Adaptability

Some times you have to be adaptable.  No matter how well thought out your plans are, life sometimes gets in the way.  Like today.

• Got an email from school about Liam having another headache
• Got home to find Hilary sick 
• Realized I had 20 minutes to get to school to sign up for parent teacher meetings
• Noticed that we are almost out of milk
• 3 math questions took over an hour and all of my patience
• Have my own headache from being in an all day, boring but mentally taxing training session for work

So while I got in lots of walking going to the school and then for milk, I did not go to Tae Kwon Do tonight and I did not substitute with a work out at home. 

I did stick to my eating plan, with no extra snacking.

I'm calling the day a wash, having a cup of tea and heading to bed.  I'm all out of adaptability.

Weigh in - Feb 22

Last Week's Weight - 221.3
Current Weight - 216.0

Weight Lost This Week - 5.3

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Well that is a loss I can get used to!  I don't think I've ever lost 5 pounds in one week before.

This was a great week overall.  I exercised every day for at least 30 minutes, using the BeachBody videos that came with my 21 day Fix package.  I've never really been a fan of workout videos, but I have enjoyed these ones.  It helps that they are only 30 minutes long, give you frequent 15-30 second breaks and offer modified versions of each exercise if you can't keep up.

I also had the Shakeology shake every morning for breakfast.  It truly filled me up, helping me keep my overall calories each day between 1300-1700, lower then I've been able to get on my own.  Even with the low calories I wasn't hungry.  And even better, I didn't have any cravings all week.  Often when I get Liam a snack of cheese or pretzels, I'll help myself to a few bites.  But not this week, it just didn't seem interesting to me and I was already satisfied with what I had eaten.  I even made it through Saturday and Sunday at home without any snacking.

I've committed to sticking with the shakes and workouts for 21 days, so 2 more weeks to go.  I had set a slightly random goal of wanting to lose 15 pounds during the 21 days, something that I thought would be great to strive for, but didn't really believe I would be able to do it.  After all, the most I've ever lost in a week before was 2 pounds.  But after this mornings weigh in, I believe it might just be possible.

No Thank You

The smell of a vanilla cappuccino wafts down the row to mingle with the scent of toast and peanut butter. A plate of homemade cookies sits on the desk to my left. 3 rows over is the bowl of expensive dark chocolates, placed out for people to help themselves to. At lunch time a delivery person walks by with 15 piping-hot pizzas, leaving a trail of aroma in his wake. Someone does a mid-afternoon run to the store, coming back with mini chocolate Easter eggs and a box of Halloween sized chip bags to share. At least once a week someone forgets their lunch so they run and grab take out, bringing it back to eat at their desk.

These are the office food pitfalls that I navigate every day. I arrive with my healthy, pre-packed, pre-measured lunch, making sure that I don’t have any change on me so that I can’t augment my meal with an extra snack from the vending machine. My co-workers know that I am trying to eat right and lose weight, and in fact, more than half of them are doing the same thing. Mostly they don’t offer me whatever item is currently being passed around, but every now and then I have to deal with what I refer to as “the pushers”. You know the type…. “Aww come on, just one won’t hurt you, have a cookie/chocolate/timbit/snack.” And they seem genuinely insulted when I decline, as if our level of friendship is directly related to me accepting or refusing their fares.

Too many times of late I have fallen into the trap of accepting just one, having a wee taste or sampling something new. I know that individually none of these will derail my progress, but I don’t always have the willpower to stop at just one. So for my own success I have had to take the stance of saying “No Thank You” to all of it. One day I may be at a place that I won’t have to refuse, but I’m not there today.

Do you have “pushers” in your life? How do you handle them?

21 days

After gaining weight for the last 3 weeks, it’s time to knuckle down and get serious again. Luckily that coincides with a 21 day challenge I’ve signed up for. I was recently introduce to “Shakeology”. Not one to believe in fad diets, supplements or other snake oil ideas, I was pretty skeptical. An online friend who is a Team Beach Body coach, hooked me up with a couple of free samples to try. It was surprisingly tasty and my research has me believing that it really is made of all natural, good for you things. Since I like shakes, I figured I would give it a try.

The 21 day challenge also came with food containers to help with portion control and some work out videos. Since I’m old pro at calorie counting and portion control, I don’t think I’ll be using the containers as intended, but they do make good containers to take my lunch to work in. I was initially resistant to the work out videos as well, but I tried on last Thursday to see what it was like. I only made it through 20 of the 30 minute workout before I thought I was going to throw up, and it took 3 days before my thighs recovered enough that I could get in and out of a chair on my own. The part that I like the most about the video was that even though it was led by a skinny, chipper, I-workout-10-times-a-day woman, they had a regular sized woman also featured doing modified versions of the exercises for those of us who can’t keep up with the skinny, chipper leader. I found I was following a little bit of both of them – more so the modified versions as time wore on and I got more and more tired.

My goal for these 21 days is to drink one of their shakes every morning (I bought the chocolate version, and wow, is it great tasting!), keep my calories under 1900 a day and to work out at least 30 minutes a day – either at TKD or one of their videos. 3 weeks is a small enough time frame to not be overwhelming. We have no plans or celebrations in the next 3 weeks, and won’t be renting cars either, so that will keep me out of the fast food drive thrus.

Yesterday I weighed in, got Hilary to help me take my measurements and some "before" pictures (which  won't be sharing!)   I'm really hoping that this is the kickstart that I need to get myself back on track!

Weigh In - February 16

Last Week's Weight - 220.9
Current Weight - 221.3

Weight Gained This Week - 0.4

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Apparently last week's lesson didn't stick, so I repeated the same pattern with the same results.

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
-Albert Einstein 

So, it begins... again.

Nourish Your Soul

It's not just your body that you need to take care of on this journey to health.  It's too easy to get caught up in eating the right food at the right time, exercising and tracking everything.  Before you know it, you have forgotten to live life and enjoy it.

It's also easy to lose sight of your relationships with the ones you love if you focus solely on yourself.  The ones I love are two of the main reasons that I want to get healthy so that I can enjoy life with them.  So today I have taken the day off work to celebrate Valentine's Day with both Hilary and Liam.

I'll be spending the morning at Liam's school receiving food from other parents, preparing trays for each class then serving buffet to Liam and his classmates for their Valentine's Day shared lunch.

Hilary and I will have some quality couple time with couple's massages at BodyMends!  Afterwards we'll pick up some sushi (and chicken fingers for the kid) and have a nice family evening together.

I never want to lose sight of why I am doing this.  Yes, I'm doing it for me, but for me to be happy, fulfilled and complete, I need my loved ones with me.  Otherwise it would be a very healthy, but lonely life.

So today I will focus less on calories, portions and how many steps I've taken.

Today I focus on nourishing my soul.

Happy Valentine's Day!

6 week accountability

6 weeks ago I joined an online accountability group.  The premise was simple.  A group of people virtually meeting up every day to help keep each other accountable to the goals we set for ourselves.

I set a goal of not skipping Tae Kwon Do for the 6 weeks.  That would equate to 16 classes.  I made it to 11.  A couple were cancelled because of the weather, 1 I was legitimately sick and the others..... I just didn't have it in me to go those nights.

And that was okay.

Not making my goal to 100% helped me realize that no one is perfect and that there are times when you just have to let something go.  That doesn't mean you've failed.  You haven't ruined everything for ever.  Let it go and move on.

I made it to more classes in these last 6 weeks then I did for the previous 3 months combined.  I felt accountable - to myself for setting the goal and to the group who was there to encourage me and cheer me on.

I will continue to grow my accountability to myself as I strive towards my overall goal of better health.