10 Days Since

It has been 10 days since my last post and my last weigh in. Last week was very hectic at work and I just had no time to post. This week my daughter was sick, well a continuation of last week, we found that she had a borderline mumps test. Yes, mumps! She has been vaccinated for it but according to the pediactricians this kind of thing has happened before.

On top of her being sick I came down with a horrible stomach virus. I am finally getting my appetite back.

Anyway, enough complaining. My appetite is back, I can go back to the gym and I'm all set to start the new FIT challenge.

I just have to make it through this weekend for my next weigh in and hope that I have lost at least a pound or two.

Trying and trying

Today was my weekly weigh-in, I'm down 1.5 pounds. For the last few weeks I've been fluctuating up a pound or so, then down a pound or so. It is so frustrating!

I met with Mel, my dietician, today and she is helping me tweak my eating and spread out my meals a little better. The past week and a half has been difficult, I haven't been following my normal routines. I have to see her again in two weeks, she wants me to lose 3 pounds by then. I know I can do, maybe knowing that I have to be accountable to her on March 7 will make me stick to my plan.

On a brighter note, DH and I rebooked our vacation house for the first week of June. I will be beach bound and bikini ready!

Journal:
Deciding to cancel our vacation a few weeks ago definitely had an adverse effect on me. I believe that is part of the reason I have been fluctuating. The thought of not going on vacation really had me down in the dumps. When DH saw that I was feeling blue about it, we looked at our budget again, realized we can afford a vacation, found a smaller house at half the cost and booked it this weekend.

I am now feeling very motivated again.

WI

Why do my numbers have to keep going up?

I weighed in at 234 today, up another 1.5 pounds!

But! It was all muscle again. I lost another 1/2 pound of fat.

So I know, I know, don't worry so much about the numbers. The fat is dropping, the muscle is going up. That is good.

My exercise pysiologist, from here on out to be known as the guru, has changed my workout prescription. I will be doing 45 minutes of cardio 4 days a week on my lunch break. Then will be doing two different sets of strength training exercises each evening when I get home, or before leaving for work, to ensure I get my activity in each day.

Thank goodness she is there to listen and can help me figure something out to work into an already tight schedule. She said with my lean muscle mass increasing and upping my cardio to 45 minutes a day I should see the weight coming off a little faster now. I have to find some way to make myself do 45 mins each day, for a girl that hates cardio this is not going to be easy.

Journal:
I was feeling a bit down after my weigh in, I wanted to see a lower overall number. I understand that my WI was good this week. Hopefully with the changes made to my plan things will look better next week.

I hate cardio

Yep, I'll admit it. I hate cardio workouts. The treadmill is my enemy, the bike my burden, and well we won't even talk about the elliptical. Simply put, I can't stand to do a cardio workout. It makes me sweat, makes me ache, makes me thirsty, and did I mention it makes me sweat?

Even though I hate it I've been doing it, I try for 30 minutes a day at least three times a week. Most weeks I hit that goal, others I go over and some weeks I only manage twice a week. I noticed yesterday for the first time that it is actually doing me some good.

I have a very steep hill behind my house that my dogs love to run up and down (oh to have their energy). Yesterday my baby, Ace (see pic), decided he was gonna have some fun with mommy. He took off up this hill and disappeared into the surrounding woods and would not come back when I called him. After 15 minutes of trying to coax him down I decided to go after him.

I started up the hill and as I was climbing I was calling for Ace, while staying out of the path of my two older dogs, sidestepping is a more accurate term. Before I knew it I was almost at the top of the hill and I was barely even winded! I made it to the top and I was still breathing almost normally. This was a huge accomplishment for me.

I have never climbed that hill without being winded at the quarter way mark. I have actually refused to attempt to climb it for the past year because I didn't want to lose my breath or get sweaty.

As I got to the top Ace decides to come to me, so we raced down the hill and around the house. I felt exhilarated.

Yes, I still hate cardio, but my hard work is paying off.

A plea to smokers

Yesterday morning around 6:30am dh and I received a phone call from my mil, my fil was not breathing and she had just called 911 to take him to the hospital. My fil has emphysema, he smoked for 45 years, then 15 years ago he almost died because of the damage from cigarettes. He quit smoking cold turkey then, has never picked up another. Yet, he still suffers from the after effects of smoking.

His immune system has deteriorated, he is on oxygen 24/7, he can barely walk 10 feet from his living room to the bathroom. After 3 agonizing hours at the local hospital he was finally stabilized enough to be moved to a larger regional hospital where he was put on a ventilator and kept sedated.

Praise to God, the wonderful doctors and nurses seem to be helping my dear FIL, they removed the ventilator this morning and will see if he can breathe on his own for a while. For now. This is not our first time with a scare like this, but this one was the worst by far. He is not out of the woods yet, will be in CCU for at least a week. Followed, most likely, with another weeklong stay in a regular hospital ward.

I am probably one of the biggest anti-smokers around, I realize it is a touchy subject,  but this is my blog, I can say what I want.

I'm begging you, anyone that smokes to STOP! If my FIL can quit cold turkey after smoking for 45 years ANYONE can do it. If you don't want to stop for yourself do it for those who love you.

You cannot imagine how heartbreaking it is to look into the eyes of a child and have to tell her that her beloved grandfather almost died, and its all because of cigarettes!

If you can't quit cold turkey, get help. Just stop smoking, it will kill you. Watching you die eats away at the hearts of those that love you.

A Gain

This week I have gained 2.5 pounds. If I didn't have the handy little tanita scale to weigh in on I would have been disappointed. looking at my results I actually lost a pound of body fat, dropping my body fat % down. I also gained 4 pounds of muscle. I'm also retaining a little water, I know that is because I did not drink all of my water over the weekend.

My dietician adjusted my food intake today as well, she said I've been doing well but she took down my carb and fat intakes just a little bit to help me get more weight off.

I'm not going to worry about the gain, because I know it is muscle mass, I worked really hard last week on my weight circuits, obviously my hard work is paying off.

For those that don't know, a Tanita scale is actually a body composition monitor that monitors your true body mass (how much your body weighs without all the fat - bones, muscle, organs), your fat weight, your water weight. It is really cool because you can see just where your weightloss is occurring.

Journal 6:
So far I'm feeling good, I'm still worried about the layoffs that occurred last week and others that could happen. I'm just going to do my best to go with the flow and not stress about it. Stress really adds the pounds on.

I Survived

Superbowl Sunday!

Tomorrow is the real test, how will my weigh in go? Honestly, I could be up. I really hope not. I had two brownies and one slice of regular homemade bread yesterday. Everything else was within my eating plan.

The pulled pork I made was the best I have ever made, and tooting my own horn here - on a normal day I make awesome pulled pork. Everyone had fun and I ended up running them all out of my house about 10. I love family and friends, but for us its not so much Superbowl Sunday but Superbowl Weekend. It was exhausting!

Now back to my normal routines, I hit the gym in an hour.

Journal 5:
I'm still not feeling 100% normal, I'm a bit bored and overwhelmed with life. I'm trying hard not to turn to food for eating. I have been cooking/baking more for the family.

I splurged...

Last night I splurged. I have been eating on plan all week, last night dh and I were out shopping for birthday gifts and my sister and her bf called and asked us to meet for dinner. Well needless to say, we did, we met at our favorite Mexican restaurant. I induldged and had some chips and salsa, not the entire basket like normal, heck not even a quarter of a basket, I think I had about 12 - 15 chips. DH and I split an order of beef nachos for our dinner. I did good I had a few of the chips, but ate mostly beef and cheese.

Now for my confession, I had a beer. My first drink since New Years Eve. Let me tell you, that was the best 12oz of beer I've ever had. It was served in a can that had been sitting in ice, it was so cold that it had ice chips that lasted until I the last sip.

It was definitely worth the indulgence.

I'll put it in my food journal and not worry about it. I will be on track all day today and tomorrow and the next day. Life is full of last minute dinner invites and such, I can't beat myself up for an occasional slip.

Journal 4:
Today I'm feeling overwhelmed, I have a full weekend planned, birthday parties all day today and a superbowl party tomorrow. Plus, I have midterms this week so I have to fit in some study time. Oh well, I don't feel the urge to eat, I had my oatmeal and yogurt for breakfast and am feeling pretty good.

Body Flow

Today I went to a body flow class at the gym, it is a combination of tai chi, yoga, and pilates. The class was a pretty good one, it really worked my thighs. I don't think I will do it again over my lunch break though, I didn't feel that it gave me a good enough workout. I think I may just start going to that every Tuesday morning, which means dragging myself out of bed at 5am.

I am also contemplating taking a spinning class on Wednesdays. I tried this once a few years ago and hated it, but I know it is a great calorie burner and honestly I need a change from my regular routine.

Journal 3:
Today I'm feeling pretty good. No major shocks to deal with so I haven't been driven to food. Of course, the day is not over, but if I can make it through work then I've got it made.

Brownies

I'm gonna share the recipe for the brownies I found on www.eatingwell.com

Chewy Chocolate Brownies
(you can click the name of the recipe to go directly to the site)

Makes 24 brownies

Ingredients
16 whole chocolate graham crackers (8 ounces)
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt (I use low sodium salt)
2 large eggs
1 large egg white
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar or 3 tablespoons Splenda Sugar Blend for Baking
1/2 cup granulated sugar or 3 tablespoons Splenda Sugar Blend for Baking
2 teaspoons instant coffee granules
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2/3 cup chopped pitted dates
1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

(I'm going to test these out using splenda for baking and egg beaters. )

INSTRUCTIONS
1.  Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Coat an 8x11 inch baking dish with cooking spray.

2.  Pulse graham crackers into crumbs in a food processor (or place in a plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin - my favorite method: burn calories and take out some frustration) This will make about 2 cups of crumbs. Transfer to a small bowl, add cocoa and salt, mix well.

3.  Combine eggs, egg white, brown sugar (or Splenda) and granulated sugar (or Splenda) in a large bowl. Beat with electric mixer on high until thickened, about 2 minutes. Blend in coffee granules and vanilla.  Gently fold in dates, chocolate chips and the reserved crumb mixture. Scrape the batter into the prepared baking dish, spreading evenly.

4.  Bake the brownies until the top springs back when lightly touched, 25 - 30 minutes. Let cool completely before cutting.

Notes:
To avoid trans-fatty acids, look for brands of graham crackers that do not contain partially hydrogenated canola oil. (ex: Mi-Del chocolate snaps or Barbara's Chocolate Go-Go Grahams)

NUTRITIONAL DATA:
93 calories
2 g fat
18 mg cholesterol
18 g carbohydrates
2 g protein
1 g fiber
72 mg sodium

dietary exchange: 1 carbohydrate