The first week is always the toughest. My husband is also doing this "diet" with me, even though he only has MAX 20 or 30 pounds to lose (and I have about 80). He is a trooper, but we were both were struggling this week. If it weren't for the Word of God, I'm not sure we would have made it!
First there is the sugar withdrawal. I was near in tears the 2nd night in because I wanted TCBY so bad (Duh! It IS the Country's BEST yogurt). Bryan made me realize I was being irrational and I moved on. It wasn't till the 3rd night when Bryan was clawing at the door wanting his ice cream or ever loved Moose Tracks Brownie from Copper River.
The other hard part about Week 1 is the feeling that you are starving, pretty much all the time, even after meals. And we're not starving ourselves by any means, just eating normal portions and not eating any sugar or flour. Good news to report, however: day 7 seems to offer relief. We finally feel satisfied with our meals and can make it from meal to meal with out contemplating biting are our arm off.
But I think the hardest thing of all during the first week is the temptation. The first week, you only have your "vision" to run on. I am personally more motivated after I have seen the fruits of my labor! Plus, later on down the road, you start to forget how delicious movie theater popcorn and tortilla chips are. Sigh. (I guess I love corn?). I did 2 things to battle out this early struggle with temptation.
1. May be corny, but I made a google document (a Word file I can access at my work and home computer) called "Small Victories": a list of the things I refused or turned down for my better good. Sometimes when you make a bad decision, you forget all the GOOD decisions you made. If you want to see my list, click here.
2. I held on tightly to the Word of God. A few weeks back, I memorized a scripture I had no idea would help me so much with my diet! The scripture is, and I suggest you memorize as well:
"No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so you can stand up under it" . 1 Corinthians 10:13
Every time I was offered something, or saw something I really wanted to dig into, I started saying that verse in my head and either walked away or looked away. By the time I had finished saying the verse in my head, I had forgotten about temptation! My God is good!
Can't believe the last time I updated was in May of last year, but a lot has happened since then! I have now been married 9 months! Hard to believe! Loving every minute of it.
It's 2010, new goals, new mission:
I want to glorify God in
my body, as my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. I want to learn
self-control, a fruit of the Spirit. I want to break free from the sin
of gluttony and my bondage to food. I want to turn to God instead of to
food in emotional situations, whether good or bad. I want to be healthy
and live a long life enjoying the family that the Lord has blessed me
with and will continue to bless me with. I want to be healthy so that
when God blesses me with a child (one day!), the child will also be healthy. I want
more time to grow closer to God and to make a difference here on this
earth for God’s Kingdom. I want to be different: I want to crave healthy
foods and be healthy from the inside out. I want to respect my body as
God’s special creation. I want to bring God glory as I turn over my body
and my health to Him for the very first time in my life.
I am reading this every morning to keep motivated and to remember the many reasons I'm doing this!
There are some other, more superficial reasons, including that I want to look and feel better for my cruise in November, I want to be able to shop more places, etc. But really, for the first time in my life, my MAIN goal is not to "look" good for vain reasons, but to Glorify God.
In subtractive color, like in print, white is the result of no color, and black is the result of all colors.
In
additive color, as on the computer or in any form of light, black is
the absence of color, and white is a combination of all colors.
That's what I learned in school.
What
they don't teach in school, but all girls know very well is that black
is slimming, and white does exactly the opposite... So now I have a
brand new reason to stay on track at the gym...
because Bryan proposed Thursday and I'm ENGAGED and my white wedding will be in November. AHHH! :D I must work hard to look good in that white dress (and out of it)!
I'm currently reading Master your Metabolism by Jillian Michaels, the well known trainer from The Biggest Loser. The book IS about "mastering" your metabolism, but it seems your metabolism isn't quite what you thought it was.
When
I think of metabolism, I imagine a furnace in my tummy, burning up my
daily calories for energy. Well, that's part true, but really your
metabolism is your biochemistry. It consists of all your hormones, and
it is the hormones that are responsible for taking care of the calories
you ingest.
As I quoted her earlier in my blog, the exciting
news is that you're not just stuck with a "bad metabolism", your
biochemistry is what is bad. And we are making it that way. But if its biochemistry, it
can be changed. How can you change your biochemistry? Well, there are a
few things that must be changed. 1. The types of food we eat in general
(real, natural, God-made-it kind of food) and 2. The hormones,
pesticides and antibiotics in all of our food is royally screwing us up
and have got to go. Here's a quote from Jillian, can't you just hear
her voice now:
"Take a power nutrient food, tomatoes. God
created tomatoes and they have all the cancer-fighting health benefits
mentioned above—the best form of medicine with no harmful side effects.
Now let's take our little tomato and see what happens to it in the name
of capitalism. The tomato is grown conventionally, and sprayed with up
to seven kinds of pesticides. Then it is picked too early because it
must make the long journey across the country—or across the world—from
its original location to your supermarket. Yes, you are now polluting
the environment with all the gas used to transport the tomato. But
there's more. The tomato is still green because it was picked too
early, so now it is sprayed with argon gas (also used to euthanize
dogs) to make it turn red prematurely. WOW! We have just taken God's
natural medicine and turned it into poison—for us and our environment."
Jillian Michales, p.151 Master Your Metabolism
EEK!
The
book should not have been called "Master Your Metabolism". It should
have been called "This is all the scary information I've compiled for
the past 10 years, but don't worry, there's a very doable and
affordable solution", by Jillian Michaels. Everyone read it. Buy one
for your mom, your dad, have them read it. Regardless of whether you
struggle with your weight or not, this book discusses lots of cancer
prevention, along with how to lower your cholesterol and blood pressure
naturally, deal with menopause and PMS, and much much more. And it's
not just for girls. Everyone read it. It is a scary book, but she
doesn't send you off in a storm of doom and gloom. She opens your eyes,
then gives you very doable ways to change your life for good. And I'm
telling you right now, I'm not going back.
and p.s. not trying to advertise for them, but it's half price at amazon.com :)
Running in the rain, what a glorious feeling, I'm happy again...
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: Last night, for the first time in my life, I enjoyed running.
Enjoyed, was filled with joy because of, took joy in.....running? I
hate running. It's easy to hate running when you're on the verge of
your lungs collapsing, you've got an aching stitch in your side, and
your 195 heart rate has caused you to see spots, not to mention
everything is jiggling and bouncing (sorry for the illusion). Trust me,
I've hated running.
Last night, I had to jump rope until I
reached 500 calories to complete a "challenge" at the gym. When I first
joined the gym, I would jump the rope maybe 25 times and have to stop
because my heart rate had skyrocketed. Last night I would jump for a
minute straight and look down to see my heart rate had only reached 170
or 175. I'm VERY happy that I have conditioned myself and am actually
more "fit" now, but it did take me a little bit longer than it would
have originally to reach 500 calories!
That being said, after my
jumping rope, Jenn and I went out to run, but it was pouring down rain.
Instead of yogging (jogging) we picked up the pace because we wanted to
avoid being drenched and I had an absolute blast. I felt like a child
again, like a little kid playing with friends. It seemed effortless,
refreshing, and amazing. For
the first time in my life, I had a glimpse into why people even like to
run in the first place. Big step for me. Maybe one day I'll run?
I can't put down Jillian Michael's "Mastering your Metabolism"...so good, so much information on our biochemistry and why I'm fat.
After a decade of treating my body like I'm a lab rat, I have hope in hearing Jillian say "if metabolism is your biochemistry, then it is dynamic, not static, and can be changed". I can't blame mom and dad and grandma and papa anymore. I can help change it.
I may post a summary of the book for those that don't want to read all 277 pages of it.
That is all. Also, I bought Bride Wars on DVD...another constant reminder that I better get my act together before I have to appear in front of everyone I know in a strapless white dress. Makes me want to do push ups. Right now.
My gym monitors my food intake (which is an awesome bonus!) They are constantly making suggestions and trying to improve my eating habits. They sent a new excel document for us to use this morning, it was ugly as sin. I've revamped it with girl colors. This is a live google document, so feel free to click and see what I'm eating daily, it updates every 5 minutes (See link above). If you want a copy of the excel file to use yourself, send me a PM with your email address and I can send it to you.
In other news, my new obsession is:
THE GEORGE FOREMAN WITH REMOVABLE PLATES
I already have a George Foreman grill, but I HATE it because it is so hard to clean. When I found this on sale at Target, I had to buy. I have been cooking on it every night. It is SO easy to clean. Seriously. You could almost just run it under water. It grills meat and vegetables effortlessly, and they are delicious! (And it's amazing how much fat rolls off of it!) I've pretty much been eating grilled asparagus every night. Mmmm. I'm already ready for dinner!
4BFit, 6% fat loss, and trying to blog my way back into those skinny jeans
I have not been updating my blog out of sheer laziness, but after a conversation with Jenn, a friend/coworker (and hopefully a new gym buddy!), I realized how effective this blog was for me. Being able to voice my victories and struggles as well as look for encouragement and motivation were all effective in helping me lose 90 lbs. last year.
Since my 90 lb. drop, I sadly have gained back about 40 lbs. :( Why? Because I was stressed, poor, and lazy. I fell subject to graduation stress eating and then I moved on to corporate fattening (due to the continual food in the work place) If I only knew how hard I would have to work to take it BACK off.
At the end of February, I had reached my limit, and I joined 4B Fitness, a local "boot camp" gym. A lot of the exercises are similar to The Biggest Loser: circuit training, and exercises that involve weight and cardio at the same time. They did a body analysis on me at the end of February when I joined, and then again just last week. HIGHLIGHTS: I lost 6% body fat, 5 inches in each thigh, as well as inches elsewhere since the end of February. But I didn't lose any lbs. I had been disheartened by the lack of drop in lbs, but it turns out I WAS making progress. Even better, it turns out I am in the lead for the % fat loss competition!
Jenn went with me for the first time tonight, it was a really good work out. I burned 900 calories, and Jenn 600. We worked really hard and it was really rewarding in the end. I'm hoping she joins 4B with me! (No pressure Jenn). Either way, I'm hoping I can blog my way back into a size 16...then go even further! :)
Calories Burned at workout: 900 Calories Consumed: too lazy to count today
Food: Breakfast: "Creamsicle" Protein Shake
Snack: 1/4 apple and cheese
Lunch: BLT on wheat and Salad w/ feta and balsamic vinagarette
Snack: Forgot my snack today...2 discusting wasabi almonds???
Dinner: Grilled chicken, grilled bell pepper and grilled asparagus
Diet Eating healthy not only helps me feel better physically, as I have more energy and just feel more fit, but it helps me emotionally. Making good decisions rids me of the guilt I feel when I eat bad stuff, and makes me feel more confident and more in control of my life. I'm loving it!
Exercise I recently graduated from Clemson University, and was used to all the amenities offered by a school of such a size. We had an awesome gym and so many classes I could attend. But as graduation got closer, I was farther and father away from the gym. I had forgotten how much I loved to exercise! It took me a good week of exercising to get back into the groove and remember how much I love it. For those of you out there looking for things to do to exercise, here's what I'm up to:
1. I'm poor. I just graduated college and so I refuse to pay a gym membership. So, I've been doing my workouts from my apartment bedroom!
* Wii My Fitness Coach: Very cool, it takes about 30 minutes to set up, but she asks you to take your measurments and do a series of exercises so that she can test your fitness level. She then recommends a primary goal for you (for me weightloss) and then recommends exercises for you to reach your goal. The more you work out, the more you "unlock". Because I've worked out with her 3 days in a row, I now have more music choices to work out to, she's changed outfits, and I can work out in different virtual locations. Very cool!
* Fitness DVDs! I just got The Biggest Loser Yoga Weightloss and did it for the first time yesterday. First of all, it's more like Pilates than yoga, which I like, because it's not the "hmmmmm meditation" sort of yoga. It's kick your butt Pilates. It's a 6 week program, and I did week 1 and 2 last night. OH MY GOODNESS. After the workout, I could barely stand my muscles were so fatigued. I didn't need a treadmill, my heart rate stayed up almost the entire time, I was sweating like crazy, and oh my goodness was I feeling it. I DEFINITELY recommend this video. I got it for $9 on Amazon. Soon I'll be trying Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred. A friend of work told me it was awesome, I will report later! :)
Let me know what cheap at home activity YOU'RE doing! Leave any encouraging words!
