Doesn’t pound cake sound good right about now?

Well alrighty then.  Here we are starting Week 4.  I’m down 9 pounds.  I don’t know about you, but three weeks in of a new routine is the do or die period for me.  At three weeks of being hard core I start to get willpower fatigue and become bored and resentful of my food and my workout.  Even if I have rules in place I’m apt to say F*ck It!  I start to think how much I want an apple fritter, or a Cuban sandwich….or wait, maybe chicken strips with those crinkle-cut fries….and a margarita.  Yeah, a margarita.  Maybe not all at once, or necessarily in that order, but they all share equal standing in my hierarchy of needs and I hold them all in high esteem.  In any case, I’m at that point where I start to find reasons to let things drop off and fade away into the bin of lifestyle changes past.  (It does seem only appropriate that I should come back as a Dickens ghost with my Weight Watchers membership card, OA 12 steps and Paleo cookbooks forever chained to me while I do the eternity version of step aerobics).  I start to question if I really want to lose weight and get back in shape.  I start to think things like “Look at that couch over there.  Isn’t she pretty”.  So, I am trying my hardest to keep the self-talk reasonably non-negative and to focus on what I’ve gained so far.  Here are the highlights:

1. I am losing weight.
2. I am not gaining weight.
3. My ass is getting firmer from all the squats.
4. I am better about portion control and make good choices when I do go out to eat.
5. Did I mention that I’m not gaining weight….

So, it’s onward for now as I’m still in the game.  Wish me luck.

Week 2

Well, I’ve just completed two weeks of non-stop diet and exercise fun!  Yep.  I’ve eaten per plan and hooked up with Shaun T. (forgive me Shaun for misspelling your name in previous posts) every day for two weeks.  During this two weeks I’ve lost 7 pounds…..most of which was lost during the first week.  Now, you are probably thinking, “Wow, 7 pounds!  That’s really good”.  Well, I’m not.  I lost 6.2 pounds in week one and .8 pounds in week two.  If I were 10 pounds, or even 20 pounds away from my goal, .8 pounds down on the scale for a week would be fine.  But in the second week when I’m still 60 pounds away from where I want to be, not so much.  And shut up about how the scale doesn’t always reflect how well you are doing!  I know all that crap.  I’m still crabby about it.

I’m trying very hard to focus on the fact that I do feel my body changing.  I’m starting to feel some musculature again and my stomach fat isn’t so hard and inflexible.   I have a reasonable person appetite, I have fewer cravings and am not binge eating.  Shaun T. is getting easier and I’m having less problems with my back.  Which ultimately, is pretty good for only two weeks out.

The thing is, that without food and booze I have to deal with life fully, and I’m not feeling very confident that I’m doing well at that right now.  I’m just feeling utterly boring and uninteresting (picture a middle-aged woman sitting on her couch watching Blacklist in her holey men’s undershirt, holey sweatpants and sweat jacket that is too small and no longer zips with a large white and gray cat sitting on her chest).  I’m hoping this is just the toxins leaving my system and that soon I’ll start to feel mentally better and more like the fun person I want to be.

 

Let’s Try That Again

Well, week one has come and gone and it was a semi-bust.  I not only managed to turn my taper week into a last-chance-to-eat-anything-and-everything week, but I gained weight in the process.  I also only managed to get in two days of my buddy Sean T.  But that’s alright.  I anticipated the week may be that way and have determined to re-do it!

FedEx kindly delivered my food from PersonalTrainerFood.com on Saturday.  It was just a matter of getting the 48 pound box of food into my kitchen and wedging it into my freezer.  I started eating it on Monday and have been true to the plan the last three days.  Yay!  The food is pretty good and easy to prepare.  I have nothing to complain about.  Well, O.K.  I have one thing to complain about.  There is one veggie mix that has a few too many lima beans for my taste…..but I’m a trooper.  For the most part, it seems like plenty of food and I’m not feeling deprived.  So far so good.

I’ve also been true to Sean T. so far this week.  Me and the T25 videos are on a speaking basis.  I’ve done them for three days beginning Monday and it’s looking good for the rest of the week.

So, there you have it.  I’m feeling pretty good about everything.  Onward.

 

Hello 2015

Well, it’s the beginning of a new year and I thought I would document my 2015 efforts to lose the weight and get fit…..again.  My ultimate goal is to regain my running shape and once again complete at least one half marathon in under 2 hours.  But prior to that, I’m first going to need to lose about 70 pounds and, oh yeah, start running again.  So, the prescription for this first month is to do the T25 workout every day and to eat 28 days of Personal Trainer delivered food.  I figured I have the T25 DVD’s already (which I still haven’t gotten all the way through), I have enough workout clothing to at least keep my boobs from hitting me in the face when I do burpees, and I can do it indoors out of the site of any onlookers.  The food is pre-cooked and frozen so I can take it anywhere and it’s already in the perfect serving size (which I’ve lost all sense of in the last two years).  Of course, I don’t know how it will taste and if I’ll like it.  But, I can get down most anything for 28 days.

I started the T25 DVD’s last night.  I had to wait until my roommate left the house, so I didn’t get to it until 9:00pm….which I get extra credit for because usually at 9:00pm on a weeknight I am in bed watching Netflix preparing to fall asleep AND I was completely paranoid that my roommate would return to see me barely clothed and hyperventilating to Sean T.  Well, the first day is done.  Only 27 more to go!

I’ll start the eating program next Monday.  Until then I’m “tapering”.  That’s right.  I put it in quotes.  I’m doing pretty well, but one woman’s tapering may be another woman’s binge eating.  Just sayin’.  I did have a lovely kale and edamame salad today for lunch.  That should count for something.

So, for the record I’m starting this thing at 196.6 pounds.  I’m not going to weigh myself again until after I’ve finished the 28 days of the eating program.  At least that’s my goal.  I’m also going to continue to put half and half in my coffee and have an occasional adult beverage.  Well, here I go.

This is me July 2011 when I was at 130 pounds (my lowest weight) and running half marathons every weekend.Ex

This is me about a year ago pretty close to the weight I am now. Oh how the mighty have fallen.

My First half Marathon

The Inaugural Salty’s Half Marathon was this last Saturday.  We had trained a little bit but never managed a run further than 6.2 miles.  This was going to be fun.  And to top it all off, the weather was crap.  Rain and wind the few days before were not making me want to run this thing.  I woke up at 5:45 on race day, quickly dressed and headed out the door to my Weight Watchers weigh-in.  To my surprise, and relief, the wind had died down and the rain had stopped.  Ok, for the first time I felt ok about this.  I stopped off at Safeway for a jug of Gatorade and a cup of coffee and headed out to weigh-in.

About half way to the meeting it started to sprinkle.  Then it started to pour.  I really just wanted to keep driving.  Oh, shoot, was that race today?  I weighed in (-3lbs but it was because of my clothes) and headed back home.  It was no longer pouring but still sprinkling and the wind had started to pick up.  My mood was definitely suffering because of the weather.  It was made even worse after I found out that my newly purchased hydration pack had a major leak in the bladder causing the water to run down my butt.  We tried some superglue but it wouldn’t work so I dumped out the water and grabbed one of the water bottles we had laying around the house. After a breakfast of bacon and eggs, we headed out.

I was cranky about the water pack and about the rain.  We pulled up to the check-in station and received our numbers.  Apparently there were 75 people signed up for the race but there didn’t seem to be that many there.  Maybe they were all keeping warm and dry in their cars.  We affixed our bibs to our shirts and zipped up our rain jackets.  I was going to tough it out and run in shorts and a long sleeved tech shirt but Morrie went with long pants and a short sleeved tech shirt.  While we were waiting, my friend Nic showed up and he introduced us to a few people.

We gathered at the start and received some last minute instruction from the organizer and then the countdown: 10,9,8…3,2,1!  We had officially started our first half marathon.  Thirteen point one miles from now I’d be back in the same spot.  Morrie had a plan to run 8 minutes, walk 2 the entire distance.  I was skeptical since it’s very difficult for me to start up again after I stop.  It wasn’t very long before everyone else was in front of us.  We had already decided that coming in 74th and 75th was fine with us.  We ran along the water, past Alki Tavern and around the horn.  Pretty soon 8 minutes were up and I decided to try Morrie’s plan.  So we walked for two minutes and started back up.  It wasn’t that bad.  But then it started raining.

We reached the first aid station and I grabbed a cup of water.  I had my water bottle but it had a mix of Gatorade and water in it so I figured I should drink water when it was offered.  I could see ahead of us a woman who was also running the race.  She had a red shirt on so I kept an eye on her.  I figured I’d be better off if I could keep her in my sights.   She walked periodically too which helped keep her close to us.  But other times she’d get well ahead of us.  By now it had started really pouring.  Big, fat raindrops.  My shoes and feet were getting wet and I envisioned all sorts of blisters on my feet by the time this thing was over.

We plodded on and reached mile 3-ish where a volunteer was standing in the rain (she did at least have an umbrella) guiding us to the right direction.  Morrie and I were not running so fast that we couldn’t carry on a conversation.  Mostly we (I) complained about the rain and wondered how far we’d get before we met the people in front of us coming back.  We stopped again at mile 4 for some water.  There were many large puddles of water and Morrie managed to find several of them.  Her feet were drenched.  Mine were only a little better.  But by now my long sleeved shirt was so wet that the elbows were sagging and Morrie’s pant legs were floppy because of the weight of the water.  Finally around mile 5 or so we met the first place runner.  Several of the people coming back gave words of encouragement, some just ignored us.  We met Nic early on.  He gave us some atta girls and kept on truckin’.  We were heading up the hill at this point.  Not a big hill, but a hill nonetheless.  Oh, and more pouring rain.

We got to the entrance of Lincoln Park and headed down the path, past the last water station and toward the pool house, the official turnaround.  We trotted off toward the red shirt woman when someone came up behind us and said she thought we needed to go the other way.  How did this woman get behind us?  I thought we were last.  Oh, well it doesn’t matter now because she’s past us and getting further away.  We round the pool house and find the restrooms.  I had needed to pee for about 2 miles and it was getting a little uncomfortable running with a full bladder.  We peed and scarfed down some Clif Blocks and off we went.  My water bottle was empty and I had planned on filling it up at the last aid station but when we got back to it, it was packed up and gone.  Damn.  We’ve taken 1 hour and 27 minutes to get this far.

Just after leaving the park we ran up behind two gentlemen who asked us “What race?”.  I kept moving forward but looked back and said, “Salty’s half marathon”.  One guy replied, “Oh, we did those races about 30 years ago.  Good luck.”  We’d need it as we were just starting back up the other side of that hill.  There was some sidewalk construction going on so we had to cross the street and run on the road between the ditch and some orange cones for a short distance.  We got past the cones and crossed to the other side of the street.  The downhill was a welcome relief but short lived.

At somewhere around mile 8 or 9 my hamstrings start becoming very tight.  We begin running 8 minutes, walking 1 minute and stretching for one minute.  It doesn’t feel like the stretching is working.  My hamstrings are very tight and sore.  The outside of my right calf hurts.  The arch in my right foot hurts.  The outside of my right foot hurts.  But my breathing is good and I don’t feel too sluggish.  We are back running along the beach, somewhere around mile 11 or so and Nic shows up.  He’s walked back to us to see how we are doing.  He’s got enough in him to run with us.  He distracts us from the pain and tight muscles.  He offers suggestions and we plod on.  After rounding the tip of Alki we decide to take one last 2 minute walk break and then the next stop is the finish line.

As we get nearer the finish line we discuss, very briefly, if there will be a final push at the end.  I say no.  I think Morrie says no.  Nic tries to persuade us otherwise but hell with him.  Each step forward makes me wonder if my leg muscles will have enough left in them to catch me from falling.  We get nearer the finish line.  They are already packing stuff up.  Nic asks someone if they have the timer and someone runs out to the path.  Finally!  After 3 hours, one minute and 4 seconds, it’s over.

We wander over to the refreshment area.  Apparently chocolate milk is a great recovery drink but I wouldn’t be able to gag it down.  Morrie has some.  I bend and try to stretch my legs then I squat down.  My legs are really sore and I can’t stand much.  I want to crawl to the car and sit.  But first, the cold plunge into Elliott Bay to soothe our poor tired legs.  We baby step down to the waters edge.  The rocks are slimy and I nearly fall.  I manage to get my shoes and socks off and wade into the water up to my knees.  The rocks hurt my feet and it’s hard to stay standing.  I stay for a minute, maybe two then out.  I get my shoes back on and wait for Morrie and Nic.

We head back to the car.  There is some debate over going home first or eating first.  I vote for going home first and since Morries’ pants are wet she agrees.  We drop Nic off at his place and head home.  By the time we get out of the car, we are stiff.  We hobble up the stairs.  “No jumping on me” I say to the dogs as I walk into the house.  Even the little one could have knocked me over at that point.  I head to the bedroom and start peeling wet clothes off.  We take showers and get dressed.  By now I’m starving.  We decide on pizza so we head down to Zeek’s.  We enjoy our meal, it was the best pizza I’ve ever had, and talk about the run.  Morrie even suggests that “it was kinda fun”.  It was fun.  Despite the rain.  And the last 6.5 miles.

Fatty 1 – Update

I haven’t been posting much, because there isn’t much new to talk about.  I’m still fasting pretty regularly.  I’m about 70% paleo/primal.  I want to tighten that back up to about 85%.

My weight loss is slowed, but I suspect that’s because I  a) have hardly been working out, b) been less attentive on the quality of food that enters my mouth.  Lets just say I should buy stock in Hagen Dazs.

I’ve lost between 15 and 16 pounds, and I seem to be hanging out there.  I don’t mind.  I think my body needs a little rest and adjustment period.  This next Monday, I’m back onto the tighter Paleo diet (I’m purposefully avoiding the word strict), and back to Crossfit to pump the iron.

I’m competing in the Danskin Triathlon in a little over two weeks.  I’ll be interested to see how that goes.  So between now and then, like any good procrastinator, I’m going to do some last minute cramming before the test.  Eat right and exercise for the next 16 days.

Fatty 1 – Intermittent Fasting Week 9

I didn’t post last week because there wasn’t much to write about, and I was in the crunch of the final weeks of school.  I have lost about another pound bringing me to a total of 12-13 pounds.  I was more lax the past two weeks than I have been, but that’s fine.  I ate more bread products than I have been, but still nothing near what I used too.  I drank a few sodas, during the last two weeks, but I used to drink two a day, so still a lot different than my previous consumption levels.

Seven weeks ago my Crossfit gym had a Spring LEANing contest.  About 70 people signed up to do it.  There was a big cash prize, and so that was motivation for me to go on the paleo diet.  I had been fasting with no particular diet regime, but for this contest you had to pick The Zone Diet, or a Paleo or Primal type diet.  I hate counting and measuring what I eat, so I went paleo.  It’s easier for me to not eat bread than it is to weigh and count things.  I hate it, so I don’t stick with it.

Anyway, the contest lasted seven weeks.  I got a call yesterday from one of the gym owners and she said I had made it to the top five.  Wow, I impressed myself.  I knew I had lost some weight, but out of the 70 people trying I had made it into the top five.  Now I didn’t end up winning, but I feel really good about having done so well in such a short amount of time.  Hopefully I can keep it up.

I’ve finished school this week, so I’m allegedly going to have more time to work out.  I’m hoping that the increase in exercise combined with the eating plan that so far seems to be working for me will help me get down to my goal leaness.

I’ve also thought that this next week I will experiment with the Eat Stop Eat style of intermittent fasting.  That is a 24 hour fast followed by a day of normal eating, two to three times a week.  For example  Sunday night I will stop eating at around five or six o’clock, and then I won’t eat again until five or six on Monday night, then Tuesday I will eat “regular”, which will probably two or three meals that will end by five or six, and then fasting again for 24 hours.

My reason for doing this is just to see how it compares to the daily fasting I have been doing.  I currently fast around 16 hours and then eat the other eight.  Generally, two meals and a snack or two.  So I try to finish eating around 7 or 8  in the evening, and then I fast until about one or two in the afternoon the next day.

I’m just experimenting, to see which way I like better.  I’ll report back next week.

Fatty 1 – Intermittent Fasting – Week 3

So this was the first week that I did the intermittent fasting combined with the paleo diet.  I was pretty good all week, not eating hardly any grains except for a some rice wrappers around a Vietnamese salad roll, and one chocolate gluten free cookie.

I mostly stayed away from processed sugars, except for a chocolate gelato binge at Olive Garden where I took my mom for Mother’s Day.  Let me tell you sitting at the Olive Garden with loads of breadsticks in front of me took some self control.  I didn’t have any, which is probably why I took it out on the gelato.

So how did all this goodness add up in the weight loss category?  I have dropped about 2 pounds this week.  And if I add up my total for the past 3 1/2 weeks I am at between 5 – 6 pounds.  Not to shabby.

The thing that excites me is that I am at my lowest weight in a long time, definitely since before I started this blog over a year ago.  I have managed to stay between 176 and 170 pounds, never managing to crack the 170 barrier.  But yesterday when I stepped on the scale I made it over.  And when I weighed myself again this morning I was still on the good side of 170.  Yeah.

I’m feeling a little sluggish this morning, but I think I’m learning that the fasting doesn’t work as well for me energetically when I am sleep deprived, which I always am on Mondays, since I have class late on Sunday nights. Normally I’m not tired when fasting, but I only get about 6 hours sleep on Sunday night.  I only have school for 7 more weeks, so it’s only for a little while.  I will try and ride it out.

Fatty 1 – Weighing in.

So I finally weighed myself. It was nine days of intermittent fasting with an average of a 7 hour feeding window, generally from 2pm to 9pm. I lost two pounds. Now that might seem like not very much of a weight loss compared to some diets in the first week, and I have to say I was hoping for more (who wouldn’t), but I am happy with it.

After all I got to eat whatever I wanted, and as much as I felt like without measuring or counting points, or not having certain foods. It was relatively easy compared to other eating plans I’ve tried. I mentally resist having to measure and count things, when it comes to restricting what I eat. Although come to think it I never did like math class either.

Now when I say I ate whatever I wanted I tried to keep it mostly healthy foods, eating the veggies, fruits, and lean meats, and the like. In fact I always tried to break my fast with a healthy meal, generally turkey and some veggies and fruit. But after that whatever I wanted I ate. A few cookies, chocolate candies, some ice cream made it past my lips.

I didn’t feel bad about it. The point of this experiment in the first place was to test if I would lose weight while eating “normally” except in a compressed time window. So I would have to say that the answer is yes, the experiment is a success.

I was sort of worried I might binge eat. I definitely ate a larger meal as my break- fast meal than I would have without fasting, but after that I found I didn’t really feel like eating any more than I normally would. Of course I’ve never been a binge eater (I’m an all day grazer by trade), but a lot of people on various bulletin boards I’d read had expressed concern that not eating 6 meals a day would lead to binging.

I didn’t feel the need to suck down a box of ding-dongs just because it was technically within the rules for me to do so. I found it fairly easy to have a treat of some kind and that was that. I think because I could have it, it lost a lot of its allure that comes from obsessing about what you can’t have. Oh, that funny human psyche.

So I’m going to continue for another week and see how that goes.

Fatty 1 – Intermittent Fasting – Week 1

So I have finished my first week of intermittent fasting.  So far so good.  It seems to be getting easier as I go along.  So what have I noticed now that I’ve had a week of this under my belt?

1. It’s not as hard as you imagine (at least not as hard as I imagined).  In many ways it is easier to avoid temptation totally instead of incrementally.  Oh, I’ll only have one cookie…scarf, munch, munch.  Oh, how did this box get empty?   It’s much easier to stop when you don’t start.
2. Being hungry isn’t the end of the world.  Do I get hungry fasting?  Yes, but it isn’t really so bad, and it actually doesn’t last that long.  It seems to come and go in little bouts throughout the fasting period.  I’m hungry for a half hour or so, then not for a while, and then a little hunger again, and then it goes away.
3. Food seems to taste more.  I notice, especially with my first meal after the fasting period, that the taste of foods is stronger.  I ate some vanilla pudding that I buy in the cafeteria at work fairly regularly, and all of a sudden it seemed much tastier, more vanilla-y.  I’ve always thought it was sort of a rather bland vanilla, but after fasting it tasted good. I suppose that’s because I’m really hungry by the time I eat, but it is a nice side benefit.
4. I seem to be sleeping deeper.  I often wake up in the middle of the night, and lay awake for an hour or so.  This hasn’t happened the last several days.  It will be interesting to see if that trend continues.
5. I’m not binge eating.  Some concerns people have written about regarding intermittent fasting is that it causes or reinforces binge eating.  That might be true in some people, but I haven’t noticed it.  I definitely eat a bigger meal as my break-fast, but my meals after that are normal.  I also haven’t been overly tempted to binge on junk.  I have been pretty much eating the same things as I did before, just condensed in a smaller time frame.  I’m still trying to eat healthy whole foods, and some chocolate ice cream, and cookie makes it in.
6. Working out seems about the same.  I workout in the morning about half way through my fast period.  It seems about the same amount of effort.  I did have a particularly hard workout yesterday, and the last round was a struggle, but it would probably have been that way even with my customary snack before working out (slice of bread with peanut butter).
7. I could continue this for a while.  It is the easiest diet I’ve been on.  I don’t have to count, or measure, or exclude foods unless I want to.  I love that.

I don’t know yet if I’ve lost any weight.  I’m still holding off on weighing myself until my regular day, which is four days from now.  It will be interesting to see what the results are.  I will post them.