lovinaz's "getting her act together" journal

[traceycooper]

well done for getting the exercise in Amy
& for not gaining
weekends are bad for me too!!

 

[toystoryduo]

I think you are doing a great job, Amy! You have been exercising 5 times per week consistently and you are maintaining on the scale. I know that you want the scale to show a loss and it will, but you should be proud of yourself for maintaining and not gaining. I think you are doing great!

I hope you have a great weekend!

 

[lovinaz]

I did OK with food yesterday, I am still having problems with picking here and there between getting home from work and dinner. But I am not going overboard, I am counting things out and keeping it under control. I am already planning my weekend food on FitDay so I can have a fighting chance at a loss next WI!

It is my day off from working out, but I might do a quick upper body session. Sleeveless shirt season is quickly approaching and I want my toned arms back!

For Friday:
1341 cal, 50g fat, 118g carbs, 105g protein, 25g fiber
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: spinach salad w/chicken, cheese, LF dressing
S: 2 egg whites; 10 baby carrots
S: celery-n-hummus (2 tbsp); 4 pecan halves; 10 animal crackers
D: baked chicken parmesan (chicken breast dipped in Egg Beaters, coated with bread crumbs and topped w/spaghetti sauce); 6 asparagus; HC fudge bar; 5 M&M's

E: 45min stair climber/elliptical combo machine
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracey, I'm glad I didn't gain, but I would sure like to see a loss at some point...

Tracy, thanks for always pointing out the positive. I am proud that I have been working out consistently, it has truly become a habit. Now I just need to concentrate on the food part!

 

[lovinaz]

I actually did good on a Saturday!!! A little heavy on the carbs, but that's OK! And I had a huge mental victory - DS insisted on baking a cinnamon crumb cake and I didn't have a single piece! Of course there is still some left, but I want to see a loss on Fri more than I want to taste that cake. I still need to find a way to lay off the M&M's and animal crackers! The kids said they'd eat the animal crackers, which is why I got a huge 4lb bucket at Costco. I think I am the only one eating them (10 at a time, they are going to last forever! )

We are going to the movies today, I am planning on avoiding buying Sugar Babies or popcorn and sticking to a Diet Coke. I've done it before and lived to tell about it, so I should be OK.

For Saturday:
1295cal, 53g fat, 150g carb, 76g protein, 23g fiber
B: 2 packs low sugar apple-cinnamon oatmeal
L: 2 Wasa Fiber crackers, mustard, turkey, provolone
S: string cheese
S: celery-n-hummus; 5 M&M's; 5 animal crackers
D: grilled tri-tip; cauliflower; HC fudge bar; 5 M&M's; 5 animal crackers

E: walked to and from park (10min ea way) and hit tennis ball around w/kids for about 15-20min

 

[toystoryduo]

Way to go, Amy!!! It sounds like your Saturday was a good one!

What movie did you go see yesterday? Was it good?

I hope you have a wonderful week ahead!

 

[lovinaz]

I had a little calorie mishap yesterday... I put in all my stuff on FitDay in the morning, so I knew what I could eat. I thought I had put 10 M&M's and 10 animal crackers. I ate 5 M&M's and 5 animal crackers, figuring I'd save the other half for later (I know myself!). At dinner, I ended up eat 2 extra pieces of turkey bacon. Then I thought no biggie, I just won't eat the extra M&M's and animal crackers, they are about the same calories. Today, I was checking my totals to post them, and it turns out I hadn't included ANY M&M's or animal crackers! So when I put them in, the calories were kinda high, but for a Sunday, I'll take it!

I have still steered clear of the cinnamon crumb cake. It looks really good, but I WANT A LOSS THIS WEEK!!!!!!!!! I am going to be in a world of hurt the next 2 weeks due to travel, I have to behave at least this week. If I see a loss, I think mentally I will be able to get through these 2 trips with minimal damage. At least I hope so!

For Sunday:
1342cal, 51g fat, 138g carbs, 88g protein, 28g fiber
B: 2 packs low sugar cinnamon-apple oatmeal
L: 2 Wasa Fiber crackers w/spinach, mustard, 2 slices provolone; 5 M&M's
S: string cheese; 5 animal crackers
S: celery-n-hummus
D: Egg Beaters w/sprinkle of cheese & 5 strips turkey bacon wrapped in FlatOut bread; HC fudge bar

E: none
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracy, we saw Mall Cap. I thought it was stupid, but DD9 had been begging me forever to see it, so I took her and her friend that had spent the night. DH and DS12 saw Taken, which they said was good. Not fair, next time I am making him see the kid movie if it's one I don't want to see! Or at least flip a coin....

 

[traceycooper]

wow Amy well done for resisting the crumb cake - it sounds yummy!
At least you only had 5 m&m's & animal crackers - & not 10
Are you heading over my way when you travel?

 

[toystoryduo]

Sorry to hear about your run in with the "Mall Cop". I definitely think that your DH should have kid movie duty next time. No coin needed.

If you don't mind me asking, what do you for a living? I think you may have mentioned it before, but I can't remember.

Sending some your way for weigh in this week. You did a great job this weekend. I bet the scale will show a loss on Friday!

Have a great day today!

 

[lovinaz]

I really didn't want to get up this morning, but I eventually did... I got a lower body workout in, I need to do some upper body weights tonight after my haircut! Dinner is already cooking in the crockpot, so I should be able to squeeze 15 minutes in...

I am inching up in calories, I don't know if that is OK or not. I should really lay off the M&M's! I am up 1lb already since this weekend, no idea why. It better go away (then some) by Friday!

I am getting really stressed about the rental house, it's a pain getting everything inspected, etc. Then we have the huge chore of fixing it up and getting it ready for a renter. What were we thinking?? And I am also trying to figure out our plan for our 2 week trip this summer. DS12 wants to go to the D-Day beaches while we are in France. Not exactly close to Paris! But he is fascinated by WWII and knows all about the different beaches and he rarely shows interest in anything, so we will make it work...

For Monday:
1317 cal, 43g fat, 147g carbs, 87g protein, 27g fiber
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: spinach salad w/chicken, cheese, LF dressing
S: 2 egg whites; 10 baby carrots; 1/2 oatmeal raisin cookie
S: celery-n-hummus
D: 1 serving whole wheat spaghetti w/sauce & parmesan cheese' HC fudge bar, 10 M&M's

E: 45min on treadmill
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracey, I am getting to the point of giving up... I get the same results whether I eat 5 or 10 M&M's, if I don't see some results soon, I am going to eat what I want! Might as well, all I do is maintain, no matter what I eat... I will be in Yeovil, I think that is pretty far from where you are. Maybe one of these times we can meet in London or something!

Tracy, I am an engineer (aerospace) for a major defense company. I hope you are right about the scale, I need some motivation to behave during these 2 trips coming up! If I see "no change" on the scale, I just might go off the deep end...

 

[Amy&Dan]

Amy, I avoided Mall Cop when ds' church group went and saw it on President's Day! I really want to see Taken.

Great job getting through that weekend! I am so right there with you on needing weekends to be better, it takes the whole week to make up for a bad weekend. Great job on the exercise and food!

 

[toystoryduo]

I'm proud of you, Amy for getting that workout in this morning. Great job!

Sending some for the rental house. Just take things one step at a time and if you're not doing the work yourselves, be sure and find a really good contractor with a lot of references and a good contract. Just think about how great it will be to have the extra income when the house gets done!

I hope you have a good evening!

 

[lovinaz]

I got my hair cut last night. It looks cute (sorry, Amy!). But needless to say, I ran into some other problems... I don't know what part of "I don't want Girl Scout cookies in this house" DH doesn't understand... I didn't get my arm workout in, unless shoving cookies into my mouth counts! I was really bad with sweets, but I tried to make up for it by not eating other things, and my calories were not as bad as I thought! And surprise, the scale was down this morning (back to Friday's WI). Maybe I'll gorge myself on Samoas every night!!

Stress is at an all time high with this rental house nonsense. Why is it when you actually get the bank paperwork, the fees are more, interest rate is higher, etc? ARGH!!!! And DH pawns it all off on me, since he thinks I handle this type of stuff better. I will get even when it comes time to fixing up the house...

For Tuesday:
1402 cal, 56g fat, 127g carbs, 107g protein, 20g fiber
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: spinach salad w/chicken, cheese, LF dressing
S: 3 egg whites; 10 baby carrots
S: brownie (2"x3" = 170cal)
D: crockpot beef roast; 5 baby carrots; red onion; rutabaga; 3 M&M's
S: 3 (yes, 3!) Samoa Girl Scout cookies (225 cal!)

E: 30min lower body & abs workout
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amy, I was very proud of myself for getting through the weekend unscathed. I think I will go insane if I don't see a loss on Friday. If I see 143 again, take cover around 4:30am AZ time, because I will chuck that scale all the way to Denver! Then finish off the rest of the Samoas for breakfast...

Tracy, I am very glad I got that morning workout in, especially since I didn't get around to doing any exercise after work! We are planning on doing almost everything ourselves, except carpet and countertops. We might even have someone install the cabinets, we'll see.

 

[Amy&Dan]

Amy, I ended up donating the five boxes of girl scout cookies I had left to our church pantry. They are killer and Samoas are my biggest weakness. Oh wait, Tagalongs are my biggest weakness!

Great job on food yesterday, you ate the cookies but you stopped at 3 and figured in the calories.

If arm workouts could be in the form of shoving food in one's mouth, I'd have arms like Madanno's!

Keep up the good work and good luck with the rental stress. It will all work out, you guys are going to make money and it will all be worth it!

 

[toystoryduo]

I didn't get my arm workout in, unless shoving cookies into my mouth counts!

Oh, Tag Fairy!!!!! This would be a good one!

I will get even when it comes time to fixing up the house...

Amy, you are cracking me up today!

Great job getting your workout in this morning! Sending some for weigh-in on Friday.

Have a great evening!

 

[lovinaz]

I am starting back on a downhill slide in the food department... I really need to get a grip with the M&M's, etc. All the 2 here, 3 there is adding up. And for cryin' out loud, is it THAT HARD to order enough refreshments for the attendees at a meeting without going overboard? For the 3rd day in a row there was extras in the breakroom (cookies, brownies, etc), and I obviously can't say no...

I am ticked off at my lack of progress. I really do find it hard to believe that animal crackers and a couple M&M's per day is the problem. It has to be something else. I can't work out any more than I can, if I did 7 days a week I would get burned out really quickly. And it's not like I am lollygagging on the treadmill or elliptical, I am working out hard. I was obviously in a self-torturing state of mind and tried on my swimsuit this morning. Not pretty! I'm just so beat down about it today...

For Wednesday:
1472 cal, 53g fat, 146g carb, 112g protein, 29g fiber
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: spinach salad w/chicken, cheese, LF dressing
S: 3 egg whites; 10 baby carrots; 1 oatmeal raisin cookie
S: celery-n-hummus; 7 M&M's
D: FlatOut bread w/turkey taco meat; sprinkle of shredded cheese; HC fudge bar
S: 1 serving animal crackers

E: 45min elliptical
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amy, I think all Girl Scout cookies are my weakness! I didn't order a single box, but DH ordered 2. He left one at work, but brought the Samoas home, since he knew they were my favorite. How nice of him, in a horrible, torture kind of way. As for the rental, we aren't going to be making much money on it until we sell it in a couple years. So we'll see how that works.

Tracy, glad I amused you! The one good thing lately is the fact that I've been working out consistently, I just wish my body would respond to all that hard work.

 

[toystoryduo]

Sending a gentle your way today. You have accomplished much already this year, Amy...You are working out 5 times a week and you are making good food choices. There may be an occasional M&M or two, but you are keeping those foods to a minimum and that's a good thing.

Keep on keeping on, Amy. I know that you can accomplish any goal that you set out to. You CAN do it!

 

[lovinaz]

Weight this morning - 143!!! I am really frustrated and disappointed in myself right now. I behaved all last weekend, and for the most part all week, yet here I am, the same exact weight I was 9 weeks ago. I have worked out 5x a week for the past 9 weeks. I should be happy about that, but I'm NOT! I went back through my journal, here is my weight for the past 9 Fridays: 143, 141, 144, 143, 142, 143, 143, 143, 143. Absolutely PATHETIC!!!

Am I really that much on the edge with calories? Do I have to stick to exactly 1200 per day, and never go up to 1300-1400??? Do I really want to lose weight? If I do, why can't I lay off the M&M's and cookies?? Maybe I am eating the wrong things, maybe something I eat on a regular basis causes me to retain water or something. I just don't get it and I'm really sick of trying so hard and not seeing results.

If I want to be serious about this, I am going to have to dig deep and become mentally stronger. I obviously can't deal with temptation - 90% of the time, if someone waves a cookie in front of me, I'll eat it. And I am about ready to smash that Statue of Liberty M&M dispenser we got in NYC with a hammer (if you were ever wondering why I eat odd quantities of M&M's, I usually eat whatever pops out of that...).

Sooo, I am sick of maintaining. I think I need to cut out ALL JUNK FOOD. Period. And probably alcohol too, except obviously I can flood my liver with tequila on the weekends and still have the same weigh-in as when I behaved all weekend, so where is the motivation to not enjoy the occasional cocktail? The next 2 weeks will be tough. I won't have control over my food choices on Mon-Tue next week or the entire following week. So I will have to focus on quantity.

Sorry for ranting, I'm sure this post is all over the place, not making much sense, but I am typing as the thoughts come... I'm just really bummed out about this, I feel like a failure. That is what it really boils down to. I am successful at everything else, why can't I lose 8 freakin' pounds?? Maybe this weekend I will re-read my Body for Life Women book, although my food is pretty much what is suggested in the book (minus the M&M's and cookies, of course!). But unfortunately I can't make any changes until I get back mid-March. So I guess I will continue to chug along until then. I really wanted to quit this morning, I feel a little, tiny bit better about things now, but am still bummed. I just want to look good in my swimsuit, is that a crime?? Sigh...

For Thursday:
1284 cal, 49g fat, 129g carb, 93g protein, 26g fiber
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: FlatOut bread; chicken lunchmeat; 1 slice provolone; mustard
S: 3 egg whites; 10 baby carrots
S: celery-n-hummus (about 3 tbsp - the rest of the container); 7 M&M's
D: baked lemon chicken breast; Italian green beans; 1 Easy Bake Oven cookie w/frosting (thanks, DD!)
S: 2 Samoas (there are still 3 left, they are lucky they are not in my digestive tract - I REALLY thought about eating them too!)

E: 55min Pilates Sculpt DVD
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracy, I am really down and out about this whole thing, thanks for sticking by me, even with the whining!

 

[lovinaz]

After wallowing in my self-defeat the past couple days, I decided to take a look at my food with microscope in hand. And I realized that I am really not making any sacrifices. I mean, yes, I'm only having a couple M&M's or animal crackers instead of a whole serving, but add those together and I am probably eating 100-150 extra "empty" calories per day. I think if I want to get to my goal weight of 135, I am going to have to make some sacrifices. Once I get to my goal, I've already proven that I can maintain! I just need to get to the goal first.

I got my 5x workouts this week again, M-F! And since I have to drive to Tucson Monday morning, then I have meetings all day, then we are going for a "social" (think cocktails and restaurant food and more cocktails!), I don't think I can squeeze any cardio in on Monday, so I am going to hit the gym tomorrow instead. On Tuesday, my meeting isn't until 1pm so I am going to bring my Pilates Sculpt DVD and weights and workout in the hotel room. Then I'll be back home Tues night, and be able to get back on schedule. The plan for breakfast both days is a protein bar, lunch at the hotel will be a salad or something sensible, and I will just have to make good choices at dinner on Monday. We are going to some old western steakhouse, I'm sure I can get a grilled chicken breast or something!

For Friday:
1293 cal, 51g fat, 97g carbs, 120g protein, 29g fiber
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: FlatOut bread; chicken lunchmeat; 1 slice provolone; mustard
S: 3 egg whites; 10 baby carrots
S: string cheese
D: 6oz broiled salmon (340cal, 20g fat!); 1c peas; HC fudge bar

E: 45min on elliptical/stair climber combo

No M&M;s, no animal crackers, no Samoas. And what do you know, I lived to tell about it!

 

[traceycooper]

oh Amy - how i can relate!
its so frustrating isnt it? have you tried changing up your workout, maybe your body has got used to the same exercise routine??
just a thought!!

Hope all works out with the house too

 

[Amy&Dan]

Hang in there Amy. I can well imagine how frustrated you are when you are bascially eating on point and working out as hard as you do. I really think that for someone as close to goal as you are, losing a half a pound a week is probably a realistic goal. You have such a small percentage of overal weight to lose. The m & m's may add up a bit but a girl's gotta have some treats! Try the best you can, you have work travel and that's not easy but you have done well with that before and I have faith in you! Don't give up on yourself, because we won't let you! You can do it, I hope you have a nice weekend.