Monday, June 28, 2010

Updated Weight

149, even.

I'm guessing overage was water weight, but I'm not taking any risks. I'm keeping a tight grip on the eating and a firm eyeball on both cardio and resistance this week.

I'd just feel a leetle bit more comfortable if I were further away from 150... yanno?

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Recanting

Hey, if that murderous twerp they've got in prison down in Brazil can do it, so can I.

From Thursday's entry:

"And frankly, I can't blame my food intake, which was otherwise on-track, nor can I blame my exercise, which was awesome."


Okay, I've been doing some thinking. Last week was good enough, I'll give it that. But looking over the big picture, I see what has happened.

Yes, my calories were in line, but they were in line with an upward creep that had started back when I began working out again. I also saw that my once weekly "out of range" day had increased to 2 or even 3 days out of range. Overall my average intake was still within reason -- 1550 calories per day for the record, before adjusting for exercise -- but the upward trend was there.

And on my exercise, my consistency was awesome, I'll give myself that for sure. My intensity, however?

Not so much.

I've been walking for about an hour on my treadmill at 3 MPH and a 5% incline, and telling myself it was challenging. Well, it really wasn't. It's not as easy as sitting on my duff, I'll grant you that, but just adding two five-minute bursts at 10% incline tells me that the new cardio routine definitely is challenging, whereas the former was getting rather more comfortable than not.

Also, speaking of the overall picture... uhm... it would appear my resistance stuff (weights and other delightful things)... uh...

Yeah. Not for a couple of weeks.

So. Ahem.

This weekend, I've truly kicked ass. I cooked what I needed to, I've definitely eaten well, and my workouts have been absolutely challenging.

I've remembered my weights, too.

I'm sorely tempted to weigh myself again tomorrow to see if this weekend has caused a shift in the poundage. If I cave and do it, I'll let you all know the results.

Game on.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Lemon Law

Week 12 Weight: 150.5
Week 13 Weight: 150.75
Week 14 Weight: 152
Week 15 Weight: 151.5
Week 16 Weight: 149.5
Week 17 Weight: 150.25

I'd like to blame the Lemonheads I hit up this week.


Although I really can't.

And frankly, I can't blame my food intake, which was otherwise on-track, nor can I blame my exercise, which was awesome.

All I can do is remember that I'm only 20 pounds from goal, and I'm already theoretically at a healthy weight.

Well, that plus the fact that "that time" finally decided to show up, 24 days after it was scheduled to arrive. This was a 49-day cycle this time around, which I believe means I actually skipped, rather than merely being late. Ah, perimenopausal bliss (erm... notsomuch).

With all this going on, there are just weeks when I won't lose. Or when I'll go up by .75 pound in spite of choosing well most of the week.

SO... I need to evaluate what I'm eating (nix the Lemonheads -- if I want something processed I'll just get the damned Snickers already), analyze my exercise (the 3MPH @ 5% incline for 60 minutes just isn't as challenging as it should be, blast it), and forge ahead.

Now if I could just overcome this urge to dive face-first into a barrel of chocolates...

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Okay

So buying those Lemonheads yesterday was probably not my best move.

I've sucked down 4 "servings" (1 serving = 10 pieces @ 50 calories total) of them so far today, and that doesn't even take into consideration the 2 servings I had yesterday as well.

I should have just broken down and bought the stupid Snickers bar. At least by now I'd be done with it.

Worse yet? I still want the Snickers :P

Thursday, June 17, 2010

149.5

FINALLY.

Now I've got 19.5 pounds to reach my goal of 130, and 20 weeks until my arbitrary goal date of November 4th arrives.

Mathematically it can be done. Now let's see how the reality of the situation plays out.

On the minus side, I updated my current weight on Spark People and they lowered my calorie range back down to 1200 - 1550. Rats. No good deed goes unpunished :P

But y'all, I'm under 150!!!!! I am so freaking psyched.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Weird

So because I'm weak, I weighed in this morning rather than tomorrow (Thursday). I just had to know the bad news.

I'm down to 150.25.

This after 3 servings of ice cream, a milkshake from Steak 'n' Shake, and other iffy food choices over my Daily 2K+ weekend.

You've just gotta laugh.

Monday, June 14, 2010

*Tapping foot...*

Week 10 Weight: 154.5
Week 11 Weight: 152.75
Week 12 Weight: 150.5
Week 13 Weight: 150.75
Week 14 Weight: 152
Week 15 Weight: 151.5

Well, we're moving in the right direction at least. Though I probably hosed that over the weekend as I broke 2000 calories per day on Friday (2966), Saturday (2240), and Sunday (2474). Considering my allowable range is 1200 - 1740 and I prefer to stick to 1450 - 1550 before accounting for exercise as an average daily for the week?

I know, I'm not seeing that happening either. Warning -- bitchfest ensues below.

I'm just tired right now. And I'm burned out to boot. It's hard for me to get below 150, and harder still to stay there. But I know I *can*... it's just that my body is so used to this being my low that I'm about to shriek or do something similarly undignified.

Plus we have The Hormones from Hell which put me now at 14 days past due, making this a 39-day cycle this month rather than my standard 25 days. So yeah, crabby would be me.

Perimenopausal, table of one? Your table is ready.

:P

(Oh, and I'm still not liking this whole forty-years-old thing, plus the company that made the only base makeup I ever had that was the right color has gone out of business, so the nice ladies at the make-up counter keep trying to make my skin look darker than it is. Newsflash, dearies -- I'm pasty and happy this way! Grrrrrrr...)

Yeah, I've almost snapped. I'll be back when everything levels out, or after I get some medicinal chocolate in me -- whichever comes first.

Saturday, June 05, 2010

Stupid Scale

Week 9 Weight: 154
Week 10 Weight: 154.5
Week 11 Weight: 152.75
Week 12 Weight: 150.5
Week 13 Weight: 150.75
Week 14 Weight: 152

Yep, you read that right. 152. The stupid scale is not being cooperative at all.

Okay, in all fairness my caloric intake has gone up a bit in the past couple of weeks. My intake, before adjusting for exercise, averaged out at 1589 calories per day. But considering I'm now "allowed" up to 1680 calories a day (per SparkPeople), I should be good. And then once you take out the calories burned via exercise and re-figure everything, my average daily intake is just at 1389/ day -- still substantially below my daily caloric needs, which (depending on the calculator you use) range from 1700 - 2100 / day simply to maintain.

So the math isn't there. I feel like red-team Melissa from the Season 9 Biggest Loser, who wasn't losing weight and was then accused by Jillian and Bob of waterloading or game-playing. Much as that woman made me crazy (and I'll admit I cheered when she got back on the ranch because crazy makes for good times, TV-wise), I found myself really annoyed at how that was shown, as if the numbers were right and you weren't losing weight, then you had to be screwing up somewhere. Well HELLO, trainer-types. I've got every bite and sip that's crossed my lips logged, every exercise I've done is accounted for, and yet I managed to gain weight too.

And I don't even have $500,000 at stake -- just an arbitrary date of November 4, 2010 to get down to 130.

Thing is, and I've seen it written elsewhere, our bodies aren't like a check register. You don't just plug in the calories and subtract the burn and end up with a scale number. Other factors impact the scale weight, such as hydration, stress, hormones, or even good old-fashioned digestive issues (those Activia commercials are so subtle, with the downward flowing hand gesture). And I've got to say I had at least three of those going for me this past week.

The hormones and hydration are the most likely suspects -- my water intake wasn't as good as it has been in weeks past, I'll admit it. And my hormones are all-over-the-place wonky. I was "due" on May 31st, and am still sitting here waiting for that to show up. No I'm not pregnant. Choreboy is fixed, thank goodness. But last year the same thing happened when I upped my cardio in July -- I went 47 days between cycles rather than my standard 25-26 days, so I'm figuring that's the culprit and things will even themselves out in a few days/ weeks.

Also there's that whole perimenopausal thing which means my hormones are hosed anyway.

And besides all that, let's just say I could have used some Activia last week :P

So all in all, the stars weren't aligned in any way for me as far as losing weight goes.

On the plus side, my treadmill speed is up to 3 MPH on the flat surfaces, and I've got 5 straight minutes at 10% incline as well as 15 minutes at 5%. I'm going to have to increase the time on the incline soon, because last night I was able to read right through it rather than needing to just "zone out" for a bit.

I also brought my 10 lb. hand weights in from the car, finally. The 7 pounders are getting too easy for some exercises so it's time to kick that up a notch as well.

Let's see what next week brings. Oh well, at least it's not predictable!

Finally, and completely off-topic, there was some interest in my Second Life avatar due to the Krispy Kreme photos I posted in my prior blog entry. I have to say I do enjoy Second Life in large part because of the shopping aspect -- my avatar is like a grown-up Barbie doll, and the clothing choices are phenomenal!

You can go from businesswear...


to Victorian Steampunk....


... without batting an eye. And needless to say, fit is almost never an issue -- if your skirt's too tight, all you have to do is slide down the sizing bar and poof! Instant weight loss.

If only it were that easy in the real world.

Okay, time to fix the boys breakfast and plan out my food for the day. That stupid scale isn't going to win this battle! Harumph.

Wednesday, June 02, 2010

Krispy Kreme is COMING!!!

Anyone who knows me knows that the subject line is cause for both great rejoicing (for my tastebuds) and insane amounts of terror (for my jeans).

I have been griping for years that there's no Krispy Kreme anywhere near my house. I mean, to the point that when I blogged about it back in 2007, one of my friends from Second Life actually made my avatar a Krispy Kreme t-shirt.

Back:


Front:

But we just found out Friday that Krispy Kreme is finally opening a store HERE, in MY town, NOT a neighboring town, thankyouverymuch!

So yeah, both tickled and terrified would totally describe me.

The boys (of the work variant) are already plotting their orders.

Eh well, it won't open until sometime in the fall. Plenty of time to set up a plan of action. Right?

Right?

Bueller??

Oh I am in so much trouble.