dianaschnuth

This week’s report isn’t particularly good news. I started out the week on Saturday the 4th at 210. By yesterday, I was back up to 211.5 (and I gained back yet another pound during this weekend). I’m not going to make my goal of 209 by midweek, unless I do something drastic and unhealthy in the next two days.

I was still pretty gung-ho early in the week, and I did the Tae Bo Cardio workout on Monday. Tuesday, I did the Tae Bo Basic workout. The rest of the week I did absolutely bupkis. I made the mistake (apparently) of weighing myself daily this week, to track my progress toward my goal — and when I saw a complete lack thereof, I basically threw in the towel for this upcoming goal. Not what I should have done, I know, but man. I was just so freaking bummed.

Food this week was still good things, but my carb:protein:fat ratio went a little wonky a few times. As Sheryl predicted, I started getting tired of oatmeal — or maybe I’m just getting tired of the mushy-ass Quick Oats we got at a discount at Big Lots. This weekend, I ended up getting some sort of cranapple-granola cereal, so I’ll probably switch up breakfasts with that a little. We also got a new supply of real oats, so that’ll be a welcome change of pace, as well.

While we were at Claudia’s yesterday, replenishing my supply of Vegenaise and getting some breakfast cereal, we also bought some more peanut butter (because the MaraNatha brand we bought last time kind of sucks) and some more salad dressing. We got a refill of the Annie’s Naturals Artichoke Parmesan, and we got some other kind of citrusy-mangoey something-or-other. We’ll see what that’s all about later this week.

So, basically, this upcoming weight goal is a wash. I’ll still photograph myself and weigh myself and all that, but I’m really kind of bummed that I… well, I guess the root of my bumming nature is really that I do halfway OK during the week, but my weekends invariably end up being the one step back to my two steps forward.

I’m also apparently pretty easily defeated. Not that I’m totally giving up — not at all. I’m just, well… I thought that losing five pounds in five weeks would be no big thing. It’s kind of disheartening to see that it wasn’t as easy as I’d thought it would be, and that I’m so easily thrown off by a lack of instant results.

I’ll get back on it this week. Exercise and lots more water. I’m just kind of depressed about it right this moment.

I started out my week at 210.5 lbs, my weight as of Saturday the 28th. Over the course of the week, I managed to lose half a pound, but the journey there was kind of up and down.

I added some new food items to my diet this week, including Annie’s Naturals salad dressings on my salads and frozen blueberries in my oatmeal. I continued eating four meals a day, and branched out on Friday to start eating five: three full meals, two snacks.

Monday’s exercise was focusing on legs. Tuesday was Tae Bo Basic. On Wednesday, I tried something new and worked out my back. There wasn’t a very wide range of exercises I could do at home with only dumbbells, so I did ten reps each of supermans, tricep kickbacks, bent-over rows, side raises, and shoulder flys, all with my five-pound weights (except the supermans). As with my other weight workouts, I did the exercises all together with no breaks, then took a two-minute break before set #2, then a one-minute break before set #3. I really felt it the next day, so I opted to take a day off. I’m not used to my back being sore on purpose. Then, since I took a day off on Thursday, I lost my momentum and didn’t work out again on Friday.

Midweek, I weighed myself and was quite depressed to see that I’d actually gained a pound and a half. Sheryl suggested that I should measure myself, too — and I’m glad she did. Sixteen days into my new diet and exercise program, I’d lost an inch and a half from my waist, an inch and a half from my neck (?!), half an inch from my upper arms, and three-quarters of an inch from my bust. My lower body remained unchanged. But holy crap! I can definitely deal with minimal weight loss if I still lose inches.

My goal for the coming week is to ramp up the cardio. I want to shoot for two days of cardio, preferably three. I downloaded the Tae Bo Cardio workout on VCD, and from what I’ve previewed of it, I think it’s going to kick my ass. In a good way. I’ve also decreased my caloric goals for the week by about 200 calories. I’d been making my oatmeal with a little cream, and I’m going to lay off of that this week; that change alone should knock off that 200 calories a day. I’m also switching up what I’ve been eating for lunch and for dinner: more carbs for lunch (say, meat and rice), and fewer for dinner (meat and veggies or salad).

Hopefully, between the cardio and the more frequent feedings and the lower caloric intake, I should drop off some more poundage this week. Even if I keep only losing at the rate I have been, though, I should still make my goal of five pounds by Valentine’s Day.

February 16th = 2 days after Valentines Day = new pictures and new measurements. I have nine days to kick that ass.

I started out this week at 213, after my ill-fated Cheat Day on the 20th. Midweek, I was still at 213, which depressed me. Yesterday, though, I weighed myself and discovered I was back down to 210.5, which is definitely good.

I’ve continued to be good about eating my breakfast, and said breakfast has continued to be oatmeal. We found an extra-large box of Quick Oats at Big Lots last week, and while I prefer the regular Old Fashioned Oats better, these aren’t bad. They are, in fact, quick to make. Not that those extra two minutes really mattered in my day. Anyway, I’ve cut down on the raisins, though I haven’t eliminated them yet. I have started adding slivered almonds on occasion, and those are pretty good. They add a new flavor and texture. I’ve also rediscovered the Atkins Sugar-Free Maple Syrup that we had in our cupboard; it goes quite well on oatmeal, as does the sugar-free imitation honey (though not at the same time).

I’ve come to be so dependent on my breakfast that skipping it isn’t even an option; I’d rather be late to work than miss my oatmeal.

I’ve also been switching up my afternoon snacks. Instead of tuna salad, I’ve been eating an apple and some cottage cheese. I might need to switch back, though, as I seem to recall that my afternoon snack really shouldn’t have any carbs, and an apple most definitely has carbs.

In looking at my calorie ratios from last week, I pretty much stayed within 4% of my 40:30:30 ratio of carbs to protein to fat all week. Tuesday was a little off, though — too much fat (can’t have cottage cheese with my snack and vegenaise with my dinner, too).

As for exercise, I did fairly well this week. Monday was Legs Day: I compiled my own workout based on the premise of this Beginner Dumbbell Workout. Lunges, sumo squats, stiff-legged deadlifts, and calf raises all in sequence, followed by a rest, then repeat, rest and repeat. That was just about right, although my quads were sore for a few days and my hamstrings were stiff and sore for a few more.

Tuesday was Shoulders Day: Rear shoulder flys, front raises, shrugs, side raises, and presses all in sequence, as above. This needs tweaked for future workouts, though, as doing side raises and presses seem to work the same shoulder muscle. Having those exercises right next to each other does NOT work. I also need to throw some tricep kickbacks in there, as my triceps were feeling quite neglected. My shoulders didn’t start to feel sore until two days later, and the soreness didn’t last too long. Which was odd, because my last set of presses was damn near impossible. I expected to hurt a lot more than I did.

Wednesday was my slacker day; I didn’t do any exercise. Thursday I did the YOGAmazing Yoga For Abs practice, which was more strenuous for my fatigued upper arms than for my abs.

Friday, I finally pushed back the couch and did some more Tae Bo. This time, I got through the whole tape, only sitting out of one set of side kicks. And damn, did I feel GOOD after that workout. Breathing kind of hard, sweating just a little, but not like I was going to die or anything. Strangely enough, that workout seemed to work the soreness out of my shoulders and legs. The only thing that got sore was my lats — those muscles on either side of my back? Yeah. Every now and then yesterday, I’d just randomly say, “Damn you, Billy Blanks,” and Aaron would know what I was talking about. 🙂

I’m hoping to have lost more weight by next week’s midweek weigh-in, as I’m currently having my happy womanly time right now. I’m thinking that may have been one reason I didn’t seem to lose any weight during the first part of the week. We’ll see.

At any rate, I’m well on my way to reaching 209 by Valentine’s Day.

First off: since I’m not technically doing Atkins anymore, I’ve changed the name of my Atkins category to Diet & Fitness. It seems to be a little more inclusive.

Now: on to the update.

When I weighed myself on Monday morning, I registered at 212.5 pounds. That was actually a pound and a half lower than the previous week, although I’m not sure what I did to lose weight during that time. *shrug*

Starting on Tuesday, I tried to follow the food plan Sheryl had e-mailed me. (Well, I did make an effort on Monday, but that Atkins-style lunch with Aaron really threw off my fat intake.) Breakfast was ¾ cup Quaker Oats, with Splenda Brown Sugar Blend and raisins. Lunches were mainly the dinner meat from the night before, with an apple or a salad. Afternoon snack was always tuna with Reduced Fat Hellmann’s (and sometimes onion and/or celery), and dinner was chicken breast or fish with a side of low-carb pasta.

Before you lambaste me, Sheryl, for my deviations from the diet last week (not that you would, but it’s fun to pretend):

• Believe it or not, the only green vegetable we had on hand last week was salad greens. We’ll be attempting to remedy that during this week’s grocery shopping.
• Hopefully, today we will be heading out to the whole foods store to locate some Vegenaise to replace the Hellmann’s. Even Aaron has admitted to curiosity.
• The raisins in my oatmeal will soon be replaced with slivered almonds — again, with today’s grocery shopping.

In addition to changing my eating schedule and habits, I also began/continued exercising every evening. On Monday, I did the YOGAmazing “Yoga For Weight Loss” practice, which was surprisingly vigorous. On Tuesday, I did 50 jumping jacks before my Beginner’s Dumbbell Workout. On Wednesday, I really wasn’t feeling it, but I did 50 jumping jacks and 75 crunches, just so I could say I did something. I dropped the ball on Thursday and Friday, though, and didn’t exercise at all — although I did take a brisk 40-minute walk on Friday during my lunch break.

I weighed myself Thursday morning, and I had lost two pounds since Monday! Awesome.

What was not so awesome, though, was my horrific cheat meal — no, cheat DAY — on Friday. I had thought I could resist my department’s monthly potluck by planning ahead and bringing enough food to keep me sated throughout the day.

I was wrong.

At 1:30pm or so, after pretty much the entire department had ransacked the potluck, I ate the last sloppy joe, some Chinese salad (ramen noodles, vinegar, sugar, veggies), and a small piece of cookie bar. Then, that evening, a coworker took me to the dreaded Happy Rose Buffet as payment for helping him learn how to burn DVDs on his computer.

I weighed myself this morning. I’m back up to 213.

What a precarious balance I seem to have discovered. No cheat meals for me, apparently, and no skipping days of exercise. Not if I want to be successful.

Also: Later in the week, I began feeling particularly run-down when I got home from work. Not hungry yet, but tired. That’s why I slacked on my exercise. On top of that, after I ate my dinner, I found that I was craving carbs… so I ate a bowl of oatmeal for dessert. ::smacks hands::

So, I’m not sure if that was a result of me needing to follow the diet more closely, or tweak it, or just suck it up. In any case, this week will be better. More hardcore.

The more I focus on my health, the more I realize how fat I am. I’m looking forward to realizing how much more fit I am, instead.