What a difference a day makes

In my 40 years I've come to realize that if you just continue to do good, it comes back to you. I've been doing more good than ever since I have time and I'm seeing some good signs on the work front. I can't make any money yet being on unemployment but I'm setting the wheels in motion for the future and getting some good response.

Now lets apply that attitude to the fat fight. If I continue to work out and eat right, the results will follow. Simple right?

I had that revelation just a few minutes ago and wanted to get that down in my blog for when I have another craptastic day. I can look back and remind myself that it's not about the numbers. I do need to measure myself. I just put that on my to-do list.

I had a 7:15 appt. with my coach and we set up my leg work out. Now that all the machines are set up the nifty little computer system, I can do my routine on my own. He will check on it every couple of weeks and up my repetitions or weight or whatever needs to be done. He agreed on the plan of the weight routines and cardio 3 days a week and swimming (or a cardio class) on 3 other days. I've never had a gym this close or a flexible schedule and I feel like I can really do this.

My husband sent me a text this morning telling me he was proud of me and that I'm inspiring him to keep going. I'm such a lucky girl.

craptastic

I just went to the gym for 30 minutes and didn't work out.

I had to wait a little later to go because I had a call this morning and the place was packed. At 10am! I thought for sure the guy just hanging on the edge was about done with his swim but no. He just walked the length of the pool once every 1o minutes. I sat in the hot tub hoping that someone would be finished but 3o minutes later, I was still sitting there doing nothing. At this point my hair is wet and I only have my bathing suit, towel and flip flops so there's not a lot of options. I have to be somewhere at noon so I had no choice but to come home.

I guess it was the icing on the cake after stupidly stepping on the scale this morning, followed by a visit to the wild world of web for job postings of which there are 2. That combined with a failed attempt to exercise has me in a bad way today. Most of the time I'm so optimistic but today it seems like nothing is worth it. 3 weeks of 6 days a week at the gym has me less than 2 pounds down and I'm not sure if I can ever make enough money on my own. The old self doubt is creeping up on me again and has taken over my brain today.

It's 11 now and I have to shower and go out. I have accomplished nothing yet today but logging my calories and this great big whine fest. I'm hoping the rest of the day is a little better.

3:30 pm Updated to say my business partner gave me a huge kick in the ass and I feel better on the creative front. On the fat front, I went to the grocery store to pick up a few things, and bought a bag of candy. I took a single bite on the way home and threw it out the window. Sorry for littering but this was couple thousand calorie disaster averted. Instead I'm making us a nice curry. Victory is mine (said in a Stewie voice)

Slow start

I had the worst time getting started today. I was up at 7 and fought with myself until 9:30 until I finally gave in and went to the gym. The good thing about this time of year is every time I sit down to watch tv (which I'm trying to do less of) there's always something on about diet and exercise. Once again I reminded myself over and over how great I would feel when I got home. I realized later on that I worked until 9 last night and maybe I deserved a little bit of a slow start.

I did 50 minutes in the pool this morning which is 10 more than I usually do and it went by in a flash. It seems like the only time I don't watch the clock and pray for it to go quickly is when I'm swimming. It think that means I really love it :)

I didn't post yesterday due to the work frenzy but I did log my calories. I went slightly over both days (100 each day) but for a weekend, I'm considering that a victory. I even had a pancake and a half with real maple syrup and (mostly) fit it in.

Now I have a ton of work to do and I must get to it. Hope everyone has an awesome week.

Grrrrr and Brrrrr

This morning I woke up awake and full of energy. I was excited to get back to the gym after it being closed all day yesterday due to the "winter weather". I put on my bathing suit (and 5 layers of shirts), ate my oatmeal and rushed out in the below zero windchill. As I pulled around the corner I saw there were hardly any cars there and I was even more excited to have the pool to myself. Then I saw people sitting in their cars. Very pissed off people. I went up to the door and was locked. Another person came up and asked what was going on and I just stood there in disbelief. Closed. No sign, nothing. They were supposed to have opened at 8 and it was 9 already. After about 3 minutes of lively discussion with other disgruntled people I decided to head home. I called for about an hour and then gave up.

I joked the other day about us Southerners not being able to handle the snow but this is ridiculous. I'm angry enough to ask for 2 days money back. All the roads are open and the sun is shining. Sure it's freezing cold but that's when people need the gym more than ever!

Okay rant over. I feel better after getting that out.

I went about 300 calories over my limit yesterday but it was spent very wisely...on beer :) I haven't had any alcohol since New Years Eve and I think a beer or 2 or a glass of wine every couple of weeks can be worked in. I'm just going to have to watch what I eat a little more on those days. Could have been a lot worse.

Now I'm putting on 500 more layers of clothes and going out with my husband to walk our crazy dogs and burn some calories. Speaking of dogs, we childless people do things like getting their portraits done. Aren't they cute though?? Plus, unlike children, I can stick them out back and shut the door.

Weigh In Day

I have really missed posting pictures that correspond with my weight loss each week (mostly because I wasn't losing weight) but I'm happy to report that I will be doing again. As a visual person, it's fun for me to equate the pounds with something physical.








This week we have a 1.6 pound loss
A Sony Vaio laptop!

I was so hoping to have rocked this weigh in with 3 or 4 pounds especially with the amount of calories I've been burning but I'll take it. I don't think I'm doing anything wrong just circumstantial.

TOM arrived on this snowy weigh in day, I was woken out of a deep sleep to drive my husband to the train. I weighed in, yelled at him some about how if this was going to be how it is I'm not going to do it blah blah blah. Poor thing. Even though he had started the car, none of the other doors would open. The dogs usually go along for the ride but freaked out because they couldn't get in the back. After I got in the drivers seat, 50 pounds of Sophie jumped right in my lap. She could have seriously hurt me so I started yelling again at my poor husband. Get the effing dogs in the house and scrape this windshield and why haven't you learned how to drive yet. By this point I'm in tears which made sliding all the way to the station even that much more dangerous. I have since apologized to my husband profusely blaming hormones and a disappointing weigh in. I'm feeling much better now thankfully and I don't think he will divorce me :)

I promised myself I would not get hung up on the number but what do I do? Freak out on the first one. We both agreed we are not going to give up. No matter what the scale says. Because we really do feel better. Already. After only one week. Maybe next week will surprise me.

The gym is closed this morning as are all schools. (I can hear your laughter, Northerners) It's not supposed to get much above a zero windchill so I think I will be staying in. I was going to give myself the day off until I got an email from my mom saying she pledges 30 minutes of core work if I pledge 30 minutes of elliptical today. I couldn't disappoint my sweet mom!

Happy Friday everyone!

the urban harvest

The box of produce arrived and I'm hooked already. Look at the amount of stuff here? I paid $20 but it would have been $35 which is still a good deal!

I've had a lot of fun planning the fate of each individual bit of goodness you see here. The carrots will be in chili and dipped in hummus, baby bellas will be part of flatbread pizzas, acorn squash will be baked and eaten with dinner tonight, half the onion has already gone into a really delicious and healthy shepherds pie. The rest will be salads and the fruit will be snacks.

I also realized today that Whole Foods is not as expensive as I always thought it was. I had the best turkey sandwich of my life with their bread, deli turkey and some of my lettuce and tomato from the box. Their meat and seafood is higher but everything else is comparable to Publix and it's all organic and twice as delicious. Sorry I always referred to you as whole paycheck foods Mr. Whole Foods. I will be visiting more.

I must be wanting to write about food since it's about to snow here. It doesn't happen often and the grocery stores are already out of milk and bread. Southerners dealing with snow has always made me laugh. I lived in Minnesota until I was 12 but have been in the south ever since. That makes snow a fun event for me and this year, I don't have to risk death to get home from the suburbs due to my boss not wanting us to leave work early. The dogs are driving me nuts. They know something is up.

I got to the gym by 8 and did a hard 40 minutes on the treadmill and some abs. Once again I thought about not going because I had errands to run and work to do etc. but I'm convinced that if I just keep going long enough to make it a habit, it will flow into my day like everything else does. Still trying to find the me/work balance.

Eat more!

That's what yesterday's Spark People page is saying. I really went under my calories yesterday because I never ate lunch. I'm still trying to establish my new routine with working for myself and suddenly it was 5:00.

I'm not going to make a habit of going under (or over!) my calories but sometimes it just doesn't seem logical to me to eat if I'm not hungry. I know all about fueling the metabolism and all that. I'm thinking I'll add some peanut butter or protein powder to my oatmeal and then maybe eat a little larger snack. I know I need it because I can feel it when my food wears off in the pool.

I swam 40 minutes this morning and will continue to do that until I can meet with my coach again next week to establish a lower body weight routine. We've already done upper body and abs but as you can imagine, he's a busy man this week. It was 14 this morning AND I had an 11:00 meeting. I thought about putting it off until the afternoon but that's dangerous so I just did it and it felt great. I was the only one in the pool for a while then had a 10 minute soak in the hot tub as my reward.

Not a very exciting post today but I'm making a point to post and update my calorie count every day even if it's boring! :)

Keep on keepin' on.

frozen

I'm not used to this temperature in Atlanta. It was 18 this morning. Usually we have it a few days a year but not multiple days in a row. I think i've lost my favorite plant and my water bottle was in the car and frozen solid. They are saying single digits next week and I'm dreaming about wearing flip flops.

I almost used it as excuse not to go to the gym this morning. I've only been at this a few weeks and already it's starting. Luckily I've learned not to listen to myself much and went anyway. I tried to think about how good that post gym shower and warm cup of coffee would be and it worked. I just don't want this to be a battle with myself everyday. The fat me is much bigger and tries to beat the skinny me down sometimes but skinny me is strong and getting stronger every day.

I was hoping to do a leg session at the gym but the coach still needs to set me up on a routine and he was so busy so I just did 45 minutes of cardio today on the treadmill. Had I known that I would have been in the pool which is about twice the amount of calories burned. It was fun to listen to music for a change and my butt hurts so it was obviously good. I'm going to have to put on about 10 layers to walk the dogs a little later and burn a few more calories.

I only managed 1458 calories yesterday which is odd since I felt like I ate a lot. It's amazing how when you eat your calories from healthy food you get so much more food. I roasted a $3 chicken last night and am making soup from the rest as I write. Produce box comes today. I never thought I'd be so excited about a bunch of fruits and veggies!

Swimming along

<-------See how seriously I'm taking this??? I bought goggles!





I thought I would try the effects on my computer camera to give myself a very x-treme sports look

I tried out my new goggles this morning. I was terrified to go to the gym thinking it was going to be packed so I waited until about 8:30 and much to my surprise, the pool was mostly empty. I have totally rediscovered my love for swimming and have been told by more than one trainer that it's the best thing I can do (especially at first) to burn through some fat.

It hasn't been easy by any means. I was taught to swim really well when I was young so I know the basic strokes etc. but I still felt like a moron amongst the Michael Phelps types. After a few trips though, I've realized that absolutely no one cares what I'm doing! Really! It's very liberating. I've worked my way up to 40 minutes now which is when I feel my breakfast wear off. I had to rush home and have a hard boiled egg which probably means I need to add a little protein to my breakfast which is currently steel cut oats with some raisins and dried fruit. Now I'm sitting down to work and every muscle in my body feels tired but great.

My weigh in day will be Fridays from now on and with absolutely no peeking in between. All it does is frustrate me so I'm simply not going to do it. I'm continuing to focus on what's good for me like eating well and exercising and not the numbers. If I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing, the weight will come off as a very pleasant side effect. Have a great week everyone!

For those of you who asked in the last post, Groupon is a group coupon deal based on the city you live in that is sent to your inbox every day. Usually it's for a restaurant gift certificate or services for half off or more. If enough people buy it then then deal is on. I used it for the first time on the produce since that's about the only thing I can justify spending money on but some of the deals really are amazing

Fun stuff for the week ahead

I know I'm a little late to the party on the co-op produce delivery thing but I'm expecting my first box this week and I'm so excited! It's like my own personal version of Iron Chef where you have to figure out what to make out of all the ingredients!

I wouldn't usually spend the money on this being unemployed but there was a Groupon (another awesome invention) for a small box which is normally $35 for only $19. I know I'll be hooked on this and really, $35 for a week of local and organic fruits and vegetables isn't a bad deal. I'll keep you posted on what I make out of all of this!

My husband has been on vacation this past week and I'm a little bummed he's going back to work tomorrow. I suppose that's a good sign that I really love my husband after being with him for 10 days straight. We've had such a good time but it's time for both of us to focus a little more and drink a little less. He's going back to the gym tomorrow. I've made a point not to rub it in his face that I've been back for 2 weeks :)

Have a great Sunday everyone!