My Journey: Positive Outlook For 2013

MandyH

MandyH

0
I’m new here and figured it would be a good idea to start a log of my progress. For starters, here’s a little background info on me. I’m 32 years old and measure 5’. Long story short, I was recently diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and sjorgen’s syndrome. I had decided last year when my problems began to make some lifestyle changes, which I did, but nowhere near as many as I should have. The biggest change I made was giving up soda. I was a huge soda junkie. I was drinking 4-5 cans a day, mostly at night right before bedtime. I started walking in the spring of 2012 as well, but once summer rolled around it got too hot for me so I stopped and never restarted on a regular basis and to add to that I was back on soda! Today, I’m doing much better with soda. As of last week I also started walking on a treadmill. Initially I was doing about 2-2.5mph for 30-45 minutes. I’ve already worked my way up to doing 3mph on a 3.5% incline for one full hour, sometimes slightly longer. According to the treadmill this comes out to 400 calories burnt. My goal is to walk 6 nights a week gradually increasing speeds and inclines and eventually I’d like to start jogging. Physically I feel great and I can see that I’m losing weight which is an awesome feeling! I’m very determined to stick with it this time and I’m also excited to see how my body changes as I lose weight. I think 2013 will be my year! :)

Looking at my files, here’s my weight log along with dates.
4/6/10 @ 249lb
5/4/10 @ 250lb
3/5/12 @ 246lb
4/13/12 @ 235lb
1/15/13 @ 222lb
1/29/13 @ 222lb
2/11/13 @ 220lb

As for goals, I’m not sure if this is a bad thing or not, but I don’t have any specific goal. I just want to lose weight and get healthier. Any weight loss is a success for me.
 
So Thursday wasn't a very good day for food intake. I had a couple of small sized homemade blueberry muffins to start. If my cookbook is right, they're roughly 241 calories each (found out after I ate them). For lunch I had a frozen Smart Ones dinner at 300 calories. Snacktime in the afternoon came and I had a small Slim Jim (40 or 60 calories can't remember). For dinner I ended up having two homemade tacos that were probably about 400 calories each. So my food intake was over 1600 calories. I wasn't able to burn any of it off on the treadmilll because of a blister on the bottom of my foot. I did however do my grocery shopping Thursday night so I got in a little bit of walking, but it was at a leisurely pace.

Yesterday was a bit better! I started with a couple of small homemade cranberry muffins (241 calories each). Lunch I had another frozen Smart Ones dinner at 270 calories. For snacks I had a small can of pineapple at 140 calories. Dinner I had chicken and a few french fries which came out to about 480 calories. This ended up being a total of 1372. I was able to get on the treadmill yesterday for just over an hour. I walked at 3mph at a 3.5% incline for most of the time. I did a few really short bursts of jogging at 3.5mph. The treadmill said I burned 402 calories. Given my current weight, I'm thinking I burnt more than that.

Today will be a challenge. It's much easier for me to eat when I'm at home than it is at work, but so far so good. I'll be getting on the treadmill again this afternoon for another hour too. :)
 
Best workout on the treadmill yet. Stayed within 3-3.3mph for just over an hour. Mostly at a 3% incline, but I did increase it all the way up to 6% for short bursts. Also did about 5 minutes of jogging (not all at once). Total outcome according to the treadmill calculator is that I burned 450calories. :)
 
Thanks Don! I'm very determined to keep it up this time. I need to. It's that simple.

Today was a very good day. Started out with some oatmeal, then had a can of pineapple, lunch was a Smart Ones dinner, afternoon snack I cheated and gave in for a bag of Skittles, for supper I had a delicious salad with a small amount of salad dressing.

As for my workout, I did a great job on the treadmill if I do say so myself. I walked at 3mph the whole time (with just a few minutes at 3.2mph), but I had my incline set to 3%. Every 3 minutes I'd change the incline to 6% for 2 minutes. End result was another 450 calories burned! :)
 
Great job with the treadmill! It sounds like you're really seeing results. How're you feeling? More energy?
 
Hi Cory, yes I do feel like I'm getting more energy. Before I'd sit and think for about 15 minutes about getting up to do something. Now I just get up an do it. LOL I can also feel that I'm slowly getting more endurance while on the treadmill. It's a great feeling. :)

Today is my day of rest, but I really want to get on that treadmill again. It's weird. Yesterday I did the same routine as Wed. I walked at 3mph at a 3% incline and did a total of 12 minutes at 6%. Burned another 450 calories. My goal is to get to do 5 minutes at the 6% incline so it ends up being a half hour total. I'm getting there. :)
 
So yesterday was my rest day so I didn't do anything. Today was supposed to be my next treadmill day, but I had to put it off. Long story short, my dog was sick earlier this week which kind of threw a wrench in my week. She's doing much better now thankfully.

I've been weighing myself every morning before getting ready for work and my weight has been getting lower and lower every day. Monday I weighed in at the 217.8lb in my signature. Tuesday was the same. Wednesday was 216.8lb. Yesterday was 215.6lb and today was 215.4lb. I still have a long way to go, but I know it won't happen overnight so any drop is reason for me to celebrate!

I'm looking forward to tomorrow. Back on the treadmill. Going to try to get to 550-600 calories burned for the next couple of days to at least make a little dent in what I missed yesterday. :)
 
It sounds like you've definitely got the ball rolling! Keep it up. I also took a day off my exercise regimen... after 11 straight days I wanted a break. I think we need to include them in our regimen to allow for recovery.
 
Truth is I'm kind of afraid to take days off. The longer I sit idle, the more likely it is I won't want to start up again! I know it's good to take a day off, so I'm definitely planning to take at least one day a week off, but it's on a day when I do my groceries so I'm still doing something. :)

I had a good day today. I burned 500 calories on the treadmill by walking at 3mph on a 4% incline with about 25 minutes at a 7% incline. It took me just over an hour to get to the 500 calorie mark. I wanted to keep going, but my legs were beat. I was recently diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis so I have to be careful not to do more damage.

Eating was ok today. I had a lot of errands to run today and was so tempted to stop at one of the thousands of fast food restuarants that I passed, but I fought the urge and won. I did not stop. I still caved in and had a Little Debbie Swiss Roll today, but made up for the calories, by not eating anything else that wasn't good for me. I also fought the urge to get a second helping of scalloped potatoes. AND, I found a new low calorie snack. Rice Cakes! They're actually pretty good! :)
 
I don't know what got into me today, but I was done my workout before noon. LOL Another 462 calories burned. I wanted to keep going, but again my legs were starting to hurt so I had to stop.

For breakfast I had a strawberry cereal grain bar with a glass of orange juice. I'm sitting down for lunch now. A spicy filet chicken sandwich with light ranch dressing and tomato. For dinner I'm having ham, pineapple, and a little bit of mashed potato. Hoping I'll be staying full for the day so I won't be snacking. Worst case, my snacking will be limited to rice cakes or sugar free jello. :)
 
I'm new to weight loss so I'm really confused about my weight this morning. Yesterday morning I weighed in at 115.8lb. This morning I weighed in at 116.8lb. How is it possible to put on a pound in one day? I did not eat that much. In fact I did really good with my food. I also burned 462 calories on the treadmill yesterday morning. Is this just water weight or something?
 
Don't let it get you down. I'm 99% sure it's water weight. Water weight can make you gain or lose a few pounds very suddenly. It's not fat and is caused by your body retaining some water. It can be fixed with some exercise (sweating). That's why I don't weigh myself every day. You can drive yourself nuts because of fluctuations in water weight that ultimately don't mean a whole lot.
 
I don't mind weighing in every morning just to get a feel for what's happening. My weight has been going up and down by ounces, but today it jumped to a pound! I kind of figured it was just water weight. :)

I had a not so good day today for eating. I had a couple of things of junk food (bag of skittles, 1 snack sized Reese's cup, and a cheese and cracker handi snack). I did however have a fresh garden salad with a little bit of italian dressing so hopefully that struck some kind of balance. I also did 500 calories on the treadmill so I did burn off the junk food. Tomorrow, I'm gonna have to start really fighting those urges again!
 
Today was a great day for eating. I stayed within my range of calories even with having one snack sized hershey bar. I'm trying to cut all sweets out, but I'm happy with cutting back for now. I've cut it down drastically!

I decided to take the day off of the treadmill today to do some strengthening exercises. I did some lunges which killed my legs. My thighs burned! I barely broke a sweat, but I feel like I did nothing to burn calories. I decided to try the treadmill, but didn't get 2 minutes in before my legs felt like they were going to buckle.

I know I need to do some strengthening exercises, but I'm kind of in panic mode (not literally) that I won't burn any calories when I do them. Should I do the treadmill and then do the strengthening exercises or should it be one or the other?
 
Hi Mandy! Sorry, it looks like I missed a couple of posts.

First, great job on the good eating you've been doing. As far as cutting the sweets.... I don't want to suggest I know all the answers, because I definitely don't. But in my case, if my DESIRE is to cut all sweets, then the best way to do it is to simply do it. Tapering off (without having a plan to follow) just leads to me continually putting off the inevitable. But if my desire to simply restrict the intake of sweets to a certain amount, then I make THAT happen... make a plan, then do it.

As far as the lunges/cardio, I *think* that you are comparing strength building with cardiovascular building. You need and want to do both. Whether you alternate the two within the same day or alternate days of cardio and strength (Monday is one, Tuesday the other), the important things is that you are getting both at some point. Someone wiser will hopefully chime in here if I'm wrong.

I do both... sometimes in the same day, sometimes I switch type from day to day.

Also, the other day you mentioned being a little put-off by the weight swing (upwards in this case) from one day to the next. I've read many times before that within a day, an average person's weight can swing several pounds. That could be from water weight, differing bowel movements, types of foods you've eaten, etc. I weigh myself everyday at the same time of day and at the same point in my daily routine. I *want* to see a drop, but the REAL result I'm looking for is a positive, significant reduction in weight over a span of time... sometimes I'm looking at a few days, but usually I look at 5-7 days as my indicator. Looking at your overall results, it looks like you are doing things right... stay the course.
 
Mandy, it is important to do both cardio and strengthening. Cardio is good for burning a lot of calories really quickly, but building up muscles means that when you aren't exercising you're muscles need more energy and your resting metabolic rate is likely to rise. I tend to alternate days between cardio and strengthening, but many people do it differently.
 
Don - I think you're right about the sweets. I gave up soda so I should be able to give up the rest of the sweets with a little will power right? Today I did just that! No chocolate, no cakes, no sweets! I actually had a great day food wise. Had oatmeal for breakfast, a big salad for lunch, I just had a handful of pretzels, and for dinner I'm having steak and some noodles. The dinner is "big" calorie wise which is why I ate so lightly throughout the day.

I have read more about weight fluctuations which set my mind at ease. I can feel my clothes are getting looser and looser which is an amazing feeling! I think I may get a tape measure and use that measure my progress along with my weigh ins. Today I weighed in at 215.6lb! :)

Cory - I'm definitely going to do both cardio and strenthening. Today I REALLY pushed myself on the treadmill and burned 600 calories (again, according to my treadmill) in an hour and 18 minutes. I went 3mph and kept changing the incline getting as high as 7.5 for 5 minute stretches. Tomorrow's my rest day so I won't be walking, but I'm thinking I'll still do the strengthening exercises on everything, but my legs. My legs get a good workout on the treadmill so I want to give them a bit of a break.
 
So Thursday was my rest day and I have to say I kind of enjoyed it. I still did my groceries and some cleaning around the house so I wasn't completely in rest, but I knew my body needed a break. Especially my legs. I feel so much better now.

Yesterday I was back at it on the treadmill. I did just over an hour and burned 500 calories by walking at 3mph at a 4% incline doing a total of approx 30 minutes at a 7% incline. I have to say that in the beginning when I first started on the treadmill I was a clock watcher. I knew I was bettering myself, but I'm not one enjoyed being hot or sweaty. Now, I watch the clock just to know when I need to change the incline %. Being hot and sweaty is starting to feel good now that I can really see it paying off. :)

Today I'm might do things a bit differently. Instead of doing the treadmill I think I may just bring my three dogs on individual walks. It's still winter here so it's too cold for them to be out for long periods of time, but today feels like spring! It's beautiful! I've mapped out a few routes so each one will go a different way and it'll come out to about 3 miles total. I know I won't be going as fast or as hard on the treadmill, but I'll still be burning some calories and there are a few decent sized hills I'll need to climb too. It'll be a good change of pace for me and my dogs will enjoy being out too.

I weighed myself this morning. I'm down to 213.6lb. I can't believe how close I am to breaking 200lb. Months ago that wasn't even a reality to me. :)
 
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