January Catch-Up

So I didn't post too much last month because I've been running around like a crazy person. I am strongly considering purchasing my first home when my lease is up at the end of June (yay!) so I've been looking at houses and getting my finances together.

I did meet my weight loss goal for January - woohoo! - so I lost 8.4 pounds over January. Of course, that was basically getting me back to where I was pre-Boston and holidays, but I'll take it. Since then I've been not so good (lots of takeout) but I'm back on track hopefully all the way through to St. Patrick's Day! I've got about a month and I'd really like to lose 8+ pounds, which is definitely doable. Of course to meet my February goal I have to lose about 7 pounds in the next two weeks, which is maybe not so doable, but we'll see. Maybe I'm carrying a lot of water weight? Ha, wishful thinking! 

I'm going to post a few of the recipes that are getting me back on track, and I need to start training for the Warrior Dash 5K in April. As of now, I still can't run and still have no upper body strength, so that is not going so well overall. I'm thinking about signing up for the Run On! 5K training class. It's every Tuesday and Thursday and it's $100 - and I would have to miss 2 of the classes since I'm going to have company through the week before St. Patrick's Day...if I could just force myself to finish Couch to 5K I'd be fine, but there's not a place to run safely outside near my apartment and I HATE running on the treadmill at the gym - I feel like some sort of ogre crashing through the forest. It's so loud and the whole machine shakes, and I just hate it, okay?! 

I'm going to try to be better about updating in the future, since I love love love my new phone hopefully that will make it easier. Wish me luck!

Monthly Weigh-In: June 2011

So this entry is a couple days late, but as you will see from the results of this month, this is a tough one to write. I thought about skipping it altogether, but here goes.

June's Goals:
Weight: -7.3
25 days drinking 8+ glasses of water


June's Progress:
Weight: -0 (OMG I know, right?!)
Days drinking 8+ glasses of water: I have no idea. I thought I could pull a report from Sparkpeople quickly, but it turns out I have to add it to a "Quick Track" goal. Anyway, I'll try again this month.
Days in Calorie Range: 14/30
Days Worked Out: 5/30
Days Not Tracked: 10/30 (Ugh! So bad!!)


Total YTD Progress:
Weight: -27.8
Days in Calorie Range: 91/150
Days Worked Out: 67/150


July's Goals:
Weight: -8.3
Track calories 29/31 days (already missed two)


So clearly I totally fell off the wagon this month. Yes, I went to Austin for a weekend. Then the next weekend/week I had strep throat. Then the next weekend I went to Houston to visit friends. Then I was in San Diego for business all week. I think this is a good example of what happens when I rely on takeout and eating out for the entire month. And then don't work out because I'm not here to go to the gym.

This month I'm going to visit Meaghan (!!!) in Baltimore and we're going to have a fabulous time. But I'm also going to track every single calorie I put in my mouth. That doesn't mean I'm going to eat lettuce and chicken the whole time (obviously), but it does mean I'm going to be more aware of what I'm eating while I'm on vacation.

That trip starts on July 20th, so I have 16 days to get myself back into gear. I'm very concerned about meeting my goal by my birthday but I do want to get as close as I can for sure, even if I don't *quite* make it. I went to the store yesterday to stock up on groceries so I'm not getting takeout and I feel really good about the next couple of weeks.

In other news, I'm also thinking about registering for an online class to start building credits in case I want to take the patent bar exam at some point -- basically I have to take 32 credit hours worth of science classes to be eligible to sit for it. I can take the classes at the community college here in Dallas, and it's ridiculously cheaper than the real college (like $140 versus ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS) so I figure I need to start and see if that's something I actually want to pursue. I have also been considering going to business school, not for a couple years, but if I do the patent bar I probably won't do my MBA, so I'd like to go ahead and rule out one or the other.

Alright, I'm off to the Rangers baseball game -- what could be more American? Happy 4th everyone!!

Monthly Weigh-In: May 2011

May's Goals:
Weight: -7.2
20 days in calorie range
20 days working out

May's Progress:
Weight: -2.2
Days in calorie range: 12/31
Days calories NOT TRACKED: 4/31 (Boo!)
Days worked out: 5/31



Total YTD Progress:
Weight: -27.8
Days in calorie range: 77/120
Days worked out: 62/120


June's Goals:
Weight: -7.3
25 days drinking 8+ glasses of water


Clearly May did not work out for me....since I basically didn't work out the whole month of May. I'm re-evaluating my weight loss goals. NOT to change my ultimate goal in September, but this is the second month where I didn't meet my goal, and I just need to re-situate the numbers. Instead of the 6 pounds a month I planned, since May was such a blow-off month, I'm going to up it to a goal of 7.3 pounds per month. Otherwise, I would have to lose 11.2 pounds this month to stay on track with my numbers the way they're set up now. 


May was difficult because of the teambuilding event at the beginning of the month coupled with Ashley and Rivka's visit this past weekend. Not that I regret that because we had a total BLAST, and I knew I would be taking a break from the diet, but I also don't want to set myself up to fail, to get discouraged, to give up, and to not reach my goal by my birthday. The whole reason this is working this time is because I'm being realistic - I'm going to take vacations and eat chips and drink margaritas - and if I need to adjust my goals, I will. 

See? Look how much fun we were having!

With that said, I really want to step it up in June. I only have one out-of-town trip planned for one night, and I don't have a big event at work that will consume my entire life for two weeks either. I do have a fantastic trip planned for July to see Meaghan, back from Korea (!!!!), so I would like to get a head start on July since I know we will be celebrating her return! 

I decided not to set a goal for days in calorie range or days worked out this month because I am committed to those fully. I have noticed that I've been really dehydrated lately, though, so I want to make sure that I get all my water in for the day. I have also read that it helps a lot when losing weight, although I can't really believe it would make that much difference besides an initial pound or two in water weight. I'm going to start tracking that as carefully as my calories, and we'll see if it actually does make a difference like everyone says.  

Monthly Weigh-In: April 2011

April's Goals:
Weight: -7.2
20 days in calorie range
20 days working out


April's Progress:
Weight: -5.8
Days in calorie range: 13/30
Days worked out: 15/30

Total YTD Progress:
Weight: -25.6
Days in calorie range: 65/120
Days worked out: 57/120


May's Goals:
Weight: - 7.4
20 days in calorie range
20 days working out


Just as I suspected, I didn't quite make my weight loss goal for this month. However, I did forget that I was a little behind schedule last month as well, so that made me feel better this morning. The travelling and birthday celebrations discussed in the last post really didn't help, but I still managed to lose 7.2 pounds this month, which is definitely significant and should make me proud! 


I have also officially crossed the 25 pounds lost mark, which means I'm SUPER close to my halfway point - which will be 28.5 pounds lost. 


I really want to try and work very hard next month; two of my high school girls are coming into town for Memorial Day weekend and I really want to get a new swimsuit for our float trip! My goal is aggressive but I think it's achievable as long as I stick to the plan consistently. I may try to plan out my above calorie range days so I don't get out of control with the eating out situation (that's what did me in this month for sure). 

Back from Vacation!

The past week and a half I have completely fallen off the radar. I'm up a few pounds (3 to be exact) but honestly I was expecting a lot worse. I have been tracking everything I eat and there were more than a few bad days. Suffice to say I won't be meeting my exercise/within calorie range goals for this month. I probably won't make my weight loss goal either (I'd have to lose about 5 pounds in 5 days to do so). 

First, I went to Shreveport for my friend Cathy's birthday with a few other people, where we gambled, drank, and ate....and ate....and ate.

 

Before we ate 5 pounds of crawfish.

The boys...before they ate...whatever they ate.

Ready to go gambling!

Then I was off to Irvine, CA for a business trip for the better part of last week.

The John Wayne Statue at the airport. It was HUGE. 

Had to get a cheeseburger at In N Out ... animal style!

These beautiful flowers were everywhere!

Heading back to Dallas on the plane. 

My mom was here visiting this weekend for Easter and I went to a friend's housewarming part on Saturday. We planted some pretty flowers for my patio. 

And for now, I'm working from home today, and I'm enjoying a grilled cheese with tomato soup, a Hitchcock movie, and the thunderstorms outside. 

The perfect rainy day meal.

Goal Met: New Charm AND Early Reward!

After a LONG month with very little progress, I finally hit my goal for this month this morning!! My total loss right now is at -21.4 pounds, so I've officially crossed over the 20 pound mark. It's very exciting! I can't wait for the -27.5 mark, which will mean I'm halfway to my birthday goal. I decided I get a large reward (like a new nice purse or something) when I hit the halfway point, so I'm trying to decide what that will be. 

Anyway, this month has been really long and I honestly wasn't sure if I was going to make it to goal or not because of vacation and building muscle while working out 5-6 days a week, but I'm so glad I made it. In the past, I might think that this month was a failure because I only set a goal of -4 pounds, but the whole point of this system is for that to be okay, as long as I stay on my long-term target. Six pounds a month will get me where I want to be in September, so there's no reason to be down on myself as long as I stay on track. Even though people always say you can lose 1-2 pounds a week, that doesn't mean you should set your goal to make that 2 pounds every week. I have faith that this will work if I just stick to the goals I set for myself and celebrate those. 

Now for the fun part...I'm going to order a charm for my bracelet and I also get a mani/pedi this month (which is really, really necessary). As part of the Memorial Day Challenge with Cathy, we also will get a new outfit to go out out in uptown, have a nice dinner, and go dancing next weekend. Can't wait!

PS I promise I have some recipes to post once I get a chance to sit and write them all down. They are coming!

Monthly Weigh-In: February 2011

February's Goals:
Weight: -7.2
Track budget


February Progress:
Weight: -9.2
Days in calorie range: 18/28
Days worked out: 8/28
Budget Tracked: 28/28

Total YTD Progress:
Weight: -17
Days in calorie range: 37/59
Days worked out: 24/59


March's Goals:
Weight: -4
Work out at least 15 days 


I've done really well the past month, but quite a bit of that can be attributed to the fact that I was sick for two weeks, so I didn't eat. I did do well tracking my budget and actually saved money this month even with buying a $300 plane ticket, so I say that is a success! I will continue to track that for the rest of the year. 


I didn't work out the whole time that I was sick, so that number was really low. I want to make up for it this month by working out at least 15 days. Especially now that I'm working out at the apartment gym; I think it will make a big difference this month. I will be going on vacation during March, so that will present an extra challenge as well. 


For my rewards I got a new pair of shoes, a pair of pants, and two floral shirts for spring. Since I kept the weight off after I met my goal early, I also get to pick an extra reward. I haven't decided what that will be yet. Maybe a new food processor since I seem to have misplaced the blade attachment for my old one. 


The goal seems small for March, but I've decided to stick to the monthly goals I set for myself at the beginning of the year. The main point is to stick to reaching my goal by my birthday. If I do it a month or two early, great! If I get a few more rewards up front, great! I set small goals at the beginning of the year for a reason - they are achievable. It would defeat the purpose to change them all just because I did well this month. (Remember last month? When I didn't meet the goal? Yep.)

Goal Met: New Charm!

So after a couple weeks of ups and downs, I finally started dropping weight again and made it past my second charm bracelet goal for a total loss of 11 pounds!! I got so excited yesterday morning that I spent 20 minutes before work online shopping to pick out which charm I wanted. I chose this one:

It's a french macaroon charm, so I thought it would go nicely with the Eiffel tower charm I got last time. One of the women at work complimented me on my bracelet yesterday, and I told her about what I was doing and that each time I lost 5 pounds I bought myself a new charm. She was so excited for me, thought it was a great idea, and then commented on how much progress I was making. That made me feel really good. It's amazing what a little bit of validation from someone else can do!

Because I'm not the type of person to go in and complain about my diet (because there's really not that much I can't eat, I just have to eat smaller portions of it), people take longer to realize that I am working on losing weight. I think the thing that stops me from telling people I'm trying to lose weight is the unsolicited advice that comes with it. Every time they start in on that, I just want to tell them, "I've done this before! I know my method works! No need to tell me!" I don't know if it's because I'm overweight that they assume if I knew what to do I wouldn't be overweight anymore or what. So usually I just try to avoid the whole situation. But it is nice to get a little unsolicited encouragement along the way. 

I'm going to be making some Valentine's treats for the office this weekend, so not much actual cooking. I may post a few of them, but no promises that they will all be healthy recipes!

Some Reflections on January

I know I posted the January update yesterday, and even though I technically met the goal on the 24th, I was honestly a little bit disappointed at the result when I had gained back weight and didn't meet my goal on February 1st. The first few weeks are always the easiest to drop weight (mostly water, whatever, it still counts) so I really wanted to see myself beat my goal for the month. So I set myself a higher goal for January (9 pounds instead of 6 pounds) and when I didn't meet that, I didn't feel good about it. 

I think this is why I've gotten discouraged a lot in the past. People have told me that because I'm young, I should be able to easily lose 10 pounds a month, averaging about 2.5 pounds per week. When I wasn't able to meet that, I'd get frustrated with myself and eventually lose faith that I could do it. I’d mess up a couple times during a month and think, well now there’s no point, cause there’s no way I’m losing 10 this month! I have to remind myself that it's a lot of hard work and commitment for a very, very slow payoff. But I’ve been overweight my whole life; why wouldn’t it take a while to change that? It only makes sense.

That's why my goal system right now is going to work for me and help me get over the 10 pounds a month mindset. With the exception of January, my goal for each month is to lose 6 pounds, or about 1.5 pounds per week. When I think about that, my automatic reaction is that the pace is too slow. It’s a self-imposed guilt trip. I think to myself, "You're supposed to be able to lose 2 pounds a week. Why wouldn't you want to do the best that you can?"

I have to remember to answer with reason. I picked a specific weight I wanted to be at by my birthday this year, September 30^th (-57 pounds total). Then, I worked backwards and set my monthly goals, just evenly distributing the weight I need to lose over nine months. I set the goals low on purpose – so I could realistically meet them. I can't argue with math. If I only need to lose 6 pounds a month to meet that ultimate goal, then that's all I need to do. I can take it easy on myself a little bit. I can have a Mexican dinner complete with chips and a margarita and not blow my whole plan out of the water. I can work out on the Wii Fit and actually enjoy it instead of dragging myself to the gym for an hour-long, 600 calorie-burning workout. I can be normal at a Superbowl party and have a beer instead of wine so I don’t lose any street cred with the boys.

With all that, and at the risk of wiping out everything I just said, I weighed in today 2 pounds less than I did yesterday, so I'm already well on my way to meeting February's goal and .2 away from getting another charm for my bracelet! The important part is that I only missed January’s goal by a day, and I’m okay with it. 

Monthly Weigh-In: January 2011

This morning I woke up to a beautiful snow day! So while I'm working from home in my pjs, I'll give you the run-down for January.

 So it's the first month wrap-up for me. Overall, I'd say I did pretty well. If it hadn't been for the liberties taken this last week with food and working out, I definitely would've shown more of a loss. That said, my granma died on the 7th and I pretty much checked out for five days, so I am proud of the fact that I didn't gain any weight during that time. I think the main point is that I actually lost weight, and if I continue to lose at even less than this pace, I will meet my goal by my birthday. Now without further ado...


January (and total YTD) Progress:
Weight: -7.8 pounds
Days in calorie range: 19/31
Days worked out: 16/31

February's Goals:
Weight: -7.2
Track budget






February's goal was going to be to lose 6 pounds, but since I didn't quite make it to January's goal, I'm going to add on that extra 1.2 pounds to February and try to catch up to my goal. I'm also starting to keep track of my spending with a budget Excel spreadsheet that I worked on all weekend, so I'm also going to make a non-weight goal of keeping track of what I spend for the whole month and see how much I can save when I put my mind to it.

January Goal Met!

I'll still post a January update, but I met my January goal today!! Officially down 9.6 pounds since the beginning of the year. My reward was supposed to be a necklace from Nordstrom, but I went shopping for groceries at Target today and they had an amazing clothing sale, so I got a camisole, a cardigan, a short sleeve v-neck, and two long v-necks for $60. Just bought my spring wardrobe!

I still get to pick an extra reward since I met my goal early (by a week!), but I haven't decided yet. Debating between a Starbucks card and a new hairbrush. I still have $35 on my current card, so I'm thinking I can wait until next month. My flat hair, not so much.