Weigh Day - Week 4

A couple of days into the week, the ankle I injured back in September started to swell up again and got really sore.  I guess I did more than it wanted me to.  I had to take it easy on working out the rest of the week, so I didn't get as many calories burned as I would have liked to.  I'm going to focus on swimming next week to give my ankle another easy week.  I need it to get back to 100% stat!

My eating has been really great lately!  I feel like I might turn into a vegetable I've eaten so many this week.  It's amazing how much more food you can eat when you are eating healthy.  I feel stuffed every day and have even been struggling to get in enough calories each day.  My brother and I went out to eat once this week for Mexican food.  It was really good, but it was so not worth the calories.  I was starving later in the day and didn't have any calories left for snacking.  I definitely need to stick with cooking at home.

So how was my weight loss?

Week 3 Weight: 275.4

Week 4 Weight: 273.6

Lost This Week: 1.8 pounds

Total Weight Loss: 20.4 pounds!

I've lost over 20 pounds already!  Woo hoo!!!!  I'm extremely motivated right now to keep it up.  :)

How was your week?

Dare To Tri

117 days until my first triathlon, and I’m already starting to get nervous!  I have been working out, following the training plan, and feeling stronger every day.  I feel like I have really hit my stride in the past week.  I’m excited to get up every morning and get another healthy day under my belt.  I have been tracking my calories and cooking some delicious food, not feeling deprived at all. 

 

What I’m struggling with is comparisons.  I know that no matter how hard I train, I’m not going to be at the level of the other triathletes only 117 days from now.  I’m probably not even going to be close.  My goal at this point is just to run the race within myself and finish the race.  I just get frustrated knowing what I’ve done to my body, knowing that if I had just taken care of myself for the past 29 years, I could have the body the other triathletes will surely have.

I know I should accept myself and just be happy that I’m making positive changes.  I just can’t help but compare myself to others.  I know it’s going to be both a physical and mental battle for me on race day.  This entire weight loss journey is a fight against self-doubt, a fight to make myself believe that I have the inner strength to become the person I want to be.  My weight has held me back for far too long.  The body I have right now is the body I have right now.  I’m trying to accept that fact.

Setting aside my doubts, I am excited about how different things will be when I reach my weight loss goal.  I know I will be stronger after having gone through this journey.  Until then, I’m just going to keep taking it one day at a time.

Weigh Day - Week 3

I'm happy to report that after I sort of derailed myself with some cookies earlier in the week, I got right back on track and finished the week strong.  I thought surely I wouldn't lose any weight this week.  I have no idea what is going on with my body, but I hope it keeps happening because I had another good loss this week! 

Week 2 Weight: 277.6
Week 3 Weight: 275.4

Lost This Week: 2.2 pounds  :)
Total Weight Loss: 18.6 pounds

I realized this week that you don't have to be perfect.  You just have to be consistent.  I had an incident.  It happened.  I got over it.  I carried on.  I have to remember when the going gets tough that this is just one day of many.

My goal for this week is to step it up with exercise.  I have been working out several days a week, but I haven't been hitting my weekly calorie burn goals.  To keep up this steady weight loss, I'm going to need to work out harder than I have been.

Can't wait for next week!

Riding the Roller Coaster

For the past almost 3 weeks now, I've been staying away from all things sugar.  Sugar is my biggest weakness.  Just having a little bit is not an option for me.  I absolutely cannot be trusted when sugar is in the house.  Since I gave it up, I've been feeling fantastic.  I actually jumped out of bed this morning excited about living this healthy lifestyle for another day.

Photo Source: phineasandferb.wikia.com

Today is my brother's 24th birthday and he requested that I make him "some sweets."  I'm the baker in the family.  Whether it's cookies or cake or brownies, even homemade Twix bars, I have a great recipe for it.  I figured, Hey, I've got this sugar situation under control.  I don't even want it anymore.  I can handle baking a measly batch of cookies.  Ummm...no, I can't.  It started out innocently enough, just tasting a tiny bit of cookie dough.  Then that old voice reared its ugly head.  "Well, you've ruined your day now.  You might as well eat more."

Photo Source: http://pinterest.com/pin/79305643407833261/

I ended up eating 7 cookies.  Luckily, I had measured them out ahead of time, so I knew they were 100 calories each.  700 calories in cookies is not acceptable.


The thing is...I feel terrible now.  I am super tired and don't want to get off the couch.  I really don't want to change into workout clothes and work out (even though I'm going to).  I can feel the cookies sitting in my stomach like a rock.  They so were NOT worth it.

This weight loss journey is like a roller coaster.  It's full of twists and turns, and you're not quite sure what's around the next corner.  Just when you start to feel comfortable, the bottom drops out on you again.  I'm not going to let this incident throw me off track, though.  I'm going to sweat off some of those calories tonight.  Tomorrow I'm going to get up and keep going.  I might not know exactly what's in store for me, but I'm just going to try to hang on and enjoy the ride.

What foods do you struggle with the most?

Weigh Day - Week 2

I was really nervous for my weigh-in this morning.  Even though I worked hard this week, I was afraid the scale wasn't going to show anything because of my 13-pound weight loss last week.  But...the scale made me do a happy dance AGAIN this week!

I lost another 3.4 pounds this week!!  I cannot even tell you how excited I am about that.  Who knew that eating healthy + working out several days a week = weight loss?  :)

Week 1 Weight: 281.0
Week 2 Weight: 277.6
Total Weight Loss: 16.4 pounds

I'm also really happy to report that I got past the initial sugar cravings.  I just realized I haven't even thought about dessert or drinking pop for a few days.  Instead of sitting at work and dreaming of all the places I could order food from when I get off, I actually am excited about the dinners I have planned and cooked for myself.  I am cautiously optimistic that this might really be the time I do this weight loss thing.

Are you a calorie counter?

Tri Training Plan

A lot of my blogging buddies have done the Couch to 5K training program and had great success.  I found a similar training program to help me train for my upcoming sprint triathlon.  It's basically a couch to sprint triathlon program.  You start off slowly swimming, biking and walking only a few minutes at a time and work your way up to being able to complete a sprint triathlon from start to finish.

The program is called Michael Pate's Total Sprint.  The best part...it's free online!

I found out about the program on beginnertriathlete.com.  If any of you are interested in learning more about triathlon or possibly competing in a triathlon yourself, this is a fantastic website for newbies.  They have a place to log your training, online coaching, and lots of stories and helpful tips from other triathletes.

As of the beginning of this week, I had 19 weeks to train for the KC Triathlon.  The Total Sprint program is 22 weeks, but I'm going to make it work.

Have you followed a program like Couch to 5K before?

Talk to the Fishies

For those of you who are new to my blog, I'm doing a triathlon on May 20th!  I will be competing in the Kansas City Triathlon with hundreds of other (fitter than me) people.  I am extremely nervous, but I'm also super excited to have this goal to work toward for the next few months.

I'll be competing in the sprint distance, which is a 1/3 mile swim, followed by a 12 mile bike ride, followed by a 3 mile run.

I really love riding my bike and I know I can at least walk 3 miles if I have to.  The thing I am the most nervous about is...the swim.  I know how to swim.  And by "swim," I mean float around in the lake with my friends.  I have never in my life, though, swam an actual lap or learned proper freestyle form.  I've definitely never tried swimming with 50 people kicking and thrashing around me.

There is only one indoor pool close to me, so I decided to go practice my freestyle during lap swim time.  I mean, how hard can it really be?  Michael Phelps makes it look easy.  Let me tell you.  It was hilarious.  I am horrible at it!  Oh, my gosh.  I just could not get the right rhythm going with the breathing.  I was splashing and gulping air, then choking on water.  I'm still searching YouTube to make sure nobody secretly videotaped and posted it.

After a few disastrous attempts, I struck up a conversation with the lifeguard.  It turns out she is the swimming instructor for the pool.  Her advice to me was, "Talk to the fishies.  Now listen to the fishies.  Talk to the fishies.  Now listen to the fishies."  She actually really helped me with the breathing.  I still didn't quite get it down, but I'm excited to try again tomorrow.

Are you a swimmer?

Weigh Day - Week 1

Resolutions are good.  Results are better!  I got some GREAT results this week.  I am super, super excited to tell you about my weigh-in this week.

Starting Weight: 294.0 (highest weight ever)

Week 1 Weight: 281.0

Loss This Week: 13 pounds!!

Total Weight Loss: 13 pounds

Oh, my gosh.  Are you serious?  I lost 13 pounds this week?!  I know most of it was detoxing from Christmas and New Year's binging, but I don't care.  I am just so glad that weight is gone.  I stuck to my calories this week.  I went over them last night but nothing too crazy.  I also started exercising.  I'm starting off pretty easy on the exercise end.  I have been so lazy lately, so I really need to build up some strength before doing any hard-core workouts.

I love having a weigh-in on Sunday because I can't tell myself that it's okay to just let loose on the weekend.  That's one of my favorite eating excuses.  "Oh, I did so good all week, I can let myself go this weekend and start again on Monday."  I am NOT doing that anymore.  No more excuses.

First Week Blues

The first week after you make a big lifestyle change is always the hardest.  I have been struggling with sugar cravings for the past few days.  I know that in a couple of weeks, if I just stick to my guns, I won't even think about sugar.  I just need to get through this first week.  My brother (who lives with me) isn't making it easy on me.  He just baked an apple-blackberry pie and is waving it in front of my face as we speak.  I know I have to stay committed and just push through this first phase.  I've been really good so far.

I did my first workout in a long time on Monday.  I went for a walk on Tuesday and then played tennis earlier today.  My goal is to burn 500 calories a day working out.  Right now I'm averaging about 250.  I am planning on taking it kind of easy on myself this week to start building my stamina back up.  I have overdone it in the past and injured myself, so I know I need to start slowly and work my way up.  I am also still recovering from a severe ankle sprain at the end of September, and I really don't want to reinjure that.

How is your week going?

Sugar, Sugar Everywhere

I made a New Year's resolution this year to give up pop completely.  Now, I've never been one to buy cans of pop at the grocery store and just drink can after can.  When I'm eating out at a restaurant, that's a different story.  I always order a Coke or Pepsi to go with my meal.

Source: http://pinterest.com/pin/207306389066881301/

Just out of curiosity, I decided to figure up how much sugar I consume each year just by drinking pop.  Since I never buy it at the store and don't keep it in the house, it couldn't possibly be that much, could it?  Wow!  I was completely floored when I saw the figures.  Here's how it calculated out.


As a rough estimate, I figured I drink an average of 7 cans of pop per week.  That was shocking to me just by itself.  I never realized how those 32-ounce drinks could add up so quickly.


7 cans x 12 ounces per can = 84 ounces per week 
84 ounces per week x 52 weeks = 4,368 ounces per year

Each ounce of Coca-Cola has 3.25 grams of sugar

4,368 ounces per year x 3.25 grams of sugar per ounce = 14,196 grams of sugar from Coca-Cola per year

A pound of sugar contains approximately 453 grams

14,196 / 453 = 31.34 pounds!

I have been drinking over 31 pounds of sugar per year 

That is so unbelievable.  My body has to process almost 8 four-pound bags of pure sugar just in pop alone every year.  I don't even want to think about all of the other things I eat that contain tons of sugar.  I am SO glad I decided to give up pop this year.  Seeing these numbers is going to definitely keep me motivated to stay away from the stuff.

How much pop do you drink each week?

New Year, Fresh Start

Yep, I'm going to be one of those people.  I'm starting over today.  I'm forgetting about 2011 and my failed weight loss efforts.  I'm embarrassed to admit that I have pretty much been in a binge-eating spiral for the last month and a half.  Today when I stepped on the scale, I saw all of those cupcakes, cookies, French fries (this list could go on) finally catch up to me.  I saw an all-time high on the scale.

Starting Weight (January 1, 2012):  294.0

I am about to cry just looking at that.

Anyone else joining me with a fresh start today?