Day 53 - Morning Check-In

Thursday, 4/30/15, 6:30am

It's day 53 and this morning I woke up at 5:55am feeling great.  I haven't told anybody I am trying to lose weight so it was really nice when two people asked me this week if I had lost weight.  I have also noticed the changes.  At first I noticed the changes in my face but now I am seeing it all throughout my body especially my stomach.  Yesterday I was putting lotion on after getting out of the shower and I noticed how much smaller my stomach was feeling.  Don't get me wrong, I still have a ways to go, but it feels really good knowing that my hard work at the gym is paying off.

Yesterday I went on a morning run (as planned).  I usually run about 1.5 miles down Fifth Street in San Rafael and walk the 1.5 miles back.  Yesterday however I ran the 1.5 miles like normal but instead of walking back I ran back!!  It is great feeling my strength and endurance come back.  Fifty-three days ago I was feeling weak, fat, and out of shape.  Today I am feeling so much better both physically and mentally.

As I get closer to day 60 I keep reminding myself to stay focused.  The next thirty days will be the real challenge because I have never been able to continue a healthy lifestyle for longer than 68 days (I just had to look that up).  In 2011 I started a low-carb diet and lost twenty pounds in 68 days.  Last year (2014) I started eating a healthier lowfat diet (while counting calories) and I lost about twenty-five pounds in 60 days.  Both times I felt great, my confidence was soaring, I had loads of energy, and I was just feeling...happy.  But then I would hit a bump in the road (lost my job in 2011 and got sick in 2014) and I fell off the wagon.  The problem wasn't that I fell off the wagon, the problem was that I DIDN'T GET BACK UP!!  This time around I am DETERMINED not to let that happen.

My plan for today:
Go for a run (after dropping my kids off at school).  Come home and stretch/yoga for thirty minutes.  Eat a protein bar.  Do crunches and other ab exercises.  Take a shower.  Go to work.

I have skipped lunch two days in a row which made me way under my daily calorie limit (good and bad).  It's weird because I feel hungrier overall throughout the dinner and before and after dinner when I eat lunch.  When I skipped lunch these two days I didn't feel that hungry and didn't feel hungry at all at bedtime (when my cravings are usually at their highest).  The bottom line is, if I am going to exercise I have to eat lunch.

I truly believe the steel cut oatmeal is working.  I am feeling fuller longer.

I have to run...get my kids ready for school.  I have some exciting news about a new challenge I joined so I'll have to come on later to post.

Weekly Weigh-In #3

 - 1.6 pounds

Woo hoo! I'm stoked to finally see the numbers on the scale start going down. 

May 4, 2014: 180 lbs
June 30, 2014: 154.4 lbs

March 29, 2015: 164.4
April 15, 2015: 162.6
April 23, 2015: 159.2

April 29, 2015: 157.6

Day 51- Food Log Summary

Even without a workout I was still under my daily calories (probably because I skipped lunch again). Looks like the steel cut oatmeal is working! Let's just see if the scale agrees. 

Day 50- Food Log Summary

4/27/15

Was way under calories for today!!! That's because I skipped lunch and had a killer workout. 

Day 51 - Tuesday - 4/28/15

I am almost to day 60 which is exciting. I've made it this far countless times before but, for some reason, things have always started to unravel right around the 60 day mark. When I started eating healthier back in March I knew I wanted I wanted to finally make it to day 90. I have had many daily and weekly goals along the way but my main goal has been to make it 100 days. 

Today is Tuesday, the day of the week where I go to my client's early and leave late. This means that this is a "rest" day although not by choice. Today could be very stressful, we'll just have to see what my client has accomplished since I was last there. 

I was unable to invoice clients yesterday because I left my freaking scheduling book at home. Ugh! I'll try to get at least one or two invoices out today. 

It's 8:54am and I'm back at home from dropping off my kids at school. I have to get ready for work so I'm trying to hurry while writing this (so this post will probably seemed rushed). 

For breakfast today I had steel cut oatmeal again. I read an article about a Study that compared to group of people who ate oatmeal for breakfast and a group of people who ate oatmeal Square cereal for breakfast. It found that the group of people who ate actual oatmeal felt fuller longer throughout the day. I tried eating steel cut oatmeal for breakfast yesterday to see if that were in fact true. Sure enough I wasn't hungry until much later in the afternoon even though I had worked out for over three hours at the gym. I am trying it again today in hopes that I will have the same results. It would be nice to not have to snack in between breakfast and lunch so I could save those calories if needed later in the day.

For lunch today I'm having the usual: a lean cuisine meal.

For snacks I have a choice of fruit: apples, strawberries, raspberries, grapefruit, and pears (I also have oranges, bananas, and apricots but those are for my daughter and recipes). I also have the usual mini carrots. 

For dinner I bought a small free range chicken to roast. I'll serve it with a side of quinoa or brown rice, green peas, and fresh rolls (for my kids). 

Alright, gotta scoot...

Monday 4/27/15 - Afternoon Update

Okay so I just got done with a fabulous workout. It's 1:45pm which means I was exercising for about three hours! After my workout I went into the dressing room and pulled out my snack of strawberries and some new protein chips I bought at the gym. The chips had over 25g of protein and only about 120 calories so I figured they were a win-win. I bought a bag of salt and vinegar and a bag of barbecue. I was stoked that I could eat chips!...until I tasted them. The initial flavor is pretty good but the consistency and the after taste is awful 

I tried a few chips from both bags and gave up. I opted for a peanut butter and chocolate protein bar instead. 

My plan was to eat snack, take a shower, get dressed, and go to my office but as I was just finishing the last strawberry a woman who worked at the gym came in to notify us the showers were being closed and wouldn't open back up for an hour. That kind of put a kink in my plans. The good news is that my house is on the way to my office. I'll run home, shower, and head to the office. I can't make excuses, I HAVE to get some work done. Going back home will be challenging but if I can do a nine mile hike uphill with my kids and I can force myself to actually go to my office and get work done. It totally sucks though that it's like 80 degrees out. I want to go to the beach!! Oh well, maybe this weekend. :) 

Day 50 - Morning Check-In

Good morning world. I am feeling great this morning!! Yesterday I was a bit tired from that 9 mile hike on Saturday. Today is a different story. I feel energized and pumped to go to the gym. 

Yesterday I fell off the wagon a bit during the day. I started the day by eating Special K cereal and then around 11am ate an apple for a snack...so far so good. I then ate a Lean Cuisine pasta dish (still good) but then I fell off the wagon a bit. I started by snacking on these cinnamon sugar pretzels (so good) that are low in fat and pretty low in calories (20 pretzels equal 140 calories). I originally decided to eat 10 of them (half a serving) for about 70 calories... But they were so freaking good that I decided to have the second half of the serving, 10 more pretzels. A half hour later I was still pretty hungry so I decided to eat a cup of cereal, after all, I did just complete a nine hour hike the day before, I could afford the eat a few more calories than normal (at least that was what was going through my mind at the time).

Around 2pm I laid outside in my bathing suit (one piece of course) listening to music in my backyard. Eventually I came inside because my kids (who had eaten some snacks throughout the day) were hungry. I made them some mac and cheese and, once done, plopped down on the couch next to my seven year old to watch some cartoons with her on Netflix. Before long, I fell asleep. I woke up about thirty minutes later, are a second serving of pretzels, and fell back asleep. About an hour after that I woke up again and at some more pretzels, this time not even counting out servings anymore. 

My plan wasn't to eat half of the 10 ounce bag but that's exactly what I did. I kept eating and eating and eating, all the while convincing myself it wasn't that bad because I had burned so many calories the day before. I said to myself, "I had 500 calories left over yesterday so if I combine yesterday with today, I will probably be right at my limit." I started realizing my mistake about halfway through my binge episode. I started feeling like shit, physically and mentally. I realized all of the hard work I had put in the day before was wasted. All of the calories I burned I had just eaten in one sitting. I felt guilty, I felt ashamed, I felt like a failure, but I kept on eating. It was like the fat girl in me took over.

I ended up finishing off the entire bag. I wanted to immediately exercise to burn off the calories I just consumed but I couldn't because I didn't have anyone to watch my kids. I realized I would have to do several hours of cardio to burn off that bag of pretzels, something that would be impossible given the fact that it was now 4pm and I had house cleaning and other items that needed to be done. I was dying to exercise but couldn't. I then decided that maybe this wasn't a bad thing. Maybe this would be my first official challenge, having s binge episode and falling off the wagon. Would I let this one I stand defeat me or would I get back up and keep pushing?

I got off my butt, put my headphones in, and started doing some housework. It needed to be done and I needed to move around. While doing the dishes I danced around to the music which instantly made me feel better.

In the end, I wasn't that hungry in the evening thanks to the 900 calories worth of pretzels I ate so

I skipped dinner. I knew that the following day I would be able to go to the gym which would enable me to burn off some of the pretzels. I packed my gym bag before going to bed and felt better knowing that I would push myself hard at the gym the following morning. 

It's that morning now and I'm not sure if I should go to the gym now or after work. Let me explain. First, I want to go NOW. I am pumped and actually looking forward to getting some serious exercise. The only problem is that, if I really push myself at the gym (like I want) I will be pretty tired afterward. It's always extremely hard for me to get work done at my office after going to the gym, although I don't know why. Because of that I debated going after work. But, what if something comes up (like it always does) and I don't end up having time for the gym. I will be pissed. Okay, it's decided. Today is the only day this week I know for a fact I can go to the gym. I might be able to go Wednesday but won't know until after work. On Tuesday and Friday I have early morning clients which means not only no gym but no morning run either. That leaves today, possibly Wednesday, and Thursday (I don't have time for the gym on Thursday but do have time for a morning run). I can get caught up with work after the gym and later in the week if needed. 

The bottom line is, who knows how I'll feel later today. Right now I'm pumped and am stoked to go burn off some steam. Yay. I'm excited. 

I have to eat breakfast before I go. I'm back at home after dropping off the kids. It's 9:10am so I have to hurry. I just have to finish this bowl of steel cut oatmeal and my second cup of coffee and I'll be off. 

Day 49 - Weekly Update

Sunday - 4/26/15

It has been about five days since my last post but that's not because I fell off the wagon, it's just because I've been extremely busy.  I was so excited that I dropped 3.4 pounds this week I used it as motivation to keep going strong.

Because I was so busy this week I was only able to make it to the gym on Monday. Tuesday was a day off because I had to be at work so early and didn't get off until 6:30pm.  Wednesday I had a client in the morning so I was planning on going to the gym afterward.  My appointment took longer than expected which meant I didn't have time for the gym.  Instead, I went on a run and tried out my new water bottle and my new wireless headphones (which I love!!).

On Thursday I went for a great run in the morning because I didn't have time to go to the gym before or after work.  Friday was another day off because I had a busy work day at my office.  I FINALLY got caught up with work.  And lastly, Saturday, I decided to take the kids on a hike on Mount Tam.

I had wanted to go for a nice long hike all week.  We've been hiking the previous two weekends but each of those was only about two miles long.  This weekend I wanted to go somewhere really far from society, somewhere really beautiful and quiet, and somewhere we could go for a 4-5 mile hike which included uphill portions to get better exercise.  I looked up some trails online before going but couldn't find one that showed the distance.  I decided to just head out and explore the trails once we were out there.

We left the house around noon.  We stopped at Bordenaves to get some fresh sandwich rolls for lunch.  We then stopped at United Market for some fresh fruit (apples, strawberries, and raspberries) and some deli turkey and cheese for our sandwiches.  We arrived at Muir Woods and started our hike around 1:00pm.  I bought a trail map and picked a trail that headed up to the top of the mountain.  Mount Tam is a huge mountain so I was pretty sure we wouldn't make it to the top but that didn't stop us from trying.

We hiked for about an hour and a half taking a break for snacks halfway during our trek up the mountain.  At about the three mile mark I checked the map and found what looked like a perfect trail that would lead the way back down the hill.  The kids were a little tired and wanted to go back down the way we had came.  I on the other hand, didn't want to double back and instead wanted to take a new trail down.  I decided to take the TCC Trail I found on the map, a trail that would cut across the mountain and lead us back down the other side of the creek.  The TCC Trail looked like it was around a half mile long which would give us a little bit longer of a hike back than just doubling back and heading down.

We started on the TCC Trail and kept going.  After about thirty minutes the kids started asking to stop for a snack break again.  I just wanted to get back to the main trail that would head back which I figured we would arrive at any second.  We kept going, and going, and going.  We finally ran into some people on the trail who I was able to ask about this "TCC Trail" we thought we were on.  According to them, we weren't even on the TCC Trail yet.  They said the trail was just around the corner though.  I assured the kids the TCC Trail was short and that we would be on our way back down soon.

We finally made it to the actual TCC trail and I was stoked to finally cut across and then be back on the main trail to head down.  I figured the half mile TCC trail would take us about 15-20 minutes to cut across.  After about 45 minutes though we still hadn't made our way to the main trail.  The kids at this point were getting really hungry so as soon as we came across a bench we took advantage of the opportunity and sat down for a rest break and a snack.

I didn't want to stop for too long so after ten minutes we packed the snacks up and headed on our way.  Another twenty minutes passed and we were STILL on this TCC Trail.  At this point I was getting really stressed out.  I pulled out my phone and kept checking for a signal.  Finally, a signal came up and I was able to pull an actual trail map up.  I saw that we were on the TCC Trail and that we were getting closer to the main trail.  What I also saw was the the TCC Trail wasn't a half mile short cut but instead a THREE MILE trek.  At this point it was too late to turn around so we had no choice but to keep going.

In the end, the 4-5 mile hike I had planned on going turned out to be a 9 mile hike!!!!  I couldn't believe my 13 year old and my 7 year old hiked for 9 miles.  They are freaking rock stars and I super proud of them.

Today is Sunday and the kids and I are a little pooped.  I am not sure what we'll do today, my plan is to just play it by ear.  If it's warm enough we may go to the pool, otherwise I'll probably just grab a book and some magazines and go lay out in the sun in my backyard.

Tomorrow (Monday) I don't have any clients scheduled and instead plan on being at my office.  This is great because I can go to the gym!  I think I'll go to the office early and go to the gym in the afternoon but we'll see how that goes.

For now, I just want to enjoy the rest of the weekend with my beautiful amazing kids.

Weekly Weigh-In -#2

- 3.4 pounds!!!!

I am super stoked to finally see that darn scale go down and to finally be back in the 150's.

Previous Weigh-Ins:

May 4, 2014: 180 lbs
June 30, 2014: 154.4 lbs

March 29, 2015: 164.4
April 15, 2015: 162.6
April 23, 2015: 159.2

(I forgot to weigh myself on Wednesday so I had to weigh myself today (Thursday) instead.

Day 44 - Morning Check-In

4/21/15

It's 6:26am on Tuesday morning. I'm sitting on the edge of my bed drinking coffee and updated my blog. I have to wake my older daughter up in just a few minutes to take a shower. 

Today is one of the days I work all day so there is no chance I'll make it to the gym. I may have time to do yoga but I'm very tight on time this morning so we'll just have to see. Since I get off work at 6:30pm I won't have time to stop at the grocery store. I have some frozen ground beef from Trader Joe's that I'll leave in the counter to defrost while I'm at work. 

Today's Meal Plan:

Breakfast:

3/4 cup of Special K

1/2-1 Grapefruit

Coffee

Lunch:

Three Cheese Ziti

Snacks:

14 Carrots

Eggplant hummus

30 Green grapes

Dinner:

Tacos w/ 96% ground beef

3 Organic corn tortillas

1/8 cup 2% shredded jack/cheddar

1 tbsp Canola oil (to cook tortillas in)

I haven't eaten anything yet today but after entering this all into MFP I have only 28 calories remaining which is right where I want to be. 

Daily Goals - Tuesday 4/21/15

Monday (yesterday's) goal: Go to the gym. Don't go over daily calorie limit. 

Monday Summary: I went to the gym for about three hours. I've been doing an hour of the elliptical which is burning 600 calories and I think I may be overdoing it because when I leave I am exhausted. I realize now that I should probably go to the gym after work instead of before, at least if I want to get any work done. 

I was under my calorie goal 244 calories! I am allowed 1200 but burned off 596 calories (according to the FitBit). This left me with a total of 1796 calories that I could consume yesterday. I ate 1552 which left me with 244. 

I ate more than usual because I burned a ton of calories at the gym. I also didn't realize that those subway sandwiches have around 350 calories. My microwave meals have less and fill me up longer so I may try one of those after going to the gym next time. 

For snacks I ate: 8 pretzel nibs (before my workout), 30 grapes (after my workout), a bowl of Special K cereal (about an hour after eating the Subway sandwich because I was still hungry), 4 Tootsierolls (an hour after the cereal). 

For dinner I cooked sirloin steak, brown rice, and green peas. The steak was so good I ate around 6-8 ounces. I at so much steak I barely had room for peas and zero room for rice. I was fine with that since my body obviously needed protein. The only issue is that I didn't think about how much fat was in the steak. I am normally okay eating it (while taking the Alli) because it's such a leav cut of meat. But I also always eat around 4-6 ounces which is a lot less than I ate last night. So far I feel fine. Let's just hope it stays that way. 

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Tuesday (today's) Goal: A FitBit friend invited me on a challenge today to hit 10k steps today so that is today's goal.

Since I'm working at a client's in Lucas Valley all day (10am-6:30pm) I knew I wouldn't be able to exercise today. It will be extremely hard to hit 10k steps today but if I'm creative I might be able to do it. This way, I'll get in some exercise. :)

Daily Goals - Monday 4/20/15

Monday (today's) goal: Go to the gym. Don't go over daily calorie limit. 

Day 43- Morning Check-In

I have to make this quick because I'm about to head to the gym...

I am so excited. I ordered two new exercise accessories and one of the came this weekend (it was delivered to my mom's house and I picked it up this morning). It's a new handheld water bottle to take on my runs! I bought the one that has a pouch to carry my phone and keys. 

The other item that hasn't come yet is a set of wireless headphones. I als bought some new batteries for my FitBit because it is about to die. I hope both come today. 

Breakfast:

Special K cereal

Coffee

Gym snack:

Grapes

Carrots

Lunch Plan:

Subway sandwich (turkey)

Snack:

Piece of fruit

Sourdough pretzels nibs (16)

Dinner:

Tacos or steak (have to go grocery shopping at Safeway and Trader Joe's after work today)

Sugar Cravings Score

I gave in last night and had some candy. I ate 9 Starburst Jellybeans and 1 long/skinny Tootsie Roll. There were five or six more Tootsie Rolls and the same number of jelly bean boxes. I was somehow able to rationalize eating all of the Tootsie Rolls, after all, I was sure I was under my daily calorie intake for the day. But then I remembered my daily goal to be under my calories for the day so I decided to pop on to My Fitness Pal to check where I was at.  After entering the first candy (the small box of jelly beans) a reminder popped up on MFP saying "Yoar goal is to stay under 50g of sugar for the day..." This basically meant that I had already gone over my sugar allowance for the day and I hadn't entered the Tootsie Roll yet. I looked through my journal and was reminded that I had eaten four marshmallows in between lunch and dinner.  I decided that Id had enough sweets for the day and opted for a bowl of Special K cereal instead. 

In the end, I lost a point by having candy but gained a point by only having two small pieces. 

Score: Me-2; Sugar-1

Found- Candy Stash #4

Clever girl. I thought I ate all of these. I guess I was wrong. I barely had time to take a picture before she snatched this box away from me. This is one of those boxes that looks like a book. It was on my bookshelf and I thought it was empty. If it wasn't for my cleaning project today I would have never found this. Lol.

 

Me-1; Sugar Cravings-0

While cleaning and reorganizing furniture I found some of the Easter candy my younger daughter hid (on my instructions).  She hid candy all around the house and I keep finding it.  I bought the kids candy I knew I wouldn't eat (mainly candy high in fat like chocolate which is also their favorite) BUT their father came over on Easter morning with two HUGE bags of candy: Tootsie roll bag (which I ate a lot of) and a Skittles/Starburst bag... F@CK.  I knew I wouldn't be able to resist from eating (ALL OF) the candy so I asked my younger daughter to hide the candy (this was of course after I ate almost all of the tootsie roll candies).  Instead of hiding the candy in one spot, she split the candy into several stashes and hid the stashes throughout the house.  I have stumbled across two or three of the stashes and I am sure there all several more I haven't found yet.  

This brings us to today... While getting ready to move some shelves, I came across a Starburst/Skittles stash.  The candy looked SOOOOOOO good.  My mouth literally started to water.  My kids saw what I had found and asked for a couple pieces themselves.  After doling those out there were about five pieces remaining.  I cannot explain how tempted I was to eat them.  Before I scarfed down a handful of calorie ridden candies I quickly gave them to my seven year old begging her to "hide the candy from Mommy"...pathetic I know.  Of course the sugar cravings didn't die down and were getting stronger by the second.  My brain quickly compromised and decided I could have a sherbet push-up pop BUT somehow my rational brain kicked in and said "NO! STICK WITH THE PLAN!"  I actually listened to the rational side (shocking I know) and ate a small Gala apple instead.  I am super proud of myself.

For those of you who aren't sugar addicts or binge eaters, you probably think I sound ridiculous.  For those in the same boat as me, I am sure you know exactly what I was going through and how hard that was to turn down candy especially candy in the palm of my hand.  *High fives* to all of my fellow sugar addicts.  

Score: 

Me-1; Sugar-0.

Day 42 - Morning Check-In

As I mentioned in my post last night, I have a ton of stuff to do today so I will have to make this short.  My goal today is the same as it was yesterday (to hit 10k steps on Fitbit) but I added a secondary goal which is to win the Fitbit Weekend Warrior challenge I am playing with two of my Fitbit friends.  Last night I was in the lead but now Christine has taken the lead because I have had a very slow start to my morning.  It is time to kick things into gear.

It's 10:30am and I am drinking my second cup of coffee while I sit at the kitchen table writing this post on my laptop.  I ate breakfast and had my first cup of coffee a couple hours ago (at 8:00am).  Since waking up, I just lounged in bed for a little while with my younger daughter watching Bob's Burgers on Netflix on the iPad.  I am so lazy in the mornings, I hate it.  Breakfast consisted of the usual Special K Fruit & Yogurt cereal.  Here is my meal plan for the rest of the day:

Snack:

Fruit (strawberries, apple, or grapes)

Lunch:

Thai Chicken Spring Rolls from Lean Cuisine (super delicious)

Snack:

Carrots w/ eggplant humus from Trader Joe's (also super delicious).  

Dinner:

Baked chicken, brown rice, green peas (or other green veggie).  Brown rice takes 45 minutes to cook on the stove which was making it hard to have dinner before 8:00pm during the work week.  A week or two ago I was at Trader Joe's and I stumbled across this frozen Organic Brown Rice which is delicious.  I couldn't even tell the difference between this and my normal steamed rice.  This box comes with three packs of rice.  All you have to do is pop a pack in the microwave for 3 minutes and voila! you have rice.

Dessert:

2 Fig Newton cookies 

On a side note, I have been sticking closely to my meal plan from last year in the hopes that I will lose weight quicker.  I also know from experience that it's good to switch things up.  As soon as you get bored with your food you will start to dislike what you are eating and then it's just a matter of time before you start eating unhealthy again.  

The only part of my previous meal plan that I am missing is the dessert: Snack Wells Devil Food cookies.  Safeway doesn't sell them anymore and I am sure Trader Joe's and Whole Foods don't sell them so I am not sure what to do.  I will look online and see what I find.  I bet they sell them at Target which I need to go to anyway to get my younger daughter some new leggings.

That's all for now.  I'll check back in later if I have time.

Daily Goals - Sunday 4/19/15

Monday's Goal:  Stop eating dessert - FAIL

Tuesday's Goal:  Use My Fitness Pal to keep food and exercise journal everyday. 

Wednesday's Goal:  Start doing weekly weigh-ins again every Wednesday. 

Thursday's Goal:  Join a 30-day challenge on My Fitness Pal - FAIL (couldn't find)

Friday's Goal: Get at least 30 minutes of exercise

Saturday's Goal: Hit 10k steps on my FitBit. 

Sunday (today's) Goal: Hit 10k steps and win Weekend Warrior Fitbit challenge.

4/18/15 Evening Check-In- Day #41

It's 11:15pm and I have to get to bed so I'll have to make this quick.

First, I am happy to say that I completed my goal for the day and have taken 11,857 steps which surpasses my 10k goal.  I am also happy to report that I cleaned out my car (finally).  It took a couple hours but I am so happy it's done.  By 6pm I had only walked 2,500 steps so I decided to take the kids on the walk I did yesterday and they LOVED it.  If I can wake up early enough tomorrow I want to take them to Mt Tam for a real hike.

There is a lot to do tomorrow and not enough time:

-Go for a hike
-Go to local farmer's market (9am-1pm)
-Finish housework (priority because we're having company at 4pm)
-Laundry
-Catch up on emails
-Do at least two hours of work (getting seriously behind)
-Grocery store (dinner for tomorrow night & other items)
-Lemonade stand (promised my youngest we would do this weekend)

So, looking at all of the items for tomorrow it seems pretty clear that a hike is out.  It also seems pretty clear that making it to farmer's market might be out.  I need to do housework and laundry from 9am-12pm, go to grocery store, go home to make lemonade and drop off groceries, stop by my mom's to  pick up card table, lemonade stand from 2pm-4pm, and make it home by 4:30pm when my friend and her daughter are coming over.  I agreed to babysit the daughter for the night so my friend could go to a concert with her boyfriend.  Since she will be dropping off her daughter's car seat I should be able to run errands after 4:30pm.  I guess I'll just have to see how tomorrow goes.

Lastly, I was under my calorie intake by 100 calories but only because I burned over 400 calories walking.  I ate 1500 and burned 400 leaving a net of 1,100.  According to my Fitbit I would have to have eaten under 1,100 for the day (not including the exercise) so I am over by 400 calories.  I don't see how that would be possible though since that would practically be starving myself so I am going to stick with the recommendations from My Fitness Pal.  I should be happy I am under my daily calories , that I walked over 10k steps, and that I got a major item (cleaning car) crossed off my to-do list.  All in all, today was a good day.

Going to bed now...

xoxo

P.S.  I completed my 30-day plank challenge today AND I am in the lead on the Weekend Warrior Fitbit challenge.  I made a couple friends on the Fitbit website and I challenged them to this weekend challenge.  I was losing until I went on that walk with my kids and now I am in the lead!

Daily Goals - Saturday 4/18/15

Monday's Goal:  Stop eating dessert - FAIL

Tuesday's Goal:  Use My Fitness Pal to keep food and exercise journal everyday. 

Wednesday's Goal:  Start doing weekly weigh-ins again every Wednesday. 

Thursday's Goal:  Join a 30-day challenge on My Fitness Pal - FAIL (couldn't find)

Friday's Goal: Get at least 30 minutes of exercise

Saturday (today's) Goal: Hit 10k steps on my FitBit. -This goal is not going to be easy. Today is an insanely busy day but I am determined to get the most use out of this little bugger as I can. 

Day 40 - Evening Check-In

So today didn't exactly go as planned.  To start, not only did I not go to the gym, I also didn't get ANY work done.  UGH!  That means that I will have to do it this weekend which I am not looking forward to at all.

The good news is that I managed to get some exercise today.  After my mom picked up the kids today at 2:00pm I spent an hour and a half watching movie trailers online.  It didn't feel like an hour and a half but before I knew it, it was already 3:30pm and getting later by the second.  I thought about going to my office as planned but by the time I showered and got ready it would be after 4:00pm and pretty much pointless.  I kept debating what to do and before I knew it, it was too late to do either (gym or work).  I started to get depressed and stressed out and realized that I needed to get some fresh air.  It was too warm out for a run and I didn't have enough time to drive somewhere so I decided to just throw on some gym clothes and go for a walk.  Instead of walking downtown or towards the mall I ended up turning up a side street to get a better exercise by walking uphill.  After twenty minutes of walking the street dead-ended as expected.  What I didn't realize though was that there was a dirt trail at the top of the hill I had just walked up.  I could see a water tower from where I was standing and figured that was what the dirt road was for.  The dirt road turned out to be over a mile long and left me on the other side of the hill.

It took a while to get to the top of the hill but when I did it was worth it.  There were some great views of San Rafael.

The dirt path I found kept going and going. It was a great chance to try out my newly found Fitbit.  It is 9:13pm and I am at 7,453 steps for the day.  I was really hoping to hit 10,000 but didn't have time since my kids were being dropped off at 6:30pm.

I am very happy today is Friday but am a little stressed by home much stuff I have to do this weekend.  Since I didn't work today I have to make it up tomorrow.  I also promised my younger daughter we could have a lemonade stand this weekend and go on a hike or something.  I forgot that I made plans with a girl friend of mine tomorrow and I totally forgot that I agreed to babysit my other friend's kids on Sunday night.  I also have to manage to clean out my car and finish my organization project.  Ugh.  I read on a weight loss blog today that cleanliness is a key to weight loss and I believe it.  This journey is not just about losing weight, it's about being healthy and purging everything toxic from your life.  I broke up with my boy friend of nine years (my kid's father) which was step one.  Step two was to find an awesome house (albeit a small rented one bedroom) for my girls and myself.  Step three was to start eating healthier.  Step four was to start yoga and to meditate for peace of mind.  Step five is to finish organizing the new small house.

This whole process is actually kind of fun.  I am happy I made the change.  I just have to keep taking it one day at a time.

Look What I Found!!

While organizing some drawers look what I found!

My old FitBit!!  I am so excited! The clip portion broke off but I got it to stick back on for now. If anything I can just take it out of the clip pouch and put it in my pocket (if wearing jeans). 

I am so excited. I'm definitely using this today. I'm mostly happy that I don't have to spend $125 buying another pedometer. I even added one in my Amazon shopping cart yesterday. 

Even if I did order one it would take a few days to get and now that I found mine, I can start using it right away. Yay!

Day #2- Plank Challenge

Even though the plank challenge was to do twenty seconds of the plank, I decided to do thirty.  I feel like I may not be doing it right since it seems really easy.  If I hold my breath it gets harder and I can feel my abs working but when I breath normally I don't really feel anything.

I looked up some videos to see if I was doing it right.  This was one of my faves.  I tried the plank again and finally felt my ab muscles working.  I think I wasn't straight enough.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSHjTRCQxIw

Friday 4/17/15 - Day 40

I know I wasn't going to count days but I am glad that I decided to start this morning.  I looked back through my notes and saw that I started taking Alli (and therefore eating healthier) on March 9th, 2015.  The reason I am glad that I did this is because now I can see that I am only on day 40.  Up until this point I had assumed I had been eating healthier for two months.  Last year I had lost 25 lbs in two months (60 days).  I was a little discouraged that I had only lost a couple pounds in the same amount of time, but now I can see I still have twenty days to go before I hit the sixty day mark.

Breakfast today:
Okay, I overdid it.  I bought a new cereal at the store yesterday: Post Honey Graham "Oh's" cereal, and BOY did I overdo it.  First, I fell asleep on the couch last night around 9pm.  I woke up around 9:45pm to get the kids ready for bed.  The reason I fell asleep was, well because I was tired, but mainly because I was having a really strong craving for sugary foods.  I took a cat nap in hopes that the cravings would die down but, when I awoke at 9:45pm, they were ten times as strong.  I poured a HUGE bowl of the Oh's cereal and then poured SECONDS.

This morning I poured another huge bowl and now the 10.5 ounce box is almost gone.  I am happy the box is almost empty since this is obviously a food I can't control myself around... Another one to cross of my list of "safe" foods I can eat.

Lunch:
I am eating a Three Cheese Ziti from Lean Cuisine.  This is what I had for lunch practically every day last year.

Dinner Plan:
Barbecued pulled pork (which is cooking in the slow cooker right now) on hamburger buns, side of some green veggie (probably peas).


My mom is picking up the kids in a half hour.  I have two choices: 1) Go to my office and do some much needed work or 2) Go to the gym.  I would much rather go to the gym but I can't keep putting off work.  I have no choice but to go to the office....UGH.  If I hurry I may have time to go to the gym afterward, but I doubt that will happen.  I have so much work to get caught up on.

Before I do anything I have to get the kids ready and I want to finish a little bit of this organizational project I'm working on at home.

Daily Goals - Friday 4/17/15

Monday's Goal:  Stop eating dessert - FAIL

Tuesday's Goal:  Use My Fitness Pal to keep food and exercise journal everyday. 

Wednesday's Goal:  Start doing weekly weigh-ins again every Wednesday. 

Thursday's Goal:  Join a 30-day challenge on My Fitness Pal - FAIL (couldn't find)

Friday (today's) Goal: Get at least 30 minutes of exercise

Daily Goals - Friday 4/17/15

Monday's Goal:  Stop eating dessert - FAIL

Tuesday's Goal:  Use My Fitness Pal to keep food and exercise journal everyday. 

Wednesday's Goal:  Start doing weekly weigh-ins again every Wednesday. 

Thursday's Goal:  Join a 30-day challenge on My Fitness Pal - FAIL (couldn't find)

Friday (today's) Goal: Get at least 30 minutes of exercise

Day #1- Plank Challenge

I just completed 20 seconds of the plank position to complete day 1 of the plank challenge.  Twenty seconds of the plank position isn't that hard, but that may be because I do the plank position all the time in yoga.

Here is the plank video from the 30-day plank challenge's website.

http://30dayfitnesschallenges.com/30-day-plank-challenge/

30-Day Plank Challenge

This is the 30-day plank challenge.  This is not the sort of challenge I was looking for but I don't have enough time right now to find another one since I have to get to work.  I couldn't find any 30-day challenges on My Fitness Pal so for now, starting today, I will start this 30-day plank challenge.  This will also include eating 1200 calories or below each day.

Daily Goals - Thursday 4/16/15

Monday's Goal:  Stop eating dessert - FAIL

Tuesday's Goal:  Use My Fitness Pal to keep food and exercise journal everyday. 

Wednesday's Goal:  Start doing weekly weigh-ins again every Wednesday. 

Thursday (today's) Goal:  Join a 30-day challenge on My Fitness Pal

4/16/15 Morning Check-In

I was reviewing my food logs for May and June 2014 (when I lost 25+ pounds) to see what I was eating back then. One of the things I noticed right away was that I didn't eat many (if any) protein bars. I packed the same snacks everyday back then: 1 serving (16 pretzels) and 2 servings of baby carrots. The combined calories or those two are only around 150 calories. I also ate less dense cereals which therefore had about half as many calories. Back then I ate Kellogs Fruit and Yogurt cereal every day. I would have one and a half servings each morning which was only about 170 calories. This time around I've been crossing healthier cereals that contain more protein and fiber. Because these cereals are more dense they have about double the calories or the Kellogs cereal. This means, that when I eat 1.5 servings of cereal in the morning, I am eating about 350 calories for breakfast which only leaves me with 850 calories for the rest of the day.

The other thing I found was that I was eating dessert every day.  I bought the Snackwells Devil Food Cake Cookies and would pack two of them in my lunch every day.  They do contain 50 calories each (100 calories per the two I was packing) which is a lot of calories for small cookies but it seemed to be working.  This time around I have been working really hard to not eat dessert or anything sugary for that matter which I am still struggling with.  Last time I lost ten times the amount of weight I am this time (25 pounds last time compared to the 2.5 pounds I've lost this time) so I was obviously doing something right.

The last thing I noticed was that I exercised just about every day.  I also used my Fitbit to count the steps I was taking each day.  I am thinking of purchasing another pedometer but I'll probably opt for a different model.  I loved my FitBit... It's just that the darn thing broke after only two months- the clip broke off which made it impossible to clip to my clothes and therefore useless.  I remember taking a 30-day challenge last year,  To complete the challenge you had to work out for at least twenty minutes each day and you eat to not exceed your daily calorie allowance.  I tried to challenge about 30 days into my diet last time and it was a great motivator.  Looking back at my food and exercise journal for that period I saw that I exercised every day because of that challenge.  There were many days I didn't have time to go to the gym and couldn't go for a run because I had my kids.  On those days I would take my kids and go for a walk or pull them in the wagon.  I have been thinking about doing another 30-day challenge but was concerned that I wouldn't be able to exercise every day.  Now I am thinking "If I did it back then I can do it now".

In summary, what I have learned from reading my exercise and food journal from last year is the following:

1) I need to start eating a lower calorie cereal in the morning
2) I shouldn't be afraid of certain desserts (the kind I can control myself around)
3) I should try another 30-day challenge
4) I should plan out my daily meals/ snacks so I know in advance what I can and can't eat.  For now, I should stick with the snacks I was eating last year since they worked great
5) When I work out I shouldn't consume protein bars (unless they're all I have).  Instead I should eat the snacks I've packed for the day, like I used to.


The Plan:

After work today I am going to go to the grocery store to buy some of that Kellogs cereal.  The only reason I stopped eating it was because I was also eating the cereal for dessert.  I am also going to buy some of the devil's food cookies since they seem to be one of the only desserts I can have in the house without worrying that I'll eat the whole box.

I am going on My Fitness Pal to join a 30-day challenge.  Out of all of the changes I decided to make today this is the one I am the most excited about.

I am going to plan out my meals and snacks today on My Fitness Pal so I can see how many snacks I can eat and then I'll pack my lunch accordingly.

Weekly Weigh-In #1

+ 1.2 lbs 

I weighed myself again this morning, not that I expected a change, and I weighed 162.6. That means I gained 1.2 lbs in the past two days and it means I've only lost 1.5 pounds in 18 days. I don't understand. It's frustrating since I'm eating healthy and exercising regularly for one and a half months. As I've said before, the last time I did this I lost fifteen pounds in 2-3 weeks. I don't remember the specifics but I do know I lost almost thirty pounds in 60 days. I would be happy if I lost even half of that this go around but instead I've lost only one pound. It just doesn't make sense. I am still going to stick with it since I made the decision to permanently change my diet but it's very de-motivating (not sure if that's a word) working hard and not seeing results. 

Yesterday I decided to use My Fitness Pal more regulary to keep track of what I'm eating to make sure I'm not going over my daily calorie allowance. I was more focused on just eating healthy before and didn't want to focus on counting every single calorie. Besides, I've done this before so I was pretty sure I was right around my daily calorie limit at the end of each day. But now that the f'ing scale isn't moving I am going to start using My Fitness Pal again. 

Yesterday I logged my calories throughout the whole day and after dinner I saw I had 165 calories remaining. I decided to have two sherbert pop-ups for dessert. I ended the day with only 5 calories remaining (consumed 1195 calories out of my 1200 daily allowance). I ended up having massive cravings AGAIN so I had a tiny bowl of cereal which worked. That made me go over my daily allowance by 120 calories. 

Weighing myself sporadically is driving me crazy. Because of this I decided that the only two options would be to stop weighing myself entirely or to start doing weekly weigh-ins again. At this point it would be really hard to not weigh myself anymore. I feel like I need to see the scale start to go down before I could give up on weighing myself. Otherwise, I'll feel like I'm not losing any weight, since I really haven't. 

What's great with weekly weigh-ins is that I can look at what I ate that week and how much I exercised and correlate that to how much weight I've lost, or in some instances, gained. 

Daily Goals- Wednesday 4/15

Monday's Goal: stop eating dessert - FAIL

Tuesday's Goal: use My Fitness Pal to keep food and exercise journal everyday. 

Wednesday (Today's) Goal: start doing weekly weigh-ins again every Wednesday. 

4/15/15 Morning Check-In

8:15am - I was planning on waking up early this morning so I could go to the gym but I ended up snoozing the alarm for an hour. I could be ready to leave in 30 minutes; my kids on the otherhand usually take a while to get ready on non-school days. My younger daughter is still sleeping. 

The other option, one that might actually work better, would be to go to my client's a little early, like 11am, so I could leave earlier than usual. If I want to get in a good workout I'll have to leave by 3pm. 

I'm not sure what I'll do yet but I'll figure it out. 

Breakfast: 

Oatmeal Square cereal w/nonfat milk; coffee w/nonfat milk. 

4/14/15 Evening Check-In

It's 8:46pm and I am tired and ready for bed. Lately I have found that I've wanted to go to bed early most nights partly because I'm tired but mainly because I want to avoid the sugar cravings that always come on and get stronger the later it gets. 

Before I go to bed I have to finish this final tax return but my tax software is completely frozen. I'm using LogMeIn to log into my server at my office so it's hard to troubleshoot these issues when they come up. As soon as this return is done I'm going to go lay down. 

Tomorrow I am determined to either go for a run or go to the gym. If I get up early enough I could go to the gym but I'd have to drop my kids off around 8am. It's doable, I'm just not sure I'll get up that early. Since the kids don't have school this week it's hard to get up extra early since I don't "have" to. 

Finally! My tax software is back up and I'm almost done with this return. Hooray this tax season wasn't as rough as last year's was but I'm still relieved it's almost over. 

Breakfast:

Oatmeal Square cereal (cinnamon flavor) w/nonfat milk; 2 cups of coffee w/nonfat milk. 

Morning Snack:

Handful of green grapes; water 

Lunch:

Lean Cuisine Thai Chicken Spring Rolls ; water

Afternoon Snack:

Handful of green grapes; water 

Dinner:

3 tacos w/96% lean ground beef, lowfat 2% cheddar/jack cheese, organic corn tortillas, and canola oil to cook tortillas in; water

Dessert:

2 orange sherbert pop-ups

Weigh-In: Tuesday 4/14/15

- 0.4 lb

I am going to start tracking my food again in My Fitness Pal. When I weighed myself on 3/29 I was 164.4. Fast forward over two weeks later and I weigh 161.4. That's only 3 pounds in seventeen days. Last year I lost 15 lbs the first month. I'm not sure why I'm losing weight so much slower this go around but I have a feeling it's because I'm focused more on eating healthy than losing weight. Even though my weight loss is slower this time around, I honestly feel that this time I have a better chance of keeping the weight off. 

Breakfast today: 

Oatmeal Squares cereal w/nonfat milk, coffee, & an Alli pill. Yum. 

Monday 4/13/15 Evening Update

Yesterday basically went as expected. I went to the gym, worked out for two and a half hours, went to the grocery store, picked up my daughter, and came home. I had forgotten my friend Mary was supposed to come over to touch up my roots with some warmer colors (she cut and colored my hair two weeks ago). I was also planning to cook a nice dinner for everyone since it was Mary's birthday last week. Because of all of this I didn't get ANY work done which is a bummer but I am stoked that I had an amazing workout. I burned 601 calories on the elliptical! 

For dinner I made some chicken with brown rice and asparagus. 

Tomorrow I am working in Luas Valley all day and will not be able to go to the gym. On Wednesday I may be able to go. I know I will have time to go for a run in the morning if I drop off my kids early enough. I just don't know if I'll have time for the gym. 

It's 10:30pm and I am exhausted from my extensive workout today. I skipped dessert tonight to try and calm down these sugar cravings I've been having. The cravings started right after dinner and have been getting stronger and stronger. I tried doing some breathing exercises to calm my system down but I don't think it will help. I'm craving an apple which I don't know if that's good or bad. I really don't want to give in but I don't know how much longer I can hold out. I even tried doing some research online but most of the sites I found suggested that you give in to the cravings by eating a tiny bit of a sugary treat. I don't trust myself to only have a tiny bit so I'm going to just try to go to sleep. 

11:30pm-update

My younger daughter just woke up and woke me up. She's back to sleep now but I am feeling extremely hungry now. I didn't eat that much today and I had a huge workout so that may have something to do with it. I know I'm trying to reason with why I should give into these cravings but I've woken up several times this evening and each time the cravings are worse. I really need to get to sleep so I'm going to have a bowl of Oatmeal Squares cereal. 

11:50pm- Feeling much better. Going to sleep. Nite. 

Monday 4/13/15 Morning Check-In

It's 11:51am and I'm trying to plan out the rest of my day. I have some work to do but I also want to go to the gym. I was going to do yoga and then go but since I have a lot to do with little time I've decided to get the kids ready and go to the gym now. I'll then pick them up and head to my office to get some work done. The only problem with this plan is that I am not motivated to do work after working out. Maybe it would be better to work first and then exercise. I'm just worried if I do that I won't have time to go to the gym. 

Meal Plan

Breakfast: Trader Joe's Granola w/Almond Cereal w/nonfat milk; Coffee w/nonfat milk.- Alreadt ate

Lunch: Lean Cuisine meal (not sure which one)

Dinner: Chicken, brown rice or quinoa, and asparagus

Snacks: Green grapes, pretzels, protein bar (post workout), carrots w/eggplant hummus. 

Drinks: Besides 2 cups of coffee this morning, water for whole day. 

Daily Goal (yes I'm doing this again lol): Cut down on sugary snacks. No dessert!

Sunday 4/12/15

Yesterday was a good day. I woke up, had coffee and breakfast (Trader Joe's granola w/almond cereal), did yoga for an hour, straightened up the house, and had some lunch (Thai chicken spring rolls). It was such a nice day out I decided to take the kids on a hike. I packed some snacks (strawberries, green grapes, protein bars, water...) and we headed out to China Camp beach where they have several beautiful trails. China Camp isn't my favorite place to hike but it was the closest. By the time we left the house it was already 2:30p, and I didn't want to spend an hour finding another place to hike online and then driving out there.

My older daughter did not want to go hiking. She is 13 years old and all she wants to do is stray home playing on her phone or computer. She complained while getting ready and tried to bargain with me by promising to not have any more screen time got for the whole rest of the day if i let her stay home. My younger daughter is the exact opposite. She is 7 and hates staying indoors. She loves being out and about even if we're doing something boring like errands. 

It took us about ten minutes to drive to China Camp and, once there, we had a little trouble finding parking. My iPad weather app said it was 73 degrees out, a beautiful day for the beach. We found a parking spot down the road which actually worked out quite well since there was a trail two feet from our car. The first few minutes of our hike was spent making our way to the main trail. There wasn't much shade on this trail and the path was thin and rocky. My older daughter complained about the heat. I told her to just enjoy the fresh air. I also explained that the sunlight and fresh air is good for her, something that she started to realize.

Once we were  on the main path my older daughter did a 180. The path was gorgeous and shady with a fresh breeze. The plants were beautiful shades of green and there were small colorful flowers sprinkled throughout. The air was amazing! It smelled so fresh and refreshing. I stopped to take a few deep breaths of air. The kids felt it too. My older daughter went from being grumpy and quite to excited and extremely chatty. We saw some hummingbirds, a large black beetle, and every few steps we took we saw lizards darting under some bushes or leaves. My younger daughter kept trying to catch a lizard but they were too quick. 

We took a side path that led up to the top of a hill over looking the bay. There was little shade at the top of the hill so we made our way down back to the main path where we found a bench and sat down to have a snack. My older daughter and I had fresh strawberries while my younger daughter had a kid's Cliff bar called a "Z Bar".

After our snack we kept going on the trail for a little while longer before turning back and heading down. On the way back to the car the kids wanted to stop at the water and dip their feet in but we didn't have anything to dry them with and we still needed to walk the five minute hike back to the car. It's such a rocky terrain that going barefoot wasn't an option. We decided to hold off on going down to the beach  and instead decided to get frozen yogurt on our way back into town. Unfortunately, while driving back I missed top he turn and we passed the market that sells frozen yogurt. By the time I noticed we had gone too far to turn back. My older daughter wanted a Slurpee from 7-11 so that's what we did. I got a rainbow sherbert fat-free push-up pop and my younger daughter got a glazed donut. Not the healthiest treat but since we don't do this very often I figured it was fine. 

The rest of the day is not very exciting. We went to TJ-Maxx because my grandma suggested I go there to buy some canvas storage baskets. We then went to Ulta to buy some makeup but they wee closed (since it was Sunday and 6:30pm). The kids had been so good i decided to take them to Toys R Us where I let them each pick out a toy. They both opted for stuffed animals. The older one picked a German Sheppard and the younger one picked a jaguar. The last stop was Whole Foods where I bought a sirloin steak for dinner. 

At home I barbeque the sirloin steak and served it with brown rice and green peas. Dinner was excellent. After dinner I was craving sugar so I ate a Sponge Bob push-up pop and then, when that didn't satisfy my craving, I ate a bowl of cereal. By the time I was done I was stuffed, too stuffed and I regretted eating the cereal. I have been over indulging with sugar lately and the cravings have started to get stronger again. I am going to have to dial it back down of else it will probably become a problem. 

On a side note, an old friend of mine asked me for drinks next Saturday night. I've known him for over fifteen years so it should be really fun catching up. He lives 45 minutes away though so I'm not sure what his plan will be. I haven't been out in over a year so it should be fun. :)

-Marie