monkeyfish77's Journal

Weigh-In day

Oct 26 2009 09:07

As fo this morning, I remain at 66.4 kilos. I had hoped for better, but looking back on the past week, it's understandable.

I was mostly around maintenance all week, and I only made it to the gym once. I also had wine at home, which generally reduces my motivation to go exercise.

Anyway, dear husband (He was down .2 kilos, despite wine, no gym at all, and a weakness for mince pies) and I have agreed to

A. do not replace wine.

B. Gym together Tuesday, Thursday, Friday + 1 weekend day.

Today I might meet a friend for lunch. I'm inclined to suggest an Austrian place near my office; although, it may be a pretty unhealthy option. I'm thinking this might be a good day for it, given that I've spinning class and pilates tonight, and I ate a light-ish breakfast of fruit (light) and low fat coconut yogurt (less light)

Anyway, it's time to get to work.

21 October

Oct 21 2009 21:26

I went over maintenance today, but only by about 50cals.

I planned a gym visit, but I'm just feeling achy, sore, and tired. Fleh.

20 October

Oct 20 2009 08:44

Yesterday was largely successful, and I had a little splurge of wine. I still kept a deficit, and that didn't count the spinning class and pilates classes I did.

Today, is yet another day. I have a work lunch and after work drinks to navigate. The drinks are the easy part... vodka and soda water are pretty low damage, and in the UK, drinks are measured, so I know each drink has 25ml of alcohol unless i ask for a double.

The lunch might be a bit harder. I'm just going to work with what I'm served, and be thankful for the fact that my husband, who also does the cooking in my house, is counting calories as well and that tonight is our gym night.

What I do find encouraging is that there are ten more weeks in 2009, and recognizing that some weeks will be better than others, a goal of being down 10lbs/ 4.5 kg by New Years seems pretty attainable. My husband's and my goal was to lose 7kg, and my current goal has me aiming to be down six by the time we're full of champers. It makes me think that maybe I should just squeeze in an extra workout every week and try to meet our bigger goal. I mean, 300 cals x 10 weeks = 3000.

Heck, an extra workout a week is a good thing for me, anyway.

Enough dither, back to work!

19 Oct

Oct 19 2009 09:28

Been faring pretty well, largely due to my husband embracing CC. Despite having a pretty heavy weekend, I'm down a bit. I think a bit of it is dehydration, but even so, part of it is a loss.

Either way, it made me feel less crap about a less than stellar weekend, and it felt encouraging!

I am planning my whole day's eats for now, and I'm going to try to do this for the rest of the week. My husband hates planned meals, but I find that they're the key to my staying on track sometimes.

I'm also hoping to get back on the treadmill this week, after a week off. I have a history of stress fractures, and sometimes, when the weather changes, I'll have a bit of a scare. I think that's what happened last week... I hope so, anyway!

Still Here

Oct 11 2009 10:08

Doc told my husband to lose 15 lbs a few weeks ago. As it certainly wouldn't hurt me to lose a few more, I'm trying to do it with him. He started using CC and everything!

I started at 68kg, he was at 80.4. Currently, I'm around the same and he's down near 79.

Anyway, we technically started back in September, but we've had friends living with us until this past Tuesday. I thought I'd hit the ground running as soon as they left, but I've been in a bit of a funk lately; all I want to do is eat! (and then eat more!!)

So, I want to try to set goals for myself and write about it more, as I'm hoping it will help me get motivated and back in the mindset that I need to be in.

Today we're going out to lunch, and weekends are historically my downfall. I'd really just lke today to be under 2k, calorically; although a deficit would be even better. I'm also going to go for a run before lunch.

5th June: Day 5

Jun 05 2009 09:31

I'm five days in from my new set of goals, and so far, I'm doing OK.

While it may seem a bit pedantic, I'm going to review my goals again, as the weekend is nearly here and that's generaly when i crash and burn.

Diet:
1. My husband has extra super promised to not buy sweets for me. I really think he may mean it this time.
- So far, so good. There are still brownies in the house, that I have been resisting. I caved in this morning and had one (3 remain) , but they're small, and morning is the time at which I tend to really crave sugar.
2. I can only drink at home (wine with dinner) 1x a week.
-I've been mostly good about this. We had planned to have dinner out on Weds for the anniversary of our first date, but that got switched to a meal at home (conveniently better for my diet). Anyway, we had wine then, and we finished the bottle the next night.
3. When out and drinking socially- not at a meal i'll limit myself to vodka and soda water. Here in the UK, drinks are measured, so ordering a single drink means just 1oz of alcohol. Often, I'll order a single and get in in a pint glass so I also get lots of water.
-On two occasions this week when I could have had a drink, I didn't.
4. On the days where I'm going out to eat, I'll plan ahead for a lighter day.
-Even with the brownie, I'm planning for a pretty light day in preparation for a mighty BBQ dinner. My objective w this meal/ day is to just aim to not exceed my maintenance, rather than miserably striving for a deficit.
5. I will eat a healthy mid-afternoon snack.
-Always an apple and sometimes a protein shake too!

Exercise:
1. I'll continue my pilates work at the physio clinic (2h a week) in addition to my therapy sessions
-This is an easy one. I just show up and do as I'm told!
2. I will ride my bike in when such is possible. This is a bit hard right now because I am taking a Mandarin class 2x a week, and I can only take the bike on days when I'm going straight to work and straight home. I'll be able to do this more towards the end of the month.
-This hasn't happened this week
3. I will take my bike out on all weekend days, weather permitting.
-Weather should permit!
4. I will go to the gym and do some sort of cardio or do it in my house (ride my bike in the house/ do the wii) 2x a week (minimum)
-I've been failing on this one. We lent out our Wii and I'll be reclaiming it this weekend. I'm not much a fan of riding my bike on the trainer, but I'll set it up after I ride this weekend. Part of making myself exercise in the morning is really having it all set up so it's easy. I need to do that!

In terms of progress, I'm actually at an all-time low in terms of my weight in my adult life. 66kg as of this morning.

Weekend ahead- I've got lunch out on Sunday, so I just need to plan my eats accordingly. Saturday, we have a party at night and plans to have pizza w a friend, so also more planning. I think if I just aim for maintenance (2000) and meet my exercise targets of pilates class Saturday and 3-4 h cycling on the weekend, that should be good. I know i'll struggle just to eat w/in maintenance, so it seems just counterproductive to try to make this even harder. That, and my average for the last 4 days has been 1,474 cals, which means I've been eating under my target of 1700 anyway.

Gosh, it has been a while

Jun 01 2009 07:50

I haven't journalled on here in ages. I went off to another site where I was doing a weight training challenge for a bit. I developed a case of bursitis in my hip and ITB inflammation last November, and after a bit of couch time, it was determined that the cause for my woes is that I really lack stability muscles. I always assumed I had difficulty standing on one foot because of my history of ankle sprain... nope!

Anyway, this was figured out around March, and since then I've been doing a lot of physiotherapy-assigned pilates work. I'm not allowed to run yet because i rotate my hips when I run due to this stability wekaness. I'm only just allowed back in my bike.

The bad news was that I've been on the couch. The good news is that this stability issue, which I'm working on now, has been the likely cause of many of my injuries of the last five years. It is the cause of the sciatica which has laid me up and its affect on my form has partially explained the frequency with which I've had stress fractures (I was taking all of the impact below my knee).

I'm largely just working on managing my eating, which remains a struggle. I'm going to Taiwan in August for a wedding, which will include beach trips, and it would be nice to really feel good about how I look in a swimsuit, if that's actually possible! I'm definitely not so self critical that I wouldn't just get over it and enjoy myself regardless, but I would like to progress enough by then to see a difference.

So, it's Monday, and the first day of the month - making for a fine day to get the ball rolling again.
7 weeks until I go to San Francisco, 10 weeks until I go to Taiwan.

Goals -

I'd like to lose a pound a week on average leading up to this travel. If I lose a bit more, that's just a plus.

How I'm going to do that -

Diet:
1. My husband has extra super promised to not buy sweets for me. I really think he may mean it this time.
2. I can only drink at home (wine with dinner) 1x a week.
3. When out and drinking socially- not at a meal i'll limit myself to vodka and soda water. Here in the UK, drinks are measured, so ordering a single drink means just 1oz of alcohol. Often, I'll order a single and get in in a pint glass so I also get lots of water.
4. On the days where I'm going out to eat, I'll plan ahead for a lighter day.
5. I will eat a healthy mid-afternoon snack.

Exercise:
1. I'll continue my pilates work at the physio clinic (2h a week) in addition to my therapy sessions
2. I will ride my bike in when such is possible. This is a bit hard right now because I am taking a Mandarin class 2x a week, and I can only take the bike on days when I'm going straight to work and straight home. I'll be able to do this more towards the end of the month.
3. I will take my bike out on all weekend days, weather permitting.
4. I will go to the gym and do some sort of cardio or do it in my house (ride my bike in the house/ do the wii) 2x a week (minimum)

NROLFW- Stage 2 Workout A

Dec 02 2008 22:20

So, I started stage two today.

Nutrition was pretty good- 1886 cals; although, I need to eat a bit more before the day is up because i'm still below the max deficit.

Fat - 27.6% (60 grams)
Protein - 33.0% (161 grams)
Carbohydrates - 39.4% (193 grams)
Alcohol - 0.0%
Other - 0.0%

Workout A went pretty well, but it wasn't without challenges.

Front Squat/ Push Press -
This was a bit of a failure. My gym doesn't have any barbells. There are a few of those weighted rods, but even holding all three at the same time only came to 15 or so kilos. I did two sets, and when I felt like I hadn't done much work, I did 2 sets of squats (using a leg press machine- also, a compromise, but I can't lift heavy enough dumbells to challenge my legs) and two sets of shoulder presses. I know it isn't the same as the suggested exercise, but it seemed the best I could do. I didn't want to feel fully derailed or that i cheated on the first exercise.

StepUps-
two sets with two dumbells, each of 12.5 kilos. I'm almost ready to add weight again, but I have to improve on holding a heavier weight in my hands

Dumbell One point Row-
I did one set with a set of 5 kilo weights and one set with a set of 10kilo weights.
To say I did them would be generous. I *tried* to do them. I can't balance in the starting position, even my hands empty! I've really wobbly ankles and a weak core- two things that are improving, and they're definitely challenged by this exercise. I kept one leg up and kept my back straight, but my foot was still pretty close to the ground.

Static Lunge- rear foot elevated-
This one went better than I expected. I did one set with a set of 10kgs and the next with a set of 12.5s

PushUps
I've been pushing myself to do them at 30 degrees, but I'm not able to go as low as the exercise requires. This was brought to my attention when i reread all the exercise descriptions today. I went back to 45 degrees for today and really pushed for full range and form.

Plank-
Maybe I should just call my core strength non-existent. I did two sets at 45 degrees, and I was very happy when they were over!

Cable Horizontal Wood Chop-
I did these with plate number two on my cable machine, which is actually the third plate. I might have been able to do more, but not without compromising form

It seems like the first time w new exercises is always harder. IT does feel good to be back in the swing of things, logging my eating, etc.

I started 2 months ago. I don't see any significant difference in the scale, in both mass or fat percentage, but I think I have more arm muscles and I definitely can lift more than before. I think I just need to work harder on the eating and on increasing my weights going forward, as I would say at least three weeks of the past two months I ate badly.

A month later...

Nov 29 2008 22:43

2 weeks in New York, a weeklong offsite meeting for work, a week off, and Thanksgiving later, I'm still here.

MY scale stats haven't changed much, but I'm definitely lifting more and I think I have more arm muscles.

Tracking food has been a bit of a losing battle since Nov 5th when i left for nyc, but I'm hoping to resume on Monday, as I'm going out to a decadent meal for my wedding anniversary tomorrow.

Tomorrow also marks the day that I finish stage 1!

Stage 1, Workout 5A

Oct 29 2008 23:02

I solved the mystery of why I was locked out of the gym last night... it seems the doors lock and the lights go out at 11:45pm... and they didn't fix this after we moved clocks. oops.

I had thought it weird that the door worked this morning when I tested it. Needless to say, it was weirder still when the lights went out while I was running intervals; thankfully, the TVs were still on, so I could see enough to stop the treadmill!

I ate pretty well today, although I did have a deficit at 2129 cal

Fat - 25.7% (63 grams)
Protein - 30.9% (171 grams)
Carbohydrates - 43.5% (241 grams)
Alcohol - 0.0%
Other - 0.0%

Workouts 5-8 have an extra set. I increased most of my weights, which made me pretty happy.

I did my squats with 2 20kg Dumbells. I know I could have done more, but I just couldn't hold the 22.5kg ones. I'm not sure what to do going forward. As long as there's no barbells or squat rack, the dumbells or the leg press machine are my options, and I know the latter isn't favorable.

I did all the pushups using the bench fo rmy incline, although, I realize i'm not dropping is far down as I probably should. I'm not sure if I should go back to 45 degrees or stick with the 30s and just try to get lower. One for the forums, I suppose.

No changes on seated row...

I increased my stepup weight to 2 10kg Dbs... my balance is definitely improving!

and the prone jackknives are definitely getting easier.

I did 12 minutes of intervals before the lights went. I've never been a sprinter, so this is pretty new to me. I'm all about being the tortoise who goes for ages, which is totally what the book says not to do! oops!

Anyway, running at over 14 km/h comes so much easier than it did when I started 3 weeks ago, when 12km/h seemed quite fast

I weighed myself this morning... and I'm still pretty much where I was when I started. I'm hoping that's just because I did just comeback from a holiday weekend. It would be nice to see evidence of changes on my scale.

I've been a good eater for most of the past 21 days; although six are questionable. Two days I was just bad and overate and then I was holiday for four.