Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Week Three is Completed!

Well, my weight went up but I can tell you right now, I think I lost several inches in my waist and in my hips/thighs. I worked hard last week so I'm thinking the weight gain could be muscle mass, right? I certainly feel like I've lost quite a bit of weight...darn it, I should have just measured myself instead of weighing myself!

So my weigh-in weight this week was 136. I'm now going to the gym and doing a lot of elipitical (mainly because I feel like a dunce with any of the weights/machines). Oh and I injured my left wrist...and I'm 100% certain it was from a yoga move. I looked it up and it looks like I injured the radial collateral ligament...pretty common to hurt and man does it hurt! The only way it feels good is by keeping it wrapped tight so I can't bend my wrist.

I've eaten a bunch of crap (wait, could that be the reason for the weight gain?) this week, not a lot but just not terribly good for me type foods. I'm hoping the homemade gazpacho and grilled chicken we will be having tonight will be just want the "doctor" ordered!

Anyhow, I keep on keepin' on...at least I'm starting week four and I haven't fallen off the bandwagon. Here's to three more weeks!

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

So proud!

Well, I did my "week 2" weigh-in yesterday and I'm down 3.4 pounds in two weeks! I don't really think that feels like a lot until I look at weight of food in my fridge or on my counter. My weight loss is equivalent to almost 3.5 packages (4 sticks each) of butter. GROSS!

I ran last week even though I did NOT want to...I was sick with strep but still hyperventilated through the runs. I don't recommend you do that though.

I've eaten healthier...I've been cooking my way through "light" recipes and I can feel a difference in how I feel when I don't eat as well now.

Alright...only 6.6 pounds to go in 4 weeks! I know I can do it!

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Happy Easter and I'm still chugging along!

HE IS RISEN! Happy Easter everyone! I hope every Christian out there remembers that this day to remember Christ is the reason we can call ourselves Christians!! Lawyer had us cracking up this morning when he snuck down to our bed and proceeds to tell us it's time to get up because the Easter bunny came. I asked how he knew and he said "I came downstairs saw my basket but then covered my eyes to come into your room". Aw, how cute. He wanted to make sure we saw him go through his basket.

Onto my weight loss journey...

Even though I didn't post the past two days doesn't mean I've given up! Friday I felt terrible and Saturday was super busy with photography sessions. I did manage to go for a run yesterday even though I know I should have probably just taken a nap with how bad I felt.

Eating has been awful the past two days. Friday, I managed to eat a bowl of shredded wheat for breakfast but then didn't eat until dinner and pigged out on less-than-stellar Patrizio's. Blech. Saturday was even worse. I drank my morning coffee, left for an early morning shoot, came back and ate Potbelly's (seriously, if you are trying to lose weight, why on God's green earth would you eat at a place named Potbelly's???), went to my evening shoot and then complained and whined about how hungry I was until about 11:30pm, Jason went to Taco Bell and we ATE IN BED (on a side note, I grabbed the first taco and I noticed the shell was red which it usually isn't...asked my husband if he got something different and he said no...um, holy crap, I can handle hot food but this taco melted the insides of my mouth...husband proceeds to say "Maybe that was the new VOLCANO taco I got". Apparently Taco Bell has a Volcano Taco where the shell and filling is nothing but melt-your-tongue heat...thanks for the warning JASON)! How gross!?

Water in-take sucked too...I'm feeling it today. I feel like I should not only drink a barrel of water but I should wade in it as well and hope that displacement happens to help me absorb what water I lack.

But today is a new day and tomorrow is weigh-in day...I'm hoping that what little I have done was enough to lose a pound!

Happy Easter!

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Busy, busy day!

Wow, 3 days and I still accomplished what I wanted to: drink 64 oz. water, make a healthy dinner, AND exercise!

Although, I won't lie...I went to the grocery store yesterday and the smell of donuts knocked me over and I just HAD to have a chocolate-glazed donut. Oops!

I did Day 2 of my C25K program yesterday...man, do I feel healthy after doing the workout! I'm dying to get to the gym and take a kick-boxing class but the schedule just doesn't jive with my personal schedule right now. Oh well...on a positive note, Jason has managed to make it to the gym before work! Go Jason!

Let's see here...some Easter candy MIGHT HAVE been consumed yesterday too. Lawyer had his school's Egg Hunt and he doesn't like chocolate and I don't like it to go to waste but I think it went to "waist" yesterday - MY waist. Boo!

Dinner was especially tasty although I didn't take a picture of our meal last night. I did another Cooking Light recipe though and they haven't failed me in taste yet! We had the Maple-Mustard Pork Chops with Baked Sweet Potatoes and Sauteed Sugar Snap Peas. The sauce on the pork chops were OUT OF THIS WORLD! A little tangy and a little sweet...so good! I plan on making it for chicken cutlets in the future...I love a good sauce! (ETA: I guess because the recipe is from a guest writer, they don't share the recipe online...but it's from the March 2010 issue).

Overall, I'm feeling healthy and great!

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Some changes...

I never really like to say I'm accomplishing something until I'm near the end. I feel like I set myself up for failure by announcing my successes and triumphs early in the game. But changes are a funny thing - they can go be a success or failure which is why I feel "safe" mentioning a few changes to my lifestyle.

For one, I'm measuring out 64 oz. of water in a pitcher...it helps me monitor my water drinking throughout the day. The weird thing is that I wouldn't even come close to drinking that much water if I didn't measure it out but when I measure it out, I easily consume more than that. Strange. But drinking the "required" amount of water each day does make me think better and I feel better, more healthy and alive for sure.

I'm also making more thoughtful decisions about dinner. I LOVE food...and if you have been reading this blog for any amount of time, you already know that. One great thing about me is that I really don't like to eat out. I find the food subpar, both in quality and for the price and I always feel that I make a meal 10 times better than most places. I also don't buy junk on a regular basis so having stuff like candy and chips is easy to avoid when you don't have access to it. Anyway, I've really made more of an effort cook healthy recipes from my Cooking Light mags (I only have 10 billion of them sitting around) and they make a point of measuring out portions. It's insane to know that my average portions are easily double what Cooking Light's portions would be BUT the CL portions fill me up just the same! Check out Cooking Light online since you still have access to all the recipes without having to buy the magazines.

Physical activity. I won't lie...I'm either one extreme or the other. I'll be finishing up my "Couch to 5K" running program only to find myself a month later doing absolutely zero activity. But I do love running and so I've started the program back up. I would love to be able to run an average of 5 days per week when all is said and done...I want this to be a lifelong habit. Oh and my most fave ways to get a home workout done is through FitTV. We have DirectTV with access to this channel and it simply is awesome. My fave program is the All Star Workout. Different workouts every day by different instructors with different fitness levels. So on my off days from running I'm doing one of their workouts at home. I also have plans to meet up with a personal trainer at the gym since I just got a membership there. Should be interesting but I love a challenge and I love variety.

So, what did we have for dinner last night? Another delicious creation from Cooking Light (March 2010)!

Vegetable and Spicy Sausage Soup with Cheese "Crackers" with a Baby Green Salad

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Week 1 - Weigh In

Alright, so here is some info.

Height: 5'2"
Weight: 137.6
Goal weight to lose in 1 week: 2 lbs.
Total weight to lose in 6 weeks: 10 lbs.

I started Day 1 of Week 1 for my "Couch to 5K" running program. I did awesome with this last year and don't know why I quit after completing the program. So here is to a new start!

I drank more than 64 oz. of water yesterday (go me!) and I ate sensibly throughout the day. I cooked a recipe from Cooking Light and it is one of my faves (the recipe is linked to the CL recipe)!

Farfalle with Lamb Ragu, Ricotta, and Mint with a Baby Greens Salad

The beginning of a new me!

I've known for a while that I needed to do something about the pounds that have creeped up on me, but I saw myself in a picture the other day and said something's gotta change! I belong to an online community of fellow photographers and somebody stepped up and decided to start a weight loss group. I jumped on the bandwagon and thought it would be such a great motivating force for me!

Anyhow, I thought that I might document what I'm doing here...and start sharing some of my fave recipes, workouts I'm doing, whatever! The online weight loss group is going for 6 weeks but I hope to keep it up forever with the new healthy changes.

I had my husband take "before" pictures of me and I can tell you right now, those will NOT be shared yet since I'm grossed out by them but I do hope to do an "after" picture here in 6 weeks and then post the "before" and "after" pics side by side.

So what is my goal? 10 pounds in 6 weeks...it's definitely do-able! I'll be back to post a quick summary of all of my stats later. I can't decide if I'm going to do a daily summary or a weekly one. I do know that I will definitely feel more accountable by sharing it here.

Here's to success!