Day 29 – LAST DAY OF LEVEL 2!

TGIF!

Found via Google.

I feel like celebrating – because it’s Friday AND because today was the last morning workout of 30 Day Shred Level 2.  While I know that Monday I may be posting an image of tears – as I previewed Level 3 yesterday and it looks killer – I’m happy to be done with Level 2.

Some thoughts on Level 2:  Level 2 is definitely a step up from Level 1.  While I don’t know if I’d say it gets “easier” as you go through it, you do at least get accustomed to it.  For a while, I was dreading all the planking, but the last couple of days, I knew I could power through it because it only lasts 30 seconds at a time…except those plank twists at the end, when sweat is dripping on to my yoga mat like I’m doing Bikram yoga.  Okay, maybe not quite that bad.

Yesterday’s food:  unexpectedly went out to lunch with a friend and didn’t make the best decision (chicken and rice smothered in teriyaki sauce) – so I at least tried to control how much of it I ate.  Last night, we had Slower Cooker Thai Chicken and Vegetables, which was fabulous.  I probably would have sopped up all the extra sauce with rice, but I felt I had already had my share of rice for the day during lunch.  Used 2 Weekly Points (33 remaining).

This weekend, a few friends and I are going out of town for a ladies’ weekend.  This could be dangerous for the diet, but at least one of the friends is also doing the Dietbet, so we can try to watch it together.

Weekly Weigh-In #4 and Days 27-28

Weekly Weigh-In #4:  down 1.6 pounds!!!  I did a happy dance on the scale – seriously – the numbers jumped around like crazy while I wiggled then went back to 151.8.  Movement in the right direction on the scale again!

Total weight lost so far:  4.2 pounds.  It seems slow, but healthy weight loss is 1-2 pounds a week…and while I’d rather be towards 2 pounds a week, I’m at least averaging 1.

Worked out with Jillian, Anita, and Natalie the past two mornings for the 8th and 9th rounds of Level 2.  Still haven’t previewed level 3 – doing that in a few minutes.  My right shoulder has been hurting a little so this morning I dropped down to 3 pound weights; I felt like I was cheating, b/c the strength portions felt too easy…until I got to the last circuit.  Shoulder was screaming.  Problem identified: the V raises.

Tracked my food the last two days:  Stayed right around my allotted points – 1.5 over Tuesday and 2 under (or 5 if you count activity) yesterday.  Admittedly, I didn’t finish tracking yesterday’s points until this morning, but no wonder I was hungry when I went to bed….

Day 26…and a Small Rant about Water Cups

Ever been to a casual restaurant and ordered a water with your meal, only to be given some little dinky clear plastic cup?  Why do restaurants do this??  I find this typically at casual restaurants where you walk up to a counter to order and then go to a beverage station to get your own drink.  I don’t know if fast food places do this, but I can think of a couple of nicer places that I frequent that do.  I understand that since they don’t charge for water, they want to be able to make sure a person who orders water doesn’t get some other beverage, but a 6 oz cup?  That’s like three drinks.  Or is it because the price of the cup itself is so much cheaper?

Water Cup vs Small Soda Cup. Image from http://conalldempsey.com/

It’s pretty ridiculous to me that a small soda cup is twice as large as a water cup.  I guess I could look at it as I get more exercise going back to the beverage station for 10 refills, but seriously, if the restaurant feels so cheated by people ordering water, charge 25 cents and give me a bigger cup!

Anyway, stepping off that soapbox:  got up this morning and did the Level 2 30 Day Shred for the 7th time.  I’m so over planking.  I think I’ll check out the Level 3 video today to see what’s coming up soon.

Yesterday’s food: Earned 3 Activity Points and ate 24.5 points. Right on target with half a point to spare.  Drank my water, and ate my servings of fruits and veggies.   Good day.

On another side note, have I mentioned I gave up desserts and candy for Lent?  It really hasn’t been hard for me – I even made my father-in-law an apple pie for his birthday, which I couldn’t taste to know how it was.  That didn’t even bother me – though it is a little awkward to be sitting at a table full of people eating pie while you sit with nothing.  But last night, I was stuffing plastic eggs with candy for our church’s upcoming egg hunt, and I had the hardest time not shoveling Skittles into my mouth…fun size packaging and all.

Calling This “Day 25” – and Progress

A few things that are not working:

• Me – in that I have not been tracking my food.  GETTING BACK ON THAT TODAY!
• Weighing in every 8 days instead of the same day every week.  Silly idea.  Sticking with Thursday for now.
• Weighing in multiple times in one day (morning vs night).  Again – silly idea and there was a reason, but I’ll stick with afternoon, right when I get home from work.

A few things that ARE working:

• Jillian Michaels’ 30 Day Shred.

I’ve been feeling kind of overwhelmed by keeping up with everything and underwhelmed by results.  The scale seems to be stuck.  I know the reason – as I mentioned above I haven’t been tracking for about a week.  So in an attempt to stop being overwhelmed, I need to simplify.

But – as the title of my blog is a constant reminder – the number on the scale is not everything.  This morning, after completing my 6th workout of 30 Day Shred Level 2 and in a need for motivation, I took my progress measurements.  Despite only being on the 16th workout, it has been almost a month since I started.  And even though I’m not following the regimen quite as designed, IT IS WORKING.

• Weight (at last weigh-in):  153.4  (lost 2.6 pounds)
• Bust:  35.5 (down 1.5″ from 37″)
• Under bust:  29″ (down 1″ from 30”)
• Waist:  29″ (down 1″ from 30”
• Abdomen (aka “pooch”): 38 (down 1.5″ from 39.5”)
• Hips:  39.75 (down 1.5″ from 41.25”)
• Largest part of thigh:  23.5″ (down .75″ from 24.25”)
• Bicep:  12″ (down .25″ from 12.25”)

So even though I’ve only lost 2.6 pounds, I have lost 7.5 inches.  My pants that were snug are fitting better.  I have more energy on days that I workout, and I feel better when I drink plenty of water and eat better.

It’s easy to get consumed with negativity – like how much easier losing weight seemed when I was single and didn’t have to consider someone else when planning meals – and how the pounds seemed to come off so much quicker then.  But in reality, it wasn’t easy then either.  My body is changing, a little at a time, and if I stay diligent, I will get to where I want to be.  Stay Diligent, not Discouraged.

 

Week 3 Weigh-In

…umm, what day it is?

In my last post, I mention that I easily get consumed with whatever I’m interested in at the moment; this classifies me as a Type A personality (though I would argue that I am slow to anger and more patient than the descriptions of Type A’s).  Why do I mention this again?  Because after my last post, where I talk about why I will keep going strong with the 30 Day Shred, I got consumed with something else completely – studying for my ARE exam that was Monday – at the expense of eating better and working out.  I didn’t work out; I didn’t cook; we ate every meal away from the house; I didn’t care.  I was stressed about the test.

I will say that I still tried to make good decisions, eat proper portions, and not eat my stress, but that’s about all I the concentration I could manage to devote.  And when I got on the scale this morning for my weekly weigh-in, it showed.  Somehow I was lucky enough to not gain, but I didn’t lose either.  The number staring back at me was the name number I saw last week – and at this point, I’m pretty happy about that.  It’s like I hit the pause button for a week.

But then my Type A personality sends me a twinge of guilt for being happy about being complacent.

Anyway, cramming for the test is over, and I’m back to getting up early to work out and tracking my food.  This morning was my 5^th Level 2 30 Day Shred workout, and since I had taken 5 days off, it’s still kicking my butt.

I won’t find out if I passed the exam for 3 to 6 weeks.  New mini goal – lose 5 pounds before the exam results arrive.

Day 17 – and Thoughts on Sustaining the 30 Day Shred

This morning’s workout:  30-Day Shred Level 2.  Morning butt kicking complete.

This morning, someone was lead to my blog by the search term “how to sustain 30 Day Shred”.  This got me to thinking about how I am sustaining it, because in all honesty, I usually don’t stick with workout routines.  Training schedule for half-marathons or marathons?  I take those as suggestions.  P90X?  Yeah right.  So I’m a couple workouts shy of being half way through the 30 Day Shred, and here are my thoughts on why I will finish it:

• I’m building in rest days – hence the reason I’m on “Day 17” but only on workout 13.  I’m going to do the workouts 30 times (3 Levels – each 10 times) rather than end this after 30 days.  AND – very important – I‘m not going to be mad at myself about the rest days.  Self-loathing only leads to bad things.
• I’ve found the best time to workout for myself.  This isn’t the same for everyone, so you have to experiment with what works for you. What I’ve found that really works for me is 5:30 in the morning.  My husband gets up then for work anyway, and the evening is filled with too much other stuff that I won’t make time for working out.  I used to dread going home after work, trying to fit a workout when I was tired and hungry and there were a billion things that I felt I needed to do instead.  In the morning, it’s just me, my DVD, and the sunrise.
• I remind myself that it’s just a 30 minute workout and it’s just 30 days (or a little more if you take rest days).  I remind myself of those 4 hour training runs for the marathon and that I have given up things, like Starbucks and french fries, as New Year’s Resolutions – and really accomplished it.  Giving up 30 minutes for 30 days?  I can do that.  I guess what I’m really saying here is it’s all in how you look at it.  Rather than saying, “30 days? That’s such a long time”, try to think, “Only 30 day? That’s nothing”.
• And – as annoying it may be for me to post about it every day, blogging about it helps me.  That’s really about accountability though.  Find a way to hold yourself accountable – or someone else who will.  Get a workout partner or someone you can tell about your workout everyday.  Talk to your friends about what you’re doing.  Blog about it.  Whatever works for you.
• If none of that works and you still feel like not continuing, google “30 Day Shred results” and look at the images that come up.

Maybe some of that will help someone.  Admittedly, I’m the type of person who easily gets consumed with whatever I’m into at the moment (currently, it’s losing weight and studying for my exam – that’s pretty much all I think about while I’m awake). I think my consuming personality helps my will-power to keep going, but I know that not everyone is like that (and thank goodness!  it’s a blessing and a curse).

On to yesterday’s food:  22 points + 3 Activity Points = 25 points to use; ate them all but didn’t use any weeklies.

It comes as a surprise to me that I didn’t use any weeklies, b/c I felt like I binged last night.  At dinner, I measured out my food, and then the husband criticized how much food was on my plate (it did look like a lot, but it was mostly veggies).  I put some of it back.  Then about an hour after dinner, we were both hungry.  We shared some chips and salsa – which is where I thought the binging happened, but when I calculated my points later, I found out that I was covered.  The husband’s hunger seemed to be inconsolable, so he found some other stuff to eat.  I recognized that he was eating his boredom.  I used to do this at work.  He’s pretty fit, so he can afford to do that every now and then.  I cannot…especially when it’s not even my boredom.

Week 2 Weigh-in and Day 16

If you think about the title, I’m 2 days over 2 weeks.  This is because I am weighing in every 8 days instead of every 7.  It doesn’t really make sense – I just noticed that the WW Excel tracker I downloaded has 8 days instead of 7, and I thought I’d go with it.  Eventually, I’ll pick a weigh day and stick with it rather than every 8 days.

So not only am I not sure about what day to weigh, as of this morning, I’m confused about what time of day to weigh.  I know it really doesn’t mater, as long as I’m consistent, but here’s what happened:  for the Dietbet, I weighed in last Thursday evening, right when I got home from work.  I was a little heavier than when I last weighed, but I just attributed that to weight fluctuating over the course of the day (I had been tracking my weight first thing in the morning).  Dietbet has been suggesting I do a progress weigh-in when I get on their website, so yesterday when I got home from work, I got on the scale.  Down 2.4 pounds – YAY!  That meant that my evening weight was now equal to my last morning weigh-in, which I expected when I weighed-in this morning, I’d be 2.4 pounds lighter than the last morning weigh-in.  Not the case.  I weighed-in this morning and I’m only down .6 pounds.

Whatever I lost last week – .6 or 2.4 – I’m happy with it.  Movement of the scale in the right direction is progress, and even though I’d be more excited about 2.4, I’ll take progress any day.  But now I’m confused about when to weigh.  While the Dietbet continues, I’ll keep doing the morning and night weekly-weigh-in…but when it’s over, I’m going to pick one or the other (as well as a day-of-the-week), and stick with it.

Sorry for the rambling.  On to Day 16.

This morning’s workout:  Jillian’s 30 Day Shred, Level 2 (2nd time).  Kicked my butt again.  I’m using 5 pound weights and doing the easier moves during the strength sections, then trying to do the harder moves in the cardio and abs sections.  I say “trying” because those dang plank cardio moves are tough, and I usually make it 20 seconds doing them and then having to move to the easier move.  Maybe I’m just being a wimp – but it’s hard!

Yesterday’s food:  Stayed within my Points + Activity Allowance.  Ate my fruits and veggies.  Didn’t quite drink all my water (only 68 oz).  Put dinner in the Crockpot before I left for work, but the husband called on his way home and requested Jimmy Johns.  Fine with me – dinner for tonight is done!  I asked for my sandwich with no mayo…but it was still covered in mayo…and it was a delicious 12 points.  Oh well, I had them to use.  Skipped the chips and ate grapes instead.  Winning.

 

Day 15 – Level 2 of the 30 Day Shred = Whoa!

This morning was my first day of doing Level 2 of the 30 Day Shred (took me 14 days to workout 10 times to complete Level 1).  I was feeling good – I watched the Level 2 video yesterday and thought since Level 1 was getting…well, I wouldn’t say easy…but I was ready to move on.  LEVEL 2 KICKED MY BUTT THIS MORNING.  I thought jumping jacks made me sweat…they’re nothing compared to the cardio in this workout.

So – quick thoughts about the 30-Day Shred progress:  it may be that I am looking at myself like I am studying something under a microscope, but I think I’m already seeing some changes.  Though my stomach has a long way to go before I will call it “abs”, I am seeing some definition…and I feel like my spare tire is a little smaller.  Yesterday, I wore a pair of slacks that were usually a little tight, but they felt looser.  I get on the scale tomorrow for my weekly weigh-in, so I’ll find out if I’ve lost any, but I’m pretty sure my measurements are shrinking.  I won’t take them again, though, until I’m finished.

Yesterday’s food:  had 1 Activity point leftover to consume, no Weeklies used.  Good day…except I only drank 60 oz of water.  I was taken out to lunch by some product reps, and while I wanted to eat the fried, saucy chicken wings that the restaurant is known for, I opted for a wrap instead.  It was tasty too.  One small victory at a time.

Days 12, 13, and 14

Once again, I didn’t workout Saturday or Sunday (unless you count swaying at a concert for 2 hours as exercise…I don’t).  This morning I woke up and did the Level 1 30 Day Shred for the 10th time, so tomorrow I’m moving on to Level 2.

I’ve decided I’m not going to get mad at myself for not working out over the weekend.  Everyone needs rest days, and I’ve got a lot of other things I need to concentrate on right now, like studying for a big exam I have next Monday.  I don’t have time for self-loathing and beating myself up because I took 2 days off – plus, it’s not the end of the world.

Food wise, I did good this weekend (though I had to make an educated guess about the points of a couple of items).  I only used 5.5 Weeklies over the weekend, which leaves me with 28.  For the items I wasn’t sure about, I used SparkPeople’s recipe index to find one that I thought was similar (it was for food that someone else made), then I used the Points Calculator to figure my points.  The pasta shells came out a little lower than I expected…but I’m not going to be using all those leftover Weeklies, so even if I miscalculated, there seems to be room for error.

A few notes for small victories:  Friday night was dinner with our church small group.  Stayed in control of my mind vs. the food!  Skipped the beer/alcohol for iced tea.  2 small victories!

Saturday, after we had eaten dinner and watched a movie, we went to a concert spur-of-the-moment.  I only had two light beers instead of beer that I would have like to drink or any other drink of choice.  I consider it a victory.  I’m not the biggest fan of Michelob Ultra, and felt a little silly ordering it, but one of the other ladies in our group was drinking it…and as I looked around at other people at the concert, lots of ladies were drinking it.  Not that I’m concerned with them; I just noticed and instead of thinking “I can’t believe I’m drinking this”, I started thinking, “Maybe there are lots of women out there who are trying to keep their diets in control by drinking tasteless beer too”.

Sunday, went to a barbeque after church.  I am grateful that the host is a healthy conscious person and supplied lots of veggies.

Notes for things to work on:  didn’t track my water over the weekend, but I drank more of it than I usually do on the weekends.  Need to get better about tracking it.

Day 11 and DietBet

Today’s workout:  9th time Jillian Micaels’ 30 Day Shred Level 1 w/ 5 lb weights and mostly modified pushups.

Yesterday’s food:  22 Points Allowed; 3 Activity Points; 26.5 Points consumed; 1.5 taken from the Weeklies, leaving a total of 33.5.

Had an unexpected date night with the hubby – I think because he was HUNGRY when he got home from work, and I refused to cook until all the dishes were washed…so it would have been at least an hour…and he just couldn’t wait.  Fine with me…I love Texas Roadhouse.  Small victory by only eating one roll!

Tuesday, I was thinking to myself, “This whole losing weight thing would be a lot more fun if it were a game, sort of like the Biggest Loser.  Who could I find to compete with?”.  Then yesterday, out of what seems like no where, one of my friends sends me a link to this thing called DietBet, a weight loss game.  Who knew!  The game is that a group of people all put in a certain amount of money (or it can be done without money – but ours is a $10 bet) and everyone who loses 4% of his or her weight in 4 weeks splits the money.  Technically, everyone could win.  Our game is up to 48 players, most of whom I don’t know, but a couple of my friends are doing this too.

I think this adds another level of motivation; I really do not care if I make money from this – though the thought of getting paid to lose weight is sort of nice – but I don’t want to lose my $10…even though it’s just $10.  That’s less than it costs to go to two Weight Watchers meetings, but enough that it brings out a little competitive edge for me.  But not a bad competitive edge; I have a desire to support all the other players and start discussions to pass along tips and help each other along – sort of like a Weight Watchers meeting.

I’ll report back in 28 days with a review.  In the mean time, I need to lose a little over 6 pounds to keep my $10.