Weigh in Wednesday: 1/25/12

Last Weigh In:                               243.0

Current Weigh In:                          242.0

Current Weight Lost:                         1.0

Total Weight Lost:                           68.0

Well, so far so good.  I saw a loss.  That's the most important thing!  Would I have liked to have seen more?  Certainly, but I'm not going to say that this loss didn't mean anything.  It showed me that my working harder is going to pay off.  I can already tell that I'm working my body harder.  I'm lifting weights more, I'm doing more cardio.  I'm pushing my body further and out of its comfort zone and that's what I needed.  This morning my arm muscles were sore.  I needed to feel that.  Too often I would get done with my workouts and realize that I had barely broken a sweat.  It's not really an effective workout if you haven't sweated a little I think.

I'm back to jogging in intervals on the treadmill (I just can't stand the monotony of running in place so that's why I break it up) I'm riding on the bike, I'm doing the elliptical machine.  I'm shaking it up everyday so that my muscles don't get into a routine. 

I'm also cooking a lot for myself and I'm LOVING it.  I roasted a chicken, I made turkey burgers, I'm making my breakfast every day.  I definitely miss having a kitchen on a regular basis...

So, we shall see if this continues to work for me.  Time will tell I suppose!

Downton Abbey and New Tunes

Since I blogged about working out longer and harder on Thursday, I have stuck to it thus far!  I've worked out the past four days in a row for at least 75 minutes.  Now, I will have to say though that it hasn't been 75 minutes of cardio as originally promised...

I've been doing at least 60 minutes of cardio and then 15 minutes of weights and strength training at the end.  I figured since I was bumping it up by about 15-30 minutes (I would do 30-45 minutes before, depending upon my mood/boredom) I'm moving in smaller steps.  I'm just really afraid of going too fast too soon and burning myself out.

Tonight's workout was easy though.  I tuned the TV in the hotel gym to the newest episode of Downton Abbey and just trotted away.  The show itself was about 50 minutes long so I put my iPod on for the rest of the time.  Times certainly flies when you are laughing at Maggie Smith, praying for Matthew's safe return and pining after Mr. Bates.  Anyone who hasn't watched Downton Abbey really needs to crawl out from underneath their rock and get to watching.  It's seriously an AMAZING show that is worth every single second of your time.  The first season is on Netflix streaming if you have a subscription.  Second season is currently playing on PBS.  I can't stress it enough.   Get thee to Downton Abbey!

In regards to the other thing I mentioned on Thursday, I haven't been doing as well.  I know that I REALLY need to hide the scale from myself but I'm addicted.  I'm on it probably everyday!  Sometimes more than once a day!  I only ever count the weigh-ins on Wednesday but I am obsessed with knowing how a particular workout affected me, or if what I had to eat that day made me bloat or simply gain weight.  It's AWFUL!  I was so good when I first started about only weighing myself once a week.  Now I can't even go 48 hours!  Ugh...

Also, I really think it's time for some new music.  I think that was part of the reason I was getting so bored in my workouts before.  I mean, I've added things here or there but I hate techno and a lot of the other types of "typical" gym music.  Those types of songs actually give me headaches.  Typically I listen to 80s pop, with some Glee stuff mixed in.  If it's upbeat and cheerful I can use it to groove to.  ABBA?  Oh hell yeah...  Lady Gaga?  Some of her stuff...  Glee mash-ups?  I'm afraid so!  (Listen to the Adele one and I DARE you to tell me it's not amazing.  Go on.  I'll wait...)

Anyone have any suggestions for new music?

Delusional

So I've realized something this past week.

I'm delusional!  Well, at least deluding myself...

Why?

Because I'm barely doing enough to maintain my weight and here I am hoping to lose weight!

I'm doing 30 - 45 minutes of cardio about 3-4 times a week, and I think that I'm going to lose weight that way?  I'm kidding myself!  My eating is okay, yes I could be doing better with it, but to be honest I'm not eating all that horribly.  I can't really restrict my calories too much further.  I simply need to be burning more!

So, starting now I'm going to make sure that I'm doing a MINIMUM of 75 minutes of a cardio at least 4 times a week.  I was going to go whole hog and say that I need to do two hours, but I'm not quite there yet.  I'm afraid if I do that, I'll burn out.  I need to gradually increase and I think that's a good place to start.  Once I am doing that consistently I will increase to 90 minutes and so on...

I just know that it's going to be a VERY difficult battle to lose this last bit of weight.  I mean, 40 pounds is not a small amount but when you compare it to the 110 that I had to lose to begin with?  It's small.  I'm 64% of the way to my goal.  That's great!  But, I need to reach that goal!  I WILL do it!

Also, I think I'm going to go scale free for two weeks.  Yesterday I weighed in at 243.  An increase from last week of 1.6 pounds.  I'm becoming obsessed with what the scale says and I need to get that out of my head and instead focus on the work that it requires.

So, the next time I weigh in will be in February.  I need to hold myself accountable, the scale should not hold me accountable.

It's time for my weight to go into the 230s and STAY there! (Until the 220s, that is...)

Wish me luck!  Here's to hoping my experiment works!

Weigh in Wednesday: 1/11/12

Last Weight:                               242.6
Current Weight:                          241.4

Current Lost:                                  1.2

Total Lost:                                   68.6

Well, the scale is going in the right direction again!  Finally working off some of these holiday pounds.  What I think will help me this week is that we have kitchens.  I'm able to cook for myself for all of this week and its GLORIOUS!

My breakfasts are back to what they were when I was in New York.  Two egg whites with salsa and either half a bagel or two frozen whole wheat waffles.  Very filling and pretty low in calories.  I'm also "cooking" my lunches and dinners again too for the most part.  I didn't buy a whole lot that requires a ton of time because work is a bit crazy for the next few days but even just to have microwave meals (I know, I know... they are full of sodium and stuff, but they are helping me time wise!) are both saving me money and calories.

I'm also back on track with my fitness (although I had to take a break the last two days, again because of work) and I'm trying to push myself harder.  I am trying to build up my tolerance for running on a treadmill.  So far I'm only able to run a mile before I get bored to tears, but I will keep trying to up my time every time.  I kind of have to run this week because the hotel gym only has a stationary bike and a treadmill.  The treadmill is just going to get my heart rate up higher than the bike will.

I'll let you know how this week is going over the weekend.  See if I'm staying on track.  Okay, gotta go fill up my water bottle!!

Keep working hard everyone!

Battle of the Vitamins

For years I've tried and failed.

I kept trying new things.  Different approaches, yet nothing seemed to work.  I started to feel like a failure.

Why was it that I just couldn't succeed?

What was wrong with me?

I'm talking, of course, about taking vitamins.

For my entire life I've been horrible about taking a daily vitamin.  I've tried everything, but what usually ended up happening was that I would be good for about two weeks and then I would forget.  Cut to about six months to a year down the road I would find the half empty bottle and end up throwing the rest of it out because they had expired.  Then this whole cycle would repeat itself.

When I started losing weight I kept reading that I should be taking a daily vitamin to ensure that I'm not deficient in anything.  Since you are cutting calories, you are also cutting out the potential to get the nutrients your body needs through food.  Also, since you are burning so many calories, your body needs all sorts of these goodies to help stay healthy.  Well, I started taking a daily vitamin then but no matter what I tried the vitamins were actually making me nauseous.  So much so that I threw up one morning after I had taken it.  Didn't matter how I tried, I would always feel sick.  Full stomach, or empty stomach.  Morning or night.  Nothing helped.  So, that vitamin I ended up giving up on voluntarily.  I just didn't want to be sick all of the time because of a freakin' multi-vitamin!

Cut to a month ago, I decided to give vitamins another shot.  Only this time, I was going to get fancy vitamins.  A lot of people out on the tour were buying vitamins from GNC, so I decided to go give it a shot.  I bought one of those sets of vitamins where basically everyday you have a small packet of pills you need to take.  The guy at the store told me to be sure to take them on a full stomach, even though since these are more natural vitamins (the others, he said, were more synthetic which was what was causing me to get sick) he wanted to make sure that my stomach could handle them.

Well, my stomach could handle them all right, only my taste buds couldn't!!  BLECH!  Those were some of the nastiest tasting things I've ever tried!  Oh my god, it got to the point that my stomach was curling but for a much different reason this time around!  They were just GROSS!

So, you know what kind of vitamin I'm on now?  Dinosaur gummy vitamins.  And you know what?  So far, so good.  The jar I bought is HUGE and it's a helluva lot cheaper than those GNC vitamins.  With a jar that big, I can't really see how I will forget to take them.  Also, they don't hurt my stomach.  I've taken them on an empty stomach and a full stomach.  Either way, I'm all good!  Plus, they don't taste like crap either.

Another plus...  It's always fun to play "Dinosaur army attacks" with my vitamins should I get bored.

What?  That just me?

Weigh In Wednesday: 1/4/12

Last Weight (12/31/11):                            242.6
Current Weight:                                        242.6

Lost/Gained:                                            ZERO

Total Lost:                                                  67.4

Okay, so I haven't lost any weight since New Year's Eve.  Well, not officially.  However New Year's Eve was a night spent gorging on sugary alcoholic drinks and eating not healthy food while watching fireworks on the streets of Miami.  My weight went up to 245 in the days following, so while unofficially I've lost nothing, I've in actuality been working my ass off for the past three days and have worked off the 2.5 pounds I gained in one single night.

I've done well in 2012 thus far.  Eating has been better (although not perfect) and I've exercised for the past three days.  I've kicked up the intensity in my workouts.  I realized I missed feeling sore.  I remember when I first started my legs were in a constant state of soreness.  So much so that there were times I could only walk around like a 90 year old woman in the mornings.  Of course, that wouldn't stop me from getting out there and running again.  The past two days my legs have been reminded what it is to feel like I've accomplished something in my work outs.   It's no longer just about the sweat poring down my face, it's about how I feel afterwards as well.


I realized that everyone is making resolutions for the new year and I am saying that I don't really have any resolutions.  I have goals in my head that I've set, but not really resolutions.  Because this is a lifestyle change, I must remember that... Resolutions to me imply an impermanence.  Something to do better for a year and then give up.   This is about reteaching myself, or in some cases learning for the first time, how to live life better.

So, I guess I do have a New Year's Resolution:  I'm going to live my life the best and healthy way I know how, in order to make a better Maia.

Cheers!