Day 35: Hump Day Part Two

Update: 234.8 lbs, 23.4 lbs so far, 14.6 left to reach goal.

Good news...still under my 15-left-to-goal mark, bad news...I hit a second hump day in just a couple days...not my normal 4-5 day mark. Might have been the snacks later in the evening during our unexpected double date with both the Withers and the Trussells. (Who knew if you didn't actually write down the date in the calendar you so boldly promote to others, that you could forget you planned it!) We are such bad hosts....

Anyway, good think we're headed to the zoo for the day, I plan on burning tons of extra calories today with the 800 mile trip around the animals. It's not really raining right now, but the forecast does call for some possible showers, but hopefully it will stay dry enough to get out and get the feet moving.

Oh, and first homemade chocolate chip cookies since starting last night....oh baby.

Hasta.

Day 34: Planning for The Day Away

Update: 234.6 lbs, 23.6 lbs so far, 14.4 left to reach goal.

Mini goal update: I'm now under 15 lbs left to go to reach my first goal of 38 pounds. Still within reach by my birthday, but I think that's going to be cutting it close...we'll see.

Yesterday we had a meeting out of town, with a client from California, and 3 other creative vendors. I knew from our previous meeting that they'd have gobs of goodies on the big conference table during the meeting, and that we'd the probably eat out for lunch, and I wouldn't be home until after my mid-afternoon snack, so I wanted to be prepared for the best...and not the worst. I thought back to my cub scout days, and how they always talk us to be prepared...yeah, or something like that....

Knowing I might totally miss a mid-morning snack, I loaded up on a big bowl of cheerios, so I could go for a bit. Fortunately, my business partner was also thinking ahead, and pulled out some 100-calorie granola bars on the drive in, right about the time I usually have my mid-morning snack, so that was perfect. And as predicted, monster pastries, and ginormous biscotti were laid out, but I was able to resist and save those calories.

At lunch, we went to a great little Italian restaurant, which of course is loaded with pasta and saucey dishes. I was tempted to just dive into one and play the victim-of-my-circumstances card, but they did have 4 low-carb options, which also happened to be low cal. So we skipped the bread, and I had grilled salmon and roasted vegetables...actually keeping lunch down pretty low for an unexpected restaurant.

On the way home I grabbed another 100 calorie snack and had some coffee, keeping the day to a pretty normal caloric pace, even though nothing else about the day was normal. I've found that even most 7-11's now have those 100 calorie Yoplait non-fat yogurts, which I've been enjoying as one of my snacks....and if you get them at Freddy's or a grocery store, they're usually just about 50 cents...can't beat that.

A little planning ahead, and keeping the focus on the long term goal allowed me to keep the day in check, and left plenty of calories for some bbq chicken mozarella tacos (Sweet Baby Ray's still RULES!) and a creamsicle dessert!

Hasta!

Day 33: Gettin' Over The Hump

Update: 235.6 lbs, 22.6 lbs so far, 15.4 left to reach goal.

Did you know they call Wednesday 'Hump Day?' Well, they do. There's your useless piece of trivia for the day. For me though, hump day is Thursday this week, the day when I go up in weight a bit, and create a little hump in my weight loss progress graph. Seems like it's been about every 4-5 days recently that I see that little spike in my weight. I put red lines below every time I had a bump up. You can click that image below to see the larger version.


The good new so far is that I go back down the following day. As I mentioned in a previous post, 'hump day' reminds me that I just need to keep at it. I don't exercise twice as long, or eat half as much, I just keep at the same goal as the previous day knowing that it's working overall. Fluxuations in weight can be the product of so many variables - certain foods, too much salt, not enough water, not enough sleep (Lord help me) or one of a million other things in day to day life.

I also realize that I may be in the dreaded slowdown I knew was coming, but the progress continues to be good in the big picture. Some would say this is why you shouldn't weigh yourself every day, but I personally like it, and find it encouraging. I'll just look forward to getting over the hump each week....besides, just cruising right though this would be boring right? :)

On another note: I put some feed links to the right for those of you who are using feed readers -- there's a FeedBurner option, as well as Google Reader option.

Hasta.

Day 32: Making It a Habit

Update: 235.4 lbs, 22.8 lbs so far, 15.2 left to reach goal.

I've always heard that it takes doing something every day for 30 days to make it a habit. When I first started on this lower calorie effort, I wondered how long it would be before I'd be used to the change, and if it would ever come naturally...like a habit, or as they commonly say in the diet and health industry, like a "lifestyle change." Well here's what I know so far about some of the changes I've made....

After 30+ days of black coffee, I can honestly say I'm into it. I probably have a latte of some sort twice a week still (sugar free, nonfat, Cinammon Dolce latte being my poison) but good old black coffee has been getting me through the mornings, afternoons and evenings when I need some. I even did a mini Tour of Keizer to find the best plain old black coffee, hitting some of the main spots on the road including Starbucks, Paradigm, Dutch Bros, and McDonalds, and I was surprised to find that for plain old black stuff, Dutch Brothers had the best tasting cup to me. Now that could have been the day itself, my level of hunger at the time, or any number of factors, but it was surprising to me because the only other two times I've had DB lattes, they were nasty to me. And out of all of them, I probably prefer home brewed the best still.

After 30+ days of exercising (give or take a day or two each week) I'm no longer winded when I walk 2.0+ mph, at a slight incline, on my manual treadmill for 20 minutes. And although I can't honestly say crave exercise, I do kind of miss it on the days I can't get to it. I'm not going nutso though, pretty much just walking and watching some sort of tv show or movie while I do so, or riding my bike, or lately getting in a longer DDR session. I kind of have crazy visions of doing some sort of run someday, but I don't think I have the time (or desire, yet) to really train for something big.

After 30+ days of drinking water...I'm still not in love with it. I do best on work days, especially when I take my 24 oz cup with me and put it in front of the computer and just drink without thinking about it. Days at home are harder, or days I'm going to be in meetings or somewhere where it's tougher to get to a rest room every 15 minutes for all the water I'm drinking.

And after 30+ days of eating differently, I'm starting to adjust. There are days I still think I could teach a Paddingtons Pizza the meaning of the word respect, and still crave a handful of Darrell Trussell's homemade chocolate chip cookies and a big glass of milk, or a monster slice of C-Dub's peppermint cheesecake - but most of the time I'm really motivated to stay the course. I've stayed under my calorie goal every day since starting - one day needing the 200 workout calories to get me back under, but still hitting the goal every day....so in that sense, I suppose that part has become a habit. As far as the eating itself, I think each meal is a little different:

• Breakfast - as I mentioned in a previous post, this one is still tricky for me. Battling between not wanting to feel satisfied after eating this one, but not wanting to blow too many calories early on...you never know what caloric surprise may be waiting around the corner!
• Lunch - probably the easiest one for me now. Got a handful of go-to meals that hit my range that I'm pretty happy with, and easy to flex on because I'm halfway through the day and know what I've used up in breakfast and mid morning snack.
• Dinner - easier now that Sandi is also thinking the same way. We usually make one meal with some options that the kids may have that we don't...like rolls, or toppings, etc, that would be more calories for our particular plans, but that they would love.
• Snacks - instead of just snacking mindlessly at different times of the days, these are now and important element in getting through each day without feeling hungry. Again, I've got a handful of 100 calorie (or less) snacks that I enjoy -- both on the fruit/vegetable side, as well as on the cookie/bready side.

So is it all a habit to me yet? Some things are, some are getting there, and some may never fully be, but I can say that 30+ days into it, and I'm still motivated and still seeing progress that I'm happy with, so I'm going to keep pushing on. Now...time to decide what to have for breakfast again..... :)

Hasta.

Day 31: Rethinking Dance Dance Revolution

Update: 236.4 lbs, 21.8 lbs so far, 16.2 left to reach goal.

After Charles threw down the "Saturday Night" challenge in DDR Universe the other night, I figured I should get back on the the mat and see if I could even compete. Good news...I Got The Music In Me...even better news, I spent almost an hour on it and some other songs, working up a decent steam. Half the time I was on DDR, Adam was being clingy, and I had to hold him, adding a new level of difficulty, and surely adding more calories being burned. After about 15 minutes of 'sweatin like an oldie' I started thinking I just might be able to make a workout out of DDR.

I mentioned in a previous post that the calories being tracked on DDR seemed really low, and not worth trying as a workout substitute, but now I'm pretty sure that the workout mode is simply counting steps based on the patterns of the game. It does not seem to consider how much other body movement is actually going on, and in order to actually do well, you pretty much have to keep moving to the beat through the whole song. After 4 or 5 songs in a row, my heart was moving, I had worked up a good steam, and was starting to see DDR as an option for a decent workout. I have no way to track the calories for sure, but after 45-60 minutes of 'dancing' (that's really a stretch to call what I was doing dancing) I felt at least as spent as I do walking 20 minutes on my treadmill, so I'm going to give myself the same calories burned as that routine. I won't always have time for 45-60 minutes of DDR, but will use it as a change of pace from time to time, especially when there's been a challenge thrown down....look out C-Dub.

Food note: Iron Chef Orange Sauce with Ginger is a nice sauce to cook your chicken in. 60 calories per 2 tablespoons. We put 4 into 5 servings of chicken breast and cooked it up - brown rice and salad...nice dinner.

Hasta.

Day 30: The Breakfast Decision

Update: 237.0 lbs, 21.2 lbs so far, 16.8 left to reach goal.

One of the things I look forward to the most at night time is breakfast the following morning...gotta be honest. Of course, one of the things I dread the most is making the decision of how I'll spend my calories for breakfast. I worry that I'll feel full from what I eat, and wonder if I should shift more calories to breakfast from my dinner alotment, eating (and hopefully) burning more calories when I'm awake rather than when I'm asleep. But then I get nervous that we'll end up planning some great meal at dinner and I'll be calorie-deficient to enjoy it....ahhh!

My standard breakfast selections have been corn flakes - with or without bananna, eggs - either boiled and whites only with a bagel, or a couple eggs scrambled with a couple slices of bacon, or some sort of peanut butter toast or peanut butter and preserves on rice cakes. I've also had a bagel with some mozarella cheese and tomato slice which is also good, and it goes without saying that black coffee has been a part of each breakfast.

Breakfast, I love thee...I just hate making the decision each day. Someone suggested honey nut cheerios with Teddy Grahams sprinkled on top, which sounds tempting, but may not work great on 'the plan.'

Hasta.

Day 29: Busy Day

Update: 237.4 lbs, 20.8 lbs so far, 17.2 left to reach goal.

No real post to speak of today...stayed up way to late last night prepping for Sunday school, editing a camp video, and getting in a few rounds of DDR (see posts two back if that doesn't mean anything to you.)

Lunch at Thai Lotus today, had to move away from that sweet creamy Panang, and tried Garlic and Black Pepper Chicken, which didn't have the coconut milk. Only took a single serving of rice from the normal mountain they serve, and skimmed out the chicken from the sauce as much as possible, leaving it for just a little flavoring instead. I think I cut it down to closer to a 500 calorie meal from the higher number it usually is. Light sandwiches for dinner. TV shows tonight...whoohoo!