Weekly-Weigh In: Why The Scale Doesn’t Matter

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I weighed in a day early and my swollen knee and sore upper body led to a slight gain. No biggie, as I lost 5 inches around my waist.

I weighed in a day early and my swollen knee and sore upper body led to a slight gain. No biggie, as I lost 5 inches around my waist.

Tomorrow we’re painting our bedroom, so I decided to weigh-in a day early. I also took my measurements this morning, the first time in 2-½ months. While the scale was not kind, my measuring tape showed me some big love.

I gained 2 pounds this week. Considering I awoke with a right knee swollen to the size of a large cantaloupe, I’m not surprised. Plus my abs and triceps are killing me from my upper body workouts this week. For the most part I ate right and drank all my water, although I had a wee bit too much wine. The vino maybe part of the weight gain, but I suspect all the scale showed was a mass of water retention and inflammation.

My measurements however, are a different story. I’ve said this before, but looking at how your clothes fit and taking your measurements paints a much more accurate picture of what is going on with your body. Read More

Weekly Weigh-In: Down 2.4 Pounds

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I'm at my lowest weight in more than 25 years. In the last 2-1/2 years, I've lost nearly 40% of my total body weight. I'm closing in fast on that 200 pound mark!

I’m at my lowest weight in more than 25 years. In the last 2-1/2 years, I’ve lost nearly 40% of my total body weight. I’m closing in fast on that 200 pound mark!

My march to Onederland (weighing under 200 lbs.) continues. Just 3 more pounds to go…Woo Hoo!!!

I expected my weight loss to slow down after last week’s big loss. With my 2.4 lbs. loss this week, I’m tipping the scales at 202.8 pounds. That’s the lowest I’ve weighed in more than 25 years. Hot damn! So far I’ve lost 122 lbs. since my little journey began — nearly 40% of my total weight gone.

Dealing With Exercise Guilt
I did a great job this week tracking my food and watching my carb count. I hated that couldn’t workout like I wanted to, but my knee is getting some much-needed rest. It’s feeling better and the swelling is almost gone. Hopefully after another week of light exercise, I can start easing my walks back into my workout routine. Read More

Healthy Foods I’d Love To Eat, But Can’t (Yet)

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While I do miss fruit, I'll have the occasional berries after a particularly tough muscle workout.

While I do miss fruit, I’ll have the occasional berries after a particularly tough muscle workout.

I discovered an interesting list of the 20 Most Weight Loss Friendly Foods you can eat. The good news is that of the 20, you can find 14 of them in my kitchen now. The others are just too high in carbs for me at the moment. But once I’m within 20 pounds of my goal weight, they are going back on the menu.

I try to limit myself to 20g of carbs a day to maximize weight loss. So certain healthy foods I have to avoid at the moment. I plan to slowly reintroduce them back into my diet when I’m close to goal. The plan: slow my rate of weight loss by gradually increasing my carb count. By doing this, I’ll discover how many carbs I can eat to maintain my goal weight.

Simple, right? Ha! Anyway, I can’t wait to add these foods back into my diet. Read More

Weekly Weigh-In: Down 6.4 Pounds!

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I dropped 6.4 lbs. this week. Another week like this and I'll finally drop below 200.

I dropped 6.4 lbs. this week. Another week like this and I’ll finally drop below 200.

Hot damn! I’ve pretty much dropped all my weight gain from my trip to Texas. I was hoping for a 2 pound loss and ended up dropping 6.4 lbs. Sweet!

My secret? Tracking. Not exciting, I know. But truth is when I track, I lose weight. Funny how that works.

So my total weight loss is now 120 lbs. That’s 24 5-pound gold stars to my Weight Watcher peeps. Read More

Accountability Time!

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My little trip to Texas added on 8 pounds to my waistline. Time to face the consequences.

My little trip to Texas added on 8 pounds to my waistline. Time to face the consequences.

Well my 2 weeks in Texas resulted in an 8 pound weight gain. While the meals I cooked were spot on (I took a meal plan with me), it was those blasted snacks and adult beverages that got me. Oh, and let’s not forget the road food on the drive. Ugh!

Thanks to that gain, I’m now slightly more than 11 pounds away from hitting the 200 pound mark.

I have to admit I dreaded stepping on the scale once I got home. Yes, I know I always preach about not fearing the scale. Part of me thought the longer I avoid the scale, the more time I have to lose anything I gained from the trip.

Not good. I forgot I needed to hold myself accountable for my actions in Texas. Ah…there’s that blasted word…accountability. Not stepping on the scale for 4 days is the opposite of being accountable.

My biggest enemy in the battle of the bulge is myself. No one else is going to hold me accountable for eating all those potato chips. Only I can do that.

Rewards & Consequences Schmonsequences
To keep myself accountable I have a reward system (pedicures, massages, new workout clothes). But what about when I mess up? What’s the consequence? It can’t be just weight gain — that happens sometimes if I do everything right.

So I decided on the worst possible punishment ever…burpee madness!

That’s right! I’ve decided I need to do 10 burpees for each pound and an extra 20 for waiting to get on that scale.  That’s 100 burpees, baby! I’ve done 50 so far today. Another 50 to go!

 

 

 

 

Weekly Weigh-In: Down 3.8 Lbs., Almost Out Of 200 Club

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I'm at my lowest weight in nearly 25 years. I'm so close to busting out of the 200s! Woohoo!!!

I’m at my lowest weight in nearly 25 years. I’m so close to busting out of the 200s! Woo hoo!!!

Another awesome week as I stayed on track eating just 20g of carbs/day. I’m down 3.8 pounds. That puts my total weight loss at 121.4 lbs! The best news of all? I’m close to leaving the 200s. Yep, I officially weigh 203.6. Sweet!

I finally feel like I’ve busted this last plateau wide open. I’ve had great weight loss 4 out of the last 6 weeks.  The last plateau I broke by upping my workouts. That didn’t work this time.

What’s the difference?

This time around it was all diet. Turns out I was a little lax in my measurements. So when I needed to eat 2 cups of mixed greens, I was probably eating 3 or 4 cups. An ounce of avocado became 3 ounces. Six ounces of sirloin steak turned into 8. Sigh…

There are no short cuts to weight loss. I was pretty good at measuring things with my eye or using my hand as a guide. I just got lazy…and my eyes too big for my stomach. So now I’m back to measuring and weighing everything. At some point I’ll once again gain the confidence to use my hands as a way to measure out all my food. When that happens, I’ll remind myself that I need to do some spot-checking with my scale to keep me honest.

This Fat Chick Close To Running A Full Mile

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My Saucony running shoes got a workout yesterday as I ran for 14 minutes (twice)! I'm so close to running a full mile.

My Saucony running shoes got a workout yesterday as I ran for 14 minutes (twice)! I’m so close to running a full mile.

During my 6-mile walk I decided to see how far I could run. Boy did I get a surprise. I ran 0.85 miles before stopping for a red light…and air. According to my tracking program, my little run lasted 14.38 minutes. I have no idea if that is slow, fast or just OK.

And I don’t care. I continuously ran for over 14 minutes and nearly hit 1-mile.

That’s awesome in my book!

When I reached mile 4 in my walk, I decided to try running once more. Again, I ran for about 14 minutes but could only go 0.75 miles before my legs decided it was time to stop. I’m calling that a victory too.

I try it again Saturday morning.

I don’t know if I’m able to fully run my upcoming 5K, but I’m going to give it my best shot.

Weekly Weigh-In: Down 4 lbs. With Minor Changes

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Down 4 lbs. over last week. Thanks to constantly tracking, I was able to pinpoint the problems that caused my weight gain August 4-16.

Down 4 lbs. over last week. Thanks to constantly tracking, I was able to pinpoint the problems that caused my weight gain August 4-16.

After two consecutive weeks of gains, I’m down 4 lbs. this week. I’m officially at my lowest weight since starting college. It feels pretty dang awesome.

So what was the difference? Thanks to tracking my food and activity, I noticed 3 things that lead to those two weeks of gains. Because I tracked, I was able to course correct for two of those things and experienced a sweet weight loss.

  1. Wine! — The Nectar of the Gods is one of my 10 Known Kryptonites (yes, I need to do a post on this). During the weeks I gained, I was drinking one too many glasses. This week I kept wine at bay (with the help of the husband) by drinking unsweetened ice tea when we went out for dinner.
  2. Sore Muscles — My trainer is pushing me hard lately. As a result my quads, hamstrings, glutes, triceps and shoulder muscles are more sore than normal. So my muscles were holding on to more water than normal as I upped the intensity of my workout.
  3. Lots of Bloating — For the last few months I’ve struggled on and off with constipation. Not a fun topic, but it happens when you’re trying to lose weight eating low carb. The last few weeks it’s been particularly bad. I’ve tried eating more greens to up my fiber but it doesn’t seem to help. Now I’m trying to add a bit more fat back into my diet and cut back on protein. For a short-term solution I’m picking up some magnesium citrate today — something the paleo folks swear by. Basically it’s a saline laxative similar to what you take to empty your bowels before a colonoscopy.

When I talked to my doctor about it back in March, he recommended I start taking a probiotic. Did it work? You bet. But for some reason I stopped taking it. Mostly because I ran out and never picked up another batch from my local Vitamin Shoppe.  D’oh!  So guess what I’m doing today.

My hope is this will be an easy fix and nothing more serious is going on.

Updating My Weight Loss Goals

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weight loss goal, nutrition goal, fitness goals, weekly weight loss goals

Image courtesy of chanpipat and FreeDigitalPhoto.net.

I needed to update my goals with an eye toward overall health and happiness. Sure weight loss is my main focus, but I’m in a completely different place mentally. It was time to I add some goals related to wellness and everyday beauty.

I’ve also experienced a shift in thinking when it comes to exercise. Overall fitness is way more important to me now. No need to set goals related to the number of days or hours for working out. Exercise is one habit that comes automatically. I want to focus on getting stronger and transforming my body.

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4 Weeks Until I Run My First 5K

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My problem Achilles tendon is rearing it's ugly head again. This morning the right side of my ankle is swollen and can't bear any weight. Time for a little R&R to avoid a possible tear.

I run my first 5K in 4 weeks. Unfortunately, my problem Achilles tendon is slowing down my 5K training. It’s feeling better lately and tomorrow I see just how far I can run without stopping.

Time is flying by. I looked at the calendar today and realized I only have 4 weeks left to train for my upcoming 5k. Holy cow! I’m starting to sweat it because I haven’t been consistent in my training.

For the last two months I’ve experienced a flare up with my Achilles’ tendon. It hurts the most in the mornings. After an hour of stretching and light walking I’m much more mobile. But I do have days where no matter the amount of stretching the blasted tendon hurts all day.

About a month ago it started hurting right after my runs. So I decided to go light on the running, just to play it safe. The last thing I want to do is rupture my Achilles. Read More