Going to Lose: My Weightloss Journey!

I lost .8 lbs this week.  That’s certainly not remarkable.  But, at least I didnt gain.  I’m not going to throw an epic tantrum this week.  But, I still think I need to change things around because something’s not quite right if I am losing weight this slowly.  I do admit i have been going to the gym more like 3-4 times a week rather than 5-6 due to a busy busy social and work schedule.  That’s not really an excuse.  But, my gym is only open till 10, and when I get off work at 5, it doesnt really leave me with many options, especially if I have a meeting or event at night.  Nonetheless, I need to step up the exercise.  So, next week, my goal is to go to the gym everyday except for Thursday because I have a dinner plan and do 45 min of cardio and 45 min of weights and abs, on every one of those days when I go to the gym.  Well, on one or two days, I’m playing squash as well, so on those specific squash days, I might say 30 min cardio and 30 min weights and abs.  Also, this week either on Friday (tom) or saturday I will be completeing week 6 of my c25k plan and starting on monday or tuesday depending on my schedule, I’ll start week 7.

Also, food wise, i think I’m going to try to take down the calorie ranges a bit to 1200-1300 per day next week starting after the weekend, because clearly, not losing weight shows that I just have too many calories coming in for the amount I have going out.  So, I’m going to have to play with that as well.

Lastly, expect a post tonight that along with my day’s food recap, will discuss the challenge I am facing for the entire weekend, and how I plan to face it head on.

Happy Thursday everyone.  No tantrum today, just severe planning for the weeks to come!  I am still aiming to get to 180 by august 21.  That’s 7.8 lbs in 3 weeks.  Which is 2.6 lbs per week.  Ha, it’d be a miracle if I actually made that, but if I step up my game, I just might.

xo travelgal

Today was once again a day where I was fed a meal at a lunch time meeting.  Tomorrow I’m being fed dinner.  It’s HARD being so popular and busy haha.  I used to wish I was always busy, had people to see etc, now I do, and I wish I had more free time! Gah, life is never perfect.  But, I love my friends and life and job and school so I’m not complaining, just adapting.

breafast: turkey (70), kombucha (35), yogurt (60), 1 tbpsp flax (30), 1/2 banana (55), 1/4 cup of cereal (35)
1/2cup of berries- 315

Lunch: A mini burrito and some chips (430) and iced coffee with some nf milk (35)- 465

snack: protein bar (120) and nectarine (70), and some almonds (60)-250

Dinner: salad (135), 1 turkey burger (100), ketchup (30)-265

Snacks: plum (30), dark chocolate (25) and some raspberry licorice things (30)-85

Total:  1380–>DONE

So, I think I did pretty damn well today, especially at my lunch. Their spread was pizza, a big like 4 foot burrito and chips and guac. i entirely avoided the pizza and guac (which i dont like and never eat) and stuff to one piece of the pre-cut burrito and a couple chips.  i think that was pretty good self control, considering how good the pizza looked!

Workout: 1 hour of intense squash playing! i’m really liking squash btw, quite the good workout!

ahhh! moment of truth tomorrow! weigh in day tomorrow! dont know which way it’ll go…we’ll see i guess.

wish me luck!

So I think I did pretty awesomely today! Maybe a tad over, but in general, I think I estimated pretty well. I guess we’ll see soon enough

breakfast: tofu dog (45), tiny bit of ketchup (10), kombucha (35), yogurt (60), 1 tbpsp flax (30), 1/2 banana (55), 1/4 cup of cereal (35), 1/4 cup of berries (15) -285

Lunch: salad (230ish) and some pasta marinara (210?), and some fruit (30) {i think i made pretty good buffet choices, i skipped the pizza, bread, etc etc}- 470

snack: protein bar (120)

Dinner: Chicken Cesar Salad (480?) and some peanut m&ms (70) - 550

Total: 1425–>gah, i hope im done but ill probably grab a plum when i get back from the gym.

Workout: 48 min treamill including day 2 week 6 of C25k plus a bit more, and about 10 min of abs.

Well tomorrow is one of those TOUGH days, just two days before my weigh in day! I have a lunch and dinner meeting where food is being served to me! GAHH, i’ve been doing SO well the last few days when I have been planning my meals and cooking/preparing my own food. BUT that’s not real life and there are a bajillion times when I have to eat in another setting and make the right choices and use excellent portion control, and tomorrow is one of those days.  So, I have two goals for tomorrow:

Goal 1: At both my lunch and dinner meetings, make wise food and portion decisions.  If it is a buffet (which I know at least one meal is, if not both) only make one, initial trip.  No seconds.  Do not get dessert.  Estimate that my entire amount of calories for each meal SHOULD NOT EXCEED 500 calories.  Try and make a noticeable effort to make decisions that prescribe to those caloric and portion goals.

Goal 2: If my evening meeting ends by 8:30 pm, bike home asap to change into my gym clothes and go to the gym to do day 2 of week 6 of c25k.  If my meeting ends way before that, dont putter around and, still go to the gym right away, so that I can also get in weight training and abs.

Wish me luck! I’m really aiming for a REAL LOSS this week!

Talk to you tomorrow!

xo travelgal.  

bfast:
chicken apple sausage (120), kombucha (35), yogurt (60), 1 tbpsp flax (30), 1/2 banana (55), 1/4 cup of cereal (35), ½ cup of berries? (30) and ¼ cup of milk (25) with my coffee- 390

snack: blueberry muffin 1/2 (100)

lunch: tortillas (120), cheese (80), pepperoni (40), salsa (10), mushrooms (10), nectarine (70), and carrots and snap peas (40)- 370

snack: protein bar (120) and some nuts (70)-190

Dinner: salad (120) and stiryfry with tofu (60), veggies(50), ¼ cup of brown rice (40), egg white (50), 2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (20)-total: 340
total so far: 1390, total left: 10 (haha)

No gym tonight a) because I’m EXHAUSTED because I was up until frickin 2:30am and then woke up at 8:30 and I want to get a good nights sleep tonight and b) im doing day 2 c25k tomorrow for sure, so it’s fine for me to skip today and more worthwhile to get a good nights sleep.

back after dindin!

today has been great so far! I went to the farmer’s market, picked up some strawberries, raspberries blackberries, plums and peaches. there’s also a great organic baker lady there, so i got 3 of her homemade protein bars which are huge and 240 calories per bar, so i split each bar into 2 days, and i also got two of her huge wholegrain blueberry muffins, which are 200 calories each, which i split into two days each, so I’m set on that front for the week. it was $18 for all those baked goods, but a small price to pay for protein bars that are totally natural and not processed and muffins without tons of sugar are cornsyrup etc etc. then i went to whole foods because the kombucha sale ends on the 29th, so i got 6 bottles of those, each one which lasts me two days, and then some salad fixings etc, and i got some of those yves vegan pepperonis which look promising since they are 16 pepperonis for 80 cals and full of protein. now, im off to my work to get a couple of extra hours in, then off to the gym and then back at home tonight to round out my lovely and on track weekend! starting week 6 c25k at the gym tonight! woohoo!

brunch: chicken naan wrap (700) and kombucha (30)-730

Snacks: 1/2 protein bar (120) and a plum (30)- 150

Dinner: 2 spelt corn tortillas (120), lf cheese (80), salsa (10), 8 yves pepperonis (40), mushrooms (10), and salad (120)- 380

Snacks:  about a cup of green grapes (65)

total: 1325–>done (hopefully!)

Workout: week6 day1 of c25k, 41 minutes on the treadmill and 35 minutes of weights and abs!

yayay! nothing to do today but gym, clean and do some stuff at home, but I made sure not to make any plans with anyone, because I’ve realized I need some time to just get stuff done!

So, this will also be the first weekend in a VERY long time, where I actually blog and track, but I think it will be really useful!

Breakfast (at 1:30pm haha, ahhh the life of a college student in the summer): yogurt (60), 1/4 cup of cereal (35), 1 tbsp of flaxseed (30), 1/2 banana (55) and a few black berries (15), 1/2 bottle of kombucha (30): 225

snack: rice cake (35), 1 tbsp of pb2 (27)-57, strawberries (50)-112

Dinner: stirfry with tofu (120), veggies, (50), 1/2 cup of brown rice (80), egg whites (50), soy sauce (30), salad (145) total: 475

Evening snacks: large green apple (70), 1 smart dog (45), ketchup (30), rice cake (30), fudgesicle (40), some raspberry licorice things (150), and some dark chocolate (30)-395–>done

Total so far today: 1207–>DONE

Workout: 33 min on elliptical, 17 minutes on treadmill, 45 minutes of weights and abs! tomorrow is week 6 day 1 of c25k! AHHH

Cause it makes me that much stronger
Makes me work a little bit harder
It makes me that much wiser
So thanks for making me a fighter
Made me learn a little bit faster
Made my skin a little bit thicker
Makes me that much smarter
So thanks for making me a fighter
~Christina Aguilera “Fighter” (this will be discussed later in my blog)

I threw a temper tantrum. Now I’m moving on and figuring out how to proceed.

So, as you all may or may not have witnessed yesterday, I threw quite the weight loss temper tantrum on this blog. So, I know it was childish, and whiny, but I was annoyed and I thought, and took the comments from tiny2b and m3at49 and decided to figure out a new plan.
So, I’ve decided two things:
1) Obviously, I’m not going to give up. I’m motivated and I will continue to work hard, change my methods and plans to be as successful as possible, and ultimately, no matter how long it takes, I will reach my goal
2) There is no for sure way to do this whole crazy weight loss thing. It’s all trial and error. So when something goes wrong, or doesnt succeed they way I thought it would, i have to try something new.

So, I’ve developed a new food plan that is a definite work in progress. m3at49, brought to my attention that I may not be eating enough during the day, and maybe leaving too many calories until the night time. So i’ve decided to change my calorie breakdown to look something like this:

breakfast: 300 cals

mid-morning snack: 50 cals

Lunch: 400 cals

Afternoon Snack: 150 cals

Pre-gym snack: 100 cals

Dinner which includes a big salad: 400 cals

For a total of 1400 calories per day.

I think this calorie break down looks really good to me, and very manageable. I kind of feel like I might be constantly eating all day, but if it’s healthy eating, and fueling me, I dont think it will be a bad thing. So, I’m going to try it for a week or two, and see what happens.
The other thing I have been trying to figure out is how I should be dividing carbs, protein, dairy, veggies, fruit etc, because I havent really figured out what the right balance should be. I found this great modified food pyramid from Harvard School of Public Healthy, and it includes a great discussion about why the US gov food pyramid is so wrong, and corrupt if you will, considering a lot of lobbying goes into it etc. the link is: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/pyramid-full-story/index.html .
Anyways, it’s pretty interesting that the pyramid DOESNT give serving sizes, which is good because when you look at the US food pyramid, it’s ridiculous how much food they want people to be eating. But this pyramid just shows what the general ratio etc should be of foods in one’s diet. The one curious one to me is the dairy portion, which they DO say you should only have 1-2 servings per day. I have 3. I have one nf yogurt in the morning, 1/4 cup of cheese or 1 slice of cheese in my lunch, and 1/4 cup of cottage cheese in my pre-gym snack. So, i cant decide if this is too much dairy, or if, because the portions are so small, it’s okay. So, that’s the one thing I need to figure out. other than that, I think i’m doing pretty okay with all the other food groups, except I think I need to be slightly less scared of whole grains because they do seem important.

So, it’s looking like the biggest thing that I will be changing about my food in the coming weeks is the distribution of my calories throughout the day, and making sure I keep the dairy and cheese to a minimum.

I’m also really pleased that I have an absolutely completely free weekend JUST FOR ME because I have the longest to do list of stuff to do! But aside from the fact that I AM THRILLED to have my free weekend, it also means that I am going to PLAN AND TRACK AND BLOG my food this weekend, which I never really get the chance to do. So, hopefully, I’ll really be able to be on a good track for this week, and not playing catch up, and maybe making a real dent in this weight loss gig.

If anyone has any comments, suggestions etc on my food plan/changes thoughts, as always you know I’m so open and love to hear from you all, so dont be shy! I love the support as always!

LAST PIECE OF BIG NEWS!
I completed the 20 minute run for the c25k week 5 day 3! I did 20 minutes at 4.5mph, and I did NOT feel like I was going to die at all. tiny2b was so right, that once you get to 20 minute runs, they go so well with your own music especially when it’s not all techno. so, I’m so excited with myself and with that 20 minute run, and because i have a really free weekend, I’m going to just do my regular full gym workout tomorrow, but not c25k and i’m going to start week 6 on sunday.

So the title of my blog relates to the song which popped up on my “Treadmill!!!” mix while running tonight. it’s christina aguilera’s song “fighter”, and while the actual lyrics are about how she has overcome bad stuff with guys etc, i feel like it also applies greatly to my weight loss. so, it really motivated me and as it came on, while I was running, I couldnt help but smile, and think I AM A FIGHTER, NOTHING’S GOING TO HOLD ME DOWN. and while it may be cheesy, it’s definitely true for me.

So, I had an awesome run tonight, and I’m so excited to have such a free weekend, where I can just work through my to do list, track and plan my food, and workout.
I really appreciate y’all putting up with my whinny tantrumy blog yesterday, but it had to happen.

happy weekend!

xox
travelgal

Ugh, so my weigh in today was JUST NOT GOOD! So, here’s my disclaimer: yes i know weight loss doesnt happen over night. yes I know i ate two pieces of pizza. yes I know i should be happy i didnt gain weight. yes weight loss takes time. yes, there are a billion factors that go into weight loss, ETC ETC. ok, I know ALL of that, and I kind of accept that. So, given that disclaimer:
I DIDNT EVEN LOSE 1 pound this week, which i think is just crazy! I lost .6 ounces which is, uhhhh NOTHING! ugh, and considering that this was one of my best on track weekends in a long time, and a really on track week that was full of food planning, portion control and two days on good running workouts, I JUST DONT UNDERSTAND. sure, i didn’t get to weight training after Saturday, but that cant be why I stuck in the super high 180s! I EVEN lowered my carbs and took away my sandwiches (ie flaxseed bread) and just ate protein at lunch! I just dont get it!!? Could eating a lot of fruit be contributing to a ton of carbs and sugar, even if it’s within my calorie range?! I mean, I just don’t understand what I could and should be eating!? according to all of the calorie counting websites and calculators, I should definitely be losing at least 1.5-2 lbs per week with my calories, age, and exercise level. I mean honestly I’m flabbergasted, and this really is a HUGE and I mean HUGE blow to my motivation! I mean if I am doing EVERYTHING right that I can do in my situation, and seems right in my mind and plan, and it doesn’t yield positive results, WHAT is there to keep me motivated? If I withhold from the carbs and extra pieces of pizza and sweets etc, and DONT LOSE weight, WHY should I be withholding or showing portion control?! what’s the point?! ugh, i just don’t know what to do when this happens because I really felt like i was DOING IT RIGHT THIS WEEK! Exercise, food planning and portion control! ugh, i am just so frustrated, this is ridiculous. i want to change my eating and food plan, but i DONT EVEN KNOW WHAT TO CHANGE IT TO!!?! do i put in more carbs or less? more fruit or less? more protein or less? more calories or less?! i mean HOW DO I EVEN KNOW WHAT TO DO ANYMORE? ugh, this is ridiculous. i couldn’t be more frustrated, confused and lost. I’m not going to make my stupid August goal and i cant do this at a stupid snails space. I’m working way to hard to not be getting results.
I’m sorry for my rant, but thats the point of my blog, and I’m just at a loss for what to do.

I don’t even know what food planning I should be doing. ugh. advice/suggestions would be welcome, but i really thought calorie counting was for me because I thought it would work and be flexible with my lifestyle, but now i just dont know.

help? motivation? advice? anything?

sometimes, this just seems like a sham, and just kicks me when I’m down. all I want to do is get healthy, feel healthy, and be happy with who I am, and what my body feels and looks like. and i was even putting in so much effort at the gym and time and money to shop for healthy foods and cook right. what’s to keep me now from taking the easy and unhealthy route?

well, i think i did pretty damn well today, considering i was fed two out of my three meals, and had an evening meeting which got out JUST in time for me to make it to the gym! so here’s my recap of the day: (both food and exercise!)

Breakfast: 1 yogurt (60), 1 tbsp of flaxseed (30), ½ banana (55), and ¼ cup of cereal (35), cup of iced tea (0)- 180

Lunch: 1 slice of cheese pizza (345ish?) and some tortilla chips (130?)- 475

Snacks: carrots and celery (35), plum (30), nectarine (70)-135

Dinner: (ughhhh, they catered from the same place my lunch meeting catered from, so pizza again, but good portion control!) pizza (345) and some cesar salad (200?)- 545

After gym snack: Kombucha (35), 1/4 cup of cottage cheese (45) and 1/2 cup of blackberries (30), and small piece of dark chocolate (25)-135

Total food for today: 1470–>so, i went over my cals by about 70, but im okay with that, and the fact that at both my meals/meetings, i had conversations with myself about getting a second piece and I ended up not having one either time. to me, that is quite the victory! and another huge victory was that I made it to the gym tonight and did a damn good running workout, even though I’ve got a stupid sore right calf muscle again… WHY????!?!!!! (side note: any advice on a) why only my right calf muscle hurts and b) what I can do about my aching right calf muscle?

So workout: I did Week5 Day2 of C25k. my running speed was 4.5 and i didnt have any real trouble finishing the two 8 minute runs. but once i got to cool down, i was pretty sad to see that in 30ish minutes, i had only made it to exactly 2 miles, and I actually didnt feel sweaty, or worked out enough. so, i cooled down for about 2 minutes and then hiked up my speed to 4.8, and then around .70 ish miles, i hiked it up to 4.9, then around .80, to 5.0 miles and then at .90 miles (because the gym was closing in less than 5 minutes and i wanted to get in another mile and have about 3 min to cool down), i hiked up my speed to 5.2. so, in the end i ran that mile in 12:42, never going below 4.8. on that mile, i really felt “in the groove”. the run didnt seem painful or too long and i was just really motivated to finish my run before the gym closed. i also think having my own music really helps my runs, but i need the c25k podcasts, because otherwise looking at the treadmill timer would drive me crazy. but, overall i had 45 minutes on the treadmill with cooldowns and warmups, and walked/jogged/ran exactly 3 miles. i think ive reached a pretty good balance, with doing the c25k at a slower speed to work on endurance, (which will soon be 20 minutes, AHHHHH) and then doing my own mile at the end where i work on my mile speed.

So, in response to my goals yesterday, I think I did pretty damn well. First, I ate in best portion control that I can, with only one piece of pizza for each meal when I kind of wanted more, AND I went to the gym and did a C25k+ workout. I can only beg the scale/weigh in gods to be super kind to me tomorrow a.m. arghhh wish me luck! AND THANKS FOR THE AWESOME SUPPORT AS ALWAYS!