Weigh Day & New Workout Room Floor

I laid in bed hoping I wouldn’t have to step on the scale.  Why does it fill me with so much dread I wonder?  Oh right, because I ate like a douche on the weekend despite being so good during the week.  I’ve been striving to not have a ‘cheat’ day – kinda defeats the purpose doesn’t it?  Instead, I’ve decided to plan ONE treat.  If I know I can have ONE treat during the week outside of my calories – or if I can fit it in all the better! – than it won’t feel so restrictive.

This weekend I am going to have a small bowl of mint chip ice cream from M&M’s.  YUM!  I think I’ll have it on Sunday night.  The theory is if I KNOW this treat is coming, I have something to look forward to.  Let’s see how it goes shall we?

I wish I didn’t like food so much.  And you know, it’s not even the fact that I like food I think, so much as I just cram it in my face without tasting it when I’m stressed out or bored.  Usually it’s carbs – chips, cereal, granola bars, etc.  My nighttime snack after work is a small bowl of cheerios, and I find that makes me feel nice and satiated before bed.  And a cup of tea.  It’s a far cry from before when I’d come home from work and mow down a meal and then a bag of chips.  And then go to bed feeling like total hell.

Anyway, on to the dirty:

• Weight loss last week: 3 lbs!  I did something right last week than? Yes!
• Calories: High – ugh, Saturday I was a douche, probably like 2400 Low: 1283 Average: 1465
• Favourite food:  STILL my favourite sandwich’s sadly – grilled chicken or turkey BLT.
• Feeling:  Pretty good about it.

My exercise break down goes like this:

1. 5 days of riding my bike back and forth to work
2. 4 days of running totaling 10 miles
3. 3 days of one hour strength sessions
4. 2 days of cross-training videos

A total of about 9 hours of deliberate exercise.  I say deliberate because I do not consider cutting the grass, walking the dog, or cleaning the house exercise in my tracking like some do.  It’s totally cool if people want to do that I think, but I just consider that a part of my normal daily burn or an added bonus!

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I am HAPPY there’s a new floor in my exercise space downstairs.  We used to have a grungy carpet in the basement.  I have an excellent high quality mat, but even though it’s huge it wasn’t always big enough and my shoes would get stuck on the carpeting at inopportune moments.  Now I have a nice carpet free space to workout on!

workout room – approx 10 ft by 15

The floor is called fiber floor, and it’s actually wonderful on the feet for the barefoot Pilates/ballet fusion class videos I’ve been doing.  It’s also so much easier to clean up with three cats!  They don’t hang out in there very much anymore as it’s not soft carpeting to shed all over, so I don’t mind!

And what’s a workout without my orange little helper chewing on something or other?

Loki – I love this asshead.

My New Food Addiction

That’s right folks, I am no longer addicted EXCLUSIVELY to turkey bacon BLT’s.

I am also addicted to this:

NOM NOM

I make it every single night at work.  Seriously.

It is grilled chicken breast on 12 Grain bread with a SMIDGE of butter, lettuce, tomato, hot peppers, red roasted peppers, and onions.  Then I throw it on the grill for a couple of minutes. And then add about a pound of carrots.  Voila!  An easy, awesome, healthy (stop counting all of the carrots) dinner!  I love that our caf rocks at work, and there is access to this wonderfulness.

If you have a waffle/sandwich grill at home you can make it there too.  I am so addicted.  When I have a couple of days off I mourn the loss of my chicken sammich.

Today was a tough run.  For whatever reason I decided it would be a good idea to run at NOON.  Yeah, sure.  My tooth throbbed appropriately, and I am a solid freckle puss.  The sun is very hot and bright.  This is the first run in a long time where I really didn’t want to run, every step was a struggle.  But I finished.  And I finished week 2 of Hal’s training plan!  I can’t believe the difference in my body when I don’t eat properly.  I have no energy or drive.  This week, tooth ache or no tooth ache I will eat properly.  Even if I have to puree it!

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Run: 2.79miles

Time: 39 minutes

Calories: Spark people said 352 HR monitor said 0 – stupid battery died!

Feeling: sun burnt but glad I ran. 🙂

Weigh Day & Scale Obsession

Oh the joys of weigh day.

*image courtesy of John Stone Fitness

I have a confession to make.

When I first started this weight loss thing I became obsessed.  And I mean badly obsessed with my scale.  I would weigh myself a dozen times a day, and depending on what I saw I would cut calories or throw in another workout.  The weight came off so fast at first surely something was wrong if I didn’t lose a pound a day, right?

Yes, you can see where this is leading.

My obsession with the scale eventually lead to me giving up.  I hated it.  I hated me, and I thought I was doing it all wrong.

It wasn’t until a surgery that I started to see things a little differently.  I had to stop exercising for a while, and so I got away from my obsession.  I was terrified of that though, and it was my own fault I backslid.  For five months I stopped exercising, running, and I ate whatever I wanted.  I gained back almost 40 lbs.  In five months, really?

I didn’t step on the scale though, so then I blamed it on not caving into my obsession with my scale.  When really, it was just my own fault.

I created a dangerous and unhealthy habit.  This time around things are different.

I step on my scale once, and I mean ONCE a week.  Under the same conditions every time.  If I step on it anymore I know I will once again loose control and create a dangerous health situation for myself of either under eating or binge eating from feelings of failure. I have to admit I am rather proud of myself.  The scale hadn’t BUDGED in a month, and I still didn’t give up. Normally I would have thrown in the towel, but I’ve been taking it week by week.  I’ve been paying more attention to HOW I feel rather than what my scale tells me.

The scale will not win.  Or define my health.

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Weight loss: 3.4 lbs compared to last week.  FINALLY! A loss!

Highest calorie day: 1787  Lowest calorie day: 1242   AVG: 1460

Things I changed up this past week:

I changed the FOOD I eat.  I added tons of whole grains into my diet.  They really do make you feel a lot fuller longer, but they also give me the proper fuel for my runs.

Favourite food added:  Turkey-Bacon BLT on 12 grain bread!  Hold the mayo and cheese!  LOVE these!

Also, I cut out soda.  Yes, really, I am addicted to Diet Pepsi.  Like WHOA.  I’ve had none in five days.  It is so hard, but I will prevail!