Plateau, or something like it. Already. I knew it would come, but I didn't think it would happen after 2 weeks. The weight has stayed the same, but last Sunday I wore a pair of jeans that 2 months ago wouldn't go up past my lower thighs. Maybe that was 3 months ago.
It's hard to get an accurate weight anyway. When I first set this goal I weighed myself before working out, but I've been exercising at home before work thus unable to weigh myself first thing. For all I know I could weigh a little less but the scale won't show it because I've exercised and drank at least 27 oz of water during said workout.
Went to a friend's wedding tonight. We haven't seen each other in over a year, more like 18 months, and the first thing she said was that I look great and must still be doing Ttapp. I wore a black wrap dress with 3" high open toe slides. I felt elegant. I gave myself permission to enjoy the meal, so along with the prime rib and spinach salad (with a yummy berry and poppy seed dressing) I had some roast potatoes with sour cream, and a slice of cake for dessert. I went back for seconds of all (except the cake), still felt hungry, but made myself stop. I knew that while my taste buds wanted more and more, my stomach would hurt so badly. That's when I realized it's been some time since I ate until it hurt. A full month, I think. It felt good to exercise self-control while also acknowledging while I felt hungry my brain knew I was full. I also did a full set of hoe downs after we ate.
In the past 4 weeks I've gone off the food plan 3 times before tonight. All three times were french fries. The first time was two weeks ago, and I gave myself permission to enjoy, making sure they weren't McDonald's. Then the other two were this week thanks to stress. I fully chose to use french fries to assuage stress. Of course, they didn't. Maybe that's why the scale isn't going down. So many times I wonder if I'm at a critical point and if I would eat properly I'd get that breakthrough to make the pounds drop. And if I slip up and have the wrong food (or too much of something I should limit), I wonder if I was on the cusp of dropping some weight but ruined it with my slip. So much of weight loss, exercising, and fitness/health is actually mental. This is the game I play with myself.
This weekend my husband has training in another town. He took 2 of the kids with him tonight to get a hotel. Our oldest and I with the dog will join them tomorrow. My oldest was diagnosed with pneumonia on Wednesday. The doctor today said his lungs are clearing up. Thank God.
I'm having a problem with the activity tracker and I hope if anyone reads this they can help me.
When I input an activity for the day, it records. But if I input a custom activity the previous activities are erased.
For example, today I played volleyball, softball, and worked out with Ttapp. I entered the different parts of Ttapp as a customized activity. Today was PBS (warm up) and SATI (workout). When I entered all 4 of those, only SATI appears and it was the last one I entered.
Any suggestions? Am I missing an icon I'm supposed to click so all activites are registered?
The scale I use isn't giving accurate information all of the time. I did not lose 3 pounds last weekend.
Today I played volleyball at church with the kids and adults. Fun times, but I would like to play a bit more competetive.
We're leaving in a little bit so I can play in the all-star softball game for our church league. I don't want to go. After we get back home I'll do the SATI walking workout to work the lactic acid out. My thighs are always sore for a few days after softball because of the running. I really hate running.
I've done something physical for 6 days this week, and made sure I walked twice. I planned to do some walking today but I think three activities are enough. Volleyball and softball will replace the walking.
Tomorrow we have a make up softball game after church.
Down 3 more pounds from Friday. That's a 7 pound drop. I know, it's all water, but as I said last week, it feels good to see those numbers. Now the physical work starts.
I thought I would stay the same, weight wise, because Saturday I didn't workout. We had a birthday party for 2 of our kids (forgot to take pictures). We went to a fun park where all of the kids, from 2 to 16, love to play. I had a variety of foods so those with more energy could eat, as well as those who are watching their weigt or eating low-carb. I enjoyed the sliced red pepper and dip. One of my kids doesn't like cake so we make a Jello cake every year. I make sure it's sugar-free Jello so I can have a little something sweet. I had more diet soda than I prefer, so it's back to water and iced tea.
This morning I put in a full Ttapp Tempo workout. This evening I'm playing a softball game. I hope it's an exciting one, meaning we score alot, I get myself on base, and I get some play at home, and I'm successful. Meaning, my teammates throw it in, I catch it, and tag someone out. When I was a kid and young adult I didn't like softball. I was put out in the outfield, never saw action, and it was quite boring. With 12" softball, I use a glove and I'm the catcher. I'm not afraid of 200-300 pound men running into home, I'm afraid of the ball. That little sucker can hurt! 2 years I was hit in the shin and it took 4 months for the welt to go down. Now I wear shin guards and work very hard to get my glove down.
I made a committment last week that I will walk 3 times this week, in addition to my regular workouts. I will do it, somehow. I plan to walk Tuesday and Thursday evenings, after work. I'm trying to figure out when to add in the 3rd. And how far/long to walk. There's a 1 mile loop by my house I can walk, and my kids like to run it sometimes in the mornings. I can do that and start with one loop.
On Saturday I will be playing volleyball in the church sand court. On Wednesday or Friday I'll take all the kids over there to weed and groom the sand in time for that. They'll love playing in the sand, I'll get some more physical activity into my day, and then we'll have a picnic lunch. If we get done on Wednesday I can plan to go on a walk Friday morning or afternoon since the little kids won't need as much nap time as the beginning of the week.
I weighed again today, but after I worked out. I'm the same as yesterday. That's good, it's not up!!!
I struggled with not eating last night after dinner. I went to a VBS meeting and cut out giant cardboard monkeys for 2 hours. I used a utility knife and it was difficult work. When I was done I really looked forward to going home and relaxing. Then I realized, no food allowed. It was only 9 pm, too early to go to bed. So, I made my calcium tea and grabbed my evening supplements. Watched tv, checked email and watched tv. When it got to be almost too much, I took the supplements. Discovered TV was really boring, turned it off, did some sudoku puzzles and lights out around 10:45.
When I first started Atkins, 10 years ago, I didn't stop the evening snacks. I simply changed from ice cream to low carb snacks instead. However, I'm 10 years older. I'm concerned that even a low carb snack would ruin my efforts at weight loss. Sugar-free Jello might be just fine, but my body will think sugar and gear up that insullin. Pork rinds and cheese with salsa have calories, thus probably not something I want at night. I know, I'm rambling. I'm trying but I know there isn't some magical loophole; I'll have to suck it up and not eat.
I have a wedding to attend on July 31st. I'll have to check on the restaurant to know how dressy my attire should be. I'm hoping to be down, ummm, 8 pounds by then.
Oh, yesterday I was playing around with some of the tools here and discovered my BMI puts me in the overweight category. I don't like that. Only 4 more pounds and I'm in the average category. Anyway, I try to consider BMI in the same way I consider cholesterol. Interesting but not valuable for me. Like, my cholesterol went from 280 to 189 in 4 months, and I did absolutely nothing to change that, except include an iron supplement since marrow iron was low. My little story is to demonstrate cholesterol isn't a great gauge to measure health. Dr. Mercola had a great article about that recently. I fully expect my cholesterol to be up the next time I donate blood in August.
Who doesn't want bareable biceps, triceps and shoulders? Thanks to a certain sleeve-skipping first lady, toned arms are all the rage. To get the scoop on creating sleek, sexy arms, I went to someone else who knows a thing (or a thousand) about creating show-off arms: Trainer Jillian Michaels, who just joined SELF as a contributor.
"When it comes to arms, I like dips," she says.
"When I do three dips, I want to cry," I tell her.
"You can do build up your strength to do them!" she assures me. "To me, it's all about shoulders and triceps. We want long, lean triceps, and we want to eliminate the fat on the back of the arm and we want those really pretty rounded shoulders. You want to do something that's going to incorporate some resistance. You can do tricep extensions but you won't burn as many calories and you're not conditioning the muscle. You won't get shoulders at the same time and you're not creating a shape so you can shape the body. So I'm telling you dips is the way to go."
She's pretty convincing, right? But don't just take her word for how effective they are. Try them yourself: Sit on edge of a bench, hands at sides, fingers forward, left knee bent 90 degrees, foot flat on floor, right leg extended forward. Use arms to lift yourself off bench. Bring right leg out to right side as you lower body until elbows are bent 90 degrees. Return to start. Do 12 reps. Switch legs; repeat. Arm yourself with a few more shape-up tips:
Add oomph: To truly firm muscles, make sure your arms feel spent after a single set of 12 reps. When reps feel easy, up resistance. If you do use dumbbells to do kickbacks or another move, can you complete those last two reps of a set with 5-pound weights like a cakewalk? Upgrade to 8-pounders.
Alternate weight: For your first upper-body strength session of the week, use heavier weights and do fewer reps (about 8); next time, go lighter, but do 12 to 15 reps. Called undulating training, it challenges your muscles in different ways, delivering even better results.
Try dumbbells: If you use machines with rigid parts such as a lateral pull-down machine, you may be working the same muscle fibers over and over, neglecting others. Swap in free weights and you'll require input from more fibers to keep steady, recruiting more muscles. Try triceps extensions: With feet hip-width apart, knees soft, a 5- to 10-pound dumbbell in each hand, lean forward until torso is parallel to floor. Hold bent elbows near sides, palms in, knuckles down. Press weights up and back, rotating palms down. Hold for one count; lower; repeat. Do three sets of 15 reps.
I liked stepping on the scale today! I'm down another pound, making that 2.5 pounds. I know it's all water weight but it's nice to see.
Another resolve I made is to not eat after dinner. Much as I'd love to sit in bed, watch tv, cruise the internet and snack, the last part of that trifecta is out. Instead I drink water. Or heat up water to make a 'calcium tea' to take my night time supplements. Yeah, I'm up through the night using the restroom, but I haven't had a late night snack in two days.
Yesterday I decided I will add more walking to my weekly routine starting next week. This week I'll concentrate on the usual T-Tapp workouts of 3 full and 3 walking, but next week I'll add 3 more days of walking somewhere, be it outside or in a mall. I know walking helps me lose, when done in conjunction with working out, and this weekend marks the end of my annual summer weight gain.
It's usually the 2nd weekend of July that I either notice I've gained, or my body kicks into gear. Muscle/body memories of those hard swimming workouts in high school that started in early August cause me to start losing weight in August and continue into November. I'm entering the best weight loss time of the year for me and if I stay vigilant and refuse to give in to defeating thoughts, I'll be at my goal by my birthday, October 7th.
I had a slight rude awakening this weekend when I realized I've let my eating get out of control. Only I can control what I put in my mouth, and when. Only I can get a handle on eating trigger foods. So I stepped on the scale and discovered I've gained even more weight.
My official goal for this week is to lose 2 pounds, but reality is I hope to lose 5. It'll be all water weight while inflammation goes down due to eating all the wrong foods (for my body). After two days I can see my cheek bones again. Tonight was a fast food night with my girlfriend. I had a bunless burger and salad instead of fries. Great victory: when my son offered me his left over fries I turned him down.
French fries are out, salads are in.
Eating regular meals and snacking all day is out.
Exercising is a priority.
I know what I have to do, and I know how to do it. Time, again, for doing what I'm supposed to do.
My overall goal is to lose 26.5 pounds. I want to be 115 lbs. I'm breaking this down into little goals, with 2-5 pounds for this week, then 2 pounds for next week.
Wednesday, the 15th, is the end of the T-Tapp 60 Day Challenge, which I joined this year. For the first time ever I went up in measurements and weight during the challenge. I'm hoping to end at least the same size I was on May 15th.
We're half way through our 12 week biggest loser contest. I dropped a bunch of inches the first week, and have held pretty steady since, going up or down about 1/2".
Last Sunday I went to a shower for my friend's daughter. Most of these people I haven't seen for 4 years for reason's I won't go into. However, it was extremely important to me to look as good as I could. Extremely. I started the day in a black sweater dress, black knee-high boots (with 3.75" heels), black tights, and a very long chain necklace I made the night before. I wasn't entirely comfortable in the dress, and the day was getting a lot warmer than expected. My tights were falling down so I stopped at a store to replace them and discovered the black wrap dress I'd been admiring was on clearance for $7. I grabbed it off the rack, and prayed it would fit. If fit great! It emphasized my waist and fell perfectly over my hips. I think it looked way better than the sweater dress, and my daughter agreed. Even though the neckline was a deep v, I had a black cami underneath, and the long chain necklace I'd made was perfect. I never would have put the two together. Sometimes it all falls together.
I just returned Jillian Michael's Making the Cut to the library, but need to get it back. It's another one of those 'follow this plan/menu/exercise plan' books, promising to help one drop the last 20 or less pounds. The plan probably would work, but being a picky eater, I won't eat half of the menu items. I do not eat salmon, or any fresh fish for that matter. I'll check the book out again to get the rest of the tips and recipes for foods I will eat. One thing I am taking to heart is she said has to happen is my workouts have to increase in intensity and duration. I'm still recovering from low iron levels, so I'll have to determine what I want to do.
Last weekend I tried on my goal dress and it fit! I also decided to not wear it next weekend to the wedding. Nothing against the dress, it's a beautiful silk number, but I've worn it around these people before and it has spaghetti straps which isn't appropriate for the weather or the 2 pm time.
Tomorrow marks my 10 year anniversary eating Atkins/low carb. That's right. At 2:30 pm on the afternoon of February 24th, 1999, I changed my mindset and my lifestyle. It wasn't easy, especially the first week. I didn't have the book for the first four days, and I'd already gone grocery shopping for the week so I wasn't prepared. I don't know my true starting weight, because I didn't weigh myself. I estimate I weighed between 175 and 180. This was a decision I made out of desperation, and I learned how to impliment changes after the decision. My sister was getting married, and I was a bridesmaid and our dresses were being made by a seamstress. I'd had 3 kids, my youngest was under 2, the oldest was 6. The usual story, couldn't lose the weight after each, gained more, blah blah blah, weighed almost the same as when I had the last one. Right after I had my first, my sister started lecturing me on taking care of my body, how I needed to lose the baby weight, etc. There were many 'helpful' suggestions, like, "If you'd just do sit-ups every day, you'd be back to normal fast." "You just need to walk every day" and so on. [once she had her first she apologized for everything she ever said about my weight] Like everyone who's heavy, I knew I was heavy. I had a mirror and clothes that told me this. The knee and foot pain was bad. I knew I was heavy, even fat. I didn't need it pointed out to me every time I saw family. On Feb. 24th, 1999, we were at the seamstress. She had almost finished the dress and only needed me to put it on so she could see how to fit the zipper. There wasn't any way for the seamstress to put in the zipper. I'd gained over 20 pounds in 3 months. The seamstress gave me a month to lose enough weight for her to put in the zipper. I had one month to lose 20 pounds. I was so embarrassed and sad. I couldn't control myself. I'd exercise and reward myself with M&Ms. I couldn't walk away from any chocolate. I ate a container of ice cream, by myself, within 2 days. I knew I was out of control and had no hope. My sister worked with a few people who'd tried Atkins and lost a good amount of weight. One woman was trying to be an actress and was successful on Atkins. A family friend had heart trouble and his doctor had told him to do the Atkins diet to lose weight and help his heart. It worked. Since I'd already heard about Atkins, and I was desperate, I actually listened to my sister. For the first time, out of desperation, I humbled myself, knew I didn't have the answer, but maybe she did. After the first 4 days she gave me the book. She called me twice a day and had me plan my meals and snacks with her. She gave me food from her restaurant to help me. I lost 4 pounds the first 4 days, and 12 pounds in the first two weeks. I kept losing inches and weight. After 4 weeks I as down 16 pounds, but was thinner than I had been when the seamstress first measured me. I allowed myself one treat meal of pizza on Friday nights. I stuck to induction because I didn't know how to do the second phase. That was fine with me. I lost almost 50# in 8 months. In the 10 years since, I've added in too many bad carbs for a couple of months two or three times. The most recent being the recent November through January. I've read other 'diet' books and have discovered each of those books would have had my body type, or blood type, or gland type, or whatever, on a very similar diet. I feel best when I'm properly low-carb and plan to continue this lifestyle for the rest of my life. I'm always open to adjustments and learning new things, but I know that for my body, grains and sugar are bad. Ice cream is the worst, which falls in line with a dairy allergy that was diagnosed when I was an adolescent.
My bad vices are not eating enough, Diet Coke, and sugar-free chocolates. I try to do the last two in moderation. I'm also working on eating more regularly. My biggest secret is I have zero will-power after the fact. I absolutely have to say no to everything bad because if I have one, I cannot stop. If I tell myself it's ok to have a slice of that birthday cake, then a brownie or 3 and rice krispie treats won't hurt. So, I turn down everything that isn't part of my plan. People have tried to praise me for this so called will-power, but it's just desperation and knowing my weaknesses.
Even though I'm 'hard-core' low-carb, it's not a lifestyle I recommend to everyone. We're all made differently, we have different bodies, different blood types, different chemical concentrations, and there are so many different hormones and other factors driving our bodies that I will not say one-diet-fits-all. From the very beginning, I've thanked God that the first diet that I tried, besides free-for-all, was the one that was right for me. Here's to another decade or 6 of low-carb!
The seamstress gave me a month to lose enough weight for her to put in the zipper. I had one month to lose 20 pounds. I was so embarrassed and sad. I couldn't control myself. I'd exercise and reward myself with M&Ms. I couldn't walk away from any chocolate. I ate a container of ice cream, by myself, within 2 days. I knew I was out of control and had no hope.