Tag Archives: Goals

266.7 Gaining Control

21 Thursday Apr 2016

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1.7 lbs away from this month’s weight goal. Though, admittedly, the # goal is not as important to me as the emotional/mental goals I am working on. And, I’m pleased to say, that I’ve made some headway in these areas as well.

For years I have wished that I could, automatically, lose 1 lbs every time I made a good decision. Choose salad instead of french fries = 1 lbs lost instantly. Pass on the birthday cake at work = – 1lbs instantly. And so forth.

Well, I kind of feel, like I just had one of those moments. I went to a Tim Horton’s yesterday to pick-up donuts and muffins for a meeting I was attending and I ordered myself a tea and soup for lunch. I didn’t get a donut, I didn’t even get a Diet Pepsi.

Later in the day when i was at this meeting and the donuts were coming-out for folks to enjoy, I didn’t have one.

Fast forward to the evening and my husband mentions he is going to the corner store and asks if I want anything. I request some Coke Zero. But, I didn’t have it last night. He bought himself some chips and I didn’t feel jealous or reach for popcorn, toast or rice chips so that I would have a treat as well.

And, do you want to know why I didn’t have any of that stuff? Because, when I stopped and asked myself if I really wanted it, was I really hungry, did I really want pop this late in the evening? The answer was “no” every time.

I didn’t skip these things because “I’m on a diet”. I gave them a pass because I have been working on mindfulness and on separating reality from “treat mentality” and I realized in each situation that I was very content without the donut/pop/chips, etc.

There was no torture involved, no feelings of loss, no major struggle to say “no”, no feelings of ‘I really want that, but I can’t because I’m on a diet’.

Just plain, ‘ol, I don’t want it and that settles it.

I wonder if this is how people who don’t have the emotional attachments to food function on a regular day to day basis? If so, does this mean that I am making good progress in my mental/emotional goals this week, just as I am in my # goal?

I think so.

 

268.7

15 Friday Apr 2016

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268.7

I climbed the CN Tower!

Ok, no I haven’t. But, I’m gonna. The Spring climb of the tower is taking place this weekend and, last week, when I first heard it was happening this weekend I thought to myself ‘I want to do that’. But, I am nowhere near in shape to just jump-in and do it this weekend.

Part of me would like to try and give myself that ultimate challenge. But, the problem is that, once you get going you have no choice but getting to the top to get yourself back down. It’s not like a run where, if you just can’t go any more you can just step off to the side, rest and then go home.

You have to get to the top.

And, because I’m, seriously, afraid I would die in the attempt, I’ve decided to train with the goal of entering next spring.

There is one in Autumn as well, but I think I want to give myself a year to really prepare.

And so, I started climbing all the flights of stairs at work 2xday. My building is only 10 stories and I felt like I was dying towards the top. So, I have a long way to go.

I’m going to do the stairs 1xmorning and 1xafternoon, increasing how many times I can go up/down as I can. I’m going to stick with going up/down once until I feel like I’m not about to die around the 7th story.

After doing the stairs yesterday, I had “Gumby” legs. I felt like one of those little toys you can get where, if you press the platform that the toy is standing on downwards, the toys legs crumble.

gumby legs

I had read that climbing stairs uses the calf muscles a lot, but I was feeling it mainly in my quads and lats…until around 2am. I went to roll over in bed and felt this horrible pain in my calves. Yup, there it is. And today, I’m feeling the burn.

I love it though. I also slept better last night than I have in weeks. I’m sure this has to do with a) better diet; b) more water and; c) those breaks of exercise during the day when I got my heart pumping.

As I was climbing the stairs yesterday I wondered if you could listen to music while doing the CN Tower climb. It might be considered hazardous. But, if I could I was trying to think about what songs would be on my playlist:

Climb Every Mountain (From Sound of Music)
Ain’t No Mountain High Enough (Marvin Gaye)
The Climb (Miley Cyrus)
Don’t Stop Me Now (Queen)
Elevation (U2)

Thankfully, I have some time to create the perfect playlist.

Day 1 of the Trial Meal Plan/Swap

11 Monday Apr 2016

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Today is the first day I am attempting to have my green smoothie for breakfast (along with coffee and water), a salad/or similar for lunch and my hard boiled eggs and toast for dinner.

I have already cheated this morning because I had some bread and margarine left over at work, so I had 2 ½ pieces of light rye toast with my morning coffee. But, I have no bread left here, so tomorrow morning we’ll see if I can go the entire day until home-time without bread. That’s a HUGE feat for me as I would be perfectly happy eating bread/toast with/for every meal.

It’s 12:36pm and I’m still working on my smoothie (it is still, partially, a frozen clump-) and have made a salmon sandwich (leftover salmon from last night’s dinner) with lettuce and baby carrots on the side.

I’m going to take tomorrow’s smoothie out of the freezer tonight and put it in the fridge. Hopefully, that will mean that it will be ready to eat earlier tomorrow morning.

I haven’t weighed myself in a long time, so I might do that tomorrow morning and report back. I’m guessing I’m going to be around 272.

My goals for the rest of the day are: Drink more water, finish my carrots, finish my smoothie, have 2 hd boiled eggs and 2 pcs. Of toast with tea and water for dinner and, if I need another snack, let it be fruit/veg or 100 cals or less and finally, to do some form of a workout tonight. I feel like I need a really low-key kind of evening. Maybe 1 tv show with the husband, and then some quiet time (yoga, perhaps?) and an early night to bed.

Also, I haven’t had any chocolate yet today (despite intensely craving some for most of the morning). But, I have a homemade chocolate/peanut butter/pecan cookie waiting for me at home. So, that will also be happening tonight.

Where is my inspiration?

04 Monday Apr 2016

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For a long time, I had a drive to meet my goals. I created a calendar that had a point system that would see my being able to purchase a flute for myself when I had reached 5,000 points.

I got points for exercising, eating my veggies, drinking water, not drinking pop, and a few other things.

This system has resulted in pretty incredible, long-lasting, changes for the better.

But, lately, I don’t feel inspired to work towards that prize like I once did.

Does this mean I should find a new prize? Has the idea of owning a flute grown stale to me?

People talk about “the big why” when you are trying to lose weight. I have mine, and one day I’ll share it with you.

But, I tend to be more inspired by tangible things. And, learning to play the flute is something I think I would, greatly, enjoy. I play the trombone, but I find it difficult to play and enjoy because I spend the entire time thinking the sound of it will be annoying to the neighbours.

But, who doesn’t like the sweet, melodic, sounds of a flute?

So, I re-did my calendar today. After a day of abysmal eating.

I hadn’t prepared food for the week.

And, I’m looking for that spark of inspiration that had me so excited at the idea of owning a flute. Maybe I need to pick another prize.

Until I feel that inspiration return to me I am going to put into practice that old trick, and am going to ‘fake it, ’till I make it’.

And so, with that, I am going to sign-off from here, go to the kitchen and boil eggs, wash lettuce, prepare salmon and get myself ready for a healthy week.

These are the moments that really count in the battle to be healthy. Not the ones where everything comes easy.

To the battle I go. Inspiration be damned.

End of Day 2

08 Tuesday Mar 2016

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I’m tired tonight. But, I’m determined to do my 10 minutes of exercise, or more. I have been swamped at work and, therefore, am finding myself sitting at my desk for hours on end, with little movement.
I need to move.
So, after we’ve watched The Amazing Race, I will be heading upstairs to do it.

Also, I weighed myself this morning and found that I was 270 lbs, not 275. So, I’m already 5 lbs down towards my goal.

Starting weight: 275 lbs

Height: 5”3

Goal Weight: 185 lbs

Current Weight: 270 lbs

Lbs Lost: 5 lbs

LBS to Lose: 85 lbs

Exercise Goal: 3x/week (for now)

Daily Calories: 1812

Veggie Servings: 6

Fruit Servings: 1

Water: 72 ounces

Chocolate: 1/Nutella on toast

Protein: 3 servings

Pop: 2 😦

Nutritional Goals (These will change depending on my progress, etc.):

Goal 1800 Calories/Day:

1 Serving Vegetables 1xDay:

1 Serving Fruit 1xDay

1 Serving Protein 1xDay

72 ounces Water/Daily

No Pop

1 Serving Chocolate/Day (at the most)

Calories vs. Healthy eating

08 Tuesday Mar 2016

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I have seen a nutritionist recently to help me with accountability and to help address some concerns about my diet and hypothyroidism. I was so proud to share a few weeks worth of food diaries with her, I had been eating lots of fruits, veggies and good proteins and had kept my diet pop and chocolate intake down to only 1-2/week.
I was so disappointed and disheartened when he response to me was only that I should keep all fats and snacks down to less than 100 calories.

She didn’t seem to consider the fact that I only had one snack a day and it was a homemade smoothie made from spinach, almond milk, bananas, apples, berries and plain Greek yogurt. Who cares if it’s over 100 calories? I was only just over my daily intake and I had just consumed almost a day’s worth of fruits and veg.

She didn’t even acknowledge how healthy I was eating.

It made me wonder if her take on it was that staying below the calorie goal was more important than eating healthy.

I would rather be 300 calories over having eaten healthy foods all day, than 300 calories under but having eaten junk.

Am I wrong?

I know that, ultimately, the goal is to get the calories at the goal while eating healthy. But, I believe the best way to do that is eat more healthy foods until that becomes the norm, and then work on the calories.

End of Day 1

07 Monday Mar 2016

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It’s the end of my first day of being public about my efforts to lose weight and I have to say, I’m feeling pretty good.

Whether or not anyone really follows my journey, it has already spurred me to action.

I made cheesy tuna casserole for my son for dinner and instead of filling up a bowl of it, I poured myself ½ cup, just so I could eat with him. Also, I tried to pick-out a bunch of veggies to fill my ½ cup, so I added another veggie serving!

I spent the rest of the night cooking and preparing for the week (ok, after I played a few games of Star Wars Battlefront).

I grated cheese and cooked peppers and chicken for chicken fajitas tomorrow night (note to self, put the salsa in the refrigerator before bed); I hard boiled eggs for my breakfast at work; I froze some blueberries that were starting to go off in the fridge (to be used in smoothies or pancakes!).

I didn’t manage to squeeze-in a workout, and it’s not going to happen at this stage. Well, unless you count running-around with my son, playing catch, tag, being a tunnel (downward dog?) for him to crawl-through and the fact that I have been going, pretty much, non-stop since 6am this morning. So, I’m going to cut myself some slack on that tonight.

However, I am setting a goal of doing, at least, 10 minutes of resistance training tomorrow night.

Final tally for the day:

1937 calories (137 over budget)
3 Servings of veg
1 Serving Fruit
72 ounces water
1 Serving of Chocolate (Nutella on toast!)

And, a happy heart.

I’m looking forward to doing even better tomorrow.

I Have ZERO discipline…

05 Saturday Mar 2016

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Some people just seem to have discipline to spare. These are the people who get up early every morning and exercise while the rest of us are drooling on our pillows.

These people can eat their veggies, say “no” to chocolate, never have McDonald’s, exercise daily, can turn the tv off after one show and don’t down an entire family size bag of chips in one sitting.

You know the type.
 

For those of us who battle with discipline as if it were Darth Vader and we were Bambi, these people are equal parts annoying and awe-inspiring.

How do they do it? 

I have almost no disciple. Even while working on this post I got distracted and started searching online for accessories for my son’s baby doll.

I can eat nothing but toast all day and be perfectly happy doing so.

According to the following article, “self discipline means that when you have something to do, you do it, regardless of whether you like it, or not”: http://www.eruptingmind.com/how-to-develop-self-discipline/

Ok, I’m out.

I’m a short-term pleasure seeker. If it’s not giving me immediate gratification, I have a difficult time maintaining anything.

The problem with this, however, is that I do have goals that I would love to achieve and in order to do so, I’m going to need some discipline. And, for some of these goals ever to be met, I will need a whole lot of discipline.

So, how does one become more disciplined if it does not come naturally?

I certainly cannot speak from experience, but here’s an interesting article on Forbes.com about proven methods for gaining self-discipline:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jennifercohen/2014/06/18/5-proven-methods-for-gaining-self-discipline/#79b29d221698

Is it irony that becoming disciplined seems to require discipline?

Regardless, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that I’m going to make this year a year of the pursuit of discipline.

I’ll add thoughts and updates occasionally and you can feel free to check-in on me and keep me accountable. Goodness knows I need the help.

Now, where did I put that chocolate bar…

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