Ghetto Jump Rope

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When purchasing my jump rope, I was torn between the fabric rope and the plastic rope.  I opted for the fabric (not really sure why)…HUGE mistake! It is terrible! i’m a pretty good jump-roper, and it keeps getting caught on my running shoes. Sigh. I’ll make use of it until I go home for xmas- luckily I have a proper plastic jump rope there. I thought the fabric one would be good quality because it’s made by Bally..guess not! Oh well. It’s just annoying to have to stop every minute or so to readjust.

So, I tried to make it 30 minutes yesterday, but only made it about 10. I had clearly forgotten how challenging jump rope is!  Will try again tonight. I guess all I can do is try to do a bit more each time.

Eatmyselfdead91 left a comment on my last post and suggested trying a weighted hula-hoop. What a great idea! Thanks for the tip- I’m going to look into that. One of my goals is to reduce my waist measurements (see my previous post about waist-to-hip ratio), and I bet that would be a great way to do it.

I really love to hear people’s tips and comments, so please feel free to comment if you have something to share!

Holding myself accountable

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I recently bought a jump rope.  I also recently started running. I was then told my my physio that my back wasn’t strong enough to be running. I’m really confused because my surgeon told me I should do anything and everything to gain strength. He said there’s really nothing I shouldn’t be doing. Clealry I need a 3rd opinion. As of now, I think i’m going to start jumping rope  anyway. I need something that I can do in my apartment when I need a break from working.

My goal is to jump rope for 30 minutes for at least 4 days this week (up until my weigh in on wednesday). There’s really no reason why I can’t do that. I can find 30 minutes a day. I would also like to try to fit in 20 minutes of pilates. I used to do Winsor pilates and found that it really helped my core strength. I need to improve the condition of my back so that i can try running again. I’d like to start in the summer.

Apart from that, I need to do better when it comes to tracking. I used to be PERFECT at following the program. I need to get back to that place. Not really sure what happened, but i’m disappointed in myself for yo-yoing since i’ve been back, and I’m certain it’s been a result of my failure to track. I’m just SO close to my 10%, I NEED to get there before I go home for Christmas. 2.2 Lbs. This should not be this difficult.

Weigh-In, Week 10

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Down another 0.6 this week!

Current weight: 171.2

2.2 lbs to 10%, and 46.2 to goal.

My goal for this week is to get back into my exercise regimen.  I want to work out at least 4 times this week. So close to my 10%- that should be motivation enough!

Update:

Okay, i just spent some time poking around other people’s blogs…It reminded me of how motivated I used to be. Why is it that some people can lose 12 lbs in a month and I can barely lose 5? I didn’t care, because at least I was losing consistently. I REALLY want to lose this weight. I want to be thin. I want to wear all the clothes I have in my closet that don’t fit me. I want to take care of my back. I want to wear that Diane Von Furstenberg dress to my graduation in April.  I don’t want to be the fat bridesmaid! I feel like i have this mental block about getting into the 160s. Why do I never seem to be able to do it? Why do I always get derailed at that point? I have one month before I go home for Christmas. There’s no reason why I can’t lose 5 lbs between now and then with some hard work. I need to stop being lazy. I need to get up, get my work done, get to the gym. I have a gym in my condo! I have no excuse!  I need to stop eating in restaurants, start being active again, and get re-focused. Enough is Enough. It’s time to get into the 160s and say goodbye to the 170s FOREVER.

Weigh In, Week 9

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I’ve been negligent at posting my results for the past few weeks…i’m going to try to be better from now on!

I made it to a HUGE personal goal today- I’ve now lost a total of 15 lbs!  I am seriously surprised I have been losing, because I have NOT been exercising. Usually I don’t lose unless I work out EVERY day.  My body makes NO sense. But I’m certainly not complaining. I wasn’t perfect with food this week, but I suppose it wasn’t the worst.  Today I lost 1.8 lbs, which is HUGE for me! My current weight is 171.8, which means I have only 2 more lbs to go until I reach my lowest weight from the summer.  I can do this!

25.8 lbs to go until I’m in my healthy BMI range. I really want to hit that before I move home. I want my current leader to be the one to give me my key chain!

Only 2.8 lbs until I hit my 10%!!  I was 0.8 lbs away from achieving it in the summer when I fell off the wagon.  I’m really proud of myself for sticking at it and I can’t imagine how great it will feel to achieve that.

46.8 to my personal goal!  (125 lbs)

I’m trying to decide what I should set my WW goal at.  I would really like to strive for 125, but I’m wondering if maybe 130 or 135 would be more realistic for me.  I don’t know how my body will react, and I want something that will be maintainable when I become a lifetime member.

Here are some goals that I’m really looking forward to meeting, hopefully in the near future.

First, my 10%- so close I can taste it! This will also mean that I’m into the 160s, which always seems to be SO difficult for me.  My body just does NOT seem to want to go below 172-173lbs, but that is about 25 lbs overweight for my frame, so I just need to keep at it.

Second, I’m looking forward to hitting the low 160s. The lowest adult weight I remember being was about 164, and when I hit that weight, people really started noticing. More importantly, I noticed the difference in my body and I felt great. Every 10 lbs seems like such a HUGE hurdle to get over, but DAMN, it feels good.

I just need to remember how disappointed I was to gain weight back after I’d worked so hard to lose it. I need to stay with the program this time and I need to reach my goal.  I had a goal to lose 25 lbs by my birthday in June.  I obviously did not meet that goal. So, my new goal is to be at a healthy weight (i.e. 146 or below) by my champagne birthday next June.

Finally, I really want to be at 165lbs by February for my cousin’s wedding. I want to have to have my size 12 bridesmaid dress taken in.

Here are my updated measurements:

Waist: 38 (-1)

Thighs: Left: 24.25 (-.25), Right: 23.75 (-.75)

Arms: Left: 12.25, Right: 11.5 (no change)

Hips: 42 (no change

Bust: 38.5 (-.5)

Neck: 14 (No change)

BMI: 30

Waist-Hip ratio: 0.90 (- 0.02)

TOTAL: 2.5 inches lost

Battle Royale

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..me vs. the 170s.  I have lost for the past 3 weeks (thankfully), and am currently at 173.6.  Still 5 lbs heavier than what I was in July.  I can’t help but think that going home for the summer was a huge mistake.  I should have stayed here and stayed focused on my weight loss. I just feel like such a failure.  It’s like I CAN’T get out of the 170s.  I am constantly having health problems that prevent me from working out, and I feel like everything is working against me.

Anyway, I bought my bridesmaid dress. It’s a size 12, and the other bridesmaids are size 4.  This should be good for the self esteem.

Hoping for another loss this week, although I haven’t been able to exercise, so I don’t know how well that’s going to go.

Current weight: 173.6.  48.6 lbs to go.

Weigh-In, Week 4….Grr.

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So, last Wednesday I was up 2.2 lbs.  Great.  I have no excuse other than the steady stream of houseguests I’ve been entertaining for the past 2 weeks. I’m trying to remember that this is only 2 weeks in the grand scheme of my life, but I really wish I could have maintained better control of my eating. I’ve been eating crap the whole time, so I have nobody to blame but myself.

What is it about the 170s? I just seem to have the hardest time getting out of them. The same thing happens every time I try to lose weight. I can never seen to maintain any weight under 170. I am NOT having any other visitors for the foreseeable future, and getting under 170 is my goal for the next month.  I would really like to be in the 160s by mid-november.

I am starting to feel the pressure to get in shape for this wedding.  I tried on my bridesmaid dress a few weeks ago and I looked like a sausage.  The other bridesmaids are all skinny, and I don’t want to be the one girl who looks terrible in the dress.  I now have to decide which size of dress to order. I had hoped to be in a size 8, but I could barely fit my fat ass into a 12.  Sigh. The wedding is in 21 weeks.  I have to get serious about this and start losing 1 lb a week. I cannot screw around with this anymore. I need to remember how good I would feel if I was down to 155 by the wedding. Anyway, since one of my pet peeves is when people whine about a problem and do nothing to fix it, I’ve decided to start the Couch 2 5K Program.  The bride has started running, and I figure that there’s no reason I couldn’t do the same. I did the first day today- 2 minutes running, 4 minutes walking x 5, for a total of 30 minutes.  I found it pretty easy, but I’m going to stick to the program because I don’t want to do too much too soon.  I will do that Monday-Wednesday-Friday-Saturday.  I’m planning to do turbo jam on the days I’m not running.  I would also like to start weight training, so maybe I’ll do the TJ weight program.  I really need to strengthen my back/core, because I’ve been having issues with it as a result of not exercising as much as I should.

Would love to hear if you are doing or have done a running program….Please feel free to leave any motivational tips/comments!

Measurements

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I was recently watching a show on tv about obesity and found out some interesting/disturbing things about myself. I did the test to find out if I am considered apple or pear shaped.  Turns out that I’m apple, which is the worse of the two to be.  I know that it’s worse to carry extra weight around your middle than your bum or thighs, but I didn’t realize that I fell under the danger category.  I’m a bit boxy around the middle, but I kind of attributed that to not having very wide hips (in terms of bone structure- this is certainly not to say that I can’t stand to lose some inches off my hips!) Anyway, the magic formula is waist divided by hip.  A result of 0.8 and below means you are pear shaped.  0.8 and above means you are apple shaped. According to health specialists, this waist-to-hip ratio is actually better than waist measurments alone, or even BMI measurments in terms of determining health. Anything above 0.8 is undesirable, and the further away you get from 0.8, the higher your risk for heart disease, cancer, and a host of other illnesses becomes. I figured it was time to face the music and re-do my measurements. Here goes:

Weight: 174

Waist: 39 (yikes)

Thighs: L-24.5, R-24.5

Arms: L- 12.25, R- 11.5

Hips: 42

Bust: 39

Neck: 14

BMI: 30

I still can’t believe that I wear size 32 jeans and my actual waist size is currently 39.  Vanity sizing much?  Anyway, my waist-to-hip ratio works out to 0.92.  Red Flag! I really need to work on reducing this number.  I’ll be adding this to my numbers to monitor as I lose my weight.

I’m having one of those weeks where the scale is NOT budging.  Not really sure what’s going on, because I’ve been eating really well. I think I just need to step up the exercise.  I know the next couple weeks will be difficult because I’ll have guests for 15 days solid. I guess I’ll just try to get as much walking in as possible.

Off to do my turbo jam, even though I’d rather take a nap…I’m thinking of starting the C25K program again…getting back into running would probably really help my weight loss.  Maybe that will be my goal for October.

Weigh-In, Week 2

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As I suspected I had a much smaller loss this week- BUT- I had a loss, so I’m not complaining!

I lost 1 lb this week, and that’s 1 lb closer to my goal. Meeting was great today- I had coffee with a really nice lady from my group after. She reached her goal last week, and she is very inspirational!  I am missing my WW buddy (she no longer lives in the same province as me) and so it’s nice to make some other connections with people who are doing the program.

I have been really good with working out this week. I did cardio party for the past 4 days in a row, and ab jam every day except last night.  I was hurting last night- i had a long day at school, and then I watched the premiere of The Biggest Loser, so my workout didn’t happen until midnight, but I still did it!  I’m really proud of myself, and I feel like I’m getting back into the groove.  The food is easy for me- I love cooking and I don’t usually get junk cravings.  It’s the workouts that I really have to make an effort to get into. I find that once I’ve done it for a few days, though, it becomes much easier. Today my leader told me that she’s running her SECOND marathon in Hawaii at Christmas….and she’s 60 YEARS OLD!! It’s pathetic that she’s in better shape than basically everyone I know (including me). She’s so inspirational…it makes me want to start running again! We have a treadmill in our building, so maybe I’ll give it a whirl this winter. It really has been the best exercise for me when it comes to losing weight. I’m just a bit hesitant to do it again because of the impact on my back…but I suppose I’ll just have to start slow.  But isn’t that amazing? Overweight to running marathons at 60. I want to be like her when I grow up.

So, here’s the sum up for the week: My current weight is 174, which is 13 lbs down from my original start weight and 3.8 lbs since re-starting WW 2 weeks ago. As I mentioned last post, my new goal is 6.2 lbs a month, which would allow me to reach my goal before I leave to go home.  That means I need to lose 2.4 more lbs this month.  Hope I can do it!!

49 lbs to go!

P.S. I’ve updated the some of the other tabs on my blog (my workouts, i can’t wait to…, etc.) so check it out! :)

Day 2 of the battle…

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Good news!  I managed to get my act together enough to work out again today.  I did cardio AND abs. Yay me! The only bad news is that i’m paying for my months of lethargy- my body is KILLING me!! I can barely move! Oh well-at least it’s a good pain. C’est la vie. My Greece Bikini Body isn’t going to come easily, but I know I can do it. Can’t wait for that day!

A small victory…

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I finally got my act together and worked out! I just did 45 minutes of Turbo Jam cardio, plus the 20 minute ab workout. It was hard…not going to lie….I can really feel how much muscle I’ve lost during the time I stopped my workouts.  I always do this- why do I never learn? It’s like starting at square one again. At the very least, at least I didn’t gain ALL of the weight I lost back- only 8 lbs.  After my *almost* 3 lb loss last week, I now only have about 5 lbs to make up.  As some of you know, my body makes no sense. I will do everything right and lose nothing one week, then the next week I’ll eat pizza and lose.  Like last week, I ate sushi and movie popcorn the night before my weigh-in.  Usually I retain water like crazy when I eat salt. So I eat 2 of the saltiest foods known to man and have my biggest loss ever?  Riiigh…that makes perfect sense.

I find that getting mentally ready to do the first workout after a break is the hardest part. Once I get back into it, it becomes just a part of my day. I hope that’s the case this time.

I recently read that people who weigh themselves every day are more successful in keeping weight off. I used to be 100% against this, because I think it makes some people (like my WW buddy) obsessed.  If she gained, she would FREAK out and work out 2x that day. If she lost, she would binge on junk.  Anyway, I recently downloaded an app to my iphone called “Lose it!”.  It’s free, and you can use it to input all your food, exercise, and goals. Since I count points, I don’t use the food/exercise function, but you can use the goal section to record your weight daily.  It’s just been a good way for me to keep focused. I’ve been weighing myself every morning as soon as I wake up. I have a feeling after my big loss last week, I probably won’t lose anything this week. But it does keep me trying!

I’ve been thinking about my goals (mentioned in my last post).  I really desperately want to reach my goal before I move home, because I want my current leader to be here when it happens.  To do that, I would have to lose 6.2 lbs per month. I know that’s not really all that realistic for me, since I lose pretty slowly. But, I’m really going to try my very hardest. My leader has been such a huge inspiration and support for me, I just really want her to be the one to present me with my keychain, or whatever it is you get when you reach goal.  If I can achieve that goal, I can meet my other 3 goals, too.  At that rate, I could be down to about 140 lbs by my cousin’s wedding.  I can’t even imagine it!!  6.2 lbs a month isn’t too outrageous, but it will mean a lot of hard work. I’m up for the challenge. 3.4 lbs to go this month.  Wish me luck!

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