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.

Day 12

I had a rude awakening-literally! I checked my email on my iPhone as soon as I woke up, like always. That's normal right?

Anyway, there was an alert that all elevators were down until further notice. Some luxury building. I had to walk my dog down the stairs and back up again; as well as myself a final time to get to work. Did I mention that I live on the 22nd floor?

Turns out this was one of the best workouts I've had in awhile! On the way back up, my heart was pounding and I was dripping with sweat. My heavy coat and Doggie's extra 11.6 lbs. definitely didn't help. Not sure if it's right or wrong, but I considered this my daily exercise as it took a little over 30 minutes and was annoying. Just like my normal workouts!

Day 11

Whoops, I almost totally forgot to post! It's midnight so technically it's tomorrow but I haven't gone to bed so it's still today ya dig? Me and the pedometer walked home over the Brooklyn Bridge again. It rained earlier today so it was slippery (in my not-at-all walk appropriate shoes) plus this creepy guy was following me too close and I had to give him the stink eye.

Today at work, trainers from New York Sports Club came by to try to entice us all to sign up for sessions and answer general questions. I got my body fat index measured and it was a number that would only be acceptable if I was 70+. The trainer guy (named "Flex") suggested I come in to discuss my fitness goals. I let him know that my only goal is to be skinny but he says I need to be more specific. Good point, but by then he was getting on my nerves so I went back to my desk.

On a positive note, the 2lbs that I initially lost, but then regained over the holiday, has been lost yet again. So net-net I guess. I was depressed about it at first but Husband pointed out that had I not been exercising, it could have been worse. Perspective people!

Day 10 cont...

Out of sheer laziness, I decided to whip up a little breakfast for dinner. It was so yummy and so easy that I decided to share. I actually got the recipe from a book called Clean Up Your Diet by Max Tomlinson. It emphasizes eating pure foods. Tonight's dinner included the following:

• 2 poached eggs
• roasted garlic (about 4-5 cloves)
• olive oil
• the grainiest bread you can find (toasted)
• 1 tomato (sliced)

Bear in mind, I made a few adjustments based on what I had available as well as my taste preferences. It felt nice to eat a really simple, yet filling, meal with a short ingredient list of all whole foods. I guess the toast is debatable but I used a pretty good bread with no sugars.

Day10

At work today, we were given pedometers. The basic idea was to pair up (all totally optional) and compete for a week to see who could tally the most steps. We were told it was to help bounce back after the Thanksgiving holiday... that, or it was a major hint..or a sign???

I had already planned to walk home from the Brooklyn Bridge so this worked out. At first I was afraid since it was already so dark at 5pm. But- like most things in New York, the bridge was lit up like a Christmas tree and full of people. It was actually really relaxing and helped me clear my head. I solved the problems of the world up there; at least my world. As of right now, I've logged 9,904 steps!

I did start to wonder if the car exhaust negated the benefits of the walk...

Day 9

So last night I decided to relax and pace myself... especially given the fact that I planned to work out on the early side today. Which I did. I followed the circuit shown in the picture; taken from this month's Shape magazine (Kelly Osbourne cover). There were actually 3 circuits described and I bounced around them all to create one super circuit.

Since it was around noon, the gym was quite crowded and some moves I felt downright ridiculous doing. When I work out with a trainer I don't mind looking crazy b/c obviously this crazy person is making me do crazy things. On my own, I look like the crazy one. I have to admit though-most people in the gym are so into their own thing, that no one's paying attention to anyone else. Some people like me haven't learned to focus and are paying attention to everyone else!

Another point that was driven home today was to stop counting. When I was working out with my trainer, I'd constantly be asking him how many and how many more... He of course, would tell me not to worry about it and also of course, he was right. (grrrrrrrr....) Focusing on achieving a set number in your mind prevents you from seeing how far you could really go. The circuits were for preset times of 1 minute. This caused me to fly by numbers that I would usually stop at, just because those were the numbers that I always did. Sets of 10, 12, 15, etc... Lesson learned! And it only took me 18 months!

Day 8

Ehhhh... I took it kind of easy today. My excercise consisted of a nighttime stroll with Husband. We weren't exactly power walking (in fact, there was a Starbuck's latte break in there), but walk we did.

Earlier today I had my favorite meal from Wild Ginger, a vegan place near us. I almost always order N14 the Bi-bim Bap. I don't know what that means exactly but it has rice, green & black seaweed, avocado, kimchee, chickpeas, spinach, and seitan. Oh and mango salsa. I love it, plus it's enough for two meals. It also comes with a pumpkin soup so it's pretty much the bomb.


***Update: Whoa! I feel weird... like I want to go to the gym... Hmph, I don't know if that walk did it for me. It's 10:17pm and I can't swear I won't up and go. I'm home for the night and Husband is watching boxing. SNL is a re-run and I just drank a latte so I'm kind of wired. Let's see how this plays out.

Day 7

Alright listen... we've all succumbed to a wacky craving. I never eat Wendy's but I was really craving some french fries and in general, some fat. And not "good" fat like an avocado or something.

I tried to fight it but to no avail. Don't worry, I was sufficiently punished. The downtown Brooklyn Wendy's is as delightful as it sounds.

Day 6 cont...

If you are ever in need of some alone time, head to your gym at 11pm on a national holiday devoted to eating your face off.

I am thankful for the TV hook up on the cardio machines because seriously- the only way I'm making it through this deal with the devil is the fact that I can watch Millionaire Matchmaker while I'm biking a 10k.

Day 6

Happy Turkey Day! Not sure if I will actually eat turkey since we are going over Husband's sister's house and that is typically a Caribbean feast including but not limited to the following: curried chicken, stewed chicken, jerk chicken, oxtails, plantains, sweet potatoes, etc...
Sooooo... bad diet day. And I still haven't worked out which I meant to do before we headed out so that may make for a late night but I brought it on myself. No one forced me to watch the Purina National Dog Show. Ah well...

Day 5 cont...

At work today, we were allowed to leave early so I was out by 1:30pm. This left plenty of time for working out before sundown for a change. I put in a full hour today! I was in the mood for calisthenics and brought down my yoga mat so I could do a lot of floor work. I'm getting pretty good at "keeping it moving"and making up stuff to fill those moments when I don't know what to do. *
I may be easing into the acceptance phase... Honestly, Monday and Tuesday were the hardest so far with work and everything. If** I can squeeze in the gym before dinner tomorrow, I should cruise on into the weekend.



*Jumping jacks and squats with dumbbells to overhead press are some go-to moves.
** I mean WHEN I squeeze in the gym of course!

Day 5

Just popping in to say that I'm down another pound! If you think I'm telling you how much I weigh you are out of your mind but I'm happy to report pounds lost.

Day 4

Bad news:

• Today was the cook-off
• I ate a doughnut
• I ate many many cookies
• I ate many mini cupcakes
• Guac/chips and pork taco for dinner b/c hell, why not?

Good news:

• I did drag my behind to the gym at 10pm (second night in a row)

So yeah, as I mentioned yesterday, the cook-off is serious business at my job and people brought their A game's. I didn't end up making anything after all. But it mattered not as there was plenty o'grub.

Not a whole lot to say this time around. I did not want to work out--like really, really-- did not want to work out. I was perfectly comfy watching the DWTS finale on my couch with man and dog. My saving grace was that the cardio machines downstairs have tv's so I could hook up my headphones and not miss anything. As has been the trend, once I got going, I went past 30 minutes logging a solid 45. I'm hoping the dread and loathing will give way to acceptance and then hopefully anticipation.

Day 3

Today is a textbook case of how things get tricky for me with work and all. We had a shoot today which means I had to arrive at 9am instead of my usual 10am... or 10:15 or whatever. Plus we never shoot on Monday and I found this totally jarring. Needless to say, I did not work out before work.

Halfway through the shoot, someone reminded me that we were supposed to go for after-work drinks as a department. I was then also reminded that the Thanksgiving Cook-off* is tomorrow and not Wednesday as I seemed to think. So here I sit at home slightly drunk at 8:30pm, contemplating making a lemon loaf but likely flaking out, and not at all wanting to work out. But I can't flake out on that because it's only friggin' Day 3! Wah.

Oh yeah, I keep forgetting to take pictures for this blog... that'd help huh?

Good News:

• Last night for dinner we ate Crispy Skinned Salmon, grilled eggplant, and salad with cucumber, tomatoes, and shitake mushrooms.

• I woke up one pound lighter.

• In today's fruit watch I ate a pear and a banana.

• I took the stairs instead of the escalator once I got off the subway tonight.

Bad News:

• I overcooked the fish.

• Husband refused to eat (expensive) shitake mushrooms

• around 11pm last night I wolfed the last piece of pizza that we ordered over the weekend.

*This is way serious business at my job. There are prizes and scores to settle; feelings get hurt.

Update: I've done 45 minutes in the gym; 20 of which were on the stationary bike. Chelsea Handler got me through the hard times (level 15). The other 20 were comprised of a weight lifting circuit and a bit of stretching. My initial 5 minutes were spent on some stair climb-y contraption that no, was not an elliptical (I know what that is), but some kind of scissor kick thing that not even Chelsea Handler could help me with.

Day 2

Since today was Sunday I wanted to do something I was unlikely to do on a weekday. I had a few errands to run in Soho and figured walking home over the Brooklyn Bridge would definitely be 30 minutes if not more.

I went from Houston and Bowery (Whole Foods) to Greene and Spring (Space NK) to Canal and something (Pearl Paint). From there I headed to the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge on foot. I mention "on foot" because I had actually planned to take the R train from Canal Street to City Hall but 1.) the entrance was closed and 2.) I realized that I didn't have my subway pass and wasn't about to buy one when I had a perfectly good one at home. So I headed in the general direction on foot; following the signs. Anyway, this was pretty solid deposit in the Fitness Bank.

The Fitness Bank is my mental calculation of things I did during the day that counted towards my health and fitness (credits) vs. those that took away from it (debits). The extra walk before my walk helped balance out (in my mind anyway) the pumpkin doughnut I ate from Dean & Deluca while I was running around.

The Brooklyn Bridge is roughly one mile (1.13) and makes for a nice enough walk but should you do it be mindful of the following:

• on the weekend it's packed with tourists (duh)
  

• tourists aren't in a hurry

• there is construction going on at certain points so the great view I was hoping to enjoy was obstructed for quite sometime by sheet metal; giving it all the charm of a storage unit.

Once home, I calculated my total trek and was pretty happy to find that my total distance traveled was 3.2 miles. According to Google maps, this took 1 hour 4 minutes but that excludes shopping time at each place of course. I should mention that I took the stairs to the 4th floor while in Pearl Paint. That counts for something right? Fitness Bank!

Day 1

I'm smart. I know that mathematically, weight loss would result from expending more calories than I consume. I know that I should not eat a pint of ice cream in one sitting. I know that 8 out of 10 people* who have bodies I admire, work really hard for them. So I figure any defiance of this knowledge is a conscious decision to be fat. I had to ask myself:

"Self, do you choose to be fat?"

My immediate reaction was to say no, yet the choices I make daily are in direct contradiction. I had to admit that the answer was actually yes. This was a heavy leaden thunk of a fact to swallow.**

I've always been on the bigger side... which while pretty subjective, I just mean to say adjectives like: curvy, thick, and my favorite "healthy" were often used to describe me. That's all fine and well. I'm not attempting to look like a supermodel but I do aspire to be MY best self. I'd rather not develop cancer or heart disease but I'd also really like to wear leather leggings. Health is the p.c. answer for inspiration but I'm as vain as the next gal so I'm also in it for the fashion. I am a Stylist after all but that's a whole other story of mind fuckery.***

Anyway, the other week I was reminded that it takes 21 days to form a habit. I'd heard this a hundred times before but for some reason this time it bounced around my head while the person continued talking. All I really kept thinking was,

"But then what?"

What happens on the twenty-second day after your mental carrot of the magical 21 days is over? I'm great at starting something. Especially over the weekend (today is Saturday and I've started this blog). But what's going to happen next Wednesday when I don't feel like getting up? When I look at the alarm clock and realize that while I could go downstairs and work out (I have a gym in my building; I mean how lazy am I geez...), I could also sleep for another hour. Forget day twenty-two, I should name this blog day four. My goal (hope, dream, prayer) is that this blog, like my new exercise life, goes beyond 22 days.

Right now... the deal I've made with myself is that for the next 21 days I have to do SOMETHING that counts as exercise. At a minimum of 30 minutes at some point in the day. If I can't resist the snooze button in the morning--fine but that means I have to workout that evening. I figure there must be some degree of flexibility in there somewhere or I'm setting myself up for failure and disappointment. Walking (briskly) part of the way to or from work for instance, could count.

I'm logging off to go to the gym (as mentioned, it's right downstairs), but I'm already eyeing things I could do instead. Loading the dishwasher seems really important all of a sudden. This is going to be hard.



*I happen to work around a lot of models. Who, yes, are people but not like you and I! In defense of their genetic freakiness, many of them work hard to maintain their biological advantage.

**My instinct was to make a self-deprecating joke about the irony of the word "swallow" within a blog about weight loss but decided to stop picking on myself.

***Being a complicit cog in the machine of the Beauty Industrial Complex whilst opposing it can really mess with your head!