Week 40 Weigh-In

Current Weight - 245.0 lbs.
This week's gain - 4.6 lbs.
Total loss - 72.6 lbs.
Average calories per day - 2131
Treadmill - 4.46 miles in 1 hour over 2 days burning 889 calories.

Um...yeah...uh...that is quite a gain, isn't it? I pigged out on Thanksgiving and I wasn't very good the other 6 days. Add that to almost no exercise and that's a perfect recipe for disaster. Looking back I can see that I had waaaay too many refined carbs which seem to trigger binge-type behavior in me.

Today is a new day and I'm really trying to get back to the super/whole foods thing. I'm hoping that most of that 4.6 lbs. is water weight. We'll soon see, won't we? I have 3 more weigh-in days before Christmas and I really want to get under 240 by then. There's still hope if I can get my act together.

Week 39 Weigh-In

Current Weight - 240.4 lbs.
This week's loss - 1.4 lbs.
Total loss - 77.2 lbs.
Average calories per day - 1967
Treadmill - 4.46 miles in 1 hour over 2 days burning 889 calories.

Pretty good week. I'm quite shocked that I had any loss after last week's huge loss, but I'll take it!

Friday afternoon I came down with a terrible head cold which has now moved to my chest so I haven't been able to run. As far as exercising goes, it looks like I may be out of commission until next week. Since I've been sick and not exercising for a week, I'll probably go back and repeat Week 6 of the C25K. I did manage to complete Week 7 before all of this, so it should only be a temporary set-back.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I will be taking the day off. I will eat whatever I want without counting calories. Friday I'll be back on the horse, I promise! :-) I don't like pie so I've been entertaining the idea of making some peanut butter fudge for tomorrow, but I think I might get myself into trouble with that.

Went shopping today and picked up some new clothes. When I started this diet I was a tight size 26 pants (probably a solid size 28) but now I'm a size 20! Woohoo!!! Almost in the teens! I'm right between a 2X and 3X shirt since I've got big boobs (DDD), so that's coming down from a somewhat tight 4X. Things are definitely improving.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Now with 50% more calories!

As if sweetened iced tea wasn't sweet enough, we now have "extra sweet" tea! Regular sweet tea has 70 calories per serving, or 140 per bottle, but this new and improved stuff has 110 calories per serving, or 220 for the whole bottle. But wait! There's more! All of those calories come from High Fructose Corn Syrup which is one of the worst sweeteners out there.

I just had to give this stuff a try, and when I did it was so sweet it made my lips curl in and my eyes cross. Yes, seriously! My husband, however, thought it was awesome! LOL He's from the deep south where everyone drinks "swait tay". They serve it in every restaurant there and for the uninitiated it's like a super-saturated sugar solution (Hi Mrs. Lenehan from 6th grade science!) with a bit of tea flavor and is not suitable for human consumption. :-)

So anyways... Shame on Lipton for filling a bottle with liquid sugar and smacking on a label that boasts that it contains "Naturally Protective Antioxidents" and trying to pass this stuff off as "healthy".

Week 38 Weigh-In

Current Weight - 241.8 lbs.
This week's loss - 5.4 lbs.
Total loss - 75.8 lbs.
Average calories per day - 1911
Treadmill - 6.63 miles in 1 hour 45 minutes over 3 days burning 1301 calories.

WTF? I can't believe I lost over 5 lbs. this week! TOM struck today, so that's probably why I had such a big "woosh" on the scales. You should've seen me this morning at 5:30 am. I was half asleep and squinting at the scales in utter disbelief. I even flipped the scales over, cleaned off its little feet, hopped back on and got the same number. Woohoo!!! I've been on Cloud 9 all day. I'm bracing myself, however, for a slight "rebound gain" next week.

My husband and I are planning to visit his family in Alabama between Christmas and New Year's. It's kind of scary thinking about how I'm going to stick to this diet while making the 12 hour drive each way (plus another 4 hours of potty and play breaks since we'll be traveling with a 4 & 5 year-old). Luckily we'll be staying in a hotel and the room will have a mini-fridge and microwave. They also boast free high-speed internet access to all guests!

Even though this trip is almost 6 weeks away, I've started planning my meals. I figure I can make some sandwiches with natural peanut butter on 100% whole wheat bread and bring fruit for the drive. Maybe some salads, yogurt, and pre-cut veggies with a dip once I get there? I doubt they have a decent grocery store since DH's family lives on a mountain with a bunch of barefoot hillbillies picking banjos. ;-)

Week 37 Weigh-In

Current Weight - 247.2 lbs.
This week's loss - 0.6 lbs.
Total loss - 70.4 lbs.
Average calories per day - 1792
Treadmill - 6.71 miles in 1 hour 50 minutes over 4 days burning 1190 calories.
Exercise Bike - 7.72 miles in 40 minutes over 2 days burning 355 calories.

I did pretty well with food this week, but I did indulge in a bit of leftover Halloween candy. It's all gone now, so I should be better this week. :-)

Found a solution to my quandary over how many calories I'm actually burning. This past weekend I bought a Polar F11 heart rate monitor which uses your age, weight, gender, and heart rate to calculate how many calories you're burning while exercising. I figure that it's probably more reliable than all of the other methods I've been using. And hey, I needed a new watch anyway!

I have 6 weigh-in days until Christmas, and I'm starting to wonder if I'm going to make my goal of weighing 240 lbs. by then. I've upped the exercise and lowered the calories and I still can't seem to lose any faster. Ugh!!! I really wish this body would cooperate!

OMG!!! I did it!!!

I can't believe it! I can not believe that I actually jogged 1.4 miles at one time without stopping! This is something I have never ever done in my entire life. Back in grade school when you had to run a mile, I would run the first few hundred feet and walk the rest. Even when I lost a lot of weight before, I couldn't run like this. Woohoo!!! This is such an awesome feeling, I just had to share. Hope everyone is having a wonderful day!

Week 36 Weigh-In

Current Weight - 247.8 lbs.
This week's loss - 1.4 lbs.
Total loss - 69.8 lbs.
Average calories per day - 1586
Treadmill - 5.43 miles in 90 minutes over 3 days burning 693 calories.

Ahhh....so close! Almost made it to 70 lbs. lost. Next week I will for sure. :-) So far I'm doing well on the C25K program. Yesterday was Week 5 Day 2 and I jogged the two 8 minute segments without any problems. Tomorrow, however, is the first long jog at 20 minutes. Wish me luck! I'll keep the phone handy in case I need to call 911. ;-)

I've been facing a bit of a dilemma lately. Up until now I've been using Calories Per Hour to figure out how many calories I've been burning while running/walking, but now I'm not sure of its accuracy. For example, using the data from a 30 minute session on the treadmill, CPH says I burned 235 calories based on weight, time, and distance. The treadmill itself says I burned 245 calories, but I believe that's based on a 150 lb. person. My Nike+ Ipod thingy says I burned 400 calories but I know that's off by a little bit. I still need to calibrate the Nike+ thing since it believes I'm going about 10% farther that I really am, but it knows my weight. So which number to I go by?

Maybe someday we'll all have little implanted computers which will track calories in/out. Wouldn't that be cool? :-D