Monday, March 30, 2009

A Better Road

When my trainer changed my diet, he said to listen to him and not count calories. I gained 2.5 pounds. Yesterday he had me write out everything I eat and count the calories. Today he told me I was eating too many calories. I needed to cut out 600 calories.

600 extra calories per day. No wonder I gained weight. I have been working hard at making my trainer feel bad. I think it is working.

Starting tomorrow, I will be eating the"right" number of calories for me (except for my one cheat meal each week). Let the diet trial month begin. I better lose some serious poundage.

In other news......I bought my first pair of size 16 pants in over 5 years. I wore them today. They felt tight in the butt, however I think it just seemed that way because everything else has been hanging off my butt for so long. My most honest co-worker said they looked normal.

I was in fear that I may have been exceeding the weight limit for the waist band (these pants did not stretch as I wore them, unlike my other pants). I think all is well since the buttons were still intact at the end of the day.

Happy losing to you all!

Saturday, March 28, 2009

I May Have Made a Mistake

Alrightythen.....

So I decided to follow the advice of my trainer. That may have been a mistake. I ate lots of protein. I ate how he told me to. Did all my workouts. I gained two and a half pounds. *SIGH* I am treating this as an out of body experience, otherwise I would be pissed that I undid two and a half weeks worth of work.

So I asked if I should go back to weight watchers. I am told to turn off my brain and trust him. Oh yeah, and not weigh myself for a month. God, by that time I could put on 20 pounds. And if I am going to GAIN weight, I can think of alot more fun things to eat and lazier things to do with my time.

I finally did measurements again. My trainer tried to hide them from me in his car. But then I threatened to jump on the hood and leave a huge ass indention on his nice sports car and he went out to the car and handed them over. He really thinks I analyze too much. This may be true but I cannot keep myself from thinking about progress. Afterall, this is a ton of money, time and effort.

So I will TRY to not weigh for one month. And eat his way for one month. But if I GAIN, I am going to try the Biggest Loser diet. The other trainers at the gym also said to just stop with the weighing and use my clothes as a measure. I am trying to tell them that my goal weight is still in the "overweight" category. How many people ask their trainer to help them be overweight? I think it is achievable. But is a number.

Do you ever watch TLC's What Not to Wear, hosted by Stacy and Clinton? Well, I am trying to see myself as that hideously dressed woman who thinks her painted on jeans showing off her muffin top paired with an 80's thread bare t-shirt topped off with hooker boots sporting a broken heel look spectacular (in real life, I do not dress this way, for the record). While she is dressed in this outfit, Stacy and Clinton mock her and point out all the flaws but say they can help. And by the end of the show she can't believe she ever dressed that way and she looks fabulous.

I think the trainers are Stacy and Clinton. I am the hideous woman who fights them and says clothes never fit her right, their rules won't work, they are wrong. I plan to give in (at least for a month) the way the woman does. Hopefully, the result will be me looking fabulous and wondering why I ever doubted them.

The hardest part? Staying off the scale for a month.

Hope you all had a better week than I did.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Diet Dilemma

So I have a diet dilemma (as you can tell from my earlier post). I think my 1 pound per week loss is due to my laziness and I could do better with weight watchers if I were more strict and wrote things down. I decided to talk to my trainer about this because he loves to talk food and exercise (even when I do not want to).

He said that when I first started losing weight I could have been doing just about anything diet wise and because I was working out so much it made me drop bigger numbers more quickly. But now that I am 53 pounds lighter and still exercising a ton that the same diet is not going to work with the same results.

His conclusion? After we went through a "typical" day of eating for me, he concluded that I do not eat enough protein during the day. I asked if I needed to stop eating other things (baked chips, string cheese, FiberOne bars, etc.) and replace them with protein. His answer? No. I just need to add more protein and eat it with a starch. I will admit that I am skeptical but curious at this reply. I had to leave at that point in the conversation so I told him to come up with a plan for me and I would get it when we workout tomorrow.

Prior to this conversation I was considering two options:

#1 - Stop being lazy and work hard to stick to weight watchers points. I like this option because you can eat whatever you want as long as you count it. I think it is something that is just plain healthy and can be done for the long term.

#2 - Follow the Biggest Loser diet. This diet is high protein but low carb. I would have to count calories and stay away from prepackaged food (which I love to eat frozen dinners for lunch). Also, I do not think low carb is something good for the long term. However, I bet I would start dropping some pounds fast.

Now I have a third option of following a diet plan set up by my trainer. I like this option because he knows me. He knows I love to have a cheat meal of Mexican food and he is all for it. He knows the calories I am burning in the gym (which a generic diet program would not know). He knows I hate protein bars and drinks. He knows I love dairy products and only eat fruit because I feel I have to once a day.

I will have to see what he has in mind tomorrow but I think I will go with option three. He has come up with some off-the-wall training stuff before but it turned out that he was right. So he is probably right about this. I could at least give it a shot, I've got nothing but weight to lose.

What would you do? Better yet, what do you do? Have you been faced with needing to change your diet?

Pathertic and Lazy, Yet Motivated

Another weigh-in today. Lost one pound (which is not bad since my weight was up a few pounds a few days ago). I quite amaze myself sometimes how I can be my own worst enemy.

The Pathetic and Lazy part of my post: I pay $40 a month to be a member of weight watchers. I go to meetings on Sundays, I listen to what they say and contribute. I would say that I follow the points system "loosely." I give myself one cheat meal a week (I try not to go too overboard). But I do not like writing down what I eat because it is usually the same kind of stuff day to day (although I know writing it down does help). For this, I am just plain lazy. On average I am losing 1 pound per week which is decent for most people, for me it is pathetic - read on to find out why.

Motivated - I am now working out with a personal trainer 4 times per week. Those sessions are averaging an hour and a half (with my added cardio and stretching). The cost of this is currently $500 per month. I never miss a session, even if I have to go at 4:30 am. I also belong to a lady's gym where I try to take 1 to 2 aerobic classes per week (last night was half and half - pretty tough stuff), cost: $30 per month. I am very dedicated to my workouts, I can see body changes constantly and I think exercise is going to be the key to permanent weight loss for me. Oh and I walk my dogs 1.2 miles each day.

So let's take the past month for example. I lost an average of 4 pounds. I spent around $570 diet and exercise wise. That is an average of $142.50 per pound lost. Pathetic! Before Christmas when I was strict with my points I was losing about 3 pounds per week. That is too much money to not be losing more weight.

I get comments on my appearance multiple times a day. I feel like a fraud. Yes I am losing weight but at a snail's pace. I must change something. Either my lazy accountability habit or change diets to keep me on my toes. I have been pondering another diet. I will post about it later today but I must get ready for yet another training session.

Thanks for allowing me to babble. It is like therapy for me, which I cannot afford at the moment.

Happy losing!

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Are We Falling Apart?

I noticed something really sad today. I was reading a blog and saw the blog roll call on the right hand side of the screen. Scrolling through, I noticed that there were several blogs that had not been updated in over 5 months. Out of curiosity, I started clicking on them. Two of them had just changed their web address, but not the "others".

The "others" seem to have a common thread. One last sad post from sometime last summer or fall saying they had a rough day, weight loss has been stagnate, life was getting too busy. I am sad for these individuals. It seems that last post is sitting out there says "yep....I gave up on me."

I know it sounds cliche but if you don't believe in you, who will?

Here is my consensus of my weight loss journey so far (since July 2008):
  1. Yes it sucks to have to spend so much thought, time, and energy on one aspect of your life all the time.
  2. Working out takes time and does not get any easier (mostly because you change it up to make it harder for yourself).
  3. Food is still just as delicious as it was before. I do enjoy eating oranges now but after work I would still like to snack on chips.
  4. I do enjoy getting the comments everyday from different people about how much better I look or that they did not recognize me.
  5. I like knowing that I can run short distances without losing my breath.
  6. I like laying in bed at night and feeling a slight soreness in my muscles from the day's workout.
  7. I like feeling that I did something good for me at the end of the day.

When I really think about it, the good does out-weigh the bad. I wish the "other" bloggers would see that too and come back. We all struggle, we all falter. I will try hard to keep myself here, failing or succeeding.

Time is going to pass anyway, I might as well work at being a healthier me.

So THANK YOU to all the bloggers that stay. You have a bad day and post about it. We all learn from each other's struggles. I know it's hard but you do it anyway. I have heard that maintenance is harder than actually losing the weight. I do not doubt it is challenging but I hit these plateaus and it is pretty difficult on this end as well.

Stay strong and keep posting!!

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Late Weigh-In Post

I did weigh-in yesterday put ran out of time to post. I am feeling bloaty and nasty with my lady troubles this week but I did lose one pound. Slow and steady I guess.

This week has been crazy! Work was insane, bad stuff going on. However, I am now officially on spring break so I can relax - at least for a while. Also, making my 4 workouts with my trainer. Not so easy with the lady troubles.

I have been having some foot/knee/leg muscle issues. So the advice from the gym trainers was new shoes. Evidently I should have gotten new ones months ago. Tonight I ventured out to a specialty store and got new, super cushy shoes. I will try them out tomorrow.

I am excited to read everyone's posts that I am behind on. I hope this post finds you all well and enjoying your weekend!

Friday, March 6, 2009

Friday Weigh-In

I am back to reality. I got back Tuesday night but still have not been able to catch up on blogs. Work has been crazy. I will do a quick post now, but more will come. Bottom line - Vegas is a great vacation. I worked out everyday and walked a TON. I only ate about twice a day so I ate alot, late at night, and stuff that was not so great for me (including yummy desserts). And the results? I lost a half pound. So I am now at 237.5. So 51 pounds lost so far. Wish it could be more. It will be soon. Still training 4 days a week with a personal trainer. He loves to kick my ass. I cannot wait to catch up with everyone else. Hope you all are feeling great!

Peace out!

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Late Friday Weigh-In

Sorry for the late post but things were crazy busy this week. Well my weight stayed the same this week. Even with good eating and four consecutive days with my trainer. I am sure I will be up next week since I am currently in Las Vegas.

This place is so much fun. So as for my previous post.....yes, the seats seem bigger (at least in the ass). I had extra seatbelt leftover (about 5 inches) and it has been a while since that happened. I am also proud that I have been going to the exercise room and doing some real cardio. They have treadmills, a stairmaster (bun-burner), and a bike. Yesterday I did all three with some abs and back work. And surely all this walking helps. I ran for 16 consecutive minutes yesterday (not bad when back in December I started running 1 to 2 minute intervals). I will see if I can repeat today, although I did eat a big dinner late last night.

Well my family is off to the NASCAR races today so I am on my own! I have a fun day planned. I am obsessed with the fountains at the Bellagio. I must go back again. So to start my day I will go back down to the exercise room.

I hope you all are doing well. And I look forward to catching up with your posts when I return. Happy losing!