Good Week

It was a good week, this week.  I did my exercises and ate fairly well.  The portion thing is still very tricky for me, but I made sure to not go back for seconds, and I've lost a few pounds this week.

I had pork, which I cut into pieces and cooked in my actifry - no oils, just spices - and it was really, really good.  Then salad and lima beans.  Huge portion of lima beans, but I figured better to overdo on the veggies than on the meat.  It was satisfying, and I lost some weight, so that's a good thing.  I'm telling you, the actifry is a huge diet tool.  Any time you can make fantastic foods without having to add oils to cook them in is wonderful.  I make "fried" rice in it, beef tips, chicken and now pork.  I've also done frozen french fries - just dump them in, add the spices and cook it up - no oils needed to get that "fried" crisp.

Tonight may be date night - we haven't decided yet.  I'm really tired this week, so I'm trying to decided if I'd rather spend a night at home snuggling in front of the TV rather than going out and eating really high-calorie food.

Hubby and I even tried yoga this week!  It wasn't really the best video, so we'll keep looking, but it was fun and very supportive of him to be willing to try it with me!

I like this partner thing.  It's helpful, although I'm very jealous of his determination.  His workouts are intense and I'm not that able yet.  He actually works out every day and has a whole plan for working different muscle sets on different days, etc.

I just ride my bike every other morning, do calisthenics every other morning, bowflex for strength training every other day and now am trying to fit in yoga.  I just don't think doing it every day would be good for me yet.  I tend to over do it so this Mon, Wed, Fri thing is working out well.  A good solid day of rest in between.

At any rate, I'm doing something so I'm happy about that.  Oh!  You know that feeling where your stomach feels tighter and smaller?  I've hit that point!  I was walking into the living room and my stomach just felt ... tighter.  It's a good feeling.

As usual, I'll keep you all posted!

Feeling Better.

So, my husband had a theory as to why I've been feeling so awful the last 2 weeks.  He thinks it's because I'm doing too much exercise and not eating enough (not just not enough protein, but not enough period).  I told him that was crazy because I'm GAINING weight so clearly I'm eating too many calories.

Still, I didn't ride the bike at all yesterday and this morning I only rode for 30 minutes.  I feel so much better today!  I think maybe he was right after all!  I did get on that bike and immediately went straight back to my 50+ minutes every day of the work week.  At the same time, I cut back on my calories and started eating healthier (but less) AND added in the bowflex.  And after just one day of not doing the bike at all and today only doing 30 minutes, plus eating a real dinner last night (I made stuffed pork chops, scalloped potatoes and green bean casserole), I actually lost 2 lbs and feel more alert and happy than I've felt in two weeks!

I think I jumped in too fast.  I tend to do that.  I also need to really be better about my salt intake.  I have a feeling a lot of the weight gain I've had has been due to the salt content in my food.

At any rate, I feel alive today.  So much better to be in the land of the living!  I'm still tired, but I don't feel as exhausted as I've felt the last few weeks.

Another problem is portion control.  I didn't need to eat that entire pork chop last night, but I did.  It was stuffed with spinach and shredded, smoked gouda cheese - delicious!  But I should have eaten about 1/2 of it (it was a very thick pork chop).  I did well with the scalloped potatoes and the green bean casserole - just a daub of each, but enough to get the rich, decadent enjoyment out of it.

I also slept an hour longer last night.  I get about 4 hours of sleep and last night I almost reached 5 hours!

I have started listening to the subliminal weight loss stuff again at night as I fall asleep.  Maybe it really does help you sleep better...I'll keep you posted on that.  I'm never really sure about that kind of thing, but I'm willing to give it a shot.

I will update soon!

Checking In

This week is going well so far!  Well, except that I've gained a pound ... but I feel like that happened last time I got serious about weight loss, too.  It fluctuates up a bit before starting to go down.  At least I hope that's what it's doing.  I am assuming it is water weight and given that we ate a Mardi Gras dinner last night (to celebrate since I was out of town on the actual Mardi Gras), I'm sure that had something to do with it.  Even though I was very good with portions.

At any rate, I have ridden the bike each morning this week and I can sure feel it!  I also started back on the bowflex, and I can feel that too!  I need to figure out when Hubby and I can do our yoga together - I'm very excited about that.  But today I've got to deal with court preparation, doctor appointments and school closings, so I'm trying to find some time to work it in.

It feels good to be DOING something again.  I feel so much better about myself when I'm working towards getting healthy.

Tonight I am having the Campbell's Italian Wedding soup which is very satisfying and very tasty, but low calorie.  I know it's not the greatest as far as salt content, but one thing at a time.  I'm going to try and make the meal early - that seems to be a key in losing weight.  And then somehow stop myself from snacking.  My trick for that is to doodle while watching TV.  Keeps my mind and hands busy.

I just wanted to report how good it feels to be taking affirmative action again.  One day at a time!

Timing

Finally.  I've gotten through seminars, hubby being out of town and all the celebrations.

I'm ready to start.

Got up and rode the bike for 46 minutes today.  Went for 11.4 miles and burned 247 calories.  All that before the day even started!

I want to start the bowflex today as well, but not too much since I don't want to hurt my shoulder again and I am just getting started.  I tend to be one of those "I want to do it all in one day" type people and I have to prepare myself for the slow and steady.

I've been so exhausted and I'm hoping that getting back into the exercise routine will help with that.

We aren't supposed to wait for the timing to be "right" because then we'd never get anything done, but I've had some issues, so it's good to know that my time is here now.  And I'm ready for it.  There is something to be said about having your mental state in the right place.  There can't be a right time if you can't get there mentally!

Now I have to plan the menu for the week - I know the key is eating a lighter dinner and trying not to snack after dinner.  I will try and plan accordingly.  If I make up something that is just really good, I'll pass it on here!  I'm going to have fun trying to create tasty meals that satisfy.  I'm also going to try and learn to cook less.  I've always cooked for 6, even when there's only a few of us home and no matter how much I made, we'd eat it all.  Now that it's just 4 of us here most of the time, I need to learn to cut portions accordingly.

As I need humor to get me through this, I'll leave with this for the day:

A New Plan

So, I'm spinning my wheels.  Time to come up with a new plan.

I can absolutely not control my eating lately.  Therefore, I'm going to actually DIET.  I've been trying to just eat healthier, with better portion control.  It's not working.  I can't seem to control myself.  So.  I'm taking way my free will and I'm going to control everything.

I am going to use Lean Cuisine this week to try and get myself on track.

I am going to eat Lean Cuines for lunch and dinner.  I'm planning out my daily snacks.  We'll see if it works.  So far the days range from 921 calories to 1042 calories.  I'm doing this for a week and I'll see where I am.  Maybe that one week will be enough to get myself back into the mind set I need to be in.  If not, I'll do it for two weeks.  There are plenty of Lean Cuisine options out there - the newest ones being a salad type kit.  I like that it's all pre-measured so I don't have the opportunity to say "Yeah, that looks like a cup" and really end up eating three ...

I can't trust myself right now, so I'm taking the trust out of it.

Meanwhile, I've hurt my shoulder again so I'm not sure about the weight lifting.  Which is really depressing because I was actually finally feeling something.  I could feel my work outs actually DOING something.  Now I'm back to square one.  I'm still riding the bike and doing calisthenics   But I really, really wanted to do the weight training.  Maybe I'll try with some really low weight and see how my shoulder goes.

So anyway, that's my plan.

I'll keep you posted!