Thursday, April 2, 2009

Day 20: Trying some new things

I had grand plans of doing a great workout this morning while my daughter is at preschool, however, as I was lying in bed, I realized that I can't do what I wanted because my cleaning lady will be here. So, I'm going to try something new, I'm going to head to the Rec Center and check it out. I haven't been there since they opened the new workout facility. They run a 3 month special every summer that I may try this year if I like what I see today.

I have been eating/snacking like a pig the past two days. I don't know what it is. I've tried the old "wait 15 minutes before eating" trick, and I've also tried drinking water in lieu of eating, but I still end up eating. I've had a taste for something, but I just don't know what it is. I've tried at least to make healthy choices like yogurt covered raisins or celery with salsa or a protein bar, but still, they're empty calories I don't need. So today, I'm going to try blogging every time I feel like snacking. I'm hoping I can figure out why I'm snacking so much. We'll see if it works.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Days 18 and 19: Slipping...

I can feel myself losing steam. I didn't get up to work out yesterday or today. I did meet with the personal trainer yesterday afternoon for my assessment. He had me walk one mile on the treadmill, do 12 "real" push ups and as many crunches as I could in 30 seconds. He also had me use some sort of leg machine and arm machine and rate on a scale of 1 to 10 how hard the exercises were. I'm hoping to start next Thursday. My schedule will be Tuesdays at 1 pm and Thursdays at 9:30.

I ate terribly yesterday. I just kept snacking. I was trying to make decent choices, but at some point, even if you're eating carrots and celery, you're still just eating calories that you don't need. I had a taste for "something," I'm not sure what it was, I thought I wanted something sweet, so I kept eating handfuls of yogurt covered raisins, but nothing was satisfying to my palette.

I may try to get some sort of workout in this afternoon, but we'll see.

Monday, March 30, 2009

Day 17: Decent workout

I started with Level 2 of Jillian's 30 Day Shred which is about 20 minutes long. I followed that up with 30 minutes of Yoga. Even though I enjoy the Yoga routine I've been doing "On Demand," I'm really hoping that a new one gets added soon so I have something else to add to my rotation.

I tried really hard to eat healthy yesterday, but we were out looking at houses and decided to go to Noodles for lunch. I ordered the Whole Grain noodles thinking that would be a healthier choice. When I got home and looked up the caloric content, I was shocked to find that I had eaten 770 calories. I don't think I'll be going back to Noodles any time soon.

I've also incorporated Protein water and protein bars into my diet, so we'll see if those are the "magic pill" for losing weight.

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Day 16: Yoga

I only had time for 45 minutes of Yoga this morning. In the hopes that an offer comes through on our house, we are off to look at a few houses later this morning with our agent. I'm fine with 45 minutes of Yoga. I worked out hard for the past two days so the deep stretches felt good.

Had a great dinner last night at Ocean Prime. I ordered Salmon which was prepared with a soy butter sauce and ginger snap peas. I also had the house salad with the honey mustard dressing on the side. I had two small spoonfuls of potatoes and 1 small spoonful of creamed spinach. I drank 3 glasses of wine, too. Oh, and I just remembered my two bites of chocolate cake. By my calculations, the entire meal was around 1300 calories, a bit high, but not terrible. I'm happy with my choices. Obviously, I could have cut calories by not drinking wine and skipping the salad, and one of spoonfuls of potatoes, but I'm not the kind of person who deprives herself when it comes to food. I like to eat, I just need to be mindful of my portion sizes.

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Day 15: Another great workout

It's Saturday! I had a great workout today! I did 50 minutes of Jillian's "Boost Your Metabolism" followed by 30 minutes of Yoga Sculpt. I felt great after both workout routines. Again, the only move I just can't bring myself to do is the jumping scissor kicks in Jillian's "BYM."

The number on the scale has dropped to 138 pounds. In general, I'm happy that the numbers keep going down, and I hope that continues.

I bought some of that Protein water and some South Beach Protein bars, we'll see if either of those things help with the weight loss this week.

A few asides: 1) While I'm getting myself ready for my 10 year Anniversary vacation, my sister is getting ready for a cruise she's takikng this July. She's 7 years younger than me and hasn't had any kids, so she's in better shape than I am. I'm let her borrow my 30 Day Shred DVD, just to see if she likes it. (I can get Levels 1 and 2 from Exercise TV On Demand.) She called me today to tell me that she did Level 1 for the first time and felt like she was going to die. I told her that's exactly how I felt after doing it the first time, but that it does get easier. I also told her that while I like the fact that it's a quick workout, right now, it's not enough of a workout for me. I usually do it on my "easy" days.

2) I talked to K about doing the personal trainer, and he said it's fine. My dad will watch the kids for me on Tuesday, so I'm all set for my assessment on Tuesday. We'll see where I go from there. I'd still like to get down a few more pounds before I start with the trainer.

And finally,
3) We are heading to Ocean Prime for dinner tonight with K's parents to celebrate K's promotion at work. I'm looking forward to a nice dinner (that we don't have to pay for), but I also know that I need to make sure I make good choices at dinner and limit my consumption of wine.

Friday, March 27, 2009

My meeting with the personal trainer

I met with a personal trainer today. I'm pretty sure I want to do this, it's just a matter off when to start and what days I can commit to training and finding a baby sitter. I'd really like to get down a few more pounds on my own before I start. I'm not really sure why, I just want the sense of accomplishment that comes with losing weight on my own.

When I told him that my goal was to get down to 120 pounds by mid-June to coincide with our anniversary vacation he didn't seem to think that was an unreasonable goal. I told him all about my previous experience with a personal trainer, and he said he thinks he can do better. I scheduled up an "assessment" for next Tuesday at 1:00.

He encouraged me to drink more water and to incorporate a protein bar into my dailyy routine. I've been working on drinking more water for the last week or so, I suppose I can try the protein bar. He says it will help me build muscle.

Day 14: Great work out!

I did it! I got out of bed when the alarm went off at 5:45 (give or take a minute or two to "shake the cobwebs.") I did 35 minutes of Jillian's "No More Trouble Zones," the "quickie" version." I followed that up with 30 minutes of Yoga. I totally could have done more of Jillian's "NMTZ", but as usual, I was pressed for time and really wanted to do some Yoga today.

I almost wrote, "I feel great" in the subject line, and in general, I do, but my lower back is sore. Again, I think I'm over-training at this point, but I also know I need to do some sort of workout everyday.

Today the scale said 138 lbs; I'm satisfied with that, I was hoping to be down a bit more, but at least the weight is trending down.

Later today I am meeting with a personal trainer. I wrote yesterday that when I finally make it to 130 lbs, I would like to go back to using a trainer to help me with those last 10 or so pounds. This arrangment would be different than my last one. I would actually go to a facility which is a "private gym" and work out there as opposed to someone coming to my house. I really liked the convenience of someone coming to my house, but I know I wasn't doing enough cardio, I think if I go to a "gym" with treadmills and elliptical machines, then I should hopefully get the cardio I'm lacking at home. I will have to enlist the help of my in-laws and perhaps workout out one evening a week after K gets home from work in order to make this work. We'll see, I'm still several pounds away.

Finally, as a complete aside, I'm baking cookies right now. They're not for me, they're for the people who are coming back this morning to take a second look at our house. I thought the smell of "baked goods" in the house might be alluring to a buyer. We'll see. While we've had a healthy number of showings, this is only the second time that someone has come back for a second look. Fingers crossed.