Down 4 Pounds

I seem to be off to a good start!  The scale is already registering down four pounds - back under the 200 lb mark - thank goodness!  I'm showing 198.2 lbs this morning.  Since it has dropped so fast, clearly a lot of it was water weight that I had put on.  No matter the reason, I am so, so glad to be back under 200 again!

The changes have really been in exercising (back on my bike - yay!) and watching my food intake.  Somehow I've been able to keep my eating under control - and it hasn't even been that hard!  I'll take it, whatever the reason!

My next challenge is vacation.  We will be at my parents' house for the next week which will mean food and drink above and beyond.  I will do my best to control myself, and yes, enjoy a little, but try to stay within the confines of some semblance of sanity.

My head seems to be in the right place again, finally.  I'm so tired of looking fat and feeling fat that I am focused again.  When I feel this badly about myself it affects everything else, so it's good that I've finally overcome whatever my issue was.

At the moment anyway.  I have no illusions that this is going to be easy.  I am sure I will hit rough spots again, and I know you guys will be here to cheer me on and get me moving again.

I intend to come back from vacation still under 200 lbs, so we will see how that goes!

I think one thing that is helping is having healthier snacks in the house.  Rather than all the high fat things, we got skinny cow ice cream (which really tastes good!) so that the kids have their ice cream and if I flounder on my willpower, it isn't an awful choice.  We also stocked up on apples and low fat peanut butter which always makes me feel self-indulged for some reason - it fills me up and just feels sinful, so it ticks off the boxes on my needs of the moment and doesn't wreck me.  We have several 100 calorie snack packs - better choices for the kids and me.

I've also started drinking more water - one of another blogger friend's suggestion.  I bet it is helping as well.

I don't think there is one major thing I have to change - just a bunch of little things that can help me.  It's not so overwhelming that way and I don't get freaked out and just quit.

I will keep you posted!  Have a wonderful summer day!

Time to Get Serious.

The scales are back up over the 200 lb mark.

I have been just playing around and have not really been serious about getting back on track.  I keep trying to find different ways to do that, but I think it boils down to the fact that I'm trying to find an "easy" way to do it.  As we all know, there is no easy when it comes to health and weight loss.

I guess the 200 lb mark was the whomp upside the head that I've been needing.  It's time to get serious.

I am going to go back to my tools post (HERE) and get back on track with all of them.  I'm not going to say "Oh, I remember that - I don't need to use that."  Because clearly, I DO need to use them again.  When I used them, I lost weight.

I guess it's the lawyer in me that is able to convince myself that "just one" is okay, or "I deserve this because it's been a rough day."  I really am quite the creative excuse maker and justifier.  Amazing what my lawyerness has talked myself into!

I've got to take responsibility for myself and get back on track.  It's no one else's fault that I ate the ice cream  sundae.  Just because the kids have summer treats doesn't mean I should too.  And really, they should be eating healthier, too.  Just because they are kids doesn't mean it's okay to eat high calorie, high fat foods.  There are treats that are healthier choices, and I need to get on the ball with that.  Trying to have food for them and food for me isn't working like I thought.  Probably because I have a really, really low willpower threshold.  My beast (no, not the lawyer in me - though I do think it got ALL of my argument skills) is able to convince me to eat whatever I want no matter what my intentions might have been to start with.

Time to get back on track.  It's not an excuse that I'm weak.  If I really want this (and there is no one here that I'm doing this for except me) then I need to DO it.

The days since my last post have been used to get my mental butt back in gear.  It is going to take focus and determination.  It is going to take sacrifice.  I can't have ice cream sundaes every night and expect to lose weight.  "Oh, it's just ice cream - it's got calcium in it - it's good for me!"  Really, beast?  Really?

So, I am going to fight like crazy to get serious about this.  And keep fighting.  I think I'm worth it.

Thought for the Day

Enough said, right?

I've got to get my mind in gear.  Working on it!

Cheat Day

What do you think of the concept of a "cheat" day each week?

I'm wondering if I should give it a try.  Maybe I can keep myself from going wild if I know I'm going to be allowed a cheat day ... ?

I just can't seem to get my eating under control these days.  I fell off the Lean Cuisine diet - it was too hard with all the stuff we've had going on.  I'm getting back on it today, just to try and get myself under control!

But I saw some blogs talking about cheat days.  And a friend at work swears by them.  So, how does it work?  I pick a day that I can have anything I want and for the rest of the week I stay on a strict dietary routine?

I'm not sure it will work.  But I suppose, if I plan it out (you all know I'm big on the planning!) then I can choose the best day for cheating each week.  Like if I know I'll be at meetings or away from home, I can make that day my cheat day so I'm not all "Oh, I fell off the wagon, I might as well just eat!" Like this week we have orientation at UGA for daughter number 2.  If I make that my "cheat" day then I can enjoy eating out at the restaurants in Athens with no guilt.  If I know the fun day is coming, will I be able to keep myself in check the rest of the week?

I just don't know.  It's a thought.



Something to think about for sure ...

Exercise Makes Me Hungry

Suddenly I am ravenous.  ALL THE TIME.

The only thing I've changed is adding in the Total Gym workouts.  Which makes me theorize that it is my body needing extra ... something ... due to the exercise.

Unfortunately, my brain is unable to decipher what that "something" is and I just find myself EATING.

We ate lunch out yesterday (Chinese) because I was starving after running to the mall (Father's Day shopping).  I just couldn't wait to eat, so I ate out.  For dinner I was able to make better choices even though I was starved.  Well, sort of better.  I made veggies for dinner again.  I stuffed more 8 ball zucchini - this time with hamburger meat, northern beans, onions, garlic, chili powder and Italian seasoning.  Very tasty.  I also made golden egg squash (it's a yellow zucchini) and mashed potatoes.  So the not so good part was that I used butter in the squash (something I haven't done for over a year).  AND I put cream cheese and Mexican cheese in the mashed potatoes.  The good news was that I only had one helping of everything.  The bad news is that one helping was probably a huge amount of calories.  And I was still so hungry after that that I ate a 100 calorie bag of popcorn for snack.

I'm hoping as my body gets used to the new exercise, it will settle down and I won't be so hungry.  I'm not sure what to do in the meantime as my willpower is a puddle around my toes these days.

My daughter (7 year old) gets starved like this when she is about to have a growth spurt.  I sure hope I'm not about to have a growth spurt, but if I continue to eat like this, I certainly will be getting larger around!

I think I will try and eat more protein.  I seem to recall last year feeling hungry and weak and when I added in protein it helped.  I've hard boiled some eggs to have as a quick snack, so maybe that will help.

In the meantime, I'll keep exercising.  The building muscle should start burning more calories, so maybe I'm heading towards that tipping point I have hit at times.  So, I'll keep it up!

Over-Hungry = Over-Eating

Do not let yourself get over-hungry.  It makes for binges.  And bloating.  And cranky-tiredness.

Yes, I'm speaking from actual experience here.  I'm right smack in the middle of it as we speak.

I thought I had prepared for this.  I had court today so I ate a Lean Cuisine before heading out.  For some reason I was still hungry after I ate.  I don't know why - it was the salsbury steak and mac/cheese one - very yummy and satisfying.  Usually.

So, I went to court and by the time it was done, I was soooo hungry.  I couldn't think of anything else but eating SOMETHING by the time I got home.  Unfortunately for me, there was leftover Chinese food from the other day when hubby took the girls out to lunch.  I pounced on it.  I devoured it like a kitten attacking a mouse.

you get the idea ... 

And now, I'm paying for it.  I'm sluggish, bloated and ready for a nap.

The good news is that I rode the bike this morning.  And I'm waiting on my turn to use the Total Gym (hubby is using it - why he didn't do it while I was gone in court, I have no idea).  So I will get two good workouts today.

Hmmm....maybe that's why the Lean Cuisine didn't cut it.  I had worked out and needed more.  I think I've faced this before when I wasn't getting enough protein to make up for the muscle repair my body is going through...  It's a thought.

I also know a way to prevent this in the future.  I need to keep a snack in my purse.  Which I normally do, but last week, I was in court until I had to go to my next court (whole other story) and ended up having to eat the 5 prunes I had in my purse that I usually keep for emergency snacks as my lunch.  I'm sure I probably binged that day, too.  In fact, I think we ended up eating out that night.

Getting back on point, I had no snack in my purse to take that edge off before I got home.  I just need to make sure I restock with some kind of granola bar or something and to make sure I eat it before I walk in the door and find all the tempting things that live in my kitchen!

And tonight I will make some more healthy stuff from the garden.  We have another (several) batch of squash picked, so I will cook that.  After working out and eating healthy for dinner, maybe I won't be as upset with myself as I am right now.

So, lesson for the day, take action to make sure you do NOT let yourself get over-hungry.  It can lead to disastrous things and totally derail you.  Plan to eat.  It's key.

Who knew eating could be the key to losing weight?  And not eating the mechanism to make you gain weight?

So, watch your hunger level.  It's a killer.

Veggie Dinner

Dinner last night turned out to be fantastic!  We ended up eating green beans (not from the garden yet - hopefully we'll get some), squash from the garden, zucchini (8-ball) from the garden, and black eyed peas (not from the garden).

summer squah

ready to be baked

the stuffing for the zucchini

ready to eat!

Ah, dinner!

The stuffing was very easy - I used the insides of the hollowed out zucchini, ham, chopped artichoke hearts, mushrooms, onions, garlic, chili powder and (the most fattening ingredient) sharp cheddar cheese (2%).

The only problem was that I ate more helpings than I should have!  But it was sooooo good!

Don't you love summer?

Beautiful Back

So, I changed up my Total Gym exercises yesterday.  I didn't feel like I was getting enough core.

I am so sore today I can barely move, so I think I did a decent job of adding in some good exercises!  It all looks so easy, but boy does it work you out.  My upper back is super sore, which is a really, really good thing.  Because I'd love a back that looks like this:

I will definitely keep this image in mind as my muscles are screaming at me!  I've always loved strong backs, and I would love to get rid of my pudgy, non-sculpted back and have something like the above.  Pretty, right?

I haven't had a chance to weigh since I started the Total Gym, and frankly it's too early to really see any difference either in my body or on the scale, but I remain hopeful!

Meanwhile, our garden is producing!  We have picked some eightball zucchini and will have a basket full of summer squash picked this afternoon.  I'll be cooking those for dinner and probably making a salad from our lettuce and spinach!  I love this time of year!!  The winter is all about heavy, hot comfort food.  Summer is about fresh veggies as our comfort food.  Nice and light and tasty!!  If I remember, I will take some pictures of the dinner tonight.

As always, I will keep you posted!!

The Total Gym

This thing is AWESOME!!  Our gym came in just the other day and we got it out and set it up - very easy, by the way - and I did my first workout yesterday afternoon.  It was fun!  I like the sliding motion - it is very easy on the joints.  And I am telling you, I am so sore today!  It's that wonderful, good sore that makes me know I got an excellent work out!

This week is awful, work-wise, so I'm excited to have been able to work in this workout.  It probably only lasted 10 minutes, which doesn't burn many calories, but the muscle I build will.

Of course, I had court today and haven't had time to do a grocery list (always a downfall for me) and we ended up eating out at the Mexican buffet.  Not great choices, but I still feel good.  It's hard not to feel good when every time you move you are reminded of a great workout!

This is the one we got!  I can only work on the 2nd level, but I'm still very excited!

I will keep everyone posted on how it goes!