4lbs GONE! Not bad for a challenging week!

So I weighed myself today, and I'm down 4lbs! So even though "Shredding" has been a major challenge, I guess it's working!

Yesterday was a not-so-good diet day. I'm learning my "triggers" when it comes to eating too much. My biggest trigger is allowing myself to get too hungry before I eat. Basically, I ate lunch yesterday, and then Matt and I were volunteering for an event last night. Well, I ended up spending my dinner time getting ready to leave, and then didn't eat. We got home around 10:30pm and I was starving. So I ate a quesadilla. I was still hungry, so I ate another. Then I realized I blew it, so I had a bowl of ice cream...lol! Not my finest diet moment!

My other trigger is telling myself I'll "just eat one" of whatever it is I really like. The problem is, I can't stop at just one. So if I make a batch of macaroons (which are my favorite thing ever) and then I freeze them, I will eat them. If I say "I'll just have one as a treat" I won't just have one, I'll justify my eating all of them, and then feel guilty. So it's better for me to not leave temptation lying around! Plus, I really enjoy healthy foods. The other night I was hungry, but was almost out of calories for the day. I happened to have a bag of spinach, and a container of mushrooms. So I made myself a plate of them, and ate that for a snack-- for about 20 calories. No guilt, plus it's good for you! I just need to remember that when macaroons temptations are staring me in the face! I LIKE HEALTHY FOODS!! I'm going to keep saying that to myself!

Here's hoping that next week is as good diet-wise as this week has been!

Dude, my abs HURT! Wait, I have abs? (Shred day 2)

Ok, Jillian Michaels is both my best friend and my worst enemy right now! My whole body hurts! Typing this is painful! Never mind that when she's lecturing me about "pushing through the pain" and telling me "if you want a 20 minute workout that works you don't get to rest" I have to tell myself not to through my hand-weight through the TV!

I woke up sore. Not just "oh, I'm a little from my work-out yesterday" sore. More like "How in the heck am I going to get out of bed?" sore! I have to say it's a good feeling! It's been a long time since a workout has kicked my butt as much as this one has. Doing "The Shred today was both more challenging, and easier then yesterday. Yesterday, I was learning the moves. Heck, I didn't even know how to do a crunch properly. I've done crunches before, but never felt sore-- which means I must not have been doing it right. Today, I feel like someone socked me in the gut. Now that I know the moves, it's a challenge to stick with them!

I thought that I would start posting what I've been eating. I'm trying to stick to between 1200-1300 calories a day.

	Breakfast
	Bananas		A	136	121
	Egg, White - Raw, Fresh		A	33	48
	Spinach - Raw		A	100	23
	Lunch
	Penne - Barilla Plus		B	56	200
	Light Ricotta Cheese		A-	62	60
	Light String Cheese Snacks		C	21	50
	Dinner
	Low-Cal Vegetarian "Mushroom" Stroganoff		B	373	263
	Low-Cal Vegetarian "Mushroom" Stroganoff		B	373	263
	Snacks
	Fudgsicle Bars - Multipacks - Fudgsicle		C	75	100
Total Calories Consumed					1,127

That's 1,127 Calories total! Oh yeah, plus the Oatmeal raisin cookie I had... so 1,227! ;-)

I'm not trying to push vegetarianism here, but getting my protein from sources other then meat has made eating low cal a lot easier. If you're at all familiar with the volumetric diet, you know what I mean. I eat a lot of low-cal foods, so I never feel hungry. I eat a lot of black-beans which are relatively low in calories considering the amount of protein they contain. Of course, I've been trying to cut down the dairy in my diet for many reasons (too many hormones, saturated fat, and deplorable mistreatment of dairy cows to name a few) but it has been the single most challenging thing for me (as you can tell by my food log). Way harder then giving up meat ever was. I try to stick to organic dairy, but there are a ton of vegan options that I could do, I just have to make up my mind to do it.

I'll post my Mushroom Stroganoff recipe later! It's really yummy for being so low in calories!

The Shred (aka: one way to kill a fat girl)

WOW! I now know how people on The Biggest Loser lose weight so quickly. I decided to get a copy of Jillian Michaels 30 day shred. I heard some great things about it, and had been wanting to try it out. Now, I watch Biggest Loser, and I know that Jillian can be pretty tough. What I didn't expect, was for the "beginners" level of The Shred to kill me. Boy did it ever!

I drank a glass of ice water, and turned it on. I was tired after the 1 minute warm-up...lol! I stuck with it, but noticed something interesting. Even her "backup girls" were breaking a sweat. These are girls that are obviously seasoned in their exercise profession. Not to mention, I think they weighed 105lbs all together! ;-) I am a big girl! Anything they do is going to be about 50 times more intense for me. About 10 minutes into it, I was so close to turning it off. I didn't though, I stuck with it. It didn't get any easier, and I had to modify the already modified versions of the exercises. I couldn't even get up after the "cool down"! I feel it, and it feels good. But it's going to be a LONG 30 days!!

-15

Well, it's taken some time, but I am down 15lbs!! I have been for a month. I gained about 5lbs while we were moving, and eating junk, and I slowly started losing it again. I'd be lying if I said that dieting is fun--it's not. It's a challenge! It was a challenge for me in high school, in college, and now as a married adult. Being married to someone that is naturally thin makes it worse. I love my husband, but that man can eat! He knows how hard I try, and is constantly saying that he eats more healthfully because of me. That makes me feel better because at least he knows I really do try to be healthy.

One day Matt and I were talking about calories. I've been tracking my calories daily, and have been sticking to a diet between 1400 and 1600 calories a day. Hardly starving! So he decided he wanted to track his calories too. So the next day we both ate normally and tracked how many calories we eat without trying to watch it. I came in at about 1400-1500. Now I realize that no matter what, my eating wouldn't have been totally normal because I know how many calories are in what. But Matt's total-4250! HOLY COW!! For a 150lb man, that is a lot. Does he gain weight? NEVER! Needless to say, I didn't speak to him for the rest of the day...lol! I'm kidding!

It just shows me the importance of "movement". Sure, I have some metabolism issues, but the fact that my husband can eat over 4,000 calories in a day, but not gain weight says something. He rides his bike a lot, he's constantly walking at work, he likes to workout. In him lies the secret of skinnyhood! MOVEMENT! I work from home, so the majority of my day is at the computer, with household chores in-between. So I have to be intentional about movement. If I want to lose weight, I have to move! More on that later!

Treading Lightly--Take two!

Well, if you follow my blog, you know that I've made several attempts to get healthy, only to be derailed time and time again by random happenings in my life, and my own negative self-talk. I lost around 12lbs a few months ago, and have managed to keep it off, which is good. I'm finally getting back on track now, and though it has proven to be even more difficult then last time, I'm doing ok. Slow and steady wins the race, right? ;-)
So I started again about a week and a half ago. I'm down 4 more pounds--which I'm amazed by, really. Matt and I have been going to the pool, and I really think that swimming is boosting my weight-loss. The reason a lot of people don't lose weight swimming, is because when you're done swimming, you're usually really hungry. So then you end up over-eating, and undoing all the work you did at the pool. So I've eating a small protein-rich snack before (string cheese, or sometimes a plain veggie burger) and then heading to the pool. Then I come home, make dinner, and eat again. I must be doing something right, because I'm not dying of hunger after an hour-long swim. Also, as long as I'm staying within my calories, I can eat what I want. Because I don't eat meat, I end up eating fewer overall calories, which leaves me extra calories for dressings, and things that I normally wouldn't have enough calories left to add in. So the food I eat still tastes good because i can add those extra things.
I'm still doing my daily calorie counting on http://www.calorie-count.com/ It's such an invaluable tool for keeping track of exactly what I'm eating, and how many calories. The fact the it's free to use is a definite plus! It also has an activity tracker, so I type in "swimming" it gives me a few options, and then adds up the total calories burned too. Love it! Since the last time, I increased the total number of calories I allow myself daily. I realized that by not eating enough, I was slowing down my metabolism. I looked up my BMR (Basic Metabolic Rate) and realized that I needed to allow myself to eat more.
I'm really committed to sticking with what I have going right now. Things have been really stressful the last few months, as we're having major family issues, and things have been over-the-top dramatic, but I'm really hoping that I won't allow myself to fall back into the patterns I was in before!

Emotional starving...

Yesterday (well, it's after Midnight, so I guess the day before yesterday) was an awful day. Awful! It started out great, got up early, had a long conversation with a friend, ate a nice, healthy breakfast. Then it happened. I went to the In-laws and there was a huge blow up fight. I got yelled at like crazy for something that I had nothing to do with. Matt wasn't there (of course) and I left in hysterics. I got in my car, stopped by Matt's work to let him know what had happened (and am so blessed to have a husband that will defend me), then I got home and cried on the phone to a friend. Right as I hung up, I headed for the fridge. I stopped myself because I knew if I started eating, I wouldn't stop without feeling like I ruined everything I've been working for.

So I took a shower and cried it all out. I still felt the emotional void that I normally fill with food, and Matt wasn't going to be home for a few more hours. So I grabbed a Dr. Pepper and watched TV. Yeah, healthy right? Actually, it's a vast improvement from normal. Not only that, but I made it a point to sip it slowly. I don't even usually drink soda, but I notice that it's sweet enough to curb my sweet craving, but I don't enjoy the fizziness, so I'm not tempted to drink any more. I also don't drink diet things, but the 100 calories aren't too bad.

So I think I handled it well. Kept right under 1200 calories. Even enjoyed some time at Starbucks, sipping a skinny latte with the hub. I didn't end up working out, and I can't swim until next week because I have an ear infection. I did workout to wii for 30 minutes today though,a do feel great! Overall, I'm feeling awesome!