The Paleo Diet - is it for me?

I reviewed my progress last night with my trainer, and have realized that i'm going to need to make some more diet changes to push ahead towards that last 20#'s... so, this weekend i'm going to attempt the paleo diet, which is essentially eating what the cave men ate... no process foods... everything fresh, meats and veggies...

I'm nervous that i can't do it, as it seems like a ton of planning and preparation. But, so far i've been able to do many things i didn't think i could do, so maybe i'll be able to do better than i actually think... crossing my fingers, and preparing my meal plan for the weekend...

22#'s left to my 150 goal...

New Gym Clothes!!

yesterday i ventured out to the Great Mall... a shopping location i do not like!... because the Old Navy was having a 50% off sale!! i was planning on buying new gym clothes that were less baggy and wouldn't fall off while i was on the treadmill, so why not go for 50% off gym clothes. As i got to the Great Mall, i was immediately reminded as to why i hate the Great Mall... but, the gym clothes were AWESOME... and all in size M!!!!! :-) i am officially out of the size L's! :-)

next steps... weeding the closet room of the items that do not fit me anymore!

Back from Europe... and...

i thought for sure i had gained 3 pounds during the trip... i didn't eat anything amazingly terrible, but i didn't move around a great deal either... I had about 3 days of good walking, but the rest of the time was a lot of sitting/meeting/working... i felt super blob-ish!

But, yesterday morning... i was 175!! which means i'm officially down 24#'s for the year and 2#'s down from before the trip! woohoo... but.... now i'm going to vegas... nothing more needs to be said there... :-)

Sunday i actually get to restock my food at home, and Monday i'm back in training! :-) 5#'s left until i'm at my DL weight...

hmmmm and also only 10 more days and i need to finish my online traffic school... gah!

My DL weight...

Today i spent two more hours working on the online traffic school happiness, and in order to validate it was me and not another person, i had to put in my DL weight... and i realized that i'm 6.8#'s away from that weight... i don't know when i was my DL weight in the past, but i do remember not having to work very hard to be that weight! :-)

i cannot believe that this year i'll be back there!! so exciting!! :-)

We were all winners...

I made it through Chicago with as much clean eating as i could do during the glory of vacation... the truth will be known tomorrow morning on the scale... I'm crossing my fingers that I'm still at 177.2... I'm also crossing my fingers that I can actually wake up with my alarm, considering my current insomnia!! :-)

Chicago was amazing, and SO NEEDED... i have returned relaxed and with fun new stories from the inner circle... it has been way too long! Below are my favorite pictures... we were all weightloss winners this weekend!!! :-) Now onward to the second 20#'s this year...

My Concession Post

Hello fellow Galivanters and Gavelers,

4 months ago we embarked on a journey to the promise land Skinnylandia. This far away land, skeptical to many was an exciting challenge. A competition was created between me and my arch rival Leenie P. Who could lose the greatest % of body weight by today. Leenie weighed in at 199.2lbs. I, your hero weighed in at 210.4lbs. As of this morning I weighed in at 204.0lbs for a loss of 6.2lbs. At my best I was down to 201. This of course pales in comparison to Leenie P who at last post weighed in at 179lbs for a 20.2lb loss. Last night via a phone call I conceded and congratulated Leenie P on her achievement. I am very proud of what she has accomplished. She is looking excellente and is determined to continue onto Skinnylandia. Well deserved and two nights at the Venetian is your reward.

Now to my supporters, I want to tell you the goal is not over. After a rough April of working out only twice and eating out like it was 2009, I basically maintained my weight. But starting soon, I will get back on the working out train and trying to eat healthier. My personal goal is to be at 190 by end of June. This will not be easy especially since a week in June I will be traveling for work and then to Vegas but I will try my hardest.

Congrats again to Leenie P.

P.S. To all my supporters by Urban Outfitters(URBN) stock. They are the parent company to Anthropologie and with Leenie P losing all this weight, she will need to replenish her bedroom closet (seriously folks, she has a bedroom that is just a closet) with brand new clothes from her favorite retailer.

New Clothes!! :-)

On Sunday, i went to the place that i like to refer to as "where the white people live"... but everyone else callse is Walnut Creek. :-) Why did i go so far? Because i've been looking at these Marc Jacobs pants online for 2 months, and they had them at the Nordstrom over there and the one in SF, and i didn't have time to go to SF... here is what i purchased:

1 pair of Jo's Jeans (boot cut, size 30)
1 pair of the super cute Marc by Marc Jacobs pants (size 10)
1 Free People (size M)
1 cord pants from Anthropologie (size 10)

hopefully I will have pictures of these new cute, tiny clothes after i get back from Chicago :-)

Shopping vs. Buying...

I have realized today that my stress relief activity of shopping is really actually just buying. Since my sizes have moved to unknown, i've had a hard time buying things!! Not because i don't know what styles i like, but because i don't know what size to buy. I now have to try on things... and i think i'm having a hard time knowing (or accepting?) that i should go to a lower size that i've never imagined i would wear... when you are the largest size, your only thought is "is it to tight or not?" Now, it's "is this the right fit or should i try one size down?" i feel like i've moved from a Go-No Go decision to a parametric sizing decision... which isn't quite as relaxing than the buying activities...

Sunday morning, before the mother's day activities, i'm going to try on, try on, and try on... hopefully resulting in 2 outfits and a pair of jeans that fit me...

This morning my scale read 179.0, btw... WOO-HOO!! love skinny colleen, as so many more clothing options!! :-) now, i just need to commit/buy...

.3 lbs to 21...

This morning I woke up at 179.2... second day in a row! i'm almost to the glorious 21 lbs. down point... though, i was starving on the way to work, so i had to stop and have an egg mcmuffin... booo... hopefully no impact to tomorrow's morning weigh in.

three more weeks until i get to do my blood work... the true test if my diet and exercise plan is doing what i really need to have happen... moving all of my measurements into the healthy range. crossing my fingers on that one!!

tonight at the gym was SUPER hard - my body is sore and tired!! but, my feet are healing, which is awesome!!

Sunday will be a new clothes shopping day, in preparation for Chicago awesomeness... i will definitely post pictures of my new Chicago outfits!! :-)

YAY - It's Spriing!! :-)

This weekend i got to be outside SOOOOO MUCH and it was gooooooddddd... i have my first awkward sun shading... i'm hoping with less shade from my previous large chin, i can avoid the usual sad tanning i usually get each summer... we'll see! :-)

Today i was able to achieve something i've never done... After living in Fremont for the last 35 years, i have never made it to the top of Mission Peak, only the midway viewing locations... today, with 25,000 steps and 3.5 hours, i made it both up and down! so awesome!! i do have two massive blisters on my feet, which i taped up with my sports bandaid (after, of course, INCREDIBLE pain when shower water touched both of them...). I'm hoping that they don't impact my training tomorrow...

by the time i got off the peak, i was/am EXHAUSTED... resulting in the rest of my sunday spent on the couch. i can't think of a better way to end the weekend! Springtime, i've been SOOOOO waiting for you!!! :-)

I'm back!!!

this morning i weighed in at 180.4!! i think, after my gym awesomeness tonight, i will be back in the 179's tomorrow morning... woo-hoo!! my trainer thinks my weight gain was due to sodium eating, rather than actual poundage... possible with the soy sauce/sushi on Friday... either way, i feel good again... this morning, i was actually at the last loop on my belt!! yay!!

tomorrow i'm taking a gym break as i'm physically and mentally exhausted... but i will do my 500 jumps, either tomorrow night or Thursday night in the garage gym! :-)

Next Monday is my annual physical... i hope that i rock it in all possible ways! because seriously, i cannot do more with this weightloss than i'm currently doing!

Re-Grouping and Re-Focusing...

OMG - i have moved back to 182.4 in the last four days... i blaming chris and easter, oh and being sick resulting in my not having any healthy food choices at home!

but in truth, i hit my half way point of -20#'s and thought "lets' take a mini-break"... bad, bad, bad... so, on Sunday after eating BAD BAD BAD food for breakfast with Chris at La Pinata, i gave myself a strong talking to about getting back on track. and so i went grocery shopping for some healthy food choices, and then i finally pulled out my jump rope and did 500 jumps in the garage. I'm thinking of setting a new goal of 1k jumps per week...

Anyways, today, i got back on track with bringing my lunch to work, and pounding it out at the gym. it felt really good!!

i'm thinking about expanding my garage gym... with a stabilization ball and a mat for abs work... i'm kinda liking the garage gym!!

anyways, onward from here... oh, and July was marginally fascinated by the jump roping for about 5 minutes, and then retired to her napping location... :-)

Work and Working Out Balance..

Lately my motto has been "If it's not work or the gym, I've not been doing it". This week, I actually had after work activities on Tuesday and Wednesday, and gymmed on Monday and again today... Today was my weakest workout since i started training!:-( All of the weights felt so heavy, and i barely could do a single pull up or push up on my own... i don't know what was wrong with me! I just felt so exhausted!!! physically and psychologically exhausted. I only wanted to just sit on my couch, and watch bad TV... not talk, not move, not think...

I was super embarrassed in front of my trainer due to my lack of effort tonight! :-( So, i'm thinking that during the week days, work and gym may be the best i can do... maybe one additional social activity night... but i can't do two and two nights of training... i just don't have the energy. :-(

oh well... next week i'll be back to my old training schedule... and if the weather stays pretty... maybe i'll be able to fit in a swim lap or two this weekend... so happy to see Friday at last...

I have arrived...

at the 170's!!! :-) this morning i weighed in at 179.2 lbs! yay. Tonight, the gym kicked my a**!!!! I only made it through 2.75 sprints at the end of the workout, but i did all the other weights. Still disappointing... i can't seem to get to 3 sprints during training!

The last time i was in the 170's, i was in college... the last time i was in the 150's (my ultimate goal) i was in highschool. In both cases, i don't remember ever having to work at it, i just remember that it just was... and now, at 36, i have to work so hard for it! if ever there was any doubt at how the metabolism changes as you get older, that doubt should now be erased!

here is my interesting observation of the day... every guy i have ever spoken to about this challenge and weight loss, always ALWAYS offers up their weight numbers... their heaviest and what they are today. I find that really interesting, because i don't share ANY of my numbers! i feel like even if i weighed 110 lbs., i probably wouldn't ever say anything... all afternoon i've wondered why that is... other things that people are really private about, i am not (like money/salary), but for this, i won't talk about it... i'm still not sure why i don't want to share it with others... maybe when i get to 150 i'll shout it out in normal conversation! :-) or i'll go to therapy to understand why... :-)

In July news, for the last hour, i've been attempting to take a picture of July using my PS3 controller as a pillow, but she keeps waking up and moving. by the way, SO HAPPY to learn that the PS3 remote doesn't have to be plugged in! :-) thank you Roma!!

Day #2 spent on the couch...

I never thought i would be tired of watching bad TV, but after being stuck at home sick for two entire days, i can honestly say that i'm done with the bad TV! ... for now... :-) I am hoping to leave the house and have some personal contact tomorrow... so, this will hopefully be my last day/night spent on the couch snuggling a box of Kleenex!

There have been some benefits of this swift and unexpected sickness:

1. I've lost weight due to not being hungry :-) i weighed in at 181.1 this morning...
2. I've caught up on MUCH NEEDED sleep... i have slept more soundly and dream-free (thank you Nyquil) for the last two days/nights than i have for the last 4 months!
3. I got the day off from work i've been dreaming about for the last 3 months! granted, most of it was spent sleeping, blowing my nose and feeling sorry for myself, but that was SO much better than spending it worrying about product launch/readiness details - which just gives the sad picture of what has been work-life for the last 4 months.

I'm really hoping that in the next two weeks i can hit 179.9#'s as that will be my halfway point for the total weightloss goal for the year, and i'll be 1 month ahead of schedule... woo-hoo!!

soooooooooo very sick......

but weighing 182.1 pounds! :-) Sick never looked so good! :-)

I hope it's just stress.......

because i'm SUPER not feeling good today... i've had 5 cups of tea and 1 cup of coffee... and yes, i'm still going to training tonight... because i DO NOT HAVE TIME TO BE SICK, and thus must power onward... oh, chicago vacation, when will you get here... ???

hello black pencil skirt..... it's been a long time!

today i got to wear my favorite black pencil skirt, which hasn't zipped up for well over 8 months! YAY... it is somewhat less pencil-y than it should be, but omg it fits me... YAY!! i cannot wait for the fall, where i will do some serious shopping in smaller sizes, but for now, i'll just rejoice in re-visiting my favorite clothes in the larger sizes...

Career Advice... hmmm... where to start?

Gymmed my bootie off on Sunday at training, where we did the killer cardio work out... which, yes, almost killed me. Luckily it didn't, allowing me to eat my bootie off on Sunday afternoon at the fun surprise party for Ling. I'd have to call this a weightloss wash... :-) This morning, i packed my gym bag, with all intentions of doing killer cardio on my own after work... but that quickly faded at about 30 minutes into the morning commute, when i was fighting off closing my eyes to go back to sleep!:-) which strangely carried on the WHOLE day where i fought off the urge to go back to sleep!! :-) After work, i'm meeting up with a friend of a friend for coffee and some career advice about how to move out of logistics in the retail industry to logistics in the electronics industry. I'm always excited to talk to other women about career advancement, especially when they have a great resume as this girl does... i think i get as much out of it as they do, just a reminder to give up the planned escape to a career as a trophy wife! :-) lately there have been so, so many hard days, it's hard to remember that i actually like this career... :-) all of my mentors and career people have all been men (well, and my mom)... i've never reached outside of that for advice and encouragement... i have to say, i do like that i'm someone that people reach out to :-)... Happy Monday... back to the gym tomorrow!! :-)

On the comeback trail

Ok so I haven't been doing much the past few weeks besides work. Work has been killer lately and I've been coming home late, eating late and just watching tv. Not even been on the net much. Got around to reading Leenie's updates and got motivated since I can't lose this bet right? Well the truth is I will probably lose but I am going to try my best to make it respectable. I weighed my self this morning after working out again this week and eating a lot less and am down to 201.2. My lowest since this began. I've dropped 5lbs in four days. I am down over 9lbs total. With about a month left to go, it is a long shot for me to win but I'll be downing the laxatives or having gastric bypass done if need be.

Seriously, congrats on the work so far Leenie. Can't wait to see you in a few weeks. WE will have to hit up the Piñata whiel I'm in town!!

So...burned...out...

I made it through tonights training... though, i'll admit i was only at half speed... i'm just physically exhausted and mentally exhausted! On the other hand, I'm happy i made it to the gym at all today, and moved around for at least an hour... :-) and now for a three day gym rest! i didn't eat completely clean today... sadly partook in stress eating at lunch of curly fries... but, everything else was clean, so i'm hopeful i'm still in the 181's tomorrow morning! And now, another July story... so, July has been acting like a cat that is half her age since yesterday! so, as i came in from the gym, there she was at the door... waiting to run out! luckily i moved quickly enough to block her with my gym bag! she has not made a run for the front door for years! and now twice in one day? and then, i watched as she jumped from the couch, to the coffee table, to the scratcher cat shrine, then back to the couch! it's been years since i've seen her move like that! and she has also been playing a lot with her toys lately too... i'm finding them all over the house! i have decided that all of these things are signs that she is happy that spring is here! :-) only one day left until friday... thank god!!

The scale this morning....

read 181.2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-) it was also 5:22AM, so i thought... maybe i'm miss reading this scale... so i weighed myself 4 more times and it was the same... YAY!! Hopefully i can maintain/hold it for the week... but for today, i celebrate... :-) Ok, and because i know this entry would not be complete without it, a July story from this morning... as i opened the door to leave the house at 5:40, she darted outside, where it was so dark! thankfully she paused on the porch, and looked back at me, with a mixture of "aren't you going to stop me, i could get hurt or lost" and "free at last, free at last"... luckily i was able to chase her down and get her back inside without her biting, scratching or hissing at me... she was really antsy last night, so i'm not sure what is going on with her... waaaaaayyyyy too much excitement for an already waaaaaayyyy too early morning!

Spaghetti Arms and Spaghetti Legs

Tonight the gym seriously kicked my A-S-S. Here is the circuit... 10 kettle bell squats, 7 push ups, and triple-threat with the medicine ball (lower abs, hamstrings, and bootie)... by the end of the work out I had done 70 push ups, 100 squats, 36 lower abs, 36 hamstrings and 36 bootie squeezes... # of times i wanted to throw-up = 5, # of times i cried = 2. :-) i will be taking motrin tonight, as tomorrow it will be more of the same at training. This morning I woke up at 182.6... i'm hoping that i can stay in the 182's this week, because i SWEAR, these last 5 pounds of the 180's are taking F-O-R-E-V-E-R!!! On the eating side, things are going good. I've eaten out twice in the last 6 days, and i found it easier to select healthy options, healthy portions, and still enjoy and be full. Even eating pasta and rice! definately eating out has become less daunting. to treat myself for the insane workout tonight, i will be eating a soy ice cream sandwich, at 80 calories from Trader Joes! :-)

Oh My God - I've gained two pounds!! :-(

Well, it's the second day in a row that my scale is reading 185... which i think means i'm officially up 2 lbs. BOO!! i think i've been snacking too much of late... multiple healthy snacks is still too much snacking. So, i'm back to writing down what i eat each day to try to get back on track. I've noticed that i've been absentmindedly snacking too, ie. snacking when i'm not even hungry! *sigh*... well, this is the week that i'm trying to do "my days" in the gym, so i'm sure it's only a temporary set back. i'm hopeful that this weekend will be beautiful and warm so i can do some outside activities, rather than just listening to the rain pound on my roof!

i'm so tired!!...

i just wanted to say that! :-) so, work continues to kick my ass, and i continue to only go to the gym on my training days, with no upside on my own days. the light at the end of the work-hell tunnel is shining brighter, so i will hopefully be able to up my working out to 4 days a week, and actually get some good cardio in there, when i finally wrest my personal life back from the job!

that all said, though, i'm still losing weight... just slooooooooowwwwwwwww... but i guess that is better than not at all. 100% of the pants i own are too big. but i'm trying to not buy new pants until i get to my final 150# goal. so, i'm going to look like a hot mess until probably December, when i finally get there!

in other news, can you believe the monsoon weather lately? this morning i decided to work from home because i didn't want to drive in the dark monsoon this morning. But tonight they said on the news that tomorrow morning will be even worse... i don't think i can work from home two consecutive days in a row!!! Plus, i feel like July wants to have some "me" time, which she can't do when i'm hanging out with her the whole day :-)

yes, skinny colleen has the same exciting life as non-skinny colleen did! :-) as brittany spears would say - happy Thursday y'all! ;-)

Quick weekend update

So got home late evening last night from my mini vacation. Ate out 8 times from Thursday evening till Monday night. Not my best showing but that is what happens when on vacation and spending most of the day in casinos. Well weighed myself this morning and I gained only 2.4 pounds which was a surprise. I should drop this easily as I have no food at home and will be starving for the next few days...lol!!!

That is all. Too much work to do!

Stewman!

Cross-Fit Saved Me Tonight...

Yesterday at work, one of the engineering guys who I've been friends with for the last 2 years, really hurt my feelings by something he said during a meeting... I know he didn't intend for it to be hurtful, and i probably was just tired and sensitive... so, the whole day today, i've been trying to let it go, and move onward, because it's silly. but it's hard, and yet still silly... so, i ate some fries for lunch, and still was not over it... and then i went to the gym tonight... i vented to my trainer about the silliness, and how i was having a hard time just moving onward from it... and then she showed me the workout plan for the night...

We were going to do 5 stations: squats, bicep curls, crunches, chest presses, and mountain climbers. There would be 8 consecutive cycles of 20 second intervals, as many reps as you can do in the 20 seconds, 10 second rest in between. You against you... how ever many you can do, circle your lowest in the set, and in a few weeks we do it again, and see if i can beat my lowest number of reps. squats was hard, but doable. bicep curls harder, but i made it through... crunches: felt like crying in round 7, actual crying in round 8! (all i knew is that i had to get through at least 5 crunches for round 8 - made it!), chest press hard, but no tears, mild shaking muscles. Mountain Climbers: tears on round 4!! but made it all the way through round 8! was so sure i was going to throw up!

Anyways, in the end... i made it through all of the rounds, and didn't stop!! and i've never ever felt so exhausted and spent and so very proud of myself! that was being an athlete, not just working out... SO VERY HAPPY... :-) AND... officially over the hurt feelings too... Thank you Club Sport and Mia! i really needed that tonight!! so looking forward to starting the weekend!!

Update

Been kinda quiet on the blog. I guess that's because I have not gotten a speeding ticket recently...LOL!! Sorry Leenie. Weighed myself this morning and came in at 203.4. That is a 7lb drop. This weekend will be tough though as I will be visiting BigHeeb91 and lots of bad food and drinks shall commence. Congrats Leenie on dropping almost 10% of your weight so far. Keep it up!!!

c'mon halfway point...

This morning i weighed in at an 18lbs weight loss!!!!!!!!!! i'm hoping that by the end of next week, i'll be at the halfway mark of my complete goal... 20lbs down... trying to not count chickens before they hatch, but i am training 3-days this week... :-)

Yayayayayayayay!!!!!

The Moral Highground...

This will not be a posting about weight loss (though I was just complimented by the finance lady on how shapely my figure is looking!), but will instead focus on the speeding ticket i got this morning on the way to taking my niece to school/coming to an 8am meeting...

I was going 80 on the freeway - must take advantage when there isn't bumper to bumper traffic to at least shave some precious time off of the long commute! and there was a CHP man, who i will refer to going forward as "the man", on the side of the road, outside of his car, with the radar gun pointing at me. I quickly slowed down, which just gave "the man" the time he needed to get in his car, and pull me over. my first thought was - Standing on the side of the road with a radar gun could not have been what drove you to choose policing as your career... perhaps there is a drunk driver or child molester somewhere you should be patrolling, and not the innocent, childless auntie, driving her tween-age niece to school while lecturing her on how she needs to do better in math and science (if only other child-less aunties were so involved in their niece's lives!). But alas, these were all internal thoughts as I only politely said "yes - speeding - 80 - ok (when he said it was actually 81)- thank you" through out the exchange.

As we continued the rest of our journey onward to Mitty Highschool, i pondered all of the reasons that i felt i should not be ticketed, and realized that it all summed up to "I'm a good person, who tries to help others, pays my taxes, doesn't use many of the govt. services, has health insurance, and car insurance, doesn't partake in litigious claims, donates each year to charity, volunteers..." but apparently, my moral high ground does not count with "the man"... and when said out loud, becomes a silly argument as to why i should not have any civic duties....

I will try to remember this the next time i get my bi-annual jury duty summons, and immediately think -Why do i have to go to jury duty? my peers do not break the law, thus how can i be on someones "jury of their peers"... ;-)

Oh Friday - so much self-awareness this morning... now back to losing weight...

Stickk

Just read a quick bit on StickK on this sports book I'm reading right during my lunch after carbo-loading on some left over spaghetti. Sounds like a cool site. Haven't joined yet but just may be what we need to do!!

"You actually look good now..." ;-)

The last two days have been a total blurr!!!! I've eaten out for dinner both nights, and half of lunch got bought at work... but lots of talk of contract terms and football... this will probably be the extent of the remainder of the week... contract terms and football stories.

So, funny story from the day... one of the guys is in town from TX, and as i was chatting with him at the cafe today, he said "wow Colleen, you have lossed so much weight, you look so different now. You actually look really good now..." hahahahahaha... it was super cute/awkward/a moment of proudness. I was so happy that someone had noticed, though one of my other team members and my boss both claim they noticed but didn't want to say anything due to sexual harrassment policy... hahahahaha again! :-)

As i have not seen the inside of the gym since Friday, and have been eating outside salad for two days, i'm happy that my weight is still 185, and people are noticing that i'm looking good... now... ;-)

Last night I ate bad... and it was so good!! :-)

So, this week has been REALLY hard... well, really the last two weeks have been REALLY hard at work. I've stayed really good on the diet, and not as good with the gym. But, that said, i've been maintaining at 185, so i can't complain. But last night, I went to Vani's super fun dinner party, where the food (all of it) was heavenly! and i probably had more than the usual "1 serving size". So, this morning, when i weighed in, i expected 3+ pounds to show, but hurray, it was only 1+... and i'm going to PT tonight, so the impact would be net 0! :-)

Anyways, my take away from this whole story is i think i'm having good diet balance and still getting to have a lot of fun, without ballooning upward on weight... i believe that is called having my cake and eating it too... :-) (sorry, i couldn't resist a little food humor)...

Comfort Food

Small admission... I actually wanted to cry (out of frustration, not sadness) today at work - this whole project is so much harder than anything I've ever done, except for maybe grad school, where more than a few tears were shed in the privacy of my car/house! ;-) I managed to not cry at any point, but declared at my 12th hour of work, that i was going to break my diet tonight, and engage in some comfort food eating... and then, i didn't know what i wanted, or what would actually comfort me... and so i ended up getting a Roasted Chicken Breast sandwich on 9-grain wheat bread from Subway!!

Dude, even in my serious time of need... i no longer have a comfort, go-to food!!!

Weeds suck

So today I am so soar after spending about an hour yesterday pulling weeds from my front and back yards. I haven't been soar after workouts but I guess I used different muscles in pulling weeds. Anyways, just wanted to share this with the three people who read this blog.

2 month update

Hello fellow Gavelers, been quiet on the blog for a while. February was not a great month. Got off to bad start during super bowl weekend when I gained six pounds in two days. Went from 206 to 212. Not sure how many time I went to the gym but it was probably six or seven times. Went three times last week and did an hour on the elliptical each day burning over 2800 calories in the process. Felt good to do hour long workouts. I ended the month weighing 207 which is approximately a pound gained from end of January. Eating out was not as good as hoped but an improvement over 2010. I ate out a total of 22 times in February which is down from 33 the year before. For the year I've eaten out 39 times which is down from 63 through the first two months of 2010. We shall see how March goes.

Zumba'd with the Mom's tonight...

and it was fuuu-uunnnnnn.... I am still rhythmically challenged, but after a disappointing work afternoon, and with this big depressing zit on my face, a little salsa, cumbia, tango and Ricky Martin was just what the doctor ordered! And being there with my mom and auntie was just the cherry on top! soooooooo much fun!! I don't know if I burned that many calories, but I moved around a lot, and felt the frustration just melt out of my fingers and toes... ;-)

Tomorrow night it's training... woo hoo... In other news, i went to the mall this weekend, to buy some cute new items in smaller sizes, and can i just say that the Spring fashions are NOTHING to write home about... I didn't see anything cute that i even wanted to try on! so sad...

The bottom 5 of the 180's

It's been a long time... but here's the official weigh in picture from this morning. Finally moving down in the 180's!! :-) and the go forward plan, a little changing up of the work out... I went to Zumba last night with my auntie and dad, and it was both FUN and harder than it should have been, considering how much working out I have been doing in the last two months. So, my new plan is Zumba on Friday and Monday's, training on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then the stairmill one other day yet to be chosen! :-) I'm hoping that my auntie will be my new regular Zumba friend for Monday and Friday's! :-)

the last notch on my belt...

Today my skinny jeans are actually a little loose, and I'm on the last loop on my belt... yay, and also boo... i have worked very hard building up my closet room selections... i'm hoping to not have to replace everything in a smaller size! i just want them to all magically shrink and fit more cutely than previously...

Yes... these are my problems this week... :-)

oh stairmill...

must you be so hard? my legs tonight were like jell-o after 20 minutes, and yet it was only 193 calories on the monitor!! I could not lift my leg for one more step or one more calorie! :-) Today i broke in my new Target lunch bag... perfect size for my sandwich items! Tomorrow for lunch i'm going to attempt to recreate Ling's yummy spinach salad, to go along with my sandwich... i need a little fuji apple vacation! :-)

One other exciting piece of gym news... on Friday evening i will be going to Zumba class with my Auntie and hopefully also my mom and dad! I'm really excited as i want to get my family into the gym and the diet program with me... hopefully they will have fun, and will want to come with me again...

For a Monday, i would have to say today was a pretty good one! :-)

It's all about timing...

Happy morning, as i put on my favorite Anthropologie cords which i have not been able to zip since grad school days... and they fit! and not just zipped, but weren't tight or pulling or uncomfortable. WOO-HOO... and the scale read this morning 186.4!!

Unhappiness this morning - woke up at 1:30am sweating profusely due to bad work dreams/stress... as i layed awake until ~2:20am i thought to myself - this was not the time to start a diet, but is instead the time to be stress eating!!!!!! and then i drifted back to sleep, where there were more bad work dreams/stress...

Could my scale be wrong?

Gawd - i hope not! This morning I weighed in at at a svelte 187.6. For those keeping track, that would be 12 total pounds of weightloss... WOO-HOO!! The reason I'm doubting my scale is because yesterday, due to a meeting getting out at 6pm, and my plans of baked chicken for dinner, I didn't make it to the gym... :-( I measured out my rice consumption, very carefully, but probably ate more chicken than I should have (though it had no added calories, as i only seasoned it for baking). I went to bed full, more than i have since starting the diet... and i spent the night feeling fat - and sure that i was going to wake up at least 1 pound heavier... BUT NO... i woke up 1 pound lighter... SOOOOOO HAPPY and feeling so skinny!!

my favorite thing about losing 12 pounds so far is that my clothes are actually fitting me better and more comfortably!!! Closet room has recently given me many slim appearing outfits of increadible hipsterness! :-)

Quick update

So this past week I was lazy only going to the gym twice. This month my eating out has increased with 12 trips through 14 days. Gotta work on that. I am losing the weight I gained back during superbowl weekend as I weighed in this morning at 207.8. That's all for now. Was going to go to the gym this evening but strained my upper back getting into my car this morning (so random) so we will see how I feel this afternoon.

Back to the Gym... ;-)

What an amazing weekend it has been... after major tiredness last week, body soreness, and general slackerness with the gym plan, I was back on the wagon this morning! I moved my "high intensity intervals" from the treadmill to the stair mill. I did 3 minutes total at 90 steps/minute and the rest of the time at 50 steps/minute. i was actually dripping sweat onto the stair mill - yes, I am a hot mess at the gym! :-) My goal for tomorrow evening is to do 5 minutes total at the 90 steps/minute pace, and the rest at the 50. I tried to do an additional minute today, but had nothing left in me to give... legs are sore, but in a very good way! I didn't lose any additional weight last week, which isn't surprising as i only gymmed 2 days, rather than 4 days - but, i did MAINTAIN!!:-) still weighed in at 188 this morning! Onward to the 170's!!

In other weekend news: 1) do not buy the cutie oranges at Costco, as they do not last more than a week! and who can eat 20 oranges in a single week? apparently not me! 2) i watched the Social Network this weekend, and if any part of that movie was fact, those guys are major douchebags! 3) for the first time, since probably college, i slept in on Saturday until 11:30am! amazing... it helped that i didn't get home until 3am, and was already exhausted from the week, but still... woo hoo... totally rested - bring on Monday!

Something moved in my ankle tonight - no bueno

So, so lazy this week! I went back into the gym tonight for the first time since Sunday... i needed a little mini-vacation from the gym-work routine this week... I'm finding that the diet is much easier than the gym-ing. So, on the plus side, I'm still out of the 190's... but my body H-U-R-T-S, and it's too cold for the pool... so, I'm going to try to push through it inside on some piece of cardio equipment, until actual Spring arrives! Looking forward to next Thursday afternoon/Friday when I'll take a break from the jobby-job... after that, I should be refreshed for the gym-work routine, as i push onward to the 170's... :-)

Oh, and as I walked down the stairs at the gym tonight, something moved in my ankle... it was a mix of relief for the current pain, and a new pain... I don't know yet if this is a good thing or a bad thing... i think tomorrow morning will be the test!

Back to square one

So I am back to my starting weight on January 2nd. Last Saturday morning I weighed 206.4. Sunday morning, a mere 24 hours later, I weighed 211. How does one gain almost 5 pounds in one day. Here is what I ate/drank.
2 vodka red bulls
A patty melt with a side of fries
A bottle of water
3 big ass glasses of water
A third of a mound of nachos
10-12 chicken wings
3 pints of smithwicks

I think the liquids played a major role in this. Monday morning I weighed myself and I gained another pound. More beer and food contributed to that. This morning I weighed 210.4, so back to where I started. I did do an hour on the elliptical yesterday. That felt good. Back to the gym today. Disappointing but not giving up.

Also, good job Leenie so far, keep it up.

Swimming - who knew it was so hard!

Since i was in the 6th grade, my parents have had a pool. And i would always be the first and the last one in the pool - shivering and purple lips, my mom yelling at me multiple times before i would reluctantly get out. Today, i tried out the pool at the gym, to give my achilles tendon a rest... OHMYGOD... it was sooooooooo hard!! i made myself stay in for 30 minutes, swimming a variety of laps - on my back, with the kick board, the normal way... most times i couldn't make it the full length of the pool without stopping - as i panted and tried to catch my breath, i saw black spots and fought back the nausea... i made it the 30 minutes, but probably only swam for 18 of the them... the remaining 12 i just tried to not die...

Tomorrow will be round two with the pool... hopefully it will be easier the second time!

Summertime in February...

Weighed in this morning... and woo-hoo, I am out of the 190's with plans to never return there again! In celebration, I did a little shopping at the J. Crew outlet where I purchased my first strapless summer dress! One new excitement of losing weight - a whole new world of fashion options! :-)

My cooking tip for today: Birds Eye has frozen veggies which you can steam right in the bag in 5.5 minutes, and they are goooooooddddddd... i got the broccoli, cauliflower and carrots mix... here is a picture of my awesome 550 calorie dinner that i made tonight with my new find!

1 month update

So today marks 1 month into the challenge for me. Weighed in today at 206.2lbs which is a .8lb gain from my last posted weight but still a 4.2lb drop from a month ago. I went to the gym last night even though I didn't want to. Glad I went though as surprisingly I was on my best pace for 30 minutes on the elliptical. I burned 490 calories which on this machine is my best 30 minute total. On the older machines which were probably not as accurate I was usually in the 520's and up but this newer machine is probably more accurate. I was going to go today but have dinner plans tonight with a friend so I won't be able to go and probably won't go till next week as I have bowling on Thursday and then Bigheeb91 is in town on Friday through Monday.

In other good news I ended January eating out 17 times which is down from 31 times a year ago. Good start, hopefully I can keep it up.

My first sports injury...

Achilles tendinitis on my left heel/ankle... yes! I've arrived!!!! :-) I'm going to replace the treadmill with the pool this weekend... never too early to start the tan!

Going it alone... kinda...

Had a great training morning today at the gym... 1 cute boy clapped for me, as i sprinted against the rubber band in the weight room for 30 seconds... yay!! :-) and omg, that band is crazy! pull ups went ok on the first rotation, and quickly got worse on rotation #2 and by rotation #3, i just kinda hung there - i had nothing left to give by round 3! :-) i brought the kiddies with me, and they played racquetball, or as my mom calls it "the racquetball"... :-)

Starting in Feb, i'm going to move to two days of training a week, and the remaining 3 days are me vs. the treadmill and the treadmill incline... :-) time to kick up this fat burning plan as the strength training plan is pretty stable...

weigh-in tomorrow morning... hopefully i'll finally be out of the 190's!!!!!!

Return to 60 minutes

So yesterday I hit up the gym with the purpose of doing 60 minutes on the elliptical. Years ago 60 minutes was the norm for me, but over the last few years I've only been doing 30 minutes. Well yesterday I did 60 minutes burning 934 calories and going almost 6.5 miles. Not bad for doing this for the first time in probably 4 years. Was happy with the result and will continue to do 60 minutes as this will accelerate my weight loss.

Of course not all good as I got home and my dvr was dead. Cox cable is coming out today to replace it. This will be my third dvr in less than 1 year...running bad! But no DVR led to one positive thing, an early night sleep.

I think MTV might be a liar....

I weighed in this morning, but failed to take a pic of the scale, so official weigh-in will be next week. The number was 192.0, so .8 more pounds down, which is good, considering my slacker-ness last week, and cookie eating this weekend. But that is all behind me as i only ate 1270 calories today and hit up the gym after work and it was awesome! I have been watching "I used to be Fat" on MTV (yes, there is not a show on MTV that i won't watch!) and on last weeks episode, there was this kid doing the high intensity interval cardio training, and he did his sprints at 7% incline, 7.0 speed, and then did 8% and 8.0... all the way up to 10%, 10.0 speed. I thought i would try this today... and all i can say is NOT POSSIBLE!!!! My first sprint i did at 4% incline and 7.0 speed... and almost threw up while at the same time almost fell off the treadmill. So, i scaled back for my last 4 sprints to 3% incline and 7.0 speed. OH MY GOD... i almost didn't make it through my last sprint!!!!! Interestingly my results were a 253ft. climb and 1.45 miles in 30 minutes.

i will keep trying, because i cannot believe that MTV would ever lie to me, but if i ever get to even a 10% incline at 7.0 speed (i can't do anything at a 10.0 speed) i will consider that the same as meeting a leprechaun! :-)

Yo Peeps, update time

Haven't done an update in a while. This week I failed in going to the gym as good as I should have. Just went on Wednesday and then the fat devil on my shoulder convinced me to skip the gym yesterday and go home and be a couch potato. I've eaten out 3 times this week and tonight for dinner will be four. Tonight will be my 12th time eating out this year. Still below my total last year at this point of twenty. As you can see though, eating less has worked as I'm down to 205.4 which is a 5 pound drop so far.

The Gym: Giving something to yourself

So, I had a realization tonight... well, two realizations... 1) i REALLY need a vacation week where i can actually get away... so we need to plan Chicago pretty soon... 2) every night i end the day empty, after having given so much the whole day in training the new people, training the existing people with more education than experience, and answering 50 million questions for those who are endlessly incapable... so, i get to the gym exhausted, and empty with nothing left to give... except after 15 minutes into my training session or my run, i find that i have more to give, and this time it's giving to myself... and by giving to myself, i actually fill up again, and am not so empty anymore... and definitely not as exhausted i was when i walked in... and that is why i'm starting to love the gym!

In other news I'M GETTING SUCKED INTO JERSEY SHORE YET AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!! i swear, after only one episode i cannot stop watching it!!! i really super hate Sammi... and Ronnie too! the new girl is actually pretty amusing... gah - i predict more hours of bad tv in my future!! :-)

Run anyone?

Hey all,

So i was thinking since we all want to get in shape and lose some lbs would any of you like to do a half marathon? There is a PF chang's half marathon on June 5th in San Diego. We have plenty of time to get ready if anybody is interested. What do you all think?

Mom and Dad's house, a hippie den?

Oh Monday... it was a rocky one... partially because I wish I was on vacay with 80% of everyone else, partially because I slept bad last night... As i left work, picked up niece-y from her bf's house, yelled at her about respecting my time, planning ahead and being responsible, I had pretty much written off the gym for the night. And then, dad called me to invite me over for dinner, as my mom had made Arroz con Pollo. I quickly agreed - nothing is better than having someone make dinner for you after work, especially when that someone is M-O-M! As i walked in the door, i was showered with puppy love, and then dad handed me a glass of wine, and i sat down to eat. And as i ate and partook in gavelling with my mom, i smelled the distinct odor of incense and noticed the mellow music. and i thought... who are these people? is this what retirement looks like - a day spa meditation center? and then i felt all of my anxiety, stress, annoyance, and dissatisfaction from today drain from me... and i suddenly felt the energy i needed to get to the gym and pound it out. THANKS MOM AND DAD... tonight was on you!!

Here's my update from this morning's weigh-in... try to ignore my sad pedicure appearance and focus on my total weightloss of 7 pounds... WOO-HOO... next week i'm hoping i'll be out of the 190's!!

Run 123

So this week I went on a couple of runs outside, which were amazing. Friday, I cut out of the office an hour early, left my stuff at the Embarcadero Club One and ran along the Embarcadero to the old light house before you get to Fort Mason and then back again. The weather was awesome and the sky beautiful, the fog started rolling into the Bay, it was a gorgeous view. To add there were again a lot of hot guys - FYI hot guys exercise outside, I guess. Run number two was on Saturday around my parents house, which as you know is very residential and kind of hilly so that was interesting from a terrain standpoint but lacked eye candy. Run number three I met Emitis on Sunday morning at the entrance to the Los Gatos Creek Trail and we ran/walked to Vasona, which was fun too, but we mostly did a lot of catching up and ended up getting coffee.
All this helped the fact that I ate a lot of rather bad food on Saturday night and Sunday night at my parent's house - that place is a calorie-fest.
Nonetheless, here are my results for the week, not bad - still managed to shave off another pound and a half!

Dog days of winter...

Hanging out this weekend with my mom's dog (ie. new daughter) Maya... last night, I sadly forgot to take her out for a potty break before we went to bed, and so at 2AM she woke me up crying for a potty trip. I trekked down the stairs with her, to the backyard, half asleep... she finally found the "spot", and then we both went back to bed. When I woke up this morning to prep for the gym, I found many muddy paw prints on the bed!!! ugh!!! so, will be washing sheets tonight, and planning ahead better on the potty breaks this evening! :-)

This week was a huge turning point for me on the weight loss challenge. I worked out SUPER hard during my three training sessions and my one individual trip, and I'm actually starting to see differences in my body shape! I think others are too, as I've had two random guys flirt with me this week and had the finance guy at work ask me if i was losing weight... woo-hoo!! I weighed in this morning, and was at 193.4... hopefully i'll maintain that for tomorrow's official weigh in/scale picture. The modified meals/eating is getting easier, the gym regularity is still tough. I made it this week on two days when i wouldn't have normally gone as i was TOTALLY exhausted, but i feel like if my trainer wasn't waiting for me on those days, i might not have gone... so, still some work to do...

Adding to my Vegas "reward" plans - 1) wear a bikini at the pool 2) wear a strapless dress for the "party" night... :-)

Week 2

So doing an update a couple of days early. I went to the gym three times this week and burned a total of 1431 calories on the elliptical. So far this week I've eaten out twice which takes my year total up to 6 times. Same time least year I had eaten out 12 times. Good start on that front. So with that my weight went up to 207.4 which means I've gained about .5lbs. No bueño!

The gym left me feeling sweaty

Went to the gym yesterday for the second time this year. Same routine as before but this time burned 481 calories. Left drenched in sweat which is status quo but I did feel good afterwards and have my bag packed for me to go tonight after work. Tomorrow is day long demo for a vendor who replied to a RFP at work so I'll be trying to stay awake for that then bowling so no gym tomorrow but back on the train on Friday. Also, weighed myself and came in at exactly 206lbs. That is almost 4.4 pounds lost in a little over a week. Still early but I like the direction this is heading. Also, still holding steady at 4 times eaten out this year.

Keep it up all, we can do this!

The Gym = Awesome Town

# of Calories consumed today = 1225, woo hoo!! back on diet track
# of people I hated today = 8
# of performance reviews I finished = 1 (3 more to go, and 3 days left to do them in!)

tonight the gym saved my sanity! had a really great work out with my trainer, and finally stopped hating everyone! the non-skinny colleen used to rely on taco-heezy for such emotional therapy, but today I went to the gym, and I actually feel better, rather than feeling full!!! :-) Additional happiness- What Not to Wear is on tonight!! woo hoo... i haven't seen this show forever!! :-)

Tomorrow's meeting schedule = 7am - 3:30pm... with no break, and three of the meetings are me presenting various slide sets which i still need to finish... thankfully, i have gym tomorrow night to help me not hate everyone again! :-)

Performance Reviews and Contracts...

... these are the three dirty words which defined my day today. The end result was no gym for me tonight, as I'm COMPLETELY exhausted combined with it being super cold outside. I spent a large portion of today reading and writing legal-eze, spent a large portion of last night writing performance reviews... so very, very tired. 3 performance reviews done, 4 more left to do... fully enveloped in level 5 procrastination on writing remaining performance reviews! I'm super grateful that tomorrow I'm back to training... I need some motivation (translation: I need someone waiting for me at the gym this week) !

Today's caloric intake = 1425, which wasn't bad considering my admin neighbor at work had a large box of Sees candy on her desk today, where the smell of chocolate drifted over my cube wall every 5 minutes. I ate none of it, I'm proud to say, and THANKFULLY she took it home tonight to her kiddies...

oh Monday...

Weekend Update with Evie Bee

I've always wanted to be on SNL, what can I say.
So here is my weight....down a pound and half, roughly, roughly. Even if I didn't drop 4 lbs like Leenie P or 3lbs just sitting around like Stewman, I FEEL really good. Leenie and I were in Santa Barbara and I decided to go for a run along the beach, which was amazing. Like I told Leenie, I haven't been that high since college, all endorphins of course, or whatever feel-good chemicals kick in when you workout. Added bonus, there were a lot of guys playing beach volleyball and then for some reason the firemen of Santa Barbara were also out and about. This made up for the fact that at my gym I have yet to see one good-looking guy, although I did see some guy resembling Milton from Office Space in a head band and a very sweaty white t-shirt today at the gym. Picture it people, picture it.

Update so far...

So I got back into town this morning from a tragic weekend at my girlfriends place. Everything was fine with her and me but the tragedy that unfolded in Tucson hit close to home. The Safeway shopping enter is about 3-4 miles from her apartment. A Safeway I have been in at least a dozen times and a shopping center we were planning on going to around 11:00 for lunch at a great sandwich shop. We left her apartment at 10:00am to go to the mall right next door and as we turn onto Ina road, we pull over as four sheriff deputies zoom by us. We thought, wow must be a bad accident up ahead. We go to the mall and left about 10:45 when we called my girlfriend's friend to see if she wanted to join us for lunch. She declined and we hung up. Two minutes later she called back and said we can't go up there as it is all blocked because of a shooting. No more details given. I then checked the Internet via my phone and saw it was Gabrielle Giffords who was shot. We were shocked as we were fans of her during the recent campaign and my girlfriend voted for her. If this took place an hour later we would have most certainly been in the middle of it as I'm sure we would have stopped by to see the congresswoman. The city is shocked and devastated to say the least. Pray for the congresswoman as she battles for her life. Mourn those who perished and praise those who saved lives.

To say the least the weight loss challenge was not much on my mind but I still did pretty good. I did eat out once on Saturday and once on Sunday but kept all portions small. This brings my year total up to 4 times eating out which is below my 10 times at this point last year. My weight is currently at 206.8. I did make my 2011 debut at the gym on Friday and proceeded to burn 474 calories in 30 minutes on the elliptical. I've set a goal of 50k calories burned on elliptical this year. Easily doable if I stay committed. I'll return tomorrow to the gym. So far so good but a long way to go.

Sunday Weigh In - Week 1

This first week of 2011 and the weight-loss challenge had some wins and some losses... but in the end, the scale showed progress in the right direction... woo hoo... onward to week #2.

Cheesecake Factory = the low cal model

I got the glorious grilled Mahi Mahi, and a side of broccoli and a side of green beans last night. After much consideration on the drive to get my hair done afterwards, I think i will not be as good with the sides next time... TWO green vegitable sides? it just felt wrong in so many ways! That is not me!! That is not even skinny me... skinny me will enjoy a green vegitable and a potato/rice/non-green colored food side! The Mahi Mahi was definately not bad...

Now I sit at the airport, my usual snacking location during all travel adventures, thinking if I wasn't superstitious about this standby list, I would probably go and have some garlic fries and a HUGE beer at Gordon Biersch... maybe that will be the plan if they don't call me for the standby list... :-)

See y'all at the weigh-in on Sunday!

Brag Post

So last night in my bowling league I bowled my 2nd career 300 game. It took me 25 years to get my first but only 15 months for my second. Awesome feeling once again especially having about 12 lanes stop bowling watching you throw your last 3 balls and cheering after each strike. Now I'd like to give partial credit to my new svelte figure because of this challenge. Dropping those 2.4lbs I feel gave me the extra energy boost I needed since I had been up since 1:00am for work stuff. Who knows when or if number 3 will happen but hopefully when it does I'll be a lot skinnier!!

Picture evidence from my phone. Blurry photo but you can see the evidence on the bottom left.

May I suggest a low cal alcoholic beverage...

Evie Bee, reading your last post made me think of a great option for you in your quest for low calorie alcoholic beverages. While I have never partaked in a low cal/carb spirit, Matt has tossed a few of these back. Enjoy!!

Waking up early and water, your new friend

So this morning I woke up at 5am and went to the gym before work, which I will say right now is definitely not going to happen every day. However, it was much quieter than the after work time of 6pm. I also wanted to share with you all that although I have had some bread and chocolate this week, I have so far refrained from drinking. Even though my boss sent me a wine and cheese basket which came to my office this week and his boss sent me a bottle of wine too!
I guess they know me well enough....
They remain on my desk, unopened. In addition, my boss was in town last night and as is custom had an expense account to burn. Trust me I thought long and hard about accepting an invitation to go drinking but at the risk of my career, I said no. Instead, I stayed at home and had some flavored water and them some herbal tea as my beverage of choice.
Water, it's delicious.....take note Matt :)
I will however have no more than 3 (low calorie) alcoholic drinks with my friend Leenie this weekend and then we are hitting that gym on Saturday together!

Let there be cookies!!

Calories consumed = 1606-400 calories burned at the gym = 1206
Hours at the gym = 1 (well, more like 50 minutes, as my legs couldn't hold up after two sets of something called "suicides"... probably a better name would be "you will cry after you do only one of these sprint/ground touching activities")

Tomorrow will be a challenging day as i'm going to Cheesecake Factory with some friends after work... what to eat, what to eat... we'll see how it goes...

Oh - other big happiness from today... due to my gym training tonight, i have enough calories left that i got to eat 8 pink and white Circus Animal cookies!!! oh, sugar, how i've missed you... :-)

Mid week update

So I weighed myself this morning full monty style (cause I don't care if my feet are cold...man up Matt..lol) and came in at a svelte 207.8lbs. Now all you out there may be wondering how did I cut this massive amount of weight in such a short time. Let me tell you my secret. I stayed home for basically 3 days except to buy mega millions (priorities people) and ate at home and ate less. No exercise besides clicking the mouse, clicking the remote control, and a few games of pool. Now all this is complete BS because this is just normal body fluctuations. I could wake up tomorrow and be over 210 again. I plan on making my 2011 gym debut either tomorrow or Friday and then next Monday start a regular workout schedule of hopefully 4-5 days a week. I won't be calorie counting like Leenie because I'll probably forget to include things and won't be accurate. However, I will post my eating out habits as I feel this is a key to me losing weight (besides exercising of course). So far through the first 4 days of the year I have eaten out a grand total of 1 time. This is really good for me. I don't plan on eating out till probably tomorrow morning for breakfast as I have to be in at work at 2:00am and will probably go out with the downtime crew from work for breakfast which is usually what happens.

Anywho, stay sexy everyone!

OMG - tonight I ran 1.5 minutes of an 8.5 minute mile...

...and felt only moderately like throwing up on the treadmill tonight! Woo-hoo, I'm on my way to an 8.5 minute mile! :-)

Calories consumed today: 1454 - 200 (burned off at the gym) = 1254
Hours exercised: 30 minute "high intensity intervals"
Hot guys spotted at the gym tonight: 1.5 (.5 guy was only hot from the back...)

I must also give kudos to the lady wearing a bow the size of her entire head, while on the stair-mill at the gym.

Oh, and in case anyone was wondering, hard boiled eggs in the refrigerator will make your refrigerator smell like a$$ every time you open the door... yet, only a 70 calorie snack!!

Official weight

FYI. I'm totally nude while i did this except for my socks cause my feet were cold.

Oh yeah.

So i don't have a picture of my weight so you will have to trust me:) I'm roughly 195lbs of sexiness. I'll post a picture when i buy a scale. My goal weight is 165!! In reality, i expect to be about 192 or 197 (depending on how much soda i've drunk that day) by May so you all best watch out and get to the gym.

How Did I Get Here?

So, here I am, joining the group because frankly, I am not sure how I got here. I currently am topping the scales at right around 140lbs, somewhere I haven't been in about 7-8 years. There are probably a few factors that have contributed to my current weight status....
1. My "Schedule" - or lack there of. I travel a lot for work and for fun, it is rare that I spend more than 10 days straight sleeping in my bed which means that I don't get to have much of a routine. The simple fact is that I often do not even buy groceries if I know I am going to be out of town, instead I have condiments, beer and usually some rotting fruit in the fridge.
2. Bad Habits. I've developed a few bad habits, which doesn't help me out much in the weight department. Since I work and travel and therefore eating out a lot, I am often prone to having a drink, and when you go out more than 3 nights a week, that adds up to a lot of calories, empty ones to be exact. On top of that I have always been a lover of food, usually the worse they are for you the higher they rank on my favorite food list:

- Chocolate. To be fair, I have developed a taste for dark chocolate but who I am I kidding, I'll eat anything with the word chocolate in it.
- Bread. Again, I don't discriminate, anything that has been baked will appeal to me.
- Cheese. Cheddar, Swiss, Gruyere, Edam, Blue, you name it, I will eat it......usually with my bread.
What can we conclude from this?
My ideal night is at a fondue restaurant, yes...... and that I have some bad habits to break if I want to even think about competing in this game.

So here is my goal. I would like to get down to 120lbs by the end of this competition. I have a ways to go and some new, better habits to form but look, we are all in the together, plus I really like Vegas!

Day 2 - last day of my mispent vacation

Calories consumed: 1,212
Exercise completed: 1 hour with the trainer, wanted to die after 35 minutes! Back to getting up from a chair, a car, EVERYWHERE, like an 80 year-old lady!! :-)
# of hours of therapy shopping: 2.5 - got some GREAT deals at the Gilroy outlets today, and nooooo crowds to judge me shopping in my gym clothes! :-)

Planned my lunches and work snacks for next week to keep me at 1200-ish daily calories. What I learned? Eggs only have 70 calories... helloooo new snacking food!! :-)

Day 1

Calories consumed = 1,312
Hours of Exercise = 0, but three hours of cleaning room/closet room
Hours of Bad TV Watched = 6, Real Housewives of Atlanta marathon
How do I feel? HUNGRY!!

The beginning of my dysfunctional relationship with the scale - 1/2/11

Well, here it is... my starting point. Last night, I finally took the scale out of the box, and took it for a test drive - this morning, i weigh two pounds less! :-) burning calories while i sleep!! My ideal weight is 150, so this is my goal. My plan is diet and exercise... diet = 1200 calories per day, exercise = 4.5 hours per week.

Official weight on Jan 2nd 2011

Here is my weigh-in for the weight loss challenge. My personal goal is to get to 175lbs.

2010 eating out statistics

So in 2009 I decided to keep track of how many times I eat and where I eat out at. In 2009 I ate out a staggering 399 times. Now this is an approximation and is actually probably higher as I'm sure I missed some meals and didn't count vacations where you eat out all meals usually. As I looked at this number in disgust I tried to get that number down in 2010. Well I succeeded in doing this dropping to 363 times eating out for a 9% decrease. While this is an improvement it is not what I had in mind in dropping down. My goal for 2011 is to try and get under 300 times. This will take discipline and commitment but is feasible. The biggest hurdle is trying to bring my lunch to work. Stats for 2010 below!

# of times ate out - 363

# of times ate out breakfast - 46

# of times ate out lunch - 202

# of times ate out dinner - 108

# of times ate out late night - 7

# of times ate out twice on same day - 83

# of times ate out three times on same day - 4

# of days not eating out - 89

# of times ate fast food - 122

Fast food eating out

Subway - 44

Taco Bell - 26

Qdoba - 18

Jack in the Box - 9

Filibertos - 6

Carl's Jr - 5

Del Taco - 4

Wendy's - 4

KFC - 3

El Pollo Loco - 1

Burger King -1

Here's to a better 2011!! Felíz nuevo año todos!