Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Jell-o Legs and Pain

Starting the Jillian Michaels: 30 Day Shred on my day off from running was definitely an irrational idea.  How hard can it be?  20 minutes, no problem. . .(I now know why people throw up on the Biggest Loser).

That Jillian Micheals, she's a sadistic bitch, I tell you!  (Okay, without the degrading part of the definition of sadistic...and I'm sure I'll come to appreciate her.)  I thought my legs were in pretty good shape from running.  WRONG!!!  My legs are Jell-O now!  And my arms! Those five-pound weights felt more like twenty by the end. (Mental note: go buy three pound dumbbells tomorrow.)  How am I going to run tomorrow?!?  I must stick with it!  These last few pounds just don't want to go so it's time to scare them away with Jillian!
 
 
And now it's tomorrow. . .

All day I could feel the pain!  My thighs and my shoulders progressively stiffening up through the day. . .Getting harder to stand up and sit down.  What do I do?  Go for a run!

Running on pavement instead of a treadmill is definitely different.  I can run 5k on the treadmill, but throw me outside and I'm dying after 90 seconds.  (Thankfully Color Me Rad is not a serious 5k but I still want to work my way up.)  My legs were okay but. . .

Oh sh!t!  I can't get into the sitting position, then once I do, I can barely stand back up.  Never mind going down the stairs.  Pain!  I have to pee, but how do I place my a$$ on the toilet seat?  Holy crap, I keep telling myself it will be better in the morning.  If it's not, there may be a break from any activity tomorrow.
 
P.S.  I bought the three-pound dumbbells today.
 
 

Monday, June 23, 2014

Let's Do This

Week 2, Day 1. . .166.8
Father's Day. . .uh oh!!!  We went to Five Guys (minus the kids who are both allergic to peanuts).  I was tempted to get my burger without a bun, but went ahead and had the bun since it was only my second time there (I wanted to enjoy it in its fullest).  Also, we shared a regular fry.  That was a 900 calorie lunch but I was really well behaved for the rest of the day.  I did forget to wear my Fitbit for a few hours so the calorie count may be off a little but the deficit was 71 calories.

Day 2
I did pretty good for food.  I even squeezed some cheese in as a snack (I love cheese).  I went for a run but only lasted 15 minutes.  As always, I say, even a bad run is better then no run at all.  This thought can be used for any exercise really. If a full workout is not within reason that day, just do a little bit, it's still better than nothing.   I also ended the day with a 350 calorie deficit so I am happy.

Day 3
Good food day again.  I even had room for chocolate!  Again, I repeat something I have said a hundred times in this journey. . .everything in moderation!  While watching Extreme Weight Loss tonight, I ran to the kitchen to clean during the commercials, and I did some 5-pound weights and squats while the show was on.   A little is better than zero.  (Oh, I'm so cheesy!)  I ended with a 350 calorie deficit again which is good because tomorrow I plan for bad!

Day 4
So, not only did I have pre-planned badness today, but I ate all of my food at work by 11:30 am (breakfast, lunch, snacks) and ended up getting lunch again with a co-worker (it was Pita Pit, so not the worst thing I could choose).  Then it was off to Boston Pizza to meet up with an old friend for dinner.  I ate the whole (individual) pizza when I only planned to eat half.  Ugh!  This has to be my bad day for the week. . .I must be good through Sunday. . .not going to happen. (Shhhh, don't tell anyone, 350 over for the day.)


 
Day 5
Today was great.  I resisted the sweet desserts offered at an office meeting (I'm telling you, it looked so damn good and there was such a variety).  AND I resisted the fabulous cookies offered at yet another meeting.  I wasn't snacky, I had Subway for lunch, and breakfast for dinner (it was awesome).  I delayed my run until a bit later tonight and nailed another 5K finally!  I had some cheese for a snack and that was it.  I need more days like today!!!  800 calorie deficit!!!

Day 6
Decent day, although I ate that damn cookie from yesterday!  We had pizza for dinner which probably wasn't the best idea (okay, I know it wasn't the best idea), but it was good.  I finally did a short run outside.  Actually, I did a day of Couch to 5K week 1.  Next time I will do a day of Week 2.  It helped burn those pizza calories and ended the day 150 calories under.

Day 7
It's Saturday and extra calories are easy to come by.  Today I did laundry (usually done on Sunday) and decided that I wanted to climb 50 flights of stairs so I could earn my next Fitbit badge.  See, it is motivational!  In terms of food, I didn't do great but still burned a few more calories then I ate, but not much.



Conclusion. . .166.4
I managed to have only one "bad day" this stretch.  Technically there were extra calories on a couple of other days, but I always burned extra calories so that I ended with a deficit, no matter how small.  It seems I must go for bigger deficits though by sticking to 1700 calories (or less).  I am also approaching that bloaty time so hopefully that's the reason I only lost 0.4 pounds.  I must also remind myself that my legs are getting some nice muscles from running and muscle weighs more than fat.

Rather than boring you with a day by day summary at the end of next week, I really need to get back into updating on a more regular basis.  I'm not sure how I will publish next week, but I promise I will write something. 

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Time to Get Serious. . .Again

Warning!  Extreme boredom ahead.  I needed to make myself accountable again so I kept a daily record in an attempt to be accountable for my choices.  You may skip to the last paragraph for my conclusion if you don't want to read on about the day by day accomplishments and defeats.

Day 1. . .168.4
I wanted to eat constantly and I spent most of the day on the couch watching Orange is the New Black.  I did 10 minutes of dumbbells and squats while I watched. I ended the day 53 calories over.  Not the best return.

Day 2
I ate breakfast early which makes for a long food day.  I had a banana and yogurt for a snack before lunch which was left-over, thin-crust pizza, and raspberries.  There was a snack before 2, and then I struggled to make it to dinner! After dinner I went for a run (finally, it had been a week). I upped the first 15 minutes to 4.3 then stopped to tie my shoelace and accidentally put it at 4.5 for a bit before I realized and dropped to 4.4.  I lasted 30 minutes total for 2.2 miles (plus .5 mile walking). I ended the day with a 257 calorie deficit.

Day 3
Did fairly good at being good today.  Except I planned to exercise but watched the rest of Orange is the New Black, Season 2 instead.  Oops!  I still had a 228 calorie deficit so I was satisfied.

Day 4
Good for food, failed at running.  I was determined to jog for a half hour starting at a 4.3 but failed horribly.  Fourteen minutes, uhg!!!  Tried a walking break then ran again but quickly realized I was done.  This is actually driving me nuts!  I'm supposed to be able to run 5k in 38 days!  Still, a 250 calorie deficit for the day.

Day 5
My son's birthday!  Plus, a baby shower at work.  Uh-oh!  Calories for the day. . .horrifying!  Not even going to discuss it.  (Hangs head in shame). 

 
 
Day 6
Work BBQ today!  Hot dog, Pepsi Next. . .and chips.  I have no will power.  However, despite being dead set against running tonight, I decided it must happen, even a failure at running would be something, right?  No failure tonight though.  I did the full 5k at a 4.2 jog!!!  Plus a 1/2 mile walking.  Sometimes I am proud of myself.  I ended the day with a 227 calorie deficit.
 

 
Day 7
And then I screw it up!  Sh!t!!! I tried so hard to be good.  Went to a potluck for dinner.  Tried to eat all the healthy choices.  For protein I had a burger patty with no bun.  Little did I realize that the burger patty had a million calories!  Okay, not really, but more then I budgeted for.  Once it was all added up I ended 450 calories over for the day.  Uhg!
 
Conclusion. . .166.8 (1.6 pounds)
Despite my determination to be good, I had two bad days.  I normally allow myself one "bad" day a week and that one day was planned for my sons' birthday.  However I was bad again on the weekend, although, it could have been way worse.  I will keep up the day by day accountability for at least another week as I do think it helped to make myself more aware.

Saturday, June 7, 2014

Failing Un-miserably

I'm failing.  Mostly by choice.  Bad choices.  I've said things like this before and I'll say it again; there are always going to be bad patches.  Just don't let those bad patches define your journey.  Remember to always work toward the good.  If it were easy then everyone would do it.

I don't have a hard time with my bad patches anymore either because I am truly happy with what I have accomplished.  Maybe I will never reach my ultimate dream of 160, but I got pretty damn close.
 
At this point I'm happy with maintenance. That means if I want a cheeseburger I will have a cheeseburger. I know I had cheeseburgers occasionally all along, but I might have a cheeseburger more often now.  It's about balance I think.  I still like to eat healthy and control portions and choose my "junk food" carefully.  And I will always need many good days to balance out the few bad days.

My biggest problem I that I just haven't felt like running.  My big-fat-unmotivated-ass is making it's return!  I always talked about doing some other kinds of exercise but if I'm not running then I'm definitely going to need to get serious about doing other exercise regularly.  Now is not really the time to quit running though...my 5K is only 6 weeks away!  Must get motivated soon!!!