Plateau - again!

I think I've hit another plateau - again.  But like my hubby mentioned...it's easier to lose weight when you've got a lot to lose.  But now that I'm getting smaller, its's just naturally harder to lose weight.

I've been stuck at this 130-133 plateau for the past 7 weeks.  I have increased my workouts to at least 5 times a week.  I think one thing that I know I haven't been too good on is my diet.  I have fallen a victim to my sweet tooth again.  That was what I had the hardest time letting go of last time.  I think I need to stock up on more sugar free sweets again.  That is the hardest thing for me, my soft spot.

I was really hoping to be in the 120s already (as I stated in my last update which was about 5 weeks ago), but sadly I'm not.  The kids are back in school, so I'm starting to add running back into my routine.  I have also increased the routine, and now I'm slightly over 3.4 miles.  I need to find just "a little more" to make it a complete 3.5 miles. 

Also, I didn't realize we had P90X!  Hubby and I quickly browsed thru the various exercises!  Man do a lot of them look difficult!  It is almost intimidating.  But then again, that's how I felt about the various Jillian Michaels DVDs.  So I'm thinking I could get thru it.  I don't plan to do the whole 90 day program, but to just incorporate the different DVDs in with my current mixed up workout schedule.  I hope that helps me get thru these last 7.2 lbs to my next goal!

A monthly update

Since my last update, I have officially lost 20 pounds!  Whoo hoo!  I'm excited!  I really thought that the 4th of July weekend had really messed things up, but it didn't.  On Monday, hubby had the day off and the two of us went on my usual jog route.  I was happy to go because I haven't been jogging since the kids started summer vacation.

Speaking of summer vacation, their vacation is almost done!  I can't believe it!  Just about 4 1/2 weeks left!  It is going to go fast.

Hopefully by then I will be in my 120's.  I started doing South Beach Phase 1 again in hopes to jumpstart and get these last final pounds lost.

It worked!

It has now been 19 weeks and I have lost a total of 16.8 lbs!  Changing up the diet and starting a new workout has really jump started things.  Since my last post, I was able to loose 6.4 lbs!  I hope to get into those 120's soon!

New Changes!

Looking at my weight loss tracking, I have hit a plateau!  Looking back at week 7, I have teeter tottered back and forth, lingering in the low 140's.

So to hopefully change things up a bit...I have decided to go on a South Beach diet for 10 days, and I also started a new DVD today.  The Biggest Loser Cardio Max...known from now on as just "Cardio Max".  I picked it up at my local Target for $9.00, or essentially free because I had a gift card!  =)

In addition to this, I have started using my "Calorie Counter" app on my phone again and logging EVERYTHING I eat.  So hopfully this will help.

I think my body was just getting used to my workouts.  I'd say around week 10, I started consistently running 2-4 times a week (the SAME ROUTE) and I was also doing the same exercise, Jillian's NMTZ.   So hopefully this will change things up a bit, and get my weight loss started again!  This is so frustrating and I hope it helps.

Also.....my husband has decided to take the journey with me to having healthier eating habits and I will now have a workout buddy!  Hooray!  This is an exciting day!  Now let's hope to see some results!

This is horrible!

I decided that I would weigh in on Mondays regardless of how bad or good I have been on weekends.  I'm almost sad/sorry I did!  This Monday's weigh in was a shocker!

143.4 lbs!  I gained 3.6 lbs, which basically puts me back to about week 9, or about a month's worth of work!  *big sigh*.  This weekend we did nothing basically but eat.  Saturday we went to our nephew's 1st communion.  Which consisted of a taco bar, and a nice slice or RICH red velvet cake.  After that we went to a Baptism, which was at a Thai restaurant....and more eating, more cake and more no good drinks like thai iced tea.

Sunday we went to Sunday Brunch BUFFET.  It was expensive and as a poor excuse, I wanted to get our monies worth and ate, A LOT! 

Monday morning, I weighed myself and paid for this weekends actions.  *cries*  I really wanted to stay in the 130s and hoped to go lower in the 130s...but now I have to work my butt off and try to get there by the end of the month - per my original goal.

Today I also managed to add to my jogging route to take it over 3 miles.  It is now at 3.1 miles.  So now I will hopefully be taking this route from now on.  Maybe for the rest of this week I will add a little more to make it over 3.5 miles and do that for the rest of the week!  I am pretty pissed at myself.

I know I deemed weekends as "days off" but now I know I truly cannot do that anymore!

Check In

Well it has been a few weeks since I updated...but I just wanted to update with a milestone.  I dropped below the 140lb mark and I'm now officially at 139.8!  Hooray!  I will update the sidebar with my most recent changes.

This week I have done real well with my workouts.  Here's what I did for the week:

Monday NMTZ
Tuesday BFBM
Wednesday NMTZ
Thursday 30DS level 1 AND level 2...that is the first time I have done two shreds back to back!  I thought it would be easier since I have been doing the longer NMTZ and BFBM workouts...man that was a killer!
Friday...tomorrow I plan to do NMTZ

I have also been eating well this week.  So hopefully this pays off.  My goal was to be under 140 by the end of the month and I did it with still one week to spare!  If I keep this up, maybe I'll lose another 2 pounds, or maybe 3!  =D

Week 6 summary - Weigh In

Overall it was a good week, until Friday hit.  Friday night hubby and I were going out for a friend's birthday party, so I went to drop of the kids at my parent's house.  I decided to buy them pizza for dinner.  I decided to eat pizza as well.

At the party we drank alcohol which had a ton of calories as well.

Saturday lunchtime we had a children's birthday party to go to.  I had a drumstick of fried chicken, a cut of sub sandwich and some pasta salad, ugh.  Not to mention a slice of cake!  Then for dinner we continued over to the birthday boy's house and I had some Starbucks and buffalo wings.  And this was supposed to be my "day off" from working out.  I dunno how many thousands of calories and carbs I racked in on Saturday.

Sunday was almost as bad because we met up with our Aunt and Uncle and the family for our Uncle's birthday.  We had Thai food for lunch.  They hung out at the house til dinner and guess what was for dinner?  Yep, we ordered pizza again for the kids and that's what I ended up eating because I couldn't wait til 8 or 9 for dinner to be ready for the "adults".

Overall it was a really bad weekend and it showed in today's weigh in:

148.2 (+3)

39.8 (+.4)

27.1 (+.5)

This was last weeks:

145.2
39.4
26.6 

So I decided for this week I was going to amp things up and run 3x this week (compared to only two last week) and do more of my one hour videos instead of only doing the quickie 30 minute shreds.  And if I'm feeling really ambitious, do some kind of ab exercise in the evening.

hopefully this will put me where I was last Monday - which was at my lowest ever in years. 

Week 5 Summary

Not such a big leap this week in weight loss...1.2 lbs lost.  But I made it to the big event.  I didn't reach my goal of 10 lbs lost...but pretty darn close...7.4 lbs!  Here were this weeks stats:

145.2 (-1.2)
39.4 (-.1)
26.6 (-.2)

Comparing to last weeks...

146.4

39.5

26.8

I hope to do more cardio this week.  Hopefully the weather is good.  My goal is to hopefully  loose the last 3.2 lbs....and hopefully after that get below 140!  This is so exciting!  As a reward to myself last week I bought myself a size MEDIUM belt!  As my large would no longer tighten enough...as there weren't anymore holes to hook onto.  And as I went dress shopping I was able to fit into a size 8!  The size 8 actually looked and fit better than the 10!  

It's March and there are a lot of upcoming events this month.   Hopefully I can stay focused and continue to drop some pounds!

Week 4 Summary

146.4 (-3.6)

39.5 (-1.1)

26.8 (-.6)

Comparing to last weeks...

150

40.6

27.4

Week 3 Summary

Oh week three was a disaster!  The boys had a four day weekend...so I DID NOT work out last Friday, Saturday, Sunday OR Monday!  *le sigh*  

So Tuesday's weigh in was at:

150 (+1.8)

40.6 (+.3)

27.4 (+.3)

Comparing to last weeks...

148.2 

40.3% BF 

27.1 BMI 

I know other than the fact that I did not work out for one single minute on these four days, I also got stuck on Thursday eating Valentine's Day goodies that the boys brought home.  We also went to Universal Citywalk on Saturday for my cousin's birthday....my husband bought lots of yummy food from Dodger Dogs like nachos with chili and fries and oh my was too yummy!  And for dinner we had Bucca di Beppo.  So I knew this was to be expected.  But it was a really huge disappointment on my end.  

The event is in 9 days...and I haven't really lost much =(  Just 2.6...which isn't too bad considering "safe" weight loss is approx. 1 lb per week.  So I'm going amp things up...Tuesday and Wednesday I did "No More Trouble Zones" and today I did "Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism" which I think I'm going to do for the next 9 days...not really sure yet because I like the sweat from cardio, but I also need to tone things up.  Maybe if Im ambitious enough I should do BFBM in the AM and The Shred in the evening?  Lets hope to slim it down more.

Man does BFBM make me sweat!  I cannot believe it.  I really think thats a good thing because The Shred no longer makes me sweat like that.  So I really hope that along with a good diet I'll be able to loose more weight in 9 days!

Week 3, Day 2

As usual today is when I help out my older son's teacher.  This is the time I usually use to work out.  After helping her out, on my way home it started to rain - as the weather predicted.  So no running for me.

I decided I was going to finally open my Banish Fat Boot Metabolism DVD that I purchased months ago.  I was a little scared to do so because in the last couple of months I have been having shin pains.  I read in many reviews that this DVD wasn't good for people with shin pains because of all the hopping and jumping around...but because I have not been having them, I opened it up and decided to see what it was all about.

OMG THIS IS HARD!  I have done all three levels of the shred before (but have only completed a full round of 30 days (with some time off between...never a straight 30 days through)...but holy batman, this was difficult.

I had to stop with 2 more circuit left to pick up the kids.  After stopping for about 30 minutes I came back to finish the last two circuits.  Man I was as sweaty as when I did all the prior circuits.  It's true - this DVD leaves you dripping with sweat...the kind that drips in your eyes and makes it sting.  Yuck.  

I was going to attempt to do level 1 of The Shred after....but no thank you!  It is past 3:30 and I still have not eaten lunch - no bueno!

I hope this workout pays off!

Week 2 Summary

This week wasn't good at all.  Here is this week’s summary:

Monday:  Did my weigh in as stated in my previous post...a 3 lb lost.  This was exciting...I did a 2.9 mile jog and did level 1 of the 30 Day Shred.

Tuesday:  I had the intentions to work out after helping my older son's teacher.  Tuesday is my day to help her out.  But I decided to do errands after..and by the time I was done it was time to pick up the kids from school.  Workout FAIL.

Wednesday AND Thursday:  I got a cold and decided to give my body a break.  I pretty much stayed in bed all day.

Friday:  I know I said I would only weigh myself every Monday, but I was anxious since I haven't worked out since Monday.  I was afraid that I was gaining weight back.  However, I weighed myself out of my normal time. I did this after taking a shower, with wet hair and I had not gotten dressed yet.  To my surprise, 147!  No way.  That means since Monday, a 2.6 lb loss and to date 5.6 lost in 12 days...averaging .46 lb lost every day.  Hmm, I hope this isn't going to somehow backfire on me.  But I think I'll be able to reach my goal for 10 lbs lost before the 27th.  y reward will be dress shopping if I pull this through.

Saturday and Sunday:  I was giving myself the excuse of needing my body to recoup as an excuse not to work out.  At least I still ate fairly healthy.

Which bring is to today's weigh in:

Week 1 Stats: 2/1/10
149.6 lbs
40.5% BF
27.4 BMI

Week 2 Stats:  2/8/10

148.2 (-1.4)

40.3% BF (-.2)

27.1 BMI (-.3)

Not so bad considering I only worked out once.  So today I busted my ass and did a 2.17 mile jog, which burned 240 calories and right after did level 1 of the 30 day shred.  I think this puts me at day 5 of the shred?  I'm not quite sure.  But today felt like day 1.  It was rather difficult since I had not done it in a week.  All in all it was a good workout.  

There is supposed to be rain this week so I'm not quite sure how many runs I can get in this week.  That's the drawback of not having a gym membership.  But my goals this week are:

• DRINK MORE WATER!  I seriously need to stress this because there are some days that by the end of the day I do not feel so well.
• I need to up the protein and fiber.  I already eat lean meats, but I wonder if I have enough?  I usually eat some kind of lean protein for lunch and dinner.
• More fruits and veggies!  I need to make it a point to have more fruits and veggies, especially veggies.
• To run at least 3x this week.  My plans are to run tomorrow after helping at school as well as on Wednesday and/or Thursday weather permitting.

Overall, it was an OKAY week and I hope to see at least a 2 lb weight lost for next week’s weigh in.

Week 1 (of many week ones!) in review and weigh in

The month of January was filled with many starts and stops, and re-starts.  Same old thing.  I stay motivated for a few days and then get back into my normal routine.  But I have to stop doing that.  About a week and half ago I started running again - but longer distances.  So last Monday I decided to also add the Shred back into my routine and take an official "start" weight and monitor my progress.  My friend's upcoming wedding was also another jump start and motivational "first goal end date".  I wanted to lose ten, yep 10 lbs...I realize this is a little ambitious...but we shall see. 

I wanted to weigh in every week, but I got impatient...after two days I weighed myself and was surprised to see I had already lost 1.4 lbs.  So it got a bit out of hand and I was weighing myself every other day.  And to my surprise I was losing weight!  But I don't want to become scale happy.  So really...I need to learn how to be patient and only go on that scale every Monday.  This is going to be tough!

This week in review was pretty good.

Monday - I jogged for 2.19 miles and did Level 1 shred.

Tuesday - Didn't run.  Only did Level 1 shred.  Pissed cause I had a 1/2 slice of cake.

Wednesday - I jogged for 2.2 miles, and did Level 1 shred.

Thursday - pissed at myself because I didn't jog or do The Shred.

Friday - Jogged 3.34 miles because I was mad that I didn't do ANY exercise on Thursday.  But this backfired because I took so long that I didn't have time to do The Shred.  So TWO DAYS without The Shred.

Saturday - Went snowboarding for about 4 hours.  

Sunday - "Rest Day"  I put that in quotes because I didn't want it to be a rest day, but since hubby has been working late this past week, we did family day.  And I was just plain lazy.

As far as goals, I was able to reduce my caloric intake.  I don’t know by how much, I stopped counting calories.  But I'm definitely cutting out junk food and sweets.  Sure I've had a bite of a cookie and had Panda Express for dinner.  But I made sure that when I was being "bad" I was trying to be "good." Yeah that's kind of an oxymoron.  But to illustrate, I had lunch at Chick-fil-a and got their grilled chicken sandwich, protein style...wrapped in lettuce rather than bread.  And at Panda Express, I got had their mushroom chicken, and beef with broccoli...but I tried to eat most of the veggies and had only a little bit of fried rice.

I definitely do need to amp up the water intake.  

Other than that things are progressing rather well =) I’m happy with my 3 lb weight loss for the first week.  Just to compare...

Starting Stats: 1/25/10
152.6 lbs
41.2% BF
27.9 BMI

Week 1 Stats: 2/1/10
149.6 lbs (-3)
40.5% BF (-.7)
27.4 BMI (-.5)

Happy New Year! Starting Off Fresh!

Hello everyone!  After a long hiatus, I'm back.  The holidays are over and I can focus on getting back into shape.  Hopefully the saying of third time's a charm is true.  I don't know how many times in the past 6 months have I started the shred all over again.

I'm just one of those people that cannot take all the stress it puts onto my knees and shins.  I did also purchase No More Trouble Zones to add some variety, but the workouts were too long.

So as of this morning here were my current stats:

154.2 lbs
28.2 BMI
41.8% BF, yuck!  I'm almost half body fat *cries*

I'm not too much different from my last weigh in I see documented here, but it's still an increase.

I also got a new Motorola Droid from my hubby for Christmas and from the app store I downloaded an app called "Calorie Counter" that syncs my information with fatsecret.com.  So hopefully I can manage my food diary better.  Like today I had such a small snack (seafood dip w/crackers...and a cup of yogurt).  It had more calories than my lunch or even breakfast.  Yikes!  I guess I should have known from the start it was a bad idea because I'm sure that dip had a lot of "bad" things in it like mayo.

My goals for the New Year (again, maybe redundant from previous goals...but I need to write it down anyway.)
•    Drink lots of water
•    Only water or tea...I think I'm going to only do hot tea and limit myself to 1 cup a day.  Last summer when I was drinking several cups of iced tea, I think I had caffeine overload and would experience eye twitching periodically through the day - yikes!
•    Limit my caloric intake.  Not really setting a goal right now...but at least 350-400 calories per meal.
•    Exercise, exercise, exercise!  I think I'll have a variety of things going.  I need to sit down and really plan this out. But definitely the shred 3 times a week and I think in between I can do NMTZ or Cindy Whitmarsh on exercisetv.tv
•    I need to somehow also decrease my fat intake.  If I gotta loose the fat, I gotta watch the fat I'm eating as well.
•    Weigh myself every Monday right when I wake up.
•    My goal is to be 125 lbs.  But if I look and feel healthy at a weight heavier than that, I will also be satisfied.  Weight loss to me isn't always about the numbers. 

So, with that said...here's hoping to a successful weight loss in 2010!