Saturday, January 28, 2012

Shark Week Sucks

Ok, so I've been kicking ass here.  Working out weekly with a trainer and additionally on my own other days, counting calories, making sure I'm eating the right things, burning enough by staying active, etc.  And to show for it I am (was?) 6 pounds down.

Now, this week has been a bit of a hiccup.  1) I have been more tired, both body and sleep wise.  2) It was a weird, busy week.  3) I had to endure dental torture, which opens up my deepest, darkest terrors to deal with.  And last, but most certainly not least, 4) It's the week before my cycle starts up.  I know, I know, EXCUSE, it truly is, and a lame one at that.  Many, many months I don't let it get too much the better of me, others it really kicks my ass.  Like this one.  Historically, we've begun to refer to this week as "Shark Week", because it can become an uncontrolled feeding frenzy.

Long story short, I took a break, but I am back on the horse tomorrow, and I don't think it was too much of a setback.  As long as it doesn't continue.  Hopefully my trainer will beat it out of me this morning.  (Not a good sign that I'm up so late, though!!!)

Sunday, January 15, 2012

The Light Switch is ON

I'm cooking with heat now!  Over the last few days I've continued to count and log my calories, have stayed within range of my target, have been getting my workouts in, was using the stairs at work, and even managed to keep control of my portions through our monthly supper club and not get knocked off the wagon.  I did have a sugar withdrawal headache a couple days in, and although I'm not eating zero of it I am eating very little.  I already have more energy, despite the gym-induced body soreness.  My husband has been having his own success too, so there isn't someone snacking in the evening in my face, I have a partner in crime at work to lean on, and the planets just seem to have generally aligned for me to really make this happen.  So happy!  I will report the scale's progress on Wed.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Reporting Small Successes

For a long time I've been writing posts about what I am going to do and how I am going to do it and when I'm going to do it by.  (And then often later about how/why I didn't do it).  On my new "go easy" plan, I'm going to try to only post about things I've actually done, and how/when/why I've done them.

This week, in conjunction with my dear friend at work who is in the same boat, we decided we were tired of looking and feeling the way we do.  We agreed to be each others' Jillian Michaels, and cheer each other on.  So, I'm happy to report that for the last two days, I've not eaten junk food, I've made good food choices, and logged all the calories I've eaten, keeping them within a reasonable range.  And I've been working out on the schedule I had planned.  :)

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Go Easy! (In all ways but one.)

Everyone makes New Years resolutions, right?  I certainly always do.  They vary in subject matter and intensity from year to year, but I always focus on one or more areas of self improvement, and frequently focus on or include the weight loss/fitness issue.   ~HOWEVER~   I have never made it very far into the new year without lagging, slipping up, and fairly quickly outright giving up at whatever it is.  If I haven't mentioned it before, I'm an all or nothing kind of girl.  I'm either kicking ass on plan, or I'm off it and I can do whatever I want.  If I eat some junk food on a day I was trying to be good, then all bets are off and it is a free pass to keep on eating and restart tomorrow, next week, whenever.  If I plan to do something regularly and then I miss a few times, I tend to quit altogether rather than resume and keep it going.  My house is either immaculate, or once it slips a bit I let it go way worse before getting it back in order.  You get the idea.

I also have a lot of other stuff I want to fix/improve about myself and my life besides weight/fitness.  I'm not always as patient a parent as I'd like.  I spend more money than I should.  I don't always work as hard as I could.  I'm also pretty hard on myself, and I get stressed out and anxious easily.  Tough combo.

So, this year I am going to approach all this a bit differently.  Instead of rigid goals, timelines, numbers of calories or workouts per week or other specific quantifiable goal details, I came up with an all-encompassing mantra to focus my attention and plans for improvement in a healthier, simpler way.  Without specifics that cause me to drop it when I don't exactly keep up.  This mantra is simply, "Go Easy."  By this I mean the following:

-Go easy on myself, as in stop trying to be all things to all people, focus on the important people and things, give myself some credit for doing all that I do, and give myself a break for not being just like everybody else, etc.
-Go easy on the eating.  I have such food and sugar addiction issues, and I struggle with it every day.  It's become an ingrained habit that I allow myself to remain stuck in.  Instead of setting exact calorie limits or other numbers, I'm just going to try to go easy on the food overall, go easy on the unhealthy foods, and do much better.
-Go easy on my family.  Sometimes I am a little bit too controlling or demanding, and I get too tense about the things that matter less.  I'm going to stay more positive, try to go easy on issues that matter less, and strive to put love and peace before strictness and rigidity.
-Go easy on the spending.  Simply be a little bit more frugal, and buy less "stuff" that isn't entirely necessary.
-Go easy on the slacking.  Focus on whatever it is I am doing, be in the moment, don't get sucked up in distractions, don't stay up quite as late watching quite as much tv, etc.

No more "off plan" time, every moment is a chance to make a good decision, every next moment is a chance to more forward from the last one.  Eat less, move more.  Love more.  Spend less.  Try harder.  No more restarts.  Be in every moment, learn to manage stress, find zen.  Go easy.