CDCC Check In

The scale and I don't agree this morning;

Current Weight: 210.8 lbs (+0.6 lbs)

You see it says I've gained weight. I don't feel that way. I feel like I've lost, or have toned a bit. In other words I feel great and the scale can say whatever it wants today and I'll tell it it's got it wrong.

...However, eventually the scale has to start seeing it in my direction and I have to do a little jig to convince it.

What can I possibly do this week to make it see reason? Well I can train for the 5k I'm running next weekend. I can watch what I eat and maybe finally start calorie counting again since winging it doesn't seem to be working very well. I can make sure I drink enough water. Do you think the scale will change it's mind? We'll see.


Personification aside as I mentioned in my  last post I was doing pretty well this past week. I was able to hike, jog and enjoy some beautiful scenery.

One of the beautiful views from my hikes this weekend. The trail starts a few hundred yards from my bedroom.

I've also been paying closer attention to my food in take and so I haven't felt shitty these last few days. I do, however need to start calorie counting again since just watching what I eat doesn't seem to be enough.

My water in take has been ok. I'd say about 4 out of the last 6 days it's been fine.

I wasn't able to do my part as a support system last week. I need to spend some time and give some blogs some lovin' this week.

As for reading I decided it's finally time I opened up The Spark again. I brought it from home to read it and started reading some historical fiction instead (which still allowed me some insight on food consumption although not necessarily what I need to learn for my own issues) and this time I actually want to try the Spark challenge more literally. I remember that they had things like make a collage or jot down your fitness minutes etc, which I didn't really do the first time. I want to try it this time.

 Overall, although last week was much better than the last couple of weeks combined I can't continue on this path of weight gain, especially with the holidays literally around the corner. I need to get more serious. Honestly, it frustrates me to see how much I'm slacking. I'm supposed to be stronger than this right?

So this week "Get your act together Elina" is in effect. My plan is to simply refuse to eat at the dinning hall (their food is just all wrong for me) and prepare my own meals instead. I will re-start calorie counting and jogging every day this week. Out of all of them the jogging is what I dread. Although I know I can do it and I know I feel great after I'm done it continues to be a chore for me to get up and put on my running shoes.

Luckily the 5k I registered for is just around the corner so I CAN'T slack even if I wanted to. It'll be great.

I will do this!

In order to make sure I do it though I will do a daily update this week up 'til race day on Saturday 11/05/11.

Wish me luck!

-w0rld

Hiking in the San Jacinto Mts/I signed up for a 5k!

Hello everyone,

It's been so busy all week and before I knew it it was the weekend and my weigh in/CDCC check in is tomorrow.

I wanted to update before checking in simply saying that this week has been better.

The week started off mediocre on food in take, water and lack of exercise but around Wednesday/Thursday I finally started to get my act together and started paying more attention to my food and tried to make time for some form of physical activity. It helped that, depending on the schedule, my job sometimes requires hikes and running around. Working with 5th and 6th graders can do that to you.

It really started Thursday night, after a minor mental breakdown (probably had to do with hormones or being a girl, I'm not sure) and complaining for weeks that I didn't want to jog at night because it's been so cold I finally bit my lip, put on some layers and my headlamp and did a quick jog around the camp. A total of 14 minutes makes me believe that I probably ran around 1 mile. It wasn't much but it was the push that I needed.

Yesterday was a big day. I ran around with kids in the morning, went hiking with co-workers in the afternoon, went jogging with a buddy in the evening (it was so nice of him to keep pace with me although I knew how slow my pace must have been for that running fiend.) and not only that but that night we went to karaoke and I probably danced for 2 hours straight. (What can I say, Michael Jackson and old classics do that to me. LOL)

What hiking around my "backyard" looks like. Gorgeous neh?

My co-workers and I are supposed to be training for a 5k and I finally registered! It's official now, I'm running on my first race next weekend!

It's pretty awesome because this race is benefiting the Boys and Girls Club that actually started the Science Camp that I currently work for. It'll be a great opportunity to support the club as well as represent the camp, not to mention I get to finally fulfill my goal of running in a 5k! If you can't tell I'm VERY excited~ LOL

Today I went hiking again, trying out different trails from the ones my co-workers and I did last night. It was nice to move around and get acquainted with the trails, partly because I need to know them when I lead hikes for work but also because it's just damn gorgeous and I can't get enough of it.

I'll check in tomorrow with my Weigh In and more specifics on how things in the challenge are going.

Until next time!

<3 w0rld

Weigh In

Aaaah an old fashioned weigh in. It's been forever since I've done one of these since I started posting my weight and my goals in my Christmas Dress Countdown Challenge updates.

But since I missed weighing in I thought it would be nice to do a quick Weigh In today.

Current Weight: 210.2 (+ 1.8 lbs from last week)

Seeing as I expected my weight to be somewhere in the 2-teens I'm a little relieved that it wasn't TOO much of a gain. Either way a gain is a gain and I really need to get on that.

Work Out Achievement(s): The only real work out I did was Friday morning, when I finally got a chance to jog a loop around my new neighborhood and complete a 5k WITHOUT an mp3 player. I'm planning on signing up for a 5k (finally!) for November and I know they don't allow you to wear headphones, so I wanted to train that way. --- It also helps that my mp3 refuses to turn on sometimes. LOL

So I did a 5k in 45 minutes. Now I have to work on the time. Other than that, cold mornings, work and a convention kept me busy and a way from exercise (<---- horrible excuse!)

Goals: This weekend I actually had the luck to talk to a woman who knows a TON of resources for people interested in adjusting their eating lifestyle and gave me a lot of information. My goal this week, besides train for the 5k is to start researching this new information and try again on a new diet plan. 

I'll do another quick post later this week to talk about the juicing fiasco.

Morning outside of SFO and the bay. Lovely~

love

-w0rld

CDCC Check In

I just got back from an epic weekend outside of San Francisco, where I traditionally go to attend an anime convention with friends. It's awesome because it's sometimes the only time I get to see some people and it's a fun way to fan girl, and geek out with people who understand what the hell you're talking about.

Sadly because of that I just got back a second ago and didn't get a chance to weigh myself this morning so I'm guessing (due to my lack of exercise and excessive pastry eating) that --

Current Weight: 2-teens.. I wouldn't be surprised that I've gained weight. I can kind of feel it.

My water intake has been awesome. So much so that I had to pee every five minutes during the convention and it got really annoying.

I started reading another historical comic book about an inside look at Northern Korea from a Canadian animator who lived there for two months around 2005. Again I know it doesn't seem like it has anything to do with weight loss. But it opened my eyes further about how the U.S. is run compared to other countries and how our relationship to food can be so different from other cultures. It makes me a little ashamed at the amount of food we waste when there are other countries that have to ration out their food and etc.. Not to say that North Korea's methods are any better than ours but I did see that there are differences and how food really is a type of socializing tool and how different people use it for different advantages.

I finished my juice fast on Tuesday, one day early than the week I promised myself and honestly I had been cheating all week so I can't really say I was doing that great to begin with. This weekend I also had to deal with the fact that the only immediate food source was a small Starbucks inside the hotel I was staying in and that didn't help at all. The drinks themselves are a million calories and a pastry is double that. I'm scared to look at the scale tomorrow morning.. but I will.

Exercise was also lacking last week. I have been trying to catch up and learn new techniques for work, and also the weather in the morning has been getting colder and colder; so long story short I hardly did any jogging until Friday morning.

On Friday morning, before I got on a plane to San Francisco. I finally got off my ass and ran 3.1 miles in 45 minutes. Not my best time but pretty good considering that I was doing it outside a treadmill without an mp3 player. I have to start training up for a 5k I promised myself I'd sign up for for November. That'll be exciting.

This morning I also talked to two different people who are doing a Paleo lifestyle and I asked more about them. One older woman gave me a lot of links and material to look up and suggested a lot of books as well. I'm excited to look them up this week seeing as Paleo has been something I've been interested in for months now.

I'm sorry this post is super late. I'll update again tomorrow.

Until we meet again,

-w0rld

CDCC Check In

I admit I'm having trouble with the juice fast. I can't seem to commit to sticking with juice and pretty much I've been eating something every day. Usually I end up eating an apple as a snack between juice meals. Or a banana. etc.

It seems to help the urges and hunger; although the juice itself usually fills me up fine. It just doesn't satisfy that urge to chew! LOL.

I didn't think it was that big of a deal until yesterday. Yesterday some family from Mexico came to visit and through some delays we didn't get a chance to eat anything until 2pm. I. was. starving. (Well not literally.) We went to brunch and I wasn't sure what to order. I decided to ask for a soup. It came with a salad. So I ordered a salad. It also came with a muffin, so I ordered a muffin.

I ended up eating two servings of soup, the entire salad and the whole muffin. Not only that but when I got back to the mountains one of my co-workers made a carrot cake from scratch. Carrot cake is my favorite cake in the world and I admit I ate some. Too much really.

I told myself I'd go back to juicing the following day. And I have so far. But that slip really showed this morning.

Current Weight: 208.4 (+0.8 lbs since last week)

Aaaarrrggh! I didn't want to believe it. But there it is. I GAINED this week.

I'm relieved it wasn't too bad but I was still hoping for a loss. I'll have to do better this week. I have to.

On to the rest of the CDCC challenge:

Water in take: I did fantastic (I mean a juice fast. C'mon people it's all about liquids.)

Work Outs: I also did pretty well. I hiked two days in a row. Jogged two miles the next couple of days and somewhere in there my co-workers and I did some nice stretches, abs, and arm workouts. It worked so well I'm still a little sore two days later.

Book: I actually got engrossed in reading Maus, which is a comic about how a survivor of the Holocaust tells the story of his time during the war to his comic artist son.


Now I know this doesn't have much to do with weight loss but in reality it really got me thinking about the idea of wasting resources; including food, and living life to the fullest. Not to mention the awe I had about how this man used his resources and cleverness, as well as his people skills to survive. It's really a life lesson for me and believe it or not I really think I learned something from it.

I'm going to be going back to the Spark this week to help me stay on track and tackle this juice fast once again.

Support: I'm proud to say that earlier this week I finally had a good chance to go through many of my fellow bloggers posts and spread some love. The support I receive has been amazing and I wanted to make sure I returned the favor.

I'm going to San Francisco next weekend and I had hoped to be closer to my goal weight. Obviously that's been a huge struggle and I'm not going to make it but I'm hoping that I'll get closer to ONEderland once again.

Wish me luck and I hope everyones week went great!

-w0rld

Quick Update: Juice Fast Day 1

Yesterday I started my juice fast. The day before I went out and bought a TON of produce to use for the juicer. I felt bad because I ended up using a large space in the fridge. Thankfully we have 2 refrigerators.


I'm shocked to see how much food you use just to make 16 oz of juice. The concoctions I've created so far have been good, and last night I was fine. Today is day two. I'm feeling the effects today.

I have low energy and I just want to go to sleep. It's also been interesting being around my co-workers during meal hours. Watching them eat while I'm drinking a brown looking concoction is a little odd. But not as hard as I thought it would be.

It's the energy zap that's taxing me. I also know that a couple of people I work with aren't exactly thrilled with my decision and I have no desire (or energy HA) to defend myself. I don't plan to either. They seem to respect my choices anyway. So I'll take advantage of that.

In reality it isn't that bad. I'm just adjusting.

Wish me luck! And have a great up coming weekend!!

-w0rld

CDCC Check In/ A new challenge.

Hello Everyone,

It's Sunday evening here in the mountains and I finally got a chance to sit down and do my Xmas Dress Countdown Challenge Update.

Current Weight: 207.6 lbs (-0.6 lbs) This is a rough number from when I checked my weight on Friday and when I checked my weight this morning with my moms non-digital scale.

I'm actually pretty happy with this small loss seeing as I spent the entire of last week trying to breathe and stay dry. Last weekend I got this whinny cold and the weather had been rainy. Finally on Friday I was able to breathe much better and the weather got nicer but I still had a small cough and an old hooker smokers croaky voice. LOL

I went home on the weekend and I actually spent most of Saturday out shopping with my mom and my grandma so I didn't have much of a chance to stay home and pig out. My calorie counting has been horrendous but it's been somewhere in the 1800-1900's. My goal is to keep my calorie in take around 1400-1600 so I need to work on that.

Actually one of the things my mom and I ended up buying this weekend was a juicer!

A while back a blogger commented about a film they saw that inspired them. I looked it up and found it in Netflix. 

It's called "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead." (Btw, if YOU are the blogger who mentioned this film and are reading this now, please let me know. I forgot who it was! And I must thank you!)

A story about a man who goes on a juice only fast while touring the U.S. while battling a skin disease.

I showed the film to my mom a few weeks ago when we were talking about how we needed motivation. When I came back home this weekend my mom had looked up the website and had been looking up juicers because she wants to try the juice challenge herself. I got excited and told her I would try the juice challenge with her. 

Since I'm away from home right now we both 2 juicers and promised that we'd both start on Wednesday. Giving us both time to look up different ingredients for juices and time to go stock up on fruits and vegetables. LOL

I don't think this is a bad thing to do. It's kind of interesting to detox yourself and have a diet of only fruits and vegetables for a while. I don't think this could be a life long change. (I mean think about only drinking juice for the rest of your life. Yikes!) But I don't mind trying something new. More importantly I want to help my mom do something to get healthier. I want to support her and by doing this with her I feel like I'm helping her as much as myself. 

I'll post again soon when I'm ready to start the juice challenge. 

A part from that. I was only able to stretch and do some arm training last week seeing as my super stuffy nose and the weather kept me from doing any cardio. I'm really happy the weather and my health are almost back to normal. I'm itching to get my running shoes on!

When I went home this weekend I picked up my old Spark book. 

It really helped me start and keep with healthy habits last year. Seeing as I'm struggling with that now I'm hoping this book will help me regain some heavily needed focus.

On the upside. My water in take has been AWESOME. Trying to get my nose working I've been drinking tea (breathing in the steam like crazy) and water up the wazoo. One day I counted the cups of tea I had and it was up to 6 in less than 5 hours. Crazy. 

Goal for this week is to go jogging at least three times this week and get some hikes in. I want to practice archery more often now that I know how to use a bow and arrow and that will help my arm strength (pulling a bow string back to your ear is kind of hard!)

More updates with pictures later this week!

Have a great week everyone!

The mother-daughter challenge duo!

love

-w0rld

I've been sick... but getting better

Hello Everyone,

It's been a few days since I've checked in. Sad to say it but since last weekend I've been fighting a cold semi-successfully. Honestly, I seriously think my body has commitment issues because it looked like I was getting a fever but then it calmed down. And then it felt like I was going to get a sore throat but then it went away. Now I have this whinny half-ass cough that sometimes shows up and sometimes doesn't. I mean, cmon body! Either go all out and be over with or go away. Right? Right!

 The only thing that refuses to go away so far is my stuffy nose. My voice has also decided to leave me. Which isn't really helpful when you have to yell at 5th graders all week to stay in line and pay attention. LOL

The weather has also been pretty rainy, cold, and windy. Mixed in with a busy day and a wounded immune system and I haven't been able to work out AT ALL. All week! :(

I'm worried about my weigh in. I'm just hoping that my lack of appetite has kept my calories at bay.

Today is a good day. I feel better and the day is chilly but sunny. Aaah what you pay for living in the beautiful mountains.

I hope this week is going well for you and good luck to all this weekend.

-Elina

CDCC Check In/October Weigh In

My first week of work and my third week of of the Xmas Dress Countdown Challenge is pretty much over and since it looks like I won't get a chance to check in tomorrow I'm checking in tonight.

Luckily today is the first day of October (can you believe it?!) and I weighed myself this morning.

Current Weight: 208.2 lbs (-3.6 lbs from last week and -5.2 lbs since the start of the challenge.)

I'm incredibly pleased at my loss since I haven't been eating the greatest but boy have I been active! I arrived at the Pathfinder Ranch Monday afternoon. Throughout the week I've been shadowing my fellow outdoor educators and on Tuesday and Wednesday I ended up going on hikes with the kids. On Thursday I did my own strength training, mainly stretches and core work, and attempted to rock climb for the first time (Yikes! I need to work on my flexibility and arm strength.) On Friday the entire school ended up going on a big hike to end their week at the Ranch. I got to carry a big bladder of water the whole time and stopped at points throughout the mountain to fill up peoples water bottles. Let's just say over all I've ended up exhausted on more than one night! LOL.

My favorite thing so far was this morning. After a crazy night last night I was able to wake up early enough this morning and went on my first jog in this area. It was sooo beautiful. This place is a ranch community with large acres, horses gorgeous looking cabins and running dogs. The place is surrounded by pine trees and since it rained last night the entire jog smelled like pine. Mmmm. It was bliss. However I didn't take my watch nor do I know how many miles the loop I did was so I'll find out the next time I hit the pavement.

One thing I have been doing FANTASTIC on is my water in take. Not only is hydration necessary, readily available but it is REQUIRED as part of the job. I absolutely love it! I've been able to drink over 64 oz of water a day easily if not more so. I remember reading how to know you're properly hydrated when your pee looks like water with a very light tint of yellow. Maybe this is TMI but let's just say I've been peeing nearly clear. LOL

I've also finally started reading my book. I realized that the reason it's been hard for me to get in to this book is mainly because, although I do think I need to live more and be more assertive in trying to do more for my life (i.e. going out trying to find a better job, going out to actually do the activities in my bucket list etc) in reality I'm pretty pleased with that part of my life right now and feel there are other things I should work on right now. In other words I have other priorities. I need to find a book on emotional eating and actually spend time reading it!

One thing I definitely need to work on is supporting my fellow challengers. I've been so busy adjusting to my new life I haven't had the time to sit, and comment on blogs although I have been reading your entries!

We're doing so great! Thank you all for your support!

I'll talk about my goals for this next week on Monday at my regular Weigh In.

Have a great rest of the weekend!

-w0rld