01/27/2007
YEEEEE HAAAAAAW!
I'm in the 170s! Yeah, it's 179.5, but it still counts!
I reviewed my history the other day and it appears that I spent 21 weeks in the 190s and 14 weeks in the 180s. I'd like to only linger in the 170s for 7 weeks. I think it's doable. I'll just have to focus a bit more.
I was counting calories the past month or so and decided to give that up. It was making me obsess about food again and causing stress. I know that obsessing about food is NOT a good idea for me. So, it's back to the bascis. Bottom line is, I know what to eat when & how much, so I just need to roll with it. I also know that with the training I'm doing that my body wants more calories. I'm trying to get in tune with my body during my endurance training, so it only makes sense to do the same thing with food.
Hmmm . . what a concept . . listen to your body for hunger rather than your emotions . . .
Last night I mentioned to Vince that, while the weight is coming off slowly because I'm not both 100% on exercise and 100% on food at the same time, (I tend to do one or the other), it IS coming off. And, the most important thing is that I don't feel deprived. Yeah, sure. I would like the weight to come off faster. But, I know if I adopt that "all or nothing" mentality again, I'm doomed.
The other thing I realized is that I'm actually enjoying training, and I think I figured out why. I no longer "exercise". I "train". What's the difference? With exercise the goal is to just burn calories. With training, the goal is to get fitter, stronger, faster and to reach a goal. So, my tip for the day is this . . . if you are having trouble exercising, try training. LOL!
With friendship,
Care'
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Week #53: Just . . . One . .. More . . . Pound . . .
01/21/2007
I weighed in at 180.5 today - a new all time low. Just one more pound and I'm in the 170s.
You know, it seems like it's getting harder and harder to drop the weight. I don't know if that's because I've lost so much that my body is now fighting me. Or, it could be all the training I'm doing where the muscle I'm building is hiding the weight loss. I'm not sure what it is, but I'm trying to just stay focused. I know I still have weight to lose - I can look at my stomach and see exactly where it is going to come from. I do know that my stomach is my stubborn area too. Even when I was at my lowest weight I still had a small pooch of a belly.
Who knows . . . maybe it's a factor of all three.
It just seems like I've been working toward the 170s for so long. But, I do remember it seemed like I'd never get to the 180s or even below 200, but I did.
Just stay the course . . . just stay the course.
You know, weight loss is an endurance sport.
With friendship,
Care'
I weighed in at 180.5 today - a new all time low. Just one more pound and I'm in the 170s.
You know, it seems like it's getting harder and harder to drop the weight. I don't know if that's because I've lost so much that my body is now fighting me. Or, it could be all the training I'm doing where the muscle I'm building is hiding the weight loss. I'm not sure what it is, but I'm trying to just stay focused. I know I still have weight to lose - I can look at my stomach and see exactly where it is going to come from. I do know that my stomach is my stubborn area too. Even when I was at my lowest weight I still had a small pooch of a belly.
Who knows . . . maybe it's a factor of all three.
It just seems like I've been working toward the 170s for so long. But, I do remember it seemed like I'd never get to the 180s or even below 200, but I did.
Just stay the course . . . just stay the course.
You know, weight loss is an endurance sport.
With friendship,
Care'
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Week #52: One Year Gone
01/14/2007
Today is my one year anniversary on NutriSystem. To date, I have lost 50 pounds with NS for a total of 56.5 pounds. I still have 46.5 pounds to go in order to reach my ultimate goal, but I am firmly beyond the half-way point.
It feels great.
Some things I've learned in the last year include:
1. I am an emotional eater, and I will always be an emotional eater. I've managed to conquer eating when I'm happy, sad or angry, but I still struggle with stress and boredom. My plan is to conquer these this year.
2. The small steps really do count. In the past I had always focused on the big picutre - exercise for 30 minutes, lose 100 pounds, etc. I've learned that small, measureable goals work for me. I still keep my mini-goals of 5 pounds. I still tell myself to "just get on the treadmill or bike for 10 minutes." Now those 10 minutes turn into an hour.
3. A support system is the best thing you can have. Whether it's online support, family support, etc., it is a critical element to success. It helps knowing someone is on your side and is looking out for you. It also helps to have someone to talk to in those moments of weakness. Having been such an independent person all my life, this was a tough one to accept. But, I've found that this lesson has spilled over to other areas of my life in a very positive way. I no longer think that I'm the only one that can correctly complete a task. This has gone a long way toward making work more enjoyable and reducing my stress level.
4. There are more ways to measure progress than just a number on the scale. Sure, at first this was the ONLY measure. Now I use actual measurements, how my clothes feel, what my energy level is and how much stronger I am. I've learned that the scale can only report weight. It cannot differentiante between fat versus muscle. It cannot tell you that that extra pound today was because of a little extra sodium yesterday. Which leads me to my next point. . .
5. Tracking everything you eat is critical. I've found that when I stop writing everything down, I tend to wander off plan. That wandering ultimately leads to disappointment. So, I write everything down - good and bad. Sometimes I write down what I'm planning to eat to see if I really want to eat it. This has stopped me in my tracks several times.
6. 100% is perfect, but you don't have to be perfect every day. With my perfectionist personality, this also was a tough lesson to learn. 100% perfect on exercise and eating leaves no room for error or for life. Let's face it . . . There will be birthday parties. There will be special dinners. There will be drinks with the friends. There will be times when you get the flu making exercise impossible. The trick is to not beat yourself up with life gets in the way of your perfect plans. Some people can do this. I found it very difficult. So, instead I strive for 90%. This leaves me plenty of room to deal with life and still feel positive about my nutrition and exercise plan. (This has also spilled over into other areas of my life, making me and my team more productive at work.)
7. This is not a diet. This is a lifestyle. And, fortunately, it is a very "do-able" lifestyle.
8. I still haven't learned everything. For the first time in years I've found that my mind is open to new possibilities. After all, if somthing that would never work has, then what else have I dismissed as impossible? It's almost being like a kid again. I'm trying new things and enjoying the heck out of it.
With friendship,
Care'
Today is my one year anniversary on NutriSystem. To date, I have lost 50 pounds with NS for a total of 56.5 pounds. I still have 46.5 pounds to go in order to reach my ultimate goal, but I am firmly beyond the half-way point.
It feels great.
Some things I've learned in the last year include:
1. I am an emotional eater, and I will always be an emotional eater. I've managed to conquer eating when I'm happy, sad or angry, but I still struggle with stress and boredom. My plan is to conquer these this year.
2. The small steps really do count. In the past I had always focused on the big picutre - exercise for 30 minutes, lose 100 pounds, etc. I've learned that small, measureable goals work for me. I still keep my mini-goals of 5 pounds. I still tell myself to "just get on the treadmill or bike for 10 minutes." Now those 10 minutes turn into an hour.
3. A support system is the best thing you can have. Whether it's online support, family support, etc., it is a critical element to success. It helps knowing someone is on your side and is looking out for you. It also helps to have someone to talk to in those moments of weakness. Having been such an independent person all my life, this was a tough one to accept. But, I've found that this lesson has spilled over to other areas of my life in a very positive way. I no longer think that I'm the only one that can correctly complete a task. This has gone a long way toward making work more enjoyable and reducing my stress level.
4. There are more ways to measure progress than just a number on the scale. Sure, at first this was the ONLY measure. Now I use actual measurements, how my clothes feel, what my energy level is and how much stronger I am. I've learned that the scale can only report weight. It cannot differentiante between fat versus muscle. It cannot tell you that that extra pound today was because of a little extra sodium yesterday. Which leads me to my next point. . .
5. Tracking everything you eat is critical. I've found that when I stop writing everything down, I tend to wander off plan. That wandering ultimately leads to disappointment. So, I write everything down - good and bad. Sometimes I write down what I'm planning to eat to see if I really want to eat it. This has stopped me in my tracks several times.
6. 100% is perfect, but you don't have to be perfect every day. With my perfectionist personality, this also was a tough lesson to learn. 100% perfect on exercise and eating leaves no room for error or for life. Let's face it . . . There will be birthday parties. There will be special dinners. There will be drinks with the friends. There will be times when you get the flu making exercise impossible. The trick is to not beat yourself up with life gets in the way of your perfect plans. Some people can do this. I found it very difficult. So, instead I strive for 90%. This leaves me plenty of room to deal with life and still feel positive about my nutrition and exercise plan. (This has also spilled over into other areas of my life, making me and my team more productive at work.)
7. This is not a diet. This is a lifestyle. And, fortunately, it is a very "do-able" lifestyle.
8. I still haven't learned everything. For the first time in years I've found that my mind is open to new possibilities. After all, if somthing that would never work has, then what else have I dismissed as impossible? It's almost being like a kid again. I'm trying new things and enjoying the heck out of it.
With friendship,
Care'
Sunday, January 07, 2007
Week #51: Oh So Close . . .
01/07/2007
I am so close to leaving the 180s behind me FOREVER. I was hoping to meet that goal prior to the new year or even this week, but sometimes it just doesn't work the way you want. I'm sure I'll nail it this week.
I've been lax in keeping up with everyone's blogs because, quite frankly, it was all I could do to keep myself motivated. As I've started to read them again, it seems like I was not the only one that faced challenges during the holidays. Also, it seems like a lot of us are happy for the fresh start and excitement that the new year brings.
I remember where I was this time last year. I was looking at all those NS commercials wondering if it would work for me. I was looking at my budget to see if I could afford to do the plan, and weighing that against the cost of NOT doing the plan. I was searching the Internet to find reviews. I was trying to decide if I would tell Vince what I was thinking. After all, I had failed a LOT of plans in the past.
By this point I had lost 6.5 pounds from my all time high of 238. (At least, 238 was the last time I'd checked a scale, so who knows.) I lost 6.5 pounds from November of 2005 until the first of January 2006. It was coming off, but it was a constant battle. I needed something different - something radical - from what I had tried in the past.
I remember thinking that all diets are just going to fail and perhaps I should just do the surgery. I spent a few days researching the surgery and found out that I was actually too small to qualify based on my BMI. I seriously considered gaining another 15 pounds so that I could qualify.
Surgery is a big step, and one that I wasn't ready to take. So, instead I decided that I would do ONE MORE diet plan and, if that failed, I would go under the knife.
Over the next few days I worked and re-worked our budget to see what we could do. I finally told Vince what I was thinking. I'm not sure why I had hesitated to tell him. He said, "If you think it will work for you, and you want to do it, then you should try."
Try.
For the first time in my life I decided to approach a diet with a "try" attitude instead of a "do" attitude. Now, I know what you're thinking . . . "That doesn't make sense," and for most people, you would be right. But, I think the big reason diets had failed me in the past was because I had an "all or nothing" approach. If I was 100% perfect, then I was happy. If I slipped and went off the track by eating off plan or missing a workout, I was furious. My fury generally resulted in my giving up and eating anything that wasn't nailed down. So, "try" was a good approach. After all, I was convinced it wouldn't work for me anyway.
I placed my order and then went into that 3-5 day period that occurs between THE ORDER and THE ARRIVAL. I was both excited and terrified and immediately second-guessed my decision. Of course, all that anxiety led to eating. How I managed to maintain the 231 I had gotten to is beyond me.
My food arrived on January 13th, and I started the plan on January 14th.
Next Sunday is January 14th - one full year since I began.
Next week I'll reflect back on my one year anniversary with NutriSystem . . . so stay tuned.
With friendship,
Care'
I am so close to leaving the 180s behind me FOREVER. I was hoping to meet that goal prior to the new year or even this week, but sometimes it just doesn't work the way you want. I'm sure I'll nail it this week.
I've been lax in keeping up with everyone's blogs because, quite frankly, it was all I could do to keep myself motivated. As I've started to read them again, it seems like I was not the only one that faced challenges during the holidays. Also, it seems like a lot of us are happy for the fresh start and excitement that the new year brings.
I remember where I was this time last year. I was looking at all those NS commercials wondering if it would work for me. I was looking at my budget to see if I could afford to do the plan, and weighing that against the cost of NOT doing the plan. I was searching the Internet to find reviews. I was trying to decide if I would tell Vince what I was thinking. After all, I had failed a LOT of plans in the past.
By this point I had lost 6.5 pounds from my all time high of 238. (At least, 238 was the last time I'd checked a scale, so who knows.) I lost 6.5 pounds from November of 2005 until the first of January 2006. It was coming off, but it was a constant battle. I needed something different - something radical - from what I had tried in the past.
I remember thinking that all diets are just going to fail and perhaps I should just do the surgery. I spent a few days researching the surgery and found out that I was actually too small to qualify based on my BMI. I seriously considered gaining another 15 pounds so that I could qualify.
Surgery is a big step, and one that I wasn't ready to take. So, instead I decided that I would do ONE MORE diet plan and, if that failed, I would go under the knife.
Over the next few days I worked and re-worked our budget to see what we could do. I finally told Vince what I was thinking. I'm not sure why I had hesitated to tell him. He said, "If you think it will work for you, and you want to do it, then you should try."
Try.
For the first time in my life I decided to approach a diet with a "try" attitude instead of a "do" attitude. Now, I know what you're thinking . . . "That doesn't make sense," and for most people, you would be right. But, I think the big reason diets had failed me in the past was because I had an "all or nothing" approach. If I was 100% perfect, then I was happy. If I slipped and went off the track by eating off plan or missing a workout, I was furious. My fury generally resulted in my giving up and eating anything that wasn't nailed down. So, "try" was a good approach. After all, I was convinced it wouldn't work for me anyway.
I placed my order and then went into that 3-5 day period that occurs between THE ORDER and THE ARRIVAL. I was both excited and terrified and immediately second-guessed my decision. Of course, all that anxiety led to eating. How I managed to maintain the 231 I had gotten to is beyond me.
My food arrived on January 13th, and I started the plan on January 14th.
Next Sunday is January 14th - one full year since I began.
Next week I'll reflect back on my one year anniversary with NutriSystem . . . so stay tuned.
With friendship,
Care'
Monday, January 01, 2007
Week #50: Happy New Year
01/01/2007
Wow. Another year has come and gone.
I love this time of year. All the holidays are over and the tempting food is gone. And, it's the first day of a "do-over" or a "do-better."
In the past I've avoided making resolutions . . . especially if they had anything to do with my weight. But this year is different. While last year I focused on getting started on the weight loss journey, this year I resolve to finish it. I also resolve to mark some of those "to dos" off my list. So, here's my 2007 list:
-Lose the rest of the weight - 48 pounds
-Compete in a sprint triathlon
-Compete in at least two 5Ks
-Complete in at least one 10K
-Improve my swimming technique
-Build cycling distance
-Finish working on the house
Okay, that should keep me busy.
With friendship,
Care'
Wow. Another year has come and gone.
I love this time of year. All the holidays are over and the tempting food is gone. And, it's the first day of a "do-over" or a "do-better."
In the past I've avoided making resolutions . . . especially if they had anything to do with my weight. But this year is different. While last year I focused on getting started on the weight loss journey, this year I resolve to finish it. I also resolve to mark some of those "to dos" off my list. So, here's my 2007 list:
-Lose the rest of the weight - 48 pounds
-Compete in a sprint triathlon
-Compete in at least two 5Ks
-Complete in at least one 10K
-Improve my swimming technique
-Build cycling distance
-Finish working on the house
Okay, that should keep me busy.
With friendship,
Care'
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