My weight came back down to a somewhat reasonable level, scale-wise. I know that binge weekend did set me back a bit, but good to know that I can still feel on track! Had a bit of a lazy night with Mike, we are trying to power through everything in the fridge, so it was a pretty simple dinner of grilled ham and cheese sandwiches with apple...one of my faves! Can't believe that it actually wound up being about 10 Points though...
Got a bit of an extra workout shovelling the snow, but I still made it in to Planet Fitness. I did two ab circuits, a 100-calorie treadmill (11:31!), and and then a 30-minute express workout that kicked my butt! There was a girl who was just starting as I was finishing, and she called me a champ, and that made me feel good, haha.
I wish that the way my body feels and the way my body looks would reconcile. The number on the scale is still up from my food failure this weekend, but I really feel like I was crushing it at the gym tonight. Twice through the ab circuit, and my new thing lately is to see how quickly I can burn 100 calories on the treadmill. I had two days over 13 minutes, and (with the help of some motivational videos Mike showed me at home) I really pushed myself tonight, and did it in 11:51!
I went over to the bicycle and started pedalling, at 12 minutes in I didn't know how I was going to make it to 30, my legs were burning. But I honestly just kept pushing through it, one minute at a time, and I was grossly drenched in sweat, but it felt great! I made it to 35 minutes/224 calories burned. Then I decided to do biceps/triceps/chest machines but actually put in the effort to get to my maximum weight possible...about 30-40lbs because I am a weakling, haha. But my arms feel dead, and I left the gym feeling like a damn champion, minus the whole looking in the mirror part.
Mike made me a great 7-point dinner with all the leftovers in the fridge (broccoli slaw, mixed vegetables, beans) and a few potato/hash browns he cooked up in the oven, and it was fucking fantastic. He's a good egg.
My Points have been high the last two days, which I blame on too many snacks in the house, and lack of willpower. When I start back up in February, I'd really like to focus on meal planning for the week and meal prepping, as well as having all my fridge food ready to go to curb laziness. Hard boiling some eggs as I type this!
So Monday started off being pretty afraid of the scale, and with good reason: I was up 2 pounds in 2 days. Definitely beating myself up about my food choices on the weekend, but Monday = time to start fresh.
Had a fairly decent day diet-wise, I did end up a bit over my Points, but it was pretty healthy food for the most part, so I can't be angry about that. Had a broccoli-stuffed chicken with garlic pasta side for dinner, but was seriously hangry before that was ready, and wound up eating a bunch of unnecessary Points like pretzels, cheerios, and rice cakes.
Trekked out to the gym after dinner and hanging out with Mike. Worked once through the ab circuit, did a 100-calorie jog on the treadmill in just over 13 minutes (again), and 44 flights of stairs in 17 1/2 minutes on the Stair Master, which is a big feat for me, considering last time I got on, I died after 5 minutes. A few hip machines before calling it a day!
So I've been procrastinating on this journal, partly because of being busy, but mostly because it wasn't really a great weekend to be proud of.
Well, on the one hand, I did keep up my workouts, even on Sunday when I was pretty pooped and had a lot to get ready for friends coming over, but on the other hand, my diet was awful. Johnny had a great karaoke party on Saturday where I ate lots of brie and pretzels, cheesies, spicy chilli, and all kinds of other snacks. Sunday we had Thomas, Kathleen and Brian over to watch football, which led to us eating lots more pretzels, Smart Food, a fruit tray, and 3 pizzas, haha. Yikes. I tried to throw some healthy options in there, but they seem a lot less appealing when there are unhealthy options.
And it was that old familiar feeling of being full but not being able to stop stuffing my face to the point of being uncomfortable. And it's sick that that feeling is somehow satisfying?
I think yesterday took some serious commitment to this challenge to get me into the gym. Had a packed schedule after work which included the the dog park, Costco, LensCrafters, Value Village and Walmart...and dinner wound up being a coconut chocolate Clif Bar, some samples at Costco, and a few sips of chocolate milk. BUT I did power through, went to the gym and started off with the usual 2 ab circuits, which I was pretty sore through. But did a 100-calorie jog on the treadmill, followed by 40 minutes on the bike. It probably would have been less, but I got a new pair of headphones and got sucked in to an episode of Hells Kitchen, haha. Had to watch the end (bye Sharkeena!). No muscle machines, because I was still sore from the day before.
Night snacking and meal planning are still my biggest downfalls. Really need to work on better dinner plans and snacks, and grocery shopping to make sure I have lots of good fruits and veggies to fill me up.
After beating myself up all day 20, Thursday's weigh-in was a great victory! After three weeks, I have lost 3.96% of my body weight (down 6.6 lbs), and have gone to the gym twenty-two times, bringing my Planet Fitness membership cost down to $0.51 per use! I also broke into the 150s, which was a great feeling, and still nine more days to crack thath 5% goal!!
Made my favourite salsa chicken for dinner, and played floor hockey last night across town in a 14-4 victory! Headed over to Planet Fitness afterwards for my workout, a bit light because it was already after 9:30 when I got there. Did two ab circuits, and then the 30-minute express workout, and finished off with the two hip machines. Would have liked to get some more cardio in there, but oh well!
This morning I had a visit to the dentist's office that kind of threw a wrench in things, although I wasn't going to hit the gym in the morning anyway. Again food-wise things were okay, but I'm really just mostly eating snacks, or (still healthy) staples that don't really make me feel like I'm making huge strides in my diet.
I went to the gym tonight, and powered through two ab circuits, where I had a happy moment -- being able to do a full minute of abdominal crunches on the machine that I hate. I mean, yes, it was only on 10 lbs, but I have never been able to do just keep going consistently. So I was really proud of that moment, and then another moment when I hit the treadmill for 45 minutes, and was running on a 4.5 with a 5.0 incline. It did burn me out a bit, but I kept on (mostly) running for the 45 minutes with only a couple of quick breaks here and there.
I moved over to the tricep machine, and then to free weight bicep curls in front of the mirror, which really kind of just made me feel like a sack of shit because 1.) having to stare at my fat marks in my arms was not empowering in any way, 2.) feeling invisible because this stupid couple standing in front of me and not caring, and 3.) lifting 20 lbs and struggling is an embarrassing amount of weight. Ugh.
I came home early to hang out with Mike, who was fast asleep on the couch and wouldn't wake up. Took Mookie for a quick walk around the block (FUCK it's cold), and then came home to eat a hard-boiled egg, to find out Mike had eaten them all. I know it's such a stupid thing to get mad about, but like I made those eggs so I could eat them after a workout. I made 6 eggs and got to eat 2 before they were gone. So yes, really stupid thing to be angry over, I think I am just overly tired and need to play some Rock Band.
I have kind of fallen into a food rut, where sure I am eating different things, but I don't feel like I've tried anything new for awhile. Day nineteen's dinner was Rice Krispies with skim milk, and a chocolate coconut Clif bar, and I feel that I can do better.
Hit the gym after thrift shopping with Josey, and we hammered out 2 ab circuits, and I did 30 minutes on the sitting bicycle, and Josey did the elliptical, with no machines after, which made me feel a bit guilty.
It is becoming pretty clear why I shouldn't be weighing myself every day, if not for the fact that a shitty day on the scale can equal end-of-the-world emotional breakdowns, as experienced by me yesterday morning, haha. Thank goodness Mike is an awesome support system and talked me down off the ledge, haha.
Other than that, it's crazy how normal trying to eat healthy and going to the gym every day has become kind of just the same old, and it's been less than 3 weeks. Mike made me broccoli-stuffed chicken with corn, peas and carrots on the side for dinner, while I played Rock Band. Afterwards we went and went through the ab circuit twice, and did the 30-minute express workout. I powered through a gnarly headache, and a sore back from the day before's machines, and then we finished off with 10 minutes walking/jogging on the treadmill, as kind of a light workout.
Came home and my points were already maxed out, and that damn late-night snack craving came to life. Mike was snacking too, which made it hard not to indulge...my willpower is something I definitely need to work on, haha.
Well, Saturday started off pretty fantastically with a big low on the scale, but (classic Karlene) the rest of the weekend was downhill from there.
Saturday started well with a quick oatmeal breakfast, meeting up with Josey for a day of power shopping, and even a healthy lunch at Subway and a healthy fish and veggie dinner at Josey's house, but then Kasper ordered Hawaiian pizza, and I caved and ate a slice, along with 2 of the 20 chicken nuggets Mike ordered from BK. The silver lining was that the three of us did go to the gym together, and we did two ab circuits, 30 minutes on the bicycle, and hip/butt machines.
Sunday wound up being a day of just lounging around at home, catching up on laundry, taking Mookie to the dog park, and watching the Martian with Mike, which was all great, but didn't really lead to the healthiest eating. Over my points again by like 1/3. I did go to the gym at night, and did two ab circuits, 20 minutes on the elliptical, 20 minutes on the bicycle, and then back/chest machines. Felt sore leaving the gym, which makes me think that I should try and push myself more often.
I have reached the halfway point! Got a great slow cooker going while I was at work today...creamy portabello mushroom chicken with broccoli. I wasn't 100% sure when I put it all in there, but it wound up being really tasty and reasonably healthy!
Mike was off bromancing the stone tonight, so after dropping him off, I popped in to Planet Fitness for my workout of 2x the ab circuit, 15 minutes/100 calories on the treadmill, the 30-minute express workout, followed by hips and butt machines.
I think it's official, my sweat pants are actually a bit looser now, so that's a great feeling! I am also starting to see more muscles in places where before there were not muscles!
Day fourteen automatically was off to a great start because 1.) I successfully survived two weeks of this challenge and 2.) the scale finally stopped betraying me, and I went down by a couple of pounds! After two weeks, I have lost 3.12% of my body weight (5.2 lbs), and have gone to the gym fifteen times, bringing my Planet Fitness membership cost down to $0.75 per use!
Kicked things off with a 7:30am trip to the gym with Sarah, and over to her house for a quick hot tub, before remembering that I actually had an appointment and booking it out of there, haha. Didn't have time to get my slow cook on, so instead my night shift lunch was soft boiled eggs and toast, which is (diet or otherwise) still one of my favourite meals ever.
Had our first floor hockey game of the season at 9 tonight, and I was pumped for how "in shape" I was going to be, because of all this recent gym time. The exact opposite happened, and I felt more out of shape than I have in a long time; my lungs were burning, and it took a long time to catch my breath, even once the game was done. Kind of embarassing! I'm hoping with all this extra time I'm putting in at the gym that will change over time!
Not going to lie, day thirteen was off to a rocky start due to my number on the scale. I woke up and was basically the same weight that I was on day 3, and it put me in an awful mood...I understand now how people on the Biggest Loser get so angry, haha. I know there are 100 ways to rationalize it, but it still made me pretty sour.
The great news is I gained a new gym buddy in Sarah! She picked me up for the gym around 7am, and signed up for a membership! We did an ab circuit, and then 30+ minutes on the elliptical, and then a few leg machines.
Food is always hard to figure out when I'm working the night shift, so I just heated up some leftover salsa chicken with some green peppers and it was meh, okay. Used a different kind of salsa this time, and it was super watery. But Mike saved the day and brought home lots of berries, fruits and healthy snacks for dessert!
Day twelve started off with some unplanned exercise -- a massive dumping of snow and Mike's wrist injury led to me waking up super early to brush off the car for him, but then also just deciding to shovel the entire driveway, which took about an hour. Put on my salsa chicken slow cooker and headed to work.
Wound up eating this big chicken wrap with no veggies for dinner which was way too many points, and maxing myself out around like 5pm, which didn't bode well for my evening of going to see Sisters with Josey. I had great intentions with bringing 2 rice cakes as a snack, but then I also picked up a box of Junior Mints, which I thought wouldn't be too bad for me, but were actually probably worse than getting just a regular chocolate bar.
Dropped Josey off and then drove over to the gym for my workout around 9:30. Sarah invited me to the gym for 7am the next day, so I didn't want to burn myself out too badly. I took it easy with 2 ab circuits, and then 40 minutes on the treadmill (mostly running at a 3.5 incline!) trying to burn off as many of those Junior Mints as possible.
Day eleven started me off in a bit of a shit mood, because I thought I had done really well the day before, and the scale had me up 0.8 lbs. Blah blah blah just numbers on a scale yadda yadda, but I was still pretty unhappy. It did eventually sink in that 1.) I had been eating late the night before, and 2.) it's probably some residual from the all-you-can-eat sushi on Saturday night.
I was feeling zero enthusiasm about doing groceries after work today, but I knew if I did it would be for the greater good. I would be eating good food again, instead of just whatever is convenient (but probably unhealthy) around the house. Picked up some chicken breasts, so I'm looking forward to a new batch of shredded salsa chicken for the next few days.
Headed over to Planet Fitness around 8 for my workout and struggled a bit through my 2 rounds of the ab circuit, probably just from going hard yesterday. Hopped on the treadmill for 20 minutes (1.02km with 126 calories burned) before settling into the 30-minute workout. I was really surprised that both the jogging and 30-minute circuit felt pretty easy. Wait, not easy, but just not impossible and like I was dying. Like I would catch myself still working out when the light had already turned red and I didn't even notice! It was a great feeling, same with my sweat pants feeling a little loose. Could just be from over-use, haha, but maybe it means I'm headed in the right direction!
Life Lesson: every day is a rollercoaster of emotions, and I'm basically a mess.
Day ten has arrived, meaning I am already 1/3 of the way through this challenge, and about 47% of the way to my 8 lb goal! I had a day off packed with things I wanted to get done, so it was a bit of a squeeze trying to get those all done, plus include a trip to the gym.
I knew I had at least one indoor baseball game tonight, with the possibility of a second, so I didn't want to die later on. At the gym I made it a light day by doing 2 ab circuits, 20 minutes (mostly) jogging on the treadmill, and 5 minutes on the stair master. That was supposed to be longer, but that thing is DEADLY and I was sweating buckets and my legs were dying. I finished off with two back machines and a chest machine, and called it a day.
Food-wise it was a great day, I wasn't super hungry at all for some reason, so I ate less, and actually got to treat myself to an After Eight hot chocolate at the end of the day because I had leftover points.
I was thinking earlier today that going to the gym has kind of just become a part of my every day schedule, not this draining thing that I have to make myself do. And that's pretty great!
Day nine was probably one of my biggest challenges yet -- going out for all-you-can-eat sushi with the ladies for Sarah's birthday. I was pretty nervous about ruining my diet, but I think overall I did pretty well. 3 edamames, a miso soup, the equivalent of probably 12 pieces of sushi (one deep fried/not even good), and my treats were 1 piece of shrimp tempura, a small bowl of mango ice cream, and a piece of deep fried banana. But it was crazy to leave the restaurant actually feeling satisfied, and not like I'm about to birth a food baby, which is how I usually feel after all-you-can-eat sushi.
I have to pat myself on the back for last night as well, because when I came home at 8, Mike and I got sucked into the Making a Murderer vortex, and all of a sudden it was 11pm, and I still hadn't gone to the gym. We had a little spat, but in the end I wound up still going to the gym for 2x abs circuit, and 30 minutes (200 cals) on the bicycle, and tricep weights. It was a bit shy of my regular workout, but I didn't leave the gym until around 12:30, and I was pretty proud of myself for going at all.
I have kind of reached a new understanding with myself that this is a challenge I really want to complete, and that I need to do it for myself. If Mike wants to join me, great, but either way I need to go. I have spent probably well over a year trying to motivate myself to do any type of consistent exercise or healthy eating, and the fact that I'm finally doing it, makes me want to do well at it, and not give up like I do every other time.
Was still rocking some tummy troubles in the morning, so I decided to see if re-introducing more gluten and less fibre would make me feel any better. After work, I met up with Josey to go swimsuit shopping, and with all that harsh lighting and no clothes, it made me feel good that I am resolving to stick with this challenge for 30 days haha. I started drooling as we drove by Wendy's, but obviously behaved myself and got a 6" toasted chicken sub from Subway before we picked up Mike and hit the gym.
I hadn't done my real workout since about 10am the day earlier, so my body had almost a full day and a half to recover, I felt great! We did our usual 2x ab circuit, and then a 30-minute express workout, and even though I had done the same thing the day before, I didn't really feel any soreness at all! Finished off with hip and butt machines, but I felt really great about how my body is putting up with all these workouts!
I survived!! After one week, I have lost 1.98% of my body weight (3.3 lbs), and have gone to the gym eight times, bringing my Planet Fitness cost per use membership down to $1.41 per use!
Yesterday, I woke up with a bit of a tummy ache which actually makes me a bit nervous. Last time I was actually sticking with Weight Watchers, I was having crazy stomach problems that I think were IBS-related? When I cut down gluten, I think my body dies, haha. But obviously I'm gonna stick with it and see how it goes.
I know I should be feeling really great about the 3.3 lbs lost, but yesterday I was having a tough time keeping my motivation levels up. I did my gym workout (2x ab circuit, 20 mins treadmill, 30-min express workout, and hammy, calf, and hip machines) and when I got home I was just exhausted, and not impressed by my food options in the cupboards.
I tried getting creative with this potato, chicken, cauliflower mix in the crockpot that actually ended up being pretty horrible, haha. Way too lemony. But there are a million recipes I'm sure I can find on the internet to pump me up in the future!
My spirits were lifted by the time Mike got home. I got off work early so I could attend my Design Your Own Program session at Planet Fitness, only to go and realize that it was yesterday, and I missed it, haha. Whoops! But I stayed with Mike and did a half hour on an exercise bike, just because.
Day 6 started off with a bit of a challenge -- actually making myself go to the gym solo on my morning off. I hopped on the Highbury bus, which takes me right to the Planet Fitness plaza, so that was pretty handy. Did my usual 2x ab circuit, and then decided to give myself a real test on the treadmill by picking it for cardio. I didn't anticipate my legs being sore from Tuesday, but I cranked through 33 minutes of walking/jogging/running before doing some bicep and tricep machines. Those machines made me realize that I like doing free weights for arms better.
Food-wise my day was fairly good, I am still battling with those crazy late-night cravings though. 10pm hits and all I can do is think about snacking. Worked the night shift, so it was a challenge to make a full healthy dinner in 30 minutes (didn't exactly have time to eat it), but I made mushroom, pepper and onion omelettes for Mike and I, with one egg/two egg whites each and a piece of whole wheat toast. Nothing too fancy, but it did the trick!
Yesterday was probably the hardest day for me to get motivated to go to the gym so far. Just a case of general fatigue, combined with sore muscles, and a +0.1 lb gain on the scale. I drove Mike to work, and then over to Planet Fitness. Did two of the "12-minute" abs, 15 minutes on the treadmill, the 30-minute express workout, another 10 on the treadmill, and then my back and chest on the machines.
My whole life I have been a bad runner. There was a brief stint where I tried incorporating it every day when I signed up for a 5k run (that I wound up running about 1k of, and walking the rest), but I can never really get into it. Mike told me to try the treadmill, and I actually really enjoyed it! It's a lot nicer than running outside, and I can't run for very long, but I was surprised at how long I could run!
I knew our ladies' night hangout was going to be a challenge, and I'd say that part was probably the toughest of my day. She had a delicious looking spread with chips and salsa, crackers and two kinds of cheese plus boursin (amazing), and a plate with TURTLES, so I knew I was in trouble. I tried chewing gum as long as possible ("Why aren't you eating?") and then I just ate snacks one at a time, and ate as slowly as possible, haha. It definitely could have been a lot worse.
Oh yeah! And one thing I'd really like to get into more is meal planning and prepping. So easy to have things ready-to-eat instead of staring blankly in the fridge for 5 minutes figuring out what to make. Bought a big set of Tupperware for $10 today to help with that!
Started the day off a bit bummed -- I went up 0.7 lbs. I know that there are lots of reasons why weighing myself every day is probably detrimental to my confidence and sanity. On the other hand, it really can work as a motivator sometimes, especially when I am in a 30-day time crunch for my challenge. My mood was almost instantly pumped right back up by my BFF offering to come check out Planet Fitness with me after work!
We got a pretty solid hour-plus workout in, two times through the "12-minute" ab circuit, 35 minutes on the elliptical (2+km travelled and 300+ calories burned), and some work on our hips and glutes. Some of my muscles are sore, but I am kind of just getting used to everything hurting all the time, and not even thinking twice about it. But also somehow (insanely) Planet Fitness was giving away FREE PIZZA to their gym members, which seemed like a crazy counter-productive thing to do!
Came home and made a broccoli & cheddar stuffed chicken breast with (burnt!) veggies on the side. Sticking with the Points was fairly easy today, on track for 22. Ate a hard-boiled egg for the first time in like 20 years for protein. My night cravings are lethal though! Had a granola bar for a snack and I felt like I could have easily devoured the whole box, haha.
Tomorrow's challenge: Having a random Tuesday off with the whole day to myself...including my work out. Compounded with an evening girls night hangout with friends and food. Eeeeeeeeeek.
After eating that guilt cookie last night before bed, this morning I got a fantastic surprise on the scale -- I had gone down about 2.2 lbs! I know this is not something to expect on a regular basis, but I feel like I've started enough (usually failing) diets to know that the first few days for me I usually drop a couple of pounds (water weight?) pretty quickly.
So I decided to spoil that completely by making belgian waffles for breakfast -- mostly because it seemed like a nice breakfast to make for Mike's family, and also a little bit because I wanted to try out the new Mickey Mouse waffle maker that Hannah got me for Christmas! I had 1 1/2 waffles with bananas, blackberries, maple syrup and powdered sugar and made that my breakfast and most of my lunch.
Mike and I hit the gym for a little over an hour...one ab circuit, the 30-minute express workout, and some free weights (mostly) for arm day. I was actually super-excited to go to the gym, and even felt so good when I was leaving that it actually made me feel suspicious and guilty, like I hadn't worked hard enough. We took Mookie for a lap around the dog park, and once we got home and sat down for a bit, then the sore muscles started to kick in, haha.
The thing with eating less is that there are a lot of leftovers, so we had shredded salsa chicken burritos with rice, green peppers, and marble cheese for dinner before we headed to indoor baseball for a playoff game. A pretty active day overall. My muscles are sore, but I am still looking forward to the gym tomorrow, and feel pretty positive overall...minus a bit of guilt over (the last!) chocolate chocolate chip cookie that I ate for dessert with my cup of grapes.
With Mike's family coming in around noon, we got our butts to the gym around 10 for a 1.5 hour workout of 2x12 minute abs, a sweaty 30-min bike ride, and chest back and leg machines to finish it off. We picked up some healthy snacks at the grocery store and headed home.
The difficulty level increased immediately when our visitors arrived with a big bag of delicious homemade chocolate chip chocolate cookies! (Am I supposed to turn those away?)
Problem solvers: a healthy chicken, pepper and marble cheese sandwich for lunch, and shredded slow-cooker salsa chicken burritos for dinner with avocado, rice, peppers and cheese! I did sneak 1 cookie for dessert, but managed to kind of curb my craving for 100 more by splitting the cookie into 2, and diving into a couple of clementines after to appease the ol' sweet tooth. Crisis (mostly) averted!
We also squeezed in some extra exercise on a family trip to the dog park, then again in the backyard goofing around with Mookie and Tenzi! I was also a bit blown away by being down about 1.0 lbs from yesterday.
Day one in the books, and my body is feeling great! I am assuming this will be the only day this happens out of the 30, and I am scared of how sore my muscles will feel waking up tomorrow, haha.
The gym was actually pretty dead (thought there would be a few more New Years resolution folks out and about), so Mike and I went and figured out the express 30-minute workout, and the 12-minute ab workout (it was 3 machines short, so we did it twice!). Finished up with some cardio on a new machine I've never used before.
Food-wise today was also a great day. I figured out my WW POINTS number is actually 22, not 30 (but nice try, old Karlene), and I hit exactly 22, which is crazy since it included a trip to the movies, complete with 1/2 a Purdy's Coconut Chocolate Fudgie. Although I've had some late-night hunger cravings for the last hour or so that don't seem to be going away.
Mike cooked up a killer brunch, and I was dreaming of a big fat chicken breast after our workout, but we were pumping iron too late at the gym and didn't have time.
Tomorrow's Challenge: Family visiting from out of town overnight, not sure how I will manage to stay on POINTS and squeeze in my gym workouts, but I am gonna bust my butt trying.
