No More Playing Around...Time to Reach My Goals!!!

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  • PJilly
    PJilly Posts: 21,717 Member
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    Hi all! Man, I am really wanting to eat more the last few days. I've cut my calories from 2100 to 1800, and I'm feeling very sorry for myself. LOL. I'm pretty sure I'll live, though.

    xmaxine89, my BF percentage actually went up a tad, but nothing dramatic. It's just a good reminder that I need to stay on top of things or I could very easily undo all my hard work. I have no intention of letting that happen. I got a little sloppy over Christmas, which is why I'm cutting back now before it gets too far gone. For my workouts, I'm doing Slim Series, which is a combination of cardio and light resistance. There are six workouts, and they range from 60 to 80 minutes. One of the workouts is mostly stretching, but the other five are the cardio/resistance combo. In my 20s, I used to spend a lot of time in the gym lifting significantly heavier than I do now. I think it was great for me then, and I'm glad I did it because I think it gave me good foundation, but I like the lighter weights these days. I turned 50 this fall, and I find that my joints feel the strain and stress of heavy weights much more than they used to — at least in my shoulders and elbows. My legs are as strong as ever, and my absolute favorite exercises are squats and deadlifts. Love 'em!

    Lyadeia, great job on the push ups and pull ups! Sorry to hear about your pizza crust disaster. I hate it when you have your meals all planned out and then something out of your control comes along and messes it all up. It sounds like you handled it like a pro, though. So many people would have taken that as a sign they should throw in the towel and just have a total blowout. Depending on my mood, I might be one of those people! :tongue:
  • Lyadeia
    Lyadeia Posts: 4,603 Member
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    My hormones are messing with my chi, lol.

    There are so many symptoms that so many different women experience around TOM, and one of the more annoying ones that I have is that I feel sleepy all the time no matter what. I got the same amount of sleep as I normally do, but I woke up just draggin' anyway. I felt like rolling over and taking a nap. In fact, if I laid down right now, I would fall asleep right now. I guess it prevents me from overeating since I am in bed, but it's crazy!

    So during today's cardio workout, I pushed I hard as I could make myself push even though I was kinda sleepy. I think it affected my focus as well as the calorie burn. That's OK, though, cause i know the calorie burn difference wasn't that big anyway. I would just like to squeeze every calorie burned that I can from every workout that I do. :bigsmile:

    Jill, normally when something like that would happen to me in the past, I would throw in the towel. In fact, the thought of ordering a Domino's pizza actually ran through my brain. Then I thought that those things are like 1200 calories in half the pizza...so I decided against that. I haven't actually gone out to eat since starting my new program, so I am proud of myself for that. I had been eating out a minimum of 2 times per week, and it sure wasn't anything good for me.

    I will post that pizza crust recipe later for you (tomorrow I think). Right now I have to get ready to go to work and leave early since the roads are icy and slushy. I hope I make it... :ohwell:
  • Lyadeia
    Lyadeia Posts: 4,603 Member
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    Wow, I seriously did NOT feel like workout out today. I pushed through anyway and got it done. I did not have time for the ab workout, so I will either get it in on Saturday instead or I will just forget about it completely and move on. I got the real calorie burner out of the way and was actually able to increase either weights or reps on EVERY exercise!

    I don't know why, but when I have no motivation to workout and I workout anyway, I end up having the best workouts. How about you guys?
  • pamp1emousse
    pamp1emousse Posts: 282 Member
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    Well done on ploughing on through! I know what you mean - I find that when I'm feeling really motivated I set myself big goals for the workout and then when I get tired, start to get disheartened. When I'm just not in the mood though, I bargain with myself and say something like "just 30 minutes of cardio and a couple of situps" .. but then once I get going and I realise I can do more, I do! And then you feel sooo proud of yourself!

    I've started writing notes on the weights I'm using and I've set myself a target - increase my reps by 2 each time I workout that muscle group until I reach 12. Once I've reached 12, unless I'm really struggling and I'm not ready, I go up a weight. Maybe that's what you're supposed to do anyway, I dunno, but I'm v. excited about my plan! Realised these past 4 months at the gym have been close to wasted strength training-wise because I just haven't been pushing myself to improve.

    Mmmmm dominos. So, so good. Although, last time I had it I went from regular, good losses to a massive plateau. It lasted about a month and started LITERALLY the day after. Boo. So I think I'll be resisting for a while :tongue:

    Weighed in today - 125!! This Christmas weight's all coming off so fast - I'm so relieved. What's also exciting is that I measured my body fat - it was 25.9% before xmas, went up to 26.8% after and now it's 25.8%! I know it's not v accurate and I shouldn't be looking 0.1% increments, but is always nice to see improvement!
  • Lyadeia
    Lyadeia Posts: 4,603 Member
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    Congrats on the weight and body fat loss!!! That's awesome. I don't think it's "bad" to look at those smaller increments at all. I so the same thing cause even the smallest of the small change shows us that we are progressing one way or another. That's why I specifically bought my new scale to measure in fractions of pounds. Cause, say I weigh 140 one week and then the same scale says 140 next week. I'd be annoyed. But what if the new scale said something like 140.8 in week 1 and 140.2 the next week. That's a loss and I can be very happy about it cause it means the scale moved in the right direction. :flowerforyou:

    I'm getting this day started a little late because of some reason, I really slept in today. I never sleep this long, but to be honest, ir really felt great and I know that I wouldn't have done it if my body didn't need it.

    I really need to figure out this morning dehydration problem. I know that we tend to be dehydrated the most when we wake up, but I am sooo sick of having a drink 2-3 glasses of water in the morning just to get this cotton mouth feeling to go away. I am drinking over 9 glasses total each day and feel like if I drink more, I will do nothing but pee all day, lol. It's driving me crazy. :tongue:
  • Lyadeia
    Lyadeia Posts: 4,603 Member
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    Well, because I slept in so long, I once again decided to take my Ab Ripper X routine out of the day. I still got in my hour's worth of Legs & Back, though, so it's OK. I will do my best to make up those to ARX days tomorrow after Turbo Kick and then Sunday. I might do a short cardio workout on Sunday first, maybe something like Fat Blaster from Turbo Jam, because I don't like doing abs without something else first. The first workout always gets my abs warmed up and ready to workout.

    I am looking forward to Monday's weigh-in because once again I am just doing really great this week. I am really shocked at myself for not having cheated at all (unless you count the 3 measly Gummi Bears that someone at work shared with me 2 nights ago, but that's what, like 10 calories at the most?) and I haven't missed a single workout (I don't even count Ab Ripper X when I enter my exercise for calories burned, so that's OK). Last year I couldn't last half a week, and this year, I have gone almost 2 whole weeks without cheating or falling off the wagon! Such a big accomplishment for me. But I am totally serious about this year reaching my goals and not playing around!!!

    I hope you guys are having a great day. I am going to go cook some fish and fix a Greek salad. :flowerforyou:
  • pamp1emousse
    pamp1emousse Posts: 282 Member
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    You're clearly firmly back on the wagon! Well done :smile: I'm finding this "slow and steady" business promoted on MFP amazing. In the past, whenever I've plateaued I've just given up. Either that or I've stopped before my goal, thinking where I'd got was good enough (only for the novelty to wear off after a week or 2 and have the motivation to start again firmly out the window)... so I've got to admit I'm pretty proud of myself for carrying even though it's taken so long! :smile:

    So it was my birthday yesterday, and I managed to have a lovely dinner out with my family, including cocktails, chocolate and cream birthday cake, and basically a little of everything I wanted within maintenance calories! (+exercise ones). Out for dinner with friends and lots more alcohol tonight so hopefully will manage to stay within them again. Had a nice, big gym session again today so should be fine. Christmas seems to have satisfied my binge-y tendencies for a while! Definite good news.

    On the down side, after quitting smoking a year ago, a couple of months ago I started "social smoking" again (post break up stress) ... and now it's been one or 2 here and there on my own. NOOOOO shame on me. Plus this will NOT help my "get super fit" plan. Hmph. Going to have to nip this in the bud asap I'm thinking
  • Lyadeia
    Lyadeia Posts: 4,603 Member
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    I know just what you mean about stopping short of your goal because of a long plateau. I have done that many times before, but I refuse to do it again. I am looking at it in a completely different way. I am not eating simply to lose weight, but rather, the foods I put into my body all have a specific purpose and they work together for the ultimate purpose of keeping me healthy from head to toe. Losing weight is just a great thing that happens when you are taking care of your body by eating what's good for you. This is not to say that I will never have anything "bad" ever again, cause that's not true at all. But I am not a slave to my food anymore. I dictate what I am going to eat and when I will eat it, not the other way around...so if one day I want that 6 cheese lasagna and chocolate peanut butter cheesecake, I will have it with out all that horrible regret that I used to get every time I would eat out. It's just not worth it. I will work hard to reach my goals and to keep my body healthy, but that does not mean that from time to time I won't give myself a treat. :bigsmile:

    I was able to get through today's workout a lot easier than when I did the exact same workout on Tuesday this week. I still drank a little more than 2 cups of water while working out (I always get bad dry mouth during exercise and don't understand how the instructors in the videos can go the whole time with just a couple little sips!) but I didn't have to take as many breaks "just because." I will probably change up and do a different workout next week for my cardio. I will still be doing Turbo Kick, but I have enough rounds to do a different one each week until I finish P90X. And I like to change it up so I don't get bored, lol. :tongue:

    About the smoking, I think that by coming here and admitting that you are doing it is the first step to stopping. Cause that means that you recognize your own habits and feel that they need to change. That's always a good thing because we all have a lot of habits that we maybe shouldn't do but yet we don't recognize them as "bad" habits. I'm sure you will get through this and meet your goals. It's just a little bump in the road, but you haven't stopped. Just keep moving and doing what you know is good for your body!

    Have a great evening everyone. I gotta go back to work again...blah! :flowerforyou:
  • Lyadeia
    Lyadeia Posts: 4,603 Member
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    YAY, the pizza dough worked out just fine this time!!! :bigsmile: :bigsmile: :bigsmile: I still am shaking my head at last week's attempt since I did the exact same thing. Oh well.

    I decided to do Fat Blaster today, which is a short Turbo Jam workout but still burns plenty of calories. My cardio is really getting a lot better, so I am thankful for that.

    Tomorrow is going to be another busy today, and I think that I might have to either workout early in the morning...BLAH...or try hard to squeeze it in the afternoon. I am hoping to be done with the rest of my to-do list by about 3:30 so I can be home by 4, workout at 4:30-5:30, and then still make time for my massage appointment without feeling rushed. In fact, I think that I am just simply going to CHOOSE TO BE DONE with the to-do list by no later than 4:00. It's MY to-do list anyway, so I can choose when things get done on it. :flowerforyou: I thank Chalene for her challenge and helping me out with the to-do list!!!
  • Lyadeia
    Lyadeia Posts: 4,603 Member
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    Tomorrow morning is another weigh-in for me...should I be nervous? I mean, it is TOM...but I have done really well on my nutrition and my exercise. I mean, wow, I've gone 14 days straight without a single cheat (unless you count those 3 gummi bears I mentioned a few days ago) and I've gone 14 days straight exercising each day...so I know that I am on the right track but I don't want to know what TOM has to say about it, though, haha!!! I'll just keep my fingers crossed and if the scale is mean, then I am sure it will go down again next Monday because TOM will be gone by then. :flowerforyou:
  • Lyadeia
    Lyadeia Posts: 4,603 Member
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    I just weighed in at 142.2 pounds which is another 1.4 pounds gone!!! So I am averaging 1.5 pounds per week by exercising intensely 6 days a week and moderately on the 7th while keeping my food between 1300 and 1500 calories per day. I added more protein to my diet than MFP originally allows and lowered the amount of fat to around 20%. I think I am doing pretty good so far. I can't believe I actually lost weight during TOM!!!
  • Lyadeia
    Lyadeia Posts: 4,603 Member
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    OK, so I just did the math...since P90X lasts for 13 weeks, if I continue to lose weight at the same rate each week, then I will be 125.7 pounds when I finish!!! And that is totally awesome since my goal weight is actually 125. :bigsmile: :bigsmile: :bigsmile: :bigsmile: :bigsmile: :bigsmile: :bigsmile: :bigsmile: :bigsmile: :bigsmile:
  • PJilly
    PJilly Posts: 21,717 Member
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    You are doing amazingly well. Congrats!

    I feel like I'm all over the place. I can't get my head straight about whether I am perfectly content to be back in my 135 to 140 range and eat accordingly for that or if I am shooting for <20% body fat, which would mean eating to lose another 5-ish pounds. I was all gung ho to lose just a little bit more, but going back to eating at a deficit was way harder than I expected it to be. I decided I need to go back to the mindset of doing this for health, not vanity, and I went back to maintenance, which felt much better ... for a couple of days. I was convinced that was the best plan. But now I'm feeling like I wussed out and should try to lose a little more, and for some reason, that scares me. What the heck is wrong with my brain anyway? :tongue: I can justify either approach. I just can't seem to pick one and stick with it.

    Lordy, I must not have enough to worry about if this is the thing that's stressing me out. Spelling it out in writing makes me feel a little lame. Thanks for indulging me for a few minutes and putting up with my whining.

    One thing I DO know for sure is that I want your pizza crust recipe!
  • Lyadeia
    Lyadeia Posts: 4,603 Member
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    I almost didn't workout today. I woke up with only 4 hours of sleep and then had so much stuff to get done that I didn't get it all done until around 8:00 in the evening. I was really tired, so I took about a 2 hour nap. When I woke up, I watched Bill Cosby on HBO and then I got my workout in. I ate everything that I had planned to eat and drank plenty of water. And my workout was great because once again I was going up on weights or reps on every exercise. I am still not at the point where I can do any pull-ups unassisted, but I am sure that I will get there soon.

    The pizza crust is really easy to make. In one bowl, mix 1 cup of warm water with 1 tsp. of dry active yeast and 1 tbsp. of honey. Set it aside for 5 minutes. In a large bowl, mix 1 cup of whole wheat flour, 1/4 cup all purpose flour, and 1/4 tsp of salt (I use "No Salt" which tastes the same only it is potassium chloride with no sodium in it at all). Then pour the liquid into the flour and mix with a fork until dough forms. Then knead with your hands to form a dough ball and everything is all mixed and blended. Cover the bowl in aluminum foil and set in the sink which has about 4 inches of standing hot water in it. Let that stand for about 45 minutes. Punch the dough ball with your fingers and then cover again letting stand for about 30 minutes. Then you just roll the dough on the counter with a little extra whole wheat flour into the crust shape and size that you like. I normally either cut it into 2 parts and make the equivalent of 2 medium thin crust pizzas or sometimes I use the whole dough ball and make 1 large thick crust pizza. I like to cook it for about 5 minutes on 450 degrees to get it crispy and then add the sauce and toppings and cook again for about 5 more minutes or so.

    Each medium thin crust or half of a large (half the recipe) has only 285 calories. Normally when I pre-bake the crust, I add about 1 tbsp. of melted Smart Balance buttery spread and some spices. Also, I normally make just plain ol' cheese pizza and I use an entire package of 2% Kraft shredded mozzarella on 1 entire pizza. My normal serving of that entire medium thin crust pizza normally has between 500-600 calories total, but if you eat less than the whole pizza like most people tend to do, then obviously the calorie count is much lower. I also love my cheese and tend to use more than other people, lol. :flowerforyou:

    Have a good night everyone. I am going to shove off to bed now.
  • PJilly
    PJilly Posts: 21,717 Member
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    Thanks for the crust recipe. I am looking forward to trying it. It sounds like the perfect complement to my newfound fat-free roasted garlic recipe! :bigsmile: That "No Salt" sounds interesting. I may have to give it a try. I don't really track my sodium. My BP tends to be on the low side of normal, but I'm sure it couldn't hurt to cut back anyway.

    After I posted yesterday, I went back to bed and took a nap for a couple of hours. I never nap, but I really needed that. I felt so much better after I woke up, and I had a great workout then. I didn't sleep well last night at all for some reason. It wasn't for lack of being sleepy and tired, that's for sure.

    Time to wake my son up to get ready for school. Have a great Tuesday!
  • Lyadeia
    Lyadeia Posts: 4,603 Member
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    After I posted yesterday, I went back to bed and took a nap for a couple of hours. I never nap, but I really needed that. I felt so much better after I woke up, and I had a great workout then. I didn't sleep well last night at all for some reason. It wasn't for lack of being sleepy and tired, that's for sure.

    That is pretty much exactly how I was yesterday! I was really tired when I went to bed, but for some reason only got 4 hours of sleep. But I took a nice nap on the couch and then I was able to push out a really great workout. I slept good after that, though. I think it was around 4 am or so when I finally went to bed, and I slept for about 8-9 hours. It was great! :bigsmile:
  • Lyadeia
    Lyadeia Posts: 4,603 Member
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    The scale at work is always different from what I weigh myself at home, so I do not take it as truth. However, I have to use that scale for the Biggest Loser contest that we are doing. This morning was the second weigh-in, and it was 3 pounds lighter than what it was 2 weeks ago. So, even though the scales tell me something different, they are both telling me that I am losing weight at about 1.5 pounds per week! WOO HOO!!! :bigsmile:
  • PJilly
    PJilly Posts: 21,717 Member
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    Schweet! :happy:
  • Lyadeia
    Lyadeia Posts: 4,603 Member
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    I didn't want to workout at all today, but I pushed my way through Yoga X anyway. I feel like my flexibility is getting better because there were some things that I couldn't do last week and especially not 2 weeks ago that I am doing much better with now. Hopefully it won't be too long before I can do things like the crane pose without having to cheat with my toes tapping the floor. I wonder if I will lose another 1.5 pounds or so this week? I hope so!!!
  • alicewoman1
    alicewoman1 Posts: 34 Member
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    Lyadeai,
    Congrats with your weight loss :)!
    I'm starting next week with p90x.
    You are eating 1400 calories plus exercise calories am I Right?

    Do you think that works for me too?
    Im 25 years old 5'7" and my weight is156 lbs. My first weight goal is 145 lbs.
    ratio: 30% carbs 50% proteins 20% fat ?