As of Tuesday I lost 4 pounds!!!!

In my mind I have been posting all week, I guess not. I think that I'm starting to develop this as a routine way of thinking and so I forget that I'm not actually typing it even though I'm thinking it. Every time I eat or feel like skipping on the gym; I think of our blog and I have to say I think its working; because I LOST 4 LBS this week!! I'm almost in the 180's which would make me feel good.

Some co-workers were going out Tuesday around 7:00pm and I promised myself I would go to the gym and I did. It felt so good to keep a promise to myself. I left work at 5:00pm andsqueezed in a quick, but intense workout. I did cardio for 30 minutes and burned 275 calories. I read somewhere try to eat 250 calories less and move 250 calories more and thats a way to begin, so that's been my goal this week. moving towards at least 300 calories / per workout next week. Slow and steady.

I did pretty well out with cor-workers too; I had a salad with chicken for dinner and only had 2 beers. Others stayed later and kept drinking and I left and that also felt really good. Again, I felt like I chose me and that was nice. So all in all Tuesday was a good day.

Reconsidering the Scale

So, I am fully engrossed in this book "Best Life Diet" by Bob Greene. One of the little words of wisdom that he has said is not to look at the scale every second when first starting. He goes into the whole physiological reason which took up a whole chapter and gives reasons as to why other diets don't work - but in a nut shell, your weight will fluctuate when you first start as your body begins to adapt to it's changes. Many diets focus on quick fixes which leads to loosing water weight. His suggestion is to judge by how your clothes fit at first. His method - like the the South Beach diet - is in phases. The first phase though if for four weeks and you don't really change what you eat - rather you change some of your habits. Ramp up your activity (burn more calories) - eat three wholesome meals with a snack - stop eating 2 hours before bedtime - drink more water. Weight yourself the beginning of the four weeks and then do not look at it for another four more weeks. During the first phase, you are basically getting your body ready to cut calories and adjust what you eat to better prepare for weight loss. I think I may be a convert. Check out his website: http://www.thebestlife.com/

In the spirit of Best Life Diet - my biggest struggle is breakfast - I usually don't eat it! I don't allow myself the time in the morning to wake up and make it. So, I have started to set my alarm clock earlier so that slowly but surely I won't be rushing out the door and I can have time to sit and eat. In the meantime, I have picked up some Slim Fast shakes to grab on the go. I am also working my ass off at the gym. Need to make it a priority to go 3 times a week and try to be active as much as possible on the off days!! Let's do it ladies!

Also, I propose we each make a workout mix CD that we can share. I will make one and give two copies to Arin (one for you Kendra) - unless we can figure out a way to see eachother soon!

Day 10. Does Assembling Ikea Furniture Count as a Workout?

I'm back! I went to the gym last night after work and FINALLY had the euphoria workout again, which is great because it's the thing that keeps me interested in going to the gym more than once a week. It took a little while - for the first 20 minutes on the treadmill I was just pushing through, but my body finally loosened up and remembered how much I actually LIKE working out and having that time when my mind focuses only on breathing and not cramping up. I pulled out another 25 minutes on the treadmill and then got on the elliptical for 10 minutes and ran my ass off to a couple of my favorite workout songs (Buckcherry's 'All Lit Up', for instance...) 475 calories - that first crap 20 minutes were pretty low calorie.

Today I did have half a pastry at work, but at least when we split it I took the small half. And THEN I had some dark chocolate covered edamame from Trader Joe's after work... damn it! AND my FINAL failing was having a bite of Andrea's Lumpy Bumpy Bar (also Trader Joe's... and delicious). And I just finished putting together an Ikea couch and crawling all over the floor, contorting into bizarre positions, and trying to force unwieldy pieces together. I'm thinking that's at least 400 calories. 

Gym plan for the rest of the week is to go Thursday and Friday evenings (yes, I'm the coolest) and then Saturday morning. This means I can't go to the Hanukah Happy Hour with Andrea's coworkers, which makes me a little sad. But my ass fitting in my suit pants feels more important!

Kendra's Update

I did go to the gym on Sunday and had a pretty good workout; I did some strength training for about 20 minutes, including some squats that are still making it hard to walk down stairs and then 40 minutes of cardio to burn 300 calories. I did 20min on treadmill and I realize that that's just not good workout in terms of burning calories, but I do like to walk and I like to split up my machines, so we'll see. I think I may also add more time to my workout as well.

Remember that whole idea about going to the gym in the mornings? Fat chance. I already gave up on that, its way too cold and dark to want to leave my apt at 6:45 am and before a cup of coffee. So, I will be going to gym tonight. I was invited for drinks afterwork with one of our developers for our website, so I will go and have a drink and then head home to the gym.

In terms of eating; I think I've been doing okay, mostly because I am so broke that I am only eating what I have in my house, which has been frozen tilapia, whole wheat cous cous, and some frozen veggies or salad. I haven't weighed myself yet, but will do so tonight and let you know if the dial has moved. Gosh, I hope so.

So far today I had a 1 egg and 1 egg white scrambled on whole wheat roll, coffee, and for lunch we had some leftover noodle dish with peanuts and cucumber from a work meeting; it was really good and felt rather light.

I posted this message by trying the new email feature that Arin sent. Fingers crossed.

Life on the Road

Hello ladies! Wow, the past couple days have been a whirlwind! I won't bore you with the details but I will give you a little debrief:

Been doing okay I think! Went to a great yoga studio last Wednesday. I even got some free passes so if you ladies want to check it out - let me know! I felt so great afterwards. Too bad I countered that experience with having a liquid dinner of three beers at the bar for my friends birthday. Sigh. Had to go to Bowling on Friday for work. I really made a concious effort to eat well - instead of just grabbing Micky D's chicken nuggets. (Which by the way - are my most guilty of pleasures and it is so NOT FAIR that they have been doing all these commericials about them!! Especially the one with the wedding cake made out of Chicken McNuggets...it's like my dirtiest fantasy come true!!). I digress.... so when I was away, I went to Panera to get a salad and ate light the rest of my travels.

I didn't excercise on Thursday or Friday - honestly I was kind of sore from jumping back in! But, I did bring my gym clothes on my trip and I forced myself to go to the gym at the hotel on Saturday before my flight. Only did a 1/2 hour but it's better than nothing!!! Sunday, I did nada but tonight I went to the gym..... 25 minutes on the spinning bike - 25 minutes strenght training - 25 minutes yoga. Definitely burned some calories there. This week will be tight for working out too....so busy. But I am trying to schedule my work out time too. Got to do it!!

While I was in Bowling Green I went to a Goodwill where I found a book on detoxing and another book by the dude who apparently is behind Oprah's weight loss/lifestyle. I saw it before and kind of wanted to get it so I was thrilled I was able to pick it up for $2!! I will let you know if it has any pearls of wisdom.

Day 8. 177.5 Pounds.

A miraculous loss of 2.5 pounds last week, especially given the aforementioned Saturday feast. I love that Kendra brought up the amount of booze that we drank as a redeeming quality.

This week: I plan to continue to skip any kind of sugar or dessert and to stay active. Last week I only made it to the gym twice, and vow to do 3 times this week. 

Today: I had a delicious tomato bisque for lunch with a couple of oyster crackers. As a side note, I also won the grocery raffle at Trader Joe's because I'm the dork that completes a raffle ticket every time we bring our own bag. And then instead of a gift card for $10 I got one for $25! Woo hoo! So I was able to buy some pecan halves and some fairly healthy TJ's lunches for this week at work. Andrea made a delicious salad for dinner that I had with some bacon and feta quiche. Don't let that fool you, though, the salad was topped with 3 breaded and pan-fried, garlic & capers, goat cheese balls. Delicious? Yes. Healthy? Not so much.

Andrea was home sick all day, so I spent the night with her doing laundry, working on my class for winter quarter, and watching Top Chef. But it's the gym for me Tues - Thurs this week, and I'm hoping for a Saturday morning inspiration as well. 

I'm interested in trying out some of the classes at the gym... I know there's at least one evening yoga class and I may give that a try to break up the cardio!

Saturday - not so good. Today - much better

I had a bit of a slip on Saturday and didn't eat so well and also didn't exercise. It helped to make a much more productive Sunday though, so I guess all wasn't lost.

Saturday; I slept in until about 11:30 which is super late for me, but I think I needed the rest. I had some eggs, potatoes, and toast for brunch. I had some yogurt with honey later in the day, so far not so bad. But then I went to Arin and Andreas where Andrea and Desiree made a feast of all things so bad that they are so good, we had clams casino and steamers that I drenched in butter, steak in bleu cheese fondue and bread, olives, and peppers stuffed with cheese and salami. whoops. but it was so good. Our drinks were relatively healthy with vodka tonics, so that's good. Topped off with 3 pieces of chocolate. ugh...

So Sat def motivated to do better today. I had a shredded wheat with soy milk & bananas for breakfast with coffee. I have drank about 8 glasses of water already; trying to detox a bit, and for lunch I am having white bean salad with every vegetable I can find in my house with a cup of green tea. After this post I am making a new playlist and hitting the gym.

This week I am going to try to "schedule" my workouts and I am going to try to do mornings. I think this will free me up more in the evenings and lessen my stress about working out and hopefully make for good beginnings; its going to be hard, its going to be dark. But I am going to try to be in bed by 11:00 pm each night and workout from 6:45am-7:30am in the morning.

Wish me luck.
K