Monday, November 16, 2009

DAY 99 Countdown To Christmas - Week 2

Good Morning Journal,


Today is the end of Week 2 of the Countdown to Christmas Challenge (info here).

My goal to achieve by Christmas was to exercise 5 days per week.
This weeks results: Yes, I made it.


Friday was a close call... hubby came home early from work, and I almost talked myself out of doing it, figuring oh well, I can just do it Saturday. Well, duh! He will be here all day Saturday!  I realized I was just making an excuse to put it off, and not putting forth my best effort. So yes, I went ahead and cranked up the music and danced with Richard Simmons. Two weeks down, 6 more to go.

As for my weekly weigh-in... that was not as stellar this time. I was 364, for a weekly gain of 1 pound. 


I am disappointed, but not surprised. Just this last Monday I started to count my calories as a way to better analyze my progress, and was... um... shocked at how fast they added up!! So I plan to continue to count them, and this time BEFORE they are eaten. I think this will help me tremendously. Even though my food choices are low-carb (this works best for me due to being insulin resistant and very sensitive to starch and sugar) it has always been frustrating for me to count carbs every day. But when you've been on and off "diets" since age 10, counting calories is a lot easier. 


I have to say, it's rather embarrassing to admit that I am NOT one of those that can "listen" to their bodies  and know just when to start and stop eating. It's too easy to fool myself. At this point, I need an objective way of regulating portions, and hopefully I will learn as I go along to do it intuitively.  I'm not sure yet what my cut-off calorie number will be, but I'll experiment, and figure it out. Sigh... so, back to calorie counting. 


One thing for which I am grateful... that I committed to posting my weigh-in each week. I want to just hide, embarrassed at having a gain. But that is the "old" me, who would disappear and take weeks or months to start again. Now I must face it, deal with it, and "put on my big girl panties" and take care of business.


All in all, I am expecting things to smooth out and get better and better doing it this way. I'll find out next week, won't I?!!

From Dr Phil's book:  "Be willing to leave behind the safe, unchallenging, and familiar ways of doing things in order to have more."


My verse for today: "Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength."


My quote for today: "There are reasons, and then there are excuses." --Julia Child


Enjoy the Journey,


Loretta
=^..^=







12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Aww, Loretta, sorry about the gain. But, you know, we've ALL been there! Good for you for facing the scale, reporting the results, and pushing on. Perseverance, not perfection, wins this battle. And, you've learned perseverance, girlfriend!

There's a formula for determining appropriate cal intake. If you don't know it, I know you can find it on line. I think, repeat think, am not sure, that to lose weight you multiply current weight by 7. Again, if you don't know formula, do check online. So glad you're sticking it out. :D Deb

Anonymous said...

Hey, Loretta. Been thinking. I don't know if you're aware of the online group called sparkpeople. Very nice site and free.

If you plug in your weight & your goal weight, they'll give you a calorie range and a time frame. Also, if you record your food intake, they break it down into protein, carbs, fat, sodium & a couple dozen other nutrients. They also provide target ranges for those carbs, etc. Their carb range is WAY TOO HIGH for me because of the diabetes, but other than that, it's a good tracker.

When I started Weight Watchers I was very uncomfortable with the point system. I was able to monitor my carb intake easily enough thru the food I chose to eat, but wasn't sure how the points stacked up re: calories. I began to use sparkpeople to track that. Turns out I've been averaging about 1200 cals a day--uh-hmm, on days I follow the program closely.

Incidentally, the cal range sparkpeople gave me was 1200 to 1550 daily. My metabolism is way too slow for me to lose at the high end of that, but is an excellent resource.

Anyway, thought I'd give you a heads up about www.sparkpeople.com just in case you haven't used it. :)


Deb

foolsfitness said...

What can I eat to turn into Richard Simmons? He's a bit weird... but he's just genuine real, he cares, and he's just plain fun... I could do far worse than to use him as the ideal to be like as a personal trainer. I wish I could spend a day with him some time in my life. He has such a spirit, and he has such a positive infulence on so many.

I've found I had (have to) keep a small running tally of my caloric intake for the day. I (usually) write *everything* on The little slip down to the sugar in my coffee... even when I go nuts I can see exactly and where or I'm likely to forget stuff. I've also got to be a portion crazed lunitic next... I need a food scale. I know I underestimate how much I'm eating which is likely two servings rather than one.

Posting my weight I think over all is a great thing. But I have to say I really struggle with it. I'm just so devistated when I gain, and I feel like I let others down too who are using me as an inspiration or for modivation. Not that I'm not doing it for me too of course. In the end I want my life and the life of others to be worth fighting for enough to keep doing it and to convince others to keep on fighting too! It's a bit of pressure sometimes I'm not exactly comfortable with. I'm a wreck sometimes when I look at that scale on a monday morning. It does keep me aware, focused, and on track more though.

Look where you've come from and see how much you have accomplished... Now take a baseball bat with you to that scale next week and go pick a fight!

Foolsfitness fed your hampster... some chinese food leftovers- Alan

Retta said...

DEB: You are right about perseverance! Next week will be better. And thanks for the reminder about Sparkpeople. I am a member there, it's just so huge I feel anonymous, even though I belong to a couple of groups. But they do have useful tools. I know how to figure the calories (for my metabolism, it's about weight times 9 or 10, depending on exercise levels). But I haven't settled on how restrictive I want it to be... I don't want to set myself up for failure. I've overdone the restrictions in the past, and had poor results to show for it. I'm thinking of starting with maybe 1900, then lower it as I adjust. Yeah, I'm a wimp. LOL!

ALAN: You are such a gem! I am so glad I found your blog. I can tell you know how I feel the gain, and why...I appreciate that.

And thanks for telling me how you track your calories, and that it helps. I think getting back to that will really help me, too. And I carry around a paper in my pocket... too cumbersome doing it online. I like simple! Gotta go find me a baseball bat! ROFLOL!

Loretta
=^..^=

divad said...

Congrats on reaching your exercise goals. One success at a time..we'll get there!!!!

antgirl said...

Don't be disheartened. You're going to be just fine. Keep focused on what's ahead.

That's fabulous that you talked yourself into doing your workout. That's bigger progress than weight loss.

I have to count, too. Although, I have choices for each meal that are within a certain calorie range. So, I don't really count any more. But, once upon a time, I did all that work.

I did Richard Simmons today, too. I'm hearting him. He sure can make me sweat. I stink at the *Hot* dance. I can't figure them moves out.

Retta said...

DAWNE: Thank you, I appreciate that. :-) Yes, we WILL get there.

MARY/ANTGIRL: I hadn't really thought of talking myself into the exercise as a bigger success than the weight loss... but I suppose it's a shift in my thinking, so that is always a good thing. I'm glad to hear that the counting helped you, too. I guess later I will look back and be glad I did it. :-D

Loretta
=^..^=

A Daunting Tale of Scale Warfare said...

I cant listen to my body either when it comes to food and eating. If I listened to what it had to say, well I'd be 1000 lbs in 6 months, ha! I love the points system. Sure sometimes it gets daunting and sometimes it gets boring, but in the end it works. Some weeks I have gains when I should have had losses and some weeks I lose when I know I wasnt my best. The best advice I can give it to look at it over time and average out your lbs lost per week.

{ALL} for a Better Life said...

I have been away from blogs for a few days and you are the first one I had to find. You always have such good things to say! So what you gained - yeah it stinks and not the direction we want to go but this is a journey and it is all about how quickly you get back up. I love that you talked yourself into exercise and that you have 2 weeks under your belt! GO YOU!

I don't know how to turn off when it comes to food either, especially when it is something that I really like - you are not alone.

Remember - GO!

Retta said...

SCALE WARFARE: I did what you suggested, and averaged out my losses since my restart 14 weeks ago... yikes! Only 1.71 per week! That stings, but at least I have the information. Okay, it's time to step it up. I just can't accept that slow of a rate, I am sure I can do better than that. Thank you so much for that idea... I just didn't think of doing that before. It is a big kick in the butt!! In a good way. :-)

{ALL}: Awww, that is such a sweet thing to say!! And that is so true... get up, dust off and GO!! ;-)

Loretta
=^..^=

financecupcake said...

Good job on the exercise!

Yea, calories do add up way too fast. Once you focus more on calories, you can learn to get more bang for your buck. Also, counting may seem like a pain at first, but it quickly becomes second nature. Keep counting even if you go over - doing so keeps me from giving up for the day. I can't listen to my body either (I think it gave up and just stopped talking to me). Good luck!

Retta said...

CINCIMOM11: Not that I would want it to be hard for ANYONE, but I find it encouraging that a lot of people are like me, and can't trust listening to their body yet, and find counting the calories helpful! Thanks for saying that. :-)

Counting them again has already made me more aware of amounts, and I am measuring and being more careful. You are right, no matter what it is, I tell myself to WRITE IT DOWN. Better to know, than to not know. :-)
Loretta
=^..^=

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