she's a maniac

Thats what I was thinking as I started my cardio regimine today. I did 20 min on the eliptical BACKWARDS, because 40min forward is way too easy at this point. So that equalled about a mile and a half. Then, I ran a mile and a half, non-stop. I started running again three days ago, and holy crap it was hard. The eliptical has been my only cardio since I started Planted Fitness in November, and now it's a breeze. So getting back onto the treadmill is very important. I jiggle way more on the treadmill tho, a bit higher impact than the gliding of the eliptical. But it's okay. Everytime my foot hits the floor and I shake a little, I think that it's helping my fat burn faster since it's getting a little extra movement, haha.

I have a friend at work who trained a Olymic weight lifter. He's kinda my trainer-from-afar. Since I'm just focusing on cardio (some light weights, mainly in my ab/hip area) I don't really need a personal trainer right there with me. But he's the one who told me to switch directions on the eliptical. He also wants me running 2.5miles a day, since I can do 2mi straight. But it just wasn't happening for me today...the backwards killed me.

Like I said, I started running again three days ago, and it's really been hard. I'm trying to figure out how best to diet, and the first two days of the workout change, it wasn't working for me. I had migranes all day at work, and I was cranky. When I got home, I ate way too much, and pretty much voided any calories burned earlier in the day.

Today, however, I feel much better. Trev brought home some bananas, and I had that as my breakfast. I'm about to have another and one of my Optima shakes. I'm keeping the calories pretty minimal right now because I know we're going to Chili's later tonight. I've also had a bottle of water with me where-ever I go, which is nice. When I'm hungry, I just have a big swig of water. My biggest issue is staying hydrated at work. Since we get so busy, I never really have a chance to drink anything, and when I do, it's a short sip and back to work. This isn't the manager's fault, they encourage us to drink whenever we can. It's just I don't want anyone to jump on my tables while I'm hydrating. I've got today and tomorrow off to figure out how I want to balance this dieting, and then on Sunday try it out at work. If I'm getting migranes again, I'll have to edit it again.

A friend recommended a good dieting cookbook called "Cooking Light." It has a ton of recipes, and each one has all the nutritional information at the bottom of the page. I knew my mom was sending me a cookbook to give to Trevor, and turns out that's the one. He made me meatloaf last night, but realized at the end of the meal that I'm going to eat whatever he makes me, so he should probably be making more nutritious meals. It's good for him too. He's not getting crazy like I am about weight loss, but he is concious about it as well.

Tomorrow's my big day, see how much a week did for me. I'll take whatever the number is with a grain of salt, since this week has kinda been figuring out what works best for me. I figure I need to lose 5-7lbs a month to reach my goal, and I don't think that's too hard to do.

Thanks again for everyone's support, and I'll talk to you tomorrow.

edit: tomorrow's saturday. Sunday is my day for checking in. My weekends are Friday/Saturday versus Saturday/Sunday, so I get all messed up :)

the dreaded scale

Obviously, unlike most women, I'm not afraid to say what my actual weight is. I've come to terms with the fact that it's higher than other girls my size, because of my muscle. So, I'm not afraid to put a scale on here. Over in the corner is a scale I manipulated in photoshop. Every week when I do my "official" weigh in ("official" because my daily or more-than-daily trips to the scale are only superficial) I'll let you guy know, of course, and then that little red dial will start moving left. Downward ho!

here fishy fishy

Dinner tonight was salmon and asparagus. (okay, and garlic bread). But the fact that I ate salmon, all on my own, is incredible. Not a huge fish person. We also bought some lean chicken to have in the house. I'm so lucky my boyfriend is so supportive of me losing weight and getting healthy...he even bought me personalized Nikes for Christmas! They're pink and black (he designed them) and they say Strongrl on them. That's a different story, but yeah. He's very good with keeping me on track. I'll need that when I'm starving, lol.

No weight measurement, I'm tryin to do it weekly.

198.0lbs

It felt like I ate SO much yesterday, but now in retrospect, I guess it wasn't all that much...

For breakfast:
1 SlimFast Optima shake - 180cal

For lunch:
We went to Sweet Tomatoes and I had a plate of salad (with just vinegar dress), half a cup of pea soup, some veggies and rice, and then of course a little bit of vanilla ice cream. I love that place, doesn't hurt that I work there, huh?

For dinner:
Another Optima shake, then probably a cup of leftover spagetti....then about three hours later I had a small bowl of cereal. I was up late.

Sooooo I guess that's not the massive amount of calories I figured it was. More of that "Six Small Meals A Day" thing, I guess. Or four. Whatever. I'm glad to see that even after my lame day at the gym yesterday, I'm still down two pounds!

Just 48 to go, hah.

oowie

So, this morning was kind of a bust...15min into my 40 on the eliptical, my ankle started hurting, a nasty sharp pain. Sooo I went and did some ab work, but kinda wasn't worth it. So we'll see how I feel later. I might just scoot over to the gym in my neighborhood and get my cardio finished.

new year, new me

Cheesy, huh? But it's true. This whole past year has been a transformation of myself, on the inside atleast, and I finally feel capable of taking on this weight loss that I've been half-heartedly attempting for the past couple years.

I went from a size 18 to a 14 (almost 12) during my 05 season with Cascades, and it was incredible. I've fluctuated to almost a 16, back to a 14, but really made no progress. Two months ago, I hit 200 after my boyfriend moved back home, and I was really happy. In November I signed up for Planet Fitness and proceeded in losing a mere 5lbs, but got back to my 14(almost 12) size. The free tanning didn't hurt in looking better. However, I went back home for Christmas and gained back those 5 lbs.

So, now I'm one of those lameos who say weight-loss is their New Year's resolution. However, mine is more of a lifetime resolution. I used to HATE going to the gym, and dieting, only because my mom forced it upon me. She's one of those fad-dieters who eats grapefruits and cabbage soup (even did a stint with the molasses and cayenne pepper diet). Either way, she's been a size 4-6 my whole life, while Junior year of high school, I was a big fat 20. Now I think my size was a rebellion of sorts, since I was mostly a good kid.

I've found, however, that I LOVE the gym now. Planet Fitness is everybody's gym, no overly oiled lugs grunting all over the place, or anorexic bitches puking off the side of their stationary bike. (which, I guess would make them bulemic bitches. either way. none of those.) There's no classes, but I never liked those anyway. Just cardio equipment and weights. Lovely.

Those elipical machines are the best. My favorite thing is the calorie counter, where it tells me how much I've burned during the work out. I used to do 30 minutes, and be stoked about burning 300 calories. Today, 40 minutes (with only ESPN on the TVs, makes the workout seem longer) and I broke my calorie record. A whopping 508 calories! In 40 minutes! I felt great.

Now, I just need to get my appetite in check. I bought those new Optima SlimFast shakes, which I'm particularly fond of. I tend to forget breakfast, and when it's time for lunch, I eat a salad AND chili AND macaroni and cheese AND steamed veggies. Then snack at home, and then boyfriend cooks me wonderful dinners that I always have seconds on. I have bought HydroxyCut, which I utilize lazily, but that's not a long term option. Kinda makes me jittery.

So, as it says above, I want to lose 50lbs by my birthday, September 28th. I'll be 20 then, a milestone into adulthood, as I will officially be out of my teens. I don't have any goals for my pants size, really, because it's hard to judge. I'm 200 at the moment, wearing a size 14. But I also used to weight 210 wearing a 20. So if I'm able to lose a quarter of my weight, and get down to 150, I'll be a very happy girl, no matter the size.

Please, check back for updates. I appreciate the support.