MFD: Weekend Challenge IV

This post was copied from my forum entry on My Food Diary (MFD) where I journal my daily thoughts/feelings about weight-loss.  Although this blog is suppose to do that, MFD is more of my diary and I wanted to include my entire journey in one place.

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Weekend Challenge IV

I'm extending my normal 3-day challenge to a 5-day challenge since it's a holiday on Tuesday (for some of us).

So here are my goals:

0/500 exercise minutes
0/2500 calorie deficit

MFD: Weekend Challenge III: FAIL!

This post was copied from my forum entry on My Food Diary (MFD) where I journal my daily thoughts/feelings about weight-loss.  Although this blog is suppose to do that, MFD is more of my diary and I wanted to include my entire journey in one place.

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Wow... that Challenge blew!

Didn't make either of my goals but still got in some serious exercise.

10/22: 75 min elliptical and -66 cal deficit (which means no deficit; 66 OVER)
10/23: 53 min elliptical and -167 cal deficit
10/24: 115 min hike and 508 cal deficit

TOTALS: 
243/250 exercise minutes
275/1500 calorie deficit

Friday
The day was pretty much perfect... until it wasn't. :(
I had my entire day planned out: meals and exercise.  When the boyfriend picked me from work, we went home like normal and I got changed into my workout clothes.  He then tells me that he took the night off of work (which I'm super happy about!) but that threw a wrench in my plans.  I told him no matter what, I HAVE to get in my workout... which I did.  But then my friend texted me.

See, the boyfriend works at a restaurant and my friend so happened to be eating there on Friday night. So she texted me that she didn't see my boyfriend working and I told her he took the night off.  So she asked if we wanted to go out later... you know, grab a few drinks have a late night dinner.  So I said yes since I never see her anymore.

We went to this cute little French restaurant. The boyfriend and I ordered dinner (I had the yummiest grilled fish with shrimp and beet salad) since we didn't eat yet but my friend ordered the restaurant's famed cheese and salami platter.  That's all I have to say about that right?  That alone killed any hope of a calorie deficit.  :(

Saturday
Buffet wedding lunch with hardly anything healthy... pesto pasta, white rice, Caesar salad soaked with dressing, sauteed veggies swimming in butter, garlic mashed potatoes, prime rib, and fried fish.  And of course chocolate wedding that wasn't even yummy, but I ate it all anyway.  GREAT!

Dinner out with my family landed us at a Japanese restaurant, so nothing super unhealthy but still not the best.  I made the best choices I could but after logging everything into MFD, I came out with a 2200 calorie day.

THE GOOD NEWS: After I got home from dinner, I rested a bit and jumped on the elliptical at 9:30 at night! :)

Sunday
Felt really bloated and disgusting from the previous couple of days so went on a nice long hike all by myself.  It was nice to just be out there in nature and in my own thoughts but kinda scary too.

Anyway, had a really good day except for choosing fried spring rolls at dinner tonight but you win some and you lose some.

Here's to a much better week!

Weekend Challenge III

Another Friday means another Weekend Challenge!

This weekend is going to be a little harder cause I have a lunch wedding and a family dinner tomorrow.  I'm still aiming for my 500+ calorie deficit every day so that means trying to get in extra exercise today and Sunday.

Here are my goals for the Weekend Challenge III:

0/250 exercise minutes
0/1500 calorie deficit

MFD: Weigh-in and nothing!

This post was copied from my forum entry on My Food Diary (MFD) where I journal my daily thoughts/feelings about weight-loss.  Although this blog is suppose to do that, MFD is more of my diary and I wanted to include my entire journey in one place.

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Starting weight: 176.4
Last week weight: 150.0
Current weight: 150.0
Current loss: 0.0

TOTAL LOSS: -26.40

On the weight-loss front, NADA! Which is pretty amazing since I pulled a 3,224 calorie deficit last week. To be honest I'm not surprised because once I jumped on the scale at the gym, I felt like I had actually gained weight. .  But luckily that wasn't the case.

Anyway, thanks to my friend Jay, I've looked over more of my MFD charts and think I know the culprit: sodium. It has been off the charts this week! I need to tame that down and hopefully the scale will start moving again.

These are just some of the charts that MFD can create and it's nothing interesting to share with the blog world, but wanted them here for my reference:

 

No Appetite...

This Weekend Challenge was a success... I'm loving them cause they keep me accountable on the three toughest days of the week for me: Friday, Saturday and Sunday!

10/15: 448 calorie deficit and 86 min elliptical + upper body
10/16: 772 calorie deficit and 81 min hike
10/17: 629 calorie deficit and 150 min walk + elliptical

TOTALS:
1849/1800+ calorie deficit
317/300 minutes

Next weekend I have to do the same or more but it's gonna be tough cause I have a wedding to go to and we all know what that means... FOOD and DRINKS for everyone!! 

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On another note, the past couple of days I haven't had a real appetite which is VERY unusual but I think it's because I've been stressing about work.  Like, stressing like I never have before!  I know it'll pass and what really helps are my daily exercise sessions... not trying to sound cliche but exercise really does relieve stress!

Don't let this happen to you...

(source)

On yet another note, I made a new fave food discovery: Yoplait light yogurt in all the yummy dessert flavors!

(source)

Don't get me wrong, these are not the healthiest things on earth (sugar, people!) but they beat eating a bowl of ice cream before bed.  I know these have been around forever but I normally stay far away from them - Fage Greek yogurt is still my fave - but since my local grocery store had them on sale 10 for $7, I picked some up.  They are yummy and they definitely fix my sweet tooth for the night. YUM!

MFD: Another Weeken Challenge! BRING IT!

This post was copied from my forum entry on My Food Diary (MFD) where I journal my daily thoughts/feelings about weight-loss.  Although this blog is suppose to do that, MFD is more of my diary and I wanted to include my entire journey in one place.

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Well I'm doing another weekend challenge!

Goal for this weekend (Friday - Sunday):

0/300 minutes
0/1800+ calorie deficit

As of this evening, Saturday 6:40 pm (I'm thinking of jumping on the elliptical for a quick and dirty session):


10/15: 448 calorie deficit and 86 min elliptical + upper body
10/16: 772 calorie deficit and 81 min hike

TOTALS: 1220/1800+ calorie deficit
               167/300 minutes

MFD: Oops!

This post was copied from my forum entry on My Food Diary (MFD) where I journal my daily thoughts/feelings about weight-loss.  Although this blog is suppose to do that, MFD is more of my diary and I wanted to include my entire journey in one place.

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Wow... I was suppose to be back on Wednesday to report weight-in but look at what day it is... FRIDAY!

It's been a long week and I'm just glad it's over.

I'm happy to report that I'm down 1.5 lbs since last week so I'm sitting at 150 exactly. I'm happy to be losing the weight again, but I can't believe I'm here (in the 150's) when last year I was fighting it in the 130's.

It's okay, baby steps and as long as it's baby steps in the right direction, it's okay by me!

TBL makes time fly!

**Finally updated my current monthly goals for October!**

Yesterday was another great day.  Got in an amazing elliptical session while catching up on The Biggest Loser.

I haven't watched TBL for a couple of seasons now so while I was watching it on-line (I have my computer hooked up to my big screen tv) I forgot that each episode is like two hours long.  So I'm over there on the elliptical and time is flying by and before I know it, I'm over my 45 minute goal of exercise! In fact I'm creeping up on the 75-minute mark.

I slow my pace, cool down for a few minutes, and gladly get off.  I wish all exercise sessions were like this!

Later today I have gym time with my trainer so that's another awesome exercise day under my belt.  Will be back tomorrow with a weight update *biting fingernails*.

MFD: Weekend Challenge update

WHAT A WEEKEND!

Had so much to do but when the boyfriend and I got up on Saturday morning, we completely changed our minds and did non-planned things all weekend.

Saturday we got up early to take the dogs walking... a good hour-long power walk in the morning sun get's everyone tired and sweaty. After the walk, the puppers were happy to lay around the house for the rest of the day while the boyfriend and I ran errands. COSTCO RUN!! I fricken love Costco! Stocked up on so much good food: whole wheat bread, fresh fruits and veggies, frozen fruits and veggies, milk, eggs, yogurt, healthy tv dinners, and best of all WORKOUT CLOTHES!!! My local Costco had my favorite favorite Nike shorts on sale for under $18. This suckers normally run about $25 each on sale, so I picked up two. They also had Nike workout tank tops on sale and I picked up three of those.

(source)

It's funny how buying workout clothes is more exciting to me than buying regular, going-out clothes. Loves it!

Sunday I woke up early again to take the puppies for a short jog. Our short (30 minute max) jog turned out to be a longer (60+ minutes) jog/walk and it was amazing! Got home before 9:30 then got ready to spend the day with my mom. She had to go to Costco so while there I picked up more workout clothes. Then we headed out to lunch and tried a new Mexican place that just opened up.

(source)

Grilled Cajun fish tacos Baha style, no cheese/sour cream, and cajun white/black beans are so good!! And good for you according to MFD.

Got home pretty early and jumped on the elliptical while I caught up on the newest season of The Biggest Loser. Don't get me wrong, I think the show represents something good (the fact that as a country, we really need to start taking our health seriously) but is it now a requirement to be obese AND have a heart-felt, tear-jerking story to be on TBL?

Anyway, we ended the evening last night with a dinner of bell peppers, onions, and some chicken sausage I picked up at Costco. Best/most simple/cheapest/healthiest meal ever! The sausage is low fat and low sodium so for a big plate of peppers and onions and one huge chicken sausage, it's only 175 cals!  Have a side of whole wheat pasta to round out the meal and it's perfect!

 And the whole point of this post was to update you on my Weekend Challenges.  Well I did good:

261/250 exercise minutes
1038/1000 calorie deficit

The calories could have been higher and I barley made it yesterday.  If it weren't for my double workouts yesterday, my deficit would have been much less.  Next weekend (and probably every weekend after that) I'll be doing these Challenges so feel free to join in.

MFD: Weekend Challenges! Bring it on!

This post was copied from my forum entry on My Food Diary (MFD) where I journal my daily thoughts/feelings about weight-loss.  Although this blog is suppose to do that, MFD is more of my diary and I wanted to include my entire journey in one place.

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YAY... TGIF!!!

Weekends usually sabotage any good work I've done the previous week so to keep me on track, a friend and I are doing a "Weekend Minute Challenge".

My goal: 250 minutes over Saturday and Sunday

I have a nice 2 hour-ish long hike planned for tomorrow but the weather is suppose to get wet this weekend. If I can't get in the hike, my friend may just win this challenge.

And because we all know nutrition is 80% of the weight-loss equation, I'm aiming for a deficit of 1000+ for the weekend. I think I'm gonna throw this "Weekend Deficit Challenge" out to my friend Polly.

So here goes...

0/250 minutes
0/1000 deficit

MFD: Rough day but well needed

This post was copied from my forum entry on My Food Diary (MFD) where I journal my daily thoughts/feelings about weight-loss.  Although this blog is suppose to do that, MFD is more of my diary and I wanted to include my entire journey in one place.

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Rough day yesterday and I won't go into details but lets just say I'm so OVER my current job! I found out something that's been going on at work and it's just time for me to get the hell outta there.

I've been looking and applying for other jobs since last month so hopefully I can find something comparable (salary-wise).

Also I lost my necklace yesterday that had two rings on it: one from my boyfriend when we first started dating and another from my parents.

I was so stressed out by the end of the day, I was ecstatic when my friend called to see if I wanted to go out and grab dinner and a drink. So I did. I had a burger, fries and two beers... not the best choices in the world for weight-loss but awesome for relieving stress and keeping me sane!

To make up for yesterday I already have all my meals planned out today so I'll be back on track in no time.

Who is this?!

If you were to meet me right now you'd think I was a totally new person than who I was a month ago.  Something has rekindled my desire to lose the weight (again!) and as much as I hate talking all big and saying stuff like "I'm back and can't wait to do this" than completely flaking out a few days later...

I truly am back!

I have been consistent with exercise and eating for the last month and my body is finally responding to the healthy changes... I'm down 5 lbs from my heaviest since I gained the weight back.  And I'm not gonna lie. I still don't like exercise as much as I used to but I know what needs to be done and it's just a matter of time before my body starts liking it again... RIGHT?!

And I can't remember if it was ever mentioned here but since we're being honest lets just get it all out there.  Since May I have gained a total of: 20 lbs!!  Yup, 20 extra pounds in 5 months on my short 5'0" frame is a very visible difference and I hate it.  Hate it like I've never hated anything before.

So my official re-starting weight is 155.  But right now I'm at 150.2 so moving in the right direction!

Last month I was so bitter and disgusted with myself for letting my weight get that high but today I can't wait till I hit the gym or bust out a workout dvd... again, not cause I like it, but I know that's the only thing that works.

So I've gone back to true basics and started using the wonderful world of My Food Diary again.  I have no idea how I found it back in 2008 but it has been the BEST food tracking website I have come across (I've tried many paid and free sites).  And yes it has a monthly fee of $9 but seriously,  I'll skip my daily Starbucks three times a month to have the money to pay for it!  It's much more than just a food tracker... it tracks totals for sodium, saturated fat, protein, sugar, fiber, etc. for a really well balanced eating style.  Right now they have a 7 day free trial (and no, I don't work for them or make any type of commission. I'm just one weight-loser trying to spread the word) so check it out if you're interested.

So this blog should be getting updated more often because I will be posting my daily diary/journaling from MFD here, just to keep my entire journey in one place.