Monday, January 31, 2011

Days 10 - 15

Hello, hello.  I'm back.  I apologize for being away so long, hopefully no one thinks I've given up already. Since I've been gone so long, today's post will not be in the normal format.  I'm not sure what I weigh at the moment and I haven't been writing down what I've eaten.  I know, I fail.

The reason I haven't posted since last Thursday is because I went to Austin to celebrate my birthday.  I had a lovely time with my friends to celebrate my 31st year on the planet.  It was a weekend of pampering (got my hair done; I'm blonde once again), karaoke, and Austin food.  I'm not going to lie; I did not stay on my diet this weekend.  I meant to, but I was screwed before I even got into Austin.  I'd planned to take my food with me and eat it whenever I could.  However, me being the horribly impatient packer I am, I failed to toss it in my bag.  I'm really bad at packing.  I always just assume I've got everything I need, but very rarely do I actually have everything I need.  I good about making sure I have everything when I head back home, but that's probably because I didn't really take anything.

So food this weekend consisted of: fake chicken sandwiches, chips and queso, pizza, Taco Bell, and Jason's Deli.  Nope, not on my diet.  



Workout for this weekend consisted of: Waking around the mall, rushing around Target then Ulta then JC Penny's, sitting for 4 hours in a salon chair, trying  not to flinch while getting my eyebrows done, dancing to some amazing karaoke, and cuddling with various house pets while watching movies.

OK.  Big announcement.  I'm going to have to change my workout/diet plan.  After some discussion and a bit of research, I have decided that P90X and Nutrisystem will not work together.  It all comes down to calories.  The P90X literature recommends a diet of at least 1800 protein packed calories while the Nutrisystem diet only provides about 1000 (plus snacking on fruit between meals).  I'm not eating enough calories to take full advantage of the P90X.  So new plan.  I'm going to stay on the Nyrtisystem for a few months.  During this time, I'll concentrate on running and building up my endurance.  Then, I'll switch over to the P90X to finish up and get some toning done.  Hopefully, this will end my gaining weight while sticking to my diet.

Once again,  thank you to all who read and comment and follow.  It makes me feel loved and supported.  Thank you.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Days 8 & 9

Day 8 Weight: 184.6

Day 8 Food:
Breakfast - Nutrisystem Cranberry Granola Bar
Mid Morning - Grapes
Lunch - Nutrisystem Mexican Tortilla Soup
Mid Afternoon - Banana
Dinner - (another) Nutrisystem Pizza (I so wanted to cheat, but I didn't.  But I really, really wanted to)
Snack - Nutrisystem Mustard Pretzels

Day 8 Workout: P90X Plyometrics workout.  According to Tony Horton, the P90X guy, plyometrics is jump training.  All I know is that for an hour he expects you to jump.  Of course he colors it up by doing different exercises, but it's all just beating your quads, hamstrings, and calves into submission.  No joke, it got to a point where my legs wouldn't do what I told them to.  I was stumbling around the living room trying to do a simple jumping jack, but my quads were all like, "Uh... no.  We quit"



Day 9 Weight: 185.4  I was not happy to see that number this morning.  Especially considering the fact that I stood strong and didn't eat Taco Bell last night.  I'm not really sure why I gained weight.  I ate only what I was supposed to and did a pretty good workout.

Day 9 Food:
Breakfast - Nutrisystem Chocolate Chip Muffin
Mid Morning - Banana
Lunch - Nutrisystem Creamy Mashed Potatoes (I totally thought this was potato soup until I got it all prepared and looked at it.  They were really good though)
Mid Afternoon - Pear
Dinner - Nutrisystem Pizza (yes, again.  I only have one left though, so I'll have to move on pretty soon)
Dessert - Nutrisystem Chocolate Chip Cookie (tasted just like any other chocolate chip cookie I've ever had.  Nothing low-cal or diet abut the taste of this cookie)

Day 9 Workout: P90X Shoulder and Arm workout.  16 total dumbbell exercises, 4 shoulder, 4 bicep, and 4 tricep.  This is my favorite workout.  I really want nice, defined arms.  Nothing too crazy like the perfectly shaped diamond tricep that guys go for, just something that looks uber cute in a tank top.


Oh my goodness.  I am so sore today.  No really, it's not even funny.  And it's my entire body, not just my legs or arms, but the whole thing.  Tomorrow is the yoga workout, so that should help.  Please let it help.

As always, thanks for reading and thanks for the support :)

Monday, January 24, 2011

Days 5 -7

This weekend was hard for me (work stuff) and I, honestly, just couldn't be bothered to post.  I didn't write down everything I ate, but I did stick to the diet.  Found a couple of the Nutrisystem meals I don't like.  The Vegetarian Sloppy Joe mix had a really good flavor, but I just can't handle the texture. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, I haven't found a a ground beef substitute I like.  The other thing I didn't like was a Fausage (fake sausage) pasta dish.  I think I can send back the items I don't like for a refund.  I need to check that out.

My co-worker, Sarah, brought me these cranberry, oatmeal raisin cookies today.  Don't know if she's crazy or just evil, but I did not eat them.

She redeemed herself by also bringing dried cranberries and organic almonds.


Things I ate this weekend that are not on my diet are: a bite of garlic bread, a Morning Star Farms fausage patty,  a sour worm candy thing, and a salad when we went out for lunch Sunday.  The salad consisted of spinach, tomato, egg, green and red bell pepper, cucumber, and about an ounce of ranch dressing.

Now for today's stats:

Day 7 Weight: 185.4

Day 7 Food: 
Breakfast - Nutrisystem Banana Nut Muffin
Mid Morning - Grapes
Lunch - Nutrisystem Veggie Chili
Mid Afternoon - Banana
Dinner - Nutrisystem Pizza
Dessert - Nutrisystem Chocolate Crunch Bar

Day 7 Workout: Started P90X all over again.  Today's workout was chest and shoulders.  It consisted of 6 different types of push ups, 3 different types of pull ups (I use the elastic bands because I can't do a real pull up), and 3 dumbbell exercises.  The workout lasted 50 minutes and then I did a 15 minute ab routine.  Tomorrow I will be in pain.

This isn't the first time I've done P90X.  My parents and I started doing this workout last summer.  We stuck with it for about 7 weeks until life got in the way.  For my folks it was football season and work and for me it was a 10 day vacation.  So now I'm starting over.  Good times.

We turned our sun room into a workout area. 

The thing I like about P90X is the fact that it's not just a weight lifting program.  It incorporates cardio and flexibility to promote all over fitness.  Plus, the only way you can outgrow the system is if you get too strong for the weights you have. But even then, you just take your workbook to the gym and use the weights there.  I suppose that could be a drawback as well.  To properly do P90X, you do have to be outfitted with weights and what not.  We had some of the stuff we needed, like some dumbbells and bands, but we did have to expand our collection of both.  We also had to buy a chin up bar.  Then we discovered that we didn't have a good doorway to use the chin up bar, so my Pops and I had to build a door frame.   All in all, cost quite a bit of money.  If you want to go a cheaper route, but like the idea of following a program like this try Insanity.  Both of my brothers have done Insanity workouts and said they've incredibly difficult and that you don't need any extra equipment, you just use your own body mass.

The door frame we built to support the chin up bar we bought.




Mmmk.  That's it for tonight.  As always, thanks so much for reading. 

Friday, January 21, 2011

Days 3 & 4

First and foremost:

Thank you guys!  So many of you have read!  Thank you!


Now, moving on...

Day 3 Weight: 187.8

Day 3 Food:
Breakfast - Nutrisystem (this will be the spelling I use from now on) Orange and Cranberry Pastry Bar
Mid Morning - Banana
Lunch - Nutrisystem Mexican Vegetarian Tortilla Soup
Mid Afternoon - Pear
Dinner - Nutrisystem Italian Crust Pizza
Dessert/Snack - Nutrisystem Cheese Puffs*

Day 3 Workout: I spent the day fighting nausea and a headache, so I went to bed after dinner and didn't workout.  I really should have.  I was crazy stressed out yesterday and working out would have helped.

*The Cheesy Puffs were the first food item that wasn't really good.  They were edible, but not all that great.  Definitely nothing like real Cheesy Puffs.  Kinda like cheese dusted cardboard.

Day 4 Weight: 186.2

Day 4 Food:
Breakfast - Nutrisystem Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffin
Mid Morning - Banana (Yep.  Another Banana.  I love them)
Lunch - Nutrisystem Black Bean Soup and a Jack In The Box fry stolen from my co-worker
Mid Afternoon - Nothing.  Thought I had an apple, but I didn't.  Boo.
Dinner - Nutrisystem Italian Crust Pizza and a McDonald's fry stolen from my mom
Dessert - Nutrisystem's version of a Snickers. This is my favorite snack/dessert so far.

Day 4 Workout: Tonight I did one of my mom's cardio videos.  Actually it's one I bought her for when her knees are hurting her too much to do the P90X Plyometrics.  It 24 minutes long and they say that if you walk the whole thing you'll have gone about 2 and a quarter miles.  To kick it up a bit, I ran in place instead of walking.

Ok.  Let's talk about the fact that I've lost 6.2 pounds in 3 days.  I don't want you guys to think I'm starving myself or doing something dangerous.  I'm not, I promise.  The reason I'm losing so much right now is because I've cut my calorie intake by at least half and I've probably doubled my calories burned.  Until my body gets used to living off fewer calories, I'm going to lose weight quickly.  Plus there's the fact that I have so much weight to lose.  If I weighed 130 and wanted to lose 10 pounds, it would take me ages simply because my body would have less fat to spare.

Once again, here's a photo from tonight's workout.  Thanks for reading!





Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Days 1 & 2

Day 1 Food:
Breakfast - Nutri System Banana Nut Muffin
Mid Morning - Small handful of grapes
Lunch - Banana & Nutri System Black Bean Tortilla Soup
Mid Afternoon - Apple
Dinner - Nutri System Veggie Lasagna
Dessert - Nutri System Chocolate Cake Bar

Yesterday was actually Day 1, I just didn't feel like posting my Intro and Day 1, so the weight posted yesterday (192.4 - gross) was Day 1's weight.  I also did not work out yesterday because I was trying to get this blog started.  So yeah... that was Day 1.

Day 2 Weight:  189.6.  Now don't get excited, I didn't really lose almost 3 pounds in one day.  Yesterday I weighed at night after a full day of eating.  You're at your heaviest at night.  Today I weighed first thing in the morning (after using the restroom) which is when you're at your lightest.  So that's why there's such  a dramatic difference in weight.

Day 2 Food:
Breakfast - Nutri System Cinnamon Roll
Mid Morning - Apple
Lunch - Nutri System Black Beans and Rice (I really, really like black beans)
Mid Afternoon - 5 Grapes (Literally 5 grapes.  It's all I had)
Dinner - Nutri System Thick Crust Pizza
Dessert - Chocolate and Peanut Bar

Day 2 Workout: All I did tonight was a 15 minute ab workout.  I spent the day feeling nauseous and didn't want to push it.  I think until my body gets used to eating less I'm going to have to go easy on the workouts.

As far as the food goes, it's actually really good.  Lots better than I thought it would be.  I was expecting some bland but palatable frozen food that I would just have to tolerate. That, however, is not the case.  The food is actually good, so yay!  Makes it much easier to not cheat.

What does make it hard not to cheat is the fact that the portions are much smaller than I'm used to.  Years ago a personal trainer told me that ideally a person should eat 5 or 6 small meals a day. And by small I mean a portion about the size of the palm of your hand - small.  The idea behind that is that if you feed your metabolism every few hours it will hold on to significantly fewer calories because it knows there are more coming.

Your metabolism is a very paranoid little devil who behaves deplorably without you knowing it.  How many time have you heard an overweight person say, "But I don't really eat that much."  Well, that's the problem!  If you don't feed your metabolism enough, it slows itself down and holds onto whatever you feed it. It's going to stop burning calories because it doesn't know when it will get more.  That's actually how I started putting on weight.  I worked in restaurants for years where I worked through the normal meal times.  I ended up eating some sort of breakfast taco in the morning and then again around 4 o'clock in the afternoon and, many days, that was it.  The large gaps between my meals helped me pack on the weight.

Ok.  That's enough for tonight.  I leave you with yet another incredibly attractive picture of myself, this one from tonight's workout.  Thanks for reading :)

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Introduction

For the last few (15) years I've been trying to lose weight.  I'll get started on a good diet and workout plan, but then... life... happens.  One small, tiny thing will throw me off balance and all the good habits I've incorporated into my daily routine are forgotten.  It's always something; going out of town, change in work schedule, change in weather, general laziness.  For whatever reason I'll miss one work out, or eat one bad meal, and it's all over.  All the hard work I'd have put in for the last couple of months is out the window and before you know it I'm back to where I started.

So I've decided to open myself up to the world wide web and make my struggle public. I'm hoping that by letting people have access to this blog, I'll be more determined to stick to my diet and workout plan; don't want the embarrassment of failing while the world watches, the world being whoever looks at this.

Each Day I'll list everything I've eaten, what workout I've done, and what my weight is.  Readers are more than welcome to comment; offer encouragement, share tips, tell me to stop being so lazy, just say hi, or whatever you feel like.  I sincerely hope that this time I'll be able to get to where I want to be. 

Starting Weight: 192.4  O.M.G.  Have I really let it get this bad?

Most unattractive picture I will ever voluntarily post of myself

Goal Weight: 140. I tend to weigh heavier than I look (natural muscle) so weighing 140 will make me look about 115 or so with a nice, femininely muscular form .


Diet Plan: NutriSystem Vegetarian Plan plus a nightly protein shake to add the healthy calories I'll need to sustain myself through my workouts.  The shake I'll be using is Shakeology that you get through P90X.  One serving has a total of 72 fruits and vegetables - I didn't even know there were that many fruits and vegetables until I read the info on this shake.

28 days worth of breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert all in one box.

Workout Plan: P90X - 3 days of weight training, 2 days of cardio, 1 day of yoga, and 1 day of either rest or stretching.  And I'll probably go running 2 - 3 times a week, probably on the weight training days.  I know that it sounds like a lot, but if I eat enough calories and get enough rest, this program ill actually energize me.  Now if  I don't eat enough calories (the good kind), I'll crash and burn very, very quickly.  It's a very tricky balance.

Ultimate Goal: In October or November of this year I may get the opportunity to hike trough the Himalayan Mountains in Nepal. There is no possible way that I can do it in this shape. In fact, a guide probably wouldn't even take me for fear that I wouldn't survive.  So, just in case I get to go, I have to be in the best shape of my life by October.  I don't want my not being able to go be because I'm too fat.


Think they'll let me swim in this lake once I get there?