Cory's Quest for a Healthier Life

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Thanks guys. It actually turned out really well. Apparently on the same day I adopted her there were some people who had some by to see her, but I just got there first. When I told the SPCA that I was bringing her back, they call those people and she was readopted before I even got back in my car.

This week has been pretty good, with the exception of yesterday. I had planned to eat bean soup that I made in the crock pot, but I put way too much in there and didn't turn it up high enough. Because I use dried beans, this meant that by the time I got home at 6:30 and was ready to eat the beans were still kind of crunchy. Sooooo I wound up ordering way too much Italian take out. Oh well. Usually Sunday is my cheat day. I'll just make yesterday the cheat day and eat better on Sunday.

I'm hoping I can start spending a little more time here again over the next couple days. I realized I haven't been consistent here basically since I got sick and I've really missed it here. A lot of that has had to do with being really busy. We recently switched to a 9/80 schedule at work, which means most days I'm working 9 hours instead of 8 and you'd be surprised how much difference that extra hour at the end of the day makes. I think I'm finally getting used to it though and can maybe start reincorporating some thing into my schedule. Pretty sure I'll be able to catch up on other diaries later. I'm going to have A LOT of work done on my car later, which will probably mean 3 hours of me sitting in their waiting room.
 
Great result with the rescue dog Cory. Glad you have had a good week. It would take a while to adjust to 9 hour days, but the extra days off would be good. Here's to another good week, cheers, xo Cate.
 
This is a good day guys. My last lowest weight was 242 lbs. Today I weighed in at 239.4. This is officially new territory by a pretty wide margin. I'm starting to feel excited again in a way I haven't since the last time I was hitting lowest weights. I remember making my way through the 250s and then the 240s and how accomplished I felt. That feeling has been absent the last few months and I think it's because I was basically redoing work I'd already done. I can't believe I'm 9 lbs away from the 220s. I honestly couldn't tell you the last time I was that weight.
 
I am so happy to be back here. It has been quite some time since my last post, but not by my own choice. For some reason, I couldn't log into my account for the longest time. Every now and then I would check and today was the first day I could do it in months! Now I need to catch up on everyone's diaries. For those wondering, I'm at a new all time low of 227. I hope everyone else has been successful in my absence.
 
Thanks guys!

So, my last post was short. I thought I'd take this one to give a short summary of what I've been up to for the last 8 months or so. I'm sure you guys remember me talking about the zumba place that I had been going to. How great it was and the sense of community I got there, which was really important to me since I had basically just moved here at this point. Well, it closed in September. I'll be honest, it was pretty devastating for me. I know that sounds silly, but this place was pretty much where I had been spending all my time since I moved up here. I made my first new friends there. It was easy to stay motivated to exercise and eat right because it was such a positive place. I know I wasn't the only one feeling devastated either. It was a pretty hard blow to everyone who went there.

After that I dicked around for three months or so. I walked and tried to eat right, but it was a struggle. I didn't really lost anything, but didn't really gain anything either. At the end of November I joined a new gym for the zumba classes. It's ok. Not as great as the last place, but I still have fun and some of the people from my old place joined there too and I've made some more new friends there. Beginning of December I also decided I wanted to try and compete in Highland Games this summer, so I started powerlifting. I actually joined a second gym to do this because the place I do zumba is essentially a glorified Planet Fitness and doesn't like that kind of lifting. For anyone who has mostly only been doing cardio, I highly recommend you start lifting. I've noticed so much of a difference in the way I feel physically and my performance in other areas.

So, I've been at the new zumba gym for about three and a half months, the powerlifting place for about three months, and actually just recently joined another place that focuses more on instructional dance classes. Yes, I have now become one of those assholes who has three different gym memberships. I really want to learn to dance for real though. I love zumba, but I've been doing it for the last four or five years and I think I'm ready to spend some time learning some new stuff. I've also incorporated a yoga class on the weekends. I'd like to be able to do it more often, but I just don't have time with everything else.

The food side of things has been a little bit more of a struggle for me lately. I've lost 10 lbs in the last 3 months, but it probably should have been closer to 15 or 20 if I were eating the way I was supposed to. Lunch is the problem. My work makes good food in their cafeteria. I bring lunch with me, but then lunchtime comes and I decide I don't want it and go down to buy something. It's always more food than I need and it's expensive to boot. This last week I was a little better about it, but it's become a habit that I need to break.

Ok, so speaking in more recent terms, yesterday was kind of a train wreck. I skipped my dance class, which doesn't bother me so much. It's the first rest day I've had in about 3 weeks. I think it's ok that I took the night off. The food was the problem. TOM game to visit and he said that I needed a cupcake and a doughnut and a mini calzone for lunch and tacos for dinner. I wound up around maintenance, so I won't gain anything, but I won't lose anything either. I'm hoping today goes better. I have lifting this morning, zumba tonight, and I'm planning on only eating one meal. I really want to go to the Indian buffet. I can generally accommodate that and still be under as long as I make it my only food for the day. Sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn't. I think I'll be ok today though. Hope everyone else's day is going well.
 
Hey Cory - nice to see you back honey :D TOM always demands treats, don't worry too much. Hope you enjoy the Indian Buffet tonight!
 
-Cory- said:
I have now become one of those assholes who has three different gym memberships.
Click to expand...
Do you have more gym membership tags on your keychain than supermarket discount cards? That's good that you're not settling on a gym since you do seem to have a few fitness interests/goals right now.

What a fantastic goal to want to compete in the Highland games! Maybe you can combine caber tossing with ballroom techniques?

RE: your cafeteria. Can you just not have a way to pay at your desk? Leave your CCs in the car, not carry cash? I find the vending machines a lot less tempting when I have no cash.
 
Awesome that you're back AND that you've done so well while you were away! If your bad day is maintenence then you are doing great.

Keep at it!
 
I love that you have thrown yourself into different exercises with such gusto Cory. Go you! I'm glad you have continued to make new friends. Losing 10 lbs in the last year is excellent. You must be getting so fit. Lifting does make you feel so good. I must make myself get back into it.
 
Little John said:
Do you have more gym membership tags on your keychain than supermarket discount cards? That's good that you're not settling on a gym since you do seem to have a few fitness interests/goals right now.

What a fantastic goal to want to compete in the Highland games! Maybe you can combine caber tossing with ballroom techniques?

RE: your cafeteria. Can you just not have a way to pay at your desk? Leave your CCs in the car, not carry cash? I find the vending machines a lot less tempting when I have no cash.
Click to expand...

I haven't actually gotten to train specifically for the games yet. They days during the week are too short. By the time I get done with work it's dark outside and it seems like it has rained every weekend for the last month. I was originally planning to compete in a games the first week of March, but I think I'm going to have to push it more to May or June just because I have no idea what I'm doing and really need a chance to train for the events.

In regard to the cafeteria, I've actually started leaving my wallet in my car. This usually works unless I'm really determined. Like, I only ate in the cafeteria once or twice last week where as the week before I ate in there almost every day.
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The Indian buffet was great yesterday and I managed not to snack in the evening so I feel pretty good about it. Lifting was kind of mediocre. I hit my goals, but didn't surpass them like I have been doing. I was having some pain in my IT band, so pretty much just squatted the minimum reps per my program and left it at that. Zumba was a bit better. I was just really feeling it last night, probably because the class was taught by one of my favorite instructors from the place I used to go to. She had talked about trying to do a regular Friday class, which would have been awesome, but I don't think she could get things worked out with the gym she was at.

Feeling good about today. Going to another zumba class in about an hour and then I really want to take a walk later, since the temperature is oddly nice for February. I'd like to train for the Highland Games, but it rained yesterday and the only place I have to train is a big mud pit. Hopefully it'll dry out some today and I could get some time in tomorrow.

Here's my planned food for the day:
Breakfast - overnight oats and pineapple - 439 calories
Lunch - roast beef sandwich with au jus and a pickle - 487 calories
Dinner - chicken stroganoff with roasted mixed vegetables - 685 calories
Total - 1611

I'm hoping to burn around 800 between zumba and walking today, so that would put my deficit somewhere around 1400. I'll probably check in later to update how did with my food today.
 
You sound so positive Cory & I love hearing about your exercise. The move has done you the world of good xo
 
Cate, I actually used to be this positive where I was (see my MUCH earlier journal posts). Grad school was rough though and I can admit that by the time I moved, I was ready for a change.

Quick update for the night. I wound up adding some grapes and ate more asparagus than I intended. Finishing up at 1751. I'm ok with that just because of how much I did today.
 
Hi Cory, nice to see you back and even better to see you´re doing so well! A possibility I´ve considered for my work lunches is to bring a tupper thingy and put half the portion (minus the veggies because there are never enough vegetables for two portions) away before I even start eating, then eating the second half for dinner with some extra veg. It works for me when I go out to eat, so I think I could do it with lunches as well. Saves money and calories. (The reason I haven´t actually put that plan into action is that every time I´m about to one of my colleagues feels sick after eating the lunch they serve us...)
 
@cate: Asparagus is one of those things that I can eat an ungodly amount of. I actually cooked enough with the intention of eating half for lunch today...........that did not happen. It was all gone last night.

@LaMa: I've considered that, but part of the problem is that it's rarely food that keeps well. It's like....BBQ sandwiches or tacos. Stuff with a high likelihood of getting soggy. :[
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Ok, I am exhausted today. I woke up with the intention of doing yoga and then lifting. I got to my zumba gym to do the yoga (they also offer yoga classes) and found out they were doing a trial Bollywood X class right after. Think like the Indian version of zumba. I decided to stay and try it on a whim.........but that means that I did yoga AND Bollywood AND lifted today. Might have overdone it a little. Right now I'm trying to make my poor dead self get off the couch and do some chores or take a walk.

Food has been good today:
Breakfast - overnight oats and grapes - 480 calories
Lunch - French dip sandwich with pickles and carrot sticks - 512 calories
Dinner - bacon and eggs with mixed vegetables - 474 calories
Snack - pineapple - 115 calories
Total - 1581 calories

Myfitnesspal says that my deficit is 1819, but I have a hard time believing that the exercise I did burned that many calories.
 
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