Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Jealous Girl

Hello fellow HYCers! I know I said I was going to do Level 3 of the 30 Day Shred for 7 straight sessions, but in keeping with my efforts to take things up a notch, I decided to do Jillian's "Boost Your Metabolism" and "No More Trouble Zones" this past weekend. In my estimation, BYM is harder than Shred Level 3, to me it's like doing Levels 2 and 3 of the Shred and half of Level 1, so I don't feel bad about skipping the Shred, in the least. BYM is more cardio based, I think. BYM doesn't have the dreaded "Rock Star Jumps," but there are plenty of moves in BYM that rival "Rock Star Jumps" for "most dreaded," for example, "Burpees" and "standing mountain climbers" come to mind initially. What BYM has that the Shred does not is kickboxing moves. I cut my kickboxing teeth years ago on Billy Blanks' videos (yes, VHS videos), and I really enjoyed that, so I like the kickboxing moves that Jillian incorporates in BYM.

On Sunday, I decided to do Jillian's "No More Trouble Zones." Usually I only do the quick version of NMTZ, but I had enough time to do the long version. Even though NMTZ has many of the same moves as the 30 Day Shred and BYM, it's a completely different workout. There isn't much cardio work. Sure, your heart gets pumping by doing combination moves, but there aren't circuits of "jump rope," "jumping jacks," "standing mountain climbers," etc. It's a challenging workout, but it's challenging in a different way. I still sweat buckets, but I don't huff and puff through the workout like I do through Level 3 of the Shred and BYM.

Next, I still haven't weighed myself; I just can't bring myself to do it. Despite the fact that (1) I feel great, (2) I'm eating healthy, and (3) my clothes are looser, I know that I won't be happy with the number on the scale. I know I need to track my progress to see if what I'm doing is paying off, but I just can't do it because I don't want to discourage myself from continuing to work hard.

This week I am going back to counting points. I don't have the money to join WW (it's all been spent on the personal trainer), but I still have all the stuff from my stint last summer, so we'll see if that works better for me than counting calories like I have been.

I stopped going to WW because I hit a plateau after losing 13 lbs, and I was having difficulty getting over that plateau. I won't be satisfied with losing those same 13 lbs over again, but if over the course of the next few weeks I can lose those 13 lbs, again, I think this time I am in a better place, and it will give me the boost of motivation I need to keep going.

I drafted a meal plan for the next two weeks. I calculated the points for each meal, breakast, lunch, and dinner. I should be able to stick to the plan; the question is whether I can stick to the points... There isn't much wiggle room in my allotted 21 points per day. (My flex points are mostly reserved for my weekend wine.)

This post got to be longer than I anticipated when I first sat down to write. So, if you're still reading, here's the part that relates to the post title. Part of the reason I decided to go back to counting points is because of my mother-in-law. You see, right around the time I started getting serious about losing weight again (late Feb/early March,) my MIL joind WW. Since then, she has lost 10 pounds. She has lost those 10 lbs merely by sticking to the points program, she has not incorporated an exercise program into her efforts to lose weight, at all. I have to say, I am slightly jealous of her success. To be fair, I have no idea how much, if any weight I have lost in comparison, but I know it's not 10 lbs, regardless. Also, the differences between us are too innumerable to adequately discuss, but the mains one are: she's 5'11", I'm 5'2", and she's 32 years older than me. I know these factors, and others, contribute to weight loss (or non-loss as the case my be). Obviously, I'm happy for my MIL, but I'm also jealous that I have not seen similar results given all of my own hard work.

So, my question for you is: How do you deal with the "green monster?"

When you see someone who is having more weight loss success than you, and you know they're not working at it as hard as you are, how do you deal with it? Do you use it as a motivation to keep going? If so, how do you use it as a motivation? What do you tell yourself? Do you change up your own routine?

I'm not downplaying my MIL's success by suggesting she's not "working at it as hard as I am," I simply mean that I'm working out so hard physically, almost daily... I'm talking literal "blood, sweat, and tears" (yes, I've been known to cry), and I'm not seeing results near a 10 lb loss. I know it's hard to eat right and stay within points; I get that, I've done that, I've been there, too. But for me, I've never been able to lose weight simply by following a healthy eating plan, I've always had to incorporate exercise into my own weight loss equation. So, help me out here. Put me in my place, if need be, but help me get over my jealousy with some much needed advice.

3 comments:

Journo June aka MamaBear said...

OK, I can definitely relate because my sister lost more weight than me and she doesn't exercise much either and I usually do 6 days a week. We are pretty similar in size and shape. She now weighs less, but I wear smaller clothes by a tad. And am definitely more toned. :-)

Key points - she gave up diet sodas. I don't drink soda. Just mostly water, so I already have lots of healthy habits in place. If you've been doing that for a while, you don't see the fast losses.

Also - as she has even admitted, without exercise, she may die thin, but still NOT HEALTHY! It takes both elements to truly live a healthy lifestyle.

And honestly, it doesn't take the incredibly long, tough workouts to be healthy and lose weight. My MAIN form of exercise is walking. I don't run. My knees and ankles just can't handle it. I don't usually do anything for longer than 30 minutes at a time. There have been reports that three 10 minute walks a day can be just as healthy as one long walk.

On Feb 9, I started the Flat Belly Diet. It's the fastest I've ever lost weight, so I'm thrilled. The main difference from what I had been doing is limiting meals to 400 calories (4 meals or snacks per day so 1600 daily.) And they are HEALTHY calories. You need to use your "points" wisely on foods that provide good, healthy fuel for your body. 150 calories (or 2-4 points) of raw nuts with their healthy fats is a much better choice than a 150 calorie piece of cake. The healthy fats (MUFAs) actually help you burn belly fat. (And that includes DARK CHOCOLATE! YUM!) It really does WORK! I never wanted to count calories before, but since doing the FBD and getting awesome results, I'm so happy I finally tried it. I was mad that I'd regained all of the weight I lost last year, so I was determined to work hard at something new. Bought the book for $18 at Walmart and it's the best $18 I've EVER spent! ;-)
Path to Health

Journo June aka MamaBear said...

Came back to let you know about The Flat Belly Diet (the official name of the book). It's written by editors of Prevention magazine and the book is bright yellow. They have some info on the program at prevention.com.
Path to Health

Sheryl said...

Don't give up and don't compare yourself to others. You are you and that's it. Just keep taking it day by day.

I have recently started weight watchers online, cheaper then going to the weekly meetings and they have a lot of great tools.

I have to quit fooling myself, I need the structure of the points.