MissyJ's Log - a journey out of the sweat pants rut...
Hi! I bore real quick so hopefully having something up here and having someone check on my progress now and then will help me avoid falling off the bandwagon.
Well truth be told I love love love sweat pants ("loungwear" you can go out in) and matching sweat suits. Those juicy ladies got it right. I'll probably never stop wearing them at home or the grocery store but but well beyond that...lets just say I'm surprised that Stacy London and Clinton Kelly haven't blitzed me yet. Actually I won't cry if they did, that would be awesome!
I've been here a couple days and its been real nice chatting with so many of you and hope I don't drop off the bandwagon and forget to check in when I ever start working again. I'm doing NROL4W, Stage 1 about to finish up Week 2. So far, I have noticed an incredible increase in my energy level and I am someone who before I started could literally sleep all day. I couldn't write this b4 I started, I couldn't write several paragraphs about myself or why I'm here, etc. I really hope I'm not going to run out of steam here. I actually have been working on this for hours but I'm a compulsive editor. I had a lot more to say but whatever, that just gives me more material to work with for a blog or later posts in here.
My goals (not in a particular order, past the obvious 1-3):
1) finish Stage 1
2) finish Stage 2
3) finish Stage 3, Stage 4, 5, 6 & 7
4) drop from 27 BMI to 23.
5) Drop 30 pounds. But I’ll take 15 in 6-8 weeks. I won't reject 5 or 10 either.
6) Fit in my old clothes. I like my old clothes. I'm kinda one of those girls (or maybe i'm the only girl) who kinda keeps going to back to the same digs... like comfort food.
Now living in LA, I'm pretty sure that's wacked but oh well.
7) to improve my mood and my energy. i forget sometimes that it really makes an impact on mood/energy. I just don't know much about long term with respect to myself because...see the first paragraph in this post.
8) how could i forget, i want to build muscle, increase strength and look like a goddess
There's more but I need to break this up a bit so I'll just get into the training part right now:
OH, if you notice sentences or paragraphs missing the next time you check this out, its not in your head...I'm a compulsive editor.
**************************** I'll work on making this perdy...
Training 08/01/09 - 08/07/09
Saturday 8/01 - Stage 1 Workout A + Intervals 23 minutes
How I feel about that…it took me until Wednesday to go back so you tell me. hope I didn’t screw myself up.
Calories: didn’t start tracking until Monday. Sunday 8/2 – nada
Monday 8/3 – nada for workout. Ate too much. I'll be inserting a table with all that stuff soon.
Tuesday 8/4 - nada, continuing to listen to my body, that and i realized rhwoa was on on thursday so i didn't make a special effort. calories better though, hit 150 protein yay!
Wednesday - lifted workout B. didn't get to finish last set of swissball crunches.
Thursday - 2 sets of intervals, first one 15 min alternate level 5/12 on elliptical. Rest 5 min. Another 10 min + 2 min cool down.
Friday - I had good intentions. I think I did good with calories and protein but not enough veggies.
Overall, I've been sleeping later and sleeping less but I wake up and I'm not tired. I'm waking up b4 my alarm. Yay...or maybe nay.
Well time to catch up on my water and my RHWOA. Ciao.
Don't fall off the face of the earth, that's why we get fat again. Just force yourself to post an update, even if it's not positive, just posting keeps you connected.
I post here, Sparkpeople, and 3fatchicks, about different things on each.
Good luck with your workouts and diet, mine is going great.
Annette: I will force myself! Thanks for dropping and taking the time to comment Tom: Thanks! I am going to post my food stuff today along with my progress on workouts with weights/reps etc. That little diddy was just to make sure I get myself back in here today
Hey, another editor-type person! One of the things that irks me about this forum is that the ability to edit goes away after maybe an hour.
Good luck with NROL4W, and do stick around--we can help keep you from getting bored.
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They call me Amanda, that being my real name, and "They" being people who know me in person as I don't go around introducing myself in real life as "scribess." 'Cause that would just be strange.
So how do I feel today? Well I didn't sleep until about 3:30 am and woke up about 10:00 pm. I woke up a bit wound up and hungry. I ate all the way up until bed last night. I've generally been pretty restless, impatient with the internet (just couldn't wait to come on) and pacing a lot. I pace a LOT. Some days (pre and post NROL4W) I wake up nervous even after a good nights rest.
Yeah, I've got some anxiety/chemical imbalance things going on. I am not one to eat to console myself, but I do eat when I am really nervous for no particular reason (and/or well no especially different reasons than I am usually nervous about). I think certain foods are even supposed to be CNS depressants (turkey maybe? too bad i don't like it. guess i should get over that). A *big* motivator in doing this is for my brain functioning.
Nutrition and exercise (as well as other non-pharmaceutical treatment) has an influence and can ameliorate mild imbalances of the brain or close the gap between what meds can do. I'm sure this is no suprise to anyone else either. Nevertheless, training seems to be more stimulating than calming right now. Its like I went from 3 to 9 in a week, from sleeping all the time to loads of (nervous) energy. Neither makes for a particularly productive day. I hope things level out there's a happy medium out there. So I am just going to keep on going with the training and hope that this is an adjustment thing for me. As long as I'm not overdoing it, it can't be *bad* for me?
Now, towards the afternoon and now, I've relaxed a bit and actually feel a little tired. I think that happens if I've been out of the gym for two days or more. Last time I worked out was thursday night. So even though I'm not as pumped up to go back in today, I'm kinda going to have to drag myself. Probably most I can do is one day between workouts. Hopefully everything will level off. Stopping will likely send me back into the chronic fatigue state I was in.
ANYHOO!
Here's my vital stats as well BMI/RMR and Caloric Breakdown @ Maintenance and 300 cal. Deficit.
I'm pooped! I'm just logging my feelings on the days workout/nutrition b4 going to bed while its still fresh. The sets/reps and what I ate will come sometime after I wake up tomorrow. I did my 3rd Workout A today this time I paid attention to the time just about 35 min including warm up.
I had terrible form on the step-up lunges, I think I'm going to drop the weight back down a couple pounds each hand. I can't do push-ups to save my life. I'm doing them off the same bench I do the step-ups which is about 2 ft off the groud so I guess its a 30 degree push up. Hmmm, probably less b/c I'm 5"3. Or the bench is lower than I think. I still can't get all the way down though but I did all the reps. its very hard when you have to keep your elbows tucked in.
Oddly enough I got home and was *not* hungry. I almost forgot to do my post workout shake. I knew I had to add some more protein so I put a small piece of chicken on the grill. Unfortunately, I lost track of time and it burned and I was just too tired to make another one. So I had a tsp of peanut butter and got my shake in.
I drank a lot of shakes today. I think I may be getting sick of them soon. I may not have been hungry because right before I went to the gym I made a mini blackberry soy cottage cheese protein smoothie. Ugghhh me no likey but I gulped it down so that got me 25 g. of protein.
I still finished the day off short on protein only 130 g. I went over carbs, a lot or a little depending if we're talking net. 209 (185 net, fiber was low for me today too). Everytime I have a shake I'm adding carbs from the fruit. Went over fat but aside from the tiny piece of butter I had today most of the fat comes from oil or soy or cottage cheese. I ate like one serving of vegatables today. 1/2 a big bell pepper. Maybe I'm lucky and it counts as two. And I love vegetables! Just the idea of a big salad wasn't at all appealing to me today. The other day made a great one and even took a picture of my masterpiece. I have never photographed my food before, lol. I think I'm going to start doing that, photographing my creations lol.
I didn't have dessert! No chocolate! And there are literally "loaves" of fresh bread at the house right now, didn't have a bite, not even a nibble. I still went over calories but its the lowest I've had all week and still below maintenance.
Maybe try your step-ups without weight to really concentrate on your form. Once they click you're ready to go. I think I once read that lunges were easier with dbs (to help balance or something with center of gravity) and I don't know if that's true with step-ups....it's not true for me and lunges either....lol...shouldn't have even brought it up.
Push-ups are hard, I did 3 sets of 6 yesterday (on the same bench as you.) But the time before I did only 5, so I'm improving.
You'll really find that the high amount of protein just dulls your appetite and hunger, at least it does for me. Personally I kind of find that annoying at times, and other times it's great. I do find that after a few days of high protein I tend to eat a day less, I just get sick of the meat. But I'm doing my best to keep it up. Shakes aren't my friend either, but I had one yesterday after my weights, and since I only want to do weights 2x a week, I think I can handle 2 whey shakes a week.
A was pretty wound up the first couple weeks too, that's settled down.
I photograph my food sometimes too! I feel so silly but I get so proud of it. :P
I just wanted to tell you that I've always had a hard time getting enough protein, and I almost never eat bread and only with dinner do I eat pasta or rice sometimes. I just do the absolute best I can and I haven't lost lean body mass, so don't worry. And yeah, the protein totally helps with hunger. Also, I'm so used to eating protein first now that I even crave it. I'm totally fine with having chicken bites as a snack rather than a cookie.
Not that I wouldn't loooove a friggen cookie!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lost Dog
Plus, my desire to remain stunningly attractive outweighs the call of the cheesecake. mostly...
Maybe try your step-ups without weight to really concentrate on your form. Once they click you're ready to go. I think I once read that lunges were easier with dbs (to help balance or something with center of gravity) and I don't know if that's true with step-ups....it's not true for me and lunges either....lol...shouldn't have even brought it up.
Push-ups are hard, I did 3 sets of 6 yesterday (on the same bench as you.) But the time before I did only 5, so I'm improving.
You'll really find that the high amount of protein just dulls your appetite and hunger, at least it does for me. Personally I kind of find that annoying at times, and other times it's great. I do find that after a few days of high protein I tend to eat a day less, I just get sick of the meat. But I'm doing my best to keep it up. Shakes aren't my friend either, but I had one yesterday after my weights, and since I only want to do weights 2x a week, I think I can handle 2 whey shakes a week.
A was pretty wound up the first couple weeks too, that's settled down.
You're doing great.
Thank you AnnetteW Yeah I may drop down to body weight or like 5 lbs after all. I have a hard time not cheating step ups too probably due to the height. But whatever, i feel it working so its probably no biggie.
It is most likely that you are eating more than you think if you are not weighing your food. It is a very common thing to underestimate until you have an understanding of what things look like weighed (as in digital scale weighed). Also the whole net/total carb thing. Just go for total not net. Makes life so much easier. And yep... Diet is more important than the exercise part. If you focus more on getting that right than the step ups, you'll make faster progress on the weight loss goals.
Good luck!
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The BIGGER I get the smaller you look
I've been tracking my nutrition info in spark people. If you curious to know what I am eating specifically, or when I get a chance I'll post more diet stuff. I appreciate suggestions on what to eat and will try to incorporate as many of them (already doing cottage cheese and greek yogurt when its not ridiculously expensive) as I go along but it may take me a while so I'm trying to make do with what I've got.
Trying not judge my calories too much, I've been going over and yesterday allowing for some error (which would have to be like a 600 calorie error which is not likely) I went a bit lower. I'm guessing a lot of protein has affected my cravings a bit, no cravings for the loaves of bread lying around. Considered a piece today since I'm a little low on energy to make anything (I can plan all I want but if it requires work, as clean eating seems to, that's going to have an impact). Anyway, this is mostly for my benefit and people who asked. Here ya go. I'm getting the hang of it. Soon as I can I'll be buying a digital scale although the measuring cups I have have the ounce equivalents (ie 1 cup = 2 2/3 ounces) written on them. Just discovered that ha ha.
**My highest and lowest calorie and protein days are in bold to get an idea of the range. Oh you probably noticed I added a range of protein 150-165. That's mostly for psychological reasons if I try to aim for the high/mid range I have better luck hitting the minimum. I'm assuming a little over would be even better.
I averaged about 40 cal over the max calories for a deficit (the 1883 cal is for a lifting day). But hopefully since I lifted 2 x and did Intervals (details posted in earlier post), I at least broke even.
I can't say that I've noticed a big difference, marginal more muscle tone in my thighs but I have always bulked up there pretty quick from skating. My arms show a tad more definition but its muscle on top of fat.
One thing I'm happy about is that the extra fat on the side of the upper bust seems to shrunk a bit. Used to be able to grab 3 inches under my armpit and since I like to fit all my boobage and sidefat in a bra it really affected my cup size. Now its hard to grasp and hold anything (not hollow by any stretch of the imagination there's still plenty of fat there). Noticed that my sports bra despite repeated washings and high heat seems to feel a lot more comfortable now.
Volumetric ounces are not the same as weight "ounces" for anything other than water or water-like fluids.
I was wondering about that. I've used the spoons to measure coffee and creamer honey and peanut butter... In the past I've used it to measure berries, nuts, tomatoes, peppers and pasta. So are you saying that if I measured for example one cup of food, it was really more than one cup or less than one cup (less than 8 oz.) by weight?
I do have a non-digital scale which I weighed my fish and chicken on. That may not be a perfect measurement but it would be much closer to the true weight I hope...?
I can't get a digital scale just yet so maybe there is a way to convert ounces volume to weighted ounces in the meantime so I can go back and adjust my calories...
I'm saying that 1 cup of lettuce and 1 cup of carrots - they might each measure 1C of volumne but they certainly don't both weigh the same and probably neither weighs 8 ounces/0.5 lbs
1 C of carrots shredded is a different amount/weight than say 1C of carrots in 1 inch dice.
This is why weighing is so much more accurate - 100g (or X oz by weight) of carrot is the same whether it is diced or shredded or left whole.
I'm saying that 1 cup of lettuce and 1 cup of carrots - they might each measure 1C of volumne but they certainly don't both weigh the same and probably neither weighs 8 ounces/0.5 lbs
1 C of carrots shredded is a different amount/weight than say 1C of carrots in 1 inch dice.
This is why weighing is so much more accurate - 100g (or X oz by weight) of carrot is the same whether it is diced or shredded or left whole.
or
a pound of feathers weighs the same as a pound of lead - a pound is a pound
on the other hand
a pillowcase of feathers vs. a pillowcase of lead weights --- not quite the same when you compare volume
No workout today and not much of an appetite and I was out of the house running around today. So I'm pretty beat by now and I wasn't going to post anything because there's not much to talk about but I was working on a little spreadsheet with all my calories and averages and then I have to say its better to have to make yourself to eat then force yourself not to eat, but I'm definitely trying. I guess I am just not used to this much protein its really messing with me. So regardless I'm trying to eat as much protein as I can and I suspect this is a temporary thing , yesterday I still got 95 g. I'm having to eat more at night to catch up and that's not especially different I've always been a night time snacker but I have heard different things from different people about not eating after 7 or not eating carbs after 7 or not eating 2 hours b4 sleeping (yeah right!) or not eating an hour before sleeping. That if you sleep on an empty stomach you burn more calories. At the same tame when I lift or do cardio, I do it at night so maybe it doesn't matter so much in that case especially since I have to have a shake after lifting.
Anyway, I'm still toying with my spreadsheet so I load it soon.
I'm looking at my average intake of macro nutrients and I'm getting too much fat! I have to go back and look at what I've eaten to figure out how much of that is good fats vs. bad fats and maybe I can make some adjustments with that.
Oh and I'm confused about weights/volumes. Like rice. If it says 1/2 cup 43 grams dry yields one cup...is that one cup volume or one cup (8 oz) weighted? Because I put my rice in a bowl on a scale and found it would take a lot of rice to equal 8 ounces and I stopped at 2 oz which looked to be about 1/2 measuring cup to me. I poured it into a measuring cup and sure enough its 1/2 cup measured that way. A measured cup is what seems most reasonable b/c "cups" is logically a volumetric measurement. But the serving size for the uncooked rice is given in volume and weight. And in that case, 4 oz weighed would be a lot more rice than 4 oz measured.
If anyone reads this sorry about any run on sentences that don't make sense seem to have some technical difficulties with the "edit" function and I'm real tired.
Oh and I'm confused about weights/volumes. Like rice. If it says 1/2 cup 43 grams dry yields one cup...is that one cup volume or one cup (8 oz) weighted?
The 1/2 c is volume, the 43 g is weight, the 1 c is volume. Note that there's no gram equivalent for cooked rice, which would've been weight.
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It's generally recommended to go by the dry weight. If you like, you can reweigh your cooked rice if you're going to be portioning it out and not eating it right away. That's likely the most accurate method to track how much you're eating.
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They call me Amanda, that being my real name, and "They" being people who know me in person as I don't go around introducing myself in real life as "scribess." 'Cause that would just be strange.
Hi, ok I got 1/2 cup volume which on the scale it weighed 2 oz. Now I know my scale is a little bit off probably b/c its a digital postal scale not a food scale and I heard those overweigh to insure proper postage. But I guess the weighted value isn't relevant anymore since the cooked rice is measured by volume? Also apparently density of the food is also a factor I'm learning so that may also be why my 1/2 didn't equal 4 oz, I guess depending on the food the conversion is going to be different every time.
But as long as I got the 1/2 cup that should give me an accurate (as close as possible anyway) measure of calories. Since I already know it yields 1 cup cooked then I'd just multiply by .5. Is that what you're saying?
I forget how much I used to make the rice, next time I'll pay attention
Quote:
Originally Posted by scribess
The 1/2 c is volume, the 43 g is weight, the 1 c is volume. Note that there's no gram equivalent for cooked rice, which would've been weight.
It's generally recommended to go by the dry weight. If you like, you can reweigh your cooked rice if you're going to be portioning it out and not eating it right away. That's likely the most accurate method to track how much you're eating.[/quote]
It is like this.
Measure the raw rice. According to the label 1/2 C will weigh about 43g.
Put it in the water and cook it.
The rice is still the rice and has the same calories as it started with since the water has none. But it has swelled up with the water. So if you measure it all again now that it is cooked, it will measure about 1 cup now and it will also weigh more than 43g (because of the water).
If you used 2C rice and made a big pot worth, you'd probably have 4C of cooked rice. If you want just your "one serving" out of the pot, you have two choices: weigh all the cooked rice and take 1/4 of the pot by weight OR measure out 1C and call it close enough.
It is like this.
Measure the raw rice. Accoding to the label 1/2 C will weigh about 43g.
Put it in the water and cook it.
The rice is still the rice and has the same calories as it started with since the water has none. But it has swelled up with the water. So if you measure it all again now that it is cooked, it will measure about 1 cup now and it will also weigh more than 43g (because of the water).
If you used 2C rice and made a big pot worth, you'd probably have 4C of cooked rice. If you want just your "one serving" out of the pot, you have two choices: weight all the cooked rice and take 1/4 of the pot by weight OR measure out 1C and call it close enough.
That's what I was trying to say. Lisa stated it better.
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They call me Amanda, that being my real name, and "They" being people who know me in person as I don't go around introducing myself in real life as "scribess." 'Cause that would just be strange.
It is like this.
Measure the raw rice. Accoding to the label 1/2 C will weigh about 43g.
Put it in the water and cook it.
The rice is still the rice and has the same calories as it started with since the water has none. But it has swelled up with the water. So if you measure it all again now that it is cooked, it will measure about 1 cup now and it will also weigh more than 43g (because of the water).
If you used 2C rice and made a big pot worth, you'd probably have 4C of cooked rice. If you want just your "one serving" out of the pot, you have two choices: weight all the cooked rice and take 1/4 of the pot by weight OR measure out 1C and call it close enough.
Here's my calories consumed up until yesterday. So far today I'm at 1140/92 carbs/43 fat/104 protein/16 fiber. My calories as of late have gotten more accurate probably not perfect since I'm using a digital postal scale until I get a food scale. So I was probably eating even more in the beginning of the week who knows.
You'll get better at the calorie counting over time. I'm still working on getting better numbers.
Rice is one thing I've never tried to get more accurate on than putting it in a measuring cup after cooked. I use a rice cooker. I've been meaning to put a certain weight of dry rice and water in the cooker, and then measure what I get when complete, I just haven't done it yet. Then I would compare the numbers to whatever it is in Sparkpeople (or other databases) and go from there.
MissyJ's Log - a journey out of the sweat pants rut...
I'm beginning to think my maintenance may be lower.
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