I’ll tell you what’s hard—knowing you’ve “blown” a day and still entering the food you ate into FitDay to see exactly how much damage you did to your calorie limit.

Friday was good—ate healthy food I had at the office, and then did a dinner from Boston Market, which has a little guide you can browse while waiting in line to order, which has 400-600 calorie combination recommendations, and their nutritional breakdown. I had roast turkey, vegetable stuffing (what a treat) and green beans, and with the cornbread was still at about 1200 for the day.

Saturday, however, with a friend who was busy and likes to eat out. Breakfast at Perkins—substituted Egg Beaters, skipped the potato offering, but I did have Canadian bacon and wheat toast. The waitress tried to give me three pancakes I didn’t order instead of the fruit side, but I demurred. Lunch at Toojay’s, a Florida-based deli restaurant chain (we don’t have one in Jax), a roasted veggie wrap with fruit which was really rich tasting. I had to approximate the calories and threw in 2tbsp olive oil which I’m sure was more than was on the vegetables.

Then I really blew it after the show—Chili’s big mouth bites, 850 calories, plus a beer, plus she brought two beers as it was two-for-one, though I only managed 1/3 of the second one, plus some bites of my friend’s dessert. Oof. Still, I was thinking 4000 calories, and it was 2335 by my tally. Still a good many more than I’m used to. Sunday I was much more moderate and was under 1500 again. Today, after my 2 1/4 hour drive home, I had time to hit the supermarket for some salad stuff and nonfat milk so I have good choices for today’s meals.  Plus back to Jazzercise tonight.

I did do some exercise at my friend’s house, though it was not intense. Some general abs stuff, glutes, still working on the pushups, and so forth. Bought two pairs of slacks on the way down, my first size 12 jeans and black slacks.

Ann, remember calorie averaging! One semi-bad day sandwiched by 2 great days = 3 average days! No harm done.

Congrats on the size 12 jeans!!! How about a pic of you in them? Have you gotten that camera yet?

Bree

Thanks, Bree! Yeah, I think I was overreacting emotionally to being off-course for one day. I just am frustrated, when I seem I’m on track calorie-wise at least six days a week, and exercising 4-6 hours a week, why I can go a month without losing a pound. Or have lost only 15 pounds in six months. It’s actually a good, big step for me to do the homework and see how ‘bad’ my ‘bad’ really was, you know?

No pic yet. I feel like I’ve been too busy to do anything besides work, work out, and the bare minimum of laundry and other upkeep, having been in Orlando the past two weekends.  The jeans are a little help-me-Lord snug, at least they were Fri night in the store, but room to ‘shrink’. The slacks are cut a little more generously across the tummy.  Last night I realized, I think the ‘lump’ in my abdomen feels bigger, so either the stupid dermoid has grown (hey, those vitamins are for me, alien boy!) or my belly fat is a little less and I just notice it more. I can really feel it when I’m lying down. When I’m standing or sitting, it just feels like I still have a lot of belly fat.  I still have enough, mind you. It doesn’t need the assist.

Tough evening last night—one of my favorite people from exercise class told mer her husband had moved out after 28 years of marriage. She was emotional but she’s pulling through. We hugged and talked. I have to say, I’m impressed that they’re both going through counseling through the END of their marriage, to work out what there is to work out in as healthy a way as possible. Not all people are that grown-up about it. It certainly put my problems and little interpersonal issues in perspective.

Sunday, March 2nd: this morning, I popped on the scale. Haven’t been doing it every single day lately. I was down another pound off my lowest point, after bouncing around crazily for a while. Oddly enough, I would think I’d weigh more at this time of the month.  Well, I won’t hang my hat on one day’s numbers, but it does make me happy to see real digital progress.

Like Scott says...weigh yourself everyday, then average it out....the best way to get your true weight

TomCarlsbad - 02 March 2008 09:05 PM

Like Scott says...weigh yourself everyday, then average it out....the best way to get your true weight

Yeah, but I’m still going to do the little happy-dance at being at the lowest mark to date. Actually stayed within .2 pounds this morning.

I’d do the happy dance, too. It’s always fun to see a smaller number on the scale. As long as your entire happiness doesn’t depend on it.

Bree

I could have sworn I posted something the other evening but it’s not here. Sometimes my home PC seems to get things stuck instead of posting. Oh, well. If it’s lost then it must mean I can do better the second time, right? (That’s what I tell myself when I lose computer work.)

Things are going pretty well on all fronts. No back pain, no major muscle soreness. I’m a little tired still, but I’m considering that the residual of daylight savings time.  I am greatly affected by that hour switch; I think I wake more based on natural light than the clock, so I’m a bit out of whack. Plus I had two consecutive weekends out of town.

I’ve been forgetting to weigh myself in the morning. I believe my weight is about flat. I stopped journaling all my calories, though I’ve been eating pretty much the same things during the week, and on the weekends I ate out but tried to be moderate in calories and healthful in portions and nutrition.

Tuesday morning I walked up the steps to the front door of work, and caught the reflection in the plate glass window. Are those MY legs? They still look so chunky when I look down on them, but they really look different in the window. I’m not writing that to brag. I don’t expect my short little legs to stop traffic. It’s just that I am startled when I don’t recognize myself. It feels good, to a point, but it also feels weird. I lost weight in college and have often analyzed what I went through as a mini-identity-crisis. My drivers license didn’t look like me, so I had to have the photo redone. It’s sometimes just as weird now, even though I have a little more maturity to handle it better (allegedly.)

Made a big stride in the past week: on another message board where I have met a bunch of people in person, I actually posted, for the first time, just how much weight I’ve lost over the past 18 months. I was always too embarrassed to let them know. I had never posted my photo before meeting them, and it was because I knew I was losing weight and wanted to be at my goal before they saw me. That didn’t happen but I went anyway. I was still rather awkward about my weight and appearance. Hopefully by the next time I see all of them again I’ll be more comfortable with myself as I am.

I also heard from an old work colleague and friend in Orlando with whom I’d lost touch. We caught up a bit and I told her some of what-is-happening. I knew that she had a transformative weight loss sometime before I met her, and from her photo online, she has kept most of it off and looks good. One more reunion in central Florida for me! Hopefully next trip I will drop by my old workplace and see a bunch of people.

I am really thinking I need to get the next handweights up. Looking into possibly getting adjustable hand weights; if anyone has used them and likes them, let me know.  I’m getting more toned now, but would like for my arms to be stronger, as pushups are still pretty hard. Time for me to start thinking about what Phase 4 of my ‘program’ is going to look like. I’m comfortable with Jazzercise and I like it; I don’t seem to have too much time for more than 5 hours of that per week. On the other hand, maybe I’m just not motivated enough when I’m outside the group environment, so doing something else on Wednesdays and Fridays might be good. I need extra resistance more than cardio. Hate to pay full gym membership fees to use it once or twice a week though. Maybe I’ll ask around at work to see who’s doing what.

Past two days, I’ve been hungrier and hungrier. Maybe that’s because I got some good stuff at the supermarket. To jazz up my boring lunchtime salad routine, I bought a bag of spinach, grape tomatoes, vidalia onion, feta cheese crumbles, and some artichoke hearts, sliced mushrooms, and pimiento, in jars. I prefer fresh mushrooms but these are nice in the salad, and the brined red pepper and artichokes add a richness. I spent ten minutes constructing a beautiful salad yesterday at work, then took it outside, with some cottage cheese on the side. I think overall my calorie count is up a bit, but I needed some new flavors. I can’t wait for that big bowl of salad today, actually.

Hmm… phase four… how do I want to feel? Look? Maybe phase four will focus less on calories and pounds, and more on self-esteem and patience. And gratitude.

Guess I’m glad I decided not to stress out about pounds too much, as I’m back up a few. With my weekend trips and a busy schedule at work, I’ve taken a break from logging calories. Now, I know when I have stepped outside the boundaries altogether, though I felt that during the week I was basically on track. Guess I’m back to it. My main problem was that I seem to have gotten more used to eating until full. Even when it was healthy fare, I had a big lunch several days—big bowl of spinach salad with lots of bits in it, steamed veggies, lowfat cottage cheese, plus three little chicken thingies. All at one time instead of the more frequent small meals.  That full feeling can be pleasant, but I do much better when i don’t wait till I’m starvin’ to eat something, and I don’t eat so much that I feel bloaty.

A friend of mine who really struggles with his weight (he’s a much more compulsive eater than I am) and who has been shedding pounds by watching his intake and working with a personal trainer, went on a trip to Atlanta the weekend after mine, and sent me an email confessing his overeating sins, using the words, “I’m so ashamed.” Ooh, red flag to me. Shame means it’s harder to move on. So I told him that some of his scale weight may even out in a few days (once it’s out of the system) and as for the rest, getting back into the routine again is the most important thing, and does get easier. He shot back, “Sage words from someone so young.” Ha, you goof, you are two years my senior.

So maybe I’m going to think of this past week as a modest ‘diet spring break.’ But not ‘girl gone wild’ with food either! Fortunately I know I have the discipline to get back on the program. And I haven’t eased up on the exercise portion. The funny thing is, I’m three pounds up but I keep looking at myself differently.  Odd.

Even if you gained some weight back, it’s probably mostly water, or at least will come off quicker. I don’t understand why, but it seems the longer those X number of pounds stick around, the harder it is to lose them. But the exercise is changing the way your body looks, in a great way! You are getting more toned, leaner, and it also helps posture, which instantly trims you up.

Enjoy the “magic mirror melt”!!!

Bree

You know, it’s true, Bree, exercise has done a lot for me. On the 30th of this month some of my old pals are getting together to go out to a club we used to hang out in (I think I started going there in 1990 or so) in our “youth” relatively. We did so as a reunion about six months ago and had a great time. I love that I’m looking forward to and hoping to see old friends from those days because I know I look as good as, or better than, I did in those days, and I’m overall healthier and stronger. I also hope to visit my former workplace (1995-2000) and I know they’ve never seen me in shape like this, even though I’m not yet at my goal.

I have a lot of work to do on “me” in general. I’m okay with the fact that I’ve had a bit of a splurge, and it may be that I even out in a week or so, which seems to happen all the time.

Okay, I have to admit it… once I gave myself permission to overindulge this weekend, I really did. I did so knowing full well that it would set me back at least a few days, if not longer (considering how slow I am to lose and how quick to gain.) Yet, I’m completely owning the responsibility and will be back to the grind this week.

I started listening to Scott’s interview on the BeABondGrrl podcast, and I learned some things about him that I didn’t know. It’s very interesting to hear. I’ll finish it tomorrow while I work.

Began thinking today about the possibility of going back to New York this summer for a visit. I would like to look much trimmer than I did last summer. I’ve already lost about 15-20 pounds from that point, but I have more to go.  I’ll have to use that visit like I did last spring, as a very powerful motivator to keep at the treadmill, the food control, etc. Sometimes vanity is a powerful stimulant.

I had a lot to eat over the weekend with friends, but ultimately, the calorie load wasn’t so bad, and I did get in some good exercise. Still, I look forward to getting back into my eating routine, so I plan on getting up early tomorrow to hit the supermarket so I have the “good stuff” to eat during the day.  I’m completely out of everything at work.

It was nice to see friends. One of them hadn’t seen me in about six months, and he thinks I’ve both lost weight and toned since then. I went by my former workplace from 1995-2000, and everyone was saying how good I looked, which verified for me that I was considerably heavier than this when I started working there. I think I’m the same size I was back in 1991 last. Nice feeling. A former coworker has lost weight also and is running mini-marathons; I’m happy for her. Last time I saw her she still had considerable baby-weight.  Someone said (quite astutely), “Oh, so you’ve only come by because you’ve lost weight now?” I smiled. “Maybe I didn’t come by sooner because I’d gained more weight. If you don’t see me for a while, imagine I’ve gained it all back.” Three women said to me they didn’t know Jazzercise still even existed, so maybe I’ve sparked some interest.

It was a good trip for my self-esteem, not just the “you look great” comments, but just getting to be silly and witty with people who ‘get’ my sense of humor and return it. I enjoyed getting my nails done, and found some really cute and distinctive clothes at a resale shop.

I really look forward to breaking in my new gym membership. I just looked over some of amenities online. The location closest to me, which a coworker described to me as the weight-lifters one, unfortunately has the fewest things I’m interested in, but two others aren’t very far. So far I don’t see a yoga class I can work into my schedule, but potentially Zumba, cycling, and some other classes. Plus, they have dry saunas, apparently a ton of machines and weights, and as for the rest, I’ll have to see. Maybe I can coordinate going with a coworker sometimes. Wish I had a few more hours in the day, but I’m finally making some progress in a busy pile of work obligations, which also makes me feel better.

Two weeks ago I made a night-time stop at Target, and ended up getting a cute little dinner plate and bowl (black with white daisies) and a white tray for eating my lunches at work. While it’s nice out (and not too hot yet in NE Florida) I’ve been eating lunch outside, with a yoga mat on the grass. It’s nice to make a pretty looking platter of healthy food, even though it takes fifteen minutes sometimes to make the salad, steam the veggies, and put everything away before I get to take it outside and eat. It’s worth it to have tasty, healthy, fresh food.  People look at my huge tray of food and they must think, “how does she eat all that on a diet?” But lunch is my biggest meal, I don’t eat a full dinner, and when you have a big bowl of steamed veggies, it’s only about 50 calories. The daisy plate makes people smile.

I rambled on so much in my 100/365 days thread that I forgot to mention this nice surprise this morning: a new low on the scale. 154.4. Sure, yesterday was an exception - very light eating and pretty long exercise. But I’ll take the validation. That means I’m down 6 pounds from the first of the year. Not as fast as I would like and I’ve been up and down, but I am feeling good about the new gym membership coming at this time and my tentative plans to visit my NY friends in June. (I hope to look noticeably thinner and firmer than last August. Not to mention having restored confidence.)

This means I have finally tipped over the “I’ve lost 75 pounds” threshold also.

Yay!!! Congrats on the new low,   sounds odd when put like that. And the lost over 75 pounds!!! You must feel on top of the world! Are you celebrating? Maybe a new workout outfit, or that camera .

Bree