Lifestyle Change Day 9

Here I am, 9 days into the changes, and ... it's going well. 

I've not lost any weight, but I'm feeling better than I did before. 
I'm trying to stay positive about the changes, and hope that other things will follow when my body and hormones adjust to the new eating style.  At least, that's what I'm telling myself. For now.

Sunday, with the Superbowl, I exceeded my Diet Coke limit, and treated myself to a small plate of home made nachos.  Which nearly started a fire in my microwave! 

I had this paper plate left over from Christmas, red with a gold trim.  I wasn't thinking the trim had any metal in it, but I should have guessed.  I couldn't figure out what the smell was as I was melting cheese on my nachos!  But back to nachos, it was just 1 serving of tortilla chips, a little melted cheese, then chopped avocado and tomatoes on top.  Which tasted delish!

My step counts were down that day as well, because of the rain.  But they're back up over 10K again this week.  My food counts are recorded and each day it's been over 85 in the nutrient content, and that makes me happy.

I see my doctor tomorrow for an annual checkup.  I know she'll say something about my weight.  And maybe a lecture if my cholesterol is up, or my blood pressure.

Lifestyle Change Day 3

Accountability is a good thing!  But sometimes life gets in the way of actually making the time to fill ya'll in.  Both Tues and Weds were good days:  Tues was 13K steps, but today was only 9k.  Sometimes work is that way, rather than doing, I spent a great deal of my time today having "meaningful conversations" with employees while also doing some training.  Tomorrow is another day for more steps!

I track my food intake on two separate apps, mostly because of the different information I can get with each.  On SparkPeople, which I've used forever, I'm tracking potassium, sodium and Vitamin C.  I also use my Samsung Health app on the phone, and yes, I can get those same numbers - but only if I eat servings in half or full size, and I am sometimes more precise than that. For example, I quarter my potatoes, bake them, and only have 3 quarters in a meal.   The reason that I like the Samsung app for tracking is because it gives me a nutrient quotient as a goal.  The nutrients in foods based on a 100% scale and both Tuesday and Wednesday, I got 85% !!  I was thrilled with that.  What I'm eating is good wholesome foods, not processed stuff, and that's what I need.

I've cut way back on the Diet Coke.  Now, I look forward to my little "treat" at 2pm - which is when I really need a pick-me-up!  But I'm having a harder time kicking sugar's ass off my plate, so to speak.  When things get stressful at work, the first thing I want is chocolate.  Because it's soothing? or have I acclimated myself to that choice?   Probably both.  Yesterday was a walk from my boss's boss's boss's boss.  Yes, 4 levels of bosses making walking around in my area, discussing things that we should be doing.  And the whole time, I'm wishing I had a chocolate.  I didn't, and I survived!  So I'm counting that as a success! 



Since I'm at the age where I don't need to make excuses, just list reasons, the reason I didn't post yesterday as I was behind in a long overdue email to my BFF.  I discovered this because when I got a new phone in December, I didn't realize that I needed to actually set notifications to see phone calls and voice mails.  When I finally figured this out last weekend, I had a voice mail from her! 

Sometimes, I'm really that blonde -- because that sound better than saying I'm that old!! haha

Bring Back the Freebies

Windows 10 -- blows.  Why do they take away all the good things we learned first in Win-XP then moved on to Win-7 Pro.  Tonight I wanted to make a DVD slide show of photos.  In Win-7 there was the Windows DVD Maker.  Windows 10 has none of these fun apps/features.  I tried Windows Movie Maker - which would be great if I were sharing these with computer savvy folks - but I'm trying to make a simple DVD of the photos I take to send to my 78 year old mother.   Sheesh.

So now it's off to find a program that will do this for me simply.  I think I'm going to try to find something by Nero.  I used them ages ago with Win-XP and miss that program immensely.  I got used to Windows DVD Maker by default, given that it was free.

*SMH*  I know that Progress equals Change for some people,
but do you really have to change every little thing???

It's no wonder that I don't use my computer to do what I used to do not so many years ago.  It wasn't uncommon for me to spend 4-6 hours a day using my computer as a tool for some quality of life.  But now?  There are many days I don't even turn the thing on.  That's pretty sad.  Altho, I think the little "computer" I carry in my pocket -- I call it a phone -- costs more than the entire desktop unit I'm currently using.   lol

Technology.  Progress.  Change.
Not all it's cracked up to be.

Small Achievements

Weigh In Weds.  The thought brings a shudder to me, because I'm never certain if I've done enough work to reach a goal.   Truthfully, we could all make a bugger effort when it comes to achieving our goals.  But some progress is better than no progress!  And this week was a good week for me.

I've lost 6.5 lbs in 3 weeks.  That's pretty much on track for my goal of 2 lbs a week.  But I can honestly say that it feels like slow progress.   My trainer didn't work me quite as hard as last week (thank goodness!)  but he doesn't let me slack either.  It was "arms" day, and I'm sure by tomorrow I will be feeling the effects.  In a good way  :)

I've increased my steps to over 12k a day; it helps to have cooler temps and I can walk Sadie around the block before bedtime!   I'm actually looking forward to my workouts and the progress I can make in the next week.  :)

Weigh In Weds

I am a little sad, bummed out, because my weigh in wasn't what I wanted it to be.  It was down a half pound, though, and down is always better than up!   My PT took  measurements and I lost fat content, so that's a plus in the right direction. :)

In addition to 45 minutes of intense training,
I also logged a total of 12,400+ steps.!!
*high five*   (I gotta say, though, that it was
SO intense, it's now 2 hours post workout,
and my muscles are starting to cramp up!)






I just need to keep up the work the rest of this week, and through the weekend.


Next week will be better with the right set of goals!!!

I can do this!

Here it is, Tuesday night, thought I'd dash off a post before I hit the sheets.  It was a long rough weekend for me.  I got up Saturday morning and hopped on the scale, thinking all my hard work would have surely paid off!  

But I found myself wondering "How the ^&#$ did I gain 5 Pounds Overnight?"   Talk about depressing!  Grrrrrrr.  Now that it's been 4 days, I was able to be calm and rational while checking some Google info.  I found one website that explained "it's absolutely possible to gain 3, 5 even 10 pounds overnight, but don’t worry! It’s not fat and it’s totally temporary."  Yeah?  Tell that to my panicky brain!   Which caused a huge depression bomb to drop on me.   *sigh*   I fought my way through it without a lot of what I would normally do:  reach for the cookies, the ice cream and the tortilla chips.  (Mainly because I didn't have them in the house!)

Blame it on the Full Moon:  "It has been known since roman times that the moon affects the water content in fruit. Pliny, the Elder, writing in AD 63 stated that it was best to pick fruits on specific days of the month if you wanted them to be plump and juicy.

Modern scientific studies on human urological issues have also backed up this idea showing that our bodies retain different levels of water in relation to the lunar cycle, making us plumper on different days of the month."

Ok, that's a good enough explanation as any, I suppose.  Looking back, I could also blame it on being overtired, lack of sleep  (I was working a few 4am-1pm shifts, putting me completely off schedule).  Maybe there was too much sodium for my body to handle in that extra serving of potato chips.  And just maybe there's an inflammation issue.  My personal trainer is tough and gives me very little slack!  After a workout with him, I'm sore for a few days.  Perhaps there is some inflammation going on that's "behind the scenes" and causing a few issues on my insides.

I just need to keep telling myself these four things:

• Don’t let this temporary gain take you out of your game. 
• Stay focused and positive. 
• Go to the gym to sweat off the extra pounds 
• Drink lots of water to flush out your body.

I can do this!   I did all those things yesterday, and today.  I achieved two goals today:  Broke my current endurance streak and went a full 40 minutes on the ellipitical.  At the same time, I made my 2 miles in 30:32 minutes!   Not as good as I used to be, but much better than I was a month ago!

Progress comes in little steps, when you do them every single day.

A Milestone!

On August 5, 

I reached a major milestone 

in my physical fitness goals 

for this year -- 300 miles!


I try to do something every day - elliptical, treadmill, walking my pup Sadie around the block -- all those little things add up, and this is proof!   300 miles in seven months!  I'm gonna give myself a big ol' pat on the back!!  

And just like the mileage I've wracked up, this can happen with so many other things in our lives as well.  Just a little bit every day adds up!!

If you think something is "too big" so you don't even get started, this is your wake up call.  You CAN do something, one little step at a time. 
 

Yep, I grinned!

Today was an awesome day!  It's been a while since I've been to the gym -- I know, I know, 4 days isn't that long!! -- but it felt like it to me.  Probably because the days dragged by with the 115+ temps we've had for four days.  But after work today, I went in, got all changed and just kinda "did my thing".  And it felt really good :)

Of course, part of the good feelings might have been from having another convo with the cute guy at the gym!  When I walked in, he said "There she is, Hey All-Star!"   Yep, I grinned!  And slipped into the locker room to change.  He was in the middle of a training session with Allan. 

When he was done, he passed by on his way to the locker room and winked at me!  Yep, I grinned! 

On his way out, he stopped over and talked to me, asked when I was getting my tat -- and showed him I already got it!  "cooooool" he said.  He asked about my vacation, and we talked about why I was in AZ and not still in Calif.   I asked him how he liked training with Allan - he likes him as much as I do!  Told me how he was trying to change up his routine, talked some about his family, then told me "I have a great set of abs -- they're just hiding under a layer of fat!"  Yep, I grinned!  We wished each other a good evening and he headed off. 


Me, I proceeded to crank out the miles on the elliptical afterwards,
and felt good the rest of the evening. 
and Yep, I grinned!

Current progress:  240.5 miles, working toward 384 miles!
My reward for this hard work?  A trip to the beach!

(and.... I think I'm still grinnin' !! )

Strive for Progress

Early Saturday morning, and there's a chill in the air.  It's something I need to remember, because our summer heat will be here soon!  So I got up early and sat in my chair.  But only until the chill made me shiver.  Then I crawled back into my warm bed!

There was a time not long ago when I thought nothing of arranging my schedule, my 'to do' list so that I could spend hours on the computer, chatting with friends.  OK.  I'll be honest, with one special friend.  It was a nice way to spend time, not be bored, and more important, not be spending money.  But lately I have felt there are more important things to be done in my life.... 

This is the one place where I try to be honest, to share my feelings, to think things through.  Not that it matters, I don't think anyone reads these posts.  Which is ok with me, I don't need an audience, attention isn't something I crave (like some people).  Which also points out - why do I bother writing here?  I could just as easily write in a journal and no one would ever see my thoughts.  But there's something fascinating about writing and sharing with the entire internet community....

Got my hair done today - the whole shebang - color, highlights, cut and styled.  I look ready to head out on the town.  My pup will think I'm stunning as I walk her through the local park. LOL  Quite the hairdo for a housecleaning day :)  But.  It makes me feel good, and that's a good thing, too.  Plus,


Afterward, I shopped because I had a 20% off coupon (gotta love JCP!) - found a pair of workout shorts, which will save on some laundry time.  And I tried on a couple pairs of pants  --- in ONE SIZE SMALLER!  And yes, they fit :)  Shopping is a really hard thing sometimes.  I was the same size forever, so I didn't have to try much on, I could look at something and know it would or wouldn't fit, or if the style was right for me.  But with all the body changes now, I can try things on  that I never would have worn a year ago.  I did buy one really nice pair of pants for $8.  (Can't spend top dollar on clothes if its only a "temporary size"!) They're off white, which won't be so great for work, unless its an audit day, and I won't have to process boxes.  But even if I only wear them once or twice -- can't beat $8!

Now that I've blathered on -- my inspirational thought for today:  Strive for progress.  No one can reach perfection, it just doesn't exist.  So we each need to find our way, making progress every single day.  And of course, finding our happiness :)   I'm making progress on my weight loss journey, and on my goal of walking 384 miles in 2013 --- what progress have you made toward your goals??