Still going down!

so I've had ups and downs since Christmas, but I think I"m still on the downward trend. As of today I'm 30 down from last Jan. I'm trying Josh's idea of doing weights to work on the core stuff to replace part of my running time each week. I try to run 3 times but lately I've been only managing 2 and sometimes 1.

You'd think knowing my brother is in th hospital eating only ice chips would motivate me to eat less, but on the contrary I used it as an excuse to indulge. sigh. But overall I" doing well and am back on track.

I'm trying to flip my diet. They say you're supposed to eat a big breakfast and small dinner. I've always thought I could never do it. But I have noticed that on days when I starve myself early I'm so anxious to eat that I overeat. On days where I keep up the food intake I'm not madly craving food. So now I aim for this program: 500 cal for break, 400 for lunch, 300 for dinner and 100 snack at night. Some days it's been hard but other days I found I was surprisingly unhungry.

Here's cals:
1/14- 1250, 1456, splurge, 1490, 1375, 1390, 1358? a so-so week
1/21-1285, travel day-def went over, then at my parents; I didn't keep my numbers but I know I was in close range for some of the days and not for others 3 good day and 2 bad?
1/28-1430, 1335,1790splrg, 1680!!, SuperBowl didn't count was very bad!!, more than 1360, 1315 back on the horse
2/4- 1260

Actually I can't believe I' doing so well for all the over calories I'm doing. But I guess that's because I haven't made that much progress in thelast month. Instead of dropping 3-5 pounds I've essentially maintained.

Catching up

12/4- 1611, 1217, 1197, 1213
12/11-1183,1234, 1225, 1197, 1370, 1175,1605
12/18- 1325, extra splurge, 1227 and then right around Christmas I didnt' write stuff down

I had decided for three weeks to go down to 1200 cals a day and stuck with it for a little while and then kind of lost it the week before xmas

12/29- 1300?, 1300?, ?, ?, ?, ?, 1147- this week I kept counting for breakfast and lunch but then not following through the rest of the night, New Year's splurge etc

1/5- 1325, 1305,1285, 1318, splurge, 1320?,1242 -- back on track!
1/12- 1300?, 1290

I fluctuated a little at Christmas time but I am still overall down 13 lbs since getting serious in October (which is 29 lbs since last January!). My goal is another 10 lbs by March or April.

step it up for Xmas?

I always think that I need to step it up at Xmas time instead of be laxer. Even if I'm not totally successful it keeps me from going berserk with all the cookies and junk around me. I've heard that sucking on candy canes can help because they take a while to consume and are pretty low in calories (40 for plain kinds). I had a few bad days this week but before that did well even at Thanksgiving at my parents where I usually gain a couple pounds.

Oh and I told Chris I was thinking of making my limit for the last3 weeks before xmas 1200 insted of 1300. His response was that he thought 1300 cal was already very low and that instead I should try to run longer and faster to burn more calories. What do you think? I was thinking of trying both! :)

And I was originally going to try to aim for the 130 lbs mark. But I'm looking at my post-3-babies-belly and wondering if that is low enough. I've always thought I could never get down to 120 or 125 but I was thinking I would try. I'm losing weight everywhere else- butt, hips, back, legs (and unfortunately boobs). My stomach is smaller but I seem to hold the extra weight there. I do crunches but nothing real serious. What do you think Josh? Will more stomach exercises help or am I just shaped that way?
11/25-1357
11/26- 1407
11/27- splurge Tgiving day
11/28- around 1300
11/29- around 1300
11/30- 1400ish- traveling in the car always makes me snacky
12/1- 1305
12/2- 1327
12/3- 1300
12/4- missing, I'm pretty sure I went over this day probably by 200 cals
12/5- splurge day (which I shouldn't have done based ont he day before)
12/6- 1522 sigh- I dont' know what got into me; I blame my period :(
12/7- I thought I was right at 1200 but I forgot to write down dinner stuff

Sothe 1200 thing didn't go that well for teh first few days. But yesterday i was on track and I'm trying again today. The problem witht he more running thing is that I think Chris underestimates how difficult it is to find more time to run!

I am down 11 lbs since mid Oct.! If it weren't for my eating this weekend I think I'd be down 12 lbs already!

more calories

11/19- 1277
11/20- 1405
11/21- 1260 (weighed in at 10 lbs below starting weight!)
11/22- ?? turkey dinner at church (splurge day)
11/23- 1445- i made a mudslide and miscalculated the icecream that i added;I thought I was going to end up with 1270 being my total and the next morning I realized I had made the error; bartender's remorse! (up 2 pounds after splurge)
11/24- 1285 (down a pound)
I guess this week Thanksgiving will be my splurge instead of having it on the weekend. Well, we'll see. If I can hold out and eat reasonably I may still do the weekend.

oh yeah

... and I've been getting a little lax with my 1300 cal limit. I'm sort of saying in my mind that in the 1300s is ok. Actually I catch myself thinking that as long as I'm 1360 or less that it still counts. :) I'd like to improve that because it may make a difference in how much I'm losing at a time.

plateau?

11/14- 1328
11/15- didn't do total count- splurge
11/16-1385 (went back up a pound somewhere around here)
11/17- 1220?
11/18- 1220- thought I maybe down 9 total pounds after I ran but when I woke up the next day it looked more like 8 lbs

It seems like my body loses then levels out and determines to slow metabolism more to counter the lack of food; then after a few days or a week when it realizes I'm not going to give it more food it starts using up some fat reserves. Does this make sense Josh? You said that most people you talk to lose in spurts and it seems like I do too.

diet update

11/6- 1267
11/7- 1725 splurge
11/8- 1357
11/9-1280 (up a pound)
11/10- 1220 (i feel like it must have been more; my period may be explaining the pound)
11/11- 1292
11/12- 1357 (back down the pound plus one more- for total loss of 8 lbs)
11/13- 1361

I feel like I had another day over 1400 in the last week, so either I'm a pessimist or I forgot to write some things. (I just looked at the last post and realized I was thinking about 11/5.) But overall Im doing well. I didn't lose any last week, but then did some hormonal wavering and then I did go down this week.

Progress is so slow, but I have to remember that it is progress. No, I will not drop the next 10 lbs next week. But if I hang in there I will drop those 10 lbs sometime after Christmas and in the mean time will be looking pretty good this Christmas compared to last!!

podcasting baby!

Our church is now podcasting! I'm really excited about this. We've already had 28 downloads in the last 2 days! Check it out at podpoint.net and go to recent podcasts or look us up in the directory. You can go right to our page by going to www.podpoint.net/Trading_Post_317. (Ok, this website is formatting over top my typing so you can't see that there should be underline marks as follows: Trading_Post_317.) Hope other people are blessed by this and can stay connected with our church when they can't be there, etc.

dropped again I think!

I think I'm down anther pound this week for a total loss in the past five weeks of 7 lbs.

11/3- 1155
11/4- 1306
11/5- 1448-oops, Pizza Hut got to me :(

but overall I'm doing well. I got out some old jeans I haven't worn in a while and that always feels good

Myers Briggs Bible study

I just had a great time last night. I taught about Myers Briggs at a women's Bible study. The women took the assessment (I should explain that they did not take the actual MB indicator which I would not have been allowed to score) a few weeks ago and then I scored it and planned a presentation. It was so much fun. I just love talking about MB and Ilike the idea of encouraging people about what they are good at and helping people see when others are different why they may have difficulties with it. The women seemed to really enjoy it. The group was very small and so it was difficult to do one of the activities, so it would be cool to do it with a larger sampling. But the smallness of the group also lent itself to a good discussion.

My jeans are looser!

Ahhh... a smidgen of success at last. I started realizing that I was losing weight on the scale but then I started feeling it: when i sit in the car I'm not as squished. :) Usually I pu the jeans on and they feel good until I have to lean over and scrunch up. And usually by the end of the day with natural bloating and eating they're tighter and they're not feeling this way the last few days.

calorie update:
10/29-1332
10/30- 1321 almost seem to be down a second pound for the week
10/31- anywhere from 1800 to 2000 for halloween :( but I counted it for my "splurge"
11/1- 1335
11/2- 1292
11/3- this morning down another pound- that makes a total of 4 lbs lower than my "hang out" weight (I think that when I started sticking to the 1300 pounds about 4 weeks ago I may have been at least two pounds higher than the hang out weight- so that's acutally a total of 6 lbs dropped; this may be why I didnt think it was working at first; i was determined not to let myself think i had lost weight until i got past the hang out range and seem to have accordingly brain-washed myself; still I swear that I'm losing the weight faster now than two weeks ago and I think most extraneous factors are the same- any thoughts Josh? does my body hold out on me at first; or is it slowing down on purpose at first to counter balance the sudden lack of food and then finally has to give in because i've persisted in limiting it?

Anyway, I can't tell you how good it feels to have some success and to have the knowledge that the sacrifices I'm making count for somehting. It makes me all the more motivated to stick to theplan. Now let's see if I can make it through the holiday season! :)

Other observation: I experienced this last time I was successful at dieting. Once I'm in the swing of self-denial, I'm not as hungry all the time. My body seems to be reprogrammed to not look for food all day long. But there are still some days when I am ravenous.

Some progress

10/24- 1740
10/25- didn't count it but at least 1700; I went to a kid's ;party and went out for dinner; so one splurge day turned into two
10/26- went up a few pounds 1405
10/27- 1300
10/28- back down to new weight 1361
10/29- down a new pound!; still counting for today

more boring (but good!) diet updates

10/18- 1295
10/19- 1300?
10/20- 1266
10/21- 1280
10/22- 1323
10/23- I thought it was 1167, but then I forgot about some things, plus I ate a few candies hmmmm.... maybe more like1407?

I seem to have finally swung below my hang out weight by one pound. :) Boy that took a lot of time.

confession

oct 15- 1207- believe it!
oct 16- 1350- not too bad
oct 17- 1776- :( I was planning on having a splurge day this weekend, but I was going to wait til Sat or Sun and I was only going to give myself 200 cal, not 400. well, we'll try to do better today

doing well

Oct 13-1289
Oct 14- 1301? it was very close to that

Dieting success vs. Dieting unsuccess

I'm going to start today( or right now) vs. I'm going to start tomorrow
What can I do without? vs. What can I get away with?

But how do you switch from the second to teh first mentatlity?

Diet update

Thanks for all who have called blogged or otherwise to keep me on track. Ithink that it helps.
Sept 30- 1505
Oct 1- 1480
Oct 2-1545
Oct 3- 1207?? (I doubt it)
Oct 4- 1500
Oct 5- 1585 just a guess
Oct 6, 7,8,9-I didnt' finish writing down; got off track and discouraged and hadnt' blogged in for accountability
Then I talked to Josh and decided I needed to be more accurate of all the little calories that I was leaving out. got a little more motivated and feel like if I'm really only eating 1300 calories and exercising I MUST start losing some weight. But I won't know until i do it!!!!
Oct 10- 1295
Oct 11-1247
oct 12- 1280
(only bad thing is I only ran once instead of three times)
yeah, doing better!
Thanks for all the encouragement and prayers

Diet

Sept 25- 1375
Sept 26- 1380
Sept. 27- 1166 (!) I wasn't feeling well
Sept. 28- splurge day; didnt' really count
Sept. 29- 1367
Was doing well and losing weight but the splurge day seems to have cancelled that out. Not sure a splurge day is worth it for teh set back with weight. What do you think Josh? Should I shoot for lower daily calorie intake?

Piratey Steven

Well, I said some cool things about John on his birthday and I've been kind of behind but wanted to dedicate a post to Steven. He's so piratey.

Whimsical, unpredictable, cuddly one minute and prickly the next.

Surprising. He'll blow you away occasionally by some small detail that he remembers or his large dinosaur vocabulary (he knows about the Jurassic, Betaceous and Triassic periods; and don't get him started on nano Tyrannus'). I'll be sitting with John who is struggling to read a word on a page and Steven on the other side of me will spit out the missing word or phrase (he's not even looking at the page- he simply has it memorized).

Bendy! That kid can flip like an Olympic gymnast. And watching him you'd think he's spent years perfecting his form.

Dramatic. When he pretends to be a raptor, he looks convincingly like a raptor.

Complimentary. Lately I've been told that many people are getting compliments on their shirts, pants and belts. Does he just like all belts or is he trying to impress people or does he like the response he gets when people are pleasantly surprised by this? Does he just like making people feel good? I have no idea. Enigmatic.

Adores his brother. His brother gave him a ride on his four-wheeler (yeah, you read that right) and he was thrilled to death and rejected a similar offer from Dad. When John told him today that the square he had carefully drawn looked like a square that a first-grader could draw he beamed.

Affectionate. Lots of kisses for Lizzie and he insists on giving me a full hug before bed. You'll only get some if you're on his good side, though.

Bookworm. Loves books especially if they relate to reptiles or pirates or sea creatures. He's also wiggly like a worm. Mr. Server tells me that he is "inattentive." (Whose idea was it to put 5 year old boys in school all day?)

Tough as nails. The hardness of his head is legendary in our family, circle of friends and our church where people have witnessed him smashing heads with someone and walking away like nothing happened while the other kids cries.

Boy, I love that kid!

My new diet

Counting calories... I was so hoping to avoid this. But here I am. Sometimes I just dont' feel like at the end of the day I know if I did well or not. I'll know I resisted those three snacks, but thatdoesn't necessarily outweigh all the crap I did eat. I've been hanging out at the same three pounds since about April and actually have crept up a few even.

So, one of the things that I need is accountability. I thought of posting how I'm doing on this blog. Of course this does require some consistency on my part in posting and to some extent it requires that people consistently read it. But I'm going to give it a try.

The diet: less than 1400 calories a day*. with one splurge day on the weekend

That's not a staggeringly low number. Which makes it doable for me. Maybe the results will also be slow. We'll see. here's how I did this week:
Wed. 9/17- 1495- didn't count up my dinner before eating it
thurs 9/18- 1275?!- I may have forgotten somethign?
fri 9/19- ok, this is embarassing but it's th splurge day I guess- 2425- yeah and that's just a guess
Sat 9/20- 1400 right about
sun. 9/21-1300?
Mon. 9/22- 1520- darn it; i definitely did a late night snack that ruined my day
Tues. 9/23- 1350- resisted that late night snack!
Wed. 9/24- 1375- I can't find anything to eat for 25 calories tonight :)

I welcome your comments as it will make the accountability part feel more real.

*I'm learning what the caloric content of things is. My numbers will not be entirely accurate. I both over and under estimate so far. I also don't always count fruit and veggie snacking or one calorie drink in a day.