I’m going backwards

It has been a long time since I posted here.  The year has been harder then I could have imagined with death at every corner.  Traveling for a child and activities galore, have demolished most of my routines.  I try to keep motivated and workout when I  can, but ……….

I watch The Biggest Loser and now 2 times they have shown the contestants running.  The first time they ran a 1/2 marathon and the 2nd time they ran a marathon.  You would think this would serve as motivation, but it is the opposite for me.

When I do the math, especially for Tara on The Biggest Loser this time, I calculate her maintaining an average speed of 5+ mph in both runs.  I feel like such a failure.  I have been running/walking/jogging for so much longer then her and I can not maintain that speed. 

I’m watching my weight increase, my energy decrease and my anxiety take over again.  I need to do something.  I need to fix myself some way that doesn’t involve cookies. 

I need the trainer and I can’t afford the trainer.

What in the world?

I had the weirdest thing happen to me last night.  I was sound asleep, I only know because it immediately woke me up, and there was the most awful and sharp pain on my left side basically under the breast.  

I have never before experienced anything like this.  I was almost frozen by the pain.  I didn’t know if I should wake my husband or what I should do.  As I have learned since child bearing, I tried to breath through the pain.  But I couldn’t take any air in.  It hurt so extremely bad. 

I was having an internal conversation with myself as I felt my pulse race. 

• Is this a heart attack?
• Should I wake my husband?
• Am I nuts?
• all the while telling myself to relax and try to breath deep.

It felt like an incredibly long amount of time and honestly I have no idea how long it was, but I was finally able to breath deep and the pain subsided.

Has anyone else ever experienced this?  Any ideas?  Stress?  The cold I’ve been fighting with?  Could I possibly have something more serious here?  That would be terrible after all I have done to make myself healthier.

Where does the time go?

At the moment I can not even remember the last time I opened this blog and shared my thoughts.  I just checked on this and saw that I have been a bad blogger and have not done my job since December 18th of last year.  I can not explain it, or maybe I can, I just feel guilty for not being all that I can be.  It seems my whole world is up in the air at the moment. I find myself struggling to squeeze in a load of laundry or even clean a bathroom.

Emotionally, the dirty house is taking its toll on me.  ICK.  I am not one for filth. 

My grandfather was admitted to the hospital on December 18th.  He lives quite a distance from me and I have been running myself silly back and forth to the hospital.  All the while trying to squeeze in the holiday festivities, family obligations and work.  Which believe me, this blog is not the only sufferer, I am neglecting everything.

In fact, I have ran myself so ragged that I am now fighting an illness that I believe to be caused by exhaustion.  It doesn’t make sense any other way.  My head is clogged like a cold and I am not taking anything for fear of not being alert, if I need to get up and go.  The worst part is that I am so tired.  I can not seem to get enough oxygen. 

I have been eating poorly, living on the road and anyone with half a brain knows how bad fast food is for the body. 

I could sleep for a week, if I didn’t have to get up and get going.

This week, I have been trying to eat better and workout.  I have been cooking at home:

• Spiral ham, augratin potatoes, peas
• Navy Bean Soup – with some ham from spiral
• left over 2 meals on Wednesday
• Chicken Parmesan and angel hair whole grain pasta

I haven’t decided tonights meal, but it will probably involve using up left overs.

I was at the hospital all Monday.  Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday & today I have been on the treadmill for 37 minutes each day.  Why 37 minutes?  I have no idea, except that that was how far I went on Tuesday and I have been trying to go farther each day.  No set system just a run to start, incline for power walking in the middle and ending with a jog. 

I did get myself moving forward this week.  Tuesday was barely 2 miles – mostly incline work out.  Today I actually made it to 2.9 miles and with my inclines was able to burn 470 calories.  My legs are throbbing, so this means they worked.  Thank goodness for a 15% incline.

I’ll try to do better from here on out.  Sorry to anyone who checks in on me.

A day shy of 1/2 way on the FBD

The Flat Belly Diet is amazing!  It is like the pounds are just dropping off of me, at least compared to how they have been going.  It has been 5 months since I saw 162 lbs and that was only after working out, never when I wake up.  In the past I generally log in my weight and stats after the work-out.  They just look better then.

This morning I weighed prior to working out, like I am doing for all my blogging and record keeping for Prevention Magazine and the Flat Belly Diet Blog.  I think it is important to give people a consistent view, so they can decide for themselves if this is a book and a diet that will work for them.   Otherwise I am just wasting my time.

NOT!  I am feeling so much room in my clothes.  My husband keeps telling me how small I am getting, do you believe it me “small”.  We had a family Christmas Party this past weekend and my step mom even asked if I have lost more weight noting how good I look. 

To be honest with you, I had high hopes of the Flat Belly Diet working, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.  My body is just goofy.  Even after the Christmas party where I stuffed my face with Kolacky, I lost weight.  Plus, I didn’t work out all weekend – this is just not logical.

I’m only 15 days into this 32 day program, but at this rate – I could be 156 lbs by the end!  Or less!!! 

I am also considering which menu items I will keep in my diet to help maintain and continue with the weight decline.  I wish I had the new Flat Belly Diet Cookbook too.

130 lbs here I Come!

Flat Belly Diet Early Impressions

Wow!  Does that sum it up?  In the Four-Day Anti-Bloat program I have lost 3.8 lbs.  This after pigging out a company Christmas Party, adding back my coffee and skipping the smoothies. 

I can only imagine if you kept this to the letter.  No wonder people have lost 15 lbs in 32 days.  I believe I could be one of those people!  I can’t wait to watch that scale decline.  Losing 15 from day 1 would put my weight at 153 lbs.  That would certainly make me smile. 

Reveiw of the first 4 days:

• 11730 - my scale revealed as DCI for all
•   3600 – actual calories devoured in 3 of 4 days
•   2200 – estimated calories devoured day of party
•  -1417 – calories burned through exercise

3600 + 2200 – 1417 = 3383 calories to run on for 4 days.

11730 – 3383 = 8347 short fall.  This would equate to 2.3 lbs lost in the real world of 3500 calories a pound.  Which leads me to believe 1.5 lbs of my loss is coming from the cleansing the first 4 days provides.  It reminds me of the colon cleanse I did years ago, making you feel skinny!

I would definitely recommend the Flat Belly Diet to all, even if they only utilized the Four-Day Anti-Bloat!  Small lifetime changes are better then those temporary ones.  

Dieting is a temporary fix to life long problem, make the small diet changes with huge lifetime profits!

Don’t forget to check my FBD Blog for updates.

Flat Belly Diet:Day 2

Have no fear!  My headache was not from the Flat Belly Diet, but from a migraine that knocked me out for 10 hours.  Not good news, but better then thinking this new diet is killing me. 

I completed Day 2 yesterday and I am happy to report, I was not hungry at all.  The diet seems to represent my daily calorie intake from before diet time, so I am satisfied.  Although, I did move the Snack to an earlier time to keep me on track and comfortable, but the book does say this is okay! 

Now to share with you guys what I am telling the folks at Prevention Magazine -

STATS:

• Weight – 167.0 (-1)
• BMI – 28.3  (+1.5)
• Water – 50.9  (-.8)
• Bone – 6.0 (-.2)
• DCI – 2924 (-66)
• Metabolic Age - 32 (+3)
• Waist – 32 (nc)
• Pouch – 36 1/2 (-1/2)
• Hips – 42 1/2 (-1/2)
• Thigh – 26 3/4 (n/c)
• Arm – 12 (n/c)
• Breast 37  (n/c)

Those of you who have been reading my blog know that this is not good.  Yes, I am happy that I saw a pound eliminated, but is it worth it at the cost of everything else???  I’m sticking with the plan but I am a bit worried. 

I did work out yesterday and burned 519 calories doing it.  While consuming 1200 on this plan.    My concern is that I am not getting enough to feed my muscles.  But the first part is only 4 days.  Maybe if I can drop the pounds I can work on percents in the last 28 days at 1600 calories a day.

Flat Belly Diet:Day 1

I’m not even to lunch and I’m already questioning what I got myself into.  The measuring and weighing, so I have a beginning point is not a real big moral booster.  In fact, it working in the opposite manner.  Proving that weight is more pschological then physical.  What makes today any more different then the hundreds of other days I obsessed over the scale? 

I did something even more off for me, I weighed and measured first thing in the morning.  I’m not sure that is a good time.  I generally do this after working out.  I tend to be swollen when I wake up.  At any rate, the point of mentioning the time of ‘weigh in’ is to make sure I do it at the same time for all weigh in’s.  Not to mention the final one.

STATS:

• Weight – 168.0
• BMI – 26.8
• Water – 51.7
• Bone – 6.2
• DCI – 2990
• Metabolic Age – 29
• Waist – 32
• Pouch – 37
• Hips – 43
• Thigh – 26 3/4
• Arm – 12
• Breast 37

Hopefully that provides me with enough quality information to make a fair assessment.

It is only 11 am and I am hungry.  This is not good.  I’m not sure why I am hungry because the breakfast was more food then I have been eating.  I ate:

• 1 c – Special K Corn Flakes (100)
• 1 c – Lactose Free Skim Milk (80)
• 1/2 c unsweetened Applesauce (60)
• 5 Walnuts (60) – the diet calls for sunflower seeds but I was unable to find unsalted
• 1 glass Sassy Water

This is a lot of work weighing, measuring and watching what you eat.  No wonder so many fail.  Here I am complaining and they have laid it all out on paper.  I only follow word for word item for item.  So easy.

Which leads me to my lack of coffee.  Coffee is not allowed – or at least I couldn’t find it anywhere but in the bloating items list.  I’m trying my best but I feel like crap without my coffee.  It is effecting every aspect of my day.  I wouldn’t doubt it if this is why I am hungry.

My exercise consisted of 20 minutes with Jillian and 20 more minutes on the treadmill.  Both of which together used up more calories then my breakfast.  I don’t have that calorie watch yet, but I would guess Jillian’s workout was somewhere between 150 and 200 calories burned.  Possibly more due the mix of cardio and strength, but I think it is a fair guess.  My Treadmill walk and incline registered another 200 calories burned.  So, I’m going with 400 calories gone. 

If you look above it would take 2990 daily calorie intake to maintain my big self.  This means with their 1200 calories in the first 4 days I’ll have a shortage of 7160.  That calculates to 2 full pounds, I should lose in 4 days.  Not including my workouts. 

Working out all 4 days and using 400 each workout,  I will use another 1600 calories.  That means by Sunday morning, I should be 166.5. 

Now I’ll ask – pray for me.  I feel exhausted all ready.  My legs and knees are killing me from the new Jillian workout.  Frankly, I could use a nap.  There is no support in my house either.  My sweet husband came home eating cake and telling me ‘you picked the wrong time to diet’.  All I can say is ‘thanks for your support’.  This is why mom’s and wife’s don’t take care of themselves.

FBD – Hot Points

While reading the Flat Belly Diet (FBD) I began learning some new things.  Which is great!  And I was touching base with some old information like:

 

• The belly measurement (waist) is the most important measurement
• Calories to burn 1 pound or gain = 3500

If you read my blog at all you know that I am big on the Body Mass Index (BMI).  So it was no surprise when this diet book discussed the BMI.  They even provided a basic calculation for those that may wish to calculate their BMI :

• Your weight in pounds x 703
• Result divided by your height in inches
• again Result divided by your height in inches

A quick calculation here brings tears to my eyes with a 28.662 BMI. 

Thankfully, they did mention that this is just aguestimate.  We are all different.  This calculation does not allow for my muscle mass and other physical characteristics. 

BMI – should be between 19 – 25 for a female.

The good news is that exercise is not forbidden in the plan.  Believe it or not, I thought it could be since the title proclaims “not a single crunch required”.  I would totally go crazy without some physical activity.  I would surely not lose weight either.  Evidently, they believe that with too many changes people may give up.  They are promoting small changes that will provide results.

I love small changes!

The first 4 days are to remove Belly Bloat and was I surprised by what I discovered.  There is a quick list of questions to see if you are Prone to Belly Bloat.  Basically you are adding points for things you do that cause belly bloat, like drinking coffee and chewing gum.  This almost crashed the whole diet before I began.  I am addicted to both.  My score was like 73, based on how many times i chew gum a week and drink coffee, yep I have a problem.  Then I had 5 points to withdraw from things like I don’t drink carbonated beverages and now that I am healthier I don’t suffer from sleep apnea. 

Over all my end score was 68.  Get this, that puts me in the 10+ score board.  Making me a perfect candidate for the Belly Bloat Jumpstart and the Flat Belly Diet.

Flat Belly Diet

You better sit down.  Just do it, I’m pretty sure this is going to be an unbelievable post.

A while back I was told Prevention Magazine was looking for people to try out their Flat Belly Diet.  You know those people you see in the magazine with the Before and After pictures.  If your like me, you spend most of your time looking at the pictures.  Trying to assess if the picture is computer manipulated or even if it is the same person. 

WE are an untrusting group.

I was so excited when the email came in from Prevention that let me know I was going to be one of the people in the trial.   How cool is that!  This email came with a list of things to do:

1. Set up Flat Belly Diet Blog - this is on the Prevention Site and separate from my blog.  Why?  I’m not sure.  I guess it is just easier for them to control and monitor progress.  Plus, it enables their online readers to stay informed. Done!
2. Read the brief blogging guidelines printed below – This is basic here – no profanity, regular updates, use pictures (something I need a lot of practice at) and talk about yourself and your progress, emotions and hunger – not your dog, kids or spouse. Done!
3. Send us a “before” photo (a profile shot of you that we can use to compare later!) – I almost bowed out here.  OMGosh!  Don’t they know I hate pictures?  I am not photogenic – at all!  Then I realized, I may be the honest person, someone needs to know these people are real.  So, last night I grabbed my camera and took a photo of myself in tight fitting clothes, in front of a closet door.  I thought that was a good way to assess my progress, no blank wall.  Hows my derrier fitting in the 6 panel door? Done!
4. Create a Facebook page – Okay, I’m almost 40.  No I do not have one.  I’m struggling in the Facebook world.  Holy cow!  I don’t even know what this page is for.  I have no idea how to get you to my page. Done!
5. Create a Twitter Account – Okay, did that as well.  Talk about a site that makes you feel alone in the world.  The only comment I have received is a Spam one, from what I can tell.  I keep logging in, but have no idea what to do here.  Done!

The book arrived yesterday, give me a few days to read and then stay tuned for my updates. I may not succeed or I may soar like an eagle (a light one). Either way, you can expect my honest assessment of this system. Plus pictures (yuck).

Here is something to cry about

After a long holiday weekend without exercise, less the 5K on Thanksgiving, I think a cold tear drop rolled down my cheek as the numbers popped up on my scale.  I saw the big 170.8 pounds.  Yes, 4 days of no exercise does matter.  I had company and work filling up my complete schedule and did nothing but sit on my hindquarters.

I quickly put on my work-out clothes and did the 30 Day Shred with Jillian Michaels on my new Digital T.V.  Boy Oh Boy was it hard again.  I completed the work-out, grabbed my water and jumped on the treadmill afterwards.  A full hour of working out was needed both physically and mentally. 

After a 300 calorie workout on the treadmill, I headed for the shower and that crappy scale of mine. 

You see, I generally weigh myself after working out, never before.  Thus, why you only see one reading above.  I never even scanned the other numbers. 

Here is what my scale read: (don’t look if you can’t take disappointment)

• Weight 167.0 lbs
• BMI – 24.7%
• Water % – 52.9%
• Bone Mass – 6.4 lbs
• DCI – 3045
• Metabolic Age – 25

No trainer and the scale just keeps going up and up.  If I hit 25% BMI……….

Just think, Christmas is coming.  Cookies, Fudge, sitting on my rump due to a big huge jam packed schedule. 

Could I be setting myself up to see all my progress melting away?