My Journey: Positive Outlook For 2013

Don't feel too bad about slipping. Everyone slips sometimes. I slipped most of last week (spring break), but at least managed not to gain. So long as you overall come out ahead, the occasional slip is ok. Great job with the Tae Bo!
 
I like the "leaving money at home" trick to fight off the vending machines!

SO many variables affecting water retention and these darned daily fluctuations... you're good. You have a plan, you're executing it. Things will go your way.
 
Cory, that's how I see it too. As much as I'd love to not slip every now and then, it's bound to happen. I've forgiven myself. :)

Don, oddly enought I didn't have any urge at all for sweets today.

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I did really well with my food intake today. I had my strawberries and cool whip and oatmeal for breakfast/late breakfast today. A little later I had a serving size of mixed nuts (cashews, macadamia, and almond) and for lunch I had my garden salad as described yesterday. This afternoon snack was half a bag of microwave popcorn and an apple. Dinner's in the oven now (chicken breast) with some white rice (I know brown is healthier, but I wanted white today). Trying not to snack tonight again. If I do, it'll be something light and small. I also drank 4.5 16.9oz bottles of water so far.

For exercise, I decided to mix things up today. I did a little bit of snow shoveling (we just got about a foot last night.. yuk!) and then I ran around the yard and played with my dogs. When I was done with that I hopped on the treadmill for half hour and burned 425 calories. Not a bad day! :)
 
The scale was a little bit nicer to me this morning. I weighed in at 212.2lb. I can feel that I'm losing weight, but I wish the scale would reflect it too. I really want to break 200lb. That's my mini goal for now. Hopefully soon!
 
I'm glad you haven't let your slip up discourage you. That's how a lot of people give up. :]

Sounds like yesterday went much better!
 
Thanks Cory, I have absolutely no interest in giving up. I know things will change. I just need to keep working for it, that's all.

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Ugh... I'm having one of those days where everything is bothering me. People are talking too loudly, I'm getting too many phone calls, I'm not wanting to be here at work dealing with people, thinking waaaaaaay to much about stuff I have no control over and can't change. I don't know why I'm feeling this way, but I am. :(

My food intake has been good today (strawberries w/cool whip, strawberries & cream oatmeal, garden salad w/grilled chicken, and I did cheat and have (2) bite sized Reese's cups). Tonight will be a very light dinner and I'm going to do TaeBo this afternoon too. Hopefully it'll help me get some frustration out.
 
So apparently, I just really needed to workout today. I did my hour's worth of Tae Bo and burned 976 calories according to my hrm watch! I thought I was doing good with it today, but I was very surprised to see THAT number!! When I was done, the dogs and I played in the snow for an hour. I feel much better now. :)
 
Good morning everyone! I hope you all have a great Thursday.

My day got off to a rather depressing sight. The scale showed 213lb. Again, I know I can't rely solely on the scale and I know that it's going to fluctuate with water retention and everything, but I really don't understand how it is that I'm not seeing better numbers. I know I've cheated with food a few times, but it was nothing drastic and I've been busting my butt doing tae bo and the treadmill. It just makes no sense to me that the scale is not reflecting all of my hard work. Maybe I'm over exercising and not consuming enough calories? I'm afraid to not exercise this much though because I don't want to start gaining or become dormant again. Ugh! I just want to break 200lb. That was my secret mini goal for the end of this month. Looks like that's not going to happen. :(
 
Bummer about the scale, Mandy. When the weigh-ins don't go as planned, I really want there to be an obvious answer, like I ate pizza or got 2nds of potatoes, but sometimes, we are just at the whimsy of our stupid bodies... which we have spent anywhere from a few years to a few decades training by eating poorly.

One thing I've come to realize is that for me it's just not as easy as counting calories... at least not for losing weight in the short term. I watch what I eat, how much I eat, when I eat, and in what combination I eat foods. For me, protein is fine... unless I eat it later in the day or eat too much; slightly higher sodium meals can be OK, IF they're early enough in the day that I can drink enough water to balance everything out with loads of water; some simple carbs (or higher glycemic index foods) are fine IF I'm about to do something strenuous that'll burn up the calories quickly.

I don't know, maybe I'm full of it... but this is the thinking I use day to day.

Hang in there, Mandy. You're doing great!
 
Thanks for the input Don. It makes sense. For me, my heaviest meal is dinner. I get up at 5:30am as it is to get ready for work so it's really not possible for me to get up any earlier than that to workout and make a big breakfast. I figured starting my day with fruit and oatmeal would be a good start. Lunch has consistantly been a fresh garden salad with pieces of grilled chicken. Dinner is the issue, if you want to call it an issue. I get home from work at about 5:30pm. By the time I say hi to the dogs and feed them, it's 6pm. Then I exercise for an hour, shower, and then by 7:30-8pm I'm finally sitting down for dinner. I usually turn in for the night at 10-10:30pm. Throughout the day I'm trying to drink at least 67oz of water (which is in the form of (4) 16.9oz bottles). The exception to these times is on weekends of course and Wednesday's because I'm out of work at 1:30pm every Wed. I just don't know what, if any, changes I can reasonably make in my routine to try to mix it up. I guess maybe try to find even lighter foods to eat at night? I don't know. I just hope I am losing fat and gaining muscle. Hopefully the fat will continue dropping. I'll get a better feel for what's happening on Monday when I measure myself again. Hoping to see smaller numbers there.
 
Again, what I think about being healthy is probably inaccurate (or at least flawed) but looking at what you just described, I think you hit the nail on the head. In my case, I would be trying really hard to make the time between dinner and bed greater and/or make my dinner a lighter/greener one (light in slow-to-digest proteins and easy-to-convert carbs) that my body will easily process overnight.

Your schedule makes it much harder to accomplish an eating style like mine, but anything might help.

I do like your night time workout. I do mine at night because I think it helps me bump my metabolism before I settle down for the night, which I think helps me burn more calories overnight. I usually do my workout at 9-10, hit the sack around midnight, and wake around 6am.... I'm old, so I don't need that much sleep. :)

There are so many people on here who have forgotten more information than I'll likely ever know, so I hope one of them will chime in and give their 2-cents, too.
 
Just when you're feeling rather blah about things something nice happens. A coworker just made a comment about me losing weight. Nobody where I work knows how hard I'm working to lose weight so it was unexpected for him to say something. He was the first to notice. Maybe it is getting more noticeable to others and just not me since I see it every day. Brightened my spirits a bit. :)
 
Hi Mandy, sorry I've been MIA for a little while, I have to get back into posting daily. I just got caught up, your attitude rocks! I can't explain my weight up and down, now up again, doing really well with staying on plan and going to the gym daily...just don't know, I like reading your journal because no matter what you keep such a positive attitude! Thanks for that!
 
Woohoo, Mandy! Someone else noticed...that is so incredible!!! :) I am so happy for you and the progress you've made. Clearly it is showing!!
 
Thanks guys! It definitely brightened my day yesterday hearing someone noticed. It's been a rough week for me emotionally for some reason so it was just a nice thing to hear.

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So this morning's weigh in was interesting to say the least. Usually I have to get on the scale 4 or 5 times to get 3 identical numbers. This morning it was all over the place. I don't even know how many times I got on and off, it was a lot! I weighed in as low as 210.8lb and up to 213lb even. It hit on 210.8lb and 212.4lb the most so I'm somewhere in that range. I'm putting 212.4lb on my spreadsheet since I'd rather over estimate than to under estimate. We'll see how it looks tomorrow.

Today's game plan is a bit different from what I've been doing. On Friday mornings some of us at work order breakfast. I haven't ordered in a while so I think I'm going to this morning. I'm thinking of some eggs over easy with some potatoes and toast. I have no idea how many calories this is since the restaurant we order from doesn't have a nutrition guide, but I'm sure it'll be up there so I'll be eating lightly the rest of the day, including dinner. I'm also going to do Tae bo tonight.

I just joined the WLF challenge last night which is set to start tomorrow. I'm pretty excited about it! A little extra motivation is a great thing so I'm hoping it'll be of more help for me and for all of you who are joining. To mark the ocassion, I decided to create a ticker for my signature last night. I'll update it again tomorrow since that's when the challenge starts and then I'll update it weekly. I'm undecided if I want to continue weighing in daily for my own spreadsheet or if I want to wait and do weekly weigh ins instead. Something to think about. :)

Hope you all have a great Friday! :)
 
MandyH said:
Usually I have to get on the scale 4 or 5 times to get 3 identical numbers. This morning it was all over the place. I don't even know how many times I got on and off, it was a lot! I weighed in as low as 210.8lb and up to 213lb even. It hit on 210.8lb and 212.4lb the most so I'm somewhere in that range. I'm putting 212.4lb on my spreadsheet since I'd rather over estimate than to under estimate. We'll see how it looks tomorrow.
Click to expand...

You and I are SO much alike in our processing and thinking... :)
 
Just for kicks I jumped on the scale tonight and again it was all over the place. It seems weird that I've never had a problem like this before. Is it possible to forget how to properly weigh oneself? LOL I'll get back on it in the morning and we'll see what happens.

I did my Tae bo tonight and burned 917 calories. My food intake was pretty good. I had my breakfast as I mentioned earlier. Early afternoon I had a granny smith apple and a couple hours later I had some pineapple. For dinner after tae bo I had a 4oz serving of steak and some egg noodles with a little bit of butter. The dinner itself should've only been roughly 450 calories, but I know pasta's not the best choice. I was in the mood for it though. So I made it... and I ate it... and it was good! :)
 
Great job with the fruit. I LOVE fruit. And I think it's fine you ate pasta. Can't keep yourself from the things you love all the time! :]
 
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