Maria Week 10

ARGH! I worked my butt off this past week and I still gained 2.5 lbs. Ok, ok, so I also ate like crap. :-( So I have no one to blame but myself. I've been sick for eating so badly and ... again, still haven't learned my lesson. Maybe someday I'll get it through that thick head of mine. For now, I'm weak - chocolate and peanut butter and salty tortilla chips have been calling my name and I've completely given in. (I blame PMS - for the cravings AND the weight gain.)
So, with all my workouts, fruits and veggies most days, minus $1 for gaining more than 2 lbs, I will be depositing $16. (Told you I worked my butt off! I'm thinking of having all my mail delivered to Gold's Gym since it is my primary residency.)

Ode to a New Scale . . by Jj

So this morning I ran down to the basement after my shower to weigh in (on my roommates scale which is why it's in the basement) and weighed myself but then remembered that I hadn't gone to the bathroom yet so I ran back up to my bathroom and then back down and by running up those two flights of stairs, peeing and then running back down those two flights of stairs - I somehow gained a pound. And with that, I think it's time for my own scale. I'll be hitting Target on payday to invest in one of my own that I can trust because there is obviously something wrong with that one. So when I get my new scale I'm going to start the weight loss milestone over and go from there.

I got to thinking earlier this week about something Maria said about gaining a pound on her free day so I thought I'd check it out for myself. I didn't quite understand how that could really happen when normally it takes weeks to put on weight and it's usually so gradual that you don't even notice until eventually you just can't button your pants anymore. So I put it to the test. I weighed myself Saturday morning and then went to town (I was feeling deprived so I really kinda gorged myself on the Halloween candy which really may have been my downfall). I then weighed myself again Sunday morning and I'd gained not one, but two and a half pounds! Luckily, I was able to take if off again before this mornings weigh in but it made me think. If I'd been more careful on my free day rather than just letting all hell break loose on my diet, would I be two pounds lighter now? I guess I need to learn some discipline when it comes to free days and still be a little more careful than I was . . and then I need to get a new scale. ;-)

And now for the actual report . . while I didn't lose any weight this week (I totally blame the scale), I did lose an inch around my waist (milestone #1), an inch around my thighs (milestone #2) and an inch around my muffin top (milestone #3) which is the one that I've really been waiting for. I can handle having to squish myself into my pants as long as I'm not spilling out over the top once I get there so I guess I'm on my way. Whoohoo!

So, with workouts, diet and milestones, I'm depositing $15 this week. Ya know, I think I may have to rewrite my milestones or I'm going to be broke before we're half way through the year! But that's good right?

Another note . . Marion and I were talking the other day and she suggested we pick a destination for our trip now so that we can get a basic idea of what it's going to cost us to get there. She thinks it might be a motivator to work harder. Originally, I'd set it up so that the amount of money we had would determine where we were going. Which I guess is still the case, right? If we don't have enough in the end to go where ever we'd originally planned then we can have a backup plan or maybe extend the challenge until we have the money. So now it's your turn to chime in . . what do you guys think?

Maria's Week 3

This week I discovered that my free days just might be counter-productive (if they were ever productive in the first place). I think that a free day is good because there are going to be events and occasions where a free day is needed; because we need to be able to reward ourselves sometimes; and because we can't completely deny ourselves all the time. But I am struggling with a balance with regards to my free days.
And I've settled on an on-line fitness journal - www.bodydaemon.com I'll write more on that later.
On a much more positive note ....
I lost another pound this week which puts me at 3 lbs since this challenge began and that's a milestone. I also lost an inch on my waist since this challenge began (that's 4 since I started my own challenge) and that's another milestone. I also lost 2 1/2 inches from my hips - that's two milestones!
A note about my measurements ... since I started working out about 5 or 6 months ago I have lost:
1/2 inch from my calves (not that there's much to lose there)
1 1/2 inches from my thighs
2 1/2 inches from my hips
4 inches from my waist
1 inch from my arms
2 1/2 inches from my chest
So I will be depositing $7 for workouts (4 cardio and 3 strength), $2 for eating fruits and veggies, $8 for milestones reached, minus $1 for going over my carbohydrate intake on a day that was not my free day for a grand total of .... $15.

Getting old sucks . . .

So I took my measurements just a couple of weeks before my 31st birthday and they were obviously not anywhere near where I wanted them to be - but when I took them this morning they were even further from that point. What the heck?!? I'd been eating - moderately - better and taking my dog out regularly and yet I was still getting even bigger. I guess it's true what they say about hitting a certain age and having your metabolism drop and mine obviously did just that. So I guess it's time to make so REAL changes in my life style if I ever want to feel good about myself again - so here goes!
After talking to Maria I decided that I'd jump start our fitness challenge by starting with a low carb diet for the first month or so. Wow! So much harder than I thought it would be! It seems like everything is packed full of carbs except meat. I don't eat that much meat so it's going to be difficult so if anyone's got any pointers on that one then bring it on!
I'm looking through my milestones and I think they'll need some tweaking too but I think we'll all find that along the way. However, I think it's going to have to wait until tomorrow because it's late and I'm tired after my hour at the gym tonight.
Oh, and I thought I'd pass these on. I've been using this website: www.sparkpeople.com to track all of my food (consider it an online food journal) and my workouts. It will help you calculate how many calories you should be eating and help you see patterns in your eating habits. And in my search through their site earlier tonight I found a pretty cool link that will help you to calculate the carb, calories, fat and everything else in any homemade dishes - just plug in the ingredients and the portion sizes and it will do it all for you.
xoxo
Jj