SCC Week Four

Spring Chick Challenge (SCC) Week Four Challenge Update:

1.       Commit to a NSV (non scale victory) to be assessed at the start and the conclusion of the challenge.   My size 14 jeans I currently wear will be loose and falling off!  I will be wearing a size 12!!

I did some measurements over the weekend to see how I have done over the month of January.  I lost an inch on my waist, belly and hips.  I was happy there was a decrease, I had a rough week and was a bit discouraged.  I have to look at the positive side of things and keep trekking along.  Over the month I lost a total of 5 lbs.  I am now finally to my pre-holiday weight.  So it took the month of January to work off the months of November and December!

2.       Commit to a set of nutrition parameters and track via MyFitnessPal

o        I will aim for 1200/day and adjust according to my exercise  tracking via MyFitnessPal (add me as your friend—ambreee)

o        I will drink at least 64 oz of water a day.

o        For the month of January I am giving up sugary sweets!

They say that it takes 21 days to form a habit.  I made it 22 days with out candy, cookies and sweet baked goodies.  And I can honestly say I have not formed a new habit.  It is going to take more than 21 days for me.  Last week I was weak!!  Really weak, I folded and gave into cookie dough and candy.  I had a little bit nearly every day.

Giving up goodies cold turkey isn’t the best solution for me.  I think I do better if I allow myself to have goodies here and there and just make sure I track it to stay with in my allotted calories.

I was a bit disappointed that I haven’t lost more with my efforts.

3.       Commit to a set of exercise parameters. These can be as loose or as flexible as you feel work for your personality, schedule, etc.

o        I will exercise 4 times a week at least 45 minutes a session

This week I got in 4 workouts.  They probably averaged 45 minutes, some were longer, some were shorter.  I had great aspirations to make it to the gym.  It didn’t happen.  Both my kids are sick.  Started with coughs, then came the fevers, ear infections and now they are slowly on the mend.  Still sick though, I was really hoping to make it to the gym today!!! I guess I will be doing an at home work out once again!

With my kids being sick, I have had a terrible time keeping up with my personal wants and goals.  I am also struggling to feel well and am fighting off the germies!  I look forward to not giving up and continuing to move forward!!! 

This week for my new exercise I created a playlist on youtube of a beginning zumba work out.  I hope you guys all checked it out!

4.       Commit to blogging at least twice weekly and 1 of those times must be you check in with a complete up date on your progress. All other blogs could include new insights, results of weekly challenges, or just letting others know how you are doing.

Check!

5.       Commit to support... both giving and receiving. Check others blogs and comment as you feel motivated to do. 

Check!

Week 5’s Goals in addition to my goals above:

No Caffeine!!

This won't be a problem for me.  I don’t drink coffee, tea or soda.  I guess I need to come up with a mini goal for me this week that will actually be a challenge. 

How about take my vitamins every day this week!!!

I hope you are all doing well!!  Keep your heads held high and February will be a great month.  I am looking forward to winter winding down and spring right around the corner.

Have a great week!!

Challenge for $$ Reflections

I am debating about joining a local weight loss challenge.  It begins this Saturday and goes through June 8^th (my wedding anniversary!).  The first place prize is $3000.  If I could drop my sugar habit for six months, it is possible I could win this challenge.  I am a winner you know???!!!

Four years ago I joined a fitness challenge at my gym.  I was determined, I was motivated.  It was a six week challenge and was measured by the greatest amount of fat percentage lost.  There were only 8 people who participated, but I did have tough competition.  I don’t remember all the details and numbers, but I do remember only loosing around 5lbs.  But I lost 10% of my body fat and won the challenge!  It was a great boost in my roller coaster of adventure. Here are my before and after pictures from the challenge.

I have always wanted to be trim and fit and have taken great efforts to do so.  It has always been a challenge to keep my weight at bay, but since I have had kids, it has been even more difficult.  The body I once cursed and felt like it was oh, so large, I would love to return to today.  Perspective!

So if I join this challenge.  I would like to return to the 150lb beauty, I was four years ago. 

I am a numbers person.  I looked up the past two years winners of this challenge and one lost 30% of her body weight and the other lost 26%.

For me to drop 30% I would be at my ideal weight of 140lbs.  Can I get it accomplished  by June 8^th?  It is possible, but being a mom now, can I do it???  I know I can do it, I am just not sure how the road there will look exactly.  Dropping everything and going to the gym doesn’t exactly work with two toddlers who need a lot of attention from mom.  Even when I plan it into our day, things come up (teething, sickness, need of a nap or just plain cranky! All of which seem to happen a lot in my life!).

Oh decisions, decisions!  Maybe if I could make a goal of what I would do with the $3000.  The possibilities are endless.  A new camera housing for my 50mm Nikor lens.  A cruise vacation with the hubs to Alaska.  A nice little nest egg for the kid’s savings accounts.  Or maybe a special trip shopping and to the spa, ahh... a day of relaxation. 

I have almost talked myself into the challenge.  We will see what happens between now and Saturday.  It costs $50.00, so for me if I drop the money on the table I will need to commit to make it worth it.  Of coarse I aim to win if I join, but I do know that the ultimate winnings are a healthier, leaner more in shape body!  If I can get my sugar habits under control this is very possible!!!

Any advice or words or encouragement are welcomed!

Happy 2012ing!

Been absent, but still here.

I am still here.  I haven’t opened up this blog, my email or read any of yours for almost two weeks,.  I am holding strong and maintaining my weight.  This morning pre-Thanksgiving feasting I was at 185.1.  We will see how things pan out on my weigh in day Saturday.

My kids have been sick with runny noses, coughs and an ear infection.  I haven’t been able to go to the gym for a couple weeks and really my priority has been just the care of my kids.  We have been hovering at home for the most part, with a few walks here and there.

I didn’t update for the Christmas Dress Challenge last weekend, so I guess I am out.  I haven’t really put it as a priority in my life right now.  I was excited to have a challenge to keep me going, but my kids have been sick it seems like all fall, and now winter is about here and we are still fighting buggy germs.  I have also been fighting off a stuffy  head, sore throat and runny nose as well.  I have been downing the Coldcalm and Zicam like there is no tomorrow.  It hasn’t gotten worst, so maybe it is working.

Even though I am dropping out the Challenge, I am not giving up.  I am hoping to get back on track soon and really hoping that my kids starting getting well enough that I can start taking them back to the gym with me.

This post is full of randomness.  Today is Thanksgiving and I am so very grateful for all of the many blessings in my life.  I have a wonderful family and I feel so grateful to have most of them near enough to gather for holidays like today.  Although we have been battling germs on the home front I am so thankful for me and my family’s health.  Despite the crankiness we have all had over the past month or so, overall we are healthy.  Yeah, I am still in the overweight category, but when I have gone to the doctor all other things check out to be healthy.

I am grateful for my husband’s job.  He doesn’t particularly like his job, but he has stuck it out for 5+ years.  We are on hot pursuit for a new job, and he actually has his first interview next Friday!!  We are not too excited that the job is 2 hours away from where we live now, but if every thing comes together we will move our family to this little po-dunk town, which feels like it is in the middle of nowhere.  I just want my husband to be in a job where he is happy and feels valued by his skills. If moving is what we need to do, it is what we will do.

I am so grateful to be a mom.  My kids are active and keep me on my toes, but they are fun.  My 2 ½ year old daughter is starting to get stronger language skills and this has helped so much in communicating what she wants.  My one year old is full of smiles and laughs (when he isn’t feeling lousy with an ear ache!).  He just brings me so much joy!  I feel blessed to be able to be at home with them.  We make sacrifices where needed and make it work. Being a mom is awesome.

I am grateful for a warm home and modern technology, it just makes life really great!

PS—My sister who has struggled with her weight all of her adult life, has been working hard at losing weight.  She has been on the journey for over a year now and this week she hit the 100 lb pound mark, 101 lbs to be exact!!  I am so proud of her, and she actually weighs less than me now (she is 7 inches taller than me!!! I am the short runt of the family of tall people).  I think that is a pretty awesome accomplishment.

Have a safe Black Friday, for all of those who dare go out shopping.  I may run to a store, but no early crazy shopping for me this year!

Christmas Dress Countdown Challenge: Week 8

Christmas Dress Countdown Challenge: Week 8

Initial: 189

Week 1: 187.3 (-1.7)

Week 2: 186.9 (-.4)

Week 3: 185.0 (-1.9)

Week 4: 187.3 (+2.3)

Week 5: 186.5 (-.08)

Week 6: 185.5 (-1)

Week 7: 186.5 (+1)

Week 8: 186.5 (0)

I have not had it in me to blog lately.  My personal blog hasn’t even been updated for over a month.  I have been busy and I haven’t given up, I just don’t fee like sitting on the computer to write.  Ugg.

So I am still here.  I am still working out.  I am still watching what I eat.  No super numbers to report though. 

I was feeling really good about this week. I was down to 183.3 on Thursday and I was excited to be able to report a loss.  Then yesterday morning I went to weigh-in which should have been my official weigh in day but I was astounded by the number 189 (and that was after I had a really great work out, that was even higher than when I began this challenge!!).  I know it was water weight, I have been drinking a ton of water and haven’t had to go to the bathroom nearly as much as I should, weird.  But six pounds over one day where I didn’t go crazy on my calories!!!! Holy Cow.  This is why I decided to post today’s weight rather than yesterdays of 189!

That is one big reason I would rather go by how my clothes fit and my measurements.  I did some experimenting a week or so ago.  I weighed myself in the morning when I first got up.  I ate breakfast and started drinking my water then weighed myself again.  Through the day I periodically weighed myself just to see how many pounds I vary through the day.

Interestingly enough, I varied about four pound though the day.  Really if you think about it drinking two glasses of water you will “gain” a pound.  I often forget to weigh myself at the same time of day and almost always drink a lot of water before I weigh in.

I am not making excuses about not losing lots of weight for this challenge, rather sharing why I don’t let the scale ruin my day. 

I did get in four great work outs this week.  It has been awesome to feel sore.  But the time change this morning wasn’t so awesome.  My kids are early risers and 5am was way too soon for me for a Sunday morning.

Have a great week!

Christmas Dress Countdown Challenge: Week 3

Initial: 189

Week 1: 187.3 (-1.7)

Week 2: 186.9 (-.4)

Week 3: 185.0 (-1.9)

Things are moving along this week.  I did not track, it was my little experiment.  I tried to eat as I would if I were tracking, being moderate.  I exercised four times at the gym and got in an additional walk.

I choose not to track my food, to get my mind off of food.  I have found when I am tracking I am constantly thinking about food.  I think it makes me more hungry.  I didn’t skimp on calories, so it is surprising I did lose weight at all.

One of the other reasons I didn’t want to track is I wanted to really focus on listening to what my body needs.  A few weeks ago I had all sorts of labs done at the doctor, cause for the last little while I have been feeling off.  The only thing that we have found deficient is my iron.  It has been running a little bit low.  It makes sense, I feel like it has been more than my blood sugar.

This week when I felt like things were getting low I made myself a green smoothie (water, milk, spinach, strawberries and protein powder). I guess that is another reason I didn’t want to count calories.  They aren’t the lowest calorie snack (266 calories), but they help me level out.  And hey, I still lost weight!  I am not going to worry about how many calories are in my green smoothies.  They help me keep my energy up and keep me from snacking too much between meals.

So here we are venturing off into the next week.  I will post some updates about my book a little later this week. I am at my in-laws for the weekend so things have been on hold.

Have a great week. Let's rock week 4!

Christmas Dress Countdown Challenge: Week 2

Initial: 189

Week 1: 187.3 (-1.7)

Week 2: 186.9 (-.4)

This is going to be brief, but I am ecstatic for my minuscule loss.  I finally broke 187, barely.  But I am going to take it and run with it! I am slowly breaking free from my slump.  I am feeling better and feeling emotionally stronger (which is one of the areas I have been suffering the most over the past couple of weeks).

I expect the numbers to keep declining this week.  I am getting back into the gym and pushing myself again and I will conquer my difficulties.  Today I am very sore from yesterday’s awesome work out.

This week I am going to push harder on my workouts but I am going to take a different approach on my eating.  I am going to step away from counting calories and really pay attention to my body's cravings.  Since I have started counting calories (in June) I have found that I am not eating as much red meat and in turn my iron is low and I think that is one of the reasons I have had difficulty keeping myself in balance.  Low iron and low blood sugar creates a cranky tired person.  I really won’t do much different in my eating, but I need to take away the tracking for a week to see what things are like.  I know some of you will consider this a dieting sin, but it is what I need to do.

Have a great week.  I am looking forward to finally getting my head into to the Christmas Dress Challenge!!

My goals:

-Journal my meals

-Be under 165g of Carbohydrates/day (with fiber adjustment)

-Exercise 5 times a week for 45-60 minutes

-10 glasses of water a day

-Run/walk a 5K in under 40 minutes GOAL MET!

-Build a support network

-lose an average of 2 lbs/week, 24lbs total

Beginning Weight: 201.3

Week 1: 198.6 (-2.7)

Week 2: 198.6 (0) No change

Week 3: 196.9 (-1.7) Total loss 4.4 lbs

Week 4: 193.9 (-3) Total loss 7.4

Week 5: 193.2 (-.5) Total loss 8.1   

Week 6: 193.3 (+.1) Total loss 8.0   

Week 7: 190.3 (-3) Total loss 11.0

Week 8: 191.7 (+1.4) Total loss 9.6

Week 9: 189.4 (-2.3) Total loss 11.9

Week 10: 188.3 (-1.1) Total loss 13

Week 11: 189.7 (+1.4) Total loss 11.6

(20.3 loss since I began my journey in January)

This week I have a gain, but I am grateful it is only 1.4lbs.  Could be worse.  I am pretty sure it is water weight anyway.  I feel bloated.

I started last week gung ho and excited to be moving!  On Monday I started Jillian’s 30 Day Shred.  It was easier than I anticipated.  I also went to the gym so I can meet my 45-60 minute goal.  I got to day four of the shred and my body was beginning to crash.  By Thursday I felt completely exhausted and I knew if I didn’t listen to my body and slow down I would be in trouble.

I only got in four workouts.  I was bummed to break my perfect exercise streak this summer of getting in my five+ workouts a week. Especially since there is only one week of the challenge left! Saturday I crashed for three hours not long after getting out of bed that morning.  My body has been fighting a bug for several weeks now and it has all caught up with me. So the rest was welcomed and needed.

I am feeling better today after taking four days off.  I decided to modify my goals a little bit starting next week.  I still want to get in 5 workouts a week, but I am modifying the time so on days that I just want to do the 30 day shred, I will limit my workout to just that if I am feeling too exhausted.

Food: carb count with fiber adjustment

Monday: 191

Tuesday: 170

Wednesday:214

Thursday:243

Friday: 138

Saturday: didn’t track, but slept most of the day, didn’t eat much.

Sunday: didn’t track ,but not a terrible day

Wow! After running the numbers I am lucky I didn’t gain more than a pound. I was in the red pretty much all week.  I had pasta on Monday and Tuesday and it is nearly impossible to not go over on carbs with pasta.  Then Wednesday and Thursday between the two days I ate a whole bag of peanut M&M’s.  They were Easter M&M’s I had tucked away.  I figured I had waited long enough to eat them.  I just could have used better judgment and not eaten them all!!!  That could have been what topped off my exhaustion, sending me whirling into a sugar coma!!

This week I am going to have a week with no sweets or goodies.  I am still allowing my protein shakes and fruit, but I have got to cut back on the goodies (my kids animal crackers, a jelly belly here and there, cookies, etc.) I am hoping it will get me back on track!

To view my food diary, visit myfitnesspal.com. 

Profile name: ambreee

Water Intake:

Did fine on water this week.

For all of those participating in Slimmer this Summer, Kudos!!  Hope you have a great final week!

Getting Specific...

When I created this blog I thought I would use if for reflection and as a tool for me to overcome my love of sugar.  I haven’t done much of that, but decided to do a little reflectingo today.  Please bear with me.

Since life is busy with two little ones at home I have blogged at a minimum this summer.  I was so happy to find the Slimmer this Summer Challenge.  So my blogging for the most part has just been my weekly check in for the challenge.

Some days I have little conversations with myself, like today for instance.  I saw a picture of me from the 4^th of July and I still cringe.  Even though I am losing weight, I still to me feel like I have such a long way to go.  My highest ever prior to children was 170lbs.  I worked really hard to stay down in the 150-160 range.  I always wanted to be around 130-140, no matter how hard I tried I have had difficulty return below 150.  Right now I am at 188 and it still feels so far away.  Enough of the pity party…. Moving on.

Like I have a dozen times (and probably will a few dozen more).  I have decided to buckle down even more.  I have goals and rewards for each ten pounds lost, but I decided I need to be even more specific. I was a special education teacher, prior to becoming a stay at home mom.  Something that I dealt with on a daily basis was goals.  It was drilled in my brain over and over how to write a “proper” goal.  It must be specific, measureable, attainable, action oriented, result oriented, and given a time frame.  Some people use the acronym SMAART.  But in the classroom our goals looked more like this:

IEP Goal/Objective Example:

From a baseline of  ___, the student will....

• perform a specific skill
• a specified number of times
• under specified conditions
• at a specified level of achievement
• for a specific length of time.

So how does that apply on my weigh loss journey today??? That is what I am trying to figure out.  I knew going into this summer challenge that losing 2lbs a week was attainable, but given my love of sweet things, and how I choose to conduct myself, it really isn’t happening.  An average of a pound a week is really more realistic with my sweet lifestyle.

So I turned to the numbers (Why does my brain have to be obsessed about numbers???).  I will be 34 years old in the first week of March.  That is 29 weeks from now.  Somewhere in my head I got the idea of getting down to 134lbs by my 34^th Birthday.  So as of today I would need to lose 54lbs in 29 weeks. 1.86lbs a week, so basically 2lbs a week.

Since the beginning of this challenge I have only lost 13lbs in 10 weeks.  So my average is running at 1.3lbs a week.  If I continue at this rate I will have lost 37.7lbs by my Birthday week.  Heck lets round it up to 38lbs, to make it a round 150lbs.  That would be great still, but not my 134 by 34.

I know I can lose an average of 2lbs a week, I just would have to give up sweets, or at least some sweets.  If any of you have ever glanced at my food diary at MFP, you will notice I have not given up all things sweet like many of you.  I eat something of a sweet nature every day. I know if I gave up even half of my sweets I would lose more rapidly.  For goodness sake.  I workout 5-6 times a week for 40-60 minutes.  I do this so I can eat sweets and still lose at a slow rate.  Hence my addiction to sugary goodness.

So here I am brainstorming at to how committed I am to getting down to 134 by 34.  Cutting back on all things sweet, is the key to kick things into gear.  I hesitate for two reasons.  1. I have done it before and I do lose more quickly.  When I go back to eating sweet things I gain so fast it isn’t even funny. Right now in my life I am not willing to give it up for good.  2.  I love sugary goodness!

My thoughts were to keep sweet things here and there and work hard on my workouts and lose at a slow pace.  I was hoping the slow pace would be closer to 2lbs a week.  So here I go again.  I am going to re-commit.  I am going to write a specific, measureable goal in hopes that I can pin this one!

Here we go:

By March 6^th 2012 I will weigh 134lbs.  This will be achieved by tracking my calories and carbs on MFP aiming for 1500 calories and under 165 grams of carbohydrates/day taking into account my fiber adjustments and eating my exercise calories if I choose to do so.  I will also work out 5 times a week for 40-60 minutes each session.  I will also be able to run a 10 minute mile with ease.

Benchmarks:

Lose 18lbs by Halloween: 170lbs

Lose 33lbs by Christmas: 155lbs

Lose 54lbs by Birthday: 134lbs

I guess I already did this when I wrote my original goals on my sidebar.  I just needed to add dates to clarify my vision.

I feel like I need to add something about sugar, but I am not sure what I am willing to commit to at this point.  I am thinking about going strict no sugary sweets every other week.  Maybe that will trick my system and I will be able to enjoy sweets occasionally and boost my weight loss.  I think I will give it a try and reevaluate in a month or so.

So feedback time:

How have you given up your favorite things/habits/addictions?  What works for you?

Thanks for being so awesome and supportive!

Week 9: Slimmer This Summer

My goals:

-Journal my meals

-Be under 165g of Carbohydrates/day (with fiber adjustment)

-Exercise 5 times a week for 45-60 minutes

-10 glasses of water a day

-Run/walk a 5K in under 40 minutes GOAL MET!

-Build a support network

-lose an average of 2 lbs/week, 24lbs total

Beginning Weight: 201.3

Week 1: 198.6 (-2.7)

Week 2: 198.6 (0) No change

Week 3: 196.9 (-1.7) Total loss 4.4 lbs

Week 4: 193.9 (-3) Total loss 7.4

Week 5: 193.2 (-.5) Total loss 8.1   

Week 6: 193.3 (+.1) Total loss 8.0   

Week 7: 190.3 (-3) Total loss 11.0

Week 8: 191.7 (+1.4) Total loss 9.6

Week 9: 189.4 (-2.3) Total loss 11.9

(20.6 loss since I began my journey in January)

209: Start Weight

199: hair trim

189: pedicure

179: Weekend Road Trip

169: Bedroom makeover

159: family Pictures

149: New outfit

139: hair cut

129: special vacation

I have finally earned my next reward for hitting 189lbs. A pedicure!! I have been anticipating this all summer. For motivations sake I have not even taken off my ratty toe nail polish from a couple months back.

It took longer than I planned, but I am so happy to have made it!  Hopefully my in-laws will be able to babysit for me while I go out sometime this week and enjoy being pampered.  I am ten pounds away from my next reward of a weekend road trip!

Food:

I did good this week.  There is a direct correlation between keeping my carbs down and losing pounds. Dang!

Monday: 189 carbs -37 fiber adjustment 152

Tuesday:161 carbs -46 fiber adjustment 115

Wednesday:164 carbs -30 fiber adjustment 134

Thursday:162 carbs -50 fiber adjustment 112

Friday: 208 carbs –42 fiber adjustment 162

Saturday:210 carbs -50 fiber adjustment 160

Sunday:

To view my food diary, visit myfitnesspal.com. 

Profile name: ambreee

Exercise:

Still 100% with exercise. I got in 6 work outs! Yeah!

Water Intake:

Did good on water this week. Met my goal nearly every day.

Measurements:

I am still a little bloated, but my measurements have gone down some from last week.

Weight	201.3	189.4	11.9
Neck	13.5	13.25	.25
Chest	43.5	41.5	2
Ribs	39	36.5	2.5
Waist	41	40.5	.5
Belly	46	44.5	1.5
Hips	45.5	44	1.5
Calf	16	15.5	.5
Arm	15	14.25	.75
	6/6/11 Start Measurements	8/8/11 Current	difference

Here are updated photos:

Hooray for week 10!  Only two weeks left of the challenge!  Lets see if we can rip it up!