My Reflections on a Cross Fit Summer

Hello! I do still exist, despite the fact that I haven't touched this blog since June.

I've found that as I work hard on my business, getting everything done for it, AND take care of my family, that several things have fallen by the wayside. The first one is this blog. For some reason, I've been taking FOREVER to write things lately (as in 1 hour to write something that should take 15 minutes), which means it was the first to go!

However, here I sit on a Friday night, with a bit of spare time and the muse to write!

I'm incredibly motivated by seeing Brian, Beck, and Kevin back on the bandwagon, with quick dip-ins by Dave and RipX and even one by Billy. A good portion of the old FAT Coalition. I'm glad to see you guys still at it!

My clients are currently 12 days into the first 28 days of an 82 day contest that's being run through my business. It's called the LeanBody Transformation Contest, and it's separated into three stages, each lasting 28 days. Me being the trainer I am, I cannot design a program and expect my clients to go through it without doing it myself.

My compliance with the fitness portion is nowhere near what it should be, but it's definitely a good program! I haven't got a problem following the nutrition portion, as it's similar to the way I've been eating for quite a while now (minus carb cycling). Basically, a high-quality elimination diet: no wheat, dairy, sugar, or processed foods, but packaged in such a way that we're not focusing on what we don't have.

At any rate, first week results were pretty awesome. I'm excited to see what the rest of this month is going to produce.

However, what I truly wanted to write about were some reflections on doing Cross Fit this past summer. Scheduling prevented me from continuing beyond August, but it was fun while I did it! I certainly made some good progress fitness-wise, although I still am not anywhere near where I would like to be (more than 20 full-body push-ups in three minutes, please!). The workouts are, basically, brutal. They varied between doing olympic strength followed by short metabolic circuits or doing LONGASS metabolic-style circuits. And lots of running. Lots, and LOTS of running. And no, my running times haven't really improved. I will say short distances have gotten relatively easier.

The drawbacks to our Crossfit program revolved around two things: injuries and cooldowns. As in, one existed and the other didn't, and it wasn't in the order it should have been. Over the 4th of July, I managed to injure my shoulder pretty good and proper doing pull-ups, and then, three weeks later, up popped some plantar fascitis. Not cool. There were plenty of other people who were getting injured as well, so the program had some definite weaknesses there (the injury rate in my program is pretty much nil, if you'd like something to compare to). I know I injured my own shoulder- I thought I should be able to do better pull-ups than my body was truly ready for- but it was to "keep up," in a sense. In fact, I almost always felt like a fitness failure. THAT was interesting.

The second drawback was cool-downs. They RARELY had cool-downs incorporated into the program. Every so often, there was guided stretching, but not regularly.

The good parts of the Crossfit program were the awesome fitness improvements and the good muscle tone that developed as a result of the heavy lifting and intense workouts. I have amazing quads now, and I know they developed over the summer. I've also got some ab definition happening. I like that.

So in all, I liked the Crossfit program. However, I do believe there were areas they could improve, and probably should, to keep their reputation up. Being that I've never tried a workout in another "box," as they call their gyms, I have no idea whether this is common practice.

The Something That's Been Missing

I've noticed something missing from a lot of my weight loss blogger friends recently (and no, I'm not talking about the lack of posts).

Strangely enough, it's love.

WHAAA?!

Yes. It is.

Yes, you may be feeling the love from others who are encouraging you.

But are you loving yourself?

Truly?

I posted this on my blog at CarrannmorFitness.com earlier:

When was the last time you said “I Love You” to your body?

Was it this morning?

Yesterday?

Sixteen years ago?

Ever?

How often do you say “I love you” to those closest to you? Probably pretty often. We do it because it’s one of the strongest emotions we have. Those three little words have power. They tie us together.

And if you love someone, it’s pretty rare for you to go knocking them around, either physically or verbally.

So why is it acceptable for us to verbally beat ourselves up? Listen to some of the things running around in your thoughts. Have you thought any of these recently?

“I hate my stomach and how it pooches out like that.”

“My arms are so jiggly, it’s gross.”

“Ugh, look at that fat under my chin.”

“I’ve really got to stop eating so much junk and just eat salads.”

“I don’t want to exercise, it’s boring.”

“Man, I hate my butt.”

If you are unable to say “I love you” to your body, or yourself, I can hazard a guess as to why you’re overweight, why you turn to food or too much tv for comfort, and why you hate moving around.

If you had just been physically beat up, would you be exercising and having fun?

It’s time to turn your thought patterns around. If you catch yourself with any of those above thoughts (or similar ones), stop, take a deep breath, and say to yourself, “I love you.” You can continue on with more affirmations, or you can keep repeating it.

I used to have a very deep-seated body hatred. I would stare at myself in the mirror and continually put myself down. It resulted in me sabatoging myself when it came to enjoying healthy foods, avoiding my workouts, and kept me from being happy. I was unable to appreciate how far I’d even come! All I could see was how far I had to go, and that it was taking me “forever” to get there. It wasn’t until I had gained 15 pounds and discovered the idea of loving myself that things truly started to turn around for me. I had a lot of work to do, but it was amazing how saying “I love you” to the person in the mirror was a healing, positive journey. It turned all my other thoughts around instantly. Suddenly, I was enjoying vegetables. Suddenly, I had no problems exercising. Suddenly, things became easy.

I still find myself doing the put downs on rare occasions, but now, when I catch myself, I turn it around. I look into my own eyes, take a deep breath, and say “I love you. I love you. I love you.” I will also continue with other sentences, such as:

• I take absolute joy in eating high-quality foods that give me life and vitality.
• Body, let’s work together to get rid of the toxins that we’re storing and find our best potential.
• I love how my body can run, jump, and play.
• I am absolutely amazed with how far I’ve come, and I look forward to the rest of this journey.

When you start saying “I love you” to yourself, it may feel rather crazy at first. In fact, you may be tempted to throw yourself in the crazy house. However, notice the emotions that well up inside as you say it while looking into your own eyes. Notice the release of burdens, the waterfall of unshed tears, and the forgiveness that appears. Notice how things that were challenging before start to become easy.

Once that happens, the weight will fall off. The fat will magically disappear from your body. You’ll start to gravitate toward foods that give you energy and vitality, ones that make you feel alive. You’ll want to move around in any way possible.

You will appreciate so many more things in life, and you’ll be able to enjoy it in harmony with your body, and not in spite of it.

Written by Carrie Moritz, CPT

http://tinyurl.com/25kyouz

The final Tally

Well, here's the final tally as of this past Wednesday! I leave tomorrow for the cruise, so Bon Voyage!

Starting ---> Final
12/30/09-->5/26/10

Weight 161-->151.8 lbs
Bodyfat % 30.3% -->24.5% (-6%)
Right Arm 12.75" -->11.75" (-1")
Bra Strap 33" -->31.25" (-1.75")
Waist (at navel) 30.5" -->28.75" (-1.75")
Hips 37" -->34.25 (-2.75")
Glutes 41" -->39" (-2")
Right Thigh 23.75" -->22.5" (-1.25")







The reason for the newspaper behind me is that I also entered the "Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle" challenge, and it started this past week. I'm going all the way, baby! I've got 98 days and I'm attaining the holy grail for myself: 18% bodyfat. I've currently got 114 pounds of lean muscle mass, so I'm going to keep all focus off muscle-building (at least, intentional muscle-building- when you're doing Crossfit, the muscle's gonna happen). This means I've got a full 12 pounds of pure fat to melt off myself.

This means I enter "scary" territory. I'm currently at the same place I was at in May 2008 (give or take a percentage point). I have basically got to make sure I stay out of old cycles, habits, and pounce on those subconscious blocks right away.

The prize for the best body transformation is a trip to Maui. That'd be awesome: a trip to Baja to reward myself for where I'm at currently, and a trip to Maui to reward myself for going the final mile.

I'm so happy though! I realized today that I was wearing a tank top that I'd been wearing through the winter, and quite often, would have to pull it down because it was technically too small and it would creep up. I would unconsciously tug at it today, but I didn't actually need to! I also bought a new pair of shorts for the cruise: size 11 Juniors (keep in mind I've had a kid, and most Juniors' clothing has no room for a butt)! All the other shorts, except one, in my drawer are way too big.

Kevin put out a call to gather together the FAT Coalition again. Head to his blog and leave a comment if you're in. My blogging habits may not increase this summer, but remember, I'm in this with you!

Coming So Far

If you didn't read my post earlier today, it's just below that one. It's a happy post.

Here begins the final week prior to the cruise. I have four no-carb days scheduled, I've had my cheat day, and I'm ready to take on this week and see what I can accomplish. If it's as bully as this last week, I should see something utterly amazing. Four days of Crossfit.

June 1, 2002, I had just turned 22, graduated from college, and was rather unhappy with myself. I should have been dancing on air: I had obtained my black belt in karate not two weeks prior, my undergraduate degree was resting on an unopened box in my own new apartment, and my life was beginning. I was ready to take on the world. But I wasn't happy. I was fat, out of shape, felt like I hadn't truly earned my black belt on the level of fitness, and generally wanted something to change. Everything else had changed in my life, why not this?

So, somewhere around that date, I walked into a gym, hired a personal trainer, and never looked back. Over the next year, I taught myself about nutrition (at least, what the Zone Diet looked like without any knowledge of vegetables), exercise (Body for Life, again, without any knowledge of vegetables), and learned that I actually LIKED regular exercise.

June 1, 2003, I was just about to get married, just learned I was pregnant, and was just about to go to Spain. I then commenced to have three months of morning/all day sickness and lost all motivation to eat right and exercise. When I started going back to the gym at month 5/6, I would get contractions during the workout, so that didn't last past month 7/8. I cried after having my baby, because all the weight I had worked so hard to get off in 2002/03 was back (and then some).

June 1, 2004, I was still reeling from the birth that happened in January, a stressful job, and knowledge that I REALLY didn't like not having a steady exercise program. During that summer, I again hired a personal trainer for accountability and dove in again.

June 1, 2005, I was finishing up my first year of a new degree, this time for graduate school. That degree took me four years (I had to take two years of undergrad prerequisites just to get into the program), but it led me in an entirely new direction. It's probably a good thing that I did have those two years, because they only cemented my desire to work in the health/fitness field. I truly was, at that point, no where NEAR ready to start training others.

Fast forward to June 1, 2010, and here I am: turning 30, working in the health and fitness field and happy as a clam about it. I've been observing my attitude quite a bit over the past few weeks/months, mostly because I saw myself entering an old cycle again, and I was ready to get out of it.

That cycle was one of becoming apathetic, of seeing others obtaining goals and myself falling behind. It was one of berating myself for not getting to where I was going. It was one of feeling like the spiral should be down, rather than up. I wasn't seeing where I had already gotten, and I wasn't appreciating that I was in that spot. That was very very very common for me. I wrote down and went through that past stuff, because I noticed how there wasn't much appreciation for how far I had come.

Go back to June 1, 2006. We were going to be moving in three short months to Volga, South Dakota, so I could be closer to the school where I was getting my degree. I don't recall what I weighed at that point. I was working out regularly (4-5 days/wk), eating decently, and while I was happy with my fitness level I still wanted to drop 20 pounds. I got my wish that fall, as I threw myself into Turbulence Training and new types of food/eating styles. Was I happy at that point?

Yes and no. Yes, because I knew I was thinner than I had ever been. No, because I still wasn't seeing what I thought I wanted to see: that bikini body. I still beat myself up almost daily for it. I would scrutinize myself in the mirror, and I wouldn't see any results that actually WERE happening.

Skip ahead to June 1, 2008. By that point, I had done what I could (so I thought). I thought, my body just isn't cut out for the bikini. But what was so magical about that? It allowed me to actually, finally, really start to accept myself for WHERE I WAS AT. I started to become HAPPY with my body. (Don't start to think it all became hunky dory after that- me/this story is way too complex for that.) It was so freeing, so wonderful, to know that I was okay. People didn't recognize me at my 10 year high school reunion. I truly was thin, regardless of the fact that I didn't believe I'd look any good in a bikini. I gained a bit of weight that summer, but was okay with it, as long as it didn't climb. I let go of a TON of pressure.

Unfortunately, a part of that letting go included the discipline I'd developed for eating healthy foods and decent portion sizes. So the weight did climb.

June 1, 2009: I was burned out from my job, but was just starting the busy part of it. I had stopped the weight gain back in January, but wasn't very happy with where I was at. I was still working on accepting myself JUST THE WAY I WAS. But again, that acceptance was huge. The more I started to accept it, the more I started taking steps in the right direction again. The big break came at the end of August, when they cut my position and I took off. Literally. Some wings that had been developing over the past few years, that had been getting groomed through the weight gain and subsequent stopping, came out and we took flight. How else can you explain how quickly I turned around?

In January 2010, I'd had enough of my clients getting great results while mine were minimal. I not only wanted to get back to the weight/size I had been prior to June 1, 2008, but wanted to see how far (and how quickly) I could go.

I still fought a lot of the same demons: discipline, mostly, but also motivation, whiny-ness, and general one-step-forward-two-steps-back types of mindsets. I was mostly sick of myself.

Sometime in April, two things happened: I encountered "What if UP?" style thinking, I got pissed at myself and told me off, and I realized that I really had made progress. Thank God I had taken pictures. The perfect storm, for me. I buckled back down nutritionally. I signed up for Crossfit. I got really, really happy with the results that had already come. And by that, I don't think there are words in English to describe how happy I was at those results. There were NO put-downs. There was no, "Oh,but I could do so much better=failure" type thinking. It just STOPPED. Really. I can't even describe it, and there's no way I could teach another person how to do that. You're gonna have to find your own perfect storm, I'm afraid. But the key here is just how HAPPY I got at this. I am HAPPY to carb cycle- it keeps my protein and veggies up, but I allow myself the non-nutritionally-viable options at least one/two days per week. I am, while not exactly happy at Crossfit (would you be? it's self torture, but on an upward spiral-type scale), finding that I was not pushing myself AT ALL in my workouts like I thought I was. I had that personal trainer effect again. Which is WHY I had joined Crossfit in the first place- the coach getting a coach to make me better.

So, being happy with what I had accomplished, being happy to follow the eating plan and workout plan, just created the cycle I needed. I am extremely happy, now, to say that the results over the past month have increased that happiness ten-fold. I haven't weighed myself too recently- two weeks ago the scale at the gym I teach at read 155 in the evening with my jeans on, and I haven't checked it since- but the measurements have decreased 1/2 to 1 full inch in most places over the last month.

I still have bulges. My stomach isn't flat. I'm not "cut." But, you know what? Who cares? I'M the one who has to live in this body, and I'M quite happy with what it looks like right now. Of course I still want to go further. I want to challenge myself. But that challenge isn't being looked at in a "Not cut=failure" sort of way. I won. I overcame myself the past five months. I finished my workouts on Thursday and Friday, dammit, and they were made to break me. I may have cried and hyperventilated for five minutes during Friday's workout, but you know what? I let it out, let it go, and got up and finished it. Because I COULD. Because I'm stronger than that. I HAVE WON.

And yes, I'm bringing my bikini to the cruise, and I will wear it. Because I know what I've done to earn it. It took me 8 years and many tears, but I've done it.

And I will ROCK that bikini by the end of August. That's a threat AND a promise.

I'm Bringing the Bikini

I'll post pics later this week. And that's all I have to say about that.

Just in Case

Just in case you were getting the impression (due to lack of posts) that I hadn't been up to anything, a comparison pic from Jan 1 to April 30.

The size 10's that were tight back in March are now loose around the waist. I put on my size 8 jeans last night, had to jump them up but they button (and create a muffin top in the process). I really REALLY hope my thighs and glutes start following the downward trend soon, since they're still what are fairly tight on many of my clothes.

I'm back to carb cycling, with two no carb days, one high carb, two low carb cycles. The workouts at Crossfit are absolutely rocking- not that I necessarily feel like I'm in shape AT ALL when I'm doing their workouts, but it's fun and I wish I could devote 5-6 days per week to it there. I'll just have to keep kicking my own butt on the off days.

Most of the reason I haven't been posting revolves mostly around my ability to obsess, to some degree, about how others are perceiving my journey. I needed to take that pressure off completely and just focus. Not over-analyze, but just to do.

I've got precisely one month left until my goal date. Bikini at that time? I can't guarantee anything, but I will tell you one thing: I will make every meal, every workout, and every day count. Some "What if UP" thinking, where instead of obsessing over whether I'll get to my goal, I obsess over how I would feel if I accomplished it: "What if it all goes right? What if every meal choice is a great one, and every workout rocks? What does that feel like?"

I'll tell you, it feels pretty great.

For some more info on "What if UP?" thinking, read this post from Joe Vitale: http://blog.mrfire.com/asking-right-questions/

And yes, my jaw hit the floor when I saw the pictures side by side. I'm glad I took them, and I'll take more later. I had known there was progress. I HADN'T known that it was that substantial. Keep in mind that the scale hasn't gone more than 7 pounds. I'm still above 150. However, I'm not using the scale much- I'm relying on pics, clothes, inches measurements, and the calipers also. That stuff's telling me where I'm going.

Fitness, Xfit Style

Last Thursday, I joined our local Crossfit branch.

If you don't know what Crossfit is, then visit this website: http://www.crossfit.com. Basically, it's the grown up big brother to most of my training styles and philosophies.

I joined it for several reasons: the first, I absolutely love Crossfit workout styles, so when I noticed that there was a Xfit in town, I wanted to jump on it. Second, I knew I would learn a TON doing these workouts. Several new moves, ways to motivate, making sure MY form was perfect, etc. Third, I feel like I'm STILL working on getting my fitness levels back up to where they were almost two years ago. I wanted someone to push me, kick my butt, pick me up and tell me to keep going. I consistently apply that principle to the bootcamp classes I teach, and it allows people to increase fitness and results almost magically. It is something that is missed quite regularly when people are hemming and hawwing about whether they should get a personal trainer, join a bootcamp class, or do Crossfit.

So, as of this morning, I've done my third official Xfit workout. Damn. 1. I am SO much more out of shape than I'd care to be. 2. I've done more pull-ups in the past 8 days than I have ever done in my life. 3. I went from 18 mm on the calipers to 16 mm at the same time.

Yep, the calipers bumped back up to 18 about two weeks ago, and were pretty stubborn about staying there, so the fact that they dropped back to 16 in the course of 1 week was awesome (to give you something to compare to, most of my clients see 1 mm/week drops in the calipers).

Here's the real secret though: I worked out 6 days last week, 4 the week before, and the food, while not awesome, has been supportive. I intend to sit down and plan out some menus, because that's when the real magic occurs for me. And the chocolate sitting on the dishwasher is going into hiding.

Some great recipes:
Banana Awesomeness
1 scoop Prograde Protein Powder (because it's the awesome in taste)
1 frozen banana
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
8 oz water

Blend all together and enjoy. Alternatively you can put the blended awesomeness into the freezer for an hour or so and come out with ice cream.

Tacos Egg-strordinaire, Mexi-style
2 whole eggs, 2 egg whites
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder (alt: chili flakes)
1 tsp garlic powder (alt: minced garlic)
2 corn tortillas, warmed in wet paper towel in the microwave for 20-30 sec
1-2 tbsp cottage cheese
1/4 cup part-skim mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup salsa
opt: 1 tbsp taco sauce

Blend (whip) eggs, seasonings, and cottage cheese together and make as scrambled eggs. Warm tortillas. Place scrambled eggs on tortillas and garnish with salsa, cheese, and taco sauce. To add more veggies, cook an onion, peppers, or more salsa into the scrambled egg mixture. Enjoy!

A New Post

Just realized it was February that I made my last post, and I figure I should get you a new one!

I'mma still pecking away at things. I had a hard last few weeks, doing some mental tug of war with myself, but that's done. I finished just shy of 2000 kettlebell swings as of last Thursday and managed to wonk out my shoulder, so I've been generally avoiding them completely. Which of course means that the 10,000 swings goal is pretty much out of reach now, but 5,000 still can be done with ease- and perhaps that could turn into 6 or 7,000? I do like the philosophy of just stopping for 5-7 minutes, doing some swings, and getting back to work, so I won't be giving up on them. I just don't like how my shoulder (read: traps/lats area by the shoulder blade on the right side, one that's given me problems since my daughter was born) acts up after doing 2 or 300 of them in a row.

Eating went postal for a while. Not really sure how long, as it was a 1-step forward, 2-steps back sort of thing, but I've got some things going down that have pinned it back in place. Gotta love the idea of rewards!

And boy do I have a big reward: for attaining my goals/turning 30/7th wedding anniversary we (my hubby and I) are going on a cruise! I'm truly looking forward to that, and that kind of goal is going to definitely keep me in line. It'll be paid for by April 1, so no backing out or down. The dates: May 31-June 4, in southern California. Yay! So, that goal picture I've got posted right down there? That's me. May 30, 2010.

Some Perspective

A few days ago, I was (finally) unpacking our books and some decorative items. I came across and looked through a couple of old photo albums from college and my wedding, and it truly put a few things in perspective for me! No matter how hard I am on myself for not yet being bikini lean, the amount of progress I have made in my life is nothing short of astounding. To show you, I'm posting a few of those pictures. Which means, of course, that I need to post the most recent pics to give YOU the perspective. Enjoy.

I was just two days shy of twenty and at my heaviest.


On my wedding day, three years later. I had said "see ya" to about 20 pounds.



Three weeks ago vs. today.

Perspective is one thing, the final goal is another. That goal must be attained and I'm going to put 110% effort toward it. I may always have more "hippy-ness" than the goal picture below, but this is what I'm shooting for.

This was my goal for May 1, 2007. It stays the same until I attain it. For this one, it's amended to May 1, 2010.

One more week is gone, and there are results. I'm down to 155.5 lbs, my waist, hips, and bra line are down .25-.5 inches each, and my thermometer jeans fit (the ones I was working on getting back into) through the hips and mostly through the thigh. In fact, in the hips, the jeans are getting slightly loose. It's the butt and thigh area that really has been stubborn. And for some strange reason, my arms. Hey. I'll take what I can get though!

Me in my "thermometer" jeans- which now fit :D

Pics as of today, 2/25/10.

Getting the definition in the stomach and arm there?

600

600 kettlebell swings down, 9,400 to go. *grin*

A Goal

Well, the last week feels a bit like it was bupkiss. I didn't truly stay on track since last Thursday- although I wasn't completely off the wagon, it wasn't like I was giving it 100% either. A part of me was bored, sick of it. It wants to be back in those size 10 jeans NOW! (They are pretty much there, my 12's are too big, but my thighs need to shrink just a wee bit more before I feel comfortable wearing the current 10's hanging in my closet.)

However, it wasn't all a loss. Measurements were the same as last week, except for being down in the chest a half inch and up in the waist a half inch. However, getting back motivation NOW is key, otherwise I can tell I will definitely start moving up in direction rather than down.

So, what better way to do that than to create a fitness goal? Caroline Radway of KettleBelle Body passed on a note to me about a week ago that a 10K swings challenge was going on, and I was welcome to join. I hemmed and hawed, but yesterday, decided it was a go. The true rules are to complete 10,000 kettlebell swings in 30 days. However, Ash Wednesday was yesterday, and being the blasphemer that I am, I decided it was time to THANK God for His sacrifice by creating a "sacrifice" in a different manner. A challenge, rather than something that makes my all-too-human brain scream in defiance to do something that my conscious brain tells me is "wrong": for example, so many people "give up" fast food for Lent. It definitely worked for me four years ago. However, the way my brain is currently working, if I told myself that I couldn't have fast food for the next six weeks, I'd drive as fast as possible to the nearest MickyD's. So, I'm doing it differently. It's not a sacrifice as much as it is thanksgiving and adoration, since I am of the belief that we all have God in us (the abstract version of "made in His image") and are therefore of a Divine nature- and Divinity, truly, should be treated with the utmost respect. If you're not well-versed in the Christian religion, none of this whole paragraph probably made sense for you, but just know that I am not willing to "give up" something, but am willing to be thankful for what I do have.

So here's the long and short of it: I have a goal to complete 10,000 kettlebell swings by April 3, 2010. April 4 is Easter Sunday. Being that is 40 days from Ash Wednesday, I have 40 days to complete that task. I've got 200 done for today so far.

Now, to just concentrate on continuing the carb cycling, staying away from most wheat/gluten, and actually work out more than 3 times per week (which is what I'm currently averaging).

Happy Dance

Checked my bodyfat percentage again last night, just to be a total pain for myself (just kidding! I was curious). I had noticed that over the weekend, my belly was showing nearly-forgotten signs of a fat drop-off, which means it was looking bigger than usual, extra jiggly, and just not quite right. By last night, the look had disappeared, so I checked, and yep! It's amazing what can happen overnight for me (literally) if I'm just patient enough and keep working my mojo ;). I went from last Thursday's bodyfat measurement of 18 mm (27% bf) to 16 mm (26% bf).

Oh yeah, happy dance. Or big goofy grin.

I have one more millimeter to go before I'm out of the overweight and into normal, and 7% points more to go (which is 8 more mm) before I see the real amazing results that I'm looking for.

In other news, eating has been fab the last few days- fun stuff here and there (actually, I ate way too much on Friday night and a bunch of cookie dough on Saturday, but those seemed to boost morale and help me retrain my focus more than anything, since my body did not respond favorably). Workouts: had one Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Monday (yesterday). Plan to do today's very shortly.

Still keeping to the non-wheat/gluten type foods and low milk intake (except for cottage cheese and yogurt with the occasional cheddar), and still carb cycling. Yesterday was a no carb day. Today's a high carb, which means I get to make sure all the nutrients I missed yesterday get thrown in. Cravings hit a lot yesterday, and for the most random stuff, too. I realized that I had forgotten to take my multivitamin (Prograde's VGF-25) for the last several days, so that probably explains it.

Very, VERY Quick

Okay, gotta write and run, literally. I managed to snag an hour of free time today, which is absolutely heavenly. I've been utterly swamped this last week!

So real quick:
*deep breath in* I re-introduced small amounts of wheat into my diet last weekend and immediately kicked it back out because my skin broke out into acne right away, my cold came back with a vengeance, and I felt like crap. I did way too much overeating also, which didn't help things, however, I got back under control by Tuesday and have been peachy since. Measurements that I didn't think would move went down another half inch in places such as my arms (first time they've moved yay!). I did an amazing workout on Tuesday and had another decent one on Wednesday, and am no longer sore from Tuesday's workout. I intend to go do another one as soon as this one's written. Here comes another weekend but I'm back to being strong on the diet and mindset so I'm not worried. *sucking breath back in*

So, crazy but not terrible!

This Amazing Soup

So, about two weeks ago when I was plowing through my Gourmet Nutrition and Eating for Life cookbooks for ways to revamp my eating, I came across this recipe for Pea Soup. Now, having tried a really good, fresh pea soup once before in my life, I knew that if it is made right then pea soup is awesome. So I tried the Gourmet Nutrition version, and fell utterly in love with it. It's quick and easy after the first time you make it, so long as you have some chicken thawed (and even if you don't, it's a great non-protein-ated main or side dish). Mmm. I drool thinking about it. Well, the reason I talk about it right now is because it's cold outside, and I'm fighting a cold right now. And, well, I don't have any peas left, but I did have a few green beans, an onion, some leftover vegetable broth, pepper, and cumin. I threw them together, and basically, I've just eaten a whole onion. It took literally less than 20 minutes. I had two scrambled eggs (scrambled with cottage cheese rather than milk) with it for protein. The cumin and pepper were nice for the sinus stuff. I'm on a no carb day, so this soup was pretty much perfect. Snack was a banana nut bar (Gourmet Nutrition recipe, made with mostly walnut meal-carbs are not negligible, but under 15 grams per bar) and breakfast was eggs with cottage cheese.

I don't know if I'll do a workout today. This isn't one of those colds where you're stuffed up and foggy but still able to operate, this is one that is leaving my throat feeling like it's gone through a meat grinder and my lungs feeling like I'm not getting enough oxygen. Ew. Yesterday's workout was a wash, because by the time I had time for it, I was feeling like this. Tuesday's workout happened and was great.

So, today marks exactly 4 weeks since I started this part of my journey. It's time to look back, measure things out, and re-set course, if necessary. It's actually a bit amazing to me how quickly these four weeks have gone.

Food is STILL mostly hit, but not at 90-100% compliance. I'm eating tons better than I was only four weeks ago, to be completely honest. If I'm looking at myself on the continuum, I went from blue on the left side of middle to being on the right side and fairly high up there, but not yet in the red-hot-streaming portion. More like orange-turning-to-red. And results have shown that (there, but not as high as I'd like them to be).

I'm a lot better off- my skin cleared up (no more breakouts, and I was starting to feel like a teenager again with those), my outlook on life improved, my workouts improved, and my clothes are fitting or starting to fit again. Official weight 162 down to 157 lb, bodyfat percentage from 29% down to 26%, BMI from Overweight to Normal, waist down from 33 to 30 inches. Not bad for four weeks, if you ask me. This month may not have been the month where I fit into those 10's, but honestly, did I believe I would do that anyway? That would be a lot to expect from 4 weeks. Expect it I did, in order to push myself out of the lazy state I felt I was in and into a place where I felt really challenged. So, knowing what I did this four weeks, I believe I can kick everything up a notch for February. This is where the re-set course comes in. I averaged about 3-4 hard workouts per week. Not bad, but not where I want to be. So, the minimum goal becomes 5 workouts per week, shoot-for-the-stars goal becomes 6 times per week, 2x per day at least 2 times per week. I do that last part to really challenge myself and get my ass into gear, rather than creating an attitude of defeatism. I tend to expect a lot from myself.

As for nutrition, I'm going to continue with the carb cycling and refine it as much as possible. I'm starting to get some real cravings for wheat-containing foods, but I'm going to continue to stay away from them (that and it mostly happens on no-carb days). I think doing that may have been a rather large part of my success this past month, along with the reduction in calories that comes from really kicking the veggies in. I may need to allow myself a change in plans for March (*ahem*-cereal, please!), but we'll see.

I generally tell clients that the first four weeks are the hardest. That's where you're learning new habits, junking old ones, feeling completely out of whack and out of your comfort zone. So, the feeling of knocking myself against a brick wall should be diminishing. It better be.

So, anyway, here are the measurements:
Weight: 157
Bodyfat: 18 mm
R. Arm: 12.5
Bra: 32.5
Waist: 30
Hips: 40.75
Glutes: 36.5
R. Thigh: 23.5

The clicker (bodyfat caliper) gyrated between 16 mm and 22 mm today, first time I've seen 16 mm! The most regular number I got was 18 mm, so that's what I took. The only number in measurements that changed was waist. That takes me down 3 inches in the last four weeks. At my smallest waist size, I was at 28 inches. That gives me another 2 inches to go. The most interesting thing is, when I look at my measurements from that point, there really wasn't much difference. An inch and a half in the thigh, 3/4 inch in the arm. It was the hips where there was the most difference: 5 inches! So that means I just need to really get my butt in gear (literally).

So, there's the wrap-up of Month One, and the outlook for Month Two, both realistic and out of this world. February, here I come!

NC Day Two

Well, today was my second No Carb day in the cycling, and I must say, I'm not overfond of these days. Ah well, it keeps me from attacking the leftover birthday cake.

My daughter's b-day was on Saturday, and the pizza and birthday cake were planned in. It was amazing how quickly I became uber-full after eating those things. I did eat supper, but I wasn't terribly hungry even at 7 pm, and the cake was finished by 2:45. High carb day still ended up being more of a cheat day than anything, as supper consisted of one fast food burger on white bun (still avoiding wheat like a plague, and have been rather successful, except for Saturday).

Yesterday was a low-carb day, and there was not even a hint of a schedule that I followed- didn't get up until 10 am, ate breakfast at 11, then didn't eat again until 3 pm- when I was famished. Had a piece of chocolate leftover birthday cake with plenty of chocolate frosting. Whoops. There's a reason why I generally eat 5 times a day. Supper was back on track with a chicken and bok choy number, then an evening "dessert" of Gourmet Nutrition's Pumpkin Pie bar.

Today was a no-carb day, as I stated before. Missed morning snack, but had a handful of almonds as the fifth meal after supper. Breakfast was 2 eggs, lunch was spaghetti squash spaghetti, snack was celery sticks with 3 tbsp peanut butter, supper was Tuna "noodle" casserole (with spaghetti squash- a bit higher in carbs than was probably kosher, but still a good meal overall- had celery, a bit of carrot, and green beans with a mixture of cream of mushroom and cream of celery soup- two cans for 8-10 servings). Dessert with supper was a bar of Gourmet Nutrition's Banana Nut squares with a tbsp of Nutella.

Workouts: none until today. Today's was a 40-minute affair with a 5-exercise metabolic circuit, followed by 8 minutes of Tabatas (20 sec work, 10 sec rest, rinse and repeat). Yeah, I know. I've officially missed three. Well- nothing for it but to move forward and do tomorrow's.

Today's Post.

Creative Title, eh? I couldn't think of anything today!

So, yesterday served to be a nice kick in the pants. I got a great workout in, I followed the meal plan (with tweaks, but I always tweak- just so long as I'm still following the actual goal- for instance, supper was going to be Tuna on Rye Krisps, but when I got home, I just wanted something warm, so I had a cottage cheese omelet instead).

Today I'm going "no carb," which pretty much translates to keeping full servings of fruit, starchy items, or carbohydrate-dense foods out. Green leafies are still full game, as are green beans, raw carrots, broccoli (basically any fiber-rich vegetable, usually green in color but not always). I also found a great website that let me understand how to carb cycle (you'd think I'd have gotten it before- well, I did, but not really. Most resources go into such detail and depth that you get lost before you even get started, and by lost, I mean in numbers. Other resources provide no detail at all, and basically say "if it had a face or came from something with a face-meat, fish, eggs- and if it's green, eat it on no-carb days." Well, that's nice. However, here's the website. http://www.gotstrengthblog.com/?page_id=161 A perfect resource for me, or perhaps I was finally just in the right place to understand what I was being told. I pulled up FitDay, figured out a few numbers, and Whallah! I've pretty much got my menu for next week planned out. Crazy. It was most helpful in figuring out high carb days, because my brain of course wanted to translate them into all out binge-fest. Hehe. So its figured out.

Then, here's the biggest surprise of all: yesterday probably just served to kick me in the pants, dig my heels back in, and keep going harder. That's great! I am now figuring that if I'd had high results, I might have gotten complacent. Well, I'm not measuring again today, but here's the thing: my belt automatically switched to the next notch this morning. I mean, I totally belted up my pants, and noticed that the "dangly side" was longer-wtf?-checked, and I was on a brand new notch. Yeah! So, that prompted me to pull out my "thermometer" pants- the one's I've been using as motivation, they're my largest size 10's that I abandoned fall 2008- and they felt much, much better. Still not wearable, but thisclose. So something has definitely happened.

This, my friends, is why I'm using 6 different methods of measurement. My pics are showing a reduction in back fat but not much else, the tape measure and calipers are all over the map, the scale is a pussy, and the thermometer jeans may just fit by the end of January! So, if one thing goes up (ie the scale) but something else goes down (ie the jeans fitting), then it's a win in my opinion.

So, continuing to buckle down. Food so far today:
2 eggs, scrambled
1 smoothie with 2 scoops protein powder and 1/8 cup berries
1 turkey burger with 3 cups lettuce and 1/2 cup cottage cheese

I'm off to get a couple of cats from the vet (I follow Bob Barker's advice), then a workout, then whatever's next. Oh yea, Up-Chuck E Cheeses. Ew. I believe I'd better pack my salad.

Oy.

Well, measurements were taken today. And they stalemated. Yuck. They were either back up to 1/7 levels or the same as 1/14. I'm about ready to throw the BF calipers in the trash, as I can measure myself 4 times and get four different readings. Strange how they work fine when I'm measuring clients, but for me they are onery. Scale was back to 160.

So, I'm buckling back down on the diet- little things, here and there, that may have been sneaking in some calories and are unaccounted for. Here's the interesting part: tomorrow is daughter's 6th birthday, and I know where she's going for supper (Chuck E Cheeses). I probably won't have much problem avoiding that food, as I've heard it's awful, and tomorrow's supposed to be a no carb day. I'm going to vamp the menu and see if I can't lower the carbs just a tish more, eat twice in the afternoon (2 pm and 5 pm works great, supper won't be until 7:30) and perhaps bring a large salad to the arcade.

How strange: usually, I have no problem getting workouts in. The problem generally lies with the food, the little sneaks and portion increases, the cheat meals, missing snack meals. Even if grabbing a veggie and meat is intuitive for me, there's still the little things. This time around, the food is doing okay (not great, I need to pick that up yet), and the workouts are being a beast. I've done ONE workout this week. Yep, read that: ONE. It's Thursday, for crying out loud! I should have three done at least, if not four!

Okay. Rant over. Time to stop whining and just DO. Those results are going to be absolutely beautiful next week Thursday. Meal compliance will be 90% or better (that means NO skipping). The workouts will be performed, and then some. By next Thursday morning, I will have completed 7 workouts and eaten 33 perfect meals.

7 workouts, including today's. 33 perfect meals, including today's. Hold me to that.

Typing and eating: Does it Work?

I'm attempting to type this post at the same time as eat my supper. Well, actually, I'm typing it over the remains of my supper. If you must know, it was a chicken taco salad with romaine and spinach, and extremely good. Today was a no-carb day, and I was surprisingly good at making sure I ate enough. Everything was quite yummy too, although I'm not too sure I want to repeat the Turkey BLT I had at lunch (it was okay, just not great).

Here was my menu today:
Breakfast: cheesy omelet (1/4 cup cottage cheese with eggs, scrambled, with spinach and 1/4 cup shredded cheddar). Cheddar probably wasn't supposed to be on the menu, now that I think about it. Hmm. It was still really good!
Lunch: Turkey BLT (except mine was more like BLB, bacon, lettuce, broccoli).
Snack 1: (2:00 pm) Protein shake, vanilla with 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds and pumpkin pie seasoning
Snack 2: (5:00 pm) Peanut Butter bars
Supper: (8:30 pm) Chicken taco salad

Workout: Was AMAZING today. I dunno why, but I've been rather un-motivated about the workouts I designed for this month. At any rate, I did it, not only the required 4 times through, but 5 total, THEN did 8 minutes of Tabatas (20-10 work-rest) with burpees and jumping jacks, THEN did 15 minutes of fun stuff afterward on the Wii. Avoiding dishes is a really good motivator, apparently. Yeah.

Part of this is because yesterday, well, yesterday was eh. I followed the menu for breakfast, lunch, and one snack, keeping it low-carb, but supper was a falling point. I have been extremely well-trained as to turning down food, and ended up eating goulash, lettuce, and a slice of apple crisp with ice cream. The apple crisp was Grandma-made and served. I'm not feeling guilty about it, but rather I'm disappointed. I have a goal, I've set a challenge, and I've been doing quite well at staying on the path. I do still have some old habits that need to be broken.

At any rate, results are still coming along, the scale was down again this morning, even if not by a lot, I'm now officially back in the 150's. Technically. Woot! We'll have to see by Thursday, and next week Thursday, what this carb-cycling does for me. It's already January 19, which gives me 12 days until the end of this month. The goal was 150. Considering that may have been a bit overreaching, I still have a chance to hit it, as long as I keep on track. Besides, I set this up to be a 6-month challenge for a reason- I know that I can't control exactly how much I weigh or how fast my body lets go of the fat, but I can control what actions I take to get there. That being said, I needed some short-term, high-reaching goals that challenged me and kept me going.

Tomorrow's a high-carb day. I'm looking forward to oatmeal, and I'm wondering if I have rice on the menu. Or potatoes. Amazing what one looks forward to :)

Menu status

Menu for the week done. Has alternating days of high carb, low carb, and no carb, just to f&*k with my system a little bit more. The menu looks pretty good, with perhaps more food on it than last week. So I should be staving off the hunger/low energy stuff. Worked on the damn menu all day, just finished it now. I had some major mental blockage that needed to be worked through regarding that, because once I broke through it, the menu was planned pretty quickly. Prior to that though... let's just say, I'm glad I worked through it.

Fun workout done: Morgan and I built a snow fort (called a quinzee) for an hour and a half. SO much fun. It involved shoveling plenty of snow into a big pile, then army crawling in and out of a hole digging snow the whole time.

Main workout: not done.

Well, that's done...

Had an entire day yesterday of high-quality... junk food. Two reasons: one, I didn't have my menu planned for that day, and two, I was low on calories enough to the point where I could have ravaged a horse. I'm obviously over that now.

I don't feel guilty, and I'm not looking to do that. I'm doing the meal plans for this coming week right now, and I'm going to make sure I plan for the needed calorie surge every couple of days. The other days, I'm going meat and veggies only. This was the original plan for this month, but I've been trying to pile too many days in a row without high calories. I also haven't been hitting 90% compliance- from Saturday to Thursday, I had 30 meals scheduled. Of those 30, I hit 24 spot-on. That's 80% compliance. If I add Friday to that, it drops to 70%. Looking at the positive, I've been obtaining extremely good results despite that, so hey- cool! On the other hand, I'm working toward the 90% compliance so my results can skyrocket.

So, Saturday Jan 16 through Friday, Jan 22 goals: keep wheat out, hit 90% compliance on meal plan, have a high-calorie day every two days.

And then the workout compliance: I worked out on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Did a fun workout on Wednesday. The plan is 5 workouts per week, and 3 fun workouts, so I need to keep up on that compliance too. The reason I could tell I was too low on calories was actually due to the workouts, as I had almost no energy for it on Thursday. However, I got four out of five main workouts, and if I do it today, then I've got 5 out of 5. If I do a fun workout, I'll have two out of three. Which means I need to get my butt in gear after I get the meals planned!

Yesh!

Two weeks down, Two to go this month!

Did my measurements this morning, and they are looking awesome! Here's the rundown so far:

12/30-->1/7-->1/14
23.75--23.5--23.25 R. Thigh (down .5 total)
41--40.75--40.25 Gluteus (down .75 total)
37--37--36.5 Hips (down .5 total)
30.5--30.5--30 Waist (down .5 total)
33--33--32.75 Chest (down .25 total)
12.75--12.75--12.5 R. Arm (down .25 total)
161--162--160 Weight (lbs) (down 2 lb total)
22--21--20 (bodyfat mm) (down 2 mm total)

Last week's results, while they did move down slightly, were rather disappointing. However, I kicked that nutrition into full gear this week, and you can see what only 7 days did. I was weighing 160 by this past Monday, and I noticed the change in the waist Tuesday. My belt isn't quite ready to move down a notch yet, but it's gotten loose. I'm taking week 2 pics tomorrow, as hubby isn't home to snap them. I'm using them as a push-force and motivation, even if I'm not sharing them here yet. The ones of my backside are esp. scary!

Did a normal workout and a fun workout yesterday. The fun workout was great, as I played outside with my daughter, pulling her on a sled through calf-deep snow, up and down the street, and climbed up and down a snow pile. Then we went in the house and played 2-P run on the Wii Fit. There's a reason why I scheduled the fun workouts- I have a lot of fun doing them, but unfortunately, I've got to be intentional about it.

So, on Tuesday, I had said I was going to workout? That didn't happen. Oh well. I have been staying on track food-wise, although it has been difficult these last couple of mornings, as I want my cereal! I've kept to the oatmeal. The point is to just do it, and not think about it. Once the eating has finished, the cravings are not so bad. I'll continue to stay away from it for the time being and cook pannokoekens if I really need something other than oatmeal. Omelets work too. The thing is that the oatmeal is just fast.

Last night, I cooked turkey burgers (bunless for me) and we had them with green beans and a couple of carrots. YUM. Here's what we did for the turkey burgers:
1 lb turkey
1 tbs EVOO
1-2 tsp each of black pepper, cumin, basil, and Morton's Nature's Seasoning Salt

Heat up a large pan (or George Foreman). While heating, mix turkey with EVOO and spices. Form into burgers and place in hot pan. Fry until cooked through, but still juicy. Cheese can be added to increase flavor or create a cheeseburger.

Yeah, I know. Simple. But that's how turkey burgers are made without egg whites!

Sorry 'bout that!

Completely forgot to post yesterday and Sunday. Quick wrap-up of those days:

Sunday: My body was re-introduced to pizza, and rejected it out of hand (planned cheat meal). Very interesting. Only three meals that day, but the other two were pannokoeken w/ berries and chicken w/ spinach. I cooked for three hours in the evening, staying up way too late but making sure my meals for the week were basically taken care of. Note to self: please,please,please make the pea soup from Gourmet Nutrition again!

Monday: Slightly varied the menu but all choices were high-quality, wholesome foods (except breakfast- which goes to show that lack of sleep leads to poor meal choices!). Five meals, and supper was the winner: I had made a meatloaf, and my family showed up and shared in it (yum! Check out the Eating for Life version sometime, it's to die for). My mother made peas, mashed potatoes, and garlic bread to go with the meatloaf. I was trying for a low-starch meal, and the meatloaf has oatmeal in it, so I didn't have the potatoes. Stayed away from the bread and didn't miss it, either. Workout was completed, and it was tough! I didn't realize it was a 50-10 until I'd completed my first round at 30-5, but I switched gears and completed three more rounds at 50-10 (50 seconds work followed by 10 seconds rest and transition).

Today: Slept amazingly last night! Except for the fact that I woke up three times convinced that the night was over, I feel quite rested today. Meal choices have been spot-on and following the menu. Haven't done my workout yet today, although I intend to do it tonight along with a fun workout afterward (fun workouts involve running around with my daughter, playing games on the Wii, going swimming, basically any kind of movement that lasts 30+ minutes and is mostly continuous but isn't terribly taxing).

Best-laid plans...

Well, you know what they always say about the best-laid plans: get out of the way, cause someone's going to roll over them.

My grandfather had quintiple bypass surgery yesterday morning.

I knew about the surgery, and knew he's otherwise a pretty strong guy (and very strong-willed), so I figured he'd be fine.

'Round about the exact same time I was heading toward the gym, I received a phone call that said he was going back into surgery because he was bleeding. My family needed me emotionally, so I spent the rest of my non-working hours at the hospital, just giving support and a way for people to keep their minds off everything.

I haven't heard any news yet this morning, but I'm taking the "no news is good news" standpoint.

So, the workout was successfully avoided ;) JK! I was upset that I didn't get to it; had I known, I would have made sure it was done early morning. The food choices yesterday weren't bad- I didn't eat much at all, unfortunately, but the food I did eat was healthy. Even at Culvers (chili and side salad, except for the ice cream my dad bought all of us). Here were my three squares yesterday: Pannokoeken, Grilled Chicken sub w/ lettuce & onions (noonish), then Culvers (at approx 9 pm).

Today's intake is currently at a bowl of oatmeal and one apple. Lunch will be a spaghetti squash spaghetti (no noodles for me), snack will be one of the Gourmet Nutrition recipes (from Precision Nutrition) that I make, and dinner is Chicken w/ spinach and roasted garlic. Today's workout is currently finished. I intend to do a fun workout later this afternoon (cleaning the bathroom doesn't count, but I will also be doing that). The meals are planned for today through Thursday, the groceries are bought, and I'm ready to get cooking!

Whoop, Sorry!

Forgot to post yesterday. It was a snow day, so it made things quite interesting!

No workout. No excuse, either, except that my workout area in my house is also called our living room, and that is quite occupied by the rest of my family, who are either on the Wii, watching a movie, or playing. I want to get a space set up in our basement for it but that hasn't happened yet.

Food was fine, I had made a healthy version of corn chowder in the crockpot the night before with our limited reserves of veggies, and we pretty much lived off that. The cookies and chocolate started calling my name at one point- I had one chocolate truffle (approx 70 cals), then stayed away. See? No deprivation, no guilty feelings, but can stay in moderation. I'm still keeping wheat to an absolute minimum, although dairy hasn't really left yet. I never really have had much of it anyway, so I'm not too worried. What I am worried about is how lacking my veggie intake is. I really want to be up to 7-10 servings per day, and I'm lucky if I'm getting 4. So it's what I 'm going to keep working on.

Snow day again today, but it's mostly due to the wind chill and the fact that the snow plows need a chance to catch up from yesterday's blowing stuff that made plowing nearly impossible. So we intend to get out of the house- I'm going to work out at the gym, and we're going to go grocery shopping. Plus I'll work. I had to cancel my classes yesterday, which was a big bummer for me (and I guess my members, too ;).

Breakfast was awesome this morning: I made an oat flour version of my famous pannokoeken, and it worked great!

Here's the recipe: (serves 1)
2 whole eggs, 2 egg whites
1 cup milk
1/4 cup oat flour (put a heaping 1/4 cup oats into a blender and press mince/grate for about 1 minute, and whallah! oat flour)
1/8 tsp salt

Place a small pan on med-high heat. Mix eggs, milk, and salt with a whisk until well mixed. Slowly stir in oat flour. Use a spray to lightly coat the pan, then pour in a small amount of the mixture (to your preferred thickness). Lift pan off burner if it starts to smoke, or cook too quickly. Flip when the top is slightly hardened. Repeat until mixture is gone. You'll need to continually stir the mixture before pouring it, as the flour tends to sink to the bottom.

Basically, they end up looking like crepes, but they're naturally sweet, so no maple syrup or sugar is needed. If you want a topping, frozen or fresh fruits work great.

A Little Something

Here's something I wrote for my bootcamp members earlier today and decided to share with you, too:

If you really want to jumpstart weight loss, following the foods sheet I gave you is absolutely critical (as is planning ahead and logging what you eat). Here's another option to kickstart the weight loss, but requires planning so you don't dive for the potato chips at first chance: challenge yourself to ONLY eat fish/meat, vegetables, and fruit with limited amounts of dairy and wheat. If your eating isn't very good to begin with, I suggest working your way up the continuum first, otherwise, you might find that you have a reaction very similar to a drug addiction when you start eating this way. Why? Because many of us actually ARE addicted! We're addicted to processed carbs, salt, caffeine, and/or all of the above. Going cold turkey works for many, as once the first three days are over, the cravings disappear and the energy levels soar. However, for some of us (myself included), cold turkey means that we last two days (or even only one) before the first junk that comes our way finds itself in the mouth. So, work towards it, but don't see it as an end-all-be-all!

Nutrition in order of priority:
1) Logging what you are eating
If you don't log what you eat, you'll never know how much you actually ARE eating. Most people underestimate their calories by 100-700 calories PER DAY. So write it down. It's especially important if you have a day where you felt your nutrition was less than stellar. Also, be honest. When you lie on the paper, you're only lying to your conscious brain. That's no good for you, and can only make you depressed. If you log what you eat, you are accountable. That's usually enough for a lot of people to stop and think about what they're actually putting in their mouth.

2) Planning what you will eat
If you plan ahead and write it down, you can go on autopilot. We all know how easy autopilot is, since we follow autopilot most of our days! Don't let analysis by paralysis happen. Just plan out what you would normally eat, then find two or more areas where you can "tweak" the nutrition up a notch. You already eat every day, so obviously there is a plan or routine you follow.

3) Eating more vegetables
Eating fruit is easy. While most of us don't eat enough of it, it's really the vegetables that are the major players in the game (and also the most ignored). Work toward getting more than 5 servings of vegetables per day. And yes, you really can eat more than one or two servings of vegetables in one meal, it's okay! I cannot reiterate the importance of these foods enough. Hungry? Reach for carrots, lettuce, spinach, celery, cucumbers, tomatoes, and more- they'll satisfy the appetite, add fiber and water to your diet, and give you a dose of nutrition that your body is actually looking for (your body isn't just looking for calories- it's looking for vitamins and minerals, too!).

4) Drink your water
Go ahead, drink it now. I'll wait. The more water you drink in a day, the better you will feel, I promise. Try not to gulp it all down at once- small portions is better. If you have a habit of drinking 20 oz once every two hours, your body doesn't use it as well as it does if you drink 4-6 oz every half hour. However, the important thing is to just get it in. Hydration equals higher energy, better workouts, more utilization of nutrients (food digests easier and better), and appetite depression (not as hungry! Yay!) Get a bare MINIMUM of 64 ounces (2 liters, or 8- 8 oz. glasses) per day, and shoot for an ideal 80-100 ounces.

5) Eat the fruit
Just because I put vegetables higher on the priority list does NOT mean I want you to ignore the powerful fruit. This stuff is nutrient-dense, full of fiber, good sugars (energy! and sweetness!), very portable (grab and go), and tastes wonderful. I want you to focus on vegetables because they tend to have more bulk for less calories, but fruit is the next best thing.

6) Eat protein
The bare MINIMUM of protein you should be eating a day is 65 grams (a 3 oz chicken breast is 21 grams). This minimum is set up for people who are sedentary, and you are not. Protein contains amino acids, which happen to be the building blocks of our muscles. You want muscle? Eat protein and lift weights (or do exercises similar to the ones we do in bootcamp). It's also a wonderful appetite suppressant, meaning if you eat protein, you'll eat fewer calories than you would if you ate carbohydrates. This is part of the reason why low-carb diets work. However, I advocate that you have your carbs in the form of veggies and fruit, so I don't advocate a low-carb diet. How much protein should you be eating? For women, I recommend approximately 90-125 grams per day. For men, I recommend 125-150 grams per day.

---------------------------
So, not only am I telling my clients this, but I'm following it myself (or at least working toward it). I'm definitely not perfect. I have yet to do #2. However, a couple hours after writing my first post yesterday, there was a mind shift that has left me much happier: I WANT to do this. I have accountability. I am pleased to be offering this opportunity to myself, and to others. So, today's choices weren't too difficult. I slogged through the snow, leaving my warm post at the coffee shop, to do my workout. I didn't choose the salad bar for lunch because I was cold, but I chose a food option with plenty of veggies and healthy nuts (cashew chicken with carrots, celery, water chestnuts) and steamed rice-and only ate half the rice portion. I did fall for the hot chocolate at the coffee shop, but since I don't drink coffee, that doesn't leave me much to purchase. I don't want to feel like a complete noob for using the Wi-Fi without supporting the business. Supper was great- we went to the pizza place, but both hubby and I got the taco salad rather than any pizza. I avoided the Doritos placed in said salad as much as possible. I believe I left an entire bag in that bowl! Today was an intentional high-calorie day, and I'm feeling pretty good!

Today's workout (I forgot the actual one in my car, so here's what came out on the spot):
30 seconds each exercise, 5 seconds transition between, 1 min rest between each circuit, 3x through total
DB Squats (20 lbs total, 10 lb ea)
Push-ups
Mountain Climbers
Split Squats Side 1
Split Squats Side 2
Plank
Jump Rope

Hardcore workout, honestly, and very ab-focused. I was still asking for breath 15 minutes later. Otherwise, I got lots of energy from it!

Actual food for the day:
Breakfast: 1 cup Life Cereal, 1/2 cup milk
Lunch: Cashew Chicken, rice, eggroll, fortune cookie
Snack: Hot Chocolate
Dinner: Taco Salad
Water: 2 liters

Still working on getting the veggie intake up, but it's about twice the amount I had yesterday, which is good.

Workout and Trailmix: Done

Ate the two servings of trailmix, one at 3:30 pm and the other at 7:00 pm. Eating it so late meant that I wasn't hungry for supper once I got home. Ah, well. It meant that I got an hour's worth of Wii Fit Plus in. I'm still just exploring the new features, so that was fun.

Otherwise, to bed with me! I'm exhausted.

Odd

Here's an odd thing:

As soon as I started to log my calories, and write down here on teh blog what I was eating, everything in my brain started to go sorta wonky. I'm not sure what it is, perhaps someone else can point it out to me! Last week, I was gung-ho but on track, with energy levels high up. This week, I am slogging through the workouts with barely any energy, I don't want to eat anything but there's also the huge temptation to just dive into food I didn't even give any thought to last week.

Three limiting factors:
-I'm currently fighting off a sinus thing
-I have yet to go grocery shopping
-I'm not sleeping as well as I'd like; waking up on and off during the night and a full 1/2 hour before my alarm goes off
-I'm also stressed out about it

Okay, so that's four, but it's laid out. Weird and wonky, my brain. It seems it WANTS to set up for failure.

I'm not going to let that happen. So, watch me as I quick grab my mid-afternoon snack of trail mix and grab another handful for 5:30. Supper will probably be peas and a baked potato with cheese and ham. Not terribly imaginative, but it's better than Taco Johns, which I will be driving past on my way home from teaching bootcamp.

Breakfast was oatmeal, mid-morning snack was missed, lunch was 2 baked potatoes with 1/2 cup cottage cheese and 2 oz of cheese. I was hungry. Workout was done last night, although I stopped 7/8's of the way through because I got a nasty sinus headache. Today's workout was accomplished this morning. I made it all the way through that, but not able to get in as many reps as I would have liked. I have a fun/active workout on the Wii scheduled for later tonight.

Well- off to teach!

Monday

It's a case of the Monday's for me. I'll write this post, then do my workout, as I haven't done it at any other point today.

I've felt rather unproductive, although I believe I must have accomplished some things. I logged my calorie intake from yesterday and found out that I may have only taken in 950 calories yesterday. Oops. It likely could have been more because I didn't have the nutrition stats for the Beef & Vegetable Stir Fry I had from my absolute favorite restaurant (which, lucky for me, is 4 hours away now). However, that would explain why I've been so hungry today.

Food: Oatmeal for breakfast, 3 eggs for mid-morning snack, pork ribs/broccoli/cauliflower/baked potato with cottage cheese for lunch, one chocolate truffle, a 1/4 cup trail mix, 1 cookie throughout the afternoon (yeah- I was hungry), then a piece of chicken breast and 1 slice of pizza for supper. Started out great, then degraded fairly quickly in my food choices. Issue? I was hungry, and I also hadn't planned the day beyond lunch. Hence, fallback foods. See how I set myself up for failure? So I'm calling myself out. I'm going grocery shopping tomorrow and stocking up on the good stuff, which I'm actually low on right now. And I'll finish out this week's meal plan pronto. As in tonight, before bed.

Which means I'd better get moving if I plan to do all this stuff in the next hour!

Happy New Year!

How did it start?

Yeah.

Not perfect, but why do I always expect perfection from myself?

Welcome to the New Year, 2010 is here! And with it, my headlong dash into what I've been calling the "Looking Hot for 3o" campaign. I got a good start, ignored it completely for 3 days, then crawled back up today.

I did well today- oatmeal for breakfast, eggs for midmorning snack, meat/veggies/rice for lunch, cookie for snack, pork ribs w/ 2 tbs bbq sauce/veggies for supper. Now what I need to do is up that veggie intake by about double.

Tmrws plan: oatmeal for breakfast, eggs for midmorning snack, pork ribs/veggies/potato for lunch. I'll have to get midafternoon snack and supper to you later, because it's currently after 11 pm and I should have been in bed a half hour ago.