Weigh-In: Week 7

Current Weight: 229lbs

Weekly Loss:  -1lbs     Total Loss:  -12lbs

 

Getting there!  Little by little...

This week, I've realized just how hard I've been working and I'm even more confident that I won't sabotage myself. 

I had a great week followed by an okay weekend.  The week was awesome, workout a lot, ate GREAT, felt AMAZING!!!  Friday, I went for a 6.3 mile walk to the beach and back.  It was longer than I'm used to at this point, I usually do around 4 miles.  I felt great, I even jogged some on the return trip!

The next day, I went to yoga in the morning and it was a great class!  Very challenging, and I was able to do most of it!  Woohoo!  I was so pumped that I decided to go for a walk that afternoon, too.  BAD IDEA!!!  As soon as I got to the end of the block, my legs reminded me just how tired they still were from the walk the day before.  

I still walked a mile, very slowly, and came home with very tired legs.

My left leg already has issues from tearing my ACL and meniscus years ago, and it turns in, even more so when it's tired.  So that was frustrating.

We went out Saturday night, and I'm very proud of myself for still making good choices despite my cranky mood.

I had one beer, then a local organic iced tea with minimal sweetening.  We went to the diner, and I ordered a chicken gyro wrap with no rice or fries, but veggies on the side.  Not the healthiest, but very delicious and not as horrible as I could have been!

All in all, a good week!  Let's keep it going!!

How was your week?

Fitness Technology

Many of us, myself included, get so involved with using fitness technology.  There are so many new, fancy, fun options out there, but what do they really tell us?  Will they really improve our fitness?

My goal is to feel like this at the end of every workout!!!!

Here are my own thoughts on the topic.  One main idea: If you workout and you don't track it/use technology, IT STILL COUNTS!!!!!  I've found myself getting frustrated if my GPS stopped working mid walk, or if I forgot to turn something on, but guess what?  My body still knows it happened, so who cares about the technology!  You don't need to track it to do it and see the results!!!  I just figured out that my miles being logged via GPS were not the actual miles I've been walking, and have since fixed that problem, but took a slight mental beating.  Im over it now!  That being said...

Fitness technology use depends on the kind of person you are and what your goals are.  I know that, for me, keeping a diary of my food really holds me accountable.  There's no use in lying to yourself, so even on a bad day, writing it out makes it reality and gives me an incentive to improve the next day.  

I choose to use MyFitnessPal to track my calories and exercise.  I like the website and the app, it works for me, and it also allows me to connect with friends using the app and provide/receive encouragement and support.  I also like using it to keep track of my weight and measurements, and seeing the graphs of my progress keep me going!  I also find it gives a great calorie estimate for cardio workouts.

As far as exercising, I had been debating a few things for a while.  I use Endomondo to track my distance and times of walking, jogging, kayaking, etc.  After a workout, it gives you a plethora of information- distance, average speed, best speed, lap times, altitude changes, etc.  It estimates calories, too, but I've found that it grossly over-exagerates just how many calories you are really burning.  

 

Endomondo on the left, Polar FT4 on the right, same workout, 333 calorie difference!!!

Get with it, endomondo!

I was going back and forth about getting a FitBit.  I know a lot of people who have them, and I really liked the social aspect of being able to "compete" with your friends to achieve the most steps.  I think that this would really benefit someone who wanted to increase their daily activity.  For me, that's something I already do, and wanted something more specific to use with my "exercise" activities.

I ended up going with the Polar FT4 heart rate monitor.  I LOVE IT!!!!  It gives you a real-time look at just how much you are working yourself, and beeps whenever you are outside of the optimal heart rate zone for activity.  This has made me push myself a lot more during my walks.  I wasn't really getting the most out of them before I got the FT4.  It made me really concentrate on keeping my pace up and moving my arms to keep my heart rate where it should be.  

Do you use fitness technology?  Why?  Why not?  If so, what gadgets do you find most/least helpful? Post in the comments below!

Weigh-In: Week 6

Current Weight: 230lbs

Weekly Loss:  0lbs     Total Loss:  -11lbs

I'm completely, 100% fine with the fact that I didn't lose any pounds this week.  I didn't gain any, either!

I did lose some inches!  I only started measuring myself 2 weeks ago, something I really wish I had started in the very beginning, but better late than never!  

In the past 2 weeks, here are my inch changes!

Neck:  -.5"      Waist:  -1"      Hips:  0"      Arms:  -1"      Thighs:  -.5"      Calves:  0"

And my face!  

Here's a side-by-side from March to April!

I looked so swollen and puffy!!!  I feel so much better after these 6 weeks!

Sometimes, we get too caught up in the numbers to realize that they aren't the end-all-be-all of this journey.  I'll be posting more about this later in the week.

I also hit my fastest 5K time ever!  43:10!  Not a great time in general, but a great time for me, so WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

April ended with me losing 11lbs, logging 50 miles, and feeling great!

Here are my goals for May:

So, what are your goals this month?  

Post them below, make them reasonable, 

and let's do this together!!!!

Weigh-In: Week 5

Current Weight: 230lbs

Weekly Loss: -3lbs   Total Loss: -11lbs

I swear, I thought I was going to have to post my first "gain" weigh-in of this go around.  I have no idea how I managed to lose 3 pounds this week!

I took a picture because I didn't believe it!

I had a rough eating week.  Started off being ravenous while PMSing, just eating whatever was around and lots of it!  Luckily, I don't have anything in my house that's really horrible, but even healthy foods aren't good in copious amounts.  I ate A LOT.  

This is my HANGRY face.  You don't want to be around my HANGRY face!!!!

I also went to visit my BFF/Soulmate this weekend, and I'm one of those people who loves to eat while driving, and I had a good 7 hour trip.  I put together a bag of healthy stuff, but also managed to consume a bag of Smartfood popcorn on my way down due to stress eating (major car issues!).  My friend is awesome, though, and made delicious food that was on the healthy side for us!  On the way back, stress eating resumed with pretzels and a bag of sour patch kids.  I didn't even want to get on the scale today.  So, yeah, I lost 3lbs  but I almost don't like that I lost weight, because it wasn't a great week.  

I'm up to 37.5 miles for April.  Still have a few days to reach my 40 mile goal, I know I'll get there!  I'm also hoping this weight loss sticks, because I really wanted to be out of the 230's by May.  We'll see what happens next week!!!

Weigh-In: Week 4

Current Weight: 233lbs

Weekly Loss:  -2lbs    Current Loss:  -8lbs

Doing good, feeling good, looking good!

Slow and steady wins the race, so I'm happy being down 2 more pounds!  

So far, I've walked 33 miles this month!  I'll definitely reach my goal of 40 miles for April!

I also hope to be out of the 230's by May, so we shall see how that goes.  

I feel great!  I have energy, I physically feel great, and I mentally feel awesome!

The secret to what's working for me this time around?  TIME!

The harsh reality of life is that there is no easy fix for losing weight and being healthy.

Pills won't last in the long run, neither will anything that involves extreme fitness or diet.

Those aren't really healthy, either!

What does work?  Taking the time to do what you know you need to do.

I spend AT LEAST 2 hours a day, 

if not more, on my health.

It might be an hour of yoga, 45 minutes walking, time cooking and prepping meals, scheduling exercising, developing recipes, grocery shopping, etc.

Yes, the time might seem like a lot, but it's our lives we are talking about. 

If your life isn't worth the time, what is?  Money?  No.  Making other people happy?  No.

Family?  Family is important.  Get them to be a part of your journey!  
If they can't/won't, realize that in order for you all to enjoy your times together, 
you need to be healthy!

One of the greatest parts of this week was seeing how supportive my husband and friends are with my efforts.  My husband and I both work a lot, and that means we don't have much time to spend together.  This week, we were going to go out to dinner on Friday since we were both free.  I felt bad, but I asked Chris if we could do dinner at 8:15 so I could go for a walk and go to a yoga class.  Without any problems, he said yes, of course!  He knows that in order for me to be successful, it's going to take time.  He's even getting back into cycling, too!  Yesterday morning he went for a ride while I went for my walk.

My friends are also awesome!  We went to dinner at a friend's house on Saturday night.

She kept me in mind and had plenty of healthy options for me to enjoy!  How sweet!

(Note: I was responsible for dessert.  I brought fancy cupcakes.  We had a cupcake tasting.  

It was amazing!  And not healthy.  Amazing nonetheless.  I fail lol.)  

(No) Weigh-In: Week 3

So, I didn't weigh in this week, for a few reasons.  The main reason- I believe in only weighing yourself once a week max at the same time on the same scale.  I wasn't home on my weigh-in day (Sunday morning) since we spent the weekend away, so I passed on it for the week.  Sorry!

I had this past week off, and made it all about me!  Most days went like this:

8am- wake up
9/10am- yoga
12pm- cook lunch
2pm- go for a walk/jog
3pm- plan meals and go grocery shopping
5pm- cook a fantastic, healthy meal
6pm- eat dinner

I really wish I was independently wealthy so I could spend all of my time on myself!!!  It does a body good!!!  So far, I've walked/jogged 15.5 miles this month (not counting our trip- see below)!  I'm going to try and get to 40 miles by the end of April.

I originally planned to do a massive cleaning of the house from top to bottom.  I didn't clean anything (besides laundry and dishes from all of my cooking!) and that's great!  I needed to take care of me!  I got my exercise and food back on track, got my hair colored and cut (I'm in love with it!!!!) and had a relaxing, rejuvenating break!

We spent this past weekend in the city.  We had such a great time!  We walked about 9 miles on Saturday which made me feel less guilty about all of the yummy things I was eating!  We wanted to go to so many restaurants and try a million things, so Chris and I split one dish at most of the places to save calories and room for more!  It was a great plan, so happy!

One thing I noticed- we barely drank any water!!!  We were so parched.  This week, I'm thoroughly hydrating myself.  I know I'll be running to the ladies room every 5 minutes, but who cares.  I need water!!!!

So, yes, life was lived, and now it's back to reality.  Food is back on track, exercise is all planned out.  Today brought my breakfast, lunch and snacks to work, plus my workout clothing.  After work, heading to yoga but taking a solid half hour walk/jog before class begins.  I promise I'll be home to weigh-in next week!

Baked Eggs with Peppers and Zucchini

This is such a great recipe for when you want to impress without working too hard!

This egg bake is delicious and filling!  And just over 200 calories!

You can customize it based on whatever veggies and spices you have around.

Recipe below is for 1 serving, just multiply per scrumptious serving!
Calories per serving: 210   Carbs: 10g     Fat: 14g     Protein: 14g

Ingredients:

1 zucchini, spiraled or julienned, blotted of excess moisture

1 bell pepper, thinly sliced (I used 1/2 red, 1/2 green)

1 tsp olive oil

2 eggs

salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 425.

In a pan, heat olive oil.  Sauté peppers until soft and starting to brown.  Add zucchini and cook another 2-3 minutes, season to taste with salt and pepper.  Remove from heat.

Place veggie mixture in an oven-safe dish.  Create a small well in the middle.  Crack 2 eggs into a ramekin (or another small dish) and make sure there aren't any shells.  Transfer onto veggie mixture.  Bake for about 15-20 minutes, until eggs reach desired doneness.  

I topped mine with hot sauce.  This was fantastic!  Enjoy!