Assessing the damage

So, what’s the post-Christmas damage? Not too bad actually. Just three pounds, and my body fat is about the same. I can’t claim to have been particularly virtuous over the holidays. Probably the only plus is that I’ve slept late so not bothered with breakfast, just gone straight to lunch. Then eaten so much at lunch I haven’t needed dinner. Bit of a disaster from the point of blood sugar control and metabolism stoking. I have been doing my workouts though. Two original TT workouts, a pilates workout, a Tae Bo cardio workout, and R phase remedial exercises. Today it’s back to counting WW points for me and I hope to have dropped those 3 pounds by the time I go back to work on Wednesday.

Nutrition Tip of the Week no. 9

Tip #9
Mood Eating
by Dr. John Berardi

Most people eat based on their mood and/or some subjective feelings of hunger. They don’t eat based on what their bodies need. Think of it this way: you’re about to take a long drive on a stretch of highway with no gas station. Do you fail to stop for gas before you hit the road because you’re ‘not in the mood?’ Of course not. Think of eating in the same way. Eating fuels your metabolic engine. So it’s time to start feeling like eating so that you can stop feeling like you’re scrawny.

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Look out for another nutrition tip next week.

Aaaah, solid food.

It’s Monday 24th December and I am back on solid foods. Aaaahhhhh.

I juiced for 2 days and felt great for it, but I was a bit nervous about going straight from juicing to Xmas day. I thought it might be a bit of a shock to the system, so I decided to stop there and have some light meals today to get my gastrointestinal tract ready for tomorrow. As far as it will ever be ready. We’re having carrot and apple soup (made by me), roast goose, roast potatoes, boozy red cabbage, caramelised carrots and parsnips, and brussel sprouts with chestnuts (all made by hubby), plus a vegetarian tzimmes made by my mum, and an apple pie and raspberry pavlova made by my mother in law. Plus booze and nibbles throughout the day. Can’t see me keeping off the 2 and a 1/2 pounds I’ve lost juicing! But I’ll try and keep my portions small, and not lick out the potato roasting tin this year!

I only managed one TT workout last week, on Monday. But I woke up this morning raring to go and had it done before hubby even opened his eyes. I do like exercising in the morning – it gives you a feeling of smug satisfaction for the rest of the day. I’ve got 10 more days now before I go back to work to reinstate the exercise habit, and I’m really looking forward to it.

Anyway, that’s all for now. A very merry Xmas to all my readers.

Juicing

It’s been a dreadful few days, diet and exercise-wise. Life has contrived, yet again, to get in the way of my good intentions. By Thursday, I’d even stopped trying. Despite this, I weighed in at 15 stone 0.6 this morning (210.6 lbs). I’m not quite sure how. I’ve also finished work for the next 11 days, which should make life a bit easier.

The last couple of weeks my IBS has been dreadful and I’ve been absolutely full of really embarrassing rancid gas. I’ve decided to do a short juice detox, maybe 3 days – we’ll see how it goes. I once did the Juice Master’s “7 pounds in 7 days” detox. I lost tons of weight, which all piled on again when I started eating. But the most amazing thing was it cleared up my IBS for a couple of months. I’m not going to manage 7 days this time, since we have people coming for Xmas dinner, and a couple of other dinner parties over the holidays. But I thought a few days giving my gastrointestinal system a bit of a rest couldn’t do any harm.

If you are interested in detoxing a bit, or kickstarting a weight-loss plan, check out the website and read one of his books. There’s a lot of theory in there, and there are a lot of additions to the juices so you’re not just on fruit and veg. It’s pretty healthy, and better than some detox plans I’ve seen. Plus, some of the most revolting sounding juices taste sooo good. I like quite a lot of fruits but not as many vegetables and it’s a good way to get some of the benefits of veg without having to eat them! Good for drinks for kids who don’t like eating their veggies also. I have some other juice recipe books that I can recommend, and I’ll get round to adding them to my Books page at some point over the holidays.

Anyway, off to do my much-overdue TT workout now. Ciao.

Restoration, Re-education, Rehabilitation

The title comes from the tag line of a new mobility and rehab programme that I’m trying, called Z Health. I read about it on one of the PN discussion forums and went to check out their website. I have a couple of problem areas: a bad knee which hasn’t been right since having my medial meniscus removed nearly 15 years ago, and a recurring shoulder stiffness and reduced range of motion in my left shoulder. I’m not sure how and when I did this, as I only noticed it for the first time when I started practicing tai chi and had to do big arm circles in the warm up. I think pilates has helped quite a bit with the shoulder but I feel like I want to take a step back with both of these problems and rebuild the foundation from the bottom up.

The Z Health programme has a beginner R phase (restoration, re-education, and rehabilitation) and an intermediate I phase (integration). I just started the programme today, despite having it sitting on my bookshelf for a couple of months, but will let you know how I’m getting on. Week one in their recommended 8-week beginner schedule has four days of short focussed sessions – just a couple of minutes a few times a day, and two full body training sessions, which will take 15 to 20 minutes. I do my first one of those tomorrow. Doing something about my knee and shoulder was an item on my 101 in 1001 list and I’m feeling quite positive on finally getting started on it.

In other news, my TT workout yesterday was fine but my butt and hamstrings are soooo sore today. And my abs are killing me from pilates yesterday. It hurts when I breathe! Plus, I’ve been sneezing all day too…agony!! And my weight was down again this morning, to 15 stone 1.2 (or 211.2 lbs). Moving in the right direction, at least, but I’ll be glad when my body fat is out of the 45’s and back in the 43’s. Well, relatively speaking. Obviously I’ll be more glad when my body fat is out of the 40s altogether. Anyway, I’m back counting WW points and writing in my food journal and feeling determined. Off to do 30 minutes of moderate exercise on the treadmill. ‘night all.

And again. Only moving in the wrong direction!

I weighed in this morning at 15 stone 2.8, or 213 pounds. I actually crawled back into bed with hubby and cried in his arms. What oh what is the matter with me? Why can’t I just say no to food? I’ve actually been preparing good meals and eating quite well. My downfall has been the sweets, chocolates, biscuits, and cakes in the kitchen and our office every day at work. Hubby suggested I take in healthy snacks, but I already do. Loads of fruit, WW fruities, and WW bars for when I fancy something sweet. It’s not that I’m hungry, I’m just greedy. Last week was also horrendous with regards to workload and I did NO exercise all week. I can’t remember the last time that happened. Although the calories I burn exercising no doubt help, I think the most important thing exercise does for me is change my mind-set. I’m less likely to eat junk when I’ve just spent an hour lifting weights and walking up hills on the treadmill. The cost of those calories is that much more real to me.

I had to decide whether to go back and finish week 4 of my Self challenge, or to go on to Turbulence Training as planned. Decided I’d benefit from seeing some quick-ish results, just from a motivational point of view, so am going to jump in and do TT. I’ll be doing the Original TT workout for the next 4 weeks, as an absolute minimum, with swimming, pilates, and tae bo thrown in when I can manage it. I already did a 30 min intermediate pilates workout at lunchtime today, which felt great. Also, I only have one more week of work before the Xmas hols, so am looking forward to spending more time exercising over the holidays.

Cracking 15 stone….again!

I’ve been really slack. I haven’t posted for ages. I even forgot to weigh myself on Sunday. I was probably too busy stuffing my face! It’s been a bit like that. I weighed myself Monday instead. 15 stone 1.2 pounds. My first weight loss goal was to crack 15 stone (210 pounds) and as of yesterday I have just done it. Again. For the third time in as many months. I seem to be playing around with the same five pounds, on, off, on, off. I’m working 14 hour days at the moment, not exercising, and indulging in office treats rather more often than I should. But I’ve been counting points since Monday, and at least I’m currently moving in the right direction.

Repeating the same old mistakes

I’m doing it again, even as part of my brain watches on in amazement and exasperation. I haven’t been doing my lunchtime workouts this week since I’ve had to leave early a couple of days and needed to make up the time. This has snowballed into not doing my evening workouts, not keeping a food diary, and eating rubbish. Why these should all be connected is beyond me, but it seems that two key things keep me on track. Writing down what I eat and doing and crossing off my workouts. When either of these starts to slip, it all seems to snowball. My weight was up above 15 stone again this morning. What am I playing at???? I have managed a couple of workouts, mainly pilates, but my cardio in particular has fallen by the wayside.

So that’s my problem. What to do about it is another matter. I won’t get a lunchtime workout tomorrow either and we are going out to a restaurant for the office Xmas lunch. We ordered what we wanted a few weeks ago – heaven only knows what I chose. But I will write it all down anyway and point it. And I will do my workout as soon as I get home, before I do anything else, like sleep, or watch TV, or order Chinese.

OK, new mini-goal. For the next week, keep my food diary without fail, and do at least 30 minutes activity everyday, no matter what, even if I don’t do my whole scheduled workout. And for one week, NO JUNK FOOD. None, nada, nyente, nani mo nai. Promise. And I expect you to hold me to it!

A bit under the weather

I must apologise for not posting for a few days: I’ve been feeling a bit under the weather. I even needed to take Friday off work. I should have realised earlier in the week when, despite my best efforts, I was craving more and more junk food. I don’t particularly like junk food, but I’ve noticed in the past that when I’m coming down with something, usually before I realise anything else is wrong, my body starts telling me it wants very energy-dense food. Lots of fat, sugar, calories. I guess it’s my body’s way of telling me it needs the energy for the fight.

So, I’ve been eating a fair bit of rubbish and missed a few days workout, including two tae bo sessions, 60 minutes of pilates and a 30-minute swim. I did manage to fit in my second resistance workout of the week and the second of the month 2 challenge cardio workouts this morning since I was feeling much better and I’m glad I did. For more about when and how to workout when you’re not at your best, check out this post.

Anyway, I’m not sure what to make of my weight loss results this week. Weight up a few pounds, body fat down a bit. I guess I’ll refrain from commenting and wait and see what it looks like next week.