LAST CDCC Check In

I JUST got back from my trip to the Bay Area and I jumped on the scale this morning. The number wasn't too surprising but I was hoping for better.


Current Weight: 214.8 (+2.4 lbs from last week)


So this is the last weigh in of the Challenge was 213.4 lbs which means that at the end of the challenge I actually gained 1.4 lbs. So sad but true.


Now let's look back at the rules to see what happened:


Select a caloric daily limit on which you (and I) can lose weight weekly.


I did NOT follow this AT ALL. I stopped calorie counting early in the game and never truly re-started. I attempted different food diets never finding one that really stuck with me.


Exercise a minimum of 3x a week.


This I had no problems with. I have been able (for the most part) to have some sort of activity at least 3x a week. The consistency of my work outs were varied and my commitments to a specific work out was non existent but to say I've been a couch potato would be lying. Since my weight loss journey started exercise has hardly been the problem.


Hydrate sufficiently.


This I admit was yo-yo. I would hydrate well one week. Hydrate horribly the next. You would think I could keep up with something as simple as drinking water. But looking back.. not so much.


Choose 1 (or more) books and work on your main obstacle-to-losing issue(s)


I was all over the place with this one. I would start a book here, finish a book there and never actually started reading a book and finish it in one go. I did pick up a lot of random information that will help me but never dedicated enough time to one book alone.


And of course the last rule:


Get a smaller sized dress.


Here again is the dress I picked at the beginning of the challenge:

And here it is now

Now a part from looking much more tan (how does that happen in winter months?? Oh yeah I work outside. LOL) and although I still have the bulges showing I actually look a bit more toned. And I'll happily take that. LOL


I AM planning on wearing this dress for the holidays. Once I'll accessorize it with one of my favorite belts it doesn't look that bad. What do you think?

*Ready for the Holidays!*

  
I don't think it looks that bad. *nods* It will do.




So all in all I want to thank everyone that supported me. It was a great challenge and although I fell short I don't regret joining and keeping up with everyone. I will lose the weight. I just have to keep fighting against this yo-yo battle I'm in.


This is also my 2nd year Blog-a-versity. Two years in to w0rld's FAT blog and I'm still going strong. 


I'll make a new entry talking about my blogging anniversary later this week.


Thank you everyone!


-w0rld

CDCC Check In/I'm in the Bay!

Hi Everyone!

So this week I'm going to be bumming it in the Bay Area! I got here last night and had a great time. Woke up this morning and looked at the scale..

Current Weight: 212.4 lbs (+0.8 lbs)

..and wasn't too daunted by the slight gain. Chances are the couple of "treats" I gave myself last week caught up with me. I'm pretty sure this week is going to help get rid of that.

Quick Update:

Exercise: I went on quite a few hikes last week. Four hikes with the kids, one of which was the major hike that took us to the local peak. It took me three days to get over my soreness from my new strength training routine and by the end of the week I ended up doing a less strenuous version of it so as not to pull anything.

Water: 4 out of 7 days. I definitely was not able to drink enough water most of the week but tried to make up for it by drinking tea.

Food: I didn't calorie count this week and it showed on the scale. I finished my last week for this season at work and we had to clear out the fridge for the winter. (The camp starts back up in January so I'm on "winter break") I definitely indulged in some extra food and called it my "duty" to finish my left overs. Was this smart? Absolutely not.

Support: Yes! I was finally able to go to some peoples pages and express my love and support to their blogs! I'm so glad I took the time! People are doing amazing progress.

This week is going to be interesting since I'm going to be couch surfing through out the bay area and (hopefully) walking around a lot. My lack of funds, my encouragement to use the primal form of transportation (that's called walking) and hopefully a trip or two to the trails this week will help get that number on the scale back down.

I arrived in the Bay Area last night and already had a fantastic dinner with friends (mmm Pho), a movie night, a quick flirting session at a starbucks, a twinkling gelato date in downtown Berkeley, and a late night attending a Holiday themed Rocky Horror Picture Show! This is going to be awesome!

One more week challengers! Let's make it count!

love
-w0rld

CDCC Check In

Today I woke up and reluctantly stepped on the scale. The number I got was better than I expected.

Current Weight: 211.6 lbs (-3.2 lbs from the Thanksgiving fiasco)

So not bad! I'm sure restraining myself slightly this week, losing some water weight and etc helped with this loss. I'll keep it!

Of course this number is still horrendous since the Christmas Dress Countdown Challenge ends soon and I haven't moved very far from my 213 lbs start. I still have a couple more check ins and I'm going to hit the ground running to see how much I can improve in the little time I have left. I admit I've been slacking for the last few weeks.

I finally, while gritting teeth fearing what I would see, started calorie counting. I was shocked at the number and yet it made perfect sense. The first night I calorie counted I had consumed over 3,200 calories!! It was amazing what I thought was just " a handful of this" here and "an extra granola bar won't hurt" there came up to!

You would think I would know better by now but alas there was the proof. I continued to count calories for the rest of the week minus yesterday when the internet was down again. Whether I like it or not it just proves that calorie counting really works. Sigh*

I started playing with the numbers this week and seeing how long it will take me now to return to ONEderland with a healthy weight loss. I figured that if I'm able to lose 2 lbs/wk I could be back in the 190's by January 15th.
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I finally picked up my strength training book AND finished reading it. I bought the book this summer and started reading it. However due to whatever excuse I had at the time I didn't finish it and never got to learn the different exercises for my level and therefore, I never started my strength training routine. The book is You Are Your Own Gym by Mark Lauren

It's exactly what I had been looking for at the time; a guide to having my own strength training work outs without the need of a gym since I'm never near enough to civilization to attend a gym regularly. Also most of my exercises (at least the ones that have contributed to my current weight loss) are those that I've done OUTSIDE of a gym.

I finished reading it this week and started the recommended routine for beginners yesterday. The book has an entire section with explanations of different work outs. The pictures help and it also has suggestions on how to "kick it up a notch" when that exercise gets too easy. It's very well explained and is very realistic in it's approach on how targeting a specific area in your body doesn't work, how diet is incredibly important as well and how over training and injuries are dangerous. So far I love it.

One thing though, looking at the picture for One-legged Romanian Dead Lifts you would think they're pretty easy to do. WRONG! Those kicked my a$$ this morning! LOL
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My water intake has been ok. Last night I spent the whole day driving back and forth so I didn't get much of a chance to drink water, seeing as I forgot my water bottle. By the end of the night I felt it and had to wake up in the middle of the night to down glass after glass of water.
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Aside from my new strength training routine I was able to go on a couple of short but steep hikes this week as part of class. I mentioned this hike before in last weeks weigh in. The hike is short and steep but it gives me a great work out. Mainly because I have to beat the kids to the top so I can meet them up there, I have to RUN up the steep trail. So something that would usually take me 20 minutes with a steady-slow climb I have to do in 7 minutes before the kids start climbing. Of course by the time they get up there I've had time to cool down and look calm and collected. LOL "Yeah, no big deal you guys!" LOL.
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I've been absolutely horrible at being a good support system to my fellow challengers! I'm so sorry. Everyone has been so supportive and I haven't had the chance to reply to many peoples wonderful updates but please know that I AM reading them!
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So two more check ins left. Let's do this! I'll take a picture of my dress at the end of the Challenge with a before and after. We'll see!

love
-w0rld

Super Quick CDCC Check In

Hello!

On my way to go to paint ball this morning! Woo! I've never done it before and I'm excited.

Here we go!

Current Weight: unknown!

I don't have access to my scale right now so I'll weigh in tomorrow.. Due to some over eating my guess is a gain. eeek!

Water. 2/7 days were great. I could have done better the rest of the week.

Book: I was home and spent the entire time reading the Hunger Games. Great trilogy. Not much insight in weight loss.

Exercise: I walked with my mom once this week. That was nice. I also danced the night away at least twice this week and that was awesome!

Support: Although a few people got some responses from me I spent a lot of time supporting my friend and my mom so real life support! And it felt amazing!

Ok gotta go.

Love,
-w0rld

CDCC Check In

Happy weekend everyone!

I woke up this morning with a slight surprise from the scale. It's not much but it's more than I expected and I'll take it!

Current Weight: 209.6 lbs (-0.6 lbs)

Seeing as I was feeling bloated and I didn't get much exercise in I was happy to see results even if it wasn't much.

The only exercise I got was working my arms while belay-ing kids up our tower twice this week. I went on a hike once and ... that's about it.

As for water I did ok but I was definitely dehydrated more than 3 times this week. I scrounged through my car this weekend and found my 64 oz water bottle. Perfect timing! That thing is so useful and easy. All I have to do is finish that water bottle.. maybe twice and I'm set for the day.

This week I got a little crafty and I created a small poster with a list of the reasons why I'm on this weight loss journey. I'll take a picture of it this week. I posted it on my wall right across from my front door and right above my desk, so that I can see it every time I walk in to my room. Nice~

I've been looking over The Spark; not really reading it thoroughly but going through it to remind myself of good habits and give myself some motivation.


This morning I got a great treat and I went on a trail ride around the mountains surrounding my current home. This was the second time I got on a horse and I was able to survive and have a great time. Talk about an inner thigh work out! Riding a horse (or in my case a mule. LOL. ) takes some work even if the one exerting most of the energy is the animal. LOL

When I get a chance I'll take a picture of the couple of horses I've been on so far as well as the poster.

I'm going home this week and I will collect my red Christmas Challenge dress and try it on again. I haven't lost much weight but it would be a good reminder of why I'm in this challenge to have the dress with me rather than two hours away where I can forget.


Thank you for all your support. I'll spend some quality blogging time doing my part!

love
-w0rld

Super Late CDCC Check In!

I'm not going to go off about how much I hate my internet right now, but let's just say I really hate my internet right now.

I finally have a window of working wifi so let's do a quick update

Current Weight: 210.2 lbs (+2 lbs)

Yeah, I'm not too happy that the little I lost came back again. I really got an eye opener this weekend and although it seems like I'm not doing much BECAUSE my wifi is gone I've actually been spending time doing some creative crafts I keep mentioning instead of procrastinating on facebook. LOL

Water was ok. I went on crazy hikes this weekend during the conference and I got to sweat (despite it raining all weekend)

My food was horrible. I ate three grilled sandwiches for lunch on Saturday and didn't stop there. In order to work on that I promised myself that I would NOT eat cafeteria food all week this week to see how that works.

I'm scanning the Spark right now for my book to help me create a couple of streaks.

I will take pictures of the cool project I made already .. when I have wifi! Gaahh!

Ok thanks for keeping me in this challenge. It was killing me that I couldn't update on Sunday or yesterday.

We'll meet again soon!

-w0rld

CDCC Check In

Good Morning!

Another week is over and it's time to check in. I had a pretty good week and I'm happy to report that the scale finally decided to agree with me a little bit.

Current Weight: 208.0 (-2.8 lbs from last week)

It helped that last week was pretty eventful at work as well as doing a few runs before the race yesterday morning.

On Tuesday I think, I went for a 2 mile jog in the early morning. I worked on my pace and my breathing. I was happy I went out in the morning before class, since I had been convincing myself I didn't have enough time before classes started to get a jog in. I proved myself wrong that morning.. and it felt great!

The rest of the week I was actually working my arms like crazy because I had two straight days of belay-ing (working the safety rope when students climbed one of our climbing walls--and then lowered them when they got to the top). The week had awesome weather until Friday when it decided to rain. That day was our final all-school hike. We walked 80+ kids up one of our trails with cold weather, biting wind and enough constant precipitation to keep everyone wet and/or soaked. I took refuge with one of my co-workers who, while hiking at an even pace, would start at the end of the line and work his way to the front. Once he got to the front he would hike ahead, stop, wait for the entire line to pass and do it again. He must have hiked up and down that line 12 times. I joined for 5 of those times. In other words I hiked that trail plus 5 in order to keep myself going as well as the kids.

And of course on Saturday I had my first 5k. I will be posting updates on the race in the next entry.

All I'll say for now is that it went fantastic and I really enjoyed it. That I was the last one in my group of co-workers didn't bother me. I went above and beyond what I thought I could and that's what matters.
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For water intake I did pretty well most of the week though I admit a couple of days with my busy schedule, the cold weather and laziness to find my water bottle, left me pretty dehydrated.

I said I would look up the paleo websites someone gave me a couple of weeks ago and I STILL haven't done it. I'm starting to outline a collage I want to make with all my goals in them. I want to have something creative and time consuming that will remind me of why I'm doing this. Last year I was so focused and this year my focus has been off. It's evident in my lack of weight loss all year but I wouldn't say this year has been a waste. On the contrary I've grown a lot and learned a ton about myself, my career and my health.

But we'll get to that.

I want to continue thanking everyone that has been supporting me. The few comments I received on my last, nervous post before the 5k (either here on Blogger or on FB) helped tremendously. I will do my best this week to return the favor to my fellow Challengers.

Thank you!

<3
-w0rld

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

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

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

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

CDCC Check In

Checking in quickly since I have to be out the door in 30 minutes!

I just woke up, excited and hoping to see a nice new lower number on the scale after my intense work outs all this week. I go to the bathroom and find out it's 'that time of the month'. Soon any hope for a loss on the scale left. I hate period gain. Nonetheless here is my number for the week.

Current Weight: 211.8 lbs (-0.2 lbs from last week)

Fluids: I drank well most of the week but I need to keep a better system on my water in take since I drink out of two different water bottles and never know for sure how much water I'm drinking.

Calories: I admit I didn't count at all last week. Something tells me that wasn't such a good idea so I'll start again this week.

Book: I also admit I haven't gotten far with my book. I think I need to start a new book right now. I'm having a hard time getting past the first chapter.

Work outs: This is where I went above and beyond. In the beginning of the week (when I felt bleh) I hadn't done much of anything but by Wednesday I started swimming again. Since I now had a deadline (I found out on Wednesday) since I start work on Monday I told myself I had until then to try making it back to 50 out-and-back laps.

On Wednesday I did 30 laps.
On Thursday I did 40 laps.
On Friday I did 45 laps.
and last night I finished 50 laps... in 65 minutes. Not my best time but seeing as I haven't swam in over 4 months and this pool is longer than the one I was used to I think this number is ok.

I still feel great (if not a little tired) and I already noticed that one of my pants fits just a little better than it did last week so I'm hopeful. I was really hoping for a bigger loss this weigh in but I can't complain.

I'll do a more thorough recount of last week tomorrow at my regular Weigh In. Have a great Sunday!

-w0rld

CDCC Check In

So the first week of the Christmas Dress Countdown Challenge is over and here are the results.

Current Weight: 212.0 lbs (-1.4 lbs from last week)

Seeing as my food in take this week has been terrible. (Over ate most of the week and Really over ate all weekend) I'm ok with the loss this week.

My fluid in take has been ok. Drank enough water at least 4 days out of the week and my return to the gym so far has been a success.

I started reading my book yesterday. I've been having trouble sitting down and taking the time to read when I feel restless that I'm not working to find a job. I can't seem to get comfortable and I start feeling guilty that I'm sitting down "doing nothing" when I should be working my ass off trying to get applications in. I should really organize my time better this week so I can get both things in.

This weekend I was able to go to the county fair with my sister. I don't like carnival rides (and yet I love theme parks) so I wasn't interested in the rides or games. Instead my sister and I walked the entire Fair (our home town fairgrounds are one of the biggest in the state so that's a lot of walking) checking out the attractions, and to me, checking out some eateries. I ended up eating a little bit of:

ice cream
honey
strawberry milk
chocolate and yogurt covered raisins
sample dip
beef jerky
and the actual "meal" we had was none other than a HUGE turkey leg from a roasting pit

Having fun picking at this monster. Yumm.

Although it was fun I honestly feel ashamed at my inability to restrain myself from any food that catches my eye. It's harder than ever right now when there are so many temptations so close at hand. This is the time where I miss living in the middle of nowhere and even if I wanted a donut, driving 30 miles to get one seems ridiculous.

After Wednesday I also slowed down on my exercises so that when I came back late from the fair, tired and  bloated the only thing I could muster to do was to turn on the On Demand cable and do a 10 minute Belly dancing Basics session. 10 minutes of activity, I guessed, was better than nothing at all. It at least helped the icky feeling of bloating subside.

To make up for my food slip ups and lack of exercise this weekend I decided to attempt doing a 5k again last night. I've been going to the gym and trying to beat my time from the previous attempt.

At the beginning of the week I did a 5k in 39 minutes.
Two days later I felt great and I did a 5k in 37 minutes.
Last night I upped the speed and did a 5k in 36minutes 30 seconds.

I almost died. The treadmill I was on had a broken fan and I ended up heating up really quickly. I had already started my jog and once I start I don't stop. I ended up having to wipe the sweat off my face and attempt to drink my water bottle without breaking stride and send myself flying off the treadmill at 5.1 mph. LOL. It probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, but I am very stubborn and by the end of the run I was so in to it that I had already done 3.12 miles before I realized the treadmill was trying to get me to start cooling down. Oops!

So this week, I need to make a schedule. I need to organize my time so that I can get as much time to apply to jobs, babysit, give people rides, go to the gym and read my book-- all while trying to stay away from the fridge and keep my calorie in take in check.

This week wasn't a bad start. It's time to get better, get stricter.

I can do this! You can too!

-w0rld

Weigh In: First Day of CDCC

I weighed myself again this morning and found a slightly happy change:

Current Weight: 212.6 lbs (+4lbs from last week and surprisingly -0.8 lbs from yesterday)

Work Out Achievement(s): So yesterday was my initial post for the Christmas Dress Countdown Challenge (CDCC). Yesterday was the first day of me tracking my calories again and although my goal was 1400 I ended up eating around 1900. Yikes!

However I was happy that last night was my first time back in the gym with a mission. I wanted to finish a 5k in under 40 minutes. I rocked that treadmill and ended up doing a 5k in 39 minutes. Boy let me tell you going back to a treadmill after doing trails was hard. Honestly it was a bit boring. LOL. I have the tendency of fixing my sight on a post or tree or something to run toward and then switch to something else when I got close as a motivator. With a treadmill, you're not going anywhere so it's hard to keep going when my legs were tight or I look down at the monitor and realize I've only done one mile. Either way by the end of it my legs were so in to it I felt like they were still moving after the session was over.

The best part about it was being able to use some machines to work my arms. I admit I missed it. I got a sheet with the class schedules and I'm planning on going to Zumba tonight. I'm very excited!

Goal(s): So far up to a reasonably good start to the CDCC. I have to watch my calorie in take since I was pretty surprised at the amount I ate last night. I also plan on reading my book before going to bed every night so I'll be able to start that soon too. For now I'm keeping my water bottle near me and getting those ounces in. I'm very energetic and I think things are going well so I just hope my mood keeps up!

Christmas Dress Countdown Challenge!

Today is the day!

As I've mentioned before I joined the Christmas Dress Countdown Challenge where I join other fabulous bloggers in a 14 week challenge to lose enough weight to fit in to a dress of our choice by December 18th, in time for the holidays. Today is Day 1.

Current Weight: 213.4 lbs (yes I was shocked that I gained 5 lbs in one week. I feel bloated which might have something to do with it, but there it is.)

Here are the rules.

Select a caloric daily limit on which you (and I) can lose weight weekly.


Seeing as I want to get near the 180's by the end of the challenge, and seeing as I've gained more weight than I expected (and consulting with sparkpeople.com) I am setting a caloric limit of 1400 calories. I know myself and know that if I try to set a caloric limit lower than that I won't be satisfied and end up binge eating. No thank you. 1400 is definitely do-able. I'll be calorie counting again in sparkpeople.com


Exercise a minimum of 3x a week.


I'm starting up my jogging routine again and I'm planning on registering for a 5k this winter. In order to keep up a routine I need to strive for a goal. Signing up and putting money on a race is definitely something I'd keep motivated for. LOL. Other than that I re-activated my gym membership for a little while. Seeing as I'm home for longer than I expected I'm going to take advantage of the gym for as long as I possible can. I'll jog 4-5 times a week. From there I'll try to work on strength training 3 times a week.


Hydrate sufficiently.


I usually drink at least 8 glasses of water. I'm trying to go back to drinking over 16 glasses of water. This was pretty normal for me earlier this year and I've been lacking so I'll strive for that right now.


Choose 1 (or more) books and work on your main obstacle-to-losing issue(s)


I am a 100% emotional eater. I've been gradually gaining since before my birthday. The reason for that has to do with a lot of emotions I've been going through and working on getting my life together. So funny enough one of the birthday presents I got was a book that will work perfectly for me and for this challenge:

This is exactly the kind of book I need to read right now. From there I've also been looking at books that deal with emotional eating and the reason behind it rather than a diet book. 

And of course the main reason for this challenge:

Get a smaller sized dress.

Here is the dress I've chosen:

This is the red (holiday festive isn't it?) dress I picked out. I had another dress but this one seemed perfect since it's that polyester spandex material that doesn't hide ANYTHING so my unflattering curves are there for everyone to see.

My goal is to get this dress to fit better and more loosely by holiday season. Another thing is that this dress is sleeveless. I'm self conscious of my flabby arms so I'm going to try my best to work on that as well.  




So there you have it! My start to the Xmas Dress Challenge. I'll be linking up my posts related to this challenge every Sunday on theChristmas Dress Countdown Challenge page.


I'll still continue my regular weigh ins on Monday and keep updating. Good luck to all challengers!


love
-w0rld

September Weigh In: A Xmas Challenge!

I checked the scale this morning now that it's officially September and here's August's damage:

Current Weight: 208.0 lbs

I gained at least 8 pounds in a month. Looking at my weight progress this entire year (2011) it's obvious I've been trying to keep my weight at bay in the early 200's and trying desperately to keep within the ONEderland mark the entire summer. It feels like I've been trying to hold a wave (of weight) back with my bare hands and that I finally slipped last month and allowed some weight to pass my arm-wall of steel!

That's how I picture it anyway. It's time to rebuild the wall (maybe get some solid support if you catch my meaning) and mop up and throw out this uninvited weight again. How long will that take? I'm not sure. But there is no time like the present to start.

But honestly, can we say "Yo-Yo dieter"? I mean this year is almost over and I haven't been able to get much progress at all compared to last year. I know I shouldn't compare but it's hard when I did so well last year and I've spent all of this year in this crazy plateau. It's brought a lot of things in perspective and it's opened my eyes to the type of habits I have, things I know I should change and how hard it's been to change them.
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To help me with the rest of the year I have signed up (and been picked for WOO!) a Xmas Challenge!

The lovely Princess Dieter has created a new challenge for the winter called the Christmas Dress Countdown Challenge 2011 where with certain rules and determination us challengers will do our hardest to lose enough weight to fit in to a smaller sized 'Xmas dress' by Holiday season.

In order to do that we have to have a set caloric range, commit to an activity 30 minutes a day, have a book(s) to study that help us on our journey, pick a dress, take a picture with it before and after, and most of all NOT GIVE UP. All in a 14 week time period.

Sounds exactly what I need and very close to my own goals already. Having other people to work with and compete with sounds awesome! As I've mentioned before I usually go at things alone but I think it's time to change that and see if a group dynamic might help me better this time.

I'm very excited! I have already started my research for books (hence the reason I was looking at magazines that inspired my last post ) and have already bought the dress I wanted!

The challenge officially starts Sept. 11 and I'm on my way to getting ready for it. One thing I need to try again is a paleo diet. I KNOW it would be a fantastic fit for what I need, but it's also VERY challenging for me because dairy and grains are/were such a huge part of my life/diet. But because of that it's also the reason why I really need to try this out. I tried earlier this summer and failed miserably. I restricted myself too quickly and all hell broke loose. I ended up binge eating worse than I have in a long time; which is evident in my weight gain. I need to try again. I need to try it slower and read up on this lifestyle a little more before I take a blind plunge again.

I have people expecting me to take this seriously. I won't let them or myself down. I've never been one to break my promises (or feel ok with letting people down if I do fail). I can do this.

I'll make a separate post with all the required information for the challenge and post it soon.

Good luck on your journey. May your map be smoother than mine has been. If it isn't may your support system help you in those pesky obstacles.

-w0rld