Quick Post

This will be a really quick post, because I really shouldn't be up right now. I fell asleep earlier than I had intended to last night (Wednesday - around 9:00) and didn't get my post created for this week. It's now 3:00am on Thursday morning and I should be asleep, but I wanted to get this post created before I forget.

These past two weeks (since I last blogged) I have lost a significant amount of weight. I am not sure what the deal is because I have been eating even more calories than I had planned on, I have cut regular soda out of my life completely. Well, except for the occasional sip of Hubby's soda if we are out and about and I need just a small sip of something. And even when I have a tiny sip of regular soda, it tastes HORRIBLE to me! A few weeks ago, I was actually planning to have a soda, I LOVE pepsi. But when I took a drink of it, I made the most horrible faces ever because it tasted THAT bad to me. I just cannot stand the taste of regular soda right now.

Okay, so anyhow, I have been eating more calories than I had planned on, I dropped the exercising down to 3-4 days a week instead of every day, I have increased the water intake, and have dropped a significant amount of weight. As in too much weight, too soon.

I don't know what the deal is. My body is not reacting as anticipated. I weigh myself about once a week, at most. On March 1, I weighed myself. I was 236 and pleased with that. On 3/11, I weighed myself and I was 231. 5 pounds in 10 days. Not so great. In a week and a half, my goal would be to lose about 3 pounds. But it was more than that. By two pounds. Kind of an eek, need to bump up the calories, drop down the exercise a bit. So I did. I figured I was consuming far too few net calories.

Then, yesterday, 3/16 I jump on the scale. 220 even. Whoa - I just realized that's even worse than I expected because that wasn't even a full week's time. In 5 days, I lost 11.5 pounds. That's TWO pounds a day. I was fully expecting to have just maintained the weight, or maybe even to have gained a little bit, not lost on average the same amount per day that I had originally hoped to lose in one week.

So, why is this happening? I am eating more calories and even better foods, I am sleeping regularly for the first time in a long time, my stress level has been sky-high, I have been drinking more water and I have cut out regular soda completely. How do these things together, cause me to lose 10 pounds in 5 days? This is really depressing. It's not safe to drop that much that quickly. I want to lose weight in a healthy way. I don't want to endanger myself even more than my initial weight was already doing. So what is the next step? How do I rectify this?

Is there any chance that a lot of that was water weight? Or the fact that this past week was also (guys stop reading) my monthly? I'm just not sure what to make of this or where to go from here. To be honest, I'm scared to lose weight now.

Later today, I start a new job. It is one that will be Mon-Fri from 8-5 (roughly). Regular hours which will allow me to create a regular schedule, including a regular sleep schedule at night time, like most other people. Of course, my job will be a physical one, so I'm going to need to ensure to bump up the calories again and make sure I'm eating enough. Here's hoping that I can figure something out...

Weigh-In Wednesday

This past week went pretty well, I think. Here are the totals:

Thursday 2/24 -
64 oz. water, 1548 calories, no breakfast, workout - 453 calories, net calories - 1095
Friday 2/25 -
64 oz. water, 1010 calories, no breakfast, workout - 113 calories, net calories - 897
Saturday 2/26 -
48 oz. water, 678 calories, no breakfast, workout - 113 calories, net calories - 565
Sunday 2/27 -
64 oz. water, 1080 calories, no breakfast, no workout, net calories -1080
Monday 2/28 -
64 oz. water, 1127 calories, breakfast, no workout, net calories - 1127
Tuesday 3/1 -
64 oz. water, 1891 calories, breakfast, workout - 517 calories, net calories - 1374
Wednesday 3/2 -
64 oz. water, 1592 calories, breakfast, workout - 449 calories, net calories - 1143

It's personal evaluation time now. My water consumption was good all but one day, which is a definite improvement. I worked out 5 out of 7 days, which I am also mostly pleased with. I had planned to take Sunday off from working out, but I didn't plan on taking Monday off too. My net calories stayed in the range I was hoping for all but one day and even that one day, I am okay with that total, as I was seriously short on some of the other days.

I am still not eating enough calories most of the time and I think I need to step up the intensity of the workouts as well. Even still, I dropped down to 236 for my weigh-in this week. That's -2 pounds from last week, which was my goal.

My goals for next week are to consistently get a 300+ calorie workout in every day, eat enough calories for my net calories to be between 1100 and 1200, continue the 64 oz. water each day and to eat breakfast at least 3 times this next week again. The breakfast thing really throws me though. Most of the time when I eat breakfast, my stomach gets upset and all I want to do is to lay back down and get some more sleep. Not conducive to my other goals at all, but it is important for my metabolism and that's what I want to get revved up, so I will keep with the breakfast plan.

Also - according to one site, for my weight loss goal, it says that I should eat around 1200 calories per day (net) but on another it said that I should eat around 2000 per day (net). That is a huge difference! Any input from anybody? I weigh 236 pounds, I am 29 years old and female. I am essentially a beginner with my exercise level and would like to lose 2 pounds per week. I am okay with lowering the 2 pounds per week down to 1 pound, but this is the criteria that these two very different totals came from. Any suggestions?

Wow, I was supposed to update on Wednesday and here it is Sunday and I am just now getting around to it. I haven't updated any blogs at all this week. It's just been that kind of week.

So, this week, my plan was to continue with 64 oz. of water each day, eat breakfast three times, workout goal of burning around 300-400 calories, food goal around 1500-1600 calories to keep my net calories between 1150 and 1250.

Thursday 2/17 -
32 oz. water, 1540 calories, no breakfast, workout - 340 calories, net calories - 1200
Friday 2/18 -
32 oz. water, 1320 calories, no breakfast, workout - 170 calories, net calories - 1150
Saturday 2/19 -
64 oz. water, 1470 calories, no breakfast, workout - 176 calories, net calories - 1294
Sunday 2/20 -
32 oz. water, 1754 calories, no breakfast, workout - 189 calories, net calories -1565
Monday 2/21 -
64 oz. water, 1612 calories, no breakfast, workout - 528 calories, net calories - 1084
Tuesday 2/22 -
80 oz. water, 2031 calories, no breakfast, workout - 992 calories, net calories - 1039
Wednesday 2/23 -
0 oz. water, 1346 calories, no breakfast, workout - 340 calories, net calories - 1006

As you can see, my water consumption still needs work. Instead of only getting enough water on two days like last week, this time I got enough water on three of the days. I have been eating enough calories for the most part, although my net calorie consumption is lower than it should be most of the time. I did get workouts in every day. Some days more than others but I did get a workout each day. That is something that I am actually really proud of. And we ate out quite a bit this past week, which I am not happy to report, however, I often planned ahead and chose healthier options, checking the nutrition facts online before going out. Oh, and I completely missed the bus on the breakfast thing. I really don't like breakfast and eating first thing in the morning makes me feel nauseous. I know that it's good to get breakfast in every day, but it's really difficult for me.

Things to work on this week are: 64 oz. of water each day!, eat breakfast three times, workout goal of burning a minimum of 300 calories per day, food goal around 1500 calories to keep my net calories under 1200.

Oh - and my weigh-in. Last week: 238 lbs. This week: 238 lbs. No loss, but no gain either. I will take it. I know that I can and will do better next week!

Weigh-In Wednesday

Katie mentioned to me that I hadn't posted on Monday and I knew I hadn't. I meant to and then it didn't happen and well, here I am. Finally posting on Wednesday. But you know what? I think I like this Wednesday post idea. You see, Katie updates on Mondays for sure. Jim updates on Fridays, so maybe I will start doing my updates on Wednesdays. See? It is a beautiful plan!

So, this week, my plan was to continue with 64 oz. of water each day, limit my daily calorie intake to around 1200 calories and to do the workout video just once.

Tuesday 2/8 -
48 oz. water, 1512 calories, breakfast, workout - 333 calories, net calories - 1179
Wednesday 2/9 -
48 oz. water, 1210 calories, no breakfast, workout - 24 calories, net calories - 1186
Thursday 2/10 -
48 oz. water, 799 calories, no breakfast, no workout, net calories - 799
Friday 2/11 -
80 oz. water, 1295 calories, no breakfast, workout - 229 calories, net calories -1066
Saturday 2/12 -
16 oz. water, 1583 calories, no breakfast, workout - 429 calories, net calories - 1154
Sunday 2/13 -
48 oz. water, 1667 calories, no breakfast, workout - 429 calories, net calories - 1238
Monday 2/14 -
16 oz. water, 1428 calories, no breakfast, workout - 172 calories, net calories - 1256
Tuesday 2/15 -
48 oz. water, 1,194 calories, no breakfast, workout - 255 calories, net calories - 939
Wednesday 2/16 -
64 oz. water, 1303 calories, no breakfast, workout - 85 calories, net calories - 1218

As you can see, my water consumption needs work. Only two days did I actually get enough water. That's just sad. I need to eat more calories for the most part. My eating calories should be somewhere between 1200 and 15oo and I need to eat breakfast on a regular basis. I only ate breakfast once the whole time. And I need to workout and burn calories on a more consistent basis.

Things to work on this week are: 64 oz. each day!, eat breakfast three times, workout goal of burning around 300-400 calories, food goal around 1500-1600 calories to keep my net calories between 1150 and 1250. This should be easy to do because we recently got an exercise bike and a glider. Both were gifts from my in-laws. So I plan to work out by biking at least an hour a day for endurance training, weights every other day for strength training and then focus on my abs on those off days from weights to focus on my core.

Oh - and my weigh-in. Last week: 240 lbs. This week: 238 lbs. Down another two pounds! I will gladly take it. So from my starting weight, I am now down around 12 pounds. I like it! I cannot wait to get down to my goal weight. I will have to wait though. It's important to not lose too quickly. Plus, with my current goals, I will reach my goal weight on my 11th anniversary. How awesome is that?! What a motivator to stay on track!

Maintenance

I have exciting news, but before I get to that, I wanted to share with you some of my own personal struggles and accomplishments from this past week.

Accomplishments:
Water intake - I stayed on target every day with 64 oz. (or more) in each day. And for today, I am already at 30 ounces - and it's only 8 a.m.! Woo!

Food - Well, this one was so-so to be honest. We had some meals out (although I am pretty proud of myself!) I only ate half of my burger from Red Robin (a California Chicken burger - grilled chicken breast, bacon, lettuce, tomato, pickle and provolone cheese) and I subbed in mandarin oranges instead of having steak fries and then I had Subway another day, but I got the foot long and only ate half of that one. Probably didn't choose the healthiest option on the menu but the portion control was there. (I chose the Chicken Bacon Ranch - what can I say? I love bacon! And it was only 2 slices per 6 inch half...is that a reasonable amount?) And I had it with provolone cheese, light lettuce, tomato, pickle, banana peppers, light ranch and chipotle southwest. Don't know what's in the chipotle southwest but it's so yummy! I really should research a bit more about healthier options though.

I actually just went to the Red Robin site and discovered that my meal would have been 893 calories, but I only ate half of it, so really it was about 446 calories, which I think is okay? And for the Subway sandwich I had...291 calories for the 6 inch portion that I ate. That seems okay too, I think? Would definitely go for some feedback! I had water with both meals and for the Subway sandwich, I didn't have a side dish because honestly, the sandwich was enough.

Another day, we had the wonderfully yummy recipe that Katie shared on here the other day for stronganoff. And my JoNo (the 7 year old) had FOUR helpings of it! I had one helping of it myself. We were using styrofoam bowls that are kind of on the smaller side, so I think that was good portion control there. A small bowl that looks mostly full seems like a whole lot more food than a large bowl that looks mostly empty.

So, I think the food and the water both went okay this last week. I plan to continue with similar goals for the coming week, but more about that in a minute.

Struggles:

Exercise - I did not get the video done this past week. First part of the week, I was gone 16 hours each day, the last part of the week, I wasn't feeling well and then discovered that my seven year old's bronchitis had caught up with me.

Okay, so now for the part where I share the exciting news...I didn't gain and I didn't lose, so I completely maintained my weight. I would have preferred to have gone down in weight, but I am pleased with maintaining it as well. Back on January 27, when I first weighed myself for my tickerfactory ticker, I was 247. When I weighed last week, I was 240. This week, I am 240 still.

I found a site called, "Lose It!" via someone else's blog. I can't quite remember whose it was, because I was blog hopping and yeah, you all know how that can go, right? It's a free online tracking system. I joined and put in my information this morning. I'm planning to try to lose 2 pounds per week. Considering that I just maintained this past week, I'm definitely going to have to get that video in there this week.

So my goals for this week are to: limit calories to around 1200 per day, which means that I am going to be watching what I eat a whole lot more. But the nice thing is that "Lose It!" has a bunch of stuff already in there for recording what you ate and everything! Very cool.

Okay, so limit calories, continue with 64 oz. of water each day and an absolute must to get that workout video into the plan this week as well! My goal is to do it just once, but ideally, I'd really love to do it more than that.

Well, wish me luck! I'll check back in with you all next week to let you know how this week's goals went!




Oh - and I almost forgot to mention the part that I was excited about. I didn't realize it but my BMI is 41.2 and according to the chart that I was looking at this morning, I am very close to being "just" obese instead of clinically or extremely or severely obese. I know that it might sound weird, but that's kind of an exciting thing for me. Apparently the line between obese and clinically obese is around a BMI of 40. So I have a very attainable goal in that too!

My Intro to the Blog

Hi all, my name is Deanne and I am an online friend of Katie's. We "met" through blogging and I am excited to share with her in this venture in weight loss. Katie and I both have similar goals in mind - to lose weight, to build muscle and to overall get healthy. Isn't that right, Katie? :)

For starters, I will say that my biggest challenges to overcome to help with the weight loss and having a healthier lifestyle are time (for instance this past week, I have been working 10 hour days and have a roundtrip commute to work and back of 6 hours. So 16 hours driving/working...add in an extra 8 for sleep and you have a good idea of my life at the moment!) But to be honest, most times, I don't get nearly as much sleep as I should. And I work nights, so that throws my rhythm (and more importantly my metabolism) off as well. I also have discovered through past weight loss programs that I don't consume nearly enough calories each day. It doesn't make sense. I'm way overweight (bmi is 41 for crying out loud!) and yet, I don't eat nearly as much as I should. I mean, I understand it in my brain - a person's body needs to have the food to boost the metabolism, but I just don't get hungry very much. Plus there are so many conflicting pieces of advice out there. Eat to boost your metabolism vs. Only eat when you feel hungry. I am not sure which one I am supposed to do! So hard and frustrating!

And for a little bit more about me - I am a CNA. I actually get a pretty great workout at work. I lift and turn people. I do sprints (think - I'm on one side of the facility and a resident's alarm goes off on the other side of the facility, I have to get there FAST!) I am also a wife and a mother. My husband loves to cook (for which I am incredibly grateful but we are working on revamping our meals as well to contain more healthy options). My children include a 10 year old boy Natty, 7 year old boy JoNo, 4 year old girl Punky Pie, and a 3 year old boy Boo.

Natty is overweight as well and we are trying to instill the idea of living a healthy lifestyle in him. He is incredibly active but eats constantly. (Too bad he and I can't just "even" each other out!) JoNo, Punky and Boo are all within their recommended weight ranges and I'd like for them to stay there too.

I plan to start with some baby steps as well. My baby steps for this next week are to drink 64 oz. of water every day and for every ounce of other fluid I have, I plan to also have twice as much water as well. (So - for instance - 64 oz. of water per day and then I drink a 12 ounce soda so I would need to have at least an extra 24 ounces of water that day.) I hope that makes sense. I also hope that it would inspire me to not drink things that are not good for me, because soda is my one big downfall. I don't know how much better it is, but I have started drinking non-caffeinated soda for the most part of my soda consumption.

And at least once this next week (by Monday) I want to do my Jillian Michael's 30-day shred workout video. I bought the video after seeing on the Exercise channel and I got a set of hand weights to go with it. They recommend 3 pound weights and I think I got the 2 pound ones. Or maybe I did get the 3 pounders... I can't quite recall. But regardless, I have weights and I have a video. And now, I have a plan (in writing and shared on here!) to get at least one workout in.

So those are the goals. Drink 64 oz. of water per day, cut out unhealthy fluids (or "make up" for them) and then do the workout video at least once. Oh - and I will need to get you all a starting weight too - let me run down and weigh myself...240.3 pounds. Whew! I am a bit uncertain if that is an accurate weight though. I plan to get a better scale later on today maybe. But I will let you know if the scale that I am using changes.

Oh - and thank you, Katie, for allowing me to post on here with you. We shall be each other's champions!