My new purchases

I have now signed up for the metabolic max program through Jenny Craig. So I will very shortly be measuring my daily metabolism and comparing that to what I'm putting in my mouth. I'm pretty excited to start it. I think I'll probably get my arm band in a week or so. So in preparation, I went shopping for T-shirts today. Specifically, 3/4 length sleeves so I can were this armband at work and not have to answer all kinds of questions about it. I saw a co-worker wear one a while ago (but I think his was a "body bug" - different company). He was wearing it to help with his conditioning - he is a really fit guy. The thing is - EVERYONE asked him what his arm band was. A lot of people didn't even know about these devices that measure metabolism. So he would have to explain the whole thing over and over during the day. I just don't want to have to explain myself and my exercise program to my coworkers. So I bought a bunch of t-shirts to wear under my scrubs. This way - hopefully less people will be asking me about it.

I also had to buy new goggles for swimming. Last time I went, the strap broke. I generally just swim front crawl, and that's hard to do when you can't see underwater. I was at the mall, so I stopped in at the bathing suit store. They had prescription goggles! I'm super excited about them! Sure, they aren't exactly my prescription, but they are pretty close. And they were only a little more expensive than the regular goggles. I always figured that they would be really expensive (and only available through an eye glass store) so I have never looked into it. I'm going to have to swim tomorrow to try them out.

Then I stopped off at DQ - I was really thirsty. So I bought a raspberry lemonade (thinking that it is a much better choice than a lot of other things there). I think this is one of the best drinks I have every had. Comparable to a Sonic strawberry lemonade slushly (the standard I have for the best drink ever). So I'm sitting here drinking it, I figure I'll look up the calories online because soon I will have to enter all my calories for the day into my new program. And while the raspberry lemonade didn't make it onto DQ's website, the strawberry lemonade is 720 calories! Are you kidding me?! So I guess this is the last one that I'm going to have for a while! Or perhaps, next time I'll have to get a small (after 3 hours of a cardio workout) instead of a large after spending most of the day sleeping!

The past month

Okay - this isn't a list of excuses... I just feel that I should explain the last weigh in. Two weigh ins ago, I lost like 7 lbs. Well, the very next day - I gained 5 back. I don't think that weigh in was really accurate. That was a month and a half ago. Since then - work has been quite stressful. I applied for and have been trained for a new position, but I had to do a lot of prep work at home. And then today, I wrote an exam (just to be certified in my area of expertise - it was outside of work and not required for work). 3.5 hours long. Not including the hour long wait as we had to check in 1 hour early. So it is all finished. I also was lucky enough to have some company come to visit for a week in the middle of March. It was great to see family, but I definitely did not eat Jenny Craig food while they were here. They would have been fine with it, but I did not plan my life well enough to do that. It is finally sunny out. The past month has been VERY deary. And there has been ice everywhere. Now - there are puddles everywhere. But I have been out walking a little bit. My goggles broke and I'm not very good at swimming without them, but I have yet to pick up a new pair. Maybe next week. My next phone call with my JC consultant (who is very encouraging and I'm lucky to have her), we are going to discuss their new program - the one where you wear a metabolism measuring arm band. Then you have to enter all the food you eat as well as all the activity you get in a day (according to the measuring thingy). I think this will be a good way to keep me accountable. So when I have days like today (celebrating the end of the exam with sushi), I actually have to record it and not just pretend it didn't happen. So more accountability - just what I need!

Weigh in 24

Okay - this has been long overdue. I'm just going to write a quick post with my weight because I have been dreading this for so long that if I don't get this in, who knows when I'll actually post. So from my last post, I'm +16 lbs. Good grief. I think I'll try to explain this some other day, but for right now, at least I'm posting it.

Staying still

Okay - it has been over a month since I have posted anything. I'm not really sure why. Maybe because I don't think anything has changed since December. I still weigh about the same (other than that one weird weigh in where I seemed to have lost 7 lbs in a week). I did read an inspiring story on another blog (and I would ask her permission to repost, but she has never responding to any of my comments so I think it would be pointless to ask). So I'm going to paraphrase.

There was a bird seen through a window flapping their wings as hard and as fast as they could. Except that this bird was not moving. He was staying completely still, even with all the hard work he was putting into flying. Suddenly, the bird stopped flapping and was immediately blown backwards. So all that effort was keeping him at the same point.

I don't think I need to spell out how I feel like relating to this bird. But at least I'm holding steady. And when I find my motivation again, I know that I can give it a little more effort and start moving forward again.

Delayed Weigh in

I decided that this week - I'm not going to weigh in. I'm not feeling as good as I was last week, so I'm postponing the weigh in to avoid feeling let down. I generally had a good week. I ate moderately well, and I exercised more days than I missed. I just know I would be disappointed with my weigh in which could potentially lead to bad behaviours (like pity eating... do you know what I mean? Where you feel sorry for yourself and think that all your hard work will never pay off, so you might as well order an extra large pizza?). Today, when I was craving carbs at 5pm, thinking about what I could get at the corner store, I made the decision to read through some things I wrote down about a month ago - motivational things. Like what I want to do in a year's time. Like go on a ski trip. And then I decided that the carbs just aren't worth it. I don't know if I would have made that decision if I was in some sort of pity spiral.

I have stopped the daily weigh ins. I have read evidence that supports daily weigh ins, but a lot more advice seems to say it is best to weigh in once a week at most. I decided to try weighing in less and I now see the benefit of that wisdom. I don't start out my day wondering what I did wrong the day before. And when I do see a weight loss once a week, it seems more meaningful, even if it is a small number. So I'm trying to be less obsessed with the scale. I think it is working. It is easier to start the day out well when you know you had a good previous day, instead of the scale telling you what kind of day it was. Okay, maybe that doesn't make much sense, but when I'm constantly weighing myself, I end up second guessing my decisions, even if they were good decisions.

Weigh in 23

WOW!!!!!!! I lost a lot of weight this past week! I was looking back at what I posted, and I think I only posted when I was having a bad moment. Most of this week was really good. I have to remember to post when I'm feeling like I did something right. Because then, when I say I lost 7.2 lbs... it would be more believable. But I really did lose 7.2 lbs! (I felt like I should have lost more last week, but maybe I wasn't getting enough sleep).

So this morning, I got up, weighed in, and then did a 30 minute aerobic DVD - I had lots of fun dancing around. And then I looked outside and saw it was so nice out, I just had to go for a walk. And yes - I did buy tater tots, but not really in celebration - more because I have been craving them for 4 or 5 days. And I bought the small bag. And that was the only treat that I bought. Everything else was healthy - veggies, yogurt, milk and fruit. So I did spurge today. But I'm drinking lots of water and I exercised a lot. And tomorrow - I'm going to carry on with the good habits.

(I think I need to reward myself - I have now lost 42.6 lbs. I should celebrate passing the 40lb mark...)

When I weighed myself this morning, I totally didn't believe the scale and I stepped on and off a few times. And then to be on the safe side, I recorded the higher weight. The scale originally was down almost 10 lbs. Which is frustrating because then I'm not sure if I can really trust my scale! But either way - I'm pretty happy!!!!

The last few days

I have been eating well the past few days. But if I could only get the motivation to work out on work days. I did aerobics after one day shift, but that is all I have managed to get in during these 4 days of work. But at least I'm eating right. I'm off to work the night shift. I'm looking forward to the days off - exercise is so much easier when I don't have to squeeze it around a 12 hour work-day!

Today?... not so good

Today I kinda had a bad food day. I was out for breakfast and lunch, and supper should have been good, but I had already blown the day, so I ended up having pizza and ice cream. I'm cringing even as I write this. I did have a really good work out today, which may just balance out the breakfast out (I guess I'm just going to pay for the lunch and supper with a smaller weight loss this week).
I have to stay on track for the rest of the week. I go back to work tomorrow. Bright and early at 7am! I haven't been sleeping well since I finished my last stretch of night shifts (I usually work 2 days, 2 nights, then 5 off - but last time I worked 2 days, 3 nights - somehow that extra night really threw me for a loop). So I'm going to try to get some sleep in tonight - I have a fancy new peaceful noise maker - I'm looking forward to sleeping to either a waterfall, rain, or the ocean tonight.

Weigh in 22

This has been a great week - I lost 1.3 lbs. Making the total I have lost 35.4 lbs! I finally broke through that 35 lb barrier. I'm feeling really proud. Normally when I have a great weigh in, I celebrate by eating too much that day. Well, today I did not do that. Instead - I went for a swim. Then I did an exercise DVD. And eat moderately (I did have lite hot chocolate - but the rest of the day was great). So I'm going to continue doing the right things during the next few days off and I'm not going to start sliding. It's when I think I have it all together when I slowly start messing up. I'm going to stay with the program - eating well (and moderately) and exercising.

Just a little more motivation

I'm in the middle of my stretch of nights that I have to work this week. I don't have much to say right now - but I thought I should post something. The couple of days before I started this stretch weren't the greatest. I found myself slipping into old habits... not eating great, not exercising. And then the first few days back at work, I was so sore I could hardly move at the end of the day. I think it had a lot to do with not exercising. So yesterday and today when I got up in the afternoon, I did a 30 minute workout on the Wii. I think that extra movement before I went to work made all the difference - I haven't been the least bit sore. I just finished working out now and I think I'm going to have to have a shower - I worked that hard. I need to go and pack my supper for tonight. And it is going to be all the right things to eat!