I just finished one week of adding weights to my routine. I actually started a week ago today and since I had Monday off I did weights Tuesday and Thursday this week even though my routine for lifting is going to be Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
I've increased my squat weight to 75lbs. Lateral pulls are at 70 lbs. I'm also doing none weighted lower back extensions and abdominal lifts, which I really do not like and I think I'm swapping that out for bench pressing starting next week. I figure I feel my abs working when I squat and do lateral pulls. I was doing them because someone suggested them, I could care less now. Maybe I'll do them later. I just hate that I'm all sweaty and I keep slipping from the pads.
I weighed in today. Let me tell you I am not happy about it. I went up almost 4lbs!!! I felt so defeated. I know I didn't do the greatest with my eating this week. I went over my 1750 limit a few times but I don't think it was enough to gain 4lbs. This is what I really dislike about lifting 3 days a week. You can't really track how many calories you burn so I feel like I'm not doing any good for myself and plus I'm hungrier and go over my calorie intake! At least with doing the elliptical I knew I was burning something and ate some calories back so I wouldn't feel so damn hungry.
I did measure myself this morning though. That was a surprise. I lost inches all over, waist, hips, thighs and arms. I don't know how accurate that is since I measured this morning vs in the evening. Does that make a difference? I'll keep measuring in the mornings. I'm taking a picture tomorrow and comparing it to the first one I took 6 weeks ago. I'll continue doing lifts for three more weeks. If I don't see progress I might just kick it to the curb. It feels very defeating when you don't lose any weight. Maybe if I continue to lose inches I'll feel better.
The girls on MFP say it's normal and I should just focus on my measurements and not at the number on the scale. I've been weighing myself every day the last couple of weeks. I want to see how much my weight really does fluctuate especially around the time of the month. There was one day, I didn't log it in MFP where I had lost another pound, I was at my lowest ever in a long time on that day but now I'm up.
This is very frustrating.
Friday, May 31, 2013
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Sucky days
It's the weekend. I was looking forward to this weekend. Time off from work, spend time with family, and dedicate some time to myself.
My husband treated me out to lunch. We went to this new, to us, seafood place. We had prawns in a garlic sauce and sea food stuffed pineapple with a creamy sauce.
I wasn't able to calculate how many calories I ate today. Even though I had a good time I feel horrible I am not able to track how many calories I ate today. I hope I didn't go over. I had ice cream and chocolate covered almonds to boot.
It sucks. To be someone who is trying to be healthy and reach a healthy weight. Why? Because once you feel good about yourself and eat something you don't normally you.....I feel guilty.
Tomorrow is another day I suppose.
Friday, May 24, 2013
Lifted weights today!
I lifted weights for the first time in years. I started light to get a feel for things again. I did weighted squats, lateral pulls and good mornings.
I'm super excited yet very concerned. I didn't sweat like when I do the elliptical. Sweat is fat crying after all. So the fact that I didn't sweat makes me feel like I didn't do anything and I didn't burn any calories. I totally went over my calorie intake and I went against recommendations by going for a long walk even though it's blistering cold for some reason. Besides I didn't listen to my audio book during my "work out" so I needed to know what's going on.
Lifted:
50lb squats
50lb lateral pulls
30lb good mornings
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Holy bananas Batman!
This is my fifth week working out and since I started I've have this burning feeling in my quads. Not the "normal" sore feeling you get after a heavy duty workout. No, this is a totally different feeling. I wonder if this is what people refer to when they say "feel the burn!" I always thought they meant it philosophically like feeeeel the calories burning away but not literally feel the burning pain in your thighs.
I watched a show called "I used to be fat". It was really interesting to watch people struggling with their weight and getting beat down by a trainer to reach a goal in a set amount of time. Some fight it like hell others totally jump into it. The point is that in one episode the trainer told the girl he was practically killing with exercise to eat a banana before and after her workout. So I started doing just that, with the intention of adding some calories to my diet so I won't net under 1200. I bought a ridiculous amount of bananas and started eating one 30 minutes before my workout and one right afterwards. Will you believe the burn has totally down sized? I mean I still feel it but it's not as intense as it was. I wonder if the longer I eat bananas daily for workouts if the better it will get?
I did some research and the burning feeling is due to lactic acid building up in my muscles. According to different sites it goes away on it's own after a few hours. In my case it doesn't ever go away so I'm not sure what the deal is. I've been eating two bananas a day for the past week and half now and this morning I woke up with almost 0 burning pain in my thighs/quads. I am officially a believer in bananas.
I watched a show called "I used to be fat". It was really interesting to watch people struggling with their weight and getting beat down by a trainer to reach a goal in a set amount of time. Some fight it like hell others totally jump into it. The point is that in one episode the trainer told the girl he was practically killing with exercise to eat a banana before and after her workout. So I started doing just that, with the intention of adding some calories to my diet so I won't net under 1200. I bought a ridiculous amount of bananas and started eating one 30 minutes before my workout and one right afterwards. Will you believe the burn has totally down sized? I mean I still feel it but it's not as intense as it was. I wonder if the longer I eat bananas daily for workouts if the better it will get?
I did some research and the burning feeling is due to lactic acid building up in my muscles. According to different sites it goes away on it's own after a few hours. In my case it doesn't ever go away so I'm not sure what the deal is. I've been eating two bananas a day for the past week and half now and this morning I woke up with almost 0 burning pain in my thighs/quads. I am officially a believer in bananas.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Weights?
I've been debating on if I should starting lifting weights. It seems that people get great results by lifting weights. When I was a teen I remember having to do weight lifting for gym class. I really liked it then. I remember how the coach was impressed by how much I was able to lift with my legs.
When I went to college I lifted weights with the boys. It was fun but schedules and motivations got in the way and I never lifted a dumbbell again. That was over 10 years ago. Now that I've been doing the elliptical for 5 weeks now I think it's time I start lifting again. I'm a bit sheepish about it though. There is a weight lifting area in the gym but it's users are usually really young and fit men. I feel a bit put off. My own self judging makes me imagine what they could be thinking of me. It sucks really. It sucks that I'll let what a stranger may or may not be thinking of me get in my way. It shouldn't.
I'm going to give it a try. Monday, Wednesday and Fridays are going to be my lifting days. I'll do the elliptical on Tuesday and Thursdays. I'll start next week. My friend suggested I do full body lifting, that way if it won't be a big deal if I skip a day. One set of 10-12 reps. I'm all for that. Get in. Burn. Get out. I don't want to stay they longer than I have too. I have a womens lifting book. It tells you want lifts help which parts of the body. I'll be taking a look at that today to get any idea of which exercises I'll should be doing.
I'm afraid of it getting boring and slowing down my already slow progress. Who knows, maybe this will be good for me?
When I went to college I lifted weights with the boys. It was fun but schedules and motivations got in the way and I never lifted a dumbbell again. That was over 10 years ago. Now that I've been doing the elliptical for 5 weeks now I think it's time I start lifting again. I'm a bit sheepish about it though. There is a weight lifting area in the gym but it's users are usually really young and fit men. I feel a bit put off. My own self judging makes me imagine what they could be thinking of me. It sucks really. It sucks that I'll let what a stranger may or may not be thinking of me get in my way. It shouldn't.
I'm going to give it a try. Monday, Wednesday and Fridays are going to be my lifting days. I'll do the elliptical on Tuesday and Thursdays. I'll start next week. My friend suggested I do full body lifting, that way if it won't be a big deal if I skip a day. One set of 10-12 reps. I'm all for that. Get in. Burn. Get out. I don't want to stay they longer than I have too. I have a womens lifting book. It tells you want lifts help which parts of the body. I'll be taking a look at that today to get any idea of which exercises I'll should be doing.
I'm afraid of it getting boring and slowing down my already slow progress. Who knows, maybe this will be good for me?
My Fitness Pal
I joined MFP on August 2, 2012. As I mentioned before, all kinds of issues came up shortly after that. 5 weeks ago I decided I would start exercising, but not really watch what I ate. A few days, maybe more after that I remembered how I felt when I was in Tae Kwon Do (TKD). Yes at some point my childhood dream of being "A Kung Fu Fighter" was channeled into a local TKD Do Jang. I would go to that place 3 times a week for months. It was fun, I worked out like a beast but I didn't lose any weight through the entire time. Not a single pound. That fear of working out and not losing weight gave me a wake up call this time around so I decided I wouldn't restrict my diet but I would just keep track to see what the deal was.
I found I would net under 1000 calories a day. I'm 5'6" and need at least 1500 to keep my body functioning and I was netting under 1000 every single day. I diving into the MFP forums and started looking for posts about this and looked online for some advise. The conclusion I've come to is that I need to at least net above 1200 a day to make this work. So I added a little bit of calories at a few strategic places and now I'm netting anywhere from 1500 to 1700 a day. Some days I only net 1200, but not on purpose it's that I'm just to damn full to eat any more. I think this is working out better for me. Since I wasn't keep track of what I ate while doing TKD, I think a good hypothesis would be that I was just not eating enough to lose weight. I full hour of TKD can make your burn over a 1000 calories!! And our instructor had us doing all kinds of drills and endurance trainings. I would love to go back now, now that I have MFP.
I've added a pre and post workout snack involving mixed nuts, my super hero bananas and a protein shake. My food diary is public on MFP. I don't keep much track on weekends. I do log in and try to keep track but I think my weekends are going to be a little more relaxed. I have to let myself be more flexible and enjoy the things I like. This past weekend was full of parties and I ate pizza twice, ribs and chips. I don't know how much I ate of what. I know I didn't go completely over board and that is ok.
In the past I had been very strict with myself when I would get on my weight loss kicks. That always ended badly. There was always an off day, usually on a weekend where I would go over board or freak out because I had birthday cake somewhere. That would make me get all upset at myself and I would just quit right after. This time around has to be different.
I found I would net under 1000 calories a day. I'm 5'6" and need at least 1500 to keep my body functioning and I was netting under 1000 every single day. I diving into the MFP forums and started looking for posts about this and looked online for some advise. The conclusion I've come to is that I need to at least net above 1200 a day to make this work. So I added a little bit of calories at a few strategic places and now I'm netting anywhere from 1500 to 1700 a day. Some days I only net 1200, but not on purpose it's that I'm just to damn full to eat any more. I think this is working out better for me. Since I wasn't keep track of what I ate while doing TKD, I think a good hypothesis would be that I was just not eating enough to lose weight. I full hour of TKD can make your burn over a 1000 calories!! And our instructor had us doing all kinds of drills and endurance trainings. I would love to go back now, now that I have MFP.
I've added a pre and post workout snack involving mixed nuts, my super hero bananas and a protein shake. My food diary is public on MFP. I don't keep much track on weekends. I do log in and try to keep track but I think my weekends are going to be a little more relaxed. I have to let myself be more flexible and enjoy the things I like. This past weekend was full of parties and I ate pizza twice, ribs and chips. I don't know how much I ate of what. I know I didn't go completely over board and that is ok.
In the past I had been very strict with myself when I would get on my weight loss kicks. That always ended badly. There was always an off day, usually on a weekend where I would go over board or freak out because I had birthday cake somewhere. That would make me get all upset at myself and I would just quit right after. This time around has to be different.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
NSV: None scale victories
What is a none scale victory? I didn't know what that was until I joined MFP and saw the community forum speckled with threads on NSVs. A NSV is reaching a goal or change in your life that is not related to the decrease of your weight. For example, using your belt on the next smallest notch or being able to climb a set of stares without losing your breath. I believe I've had a few NSVs these last few weeks. The one the sticks out the the most was down sizing my sports bra from an XXL to a L. XXL was a little to big to begin with so let's say my real size should have been XL, but I am now wearing a L. I never thought I'd wear a size L of anything every. It felt good to dump the XXLs to the the donate pile and start using a size L.
I'm looking forward to having some NSVs.
Weight fluctuation
How the the heck does your body weight change so drastically day to day??
I asked dear hubby (DH for short) to bust out my scale last week to check in. I weighed in 3 pounds less. That was Friday. I didn't ask him to hide the scale again, thinking I could handle it's presence in the bathroom. WRONG. I weighed in again this morning and I am 4 pounds heavier!! How does that happen??? Regaurdless of what I ate this weekend I should not have gained 4 freaken pounds!! Uggh WTH.
Monday, May 20, 2013
Body Image
At this point I have lost 6 pounds. I feel pretty good, I feel stronger, faster and fitter over all. Body image has a lot to do with how well I do over all. Today I did my normal routine of coming in to work, going to the gym etc... Today I had to run an errand, I had to leave my office and walk down 3 blocks to run this errand. I stopped by the ladies room for a quick pit stop and look over. I thought I looked good, better than before. I actually looked slimmer to myself. Then I was on my way.
As I walked down the street I got glimpses of reflections of myself in windows. My high spirits were shattered. I didn't look at all like how I felt or how I thought I looked back at the ladies room. I looked the same as I have always looked. Like an obese woman trying to look like she's not. my cloths clung to my curves, my thighs rubbing against each other as I walked. I looked the same, unchanged.
It is these glimpses that make you want to give up. It is these glances that make thoughts of being judged by others come into your mind. I notice people looking at me, men and women. Are they judging me? Do they feel sorry for me? Maybe this is why I should just keep my head down? I was fine until I saw myself in those windows. I felt good until I saw those reflections that do now reflect the woman inside of me and now the woman inside of me feels how those reflections look.
As I walked down the street I got glimpses of reflections of myself in windows. My high spirits were shattered. I didn't look at all like how I felt or how I thought I looked back at the ladies room. I looked the same as I have always looked. Like an obese woman trying to look like she's not. my cloths clung to my curves, my thighs rubbing against each other as I walked. I looked the same, unchanged.
It is these glimpses that make you want to give up. It is these glances that make thoughts of being judged by others come into your mind. I notice people looking at me, men and women. Are they judging me? Do they feel sorry for me? Maybe this is why I should just keep my head down? I was fine until I saw myself in those windows. I felt good until I saw those reflections that do now reflect the woman inside of me and now the woman inside of me feels how those reflections look.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Motivations
I've been working out for the past 4 weeks now. It's amazing to be able to say that. This is my fourth week of exercising 5 days a week. My workouts consist of three things:
This morning on the other hand I hit the gym and did pretty good. I didn't get as tired as I did yesterday, I did break a sweat but I felt good. I have to say, I'm really proud of myself for coming this far. I really do like working out on my own. I set my own pace and I don't feel like I'm being held back. My driving motivation right now is the fact that I listen to audio books while working out. Only while working out. Which means if I want to find out what happens next I need to hit the gym or go for a walk home. So far I've been pretty good and doing that and it's kept me moving at least 5 days a week. I'll go for long morning walks on the weekends at home, just to hear the next juicy bit of audio book. Now that the weather is nice, I might hit the gym during the day and then go for a walk when I get home. We'll see how that goes.
I don't know how much I weigh right now. I dumped my scale almost two weeks ago. Then I found myself digging the damn thing out of the closet to weight myself. So I asked my husband to hide it from me. So now it's really dumped. I have no idea where it is and I have no intention of finding it. I have to weigh in soon, just to see where I'm at and to keep a decent estimate on calorie burn when I work out. I might ask him to bring it out for me this weekend. I'm looking forward to weighing in. I'm hoping to have some kind of loss. That will really help with my motivation.
We had a couple of friends come over for dinner on Friday and they noticed I had lost weight. Granted they haven't seen me in months so they would notice a difference even though I might not see it yet. I've been taking photos. Maybe I'll post them one day.
- 35 minutes on the elliptical
- push ups
- squats
This morning on the other hand I hit the gym and did pretty good. I didn't get as tired as I did yesterday, I did break a sweat but I felt good. I have to say, I'm really proud of myself for coming this far. I really do like working out on my own. I set my own pace and I don't feel like I'm being held back. My driving motivation right now is the fact that I listen to audio books while working out. Only while working out. Which means if I want to find out what happens next I need to hit the gym or go for a walk home. So far I've been pretty good and doing that and it's kept me moving at least 5 days a week. I'll go for long morning walks on the weekends at home, just to hear the next juicy bit of audio book. Now that the weather is nice, I might hit the gym during the day and then go for a walk when I get home. We'll see how that goes.
I don't know how much I weigh right now. I dumped my scale almost two weeks ago. Then I found myself digging the damn thing out of the closet to weight myself. So I asked my husband to hide it from me. So now it's really dumped. I have no idea where it is and I have no intention of finding it. I have to weigh in soon, just to see where I'm at and to keep a decent estimate on calorie burn when I work out. I might ask him to bring it out for me this weekend. I'm looking forward to weighing in. I'm hoping to have some kind of loss. That will really help with my motivation.
We had a couple of friends come over for dinner on Friday and they noticed I had lost weight. Granted they haven't seen me in months so they would notice a difference even though I might not see it yet. I've been taking photos. Maybe I'll post them one day.
Monday, May 6, 2013
CROP walk 2013
Last week I found out my church was participating in the local CROP walk. I thought it would be a good way to socialize and add in some extra exercise. I had been looking forward to it all week...mostly because it was a great opportunity to get started on a new audio book.
There were two options for the walk. The main walk was for 5 miles and there was a shorter option of 3.4 miles. I was a bit reluctant at first. I knew I could pull off the 3.4 miles, I mean I walk about 2 miles on Saturday and Sundays when at home, what's another 1.4 miles? But the 5 mile....it was like a mountain I wanted to climb. I figured I'd do it in about 2 hours, this is a walk after all and I had been pulling off 2 miles in about an hour. Plus, I am far from being at a point to jog much less run anything. So a goal of 5 miles in 2 hours sounded good.
I made sure I had a bit more carbs in the morning, packed my protein shake and a banana for afterwards, got my water bottle filled, my audio book ready on my phone and I was off. At first I was doing a decent pace, I didn't want to get tired too soon and then put myself in a situation where I would turn for the 3.4 mile rather than finish the 5 mile walk. About after a while I felt the need to jog. I can't explain it, it's like I was not walking fast enough to satisfy some need I was feeling. So I started to jog. Nothing crazy, it was a very light jog. When I got tired of jogging I walked again. I started alternating, jogging then walking when I felt the need to relax. I paced my water bottle so I wouldn't run out of fluid, luckily there were a couple of CROP walk stops along the route where I got to refill my bottle. I think when I got to the last mile I stopped alternating and just walked.
I finished the walk in 1 hour and 30 minutes. I'm actually very proud of myself, I didn't think I would shave 30 minutes off my goal. I am now proud to say I survived CROP walk 2013.
Since I was doing the walk on Sunday I thought I'd take a break today from working out. I figured my legs would be too sore to work out. I actually woke up not as sore as I thought I would be and decided to continue with my daily routine of working out on the elliptical.
When I got to the walking track where I warm up there were two girls right by the elliptical I use. I like using it because it's on it's own in the walking track which is always at least almost empty. Well these two girls are there and I'm thinking to myself..."great, how long have they been there? are they going to use the machine or just lean on it for the whole hour?" I was a bit annoyed but kept doing my normal warm up laps hoping they would leave my corner of the walking track. I finished my warm up laps and they were still there. I had no choice but to get on the "other" elliptical in the other corner of the lap which I'm not used to. I've used it before, I don't like it. I got on it and just kept watching them....one doing jumping jacks while the other just sat on my machine. Finally after a few minutes, they were gone and I got to use the machine! I was happy and was able to do 30 minutes on a 9 resistance. I did get a tired a little sooner but I did it.
There were two options for the walk. The main walk was for 5 miles and there was a shorter option of 3.4 miles. I was a bit reluctant at first. I knew I could pull off the 3.4 miles, I mean I walk about 2 miles on Saturday and Sundays when at home, what's another 1.4 miles? But the 5 mile....it was like a mountain I wanted to climb. I figured I'd do it in about 2 hours, this is a walk after all and I had been pulling off 2 miles in about an hour. Plus, I am far from being at a point to jog much less run anything. So a goal of 5 miles in 2 hours sounded good.
I made sure I had a bit more carbs in the morning, packed my protein shake and a banana for afterwards, got my water bottle filled, my audio book ready on my phone and I was off. At first I was doing a decent pace, I didn't want to get tired too soon and then put myself in a situation where I would turn for the 3.4 mile rather than finish the 5 mile walk. About after a while I felt the need to jog. I can't explain it, it's like I was not walking fast enough to satisfy some need I was feeling. So I started to jog. Nothing crazy, it was a very light jog. When I got tired of jogging I walked again. I started alternating, jogging then walking when I felt the need to relax. I paced my water bottle so I wouldn't run out of fluid, luckily there were a couple of CROP walk stops along the route where I got to refill my bottle. I think when I got to the last mile I stopped alternating and just walked.
I finished the walk in 1 hour and 30 minutes. I'm actually very proud of myself, I didn't think I would shave 30 minutes off my goal. I am now proud to say I survived CROP walk 2013.
Since I was doing the walk on Sunday I thought I'd take a break today from working out. I figured my legs would be too sore to work out. I actually woke up not as sore as I thought I would be and decided to continue with my daily routine of working out on the elliptical.
When I got to the walking track where I warm up there were two girls right by the elliptical I use. I like using it because it's on it's own in the walking track which is always at least almost empty. Well these two girls are there and I'm thinking to myself..."great, how long have they been there? are they going to use the machine or just lean on it for the whole hour?" I was a bit annoyed but kept doing my normal warm up laps hoping they would leave my corner of the walking track. I finished my warm up laps and they were still there. I had no choice but to get on the "other" elliptical in the other corner of the lap which I'm not used to. I've used it before, I don't like it. I got on it and just kept watching them....one doing jumping jacks while the other just sat on my machine. Finally after a few minutes, they were gone and I got to use the machine! I was happy and was able to do 30 minutes on a 9 resistance. I did get a tired a little sooner but I did it.
Saturday, May 4, 2013
I broke down
I dug out the scale and weighed in. No change. I was secretly hopeing to see a change...a decrease...while at the same time pretending it would not bother me in the least bit if there wasn't.
Considering all the work I've put in to working out and the decrease in calorie intake I just thought maybe just maybe there would some decrease...even just a minor one.
On the upside I took another picture. I don't know if it's my hopefull eyes but I think I see a difference. I can't pin point it but there is something. My plan is to take a picture every week... to have a visual, I see myslef every day after all.
At some point I'll post those pictures. I don't think I'm ready to do that now.
Thursday, May 2, 2013
I dumped my scale.
The last couple of weeks I've been feeling kinda up and down.
Up because I'm working out, I'm feeling good, I'm making progress with my endurance (going on 25 minutes on the elliptical on level 7), I've increased how many push ups, squats and crunches I do (thanks to a couple of apps).
Down because I weighed in, when I shouldn't have, and have not seen any decrease on the scale since last week. I realized, I was being ruled by the scale. It dictated what mood I would be in and if I would continue working out. How could it not? It sits on my bathroom floor. I see it every time I walk in, each time tempting me saying "Come on, get on...let's see if you're work has paid off.". It taunts me and when ever I give in, which could be every single day, I either feel good because I've lost some weight or I feel devastated because it has increased every so slightly or after days of hard work it has not budged at all. It's ridiculous but it's the truth, how some inanimate object and rule over you so easily.
Today I dumped my scale. I didn't throw it away or anything, I just moved it to the back of my bedroom closet. It now lays against the back wall behind shoes. It is unreachable. I will have to go digging for it if I really want to weigh myself and I don't want to go digging. If it's not in the bathroom I will not be tempted to weigh myself in every time I go in there.
I think I'll take pictures and if at some point I see a significant difference, then I might go digging but for now I'll let my eyes judge how I'm doing.
Up because I'm working out, I'm feeling good, I'm making progress with my endurance (going on 25 minutes on the elliptical on level 7), I've increased how many push ups, squats and crunches I do (thanks to a couple of apps).
Down because I weighed in, when I shouldn't have, and have not seen any decrease on the scale since last week. I realized, I was being ruled by the scale. It dictated what mood I would be in and if I would continue working out. How could it not? It sits on my bathroom floor. I see it every time I walk in, each time tempting me saying "Come on, get on...let's see if you're work has paid off.". It taunts me and when ever I give in, which could be every single day, I either feel good because I've lost some weight or I feel devastated because it has increased every so slightly or after days of hard work it has not budged at all. It's ridiculous but it's the truth, how some inanimate object and rule over you so easily.
Today I dumped my scale. I didn't throw it away or anything, I just moved it to the back of my bedroom closet. It now lays against the back wall behind shoes. It is unreachable. I will have to go digging for it if I really want to weigh myself and I don't want to go digging. If it's not in the bathroom I will not be tempted to weigh myself in every time I go in there.
I think I'll take pictures and if at some point I see a significant difference, then I might go digging but for now I'll let my eyes judge how I'm doing.
Been there, done that.
As I mentioned before, I've been overweight my entire life. Growing up I would ask my mom why I was "chubby" she would always tell me she was the same way until she hit her teens. So I just waited until I was a teenager amd guess what happened? I became a chubby teenager.
As a teen I expressed my concerns to my mom. I really hoped she could help me. What she did was expose me to the world of fad dieting. The first "diet" I was on was "La Dieta de la Luna", the moon diet. I don't remeber the details but you fast for a period of time then you can start eating again on some phase of the moon, full moon, new moon...some moon. Of course I was starving by the time came to eat and I ate everything in sight once the fast was lifted. I'm not sure how many times we did this but I didn't lose a pound.
As an older teen I discovered Herbal Life...oh dear lord. I had a shake for breakfast, food for lunch and a shake for dinner. Being the only one on a diet made this ubber hard with my moms cooking for the rest of the family. With the cost being high and all the great food around me and really no other support I eventually gave up.
While attending the community college a group of friends and I decided we would support each other in our weight loss goals. We got memberships at the local "Y" and after a week of 5am workouts before class..we gave up. There were just too many naked elderly women in the locker room, not enough privacy in the showers and the gym smelled horrible. At some point one of them got a few Tai-Bo DVDs and there you had us in my friends basement punching and kicking in rhythm. That didn't last very long either. Boyfriends and schedules got in the way.
In between somewhere I also tried the Atkins diet and the South Beach diet. Someone at some point must have raved about the results and I had to try them.
A few years later I attended a state University. There, I met new people with different lifestyles. Soon I was playing racket ball, learning to roller blade, and started weight lifting with the boys. It was fun, for a while. It lasted until finals or vacation hit then schedules got in the way once more and it was over.
After college and getting married, I decided to join Weight Watchers. I did the online only version for some time. I did well for a few months then having to track everything got to me and for at least a month I was paying for a service I was not using.
At some point my dad heard about some weight loss program that involved diet change and pressure points. By this time my mom had already taken me to do pressure points years ago but that didn't involve diet change so this must be different, and so he and I signed up. I lost weight but I couldn't handle eating just vegetables and protein. It was ok going to get checked in every week during the summer but then school started and it got "complicated".
Soon after that I was pregnant with my son. After his birth my sister-in-law and I signed up for WW, this time I attended weekly meetings. I figured maybe I needed the support system to help get going. I did lose weight but I think that was more attributed to the fact that I was nursing more than anything. I wish I had been more disciplined then, maybe things would be different now...maybe not. She and I lost motivation and we both quit.
Within the last 7 years I have gone back and forth to WW 5 times. As you can see I've just about it all. At some point I realized, it's not them...it's me. There is something about me that just does not want to follow through. It's not lack of desire or motivation. I'm motivated and I desire it. It's not lack of education. I know what I should and shouldn't eat and that I should exercise. As a matter of fact I think I eat pretty healthy, I don't eat junk food, I don't drink juice or soda pop. I stay away from most carbs, they don't seem to like me very much. I don't keep the house stocked with cookies and ice cream. I know there are things I can improve on but overall I think I'm in a better place than many people, yet I'm twice the weight I should be.
In any case, this time has to be different...it just has to be.
As a teen I expressed my concerns to my mom. I really hoped she could help me. What she did was expose me to the world of fad dieting. The first "diet" I was on was "La Dieta de la Luna", the moon diet. I don't remeber the details but you fast for a period of time then you can start eating again on some phase of the moon, full moon, new moon...some moon. Of course I was starving by the time came to eat and I ate everything in sight once the fast was lifted. I'm not sure how many times we did this but I didn't lose a pound.
As an older teen I discovered Herbal Life...oh dear lord. I had a shake for breakfast, food for lunch and a shake for dinner. Being the only one on a diet made this ubber hard with my moms cooking for the rest of the family. With the cost being high and all the great food around me and really no other support I eventually gave up.
While attending the community college a group of friends and I decided we would support each other in our weight loss goals. We got memberships at the local "Y" and after a week of 5am workouts before class..we gave up. There were just too many naked elderly women in the locker room, not enough privacy in the showers and the gym smelled horrible. At some point one of them got a few Tai-Bo DVDs and there you had us in my friends basement punching and kicking in rhythm. That didn't last very long either. Boyfriends and schedules got in the way.
In between somewhere I also tried the Atkins diet and the South Beach diet. Someone at some point must have raved about the results and I had to try them.
A few years later I attended a state University. There, I met new people with different lifestyles. Soon I was playing racket ball, learning to roller blade, and started weight lifting with the boys. It was fun, for a while. It lasted until finals or vacation hit then schedules got in the way once more and it was over.
After college and getting married, I decided to join Weight Watchers. I did the online only version for some time. I did well for a few months then having to track everything got to me and for at least a month I was paying for a service I was not using.
At some point my dad heard about some weight loss program that involved diet change and pressure points. By this time my mom had already taken me to do pressure points years ago but that didn't involve diet change so this must be different, and so he and I signed up. I lost weight but I couldn't handle eating just vegetables and protein. It was ok going to get checked in every week during the summer but then school started and it got "complicated".
Soon after that I was pregnant with my son. After his birth my sister-in-law and I signed up for WW, this time I attended weekly meetings. I figured maybe I needed the support system to help get going. I did lose weight but I think that was more attributed to the fact that I was nursing more than anything. I wish I had been more disciplined then, maybe things would be different now...maybe not. She and I lost motivation and we both quit.
Within the last 7 years I have gone back and forth to WW 5 times. As you can see I've just about it all. At some point I realized, it's not them...it's me. There is something about me that just does not want to follow through. It's not lack of desire or motivation. I'm motivated and I desire it. It's not lack of education. I know what I should and shouldn't eat and that I should exercise. As a matter of fact I think I eat pretty healthy, I don't eat junk food, I don't drink juice or soda pop. I stay away from most carbs, they don't seem to like me very much. I don't keep the house stocked with cookies and ice cream. I know there are things I can improve on but overall I think I'm in a better place than many people, yet I'm twice the weight I should be.
In any case, this time has to be different...it just has to be.
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Right off the bat changes
I've made some small...or at least I think they are small changes to my.....what's a good word? Lifestyle. Although I have always kept a water bottle at my side, I've decided I'm not going to keep track of how many ounces I've drank or worry about not drinking enough water. If I'm thirsty, I drink. If I'm not, I don't. Keeping it simple. I figured I put too much stress on myself to keep track of how much water I'm drinking, I'm just going to go with the flow.
I've switched out coffee in the morning for green tea and cinnamon tea. I can find tea bags of both at my local super market so instead of drinking a cup of coffee in the morning I'm drinking a cup of green tea/cinnamon mix with a table spoon of honey. So far that hasn't been a very debilitating change. I had been drinking decaff coffee and had just recently switched to caffeinated. So I wasn't quite hooked yet. My coffee stuff was moved to the pantry and I moved to the kitchen counter the tea bags and honey.
I started taking B12 and MSM every morning. This hasn't been a huge change for me because I take a multi-vitamin every morning after break fast. For what ever reason I'm always feeling fatigued and I figured the B12 would help with that. My knees don't hurt right now but I am worried about them because both my parents have had knee surgery, this is something I want to avoid when I am older so that's why I'm taking the MSM. I got both for a decent price on Nutrition Express . After reading the labels on both bottles I realized that B12 helps support a health metabolism and MSM supports healthy joints, hair, skin and nails. All of which I don't mind any assistance with.
One other change, which isn't really small but hasn't been horrible so far is the working out every weekday. That is kind of a big change but I've been feeling motivated recently so I haven't felt too forced about it.
We'll see if these small changes work in some way.
I've switched out coffee in the morning for green tea and cinnamon tea. I can find tea bags of both at my local super market so instead of drinking a cup of coffee in the morning I'm drinking a cup of green tea/cinnamon mix with a table spoon of honey. So far that hasn't been a very debilitating change. I had been drinking decaff coffee and had just recently switched to caffeinated. So I wasn't quite hooked yet. My coffee stuff was moved to the pantry and I moved to the kitchen counter the tea bags and honey.
I started taking B12 and MSM every morning. This hasn't been a huge change for me because I take a multi-vitamin every morning after break fast. For what ever reason I'm always feeling fatigued and I figured the B12 would help with that. My knees don't hurt right now but I am worried about them because both my parents have had knee surgery, this is something I want to avoid when I am older so that's why I'm taking the MSM. I got both for a decent price on Nutrition Express . After reading the labels on both bottles I realized that B12 helps support a health metabolism and MSM supports healthy joints, hair, skin and nails. All of which I don't mind any assistance with.
One other change, which isn't really small but hasn't been horrible so far is the working out every weekday. That is kind of a big change but I've been feeling motivated recently so I haven't felt too forced about it.
We'll see if these small changes work in some way.
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