbs. Lost, 23.5 to Go!

I managed to lose 2.5 lbs. working out 4x this week. Yay! I did fully recover from that nasty foot injury and could've worked out Tuesday morning, but instead I started getting too comfortable with staying in bed. Shoot, it's cold outside and staying under the covers seemed far better. Well, I started feeling sluggish, acting grouchy, noticing dark circles around my so-called rested eyes, and experencing stress and tension. So I made myself get out of bed and hit the gym. On top of that, I'm allowing myself a full hour to get the most out of my work out.

I've modified the regimen a bit. The Pilates isn't working out too well. I'm going to have to figure out how to incorporate that in my plan because I hate working out at home. --There's too many distractions. Soooooooooo my new plan (in order) includes:

• 2 miles on the treadmill- Right now it takes 30 minutes to cover around 2.15 miles. I burn close to 300 calories doing so. I haven't started jogging yet, but I walk in a brisk manner.
• 100 crunches
• 25 reps on 6 various weight machines- I select 2 machines each to focus on my legs and arms and then select one ab machine and one machine that focuses on strengthening my lower back.

I always feel good at the end of the work out. I learned my lesson so I make sure to warm up before and after to prevent injury. I'm still struggling just a little bit when it comes to making wiser choices in foods. I misbehaved earlier that week, but got somewhat back on track towards the end. Salt and sweets are still my weaknesses, but I'm learning moderation. I'm definitely losing inches, but I'm wondering if I will lose the remaining pounds by my birthday. Hmmmm.....

9 lbs. Lost, 26 to Go!

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AoX9uU3swo45cEhIc1lpNVlUaVB5bU4ta3NPdEstR3c&hl=en

Unfortunately I gained weight this week. I think the only reason it wasn't more than the 2 lbs. put on was because I exercised 5x this week. I knew weigh-in was this morning, but I showed out late last night. I couldn't put the pretzels down, I devoured a caramel-fudge sundae from Sonics, and I had the midnight munchies and ate 2 turkey sandwiches and a bag of Sunchips. I'm going to use the PMS excuse once again. I don't know how else to explain. Maybe it's just old fashion greediness, lol! I told myself I would work out early this morning, but I woke up to INTENSE pain on the back of my foot. I'm miserable and I'm limping around here. I don't know what I did wrong....apparently I pulled or tore something while on the treadmill. I'm going to rest my left foot today and Sunday (maybe Monday) to see if the pain subsides. I'll make sure I warm up well once I get back to the gym. Man, I wish I had a prescription pain killer b/c this 500 mg Tylenol isn't working fast enough. Bummer.

I only have 11 weeks left until my birthday and 26 lbs. left to lose. I'm going to have to really step it up a few notches if I want to lose at least 2.5 lbs a week. This is interesting to me b/c I'm learning so much about myself while on this journey. One thing is that my appetite is usually tame for 2 weeks, but on the 3rd week it intensifies. Also, I hate exercising in the evenings. I feel more alert when I exercise in the mornings. Also, exercise really helps with any anxiety that I feel.

I really want to maintain a healthy lifestyle and stop all of this yo-yo dieting. I need the balance of not having to try so hard of maintaining weightloss and for it to just happen naturally. In other words, if and when I get this weight off. I want to keep it off.

Getting Back on the Wagon

I admit I was losing focus earlier this week and still struggling somewhat. It started last Friday night with succumbing to the tempatation of buying fried chicken from the grocers deli, doing the ultimate no-no of grocery shopping w/ my husband on Sunday afternoon (purchasing all these snacks so he would have stuff to munch on while he watched football), giving into the cravings I had for McDonald's french fries and their Filet-o-fish Monday afternoon (I told myself I would forgo dinner), and allowing myself to eat the catfish my husband FRIED Monday evening b/c I was too tired to cook (I should've skipped the McD's and baked the catfish myself Monday evening). I honestly didn't think I would recover especially with being off work the remainder of the week and thinking I won't be able to stand a chance against Thanksgiving Day.

Well.....I did recover....sort of.....

I did manage to work out Saturday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday (yes, I worked out Thanksgiving morning! A first for me!), and today!!! I was determined even with having achilles tendonitis pain on my left foot! I had put on about 3 lbs. from pigging out last Friday through Monday, but my weight is now fluctuating since I managed to work out. Controlling myself on Thanksgiving Day was a bit of a challenge. I had small portions on my plate, but still felt hungry afterwards. The big mistake was when I went back for seconds and added dessert and a soda. Crap. I was stuffed to the point of feeling miserable.

I tried to redeem myself by not allowing myself to bring a plate home and worked out an hour this morning. I feel great, but I came home and snacked a bit (boooooooooo!) I've got pretzels here that I really need to get rid of as well as a few other snacks. The calorie count plan today was to work out, eat a bowl of Special K cereal w/ 1% milk, and Subway for dinner since I do not intend on eating the DEER RIBS (yikes) my husband took out the freezer to cook tonight. Instead I started munching on granola, pretzels, and Sun Chips!! I've got so much to do so once I finish blogging so hopefully everything I've got to do will burn up the calories of junk that i ate.

My goal this week was to at least try to maintain my current weight and not gain, but I really would like to get down to 180 when I weigh in on Saturday. I'm SO ready to get out of the 180s and on to the 170s. I'm ready to see this happen!

11 lbs. Lost, 24 to Go!

(181 lbs on 11-21-09)

So glad the weight is coming off slowly but surely. I try to keep my calories under 1500 each day. We'll see how that works over time. It's nice being able to fit into some of my clothes that were tucked away in the closet.