3/14/12 Day Fourteen

Have you ever watched that show The Biggest Loser?  Much of what the people in that show experience is extreme, but there are some realities that happen to just about every one of us that make the commitment to lose weight.  One of those realities is the two week plateau.  If you've watched the show, you see them have tremendous results during the first weigh in, and maybe the second weigh-in, and then they have that dreaded weigh-in where their weight stays the same, or they even gain a pound or two.

I'm at the dreaded weigh-in stage.  I know beyond all doubt that I am eating better and exercising more.  I am taking better care of myself overall than I have in several years (for those of you who don't know, I ran a marathon in '06 and a half-marathon in '07).

That being said, there have been a couple of days during the past week where I actually gained back a couple of pounds.  Whether it's muscle, whether it's hormones, or whether it's my body going into panic mode because I'm eating less, I can't say.  This morning, it's starting back down again, and I think in the next couple of days it will at least go back to the weight loss I had accomplished and at best, go beyond that.

A little bird [my mom] told me not to give up even though it's been a really frustrating week.  So, I haven't as of yet.  I haven't had any cravings for sweets, nor have I jumped on the soda pop wagon.  Yesterday, Brent encouraged me to go for a walk/hike, even though I didn't want to.  I know when we go climb the mountain it helps to strengthen his lungs and reduces the problems he has with asthma.  When I walked out the door, I was going for him.  We climbed it once, walked up another valley, and then the second time we walked it, it got easier.  And then, I walked it again with my mom, and it got even easier.  By that time, I was very encouraged, and I decided to see how far up the hill I could run.  I made it about 2/3's of the way to the top [compared to about a third to a half last week when I attempted it].  I'm excited that I'm gaining muscle in my legs and that I can breathe better as I go.  I hope to make it to the top next week. :)  Many thanks to my darling husband for asking me to go out there in the first place.  Without him, I probably would not have exercised as hard - or even at all.

I still haven't measured my inches.  I will make it a point to do that today, and then I will measure each Sunday to determine if I'm losing inches.

I'm still taking the Diet 360.  I've noticed that my appetite is drastically reduced when I take this before each meal, and I don't really get hungry in between.

I'll keep you posted.  I'm determined, and I know I'm working at all the things I need to work at to be successful.

3/14/12 Day Ten: SSDD

Same stuff, different day.  We ended up hiking yesterday for about 40 minutes, and then we spent an hour in the garden planting strawberries - but the garden time doesn't count.

So we're at about 160 minutes of exercise for the week already, and still the weight stays the same.

I'm going to start measuring inches.

3/13/12 Diet 360: Day Nine

No weight lost when I stepped on the scale this morning.  Grr.

3/12/12 Day Eight

No weight lost.  Suffice it to say that I am getting a little frustrated at this point.  I'm hoping my body is doing something funky and that I'll lose a pound here in a day or two.  No exercise today because it was a long day at work.
If nothing changes tomorrow morning, my next post will be extremely short, as well.

3/11/12 Diet 360: Day Seven

I've made it a week.  And today was the most beautiful day!!  We were able to get out and hike and hike and hike...we also worked on clearing some of the roads on the place so that we would have an extra couple of trails/hills to hike.  The dogs were worn out.  As soon as we got to the house, Blue crashed by the front door.

I've hit a standstill.  I've been stuck at the same weight for several days now.  I'm not sure if my body is freaking out because I'm eating less, or because I'm exercising more, or if it was purely an increase in exercise that caused the weight to be lost.

At any rate, I've still got 23 days to go, so we're going to see this to the end.  I did manage to get an hour or two of exercise in - I am totally counting the time we spent clearing brush.  I'm already at 120 minutes for the week!  Wow!  What a start!

3/10/12 Day Six: Watching Paint Dry

I admit it.  I am well aware of the fact that there are some things farrrrrr more interesting that reading a blog about some woman in Kentucky trying to lose a few pounds.  However, I'm also inclined to think that maybe, just maybe, something that I say might give someone just the right amount of hope, or the realization that they aren't the only one struggling.  And selfishly, I admit that I am blogging for the simple fact that I feel I have made a public statement and that I need to be accountable for what I have said.

That being said, I do not yet have more exciting news.  Brent and I walked a great trail today at the neighbor's place.  So I was able to complete my 150 minutes for the week - if you count last Sunday [the day before I started this whole deal].  I'll be out and about again tomorrow, too.  No weight lost, but none gained, either. 

We pushed pretty hard today, and I'm tired.  Tireder than I've been all week.  I've also been less hungry - we had deer chili for lunch about 2pm this afternoon, and I had a salad this evening.  I've honestly been more thirsty than anything today.

My stats for the first six days weight-wise:
Total weight lost: 1.4 pounds
Pounds left to goal for Phase One: 3.6
Minutes exercised (since Sunday): 190
Minutes exercised (since Monday): 145

We'll see what tomorrow brings. 

3/9/12 Day Five: Holy Smokes, Batman!

Well, after a day of questioning comes the day of reckoning.  When I weighed this morning, I had lost a full pound (in addition to the 0.4 lost the other day!).  I honestly thought that this morning would show a gain.  I didn't exercise long yesterday, because it was rainy and yucky outside.  I managed to climb the stairs to the loft (and return the bottom, rinse, repeat...) for ten minutes or so.  I made vegan cookies and ate several of them before I could stop myself.  We had mom's famous meatballs for lunch, and a kale/romaine/avocado salad loaded with Caesar dressing.  I felt like yesterday was a fat day.  And then lo and behold!  The blessed electronic scale showed a pound lighter!!

Lesson learned: never give up.  When you least expect it, a triumph will manifest itself and encourage you to stay with the challenge a bit longer.

Shortly, I will be heading outside to take advantage of the beautiful day.

Total pounds lost: 1.4
Pounds to goal in Phase One: 3.6
Total exercise on Thursday: 10 minutes
Total exercise for the week: 115 minutes

Tune in tomorrow.  Same bat time.  Same bat channel.