DisneyWorld stats

We got home from DisneyWorld yesterday afternoon. We had a great time, but barely took a break. I slept almost 11 hours last night. Hopefully I can be more productive today. It's time to get back into the swing of things.

While we were gone, I paid no mind to what I was eating. I needed a break, although I'm a little scared to get on the scale now. I'm saving that for a few days from now. We ate a lot of food the first couple of days. On Sunday, we had breakfast in EPCOT; they kept refilling my glass of orange juice, and I ended up drinking way more than I normally ever would. The food was all-you-can-eat, and so I kept going. We had treats most days, at least once, sometimes twice. We ate lots of french fries. But by Wednesday, I decided to try to manage this even just a little bit, so I shared a kids meal lunch with Lila that day for lunch, and on Thursday, I got my own kids meal PB&J for lunch. That same day, I actually got a salad in the Magic Kingdom for dinner, and it was so good. But don't get me wrong—on top of those small adjustments, I still ate cake, churros, and popcorn.

Anyway, I thought I'd share with you some of my bodybugg stats from the days we were gone. We spent six days going to the parks, and these are the stats for those days. (The first column is calories burned; I was unable to track calories consumed while we were gone.)

1/24 2532 cals 21,988 steps 4 hrs, 2 mins activity

1/25 1978 cals 10,622 steps 1 hrs, 30 mins activity

1/26 2238 cals 17,410 steps 2 hrs, 57 mins activity

1/27 2393 cals 19,126 steps 3 hrs, 38 mins activity

1/28 2217 cals 15,478 steps 3 hrs, 19 mins activity

1/29 2436 cals 19,604 steps 3 hrs, 56 mins activity

January 24 was the day we went to EPCOT, the park with the most walking required to get around. And we were not strategic at all about where we went, so we walked a lot. I even had to carry Lila for at least a mile, if not more, at the end of the night, so that's partially why my calorie burn was so high.

January 25 was the day we did a backstage tour of the four parks, so there was a lot of standing, and sitting on a bus, so I'm not surprised that was the lowest of the days.

I'm not sure how the bodybugg calculates activity time. It must have something to do with the speed at which I'm doing things or something. I've also read that one mile equals a little more than 2000 steps, so on that first day at EPCOT, we walked about 10 miles. I can't believe we didn't think to get Lila a stroller until Wednesday. I'm impressed with her stamina to keep up.

So that's how I did on our trip. I'm certain I consumed more calories each day than I burned, but I guess that's what vacation is for. Now it's time to start it all over again.... tomorrow.

And... they're off!

Calories consumed: 1462

Calories burned: 2627

Calorie deficit: 1165

I know I said I wasn't going to count my calories for Thursday because I thought it was going to be too hard, but I tried anyway. I think my assessment is pretty accurate, but even if I'm off a bit, I had a huge calorie deficit due to my two workouts yesterday, so that helps.

This morning (Friday), even though I did Zumba last night, I got up early and walked briskly on the treadmill for 30 minutes, and then did 10 minutes of abs. I burned about 220 calories. Walking doesn't burn as much as aerobics do, but my legs were still feeling like lead balloons from Monday's personal training session, I figured I'd take it easy on my body.

Today, though, my back is killing me. Right across the middle. It's the spot that might get sore from shoveling too much snow, but I think my soreness is from these crazy ab twist things we do during Zumba. I was putting more effort into it yesterday than usual, and now I'm paying for it. Jack asked if I was going to work out tomorrow morning before we leave for DisneyWorld, and although I had been considering doing it, I decided it was time to give my mind and body a rest from all of this tracking and counting and muscle fatigue.

So this will be my last post for a week or so. We're off to Disney tomorrow. There's part of me that wants to throw caution to the wind and just enjoy myself and not place too much emphasis or thought on what I'm eating. But then there's that other part that keeps saying, "You've been working your butt off for the last three weeks and have only lost one pound. Don't you think that gaining that one pound back is going to be a piece of cake if you don't watch yourself the whole time?" So I'm torn. I guess I'm hoping that I can exercise restraint and not eat dessert at every meal, and choose healthy meals as often as possible. And I'm hoping that we're doing so much walking over the course of the next week that I will still be able to burn a lot of calories. I'll be wearing my bugg each day, so I'll have some interesting burn and step statistics to share when we get home.

See you in a week!

My fat is like glue

Tuesday

Calories consumed: 1255

Calories burned: 1910

Calorie deficit: 638

Weight: 133

Wednesday

Calories burned: 2145

Weight: 132

We've been busy. Busy means not getting to eat the way I'd like to, and it also means not having time to write. So I'm covering a few days with one post.

On Tuesday, I was in a bad place. My weight had barely budged when I weighed-in. However, it went down a pound by Wednesday, and I was happy about that. But I know that my weight usually fluctuates up and down by one pound, so I was anxious to see what it was going to say this morning (Thursday). Sure enough, it was back up to 133. Seriously? This fat is like glue stuck to my body and it won't let go. Now I'm just getting angry.

As far as eating goes, Tuesday was good. We had to go to the funeral home on Tuesday night, as my husband's uncle had passed away. So we had very little time between work and the funeral home to eat, so we had to eat out. We opted for Subway, and that made it pretty easy to stick to eating something I can count calories for.

Wednesday was another story. All in all, though, I don't think I did too bad, considering the circumstances. Tell me what you think. I had my usual oatmeal for breakfast. We had the funeral that morning, so afterwards, there was a luncheon at the church. I had a half of a slice of ham; one chicken finger (no sauce); a small scoop of green beans which I'm sure were laden with butter; a small scoop of parsley potatoes which I'm sure were laden with butter, too (and when I say small, I mean about 1/4 of a cup, a 1/2 cup at the most); a small scoop of pasta; and a very small salad with maybe 1 tablespoon of Italian dressing (not creamy). They had homemade cakes, too, so I split a small piece of chocolate cake with chocolate frosting (this is the kind that would have been in a 13x9 pan) with Jack. It was only three bites worth. I skipped the bread and buns and sandwiches.

For dinner, we ended up eating out at Bravo. Now I know I've talked about how much I hate going to dinner because of the large portions and fattening preparations. And while that is all true, sometimes going to dinner just can't be avoided. So I tried to make the best choices that I could. I got a chopped salad with Italian dressing. It had feta cheese on it, and while cheese can be fattening in large portions, it also has calcium, which my diet lacks, so I was ok with this. I used only 1/2 the dressing that they brought out. For my meal, I opted for the appetizer called Flatbread Roma. It was a very thin flatbread with a little bit of sauce and cheese and topped with roasted tomatoes and basil. I can't find Bravo nutritional information online (which is never a good thing), so I have to hope that I chose well. It had to have been one of the best choices on the menu since the bread was so slim. I did splurge and have one of their pieces of warm bread that they bring to the table, and after dinner, we stopped at Panera and Lila and I split a cinnamon roll.

So sure, it wasn't the best day. I ate a lot of non-diety foods. But seriously, I didn't pig out, and I think I controlled my portions well. Maybe I'm just kidding myself and I really suck at this "making good choices" thing, because I was very dismayed when I woke up this morning and weighed in at 133 again.

And it's not like I'm not working out. I am. Now, granted, on Tuesday I skipped the workout, but that was in part because I had just done personal training the evening before, and also I was so tired, I again opted for sleep. But I did work out on Wednesday morning and burned about 250 or so calories doing it. I wish I could calculate my calories consumed for yesterday to see how close, or over, I came to my burn of 2145 for the day. Is it possible that I ate more than that yesterday? Seems unlikely, but who knows.

So here I am on Thursday now. Still at 133. Worked out this morning and burned about 340 calories, and I'm going to Zumba tonight and will burn another 400. I'm not counting my calories today because it's next to impossible. I had lunch at my mother-in-laws, and there's no way to know how she prepares her food. I guess I could try and see where I land, but I guess I'm feeling like, for all the extra calories I'm burning today, it shouldn't matter.

Oh well, maybe I should just pretend vacation started yesterday and not worry about this stuff until I get back from DisneyWorld.

It's gonna get darker before it gets lighter

Calories consumed: 1407

Calories burned: 2544

Calorie deficit: 1137

So I officially weighed in today in my Bodybugg program. I was only down 1 pound for the week. Sure, you may say one pound is an accomplishment, but since I weigh myself every day, I know that my weight will go up and down by one pound often, so to me, a one pound weight loss doesn't feel real yet. Who's to say it's just not one of those days where it fluctuated down, and tomorrow it will be back up again? I would have been satisfied with one more pound.

Yesterday was a good day. But how is it possible for me to have so many good days, yet still not feel like I'm making any progress? How could I be working so hard at this and only lose one pound in a week? Some people can lose three, sometimes more, in one week. I've been at this since January 4, and I've got one pound, maybe two, to show for it. Yes, I understand that losing one pound a week is the recommended rate of loss, but I'm just surprised with how hard I've been working at it that this is all I was able to lose.

Anyway, there was no nibbling, sweets, or large portions yesterday. I went for a 30 minute brisk walk in the evening with jack while Lila was at dance class, then I had a 60 minute session with my personal trainer. It was really hard. I was so tired by the time I got home. But I was also starving, so when I got home, having only eaten about 950 calories so far that day, I figured I needed more food. I had one serving of frosted mini wheats with skim milk, and a banana with a tablespoon of peanut butter.

When I logged my weight this morning, the program calculated my actual caloric intake. It knows this because of my calories burned, plus my weight loss. One pound of fat = 3500 calories. It's simple math. So if I burned X number of calories for the week, and only lost 1 pound, it can calculate the actual calories consumed. The program thinks I eat more than I'm logging. It gave me suggestions for how to log more accurately. But you know what? I already do those things... I've given up nibbling, I weigh and measure everything, I read labels closely, and I over-estimate when I'm not sure.

Jack wonders if I've lost all my body can lose, and that's why it's not budging. While I appreciate his attempt to make me feel better, I know that I still have a lot of fat to lose. Have you seen my backside? And even after I reach my goal, IF I reach my goal, I'm sure I'll still have fat to lose, but I'm ok with that. I'm not looking to be movie star pencil thin. I just want to weigh a little less than I do right now and get rid of some of the fat on my body.

But if I have to work this hard to barely lose a pound, imagine what I'll have to do even just to maintain my weight. That depresses me more than anything.

So for today, I'm in a dark place. I'm a slave to my scale, to my diet, and to my workouts, and it's not a healthy relationship right now. I need to get past these feelings of frustration and depression and see the good in what I'm doing. It's just hard right now.

Sundays are for snacks and sweets

Calories consumed: 1803

Calories burned: 2209

Calorie deficit: 406

It's hard to believe I even had a deficit yesterday. Sunday was terrible. I ate so poorly, but it was all so good. Again, I started the day with my oatmeal and blueberries, but I ended up having to have a protein shake for dinner because I splurged so grossly at lunch.

We went to my in-laws for an early dinner Sunday afternoon. Do you call that "lunner"? Or maybe "lupper"? At any rate, I ate almost 1500 calories at that event, if my counting is accurate at all. It's hard to count accurately when you're eating food that someone else has prepared, and you don't quite know what they put in it. Oh, and I just realized that I failed to count the salad dressing. Sheesh.

So what did I eat that made up those 1500 calories? A pulled beef sandwich with a little cheese on it, a small bowl of tortellini soup with a little cheese on it, and salad with olives and roasted peppers. Then, for dessert, I made angel food cake. But, of course, I couldn't just serve it plain. I took strawberries that I had mixed with some sugar earlier in the day, a can of Reddi-Whip, and hot fudge sauce. I had two slices of angel food cake, and half of an oatmeal raisin cookie. But come on, be honest. Haven't we all eaten like this now and again? And do we ever think we're really taking in that many calories? I would guess not. I know for me, for as much of a label reader as I am, I never think that what I'm eating is as many calories as it really is. And this meal was no different. I was shocked after I entered all of my food to see the total for the afternoon come close to 1500.

I was so disgusted with how I ate that I couldn't wait to get home and fit a workout in. In fact, I was just saying yesterday morning how glad I was that it was Sunday because I don't work out on Sundays and I felt like my body could use a rest. But on the way home, I was feeling worse about how I ate than I was feeling tired, so I did 30 minutes of brisk walking on the treadmill, and about 20 minutes of weights. Turned out that I burned about 260 calories during those activities. I felt good about that.

So how do you go to a party, or dinner at a friend's house, or out to dinner, and still remain loyal to your eating plan, whatever that may be? It's so hard. I don't know how to do this successfully. Sure, had I not eaten the dessert, I would have saved... oh my gosh, I just figured this out... 750 calories. See why one of my goals for my diet (and when I say diet, I mean my way of eating for the rest of my life, not a diet for this month where I'm trying to lose weight) is to stay away from sweets? I can't be trusted around any baked goods, ice cream, or chocolate. My dessert was half of my meal.

My name is Lynnette, and I'm a sugarholic.

The rollercoaster ride I call "weighing in"

Calories consumed: 1644

Calories burned: 2932

Calorie deficit: 1288

Wow, did I do a lot on Saturday! It's funny, but you sometimes don't even realize how much you're doing. But when you have something like the Bodybugg that's calculating your burn, it's shocking how it all adds up. Saturday, I went to Zumba in the morning, which lasts for an hour. Burned about 400 calories then. Later, after lunch, we cleaned the house. This took about 2-1/2 hours, but I burned another 450 calories while I was doing that.

On Saturday, I had my usual oatmeal with blueberries for breakfast. That was good. For lunch, I had a 1/2 banana with 2 tsp. peanut butter. I then made us all ham and cheese paninis for lunch. I had two thin slices of italian bread with not even 2 ounces of lean ham, and maybe 1/4 cup of low-fat shredded cheddar cheese. I used about 2 tsp. of light butter spread over the two pieces of ham. I also had one serving of Sun Chips, and an orange. Guess how many calories in this average, "light," lunch? 600! Yup. And my calorie target for the day is 1550. So I ate more than 1/3 of my calories at lunch. Imagine if you had ordered this panini in a restaurant. The bread would have been thicker, there would have been more meat on the sandwich, and they would have used regular cheese, and certainly more butter, and it wouldn't have been light. Plus you might have received some potato chips on the side. And you may not think much about how many calories you're taking in because gee, it's just a sandwich. But my goodness, if my "good for you lunch" was 600 calories, imagine what you're eating when you go to a restaurant? I wish I could ban restaurants from my life because most of them just insist on overdoing it. Is this really necessary? Why can't all restaurants care about the well-being of our country, and start to feed us healthy and appropriately sized portions? I need to find the ones that do, and ban the ones that don't.

Now, we did end up going out to dinner last night, ironically enough. We went to this cute pizza shop on Banksville Road called Azzeria. I like it there. It makes Jack nervous, though, because they're usually crowded, and there aren't a lot of places to sit. Anyway, we ordered one pizza to share between me, Jack, and Lila. Half pepperoni for them, half roasted red peppers for me. It's a 12" pizza, and I ate three slices (it was cut into 8 pieces). We also got a salad which had no cheese on it. They serve it with their house balsamic dressing, which is more vinegar than oil, and they only give you about 2 tablespoons of it. So all in all, I think that it was a pretty reasonable dinner, and the portions were not ridiculous. I did end up splurging for dessert. They have gelato there, and I've always wanted to try it, so I shared a scoop with Lila. I probably had 1/2 cup, which is a normal serving size. Another reason why I like this place—nothing was over the top, and it was all delicious. I went home full but not overstuffed. Plus, I burned a lot of calories that day, so I felt like it was ok to go over my calorie goal a bit.

But guess what? I woke up today (Sunday) and I was up one pound. Again, one step forward, two steps back. It's driving me crazy. What went on in my body that caused me to go up a pound, after having worked out like a freak? Shouldn't I be able to eat 3 small slices of pizza and 1/2 cup of gelato (which is supposed to be lower in calories than ice cream) without gaining weight?

In a couple of weeks, I have an hour long session with a trainer at Bodybugg. This is number one of my list of questions. How can I work so hard, yet still not have anything to show for it? Am I just being too impatient?

The scale is my friend again

Calories consumed: 1400

Calories burned: 2098

Calorie deficit: 698

I'm finding that, as the days go on, it's getting easier to limit my calories to somewhere between 1400 and 1500. As long as I don't eat sweets, and I don't go crazy with lots of butter or olive oil at dinner, I think this is an attainable goal. I also need to stay away from my preferred weekend morning 3-bowls-of-cereal breakfast, or even pancakes or French toast. Now, I'm not going to totally deprive myself. If I feel that I've been making good progress, I might reward myself with a breakfast like this, but I'm not there yet. I weighed myself this morning, and as I was hoping, was back down to 132. But I don't feel that this is worth celebrating yet. My weight has fluctuated between 132 and 135 for a few months now, so until I hit the 130 mark, I'm not going to believe that I'm truly making progress.

But there is a monkey wrench coming. We're leaving for DisneyWorld in a week. I'm certain I won't hit 130 pounds by then, and I'm certainly not planning on sticking to 1400 calories a day. I just hope I can restrain myself enough while we're gone that I at least maintain my weight, and not sabotage the progress I have made. Since we're staying in a condo with a kitchen, I will at least be able to eat one normal meal per day for breakfast. That's got to help, right?

So back to yesterday. It was decent. I was only hungry once during the day and that was around my afternoon snack time. But it was no different than normal. In other words, I wasn't hungry because I'm watching what I'm eating; I was hungry because it was an hour past when I normally eat my snack. So I ended up eating a few mixed nuts along with my yogurt. At least I'm making good choices. I just need to always remember to control my portions. I struggle with that, and that's why it's one of my goals of this eating plan.

I did, again, give in to my no sweets rule. What kind of rule is it if I'm giving in every day? I had a small rice krispy treat, and I made myself a cup of homemade hot cocoa. So, although I did give in, I still feel like I'm making better choices. There's not a lot of fat in a rice krispy treat and I restrained myself and only ate one small one, and I made my hot cocoa with Splenda. So although I gave in, I'm proud of myself for not throwing in the towel and eating 4 or 5, which is what I normally would have done. And when you're counting calories, it's amazing how quickly those things add up!

Because I worked out with my personal trainer on Thursday night, I didn't work out Friday morning. But I felt like I needed to do something, so when I got home from work, while Jack and Lila ate dinner, I worked out in the basement. It was an easier workout so I only burned about 225 calories, but it was probably the right workout for me that day. Heather really works us hard, and my muscles are usually pretty sore for a day or two afterward. I really wanted to do my tough 500-calorie workout (that's what it's called) to see if it really burns 500 calories, but I knew that my muscles were too tired still to handle that. But at least I did something, and doing something is better than doing nothing, no matter how small the something is.

A banner calorie statistic day

Calories consumed: 1932

Calories burned: 2827

Calorie deficit: 895

Thursday was a banner day, if you're just looking at my calorie statistics. I worked out in the morning, doing 45 minutes of high-impact cardio (Punch, Kick, and Jam with Chalene Johnson), and then 10 minutes of abs (again, Ab Jam with Chalene Johnson—I only did the floor segment). In the evening, I had a session with my personal trainer. That was a 60 minute session. I burned 333 calories in the morning, and 250 with Heather. That's a lot of extra calories burned.

The bad thing about that is that it makes me feel like I can cheat a little bit. So I did. Lila wanted to make rice krispy treats, so we did. And, of course, I had to eat some. I didn't eat much, but I probably ate more than I should have. This is my problem with making goodies, which is why, when I'm trying to really watch what I eat, I stop baking. I have no willpower when it comes to baked goods. But even with what I ate, I had a huge calorie deficit for the day. It was almost 400 calories more than it needed to be. At this rate, you would think I'd reach my goal pretty quickly, huh?

Well, think again. When I got on the scale this morning, the day after having such a huge calorie deficit, I was up 2 pounds. What is up with that? I don't understand it. And this is where every attempt I've made at losing weight over the last six months has ended. I get so discouraged when the scale goes up. I don't mind if, while trying to lose, it stays the same for a while, but for it to go up, and by 2 pounds, it just kills me. "One step forward, two steps back" does not make for a happy Lynnette.

My meals on Thursday were decent. I had my usual oatmeal with blueberries for breakfast. For lunch, I had 1 cup of a vegan soup I had in the pantry, along with one slice of toast with light butter, and probably an ounce (barely two) of pork. Dinner was a lean 3 ounce burger on a light bun, 1/2 a serving of one of those noodles and sauce things from Lipton, and brussels sprouts. Oh, and the rice krispy treats. Not bad, right?

After I got back from my evening workout session, I synced my Bodybugg and discovered that I had a calorie deficit of 1000 calories at that time. I thought that since I worked out so hard just an hour earlier, it was wise to eat something, even though it was 9:30 PM. So I had a 1/2 banana with 1 Tbsp. peanut butter, as well as a small bowl of shredded wheat. That last snack is what up'd my calories from the average I've been taking in (1300 to 1500 per day) to closer to 2000. But I read about how it's important to repair your muscles immediately after a weight training session, so I opted for eating, even though I wasn't starving. Was it this evening snack that made my scale think I was 2 pounds heavier this morning? I don't know. Maybe it was. I can only hope that it's back down 2 pounds by tomorrow morning.

I failed on my no nibbling and no sweets rule today, but I think I did ok with my small portions rule. And I worked out like a freak. So at least I did some things right.

My love/hate relationship with my bugg

Calories consumed: 1580

Calories burned: 2257

Calorie deficit: 677

I met my calorie deficit goal for the second day in a row. That's good news. However, I didn't quite meet my three goals of this new eating plan of mine.

For lunch on Wednesday, I had an off-site meeting for work where I had to choose what I wanted to eat from Au Bon Pain. I really like the food there, but like most places, most of it is really high in calories, and it's hard to find something satisfying for low calories. I opted for a Mediterranean Chicken Salad with balsamic dressing, and it came with a piece of multi-grain bread. The salad was around 300 calories, and the dressing another 100, and the bread was 250. From an outsider looking in, you might have thought that was a pretty well-balanced lunch, but 650 calories for a salad and a piece of bread? What do they put in this stuff? So I probably ate more of the bread than I should have. In fact, I probably shouldn't have eaten it at all.

At home while I was warming up everyone's dinner (it was a leftover night), I ended up nibbling at some snack crackers, as well as little bites of the things I was warming up. I was hungry. I couldn't wait. Honestly, I'm sure I could have, but the nibbler in me overtook my brain and made me do it.

And then on to the sweets. Are chocolate Cheerios considered a sweet, or just cereal? Because I gave in around 9:00 PM and had one serving of them, dry. I just needed something. And they were sweet, but not too sweet, fairly low in calories (100 calories for 3/4 cup), and hit the spot. I guess that was ok.

My workout Wednesday morning consisted of a 45 minute circuit training DVD—at least I think that's how you'd classify it. It was 5 minute intervals of high-impact cardio followed by 5 minutes of strength. The strength segments involve many body parts at once, so it, too, is very aerobic. And I did a 10-minute ab program, too. If I'm remembering correctly, this routine burned about 250 calories. I was surprised it wasn't more.

So my love/hate feelings towards my bugg happened after I logged my lunch. I was happy to know how many calories I had burned in the day to that point, so for that, I love my bugg. But at the same time, I was mad at it, because it made me realize how hard I need to work out to maintain my desired deficit in order to lose weight. Losing weight is hard work, at least for me, and I guess I just need to accept that fact. I'm not one of those people, like my husband, who can just watch what he eats for a couple of months and lose 25 pounds, and then miraculously keep it off. I have to work out, and work out hard, and watch what I eat very carefully, in order to see progress. And that can be very hard to accept. But I'm trying.

Until tomorrow....

The bugg in action

Calories consumed: 1322

Calories burned: 2075

Calorie deficit: 753

I did really well on Tuesday. It was my first day using the Bodybugg, and it was a fun journey.

I didn't work out again, which I was bummed about because I was really looking forward to seeing how many calories I burn doing my normal routines, but I was up coughing in the middle of the night again, so I figured it best to get more sleep than to work out.

I put the bugg on first thing after my shower. I didn't take it off until around 9:30 PM. They tell you to keep it off for at least 1 hour a day to give your skin time to breathe. I put it back on before I went to sleep at 10:30 PM. If you don't wear it while you sleep, the program will estimate your calorie burn based on a variety of factors: age, activity level, height, weight, etc. I let it estimate on Monday night into Tuesday morning, but wanted to wear it Tuesday night into Wednesday morning to see how accurate the estimate was the night before. I'd like to not wear it at night, but if the actual to estimate is drastically different, I may wear it anyway.

Throughout the day, I was able to see, using the little watch-like receiver, how many calories I had burned up to that minute. I liked having this information. I also tracked my meals all day, which allowed me to see how many calories I had consumed. I synced (how the heck do you spell that word?) the bugg to my iMac when I got home from work, and after entering my dinner into the program, discovered that I had only consumed around 1000 calories, and that I had about 250 more calories that I could still eat, while still maintaining a calorie deficit of close to 500. So I had a bowl of cereal (which I measured to keep me on track) around 9:00 PM. Sure, I know eating late is a no-no, but undereating is a no-no, too, so I picked what I thought to be the lesser of two evils.

Let me go back to this calorie deficit thing. The basic principle that the Bodybugg program stresses is that weight gain happens when you consume more calories than you burn. It's simple math. So the program doesn't stress sticking to your calorie target for the day as much as it stresses sticking to your calorie deficit for the day. So my target deficit is 500 calories per day. Sticking with this will allow me to lose 1 pound a week and reach my goal by March 21. So although my daily calorie target is 1550, if I eat more than that, it's ok, but I have to also be willing to work out harder, longer, or more to burn more calories to maintain that 500 calorie deficit. It's pretty basic, and having the bugg allows you to keep tabs on this on the fly and make better food choices as the day goes on.

Speaking of which, I did well again meeting my three goals. I didn't nibble, I had no sweets, and my portions were average. I was tempted to nibble, but also didn't want to have to figure out how many calories were in what I would have nibbled on, so it was easier to just walk away. And the good news is that I wasn't really hungry throughout the day. It was a banner day. I wish they all could be like this. I'd make so much progress.

It's here, it's here!

Calories consumed: 1363

Calories burned: will tell you tomorrow!

The title of this post refers to my Bodybugg. It arrived yesterday. But before I tell you about that, let me tell you about my day yesterday.

My day was good. I didn't work out because I felt it was more important to get some rest than to exercise. I've been battling a cold for almost a week, and it's at its peak, I think. I felt good, considering I sound very congested, and I have these awful coughing fits, but I got really tired around 4:30. Could have taken a nap. Went home instead.

I did very well yesterday with sticking to my goals. No nibbling, no sweets, and small portions. Yay me! Having this cold, I guess I'm not as prone to picking at food, so it wasn't even a struggle. And I was down a pound when I weighed in this morning. Life is good.

Sometimes it's hard to know how far you can push your caloric intake without jeopardizing your weight. After I had lost a lot of weight on Weight Watchers in the summer of 2008, I stopped paying close attention to what I was eating. Instead, I continued to weigh myself every day, and was shocked at what I was able to eat without gaining weight. So I felt safe, and I was eating whatever I wanted. But then I turned 40. You know how "they" say that your metabolism slows down every decade? Well, I think mine stopped the day I turned 40, because instantly, I started gaining weight, even though I was still eating the same things I had been eating for the past few months without gaining weight. It was a drag.

I think my new Bodybugg will help me. You wear it as much as possible, and it calculates the amount of calories you've burned for the day. So far today, I've burned 728 calories, and I've only consumed 137. As long as I can maintain a deficit over an extended period of time, I'll lose weight. Once I reach my goal, which is 125 pounds, the Bodybugg will still help. By knowing how many calories you're burning, and by continuing to track what you're consuming, you can balance your weight easily. And maybe after doing that for a while, I won't need the Bodybugg as a crutch anymore, and I'll learn how much I can eat to maintain my weight. That's the goal I'd like to reach within the next six months.

A minor detour

I don't have "calories consumed" numbers to share with you for Sunday. I was a bad, bad girl. Well, kind of.

The day started off with me feeling pretty lousy. I've been nursing a sore throat since last Tuesday, and on Sunday morning, it was moving to my nose, so I was congested and very tired. I had trouble motivating myself to do anything. Lila and I skipped church for the second week in a row, which is very unlike me. The cold temperatures didn't help matters any, either.

So, breakfast consisted of two bowls of frosted shredded wheat. When I'm feeling low, I turn to food. It's bad, I know. I guess I'm easily classified as an emotional eater. I feel lousy, so I convince myself that I deserve this reward of whatever it is that I want to eat. I was like this all day. I tried to keep it in check, which I think I did, but I still snacked, had sweets, and ate more than I needed to. I failed on all three of my goals.

While I was preparing lunches for all of us, I snacked on Sun Chips. I was hungry. They were sitting there. So I ate some. Not a lot, but some. For lunch, I had a grilled ham and cheese sandwich, apple, cottage cheese, and some Sun Chips. Now I realize that none of these foods are bad for me (I even sparingly use light butter on my grilled sandwich), but it was more food than I needed to eat. It was good, but more than enough.

After lunch, I was really craving something cool and sweet, and wouldn't you know it, I had the last of some homemade ice cream that was in the freezer downstairs. So I finished that. It definitely satisfied. My throat was sore, so the coolness of the ice cream sliding down my throat felt so good. It really hit the spot.

I made chicken noodle soup for dinner. We bought some fresh Italian bread to go along with that. Now, I didn't really need the bread. The soup was hearty enough as it was, but I ate it anyway. Why can't I just say no!?!

So overall, my food choices weren't horrible for the day, but I didn't track the calories, and I didn't meet my goals. I keep telling myself that tomorrow is another day, and I get to try again. As long as I can stick to my routine at work, which is pretty easy for me to do, I should be ok.

Oh, and lastly, I didn't work out on Sunday. I usually never do. It is my day of rest.

The Bodybugg should be arriving today (Monday). Stay tuned for details on how that goes....

Uh-oh!

Calories consumed: 775 after lunch, I have no idea for dinner

Calories burned: a lot, I think

Well, I knew this would happen. I'm sad to say that today was not a good day for sticking to my goals. Although, I like my friend, Jenny's, suggestion of a diet plan she's read about. It's called the "S" diet and the basic idea is that you don't eat snacks, sweets, or seconds except on Saturdays and Sundays. I think I've said this before; I don't have much trouble sticking to my plan on days I go to work. Somehow, the routine of it all keeps me in line. Weekends are so hard. I think I employ the S diet unintentionally on a regular basis.

At least my workout was good today. I did an hour of Zumba (latin-style aerobic dancing), plus another 20 minutes of upper body strength and abs work.

Breakfast was good. I stuck to my oatmeal and blueberries. I like this breakfast because it sticks with me. I could eat the same amount of calories in a bowl of cereal and be starving by 10 am. But oatmeal lasts a bit longer.

For lunch, we had NOTHING in the house, so we ran down to the Italian market that is close by. I picked up some lean ham deli meat, and it was the best deli meat I've ever had. We got some fresh Italian bread, too, and I came home and made a sandwich with low fat cheddar and ham. But, being at an Italian market with fresh baked goods, we each picked out a treat, and yup, I ate it after lunch. It was a soft peanut butter cookie. It was so good, after having not eaten anything sweet for a week. So now I'm talking myself into how "not bad" this was, considering I only ate one, and I hadn't had sweets for the prior 5 days.

Now off to dinner at my mom's. Homemade ravioli, garlic bread, salad, green beans, and a very small piece of chicken (about 3 bites, I'd say). And of course, dessert. So I'm sure that I busted my "small portions" rule, and I'm certain I busted my "no sweets" rule. At least I didn't nibble.

But today is another day, and I'm going to start over. Wish me luck. I'm going to need it.

Since when do I like pecans?

Calories consumed: 1608

Calories burned: a few more days and then I'll know

Since when do I like pecans? I've hated pecans and walnuts all of my life. Then our boss at work gave everyone dry roasted pecans as a little Christmas gift. He made them himself. They were delicious! Now, I can't guarantee that this means I'm going to eat anything you serve me with pecans in it, but I'm changing my tune about eating them plain.

I bring this up because I snacked on those pecans today. However, nuts make me mad. Why do they have to be so packed with calories? One ounce of pecans is about 200 calories (I think I'm remembering that correctly). And one ounce isn't very many pecans. In all honesty, I didn't count how many I ate, and I certainly don't know what their weight was. I'm hoping it was less than an ounce, but since I didn't know for sure, I counted it as a full ounce as I counted my calories today. This was snack set number one, along with my Greek yogurt.

Have you tried Greek yogurt? It's really good. The texture is fabulous. Very smooth, thick, and creamy. I've tried both Fage and Oikos, and I like them both. Fage is a little thicker. I buy the fat free kind, and then add a pack or two of Splenda. Greek yogurt is packed with protein (about 15 to 20 grams for a 6 oz. container, versus maybe 6 grams in Yoplait), and the plain version is lower in calories. This is my new yogurt of choice. It's more expensive, but I decided that maintaining (or losing) weight was worth the price.

After lunch, I had another snack set. A few ounces (probably only two ounces) of lean deli ham, and a snack bag of low fat popcorn. I love that popcorn. It only has 130 calories in the whole bag, and has a lot of fiber. And, of course, the ham gave me the protein I needed.

So I ate more snacks today than usual. I knew that my caloric intake for the day would be higher than it's been. But, I also wasn't nearly as starving all day as I was on the days when my intake was closer to 1300.

I didn't do so well at dinner time with the nibbling or portion sizes. I was starving while I was getting dinner ready, and Jack and Lila were snacking on some organic Cheez-It like crackers, so I gave in and had a few (maybe 10). Now this is one of my weaknesses. If they didn't have these out, I wouldn't have even thought about them. But why, just because they're sitting on my table, did I have to give in? My willpower was weak.

At dinner, I'm happy to say at least the thing I chose to eat too much of was broccoli. But as a result, I probably didn't need to eat as much meatloaf, but I still did anyway. Bad Lynnette, bad.

Guess what my workout consisted of? If you live in the northeast (well, probably most anywhere in the country these days), you've been getting a lot of snow. So instead of doing aerobics in the basement, I shoveled snow for 30 minutes. Prior to that, I did get in 30 minutes of free weights as well.

My weekend isn't going to go so well. On Saturday, we're going to my mom's for dinner. I know she's making dessert. I haven't had a treat since Sunday. Will I give in and have a bite? Tune in tomorrow to find out.

Then it gets harder

Calories consumed: 1289

Calories burned: it's coming, it's coming

As expected, Thursday had its ups and downs.

As I've said, one of the things I have the most trouble saying no to is a bowl of cereal. And on days that I'm home, when we're all sitting at the TV eating breakfast, and Jack and Lila are crunching on cereal, the last thing I want is my same old oatmeal with blueberries. But I stayed strong and managed to eat my oatmeal and nothing else; not even a nibble of Lila's shredded wheat or Fruity Pebbles.

Lunch time was hard. On the first Thursday of every month, Lila and I volunteer at the lunch room at the catholic school where she'll be attending next year. They give us free lunch, although I never accept, but she does. Yesterday was a chicken patty sandwich, broccoli, applesauce, and rice. Because we get this food for free, I feel obligated that she eat it all, and when she doesn't, I will finish it. But not this time. I resisted as much as I could, and only ended up eating the broccoli that she didn't eat. How bad could that have been for me, right?

Next came a stop at my mother's, where my "no nibbling and no sweets" rules were tested. I didn't eat a huge lunch, so I was pretty hungry with the munchies by the time I got there. And there were crackers, pretzels, and cookies all within reach. I gave Lila a cookie (one of my favorites... gingerbread!), and I refrained. It was so hard, but I was determined to not give in. So I didn't. I ended up having some yogurt and edamame when I got home (not at the same time... ew!).

Dinner was good (meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and broccoli, and surprisingly only 548 calories for all of that), but afterwards, I was craving a sweet treat like you could not imagine. And then I remembered this blog. And I thought, I don't want to have to admit to giving in, so I'm not going to do it.

While I fully expect that I will give in one of these days, I can only hope that the choice I end up making will be a decent one.... perhaps sugar-free cookies or cake or something like that. I'm just sayin'.

It gets easier

Calories consumed: 1373

Calories burned: still don't know

Wednesday was easier.

My "no nibbling" rule was easier to deal with yesterday. I guess I just wasn't as hungry during the day. However, towards the end of the day, someone made popcorn, and you could smell it all over the office. I love popcorn, so this was a problem for me. I assumed whoever made it took it to their desk to eat it. Little did I know that they left it in a bowl sitting in the kitchen for anyone to snack on. Thank goodness I didn't go into the kitchen at all prior to the end of the day or I know I would have given in to the nibbles.

I may not have had the smaller portions at dinner that I intended to have. We had leftover tilapia, and I made myself a baked potato. I was pretty stuffed at the end of the meal, which, to me, means I ate a bigger portion than I needed to. But the weird thing was that after dinner, I still had only consumed about 1000 calories for the day. I do know that if you don't eat enough calories in a day, your body will do the opposite of lose weight, and instead, hang on to those calories for dear life because it thinks its going into starvation mode.

So I ended up having that bowl of cereal around 8:30. Although it was frosted shredded wheat, I didn't count this as a sweet. A sweet to me is more about cookies, cake, pie, baked goods. And, I did refrain from the Frosted Flakes that Jack was eating. Those are almost too sweet to really consider them cereal. I made sure I measured the cereal and milk so I knew exactly how much I ate.

My workout consisted of 30 minutes of high-impact aerobics, and then 30 minutes of free weights. I was, again, really tired after this workout. I've been trying to lift heavier weights and push myself, and it's taking a toll on my body. I'm just tired.

Today, Thursday,is going to be rough. It's my day off, and I have a much harder time sticking to a good eating plan. Being at work forces me to have a routine, and I like that. At home, it's hard to have a routine, and I tend to nibble a lot. Stay tuned for how this difficult day goes for me.

How did it go?

Calories consumed: 1350

Calories burned: I don't know; bodybugg hasn't arrived yet

Tuesday was a rough day.

I didn't work out because I had gone to a personal training session late Monday night, and I was pretty tired, and a bit sore, Tuesday morning.

I did stick to my three goals, but it was hard. No nibbling, no sweets, and small portions.

For some reason, I was starving throughout the entire afternoon. I ate good-for-me snacks (almonds, dried apricots, yogurt), but I really, really wanted a piece of cake (thanks to my friend, Bill, who brought in goodies to work). And then upon arrival at home, my mom had thankfully prepared dinner for us (she was home watching the kid that day), so I didn't have to wait long to eat. But that 15 to 20 minute interval from arriving at home until dinner is actually on the table is my worst time of day. I'm usually pretty hungry, and am willing to sabotage any good intentions by just grabbing at the first thing I see.... a cookie, a handful of Sun Chips, Cheez-Its, a cupcake. It's always a carb of some sort that I crave during that period of time. But, alas, I prevailed yesterday and didn't give in.

We had fish, couscous, and mixed vegetables for dinner. It was all very good, but I could have eaten twice as much as I did, but I refrained and stuck to my "small portions" goal. I ended up eating a snack bag of low-fat microwave popcorn around 9:00, but I stuck to a low caloric intake for the day, so I figured this snack was permissible.

One thing I struggle with a lot is the night time snacking. I never used to do this. But Jack does it. And when we're both sitting around watching TV, and he gets up to have a snack, my willpower to stick to my diet is just sucked right out of me. Whatever he's having, I want. A bowl of cereal, a few cookies and milk...you name it, I want it. So last night, he had cereal, which I was dying to have (Honey Bunches of Oats—it's good stuff!), but the popcorn satisfied me enough, thank goodness. If I had started on the cereal, I wouldn't have been able to stop. One bowl would have turned into three.

Overall, I'm calling the day was a success, but I was more hungry than I would like to be. But to consume more food means consuming more calories, unless I'm willing to munch on celery and carrots, which, right now, I'm not. So until tomorrow, happy eating!

Gadgets and gizmos aplenty

When I was a kid, and even in high school, I despised any kind of physical activity. I was grateful to get out of swim class, or to be able to walk the track during gym instead of playing flag football. However, I don't know what happened, but after I started college, I became interested in exercising. I remember doing some workouts at home from TV shows—Bodies in Motion with Gilad Janklewicz (or however you spell his name, and can you believe, I think he's STILL making these shows?!?), and then there was another one called Boot Camp or something that his sister hosted. I did them both, plus some Denise Austin shows.

Then, my friend Kim and I joined the local gym called Living Well Fitness Center. I remember struggling on the stationary bikes to go for even 10 minutes. I also remember taking my first aerobics class there, as well as learning how to use the weight machines. But then they went out of business, and I went back to working out in my home. I had a Kathy Smith VHS tape from eons ago. I wish I could find that now. I remember those outfits and crazy 80s hair! And then came the step, and more Kathy Smith tapes, and then DVDs. I joined another gym for a while when Jack and I lived in Westview. It was 5 minutes from our house, and I would get up early in the morning and go before work. But then we moved to Whitehall, and I was back to doing DVDs in the basement.

Several years ago, I remember my Aunt Bev talking to me about how she and Uncle Bob started walking every day, and that they were able to lose weight doing this. I decided to give it a try, and so now, in addition to DVDs that I use, I also try to get out (weather permitting) at least three times a week and go for a 30 minute walk/jog.

These days, my workout routines consist of DVDs from Kathy Smith, The Firm, and Chalene Johnson (Turbo Jam), as well as the walk/jog, and always a 10 minute ab routine. I've also been doing Zumba once a week since September. This is a Latin dance style aerobics class, and it's a lot of fun, and a pretty good workout, too. I try to work out 6 days a week, but sometimes it ends up being only 5. Last year, I worked out 75% of the days of the year. Yes, I'm insane and I track this on a calendar in my basement. Recently, I started attending personal training sessions with my Zumba instructor. I do it along with two to three other women from Zumba. It's fun, and she pushes me in ways I would never push myself at home.

So what's the new gizmo, you're asking? It's called a bodybugg. It's like an armband that has sensors in it; these sensors detect different things going on in your body (and it's a pedometer, too) to determine how many calories you are burning as the day goes on. There's a little wristband receiver that looks like a watch that the armband talks to. The receiver is what shows you how much you've burned. If you're like me and are tracking what you eat, you'll easily be able to monitor whether you're intake is more than you're burning. After tracking my food for so long on and off, I tend to have a sense of how many calories I'm eating throughout the day, so even if I weren't keeping a food diary, I think knowing how much I'm burning would be useful data.

Well, look at me go. My first day of blogging and I've already posted twice. I must have had a lot to say. I plan to post once more for the day, to document how the day went for me in terms of my diet and exercise. But maybe I'll be too tired. Time will tell.

New beginnings - cliche, but true

I never thought I would be a blogger until today. Today, I read an email from a very smart man whom I admire greatly. It was an excerpt from the Wall Street Journal—a story about how to keep New Year's resolutions. One of the suggestions from a successful resolution-keeper was to blog about your journey. It will keep you motivated and accountable. I liked this idea, so here I am.

You might be wondering why I called the blog "My Wagon Ride." Well, for most of my adult life, I have been dissatisfied with my body. I always felt like I was a little overweight, and that I could stand to lose 10 pounds. I have been on and off of various diets and eating plans since I was in my 20s. The first was called something like "Dr. Abravanel's Body Type Diet." This classified you as different gland types (I think I was a gonadal), and then provided you with diets that supported your body type. I got on the wagon and lost a few pounds. Then I fell off the wagon, and gained a few. Next up was Weight Watchers. Got on the wagon again, lost a few, fell off again. I tried Weight Watchers again a few years later with the same results. In between all of that, I tried a personal trainer who advised me on my diet, I saw a nutritionist once, tried the South Beach Diet, a Kathy Smith diet plan "Feed Muscle, Shrink Fat", vegetarianism, and again went back to Weight Watchers in the summer of 2008. I lost 15 pounds! But yet again, I fell off that wagon once more, and gained about 8 of it back.

But this is a new year and I'm back on that wagon. And this is the adventure of my wagon ride.

My weight loss goal is to lose those 8 pounds, and then a few more, to get down to around 125 pounds. At the end of summer 2008, I was finally happy with the way my body looked, the way I felt, the way my face looked, the way my clothes fit me. It was surreal, as I couldn't remember the last time I felt that way about myself. It was invigorating. I want to feel that way again.

To start off, my goals are simple.

1. Stop nibbling. I nibble a lot. While packing lunches, I eat some chips, or the crust off of a sandwich. While making dinner, I eat a handful of this or a handful of that. I read something recently that said don't eat it if you don't plate it. I like this concept.

2. Limit sweets as much as possible. I like sugar. I really, really do. And I love to bake, moreso for others, but I get enjoyment out of it, too. A nibble of cookie dough here and there... you all do it, you know you do! And by the time the cookies are done, I've already had 5 raw cookies, yet I go in for more. And I can't stop at one cookie. I need more. I eat one, and then want another, and then another. But if I don't eat the sweets to begin with, I don't need to keep feeding the sugar craving. So I'm going to try to not eat sweets.

3. Eat smaller portions. My breakfast and lunches are pretty reasonable in size, but I think I overdo it at dinner. I need to let my stomach digest before I go in for seconds, because most times, I bet I don't "need" it, but moreso just "want" it. I have to learn to say no to the part of me that wants it and listen to the part that needs it.

So those are my diet goals for now. I'm hoping that I can lose weight by following these guidelines. I'm also keeping a food diary and hope that I can keep up with that. I read over and over that successful weight loss happens more often when you track everything you eat.

In my next entry, I'll tell you about my exercise habits these days, and what they've been throughout my life, and I'll tell you about the new gizmo I bought that I'm anxiously waiting to arrive in the mail.