Starting Point

Monday, February 28, 2011

Day 5-7-Vacation

I went on a mini Vacay to the topical destination of Cape Breton for the weekend. I ate some delicious food, and had a great time. I must say I didn't stick to any sort of diet, but I did get to go for a nice long walk on Saturday. This week I got in 3 exercises and would give my self a 3/5 for food too. Room for improvment for sure. 

As a new month approaches I am planning on doing the "Diet solution" which is focused on reducing carbs and sugar. I am excited! I love the veggies, and making new recipes. I really want to go to the gym a lot this week, to make up for the past couple of weeks. 

And for a snack this week I will be eating Kale chips. Kale is my new favorite new leafy green. It is full of nutrients, and has more of taste than just lettuce. I also made nutty kale the other day:
 
1 clove of garlic
1/2 chopped onion
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
sauted with 2tsp of olive oil
 
When onions soften add a bunch of Kale (separated into bite size pieces)
I cooked it slightly (1-2 min)
To finish: 1 tbsp of peanut butter

It was delicious!

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Day 4- Excuses Smecuses

I wasn't feeling great today (yay sinuses) so I didn't make it to the gym, or hot yoga. I am going away for the weekend, so I probably won't get work outs in. I was feeling kind of bummed because I realized that once again this week I would only get 2 work outs in. Then I decided to stop making excuses.


I figured I could sneak a quick gym trip in at 6:30am tomorrow (I know I am crazy), however I couldn't find a class I like nearby at 6:30. I like going to the classes, because when I don't I have no idea of what to do at the gym. My roommate taught me how to do some of the leg machines, but for arms and stuff I am still lost. So I started looking around the internet for workout inspiration and I found free workout vids. They are each 20ish mins long (one for abs, arms, legs, but and back), and can be watched or downloaded FOR FREE (with no catch other then some tacky workout outfits and some annoying music)!


So I downloaded them, and tonight I did the abs and the legs ones (on mute while I watched Grey's Anatomy). So I got 45 mins of a surprise workout in! Tomorrow morning at like 7:00am I am going to do the abs and the arms ones before I go. And I just realized on Sunday I can get a workout in when I come home in the evening (at the gym or with a video)! Wow, I may even get five work outs in this week.


My workout personality from yesterday is all or nothing. And it is totally true. If I miss the gym or a hard core hour work out, I give up completely. I need to keep reminding myself that something is better than nothing. If I don't feel like the gym I should at least go for a walk, or have a dance party, or something!

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Day 3-My diet personality and online junk

I was planning on going to the gym today but I didn't make it :(. I wanted to go to the 5:30 Body Pump at Goodlife (a weight training class), but I ended up making supper and going to visit my boyfriend's family instead. Oh well, there are still many days in the week. I think I am going to go to hot yoga tomorrow as my month long pass is about to expire.

Last night I registered with http://www.diet.com/to check out my diet personality. These were my results:
Your eating personality is Steady Snacker
Steady Snackers have a diet of unplanned snacking throughout the day and night, whether they're hungry or not. In addition to eating regular meals, you've developed a habit of not being able to turn down food that's within your easy reach. You see others pass up a plate of cookies, a bowl of nuts or a nearby vending machine and wonder if you'll ever be able to do the same.

Your exercising personality is All-or-Nothing Doer
 All-or-Nothing Doers alternate between working out excessively and being sedentary. You are a goal-oriented, driven person who approaches exercise like you do other life projects. You're either on track with your exercise program, working out to the max, or you're off, which means you're on the couch and out of the gym.

Your coping personality is Fast Pacer
Fast Pacers don't know how to slow down their hectic pace of life. You're a productive person with a lot on your plate. You're an expert at juggling and multi-tasking, but you feel frazzled a lot of the time. You see others finding the time during their busy workweek for relaxation or visiting their health club and you wonder when your turn will come.


This was completely accurate. Unfortunately to get the personality diet, which helps you target your problem areas I had to upgrade and pay some money. However in this process I discovered the "diet solution program" which after doing some research is not a scam, and I am purchasing the 21 day trial for $4.95. (The full thing is like 48 dollars, which isn't crazy). Eeks, buying things off the internet..scary times. 

What made me do this is the fact that the diet solution sounds legit, it allows good carbs (fruits and veggies) and has charts and figures, etc etc. It also comes with a billlion books, so even if the weight loss doesn't happen I will probably get my money worth just by reading the books. I have also discovered that I am a protein type metabolism, meaning I respond better to proteins and should lower my carb intake..Nooooooo! 

I am going to try this diet thinger and I will let you know how it goes!

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Day 2- Weigh in and Carb love

It is day 2/100 and just weighed myself. I have 16 pounds to lose to reach my goal. This will put me right in the healthy BMI range. 16 pounds in 100 days..totally possible. Unfortunately this weigh in also means that since January 11th I have only lost 4 pounds, which is really crappy. I went up last week, as expected due to the the cheats and lack of a gym.


Day 2: Exercise- 2hrs+ of snowshoeing, Food cheats- too many carbs today.


I love carbs. Not even just the white completely unhealthy ones, but the whole grain ones. My fav breakfast is a simple toast with peanut butter. I also love pasta, and pitas, and crackers. And of course chips.
I could cut out all chocolate and sweets from my diet and I wouldn't miss them at all, but carbs and salt..no way!


On the topic of low carbs, I just read a diet book that my roommate got for free with a British cosmo. It is called Neris and India's Idiot Proof Diet. I love british humour, and all things weight loss tv show related (huge x-weighted, last 10 pounds bootcamp, and even biggest loser) so I figured a book would be like a longer tv show. And as a book it was great, I especially liked the first few chapters where they talk about why they were fat. It is pretty funny. And in the end they both lost 5 stone (70 pounds) and kept it off!


That being said, I have no idea how it worked.  It is a low carb diet, that takes the first 2 weeks as an intense low carb (high fat) diet, and then gradually introduces a VERY SMALL amount of carbs back into the from week 3-10. In the end, you can eat pretty much anything, with carbs in strict moderation.


I don't think I would do well with this diet firstly because it is low carb, and because it is high fat. I have lived my entire life buying low fat milk, margerine, cheese, snacks thinking it is better for me, so to go from that to having "Double cream" in recipes aka (%48 fat cream :|), I just can't imagine. It would be interesting to try it though, just to see if I was wrong. Hmmm, perhaps a project for March!

Monday, February 21, 2011

Day 1-Background check

Ok, so it isn't really day 1 for me. I have been doing this diet/exercise thing since after Christmas, but I thought it would be fun to blog about it. For the sake of the blog today is day 1. I have 100 days to go until graduation and until I want to reach my goal. My goal will be revealed tomorrow when I do my weekly weigh-in.


For now I will just detail  a little of where I was at before January, and why I wanted to change.


I am 5'2" and since I was probably 15 I have always been slightly heavier than I should for my petite frame. In high school I worked as a waitress, played soccer, and did dance via musical theater (yes this is a work out). So by graduation of high school, I felt pretty good about how I looked and the shape I was in. And then of course, like most people, university happened.


The freshman 15 took about 4 years to happen (I warded it off with dance classes and intramurals), but at the end of my last term of school I started to realize that clothes were getting very tight and I was not in very good shape at all, also a few years of scale-denial snuck up on me. I found out last summer that I was about 10 pounds heavier than I thought and fall of 2010 was not kind to me due to school, extra-extracurriculars, and severe lack of exercise.  My diet was complete crap, celebrations=high calorie nights out, and living at a school for 16 hours a day made getting to the gym a rare occurrence.


Its not that I am used to having a unhealthy lifestyle. I am very lucky to have been brought up to eat healthy food, and my parents are strong advocates of exercise. My mom is in better shape then me, hands down. So in December when I finished school and had no immediate plans for a job I decided to take this time in my life to get back on track and get in shape. My main goal was to go to the gym 5 days a week. So far, I have made it 3 or 4 times a week every week since January 11th. I have always liked working out and exercise, so it really isn't like I'm hating my life with this part of the goal. My secondary goal was to eat healthy, and to cut out junky stuff (ala pizza, poutine, drinks) and to save money by not going out so much to eat. I have been doing pretty well with that goal too, because I love to cook and love the taste of healthy food. So for anyone reading this who hates the gym and is a super picky eater, my typical diet may not be typical for you.


But the truth is this past week I have slacked off quite a bit. I started seeing results from my month at the gym and I started cheating. I only went to the gym twice, and had some wings on Wednesday, cheesy pizza on Thursday, a burger on Friday, and nachos on Saturday..all at restaurants. Oops.


So with my goal 100 days away, I am hoping this blog will get me back on track and maybe inspire others to join me on my quest for totally typical weight loss results!


Day 1: Exercise-1 hr of Zumba, Food cheats-None so far!