Something's got to give

I tried to get back into the workout routine today. I've done OK this week getting back to eating natural foods and avoiding processed foods but for some reason I'm so exhausted that exercise is a problem.

I mentioned a while ago that I've been trying to start Turbulence Training which is a strength training program that looks like it would work wonders and help jump start getting in shape. The strength training isn't just about losing weight; it's about building a better body. Which is really what I'm after.

The problem is that by the time I get home at night I am so tired I can barely see straight. Then figure in 3 - 4 hours of writing time for my many projects and I often forget to eat dinner until after 9.

Today I tried to get the routine in as soon as I got home at 530. I figure if I just do it when I get home, I can then shower and have dinner before diving back into working. Today I made it home a few minutes early. I changed clothes and began the workout. I made it through the warm up with no problems and all the way through the first set of exercises before I became a little light headed. Now I had eaten 2 meals and 2 snacks spaced throughout the day and had 48 or my 64 ounces of water -- so I shouldn't have felt light headed. There was just no reason for it.

I paused for a minute then tried to get back down to the routine. The second set of exercises started fine until I had to lie on the floor for an exercise. Half way through a set of 10 all I wanted was to curl up and go to sleep, right there on my living room floor. I was so tired.

I kept thinking to myself -- there is so much I have left to do today. Yet I could barely keep my eyes open. I lay there for at least 5 minutes before I pushed myself up off the ground and decided it was time to give up for the day. Even if I had completed the workout I wouldn't have had the energy to really push myself.

After a cool shower that should have made me feel alert, I was still dragging. So much so that the idea of cooking dinner was more than I wished to deal with. I pulled out my emergency tomato soup for one and combined it with some low fat cheddar and crackers. I even brewed a pot of coffee since I really did have work to do.

The problem was my eyes were drooping before I finished my meal. I gave in for a 30 minute cat nap then forced myself to wake up and get to work.

So now here I am, it's late, an hour past my usual bedtime. The coffee didn't keep me alert but the headache leftover from the nap has kept me slogging through. I'm writing this to try to relax some of the tension in my headache so that I will be able to sleep when my head nears the pillow.

I only hope it will work.

I just keep thinking, how will I ever lose weight if I am so busy and SO TIRED that I can't even get my work done much less exercise and sleep.

Apartment Hunting - One of life's distractions

One of the reasons I have gotten behind on blogging is that I've had to look for a new place. You see, my lease is up in about a month and since the place where I live has decided to jump my rent it has become out of my comfortable reach.

I don't mind having to pay rent, it's a part of life. But I do mind when the cost jumps hundreds of dollars every year. With the economy going to crap, how can anyone reasonably expect to pay increased rental costs?

What you ask does this have to do with losing weight? Not much. EXCEPT that when I have to deal with searching for a new place and arranging a budget to afford a new deposit and moving charges, I don't actually have time to work out or think about my diet.

I hate to say it but this is one of my top ten reasons for not losing weight. If I'm honest with myself I can admit that life and its distractions often keep me from losing weight. Moving isn't the only life distraction that has this impact. Some others include

• Changing jobs
• Working a 2nd job (which I have been doing for about 4 months)
• Traveling
• Starting a new relationship (or ending an old one)
• Studying for continuing education tests
• Working overtime
• Reading a really good book
• Eating out as part of social time or interaction with friends

These are just a few of my life distractions.

What are yours?

Start making a list of your life's little distractions that keep you from losing weight.

2 Steps (lbs) forward, 2 Steps back

For some reason I've chosen Wednesday as my weigh-in and measure day at home. Sometime near the end of the day I sit down with my laptop and update fitday.com with my new weight and measurements.

So that's what I did tonight. I also caught up on my food diary entries. I've been tracking what I eat on paper but not putting it into the computer for about 5 days. What I discovered tonight is that it is tons easier to go overboard when the calorie count isn't staring you in the face.

I've also learned that soda really will keep you from losing - no matter what else you do. At my status check today I discovered I have gained 2 pounds and an inch on my waist. Which SUCKS!!
I made good progress then I went of vacation and even though I was active, I wasn't active enough and I wasn't pursing my weight training. Of course I also drank wine and soda while I was away. And the access to fresh fruit was limited.

Of course today I also ate awesome lasagna at lunch and had mac n cheese at dinner. You see once I get started on the pasta, I crave it constantly. So it's possible that today's weigh in was all about limited fiber and an overdose of carbs.

Maybe I'll do better next week. The problem is that when I back step I get frustrated and irritated. My first reaction to irritation is to grab an ice cold soda and a junk magazine then curl up with both on the couch until I feel relaxed and don't give a crap about what the scale or tape measure said. So every step backward initiates a second, larger step in the wrong direction.

For this week, I am NOT losing weight by stepping back with soda and pasta -- and doubling my carbohydrate intake for the day! Sucks to be me today.

Good news though, it's almost midnight so today will soon be over and I shall start again tomorrow. Have a nice night!

Delay in Posting

Sorry for the delays in posting but traveling does more than trash my diet, it trashes my intentions to keep up with blogging.

I actually took my laptop with me to the Poconos in the hopes that the relaxation and solitude would give me the time to write. It did. The problem was that where I was staying blocked my cell phone and wireless service. I was completely out of touch for 4 days so I've gotten behind.

The good news is that I have an entire blog entry about gravity weighing us down that I will input as soon as I get it typed up. So you may have to go back a day or two since I will post date it to the date I wrote the blog.

Anyway, enough of the excuses. Back to not losing weight.

I've started participating in weekly weigh-ins with a group of my coworkers. We weigh-in on Monday mornings in an attempt to motivate us to maintain a diet over the weekend. This should help me since weekends are when I tend to blow all my progress.

So this morning I weighed-in at 2 pounds less than I did two weeks ago. In theory I should be happy about this - right? I lost two pounds in two weeks even though I skipped weight training for an entire week and I completely sabotaged my diet.

SO WHY do I feel like a big, fat failure??

And WHY did this morning's weigh-in make me want to give up all over again, even though I am making progress?

Gravity getting you down?!

Gravity is the force of nature that gives us out weight. It also is what holds us firmly to the planet so we don't go soaring off into space as the Earth turns on its axis. SO most of us have a love/hate relationship with gravity.

You see, gravity is what makes me weigh almost 180 pounds when I step on the scale. It's a safe bet I would weigh much less on the moon or floating in space.

Of course we can't blame our shape or size on gravity. We cannot blame our relative weight on gravity either but sometimes when I just need to blame someone or something other than myself, gravity is as good a target as any.

While on vacation I spent today hiking in the Poconos. I wandered to Bushkill Falls which is a series of waterfalls. The view was pretty amazing and I counted the hike as exercise since it took about 2 hours of walking through the woods, climbing up and down steep staircases and trudging over rocks and uneven ground.

By the end of the walk I was sweating (even though the temperatures were calm for fall and in the 60s) and I had to stop three times because I was breathing so heavy after walking up the stairs. So this was definitely exercise. BUT it was also fun and relaxing.

A side effect of my trek through the woods was that I got some great photos of the waterfalls and started thinking about gravity in a positive way. Sometimes just getting out and looking around gives me enough of a new idea that I start to force myself out of negative attitudes. So I decided to share a photo from my vacation with you.

This waterfall is another side of gravity.

Without that force, the water would have no reason to fall over the edge.

Traveling

Noelle and I are both on the road this week. She is attending a conference in Florida while I am vacationing (in Florida then Pennsylvania).

Since we are both gone at the same time, we have been getting behind on this blog. Still, we will try to keep up when we can this week.

Since we are traveling we have both been experiencing the difficulty of sticking to a diet and exercise plan while on the road. Healthy food and snack options are hard to find at airports and hotels. Plus there is the urge to snack or splurge because we are away from home.

Traveling is one of the fastest ways to NOT lose weight on a diet. Noelle and I had a few meals together on Sunday which is rare for us because we live in 2 different states. It was great to get together as friends and chat/catch up on the other's busy life.

Still, I could not stick to my healthy (no sugar, no soda, no processed carbs) plan. Instead I walked for an hour on the beach to make up for the seafood pasta I ate the night before.

For me the biggest difficulty traveling is the soda. I can resist the pasta, the Cinnabon at the airport (that one is difficult) and even sucking on candy while flying. I cannot resist the urge to grab a bottle of soda to take my mind of how cramped I feel shoved into a middle seat for three hours while flying up the east coast.

What is your travel difficulty?

Is eating out what catches you?

Portion control?

Being unable to maintain a schedule?

Or do you treat yourself since you are on vacation?

Whatever your difficulty, you can take a break on vacation and get back on plan as soon as you return home. Can't you???

I'll be finding out next week.

Family Time

One of the biggest detriments to any diet may be the people who love you most. Your family, friends - whatever your support system - may do more harm than good. There are two types of family defeaters

1. Intentional saboteurs
2. Well meaning enablers

Find out which you have in your life and then find a way to work around them.

Why am I bringing this up, you might ask?

I'm home in Florida for a few days this week. While here I make the rounds to visit my extensive family and a few friends. My family is mostly of the well meaning variety. For example, I had lunch with my dad who is supportive of my getting in shape and losing weight. He fights the weight battle himself though he gets tons more exercise than I do. So we had a healthy lunch, chef salad with shrimp cocktail to start. Very healthy.

But dad has a bit of a sweet tooth and wants to take care of people. This means that he is always offering a drink or dessert. Knowing that for decades all of his kids have been big soda drinkers, he tends to have a variety on hand when we visit. I think it hurts his feelings when I said no thank you (about 6 times) and explained that I am off sugar.

Still, dessert was another story and I have to admit that I caved when he brought out the Boston cream Little Debbie's. I only had one but after more than a week without processed sugar I thought my system was going to overload from the sugar high.

The thing is, he means well, family usually do. No one likes to see others having to deprive themselves. It hurts us to see the people we love unhappy and most dieters are unhappy because of deprivation.

Take a look at your support system and the people you encounter every day - at home, at work or during social time. How are these people helping or hurting your quest to slim down?

You cannot cut them out of your life or convince them that they are not helping you (whether they are intentionally trying to sabotage you or not). Instead you have to find a work around.

Try not telling them about your diet so that they don't see you feeling pressure. Or consider taking one bite of what is offered and make up for it by taking an extra long walk. Whatever you do, do blame them for standing in your way. They probably don't even realize what they are doing.

Make a list of work arounds to have on hand in case you need them.

What will you do?

How will you stop a saboteur from changing your new habits?

What will be on your list?

Entirely too full

I realize that it isn't kosher in the world of dieters to say that you are too full unless you have gone off the wagon. The thing is, I've never been a big eater. I snack often and have a soda addiction but when it comes down to it, I don't eat a lot in terms of volume. In switching to healthier meals with no processed carbs I am now eating about 1200-1300 calories every day and the majority of that is raw fruits and vegetables. I get some whole grains in a Kashi bar every day but it's that and protein. No pasta, potatoes or other carbs.

The thing about eating lean protein and raw fruits and veggies is that you have to eat a fair amount to get up to the calories and then it takes a while for your body to digest. So come dinner time I really don't want to eat. I feel bloated and uncomfortable.

So my question is, does this ever end? How are we supposed to feel like we are losing weight or will lose weight when are systems backed up or bloated and uncomfortable? How can you keep your motivation when eating healthy makes you feel tired and crappy?

Today I feel entirely too full and I only ate 1200 calories. I'm so full I feel lethargic and unmotivated. How about you?

Kicking it old school

Hi, Noelle here. Colette has been busy trying some new diet ideas and I have decided to go back to an old favorite - Atkins. Actually, I've never done the diet as written by the late doctor, although I've done very low-carb with a nutritionist, but my husband tells me that some of his best success as a dieter was on Atkins when he lost about 60 pounds (starting from a number well into the 300's). And apparently this diet has been around for some time - I was on a message board where a woman said she was doing the version of the plan from 1972.

I'm doing this because I'd like to do some eating that I enjoy for a while. I'd like to eat meat and cheese and eggs (and romaine lettuce, too, since I do like salad) and take a break from oatmeal, high fiber bread, sliced turkey, and low fat cottage cheese. So, this is a blatant attempt to quell my emotional eating angst by eating foods that will satisfy my hunger and let me feel like I really ate something good.

While I was doing DASH I had to give up most of the simple carbs anyways, so now I just have to give up the carbs made with flour and sugar, but I get to keep the leafy greens. I'm not too worried about missing sugar - I can't even say the last time I had chocolate (six weeks, maybe?). The induction phase is two weeks. I can't say I'm positive this is going to work, but I feel like I want to do something tasty this time.

Oh, and 5:30 AM Jazzercise starts tomorrow, too.

Fit Day (Again)

I tried Fit Day. Don’t worry I’m not giving up after less than 24 hours. Instead I came to a revelation in just one day. You see, I did really well with my meals yesterday. Tracking my meals was fine through about 5 pm. I had consumed about 950 calories so far for the day with only dinner remaining. I left work and headed to the grocery store. I’ve started going to the store twice a week so that I can get fresh fruit and vegetables. I got tired of buying fruit on Saturday and having it go bad by Wednesday or Thursday.

Going to the grocery store twice a week means I am tempted twice as often to buy things I shouldn’t. I’m also tempted to buy junk when I stop at the store on my way home. Still, I stopped. I bought the fruit and some fish. But then, I walked down the past aisle and was tempted by the mac & cheese and they had cherry coke in the cooler while I was waiting to check out.

I was so tired I just wanted to go home but I picked up both items, even though I knew I shouldn’t. Mac & cheese might be OK in moderation but I live alone and for some reason I can’t make myself cook just half the box. So I made the entire box, served it with 3 ounces of steak and the soda that had called to me. The meal was filling even without veggies.

I entered the meal into Fit Day this morning and watched my calories consumed blossom from 950 to over 2300 for the day. I totally bombed the day, consuming 500 more calories than I burned for the day - all because I shopped when I was too tired to care about sticking to the plan.

What I learned from this was that Fit Day may be a great tool for me. I instantly was forced to see the stupidity of eating and entire box of mac & cheese for dinner. The nutritional value shown on the chart online along with the calorie consumption smacked me in the face. That one slip, that one mistake, trashed the hard work I put into the day.

What Fit Day also showed me was that I could have made it up. The instant data on the site let me know that I could have added an exercise with some serious cardio or strength training and brought my calorie intake at least to even (instead of eating so much more than I burned). I’m going to try to stick with the program for at least a month to see if I can track trends. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Fit Day Tracking

I never feel like I get anywhere when I diet. I expect dramatic results in short periods of time which is why I am usually disappointed. Even knowing this I haven’t been able to change my habits. I know that starving won’t work because by the end of three days I will be cranky enough to chew someone out for no reason (and I’ll want to eat their arm). Setting a goal of exercising an hour a day doesn’t work for me either.

I know what doesn’t work, yet I still keep plugging along. I’m a sucker for a gimmick. If it promises I can lose weight fast, I’ve probably done it. I stop short of volunteering for a tape worm but I buy exercise videos, machines and even diets off the internet or infomercials. They never seem to work.

I decided a few months ago to try to stop wasting money on losing weight since money wasn’t getting me anywhere. I no longer will join a gym or pay for personal training when I know I won’t stick to it. Even if I think I will show up every day, let’s be serious. I can only delude myself for so long. So for now, there is a moratorium on buying anything with the intent of losing weight.

Imagine my surprise today when looking at an article about tech tips for time management. I came across a recommendation for www.fitday.com. Being the curious diet nut that I am, I just had to check it out. Before you become concerned about my obsession I should tell you that I also checked out a site for managing your to do list at www.rememberthemilk.com.

I did sign up at Fit Day, however, for a free diet tracker. This tool was cool. I could input what I ate and the tracker would track calories and nutrition. There are even pie charts that show how much of your diet is carbs, fat and protein. The activity tracker allows you to enter your activity, time and intensity and the tracker figures calories. You can set goals and track them. You can enter your body measurements and weigh-ins and track these as well. Fit Day also does the math to figure out how many calories you should eat and estimates how many you burn even when sedentary (based upon your weight). If you want to know your body mass index, that’s available too.

I don’t know how this will work but I’ve decided to give it a try. Maybe all the bells and whistles will motivate me.

Junk food Withdrawal

Is junk food addictive? Is there something in high-fructose corn syrup that has us addicted?
I do believe there must be.

I’ll be the first to admit that I have a series caffeine addiction. I have trouble functioning without it most days. Even though I have given it up for months at a time in the past and each time I felt 10 times better than I do now, once I recovered from withdrawal.

But what about sugar and processed food? Why is it that I never crave sugar or even mac n’ cheese until I can’t have it? Of course with mac n’ cheese all I have to do is smell it and I’m going to want it for dinner every night for a week. Let’s just say that I suck at the whole moderation thing. I keep telling myself that in order to do anything about my physical size and shape, I have got to get moving.

Then a week of bad headaches and constant cravings and I give in on Sunday night because I’m bored and frustrated while sitting on my sofa with a book. I read a book a few months ago called the Body Ecology Diet which was very interesting and talked about dieting for health not weight loss. The big focus in the book was breaking the connection with sugar and yeast in our bodies. The book recommended probiotics and complete cessation of sugar in order to kill the yeast that is overtaking our internal processes and slowing down everything from metabolism to our immune systems.

There is no proof that sugar is addictive but plenty of people crave sugar as soon as they get a taste. Many others suffer headaches and body aches in the first few days of dieting, usually as a result of giving up the sugar and processed foods (that are often full of some form of sugar).

Is going cold turkey with your sugar habit the reason you give up your diet?
It has been mine.

In the 1990s “the average American eats the equivalent of 20 teaspoons of sugar a day” according to the FDA article “Sugar Substitutes: Americans Opt for Sweetness and Lite”. A decade later and we are consuming even more sugar since corn syrup is found in everything from brownies to chili.

With the preponderance of sugar in foods that aren’t sweet, can we really give up the sugar habit for good?

Dream Big

I’m about to embark on a new diet/exercise plan (as usual). I was thinking about the Zone but came across something I hope may work even better. I have a thing about thinking about food. I hate to have to think about food all the time just to be able to monitor my calorie intake. Having to think about food all the time is the biggest obstacle for my losing weight (even more so than the soda and sugar addiction).

To I’m planning to try Turbulence Training http://www.Turbulencetraining.com. What appeals to me about this plan is that it is about effective weight training and fat burning. There is a nutrition component with a focus on balanced, natural foods. But more than that, the exercise seems to motivate me more.

This week I am reading the ebook and some of the supplemental/bonus materials that come from ordering the ebook. One of the bonuses is Mastering the Fat Loss Mindset by Dax Moy (founder of the Magic Hundred) and Craig Ballantyne (founder of Turbulence Training).

The point they repeat in this 31 page e-pamphlet is contrary to all other weight loss suggestions. Instead of losing big and quick or slowing down by setting small goals, this pair recommends dreaming big. They advise instead of setting a goal of losing 10 or 20 pounds and then setting a new goal once that is achieved, to set a true goal. To decide what you really want and then aim for it. So if you really want to lose 100 pounds, setting a goal to lose 15 is not inspiring or motivating enough to get you through. The argument is that even if you do set a small goal of 15 pounds and you do lose that weight, what’s to keep you on track to setting a new goal.

So what do you think? Is it better to set a true large, long term goal that you really want OR to set up a smaller, short term goal that you can actually meet?

So far the short term hasn’t worked for me, so I’m going to try the alternative.