310

Today’s weight= 296.2 (week’s gain= +3 lbs)

I’m so glad to have only gained 3 lbs over the past week. I didn’t write anything yesterday. I was on Day 4 of not sticking to some sort of plan. It has me wondering now about how to deal with days off, or holidays. I’m definetly not as strong or as confident as I seemed to have been going into it. What was supposed to only be one day (Thanksgiving Day) turned into 4 days of eating and drinking and not tracking food and calories. I started each day pretty well but somewhere along the way got depressed and gave in. All of that said and done, I feel good about today. Sunday’s are the start of my week. I went to church today, it’s been awhile since I did that, it’s always refreshing and encouraging. The gyms’ childcare closes early because of the holiday weekend, but I intend to be there during the last hour since I didn’t go yesterday. I did however do 10 squats at home. (seriously though I think I’d rather do them at home than in front of a mirror holding a ball in the corner of the gym where the seriously buff folks workout with weights!) 10 squats left my legs a tad weak n wobbly for a few minutes but I was so happy to see that it didn’t effect me this morning. So now I can do it every other day and up the # squats, keeping it balanced somewhere between temporarily weak-n-wobbled and seriously out of commission. After the gym, we’re going to attempt to rake up some leaf piles. The leaves are coming down slowly and with the rain and the groundskeepers cleaning them up, I’m worried we’ll miss our opportunity. Hopefully the leaves had a chance to dry.

Thanks to everyone for their support.

**Updated 5pm

Just adding my exercise and leaf pile pics. When my teen son and I came out of the gym we were amazed at the warm temps, it was like spring or summer, just real nice. hard to believe tomorrow is December 1st. A couple more days and it’ll be my baby’s 2nd birthday. The day after that I wanna break out the Christmas decor and lights.

Today’s Exercise= 10 squats,  Abdominal 65lbs. 150 reps,  Leg press 100lbs. 45 reps,  Butterfly 45 reps, Calves 55lbs. 30 reps, Leg Extension 30 reps.

Here’s one, the others were added to the photo album page.

Today’s weight= 298.0

I went out off plan a little early. Started Wednesday evening instead of just doing Thankgiving day. SO the 2 day damage is +4.4 lbs. I’m sitting here eating clementines and gearing up to go the gym. My muscles are coming around after those 30 squats from Tuesday… that was too much. I want to get stronger, lose weight and all, but I don’t want to do things that put me out of commission for 2 or more days. I’m eager to get ‘back to it’. 2 days is enough for anything, it seems. I’m not so sure it was all that much fun anyways. I guess it had its’ moments. 4 lb. moments.

updated 6:35pm- we’re have to call it a 3 day damage because as we speak, I am eating and drinking my two top vices, coke and cheetos. I got tired and depressed about noon and started going off plan with chicken fingers and fudge. Terrible.

I went to the gym this morning and topped two of my records. The first is doing 45 min on the elliptical machine (581 calories) then did the treadmill for about 32 minutes (220 calories) bringing me to my second record breaking of 800 calories in one workout. All of which is nearly useless if I don’t eat right. Maybe the Holiday meal and the getting off-track thing is really much more dangerous than I thought it was.

Thanks and Praise to the Lord for hearing my prayers and walking with me through this lifestyle change. May I become healthier and happier not only for myself and my immediate family but also for those who the Lord brings into my life. It is not without Him that I am able to do this. For so many years I was waiting for that ‘thing’ in me to surface, take over and finally kick it in gear. For a long time I prayed for the willpower to do it, but it wasn’t until I asked that He take control and lead me through it because I could not do it on my own, that it finally happened. So when I get to thinking all big of myself and that I’m better than others, He is there to remind me that I am not and that it is through Him that all things are possible. Blessed be the Name of the Lord.

Happy Thanksgiving to all. May your day, your year, and your life be filled with Faith, Hope, Love, Forgiveness, Blessings, Life, Fellowship, Laughter, and all that is Good, in Jesus’ name.

John 3:16

Today’s weight= 293.6. (+1.4) Yesterday’s calories= 2640

My husband took off work today and got a jump start on his Holiday weekend. We stayed up late last night, which means eating extra calories and not getting enough sleep. I love Redbox! Gone are the days of being on a list to rent a new release, standing in line, and paying $5 a night for it. Here are the days of Redbox, reserve the movies online, get them the day they are released, easy pick up and drop off, no lines, and only $1 a day. Last night we watched Meet Dave. It was worth watching, but I’m not sure if it’s a keeper. Right now I’ve got Space Chimps on for my 4 yr old. I think he’s too young for it, it’s not keeping his interest very much. Later we have Hancock to watch.

It’s a cold, rainy day. A good day for movies, napping, a fire, cleaning, and prepping foods for the big Turkey Day dinner tomorrow.

No organized exercise today or tomorrow. And I won’t be doing 30 of those squats next time, only 20. I can hardly squat down to sit on the toilet or otherwise. I’ll try to keep my calorie count lower than I have lately because of last night and the who-knows-how-many calories will be consumed tomorrow. I fully expect a weight gain this week, along with the millions of others. But that’s ok. There’s next week and the next couple weeks before we have yet another fabulous holiday dinner.

Be sure to check in tomorrow for my special giving Thanks message. Have a great day.

‘helping Mama clean’

Today’s weight= 292.2

I’ll tell you what. I’ve had enough organized exercise to last me a couple days. I had an appointment with the trainer today. (I forgot about the one I had sceduled last Tuesday) I get one session a month with my membership. I thought I’d be out of there in less than hour. I wasn’t too excited about it since I had just accomplished a new feat yesterday of working out for the full 2 hours that I am allowed to have the children in the PlayRoom. But nonetheless, I was not about to cancel with the trainer after having forgotten it last week. I just wanted to add a couple machines to my list, but I walked out of there all wobbly-legged and walking as slow as a 400 lb snail. New to my line up is 30 min on the bike, 30 squats, a calf machine, and two leg machines. The bike and the squats really did me in. For the first time, I was one of those people with sweat on the back of my shirt. It kind of bothers me that the bike calorie count is inaccurate but what are ya gonna do?

I really didn’t count on being sore for Thursday, so I’m taking it easy form here on out, until Friday. I can already feel it.

Yesterday’s exercise= 15 min elliptical (207 calories), 60 min treadmill (417 calories), 2 reps of 15 on arm curls, and 4 sets of 30 on the abdominal machine. Total time = 2 hours!

Today’s exercise= 10 min elliptical while waiting for the trainer to show up. 30 squats, 30 pushes on the leg press, 30 lifts on the calf machine, 30 min on the bike, 40 leg lifts.

Today’s weight = 292.6 (-.6 lbs)

In Las Vegas, the leaves finally fall in mid Nov, or as late as the first week of December. We get about one or two days before the groundkeepers come through and get it cleaned up. I’m watching everyday for the opportuinty to rake up piles for the kids to jump and play in. They love it, I love it, and we get great pictures out of it too!

The Experiment

How can I eat 2840 calories the day before and still lose weight? Go try the calculator and bring up the caloric intake it suggests for a week. Choose the 7 day zig zag plan, try it for a week and see if it works for you. It did for me. I’m doing it again this week and will keep doing it unless it proves to NOT work in my best interests.

Somewhere along the line I got a day or a number mixed up. I just tried to put it together for the sake of the post and got myself all confused. SO forget that. I do know I took in about 900 calories less than what was planned for the week and averaged about 2350 a day.

So this is Thanksgiving week! The stores are crowded, the kids are home from school. My mind is occupied with all of the cooking plans and prep I have to do starting Wednesday. For the first time in a LONG time, it’s not bothering me too much. Of course I hope the stuffing turns out and the bird doesn’t burn but I’m not stressing out over the mass amount of work it is going to require. Nor am I going to worry about fat and calories that day. Let us be thankful, Let us enjoy each others’ company, and Let us enjoy the FOOD! I’ll be having that bite of turkey skin, the buttered roll, and maybe a piece of pie (even though I’m not real big on pies) Hmmm maybe I should make some fudge to bring over and have a piece of that too. You know what? I can do this. I see the results. I know what works. If I follow my plan for 6 days and enjoy Thanksgiving… I’m gonna be alright. I’m going to be satisified with whatever results pan out from it. Everyone expects to gain weight over the holidays. Wouldn’t it be funny if I actually lost weight and still got to enjoy myself? Well, let’s see if that happens. And if it doesn’t, shrug it off and carry on!

And now to end a great post with something ‘Debbie Downer’… I want to say that even though I sound greatly positive, there have been times this week where I’ve been difficult, impatient, and making the people (mainly my husband) around me unhappy. I’ve been keyed up and unable to be flexible outside of what I planned to take on. Sometimes I felt like I was on steriods or some kind of hormone. I’m assuming it’s a change in my body, I just don’t know. And so far I don’t know what to do about it, except note it, and try to act better. I surely don’t want to treat anyone like dirt.

It was a familiar feeling. One of being hungry and unable to find that one thing that is going to satisfy me so I eat more than enough and still feel hungry for something. I’m trying to pinpoint what caused it. The good workout at the gym? The stress at home?  The anxiety I experienced while out in a bad neighborhood (not going back there again)? The food I ate at McDonald’s…? I’m pretty sure it started with the McDonald’s food in front of me. I was just going to have the milk from the kids’ meal and the grilled chicken chipotle wrap, until the fries and cheeseburger and chicken nugget was in front of me. Then a kid came up and flat out took our happy meal off our table and ran away! I yelled out after him and his mother returned it to us, but didn’t seem to care much about what happened. I was shocked. Then thinking about it, he probably has ADD or ADHD, whatever you call it. From then on I was worried about letting my 2 yr old go up and play in the PlayHouse area with the wild child who might harm my kids. Before we even finished the food another mother started a situation with the child’s mother about something that happened. I was cuirous to know what happened but didn’t pry, besides they were speaking spanish, so why bother. Here in Las Vegas, I’m used to most of them not speaking any English. The inside of the PlayArea had some graffiti which I have NEVER seen before in one of these. It was bad enough to be in a mens’ bathroom stall with atleast four choice words and a provocative situation. Thank God most of the children are too young to be able to read it. But now I hardly ever bring them to play at McD’s so I wasn’t about to leave so easily. You can bet I was at the edge of my seat watching their every move while in there playing. I’m not gonna carry on about the rest of the stops we made in that neighborhood but I do think that the McDonald’s food had something to do with the “snack attack”. It’s getting to be where I don’t get these too much anymore, and it’s getting to be where I can start to pinpoint triggers. SO at home I tallied up my calorie count after seeking out the calories in the MCD’s food, since they didn’t have any nutritional value menus anywhere in the restuarant. (That might’ve helped me to eat less, if they had. Aside from the milk and the wrap, I dug into the kids’ food and ate 1.5 nuggets, 1/3 of the dbl chzbrger, and half of the small fries) I still have calories left to use up but didn’t want to be foolish. I had some leftover chicken, brocoli and cauliflower, but that didn’t do the trick… after looking around, the Hersheys bar with Skippy crunchy peanut butter did it. I’m relieved that I was able to enjoy that and not get sucked into that all-too-familiar black hole of overeating!

Todays calorie count was 2840. I’m still behind for the week according to the 7 day cycle plan, but I’m no longer hungry and I can’t imagine having lost weight with a # like 2840! I have no interest in trying to match the given #. I will definetly be trying this higher calorie, 7 day cycle plan next week. 

Today’s exercise was cut short because I forgot that the Playroom (childcare) at the gym closes at 5pm on Sunday. However, I did manage to get in 30 minutes elliptical (Level 2, 2.0 miles, 400 calories) and about 30 minutes treadmill (230 calories) before closing.

yummy breakfast for me and the kids

Today’s weight = 293.2 ( weeks loss -3.8 lbs!) (total loss for 2 months= 16.8 lbs)

Yesterday I got excited thinking I was nearing 20 lbs. I’ll tone down the excitement a bit since I’m really closer to 15 lbs. It’ll be good though to get past that 20, and be working on 25. Even though, I’m really happy with the results, it’s hard to not want things faster, quicker, and be immediately self-gratified. It’s a learning process of being disciplined and patient. Makes me wanna roll my eyes…

I think the plan of eating more calories worked well. I was hardly ever hungry, had a hard time sometimes eating all of the calories I planned, had alot more energy and endurance, and lost more weight, more easily. No, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, but it worked. I have to eat often or I get tired, burnt out, crabby, negative and you know that leads to no exercise and eating badly. Thanks again to Eileens’ post about this that gave me the idea to try it. I am going to keep it up so long as it keeps working, and really I don’t see how it couldn’t. 2300-2850 calories a day sounds like a ton, but I guess it’s what works for me regarding my height, weight, and typical exercise.

I was wary of trying this plan this week because I gained weight last week and I really didn’t want that to happen again this week, but I highly reccommend everyone to try it, for one week and see if it worked for them or not. What’s one week? That’s what I figured. Before I came across this and tried it, I noticed Anne takes in alot of calories and wasn’t sure how that could work for her, but it does!

Yesterday I took in less calories than what I planned to and got 1.5 hrs less than I should. Between the two, I woke up feeling crabby, tired, and not wanting to do anything today. Hopefully, I can get that spun around.

I posted some measurements in a new page. I’ll update it in a month or two and see how many inches come off! Something new to look forward to. It’s alot fun when you’re on the right path. Having said that is dangerous because then I realize I haven’t had a bad day all week…. be careful what you say!

Today’s weight 292.8!

I woke up at 8:30am and quickly realized hubby let me sleep in. I didn’t even notice when he and the kids got up. So I got a full 8 hrs sleep and woke up on my own! Isn’t that fantastic?! Maybe that coupled with the endless amount of energy I’ve had lately is what generated his comment about me running down the stairs! It’s ridiculous the energy I had, I even said so. I immediately got to work on household stuff and worked nearly 3 hours without tiring and with only minute breaks. I really like getting things done and keeping busy. Until I get tired and cranky, that is. Well, about mid day I went grocery shopping, out visiting family, stopped at a garage sale, came home put away groceries, started figuring out dinner… I was getting hungry, had been busy and not refueling. Time kept passing and the result was me getting tired, mad, and thinking about the pizza that I picked up for my teen son and his friends. Really I just needed a good 15 min break and some decent food. Finally I got some fish and veggies in me and started feeling better. The problem is that I’ve not kept to my plan of the higher calories today. In fact it’s been hard to do most days. That’s alot of calories actually! But it seems to be working. I have had alot of energy and am losing weight more easily this week. I can’t sit still for long. I find myself doing something nearly all the time; even when sitting, I am fidgeting. I get mad, though, when I do take those breaks for me and end up getting interrupted or requested by someone to do something, however minor it is… Maybe I need to pace myself. But I don’t think I know how. My husband says I’ve been stressful and rough with everyone. I’m not sure what to do about that. I don’t want to slow down and don’t want them to slow me down. It’s like I’m doing what I want and everyone else needs to move out of my way. I guess, all I can do is note it and try to correct it.

I wish today had been the weigh-in day, that 292.8 looks great and I doubt it’ll be that or lower tomorrow. It’s too good to be true. Maybe my feet were cold, dry, or the scale was on a crooked tile? It got me excited though because it means I am almost at 20 lbs lost. Another thing I wanna do (and post) tomorrow is an idea I got from Patty’s blog. She posted a link on how to accurately measure your body parts. I did 3-4 measurements at the beginning of this, 2 months ago, but loved how she broke it down and was able to see the differences and the inches total lost. That’s pretty exciting. I don’t know if I’ll check the measurements every month but for sure every other month.

First thing I need to do tomorrow is get more California Cuties. We ran out of those first 15 lbs..

Today’s total calories 1591. No organized exercise.

Yesterday’s weight = 295.4 Today weight= 295.0

Yesterday’s calorie intake = 1971 Today’s calorie total - 2640.

Today’s exercise = 30 min ellipitcal= 400 calories

I made the white chili today and while it wasn’t bad, it also wasn’t fantastic. I think the hot sauce made it a little too spicy for the kids and maybe even to me. Hubby added salt and pepper to it. I overcooked the cauliflower so it was a tad mushy. I added ground turkey because I didn’t have a sausage and we didn’t want a vegetarian dinner. All said and done, it’s a money saving meal and with some changes it will probably turn out a little better, but I still am not sure if it’d make it on my regular rotation of meals.