Belinda's WL Diary

Hi Belinda, been MIA for a bit, but have time to get caught up on everyone's diaries tonight. You've been doing an amazing job with all that walking and sounds like it's working well for you. Great job! I hope by adding those weights it'll give you even bigger and better results. I hope you're enjoying having some more you time now that your daughter is back in school. :)
 
When is too much just...too much?!?

I've been stressed this past week and it's been tough finding motivation to keep waking up at five in the morning to get on the bike or get ready for a walk. It's been in the 90s here the past week and the only comfortable time to get outside is the early mornings. I'm ready for fall weather, dammit!!

So, I finally broke down to my husband and told him I was just too stressed. I can't find time to do everything (keeping the house clean, keeping the yard and car neat, taking care of myself and our daughter, exercising, "me" time) and redoing the house. One wall in our living room is painted right now and has been for a couple weeks simply because I'm busy doing everything else. I am exhausted. It's gotten the point where I just want to sell the house so we can live in something more manageable for me; we're not having anymore kids, so we have no need for a house this big. So I hope that talk with him will have him willing to compromise and hire a couple of contractors to at least help with the paint for now; maybe one room at a time (we still have the kitchen and dining rooms, bathroom, laundry room, and the rest of the living room with a couple of closets left).

We're going to Cincinnati this weekend, so hopefully this small break from everything will calm me down a bit and get me back on task. Sometimes you just have to push everything aside and take a breather before jumping back in.
 
So we're in Cincinnati. The hotel has a "workout room" (a few treadmills, a couple ellipticals, one stationary bike, one weight bench and a bunch of dumbbells). The hubby and kid went swimming while I did 40 minutes on the treadmill. I'm pretty amazed with myself and that's why I'm posting. Any time I've been on a treadmill, or walk outside, I always do a fast-paced walk (no jogging and certainly no running) of about 3-3.2 MPH. I have bad ankles; they crack and pop something fierce, especially when climbing stairs. Since I was the only one in the room, I decided to see if I could actually jog. Lo and behold, I did! About 10 minutes of the 40-minute workout was jogging at 4 MPH. I anticipate walking a lot today and tomorrow, otherwise I would have spent a full hour in there. But I've impressed myself and now realize jogging isn't as bad as I thought it was. I also made sure to pack some Osteo Biflex--it's really been helping me out with my knees and ankles.

I go to the doctor this coming week. It's supposed to be a follow-up for my migraines, but I haven't had one in forever and stopped taking Topomax about four or five months ago on my own. Last time I was there I weighed 197. I've dropped at least 20lbs since then. I plan on asking about how noisy my ankles are and if the OB is good enough or if it's something to be concerned about. I'm hoping it's just noisy joints.
 
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Yay, the weight scale is finally budging: 173.6 this morning! 21.4 pounds down from starting back in March.

Some things I've changed: starting to jog during my walking routine, eating less for dinner and more for lunch.

The hubby and I are discussing buying a treadmill as our Christmas present to each other. We had one before, but sold it because we just had no desire to use it. Now that we've lost 60 lbs between each other and we're being more active, we're confident we'd use one more often than ever. Using one is actually easy for us now. The stationary bike was a good way to get started and work our way up to jogging, but it's going to be retired (aka sold) and the switch to walking/jogging made permanent. We're still going to keep the Bowflex, though, because I'm afraid the same thing will happen like what happened with the old treadmill--we just don't use it right now, but what if we lose even more weight and want to start to tone up but we sold the Bowflex after all?

Saw my doctor yesterday and he hooked me up with something to help me sleep and something to level out my mood. I've gone through a vicious cycle of waking up at 5 AM, taking a mid-day nap because I'm so useless, and then not being able to sleep well at night. Last night I still tossed and turned several times, but it was in a semi-conscious state--not fully awake and went right back to sleep. Better than before, but I'm still not getting a truly restful sleep. Good thing is I don't feel drowsy this morning after taking the medicine.

So we're renovating the house and during this process I've toyed with the idea of cleaning out the 'catchall' room on the main floor and putting the exercise equipment in there instead of having it in the living room (our living room is rectangular so it's against one wall and out of the way; still not aesthetically pleasing, though).
 
Wow Belinda it sounds like things are going well with the weight loss! I haven't posted on your CIA before but just dipped in and thought I'd have a read :)

Jogging is literally a mental game - I used to think I can't jog for more that 10 mins...then one day I pushed it to 12...then 20... And it was like my body just got into a rhythm and could keep going...slowly but forever. Even now, after gaining some weight and not being in training, I know I could walk out the door and jog for 5km - I'd be sore afterwards and go slow but I KNOW I am capably of doing it. Once you have that belief in your mind, it's like the first 12 mins kill, but then your body obeys!!

Treadmills are useful for convenience but honestly, nothing beats a pair of earphones and running outside - there's so much to look at and far more interesting than tv!!!

Good luck to you and your hubby - sounds great that you are on this weight loss journey together!


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Some changes I'll be trying out this week:
-Whey Isolate shake mixed with 1% milk in the mornings instead of a quick SlimFast
-Incorporating a mid-morning snack of some kind of fruit
-Steadily increasing my jogging time
-Switching to a regular multivitamin for the week vs OAD Women's with Metabolism Support

With jogging worked into my routine now and the scale moving again I want to make sure I'm not losing muscle mass in the process. I do get some protein in my diet, but the switch to the protein shake will give me 38g in the morning vs the 10g I was getting before at just 40 calories more.
 
Omega, I'm trying to get more protein in than what I normally would. I've tried the greek yogurt and I can't really stomach it. When we went to Hawaii, Chris's boss did say it's sort of an acquired taste. I just haven't acquired it yet, apparently :( I do have at least one cup of light Activia yogurt each day which has 4g of protein. However, I've been looking around and found Dannon makes a greek Activia yogurt which has 3x the amount of protein as the light version. I may try that out instead, maybe I can tolerate that instead.

Since drastically changing my diet, I've found I've really dropped the amount of milk I drink. I used to drink it with every meal, but in the last week I've only had one serving and that was this morning with my protein shake. I was getting at least 32g of protein a day just from drinking milk. Obviously I've woken up and realized I need to get that protein somewhere if I'm not eating like I used to.
 
Hi Belinda - try different brands and flavors of Greek Yogurt. I like the Chobani fat free strawberry, myself. Also might consider a second protein shake in the afternoon? I often do one for a pre-commute snack so I'm not acting completely like a landfill bear when I get home - ill-tempered and eating everything that's in sight!
 
Little John, I'm a fan of strawberry flavored yogurt, too! I've tried Chobani, Dannon, and (plain) Fage greek yogurt and they all have this...I don't know...texture? to them that just doesn't sit well with me. (I know Dannon isn't 'true' greek yogurt; they supplement with corn starch to get the right texture.) The second shake in the afternoon sounds like a good idea if I can't brink myself to eat greek yogurt on a regular basis.
 
Its a shame that the Greek yoghurt isnt right for you - I got a real taste for it when we lived in Greece...

I am convinced that a decent amount of protein really helps.
Some of my friends swear by protein powders - but they wouldnt suit me.
 
Thanks for that article, Omega. I've been looking for ways to combat daytime fatigue. I was looking into Advocare's Spark drink mix, but I'm going to give a protein-jump a try. That article had some suggestions (like the apples and peanut butter) that I wouldn't have even thought of. Hopefully it works for me :) I'll be sure to update after a week of trying with how it goes.
 
Weight Loss Week

172.4 this morning and all I can say is "It's about damn time". This week is going to be one of those where I drop five pounds, hover around 170 for three or four weeks, and then finally drop five more. This trend is enough to drive me up the friggin' wall.

Yesterday I had a regular protein shake mixed with 1% milk for breakfast. A large banana and cup of Activia yogurt for morning snack. A protein smoothie with 1% milk, strawberries, banana, and a squirt of chocolate syrup for lunch. And a bowl of homemade veggie soup for dinner. Just from the shakes alone I had 76g of protein. The veggie soup did have chunks of meat, so there was more protein but no way of measuring it.

I did get tired yesterday :( Ended up taking about an hour nap somewhere around 3 PM. But I said I would give the increased protein a try and it has only been a day. Maybe today will be better.

EDIT: Double proud of myself, not only for the weight loss, but I actually jogged 4 MPH for 15 minutes straight during this morning's workout. That's over twice the duration I've reached so far.

Also, did a regular protein shake this morning with 1% milk. I went shopping after my workout and picked up some greek Activia yogurt to add to my afternoon smoothie. One container of that has over 3x the amount of protein that I was getting from Activia light. I grabbed up some orange juice as well; with the cold weather months right around the corner, I know the extra vitamin C will help keep me on my feet and that means more walking.
 
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Trucking on along with 171.9 this morning :D

My hips are hurting a bit this morning, especially the left one. I'll be getting a break from jogging/walking this morning--my daughter has a doctor's appointment in an hour and thus missed pre-k this morning. Hopefully that will give some of my joints a reasonable rest. I ended up taking a nap again yesterday :( so I've switched taking my Celexa to night, like my doctor said I could if it was making me drowsy. I'm going to try that out along with keeping up the two protein shakes daily.

In other news, we're going to be painting the last wall in the living room :D I'm really excited about this; I was really hoping to get the walls painted before Saryna's birthday in mid-December. At this rate we're averaging at least one to two walls a week with the trim work, cutting in, and rolling. Next year's project is flooring, so if we get the walls finished by December then we can work on getting the flooring replaced the following month--which is good because we've gotten paint EVERYWHERE.
 
Nice weigh-in Belinda! I like the new hairstyle/avatar too. Sorry about your hip. Hopefully the rest helps.
 
Thanks for stopping by, Quercus :) I pretty much laid around all day save for doing cutting in on two small closets, then I was stepping up and down on a ladder constantly (didn't fit well in the closets so there was constant readjustment to reach spots). My hips are feeling better than this morning with no OTC pain meds, but I'll still be going back to the wellness center tomorrow morning.
 
171.1 this morning. Not bad at all considering I had a pretty much lazy day yesterday. I went to the wellness center this morning and was able to jog for 16 minutes straight at 4 MPH. Of course, this was overshadowed by Chris being able to jog the full 30 minutes at 4.5 MPH -_-' *sigh* On a positive note, my living room is completely painted :party:

EDIT: Crap, I was so excited about my living room I forgot to mention: I was looking through my Fitbit app this morning and ran across my BMI. I can now officially say I'm overweight and no longer obese :party:
 
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Came in at 172.1 yesterday morning, but I'm back down to 171.1 this morning :)

I haven't been feeling too hot the past week. It's that time of year and my sinuses are giving me hell: nose can't decide if it was to be stuffy or runny, sore throat from the drainage, sinus congestion. Usually I can put up with it and it'll be completely gone in about 2 weeks. Not this time. It's gotten so bad that my ears started popping, so I went to the clinic. Turns out all that draining is building up fluid on my ears. Good thing it was caught early because the doctor said it could have turned into a double ear infection. So now I'm on crash course of antibiotics and a steriod to clear up the sinus infection and get rid of the fluid on my ears.

I'm looking forward to getting back to jogging tomorrow. Because it's the weekend, my daughter is home all day and it's not too easy to jog with a stroller. So we've been doing a lot of walking in the meantime.

Also, I bought a Fitbit Flex to help track my sleep and find out what helps me get a more restful night and what doesn't. Friday night I woke up ten times. Last night, twelve times. The longest I stayed asleep both nights was two hours. Makes me wish I'd started tracking it before I started the meds my doctor put me on, just to see how bad it was before.
 
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