Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Exhaling...

The heavens must have heard my pleas...Today, I woke up feeling lighter so I decided to take a chance and weigh on my home scale. It registered 228.5lbs, 0.9 lbs less than it did yesterday. I don't know if it's just "noise" but I will take it because I don't think I've seen that number years!

I have no explanation for it. I haven't worked out since Saturday due to my wonky back but I was deliberate with my food yesterday. Even though I ate out, I pre-planned.

Here is a quick summary:

Breakfast
- Oatmeal with a peach, a few walnuts and brown sugar
Lunch - Taco Bueno, two chicken soft tacos and 1/2 a cup of mexican rice. I ate one taco for lunch and the rice and the other a few hours later when I started feeling hungrier.
Dinner - Chick-Fil-A, Chargrilled Chicken and Fruit salad(I love this salad) with spicy dressing.

Now, yesterday, I got hungrier quicker than I have in the past month or so, so I think that's a clear indication that my portions have been out of control again which will explain the ups and downs in my weight loss. BTW, I went on this website:
Dottie's Weight Loss Zone to find out the points values of the fast foods I was going to eat. It made the decision making process so much easier because had I not, I would have consumed a lot more.

So here's to the powerful magic of TRACKING and CONSCIOUSNESS where food is concerned. My battle now lies in keeping this momentum and not seeing the number go up, and also working to bring it down even further.

Ciao ya'll.

Lara

Monday, July 20, 2009

And now, a word on MOTIVATION

Since I'm needing a boost in motivation, I'm trying to read and watch as much as I can about weight loss to help me regain the mental fortitude to keep the faith and stay in the battle.

Over the weekend, I was able to catch a rerun of a show called XXX-Weight loss, or something like that. Sounds sketchy but it was basically featuring people who'd lost about 100 lbs or more naturally. The three X's come from the fact that they used unconventional methods to lose the weight - one man biked across the country, another one lady ran marathons, another took up belly dancing and switched to organic foods. For all of them, they made radical changes in order to fight the weight.

Here is another great success story I ran into over the weekend. I watched her YouTube videos over the weekend and while she wasn't saying anything I didn't already know, just seeing her results really started to get my mind moving again in the direction of radical change.

Check her out:


This begs the question: "What radical change am I willing to make to get this weight off?"

XoXo

Lara

Weigh-In Mondays - Big, FAT, Goose Egg!!

Yes, it's been a week since I last wrote anything.
I'm not sure why, but my level of motivation has sort of deteriorated over the past week. I still managed to get in three good workouts last week but my eating SUCKED! No tracking, no monitoring, no real attention to anything, just plenty of eating out and slacking off.

So it's no wonder that at the weigh-in today, I had lost exactly 0lbs. Since I'm trying to change my thought process regarding my weight and weight loss, I'll pull the silver lining out of this one: I didn't gain anything either. I stayed exactly the same - 229.4lbs. Down to the 0.4 lbs.

I felt a bit bad, there were a lot of celebrations this week and I would love to get another 5 lb star. 20 lbs is eluding me... Or I'm eluding it with my lack of consistent dedication to anything other than exercise.

To make matters worse, I jacked up my back somehow. I'm going to try to run tomorrow but I probably shouldn't. I just don't like being inactive and I'm scared the laziness will start to seep in again.

Anyway, that's my largely unmotivating story today. I have to find a way out of this rut!

Bah humbug....

Lara

Monday, July 13, 2009

Weigh-In Mondays


What? What's happening? I'm actually writing about my weigh-in with WW on a Monday? Wow? Wonders never cease! :-) Maybe I've finally conquered my procastination...NOT!!!

I'm happy. I went down 1LB from last week. It's not a miraculous amount of weight, but any trend downwards is a miracle. I'm thrilled. 1LB really does make a world of difference to me in my face, in how much I can do when I work out, in how my clothes fit. Just think, that's 4 sticks of butter I dropped over the course of a week!

Thinking of it in those terms really does make a world of difference!!!

Goal for this week is a 1.5 - 2.0lb loss!

Happy losing!!!

P.S, I lost four of those sticks of butter in the image above, yay!
Lara

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Treadmill Vs. Track





Happy Sunday, all!
I hope the weekend has been great. Mine has been very relaxing, simply because except for my Saturday kickboxing class, I have deliberately done nothing else. I don't know why but I just love doing nothing on weekends, it helps me relax, regroup, and re-energize.

Anyway, last week, for the first time since I really started this weight loss journey and my running program, I took my run outside to the track. It was on Thursday and I woke up feeling like I just couldn't face the treadmill. The ennui of running in place at the gym while my staring at news shows I can't hear because I have some reggae/soca blasting in my ear just did not seem appealing to me.

So, even though it was cloudy and slightly drizzling, I decided to experiment with the track. I expected it to be hella hard because the treadmill does provide some assistance with running. If it gets too hard, you can hold on to the hand rails and you also don't have to make adjustments for curves on the track or wind resistance or the insane Texas heat we've been experiencing. Surprisingly, I was able to complete a workout similar to my treadmill work out. I am not sure why. I think most of it was sheer mental fortitude because the proud side of me did not want to be outdone by the outdoors, but also, I think having to bear my own weight with no assistance forced me to pace myself in ways I typically wouldn't on the treadmill.

So, on the track, I did a 0.25 mile walking warm up, a 2 mile run and 0.25 mile cool down. Some observations: I felt a lot more tired outside than I do running inside. The next day, my joints "hurt" more than they typically would. I wasn't in pain, or anything but I definitely could tell the difference. I'm going to continue to run on the track. It's a much softer surface than concrete but I think I get a much better workout than the treadmill. Plus I feel more at peace with nature, more spiritually grounded when I'm outside in the breeze.

I'm going to try this program out that I found on the Women's Health website:
http://www.womenshealthmag.com/fitness/intermediate-running-weightloss-program

It's an intermediate running plan and I think I'm ready to kick it up a notch.

Wish me luck!

P.S, Oh to look like that runner above. Not the cartoon, sillies!
Lara

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Green Smoothies




My new favorite thing - Green Smoothies! Isn't it serendipitous how life can be? You see, I had read a couple of times in the past of these weird vegetable and fruit smoothie combos and balked at the thought of drinking a smoothie with vegetables in it. As I sip on one now, I wonder what made me go from thinking "eeewww!" to "Gotta try one of those?"

I attribute it first to my current state of mind. In my attempt to be more health conscious, I find myself being open to things I would have turned my back on in the past. I am more willing to try new things, and if I don't like it, I don't ever have to do it again. I have also been trying to find new ways to get my 5-9 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Even with eating better, my diet is very grain and protein heavy, and so this helps combat that problem. Finally, I decided to give it a whirl when I read on one of my favorite beauty blogs - Clumps of Mascara - of the delicious goodness these smoothies hold.

So what exactly is a green smoothie. The premise is to blend a vegetable such as spinach or kale, or a combination of vegetables with fruit till smooth. I have used different combinations. I decided to add a bit of almond milk in my smoothies and I always use frozen bananas for that iciness. The combo I tried tonight had a frozen banana, fresh spinach, about 1/2 a cup of almond milk, a small mango and a can of crushed pineapple. I added a touch of honey and a sliver of ginger and blended till smooth. My first attempt was a bit chunky because I didn't blend thoroughly enough, so do blend until the mixture is pretty smooth.

There are endless combinations. I have done a berry one with strawberries, blueberries, spinach and bananas, etc... Whatever fruit I find, I throw them in.

The results? I supplement some of my meals with these smoothies. For instance, tonight, I didn't feel like a whole meal so I made a smoothie instead. I find that my cravings are greatly reduced, I am satisfied without feeling full, I have a lot more energy and well, with the extra fiber, let's just say things are moving along my digestive system nicely.

Doing a google search will yield a ton of recipes. Do give them a whirl and let me know what you think.

XoXo.

Lara

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Water Weight and the like..

Behold, your prodigal blogger returns! I could find a lot of excuses for why I have not been regularly blogging but they'd all be lies. Truth is, I've been lazy! I have a million things swirling around in my head that I need to jot down on this blog, but sitting still long enough to do it often presents a challenge. Do forgive me.

This past week was Week 2 of Session 2 with Weight Watchers. I didn't have high hopes as I was retaining water. Yes, it was that time of the month. I mark those days on my WW tracker with a pink highlighter pen, because inevitably, I am a few pounds heavier and it brings me some comfort to know that there is a reason why I've gained. I weighed in on Monday at 232 lbs. Today, I weighed on my home scale at 229 lbs. I know I have not lost 3 lbs of fat in a week. Truth is probably 2 lbs was water and 1 lb was fat.

I am back to exercising regularly. I made the gym three times this week for my runs. My eating has been mediocre at best. I have been supplementing some of my meals with green smoothies (more on this later) but for lunch, I have eaten out every day the past week, which I'm not proud of. I don't even particularly enjoy eating out, unless it is something like Thai or Indian food.

Guys, I am 4lbs away from having lost 20lbs. I can't wait. For some reason, that is such a huge milestone in my head. June was a bust for me. I completely threw all caution to the wind and over-indulged during my birthday and my vacation, but in July, I plan to cross that 20 lb mark and even possibly, make my 10% WW goal of 24 lbs. Apparently, studies have shown that if you lose at least 10% of your body weight if you are overweight, you start to experience significant improvements in health.

On an even more positive note, I've been getting feedback from people saying they are noticing my weight loss and the size 18 jeans I bought the other day are now loose! I'm not going to go crazy yet and buy a size 16 but I can't wait till that moment when I'm able to slip those on comfortably!!!

Wish me luck!

XoXo

Lara!