STS Challenge - week 6

I wrote a post mid week below this one, so I won't be doing much of an update tonight. I'm happy to say that after last weekends 'binge' and gain I did lose 2lb this week following the Flat Belly Diet :-) This was one of the lunches I mentioned . . .

 It looks very bland, but surprisingly very filling! My problem is the 2lb I lost doesn't seem to stay gone for long, we went out to a Cuban restaurant with friends last night and I ate 'rubbish' today! So no telling what the scale will say tomorrow. I think at this rate I'll be just glad to not have gained any more weight by the time this challenge is over, because I just can't seem to lose any permanently!

The one thing lacking this past week was exercise. All I did was one day of  Jillian Michaels Shred! So, some new goals are needed I think (realistic ones!):

1. Track calories and keep within 1200 per day

2. Treadmill Mon, Wed, Thurs

3.Drink 640z water each day

4. Take Vitimins

Not so much new goals, but ones I want to hopefully check off a list each day to keep myself accountable. I CAN DO THIS! 

Getting serious!

I'm typing this on my iPad, it's the first time I've tried doing so. Only problem with iPad is I can't upload any photos! But I thought I'd write a quick update (for myself mainly) and I'll post pics next time, probably Sunday when I update for the STS challenge.

So, after gaining 3lb over the 4th July weekend (including a few days before that too), I decided I needed to take drastic measures to get back on track! I started the Flat Belly Diet 4 Day Jumpstart program! I have the Flat Belly Diet book but I've never done the full diet, mainly because their meals seem to be quite large and the main program is based on about 1500 cals a day. I need to stick to just 1200 cals a day if I want to see any loss on the scale, but their 4 day Jumpstart is really good and I've done it before and know it works for me. Basically it helps to eliminate bloat which is probably what I have (I know that's what I have)and it helps me quickly lose the 2 or 3 pounds I've usually gained. The diet is very bland, but the surprising thing is I'm never hungry AND I've already dropped 2lb in two days!

A typical day looks like this:
breakfast,
1 cup of cornflakes
1cup of skim milk
1/2cup of unsweetened apple sauce
1/4 cup of raw or roasted sunflower seeds (I buy the raw organic ones, then toast them myself, they're much crunchier that way)

Lunch:
4oz deli turkey
1 low fat string cheese
1 pint of cherry tomatoes!

Pretty bland lunch but it really does fill me up.

Snack (I usually have this about 3pm)
1 smoothie, made with 1 cup of skim milk, 1 cup of frozen blueberries and 1 tbsp of flaxseed oil stirred in

Dinner:
4 oz baked tilapia
1/2 cup of brown rice
1 cup of green beans (the frozen kind)

You also drink what they call "sassy water" which is water with lemon, cucumber, ginger and mint infused in it overnight. I usually just put lemon and cucumber in my pitcher and put it
in the fridge.

Lunch yesterday was 3oz canned tuna, 1cup steamed carrots and 1 string cheese! Lol:-) it really does look like diet food, but it works, and I'm not hungry, and I only have two more days left:-) then I'll get back to counting my calories.

Off Track :-(

I didn’t get a chance to post last Sunday because I had friends visiting from outta town (out of country to be exact, my bloggy friend Sue came to visit from Canada – you can read that post on my daily blog if you want to HERE).

The few days after my last post were going really well, then I met Sue at the Outlets in San Marcos on Wednesday ! That day was ok too, I didn’t get on the treadmill but I did get to walk over 11,000 steps, and burn over 300 calories, and I didn’t go crazy at lunch, just a chicken sandwich from Wendy’s (well, ok I had the fries too). The next day wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good. I made myself get on the treadmill but my legs were killing me from the day before! Ate well for the first half of the day and then . . . .  you can insert ‘the rest is history’ here!!  I wouldn’t say I’ve been off track since then, I’ll be honest and say I totally derailed! Sue came to stay at ours with her hubby that Saturday and stayed for the 4th July festivities at our neighbors. Honestly, I’ve been eating whatever I like since then, and not surprising have gained 3LB !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  :-( I only have myself to blame!

I need to get back on track! I’ve put off again this week and have no reason or excuse for doing so. TOMORROW I will be back on track. This is exactly what happened last summer, I got off track, started eating whatever I liked, told myself I wasn’t overweight, so I could eat anything I wanted and didn’t exercise. I gained over 1olb by Thanksgiving.  Ok, so I may not really need to lose much weight, but I do need to stop eating the junk food AND I need to get back to exercising at least 5 times a week.

We are only half way through this 12 week challenge – I am NOT giving up! I’ll be linking up with Debbie this week, and reading other blogs to help me get my motivation back too.

If you’re here reading from the STS challenge, thanks for stopping by. I’m hoping to visit all the link-ups this week.

A much better week – STS Week #3

Hooray, I’m happy to report I had a much better week this week. For starters I lost 1.2lb (I’m currently 123.2lb) :-) Because it’s getting too hot to run/walk outside, I went on the treadmill, and managed to do that 5 times this week. Here’s the run down:

Monday – 30 minutes treadmill (total calories burned all day 140)

Tuesday – 32 minutes treadmill (total calories burned all day 241)

Wednesday – day off! (head was aching from sinus/allergy issues)

Thursday – 35 minutes treadmill (total calories burned all day 326)

Friday – 30 minutes treadmill (total calories burned all day 247)

Saturday – 32 minutes treadmill (total calories burned all day 242)

Sunday – day off! But still burned 111 calories doing 30 minutes of yard work!

The treadmill will tell me how many calories I burned doing the 30 minute walk/jog interval training, but my pedometer also clocks other calories burned from the extra steps I take all day. So the number of cals I’ve been pluggin in to MyFitnessPal.com is the total for both.

These were my 3 goals for last week

1. Measure out 64oz of water and put in the fridge, make sure I drink at least 64oz EVERY DAY!  I did drink more water but wasn’t measuring out the 64 oz, so I want to aim for that again this week.

2. TRACK MY CALORES – 1200 per day. I’ve kept my net calories below 1200 all week (going over just one night by 92 calories) using the MyFitnesspal app on my Ipad.

3. Walk/Run on the treadmill for 30 minutes Mon-Fri. As you can see from my log above, I didn’t do Mon – Fri BUT I did do 5 days this week ;-)

I’m still enjoying an eggwhite omelet with laughing cow cheese in the middle for breakfast. Sometimes I have a Vitatop muffin with it, other times an Eggo low fat waffle. This really keeps me full for a good few hours. I notice if I just have cold cereal and milk, I can be hungry again in just half an hour!

Butternut squash was ready in the garden this week, so I made one of my favorite soups (butternut squash soup, from Paula Deen). I had it a few lunch times with another favorite – spinach salad with goats cheese and berries.  I have more squash this week so I’ll be making more soup.

    Spaghetti squash also from the garden this week, made a lovely alternative for me when we had spaghetti pasta and meatballs! I had the squash with a low calorie cabernet sauce I had made and put in the freezer.

SO, my goals for this week:

1) Measure out 64 oz water/iced tea and keep in the fridge. Drink at least 64oz every day.

2) Do 30 minutes on the treadmill 5 times this week.

3) and a new goal . . .  do upper body toning for 15 minutes (using my Reebok dvd) for 3 days – Mon, Wed, Fri.

4) Still track my calories daily, using MyFitnessPal.com

So, how did you do this week? I’m off to check the Mr Linky on Debbie’s site and make a few visits ;-)

Week 2

Disappointing! Sad to say, that’s the word that sums up this week for my  STS Challenge :-(  It wasn’t all bad, but it wasn’t good either. The bad news  is I have gained 2lb!!!!!  The good news is I exercised every day from Mon – Fri (I let myself take the weekends off because I’m usually doing yard work and running up to the grocery store.

I started the week off good (as I always do) and was tracking my calories pretty good, but by Thursday I think I got off track. Tracking my food calories is something I REALLY need to get better at.  Hubby was back from his trip, so first thing Monday morning I got up and went out for a walk/jog. I downloaded some interval training music to my Ipod so it alternates between a brisk walk to a light jog, I did this for 25 minutes around the neighborhood.

Tues – I did an upper body workout using my Reebok bench and weights (using the dvd that came with it).

Wed – I went out again at 7.30am and did a 30 min walk/jog.

Thur – I managed to clear up my guest room (put all my craft stuff away) so I could put the treadmill down, so I didn’t have to go out so early. If I don’t go out by 8am it’s Waaaay too hot out there (we’ve had triple digits all this week).  So I did 30 mins doing the same interval walk/run. I’m starting to like this now too, and much easier to do in the a/c AND with a fan blowing on me ;-)

Fri – on the treadmill again for 30 minutes.

Week 3 Goals.

1. Measure out 64oz of water and put in the fridge, make sure I drink at least 64oz EVERY DAY!

2. TRACK MY CALORES – 1200 per day.

3. Walk/Run on the treadmill for 30 minutes Mon-Fri.

One of the breakfasts I am starting to enjoy is a simple egg white omelet with a laughing cow cheese inside, and a slice of toast. I’ve noticed since I stopped following WW pts, that I’m not eating as much fruit! I need to buy more berries and oranges this week.

I also made a herb roasted chicken this week, using herbs from my garden. . . .

Not sure if  I’ve shared pictures of our garden on here for  a while, so for my new STS bloggy friends, here it is.

 

Slimmer for Summer - week 1

I wanted to make a quick post tonight and link up with everyone on the challenge, because tomorrow is the dead line to do it and I might not get the chance to blog.

This first week went ok, but I know I can do much better. Hubby was working away in Denver this past week (we live in TX), so a lot of my meals were frozen ones. I think they are full of sodium and I really shouldn't have had as many as I did. I wasn't able to get out in the mornings to walk/jog because I don't like leaving my daughter home alone, so I did do weights for 4 days, I missed Tues and Friday. I also did weights yesterday and today.

I canceled my WW online subscription this week because I hadn't logged in for a few days. I've decided to count my calories instead and am trying to stick to 1200 per day.

Starting tomorrow I am going to go out walking at least 3 times per week. If I do more, all the better. On the alternate days I will do body toning with my weights.

My weight on Friday was 122.4. A couple of weeks ago I was 121, so it's been going up and down (I was 124 one day last week) for the past few weeks. If I could lose just one pound per week and keep it off, I'd be happy!

Here's hoping for a much better week.

Slimmer This Summer

Slimmer This Summer is a 12 week challenge that’s just starting today over at Debbie’s Blog ‘Debbie Does Dieting’.

As you can tell from my blog posts (or lack thereof) I’ve been getting a bit lax in my diet and exercise. And as usual it’s often during the weekend that it happens. I was doing ok during the week but last weekend and this weekend I have totally over-indulged in cocktails, margaritas, pizza’s burgers  - I know, it’s disappointing to say the least.

I’m rather mad at myself too. It’s like all my hard work just went down the drain when I got on the scale this morning and saw I’d gained about 4lb!  Debbie’s challenge seems just what I need to get back on track. That and the fact I just bought a bikini while out shopping with my BFF yesterday. We had a great day at the mall, I bought a new dress and some gorgeous shoes, AND found a new swim suit, which was the whole point of the trip. 

Here’s me in the dress last night at my neighbors house next door (where we always hang out and have cocktails or wine at the weekend) :-) 

And here’s my lovely new shoes – I just love em!!

I love hanging out with my neighbs, I just need to not over-indulge in the food and drink when I do. It’s still something I just can’t seem to get the hang of, but I will continue to try.  I look ok in my new swim suit but I want to look GREAT, so I hae to work out more!

I think I’m going to try something new…. instead of counting WW points, I’m going to just track the calories I eat. I’m also going to try and workout each day, using my weights to tone up, and going for a walk/jog in the morning before it gets too hot (the walk will have to wait til hubby gets back from a work trip next week cos I don’t like leaving my dd alone in the house.)

I think I’ll also find it motivating to read other bloggers joining in with Debbie.

So, my goals for this 12 week challenge are :

1) To get down to my goal weight of 117lb

2) Track my food and drinks using my new Ipad App.

3) Stick to 1300 calories a day (or less!)

4) Drink at least 8 cups of water/tea per day

5) To workout each day using weights, and go walking/jogging every other day.

Not too many goals but hopefully I can meet them! We’ll see.

I haven’t taken measurements today other than my waist – 34 1/2 “ (around my belly button)!!!!