Keeping on track this week with my food was difficult this week. I took my calories down to 1200-1300/day to see what happened and I just got hungrier and hungrier. Basically, I set myself up for failure. I scarfed down a bunch of chips without thinking. Not going to do that again. I really didn't like how I felt while eating them, almost out of control. Yeah... time to take a closer look at that issue. Meanwhile, I'm making sure my calories stay in my sweet spot, 1500 to 1600.
It's really super cold here! After a milder than usual January, we're now in a cold snap. When there are frostbite warnings, I don't exercise much outside at all. I did walk to the grocery store and back as always; it's not that far away. When the temps go down like this from -20C to -40C (-4F to -40F), I throw on a few layers and bundle up. Down coat with hood, and it goes down to the knee, a knit hat, long johns, tightly woven jeans and a good pair of tall boots with a thick sole (or a pair of real mukluks). My mitts are boxer glove style. I won't let the cold trap my in the house. But I'm never out longer than 30 minutes in one stretch when it gets past -30C. My workouts are indoors. Elliptical or doing DVDs. Get a load of what my mother sent me for Valentine's Day...
She's hilarious! She's trying to get healthy after a heart attck this Fall, so we're motivating one another, especially with humour. Anyway, back in the day, during a slight chubby phase, I tried to Sweat to the Oldies but failed miserably because I'm pretty uncoordinated. If I remember rightly, there are a lot of dance moves in these routines and I just couldn't keep up! I'll have to try again to see if I'm more coordinated now. Probably not :)
I've continued on with a modified version of the meal plans that I posted about last time. I did add back in chicken and fish this week. No vegetarian life for me :) I definitely feel better with less protein, and eating more veggies. While I still get cravings for foods I shouldn't have, the different kinds of foods on the plans left me feeling more satisfied after eating. It totally got me out of the food rut I was in. Bananas are not longer a staple of my diet either. Just got bored eating them, you know? They were my go-to morning snack, now more of a once or twice a week thing. Replaced them with a few dates and a small amount of nuts.
Since it's been icy and not ideal winter weather here, I've been turning more and more to indoor workouts. I dusted off some old cardio DVDs and have been doing them about 3 x per week (Leslie Sansone as well as the Caribbean workout with Shelly McDonald). The other 3 days are for the elliptical. Plus some stretching right after, about 15 minutes of yoga or pilates.
With food and exercise, I have been consistent and it's paying off. Weight 165.0 lbs
