Week Two, Level Zero

Wow, posting another week - that's amazing for me to stick with it!  And the points are:

1. attend Zumba class every Monday morning (5 points)

Zero
  1a. other Zumba classes during the week are bonus points (5 each class)

Zero
2. bring a healthy lunch to work every day instead of fast food (5 points, one for each day)

FIVE!!
  2a. minus one point for each fast food outing

Minus one for Dairy Queen with the kids
3. take my vitamins every morning (7 points, one for each day)

Six! :)
  3a. bonus points for remembering the evening ones too (additional point for each met)

None
4. Start body weight exercises. A quick 15 minutes every other morning. (Five points per workout)

Zero :(
5. Continue my weekend hikes outdoors, at least one per week (5 points per hike)

Zero :( 
6. Blog a recap each week ( 1 point)

One :)
Total possible points = 60 

Eleven points this week, not too bad. Progress is progress right? I think I should get some bonus points for no soda and drinking lots of water. But I didn't put that in my goals to add that up... no cheating on points. 

Now that I've established my goals and points for meeting each goal my next question is - when do I level up? Should I have leveled up because I met goal #2? I certainly gained experience points. How many experience points equals a level? Sixty points seems like a level to me. I can earn that cumulatively over time or completing all goals for the week to level up quickly. 

Total points so far = 13.5

Level Zero

Calculating points from last week -
1. attend Zumba class every Monday morning (5 points)
Zero
  1a. other Zumba classes during the week are bonus points (5 each class)
Zero
2. bring a healthy lunch every day for work instead of fast food (5 points, one for each day)
Three
  2a. bonus points for NO fast food all week (minus one point for each outing)
Minus two
3. take my vitamins every morning (7 points, one for each day)
Two
  3a. bonus points for remembering the evening ones too (additional point for each met)
Zero
4. Start body weight exercises. A quick 15 minutes every other morning. (Five points per workout)
Zero
5. Continue my weekend hikes outdoors, at least one per week (5 points per hike)
Half point - I did do a mile walk, not hike... does that count?
6. Blog a recap each week ( 1 point)
One
Total possible points = 60
Total points for last week = 2.5

Learning the game is hard. As Nerd Fitness points out - even the video game does side quests and learning bouts to help you with skill. At this stage of the game the point is to keep learning and not give up. It will get fun. While I learn how to level up on life making the best choices will get easier because I will be getting healthier.

Learn, evaluate, try again.

Leveling up on life

I read Nerd Fitness a lot. I love the website and all the tips and motivation he gives. On Monday there is a new six week challenge starting geared towards leveling up your life. What is my big six week goal? After that is identified then I'll need to set my mini-goals (or quests) that will help me achieve it.

For me, blogging consistently to obtain my goals is hard, meeting my mini-goals is harder but I'm finding that setting the 6 week goal is hardest. Of course I want to lose weight, to focus on clean eating, to stick within my budget - which of these should I tackle for my first 6 week challenge? Of course eating clean can be a mini goal that leads me towards weight loss. My other conundrum is self sabotage.  I'm notorious for throwing in the towel after a bad day. My mini-goals have to be pointing me in the direction I want to go without being overwhelming.

My first thoughts are to automatically go to the 10 pound weight loss goal with mini-goals of exercising three times a week, eating right and blogging regularly to let out my feelings. My pessimistic side says, why go there? I've failed at all that before, what is different this time?

What I do know about myself, consistency and habit are key. Why do I eat lunch at noon - I'm not necessarily hungry everyday at noon. Especially considering my varied work hours. But I do it because it's a habit to look at the clock and feel it's time to take a break. I've always known that if I can make working out in the morning a habit then it will stick and the weight will come off. But I'm already in the habit of hitting snooze. A lot and repeatedly. I know I can break that pattern after I establish other goals that make me less tired (the age old paradox of exercise= energy). Which brings me to my mini-goals.

My mini-goals will be:
1. attend Zumba class every Monday morning (5 points)
  1a. other Zumba classes during the week are bonus points (5 each class)
2. bring a healthy lunch every day instead of fast food (5 points, one for each day)
  2a. bonus points for NO fast food all week (minus one point for each outing)
3. take my vitamins every morning (7 points, one for each day)
  3a. bonus points for remembering the evening ones too (additional point for each met)
4. Start body weight exercises. A quick 15 minutes every other morning. (Five points per workout)
5. Continue my weekend hikes outdoors, at least one per week (5 points per hike)
6. Blog a recap each week ( 1 point)
Total possible points = 60

If we add up all my mini-goals, what is the resulting 6 Week Challenge Goal? The obvious answer is weight loss. But what I'm really looking for is Consistency!

My real goal is The Habit of Healthy Choices

Just as insane as before

Back at it again. I'm not sure what threw me off the wagon before or what prompted me back but here I am. I can't consistently do low carb/Atkins. I've discovered that working out at home isn't motivating enough. I cheat, only do half or don't do it at all. I hate just going to the gym to do treadmill. Sure, I walk for 30 minutes but then get bored and I never push myself. I always think I'm going fast enough but really I'm just doing enough to feel like I did something. Which I suppose is better than nothing, but not really helping me either.

Since it's been such a warm spring I started walking to Subway for lunch. I'm choosing healthier subs and leaving the Wendy's chicken nuggets & french fries behind. An added benefit is that it's 2 miles round trip and I've got to hustle to make sure I get back before my lunch break is over.

I've discovered Zumba classes. I'm a dancer at heart so this is really right up my alley. It meets Mondays & Wednesdays. I sweat. I'm breathing hard. I'm sore afterwards. I'm having a blast. I started May 1st but I've only been to 4 classes because we spent a long weekend in Chicago. That was a lot of walking so it helped me to stay focused while on vacation.

Yesterday I had a conversation with a potential personal trainer at the gym. We talked about meeting once a week & I'd like him to design a program that I can either do at the gym or during my nights at home with the kids. He was excited about designing such a program. We meet for the first time next week. I'm excited about it too. While I'm not the best at being motivated to do at home exercise I think it'll be easier to accomplish knowing that it's a supplement to my activities, not the core. Less self pressure.

Slim-Fast has also re-entered my life. I use it as my breakfast and it's been working great. I have Subway about 3 days a week, sometimes 4, and the other days I either bring a healthy lunch from home or have a Lean Cuisine Chicken Panini with an apple. For dinner I just try to focus on natural & organic items. I also log on SparkPeople so I know when I'm going over the edge.

I did my official restart weigh-in on May 1st. Not pretty. I had gained a lot so I was the highest I've ever been, even on the day I went to the hospital to give birth. Sad sad sad. But I am pleased to report that I'm already down 7 pounds. The first 3 came right during my period so I'm pretty sure it can't be all water weight.

So looking back at all the items I've just blogged about I realize that these are all the ingredients I used to get in the best shape of my life while living in Denver. I've tried a lot of different programs, tricks and foods. Perhaps I had the best formula in front of me the entire time I was just too dense to realize it.

Insane

Insanity is doing the same thing over & over again but expecting different results. THIS is driving me insane.... or perhaps I already am. I just cannot seem to stay on track. Why do I cave? I don't like doing it, I feel like complete crap afterwards and ruin my healthy streak. It's so not worth it yet it keeps happening. What the hell happened to my willpower? Ya know, I really don't expect to be perfect. Nobody is, but man do I fail in style. I know slipping up wouldn't be so bad if I were exercising too. I've got to find a way to work that into my day. I wake up at 5am to catch my 6am bus. There are no gyms near my work and it's a damn scary area to be walking outside. Three days a week when I get home I feed the kids a quick snack before taking them to gymnastics. When we get home it's homework time & then bedtime. By the time that is all finished it's 9pm and I haven't had any time to myself. I really want to get to bed by 10pm since my day starts so early.

Thankfully I have great communication with my dear husband so he is going to take over some of the gymnastic evenings. Therefore I'd get to spend extra time at home hopefully opening up some time to workout. Hopefully a body in motion will make the falling off the wagon part less of a blow.

Must

Keep

Working

My trend

It occurred to me this weekend that I have a monthly weight loss trend. And that it would greatly benefit me to break the cycle. It's roughly a 4 week cycle... gee I wonder why ;) Anyway, it goes as follows -

Week 1 I do OK maybe shed a pound, I'm really working hard at getting on track.

Week 2 Is really great. I'm down probably 2 or 3 pounds.

Week 3 I am getting PMS-y and crave everything under the sun the week before my period. Gain some.

Week 4 I'm bloating, retain water, gain or retain weight. Things get better the day AF arrives.

Start over.

Week 1 I struggle to regain composure and have to fight to lose the weight I've just gained.

Week 2 I manage to sneak down on the scale.

Week 3 ... you get the idea

So far I've managed to lose enough during weeks 1&2 that I'm slowly working my way down the scale at the average of one pound a week. This is week 9 or so on the Atkins diet and I am indeed down a total of 9 pounds from my starting weight at that time. (16 pounds down from my highest) For most people on the Atkins plan the weight just flies off. I think I would have better results if I could just contain myself during weeks 3&4.

Today marks the beginning of week 3 for me. And I can tell. I just need to EAT. Chocolate would be fantastic. A Hershey bar followed by a vanilla shake sounds just perfect for breakfast. Well, now that I've typed it out it's not so hot. I need to hold onto control. I need to keep my ultimate goals in mind. As Lance Armstrong puts it - LIVE STRONG

A week

I can't believe it's been a whole week already since I last posted. It's just flown by. Although there is not much to report. I still am not putting together eating healthy with exercise on the same day. That's getting a little old. However I'm finding it hard to workout at all so I guess staying on plan is a good thing to be concentrating on. My oldest daughter has gymnastics twice a week and rock climbs with daddy another night. Then my youngest daughter has gymnastics on a different night. There is a lot of running around in my life now. Finding time to workout is difficult. I had wanted to go walking while gymnastics was going on, but I'm in the middle of a project. I find those nights of waiting around perfect time to focus on this project. Perhaps I could convince myself to split the time between walking & working. That would be the smart thing to do.

Even without exercise the scale is moving in the direction I want it to go. That's a huge bonus. I'm actually looking forward to my weigh-in for 3FC's Biggest Loser. And I think I'll be making my September goal weight as well. GO ME!

NSV

Non-Scale Victory. Such lovely words. After taking my photo yesterday I thought I should do some measuring. These results are comparative to last month's measurements, not overall. My chest was the same, but I've lost two inches around my bra line. My ribs are there! I'm down an inch around my belly button however I'm still the same around the big bulk of my belly below my belly button. I guess my melting from the top downward theory is correct. My hips are down a half inch. My upper thigh is down TWO inches!! My knees and calves are down half an inch each. Oh, and my upper arms are down an inch as well.

I'm almost to the point of needing new bras. The cups are fine however I'm on the inner most clasp and it's still a little loose. I could zip up my knee high boots this morning with ease. In the past I've had to stuff some fat into them & hold the zipper tight to get them closed. The shirt I'm wearing today used to be tight in the sleeves but now it looks like a normal shirt should. I've previously only worn this shirt with a covering sweater to hide my arms and upper back rolls. Today I'm confident without the cover. I'm sure it doesn't look stunning, but it's a huge accomplishment for me to not wear layers to hide behind.

Melting is not so pretty

I seem to be melting downward. It's not so pretty. While I am grateful that stuff is happening... well, why can't it look nice while it happens?? I love that I'm nice & slim on my upper waist (makes my boobs look bigger) but it's super ugly now that it's pronouncing my belly. I look more pregnant now that I'm loosing weight that I did at my heaviest. That's just sad. I've also figured out that I'm losing on the sides - so I'm not as wide however my belly sticks out more.

I've joined in the Biggest Loser at 3FC. I'm really excited about this, it's great motivation as I don't want to let my team down. I can't seem to eat right AND exercise on any given day. Hopefully the Biggest Loser will remind me to be vigilant at every turn.

Goals and rewards

They've never worked for me in the past. For two reasons, first because usually the only rewards I can think of are food oriented. Like try a restaurant I've been eyeing or indulging in a treat day... which is horrible itself because that causes me to over-do it. The other reason rewards don't work for me is because, well, I am an impatient bastard. I think of something non food related and I can't wait. Once that thought is in my mind I can't think of much else until gratification.

So as I've been mulling over goals, rewards, binging, staying on plan, exercise, etc., it occurs to me that my overall problem, the thing that relates to all these topics is my need for instant gratification. I tend to not reach my weight loss goals because it doesn't happen fast enough. And of course binging / going off plan is the epitome of instant gratification. Therefore I think it's time to make some short term goals and rewards that are do-able and good practise in delayed gratification. They are:

1. Well, I don't have a reward for my first goal, but I'm already striving for it so it remains Goal #1 - to reach 10 hours of exercise by Labor Day.
2. To shed 5 pounds by Sept 25th. I've been thinking about getting my eyebrow pierced. If I reach this goal an eyebrow piercing will be a gift I give myself for my birthday in October.
3. To lose another 5 pounds (10 pounds total) by my birthday, October 25th. I desire (oh gosh this is personal to be typing!) a Brazilian wax.
4. My last short-to-mid-term goal is to go through my Wii Active 30 Day Challenge TWICE! Now I'm doing the medium setting and next I'll do the hard setting. This will put me into November which is perfect for my next reward - my sister-in-law will have completed P90X and ready to pass it on to me. I've been eyeing P90X for a very long time. If I can accomplish Goals 1-4 I think I'll be ready to start P90X without dying.

These goals seem great to me, and very attainable. They take me through the autumn and when I've completed them I'll be ready to set some great new goals and rewards for the Holiday season. For the first time I'm actually excited about having short term goals instead of just focusing on the huge picture.