Still wowing

Wowing myself at least. I've lost 6 lbs in 11 days. But I guess when you go really hard core that works. Now I know how celebrities get in shape. They have my trainer like twice a day and someone to make healthy, low cal, delicious meals for them. Me? I'm lucky I can handle the trainer twice a week. She cancelled on me last week and wants to make it up to me this Saturday. Three times in a week?

I've been to the gym and gotten a lot of low intensity (although it feels like high intensity when I do it) cardio in. I also tried to remember some moves she has shown me to work my upper body when I missed her last Thursday. I've also done pilates 7 consecutive days and 8 out of 9 days since Sunday before last. And I've walked almost everyday that I haven't gone to the gym.

The good news I'm not sick of eating chicken, rice, and veggies yet. I don't eat much so I'm used to repetition.

The bad news is I have extended my no french fries goal until Dec 1 to see how far I can take this. The other bad news is I have to pick a number to stop at that won't put me back in a size 2. I just spent a lot of money on all my size 4 clothes and I've worn almost all of it so no returns.

The worse news? I had my blood work checked for a routine physical and my liver enzymes are elevated. Great. I guess a year and half of narcotics/Tylenol will do that. I've been popping ibuprofen like crazy thanks to the trainer and that's bad for your liver. So today I tried the session without any. Yeah, that really sucks. I'm more sore than usual, and not just my back. As long as I can fall asleep, I'll be okay.

Wow

I lost 4.4 lbs since last Thursday. I have been eating pretty well for a while, but after last Wednesday I cut myself off from steak and french fries. I have been living on cinnamon toast, 1% milk, baked skinless, boneless chicken breasts, grilled and steamed veggies, brown rice, water, and sometimes popcorn. And no more than one Dr. Pepper a day.

I hadn't lost any weight with all my exercise and my personal trainer was confused. Because I was gaining weight. Clearly a lot is muscle because you can see the definition coming in, but still. Lose something, even 0.5 lb. So she asked me to eliminate steak (which was already down to like once or twice a week). I decided with steak I should banish french fries, the more likely culprit and see what happens.

What happened was 4.4 lbs gone! And I'm still on my period so I should lose more when it ends. I was eating too many fries. I had them whenever I ate out. I made them at home. And when I make them at home I make wayyyyy too many. I have no problem ordering a small fry at McDonalds, but at home I just keep throwing more into the deep fryer. Also, if I'm out, like on last Wednesday, the veggies at the restaurant didn't look good, so for my two sides? I had a double order of fries. I need to stop that. Stop worrying about getting my money's worth. No more double orders of fries for me. Also, since I haven't been out to dinner since the BF left on a business trip, I haven't had any bread other than my morning toast. That's a big weakness too.

So that's the new goal. No french fries or excess bread until Thanksgiving. When that day comes, no more extra bread or double order of fries. And I'll try to decrease overall french fry consumption by having a baked potato or something instead for a while. I don't want to give up fries, but I'd really like to see what I can do weight loss wise without them. Stage 1 is complete (no steak or fries or bread for a week). Now on to Stage 2, no fries or bread until Thanksgiving. That's only like 2 extra weeks. I got this.

Still going

So the last day I had steak or fries was Wednesday. That means I have completed Day 5 (of 8) without my two favorites. I think it's a little silly to give up steak because I only eat very lean portions and cut ALL of the fat off. But it will keep me from consuming fries (gotta have fries with a steak!). And I do need to cut back on fries while I'm trying to slim down. How long before I get sick of brown rice, chicken breasts, and veggies?? Hopefully, I can make it 16 more days like this. Not 16 days without steak, but without fries maybe? Hmmm. I don't know if I want to commit to that.

I guess I'll have to wait until next week to see how this is going weight wise. I'm on my period so I'm sure that is screwing with the scale.

And I survived lovely legs training today. She moved by session up by a few hours so I didn't get to do pilates before hand and afterwards is out of the question. Although, I was able to walk when I left today. I hate standard time. I got home and it was almost dark. I mowed the lawn/mulched the leaves on my lawn. I figured I was already in pain so why not make today be the bad day and let tomorrow be good? I probably didn't do such a great job, but hey, it got dark. I'm popping the ibuprofen now though and chillin on my couch now.

I wish I knew if I hated squats because they hurt my back or because I'm weak...it's hard to tell :-)

Weak foundation

Well I almost broke down and had steak before the day ended. HAHAHAHA. But I didn't. I had brown rice this AM and then went to run errands. My short trip became very long and I realized I had not had food in over 5 hours. And I was already hungry. At Target. I debated calling Outback and ordering the smallest steak and broccoli (yummy) and garlic mashed potatoes. It sounded perfect. I could get it to go and be well fed with almost no effort. But alas I remembered my new goal and decided that would be really weak to start screwing up already. So I had a popcorn and soda at Target. I wonder which is worse for me, the steak or the popcorn and soda? lol. Now I'm home and ready to have my baked chicken and veggies. This week better get easier because I don't know if my foundation will hold.

The Great American Steak Out

I have 5 personal training sessions left. They will take me up to the Monday before Thanksgiving. I haven't lost ANY weight. In fact, I am up to 139 lbs! However, I can now see the definition of my arm, shoulder, and back muscles. They look pretty damn fabulous. My legs were already defined and they are becoming more so. I might have to figure out the world of tights in order to show them off in the winter. Or I could just freeze in a skirt. I mean I went to Catholic school for 12 years and had to so I don't see why I can't do that now.

Obviously, I am gaining a lot of muscle, but my trainer is perplexed that I haven't lost ANY weight, even a little. She thinks my metabolism isn't reved up because I don't eat enough times a day (she's right), eat heavy late in the day (she's right) and eating too much steak (don't agree with that one).

I've been really good about fast walking at home, but haven't been doing much fat burn wise at the gym. It really is too far away and I can't combine it with other trips or my eating will suffer. I've been pretty good with eating. Cinnamon toast and 1% milk for breakfast. Grilled veggies and skinless, boneless baked chicken breast for lunch. Whole grain brown rice for a snack. Then a small 6oz lean cut of steak and some steamed veggie. But lately I have been so tired I haven't really had the steak. Is it bad that my evening meal has been popcorn? I have pretty much moved steak from 5 days a week to 2. Mostly when I go out because chicken can be dry and nasty in restaurants that aren't high dollar. And I am spoiled by the juiciness of my convection oven.

However, I'm personally against taking "supplements" to increase my metabolism. Even though they probably are okay short term (3 weeks). So I've decided to humor my trainer and for the next week, NO STEAK. At all. This might kill me. The BF just went out of town for the week so no worrying about dining out so I figured it was a good week to try. Although I'm about to get my period so maybe not. In addition, I am going to give up for the week..... french fries. My life's love. I don't know how well this will go. No steak or french fries until the BF gets back into town. I can do this. I am disciplined. I broke a Hershey chocolate bar in half the other day and only had half (~100 calories). I plan to continue that trend. And it was the first chocolate I have had in like 2 weeks. And I vow to buy the stupid single serving microwave popcorn bags today because I eat too much of the regular size bags.

I'm also planning on doing pilates at home every day my back doesn't hurt. Goal: 4 times a week. So we'll see if there are any weight changes.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but let the Great American Steak (and french fry) Out begin!

Survival

I survived my final personal training session yesterday. I paid for six and completed all six. But I'm not yet finished learning new exercises. Plus, as much as I bitch about it, I definitely look more muscular. So I paid for 7 more sessions, twice a week. This will take me all the way up to Thanksgiving. That's six weeks. I'll decide then if I want do a few more weeks.



Yesterday was arms/upper body. So I was actually able to walk afterwards. Even though I was still hobbling from my "lovely legs" workout Monday. I need to stretch more because my inner thighs are still tight and screaming. However, I did manage some low intensity treadmill work before I went home.



It's funny that I have slowly been gaining weight. Or maybe not funny. Maybe more like annoying. I've been eating better. Generally I have one bad food day a week. Not over eating. That's never been a problem for me. But just eating stuff that isn't healthy. It's hard for me to eat out because I am so picky. And if I don't have time to sit down and order broccoli and a small steak at Outback, well I'm screwed. Wednesday I had my normal breakfast of cinnamon toast and milk. But then I immediately left home and did not return until bedtime. So at lunch I had the dollar menu at McDonalds: 2 4-piece McNuggets, small fry (didn't finish), small Dr. Pepper. That's not terrible, but I was visiting my cousin that evening, whom I haven't seen in months and he had shrimp for dinner (gag) so I had the closest fast food place to his house: Popeyes. Fast food twice in a day. Not good.



But all my other days have been filled with brown rice (I like the 2 servings of Uncle Ben's whole grain brown microwave in its bag for 90 seconds), steamed veggies, grilled veggies, leans cuts of chicken and steak, lots of water, almonds, and as a snack...popcorn.



I haven't touched potato chips or pretzels or crackers in weeks. Those were my lunch staples. I had to hit the grocery store after the gym yesterday (always bad). I keep a container of almonds in my truck now and eat them after a workout or whenever I need a snack. Almonds are great for the car. They don't freeze, melt, or get sticky.



Everything I bought was healthy. I fought the urge to get oreos (very hard when hungry) or pillsbury Halloween ready to bake sugar cookies. Almost everything I bought was a vegetable. The worse thing I bought I was popcorn. I usually eat Orville Redenbacher's Movie Butter popcorn. Which I love. However, yesterday I picked up their Old Fashioned Butter. And I think I like it even better. The bad news it has more sodium. The good news is it is slightly lower in calories and fat and it is DELICIOUS!

Give it up, Turn it loose

I gave up this week. My size 2 days are behind me. I've accepted it. I could stand to loose some fat. And I will work on that. But my exercise/work out thing will be for that now. Not trying to downsize anymore. I'm certain that part of the reason size 2 jeans don't fit anymore is because my ass got bigger. But not in a bad way. I've really focused on that in the gym since therapy so it shouldn't be a surprise that my ass got nice and round. It looks very cute. However, that roundness comes at a cost: bigger jeans size. The circumference has increased. And so did my thighs, but only slightly. My waist might have changed an inch or so. That's all.

So I have decided that I still look good and don't need to want to be a 2 anymore (even though I secretly loathe being a 4).

I had to attend a banquet with my boyfriend this week at a convention in Ocean City. I only had size 2 pants. It wasn't easy to zip them. And though it was not obvious that they were tight. They certainly felt a lot tighter than they looked. And the night before I wore size 2 jeans that were cutting into my waist. I have put off shopping because I wanted to see what size I would end up. But I can't. I'm not a 2. I can't wear any of my fall/winter clothes (well at least bottoms, most tops fit fine). I literally have nothing to wear.

My BF and I drove up Rehoboth Beach to check it out. And he made the mistake of pointing out a White House Black Market store. "I could get black pants that fit!" I exclaimed. The BF went and sat dutifully in the significant other chair in the store with his BlackBerry. He gave me 20 minutes so we wouldn't be late for the banquet. Roughly $400 and 40 minutes later (including check out) I walked away with black pants that fit (size small and I literally wore them out of the store after the salesgirl cut the tags off) and three pairs of jeans. All size 4. I had tried on about 8 pairs of pants/jeans.

It felt good to feel good again. I planned to hit the outlets on the way home, but they didn't have a White House Black Market outlet so I returned to the Rehoboth store after checking out of the hotel the following day. I could have shopped at home in Annapolis, but then I'd have to pay sales tax. Gotta love Delaware.

I spent a lot of money in that store. About the same amount I spent a few years ago when I first binged shopped there when I discovered the clothes there fit me so well. At least I'm consistent. I still need a few colored tops, maybe some warm wool dress pants, bras need replacing, and of course shoes. I would have bought the shoes...they were so cute, but alas I know with my back I need more of a wedge more often.

I did wind up buying one pair of size 2 jeans. I refused to try them on initially but the sales girl insisted that the trouser jeans ran very large. I didn't want to ruin my acceptance of size 4 so I bristled. But I later relented and tried them on. They fit great, look great. I loved them so I bought them. And a lot of other stuff :-)