I don't think that I'm competitive. I played sports in school, but on fun leagues in the summer, not through the school. I stopped playing in college because I wasn't competitive enough to get onto a team. Oh I thought I wanted to play fastpitch softball in high school. I went to the gym for tryouts and was intimidated. I ended up staying a few weeks to become a 'trainer' for the team, but that too ended a few weeks later. Part of it was social anxiety, part of it was a lack of competitiveness and part was a lack of confidence.
When I started working out with Pete at the gym I thought he was nuts. He would run for 6 miles after working all day. It would take him 60-120 minutes some days, but he did it. No way in hell was I going to work out that long. Thankyouverymuch. I got on the treadmill or elliptical, did my 40 minutes and however much distance that got me and I stopped. Then Pete went through the band surgery and he was armed with a Polar Heart Rate Monitor. This time he didn't leave the gym until he had 1000=1500 calories burned some days. He was N.U.T.S!!!!
Why am I telling you this? Well as you can tell by the numbers in the titles, I'm not losing weight. I'm frustrated as hell. Before surgery I was running and working out with Body Pump like I am now and I was losing 1-2 pounds a week. I was watching what I ate and drinking lots of water and doing all the same things. However, I can't seem to lose weight no matter how I try.
I went to the gym Saturday and ran 4.35 miles in 60 minutes. It felt awesome. I did a mile jogging, second mile was intervals, third mile jogging, fourth mile intervals. But I only burned about 600 calories. I had a nagging feeling, but didn't talk about it. Sunday Pete wanted to spend about 50 minutes at the gym because he has a healing blister and can't do much cardio. I ended up spending 70 minutes on the treadmill and doing 4.6 miles; burning 800 calories.
I felt like a failure you guys. Seriously. I told Pete that I'm starting to feel like a failure if I'm not burning 1000 calories at the gym at least 5 times a week. But that's exactly the life that I kept telling people that I couldn't sustain before surgery. I can't seem to reconcile this in my head. I know that I'm not failing because clothes are fitting better. Yet the scale is such this albatross around my neck and I can't seem to shake it. So much so that I called my doctor and asked to move up my next fill to next week.
In the mean time I am going to start doing a couple of things. I'm going to roughly log my calories. Roughly meaning, I'm going to sit at the end of the night and calculate what I ate and about how many calories, not attempt to log every bite because I know that does not work for me and I can't have more failure. I'm also going to make a concerted effort to get my hear rate in zone 4 (calorie burn) while working out.
Tuesday, May 08, 2012
Monday, May 07, 2012
212.2; Chewing 40 times
In this post I challenged you to spend some time chewing your food. I mean really chewing your food. If you search, you can find many articles about this, like MSNBC Articles
So did you chew slowly and purposely? Did you feel fuller while doing do? If you skipped my challenge, I'm going to issue it again. You don't have to do it at dinner with your family. The next time you're eating a meal alone, try it.
They consumed about 12 percent fewer calories when they chewed each bite 40 times than when they chewed 15 times, and they had lower levels of ghrelin, the so-called hunger hormone produced in the stomach.Or this list in FitWatch.
Although I don't agree with the drinking in between bites, I do agree with the 2 items listed above. Meals shouldn't be a race. You're either eating to fuel your body or or enjoy the food or both. Take the time to really feel and taste the food you're putting in your body. Be mindful of the food that you eat. Feeling full takes about 20 minutes to register with your brain. Chewing your food slowly and putting your fork down makes feeling full register when it should instead of registering only after you're stuffed to the gills.
#1 – Chew your food 20 times before swallowing. Chewing does several things it breaks down the food into smaller pieces which means the digestion system can get more nutrients out of it. Chewing also takes time. The longer you take to eat, the less likely you are to overeat.#2 – Put your fork down between bites. Slowing down the rate at which you eat is good. Putting the fork down makes you conscious of how much you’re eating as opposed to using the fork like a steam shovel.
So did you chew slowly and purposely? Did you feel fuller while doing do? If you skipped my challenge, I'm going to issue it again. You don't have to do it at dinner with your family. The next time you're eating a meal alone, try it.
Thursday, May 03, 2012
212.2; Frustrated
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| My SparkPeople app on my iPhone. |
I'm frustrated. The blue line up there isn't going down.
I know. I know. It's not all about the weight, it's about your body. Ignore the weight and focus on the inches lost. Who cares about the weight, how do you feel?
Honestly, right now, I care about the weight. I DO care about that number on the scale. In March I set a goal to be 200 pounds by 5/1/12. It didn't happen. At the time I thought that the losing I was doing was going to continue. I was losing about pound a day for the first 3 weeks after surgery (that includes the pounds of fluid I gained during my hospital stay). The losing suddenly stopped. I have been wavering between 209 and 212 since then.
It's not for a lack of trying. I get my
The logical explanation is that my eating is still off track. Which, confirms in my head, without any doubt, that I needed this gastric banding. I need this to help my eating. And this is not to say that I eat horribly. Not at all.
My breakfasts consist of 1/2 cup egg substitute with 1 ounce of cheese and 2-3 tablespoons of salsa or 1 packet of unsweetened multi grain oatmeal with 1/3 cup fruit added or 1 cup Fage 0% Greek yogurt with 1/3 banana or 1/3 cup fruit. My lunch this week has been cooked quinoa with tomatoes, cilantro, salsa, onion, peppers and black beans. About 1 1/2 cups. My afternoon snack has been cheese and 1/2 slice toast or 1 small bag of pop chips. Dinners have been baked sole, lime cilantro chicken, shrimp low fat ceaser salad, mahi mahi and unbreaded buffalo marinaded chicken. I have been eating closer to 2 cups at dinner time. My unhealthy addition to all this is that there were ice cream sandwiches in the freezer for Pete. I had one each night this week.
And I know what you're all saying there...you're building muscle from the Body Pump and other strength workouts like rowing. I know. I know. I'm still frustrated. Almost to the point of crying. I'm mad at myself for being fixated on a number. I'm made that I've learned through the years that it's all about the scale and nothing else. I need to unlearn that and I'm trying. I'm mad that I can't make the progress on the scale that I should be. I'm...I'm...I'm angry with myself. Angry. But that's not being fair to myself is it? I need to work this out, don't I? Figure out how to focus on all the numbers, not just the scale. I need to be less angry at myself about it all. Less anger, more positive.
Wednesday, May 02, 2012
211.3; Orange Theory Review
Have you heard about Orange Theory Fitness? If not, check out the link. About 6 months ago Pete and I went to a wellness expo and stopped at their booth. The staff was engaging and excited to share the basis of the workout. Pete and I gave our information and we got calls several times in the months afterwards about getting into one of the locations and trying it out. But we never seemed to do it.
Monday Pete was having and off day and my computer at work was still acting up so I left at 3pm and we headed over to Orange Theory for our free class.
They collect information about you to find out where you are health and fitness-wise. Everyone gets polar chest straps to use and you wait for your class to start. The basis for the whole workout is that they want you in the "orange zone" while working out for as long as you can be. What this means is that your heart rate is such that you are working about 85% of what you can exert.
The workouts consist of working for about 30 minutes of intervals on the treadmill then switching from a rower to weights for 30 minutes. The instructor tells you what to do for each thing and if you're not working hard enough they tell you to push it more. Your heart rate monitor is attached to a screen on the wall so that you can see what color you're working out at and seek out the orange color.
My impressions:
I burned 650 calories in an hour and I think I spent 15 minutes in the orange zone. It's a good interval workout and your motivator is the trainer who's telling you to keep moving and push harder.
It was really hard to hear the instructor/trainer over the noise of the machines, people and music. But she warned us to listen for key words, not so much her whole sentence. Still, Pete was confused several times and the person on the next treadmill had to help him.
I think this would be a great place for someone who likes working out, but doesn't want to go or isn't near a big gym. It's got the small business feel and people seemed to know each other in the class. I also think it would be great for someone who wasn't good at pushing themselves and needed the extra help. They have challenges that include longer workouts and weight loss. The trainers will help with eating and protein and all that you need to know when working out.
Pete and I chose not to sign up. First, this place is about 20 minutes from home, without traffic and is in an area where traffic can be bad at all times of the day. I like to work out in the morning and wouldn't be able to get there and back before work. It would be a struggle to get there after work with traffic. Second, it would be $100/month plus a $55 joiners fee for Pete and I to go once a week. We pay less than $100/month for the Y and have access to free classes, the machines, the pool and childcare if we needed it. I will say that if the studio was closer to our home, Pete and I would have likely tried it for a month to give our workouts some variety.
But I would recommend anyone to check it out at least once! You never know what will work for you. And exercising is never a bad thing. It did reinforce to me that if I want to lose weight I need to mix up my workouts and be consistent in them.
They have a printable pass for a free session HERE So check them out and try it!
(disclaimer, Orange Theory has no idea who I am. They don't know that I wrote this. I wanted to share my experience with you so you could see that there are several ways to get a workout in, other than your standard gym!))
Monday Pete was having and off day and my computer at work was still acting up so I left at 3pm and we headed over to Orange Theory for our free class.
They collect information about you to find out where you are health and fitness-wise. Everyone gets polar chest straps to use and you wait for your class to start. The basis for the whole workout is that they want you in the "orange zone" while working out for as long as you can be. What this means is that your heart rate is such that you are working about 85% of what you can exert.
The workouts consist of working for about 30 minutes of intervals on the treadmill then switching from a rower to weights for 30 minutes. The instructor tells you what to do for each thing and if you're not working hard enough they tell you to push it more. Your heart rate monitor is attached to a screen on the wall so that you can see what color you're working out at and seek out the orange color.
My impressions:
I burned 650 calories in an hour and I think I spent 15 minutes in the orange zone. It's a good interval workout and your motivator is the trainer who's telling you to keep moving and push harder.
It was really hard to hear the instructor/trainer over the noise of the machines, people and music. But she warned us to listen for key words, not so much her whole sentence. Still, Pete was confused several times and the person on the next treadmill had to help him.
I think this would be a great place for someone who likes working out, but doesn't want to go or isn't near a big gym. It's got the small business feel and people seemed to know each other in the class. I also think it would be great for someone who wasn't good at pushing themselves and needed the extra help. They have challenges that include longer workouts and weight loss. The trainers will help with eating and protein and all that you need to know when working out.
Pete and I chose not to sign up. First, this place is about 20 minutes from home, without traffic and is in an area where traffic can be bad at all times of the day. I like to work out in the morning and wouldn't be able to get there and back before work. It would be a struggle to get there after work with traffic. Second, it would be $100/month plus a $55 joiners fee for Pete and I to go once a week. We pay less than $100/month for the Y and have access to free classes, the machines, the pool and childcare if we needed it. I will say that if the studio was closer to our home, Pete and I would have likely tried it for a month to give our workouts some variety.
But I would recommend anyone to check it out at least once! You never know what will work for you. And exercising is never a bad thing. It did reinforce to me that if I want to lose weight I need to mix up my workouts and be consistent in them.
They have a printable pass for a free session HERE So check them out and try it!
(disclaimer, Orange Theory has no idea who I am. They don't know that I wrote this. I wanted to share my experience with you so you could see that there are several ways to get a workout in, other than your standard gym!))
Tuesday, May 01, 2012
209.8; My Closet
I'm going to do it. Share my closet I mean. Here goes:
I'm going through a period where I feel like I wear the same things over and over. And it's true. I have 1 pair of black dress pants, a pair of light tan lightweight pants that could be thought of as dressier in a casual sort of way. I also have 2 pair of pants, one dark tan and one black, both in the same style; side pockets and heavier weight. That's all I can wear to work. Well, other than jeans on Friday.
As for shirts, I have more than 4. But trying to mix and match them with the same pants over and over is wearing out. And if I feel like I'm wearing the same thing, are my coworkers thinking the same thing?
All my adult years I head women say that they bought key pieces of clothing to last years and more trendy, less expensive pieces each season. I could never understand this. First, plus sized clothing had very little "key pieces" to chose from and mostly they were very expensive. Secondly, who knew how much they'd weigh from one year to the next? How could they buy a key piece and know that the next year it would fit? What I realize now is that there is a segment of the population who keeps themselves healthy and of a similar weight their whole life.
I get it now. I understand. And sometime in the next year I hope to start my own collection of key pieces; a wool jacket, a cashmere sweater, a little black dress, a nice suit.
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| Pants |
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| Shirts |
As for shirts, I have more than 4. But trying to mix and match them with the same pants over and over is wearing out. And if I feel like I'm wearing the same thing, are my coworkers thinking the same thing?
All my adult years I head women say that they bought key pieces of clothing to last years and more trendy, less expensive pieces each season. I could never understand this. First, plus sized clothing had very little "key pieces" to chose from and mostly they were very expensive. Secondly, who knew how much they'd weigh from one year to the next? How could they buy a key piece and know that the next year it would fit? What I realize now is that there is a segment of the population who keeps themselves healthy and of a similar weight their whole life.
I get it now. I understand. And sometime in the next year I hope to start my own collection of key pieces; a wool jacket, a cashmere sweater, a little black dress, a nice suit.
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