Dealing with a Cold

Just trying to get through a nasty, ugly cold. Everyone seems to be sick around me, especially at work, and I finally caught a baddy! Constant headache, sinus pain, and stuffed up!! 

Hydrating, like a mad woman these days -- drinking lots of water and tea. Eats have been chicken soup, beet and carrot soup,  carrot and ginger soup... and I'm getting souped out! A few other light meals, like some salads, sweet potatoes, and such. And I've been staying away from sugar and white flour stuff, like bread and crackers. Although crackers are our family's traditional go-to food with soup when sick, I can demolish a box, or a sleeve of saltines in one sitting. Major trigger.

With the time change, it's so so dark in the morning -- my get up and go has got up and left!  I find it easier waking up with the sun. I know it'll be better in a few weeks.

Not much progress on the scale I'm afraid. But I'll take zero gains!

Re-Adjustments

It turns out I have absolutely no energy first thing in the morning. None. My workouts have been half-assed to say the least.  My legs are like lead pipes and I have no pep in my step! The lack of movement on the scale is pretty reflective of that. 

The only time my morning workouts rock are on the weekend. I really get my sweat on. Those are the ones where I gradually wake up, take about an hour to have something to drink (coffee!) and a little something to eat, read the news and then get to it. 

Weekday mornings, I'm on a time-crunch playing "Beat The Clock". Five minutes to splash water on face, get something to drink, throw an exercise bra on, forty-five or less minutes for the workout, and thirty minutes to shower, get dressed, grab my lunch from the freezer (meals prepped in advance) and get out the door to catch the bus. 

So... it's back to late afternoon, early evening workouts for me. At least we've seen the last of the severe winter snow storms (fingers crossed) so my commute from now on shouldn't so bad, and I shouldn't have to spend an hour or more shoveling. 

Food-wise, my calories have been a bit on the higher side, so I'm pulling in the reins a little on that too. My pants are looser, so that's a good sign.

Constant re-adjustments are just fine. It means I'm keeping track of what's going on with my body, rather than burying my head in the sand (or a in a bag of chips) and wishing things were different.

Adjustments

I do well with consistent exercise for a time, and then fall off the wagon. I did really well before Christmas but since then, my workouts have been irregular. Although I walk outside everyday, shovel snow when it falls, I don't use a car to get groceries instead I walk the 15 minutes home, this is not enough. When it comes to purposeful workouts, I'm the worst at being consistent. This morning I was doing a cardio routine and 10 minutes in, I was a huffin' and a puffin', really sucking wind like a vacuum cleaner. 

This is not good! 

The only solution that makes any sense right now is to exercise in the morning, before work. This means waking up earlier, and going to bed earlier. AND making sure everything is organized for the morning (meals, clothes, work bag ready to go). Waking up earlier will be tough for a night-owl like me! But really, at the end of the workday, chances are I am burnt out, had a long commute (2 hours last week to get home because of snow), or just had a bad day. I just can't eat supper at 9pm, then try and squeeze in a sweaty workout before 11pm. So morning workouts it is!

Food-wise, I've been more snacky in the past couple of weeks, and that also has to stop. I know I get good nutrition from my mostly veggie-filled (and sometimes meaty) meals, and I feel really good. The snacking is all a mental game. I just have to keep reminding myself that giving into cravings for junk food will negate any progress.

Weight is still the same, bouncing between 186 and 189 lbs. 

New Year, New Me?

One thing I'm very good at is self-sabotage. I wish I were not an expert at this, believe me.  From the end of November running up to the Holidays, I was able to lose about ten pounds through diet and consistent exercise. But then... the Holidays... you know, same old story. I think succumbing to Peanut Brittle pushed me over the edge. I didn't gain an enormous amount of weight, but still... Next year, I will abstain in order not to have a repeat! No more sabotage!

Like many in January, I re-committed and re-started for the New Year. Since then, I've been following a month-long vegan plan, and feel very good actually.  It's a plan set out by a dietitian, not something I grabbed off the Interwebs, or from some other blogger who doesn't know what they're doing. It is plan that emphasizes health and the calories per day are in the 1600 to 1900 range.  But I must admit, I do miss chicken, fish and especially ground beef in chilli. And cheese! The calories and macros and such are calculated on the plan, and I'm meeting my targets. I will likely go back to being an omnivore when the vegetarian plan is over, but will try and choose plant protein over animal protein when possible. 

Right now, my weight is at 188.2 lbs. 

Time to Shred It!

It's a only a month until Christmas, so I'm going to prioritise cardio fitness now that my eating is under control and my stress levels are way down. Although I am active every day for at least 30 minutes by power-walking, and always bring groceries home from the store on foot, it's really not enough to reshape my body. To maintain, yes; to change, no!

Consistency is key here: I need to exercise six days a week with one rest day. I've printed off a blank calendar, and I get a smiley face for every workout. Not much of an incentive, but it'll give me a certain satisfaction to see a month full of smileys. Outside the weather here is, uh, yucky to say the least. Rainy, grey, cold, a few snow flakes, some ice, so any exercise will have to take place indoors. Too slippery for much power-walking.

I seem to need direction and timed workouts these days. Not sure why, but anyway, Jillian Michaels is going to be my buddy on this ride since I already have some of her DVDs gathering dust on my shelf: 30 Day Shred, Shred-It with Weights, Banish Fat Boost Metabolism, Yoga Meltdown.

If I (or my knees) get tired of her, I have the Ultimate Body-Challenging Workouts for Weight Loss which in itself has a variety of workouts. And on my shelf there are other DVDs like Caribbean Workout - Kickboxing and Aerobics,  Mari Winsor Pilates, and a few other less intense workouts.

I do still have my elliptical and a Rebounder, so if I get bored in the middle of a workout, I can just pop down to the basement and go exercise on those. I already do maybe a few times a month, but that is definitely not enough to shred some of the fat off.

I've already started this morning with the 30 Day Shred, and had to make modifications but I didn't lose pace at all with the workouts. I sweated, and now I feel great. After the workout, I had a protein and fruit smoothie, and a small bowl of Bran Buds and oatmeal.

A small Non-Scale Victory, my man left some mango ice cream in the freezer a couple of weeks ago, and it is still there... untouched! Usually I would succumb to temptation and it'd be gone. But there are no cravings, even though I've passed through that time of the month. I'm not going to press my luck in this though. My food rules are still in effect: No junk in the house!! 

I'm still not confident I can handle a bag of chips or chocolate singing their siren-song from the pantry.

An Experiment

I've been bored as heck with my diet, and it didn't seem to be working for me,  so I signed up for a week-long plant-based regime with a nutritionist I know. Recipes were provided, as well as support. Some of the recipes were more complicated than I'm used to, and some of the ingredients unfamiliar like nutritional yeast!  One of the good tips was to eat until feeling 3/4 full, but it's sometimes a challenge to actually do. 

I'm happy to report I did feel good at the end of the week! Good energy through the day, no heartburn. Being lactose-intolerant, missing dairy was not an issue since I've eliminated a lot of it, or use alternatives. But I did miss eating fish and poultry... and the little bit bacon I do allow myself to have! Beef not so much, although I do like a good steak once in a while. 

After the week-long experiment was over, my man and I went out to a restaurant (not fast-food) for some fancy burgers. Oh boy, was I sick that night. Heartburn, bloat, the whole nine yards of digestive turbulence. He ate the same thing without any side-effects. 

This past week, I've been taking it easy, and not eating junk. Pumpkin and squash soups, buckwheat pancakes with berries, vegetarian chili, California rolls, roasted chick peas for snacking, grilled fish with roasted veggies.

Going forward, I'm certainly going to incorporate more vegetarian meals into my diet.

Weight this week has been bouncing from 194.5 to 191.7 lbs.

Crunched, literally

That was some kind of break!  It's been so long since I've posted!  Here's what's been going on...

Just after the Christmas holidays, an ice storm hit the area, and I badly awkwardly, slipped and fell on some ice while I was coming down my front steps. Result: A bunch of broken and cracked bones. Including in my hands, leg, ribs. Of course it was my dominant hand that was broken! 

My body has healed and is pretty much back to normal, and physiotherapy has really helped. Being off work was tough; I didn't think I'd miss it, but I really did. I missed the work and the daily routine. So glad I have great health benefits! I had the hardest time with mobility of course, but also with being very dependant on people when I first had my accident. At first, even doing the most simple things was a chore.

This Summer, I was hospitalised with an infection. Fighting that off took a while, and lots of doctors visits. Ugh.

As for weight loss and exercise... well... not much happened on that front. I did keep an eye on food portions and tried to eat only when I was hungry, but I had a hard time moving, so I gained weight. This Spring, the first time I was able to weigh in without casts, I was at 212 lbs. 

And I just haven't felt like posting anything here. Not sure why... it's not like I've replaced it with Instagram, Snapchat, or whatever. I've been coasting, not overeating. I've not wanted to put in the work (tracking calories and exercise) to lose the weight, until now.  This morning I weighed in at 197.5 lbs. Time to move in the right direction! 

Holiday Crunch

Where on earth did the time go? This past week flew by, and I forgot to post on Wednesday. Between work, volunteering, and shopping and then parties, it's been more of a whirlwind of activity. More than other years. Maybe it's also a good way to keep busy and keep my mind on other things, hmmm. It's been really hard to get workouts in there. I've only been able to twice... and that was on the weekend.

Navigating parties, pot-lucks, and restaurants has been hard. Temptations everywhere!!! A couple of times I was able to eat at home, then head to the party, but a few activities have taken place at work, or right after work. A couple of the restaurants had little to be desired on the menu--lots of deep-fried and pan-fried, not grilled or baked anything. I'm getting tired of ordering big salads for supper.

I do weigh myself almost every day, but I record it on Wednesday. This time only a small dip 202.9 lbs. It's been lower and higher through the weekend, but I just don't want any January regrets. A higher number on January 4th is not in my plans. A number below 200 lbs is possible, but I'll have to work hard to keep moving, and to stay away from all the goodies... In all honesty, I mean to stay away from most of the goodies! My mother bakes the best apple pie, and another family member makes a really not-too-sweet Bûche de Noël (Yule Log Cake) and I'm planning on one piece of each. Some goodies are not bad and make you gain--I'm also looking forward to those little oranges, so yummy.

I don't get to see all my family very often, so I'm especially excited about that. In previous years, food was the main way people used to show love, but not as much anymore. We play games, watch movies, go for a walk if there's no snow-storm or ice-storm, and hang-out. Hopefully we'll be able to build a snowman!!

Happy holidays everybody!