all kinds of thrown...

So Saturday I was one pound away from the 10lb mark

By Monday, I was at 209, and in my excitement I booked my haircut for tonight. Well, today I'm back at 211, so technically shouldn't have got my haircut but I did...so is that cheating? I'm hoping that tomorrow I'm back at 210 at least and today was just a freak gain...

However, for the sake of the A-Team I am going to report what my weightloss was of today, and stick to my Thursday weigh-in rule.

So, I am down 1.2lbs this week, and while it's no Biggest Loser ranch-style loss, at least it's a loss.

Hope the rest of the A-Team is picking up my slack!!!

xoxo

Closing in on that 10lb goal...

So I ran on Wednesday and again today just to cheer up my little running buddy there. She really needs a name...any suggestions?

I actually planned on group cycle today aka spinning but when I got to the sign-in desk there was a LOT of people waiting and I chickened out. Instead I did half an hour on the treadmill doing week 3 of the C25K programme.

90 seconds jogging
90 seconds walking
3 minutes jogging
3 minutes walking
and repeat

Except on the second 3 minute jogging session I tried really hard not to look at the timer, and ended up doing 4 minutes so was quite impressed with myself for that! And then, because 18 minutes outside of the cool down and warmup didn't sound like a lot, I repeated it a third time. Go me and my overachieving!

Then I did 10 minutes on the treadclimber, actually I did 8 minutes, because I decided I wanted to get it to say I'd burned off 100 calories and by that time I was reeeealy pushing myself. I imagine that's how the teams on the biggest loser feels every day because my chest felt tight and I was really struggling at about the 70 calorie point but I reached that 100 calorie mark and hopped right off! I don't allow myself to eat extra for the activity points or extra calories burned, but I never know how accurate those things are in terms of calories. My ipod for example is programmed with my weight so I'm hoping that's kind of accurate, but I don't know...anyone have any scientific knowledge to weigh in with?

Speaking of weigh-ins, I'm down to 211 as of this morning, which means I've lost 9 pounds since the beginning of January. So today I finalised my goal rewards and at 10 pounds I'm getting my hair cut. I want a side parting and just generally something cuter...hopefully I'll be able to book that in next week!

OMG!

How sad and pathetic is my little running buddy on the side there???

If I don't go running tomorrow for myself, I at least have to go for her!

Can't have her sitting around on the floor moaning...

Photo time

I had a goal of photos, so here is my food for the day.

I didn't go to the gym today, I still ache from BodyPump, which I didn't help at all by my half hour on the treadclimber. Tomorrow, I will definitely be gym-ing it, that's a promise! Tonight I think I may play on the wii fit yoga.

So, breakfast was a bagel and cream cheese. Unfortunately, I was running late so there was no toasting, no smoked salmon. I'm not a fan of untoasted bagels.


Lunch was more parsnip and bacon soup (4)

Then dinner, vegetable lasagna with spinach and baby tomatoes and a little honey mustard dressing (6)



And just to post more photos for the hell of it...here's a salad from last week, spinach, tomatoes, avocado, bacon and mushrooms. Yum.


Oatmeal with blueberry jam


Chicken tikka


I actually think my goal should be to photograph EVERYTHING before I eat it. I'm sure I read somewhere that it acts just like a food diary and would make me think twice before I popped a piece of toffee in my mouth (or 6). Yes, I wasted 5 points today on stupid toffee. Ridiculous!

Fortnight of doom

My week of work related doom is turning into a fortnight of doom, but I'm surviving, and the scales are going down slowly. I just don't think all this stress is good for my fat loss...I don't want my cortisol levels causing my tummy fat to stick around!!!

So I was a little disappointed at my WW weigh-in this evening. I actually felt fat if that makes sense, just bloated a bit which obviously doesn't help, but hey-ho. It was a loss afterall.

Plus I took my frustration out at the gym - which is always a healthy response. Except I forgot my little ipod reciever thingy, and I'll be damned if I'm putting the effort into running when my little icon over there isn't going to show it!

So instead, I did 31 minutes on the treadclimber - I love that machine. It's a treadmill cut in half lengthwise and the sides go up and down as you walk, and boy does it puff you out...in 31 minutes it said I burned off 400 calories. Awesome!

Eating wise,

Bagel, cream cheese and salmon (4 points)
Parsnip and bacon soup (4 points)
WW quiche with spinach and tomato salad (6 points)

Which is the minimum for the day - how am I only eating the minimum???

The work of the Devil

So, tomorrow is my first weigh-in day at weightwatchers. I am hoping for a big loss, although I'm clearly being ruined by the Biggest Loser and would LOVE a weight loss of 25lbs haha. As that's half my goal weight loss, I know it's not going to happen, but I secretly want 7! It may help that I did not take off my sweater at the first weigh-in so maybe if I take my sweater off tomorrow night I'll be on track!

Today I went to BodyPump for the first time in at least a year. My muscles hurt, and I had trouble climbing the two flights of stairs to my apartment, but I'm loving it. I would never on my own survive an hour of weights, so I know it's something I really need to maintain alongside my cardio.

Food today:

Bagel with smoked salmon and cream cheese (4 points)
Vegetable soup of carrots, cabbage and onion (0 points)
Chilli beef and potato crush with green bean medley (4 points)
pineapple (4 points)
2 glasses of wine (4 points)

The wine was our reward for making it through BodyPump. I honestly think it's the only reason I can still walk!

I have a 5.5 point chocolate bar in the cupboard, which would technically still be OP, but I think I'm going to aim for just half, maybe with my hot chocolate before bed (.5 points).

I'm already obsessing about how to eat tomorrow as my weigh-in is not until 7pm. I'm thinking maybe soup for lunch as hopefully that will not stick with me until weigh-in time. Anyone else weigh-in in the evenings? What do you eat? Is there a time you stop drinking too before your weigh-in?

My goal for the upcoming week is to start taking more pictures. This blog is becoming too text-heavy.

-CJ

Biggest loser - spoilers

I know I'm a bit of an emotional mess right now about work anyways, but I have seriously just cried through most of the biggest loser just now.

I was so devastated that the Orange and White teams fell below the yellow line...absolutely heart-wrenching because they both really needed to stay there.

BUT, holy crap Jerry is doing so well on his own - that made me feel a bit better about them voting him out of the ranch at least.

what have you done today to make you feel proud?

Work today sucked hardcore. Two things went wrong, and while they weren't entirely my fault the buck stopped with me and I wasn't careful enough to make sure they went right. So I got in shitloads of trouble, to the point of crying on the bus home and really wanted to curl up in a ball, go to bed, possibly with a bottle of wine and a pizza.

Instead, I went to the gym. 30 minutes on the treadmill baby! I pulled myself together and decided I wanted to be one of those people that runs to clear her head and take time out. So that's what I attempted. It was difficult, when I was walking thoughts can pop into my head, when I'm running I'm only counting down the seconds until I can stop running so that part of the time is actually good for me!

So I've just sent my weigh-in from this morning to Angie, and I've racked up a 4lb weight loss for the A-team! woohoo.

Now I'm going to squeeze in as much as possible of last night's BL real quick!

Good luck to the rest of the A-team!!

-CJ

worrying will make me crazy

I am a natural born worrier. I worry about everything. I worry about my level of worrying.

My boss announced today that we are hiring one of the interns. She will be the same grade as me, and as I've only been in the role for 6 months I'm worrying a little about my job security and prospects. I know logically I should be glad that in a time of economic crisis, our company is doing well enough to take on another team member, but that is not the stem of my worrying. The worry is because the team is small. There is one person at each level and no-one seems to get promoted unless it's a steady stream of upward moving. There will now be someone directly above me, that I cannot possibly hope to get bumped to her level because she's been in this job two years longer than me, and someone hot on my heels. It worries me.

Today was health-wise a good day. I had fat free strawberry yogurt with granola for breakfast, an apple, vegetable soup (quarter of a cabbage, quarter of an onion, beef stock and a carrot) and then went to weightwatchers. I weighed in (ugh!), went to the gym, where I did half an hour on the treadmill and then had some pineapple, and the other half of my soup. I'm now drinking a lo-cal hot chocolate drink and will be off to bed.

Sweet dreams!

-CJ

before photos

ok...so as the BLBE challenge officially kicks off tomorrow I have taken before pictures to track my progress.

I almost did them in my sportsbra ala the real weigh in but that was a little scary so I'm wearing a tank top (which incidentally is not any less scary judging by the pictures). I'm also super SUPER glad I did not bake cupcakes before taking these because the results would have most definitely tipped me into a place where a few cupcakes would have been devoured.

It was really scary to see the side on pics without sucking in my stomach, which is something I do most of the time. But I realised if I was sucking it in I wouldn't know how much to suck it in for the next photo so here it is...all literally hanging out.

I'm having quite a down moment now looking at this and actually doubting whether my 55lb goal is even sufficient. I guess that's what I'll find out when I get there, but it's going to be a long, slow process I'm sure.

Ugh. This is one of the most depressing things I've ever done.

work induced guilt

This week I found a recipe in one of the newspapers for red velvet cupcakes with vanilla frosting. My colleagues requested that I make them over the weekend and bring them in on Monday.

Now, I'd hate to reveal it to them, but the only cupcakes I've ever made them were from a Betty Crocker box - so I'm really not the cupcake-maker extraordinaire that they think I am.

Plus, I'm having quite a zen eating day today. I had:

Breakfast: granola with a pot of 0% fat greek yogurt and wasn't able to finish it
Lunch: weightwatchers quiche with cherry tomatoes

I don't want to ruin that with baking - particularly as I'm going to have to try one to see how they turn out. I can't give my co-workers my very first baking experiment untested! And then I'd have a kitchen full of cupcakes all evening calling out my name.

If I had more hours in the day maybe I'd make them some other treat, but I still want to squeeze in a trip to the gym, a trip to the bookstore, cleaning the apartment, and soup-making.

I think today I'm just going to have to practice saying no and realise that their disappointment is nothing personal.

xoxo

-CJ

Rewards and bullying

1) I need to rethink my reward system now that I purchased my running shoes. The plan for using them as a reward was to make sure the running was really something I was sticking to before I made the investment, but that wasn't going to work if I wasn't able to do the running in the first place - hence the buying of the shoes.

2) I feel like my little nike+ mini is making fun of me with all her 'i'm a running power machine' quotes above my measley ONE workout so far. I'm going to need to stick to this running thing just so I don't feel bullied by a widget!

So, what is a good 10lb weight loss reward?

xoxo

-CJ

Thank you!

Thank you to those of you from Team-A who have stopped by my blog and commented. As someone who is new to this blogging thing, it's really nice to get comments!!

Today I ventured out into the -3 weather to get new running shoes that would work with my nike+ sensor and I AM IN LOVE. The ones I chose were relatively cheap compared to the others they offer, but still kind of a lot for someone who is not actually a runner - yet.

I started off at week 1 of C25k again as I haven't been since Sunday last week, so was jogging 60 seconds, walking for 90 seconds. At 20 minutes in, which is where the workout is supposed to end, SOS by Rihanna came on to my ipod. Clearly, God was intervening as this turned out to be my perfect running speed song. So I cranked the treadmill back up to running speed. And when the song ended I felt like maybe I could keep going, so I started the song over and ran for 5 minutes straight. Damn it felt good. All in all, I did 45 minutes on the treadmill (my little nike+ widget on the side there doesn't count the time I took trying to calibrate her - but I love her anyways). So 45 minutes, 3km, 5 minutes of straight running, 1 minute SPRINTING at about the 35 minute mark and apparently 348 calories burned and I feel FABULOUS!!

xoxo

Biggest Loser

I started watching the Biggest Loser season 6 and was hooked instantly. I love love loved it.

I was super excited to learn that season 7 was starting in January because I really feel like it'll be a good motivator to have my own weightloss journey run parallel to a season. The season premiere was last night, but I have yet to watch it. I'm going to hopefully get a chance to do that tonight - that is the plan at least!

While reading other random blogs about weightloss I stumbled upon the Biggest Loser blog edition.

Oh dear god. I get to participate in a mini Biggest Loser. I have been assigned to Team Angie and am super excited to get stuck in and interact with all the rest of my teammates, although I'll warn you now I may avoid your blogs on Wednesdays until I've had a chance to catch up with Biggest Loser myself - don't want no spoilers!!

So...next week I will have my very first weightwatchers meeting too. With this level of accountability and support, I'll be doing great!

ambitious sunday

Today I took my fancy new nike+ ipod thingy to the gym once more. For someone who has avoided the gym for the past 6 months, two visits in two days is ambitious. I tried to track the walk to the gym itself on the nike+ but it refused to co-operate. I tried having it on while running and it still refused to co-operate. So instead I did the 2nd session of C25K.

The nike+ registered exactly 19 calories in over 30 minutes. Stupid piece of machinary. I think I might have to bump the new running shoes from my goal list to just a necessity.

As for eating-wise:

Breakfast: Oatmeal made with 2% milk and a teaspoon of blackcurrant jam
Lunch: Spinach leaves with cherry tomatoes, avocado, mushrooms, onions and pancetta
Dinner: Turkey salsa chilli, made in my brand new hotpot
Snacks: Beetroot (wierd, I'm fully aware) and some profiteroles (ok too many profiteroles)

But, after my half hour at the gym, I did Day 1 of Jillian Michael's 30-day shred, and I know everyone says how much they ache afterwards and if you've never done it you think 'how hard can it be, it's only 20 minutes' but dear god, my abs! and my arms! and my legs!

Couch to 5K

Today I went to the gym for the first time in oh, 6 months? Despite the fact that I've been paying for it religiously on the 1st of every month - damn direct debits!!

My plan was to calibrate my fancy new nike+ ipod thingy, and do the first 20 minute session of C25K.

I've started the C25K programme many, many times and never got past week 4. I usually start at week 3, so think maybe I push myself too hard, so this time I started at week 1, session 1.

Except the nike+ thingy needs to be calibrated, and calibrating requires walking/running .4k, so first I walked .4k only for the stupid thing to say the distance didn't match. Frustrated, and running out of time as the gym was closing in 30 minutes, i decided to try the running calibration. So I ran, according to the treadmill, .4k (hard work for this out of shape girl!) only for it to tell me at the end that again, the distance didn't match!!!

So I gave up, and instead, went back to the programme of running 60 seconds, walking 90 seconds, for 20 minutes. I'm just annoyed that I forgot to check what distance that equalled. I'd guess about 2k, as my two calibrations alone lasted .8k.

So, while my nike+ will have to wait til tomorrow for calibration attempt number 2. I have at least gone to the gym once in 2009!

xoxo

Stay motivated in your weight loss efforts by giving yourself small rewards throughout the process.

10lbs lost - Facial

20lbs lost - Running shoes

30lbs lost - Massage

40lbs lost - Magazine subscription

50lbs lost - New Outfit

55lbs lost - Designer Jeans

Project 55