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Thursday, January 29, 2009

MFD entry 30

This post was copied from an entry on My Food Diary (MFD) during my pre-blogging days. Back then, I used the forums on MFD as my daily 'blog'. Just wanted to get my entire journey in one place.
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January 29, 2009
I've been good but busy again. As you can see, today is my bday... turning the big 2-6! It's actually not so bad since I started to become healthier, I really didn't feel like another year has come and gone. Exercising and eating right has made me feel like I've got more to live for... I LOVE IT!!

The other day I was at work, posting to another thread about my upcoming 13K in February. As I was writing about it, I actually started to tear up a little bit because I couldn't believe that I actually signed up for one. I've been training on and off for it and I know I'll do okay in it, but if you asked me to run one block 5 months ago, I would have been heaving for breath and I'm sure my muscles would have been sore for days. Last night I went running for an hour straight (with some minute stops at traffic lights) and I felt awesome after! I just never really thought about what an accomplishment it will be to finish the race and I didn't realize how far I've come in 4 months. It's all the more reason to keep on going in the right direction!

Friday, January 23, 2009

MFD entry 29

This post was copied from an entry on My Food Diary (MFD) during my pre-blogging days. Back then, I used the forums on MFD as my daily 'blog'. Just wanted to get my entire journey in one place.
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January 23, 2009
So going with the idea that Jayhawk suggested, I'm posting some of my charts. This first chart is actually not from MFD, but it shows how on track I am for meeting my short term goals. Right now, my goal was set from January 1 - February 16 because Feb. 16 is the date of my 13K. Still on track! :)

Start weight on 01/01/09: 157.8
Goal weight on 02/16/09: 150.0


And now my weight-chart. Coming in at 152.8 today! Still on track and happy as ever...


TOTAL LOST: 23.6

And I am officially out of the "Obese" BMI category!!! I've always been heavy for my size even when I was at a healthy 120, but to be categorized as obese was really hard for me. Well when I started MFD, my BMI was 34.45. After today's weigh-in, it's down to 29.84. Barely made it in the "Overweight" category, but I'm there!

Who would have thought that I'd be happy to be considered "Overweight"?! :)

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

MFD entry 28

This post was copied from an entry on My Food Diary (MFD) during my pre-blogging days. Back then, I used the forums on MFD as my daily 'blog'. Just wanted to get my entire journey in one place.
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January 21, 2009
So I just discovered something:

I am a HUGE ice cream fan but have really limited myself since starting MFD. Well my boyfriend and I just starting buying a box of 8 vanilla cones (the ones with the caramel centers... yum!) twice a month again. Well every single time we bought the box, I would throw away the box before I had a chance to enter the nutritional information into MFD. So when I log a cone in at night, I would just pick another one that MFD already had listed. I normally don't do this at all and I always input the nutritional facts in if it's not in MFD already, but I figured it was better than not logging anything.

Well we just went to the store yesterday to do some grocery shopping and as soon as I picked up the box, I read the label. Well what do you... they are DOUBLE the amount of calories I had been logging!!! :( I was picking an ice cream that was entered in MFD as 150 calories, but the actual cones were 310 calories!!! I didn't think there would be that much of a difference.

I learned my lesson! I just wonder where I'd be now, weight wise, had it not been for all the cones I've eaten since starting.

Oh well, live and learn... :)

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

MFD entry 27

This post was copied from an entry on My Food Diary (MFD) during my pre-blogging days. Back then, I used the forums on MFD as my daily 'blog'. Just wanted to get my entire journey in one place.
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January 20, 2009
I'm here!!! I'm here!!

Had an absolutely FABULOUS 4-day weekend (a potential wind-storm shut down all the state and county offices so I didn't have work on Friday:))!!! And I'm totally not here sulking about my previous post about my weight. So there wasn't any wind storm and the weather has been the most beautiful it has been since summer, so I was out and about all day every day this weekend, which is why I hardly logged on. Friday was a little overcast but my boyfriend and I still headed out to do a relatively short and easy hike then we went shopping for the rest of the day! Had a nice lunch out and didn't worry too much about what I was eating... just enjoyed it. Saturday we got up really early, before the sun was out, and headed to our local farmers market, bought some breakfast, and headed straight over to another mountain to do a hike. It was still relatively short and simple. We headed home, picked up my dog, and we went to the beach for the rest of the day. That night I had dinner with my parents and my brother so that was really nice. Last time I saw them all was around the holidays so had some catching up to do. Sunday I headed over to my parents house to help them clean up the entire house, and later in the afternoon I went walking with my mom. We covered about 5 miles and it was a real nice change of pace then my normal lung-busting cardio workouts. Yesterday my boyfriend and I went on another hike, much more strenuous this time, but after we had brunch and saw a movie with some friends.

But anyway, that's the short version.

:)
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My weight as of yesterday morning: 154.8!

That's down 21.6 pounds since I started MFD back in September. I know everyone says how easy it is to put on the weight, but if you think about it, we can actually lose weight faster than the average puts on weight. I mean it took me about 7 years to get to 175+ pounds, but it's been only 4 months for me to bring it back down to the 150's. 140's, watch out!

Thursday, January 15, 2009

MFD entry 26

This post was copied from an entry on My Food Diary (MFD) during my pre-blogging days. Back then, I used the forums on MFD as my daily 'blog'. Just wanted to get my entire journey in one place.
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January 15, 2009
So this week I've been in a slump... eating and exercising as normal, but I've slowly been gaining since my last posted weigh-in of 156. Last week Friday I was at 156.2, then this past Monday I was at 156.8. Yesterday morning I was at 157.8! This weight-loss journey is such a mind-game. I know, I know... I come here and vent when the number on the scale isn't moving (or it's moving in the wrong direction!), but it does get frustrating. I can't blame TOM this time, and I don't know what it could be. And I know, I know... it's only been one week that the scale hasn't been nice, but still.

Anyway, moving on. Even though my shin splints haven't been back (knock on wood), the other weekend my boyfriend fell and injured his leg on one of our hikes so we haven't been able to get in any more runs. I'm getting a little nervous because my 13K is in 5 weeks and so far I've only trained about 3 or 4 times! I think my cardio is up to par for the run, I just don't know how the rest of my body will handle it. My boyfriend thinks he can start running again this weekend, but if he can't, I need to figure something out! I only have time to go running when it's dark at night, so I don't feel comfortable running alone in my neighborhood. This is not an excuse to not go running, our neighborhood is scary at night! Well just wait and see if we make it out this weekend.

Anyway, other than that everything has been the same. I've made it to the beach a couple of times last week because our weather here is so great and because I feel so good having lost almost 20 pounds. Granted I'm still big, but losing weight does do something for the self-confidence. I love it!

Friday, January 9, 2009

MFD entry 25

This post was copied from an entry on My Food Diary (MFD) during my pre-blogging days. Back then, I used the forums on MFD as my daily 'blog'. Just wanted to get my entire journey in one place.
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January 9, 2009
So I'm here to vent a little.

Someone in my secured condo STOLE MY BRAND NEW SHOES!!! :( It was my Christmas present from my parents and I've only worn them about two times because I was slowly breaking them in. They were great! They had arch supports perfect for my feet, too. I felt so sick when I discovered it today. Someone just walked up to my condo and stole them. I guess it's my fault for leaving shoes outside (as we all do in Hawaii), but come on!

It's a good thing I kept my old ones around so I can still exercise outside, but now I gotta shell out $120+ for a new pair. My parents offered to buy me another pair, but I can't let them spend that type of money on me.

Some people are unbelievable!

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

MFD entry 24

This post was copied from an entry on My Food Diary (MFD) during my pre-blogging days. Back then, I used the forums on MFD as my daily 'blog'. Just wanted to get my entire journey in one place.
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January 7, 2009
Starting MFD weight (09/17/08): 176.4
Current weight (01/07/09): 156.0
Goal weight: 120

So I have not been updating my thread as much as I would like but with the holidays, it gets so C-R-A-Z-Y!! But I'm back so here goes (be prepared... it's a L O N G one):

During the last couple of weeks, I didn't really focus on my eating and just spent my time enjoying the company I was with (whether it was a work party, family dinner, or just my boyfriend and puppy). I ate anything I wanted to, but kept the proportions in check so I'm happy to say I came out on the positive side of things - still losing weight during the holidays, but at a much slower rate than normal. I actually fluctuated between maintaining and losing, but after New Year's I came out down 1.2 pounds since December 22, putting me at 157.8. Today's current weigh-in is at 156.0.

As the "down-25-pounds-from-starting" weight is approaching, I decided to spend some Christmas money on getting new clothes!! I've put off doing it for as long as I could, but the pants are looking a little weird being baggy - I usually wear tighter fitting clothing. And most of my tops don't fit good because I tend to wear wide/low necklines so now with some of the weight gone, the tops don't sit right and they're constantly shifting around. I bought some cute stuff at a great sale price and I was able to buy them in size Mediums and 8's!!! :) I fit comfortably in a size 10 right now, so 8's will be perfect in a couple of months and can hopefully last me close to my goal weight. Some of the pants I bought were only $5 (love Old Navy!) so I bought them in a size 6 as well! Those are going to be my motivational pants! When I can fit into them, I'm going to cry!

Another thing I'm excited about?! My collar bone! I haven't seen that baby in years and she's slowly showing through! Not very defined but at least I know it's there. And you know when you turn your neck and you can see all those weird tendon-looking things connecting your neck to your collar bone? Well I can see them again!!! Pre-MFD, my neck looked like it was wrapped in fat and it would just squish together if I turned my head to look behind me! It's so awesome, and motivating, when I can see changes in myself! Gotta keep on, keeping on! :)
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Back in November, I ordered the P90X exercise program after reading a ton of great reviews about the program. I'm not one to go to a gym so exercising at home is perfect for me. Well I finally got it in on Christmas Eve and I immediately read all the books and checked out some of the dvd's. I'm so excited to get started, but I'm also picking up running again after taking about a month long break to heal my shin splints, so I won't be starting P90X just yet. I will try out a dvd here and there as my weight-training, but once the Great Aloha Run is done (Feb. 16!), then I'll get into the program full on for the straight 90 days you're suppose use it. Right now I'm focusing on building up my cardio: endurance and stamina. I can't wait to get back out there running, but I hope my shins don't flare up again. I'll be going for my first run this coming weekend at the latest so I'll be sure to check back with an update.

As far as training for running, since I took a break for a month, I've been working out on the elliptical a lot and trying to go on much more strenuous hikes. But my favorite thing that I started doing?! Running stairs! I know, crazy to like it, but I do. I use the stairway in my condo building so it's convenient and the other people in the building don't seem to mind. I've actually never came across anyone yet, but think it should be okay. I would just tell them that I'm running home/or down to the lobby, depending on which way I'm going, and that would be that. I walk up to the 20th floor from my floor (7th) as my warm-up and run four flights of stairs at a time, then walk back down, run up four, and walk back down. I do it up on the higher floors because I have less of a chance or running into someone (I don't think anyone wants to walk up to the 20th floor from the ground level so I'm safer up there). Granted I don't last long running the stairs, but it's such a good workout! Plus I feel like so good after!
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So at the end of last year (2008), as I was thinking of my New Year's resolutions, I made the choice to not have any. That's right, NONE! I make them every year and I don't think I've ever kept one so instead of setting myself up for failure, I decided to skip them this year. I'm going into 2009 with no expectations and I couldn't feel better about it! Besides, I figured I made the best decision when I decided to change my life by getting healthy so what more can I ask for. You really, truly don't have anything if you don't have your health. So I'll continue on with this lifestyle change, setting up mini-goals on the way and celebrating the small accomplishments that I encounter. And of course I'll be ready to tackle any bump in the road as well... I never keep my steamroller far!

The only thing I promised myself was that I would find small ways to stay moving throughout the day. For example, I am the payroll person for my office and normally when someone is out on a pay day, I hold their pay statement until the next pay date. But now I send them an email and ask them to let me know when they're in the office next so I can come by and drop it off. I work in an office, but my payroll duties cover people who work in other buildings so it's a small walk but at least I'm up and about! I also try to NEVER take the elevator so if I need to walk 3 people's paychecks to them at three different times of the day, thats four floors of stairs three times that day (not including the stairs for their building!). I will definitely keep track of all the small things I decide to change to make my body stronger and healthier. Some may be silly (and seem almost useless), but every little bit helps! :)

1. take the stairs every time, no matter how many flights or how many times
2. walk people's paycheck to them instead of holding it for the next pay day
3. after I eat anything at my desk, I walk up and down the four floors of stairs
4. walk to and from the grocery store
5. Biggest Loser is a guilty pleasure for me, so if I watch, I HAVE to be on the elliptical (unless I exercised earlier)
6. ... to be continued
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So after being on MFD for almost 4 months now, I decided that I don't want to be on here for the rest of my life logging food every day so to ease myself into the transition of being MFD free, I've decided that one week a month, I will go without logging and see how my weight does. I plan to be on MFD for a while more even after I hit my goal weight, but just want to know that I can do this on my own after. I'm not going to start doing this right now because I feel like I do need the help with logging - I tend to overestimate the calories in food so I've eaten too few calories during the day - but will as my guesstamations of food are more accurate.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

MFD entry 23

This post was copied from an entry on My Food Diary (MFD) during my pre-blogging days. Back then, I used the forums on MFD as my daily 'blog'. Just wanted to get my entire journey in one place.
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January 6, 2009
Here are my goals for December:

- Workout 6 days/week for a total of 26 days out of the 31 days
- Workout for an average of 60 minutes a day = 1560 minutes for Dec.
- Burn an average of 350 calories per workout = 9100 calories for Dec.

12/01: 354c, 73 min elliptical
12/02: 310c, 48 min circuit training
12/03: 484c, 84 min jog/run
12/04: OFF
12/05: OFF
12/06: 307c, 65 min elliptical; 146c, 26 min aerobics

12/07: 294c, 56 min hike; 280c, 70 min jog
12/08: 394c, 71 min elliptical
12/09: 310c, 45 min elliptical
12/10: 232c, 68 min aerobics
12/11: OFF
12/12: 329c, 61 min elliptical
12/13: 242c, 58 min hike

12/14: 507c, 180 min aerobics/walk
12/15: OFF
12/16: 201c, 36 min elliptical; 95c, 45 min walk
12/17: 373c, 63 min elliptical
12/18: 187c, 36 min elliptical
12/19: OFF
12/20: 489c, 76 min hike

12/21: 418c, 150 min walk
12/22: OFF
12/23: 193c, 63 min elliptical (the calories are so low because my legs are super sore from the hike this weekend)
12/24: 491c, 94 min hike
12/25: 292c, 91 min walk
12/26: 347c, 91 min hike
12/27: 338c, 88 min hike; 319c, 54 min cardio

12/28: 415c, 71 min cardio
12/29: OFF
12/30: OFF
12/31: OFF

Well, I didn't make my calorie goal for December. It was a little crazy this month, so I'm not killing myself over it, but I wish I had reached it. For January, I'm going to concentrate on calories only because although I want to make sure I exercise for a MINIMUM of 45 minutes/day, burning 350 net calories a workout will take me over the 45 minute mark. So calories only!

Sunday, January 4, 2009

MFD entry 22

This post was copied from an entry on My Food Diary (MFD) during my pre-blogging days. Back then, I used the forums on MFD as my daily 'blog'. Just wanted to get my entire journey in one place.
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January 4, 2009
Here's another picture from a New Year's Eve party. That's my puppy and boyfriend... the baby is my cousin's. She's adorable!

Starting MFD weight: 176.4
Current weight in picture: 157.2
Goal weight: 120
TOTAL WEIGHT LOST: -19.2