Journal: Day 1

Here's my food log for yesterday:

8:00: 1/2 cup coffee, 8 oz H2O
8:45: 1 cup Fiber One Cereal, 3/4 cup 1% milk, 2 slices turkey bacon
11:00: Yoplait Light Apple Turnover
12:20: Mini-bun, 1T light mayo, 2 slices pastrami, 1 slice pepper jack cheese, small romaine salad w/ 1T Italian dressing, 6 oz H2O
1:15: 1 string cheese, 12 oz cherry coke
3:00: 12 oz pepsi
4:45: Banana, 8 oz H2O
5:00: 60 oz H2O (during workout)
6:30: Mini-bun, 2 slices pepper loaf, 1 slice PJ cheese, 1T sliced onion, 1t EVOO, small romaine salad w/ 1T Italian dressing, small bag of sun chips, 8 oz H2O
9:00: 1 large apple, 2T peanut butter

My workout today was: 5 min. walking warm-up, 40:35 Grinder pyramid 5->25->5, 9:25 cool down.


It was a decent enough day. I didn't record calories, but I've started doing that for this morning. I clearly see where my mistakes were: I shouldn't be drinking any sodas and I need much more fruit/veggies in my day.

I did push it pretty hard for my workout last night, but that resulted in a flair-up of my plantar fasciitis. That is a huge wake up call for me because I haven't had a problem with it since January of 2009. That means that this weight I've put back on is really starting to affect me again. Instead of making me want to slow myself down during workouts, having the heel problem makes me want to push it harder to get the weight off quicker.

I'm leaving for Austin on Saturday for a class for work. I'll have plenty of down time as my roommate is a pretty heavy sleeper and goes to bed very early. My plan is to use that down time to go through two of my bulk cooking cookbooks to find some calorie-controlled meals that I can make ahead and freeze. I think I'll plan on using the weekend after my trip to do a major cook-ahead day to keep the freezer stocked.

Well, that's the post for yesterday. Today's a new day and I'm going to do it as well as I can.

What to do, what to do

To say that I'm struggling right now would be an understatement. MM has been sick for 1 1/2 weeks, I'm GAINING weight, and the whole world just seems so "blah" to me right now.

I'm wondering what my next move should be. I have a lot of ideas, but I'm just not sure how well I'll follow through on them. One thing I want to do is get another pedometer. I've found this one and I really like that it has software that comes with it. My goal is to one day achieve 10,000 steps a day, not including my workouts, but I think it'll be best to wait and find out what I'm actually accomplishing now.

Nutrisystem is a program that I'm considering doing, but I'm thinking that there has to be an easier, cheaper way! The bottom line is that I need to reduce calories and learn how to control my portions. Some research has led me to the idea of using Healthy Choice and Lean Cuisine meals for lunch and dinner Monday through Friday. On Saturday and Sunday, I would still record my calories and keep them under a set limit, but I would cook for MM and I so that I could still enjoy a "home-cooked" meal.

I still want to do this. I still want to get rid of the excess weight that I'm carrying around, but I'm not doing a very good job right now. This morning's weigh-in at the office revealed a 2-lb. gain. How crappy is that? And to top it off, I leave on Saturday for a business trip to Austin. It is a big concern for me and I'm still working out how I'm going to control myself while I'm gone, but I'm sure I'll figure out something!

Checking In

Checking in. Again. Sigh.

Things aren't going great, but they aren't going too bad, either. I guess the honest answer is that, for right now, I'm maintaining.

We started a "Biggest Loser" style weight loss competition at our office and there are 7 of us competing, so I'm doing my best to use that as a source of motivation. After this week's weigh-in, I'm second-to-last, but I'm not going to let that get to me. It was our first week of competition and some of the people had staggering week 1 numbers. I'm convinced that slow and steady will win this race, so I'm still going to fight for it.

I set two big goals for the 9-week duration of the competition.

1. Lose 18 lbs., or 2 lbs. a week on average.
2. Don't have to pay the "weight gain" penalty in any week.

I know that goal #2 will be easy, but goal #1 is going to take my all my willpower and discipline to take care of. I'm not off on the best foot, having only lost 0.4 lbs. last week, but I know that I can make up the difference with one big week. I'm hoping this week will be it!

Aside from the competition, I've decided to start setting other goals for myself. Each goal will cover 7 days and I will reward myself if I make my goal. Then, I will set a new goal for the following 7 days, but will only reward myself if I maintain the first week's goal as well as accomplish the new one. Typing it out makes it seem complicated, but it's really not. My hope is that this will lead me to build, develop and retain the skills I feel are necessary for a healthy lifestyle. My first 7-day goal is to keep a VERY detailed consumption log. I think my biggest weight loss gaff right now is my unconscious eating. I'm sure that recording every item that goes into my mouth will help me to see unhealthy patterns and get to work on fixing them. My reward for reaching this first goal is a pretty, new food journal from Ivey's.

Well, that's the update for now. July didn't go quite the way I wanted it to, but that's my own fault. I will see to it that August goes better.