Day 22!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hurrah! Day 22 is here!! And yes, I did workout today. So did Husband actually. We did a circuit from my Women's Health Big Book of Exercises. Not sure if I've mentioned that before but it's a great resource for making up circuits. There are hundreds of exercises for every single body part.

Yesterday I did Vinyasa Basics across the street at The Toren. On the 30th floor, Yoga Local holds classes in an unleased unit. Having never done this type of yoga (I've only ever taken one beginner class at Crunch a while back), I was kind of nervous. I did not do fantastic but I did not totally suck either. I most definitely worked up a sweat. It lasted an hour and 15 minutes and by 10:15AM I was done working out for the day. Nice.

We did head into the city and got a lot of walking in.

Today I woke up 3lbs. lighter than day one and I feel they are 3 real pounds that will stay off and now that I am getting much more serious about my food, I am determined to keep the scale moving the right way!

Good news:

• I woke up wondering what workout I should do today-- not "Awww man! Do I have to workout today?"
• I halved my breakfast and didn't feel a bit deprived.

So I feel successful in the sense that I view my workouts as something I am going to do. Granted, I didn't work out on Friday, I got busy and when it gets too late (like after midnight), I feel creeped out hanging out in the gym alone. But-- as I was lying in bed that night, my body felt restless. I could feel the effects of not getting that physical release that day. When I workout, I feel good body and mind and when I don't work out, I feel bad body and mind. Hmph... whaddya know? This does not end now. I will keep checking in as the days go by; maybe not as often but I will try as this blog has kept me very accountable.

Day 19

Wait... I think today is Day 19. I'm pretty sure because yesterday I didn't work out-- I know but you know what? It's okay. I was talking to a friend on the phone and was wrapped up in receiving some exciting news (she is preggers!) and by the time we stopped screaming and giggling, it was just way too late to go down. But hey, that's life and I am learning to chill out a bit about the whole thing. I want to work out because I want to; not because exercise gods will smite me.

Which brings me to the main point that I wanted to address tonight: I feel great! I am eating better and am now at a point of.... accepting my workouts. I wouldn't say I dread them at all but rather view them as inevitable. My number one take away from this whole thing is that I can never say that I don't have the time to workout. I have time. I'd say that we all have the time. It is the deciding of how your time is going to be spent that is key.

I walk/jogged tonight Around 10:15PM. By the time I finished 2 miles (I detest running but was in the mood so I ran with it-ha!) and followed up with deep stretching, it was after 11PM. But so what? All I would have been doing otherwise is sitting around watching TV; which I can do while in the gym anyway. So there really isn't any reason not to. Plus-- I feel great! The physical release is so nice and I am proud of myself. What's better than that?

Day 17 cont...

I must give a shout out to Patti Stanger for keeping me on the stationary bike for 45 minutes tonight. I really wanted to cut out at 30 minutes but I had to find out how the dates ended!
















Good news:

• My fruit experiment continues and I've been enjoying it (2 kiwis, 1 clementine, fresh squeezed juice of 1 grapefruit and 2 oranges).

• I took a walk at lunch with a co-worker.

• Cable TV enabled me to withstand 45 minutes on stationary bike.

Bad news:

• While on that walk, I "discovered" a Tim Horton's and next thing I knew, I was buying a chocolate glazed doughnut.
  

Well, at least my good news outweighs the bad right? The picture above is from the produce box that we get every Tuesday from the organic co-op. It's called Urban Organic and it's pretty awesome.

Day 17

Yesterday was Day 16 and while I didn't post, I definitely did workout. I was also more mindful of my portions and what exactly I was eating by implementing a few tricks.

We (Husband and I) were watching some infomercial thing on Sunday with Zonya Foco and she made a lot of sense. One thing that stuck out in my mind was her trick for cutting sugar cravings. She said to try this:

Eat one piece of fruit ever 4 hours with a glass of water. This should dramatically reduce your sugar cravings. And to dismiss the nonsense about fruits being sugary...especially since I had been eating actual sugar laden products. Fruit could only be better. Plus I don't like anyone or any diet that villainizes fruit.

It definitely seemed to help! Plus I packed a lunch from leftovers of last nights dinner. All and all it was a stellar health day (except that handful of M&M's). I capped this off with a nighttime workout with Husband in our buildings gym. We both got a good sweat worked up and walked out of there feeling good. I've now woken up the the biggest weight loss I've experienced thus far!

Now-- to keep it going today!

Day 15

The past couple of days have been ... challenging in a few ways. Namely because on Day 13, I did not work out. For whatever reason, I was just exhausted when I came home and was in bed, lights out, by 10pm. This caused a lot of bargaining and mental torment on my part. I swore to work out twice the next day, in the morning and after work. When the opportunity for the AM "make up" session came and went, I vowed to do the equivalent of two workouts that evening.

I was driving myself crazy and it had to stop. What I needed to do was move on. For my sanity and for the fact that I couldn't change it. On Friday evening, I walked the stairs again (so hard!), and did a weight circuit in the gym. I may continue to throw the stairs in the mix because nothing else gives that raw throat burning, knock the wind out of you feeling, like that does. Even though, I'm just walking up the stairs at a reasonable pace, I end up sweating and gasping by the 10th floor and have to take many breaks to make it to the 22nd.

Saturday morning, I headed to the farmer's market with Husband. This actually provided the opportunity for a nice walk as well as serving the very useful purpose of providing us with some fresh and local food. I wore my pedometer and this racked up roughly 1,000 steps alone for something that I do on a regular basis.

Later that afternoon, we went to the gym where we biked for about 20 minutes and then did a weight circuit. It was very nice to have company but I had to be careful not to push Husband too much, as he is a hard one to get into the gym at all! I think he felt good though; will try again today.

So- we are all caught up. My weight is holding steady which is NOT what I'm going for... Must tackle the diet end of things this week. I wouldn't have to work so hard to get the fat off if I wasn't always shoveling it in right? Oh, and portions, portions, portions. I'm working on eating until I am not hungry anymore, not until I'm full. Getting "full" is a lie we were told when we were kids and it's a hard notion to disabuse yourself of. The Japanese actually refer to it as hara hachi bu, eating until you are 80% full. I used to wonder how the heck I was supposed to know when exactly, I'd reached that point. I could start by not stuffing myself silly like it's my last meal. I continue to struggle with this daily... Mainly, because the portions that are sold are enormous to begin with and you don't want to feel that you are wasting your money. Perhaps this is a reminder to make more of my own food.

***link taken from an article by Michael Pollen, who has written many books about healthy and reasonable eating.

Day 14

Having a "just do it" moment... will report back soon.

Day 13

The fact that I was so wiped out from the stairs yesterday, made me aware that I simply haven't been working out as hard as I could be in general. I think what I've been doing would be great for maintenance if I was at goal weight, but not enough to be a game changer. Siiiiiggggghhhhhhh.... I want it to be easy! I want something for nothing! I want a latte!

I've just been ping-ponging the same 2lbs back and forth for a week now. I may hit those stairs again voluntarily.