Saturday, November 24, 2012

November 25th and Skinny Snowman challenge

Okay, I need a boost here. I keep saying in every single entry what a hard time I've been having lately with doing things correctly. It's a bit odd to me because although I've certainly gotten off track this year, it is nothing like how it's been the past month or so. I think most recently I've just been PMSing, but things are just not right with me. My anxiety is through the roof, and I know that I'd be feeling so much better if I were doing things right. You know all those great and rational plans I had for the Thanksgiving week? I think I knew even when i was making those plans that I wasn't going to follow through with them Of course I did fine during the first few days of the week, but Thanksgiving was a big disaster. 

The guilt I feel when I'm not doing things right or healthfully is completely destroying any happiness I should be having during the holidays. It's so silly. 

So, what am I going to do between now and New Year's to keep myself sane and on track? I've joined the Skinny Snowman Challenge and I'm hoping that keeps me on track. I know ultimately that I just need to get back into the right mindset of "just f'ing DO IT." I'm going back to my handwritten notes too. I still track everything on SparkPeople but I like having a paper journal. Plus, for the challenge I'll need to keep track of lots of things so that I can keep track of my points. I've printed off everything I need and did all my grocery shopping today.

I'm going to try to focus on some other aspects of health… my anxiety has been so bad lately that I'm going to really need to focus on keeping myself slightly sane. I also really need to start drinking lots of water again, I keep realizing at like 3 pm each day that all I've had to drink is coffee.

Anyway, here's my menu plan and exercise plan for a week. Week 1's mini challenge is to try a new recipe, which I'm doing on Thursday. I wish that was the mini challenge every week, haha. I'm always trying new recipes.

SUNDAY
Artichoke, Spinach, and Goat-Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms
Step Aerobics, 63 minutes

MONDAY
Leftovers
Rest Day

TUESDAY
Baked chicken taquitos
Frontside, 43 minutes

WEDNESDAY
Leftovers
Backside, 53 minutes

THURSDAY
Spicy Vegan Sriracha Tofu with Peanut Butter
Spark Cardio Blast, 35 minutes

FRIDAY
Leftovers
Yoga

SATURDAY
Decide next week
Walk/run or Step Aerobics

Monday, November 19, 2012

November 18th

Yikes.

I'm not even weighing myself lately. That's how bad this past week was.

I got sick... which always screws me up terribly. I only did about 100 minutes of fitness for the entire week because I was sick. And although it was a stomach bug, I don't think I lost any weight. Mainly because when I DID start feeling better, I was so hungry and weak that I ate a ton. It was sort of awful.
Luckily I was pretty on track yesterday and have tried to sort of suck it up. It is really difficult for me to focus right now, knowing that Thanksgiving is coming up and all of that. On Thanksgiving I'm just going to try to be reasonable. I'm going to avoid the wine, eat reasonable portions of all my favorites, and I have a workout planned for the afternoon. I'm also not going to take home any leftovers, which always makes my mom mad, haha.

 I'm also going to try to make it to Devil's Lake over the weekend, which is always a good workout. The weather is pretty nice here all week, so I might try to go on Friday. I was originally planning on going out of town, but I don't think I'm going to now.

Yesterday I did my first workout in 5 days... my step aerobics... it was TOUGH.

I think I mentioned that I've been struggling so much with motivation lately. This is why I haven't lost weight in ages. Normally I roll my eyes when I lack motivation because honestly, most of me is just like "Just shut up and DO IT" and that normally works. But I've been struggling, especially this past month. I keep trying to find things to switch it up a bit to keep it interesting, but I've just had so much else on my mind lately. I think part of me is wanting to put off that "extra push" until the new year, but I really don't want to undo the progress I HAVE made. My goal for 2012 was to lose 50 lbs and I've lost 40, so that's pretty good in my book. I just know that if I cut myself slack at this time of year I will end up gaining 5-10 lbs back. And there's no time like the present.

One thing that's minorly exciting is that I discovered Collage Video. How did I not know about this before?! I love being able to watch clips of lots of different workout videos; it lets me gauge if I can do it or not. I found out that my step aerobics video that I do each week is actually rated as 'intermediate/advanced' which made me kind of happy. At any rate, I added a bunch of videos to my Amazon wishlist when I was sick, so I should probably be getting some for the holidays. I'll be excited to mix it up a bit. I definitely need more videos and I don't like renting/borrowing them because I usually end up using them for a long time.

SUNDAY
Beef and vegetable stew
Step Aerobics, 63 minutes

MONDAY
Leftovers
Rest Day (I may do some yoga or cardio kickbox though depending on what time I leave work)

TUESDAY
Chicken Caesar salad wraps
Frontside circuit training, 43 minutes

WEDNESDAY
Leftovers
Backside circuit training, 53 minutes

THURSDAY
Thanksgiving
Spark Cardio Blast, 35 minutes

FRIDAY
Korean-style tofu and veggie noodles
Hike/walk, probably around 50-60 minutes

SATURDAY
Decide next week
Walk/run, probably 50ish minutes






Monday, November 12, 2012

November 11th

Hey there.

I guess Monday seems to be my new updating day, doesn't it? This weekend was sort of an odd one for me and I ended up sort of running out of time and then being too lazy to update.

My week was all right. I actually did finally hit that 40 lbs lost mark on Tuesday. Sadly, today, I am up 1.6 lbs from that mark. I can't wait until I really maintain it. I'm pretty sure the culprit was my going out to dinner on Friday night and not being careful enough... I ate quite a bit.

I managed something like 310 fitness minutes, but only because quite a lot of that (over an hour) was meditative yoga. I probably shouldn't have really counted that. Some yoga is truly quite difficult; the video I was using was definitely not. It was nice though, and pretty relaxing, but was pretty much just stretching and not a whole lot of balance/core/strength work.

Mentally I haven't been doing great. Not sure if it's weather-related or what, but I've been really anxious for about a week or so now. I kind of feel like I'm bouncing off the walls with nervous energy. Which I supposed is better than being nervous with no energy, right? I've had a lot of decisions to make lately and it's exhausting.

I keep trying to be self-motivating and get myself pumped up, but it's so hard when I'm in such a plateau. And again, I know I could break through this plateau if I were just being more careful, and didn't keep having the one or two "bad days" I have each week. It's been harder lately knowing that the holidays are coming up and all that.

Here's my menu plan for the week.


SUNDAY
Garlic chicken and chipotle tacos
Simply Endurance, 54 minutes (this is a video I've had for a while and never completed. I don't know how I feel about it. Not great, since I hate strength training!)

MONDAY
Leftovers
Rest day

TUESDAY
Crunchy chicken salad with celery, grapes, and apples
Frontside, 43 minutes

WEDNESDAY
Sweet Potato Skins with broccoli
Backside, 53 minutes

THURSDAY
Creamy Orzo and Mushroom Pasta
 Cardio Blast, 35 minutes

FRIDAY
Leftovers
Rest day

SATURDAY
Decide next week
Step Aerobics, 63 minutes

Sunday, November 4, 2012

November 4th

Hi!
November's going pretty well so far. This past week was okay eating-wise (Halloween was bad, and wine was involved) but pretty awful with exercise. I only got about 161 minutes in. Part of this is that I feel like I am getting sick. Friday I woke up with a stuffy nose and sore throat. Luckily, it went away later in the day but I've been sleeping a LOT and taking Dayquil and ginger. I can still feel it coming on, but it's Sunday and I feel pretty okay so maybe I am warding it off. I did work out yesterday and today, for over an hour each day, so I feel pretty good about that. Today I took a short hike in the woods, but I wasn't really satisfied with that. I raked for like 10 minutes but then got a phone call and ended up talking to him for like a half hour, and then gave up on the raking. So when I got home, I did my short but quite intense cardio kickboxing.

I'm happy to say I've hit my lowest weight again and I'm down 39.2 pounds. I keep waiting and waiting to see the 40 lbs lost mark and I know that if I just stop having those one or two bad days each week that I could hit it.

November has some vague goals in mind -- I know I said I was trying to be better with feeling motivated, so I did start a binder to help with tracking. I kind of always have the same goals - staying w/in my calorie range 6/7 days, reaching 1,000 fitness minutes for the month, and no alcohol. I always seem to do better at the beginning of each month, so I'm hoping to hit that 40 lb mark soon.

Here's my menu plan/exercise plan for the week.


SUNDAY
Frittata with spinach, potatoes, and leeks (I actually made this for breakfast and had leftovers for dinner -- it's delicious, though)
Hike & cardio kickbox (70 minutes total)

MONDAY
Leftovers
Rest day

TUESDAY
Butternut Squash and Black Bean Soup
Frontside, 43 minutes

WEDNESDAY
Leftovers
Backside, 53 minutes

THURSDAY
Lasagna rolls with roasted red pepper sauce
 Cardio Blast, 35 minutes

FRIDAY
Leftovers
Rest day

SATURDAY
Decide next week
Step Aerobics, 63 minutes