100 Days without Pop??!!

At some point around the time of the Super Bowl in early February a friend mentioned that the Monday after the Super Bowl is as popular a time to start eating healthy as January 1. We were talking about small changes we could make to help us make better choices. It was never meant to be about making huge leaps from having candy, cookies and pop to suddenly having carrots, celery and water. It was about the small things. I decided that one thing I could do without was pop.

The first thing I did was try out a few apps that keep track of streaks. Most didn't work out, but this one was so simple to use and it reminded me every morning to check off the previous day. You can download Habit Streak Plan here if you have an Android phone.

Weight Loss Update - June 2013

If you've been following along, maybe even looking for a weight loss update, you'll probably know that it's been several months since I've done an update on my weight loss. Really, it's because I gained some of the weight back and I had been stuck bouncing around the same 5 pounds or so for those several months.

Looking back, I probably should have posted updates in those months also since weight loss isn't always sunny and about losing weight. Sometimes - most of the time? - weight loss is about struggle and it's a process. Sometimes we lose weight, gain it back and then lose even more. Sometimes we lose weight, gain it back and then have problems losing it again. Again, it's a process.

Weight Loss Update - February 2013

As of 2/18/13

I would be lying if I said the ticker above didn't shock me. My weight has been so up and down and up and down and up and down again over the last few months that I'm really surprised that number is so high. It also means I lost 1 pound since my last update.

It's taking me a little longer to settle into some sort of routine with my work schedule than I thought it would. That means that both trying to eat decently and blog have been falling by the wayside. I hate that it's happening but it is so really I just need to figure out how to work on both while working around the rest of my schedule. Both will come eventually.

Until then, I think all I can do is just keep trying. I know that it won't always work out the way I plan, but eventually it all works out. Things will settle down. I'll get into more of a routine. I'll learn to pre-plan things a bit more. Most nights around here, dinner is almost a last minute thought. With me leaving several days to be at work at 2:30 and then I'm not off until 10:30 or even 9:30 the next morning, it's hard. I would really like to get back into meal planning so we'll see how that goes.

How has your weight loss been going if you're also trying? What have you been doing to keep yourself motivated and well fed?

Weight Loss Update - January 2013

If you've been keeping up with my weight loss updates, you'll notice that my ticker is going the wrong direction. Truthfully, I think part of that is due to the fact that I haven't been exercising. However, now that I've started my job, one of the homes I'll be working in is 3 stories so I'll be up and down and up and down and up and down again. While it might take a while for my body to register this as exercise, I think it will help. Also, I spend most of my 8 hour awake shifts on my feet at that house. I really hope this helps get the ticker moving in the right direction.

As far as eating goes, I have been eating quite a bit more fast food than I have in the past. At the same time, I haven't been eating a proper meal during my 8 hour awake shifts either. I think this may be confusing my body and causing it to want to hold on to any calories it gets after my shift. I'm no doctor or nutritionist, but I kind of think that may be the case.

Going into February I want to be more aware of what I'm eating and just move around more in general. I think it will be easier than in months past and I'm looking forward to the challenge.

Are you on a weight loss journey too? How is yours coming? Any tips or tricks you'd like to share?

Weight Loss Update - December 2012

Weight loss is a tricky road to navigate sometimes and this last month was really no different. However, the good thing is that in the last month I've only gained 1 pound. This is especially good since last month included Thanksgiving and all the food and goodies that go along with it.

That really shouldn't be an excuse though. Lots, and I mean lots, of people can make it through Thanksgiving and actually lose weight. I can't blame the whole pound on Thanksgiving though because if I broke it down on a week by week basis, I think I lost weight the week after Thanksgiving.

Going forward into the rest of December and January I want to do a better job at staying away from pop. Pop seems to be a fairly big part of my weight gain weeks versus my weight loss weeks. It's amazing how many calories we can just drink away and how if it's something we're used to, doesn't even being to fill us up. I could see drinking a smoothie with more calories than pop if the smoothie was a solid meal replacement type thing, but to just drink away between 100 and 200 calories (if not more!) on pop? It's starting to seem just a bit too insane to me.

I also want to try to have healthier options on hand to eat. That's an even trickier goal than the pop one since there are only so many ways you can stretch a dollar at the grocery store. Coupons help but at the end of the day, the average person isn't getting oodles and oodles of things for free - and really, most of what they walk away with for free is toothpaste, sports drinks and the like.

Are you on a weight loss journey? How is yours going?

Weight Loss Update

Ticker accurate as of 11/12/12

It's been a couple of months since my last update and I thought it would be a good idea to do another update since we're going into the holidays. I'm also looking to make this more of a monthly update as well so that I can see what progress (or lack thereof) I've made and share it with you.

In my last update at the end of August, I was down nearly 20 pounds. Today I can say that I'm down around 25 pounds. In the big picture, I'm only down about 5 pounds in about 2 months. However, I've gained and lost and gained and lost. That means that in reality I've lost more than 5 pounds in those 2 months, the scale just doesn't quite reflect that.

I also had a goal of losing about 20 pounds by mid-October. Obviously that didn't happen. As I said, I kept gaining and then losing and gaining and losing. For every 2 steps I went forward I went 1 back. While that's frustrating, in the end I'm still 1 step ahead so I'm ok with that. A loss this week of 2 pounds might mean I'll gain 1 back next week. Again, I'm ok with that because overall I'm still down 1 pound.

I've been toying around with the idea of changing my weigh in to Friday because it seems as though something strange happens on Saturdays and Sundays and magically I can gain 3 pounds in those 2 short days. I tend to weigh myself on Monday and that's what I use as my weight loss/gain for the week. I also weigh myself toward the end of the week to see if I'm making progress in the right direction. Sometimes I can be down 2 or 3 pounds on Friday and magically by Monday I've gained a pound or more.

I don't know what it is but something about the weekend makes me gain weight. I don't even have to have fast food or anything bad at all and I still gain weight. It's actually quite funny because one weekend I ate the better of 3/4 of a pumpkin roll all by myself and still managed to lose 3 pounds come Monday. The following week, however, I gained half of that back. I'm really interested in knowing how long it takes for calories in to turn into pounds gained/lost.

I know that something like 3,500 calories = 1 pound of fat, but how long after you've consumed that extra 3,500 calories do you gain 1 pound? For this purpose I'm not considering that if you eat a pound of something you'll probably gain a pound simply because you've put a pound of food into your body. I'm talking about just the extra calories. If I eat an extra 3,500 calories this weekend, when will it show on the scale? Monday? Next Wednesday? This is all assuming that on all other days my calories are on target, etc and the extra calories were only consumed on Saturday/Sunday.

Does anyone know? Anyone? Bueller?

Weight Loss Update

I realized that it's been forever (ok really about 4 months) since I updated on my weight loss journey.

Overall, since I started keeping track of my weight in March, I'm down nearly 20 pounds. Since my last update in April (and a good amount of yo-yoing), I'm down about 12 pounds.

How have I gotten to this point? To be honest, having surgery helped a lot. If you're wondering exactly what that's about, you can read the post here. I'm not sure if it somehow jump started my metabolism or if the sheer amount of energy it took to move post surgery helped, but I lost a good deal of weight in that time period. After I had recovered more, some of the weight came back and the loss slowed quite a bit.

In the last few weeks I can chalk my weight loss up to a lot of stress. I haven't been eating right. I haven't been exercising. I've just been very, very stressed. I do know that part of it has been that I've been eating less overall, which is generally a good thing, but not so good when it's due to stress and not conscious good choices.

Part of my goal weight is driven by the fact that my doctor wants me to lose as much weight as possible before my next appointment in October. She wants me to be as close to my ideal weight as possible. In reality that means I have about 100 pounds to lose yet. While I don't think it's possible or healthy to lose 100 pounds in the next month and a half, I do think it's possible to lose another 20 or so. It's not a huge chunk, but it's still pretty good.

Are you on a weight loss journey? What are some of your tips and tricks?

Wednesday Weigh-In

I think I said in last week's weigh-in that I would post what I ate for a week, but that's not happening this week. I wasn't thinking about the holiday and how that messes things up. Whoops! Plus I started to keep track of the whole week but it got to be a bit overwhelming to not only track it in my app but also write it down here. Maybe I'll just do a representative day or two instead of a whole week.

That said, this week I'm up nearly 1.5 pounds. A holiday which features loads of yummy chocolate is mostly to blame as well as the fact that I haven't worked out in nearly a week. I'll be honest, I've just been lacking the motivation as well as not feeling well. I'm hoping to turn things around and get back to it this week. I've obviously proven to myself that if I want to eat half a cake (I didn't really eat a whole half of one), I need to get my butt moving to make up those calories.

Weigh In! - Week 9

As of this morning I'm down another 1.8 pounds! I have no idea how because I went to a birthday party on Saturday and ate a ton!

I typically choose one day a week (usually Friday or Saturday) and don't log the calories or exercise for that day. Do I usually pig out? No. Will I sometimes have food that I shouldn't? Yep. But really, I eat stuff I shouldn't on the daily - I just do it in moderation. Last night, for example, I wanted some peanut M&Ms we've got sitting on the table. Did I eat the whole bag? No. Did I eat a small handful (about 8)? Yes. And I still had a few calories left for the day.

Anyhow, the point of this post isn't to preach about how to lose weight - I'm still figuring that out as I go along myself. The point is to update on my progress and whatever else I want to babble on about.

Oh! I've added a weight loss ticker thing to my side bar ----> Isn't it nifty? It should be updated every Wednesday since that's when I weigh in.

Are you on a weight loss challenge? How are you doing? What are you doing?

I think I'll try to keep track of my eating/exercise for the week and post it next weigh in. Sunday will likely be my skip day this week since it's Easter and we're going to the in-laws. I have no idea how to calculate recipes I don't know. Usually I just guesstimate, but eh. It's a holiday!

Zumba Fitness 2 Wii Review

This is not a sponsored post and all products mentioned were either purchased with my own money or given to me as gifts by friends and/or family members.

So last week I did a review on the first Wii Zumba game and this week, I'm going to tell you a little bit about the second game. If you'd like, you can read the first review (if you haven't already) and then come back and read this one.

If I had to use one word to describe the difference between the first game and the second game, I'd use harder.

It's not any harder to figure out, nor any harder to play. To me, it just seems like a harder work out. By the end of even a 20 minute routine (known as a short routine in this game) I was huffing, puffing and sweating like it was 100 degrees in the shade. I'll be honest - I thought that since I was getting pretty good at the first game, the second game would be a piece of cake. I'd just use it to switch up songs and be on my way.

Holy cow as I wrong!

I ordered the game from Amazon last week and got it last Saturday. I was out of town until late Saturday night so the first time I got to play was Sunday. I have played at least once, if not twice, a day since then.

I LOVE the new music. It's so much more current and some of the songs you can actually hear on the radio, so that's exciting. There's a good mix of fast songs to get you excited and get your heart rate up and there's a good mix of slower songs to warm up to or just take it a bit easier with.

As with the first game, there are a number of preselected workouts categorized by length and then by intensity. They can either be short (20 minutes), mid-length (45 minutes) or full class (60 minutes). From there, you can choose an intensity: low, medium or high. There are also 5 different venues you can play the game in, which is great for switching up the scenery.

One of the best parts, in my opinion, is the ability to make your own playlist/routine. You can choose from all available songs and put them into any order, thus making your routine the exact length and intensity you want.

I'll be honest, sometimes I feel like 20 minutes is too short and 45 minutes is too long. I've created a playlist of my own that's about 30 minutes. It's fairly high intensity and I've chosen all my favorite songs. It makes it so much easier to get through the routine when I know what songs are left and exactly how much longer I have to work out.

That said, the one thing I really miss from the first game is the countdown timer. I miss knowing that I only have a minute left of a particular song/routine when my legs feel like jelly and I'm ready to be done. It helps me be able to power through that last minute and really give it my all instead of letting my butt drag because I'm ready to be done.

I also really like that there's a next move cue in this game, not that I still don't flail around a bit while I'm learning the the routines. It's quite helpful to have a head's up of what's coming next. I'll be honest though, it's not much help when you're first learning the routines. While the cue seems self explanatory sometimes, it isn't always. It's much more helpful once you've learned the basics of the routines.

This game also has a progress tracker that keeps track of things like your weight (which you can update in your profile), accuracy and calories burned. At the end of each routine you're shown a screen that has your movement accuracy, calories burned and a score. I'm not convinced that the calorie count is accurate and prefer to base my calories burned on what MyFitnessPal.com tells me based on what I've entered.

So overall, I really enjoy Zumba Fitness 2. It feels much more intense than the original and has so far been well worth the money.

Do you have either Zumba game or do Zumba in another form? How do you like it? Would you like to hear updates on my progress with Zumba? Let me know!

 

Weight Loss Challenge Pt. 2 - Food - Foodie Friday

This is the second in a two part series about a weight loss challenge I've become involved with through a group I'm part of online. Click here for Part 1 - Exercise.

I've been keeping track of the foods I eat by and exercise I do using the MyFitnessPal app on my phone. It is amazing! I really cannot say enough good things about it, especially the phone app. It even gives you the option of scanning the UPC of whatever you're about to eat and up pops the nutrition info! Amazing!

I have still been eating the same stuff and I know that some of it isn't the best for you (but who can really resist a McDonald's Filet-o-Fish during Lent??). I've just been trying to eat less overall. I want a candy bar? Yep I'll eat it, but not the king size, or maybe even not the whole candy bar. Burger King sounds delicious? I'll have a smaller sandwich and not a big one (ie. Whopper Jr. v. Whopper) and probably share half or more of my friends with my husband.

So far it's been working, but slow going. After looking back I realized we started February 8 and just had our week 7 weigh in on 3/21. I'm down 5 pounds. I started off strong losing 2 pounds in the first week and 3 in the second. Then I gained a pound for two weeks in a row. I rebounded nicely and I'm now down a total of 5.2 pounds.

Here's a typical day in for me (calorie goal of 1,570):

Breakfast
2 eggs scrambled in 1/2 Tbs. margarine
1 flour tortilla
1/8 c. shredded cheese (really just a sprinkling)
1 chewable vitamin (I use Centrum)
1 bottle of water
(Sometimes I add some fruit like bananas, strawberries or orange juice)

Total calories: About 310 + whatever fruit for the day

Lunch
Leftovers from the night before
or
Frozen pizza
Pop (or soda as some may call it) or water if I haven't finished my water from breakfast

Total calories: Averages about 600

Dinner
This varies a lot since I'm not the only one I cook for at this meal.

Total calories: Averages 500

Snacks
Fruit
Philadelphia Indulgence (find my review of it here)
Candy
Cake

Total calories: Generally less than 200 of my calories each day comes from snacking

If you're adding that up, you might think I go over my calorie allotment every day, but I don't.
It's also important to note that my recommended calorie consumption is based on food alone and does not take into account any exercise. If I ate at/under 1,570 calories each day, I would lose about 1.5 pounds a week. When I exercise, I get to eat more. If I don't eat all of the calories I burned in exercise, I have an overage that can be a bit of a pad for days I don't work out as much or special treats.

Weight Loss Challenge Pt. 1 - Exercise - Zumba Wii Review

This is the first in a two part series about a weight loss challenge I've become involved with through a group I'm part of online. This is not a sponsored post and all products mentioned were either purchased with my own money or given to me as gifts by friends and/or family members.

Sometime about 6 weeks ago an online group I'm a part of decided to start a weight loss challenge. We could choose our own goal weight/number of pounds to lose and the challenge would end on June 1. Our check ins are on Wednesday and for the most part, I think I'm the only one still keeping track - at least according to the last few weeks of  updating the document. But anyhow...

I chose 30 pounds. In reality it's about 10 pounds more than I could really lose in that time period if I lost 1.5 to 2 pounds a week. I know this, but it's still my goal. I know that for me, it's probably unrealistic to lose 2 pounds a week, especially in the beginning. I'm trying to change my lifestyle as well as lose weight.

Tomorrow's Foodie Friday post will talk about how I keep track of food and what I eat. Today's post is about what I do for exercise.