9/25/2008

Checkin in

Hello! Our internet has been down lately and should be back up soon. Using the internet at a cafe enjoying a slice of quiche. mmm quiche. I just spent an hour on the elliptical and did weight training and the elliptical yesterday. Getting back into the groove.
Anyhow, I'll be back soon!

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9/14/2008

The Eliptical: Instant Gratification

I have totally converted to the elliptical machine. After hearing Josh's mom rave about them at our gym, I couldn't help but give it a try again. I've been on the machine before and they scared me. They were fast and I felt weak on it. This time wasn't too different, I felt weak and then it got easier. I got used to the rhythm and before I knew it 45 minutes had passed and I burned close to 450 calories.

After seeing how hard I was working and how quickly calories were burning off I knew I could never go back to the stationary bike. Watching the calories add up pushed me even harder to keep going. That same amount of time on the bike usually burns 200 calories. I had my play list on and I just got in the zone with it. I wasn't bored at all.

So, it's Sunday and I'm going to work on some meal planning/prep for the week. I have a boot camp DVD that I'm going to give a go later on today, I'll let you know how it goes.

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9/12/2008

Its breakfast, man

Anyone else out there as dedicated to breakfast as I am? I've been a breakfast eater my entire life and never understood those who wake up and not want to eat. mm breakfast. On days that I went to school or work without breakfast I felt nauseous and sick and would dry heave in the bathroom. Not that you wanted to know that.

This morning I ate a pretty big breakfast which meals I won't be hungry again until about 7pm. I'm not sure if thats a good thing or not. I should really break my meals up more. I'm going to work on some meal planning and preparing this weekend for the coming week.

Exercise: going to the gym this afternoon and need to wash exercise clothes this weekend. I've used that as an excuse not to exercise too many times. But, I don't have any clean exercise pants!

My current weight loss goal is 259 (again) by October 10th. I've gotten a few emails about the 21 day challenge that I seriously stink at, but am game for round three anyone else?

Have you guys seen the awesome laptop boxes that Fat Brides Maid has been putting together lately? Click here and here to check them out! Anyone else putting together nice looking lunches?

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9/09/2008

Getting started...again

Went to the new gym on Tuesday. There are a few pluses and minuses compared to the gym in Brooklyn. The good? Less people, far less people. A steam room and sauna. Decent cardio machine selection. The low? Dated, weight machines although they still work well. 40 minute drive to and from. No personal TV's on cardio machines. Very few exercise classes.

We've broken our weight training into two sections for a twice a week visit. Workout A and B. Plus 45-60 minutes of cardio. Tomorrow is workout B. For the other days of the week cardio is at home.

And to what I've been wanting to blog about: balance. Does anyone else feel like weight loss is a constant state of on again, off, and then back on again? I want more balance in my weight loss efforts, to blur the lines between the days of trying to lose weight and the other more foggy days of stress, inconvenience and laziness.

I can see my own faults in other people: the diet game. I can't help but feel that true health and weight loss comes not when you start doing something new, but when you find a way to make what you currently do to work for your goals. I

What I mean is, there are principles of diet programs that I can really appreciate. However, every time I hear someone talk about the new diet they are on, or hear someone say they are trying the same diet that didn't work for them the first five times again I always wonder how successful they will be. I know that is negative, but I've been there and while I think there are isolated instances when diets do work, I always feel a pull in thinking "there must be a better way". Everything is so black and white with me and dieting, its this way or that way. I'm eating a lot or monitoring what I eat in a careful science. That is not balanced, and I feel like I've been using dieting and all that it entails as a crutch and its only keeping me fat longer.

The science of weight loss is very interesting to me. I found out recently that I could lose 3 lbs a week while eating 1,800 calories and with vigorous exercise for an hour a day. How cool is that? I know all about calorie counting, it is arduous and tedious at best. Sometimes when I'm not counting calories, I still find myself tallying them in my head at the end of the day.

It's not that I mind counting calories, I just don't see myself doing it for years and years. I agree eventually you get used to the amount of food you should eat. I think the calorie counting game gets especially tricky when it comes to maintenance, when you've gradually chipped away at your daily calorie allotment. I once heard Bob Greene say "I've never met anyone who should be eating less than 1,500 calories a day".

When I did weight watchers, I started out at about 34 points. And to be totally honest, part of me saw that number as a life raft that I desperately hung onto. Each 10 lbs. lost meant less food I could eat and I swear on some level I was fearful of how little I could eat when I reached my goal.

So where does that leave me? I want balance. I want weight loss. I want sanity. I want self-love. I want activity.

I've lost 60 lbs in the past two years and I'm still many miles away from where I want to be weight wise. How will I get there? There are principles of diet programs that I have learned a lot from, the day off diet has taught me that I don't need as much sugar as I seem to want, and the absence of it makes me want it less. Weight watchers taught me about moderation and goal setting. Can I unite my dieting self and not dieting self.

Dieting-self thinks about every meal, every calorie, every pound. She studies the scale: is it water weight?, why am i not losing?, ooh, lost 5 lbs! lets eat! It goes like that. She worries about losing control, she worries about food, she worries about it all constantly and feels guilty, she worries that it won't work. Not-dieting-self is more carefree, she enjoys her meals, loves finding new recipes to cook, she enjoys all foods: nutritional and not so much. She sometimes loses control, she sometimes bakes too much, but most of the time she isn't thinking about food at all. She eats when she is hungry and less when she feels bored.

I'm thinking about eating the foods I enjoy, but much less of them. Making efforts to eat the best possible foods. Planning ahead. Meal Planning. Enjoyment. Self-Love. Exercise. Losing weight.

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9/04/2008

Settling in

I can't believe I haven't written since August 18th! I also can't believe (at all) that I've been living in VA for two weeks as of today (what!) These two weeks have gone by so quickly I don't even know what day of the week it is sometimes. We're still unpacking and settling in, but everyday it gets a little more like home.

We joined a local gym yesterday and I'm so ready to get back into some sort of exercise habit. The gym here is considerably cheaper, but its about a 15 minute drive away from where we live. The one in Brooklyn was a 5 minute walk, but we paid $140 a month for the two of us and here we only pay $52 a month. Crazy!

Eating in August was a bit crazy I went on the see food diet (i see food and eat it) equal parts stress from moving and sadness about not eating at my favorite restaurants again. This defiantly showed on the scale I was around 259-257 and went up to 269 in about three weeks tie. Since I've been here I've been taking parts principles of The Day Off Diet and following my own guidelines which basically involves eating less. If I go to a wedding (which I did) I ate less in the day. And so thats how it goes.

I've been asked about the wedding recently and I'm not sure if I've mentioned this or updated on the date yet, but the date has been pushed to June 6th because of possible weather disasters in February.

I have a lot of things I want to change about the look of the blog, plus a ton of reviews I am so behind on. Today I have a lot of unpacking and cleaning to do, and possibly checking out the new gym!

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