Keep on truckin' and tracking

Have been keeping track of food and hitting about 1600-1700 cals per day and getting in three workouts per week. It's tough for me to get out of bed in the morning, but I do it. I have to get the workouts in. After a long work day, it wont happen, just no energy left to do it.

On the elliptical, when almost ready to give up, I say to myself Keep on truckin' girl, keep on truckin' and it seems to make me go for an extra 10 minutes. Then I hop on my trampoline and bounce away for another 15 minutes and that makes me happy :) That's unusual for me... I'm not happy until I get a big cup of coffee.

Next week I'm going to incorporate more weight training into the workouts. I noticed while gardening, I struggled to lift the coiled heavy duty garden hose and had a hard time pushing the big mower. Gotta get my muscles back. Muscles burn fat... and I got plenty of fat that needs burning!

Influenza is not a great diet

Since the day after my last post, I've come down with the flu. One week of 102F fever mixed with chills and then a week of congestion, mucus and bronchitis. Thank goodness I had a stock of low-fat low-sodium Campbell's chicken noodle soup, home frozen home-made vegetable soups and some frozen cans of orange juice to get me through the first week. A kind friend stopped by with a casserole and to replenish my supplies of fresh fruit, veggies, and of course tissues and I'm very thankful to her!!! I'm also lucky that the grocery store and pharmacy is only a ten minute walk away.

Needless to say, exercise hasn't been a priority...and I haven't bothered to weigh myself.  But I've been thinking a lot about things and basically have been doing an inner workout. It also helped that Oprah's OWN network had a bunch of shows about weight loss the reasons behind the weight gain. For me food has always been there for me when friends and family haven't been. It's been my coping mechanism for so long, it's taken me a good year to start to change my relationship to food. Keeping on track emotionally is just as challenging as keeping on track with exercise!

I think I'm almost back to 100% flu-free, so as I wrote in my last blog, I'll start my food log on Monday and get in three morning workouts per week.

Reality Check

Measurement of progress so far:

Chest: 40" (no change)
Waist: 41" (-1 inch)
Hips aka Ass: 47" (-2 inches)
Pant size: 16p

I compared the numbers to those in my first blog post from 3 months ago and it's obvious: I haven't done the work it takes to slim down. I did make a very good start... but fell off with the exercise. The little nagging negative voice inside me says, "You loser, you can never commit to anything can you?"  While the positive comforting voice insists, "It takes a while to get used to a new way of living, this is a big lifestyle change; don't be so hard on yourself!"

Stress at work has certainly affected my level of tiredness at the end of the day. I try to take a long walk on the way home to decompress if it's nice outside, but lately it's been cold pouring rain. I think now if I can wake up early enough in the morning, that's when I'll fit in a workout instead.

To get back on track, starting on Monday, I'll journal my food for the next month. I need to make sure that I'm hitting the right amount of calories. I'm committing to working out 3 times a week in the am, journaling my activity, and getting nice long walk in wherever possible.

Summer Plans: Destination France

My man and I are heading to France so he can introduce me to meet his extended family and so we can attend his big family's reunion. Since I've already seen a lot of Paris (I lived there for a few months), and he's been basically visiting France every summer on and off over 30 years, we probably won't be taking in the usual tourist sights. I might try and cheeze it up by forcing him up the Eiffel Tower. But I'm sure we'll do a lot of walking around,  because he loves to take 6 hour walks. From Paris we'll slowly travel towards the Mediterranean where his family resides. The average temperatures in the south in June and July are hot-hot-hot.

So as a chubby girl whose thighs rub together, and who sweats up a storm, this is a recipe for an uncomfortable trip. I'm not a fan of hot summers and I love my air conditioner.  Hoping I can shrink some more before the trip so I won't get as many heat rashes as usual.

As for food, well since I have a lactose issue, most fromages are out of the question. I have been told that there are a lot of fresh vegetables and fruit available at reasonable prices in the summer in the south. But finding and even preparing the meals I'd like might prove difficult. Of course, lots of good carbs can be found... ah les baguettes, les  crepes, les patisseries... yikes!!

I've been dreading this aspect of the trip so much that I even gave thought to going on SlimFast!! So not good! Right now I'm eating clean, but frankly I'm finding exercise is a struggle. I get to it maybe 2 times a week, for an hour each time of weight training and cardio. I'll have to find the strength somewhere to get it up to 6 times a week. At the moment it is still too cool for me to take the bike outdoors. Hoping next week will be warm and I get off my butt and quit keeping the sofa warm!

Scale busters

Just when you think you've made progress taking it one step at a time, something comes along to send you two steps backs. This past week, it was the fact that my home scale gradually got out of whack and is 8 lbs off. And by 8 lbs, I mean I actually weigh another 8lbs more than I thought. I'm just happy that I've also been relying on the tape measure!!! Honestly, in the past, I would have been so depressed, I would have drown my sorrows in a bag of corn twists and a tub of ice cream.

But I can't help feeling sad... I know that there are always going to be challenges along the way... I just wish it were easier.  I'd better learn how to deal with it now, head on, rather than retreating into myself and wallowing in self-pity, as I have done so many times in the past.

Many Plates and a Big Plateau

Didn't do so well with eating this week.  Stress eating due to job insecurity, so five days off the rails.  It culminated with a family get together at a French restaurant where meals were shared family style.  A little bit of this, a little bit of that went into my mouth, my glass of wine refilled six times by our prompt waiter... and I rolled away from the table.  You know that overly-full plus drunky-drunk feeling?  Sigh.  My man and I took a bit of a walk after.

Usually at this point in my weight loss, I'd give up.  Surrender.  Dislocate.  I go back to sitting on the couch and stuffing my face with corn twists, followed by a Wunderbar with a Cola chaser.  This time is different.  Am I going to give up?  NO!!!  I'm getting my eating back on track and won't wallow in self-pity anymore.

Sunny days on the way

So I've been struggling with getting a good night's sleep and the time change didn't help. This week, we had a record breaking week of high temperatures: the humidex was at 30C. The sunny days seemed to have perked me up. Coming out of hibernation I guess, ha ha! Although my sleep hasn't improved much, my energy levels throughout the day seem to be improving. Hooray, here comes the sun!

My next hurdles are improving nutrition and getting regular exercise. Foraging for food like a Spring bear? Not me! Looks like I've not been getting enough protein, so it's turkey, tuna, and swiss chard on my shopping list. On the exercise front, I've been so tired in the morning and after work, I've not been pushing myself at all. Dialing it in big time.

I'll try to do better next week.

Lack of Sleep

I'm starting to think that my sleep troubles are playing a bigger role in the lack of weight loss so far. Or should I say in my overeating. There are a ton of articles and research studies online about how lack of sleep leads to weight gain. And how lack of sleep affects hormone and blood sugar levels, yikes!  I'm averaging about 6 hours a night. I know it should be 7 to 9 hours. I usually "catch up" on the weekends.

Although I've changed a lot of my eating habits, I'm just so hungry at the end of the day, I'm just eating too much. What I haven't yet changed are my sleeping habits. I generally have to get up around 7:15 a.m.   I usually actually fall asleep between 1 and 2 in the morning.  So what is keeping me awake? TV, Internet, stress, brain can't stop thinking, so many reasons.

My bedroom environment is a little chaotic... right now I've been sorting through clothes, so they are piled everywhere. I'll work on the clothes tomorrow. I do have decent curtain on the windows to block out the light from the street lamp. Nice mattress and pillows. Slightly cool room temperature. So according to the articles, my environment is not the problem. Well all I can do is try to get prepared for bed about 10 p.m. and slowly unwind. Hoping this helps!!!