it's been a long time

Sorry, it's been a while since I've posted anything on my blog. I know there are a few of you who are actually reading and keeping up with my progress. It's been a crazy month, but I'm still on the road to weightloss.
First of all, my 3 year old broke his arm on the 24th of February and so there have been som extra doctor appointments and stress in my life due to that. He's doing fine now and gets his cast off in 3 weeks.
Also, we started working towards purchasing a home. We secured a lender and a realtor and now are working with our landlords on the possibility of buying the home we are in, which would be awesome. Either way, it's a great time to buy and within the next 6 months we should be homeowners once again.
Okay, so what about weightloss??? I am still meeting with my little Carlos at least twice a week. He and I have struck up quite a friendship and I get to hear all about his girlfriend of the week with every session. We now text each other on our cell phones from time to time and I'm even on his facebook.
So far, for the year 2008, I've lost 13 pounds and 14.75 inches. I feel good about this progress. The pounds lost have slowed down as of late, but they have not stopped. My eating habits are not as strict as they were at the begininng of the year, but they are still good. I do grab a bit of chocolate from time to time at work but I don't have dessert at restaurants and I don't eat a whole box of cheezits in one sitting. I do enjoy some popcorn from time to time and some Skinny Cow ice cream, but that's about as bad as it gets. I know that the frequent weight training helps me to be able to eat a little bit more without gaining weight, so I figure if I keep it up, even though the weightloss is slow, after a year of this, I should look pretty good. If I average 4 pounds a month for the rest of the year that would be over 50 pounds lost in one year. Not too shabby. I know that this is a life change I'm making and not a temporary way to eat or exercise, so I have nothing but time. I'd rather do it slow and make it stick than do it fast and gain it all back later.

That's all for me today!

Lisa

I'm still here

Well, unlike Mitt Romney, I have not suspended my campaign. My campaign on weightloss, that is. I am still working my butt off on the exercise and diet trail. For the Month of January, according to the gym scale, I lost a total of 9 pounds. Young Carlos again did all my measurements and I lost a total of 11.5 inches!!!! That's definitely something to "hooray" about. My body fat percentage went from 42.3% to 41.1%. For those of you not in the "know," that is pretty good. That is muscle replacing fat. My goal is to get to 20%, so I still have a long way to go. My diet has gotten sloppy and I took measures yesterday on my grocery shopping trip to fix that. I had started using fast, easy, convenient calories to eat during the day and found myself constantly hungry and never satisfied. I am now back to looking for high fiber and high protein, which will keep me fuller longer even if it means a few more calories. I need to remember that I need quality fuel for my body. I've upped my Cardio as well. I do at least a mile with each trip to the gym, but have gotten up to 2 miles at times, and I am now running approximately 20% of the time. I would love to get up there and run for a complete mile and that is a short term goal for me. Carlos is great, he knows when to kick it up a notch. For a while, I had stopped getting sore after my workouts, but after yesterday's lower body workout, I find myself in pain today and it is a good pain. It reminds me what my body is doing and it's encouraging for me. I feel lucky that I got Carlos as my trainer as him and I have built up a great rapport with one another. He tells me about all his girlfriends and his school and family. I feel like a big sister to him and we work well together. He even told me I was one of his favorite clients because I don't complain, I'm always on time and I push myself and do what he asks me to do. What a nice compliment. He doesn't even get grossed out when my legs are hairy! LOL Well, that's all for today! Thanks for reading!

PMS!!

OH MY GOODNESS!! I never realized just how bad I get before I start my period. It started Thursday. I was cranky. Everything and everyone got on my last nerve. I was mean to Jeff, I was mean to the kids and on Friday, I was ready to quit my job! On top of it all, I was hungry. I was craving everything! I came to the realization, that in the past, I just ate my way through this. But, now...I can't eat my way through it, so I have to actually feel it. The cramps are even worse. I'm bloated and tired. I'm miserable. I'm still working out. I find it harder to do my cardio because it's so boring. I'm not sure what to do about that. I listen to my mp3 and when "Fighter" by Christina Aguilera comes on, I might break out into a jog, but then when the song is over, I'm done. Maybe I need to find some good aerobics classes or something on the days when I'm not with the trainer. My eating is okay. I've consumed more calories in the past few days, but I blame that on PMS. Calories aren't too high, just higher than what I was doing. I just need to get through this part of the month. I also think I need to make a trip to the Doctor and let him know just how bad I get...see if there's anything that he can do to help. I'm not giving up!

still going strong!

Well, it's been 21 days and I've lost 9 pounds! I feel great. I really like the approach to eating in the Best Life Diet. It's so easy. It empowers me by educating me about what to look for. I know, now, that all calories are not created equal. I know to look for fiber and protein and that all though the higher fiber, higher protein foods may be more calories sometimes, I understand that those calories are going to make me feel fuller longer and conribute to my health in a positive way. I am enjoying my independence with my diet and I love that it's allowing me to feel great and lose weight! I have more energy than I've had in a long time!
I worked out last Friday with Carlos and we did upper and lower body. I thought I wouldn't be able to move the next day, but I really wasn't nearly as sore as I expected. I hope that this is because my muscles are stronger and not because I didn't work out hard enough. I know I worked out as hard as usual. I suppose I need to kick it up a notch. We have another appointment today at 5:30. I am going a little before 5 so I can get some cardio in. Today I had a meeting at work and someone mentioned that they could tell by looking at my backside that I've lost weight! I'm wearing jeans that I couldn't have worn comfortably a month ago. I feel great! YIPPEE!!!

I ate pasta

So, I went to the gym today and did 2.15 miles on the treadmill. I don't feel like it was physically challenging enough for me, but it was just so boring! I did it for 33 minutes. When I got home, I wanted to eat. I knew I wasn't hungry. I sat back and tried to figure out what emotion was driving me to eat. It was stress. It was pay the bills day today! That is stressfull! There was also some billing issues going on with the dentist office, and I had stepped in there after the gym to straighten that out, so I was frustrated with them. So, this was the first time, I think, that I actually realized in real time why I wanted to eat when I wasn't hungry. I think that is good. I tried to work through it. I allowed myself 2 low calorie snacks that I had on hand. However, I started to crave pasta. The hubby and I went out to dinner and I was determined to have pasta. So, we went to a restaurant that we hadn't been to before. I looked all over the menu for a healthy option that sounded good to me and would satisfy my craving. I almost did the spaghetti with marinara, which would have been the better choice, but at the last second, I switched to Chicken bowtie alfredo. It came with white garlic bread and a soup, which was chicken noodle. I ate pretty much all of it! I felt guilty. When we got home, I felt tired. I knew it was because of that fatty food in my body! So, I went for a brisk walk for about a mile. That made me feel better, but I really have to work on this impulse eating. I need to find a way to talk myself out of it, to reason with myself. Mind over matter! I decided that when I have a stupid craving like that I first, need to acknowledge it. Second, I need to ask myself, "Are your kids more or less important than satisfying this craving?" "Is this craving worth dying for at an early age?" I also realize that I can't let the guilt I feel to keep me down. That's why I took the walk. I have to get right back up and keep going! I work all day tomorrow, but Thursday, it's back to the gym and I'm going to work work work!!!! Friday is my double session with Carlos. I can't wait!!! I need to feel the burn again! All the soreness is worn off and I miss it! It's a constant reminder of what I'm doing! I'm going to do this!!!!

Feel the burn!

I am definately feeling the burn. After yesterdays shoulders and back workout, I felt the burn from my shoulders down into my upper arms. I wondered what we would work today. I knew my legs weren't recovered enough to work again and my upper arms hurt so bad, I was sure we wouldn't do arms...but I was wrong. We did arms. OUCH! He let me lower the weight a couple of times as he admitted that I was still "jacked up" from yesterday. As I was lifting these weights, he starts telling me how he gets to eat at Texas Roadhouse tonight! He even mentioned the sinfull rolls and cinnamon butter! I was dying! But he has no fat on his body, so I think it's safe to assume he will be just fine. I on the other hand, along with the fam, went out to MiAmigos tonight for dinner. I did have some chips with salsa, but then had the tortilla soup and side salad. I wish I would've skipped on the chips, but I don't feel too bad. I was done eating by 6:30 and I did 45 minutes on the treadmill this morning along with my weight training. Hopefully, I broke out even for the day. I planned my foods for next week and Whitney and I went to the grocery store. Lots of fruits and veggies. I bought some scallops..yummy! I bought turkey patties and whole wheat hamburger buns, planning for a fun family dinner this week. I am now trying to teach my children to eat healthy and have decided that french fries and other fried foods are not permitted! I read about trans fats today and how horrible they are for us. I bought a few potatoes so I can make healthy fries to go with our turkey burgers. I hope it's not too late to teach my kids to eat healthy. I also believe that if they learn it now, it will help me stick to a healthy diet as well. Jeff will be the the one who is hard to teach. Ah...patience. He is already drinking more water. He used to NEVER drink water, only diet coke, but he put a diet coke back in the fridge this evening and traded it for a bottle of water. I had a diet coke this afternoon for the first time in a few days and it was delicious.
I don't work with Carlos again until next Friday! We're going to do 2 sessions back to back, doing upper and lower body. He told me today that he starts school next week every Tuesday and Thursday! Argh.... Can't he take a semester off for me? Maybe I'll work with him once a week and a different trainer another day? It's stressing me out!
That's all for today! Thanks for you support!

So Far, So Good!

Yes, I am still alive after the leg workout last Monday. The following two days at work were painful and it hurt to laugh, sit, stand, walk and bend over. However, I use the pain to remind me to make good food choices. I figure it would suck to suffer this much, physically, just to blow it all by eating a Big Mac. We're a week and a half into the contest and I've lost 4 pounds. I'm very pleased. If I mantain a 2 to 4 pound weightloss each week, I'll be in great shape! Hopefully I'll end up $600 richer! Today was another workout day. Carlos worked out my shoulders and arms. I beleive we worked muscles today that I never use, because, well, it was hard! Carlos offered some encouraging words and told me I was a very strong girl and I could do this. I told him I wasn't a girl, I was an old lady, because that's how I felt as he had to keep lowering the weight on the machine so I could lift it. All in all it went well and I have another appointment with him tomorrow at 11:00. I think I'll go at 10 and do an hour on the treadmill.
I'm a little worried over my diet, as I feel I'm often not eating enough. I try to stop eating at 7pm but it's hard when I'm at work and I can't just eat whenever I feel like it and if I get busy, it's very easy for 7pm to roll around and I'm left with an empty tummy. Yesterday I had Fiber One Cereal for Breakfast, whole wheat crackers for a snack and a strawberry yogurt. For lunch I had a can of Progresso Soup, a mango and a stick of low fat mozzarella string cheese. I had planned on having a slim fast at about 7pm, but I ended up getting extremely busy at work as I was stuck in a patients room until 8pm. I need to plan a menu out that includes not only more calories, but more protein, as that will keep me fuller longer and I won't crave so many carbohydrates. That's what I will do today. I will plan out a week long menu for next week. I'll keep you posted! Later!