Although, I have to be honest and say that my heart's not in it. Dang. I really don't know why I'm feeling so blasé about blogging lately.
I chalked it up to preferring to read about everyone else's trials, tribulations, and triumphs. But, I wonder if it really has to do with the fact that I'm getting close to the 6-month mark. I started here on July 3rd, so that means in a little less than 2 weeks I will have been on JC and blogging for 6 months. 6 months. How is it that 6 months can feel like both a long time and short time . . . simultaneously??? Weird.
To keep myself from becoming apathetic about the whole process, I've decided to bump up my game. I think it's important for me to start tallying up my calories consumed as well as those expended during exercise. I'd like to see precisely how those numbers affect how much weight I lose per week. So, I've told my husband that I want a Polar watch for Christmas. I'm sure he'll end up getting it for me because he's been really supportive of me since the beginning. (He hasn't complained about the JC food or the cost of Jazzercise even though they're really starting to affect our bottom line.)
With the soon-to-be-mine Polar watch and thedailyplate.com, I think I'll be able to track everything really well. I'd love to be as meticulous as Lupine, but that ain't gonna happen. I'm just not that much of a math person! LOL But, I'll do my best.
Well, I guess I'm off to bed now as it's 10:44 PM. (Yes, I know that I'm a tired, old woman!!) In my defense, though, I want to make the 8 AM Jazzercise class tomorrow since I haven't been in a full week.
I've finally broken the 20's barrier and am in the 2-teens!!! Woo hooo! (Just barely, but it counts.) I weighed in at 219 - a 1.2 lb. loss! Yippeee!!
I haven't felt much like blogging this past week because, well, I think I'm getting tired of writing about all this even though I know it helps. Maybe it's just that hubby is in NYC again (3 days this week & 3 days last week) and I'm out of my groove due to less sleep and less exercise.
Anyhoo . . . today I have a story to tell! Yesterday morning, when I was getting dressed I asked my daughter how a blue shirt looked with the black slacks I was wearing. (She's 9 and a fashion guru already.) She told me that she didn't think the "lighter" blue went well with the dark black pants and then all of a sudden she said, "Mommy! How much weight have you lost?!" I said, "quite a bit, why?" Then, with a look of total incredulity, she said, "I don't think I've ever seen you this skinny before!" I laughed and said that she had . . . but she was only 3, so I can't expect her to remember that.
That little interaction made my day and gives me the motivation to keep going forward. I want to be a good example for my children and . . . (I admit it), I want them to be proud of me.
Well, for those of you with the Gold membership, you may have seen me peeking at your blogs today or yesterday. (If you don't have the Gold membership, I've been to yours, too . . . but you just don't know it!) I wanted to leave comments for all of you, but haven't yet because my husband's in NYC, again.
As a result, I just don't have time to post comments on all the blogs that I visit. I thought I might tonight, but I'm pooped out. I only slept about 4 hours last night which resulted in zombie-like behavior for a good portion of the day today. Sooo, I'm off to bed now. I think my sleep deficit is becoming dangerously close to the caloric deficit that I'm supposed to be creating each day.
Have a great Wednesday! Later on this week, I'll come by your blogs, kick off my shoes, and stay a while . . . whether you invite me or not.
Hmmph.... so, here I am with yet another post for today. I usually don't post twice in a day, or even every day, so obviously this calorie-intake business is perplexing and frustrating me.
I went back to The Daily Plate and took another look at my calorie calculator. This time, I read the fine print below the activity level. It said, "If you intend to use The Daily Plate's fitness and exercise tracker, use the dropdown above only to estimate your daily activity outside of your fitness routine."
Ahhh, so, outside of my fitness routine, I have a light activity level because for 5 hours during the day I'm sitting on my behind with 4 - 5 First Graders trying to teach them how to read (in either English or Spanish). While I expend a lot of cognitive energy and am usually completely zapped when I leave a 2 PM, I don't think that expends many calories. Bummer.
So, having adjusted my activity level, The Daily Plate now says I should be eating 1623 calories per day. This number makes a lot more sense to me and is more in line with what Jenny Craig is telling me, but still doesn't quite explain the "exercise less & eat more to lose more weight" phenomenon that occurs on a regular basis (for me).
Anyhoo, we shall see what happens.
(Yeah, yeah, I know, people! The last several posts have revolved around the same theme. Just let me figure it out and then I'll be able to move on.)
Well, I did manage to get through yesterday without going to Shipley's (my favorite donut shop). But, I did have some chocolate milk that I bought at a convenience store while I was taking my son to a band function. Yes, there was a little more fat in it than I usually have, and a few more calories, but I subtituted it for my 2 milks and tried to watch my calories for the rest of the day. I even made a great choice when we went out to lunch! We went to Cracker Barrel and I ordered a Diet Coke and a Grilled Chicken Salad. I ate only half of the chicken and half of the egg in the salad, so it was mostly vegetables with literally one teaspoon of ranch dressing. (I don't like dressings too much, so added calories there is never a problem.) I also had 1 biscuit there, which was major progress because I love those things!
Earlier this week, Andrea suggested that, to keep track of calories, I log my food on www.thedailyplate.com. I've created an account there and have started entering my food intake (including the chocolate milk!), but I have to say that I'm a little perplexed. The Daily Plate estimated that to LOSE 2 LBS. per week, I should be eating about 2,026 calories per day.
What?! Two thousand twenty-six calories per day??!!
Part of me is thinking that I've obviously done something wrong. But, I've checked twice to make sure that I entered my age, weight, height, and activity level correctly. I put myself down with a "moderate" activity level since since I'm trying to go to Jazzercise 3 times per week now and that doesn't include any other activities I might do, like biking or walking. But, I just can't think of myself as having a "high" activity level because I'm nowhere near as active as some people, like Andrea and Stacey.
The other part of me, though, is thinking that they might be right, given the fact that when I splurge more and exercise less, I suddenly lose more weight. Jenny Craig has me at 1500 calories and I'm really trying to stick with that this week, making sure to eat my fruits and veggies. My JCC asked me to fill out the food chart this week so that we could review it. I told her I would, but since I I've started doing it on The Daily Plate, I'll have to go back and transfer all the info. Or maybe, I'll just print it out somehow so she can see the calorie totals, even when I've eaten something "off plan" . . .
Whatever happens, it's going to be interesting to see how this all pans out over the next week or two.
Yesterday morning, I woke up with the taste of a chocolate donut still lingering in my mouth. Even this morning, I can still picture myself eating the donut. I can still feel it in my hand, how it seemed to melt in my mouth, how little crumbs tumbled down as I took each bite. It was sooo satisfying, sooo pleasurable . . . really, it was a very close second to good sex. (Frightening, huh?)
The problem with all this is not that I ate the donut, but that I want more. Why, you ask? Because I didn't even really eat the darn thing! It was a dream!
This whole "change your lifestyle / change your body" business is apparently getting to me. The bad part is that my subconscious is not even being subtle, anymore. Eeks! I hope I can resist whatever temptation is lurking out there today!
Yes, I know. My entries keep talking about the same thing over and over - I wasn't eating enough to keep losing weight. (I have to keep repeating it to myself to believe it because seems to defy all logic . . . and it definitely defies everything I was ever "taught" about losing weight in the past.
This morning I weighed in at 221 - a 2.2 lb. loss! And with all that eating this week to boot! I guess I was starving myself for 3 weeks. I've got a thick skull, but I think it's starting to sink in.
I do wonder, though . . .My JCC told me that at 225, I was supposed to go down to 1500 calories, then at under 200 lbs., I would go to 1200 calories. I don't think that's going to be enough for me, given the amount of exercise I'm trying to push myself towards. What do you all think? (Maybe it will be a trial & error issue . . . finding out what works for me.)
I have another success to report, too. I got in 100 ounces of water yesterday! That's usually one of my battles - making sure I drink enough water. So . . . yay me!! I'm going to shoot for drinking 80 - 100 ounces every day this week. Wish me luck!
I forgot to mention that today I stopped at Chick-Fil-A for lunch after my doctor's appointment . . . to the tune of 897 calories. Oh, whyyy did I have to eat those waffle fries? lol
Anyhoo, 'cause of that, it's going to be a JC night all the way. Mac & cheese, yogurt, and . . . (drum roll, please) . . . carrots. LOL
It seems I'm not eating enough, in general, so my weight loss has slowed. I have to be honest. I have not been following the JC plan as I should have been during the past few weeks. I've been skipping some fruits and since Thanksgiving, I've skipped a few salads because I was just too lazy to go to the store and get more salad fixings.
After my weigh-in last Wednesday, I was feeling frustrated with not losing more, so Thursday I decided to "let" myself have pizza. Then, Friday we went out to eat Tex-Mex - I had spinach quesadillas and a whole lot of chips & salsa. Then, on Saturday, I asked hubby to pick up some chocolate ice cream (can you say: o - vu - la - tion?) Sunday, I rounded off the weekend by eating more Rocky Road ice cream.
I was SURE that when I stepped on the scale this morning, I'd be at 230. But no. It bee-bopped between 222point (something) and 223 before finally settling in at 223. Then, at the doctor's office I weighed 226.8 which is about what it should be when you add in clothes and food eaten during the day.
I'm a little disappointed that I let myself splurge so many days in a row. . . on one hand. But, one the other hand, I feel pretty darn satisfied! So, somebody, please remind me that I lucked out this time around and this type of behavior will only lead me back to my "start" weight.
By not eating the fruits and salads as outlined in my plan, I'm not getting enough calories. I'd be better off to just eat that instead of splurging for days on end.
On another note, the Jazzercise Personal Touch class is awesome! I love the small-group workout! Plus, I made it to Jazzercise 3 times this past week, in addition to the 2 Personal Touch classes. I'm going to try to keep bumping that up, especially as we near the winter holiday break. (Then, I'll have no excuse for not going more than twice per week.)
Ahhh, also, this morning I tried to put on some work slacks and when I saw myself in the mirror, I knew there was no way I could wear them. They're simply too big and I can't pull off wearing the super baggy clothes, anymore. I had about 2 inches of extra material on each side of my hips, plus the inch or more around the waist! What a great feeling!
I'm really excited today! Tonight, I'll go to my first "Personal Touch" class at Jazzercise. These sessions are small-group and focus on weight training and body sculpting.
I'm really looking forward to these classes because I think they will help me change my body shape a bit. I'm moving towards having lost 40 lbs., but when I look in the mirror, I don't see much of a difference. (My mom and cousin seemed to think I looked different, but I don't because I see myself naked!) I may be smaller overall, but the proportions are the same - I still have a huge tire around the middle that doesn't seem to be getting any smaller at all!
Can I just say it: I HATE being an !!!
It's really frustrating that to have pants fit my rear, they have to be tight in the belly. Even when I got down to a size 10 (once), I still had a muffin top. But, if I get pants that fit my belly correctly, then I look like I shit in my pants!
(It's true.... and don't forget, I have a 14-month old, so I see what a full diaper looks like on a daily basis!)
I've read in numerous places that "belly" fat is the easiest fat to get rid of. To that, I say, "BITE ME!" My slow belly fat loss could rival that of any pear-shaped gal.
Ok. Now that I got that out, I've got to get moving. Tonight, I'll hopefully start taking a bite out of that apple shape myself.
But, I'll do my best.
!!!