a new week

Well, I suppose that technically, it is not the start of a new week just yet, since I began this new journey on a Tuesday, but since I like standard structure and it is Monday, we will call this a new week.

I am very pleased with my accomplishments from this first week.

I was able to do cardio (walk/run) every day this week with the exception of Friday when it rained. I even included my 5 year old on two of days - once on foot, once on scooter. I was disappointed to not do strength training, but feel that risking injury while I was trying to mend from a kinked neck was not worth trying to strength train. I bought a Groupon for Zumba, in the hopes that I can do that a couple of evenings a week, in addition to my morning routine.

I was able to stay within my calorie target most days. There were a couple that I was out, but not by much. I felt good with what I was eating. I learned a bit about choices. Like yesterday, the Mac'n Cheese at lunch was yummy, but at almost 500 calories, it was close to 1/3 of what I should eat all day. As yummy as it was, it wasn't worth this much to me - it wasn't satisfying enough to make me rush to have it again.

The scale smiled kindly upon me as a result of my effort in both activity and food.

#s to Go: 30.6, down 3.4#

the busy weekend

Saturday was an incredibly busy day for us. We had soccer and baseball and an 'unplanned' visit from friends. All of which had a net impact on my overall day of eating and exercising.

As I mentioned yesterday, I was a little surprised by how many more calories I consume at breakfast on the weekend, when I have milk, cereal and banana instead of oatmeal made with water and a banana. Well, we were on the move enough that much of the rest of the day, I didn't have the chance to eat much. Lunch we had sandwiches, to save a few calories, I ate it on a single slice of bread. It was still very satisfying. For dinner, I went with homemade pizza, which was reasonably okay with only 450 calories for the serving I enjoyed. My biggest challenge was sharing a bottle of wine with friends. It was a large bottle of wine and the three of us shared it, but it still added 350 calories to my day. One less glass and I would have been right within my daily target, but I finished my day up about 55 calories beyond my target.

Despite my concern that I wouldn't find time to fit in exercise, I found time for two walks. The pace was slower than normal for the first one (17 min/mile), and extremely slower for the second one (21 min/mile). My daughter and I walked up to the All Star baseball game in town for my son's age group. He wasn't playing, but my husband was coaching and some of my son's teammates and other friends were playing. After about 5 innings, she was ready to go and we walked home. Each direction was about 2 miles, although on the return trip we actually had a leave and return interval of just about 1/4 mile. On the way home, she was goofing around and fell down and scraped her knee. At that point, she walked so SLOW! It was still good. I am happy to have gotten in over 4 miles of walking on a day that I expected to get in none.

Overall, the scale inched down...better than the other way, but certainly a motivator to be more measured in what I eat.

Today, I'm hoping to fit in some gardening as my exercise. It certainly is late, but I need to get in my garden before it is too late for the season.

The Weekend is Here!

I am so glad that it is finally the weekend. I'm not sure what it is about short work weeks, but they seem somehow longer than a regular week. Is it because we just got back from an extended time off or is it that we all try to get a full five days of work into the four days - whatever it is, it makes them the most crazy, tiring weeks I know of.

Yesterday, eating was really good. I was a little rushed in the morning with meetings and only had my banana. Let me tell you, without my oatmeal, I was HUNGRY. I tried a new chip (at least new to me) at lunch. It was Smartfoods Selects Popped Chips. They are hummus based! I tried the Garlic Basil Tomato flavor. They were yummy and the small bag that I got was only 100 calories. I had been eating the Cheddar Baked Lays lately, but they are 140 calories. I'm thinking that if I make this trade, I can have one of those 35 calorie chocolates as a treat later!

I wound up not fitting in a walk or other workout yesterday. I feel bummed about it, but life happens. I can't control the rain or my neck. Speaking of which, the neck seems to be better, in that I can turn my head without pain in the neck, but there still is tendon/muscle strain of some sort, because where I don't feel the pain in my neck, I still get some in the 'scalp' area when I move or stretch in a certain way (yawning and sneezing are the two that catch me off guard and I can't avoid).

I have noticed that I eat more on Saturday. I think it is because I love to take the time to have a bowl of cereal and milk with my banana chopped into it for breakfast. I had almost 200 calories more at breakfast today than I normally do. I guess I will have to see how that balances out through the rest of the day. Not sure how I will fit in a workout today...lots of stuff on the calendar with two kids with two sports each, plus tryouts and all-star games on the calendar. On a positive, they did remove the rain from the forecast, so maybe we can find time to fit in a walk.

The scale continued to move in the right direction - and that is a good thing!

Hope you have a wonderful Saturday.

Rain, Rain...Go away

Well, it is a rainy day this morning, so no walk/run for me. Perhaps it is good to give my body a break, I just hope I can jump back in tomorrow. I know that my plan was to use days like this to do some strength training. Well, a few days back I slept funny (yeah, yeah - laughed all night) and woke up with a sore neck. I have been trying to baby it all week (after my walk/run of course). Finally, it seems to be feeling a little better, but when I woke up this morning, I evidently was so careful of how I slept to allow the least stress on my existing strain, that I cause a different one in my neck. I figured it probably was best if I not try to lift weights. I'd rather not cause some serious damage. If it clears up a little later, a quick lunch time walk will be my activity for the day.

Yesterday was a good day of eating. No eating out was a major plus!

I have found a new lunch time addiction. I have been getting a Wheat Deli Thin with Goat Cheese, toasted, and topping it with banana peppers, spinach, cucumber and tomato. Packed with flavor and only about 200 calories. I usually have this with some grapes and apples on the side. Fresh vegetables on a sandwich have long been a favorite of mine. When I got to Subway, I almost always get the veggies and cheese sandwich and overstuff it with all of the vegetables. I will have to balance it so as not to get burnt out on having the same lunch every day.

I actually finished my day right at the lower end of the daily target. And, finally, the scale responded. I was glad to have a day where I felt satisfied and the scale responded. Now, to make sure that more of my days are like yesterday.

What was I thinking...

I should have known better. Yesterday, my husband had mentioned trying to do dinner with some friends. When we hadn't heard back, I had him take chicken out of the freezer so that we could have it for dinner. But, the seed had been planted, I kept thinking about the chips and salsa and the chicken tacos. So, we wound up going out for dinner. I looked things up before we went at least and had an idea of what everything was in terms of calories. In the end though, I went over my daily calorie target. No surprise, the scale reflected appropriately this morning. I will persevere though. I will return to managing my intake and will make sure to plan ahead better next time.

Dinner out aside, overall eating yesterday was pretty good. I was a little surprised to learn the differences in calorie content of like items. Take for example oatmeal. I take the little instant packs with me for breakfast. The Apple Cinnamon packets are only 130 calories, while the Cinnamon Spice are 160. The plain ones, only 100 calories. That 60 calorie difference between the Cinnamon Spice and Plain is 5% of the low end of my daily target, or as I like to think of it two pieces of chocolate. Seeing that both fill me equally, I suppose that I should stick to Apple Cinnamon and/or plain in the future. I'd rather add the chocolate to my day than eat extra calories in my oatmeal.

I got up a little late this morning, but still had time for my work out. I headed up to the track again to walk/run. The same two ladies from yesterday were there again this morning. I like having someone else there, it helps me achieve goals. I was able to lap them in my 4th lap and my 8th lap. It may sound silly, but that is my goal. It helps to keep me motivated. I did 12 laps again today and shaved almost 2 minutes off the total time. I ran a full lap more than yesterday, so that was a significant portion of the gain.

the second day...

I guess actually, since it is only 6 am, that this post really is more so about day one, but as the start of day 2 it felt more like the right title.

So, day one....

After sharing about my goals and my off pace, but a start, walk, I realized that the other goal that I have in mind is to go from 'couch to 5K' by fall. Now, there are plenty of formal programs out there, and if I find I am struggling, I will look one up, but last year when I started walking and decided that if my friend could run then so could I, I found a way to slowly increase my endurance and the distance I could run. I wasn't quite to a full 5K, but I got close - I think that if I really wanted to, I could have done it. I think some of my coworkers run 5Ks, so I will have to reach out and find one to sign up for with them.

I signed up for Spark People yesterday. I also downloaded their app to my phone - let's be honest, if it's not convenient, then I am less likely to stick with it. For the most part, it seems easy enough. I entered in my current weight, my goal weight and the date that I want to be there. It provided for me a daily intake target, as well as a weekly burn target. I am able to enter my workouts - although, it doesn't 'agree' with RunKeeper in calories burnt. I am able to search for and enter food. If a food is missing, then I can add one. The foods seem to be a mix of items in the system and those entered by other users. This made adding something as simple as grapes rather difficult. There were too many options and wasn't really sure which were system and which were user. I went on the theory of system first, users second. The cover page on the app allows you to see where you are on your daily tracker.

Eating was reasonably okay. I was near, but not at the top end of the target. I had Sushi out for dinner and I'm not sure how good the estimates were...I couldn't find the exact types of rolls and I tried to search on line, but everyone has a different definition of a roll. One site, estimates that the average maki roll is 34 calories per piece. I had 6 pieces per roll, so since most of them were at or above 180, I figured that was a good guess. I felt hungry mid-morning, so I added a quick light snack. The scale didn't budge even .2#, but it was only day one. If after a few days, I'm not seeing movement, I will have to make sure to be closer to the low end of the daily range of calorie intake.

I chatted with a friend yesterday about getting back into a walk/run routine and we said that we would start meeting at the track again. She wasn't there this morning, but two friendly ladies showed up shortly after me. It's always nice to have company, even if you don't talk to one another. I fit in a 3 mile walk/run at the track (plus, about .6 miles each way to/from the track). I ran 5 laps, okay more like 4 3/4 laps. Still, for the first time that I am working the run back in, I feel good about running for just over one mile of the 3 miles. My pattern today was to run every other lap, although I didn't start until lap 3. It felt really good to get in that type of a workout.

A New Beginning...

I feel like I may be redundant here, did I previously declare a new beginning and then make the connection to Little House on the Prairie. I suppose that if I did, I apologize, but clearly the two are tied in my head.

It's been a while since I have really been monitoring what I'm eating and making a concerted effort to workout on a regular basis.

I have been meaning to refocus for a while now, but just haven't had the energy to get up in the morning and workout and for whatever reason, in my head, once I miss a workout, there seems to be less emphasis on what I am eating.

Well, that changed this morning. It was a pathetic walk that was both short and off pace, but a start is a start. I got out there this morning and I walked 2.25 miles, in about 34 minutes. It's funny how you 'remember' what your numbers should be. As I was rounding the one cul de sac, I thought to myself, I normally am here on this cul de sac between 1.07 and 1.1 miles depending on how far around the curve I was, 15 minutes into the workout. Today, I had already passed 15 minutes and was only at 1.01 when I did.

I am returning to counting calories. I came across Runs for Cookies the other day and I found her story inspiring. She referenced using Spark People to track and I decided I would give that a try.

Unfortunately, over the past few weeks, the pounds have slowly crept back on, so I am starting at a much higher point than I would have hoped to be.

#s to Go: ~34#

My goals, which I thought of as I walked this morning:

I would like to be at least half way to my goal by my birthday. That gives me just about 16 weeks to lose 17 pounds. Seems reasonable. I would like to be the rest of the way to my goal by New Year's. This gives me about 14 weeks to lose 17 pounds. These are loose goals and I hope to be ahead at the first marker, making the second one easier to obtain.

I would like to commit to walking and/or running at least 4 days each week. Ideally, I will make it out there 5-6 times per week, but in the interest of successfully meeting my goal and not being discouraged, I will target 4 days and see anything beyond that as a bonus.

I would like to try to fit in some strength training too. Since this will be reserved for rainy days and evenings, I would hope to fit it in at least 3 days a week. This works great if I use the P90X strength videos, since there are three per week.

I haven't yet set a calorie consumption target, but will give that some thought. I think that previously I found that the 1200 - 1400 calorie range was the right place for me.