Day 146: Watch out for that Dinosaur...

I’m back!

After taking some time off of the diet and exercising [not on purpose], I am back to it!  It feels so much better to eat well and work out!  I missed it. 

What did you miss? 

Well I decreased my calorie intake to about 1500 instead of the 1200, and then went on vacation the first weekend in May to Charleston.  Of course I didn’t stick to the 1500 for the weekend…hello I was in the middle of the Low Country!  Who can pass up shrimp and grits, fried green tomatoes, and chicken and waffles??!!  Not this girl. 

Then I was ready to jump back in on My Fitness Pal, and bam…sick.  My sweet Ellis came back from Pippa and G-Tum’s [my parents] house with a cold and an ear infection.  Well, I guess I was kissing on her too much because I got it too.  Only mine didn’t go away for 2.5 weeks!!!!  I ended up going to the doc and getting some potent antibiotics, and THEN I had a nasty reaction to those.  Not good.  So, finally [3 weeks later] my cough is gone and my voice has finally come back!  Praise God!

Woohoo!  Photo from Woman's Health

This morning I ran for the first time in at least a month probably.  I forgot how much I love to run outside!  It’s finally lighter out in the early morning, and it was nice and cool.  I could smell the flowers too!  How lovely!  I really did enjoy my run.  I think I may incorporate running [not on a treadmill] back into my workouts.  I was really getting into just doing the circuit training for my cardio, but I think running will help me clear my head a little more.  And you get the lovely runners high.  Woohoo!

What is runner’s high?  Wikipedia.org says that it’s when strenuous exercise “takes a person over a threshold that activates endorphin production.”  So picture you being chased by a dinosaur way back in the day.  Kinda like that part of fight of flight where you have to get the heck out of there or else you get eaten.  Thanks to the cavemen, we can fight through the pain of running and actually feel good afterwards!  [And of course reap the great benefits of great cardiovascular, calorie blasting exercise!] Good stuff.

Hopefully you will not have to experience any huge, scary, man-eating things chasing you today!

Happy Tuesday!

Day108: Gain to Lose

HAHAHAHA, so true!

It’s been 108 days.  I have stayed at the same weight loss total of 22 pounds for the last 3-4 weeks.  During that time I have fluctuated by a couple of pounds.  I gained a little and lost a little, and then repeated.  I gained a little around my birthday last week, and am losing a little this week.  It just seems to be in a constant state of fluctuation for the past couple of weeks.  [I’m sure that has nothing to do with the delicious birthday cupcakes my friend Michele made!] 

It’s tough to keep fighting the battle and staying at 1200 calories when you don’t see much of a change.  So I went to the web [like most smart people do] and googled “long term dieting.”  After a few articles, I found one [at fitnessblackbook.com]  that was talking about taking “strategic breaks” during long term fat loss to boost your metabolism.  It was really interesting!  No, it’s not saying to eat a whole chocolate cake right before bedtime each night. [I wish!  Wouldn’t that be awesome to have a diet that told you to eat chocolate cake every night…along with your other food of course.  Who wants to eat JUST chocolate cake.  Ok, stupid question.] 

Here is the run down. 

1.       When you want to lose weight, you cut calorie intake and usually increase calorie expenditure [exercise].

2.       Your body responds to this cut by gradually lowering your metabolism to reserve energy for basic bodily functions.

3.       When your metabolism slows down over time, you don’t need as much calories to maintain your current weight. 

4.       You end up having to either exercise MORE or eat even LESS to maintain fat loss. [Yikes!]

So the idea is to change your caloric intake to “maintenance level”.  This means figuring out how many calories your body needs to maintain its current weight.   Men can use this calculator.  Women can use this one.  Or you can go to the awesome My Fitness Pal Website and use their wonderful features.  You may gain a few pounds while your body adjusts, but they will come off easily when you go back down.

I am changing mine from losing 2 pounds per week, to 1 pound per week.  This ups my calorie intake by 380 calories!  [This for some reason makes me very happy!]  I think I will keep this for 2 weeks and then switch it back and see if I get a jump start. 

109 days is a long time to have to be very cautious about my very limited food intake.  I will be equally cautious, but I will also enjoy my extra 380 caloriesJ.

Wish me luck!

Day 100: Keep on Truckin'

It has been 100 days!  I can't believe it has been 100 days!  To tell you the truth, I am proud of myself.  I have stuck with a diet, no, healthy way of life for 100 days! Woohoo!

In those 100 days I have gained weight only twice.  Those two times have been in the last 30 days.  That's not so great.  I think that means that I am starting to slow down and get complacent.  Last week I noticed this and tried to step it up.  Last Friday I weighed in and lost the 2 pounds I gained the week before.  Now I have officially lost 22 pounds.  Pretty good, but I want more!

How do I get more?

Here is my strategy:

1- Keep working out 5-6 days a week...hard.
2- Add another strength training session per week, the more muscle I have, the more calories I will burn at rest
3- Try to finish my food diary 100 calories under

I think I can pull these off and lose another 8 pounds by May 22.  I can do it!!!

Here's to another 100 health conscious days!

Day 94: Need a Boost?

No, not the 3 pm double shot of espresso you had in your latte.  Does your metabolism [calorie burning machine] need a boost?  During a diet, you consume less calories and your body adjusts to make sure that you can work on the lower amount of calories.  This is why our metabolism may slow down mid-diet giving us the dreaded plateau.  [Yikes, I hate plateaus!]   Why not try some things to boost your metabolism back up!

Shape Magazine's article...good stuff!

Increase “Fat-Burning Foods”

There are a couple of items you can consume that can rev up your calorie/fat burning [from www.shape.com].

Capsaicin – This is a compound found in spicy peppers.  When your body breaks down capsaicin, it causes your body temperature to rise which burns calories.  You would probably need to take it in supplement form to reap the most benefits.

EGCG + Caffeine – EGCG and caffeine have been proven to increase your metabolism.  Oh yeah, it also has some other great perks too: major antioxidant action going on, can help clear up skin, and can help support cardiovascular health.  The best source is green tea or supplements.

There is actually a supplement by GNC called be-Energized that has both of these.  I used to take these in the mornings to get me through my early morning workouts.  BUT – make sure you don’t drink coffee after you take them.  It’s already got 200 mg of caffeine when you take 2.  I couldn’t give up my morning coffee, so I gave those up J  Maybe I’ll start taking them in the afternoons…[good idea, me!]

Monounsaturated Fats – The fats in foods rich in monounsaturated fats make the body expend more heat while breaking these down: olives, olive oil, peanuts, macadamia nuts, hazelnuts and avocados

Who wants guacamole?!?!

So here is something you can do that isn’t that hard.  Add in some of these monounsaturated fats into your diet.  Instead of eating a saturated fat like butter, switch to olive oil.  Instead of chowing on some pecans or walnuts, try a handful of peanuts or macadamia nuts.  Add some avocado to your salad.  You could ever spread some on a sandwich instead of mayo!  Just keep in mind that even though these are awesome foods, they pack quite a few calories. 

I’m going to try some of these to kick start my fat burn this week.  Let’s hope I have some good news to report on Friday!

BTW - I get an awesome newsletter each week from Shape.com.  That inspired this blog post today.  It's really nice to get this kind of thing in my inbox reminding me to make good choices!

 

Day 90: Excuses, Excuses.

It’s been a rough week. 

Easter made me gain weight. [Stupid chocolate bunnies and eggs and candy]

I’ve been taking some awful medication with terrible side effects.

My medication makes me gain weight and retain water.

I’ve had to eat out for lunch for work almost every day this week.

Excuses. Excuses. Excuses.

Why am I being such a whiney-butt this week!  Yes, it’s been a tough week, and I’ve been trying to get over taking the most awful medication ever [When you stop Prednisone, you actually go through withdrawals!!!!]. BUT, these are all a bunch of excuses. 

I am the best rationalizer ever.  I would beat anyone at an excuse throwing contest.  I am the queen of reasoning away anything worth my while.  That is a horrible trait!  I have to stop.  There is the truth, and that’s all I need to be concerned with.

I can lean on my hubby when I have a rough week.

I know how to limit my food intake…even on Easter.

I don’t have to fold my good intentions because I am uncomfortable.

I can drink extra water to curb water weight gain.

I can make good choices for lunch at any restaurant.

It all boils down to this.  I ate too much.  When you eat more than the amount you need, you don’t lose weight.  You gain weight.  Don’t do it, and you won’t gain weight!  It’s as simple as that.

No excuses.

 

Day 83: Week 12 Results, Month 3

Three months!  I’ve been doing this for three months!  I can’t believe it.  That just seems like an incredibly long time to have been on a calorie restriction…life change.  When I started writing this blog and counting calories, I knew that it would take a long time to reach my goal.  Especially if I wanted to do it in a healthy way and keep the weight off.  I just seems like it has just blown by though!  Thank goodness.

This week I have been struggling with my best friend and partner [Matt] being out of town, recovering from a sinus infection [nicknamed the Nast], and coping with the weird meds my doc put me on [crazy steroids]. 

·         Usually when Matt is out of town, I get lonely and want to make myself feel better by having some of my bad foods.  Pizza, chocolate, wine, and other goodies were my go-to splurges.  I fought that off this week.  Woohoo!

·         When I’m sick I don’t want to work out.  I just want to lay around and mope in my sickliness…stupid Nast.  With the help of the meds, I actually worked out a lot!

·         The meds for the Nast included a steroid that made me stay awake until at least midnight, and have tons of energy.  I didn’t get much sleep, but I didn’t feel like I needed.  The real challenge will be Sunday, when I don’t take any at all!  I feel a crash coming on.

 

Here’s what the measurements say:

·         Lost 1.2 pounds since Monday, Lost total of 21.8 pounds so far!

·         Lost 2 inches in the last 3 weeks, Lost total of 23.75 inches so far!

Good Weigh-in!

I still have 5 pounds to go to reach pre-pregnancy weight!  Then I will have another 19 pounds to go to reach my total goal of 40 pounds.  I am just glad to be within sight of my pre-preggers weight!  I will be a very happy girl when I get there…hopefully in about 3 weeks!  Hey, that will be right around my birthday…What a great present!

Here’s hoping I can stay on this winning streak!

Day 82: How Super Woman Feels?

Is this how Super Woman feels?

In no way am I saying that I am a super woman, or that I run around in a cool outfit with other hunky superheroes.  I am feeling super energetic and kinda crazed though.  Since Monday I have been taking Prednisone, a steroid that my doc prescribed for the nasty bacterial sinus infection that I’ve had for a week and a half.  He said that I will feel great, and that I will have a lot of energy.  Well, he wasn’t joking!  Since I started taking it, I have been doing basically two workouts a day!  Tuesday it was Pilates in the am, and then Zumba class in the pm.  Yesterday I ran in the afternoon and did Zumba [so fun!] at home later that evening.  What is going on???!!!  I am usually falling asleep on the couch watching TV with the hubs at 9:30!  Not this week.  It’s been a week of not sleeping much and going a little crazy with my workouts.  [BTW prednisone can cause insomnia too…yuck]

Apparently this is pretty normal for people taking prednisone or other steroids [not the creepy other steroids that meat-heads use].  Weird, right?!  AND it is supposed to make you GAIN weight!  I read one thing that said you would gain because you are more hungry [that’s an understatement].  I want to eat everything in sight, but I’m trying to stick to my calorie limits.  Another article said it was because prednisone increases cortisol, a stress hormone that can make you add or retain fat rather than melt it away.  Yikes!  I actually just lost my 2 beer fest pounds when I weighed in on Tuesday, but I’m afraid they are going to come right back with this. I guess we will see tomorrow…

So here is the game plan.  Drink more water to suppress the hunger and bloating [another lovely side affect].  Eat within my calorie restraints.  Exercise as much as I want, as long as it’s something each day.  Maybe that will keep me to my goal to actually lose weight this week!  I hope so!

This is such a weird post…sorry for the disjointed thoughts! 

I’m sure when I stop taking them I’ll crash, and that may be a better post…or not.

Day 79: Roided Up

No, you won’t see me in the gym pumping the big stuff on the free weights side with all the grunting men [ew, gross].  You won’t see me getting huge biceps or ripping my jeans with my thigh muscles.  The only things getting exercised today are the tissues for blowing my nose.  You guessed right, the steroids are for my nasty sinus infection that I was trying to fight off all last week.  Nope.  Didn’t work.  I got to make a special trip to the doc this morning because since Friday, I have had no voice.  It’s gone.  All that is left is a squeaky whisper.  Not cool.

So I left the doctor’s office with a steroid shot in my arm [ouch, more painful than the flu shot], and nose spray in my purse.  Now I have to go get my oral steroid pills, cough syrup, and allergy decongestant.  Whoa!  I don’t remember the last time I had to take sooo many medications at once!  That’s what you get when you push yourself too much. 

I worked out Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday last week while I couldn’t breathe right, and had a sore throat.  I probably should have only done some light walking.  Bad Leah.  It is so easy to push yourself when you shouldn’t sometimes.  [I kept having dreams at night about people being mad at me for not working out…ha!] Sometimes your body just needs a little rest.  In my case, my body tried to start shutting itself down to let me know…yikes.  Good thing I have an awesome hubby that kept telling me to go to the doctor!  Matt, you are the best!

I think I have figured out what was intended [maybe by God] for last week and these couple of days while I’m mending:  Stay within your calorie constraints!  It’s a little test to see if I can live without those extra calories I get from exercising.  If I can do that this week, I should still lose weight.

The challenge is on!

I’m all roided up and ready to … not eat too much J

 

Day 76: Lost and Found

Normally when you lose something, you look all over for it.  You search high and low.  You get stressed out about it.  You freak out looking for it.  THEN, when you find it, you are totally ecstatic and elated that you found it!  Not the case when losing pounds of fat.  Last week I lost 2 pounds.   Well, guess who found them.  Yep, that would be me.  This morning.  When I looked the scale.  I am sooo mad, angry, no, disappointed. 

I should have known this day would come.  That day when I would step on the scale and weigh more than the previous week.  I just hate it!  It is so disappointing to look down, and see a higher number.  I know some of why it happened.  Last weekend was Beerfest [read Beer/Foodfest].  I also only worked out 3 times this week due to my sinuses wreaking havoc on my body.  I am actually proud of myself for working out two of those days with a runny nose and pounding head.  Then we had a celebration last night for Matt’s brother.  There were yummy Brazilian hors d’ouevres involved as well as irresistible, sugary cake.  That didn’t help! 

Excuses, Excuses, Excuses!

Stop with the excuses, Leah!  Just Do It!  This is what you say in your head all the time, but now you have to comply.  I need to kick my own butt back into gear.  No more going over calories for the day.  No more not working out.  I just have to do it!

What do you do when you have a bad week?  What are some ideas to help jump back in?

Arggggg.

Day 74: I’ve Got a Bad Feeling

Two words can combine to make one word that strikes fear into the heart of every beer loving person on a diet…Beer…Fest.  Yes, Beerfest.  


Matt and me at Beerfest 2013 in Suwanee!

Every year since 2006, I have been accompanying my awesome husband and some of our friends to the Greater Gator Beerfest down in Gainesville Florida.  My hubs and his friend Damo used to go while they were in college, so this became our new tradition.  We would get into town on Friday and have a fancy steak dinner at a nice restaurant, go out in Gainesville for some drinks, and the Saturday we would get up and go to the Beerfest.  Sunday we would go to a fantastic breakfast place called Ivey’s [seriously the best cheese grits ever!]. 

Beerfests 2006, 2010, 2010, and 2011 starting in upper left...yes that is Tim Tebow!

This year the event was scheduled on Easter weekend.  Not cool.  We decided to change our plans and go to the Suwanee Beerfest this year.  It was this Saturday, and we had a great time!  Needless to say, I did not even log into MFP [www.myfitnesspal.com].  I was giving myself a day off…that actually turned into two days off.  Friday I was pretty good since I was lucky enough to catch a spin class that morning.  Then it went downhill.

Beerfest was awesome, and I ate a lot more calories than what I was used to.  I paid for it on Sunday!  I felt tired and bloated all day because I pumped myself with such bad, sodium laced stuff.  I’m slowly but surely working my way out of it. 

I’m scared of the scale on Friday!  I stepped on it today, and it had gone back up a pound!  I’m REALLY hoping it’s water weight so I get just get rid of it.  Therefore, I am just going to have to work my but off this week to get the scale back down and a little more.

So far I have upped my cardio by attending a couple of Spin classes at the gym.  Those were awesome!  Then I got to work out with my friend Kathryn [who kicked my butt!!]  This week I was able to get onto another Spin class on Monday.  Then Monday night happened.  I don’t know if it’s allergies or a stupid cold, but I could not make it yesterday morning to the gym.  Yuck!  I hate it when I don’t feel well enough for the gym.  It makes it that much harder to only eat 1200 calories.

This morning I was good enough for some elliptical at the gym.  I am feeling ok,  so that means tomorrow Kathryn will hopefully kick my butt some more!  That will bring me to Friday.  I will see the repercussions of my Beerfest actions on Friday morning around 5:45 am…

Wish me luck this week!

Day 69: Be A Groupie

There is something awesome about having one person or a couple of people to work out with.  That being said, I used to be soo nervous going to a group fitness class alone..knowing no one.  I would think, what if I don't know the steps, what if I make a fool out of myself, what if u can't keep up?  Yikes!  Talk about hyper-sensitive!!!!  [picture Mary Katherine Gallagher freaking and smelling her armpits...ok, I don't actually do that...promise].

I had the awesome opportunity to work out with my friend and neighbor Kathryn.  She is super awesome!  She totally kicked butt!  Literally.  My butt is sore!  We did legs yesterday morning, and I am scared about how my legs will feel tomorrow.  It's always the second day after the work out when you really feel it.  [I have a feeling I will be hobbling tomorrow.] Also, I actually burned MORE calories doing my leg workout with Kathryn than I did running for 30 minutes before!!  Awesome!  Thank you Kathryn!  

I took today off, so I moseyed into the gym at 9 instead of my usual 6.  Lucky me, there was a Spin class going on!  Sweet!  I never get to go to any classes!  In the 45 minutes I was in the class, my heart rate exceeded 170 about 10 times.  Whoa.  That is freakin awesome!  I burned 10 calories for each minute of that class.  Yay! 

As you can see, I push myself way harder when I have some company.  It's awesome!  I have got to try to add more of this to my workouts.  Hopefully I will be able to.

Don't have anxiety about working out with others!  They are in the same situation as you. :)

Happy Friday!!!!!

Day 67: Getting Better

On the first day of my healthy life, I had a hard time doing lots of things that I needed to do to reach my goal of losing weight and becoming healthier.  It was hard to keep going at times, but I knew it would get better eventually.

Day 1

·         Couldn’t run on the treadmill for more than 8-10 minutes at a time.  I had to stop and walk for a couple minutes in between to get to 30 minutes

·         Could do only about 5 push ups

·         Could not complete 25 reps of ab exercises without stopping

·         Had a hard time staying within my calorie restraints

·         Had a really hard time getting up early to work out

It’s hard for your body to start doing something that it’s not used to doing.  It’s easy to stay where you are and not change.  This blog was part of telling my self to stick to it, and not quit.  If I quit, not only would I feel bad about it, I would let you all down too.  That’s even worse!  How embarrassing!  That has kept me going at times when I really wanted to stop on my way in to work and get a yummy chicken biscuit. It is also what keeps me waking up early to go to the gym.  I knew one day, it would be easier.

I started to notice that things were easier last week.  It was during the whole heartrate-monitor-calorie-burn-fiasco [Day 61: If aFight with My HR Monitor], that I noticed that my calorie burn dropped.  Not only because of the faulty burn reading from my HR Monitor, but because my heartrate was lower during my workouts because I was more fit! My HR used to average around 155 during a workout.  Now it averaged 140-145 during the same workouts.  That means I’m getting better!!

Day 67

·         I can run for 20 minutes on the treadmill at 5.0 speed without stopping!

·         I can do about 20 push ups without stopping!

·         I can do more than 3 ab exercises [from P90X Ab Ripper] for 25 reps without stopping!

·         I can mostly stay in my calorie restraints [sometimes you need a microwaved moon-pie, really they are delicious!]

·         I get up 4-5 times a week at 5:45 am to go to the gym!

Yay!  I can do this!  The only thing about getting better that sucks is that burning the same amount of calories per workout will be that much harder.  I need to work harder to get my heart rate up to 150/160 where I need to burn 10 calories per minute.  I need to workout for longer to get the most calorie burn out of my workout.  This means, I need to up my time or really up my effort to get my heart rate up there.

So far, I have added small weights and jump rope to my circuit training.  This helps get the heart pumping in the times during the work out where my heart rate seems to dip.  This morning I threw in about 30 sec to 1 minute of jump rope during and after the arm exercises in the circuit to keep  my heart rate up.  [I am pretty sure I looked kinda silly jumping rope in my gym…ha!]  Then I added in a freaky core exercise an old trainer taught me, before my ab workout.  It’s called the Stability Ball Tuck [and Pike].  I haven’t tried the pike part yet though…it looks scary.  Right now, I just bring my knees in to my chest with my feet on the ball.  When I did this a few years ago with a trainer, my body would shake all over.  It was soooo hard!  Surprisingly, it still did that, but not as bad as back then!!??!!  Crazy huh!  I’m gonna keep doing it.  You should try it too!  Here is a video of it on YouTube.  Gotta love the groovy music with it…ha.  This girl does an awesome job!  She’s with www.fitsquad.ca.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lc_OR8I_eDA

Now that I can do more than I used to do, I need to step it up.  Anyone got any suggestions on how to ramp up my workouts? Please comment on the blog or on Facebook!!  THANKS!!!

And thanks for keeping me going!! J

Day 62: Week 9 Results…

My diet has consisted of 1200 calories [plus some exercise calories] for 9 weeks.
I have been getting up at 5:45 am 4-5 days a week to work out for 9 weeks.
I have been logging my food and exercise into My Fitness Pal for 9 weeks.
I have been writing this blog for 9 weeks.

My reasonable goal was to lose at least 1.5 pounds per week, 13.5 pounds.
My super awesome goal was to lose 2 pounds per week, 18 pounds.

Today, I am at a total weight loss of 17 pounds!!!

I just missed my super awesome goal by 1 pound, and blew past my reasonable goal.  Yay me!

Here is what my progress has and will looks like according to Model My Diet.  Isn’t that cool!? 

 

I am looking forward to June 15^th [hopefully] when I can fit into all my old clothes and feel healthier and happier.  I’m almost halfway there! 

You can do it too!

XOXO!

Day 61: In a Fight with My HR Monitor

Day 61: Heart Rate vs. Calorie Burn

How accurate are heart rate monitors at telling you how many calories you’ve burned?

After running on the treadmill this morning, I looked at my heart rate monitor to see how many calories I burned.  It said I burned 456 for running on the treadmill for about 30 minutes.  I started thinking about it, and that seems a little high for just running for 30 min.  When I entered it into My Fitness Pal [AKA: favorite app on the planet!], it told me 354 calories.  Which one is correct?  What if neither is accurate?!  Is this why I can’t get over my plateau?  Have I been eating too many calories???!!!  EEEEECCCKKKKKK!!!!!

 
Maybe it’s because the heart rate monitor’s calorie counter is off!  Stupid HR monitor! 
[We are in a fight!]

Ok, I guess I shouldn’t be hard on the little guy since he is really just made to monitor your heart rate [thus why it is called a heart rate monitor and not a calorie burn counter, duh].  From now on, I am going to just have to calculate my calories burned.  How do you do that?  Funny you should ask!

How to calculate your calories burned using your age, weight, average heart rate, and time exercised:  [From the Journal of Sports Sciences]
 

Men:

Calories Burned = [(Age x 0.2017) -- (Weight x 0.09036) + (Heart Rate x 0.6309) -- 55.0969] x Time / 4.184.

 Women:

Calories Burned = [(Age x 0.074) -- (Weight x 0.05741) + (Heart Rate x 0.4472) -- 20.4022] x Time / 4.184.

For those of us who are not mathematicians or engineers,  here is an automatic calculator…much easier!!

 CaloriesBurned by Heart Rate

 I entered my info into this calculator, and the reading said 307.  If I had been entering 400+ calories into MFP, I will have been eating at least 100 more calories a day!  That’s 700 a week!  Not good! 

 Now that I have almost all of the Girl Scout cookies out of my house, I think I can get back on track and start using my new handy dandy calculator [ok, too much Blue’s Clues].  Woohoo!

 I’m going to try using the calculated calorie burn and see if that makes a difference.  I only need 12 more pounds to get back to pre-baby weight, so I’ve got to step it up!!  Bikini season is creeping up on us! 

 Yikes!

Day 58: Hooray for Circuit Training!

Back when I was first trying to get rid of the post-baby weight, I would go to the gym and do the same thing every week.

·         30-45 minutes on the elliptical trainer on level 5 [really low now that I think about it]

·         Or 30-45 minutes on the treadmill running 8 minutes, walking 2 minutes alternating

·         15 minutes of strength training on either upper or lower body alternating Mondays and Wednesdays

As you can see, this got me nowhere.  I was soooo bored!  I hated being on one machine for that long.  Especially after my gym’s cable company cancelled TLC.  [Who knew Big World, Little people would be so addictive!] I was left to sift through bad music videos, infomercials, and depressing news.  Yuck!



Think of the squigglies as different exercise stations!



Then, I did a couple P90X videos and noticed that a lot of them used a circuit look at their workouts.  They would do one exercise for one minute and then switch to another.  This got me thinking about doing circuit workouts at the gym.  My gym has two fitness class rooms, and no classes were being held at 6 am when I am at the gym.  SCORE!  I made myself my own circuit training class!  You will need a step [like for step aerobics, or a stair in your house would work], 2-2lb weights, yoga mat, and 15 lb. weight.   Here is what I do [in minutes]:

Warm up (10:00) – Walk to Run on the treadmill to get my heart rate up to 130

·         1:00 – Alternating step ups [on the step] to knee raise/elbow touch at the top [I hold the 2 lb weights while doing this]

·         2:00 – Lunging march with back leg lift and bun squeeze on each step

·         3:00 – Swing kicks – put a stool or rolled up yoga mat standing on one end in front of you, kick right leg over it to the right, place right foot down to the right of the stool/mat, then kick the left leg over to the right and place food down next to right foot.  Repeat to the left and then the right again until time is up.

·         4:00 – Push ups and triceps dips using the step to dip on

·         5:00 – Squat X – stand with feet apart and arms up to form an X, then squat down and touch your fingertips to the ground while pushing you tush out and back, then stand back up and put your arms out in an X [I do this with the 2 lb weights]

·         REPEAT until you want to puke or your time is up J 

Give yourself about a 5-10 second rest between each exercise to towel off and get water.  I usually do this circuit 4-6 times depending on how much time I have.  My heart rate stays at about 140-150 during the first 2 circuits and then ramps up to close to 160 during the last few.  It’s a great cardio workout and will torch calories while working on toning your muscles.  I do this a couple times a week alternating with Spinning or running.  No more elliptical for me unless I’ve had a rough night or am too sore to run.  The time flies a little faster when you are doing so many different exercises!

Music – I’ve been looking for playlists that have the intervals included as reminders, but haven’t found much.  I’ll keep looking.  I just use the timer on my watch to time.

Apps – There are a few apps out there that create circuit training plans for you!  Cool huh!  I haven’t tried them, but I will try a few and let you know how it goes.  Here are a few:

 

Let me know if you have tried any of these and like them!

Day 55: The Montgomery Plateau

A plateau is a flat elevated landform that rises sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side [thank you NationalGeographic].   So that means you could have a flat elevated hill type formation with all sides dropping off like a cliff.  I’m not sure what the correlation is between the landform plateau and the weight loss wall you hit that we call a plateau.  I guess it could be when you are coming down the side of the steep plateau and hit the flat ground…who knows!!?

I would like to welcome you all to the Montgomery Plateau.  It is a place that looks barren and desolate.  There are tumbleweeds that roll by [with whistling music in the background].  I don’t like it here.  It’s ugly and boring and just plain depressing.  Yes, I have hit a plateau this week.  From weeks of losing 2 plus pounds per week for more than a month to a trickle of less than one this week just sucks.  Yuck.  I was hoping to meet a big goal by now and to have lost more than 15 pounds.  Nope, I missed it by a pound.  I know, I know, I’ve done well so far.  I agree.   BUT I don’t want to get stuck!  I am so scared of getting stuck again like I did about 6 months ago.  I have surpassed the last plateau weight, but I was kinda waiting for this to happen.



Don't Give Up! Great Info Here



What did I do different?  It could have been a number of factors. 

·         Not Measuring – I could be getting lazy and not measuring everything I eat to make sure I record the accurate amount consumed.

·         Eating too many calories - Hello Girl Scout Cookies!  I have to stop them!  I may need rehab.

·         Not drinking enough water – I could be storing water weight.

·         Eating too much sodium – I eat saltines and soup often for lunch.  There is sooooo much sodium in both of those, and that makes you retain water too.

·         Not eating enough calories – Ok, this probably not the problem…but it is a possibility.

Let’s talk solutions.

·         Measuring – JUST DO IT!  Measure Everything.  Remember the 7 oz, 5 oz pour of wine [Day4: Measure Up]? 

·         Too many calories – Count everything!  If you measure everything, you should be able put it all into your log/My Fitness Pal and get an accurate reading.  Don’t go over.  You are not going to die if you don’t have 4 thin mints…

·         Water – Drink more water!  Mayo Clinic says women need 72 oz. and men need 104 oz. per day!  We should make sure we get that amount and maybe add another 8-12 oz when you exercise.  I have to keep a water bottle filled on my desk during the day to remember to drink enough.  Water helps rid your body of toxins and fat that is being converted to energy.  If you don’t drink enough you will actually retain water making you weigh more! 

·         Sodium – I’m gonna have to buy the low sodium soup and switch the saltine crackers to carrots I guess.  I can’t imagine low sodium saltines are any good.  Hello, they are called “salt”ines!  Extra sodium will make you retain water making you weigh more too!

·         Too few calories – When you eat too few calories your metabolism slows down as well.  You may not be getting the nutrients that you need and the calories you need to function correctly.  This is a great website to help you calculate how many calories you should be getting.  I did the calculations, and to lose 2 lbs per week, I need to eat no more than 1,337 calories per day.  On the days I don’t exercise, I only eat 1,200.  I wonder if this makes a difference.  On the days that I work out, I usually eat closer to 1,600 because MFP adds the 400 calories I burned at the gym to my calorie limit.  Maybe I will limit my calories to 1,337 every day, but not dip to far below either.  It probably equals out somewhere.

I will try these solutions, and hopefully my plateau will turn back into a nice sloping mountain again.  I would like to exchange the dusty tumbleweeds of the flat land for some cute little white mountain goats!

 Find these cuties Here!

 

Wish me luck!  I’m hoping for my 15+ weight loss goal will be achieved next Friday….fingers crossed!