Down .6 pounds! Ta-da!! So that's five pounds in 12 weeks. But I'm only going to say positive things because a loss is a loss and that's that. This week I'm going to try and get in some more exercise, I was only able to get in three days this past week ("only" being a relative term, considering how busy I am right now I should be more proud of my three workouts I think!)
But yeah, that's my goal, to get a few more workouts in. Even if it's just more walking, it's something.
I'm very much looking forward to this weekend. Tomorrow at 4pm I'll be done with my speech class and then Sunday is going to be a great day of football. For the first time since I've lived out east my Colts are playing someone New Yorkers actually care about - the New York Jets. All I have to say about that is...
Go Colts!!!!!!!
Friday, January 22, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
School has taken over...
Taken over everything it seems! See, in order to finish my MBA in a somewhat reasonable amount of time (like say, less than five years) I have to take these crazy intensive courses from time to time. Intensive course = a regular course crammed into a very small amount of time. You add that to my resolution to actually do all of the work for my classes and you have one slightly overwhelmed girl.
The good news is this will all be over two weeks from now. The bad news is I have to get through till then!
My third weigh in of the year is tomorrow and I'm not feeling very hopeful. I'm one of those every day weigher type people and lets just say, I'll be lucky to maintain. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't totally disappointed. I've stuck to my points, and while I haven't exercised a ton, I did get in three workouts this week, which considering my schedule is amazing! So a maintain would be pretty disheartening.
Hopefully I'll be happily surprised, but even if I'm not, I have to keep on keeping on, I mean, what else can I do? I don't have any other options. Although I will say I did make an appointment for a real physical next month, so if I continue to struggle this much to lose weight you can bet I'll be marching my butt in there with my food/exercise journal to try and figure out what the heck is going on!
The good news is this will all be over two weeks from now. The bad news is I have to get through till then!
My third weigh in of the year is tomorrow and I'm not feeling very hopeful. I'm one of those every day weigher type people and lets just say, I'll be lucky to maintain. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't totally disappointed. I've stuck to my points, and while I haven't exercised a ton, I did get in three workouts this week, which considering my schedule is amazing! So a maintain would be pretty disheartening.
Hopefully I'll be happily surprised, but even if I'm not, I have to keep on keeping on, I mean, what else can I do? I don't have any other options. Although I will say I did make an appointment for a real physical next month, so if I continue to struggle this much to lose weight you can bet I'll be marching my butt in there with my food/exercise journal to try and figure out what the heck is going on!
Friday, January 15, 2010
Friday Weigh In
Happy Friday!
As of this morning I was done 1.6 pounds for the week, which is the biggest loss by far I've had on this weight loss journey of 11 weeks. So that makes my grand total of weight loss 4.4 pounds for an average of .4 pounds a week! Wahoo! I'm moving on up!! Can't wait to see what the future brings.
I'm trying hard not to make timed goals for myself since I seem to lose so slowly. I think it would just be more discouraging than anything. But it is so tempting to try and say I'd like to lose X pounds by my birthday or something. But for now I'm staying strong. My goal right now is to be on plan every day until my birthday and then give myself my birthday off to not count points (and only my birthday.) That would be 85 consecutive days of counting points. I think that's going to be my challenge to myself instead of a timed weight loss goal!
Today I'm planning on heading to pilates, and I'm writing it here so that I will force myself to go. I actually enjoy the class once I get there, but so often I find myself having a hard time mustering up the motivation to actually get out of my chair and out the door to the gym. Today is not going to be one of those days!
I'm really looking forward to the long weekend ahead (even if I do have class from 9-4 on Saturday.) I'm looking even more forward to the football games. Wahoo playoffs! The Colts play the Ravens at 8:15pm on Saturday night. I am sooo nervous. Lets hope my boys come out to play tomorrow night! Go Colts!!!
As of this morning I was done 1.6 pounds for the week, which is the biggest loss by far I've had on this weight loss journey of 11 weeks. So that makes my grand total of weight loss 4.4 pounds for an average of .4 pounds a week! Wahoo! I'm moving on up!! Can't wait to see what the future brings.
I'm trying hard not to make timed goals for myself since I seem to lose so slowly. I think it would just be more discouraging than anything. But it is so tempting to try and say I'd like to lose X pounds by my birthday or something. But for now I'm staying strong. My goal right now is to be on plan every day until my birthday and then give myself my birthday off to not count points (and only my birthday.) That would be 85 consecutive days of counting points. I think that's going to be my challenge to myself instead of a timed weight loss goal!
Today I'm planning on heading to pilates, and I'm writing it here so that I will force myself to go. I actually enjoy the class once I get there, but so often I find myself having a hard time mustering up the motivation to actually get out of my chair and out the door to the gym. Today is not going to be one of those days!
I'm really looking forward to the long weekend ahead (even if I do have class from 9-4 on Saturday.) I'm looking even more forward to the football games. Wahoo playoffs! The Colts play the Ravens at 8:15pm on Saturday night. I am sooo nervous. Lets hope my boys come out to play tomorrow night! Go Colts!!!
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Resolution #1
So I won't say that I've never made New Year's Resolutions, because I most certainly have, but they've never been a really big deal to me. What has been kind of a big deal to me is that fantastic energetic feeling I get at the beginning of a new year. I feel like I have a clean slate. An opportunity to be a better version of myself. This year I'm trying to harness some of that good feeling and keep it with me throughout the year.
To that end, I'm not going to put a huge list of resolutions out there only to feel overwhelmed and well, sad when I don't meet them all. Instead I'm going to write individual posts about whatever goals (or resolutions if you will) I'm working on. (Granted, there is a huge list of "resolutions" in my journal, and I will use that as a reference point throughout the year.)
The first resolution I'm working on (besides my weight, which I've already talked about a lot) is being a better student. Or more specifically, I made a promise to myself that for my two winter intensive classes I would do everything that the syllabus says to do. I would attend every class, read all of the required reading and do all of the homework.
Now while this might not sound monumental to most, it is for me. I've always been kind of a slacker when it comes to school. Granted, I've always gotten by just fine and most people would probably have no idea, but my slacker ways are rampant when it comes to school. I can say I have yet to open a textbook and I'm over halfway done with my MBA. I have yet to go to every class session for any full length class (I did make it through one half length class without missing a session though!) I'm never prepared for discussions in class and I truly just do the minimum to get by.
I've always done this. Ever since I can remember this is how I have treated school, and I've always felt guilty about it. Sure, I make decent grades (even good I suppose) and that's the barometer for success in school, but what about my own personal fulfillment? What about learning for the sake of learning? What about trying to learn since each class I attend costs me roughly $500 PER CLASS SESSION?
So I'm trying an experiment. I'm committing to trying and completing my next two classes completely. After that I will re-evaluate. If I don't get any personal satisfaction out of my experiment then I can happily go back to my slacker ways, hopefully guilt free. And if by some chance I actually do feel better and learn more by keeping with my commitment, then I will consider keeping up with it for a longer period of time. Because at the end of the day, while grades don't really matter, my happiness does, and maybe this is one way to get a little more out of something that consumes a good deal of my free time right now.
Wish me luck!
To that end, I'm not going to put a huge list of resolutions out there only to feel overwhelmed and well, sad when I don't meet them all. Instead I'm going to write individual posts about whatever goals (or resolutions if you will) I'm working on. (Granted, there is a huge list of "resolutions" in my journal, and I will use that as a reference point throughout the year.)
The first resolution I'm working on (besides my weight, which I've already talked about a lot) is being a better student. Or more specifically, I made a promise to myself that for my two winter intensive classes I would do everything that the syllabus says to do. I would attend every class, read all of the required reading and do all of the homework.
Now while this might not sound monumental to most, it is for me. I've always been kind of a slacker when it comes to school. Granted, I've always gotten by just fine and most people would probably have no idea, but my slacker ways are rampant when it comes to school. I can say I have yet to open a textbook and I'm over halfway done with my MBA. I have yet to go to every class session for any full length class (I did make it through one half length class without missing a session though!) I'm never prepared for discussions in class and I truly just do the minimum to get by.
I've always done this. Ever since I can remember this is how I have treated school, and I've always felt guilty about it. Sure, I make decent grades (even good I suppose) and that's the barometer for success in school, but what about my own personal fulfillment? What about learning for the sake of learning? What about trying to learn since each class I attend costs me roughly $500 PER CLASS SESSION?
So I'm trying an experiment. I'm committing to trying and completing my next two classes completely. After that I will re-evaluate. If I don't get any personal satisfaction out of my experiment then I can happily go back to my slacker ways, hopefully guilt free. And if by some chance I actually do feel better and learn more by keeping with my commitment, then I will consider keeping up with it for a longer period of time. Because at the end of the day, while grades don't really matter, my happiness does, and maybe this is one way to get a little more out of something that consumes a good deal of my free time right now.
Wish me luck!
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Tuesday Ramblings
Well I survived my first night of business communications, wahoo! Granted, I didn't actually have to speak so it wasn't really hard for me to be there. And the professor actually seems pretty great, so maybe the whole class won't be as scary of an experience as I'm expecting. I think a lot of the time I make things a lot worse in my head than they actually are.
I'm having a hungry or rather a stress-hungry day. I find that I'm one of those people who relies heavily on food to get through stressful times. Its a big part of the reason I have gotten as heavy as I have. It's weird because even though I know I'm not actually hungry and that I just want to eat because I'm stressed, I still do it. It's amazing to me how hard that habit is to change. (I realize I just started three sentences in a row with the word Its, but I don't really feel like changing it)
One of the benefits to being gluten free now though is it seriously limits my snack food options, so even when I want to stress eat, I don't eat nearly as much as I used to because the food just isn't as good. Eating gluten free chocolate chip cookies is nothing like eating nestle cookie dough straight from the tube, or uh, eating fully cooked nestle tollhouse cookies.
I've been gluten free for a little over a month now. The whole thing started on a suggestion from my doctor as a possible cause for the migraines I'd been having (at their worst I was getting them 2 times a week, in fact, I took more sick days in 2009 than I did vacation days they were so out of control) We'd tried pretty much everything else and nothing was working, so I decided to try going gluten free. I'm about a month in and have only had one real migraine that I couldn't kick with medicine. For me, that is nothing short of a miracle.
So, for the foreseeable future, this girl will remain on a gluten free diet. It not only helps my health, but it has unexpected benefits of say not being able to stress eat on my favorite foods. I'd imagine this can only do good things for my goal of losing weight!
I'm contemplating going to the gym and am totally wavering. I just don't really enjoy the gym. But I'm not sure anyone really ENJOYS the gym, so sucking it up and going is probably my best option. Or if I don't do that, the least I can do is take a walk around the block. Or dance around my apartment when I get home. I pretty much will take activity anywhere I can get it!
I'm having a hungry or rather a stress-hungry day. I find that I'm one of those people who relies heavily on food to get through stressful times. Its a big part of the reason I have gotten as heavy as I have. It's weird because even though I know I'm not actually hungry and that I just want to eat because I'm stressed, I still do it. It's amazing to me how hard that habit is to change. (I realize I just started three sentences in a row with the word Its, but I don't really feel like changing it)
One of the benefits to being gluten free now though is it seriously limits my snack food options, so even when I want to stress eat, I don't eat nearly as much as I used to because the food just isn't as good. Eating gluten free chocolate chip cookies is nothing like eating nestle cookie dough straight from the tube, or uh, eating fully cooked nestle tollhouse cookies.
I've been gluten free for a little over a month now. The whole thing started on a suggestion from my doctor as a possible cause for the migraines I'd been having (at their worst I was getting them 2 times a week, in fact, I took more sick days in 2009 than I did vacation days they were so out of control) We'd tried pretty much everything else and nothing was working, so I decided to try going gluten free. I'm about a month in and have only had one real migraine that I couldn't kick with medicine. For me, that is nothing short of a miracle.
So, for the foreseeable future, this girl will remain on a gluten free diet. It not only helps my health, but it has unexpected benefits of say not being able to stress eat on my favorite foods. I'd imagine this can only do good things for my goal of losing weight!
I'm contemplating going to the gym and am totally wavering. I just don't really enjoy the gym. But I'm not sure anyone really ENJOYS the gym, so sucking it up and going is probably my best option. Or if I don't do that, the least I can do is take a walk around the block. Or dance around my apartment when I get home. I pretty much will take activity anywhere I can get it!
Monday, January 11, 2010
Back to School
Well, it's been a lovely three weeks off from grad school. Really lovely in fact. So lovely that I can say I was a big agnsty last night just thinking about the idea that I have to go back to school today. I felt like you do when you're a kid and summer break is over, except I'm an adult and my three week break from school (not work!) is nothing compared to summer break! Although, it was quite nice, and really, nothing will probably ever compare to summer break as a child.
So anyway, yeah, grad school starts again tonight, with my all time least favorite topic, communications. Business Communications = me giving presentations = sweaty palms, swaying back and forth and saying "um" way too many time. Ugh. I'll be glad when it's over.
The world of weight loss this weekend went quite well if I do say so myself. I bumped my points down to 20 (which is less than weight watchers said I should have at this weight, but I wasn't losing much at all at the higher point totals) and that's been a bit of a challenge. 20 points of food equals roughly 1000 calories, which is not a lot. Now granted you get to eat more if you work out (which I did!) or if you want to use your flex points (which I did!), but still, even with those two things, it's not a lot of food.
But I would have to be insane to think that I could eat a lot of food and lose weight at the same time now wouldn't I?
I'm trying to be patient with myself and not obsess over how much I have to lose or how long it will take. I'm just trying to focus on my next small goal, which for this girl, is getting under 180 pounds (and then promising to never see that weight again, EVER.)
So anyway, yeah, grad school starts again tonight, with my all time least favorite topic, communications. Business Communications = me giving presentations = sweaty palms, swaying back and forth and saying "um" way too many time. Ugh. I'll be glad when it's over.
The world of weight loss this weekend went quite well if I do say so myself. I bumped my points down to 20 (which is less than weight watchers said I should have at this weight, but I wasn't losing much at all at the higher point totals) and that's been a bit of a challenge. 20 points of food equals roughly 1000 calories, which is not a lot. Now granted you get to eat more if you work out (which I did!) or if you want to use your flex points (which I did!), but still, even with those two things, it's not a lot of food.
But I would have to be insane to think that I could eat a lot of food and lose weight at the same time now wouldn't I?
I'm trying to be patient with myself and not obsess over how much I have to lose or how long it will take. I'm just trying to focus on my next small goal, which for this girl, is getting under 180 pounds (and then promising to never see that weight again, EVER.)
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Weekend Fun
Well today was a welcome surprise. I totally go against all advice and weigh myself every day. I've found that it's the only thing that keeps me accountable. Whenever I've gained a significant amount of weight, I've always stopped weighing myself daily, because it's too painful to watch or something! Sad, but true. Anyway, so today my weight was much lower than it was on Friday, which was just a little something to lift my spirits after my .6 loss on Friday. Who knows if it'll stick around, but it made my heart happy to see it!
In other happy news, I made yummy gluten free cupcakes today, which is a feat, because gluten free baked goods generally taste like cardboard in my opinion. I've been on a gluten free diet for about a month now due to my doctors hunch that it might be the culprit behind my ridiculous migraines, and so far, it appears he's right. Anyway, I was so excited to make gluten free cupcakes that actually tasted good. Too bad I couldn't eat like all of them like I want to. In fact, I really want to eat another one right now, but I'm writing here that I am not going to, so I won't, because I don't want to lie to the internet.
I also worked out while I was making the cupcakes, or at least while they were baking. It might not have been much, but it was something, which is so much more than I was doing. Baby steps.
In the world of weight loss and health, it was a great day. And to top it all off, I managed to have a fabulous brunch with two dear friends and a great coffee catch up with another. If only the day could end up with a win by the Eagles, but that is pretty much looking impossible at this point. Granted, I'm not actually an Eagles fan (being a tried and true Colts fan) but the boyfriend is, and I figure it's nice to root for his team...even if they are losing 34-7 right now. Yikes.
In other happy news, I made yummy gluten free cupcakes today, which is a feat, because gluten free baked goods generally taste like cardboard in my opinion. I've been on a gluten free diet for about a month now due to my doctors hunch that it might be the culprit behind my ridiculous migraines, and so far, it appears he's right. Anyway, I was so excited to make gluten free cupcakes that actually tasted good. Too bad I couldn't eat like all of them like I want to. In fact, I really want to eat another one right now, but I'm writing here that I am not going to, so I won't, because I don't want to lie to the internet.
I also worked out while I was making the cupcakes, or at least while they were baking. It might not have been much, but it was something, which is so much more than I was doing. Baby steps.
In the world of weight loss and health, it was a great day. And to top it all off, I managed to have a fabulous brunch with two dear friends and a great coffee catch up with another. If only the day could end up with a win by the Eagles, but that is pretty much looking impossible at this point. Granted, I'm not actually an Eagles fan (being a tried and true Colts fan) but the boyfriend is, and I figure it's nice to root for his team...even if they are losing 34-7 right now. Yikes.
Friday, January 8, 2010
First weigh in of the year
Well, the good news is I'm not up. The kinda bad news is I'm only down .6 pounds, for a grand total of 2.6 pounds in 10 weeks. Yes folks, that's right, 2.6 pounds in 10 weeks. And I'm a fairly overweight person, so uh, yikes. At this rate I'll reach my goal weight by the time I'm 33 I think. Not exactly acceptable!
So, am I giving up? NO. Am I a little frustrated? Sure! So what am I going to do about it? Well I'm going to cut myself some slack and say that the first nine weeks I was counting the points it was the holiday season and I had a few bad days (not that many, but I wasn't perfect every day.) So this was my first week of no holiday stress or anything. And I'm only down .6 pounds. But I'm going to stop saying "only" and start saying "I lost .6 pounds take that fat!"
Much better now no?
My plan this week is to cut down my daily points by two to see if this does anything to help out with the crazy slow losing situation. I'm also going to get as much exercise in as possible, because it's good for the body and the mind. And if I'm not losing weight as fast as I'd like at least I can be getting into shape!
In other news, I'm feeling like an old lady lately. Granted, I know I'm not old. I'm 27!! But I'm just noticing things, like say, how it's harder for me to lose weight then it's ever been (and I've always been a slow loser), or how my wrists hurt now not only after a day of crazy work but all the time. What the heck? Universe, I am 27 not 87. I do not need to wear wrist guards to work! Oh uh, maybe I do, but I don't want to admit it, because how un-fun is that?
Very un-fun I think. (I realize un-fun is not a word, but I'm going with it anyway.)
In happier news, it's Friday and well, I get to leave work in 1.5 hours, and that is by far the happiest thing about this girls day :-)
So, am I giving up? NO. Am I a little frustrated? Sure! So what am I going to do about it? Well I'm going to cut myself some slack and say that the first nine weeks I was counting the points it was the holiday season and I had a few bad days (not that many, but I wasn't perfect every day.) So this was my first week of no holiday stress or anything. And I'm only down .6 pounds. But I'm going to stop saying "only" and start saying "I lost .6 pounds take that fat!"
Much better now no?
My plan this week is to cut down my daily points by two to see if this does anything to help out with the crazy slow losing situation. I'm also going to get as much exercise in as possible, because it's good for the body and the mind. And if I'm not losing weight as fast as I'd like at least I can be getting into shape!
In other news, I'm feeling like an old lady lately. Granted, I know I'm not old. I'm 27!! But I'm just noticing things, like say, how it's harder for me to lose weight then it's ever been (and I've always been a slow loser), or how my wrists hurt now not only after a day of crazy work but all the time. What the heck? Universe, I am 27 not 87. I do not need to wear wrist guards to work! Oh uh, maybe I do, but I don't want to admit it, because how un-fun is that?
Very un-fun I think. (I realize un-fun is not a word, but I'm going with it anyway.)
In happier news, it's Friday and well, I get to leave work in 1.5 hours, and that is by far the happiest thing about this girls day :-)
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Weight Watchers - friend or foe?
So, like I said, I am starting this blog to journal my trials and triumphs while I try and lose 40 (OMG FORTY) pounds. I can't believe I'm putting this out on the internet for the world to see, but there you go, I need to lose 40 pounds. I started this whole journey back on 10/29/09 at the ridiculously high weight of 185.8 pounds.
Before this past year I had never seen a number on the scale higher than 169. Ever. And the two times I saw that number before I quickly lost the weight to get down to my normal weight in the 140s. The lat two times I lost a significant amount of weight I used weight watchers. I was never a fast loser, but I think I remember losing more than 1 pound a MONTH. Because at 1 pound a month it will take me over three years to lose the weight and uh, that is unacceptable.
So here I am putting this all out there for the whole world to see in hopes that maybe I can keep better track of everything and be more successful with this whole thing.
Tomorrow is weigh in day #1 of the new year. Truth be told I'm totally nervous because well, I just am. I suppose I don't really need a reason to be nervous eh?
In other news, I'm passing up on a happy lunch with my boyfriend and a good friend of ours to take a 3 mile walk with a coworker. It's all about the small victories at this point me thinks.
Before this past year I had never seen a number on the scale higher than 169. Ever. And the two times I saw that number before I quickly lost the weight to get down to my normal weight in the 140s. The lat two times I lost a significant amount of weight I used weight watchers. I was never a fast loser, but I think I remember losing more than 1 pound a MONTH. Because at 1 pound a month it will take me over three years to lose the weight and uh, that is unacceptable.
So here I am putting this all out there for the whole world to see in hopes that maybe I can keep better track of everything and be more successful with this whole thing.
Tomorrow is weigh in day #1 of the new year. Truth be told I'm totally nervous because well, I just am. I suppose I don't really need a reason to be nervous eh?
In other news, I'm passing up on a happy lunch with my boyfriend and a good friend of ours to take a 3 mile walk with a coworker. It's all about the small victories at this point me thinks.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Hello blogging world
Greetings!
I've been meaning to start a blog for a while now, and am finally actually doing it. I've read some various blogs here and there and love the idea of having a record of my life and connecting with others in the blogging world. Now, I've never actually kept up with keeping a journal for any real period of time before and, I have no idea how to actually connect with other people in the blogging world, but I figured at least starting a blog was a good first start.
The other big reason I wanted to start a blog is for me to be able to document my struggle with my weight. I won't start the long story here on my very first post, but I can sum up by saying that I've lost (and gained) a significant amount of weight twice before in my life and I'm now the heaviest I've ever been and am planning on losing this weight for the last and final time.
Now a little about myself. I'm a 27 year old girl living in NYC. I grew up in the midwest but have been out east for a little over three years now and I'm loving every minute of it. I work in finance and am working on my MBA in my spare time (ha!) I hate working out and I love food, so this should be interesting :-)
I suppose that's enough for a first entry! Here's to losing weight, getting healthier, happier and documenting it along the way...it's going to be a fantastic journey and I want to remember it. I hope you'll join me!
I've been meaning to start a blog for a while now, and am finally actually doing it. I've read some various blogs here and there and love the idea of having a record of my life and connecting with others in the blogging world. Now, I've never actually kept up with keeping a journal for any real period of time before and, I have no idea how to actually connect with other people in the blogging world, but I figured at least starting a blog was a good first start.
The other big reason I wanted to start a blog is for me to be able to document my struggle with my weight. I won't start the long story here on my very first post, but I can sum up by saying that I've lost (and gained) a significant amount of weight twice before in my life and I'm now the heaviest I've ever been and am planning on losing this weight for the last and final time.
Now a little about myself. I'm a 27 year old girl living in NYC. I grew up in the midwest but have been out east for a little over three years now and I'm loving every minute of it. I work in finance and am working on my MBA in my spare time (ha!) I hate working out and I love food, so this should be interesting :-)
I suppose that's enough for a first entry! Here's to losing weight, getting healthier, happier and documenting it along the way...it's going to be a fantastic journey and I want to remember it. I hope you'll join me!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)