Tag: food

Breaking through the plateau

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Of course this was going to happen…Of course.  It was inevitable after losing so much weight that I would hit a standstill.  The weight loss plateau has reared it’s ugly head in my direction.

Stuck at 127 with absolutely not a budge in two weeks.

Now I know it’s the holidays.  And most people who are trying to lose weight would be happy to see themselves maintaining during such a difficult time of the year.  I shouldn’t complain.   But it’s still a disappointing.

I am becoming one of my own clients.  I’m doing all the wrong things like weighing myself after dinner (WHAT!? Duh!), stressing out about a measly little pound, freaking out and envisioning the scale frozen on 127 forever.

This won’t happen.  I will start to lose again but the first step is to figure out what the hell I’m doing wrong.

A few possibilities:

1.  I’m doing too much:  I have only allowed myself 1 day off since starting this journey.  That’s more then 3 months of non-stop exercising.  Not good.  That could lead to overtraining which can lead to all sorts of metabolic issues if I don’t address it.

2. I’m not doing enough:  Even with all this working out, it’s possible I’m not doing enough of the QUALITY workouts.  Possibly  too much steady state and not enough High Intensity?  Too many full body workouts and not enough splits?

3.  I’m doing the same thing over and over:  Don’t we all know the definition of insanity?  Although my strength training program has been different each week, it has always been full body.  So it might be time to change it to split routines.  Also the diet has been the same for 3 weeks so it’s quite possibly my coach will change that up next week.

Those are the three main reasons why I we all hit a weight loss rut.   In keeping with my previous post about looking at the positives and staying optimistic, I’m going to attempt to have some fun while trying to figure out exactly what is holding me back.

In the meantime, I’m still planning my regular meal plan for this week despite celebrating Christmas (tomorrow actually), traveling on a plane Wednesday and Thursday and working a nice long day on Christmas Eve starting at 6am and ending after I get finished with Christmas Eve dinner.  I have my work cut out for me this week.

But in the end, now is not the time to worry or care about staying perfect; it’s time to enjoy spending time with loved ones and friends.  I will be enjoying the hell out of my food and hanging with my family.  And I will not give this plateau a second thought! I might even eat a piece of (gasp!) bread.  Yes real life starch! (what’s starch? It’s been so long since I’ve had any I forgot what the hell it is.)

Merry Christmas Happy Holidays and all that jazz everyone!

-Michelle

Random song on iTunes: The Killer by The Twilight Singers (quite possibly the best song ever…ever!)

Random Tweet courtesy of some random person: When someone walks into a school w/a rope w/a spear attached throwing it & screaming “Get over here!” then let’s discuss video games.

Progress Pics

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I don’t even want to make a big deal out of this even though this is probably one of the more difficult things I have posted.  It’s not like anyone is forcing me to do this of course but if you have a goal you better make sure you note a starting point.  And with weight loss, pictures are pretty much the best route to go.

I didn’t manipulate these photos in any way EXCEPT brightness and contrast because some turned out so bright and some not so bright.  It took me a second to understand how to add text to a picture as you can see from one of the December pics.  I never figured out how to delete the text so….you are left with this.  Photoshop smart I AM NOT.

Left:  October  Center: November   Right: December

I’m at 137.5lbs in the October pics, 133lbs in the November pics and 127 in the December 10th pic.

Thanks to Danielle for stitching these all together for me!!

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Back

 

Front
Front
Side
Side

 

Step Away from the Dessert Table

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This weekend was the infamous Dessert Party thrown by my former client Lina and her hubby Jeff.  Lina spent the better part of her December and probably November baking all kinds of delicious treats for this annual festive event.  I attended 2 years ago and although I remember indulging in a few treats I honestly can’t remember what I had.  I’m guessing I just didn’t care because I wasn’t really watching my weight too closely back then.

This year is obviously a different story.  Declining the invitation was not an option because once again, I want to prove that losing weight is possible during the holidays.  Plus, I don’t see the need to be anti-social when you’re watching what you eat.

Here is what was presented to myself and their guests upon walking in the door:

Can you say, YUM?
Can you say, YUM?

I don’t think this picture does it justice…so here are just a few close ups:

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So what do you do when you’re trying to lose weight but you’re invited to a dessert party?  You have plan.  My plan was to eat enough to be satisfied but not too much that I felt guilt and gluttony.

You also need reinforcements.

I brought a friend with me, Brian, who I assigned the task of “Spotter” to.  I told him to spot me and make sure I didn’t go overboard.  Unfortunately Brian doesn’t know me well enough to know what is considered overboard in my mind. BUT, he did a great job regardless. 🙂

Lina and Jeff also did a great job supporting me by showing me things that I could have without the added guilt.  So awesome of them to think of little old me!

I was going to take a picture of what I ate but I didn’t want the guests there to think I’m an Instagram freak or strange even though it’s becoming quite normal to take pics of your food.  So I’ll just tell you the damage:

  • About 4oz of a white wine spritzer (About 2 sips in I thought “I want to EAT my calories, not DRINK them!”) and switched to water
  • 1 cup of a mix of berries that Lina and Jeff said they provided specifically for moi.  Thanks guys! Fruit is always good.
  • 1 tablespoon and a half maybe ( I didn’t bring out measuring spoons but the thought of breaking those things out in the middle of a party makes me laugh)  of Angel Food cake with that pudding and strawberry combination.  Is it just called Angel Food cake or strawberry shortcake?? Whatever it was it was also very good and although I tried not to spoon too much pudding on the plate I did get a good chunk of it.
  • 1 of the cookies in the middle of that picture there…The one with the green icing in the middle. I WAIT for these cookies when my Mom makes them and Lina’s did not disappoint.  A little thicker than how my Mom makes them but oh so good!!!

I stopped for a while and chatted up some people….Taking a break from the madness.

After about a half hour of drinking water and talking I thought I could handle just a little bit more.  Brian mentioned the pumpkin pie would be worth it as well as this 7 layer chocolate chip  graham cracker ecstasy Lina made (Picture above on the silver plate).  So I opted for one little bite of pie and one small piece of the layered goodness.

End result?  Worth it. 🙂  I didn’t feel sick. I didn’t feel bloated. I didn’t feel gross.  I had FUN!  And best of all, I didn’t feel deprived.

HAD I NOT been trying to lose weight I honestly think I would have gone bonkers and probably would have had no self control.  The end result would have been ugly.

At the end of the night I still fit in my size 7 pants.  I haven’t worn size 7 pants since I moved back to Cleveland from Chicago.  And I got them around Christmas time so it’s been 3 years.  And they JUST fit.   So a bit of advice if you’re attending a holiday party of the same magnitude and find yourself with the same doubts:

Wear a pair of pants that JUST fit…that if you went nuts with food you MIGHT embarrass yourself and pop/rip them.

Okay maybe that’s not the best advice but it worked.

Thanks again to Lina and Jeff for putting on a great party!  And thanks for reading my blog!

Interesting Sidenote:  On the way out the door I met a woman whose daughter does Figure Competitions right here in Northeast Ohio!  How random is that??  Feels so good to meet other women who are doing the same things since honestly, I don’t know anyone locally doing/training for a competition.

Weight this morning: 127lbs.  The meal plan Coach Davies has me on is clearly working very well.  I still feel energized, still in a great mood, still making progress!

I did a much better job planning my meals for the week and even had time to help out my family making pierogies yesterday!  YUM! (Potato of course…sorry can’t do the sauerkraut).

HAPPY MONDAY!!

-Michelle

And the madness begins…

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I can see from my page views here that I’m flatlining  these past few days because I haven’t posted anything….and I haven’t posted because my competition training has taken over!  This is both a good and not so good thing.  Good for me but bad as far as keeping my blog going.

While I have some time, I thought I’d write a quick update on my progress as well as some funny little anecdotes that you will hopefully appreciate.

So Sunday night my Plan arrived in my inbox from my coach, Mike Davies.  It included pretty much everything you could ask for in a plan; what to eat and when to eat, how long to workout for and what specifically to do with regards to training/cardio.

It was slightly overwhelming at first to see all these emails and instructions.  But more than apprehension, I felt excitement about finally getting on a specific plan.

Monday morning after cardio was a visit to the store to stock up on some key proteins that I was lacking, mainly flank steak and salmon.  I opted for just flank steak for now since one high priced protein is enough per week for this cheapass  low budget gal.

Without getting into every detail, I’m absolutely thrilled with this plan!  The foods I’m told to eat are already foods I like, although I had never had flank before.  I’ll be working out twice a day (cardio in the AM and weights and other cardio in the PM).

Since I just started Monday, I’m already feeling the effects.  Maybe it’s just psychological but I don’t care.  I feel a great amount of energy and I’m not starving.  I have no desire to eat anything sweet despite the fact that my Mom is making a new Christmas cookie/pastry/ everyday this week.  She offers me some but she understands why I’m saying No…for now.  Coach Mike said I can have a cheat day on Christmas as well as New Years.  Since we celebrate Christmas on the 22nd this year, I’m saving my Christmas cheat for the 26th when I’m traveling to Chicago to see my friends.  As for New Years Eve, well…this year I won’t be on crutches like last year (let’s not talk about that) I might actually go out but I’m not a huge drinker.  I’d rather EAT my cheats than drink.  So we’ll see about that.

Maybe I’m talking crazy but I don’t WANT to be able to cheat.  I think just the fact that I was told that I COULD, makes me not want to.  Why undo what I’ve worked already so hard for?

Love This!

What else has happened since my last post?  My mood has improved like, a thousand percent.  🙂

I was telling someone just the other day that I’m extremely happy lately.  Like, goofy can’t wipe this grin off my face content happy.  At first I thought it was because I’m downing Fish Oil like it’s candy once again.  And I know from past experience that stuff improves your mood.  I would also say the fact that I’m working out twice a day now and that I’m finally seeing results, is probably a huge reason for my sudden joyfulness.

I’m actually kind of upset I didn’t get myself on a real plan like this sooner.  It’s so nice to have someone telling me what to eat and when to eat it.  I never understood why my clients wouldn’t follow a meal plan.  I followed one when I had a trainer 10 years ago (wow really? unreal that I’m this old ha!) and the results were awesome!  And I didn’t even think I needed a trainer back then. (I totally did).   Maybe it helps that my goal is so lofty.  Maybe I’m celebrating way too soon.  Maybe I’m being naive about how difficult the holidays are going to be.

I’m choosing to put those maybe’s aside and all the negative thoughts and just enjoy this journey.

As for some little funny stories, here are a few:

  • I texted my friend Ronnie on day 1  (yes day 1) of this plan to say that I was sorry for ever thinking drinking egg whites out of the carton was gross and abnormal.  🙂  I haven’t gotten that desperate yet but I can completely relate to why I might have to do this.
  • I’m really appreciating the fact that I asked for a Costco membership for Christmas. 
  • I told my former co-workers at the gym I used to work at that “I’ve lost 10lbs since leaving this place!!”  Probably not the best incentive for working there, ha!
  • I’m officially a gym rat  as I now belong to 2 gyms and work at 2 other studios.
  • I’m scheduled to go on the Polar Express tonight (those who don’t have kids or are unaware of this, just google it) and I actually am already figuring out a way to pack my food on the train.  Perhaps asking for Tupperware for Christmas would have been a better gift to myself?
  • Drinking 2 gallons of water a day has been…interesting. Ha!  I feel like I’m training for my half/full marathons again!

This is all for now…More stories to come this weekend!

Happy HumpDay!!!

-Michelle

Go ahead, have that cake…and that pie…and that chocolate…

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So as the title suggests these past two days were quite…”challenging” to say the least.  My first celebration since getting serious about getting this body in shape was this Sunday, my Dad’s 70th Birthday.

The day started out great with a workout at a new gym!  Well, not new….as a matter of fact it’s 15 years old.  But it was new to me.  I decided to try it out because I’m trying to get out of my contract with a gym that’s about 35 minutes away from me.  I joined when I worked closer to it and paid for a year in full.   In any case, I found a bare bones no-frills gym about 10 minutes from my house.  Jackpot!  I promptly signed up for a free 7 day pass.

As I entered, I realized No Frills should be their slogan.  No shower, one little bathroom in the locker room…a few lockers.  But hey, I don’t need much.  Just give me some weights and cables and pulleys and I’m happy.  I was the only female there on Sunday morning but didn’t matter.  Sometimes I get a little creeped out if I’m the only chick in a gym…like at some point some random dude is going to come up to me and tell me what I’m doing wrong or ask me why the hell I’m lifting weights and not on the elliptical.  I got some looks that told me I’m one of the few women that actually ATTENDS this little gym.  But no worries, I held my own.

I came back from the gym and went to the store to spend money I don’t have on food I really need.   I went to a bigger grocery store with better selections…I actually researched how to find http://www.navitasnaturals.com/ snacks and saw that they sell them at this grocery store not far from my house.  I even went so far as to ask someone where to find them but when I went to the aisle, they were not there! BOOOOO.   No worries, I got plenty of stuff.  $148 worth of food to be exact.  Yikes.  But I am determined to make it last as long as possible.

Enter Birthday Celebration:  Okay I can handle this I thought.  Here’s what was offered: Pizza, KFC chicken, biscuits, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, birthday cake and ice cream.

Here’s what I ate: 1 piece of pizza (plain), 1 piece of chicken, 1 piece of cake, 1 slice of pumpkin pie.

I refuse to put in pictures of this food because I think you all know what these things look like right? Great…Read on.

Not terrible right?  I survived!  It wasn’t the best but one bad meal will not undo all the hard work I’ve done this month.

Enter Hurricane Sandy:   So I’m not going to pretend this storm devastated us here in Cleveland compared to all the lives lost and damages done in NYC and NJ.  But it did have a small contribution to my food failure today:  Power outage.

So when you just purchased a ton of healthy food, and the power goes out, you tend to panic and want to EAT all the food you bought before it goes bad.  No I didn’t eat everything in sight, but I definitely got off track a little bit.

The biggest downfall which seems silly to even mention? I couldn’t use my Vitamix.   Anyone who knows me knows I’m in love with my Vitamix.

Beautiful isn’t it? What’s the commandment about worshiping false gods? Yeah I’m breaking that one right now.

I use it at least 2 times a day.  I almost considered bringing it to my work so I could make my smoothie there.  I work at a small personal training and fitness studio so it actually wouldn’t have been TOO odd.  But I made do with my new favorite drink http://www.sambazon.com/ and a banana and a little Fage yogurt with blueberry before my cardio workout at work.  I mainly went to get warm but figured, I’m due for a workout anyways.

Lunch was fine, tuna sandwich with Olive Oil based Mayo and another Fage yogurt. (see what I mean about eating all this stuff before it goes bad?).

I snacked on some of my mini sweet peppers and came home to have baked chicken and sauteed veggies.

But guess what was sitting in the fridge just asking to be eaten??? One last piece of birthday cake and one last piece of pumpkin pie.  UGH! Had to have it!! HAD TO!!! (I’m sure none of the other 3 people in my house was going to eat it…)

The Aftermath:  Feeling a little crappy.  A little upset I let myself fail not once but twice.  But again, when you think about the bigger picture, it’s really not anything to lose sleep over.  I’m almost glad it happened because this was almost like a little test-drive before the real holidays hit.  I have no idea how that’s going to go with me and this whole plan because it’s impossible to assume I will skip all sweets altogether.  We’ll have to wait and see.

The Plan: In addition to the bootcamp class I was going to take tomorrow morning, I will be hitting the weights as planned but also going to try to fit in a second boxing class at night.  Just going for a big calorie burn without overdoing it.  And I’ll probably take Thursday off or just do abs.  Back to weights Friday.

Move on people, nothing more to see (or eat) here for the night.

On the press for Thursday/Fridays blog post:  Fitness professionals promoting questionable products.  Already got alot of ideas on what I want to write about for this…gonna be a good one.

-Michelle

 

Random iTunes song:  Your Fractured Life by Air Traffic

Random Tweet of the day: My Dad’s car this morning (no it’s not destroyed although we haven’t taken the tree off of it yet..)

Best response we got on Facebook was to cut off the top and make it our little Christmas Tree.