I'm doing well -- except for the cow

Two weeks ago I re-defined my specific weight loss goals.  I'm doing well.  If I were to give myself a grade in all areas...

1.)  I want to lose 25 pounds 

Grade:  C

Explanation:  I've hovered around the 3 pound loss for two weeks.  Nonetheless, I'm seeing good changes in my body --- i.e. my waistline is coming back!  I'm making better food choices and overall eating more veggies and fruits daily.  I'm also participating in a pedometer challenge at work which keeps me focused on walking to get my daily steps up!

2.)  I want to complete a half-marathon 

 B

Started training.  Need to kick up my training and be more consistent with my workout plan. 

3.)  I want to build muscle and lose fat  

F

It's simple - to gain muscle I need to work my muscles.  Got in one session of weight lifting.  Need to do it regularly.

4.)  I want to complete a 10-day juice cleanse 

B+

Had to reschedule my initial plan because of travel plans-- changed the start date to September 1st, but have gotten more organized.  I'm reaching out to people who have juiced for tips/advice.  Keep the suggestions coming!  I've been warned Day 1 I'll be crabby.  Day 2 will be worse.  But if I can make it past those two days I will feel fabulous.

5.) I want to complete a winter time 5K  

A

This is well on it's way.  Found a race to run and a friend to join me.  After the half-marathon running this will be a breeze! 

6.)  I want to save refined sugar treats for special occasions.

 A+  

Saying no to sweets except special occassions is difficult.  I've had cravings like crazy but NO means no.  That means saying no to free office cookies and morning pastries.  I have more energy without so much sugar in my diet.  It's amazing!  I also find I'm able to enjoy sweets more when it's once in a while instead of every day.  I recently traveled to Nashville and went to an Jeni's ice cream shop.  It was glorious and I didn't feel one bit guilty indulging.

 7.)  I want to go to the gym three times a week 

D

Have been making it to the gym 1-2 times/week because of traveling.  This is changing this week as I don't have any upcoming travel plans for a while.  Otherwise have been doing a LOT of walking!

8.)  I want to eat no more than one dead cow a week.  

 F

I tried this and failed because of steak dinners two days in a row.  Plus, while traveling I splurged on a jr. bacon cheesburger from Wendy's and a cheeseburger from Dairy Queen.  To make up for it, I'm trying to avoid beef for the next month --- as i've used up my allotted "one dead cow a week" and need to make up for what I ate.   The one glorious decision I made while traveling was to do eat fake ground meat soy tacos.  I couldn't tell the difference between the soy mean and beef.  I'll have to try more fake options when I crave the dead cow.

Drum roll...

my current weight loss GPA = 2.16 or C-

OVERALL: I need to step it up.  I will have a higher weight loss GPA in two weeks!   Aiming for at least a 3.0!

I will reach my goals

I'm a "fan" of Bob Harper on Facebook and today in a status update he wrote, "Make it a point to be more active today.. Get a workout in! Today is the first day of the rest of your life and you are worth it!"

 I like that goal.  That's doable.   No matter how my schedule looks before or after work, I can always fit in a 15 to 30 min walk during my lunch break.  Any day.  Everyday.  That's what I'll do today.  Done!

Goals keep me focused.  In the past they've helped me accomplish great tasks.   It's time to jot down some August 2011 - December 2011 goals to keep me focused.

Wikihow says STEP ONE in reaching a goal is to Set a realistic but challenging/inspiring goal.

"Take a big dream, like "I want to be famous", and break it down into smaller, more manageable steps, like "I want to star in ascience fiction movie", "I want to go to three auditions a week", "I want to move to another city" and "I want to save $5000 so I can move." Make the goal big enough to challenge and excite you, but not so big that you hesitate to take the first steps."

Here's my break-down.  

My big dream:  "I want to be thin" which is girl talk for "My extra weight is interfering with how I feel about myself.  It needs to go!"  Specifically for me, being "thin" means losing the 50 extra pounds I have stored on my frame.

My big dream broken down into smaller, more manageable steps: 

 1.)  I want to lose 25 pounds and then take it from there.  Only a year ago, in August 2010, I weighed 20 pounds less than I do now.  Over a year's time I let stress from new life changes make me eat with reckless abandon and focus less on exercise.   Losing 25 pounds betwen August and December will get me half way to my goal of losing 50 pounds and getting thin!

2.)  I want to complete a half-marathon I've signed up for one in October!  I have a buddy and a training schedule (that's gotten off to a rocky start) but I will do it!

3.)  I want to build muscle and lose fat  I can do this through stepping up my weight training...which is actually part of my half-marathon training plan. 

4.)  I want to complete a 10-day juice cleanse I have researched juicers and watched Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead.  Unless I hear better suggestions, I plan to get an inexpensive Black and Decker juicer from Wal-Mart to stay in my $50 juicer range. I have recipes for drinks.  I scheduled my cleanse dates in my calendar for August 15th thru August 24.

5.) I want to complete a winter time 5K  Working on getting this set-up. The last winter outdoors race I did was in 2002: The Jingle Bell Run in Champaign, IL. It was cold and it was glorious.   Perhaps it's time to do it again!  

6.)  I want to eat less refined sugar.  Ok this one's a lie.  More like I know I should eat less fined sugar.  I want to work on minimizing the consumption of donuts and candy at work.  I want to avoid Starbuck's sugary drinks.  I want to say "no" to ice cream treats on sale at Jewel and only enjoy them on special occassions -- birthdays, parties, weddings.  Revised:  I want to save refined sugar treats for special occasions.

 7.)  I want to go to the gym three times a week I have a Groupon pass for one class at Flirty Girl Fitness and a gym membership at the Y.  The Y location is literally a 4-min walk from my apartment.  It opens at 5 a.m. weekdays and doesn't close until 10 p.m.  Morning workouts may be what I need to complete this mini goal.  No excuses.

8.)  I want to eat no more than one dead cow a week.  Let me explain.  Last July, when I started this blog I made up my "One cow a week" rule.  It stuck then so it's time to bring it back.  I wrote, Cheeseburgers were doing me in so I made up a rule that I can only eat one serving of dead cow a week.  Max.  Not daily.  This means, once I have my ONE cheeseburger or Chipotle steak burrito, it's time to switch to Boca Burgers, Black Bean burgers, veggie-based meals and other non-four legged friends.  Veggies, you should be very scared.  I'm going to devour you like no other.

At this point I've made my  August 2011 - December 2011 goals big enough to challenge and excite me, but not so big that I don't hesitate to take the first steps.   8 goals.  Sweet!  

A Lovely May

"Saying you don't have enough time is a bad reason to not run.
There's always time for a run."

-Kathleen Sebelius, Health and Human Services Secretary

*          *         *         *        *        *
MAY FITNESS GOALS

-1,416 CALORIES/DAY
-RUN 20 MILES
-WATER - At least 64 oz/day
-WEEKLY EXERCISE - At least 150 mins/week

Keeping the above quote in mind as I keep plugging away at running this month. It's been 63 days since I committed myself to losing 55 pounds.  Moving forward little by little, day by day.   May calorie goal: 1,416 cals/day. Last month I overshot my running goal by saying I'd run 100 miles and I didn't make it. This month I've trimmed it down to 20 miles. That's doable for easing back into running.

Also, drinking enough water is very important.  Somehow, after months of absence, Diet Soda and juices crept into my January thru April 2011 diet.  One of the main reasons - my water was only coming from water 16.9 oz bottles.   I was buying 24-packs of bottled water every other week, grabbing a bottle a day, re-filling that same bottle throughout the day with fountain water and not getting as much water as I think I was.  In March I made note that I needed a Brita filter and I finally got one!  I found a $4 off coupon online for Target and ended up paying $20 which I thought was a good deal, only to later discover that Walgreens has a basic Brita pitcher for only $10!   Since I like to refill so much (it makes me feel like I'm conserving resources) I also dug out my aluminum water bottle from last summer and fill it up several times at work.  End result - more water drinking during my work and home life!

I've incorporated Yoga into weekly fitness routine which is easy to do since my office provides free Yoga classes every Tuesday until the beginning of July.  Yoga is no joke.   Not as easy as it looks.  I've also dusted off home fitness videos from my DVD collection and sampled some from Netflix. A week ago I streamed Crunch: Cardio Dance Blast via Netflix. It was super fun and seemed more like I was re-incarnating dance moves from Genie In a Bottle and Hit Me Baby One More Time. When I finished my whole back was wet from the constant hip-hopping and I was in a fabulous mood. It's great when workouts don't really feel like workouts. I will have to explore more Netflix videos. I've also been doing Wii Sports which burn more calories than watching tv online.

Hoping the weather stays warm so I can get back to outdoor running. Call me a wimp, but it's still too cold for my liking. I can walk for 5 - 30 mins, but I ain't so keen on running in this chilly wind quite yet. Overall, I'm just trying to stay as active as possible - walking one el stop instead of taking the el, walking 10-30 mins during my lunch break, taking the stairs up/down at work. :)

This year has proven to be difficult weight loss-wise. Too much eating out and too much dessert!   Last week I had 3 scheduled lunches/dinners with friends, all of whom I hadn't seen in quite a while, some years. It was easy to plan to meet up at a restaurant. This lead me to eat cheeseburgers. One a half to be exact. What happened to my one cow a week rule?

Being good with a lunchtime salad at work.

Mother's Day dinner was a healthier choice.  I'm used to going out to eat but this year my family stayed in and cooked healthy foods - grilled chicken, crab cakes w/o the filler, salad and a fresh-picked green bean/carrot medley.  It was a nice change of pace from the cow and much needed.  Day-to-day I'm trying to eat as much greenery at work as I can!  I found a bag of Turnip Greens Medley at Jewel and a yummy receipe that involves garlic and a turkey leg.  That's what I'm making tonight.  :)


Despite slight weight gain, I'm staying motivated by hearing friends/family talk about their own weight loss efforts -- Weight Watchers, Elliptical Training, Calorie Counting, P90X or whatever.   Seeing before and after pics is amazing.   I stumbled across a workout contest for Venus Index.   Before/After pics of this Mother = AMAZING!

The first ever Venus Index Transformation contest was a huge success and Alisha McGinn took it to the house, her transformation was amazing.  See more photos at:  http://www.venusindex.com/takin-it-to-the-house-vi-contest-winner-alisha-mcginn/

New song of the moment:  Lovely by Sara Haze

Every Change is Good

Snow in April, among other things, has made my monthly 100 mile running goals change. Last week I didn’t run because I was sore from the 8K race. I milked that soreness for all it was worth and didn’t work out the entire week. This week I was out sick for two days and I woke up to snow one morning. All this combined – I haven’t run in a week and a half and I’ve gained some pounds. When I went to enter my weekly weight on my weight tracker (see above under blog header) it actually told me, “Error – Current Weight can’t exceed starting weight”. Oh, but it can. And unfortunately it has. That little weight loss tracking apple was thrown back to the starting line.

SIGH.

Over the past year we’ve all dealt with changes, most notably in the economy. I’ve dealt with extreme changes in relationships/friendships, weight, career and living arrangements. All these changes were positive and fantastic, but they also brought on dramatic stress. Sleep-stealing stress. Binge-eating stress. Weight-gaining stress.

How should we deal with change? The world’s oldest man said, “Embrace change, even when the change slaps you in the face. ("Every change is good.")”

Speaking of change, check out my haircut.




BEFORE - Wild lion's mane



AFTER - Tamed bob



Last week a Facebook friend posted a link about Walter Breuning, the world’s oldest man who recently died at age 114. I teared up over the article, reading the words of wisdom and thinking of how much this 114-man had experienced: Wars, The Great Depression, Poverty. Through everything he stayed optimistic. One story he told was about the time he and his wife wanted to build a house. They bought property for $15 and just as they had their plans ready, it all went off the tracks when the Great Depression struck and “Nobody had any money at all”.  Reading his story helped put my past situations in perspective. My definition of “broke” ain’t nothing on his. At 27, I’ve got some living to do, and a lot of changing to do.

Another interesting point he shared, is that to enjoy a life of longevity, eat two meals a day ("That's all you need."). He went on to explain, “How many people in this country say that they can't take the weight off?...I tell these people, I says, 'Get on a diet and stay on it. You'll find that you're in much better shape, feel good…Everybody says your mind is the most important thing about your body. Your mind and your body. You keep both busy, and by God you'll be here a long time."

Such a simple philospophy yet so many Americans struggle with it daily.  I’m not happy with my change in weight over the past few months, but all I can hope is the slight gain will motivate me to get back on track.

Finish each day and be done with it



Bday girl - Age 27

This week:

Birthday - I turned 27.  Went out for an Italian dinner and had two desserts to celebrate.  Got some sweet gifts from friends and family and I am very grateful for all the Birthday wishes, and for all the family and friends in my life.  :)

Workouts - Poor aka none.  Walked quite a bit around downtown Chicago for a commute/errands.  Moving on...

Food - Started counting/logging my daily calories and was amazed that on my first day of counting I ate 2,500 in ONE day!  I'm aiming to eat 1,500 day.

NEW Goals - Eat 1,500 cals/day;  stay active daily; hope to burn 300/day

Exhibit A

Overall, this week I was pretty lazy and overindulgent.  My exercise and food goals didn't go as planned. 



Exhibit B







But when life gives you lemons, turn them into lemonade, drink it and be done with it -- or as Ralph Waldo Emerson put it,  "Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense."

Song of the moment....