My Accidental Biggest Loser Moment.

I've been watching The Biggest Loser for a few years. One of my favorite parts of the season is when they do the physical challenge in which the contestants have to carry or lift or use some sort of effort to stave off the exact amount of weight they've lost while on the ranch. It's such a huge realization to them of just how far they've come, and how much they've really done to achieve their new body.

Today, I inadvertently had that kind of an experience. One of my errands today was to take the spare change to the Coinstar machine. So, I had a vinyl bag, kind of like a large pencil case or make-up bag, and i filled it with the coins, so I could walk to the supermarket on my way to the gym and get rid of them.

I could not believe how heavy it was! At first, I was excited, because I knew it meant I was going to have a really nice sized Amazon eCertificate when I cashed them all in. It was awkward to lift and heavy no matter which hand I planned to carry it in. And I was going to walk and carry it? Maybe I should wait until later and get the car? No... this will be good for me. I'll do it.

But then I had this idea to weigh it, to see if I was crazy to try and carry it.

Eleven pounds. Pretty much the weight I've lost so far.

I'm struggling to carry the exact same amount of weight that was on my body just 2 months ago.

I was shocked. Sure, on TBL, they're lifting 50 - 100 pounds by the time they get to that part of the season, so their shock is understandable. But I don't think it would have been that different. You suddenly imagine that this was the equivalent of a big block of fat that weighed 11 pounds that came off the body some where. It's sad, but it's also inspiring that it's a good measurement of progress, and what that progress really means. And yes, of course I could go to the gym and lift 11 pounds as a proxy, but it's different. I wasn't going in intending to do that, and bracing myself for the psychology of the act. It was just an accident. A happy accident.

So, that was my moment for the day. My amazon account is now $145 richer, and then went to the gym. Not bad.

Thanks for reading!

Pluses and Minuses, where Pluses are bad, and Minuses are good.

So, this is a bit of a mixed results posting. The Pluses are bad, but the minuses are good. Stay with me and you'll see how it unfolds...

First, as I expected, I actually gained a little weight this week. Not only did I indulge this weekend for our anniversary dinner (including fantastic carrot cake with creamchees frosting from Rosie's!) but I ate poorly last week in general, some driven by PMS, some driven by laziness. But, the damage wasn't as bad as it could be:

Weight loss this week: + 0.4 lbs.
Total loss: -10.1 lbs.

Not tragic, and not completely unexpected but still a little disappointing. I am confident this comes from not being as good about eating as I had been. I've vowed to get back to the diligent point counting I'd strayed from a bit, starting with yesterday.

One reason it's as disappointing as it is is because I went to the gym 4 times last week -- 3 of them were more cardio visits or a good blend of cardio and other. I really wished my first week of "more days in the gym than not" would have been rewarded with numbers, but I know it's my own fault.

But it's not all bad. I did bring my body fat down another point (that was definitely a function of the gym), and that's a good thing.

Here's one other good thing. I'm 10 weeks into this journey, so I decided to do two things.

1) Took updated pictures. (no, still not posting them). I was able to see a few differences, and that felt good.

2) Took updated measurements. When I started this, I decided to get some baseline measurements on the standard areas: bust, waist, hips, arms, thighs. I figure these measurements are a lot more slow to move, so every 10 weeks sounded like a good thing (7 total measurements in my 60 weeks).

I was really surprised by what I found. My Bust/Waist/Hips measurement was down a total of 5 inches, pretty evenly spread! Arms and thighs down slightly, but nothing to get too excited about.

5 inches down, another body fat point down, and less than half a pound up? I'll take it! :-)

Thanks for reading!

Good thing I started a month ago!

It's our First Wedding Anniversary tomorrow, and Robert and I are up in NH. We're going out to dinner tonight, and I expect I'll have a tasty dinner and I'll have dessert. Last night, we opened a bottle of champagne, and I had a glass of that. It's nice to celebrate here and there all weekend. Yay us! I realize it can put my week's weightloss at risk, but I'm okay with that for a special occasion. :-)

This morning, however, my friend, Misty, and I went to our 3rd session of the Power Pilates class in the gym up here. The first class we took (4 weeks ago?) was a killer, and it took us days to recover. The second class, I handled much better, and the exercises got a bit easier to handle. This class today, man-oh-man, she kicked our butt. I expect that the recovery from this class will be a bit harder.

I think I can also say, though, that if THIS had been the first class we took with her, she might have scared me into never taking a second class! I honestly think this one was much tougher, and I don't know that I would have been able to talk myself into starting with a class like this. But at this point, I've gained enough stamina and strength to get through such a tough class, and come back for more. (in 2 more weeks, but still...)

Thanks for reading! (And Happy Anniversary, My Husband!)

Humiliating, but for a good cause.

I am not a sexy latina woman. I am also not an undiscovered hip hop sensation. But I think breast cancer sucks.

What does all of that have to do with each other?

I attended ZUMBA-THON at my gym tonight!

Our gym was doing a breast cancer research fund raising event tonight. You could make a donation and participate in either the Zumba-thon or the Spin-a-thon (Robert did that one). So, I took the 7:00 hour event tonight.

If you don't know what Zumba is, it's a latin-inspired cardio/aerobics class, often with some mix of hip hop included. Here's actually a good example of it being taught in a gym, rather than other videos I could post, with a bunch of professional exercises for some sort of instruction video. (Oh -- and if I were in this particular class on the video, I'd be feeling north of average, I think.)

My class was taught by a woman who is insanely skinny and equally energized. She makes it pretty easy to get "into" the class, but my lack of coordination certainly slowed me up a bit. I'm a special brand of horrible at this, and I look as awkward in it as I feel, I am sure. But I can see how doing the class more often with the same instructor, so that you learn her particular choreography, can make it easier, if only because you eventually learn to anticipate what is coming next. This instructor normally teaches Thursday evenings and, though I have plans already this week, I can see trying to work this class into a normal schedule for me as part of my routines.

But no matter how much I do it, or how good I get at learning the moves of the dance, I am still not going to be a sexy latina woman. I will continue to be very awkward looking. I'll get over it. :-)

In the meantime, yay me for working out AND raising money for a good cause!

Thanks for reading!

Another goal achieved

Ten Pounds Lost. Well, 10.5 pounds, to be more accurate. Took me 9 weeks, when I was hoping for doing it in 15 or so.

This week: -1.6 lbs
Total: -10.5 lbs

I'm almost at 1.9 points down on my BMI. And I'm now officially below my wedding weight from a year ago.

I have to say, this is a bit of a surprise. On Friday, the scale hadn't budget much. I put in some extra time over the weekend, but I also know I didn't eat as well (food itself was fine, but just not enough points). So, I was worried that I'd be reporting a less-than-one-pound loss for this week. I'm glad to not have to do that!

My reference to not eating so well applies to most of last week, actually. I didn't do well with points (mainly under) and I'm finding that I'm still good at breakfast and lunch, and not as organized for dinner. One aspect of that is that I ran out of frozen meals, which had been helping a bit. I did go shopping this weekend and buy at least a week's worth, so we'll see if I can use those to get back on track. The other thing is that there were chips in the house, which of course then mean there were chips in my mouth. It's not that my servings were bad (they weren't), it's just harder to deal with temptation when there's a bag in the house, and each chip seems like a gateway to the next 5.

I've got a busy week ahead, but between my pilates reformer class, one other trip to the gym, and the power pilates class on Saturday back up in NH, I hope to be getting in 3 if not 4 work outs this week. And this coming weekend is Robert and my first wedding anniversary, so I definitely expect a splurge dinner out on Saturday night up in NH to celebrate. Not sure I'll have the same good report next week! :-)

Thanks for reading!

Mid-Way Rewards and Expensive Pants

It was suggested a bit ago that I work on developing some mini-goals for both targets and rewards along the way.

I thought of something last week that I put in my mind as a 'half way' reward:

When I hit 15 pounds (which I hope to be by Christmas, but we'll see!) I'd like to treat myself to a cute outfit from lululemon. I don't any yet, and figure this would be a great reward.

Do you know lululemon? They're expensive as hell. Like, shockingly expensive. So, are they worth it?

People I know who have them love them. Reviews I've read rave. They usually mention:

• Extremely well made - better than any other brand out there
  
• Fit very well (they come in even numbered sizes, rather than SML, so you can get a better fit)
• VERY supportive bra tops for girls of my particular sveltitude
• Free alterations on pants (for girls of my particular shortitude)
• Rumor has it, they make your ass look amazing. I don't think that's the category I'll be hunting for in my particular size, but it's nice to know it's out there.

Why not make this a 10 pound goal?Yes, I've done well so far. Here's the thing: They only sell sizes up to a 12 (though 14 appears on their size chart, I don't see them offered anywhere). I'm JUST fitting back into 12's again, and I want to make sure I'm much more confidently resident there (if not a 10!) before I lay down $100 for some yoga pants or something.

Do you have any lululemon? what are your thoughts? What do you think of this as a mid-way-to-goal reward?

Thanks for reading!

I like it, so, let's do it more.

I think we've covered that I am not doing well at enjoying exercise and going to the gym (or any other place) in order to get used to the process. I'm continuing to try different ways to incorporate exercise, cardio or not cardio, and making it a more frequent part of my week.

Of all the exercising classes and such that I've taken, both recently and in the past almost 2 years since I joined our gym, I like the pilates classes the best. Pilates, if you don't know, is based on exercises which work all the muscle groups of the body, but mainly focusing on developing strength in the core. If done correctly and over time, it can really increase core strength, strength in other muscle groups, and impact spine health (in a good way). It involves flexibility and stretching and focused breathing, like yoga, but also involves resistance training and in some cases, weight training. It's not cardio, so it won't replace other exercise, but it's a great way to get some strength training in, especially to help lengthen and make more lean.

Most people will get involved with "mat-based" pilates, which means doing the exercise on a yoga mat, maybe with a stability ball, or a ring, to help with some of the resistance exercise. It burns calories (at my level and weight, probably about 350 an hour). Last week and the week before, I was able to take a "power pilates" class, which used the basic pilates mat and hand weights or medicine balls, and that probably brought the calorie count up a little bit, too.

Yesterday, however, I got to try a more involved version of Pilates - the Pilates Reformer. This workout is based entirely on a machine that looks a bit like a torture machine, with spring loaded movable platforms and cables which can be attached to the arms or legs. There is a lot more attention to the precision of movement, and I could tell that every exercies I've done on the mat is much more intense when done with this kind of resistance from the reformer machine. I got the hang of most things quickly, and I can definitely feel a few of the exercises taking their toll on me today.

I liked the free "exposure clinic" I took, with a 30 minute primer on all the basic moves and the muscle groups impacted, and I decided as another motivator to continue to get me into the gym and to work on some of my muscle and strength issues, I'd sign up for 5 weekly sessions of pilates reformer training. I really like the instructor (I've taken her mat classes) and I think the personal attention (well, one of 5 people, at least) will really help me correct some issues that I'm a bit more blind to in these kinds of exercises.

So, that's my next experiment, for weeks 10 - 14 of this journey. This is also a good reminder for me that this whole thing is not just about weight loss; it's about being more fit and healthy, and that's going to have to come from lots of different sources.

I'll let you know how it goes!

Thanks for reading!

What I learned from Alton Brown

The other evening, Robert and I were able to attend a one hour Q&A with Alton Brown this week. He was promoting his new book (Good Eats, the Early Years), and rather than give a prepared talk, he just took questions from the audience. Pretty far into it, someone asked him how he'd manage to transform himself. If you're familiar with Alton Brown, and you haven't seen him recently, you may be surprised to know he's lost nearly 50 pounds since March. He looks great.

He said, "I realized there was this hole in my head, and when I filled it with crap, my waist got bigger". Of course that got a laugh, but he went on to say he really decided he needed to treat his love a food like an addiction, and as with all addictions, "moderation" doesn't cut it. You don't give a heroin addict just a little bit, he said. The key to success for him, however, was in his food log that he started before embarking on any diet change. He wrote everything down, and a normal day would include cake and cookies, and that was before lunch. But as he wrote EVERYTHING down, he'd see things like:

"Entire sleeve of Girl Scout Cookies. Glass of Milk."
"Half a carton of ice cream. Glass of Milk."
"4 cupcakes. Glass of Milk."

So, he did what anyone might do. He stopped drinking milk.

What he realized was that everything tastes best with a glass of milk. And when he stopped drinking the milk, the other things weren't as enjoyable as they used to be. It's a trigger food for all the other bad stuff. Before too long, he was able to limit himself to having sweets only once a week. After a month or so, he realized he didn't need the sweets at all. So, he's off sweets, when before, they were huge in his diet.

I was really interested by all this. The things I got from this were (1) Know your trigger foods and (2) you can really change some habits, especially eating, by extinguishing it over time. I was thinking of this tonight, as I came home from the gym, and feeling that some of the things I've been doing have been getting a bit easier. I've also had a bit more energy in the gym, and a bit more enthusiasm for things.

I'm not sure I've really made any real changes in my fabric or if I've really changed any of my habits for good yet. But I can feel that I'm closer to it than it was, and that feels like a good thing. There's a lot left ahead of me, but I'm still on track to get better.

Thanks for reading!

Ups and Downs, and a few points to make.

Well, I had a wonderful weekend with my folks, and I was sad to see it end. And, yes, there was a lot of food. I did okay. Robert says I did very well. I dunno. What I do know is, all in all, I weighed in this morning, and I did have a net loss:

This week: -0.6 lbs.

Total weight: -8.9 lbs.

A few points of note from the last few days of my life:

1) I weighed myself before going to NH. If I'd called it then, I would have lost more than 2 lbs. last week. I was almost at 11 lbs on Thursday morning. So, I really did gain about 1 and a half lbs back this weekend.

2) There were lots of temptation, but what I was good at was portion control. A taste of a few things, but no seconds of anything. I ate very well at breakfast and lunch, and dinners were a bit more full. I did, however, refuse, much to my mother's chagrin, to have a birthday cake this weekend, but there were some cookies, and there was some gingerbread, and I tasted each.

3) Misty and I went to the Power Pilates class again on Saturday. We did much better, and the recovery time was much more reasonable this time! :-)

4) I had to go pants shopping, because I'm definitely DOWN A SIZE since this started. It felt great... and I'm glad I have some new clothes that look good. I didn't get a ton -- just a few pairs, on extreme sale at the outlets, but it will help out for a while.

5) I've now had a few people (who know I'm dieting) tell me that they can start to see some of the weight loss, especially in my face. Makes me feel good!

I'm 8 weeks into it, and feeling like I'm gaining some good ability to get to a 10 pound loss in the next 2 weeks, and staying focused.

Thanks for reading!

The next challenge... comfort foods meant to make me happy. In droves.

Well, I'm coming up on two important milestones this weekend.

The first is that Thursday is my birthday, which means that the countdown to 40 is now at one year... Feeling okay about it!

The second is that my parents are coming to visit for a visit to our NH place for a few days... and my mom is very excited to do a lot of cooking for us. Pot Roast, sweet potatoes, meat loaf, stuffed french toast, desserts, etc.

Now, my mother is aware I'm dieting. She's also aware that the kinds of food she makes and the amount of food she makes isn't what we normally would eat -- richer, fatter, more calories, etc. But this is how she likes to spend her time, and what she likes to do, and it makes her happy, and I want her to be happy. So, what that means for me is tasting/trying a number of things, with minimal portions, and keeping balanced for the other meals of the day.

Oh, and she's a fantastic cook, so those minimal portions are going to be a challenge.

Wish me luck!

In other news, eating this week has been okay. Lower on points than I should be, but also, with the big weekend coming up, and lots of temptation, I'm trying to just approach the week with saving a bit more on the calories. I know that's not what I'm supposed to do, but I'm just figuring the week will be a little bit of a crap shoot.

I'll be in NH until Monday night, so next week's weigh in will be on Tuesday.

Thanks for reading!

Hurts so bad, it must be good.... right?

This past Saturday, my friend, Misty and I decided to drop into a class at a gym near the NH place called "Power Pilates". I didn't know what to expect, but was interested in checking it out. I've taken plenty of mat-based pilates classes over the past couple of years, some with props (ring, stability ball, etc) and some just with the mat. But I hadn't taken anything with the word "power" in it.

Before the class, the instructor, noticing we were new, came over to introduce herself, understand our baseline, and tell us what we needed to know about the class.

She explained a few things. This class is an intense class, using weights and pilates techniques. The goal is to work several (all?) of the muscle groups, and work them to the point of fatigue. It's meant to help slim the body rapidly. She likes to get the heart rate up early, and keep it there. The class is designed to target 400 calorie loss. She said we will be sore, and some women end up so completely sore, it's a challenge to get off the toilet. Um, okay.

I've never taken a 400 calorie loss pilates class before. This scared me.

The class was good. It was intense. Ten minutes into it, I wasn't sure I'd make it the full hour. We'd gotten our weights (I took 3 lbs. comfortable that I was being a total wimp, and Misty took 5 lb weights, god bless her) and was really surprised by how many reps we did with each exercise. That fatigue thing? Yup. Got there. Those 3 lb weights? May as well have been 20 lbs, by the time I was 20 minutes into it.

After about 35 minutes, I knew it was tough, but I also knew I'd make it. An exercise or two, I gave up on the last rep or so, but mainly did everything. The things that required flexibility, I was good at. The things that required strength, not so much. (yes, 3 lbs. I get the lame-ness.)

One unusal distraction? The workout was entirely coordinated with the alternating fast and slow songs on a Genesis Greatest Hits album. A nice change from all the electronified (not a real word) pop music that's often in classes. Helped with the high energy, and, except for one song that completely reminded me of an old boyfriend and a heartache from 20 years ago, it was nice to revisit some old favorites.

At the end of the class, the instructor came over to thank us for coming, and reinforcing the need for us both to stretch, and told us again that we'll be sore.

And she was right. 2 days later, and EVERYTHING HURTS. Quads, hamstrings, upper and lower abs, obliques, glutes, delts, triceps, biceps, whatever the muscle is between my shoulder blades, and even my neck. EVERYTHING. It's really crazy. I'd heard people talk about doing Jillian Michael's 30-day shred and saying that everything was sore for days, but I didn't understand what they meant. I now understand.

So, the question is, does all this soreness mean that it's a good class, or a bad class? I think it is probably good, but I'm not sure... But I think it's worth giving a shot one more time. Though I can't spend 3 days recovering from it... that doesn't seem well balanced, does it?

The gym makes it easy to try this out, and that will help me give it another shot. They have a 10-visit card that I purchased. They don't expire, which is good -- I don't have the pressure of trying to use it all within a short period of time (or the guilt of wasting the money by not using it within a short period of time).

It's nice to get an alternative exercise outing into the mix, so I'm hopeful that, well, that which doesn't kill me, will make me stronger. Wish me luck. (running off to download Genesis' greatest hits...)

Thanks for reading!

Survived vacation... now to face the music (the scales?)

Hello! I've been out of touch... I hope you're still with me! And I want to say hello to my new readers! Thank you for your support - the comments mean a lot to me, and are helpful!

As you recall, I was going to be a bit off line because of my vacation to Washington State (which was great!) and I'd hoped to catch up on the blog this weekend, but the internet connection in NH was out. So, here we are, on weigh in day.

When last I posted, I was concerned about how vacation might derail me. I think I may have gained a pound while away (not terrible), so I was anticipating a slip today in my posts.

Results:

This weigh in: - 0.8 lbs.

MILESTONE: Achieved Weight Watchers 5% loss goal!

Yes, so, I didn't gain overall in the 2 week period, and even thought the weight loss was just under a pound, It did help me get to the first Weight Watchers goal -- lose 5% of body weight. Not terrible in just 7 weeks!

While I was away, I did okay with eating. On the pluses, I had good breakfasts and lunches. The negatives were that the dinners were a bit more rich than I had been used to (we ate out two of the four nights) and I probably snacked a little more than I had been doing, though nothing extreme. The travel days (airplane peanuts, snacks in the airport, etc) were more challenging, but not dreadful. In terms of exercise, had one good session at Mary's gym (thanks, Mary!) and we went for a long walk one evening, and another smaller one our last morning. And of course, plenty of 6.5lb. (though certainly 7 lbs by the time we left!) "weight" lifting, holding my new nephew for several hours a day... :-)

Since we came back super late on Wednesday, I haven't been to our gym yet, but I did go to a gym up in NH with my friend, Misty, this weekend. I'm going to post about that separately. Oh, and I'll also post about this coming weekend... the toughest challenge yet: My parents are coming to visit, and my mom will be cooking a ton. My mom is an excellent cook, and loves to cook... gotta stay focused!

Thanks for being here for my first big milestone, and Thanks for reading!