I started Feb. 18th. So it’s taken me a little less than a month to lose that weight.
This afternoon, purely as a mental health measure, I had a chocolate-chip cookie and used half-and-half in my coffee. The coffee seemed too rich and the cookie much too sweet. That is not something I’d care to repeat.
And the thing is, now that I’ve given up a good bit of the sugar, I feel better. I can be content with fruit; the other day, I needed a snack, and so I brought grapes to class to munch on. The repeated hand-to-mouth action was satisfying, and the grapes probably stayed with me much longer than a cookie or candy would have.
The jeans I wore to school Monday fit very loosely, even without me having to suck in my gut. And I fit into a regular desk more easily, too. Those are the ultimate rewards!
Wow, that’s fast! I’m sitting at just under 3 lbs. lost in 2 weeks – about a pound and a half a week, a nice steady rate. I think I’m working out about as much as I can right now (both effort- and timewise), so it’s going to be really important for me to stick with the revised eating habits. I’d like to get below 200 (by the locker-room scale – midafternoon weighing, partly clothed) by my birthday, which is May 31. That comes out to 1.2 pounds a week. Watch this space!
Another plus – I realized this morning that the new granola Mr. S bought a few weeks ago, which is yummy, actually fits into my plan! It’s pretty lowfat and the few sugars in it are natural, plus it’s all whole grains. I’ve never found a healthy, non-super-fatty granola that didn’t taste like tree bark. So yippy skippy!
(1) I’m down to 212.25 on the locker room scale. (Yes I know, I shouldn’t be weighing myself every day, but it’s just so tempting! And I am keeping daily fluctuation in mind and only logging once a week, on Tuesdays.) Yay!
(2) Today was high-intensity cardio day. I usually do an hour of combined treadmill and elliptical on my cardio-only days, but for high-intensity I warm up for about 10 minutes, then run a minute (4.5 mph), walk a minute (3.0 mph) run, walk, etc. for 20 minutes. Depending on how bad the shin splints are, I might break the 20 minutes into two 10-minute sessions with a 3.5-mph 10-minute walk in between. Today the shin splints were pretty bad, so I broke it up. On my last minute of running, I was actually feeling pretty good, so I decided to go for two. And then I still felt good, so I decided to go for three. I would have done more, but I was getting to the end of the workout and I wanted to cool down.
I ran for three minutes in a row! Usually my legs are begging me to stop after a minute.
I am having the opposite of shin splints - extreme calf pain! So annoying!
Your workout sounds awesome, I need to be better at the exercise part. So far, aerobics tape 4 days in a row (poor poor calves).
I had the best soup for lunch - my office building has an Au Bon Pain on the first floor (bakery/sandwich shop). Today they had red lentil mango. It sounds like it would be sweet and nasty and revolting but it was awesome - thick and wonderful.
I ran 5 kilometers straight! (That’s 3.1 miles.) It’s the first time I’ve ever come close to running that far, including when I was a thin teenager.
And Scarlett, I started out only being able to run about a minute, so hang in there, it sounds like what you’re doing is working.
Glory, I had pretty bad calf pain when I was doing aerobics. Going to the podiatrist and getting orthotics helped considerably. Also, I’ve realized that all the jumping and bouncing in an aerobics class is really tough on the calves, so I try to alternate running (which lengthens the calves, rather than making them bunch up) with aerobics, and I’m trying to slowly increase my jumping tolerance by doing some jumping, then doing low impact, then switching back, and so forth.
As far as cardio endurance, I have no problem doing tons of jumping jacks, but after about a minute, my calves threaten to spasm and leave me writhing on the floor.
As for diet, ugh, this is PMS week. I consider myself lucky that I haven’t made a pan of brownies and eaten the whole thing at once. Stupid hormones. At least I’m doing better at resisting the binge impulse than I have the past few months.
Oh yes, does anyone have a good whole-grain bread recipe? I like the stuff from the grocery bakery that has little crunchy grain bits in it, but I’d like to make some of my own without the white flour they use.
Losing a pound is great, but I had been really hoping for a 2 lb week to finally see 139 on the scale. I went all out - diet was perfect, worked out 5 days. A little disappointing.
I have lost four pounds in 2 weeks using Weight Watchers online! It is so easy to do, and it also provides the structure that I need. I think I am going to do well with this. Thanks to those who recommended it!
I also plan to incorporate exercise starting next week, but I’m not looking forward to it. I know I’ll get into it once I get moving, but starting is haaaaaard. [/whine]
I have absolutely NO issues sticking to my healthy/whole food diet but I have the hardest time working out, so I totally sympathize.
Don’t put it off.
Bribe yourself BIG TIME. What do you really really want (that’s not food related?) 5 days of working out in a row, you get it. No work out - no reward.
My big bribe was a 1.5 hour massage at a fancy spa, had to work out 5 days in a row to get it. Once you do something 5 days in a row, it starts to be habit. I’m on my second week of exercising every day. It’s easier this week.
I’ve actually lost about ten pounds in the past six months through overwork, depression, stress, lack of time to eat, and, ummm, “recurring tummy troubles.” Oh, and giving up ice cream.
I’m not quite a size 10 yet, but my 12s are loose on me!
Remember those endorphins! It may be hard to believe at first, but after a while the endorphins kick in and actually make you FEEL GOOD when you exercise. I remember from college when I was running a couple of miles a night, I’d get to the end and want to go another mile or two (and often did). Natural high, baby!
I never got around to posting my three-week numbers from Tuesday:
216 / 210.5 / 150
That’s almost two pounds a week, which pleases me mucho. I’ve also lost an inch – in the BOOBS. I measured five times to be sure. Oh well, last weight on, first weight off, as they say. (Maybe it was back fat?)
My weights and reps are going steadily up, and I’m adding more minutes of running to my cardio days. Baby steps, baby steps.
Sooo disappointing - weigh in day and I’m holding steady at 140, still 5 lbs to go.
I had a great week last week:
Diet was perfect - 5 veggies/fruits every day, counted calories, hit right around 1500-1600 every day
I worked out 5 days (45 minutes high/low aerobics)
I didn’t touch ONE piece of Easter candy (including my beloved peeps).
My body had better not be deciding this is the weight it wants, I still have big thighs, a big belly and jiggly upper arms. Seeing 13something on the scale would mean a lot to me - I have never seen that on the scale in my adult life.
I did have a pretty good night last night, I went to Nordstrom’s and tried on dresses for an hour. Everything in a size 10 fit and looked great. So…I’m trying to focus on success and not how much I hate the damn scale.
Still very disappointed - I don’t even know what I can change next week to break this plateau. I can’t restrict calories anymore, I’m already working out! So frustrating. I knew it would start to slow down as I got close to my goal weight!
Glory, the two things I can think of are eating a little bit more, just to make sure you’re not in famine mode, and doing a radically different type of workout to shake your bod off that plateau. Also, remember if you’ve built up any muscle that will slow down the scale too.
Today is one month since I got on the wagon. Here are my numbers as of today:
216 / 209.25 / 150
Finally broke the 210 barrier! Thisi past week I was hanging at 210.5, and then even went up about a pound, even though I was eating pretty well and (here’s the kicker) sweating up a storm at the gym, an hour to an hour and a half five or six days a week. I mean, COME ON!!! It was getting pretty frustrating. I kept telling myself that I was probably just building muscle instead of losing fat, since my weights and reps have been continually improving. And I’ve lost another inch off my bust and one off my hips (finally!)
Next goal: Under 200 by my birthday, which is May 31. At almost 7 lbs a month, I think that should be doable, eh?
Also, I ordered some shorts and tank tops from Lane Bryant this week for working out in – I’ve been getting unbelievably hot and sweaty in the gym in my T-shirts and leggings. Who cares what I look like – I’m not there to impress anybody (good thing too, with my flabby arms and lumpy thighs). And I think I might need new shoes too – my toes have been getting numb on the elliptical.
So yay! Almost 7 pounds! Yay for me! (Everybody join in!)
Hey, where is everybody? You must all be outside enjoying the gorgeous spring weather. (In the Northern Hemisphere, anyway, heh.)
Anyway, I have more goodness to report:
216 / 207 / 150
I’m almost down TEN POUNDS! I’ve never lost ten pounds before in my life. For some reason this has me really excited. Not too much obvious change yet, but I did put on an old pair of jeans yesterday. They’re still tight enough that I have to undo the fly to bend over and tie my shoes, but I think at my top weight I wouldn’t even have put them on.
I’ve also bought some “cool new trainers” (we’ve been riffing on About a Boy lately – good movie AND book!) since my old shoes were feeling kind of flat, and my new tanks and shorts arrived the other day. And I started doing my cardio outside on these nice days. It’s 1.8 miles down our road to the highway, and I usually do 3.5 miles in an hour on cardio days, so there you go.
It’s great to be seeing results! Makes all the hard work seem worthwhile and really keeps the motivation up.
Hey come on you guys, where is everybody??!! I don’t want to do this all by myself!!
Today is six weeks since I started, and it’s official: I’m down 10 pounds! Woo hoo! And it’s “party week,” so by the time that’s over I may lose a little more when the monthly bloat goes away. (Sorry about the TMI, menfolk, but it’s true.)
I’m here. I can get myself into ketosis pretty easily, but getting the weight off is another story. I’m watching the carbs, calories and fat, but the scale isn’t budging.
I splurged this weekend and ate pizza and fried (breaded) oysters, and Monday I went to Panera and had soup and bread, but now I’m “back on the wagon,” so to speak.
I need to ramp up the exercise, I know, but right now I have a lot of stuff going on. Kid’s activities and work gets really busy before we wind down for the year.
I just need to somehow kick-start the weight-loss again.
I suppose you could try looking at it from the other side – some of us would kill to be “stuck” at 140. But I know it must be frustrating. I haven’t experienced one of those plateaus yet, but my time will come. I suppose there’s nothing to do except keep working so as not to lose ground and wait it out, eh?
