Study, Study, Study...

Hello everyone!


Yesterday I did not keep detailed track on my calories, nor did I work out.  I actually forgot to log what I ate.  Why?  I have study-brain.

All day long, I have been doing research for my final English paper- which is a 9-11 pager. With note cards. And bibliography cards. And works cited. And more tedious nonsense. Ugh.


Well, I can say that I did not go overboard with food today.  I ate three meals, all sensibly sized, so I am not too worried about it, and no fast food either.


I still have more writing to do today (half length rough draft of this monster due TOMORROW.) so I am not exactly sure IF I will work out. We'll see.

Better Than Expected. Kinda.

Hello everyone!


I am pleased to say that I have successfully made it through one day of my new plan.  I even had fast food today (I was out all morning) but thanks to internet research and the fact that more fast food places actually list the calorie content on their menus now, I was able to make choices for food I both liked and fit into my calorie count.  At least in the daytime.

Breakfast: McDonalds

1 sausage biscuit sandwich - 430 
1 hash brown- 150
Large nonfat, sugar free iced latte- 60

Total for breakfast: 640

Lunch: Taco Bell

3 Crunchy Beef Tacos - 510
Large Diet Coke - 0

Total for Breakfast: 510

Dinner: Home cooked food

2 cups of stir fry vegetables flavored with tamari sauce and a little oil - 100 
1 cup of vegetable soup - 45  
1 scoop of Vanilla Sun Warrior Protein (mixed with water) - 70

Total for dinner: 215

Misc:

1 Tablespoon of Virgin Unrefined Coconut Oil (as a supplement) - 120

Total Calories Consumed: 1485
Calorie goal: 1460

See? Everything went well. Until after my workout and I became the Epic Hunger Monster of Doom.  I partially blame it to my small dinner and evening workout.  I usually become bloody ravenous after I work out, especially as intense as Turbo Jam.

I did my workout about 9 pm, and very soon after, I was starving. Hard. Core. STARVING.  Like I could literally eat the paint off my walls.  So, I headed to Subway.

I got myself a foot long Italian BMT with a ton of veggies on it.  1,180 calories. Holy Shit.  However, due to the intense workout I did and the walking, that just about covered my extra "exercise calories".  According to MyFitnessPal, this means I am still under my calorie limit to lose at least 2 pounds of fat a week. 

Now, on to the subject of exercise:  I did walk for 30 minutes when I was out, and I did Turbo Jam Cardio Party 1. (No abs or sculpt yet)

I have a bunch more Turbo Jams.  I actually have three cardio parties.  The first one, then there's a 2 and 3, and then there's another cardio DVD called Punch, Kick, Jam.

After doing TJ Cardio Party 1, I am going to just stick with the first one for a while, I had to take 2 breaks while doing my best.  There is also an "Ab Jam" which is 20 mins of ab stuff (that they say can be done daily)  that I didn't do yesterday but likely will soon.  There is also a "Turbo Sculpt" workout which is strength training, mostly body weight and with 3-5 lb weights (for women) and 8-10 (for men). 

Since this is all cardio, I am going to be adding in some strength training too.  I am going to use the Turbo Sculpt that came with Turbo Jam on Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays. 

Also, since I am PMSing hard core and it's the weekend, I am going to use this weekend as practice so I can really do good next week with my updated weight and stuff.

Also, I am going to try to work out earlier in the day so all my hunger is reserved for when it needs to  be- DAYTIME!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Changes

Hello everyone!


I decided I will be making some changes.


1.  I will be going back to doing Turbo Jam instead of Turbo Fire for now.  I am really starting to have trouble keeping up now that Turbo Fire is starting to get hard, and I want to be able to make the most of my workouts (keep good form, perform the movements full-out, yada yada).

2.  A friend and I were talking last night that we are both having trouble with our weight, eating habits, and what not.  (This week I have STILL been bad. I'm embarrassed!) I am trying to keep the words "fat pig" "cow" and whatever other negative talk out of my vocabulary (which is quite hard in this case.).  So, she and I are going to be on each other's asses with this.

3. I will be making baby steps to eat better.  Apparently I am too slow-brained to jump into a strict eating plan right away.  So, as discussed with my friend mentioned earlier, I will only be counting calories at this time.  Of course, I will be making sensible food choices whenever possible, but I am not going to count carbs/protein/fat and turning myself into more of a psycho than I already am.  Why just calories?  That is the basic, bare-bones way to lose weight.  Remember the Twinkie diet guy?

The Twinkie Diet guy is actually a professor who ate various junk foods every day (also some vegetables and other food) who lost 27 pounds in 10 weeks. Why?  He made sure he stayed at a certain calorie level every day.  Why did he do this?  To perform a little experiment to see if calorie counting is really the way to go.  And, as he showed, that is a proven way to lose weight. Low carb works too, but I'll get to that in a minute.

4. Why am I not counting carbs and stuff?  I actually do not have any kind of medical condition (diabetes, metabolic syndrome, thyroid problems, etc) that would prevent me from losing weight the old fashioned way.  I just never actually TRIED for very long.  Also, they have done several studies on low carb vs low calorie diets.  Guess what they found?  Even though the low carb dieters sometimes saw an initial big weight loss, in the end, both groups lost pretty much the same amount of weight.  Yep! That's right!  If you think about it, a lot of carbohydrate containing food is high in calories too, because the average person eats way too much of it for their needs.  Another friend of mine lost a pant size and 10 pounds in 3 months eating nothing but junk (pizza, etc) and taking walks at night.  Even I lost a lot of weight eating pizza all the time and keeping within my calorie limit (like 5 years ago) and staying active. 

5. MyFitnessPal has a function where it tells you how many calories you need based on many factors, age/weight/ etc.  It also gives you extra calories you can eat if you work out.  My goal is to use as little of those extra calories as possible. 

So, we're going back to basics because I want to see if I can stick to it when it's as "dumbed-down" as possible. 

Sorry for the long post but I thought I'd update all of you~! 

Have a great day!

Turbo Fire Day 9- Good, Bad, Ugly

Hello everyone.


Yesterday has had 3 parts. Good, Bad, and Ugly.


Let's begin.


Good- I did my 8th day of Turbo Fire! HIIT 20! And at first I didn't go too full-out because I had to learn it.  When the drills were repeated, I did better and better! Woohoo!

Bad- I almost didn't do said workout.  I was STARTING to make excuses in my head again. No no no! 

Ugly-....Well, the short story is I overate. AGAIN. A LOT.  3000+ calories.  I know I am PMSing and stuff but this is really fucking ridiculous, and I decided I have to come clean on here for accountability's sake. These workouts (and my hormones) really make me want to eat a small city out of house and home.   This morning it all started with a Larabar (which are very very good tasting considering these were literally just peanuts and dates) then led to me eating... Brace yourselves- a huge bag of potato chips (WHY?!?!! I have no idea!) and then for dinner- a meal from Burger King.  I felt absolutely horrible about it.  I still kinda do.

I then decided that today, I MUST exercise self control.  There is simply no excuse.  So, we'll try again today.

How do you guys handle new-workout-hunger?

Turbo Fire Day 8

Hello everyone!


What. A. Day.


So, yesterday I was called into downtown Chicago on business (Okay, jury duty. :P ) and I got let out a bit earlier and walked around the city for a while to look around.  (Tiring)  Then I realized I had started my period (TMI but also added to the category of Tiring.)

Then I finally got home and what did I do?

Sleep?

Nope!

I got my Turbo Fire in anyway.  Today was Fire 45- which is new to me.  Hoooooo Boy.  I was so exhausted I had to take a break 10 minutes in, (like a 5 min break) then hopped back in and finished the rest (and the stretch 10) like a BOSS!

Yep. Like a Goddamn BOSS.

I actually feel pretty damn proud that I didn't make excuses (where I totally COULD have!)

I completed a whole week of Turbo Fire...

Hello everyone!


I have completed a full week of Turbo Fire!!! (Yaaaaaaaaaay!)  First, let me get to my workout and then I'll dish on my progress.


Workout yesterday was Core 20 and Stretch 40.  Core 20 uses a resistance  band (which I have) and Stretch 40 uses a Theraband.  Core 20 was actually kinda easier than I expected, but that's probably because I did the modified version of everything just so I could get a feel for what the workout was like. 

Stretch 40 is not just stretch.  There is yoga in it as well and you do sweat.  The beginning is several sun salutations and THEN you stretch with the Theraband. (They call it a lower body band but it's basically a Theraband.)


Ok.  Results time.

9/17/12- 275.1 lb
9/24/12- 272.1 lb.

Three. Fucking. Measly. Pounds.  At least that was my initial thought.  How could I have worked so hard and lost so little?

Dramatization: My reaction.

I then took a look at my MyFitnessPal.  I saw very likely WHY I had lost so little.  Even though I ate pretty good, I was still eating a LOT of calories.  I don't care what people say, calories count to an extent.  There is always too much of a good thing.

Here are my total calories eaten PER DAY this past week.

9/17- 2,508
9/18- 1,783
9/19- 2,575 
9/20- 2,188
9/21- 2,325
9/22- 1,971
9/23- 2,279


See what I mean?  That's a LOT.  Especially if I am trying to LOSE weight.  So, we're going to try something different.

Calorie limit per day this week- Cap it off at 1750. That is 3,379 calories less than I ate last week if I keep it up.  THAT IS ALMOST AN ENTIRE POUND OF FAT WORTH OF CALORIES.  Arrggh!!! Ok, this is a learning experience.  I still lost some, but this was a little lesson. 

I will adjust the calorie level every 10 pounds.  I'm 272.1 now so when I hit approx 260-261, I will recalculate. 

I won't get mad if I have slightly more than 1750 calories one day, etc, but I will try to back down the next day a bit.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!!!  Let's have a better week this time!

Food Journals- Do you do it?

Hello everyone!


Before I blog about yesterday's workout, I want to share a bit about my eating habits and such first.

First of all I cannot stress enough how much writing everything down helps me.

Write it down. Everything.  Even if you weren't proud of it.

Writing stuff down makes me realize how much food I really am eating and allows me to back off or eat more if needed.  Also, I have a little goal set for my carb intake.  I am low carbing, but I am giving myself a little leeway with it.  As a rule of thumb, I set my limit for carbs at 100 grams per day.  Mind you, I am not aiming to eat that many, less is better, but that's the cap for how many (if I end up eating them, etc).

I use MyFitnessPal and it is very helpful.  I am not necessarily counting calories but it's still a good idea not to eat too many of those either, even if you are low-carbing.

How about you guys?  Do you write down your food?