Still writing

Boy has the morning flown by.

I got up and went to the gym after I got T off to work. He still isn't feeling great, but a little better. Now my mom is sick as well. There's a lot of crap going around. I'm okay (knock on wood.)

I ate 3 oz of the corned beef last night, maybe 1/4 of the thousand Island and opted for baked tomatoes instead of a salad. I am working at home today so things are a bit different:

AM: 2 cups coffee with 2 T half and half, 2 prunes - 100 cal
breakfast: 1 egg, 1 oz turkey breakfast sausage, slice cheese on a slice of ancient grain bread - 280
lunch: Mediterranean tilapia quinoa bowl with okra - 335

snack: ??
Dinner: Shrimp and grits

Yesterday I didn't get in 10,000 steps and my calorie burn was lower - barely over what I ate according to the Fitbit. Hopefully I will be more active today. OTOH, I did HIIT at the gym yesterday so my calorie burn is questionable.

Take care!

Writing down all the things

Good morning. I'm on day 4 of writing down all the things. No lie, it's a bit of a hassle. Also, there is an incentive to not mindlessly nosh or take a bite if you have to write it down! And there's no point in NOT writing it down, because if I'm not honest I can't get good feedback.So yes, I have been dutifully logging - the good and not so good.

I got a lot of good quality sleep over the weekend which was a really nice change. I actually slept in a couple of mornings! I also spent A LOT of time trying to get caught up on housework. I finally put away the Christmas stuff that has been stacked on the back porch for forever. Yesterday was the warmest day of the weekend so I worked on the porch and took the dogs for a walk. I have to admit by the end of the weekend I was sick of cleaning and I just wanted to do something fun. T is sick - not the flu but a virus with very flu-like symptoms, so that stinks.

Also, I am hungry.

Here is food today:

AM: 2 cups coffee with 2 T half and half, 2 prunes - 100 cal
snack: 2/3 c greek yogurt, 70 g frozen mixed berries - 170
lunch: shrimp quinoa bowl - 325
dove dark chocolate (1) - 31
snack: 4 T hummus, baby carrots - 100
2 turkey sausage snack sticks - 90

That puts me at 1116 so far for the day.

Dinner:
extreme wellness wrap - 50
provolone - 80 per slice
corned beef - 45 per oz
thousand island 70 for half of what I made up
saurkraut
salad & dressing (70)

Not sure of how much of these things I will eat. The way I feel now the answer would be all of them and my husband's arm. LOL  I will report back.

Take care.

The beginnings of a plan

Okie dokie, took my measurements and had a LONG chat with Elle at the kettlebell gym. For the next week I am tracking all the things - exercise, food, fitbit steps etc. I am going to show my log to her next week and we are going to develop a plan. We will see how that goes. I could totally sign up for Nerd Fitness (and I might eventually), but right now I plan on taking advantage of the expertise I have already available.

If anyone is interested in me posting that log, let me know!

Next steps?

The last 10-ish pounds are feeling H-A-R-D, and I'm feeling stuck.  I've talked about counting macros, but I keep not doing it. I feel like I need help! I am seriously considering signing up for some one on one coaching through Nerd Fitness. While not cheap, I can afford it and I think it might give me some new direction, not to mention motivation and accountability - and a fresh perspective!

Hope you have a nice Valentine's Day (if that's something you celebrate), and a great weekend!

Crazy week

Sorry about disappearing - it's been a hectic week. I am adjusting to the new work area & office, although not happily. I've been feeling kinda tired - things aren't getting caught up as quickly around the house as I had hoped, but that's okay. Weirdly enough we have Monday off - I'm not going to complain!! Maybe I can catch up this weekend.

Take care.

Good weekend

Hope you had a nice weekend. I did, just not long enough! I did get darts put in my work pants - they are still a little loose, but the waist fits better in them now. they will do until capri season. :-)

Weather here is crazy. Tornadoes Thursday, snow Friday. Nuts.

I have had a slight cold - not terrible but enough that I don't feel like doing much. Hopefully I will get it kicked to the curb soon.

Have a good week!

The wrong side of the bounce

So last Thursday saw a large overnight drop in the scale, the weekend saw a large increase (and there wasn't any rhyme or reason), then a gradual slide until this morning's mysterious increase. UGH. My plan is to review the results of my hydrostatic testing with my trainer and formulate a plan to help tackle the last 5-ish pounds of fat.Hopefully I won't go insane.

Have a great weekend!

Ugh

The scale is doing that annoying bouncing thing. Ugh.

Turn the page

Yesterday was my first day in my new office. I hate it. My old office was so nice. The area around the building was so nice - woods behind so we saw deer, turkey, groundhogs, etc. It was at the end of a pretty quiet industrial park, which doesn't sounds nice but it really was. My office was big and I had 2 windows. Everyone had windows! We enjoyed getting out and walking when the weather was good.

The new office is tiny and of course there are no windows in the space at all. The cubes are worse. It's so depressing. And the area is highly developed so walking means in a busy parking lot.

And I loved the old place not just because it was so nice, but because my office was next to my boss, and we actually had adjoining offices. It made for easy conversation. At first I found him a little intimidating, but gradually we developed a terrific rapport and had an awesome working relationship. That office was the nicest work space I've ever had, and the fact that I had one of the nicest offices in the building (even though they were all pretty nice) was a symbol of the value my boss place in me and the work I did on the team.

Take care.

New clothes

Well, we've moved to the new building (a post about that later). That means business casual instead of jeans. All my slacks I bought in early December were a little too big (especially in the waist). In intend to simply take them all in, but yesterday that felt like a lot of work. I did one pair, sorted skirts so I would know what still fit, and went to Goodwill. I got a pair of pants and 5 tops for under $30. I am in 12 pants and medium tops. So that was cool. I feel better about my clothing options - or I will once I put darts in all my pant waists!

Take care.

Big sigh of relief

I have stuff to post but very little energy. For now:

I passed my Project Management Professional certification. That's a HUGE stressor and time suck off my plate.

Lost 0.6 pounds this week, for a total of 3.5 this month.

Enjoy your weekend. I think I will collapse.

IIFYM

I was reading an article the other day about counting macros.  Given the speed (or lack thereof) of my current weight loss, tracking calories doesn't feel sufficient. Maybe I will give this a go, although a part of me is like "Ugh! That just smacks of effort!"

Other than that, sale old same old.

Take care.

Happy day (Friday!)

Happy happy Friday, it's been a weird week - looking forward to the weekend.

So yesterday's post prompted some discussion! And no, not planning to do Medifast. I found the discussion interesting because 1) that's where my husband's mind went and 2) I thought about it for more than 2 seconds. :-)

Yesterday I went to Planet Fitness before work to walk on the treadmill for half an hour.  According to my Fitbit, that workout burned 187 calories. (According to the treadmill, I burned 160). After work I went to Masters Fitness and did a kettlebell workout.

Two rounds of Turkish get ups (2 per side). This is an extremely challenging exercise (which I love). If you aren't familiar, here is a video. This exercise is the bomb and it's way harder than this guy makes it look!

Next up:

5 swings followed by 7 goblet squats (4 rounds)
5 swings followed by military presses - 3 per side (4 rounds)
5 swings followed by cleans - 3 per side (4 rounds)
5 swings followed by snatches - 3 per side (4 rounds)

I used the 31 pound kettlebell for these swings.

Next was a sequence where you squat, curl, stand, do a dead lift, then put the bell down - 2 sets of 7 rounds. I used the 26 pound for this.

Lastly you moved to another board which had 2 15 minute swing workouts - I did 20 minutes, 400 swings, using the 26 pound bell.

The total workout took me 45 minutes and according to the FitBit burned 324 calories, which does not count the afterburn. Most of the workouts at the gym I do are more CrossFit style, but sometimes I enjoy just focusing on the kettlebell and really powering through it. It was cold and I really didn't want to have to leave the house, but I had to anyway so I followed it with a trip to the gym and I am so glad. In related news, I have graduated from physical therapy and am now doing everything and am ready to rebuild strength lost when I was unable to do some shoulder exercises.

Food today is pretty usual, but lunch is seafood tacos on lettuce with salsa and homemade guac.

If you are curious, I ate my pb & pecan overnight oats again for breakfast - I love it! Here's the "recipe":

Put 1/2 c. oats, 2/3 c. plain unsweetened almond milk, and 1 tsp. chia seeds in something with a lid and stick it in the fridge overnight. Next morning stir in 2 Tbsp. PB2 powder and 7 g (6-7) pecan halves, broken up. 285 calories, tastes amazing.

Have a great day!

The old calorie calculation mystery

I read a pretty good article yesterday about estimating your caloric needs. It's not just written for weight loss and discusses the pros and cons of a couple of different methods. Whatever method you use, really you need an estimate of your body fat percentage. Without that you are going to be off the mark as lean body mass components and body fat use fat for fuel at very different rates. Being a numbers geek, I thought it was interesting.

Speaking of interesting, I had an interesting conversation with my husband at the breakfast table.  He and his ex did Medifast and both lost a significant amount of weight. He gained the bulk of his back, but she kept hers off for quite awhile before regaining some when they divorced. Anyway, I expressed my frustration at the snail's pace of the scale and he offered to order me Medifast for a month. He said he felt like I could take 10 pounds off, although he admitted I'd probably regain a few when I went off it.

Price aside, would it be worth it? Do something radical to get off those final 10 pounds? Then go back to the way I am eating now? I dunno.

Semper Gumby (always flexible)

Good morning. Time got away from me and I didn't get to the kettlebell gym yesterday. That's okay, I did an awesome kettlebell workout at home! While there's plenty to love about the gym, sometimes it just doesn't work with my schedule and when it doesn't I appreciate having a fallback plan.

I try to keep a plan "B" both for food and exercise - that's why I try to keep 2-3 meals available in the freezer if we need a quick dinner, a couple of healthy choices for snacks on hand, and some prepped breakfasts in the freezer for T. That way when we do go out, it's because it's something we want to do and not just a quick way to get some food.

I know I sound like a broken record, but IMO planning and planning a backup is critical to success in anything you do.

Take care!

Choices

Sunday night we wanted to go out to dinner - a date night. I wanted something enjoyable but also somewhere I could make a healthy choice. I love going to local restaurants, but that does require a bit of planning if you intend to stay "on track" (whatever track you're on). This wasn't a special occasion - just wanted to go out together.

We ended up going to Bonefish Grill, which is a chain. I was able to choose a seafood entree and sides that I really enjoyed and were well within my calorie and carb parameters. It's easy to go over in a restaurant - the roasted brussel sprouts with ham side vegetable had over 600 calories! That's more than I had for my entire meal!! That's the plus side of going to larger chain restaurants IMO.

I have really nothing of interest to say. Meals for the week include:

B: overnight oats
S: yogurt & fruit
L: quinoa with cauli rice bowl with shrimp and salad
S: Boiled egg

Dinner tonight is a seafood lasagna. I went to PLanet Fitness this morning and am going to the kettlebell gym this evening. I have a load of gym clothes to wash. Also, I guess clothing makers think women that exercise have no hips. I need a large in workout tops (usually), but they are always way to baggy in the under arm area if I want them to fit in the hips. SO I end up having to put darts in them. Sigh. No matter how much weight I lose, finding clothes that fit my figure (at least in some departments) remains a challenge!

Have a good day!

Non scale boost

Now that the losses are slowing to a crawl, sometimes finding those little boosts to encourage me to keep going can feel challenging. Yesterday we went to Kohl's - I had a 30% off coupon and I was looking for some gym socks and underwear. (It was a no go on both.) I did find a cute pair of fleece PJ bottoms (with dogs) for my husband. As we were ambling toward to the front of the store and the checkout, I noticed a T-shirt display.

A few years ago my husband bought me several T-shirts for my birthday. Some we got at Target and some at Catherine's. (I'm guessing it was 2017). I love having a nice, soft, comfy T-shirt to wear in the spring & summer - not your usual white tee with some graphic on it, I mean a woman's T-shirt that is flattering, but not too tight. As I lost weight those no longer fit and I haven't found any suitable replacements, although I've looked around a lot. Luckily I found 2-3 in my tubs of too small clothes (with tags!), but now even those are a little large. I picked one up - just what I was looking for! I grabbed a large and started toward the fitting room. Then I turned, and said I should probably grab a medium as well "just in case." Well, you know which one fit, right!? So now I'm pretty well stocked up on T-shirts come spring. :-)

As far as the scale, I am actually 0.1 pounds less today than I was Friday. It always feel good to come out of a weekend not having put on weight (even if it's just bloat from a salty meal or something). Weekends can be a challenge, but I try to make smart choices and keep it between the proverbial rails.

Have a good day!

One man's trash is another man's treasure

I thought of that saying yesterday morning as I headed for PF for 30 minutes on a "dreadmill."  Yeah, I despise fasted cardio and the drive plus walk between building and car & scanning in & wiping down equipment etc. all adds up to 50 or so minutes I could be doing something else in place of a "workout" where my heart rate will top out at less than 120. What's the point? For me it's a way to set my intention for the day. I'm up, dressed (albeit in workout gear), out of the house, and active - all before work!

I've also found with everything going on in my life right now, exercise is my island of sanity in the midst of a lot of stuff. It helps to keep me anchored to self care, and it helps my perspective.

Breakfast and lunch were the same, AM snack was the infamous triscuits and a slice of cheese, afternoon snack was skipped. Dinner was beef vegetable soup and a salad.

Today is the same old same old for food. Down 0.6 pounds this week. Remember what I said about being in workout gear most of the day? Yeah, got home from running errands and realized I was wearing this:

No wonder I got some funny looks!

Have a good weekend!

Double time

I didn't take a picture, but accountability for food:

AM: Usual 2 cups of coffee and 2 prunes
Breakfast: 2 baked corn tortillas with refried beans, salsa, and guacamole.
Snack: Plain yogurt with blueberries
Lunch: spicy Asian salmon bowl. It's got salmon with matchstick carrots, marinated cucumber, avocado, cilantro and sesame seeds with a spicy mayo over a bed of cauliflower rice and quinoa.
Snack: boiled egg with 1 T mayo
Dinner tonight is black beans, baked chicken, and a salad.

Yesterday I went to Planet Fitness for 30 easy minutes on the treadmill early in the morning (before work). After work I went to the Kettlebell gym and did a short but intense workout. I will likely replicate that same workout at home Thursday rather than going to the gym (in the interest of time). T has the staff meeting and I'll need to get home to feed the dogs.

Both workouts were relatively short so please don't think I'm overtraining (HA!), think of it as a 1 hour workout broken into 2 parts. :-) In any case, it helps keep me focused and keep my energy up. I am taking today off since I am using my lunch break to get a much needed haircut.

Have a good day!

Back to normal

Since I am working at home today and I have food in the house I can actually take the time to prepare my food and get back to my regular eating routine. I love travelling, but my stomach doesn't always enjoy it, if you know what I mean. I ended up taking a famotadine and Tums yesterday when I got home. Thankfully it seems to be back to normal today.

The unseasonably warm weather is creating havoc around here - thunderstorms and tornadoes. Yes, walking on the beach Saturday was great but this isn't good. It should be winter, not tornado season.

Take care!