Tag Archives | plan

What’s Your Strategy? And a Weekly Update

By on October 12, 2010 in hcg, plan, planning, R2P2, weight

Morning, friends!  I hope you’re all enjoying this fine Tuesday – how was your weekend?  Mine was good – a mix of busy and relaxing without much formal planned, which is something I need more often!  I cooked, read, watched a bit of TV, played a game with my husband, and worked.

Have you entered yesterday’s contest yet?  Please help Betsy and I think of an awesome name for her regular guest feature on the blog!  If your suggestion is the name we pick, you’ll win a $20 gift certificate to REI!  If that’s not enough awesomesauce for you to check out yesterday’s post, it also includes an introduction to Betsy, so head on over there and check it out.  Scoot!

This last week has been a tough one for me weigh-loss wise!  I hit a 6-day stall, which is the longest I’ve ever experienced while on HCG.  With some help from Betsy and Mother Nature (TMI details to follow), I finally broke that stall yesterday and weighed in today at 195.8.  And do you know what I just realized (after I drafted this post & had to come back and revise it to say this)?!?  This means that since I was at my highest weight, I have now lost just over 100 pounds.  Holy crapballs!

However, prior to today’s weigh-in, I was stuck at 199ish for 6 days, and here’s the story:

Last round I did the HCG Protocol, I ate ground beef without experiencing any stalls in my weight loss.  I’ve read that many people have difficulty losing while eating ground beef (leanest, BTW, in case you’re wondering), but I didn’t.  As I am learning with other things, Round 2 is not the same as Round 1 for me.  My body has changed, and so my approach to the Protocol needs to adjust accordingly!  I eliminated ground beef and immediately saw a small drop the next day.  Thanks to Betsy, who suggested I look closely at what I was eating as the possible source of my stall, I realized that this time around, my body doesn’t love ground beef + losing weight on HCG.  Go figure.

Mother Nature also played a part in my stall, as my period (here’s the TMI part) arrived earlier than expected, too.  Again, I saw a drop after that happened.  During Round 1 my cycle wasn’t affected at all, really, by the HCG.  This time around, it is – it started 1.5 weeks early after my first injection, and it showed up close to a week early this time, too.  Not a big deal, but differences in my body from Round 1 to Round 2.

The lesson I’m learning is that as we lose weight, age, and/or just change over time, so our weight loss and fitness strategies need to change, too!  You hear over and over again that it gets harder to lose weight as you age.  Well I’m hear to tell you that weight loss and healthy living have to look different based on a large number of factors, of which age is only one!  Are you mostly sedentary at work?  Do you chase kids around all day long and haul them around half the day?  Are you hungrier the day after a long run?  Do you struggle to get your workouts in during the darker, colder winter months?  All of these factors and many more can affect what your healthy living strategy should look like at any given time.

So my advice to you today is this: how long have you been working the same plan?  Is it still working for you?  If not, consider changing up the plan after a close evaluation of what your life looks like and how your fitness/health needs might have changed.

Then come back here and tell me about it.  I wanna know!

Finally, some numbers for you:

Round One Lowest Injection Weight: 217
Round Two Starting Weight: 220.4
Round Two Post-Loading Weight: 223.6
R2P2D27 (today) Weight: 197

Comments { 6 }

Sharing the Love

By on June 4, 2010 in blogging, plan, weekend

Y’all, it’s a crazy busy Friday right before a crazy busy weekend.  Heads-up – I won’t be posting over the weekend, as I’ll be out of town for a wedding.

Here’s my game plan to stay on track this weekend:

  1. Pack my running shoes & workout clothes; run or hit up the hotel gym both days.
  2. Pack healthy snacks to keep my eats clean;
  3. Choose to forego the cocktails and nummies at the wedding in favor of a light and healthy dinner.

I could choose to indulge this weekend, or even eat a few things in moderation and be just fine.  But you know what?  I’m done dickin’ around (sorry for the language!).  As the lovely Mrs. Fatass pointed out in her post today, I’ve been maintaining my weight for far too long now.  I’m loving the progress I’ve made and I’m excited for how I’ve grown.  Now it’s time for me to get back to shrinking.

So this weekend out of town and celebrating is going to be all about love and family and good times and being together.  It’s not going to be about eating and chocolate and wedding cake and drinking.  And you know what?  I’m totally okay with that!

Sharing the Love

So I realized today how pathetically short and … inadequate my blogroll is!  That’s where you come in.  I’d love to hear from you all about what blogs I need to add to that terribly outdated and puny list.  Want your blog to go on there?  Tell me.  Got a recommendation for a blog I and all 7 of my readers and my wonderful readers should be reading?  Hit me up in the comments, please.  I’m going to share the love by updating my blogroll, and I need you to share the love here so I know who to share the love with!  (I just confused myself with that last sentence but you know what?  It’s Friday.  Sue me.)

Have a wonderful, healthy weekend.  See ya back here Monday, peeps.

Comments { 14 }

Renewed Determination

By on April 8, 2010 in Uncategorized

Y’all, I am so tired of hearing myself whine about how I’m struggling.  How this is hard.  How I can’t get it together.

I’m calling bullshit on my own damned self.

The truth is, that this is hard is not a revelation.  It’s not new information, and I am not the only person for whom this is difficult.  This is an uphill climb for all of us, in one way or another.

So the question for me is, am I going to get off my bike, throw a tantrum, and end up rolling back down the hill?  Or am I going to keep battling until I get to the top?

I think you know the answer to that question, but for the sake of saying it out loud and because words have power:

I am not giving up.
I am not giving in.
I am done making excuses.
I am determined and committed that making healthy choices can be my everyday way of life.

Sometimes I feel like I’m hanging off a cliff, and my next choice can send me plummeting down to the ground.  Kinda like this:

(I’m not really a fan of the quote, but you get the idea.)  The reality, though, is more like climbing up hill.  Every mistake is just a mistake; a stumble might set me back a few paces, a fall might mean I roll downhill a bit.  But no one choice can “reset” this journey and put me back at the starting line.  Only I can do that, and it would require a long series of bad choices, of days where I just don’t care.

And I’ll be honest; I’ve been having a lot of those lately.  And no, of course it’s not that I really don’t care; it’s just that it all feels like too much sometimes.  I’d like to have days where it’s not such hard work.  But you know what?  Life isn’t always easy, and most easy things aren’t worth much.  The hard things?  They’re worth working for.  So I’m done whining and complaining.  I’m done taking the easy road because it doesn’t go anywhere I want to be.

It’s a cliche, this whole idea that even the longest journey begins with a step.  But it’s a cliche for a reason.  And every day, every step, we have the opportunity to reaffirm our choice of destination.  Every time we stray off the path, our next step is a chance to readjust and point ourselves back in the right direction.  So that’s what I’m doing today.  I’m drawing a line in the sand and saying enough is enough.

Today’s Plan:

  • Plan and track food (done)
  • Stick to the plan
  • Do my planned workout (Zumba)
  • Get to bed early and kick this cold
  • No sugar, especially not the chocolate chip cookies with three different kinds of chocolate chips in them that are in the office calling my name tempting me but are not worth the calories.

21-Day Challenge Update

I started strong, friends, but this cold sidelined me!  So tomorrow I will be restarting and committing to 21 days of getting up on the schedule I set for myself.  Don’t worry – our “official” challenge here won’t reset; we’ll still have reports and a prize on April 22 so y’all can toot your horns and tell me how good you did.  And/or share your challenges, ask for help, etc.  That’s what we’re all about.

Comments { 4 }

Coming up for Air

By on March 31, 2010 in Uncategorized

I can’t believe how busy my life is.  Caveat – if you have kids, just ignore all of this.  Every time I think my life can’t get busier, it does.  I can’t even imagine how this would feel if I had little ones!

Work

We are converting to a new practice management software at work.  In the long run, the software will increase our efficiency and save us money.  In the short term, it’s a nightmare.  Everyone is required to sit through the training, which was supposed to be 3 hours per day, 2 days this week.  Instead, it’s been 6 hours both days, and there will likely be a third.  I’m frustrated for a number of reasons:

  1. I’ve used this software before, and 80% of the training is stuff I already know.  It’s annoying and inefficient to have to sit through all of that just to pick up a few nuggets of information that are new to me!
  2. One colleague is perpetually suspicious of and, quite frankly, inept with technology.  This individual asks the same questions over…and over…and over again.  Turning a 3 hour session into a 6 hour session.  Someone stab me please?  In the eye?  With a pencil???
  3. In the normal course of my work day, I get up at least twice per hour to go to the bathroom, fill my water bottle, or just move around.  Sitting for 3 hours straight without a break KILLS my back and my calorie burn.
  4. I’m working 10-12 hour days AT MY DAY JOB.
  5. I’m going to have to work 60 hours this week to bill 30 and that just pisses me off.

Sleep/Getting up Early

I’m doing a bit better here, but getting up at 6am has been harder the last couple days.  Today I turned off my alarm and slept in until 6:50!  I felt guilty and groggy and annoyed with myself, so I’m going to get to bed earlier tonight than I have been.  I’m aiming for 9:30 in bed, 10pm lights out.  And tomorrow I’m setting a second alarm across the room again!  I want to be prepared for the 21-day challenge that starts tomorrow!  Are you joining me in that challenge?

Workouts

My workouts are okay but not 100%.  Actually, I take that back.  The workouts I’ve done have been balls-to-the-wall and 110% effort. Last night we were watching The Biggest Loser and my husband asked me if I thought I’d be a big cry-er if I went on the show.  I didn’t know the answer to that, but I do know that if I were on that show, I would leave everything out there when it came to my workouts.  And working out on my own should be no different.

The less-than-stellar part of this report is that I haven’t fit in all of my workouts.  Sunday I opted for a much-needed day of rest with my husband instead of doing my long run.  No problem; I planned to do my long run on Monday, which is scheduled as an active rest/rest day.  Instead of taking my early-afternoon break after the training session as planned, I ended up in training all day and at work from 6:30 a.m. until 7:30 p.m.  When I left, I went to the grocery store, shopped, came home and cooked 3 meals to keep on hand, and went to bed.  So, no long run in my first week of 10K training.

I did have a kick-a$$ workout yesterday morning!  I did 40 minutes of strength training circuits and then knocked out a 2 mile tempo run.  That was hard and I was sweating like nobody’s bidness, but it felt great.  That kind of effort on a regular basis is what will get me where I want to go.  So, no perfection here, but if you were expecting that, you need to put down that [insert hallucinogenic substance here] and step away…

Food

This continues to be my biggest struggle.  Sweets have snuck back into my diet, so today I’m bringing down the hammer and going sugar-free.  Mostly, anyways – I am having an almond butter and low-sugar jelly sandwich later!  But no chocolate, no candy, no sweet-sweets, if you know what I mean jelly bean.  No!  No jelly beans, either!  Last night I left work at 8pm, which meant I was the last one here.  I put the candy bowl inside a drawer, so it won’t tempt me today.  Someone will inevitably pull it out again later, but I figure every little advantage helps, right?

So.

There you have it.  Life in all its normal busy crazy full challenging stressful beautiful mess.  That’s what I’m dealing with now – how about you?  What’s going on in your world?  Challenges, victories?  Do tell.  I need to get out of my own head, friends.  :)

Comments { 4 }

Bloggy Beck Book Club – Week #2

By on March 4, 2010 in Uncategorized

Last week we talked about the homework Beck gives her readers in The Complete Beck Diet for Life.  We talked about how it felt like a lot of work, but also about how we could see the sense in the tasks Beck gave her readers.

This week, I’d like to make the discussion more about you.  What was your favorite part of the homework?  Least favorite part of it?

As a refresher, some of the homework tasks included the following:

  • Making an advantages deck (a list of reasons why you want to lose weight);
  • Making response cards (a list of responses you can use when you are tempted to go off the deep end);
  • Making a distractions list (or box) – things you can do to distract yourself from the temptation to eat off-plan.

If you don’t mind, would you share your three favorites of each of those things?  Here’s my thought: there is strength in numbers.  And, as I posted earlier, there is power in words.  If we can all contribute to this post today, it will become a resource for us all – and maybe for others in the future.  We can refer back to it when we need the reminder.  I might serve as our “mobile” cards or be a great substitute when we’re in a pinch without our cards.  The point is, two (or four, or twenty) are better than one.

So your homework for this week?  Here it is:

  • Review the cards you made for yourself on a daily basis.  This is practice for Stage I, which we’ll get into next week over at Scale Warfare’s blog.
  • Post your three favorite Advantages, Responses, and Distractions.
  • Share with us any challenges (or victories) you had with, or as a result of, the homework in pages 1-49 of the book.

Jump on in!  I’ll post my favorites in the comments with everyone else.

Comments { 11 }