Dress, Torrid | Earrings, Mountain Light Jewelry | Clutch, Meshkadesign | Sandals, Delman | Cardigan, Old Navy | Ring, Delezen |
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April Continues
Last week I was swamped. Catching up on projects, sending out jewelry, and doing a lot of cooking. I took photos of my food, but before I knew it I was going to bed. I just didn’t have the time and energy to post last week, but there was another issue going on.
This could have been preventable as it was a pattern and I see it now, but at the time I was annoyed and I let it get the best of me. The week before last when I was posting photos of my food everyday, I was also doing something else secretly: I was weighing myself everyday. This is a bad habit and it doesn’t consider the big picture. Logically I know this. But, I was losing. Every day the scale was lower and I was like a moth to a flame.
So Saturday in DC came and we ended up walking close to nine miles. I don’t walk a lot and it just about did me in. The next day I got on my friends scale and noticed that my weight was up. Water retention. And then the next day we walked some more and I ate a very salty Thai meal. And on Monday we drove home. Which caused another spike in my weight. When I travel, I blow up. I KNOW this about myself.
But when I got home and stepped on the scale all I saw was work undone and I was upset and annoyed. I know the lesson of this is: I retain water and that is the stage I’m in: losing water. I also know that exercise and travel always causes my weight to fluctuate.
Instead of being healthy about it, continue doing what I was doing (which was working) I just said “f this” and stopped. Everything. We ate out almost everyday last week and didn’t exercise until this past Sunday. If that wasn’t sabotage I don’t know what is.
Looking back, I wish I would have just shrugged it off, stopped weighing myself, exercise and watch what I was eating, and drink lots of water. It would have gone away and things would have evened out again. So this is my calling myself out on destructive behavior.
This is also me continuing what I set out to do this month: kick ass. And so it continues. Fluctuations are not the big picture. Five pounds up or down is not the big picture. Doing good consistently is.
And now I bring you my eats from yesterday (monday):
I was not hungry until about noon yesterday. Instead I drank lots and lots of water. I came home for lunch where I prepared a plate of rice, onions in masala sauce (trader joe’s), spinach (with dressing and a little feta), and half a slice of tandoori naan. Total calories: 535
Later on in the afternoon I was hit with the baking bug. I purchased a bag of Sucanat over the weekend and was itching to try it. You can read more about it here. What I miss most about being sweet-free is baking. I also miss having a muffin for breakfast and so I’ve decided to add natural sugars into my diet (I’ve been eating honey for awhile).
I loved getting in the kitchen and figuring out a new, healthier recipe for muffins. I can’t describe the satisfaction really, but these are quite good. I used whole wheat white flour, sucanat and my own apple sauce. They are a bit higher in calories than I had hoped, I used vegetable oil and filled the muffin cups pretty full- I like muffin tops, what can I say?
I followed Krissie’s advice and froze the rest for reheating throughout the week and to avoid eating too many. I ate two at 166 calories each.
For dinner I made a pepper, onion and spinach stir fry in a Chinese sauce over rice. This was surprisingly filling and low in calories. I actually calculated it several times to make sure I was correct. Calories: 300 (maybe a little less)
And for a night snack I made smoothies with bananas, milk, frozen mango, frozen cherries, a splash of vanilla and walnuts. About 250 calories
Total calories for the day: 1,417
Exercise: 45 minutes of Insanity, burned about 400-500 calories
Earned my sticker for the day!
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Dear April
My last entry accidentally got deleted. This has happened maybe twice since I started blogging four years ago and I think it happened when the server updated and it got lost. So I apologize for that, it wasn’t intentional, especially since it took me forever to write and now I have no interest in writing it again.
It’s April! I have so many plans and goals for this month that I’m very excited about. But first, I have some updates:
–No Sugar. It’s been three months without sugar. I loosely say no sugar. I eat sugar in other forms such as fruit, natural sugars (I’ve added honey back in), and I will add sugar to a Vietnamese or Thai dish if it calls for it. It has been hard…some days harder than others. Right now I have cake and cookies in my house. I plan to give them away. It’s nice to not have them haunt me. I have sugar in the house, and I still bake. My treats are in the form of my glucosamine “candies”, Izze drinks, all natural fruit jam on toast/oatmeal/yogurt, and fruit smoothies. I’ve been hesitant to tell people I’m not eating sugar, in fact, if you don’t read this blog you probably don’t know.
I don’t want to be watched and I don’t want “sugar-free” to be confused with carb-free or have people think “oh she says no to ice cream, but yes to pizza! bah!” indeed so. This sugar-free thing is for cakes, cookies, ice cream…obvious sugar. It’s not a dietary guideline, it’s just me trying to get rid of something I have a hard time not overeating. I like rules.
– No TV. I have to admit I’ve gone almost five weeks without my regular rotation of TV watching and will confess I’ve been watching Mad Men on DVD this past week (season four just came out). Not a ton, and not like before when I get obsessed and watch five in one sitting. But, considerably less. I’ve noticed that I don’t miss TV in the mindless sort of way of passing time or procrastinating- I can always find ways to fill my time with work. However- I’ve come to realize that watching an episode of a good show with Josh is a treat for a days worth of work. We both work from home and it’s a nice way to turn off from work and relax together.
– Strength Training. Can I just say that I love strength training? I’ve been doing it off and on for almost five years now and it’s very rewarding. We picked it back up in January and I’m lifting weights that are 10-30 pounds heavier than I was then. We make notes during each session- can we increase the weight or stay the same. On February 3rd I could only do 80lbs. on the pull down machine (for arms, back and shoulders) and said I couldn’t do more.
Today I was able to pull down 120 lbs. That’s a 40 lb. increase in strength, meaning that I’m gaining muscle. This is the same for almost all of the machines I do. Did you know that for every pound of muscle you gain, your body burns 50 extra resting calories? Gaining 10 lbs. of muscle is 500 extra calories burned a day! I love that and I can tell that it is one reason that I’ve not gained any weight since January.
–Insanity. This week marks the 12th week of Insanity! I’ve lost 12-15lbs (it’s goes up and down) so far. I just can’t believe we’ve stuck with it for so long. We are already in our second rotation. I will admit that the past couple of weeks have been harder, we’ve done at least three workouts a week instead of our usual six. So we are getting back on track with six workouts this week.
April plans and goals:
The next two months (and most of summer) are going to be pretty hectic. I really need to step up my organization and will need continued exercise and eating well if I’m going to stay on top of everything. Spring marks the beginning of of jewelry shows and my freelance design business is growing so I can use all the energy I can get.
I’m stepping up my game this month. I’m dedicated to counting calories and keeping a food journal. My goal it to lose 10-12 pounds this month with continued exercise and food tracking. I have no interest (as usual) in doing this by eating “diet” food, my method is to eat less, control portions, eat from home as much as possible and enjoy the food I’m eating.
Continuing with 5 days of the Insanity Workout with one day of strength. We may add yoga and running back in if the spirits moves us. And speaking of us… Josh is wearing all of his jeans now. All of the jeans that just a month ago would too tight. I am still steadily wearing a size 24/22. I’d love to be in a 20/18 by mid to late summer.
What are your April goals?
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