Is it really week 8?

On my run this morning I had to wear a long sleeve shirt and long pants. Does this mean summer is almost over? I am not sure I am ready for fall.

Today is week 8 weigh-in... 236.2, a 2.8 pound loss this week.

Have a spectacular day!

Motivation

I seem to be lacking in motivation today... (this seems to happen when I work days). I have become very good at talking myself out of exercising.

Tonight when I left work I was really hungry and on my way to the parking lot some guy comes walking up with about ten pizza boxes. It smelled so heavenly I wanted to turn around and follow him wherever he and the pizzas were going. Of course I didn't but I did have to go to the grocery store where I walked past a display of Little Debbie snack cakes on sale... I am not sure if Little Debbie is a real person but I am fairly certain that she is the devil. Those sugary high fat snack cakes are so affordable I could buy several boxes a week even when I was a poor college student, subsisting mostly on ramen noodles and spaghetti-o's.

So long story short, I didn't give in to the sugar cravings. I bought salad fixings instead. But then when I got home I told myself I did so good not giving into my sugar cravings that I didn't have to work out tonight. See how easy it is?

Any ideas on how to get this lazy girl back in her running shoes while on day shift?

A hard workout

I think Jillian Michaels hates fat people and wants them to suffer. If you haven't already guessed I started the Thirty Day Shred DVD. Wow... level 1 kicked my arse and I can no longer sit in my chair without my legs protesting in pain. I think it is going to take longer than 30 days to get through all three levels. I have three thoughts on this DVD:
First, I can't do a single push-up... nope not even the easy kind. It takes the entire minute for me to struggle through one.
Second, I really need a better sport bra if I am going to be bouncing around that much... I did the last half of the jumping jacks while holding my boobs flat.
Third, it's hard but I am going to continue on anyway. Because like it says in one of my favorite movies, "If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. It's the hard that makes it great.”

Also, I changed my profile photo today... I really like it I can tell that my face is getting slimmer.

Scale nightmares

I am back in the Midwest after spending ten days on the Pacific coast (see photo of the Pacific Ocean at Third Beach). I would say I did ok on my diet... not great, but ok. In restaurants I ordered the food that was the healthiest, asking for salads as a substitute for fries, nixing the cheese on omelets and the mayo on sandwiches. I didn't eat any sweets or fried foods. However, I still had a feeling that I was going to gain some weight because I did have some potato salad and a couple other salads that were mayo based and I have been trying to avoid oil and mayo lately. My aunt made such great breakfasts, lunches and dinners including panacakes, muffins and creamy salads. I was definetly eating more than I had been in the past six weeks. I started getting concerned about the scale the last two days of my trip, so much so that I had dreams about getting on the scale both nights. They involved getting on the scale and realizing I had regained all the weight I lost or weighing more. These dreams may have had more of an impact than I thought because I was somewhat afraid to step on the scale this morning. My hands were even shaking a bit. I knew it wouldn't be as bad as my scale nightmares but I was still nervous. I finally bit the bullet and hopped on the scale, and I did gain a little weight I am at 139.0... that is a 1.2 pound gain over ten days ago. I guess I still have a lot to learn about eating healthy at restaurants, but I am sure I can loss that in no time.

The scale is one crazy beast

This is my pre-vacation week so between working days and attempting to get everything ready for vacation I really haven't been all that active... running a few times, walking around town, and my job keeps me moving quite a bit. I did, however, feel like my weigh-in this morning was going to be less than spectacular. I was so surprised to see 237.8 appear on the scale this morning. That is a 5.6 pound loss. What? How did that even happen? I am not sure but I am going to enjoy it none the less. This means I have met my mini goal of 240 pounds almost a month early (giddy laughter).

The scale is one crazy beast.

I am leaving for my vacation today so I won't be posting until I get back (in 10 days) but hopefully I will have some gorgeous rain forest photos to pretty up my blog a bit.

Staples

I went to see the movie Julie and Julia last night and have been thinking a lot about food today... that's a dangerous movie to see while you are trying to diet (lots of butter). I started thinking about how my "staple" foods have changed over the past few weeks. You know what I mean by "staples" right? Those things you must buy when you do your grocery shopping. You seldom forget a staple but when you do you take a trip back to the grocery store to pick it up, it is just that important. Before my staples consisted of cheeses (sharp cheddar and feta being my favorites), soda, pizza, pasta, nacho chips, cheese dip, and of course a variety of sweets. I haven't bought any of these things in over a month, but I have a group of new staples. Foods that are both healthy and so delicious I love to eat them.

My new staples list:
Boca burgers (have I mentioned I haven't eaten meat in 9 years)
Low-fat laughing cow soft cheese (only 35 calories a wedge)
10 calorie Vitamin Water (I heard these aren't great for me but I love them and they help curb my soda cravings)
Whole Wheat bread
Smart ones Lasagna Florentine (for quick lunch at work)
Lean Cuisine Margherita Pizza (for quick lunch at work)
salsa
egg beaters
fresh fruit
fresh veggies

Much like Julia Child, I love to eat so I am glad I have found foods that I love.

Also... I went to Barnes and Noble today (I could spend all day in that store). Wandering through the DVD's I found Jillian Micheal's "30 Day Shred" for 50% off (not including my membership discount... giddy laughter). So I got it. I am going to try it for 30 days but I won't start until I get back from my vaction.

Weigh in Day Again

I feel like I had a pretty good week, I ran most days and I think I ate pretty well. So first thing this morning I was excited to get on the scale and the results were good, 243.4 pounds... that means 4.2 pounds gone this week. That also means I only have 3.4 pounds to loss to meet my mini birthday goal weight. I am feeling pretty confident I will complete that goal early and start focusing on my next goal.

The biggest challenge facing me in the up coming weeks is my vacation. I will be gone for 10 days to Washington State/Olympic Park. I am still planning on running in the mornings and I signed up to run a 5K in Washington on one of the weekends. Plus I plan on doing some hiking so I am not too concerned about getting enough enough exercise. I am more concerned that I will be able to stick to a healthy diet.

Anyone out there have some words of wisdom for me about dieting and vacations?

441

441. That was the number pinned to my shirt when I ran my first 5K. Ok... so I didn't so much run a 5K as I did run and then walk and then run and then walk (ok I think you get the picture) but I finished. My niece and nephew both took first place in their respective age groups and I am so proud of them. My younger sister, who was also running for the first time, kept saying she felt bad about slowing me down. Can you believe it? Someone is slowing me down! Just a couple weeks ago I couldn't run a block and now I am running for 10-20 minutes at a time. When we got done with the race I told her about the couch to 5K and I put the podcasts on her ipod for her. I hope she likes it as much as I do. Tomorrow is my weigh in day so I will posting again soon.

Giddy day

I got my new ipod today and bright blue generation 4 nano. I am so excited! It is amazing how new technology makes me so giddy.

DLF>DNF>>DNS

I saw this (see title) on a t-shirt the other day and it feels pretty appropriate for me right now. It means A Dead Last Finish is greater than A Did Not Finish which is much greater than A Did Not Start. I think is a great sentiment for anyone starting a running/walking program but it feels very appropriate for me today because I am going to a 5K run/walk this weekend. My younger sister would like to start running so she called and asked if I wanted to do this run/walk with her. I have been jogging most mornings but since my iPod broke I just run when I feel like running, jog when I feel like jogging and walk when I feel like walking. This morning I decided to see how far a 5k really is. I went to google maps and traced a path from my house in a loop around town until I found one that was 3.1 miles. I headed out early this morning to try out the 5K. I discovered that 3.1 miles is a lot further than it sounds. I told my sister we may finish last but we will finish... and really that's enough for now.

Weight Loss Visual

I was playing around today on the "My Virtual Model" website (the weight loss option) and figured why not type in my current weight and goal weight to see the difference. This is my current weight along side my goal weight of 140 pounds. I am not even sure what size that is for a woman of 5' 8".

Since I have never been thin in my adult life I am not sure what my goal should really be. The thinnest I have been is a size 16 and the last time I wore that size was about three years ago and if I remember correctly I had dieted down to about 200 pounds. According to the National institute of Health, a healthy weight (using Body Mass Index (BMI)) for a woman my height is between 122 and 164 so I just went with something in the middle. Hopefully, as I lose weight, I will find a comfort zone... a weight that feels right for me.

Weigh-in Day

It's Sunday again so I jumped on the scale first thing this morning... and I lost 2.6 pounds this week. That is just about on target and at 247.6 pounds I am feeling pretty confident that I will make the Birthday "mini goal" of 240 pounds (that is 7.6 pounds to lose in just over 5 weeks). Now I just have to decide what I am going to do to celebrate. Any suggestions?

You may have noticed (well I have) that my weight loss has been kind of up and down... the first week there was a 5 pound loss, Week two was only 1 pound, week three was the 7 pound loss and this week a two pound loss. Don't get me wrong I am not disappointed with any of these numbers a loss is a loss and I am happy it's gone. But I think I have figured something out about my activity level and my job. I work a rotating shift... days one week, nights the next. The weeks that I work nights I am a lot more active and I think that makes all the difference. I get to run when I get home from work at 6am and it's cool and it's quiet as compared to running when I am done with work on days, it is hot and muggy (although it's been fairly cool this week) and I have to share the bike path with bikes, roller bladers, walkers and runners. I like the solitude of running in the morning and I enjoy it much less when I run at night. I was going to try the gym last night only to find out it closes early on Saturday... oh well tomorrow is another day.