Allo, Allo!?

So I haven't posted in a while- don't kill me!  I've still been logging calories, just been uber-focused on work and home and haven't had time to go online and type.  Now... I have no work to do!  Literally.  I don't exaggerate.  Hense, my post here today.

Finally- FINALLY- I got my period!  Woo Hoo!  So happy!  Actually, I got my period on Monday night, not a moment too soon! 

It's actually funny.  Monday night, I came home from work and could not.  stop.  eating.  Literally- I wasn't even hungry, but I chouldn't seem to cram enough chocolate ice cream in my face.  I also at McDonalds for the first time in a while.  I didn't even just 'indulge'- I flat-out BINGED.  To the tune of about 2500 calories for the day.  Yes, it's okay to face-palm, I did.  Afterwards, in a completely stuffed and salt-filled stupor I asked myself 'What the hell just happened?' 

Within an hour, my period arrived.

Okay, when I said it's 'actually funny', this is what I meant:  Last month, the very exact same thing happened.  I had this UNCONTROLLABLE URGE to binge.  Stuffed my body with garbage.  And within hours, my period arrived. 

Now, I can't remember if this is something I do EVERY time I get my period because, to be honest, I went almost two years without having one and I just can't quite recall.  Definitely an odd coincidence that I would behave the exact same way two months in a row, within hours of getting my period.

Like I have been saying all along, though, my period came with a major dip in weight DESPITE my huge junkfood binge.  I've been eating well since then (well, okay.  I've had chocolate two nights in a row, but I've stayed within my calorie range!) and when I weighed myself today, I had a pleasant little surprise: I was at 142.8 pounds!  Nice.  That's the first time EVER that that scale has gone below 143. 

(Note: For those who also track my weight loss at MFP.com, you might notice a discrepancy.  THERE, my weight is logged as 141.1 pounds.  The reason for this is that I started with MFP around the same time I got my WiiFit.  So the weight I log THERE is the weight that my WiiFit gives me.  I have to keep logging from my Wii scale in the name of consistancy, to be able to accurately track what I've lost.  When I started this blog, however, I weighed myself using my bathroom scale- so when I track my weight lost for the week, I'm using the measurements from THAT scale, again in the name of consistancy.  The overall loss will be the same from week to week, regardless of the scale I use.  But if I were to put my weight here at 141.1lbs, it would suggest I lost more than I did, and I don't want to seem deceptive.)

Anyways, since last week I've lost about 1.2 pounds, 5.6 pounds altogether since the end of March.  Not too bad.  It's taking a lot longer to lose this weight than in the past (In January alone, I lost about seven pounds!) but it's just a fact that the less you have to lose, the more your body resists letting you lose it.  According to my MFP tracker, I'm about 6.1 pounds away from my (first) target weight.  I'm so close I can taste it!!!!

Wednesday Revisited

Another day gone by, still no TOM.  Woke up today having the WORST 'fat day'.  The scale says I haven't gained a pound and I'm lighter than I've been in years, but the MIRROR is a mean bitch.  EVERYTHING I put on made me look puffy.  I was almost in tears.  Steve was like, "You look perfect!  What's wrong with you?"  Yeah, definitely PMSing.  Bloated.  Have I MENTIONED how much I hate water retention???

:p

Yesterday was crazy.  I had a performance review and the meeting took two hours.  Plus it's month-end, so I had tonnes of work to catch up on.  As a result, I skipped lunch.  And because I was so hungry, ate a donut.  Got home, my MiL was there- so I needed to come up with a quick quick supper that she would eat (she's not big on healthy food.  Actually, it looks like she's gained 20 pounds since I saw her last- the result of her blowing out her knee and not really being able to walk anywhere).  So I made some meat-filled tortellini with tomato-based sauce.  Threw in some mixed veggies for extra vitamins and to make it more filling.  It was pretty good.  Normally I avoid pasta, though- and it was pretty salty so my sodium levels were higher than I would have liked them to be.  But hey, calorie-wise I didn't do too poorly.  Even WITH all the fucking carbs I ate.  Gross.

Because my MiL was there, I couldn't do any housework really (out of the usual) and didn't work out.

Consumed: 1277kcal (-200 nursing calories)
Burned: 0kcal
Total deficit: 959kcal
Target deficit: 811kcal

Deficit for the day wasn't bad overall.

Oh Period, Where Art Thou?

It's funny, because I never thought I'd find myself in a position where I was HOPING my period would start (except for, of course, in situations where I had pregnancy scares, lol) but that's where I'm at now.  It was due at the beginning of the week but still nothing... though I've felt 'on the verge' for over a week now.  I'm puffy, I'm bloated- bring it on!!!!!

That said, aside from that, feeling good right about now.  Weighed myself this morning and it was slightly down, though I won't do an official weigh-in until Friday. 

Didn't have a chance to update my blog yesterday- was busy doing month-end stuff.  Today I had a performance appraisal that went EXCEPTIONALLY well and will result in me having a nice little $1.46/hr wage increase.  Boo-yah!  I'm pretty stoked about that.  Now I'm caught up and done celebrating so time for me to get this organized....

Monday:
This day I didn't get a lot done exercise-wise except for basic housework, which I don't count, because it's not 'above and beyond' my normal routine.  I stayed pretty close to my target calorie range, and even allowed myself an extra small snack or two to 'reassure' my body that it wasn't starving after the weekend's burn-fest.  I work around the premise of 'calorie zig-zagging' which means that instead of eating a set amount of calories per day, sometime's it's good to keep your body guessing by eating more some days and less others.  A lot of people have great success with it, and it seems to work for me.... so if I have a few days of REALLY big deficits, I usually follow it up with a day or two of smaller deficits.

Consumed: 1524kcal (-200 nursing calories)
Burned: 0kcal
Total deficit: 712kcal
Target deficit: 811kcal

Tuesday:
COULDN'T STOP SNACKING this day.  This is how I know my TOM is around the corner 'cause I ate ice cream and fruit snacks, lol.  And it was good.  And so worth it.  But my calorie count was a little high, so it has to be a 'rare occassion' type of thing.  Also didn't do anything exercise-wise other than the usual.  Watched 90210, Glee and Avatar.  Yay for being a couch potato!

Consumed: 1876kcal (-200 nursing calories)
Burned: 0kcal
Total deficit: 360kcal
Target deficit: 811kcal

So, yeah, didn't do toooooo well yesterday but at least I still had SOME sort of a deficit, so it could have been worse.  DEF hope my TOM starts today so that the water weight is shed by Friday.  I'm excited to see where that would put me!

Weekend Update (+Weigh In)

As you know by now I'm terrible with my weekend blog posts so I'm going to summarize my weekend here and talk a little about my latest weigh-in.

Friday:
This was a busy day all around- dentist visits, shopping, chores.  Lots of running around, plus I did housework and installed shelves in the boys' closets.  I forgot to wear my HRM all weekend (I remember it when it comes to doing actual 'work outs' but never think to put it on when I'm doing anything else labour-intensive.  Should work on that!) but MFP gave me an estimate of 389 calories burned.  I think that's a little on the conservative side but, hey, works for me (would rather under-estimate calories burned than over-estimate!). 

I didn't eat very good foods Friday (or all weekend for that matter!) but I kept my calories at a pretty good level.  Sodium was a touch on the high side.  I had a bacon cheeseburger from McDonalds for lunch- which is SUPER salty.  But I counted the calories and didn't go over (also didn't get pop or fries with the burger, so that's an accomplishment in itself!), so that's fine.  Also, I made homemade cinnamon rolls!  Which is very exciting for me because it's the first time making anything with active yeast since Home Ec. when I was 13.  Go me!  (BTW- they were delicious, though I only had one.)  Total calories for the day were about 1571 (I love when cookbooks include nutritional information for their recipes!

Consumed: 1571kcal (-200 nursing calories)
Burned: 389kcal
Total deficit: 1054kcal
Target deficit: 811kcal

Overall not too bad numbers for the day.  My target for the day may be 811, but bigger deficits just mean I'll hit my target faster.  Provided, of course, I don't have deficits bigger than 1000 for too many days in a row....

Saturday:
I had energy to burn this day (I'm thinking it's the Ritalin) so I decided to attack our storage room.  Long story short, when we first moved into our house, Steve shoved a bunch of boxes (mostly seasonal items and keepsakes, plus items I'd planned on giving/throwing away) into the pantry, which is a big storage room just off our porch.  He didn't even clean it, first, so there were mason jars and paint cans from the previous owner in there.  We had a mouse problem for a while (since taken care of) and mice ran rampant through there, making nests.  Because of a severe mouse phobia, I wouldn't go back there and organize the room.  So it's been a completely non-functional area for 4 years now.  The mess started spilling to our porch, which also because largely non-functional.  Imagine Hoarders.  Seriously.  It was that bad.

Well, Steve is on Graveyard Shift right now, which meant hanging shelves and pictures (which was my ultimate goal) was not an option.  I thought, "I'll start tidying this back room," and began moving boxes around.  I thought, hey, if I just do a couple of boxes a day, the room will be cleaned within a month.  Ha.  Well, the Ritalin makes me more focused than I thought because once I started, I just couldn't stop.  I spent over eight hours straight in that back room, hauling boxes and sweeping and sorting.  I was EXHAUSTED when I was done- and MFP estimates I burned about 1731 calories.  Holy crap.  Sounds high but is actually very realistic- works out to about 216 calories per hour.  I burn more than that just going for a walk around the neighbourhood (confirmed via HRM), so if anything, I burned more than that.  Yikes!

At the time (before I'd sat down to calculate calories burned) I THOUGHT I'd done a pretty good job of eating.  Again, I didn't eat the best foods (because I was so busy I spend much of the day snacking on fruits, but I had a turkey stuffed pita with lettuce and pickles for lunch and didn't eat any junk other than a small cinnamon roll so it wasn't a total write-off) but I stayed within my calorie range.

Consumed: 1560kcal (-200 nursing calories)
Burned: 1731kcal
Total deficit: 2407kcal
Target deficit: 811kcal

So, holy cow, what a crazy deficit!  This isn't something I'd want to do every day, of course, but a few times a month won't kill me or affect my metabolism too badly.  I really did eat plenty of food- it's just that, when you're burning that many calories, it's very very difficult to eat them all back.  My sodium consumption for this day was ok (not great, but didn't consume more than my 2500mg limit) and I THINK my water consumption was OK.  I chugged water constantly.  But it's hard to say if you're getting enough water when you're working that hard because the standard 8 cups a day rule goes out the window.

Sunday:
This day was pretty much about finishing what I started on Saturday.  I completely gutted the porch, and worked for about six hours straight (at least!) doing this.  After I was done I folded laundry, vacuumed, did dishes, and made dinner.  Estimated calories burned were 1298 but that calculation is based off of the 6 hours spent doing hard labour (and not off of the light housework).  I probably burned more than that, to be honest.  Again, 1298/6= 216kcal/hr which isn't that unrealistic.

Food-wise, I didn't eat well all day.  Nibbled here and there.  Actually made myself eat a bowl of ice cream after all my chores were done, just to TRY and consume extra calories.  Even after that, when I added everything up, it turns out I'd only had about 1380kcal through the whole day!  That really shocked me because I was actually FULL most of the day, and had no desire to eat.  DEF. should have eaten more yesterday.

Consumed: 1380kcal (-200 nursing calories)
Burned: 1298kcal
Total deficit: 2154kcal
Target deficit: 811kcal

ANOTHER ridiculous deficit.  I'm going to spend the rest of this week making sure to eat every calorie allotted to me so that my metabolism doesn't hit 'starvation' mode and start storing fat.  One weekend of intense activity like this shouldn't do too much harm but it's def. not something to keep up long-term. 

Between Friday-Sunday, my net deficit was somewhere in the range of 5615kcal, or 1.6 pounds.  It will take a day or two for that to show up on the scales, so today's weigh-in didn't reflect that.  Also, I'm retaining quite a bit of water right now (I always can tell- I always wear my watch at the same position.  When I look at it today, it's creating an indent on my arm that isn't usually there, telling me that I'm puffier than usual) and my period is due to start ANY SECOND.  This means I'm carrying at least two or three pounds of water weight, which will drop off as soon as I start my period.

That being said, I weighed in at 144 pounds today, which is a one-pound drop from last time and a 4.4lb drop overall (well, since March 22/10).  Not too shabby.  Not TERRIFIC (it averages out to less than a pound per week) but it's too be expected since I'm so close to my goal weight. 

Start weight: 148.4lbs
LW Weight: 145lbs
Current Weight: 144lbs

Anyways, I've made sure to pack a bigger lunch today!  It's full of fruits and veggies, and I've been drinking lots of water.  Impatiently waiting for my period to kick in so I can shed this water weight!

Will post again tomorrow to let you know how today has gone. 

Ja ne!

"Temptation Challenge"

If you ever watch The Biggest Loser, you'll regularly see 'temptation challenges'.  Basically, they put the contestants in a room with a bunch of food and give tempt them.  There's always prizes involved, and the whole idea is that these people need to learn how to lead healthy lives outside the ranch.  When they're on the show, they have easy access to a gym and good food, but what happens when they go back to the real world?

I bring this up because, when you're eating well and trying to lose weight, there will always be those situations that throw a wrench in your plans.  You can either avoid those situations entirely, or you can accept that temptation will always be a part of your life.  So you can deprive yourself, or you can make those situations work for you.

Yesterday, I had my meals all planned for the day, with a couple of calories to spare.  I was doing SUPER well, fourth day in a row of eating well!  (I'm really taking it one day at a time.  Over the past two months or so, I'll have two or three days of good eating, but then I wind up  having a BAD day, which negates the work I'd just done.  This is fine, if you're looking to maintain but not good if you want to lose like I do.)  For dinner I planned on eating chicken breast, brown rice and mixed veggies (which is pretty standard fare for me). 

Then my mom called me in the afternoon and said she and Kelly (her husband) would like to take me and the boys out to Dairy Queen for dinner.  I could meet her at her place, then we could walk down to meet Kelly after fire practice, then walk to the restaraunt together.  I thought, hey, that would be fun (because Steve is on Graves and asleep when I get home, and it's hard keeping the boys quiet).  I knew the boys would enjoy the walk and the treat- but I was worried for myself.

This is where planning comes in handy.  I went online, and looked up Dairy Queen Nutritional Information.  I decided in advance that I would have the grilled chicken salad and a small vanilla cone- and I logged the calories at MFP.  Perfectly planned- the calories fit in my 'budget' with 35 to spare.  Boo-yah, that's how it's done!  So when I went to DQ, I knew exactly what to order and that I could have ice cream without feeling guilty.  It was awesome.

I wore my HRM when we walked.  In 90 minutes, we walked 5.5km and I burned 545 calories.  Because I'd burned so many calories (I was at about 300 when we got to DQ) I decided I could 'afford' to have a crispy chicken salad instead of a grilled chicken (it's my fave).  Dinner was DELISH- and the exercise was fun.

Consumed: 1537kcal (-200 nursing calories)

Burned: 545kcal
Total deficit: 1244kcal
Target deficit: 811kcal

In the end, while I'd had DQ and everything (and hadn't been hungry all day!) I could have stood to eat a bit MORE than I did.  An extra apple or salad , some nuts, maybe a yogurt.  I'm finding it hard to get the perfect balance between calories consumed and burned, even after all this time- but it's definitely something I'm working on!

The only thing is, regardless of how healthy even the grilled chicken salad is at DQ.... their food has SO MUCH DAMNED SODIUM!  It's ridiculous.  I'm already retaining water with my TOM around the corner.  I'll be drinking extra water today to make up for what I ate yesterday.....

Anyhow, that is all.  Will check back tomorrow!

Another day...

Here I go again....

Yesterday was another pretty good day.  Drank lots, ate well, feeling good. 

Still haven't trouble fitting exercise in.  I know I HAVE the time- I exercised every day in January, just about- but how to re-figure out HOW to put the exercise in is a different story.  Because I'm not exercising, it's okay to eat fewer calories without risk of going into starvation mode.  I always boost my food intake when I'm working out, eat most of my exercise calories.

I had a peanut butter and banana wrap yesterday for breakfast, with a bit of chopped pecans- it was delicious.  For lunch it was a Gourmet Steamers (Red pepper alfredo) meal and for dinner I had half a can of tuna in half a whole wheat pita with a couple pickles and some lettuce.  Through the day I snacked on strawberries, grapes, laughing cow cheese, carrots... and I had a 100-calorie pack of oreo thinsations after dinner.

Consumed: 1360kcal (-200 nursing calories)
Burned: 0kcal (it was Glee night!  Barely even did housework...)
Total deficit: 876kcal
Target deficit: 811kcal

So my total deficit for the day was pretty good.  Probably should have eaten a touch more but the thing is, 200 is just a guess when it comes to nursing calories- I could be burning less than that.  Most nursing mothers burn 200-500 calories per day, but since Logan's a toddler he doesn't nurse as much as he once did, so I'm counting calories on the lower end of the scale. 

Anyways, on Monday I seemed to have gained about two pounds (not surprising- a combination of water retention and less-than-ideal eating over the weekend) but it's already dropped off and then some.  I retain water so badly and my weight fluctuates up and down so much, sometimes it's hard to get a handle on where I really 'am'.  We'll check back next Monday and see where I'm at.

God, these last 10 pounds are HARD TO SHAKE!

On the plus side, I'm taking Ritalin now and one of the side effects is weight loss.  Ha!  I think this is the first time I've ever HOPED for a side effect.... ;)

"Counting Calories is TOO HARD!"

It always blows my mind when friends/family make comments about how 'hard' it is to count calories.  They can't believe I track every calorie, and have been doing it since the end of November.

Even when I wasn't losing weight, just maintaining, I still counted the calories.  I think it's good to know what's going into your body.  Also, it helps keep you on track.

It's really not a hassle for me! I enter in my food for the day at the beginning of every day.  This allows me to a) plan ahead so I'm never hunched in front of the fridge saying, "What should I eat?" b) not accidentally go over in any area (sodium, sugar, etc) c) make sure I'm getting enough of the proper nutrients and d) keep on track throughout the day. 

Of course, what I enter isn't set in stone.  I may decide in the morning that for dinner I'll be having tuna, rice and vegetables.  When I get home, I may decide I'd prefer coucous, veggies and chicken.  The overall calories of those meals are similar, and I'll just switch it out.  But the primary calorie entering happens in the morning, after I've eaten breakfast and packed my lunch for work.  Bada-boom, really simple.

I did fairly well yesterday- didn't get a work-out in though because, like Sunday, my focus when I got home was organization of my house.  On the plus side- cleaning house burns calories.  Certainly beats my normal routine of coming home and sitting on the couch to watch TV until bedtime!  (Well, minus dinner prep and clean-up, of course). 

Consumed: 1591kcal (-200 nursing calories)

Burned: 325kcal
Total Deficit: 970kcal
Target Deficit: 811kcal

So, all in all, a pretty successful day!  I ate lots of veggies, drank quite a bit of water, and my daily deficit was pretty respectable.  No complaints here!