Exercise - 60 mins on the treadmill (2 x 30)

Water - 12 cups

Food - 1934 calories (25% fat, 46% carbs, 26% protein)

Breakfast - protein shake, 3 clementines (159)

Lunch - beef/barley/mushroom soup, crackers, apple, peaches (608)

Dinner - baked chicken with tomato/wine sauce and cheese, broccoli, butter, balsamic dressing (536)

Snacks - protein shake (x2), apples, peaches, cheese spread and rice crisps (630)

I was feeling very lazy today so I just opened a can of peaches at lunch, although I did make the fruit salad for tomorrow. It was actually a very low calorie day so I added some crackers at lunch, and took the higher calorie (cheese/rice crisps) snack. It’s actually kind of funny to make sure I eat closer to the high end of my range. I just know that if I don’t, I’ll have nowhere to go later on. It’s a long road, and I know I’d rather take it slower (even now) and actually make it to the end.

mizu - I think when you have so much to lose (as I do) those mini goals just don’t seem to encourage me. I set April 15, 2010 as my completed date (wow, that’s pretty far off) in FitDay. You pretty much have to set a date to get it to generate reports. When I started out I think that was roughly 2 pounds a week, which I know I probably can’t maintain over the long haul. At the moment my average (as of this morning) is 2.83 pounds per week, but I wonder how I’ll deal the first few weeks it’s either 1 pound, nothing, or god forbid higher. It comes for everyone, I just hope I don’t freak out at that point. I’ve even decided that even a few low losing weeks is not going to immediately cause me to lower my calories. Yes, I sound all rational now… we’ll see.

skinnywanna - I bought the treadmill a couple of years ago when money wasn’t an issue. I’m so glad I did, and yes, very lucky. It’s quite cold outside tonight and I understand we may get as much as a foot of snow. It gives me a great place, with no excuses, to exercise every day.

justdeb - the weights taunt me, but I’m hoping to overcome that this month. The other cat we have still avoids the room when I’m on it. The only thing he hates more is the vacuum cleaner. I think it was last week he was running down the stairs from the vacuum and I happened to be on the treadmill. He snuck past it, giving me the evil eye before jumping on the bar to hide. I couldn’t help laughing at him (he was not impressed). He decided to chase the mouse pointer tonight so I added his picture as well.

Little one (aka Shadow) loves to chase the mouse pointer. It makes working at the computer difficult some days.  I actually got the camera to try and get him to leave the desk.  It didn’t actually work so eventually I had to leave the desk for a few minutes.

Well, it’s the end of the month and perhaps it’s a good time to look back and set goals for the next month. I won’t set any weight goals because I think they can be counter-productive. If you meet them too early in the month it might give you an excuse to slack off. If you don’t meet them will it cause you to be disappointed over what could be perceived as a failure. However, monthly goals should challenge you a little to step out of your comfort zone, if only a little. So, based on that, the goals for February will be:

• 1800 - 2000 calories a day
• 60 minutes on the treadmill each day
• 90 minutes of non-treadmill exercise (weekly)

The calories and the treadmill are quite reasonable, as I’ve been hitting the food target daily, and since January 7th most days on the treadmill are 90 minutes. I just recognize that I should do more strength training. I have weights, resistance bands, and a fairly decent DVD for using both. I just don’t like doing the other types of exercise, so this will be a push for me. The goal should be possible, since it’s less than 15 minutes a day. However, I know it will be the hardest one to reach.

I added a picture I took this morning.  This is Gus getting ready to workout.  I guess he’s over his fear of it.

leanmoomercows - I’m not necessarily bored with my diet. I find the lunches the hardest one to work around. Breakfast is a protein shake and fuit, dinner is one of either 17 of the things in the freezer or one of two other choices. And even some of the frozen items can be changed up a little (like the pork and the chicken breasts). Lunches are hard to keep low enough that I can still snack later, but not so low that I’m famished in the afternoon. The soups have been a good choice, but I do need a little more variety, especially in the late spring. So that’s why the plan to see what Costco has in the cold meat area. If they have some portabello mushrooms it might be crab-stuffed mushrooms this weekend.

justdeb - I know my mother isn’t frantic about the money. She’ll save that for once I start (or at least after I’ve been accepted). She’s probably also seeing a slight rise in the food bills as well. I used to do some of the shopping on my way home from work, mainly so I could buy the junk I was eating. But to her that was a hidden cost. We did agree to increase the equity loan once I’ve been accepted into a college. Even if we double it, we’re still at less than a third of the overall value of the house. So financially we’re okay, but we’re both used to just buying things we want as we’ve had way too much disposable income over the last 7 or 8 years.

Exercise - 90 mins on the treadmill (3 x 30), 10 mins weights

Water - 12 cups

Food - 1902 calories (23% fat, 48% carbs, 25% protein)

Breakfast - protein shake, 3 clementines (159)

Lunch - lentil soup, apple, fruit salad (420)

Dinner - baked pasta with meat sauce and cheese, broccoli, butter, red wine vinegar dressing (789)

Snacks - protein shake (x2), apples (2), cheese spread and rice crisps (535)

I ran out of fruit salad just after lunch and I was too lazy to make any more, so I just took another apple. I’m kind of missing that fruit salad right about now, but that just means I’ll have to make more in the morning. Tomorrow I have to track down my grades from my high school, but the applications for school are made anyway. Now I wait, something I’m not good at. I’m going to hit Costco on Friday to see what kinds of lunch meat options they have and what kind of raw veggies they have. I’m just kind of playing with ideas of what I’ll have when the soup is done. A slight change for the upcoming week is probably a good thing.

mizu - I’m glad to hear that someone else can’t leave the ice cream alone. That’s why for now it’s probably a good idea to avoid it completely. Thanks for the good thoughts, they are appreciated.

justdeb - I think I’m also feeling a little guilty that I’m not contributing financially at the moment. I’ve been used to being the main contributor over the last few years, so it is a big change. I’m almost (not quite) happy that I’m not working as it has allowed me to put all my energy into the food planning and the exercise. I haven’t looked for lower cal ice cream sandwiches or such, but I probably should. Although I think I’ll leave it until the weather is better out. Tonight my snack is some yummy cheese spread on rice crisps. The cheese spread is protected from the cat so I get it this time!

There’s no real reason to be depressed today. I haven’t eaten anything bad for me, and I’ve managed 60 mins on the treadmill. My knee isn’t too bad so I might even do the last 30 in a few minutes. Taking the incline off takes away most of the stress so it’s very doable. No, I’m just having a day chasing transcripts (got one student number, waiting for info on the other), and being depressed that I’m broke and unemployed. Also, because I own half this house I won’t qualify for any student aid. The thing is that most student aid is in the form of loans, so increasing the equity loan would likely be cheaper anyways. I just hate the fact that I don’t have that steady source of income. I’m almost to the point where I regret taking the trip (but it’s fleeting because in the end I’m so glad I went). The only truly good thing is that I’m not even tempted to treat that depression with food today. About the only thing I did was choose a meal tonight I count as a comfort food - baked pasta with meat sauce and a little cheese (we keep a frozen blend in the freezer). I did decide to go with 3oz of pasta instead of the 2 that I made last time.

That’s actually kind of sad - that my splurge will be to add 103 calories worth of pasta to my evening meal. I’m laughing as I write this, but it’s kind of sad that my life has come to this. In the end it is much better than making an excuse to go out and coming home with a pint of ice cream. I kind of miss the ice cream, but I don’t trust myself (yet) enough to not eat the whole pint. The next time I’m thinking about it, or maybe in the summer, I’ll look for 4 small containers and divide up the pint when I get it home. Although (just looking online) I might have to settle for sorbet (120) instead of dulce de leche (290). It’s actually not too much of a settle, since in the olden days I’ve bought both. I still don’t want to have to work 480 calories in if I slip thought (god I can’t actually imagine the 4×290=1160). I have a serious question. Is a pint of ice cream something that normal people eat in 4 sessions?

Ack, enough about ice cream and sorbet. I think maybe I will do that last 30 minutes on the treadmill. I actually picked up the weights earlier, but only for about 10 mins. I might do a little more on that front as well.

insubordination - college and university are quite different in Canada. University is usually four years and is a more general education with a declared major. College is usually more area specific, often with work terms (co-op) mixed in, and generally no more than 3 years. College is also (usually) cheaper and not as hard to get into. When I came out of high school (coming up on 23 years ago) I actually got into both, but chose college. I think sometimes that I just did it to piss off my father.  At the time I did computer systems, which I was very good at, but didn’t find it was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. My father always wanted me to be an engineer (which he was) and I often think if he hadn’t pushed so hard, I might have eventually done. That’s a long way to go to answer your question, but it will be either mechanical engineering, industrial engineering, or manufacturing engineering (all with a ‘technology’ slapped on the end). If I were insane enough to want to, I could probably turn it into a university degree by adding a year or so of study at the end of it. When it comes time, if it can be done at night, I probably am insane enough to try.

It wasn’t me who asked about the pictures, but I did go look. I wish I looked like you 20 years ago (although I had the attitude down completely).

Exercise - 60 mins on the treadmill (1 x 45, 1×15)

Water - 12 cups

Food - 1864 calories (17% fat, 52% carbs, 26% protein)

Breakfast - protein shake, 3 clementines (159)

Lunch - spicy bean soup, apple, fruit salad (390)

Dinner - pork loin with cranberries/cherries, salad, rice, mixed vegetables, balsalmic dressing (669)

Snacks - protein shake (x2), apple, fruit salad, dill pickle crispers (646)

Well, the snacks are out for the day, so I might as well post them. It’s actually odd, but I always weigh out (just after dinner) whatever ‘extra’ snack I’m having that evening. It keeps me from letting late night hunger deciding how much I’m having. Tonight I am actually a little hungry, but I just had my protein shake, my fruit is still here, and I’ve got about half the crispers to go. So I’m feeling good about that. Tomorrow I have to run down transcripts from my last college courses, and my high school (that should be fun). We’ll see how long they keep records in my old home town.

Today was mixed with lots of good and bad. First, Julie - thanks for the thoughts (just read them now).

So the goods: my interview outfit is definitely looser than it was the last time I wore it, I avoided the fast food outlets both before and after, I got up early enough to do 45 mins on the treadmill, and I did a good job on the interview (sometimes you can just tell)

And the bads: the short-term job was actually meant to try-out a long term employee, I came clean about not wanting the job past September (this is assuming I get in to college), and my knee is bugging me a bit today

So, unless they are unsuccessful about finding someone else, the job will not be mine. Even if I wasn’t going back to school I couldn’t do it long term. It would drive me crazy. It’s also a little too far away for what they’re paying, but when you’re not making any money this isn’t such a big deal. I did however turn the bad into a possible future good. The HR woman was quite impressed that I was honest about my longer goals that she’s going to see about getting me a work term next summer. That’s not a mistake, it would be the summer of 2009. Technically the program I’m hoping to get into is a co-op, but the first summer term is a break. This is because most students don’t have enough skills to be useful at that point. She thinks with my experience that I would be a good fit in their manufacturing/engineering dept. (although getting me in this summer would have been much better). I was actually going to try and hit up my previous employer next summer as well (at the plant I enjoyed working in, or one of the others).

If it had been any other industry I would probably have lied, taken the job, and then just quit before school started. The thing about the one I’m in now is that it’s very small. It’s unusual to not find someone you know, or someone who has worked with someone you know. In this company it turns out that two different people in the plant have worked at two different companies I’ve worked for the in the past. What it means long term is that you really can’t screw people over. All you need is a bad reputation and you’ll have an almost impossible time getting a job. During my last two jobs I’d been asked a couple of times about people I’d worked with in the past (once I was nice, the other time I was hesitant which in itself is damning).

So, here I am, still unemployed (unless they decide that someone without long term aspirations will do). I’m not really upset, but my pocketbook would have been happier. Now I’m looking at cashing out the rest of my non-RRSP savings and waiting for slips from last year so I can get my tax refund. If I can’t find decent short-term work I’m looking at increasing the equity loan on the house. It’s not really a huge deal, since even doubling it would only be a third of the value. It does mean that no matter what, my mother and I will be sharing a house for the next three years. This in itself isn’t a bad thing, but without actual income for at least the first year I’m pretty much stuck. It’s funny though. We’ve shared this house for the last 10 years, and as long as we both get our space, it works well. I’m not sure if knowing I won’t have many options will change all that.

Now I just have to convince myself to do the next 45 mins on the treadmill. Although if my knee is still bothering me, I’ll just take myself up to 60 mins for the day and consider it a rest day. The last thing I want to do it bugger it up so I can’t do anything. So if it’s not good tomorrow I’ll also drop it back to 60 mins (with no incline).

Exercise - 90 mins on the treadmill (2 x 45)

Water - 12 cups

Food - 1940 calories (20% fat, 54% carbs, 24% protein)

Breakfast - protein shake, 3 clementines (159)

Lunch - lentil soup, apple, fruit salad (463)

Dinner - chili, cheese, whole wheat tortillas, salad, red wine vinegar dressing (811)

Snacks - protein shake (x2), apple, fruit salad, salt and vinegar crispy minis (507)

It was a pretty good day today. I’ve got to get to bed early tonight as I’m off to my interview tomorrow. The plan is to try and do 30 to 45 minutes before I take my shower. If not, doing 90 minutes tomorrow might be out.

chel - thank you for the kind comments. I’ve visited your blog as well in the past. Good luck on the 40 days without junk food!

justdeb - thanks for the good wishes (in case it is something I want)… from the ad, probably not, but who knows.

To everyone else, thanks for the congrats. I actually responded in the comments section but decided to copy some of it into the main body of the blog here. The loss of 3.4 lbs divided by last week’s weight of 341.8 comes to just about 1% lost. I was reading something a while ago that suggested the generic 1-2 pounds wasn’t really a good number. That as dieters we should strive for between 0.5% and 1.0% per week. So if you’re 150 lbs that should be between .75 of a pound and 1.5 pounds. It actually makes more sense that way. Unfortunately I can’t find the original article (it may have been from flakes-r-us).

And if your own scale wasn’t so friendly this week, there is always next week….

It’s that time of the week again, the official weigh-in. It’s actually a little lower than I expected, so that’s nice. So, the official weight for this week is 338.4, which is down 3.4 pounds since last week. I’m not sure I’m really happy with a scale that does .2 changes. I think I’m almost a little obsessive about the changes. No matter, since I like the scale, it’s very consistent. I actually got a late start this morning, but managed to squeeze in 45 minutes on the treadmill before the lunch break (coming soon). That’s kind of my punishment for not getting out of bed earlier. I really like doing the 2 x 30 minute sessions, but if I’m late starting I’ve decided I’ll do the 45 minutes.

I don’t have much else to say today, so I’ll just get going with the rest of my day. I have a job interview tomorrow (they just confirmed it) in the late morning so we’ll see how that goes. I still have very mixed emotions about it. I’m getting way ahead of myself, we’ll see how it goes tomorrow.

round - yes, I love clementines. From the first time they’re available until the last possible box we both eat them every morning. Global shipping has increased the length of time they are available here, which is wonderful. It’s funny, but when they aren’t around an orange is a poor substitute.

Exercise - 90 mins on the treadmill (3 x 30), 15 mins weights

Water - 12 cups

Food - 1908 calories (22% fat, 47% carbs, 27% protein)

Breakfast - protein shake, 3 clementines (159)

Lunch - onion soup with baguette and cheese, apple, fruit salad (574)

Dinner - balsamic pork tenderloin, corn, snow peas, butter, salad, balsamic dressing (577)

Snacks - protein shake (x2), apple, fruit salad, dill pickle crispers (599)

Well, it actually warmed up today and it’s just below zero mark right now (it’s 29F if 0C doesn’t mean much). I actually have the fire going at the moment, so it’s nice and cozy. The day went well. I even managed to pick up the weights for a while. I’m actually a little hungry at the moment, but not so much that I need to do anything about it. Oh, hang on, I just realized that I didn’t have my last protein shake, so that could be the problem. Oh well, that’s easy to fix.

justdeb - you’re right, diets don’t work. It’s funny but I usually watch tv when I’m on the treadmill and that’s the line the weight watchers commercials use. They’ve got the right idea, but I’ll do it without paying someone to try and keep me in line. I’m assuming that’s what the weekly weigh-ins are for - to try and up the accountability.

leanmoomercows - I saw a post from someone tonight on the boards. She’d lost a huge amount of weight in three or four days, then gained some of it back. She was still down probably four pounds from the start, which is fantastic. I do think we all love to see the big results, but they’re very often followed by either small regains, or a complete stop for a while. In the end all you need to do is lose a pound a week, for however many weeks it takes. The sad thing is I like to see those 2 or 3 pound losses in a week. I’m heavy enough now that it should be possible, but I’m trying to be realistic and will be happy with whatever I see. The last time I was doing this much organized exercise I saw weeks when I didn’t lose weight (I was lighter, but eating less as well). I should actually take some measurements as well, since I would suspect that all the walking will affect some of those as well.

mizu - the funny thing is, when I put your height, and projected weight into FitDay it says that your BMR is 1629 calories per day. That’s 8 hours sleeping, 4 hours inactivity or rest, and 12 hours light seated activity. Even if you were 8/8/8 you would burn 1588 a day. So if you do any more activity than either of those eventually you should easily be able to find a balance that allows you to eat a fairly healthy amount of food. Going with a rough estimation of what I used to do while working, if I were your weight, I’d burn just over 2000 calories a day. And that’s without doing any working out. It’s just about finding the balance that works for you. Funny, but when I was at my top weight that number was close to 4000 calories. Of course I’m not even remotely as active as I was back then. That’s probably why I don’t find the 90 minutes on the treadmill a huge deal. Sometimes it’s more about finding time to do it in my lazy days.

tiny2b - I’m kind of lucky (although not really) in the fact that I’m not employed at the moment. It gives me plenty of time to do it, although it took me about a month to start doing so regularly. Things may change next week as I have a job interview. I’m also thinking about going back to school. If the job was fantastic (which I know it’s not) I’d be looking forward to it. As it is though, it’s short-term and would allow me to save some money. It’s a desk job though and I’ll admit that I’m pretty sure the exercising will go down a fair bit.