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Not Hungry

By Goddess in Progress · Comments (10)· November 2nd, 2009

October is done, which means that the October Shredheads Challenge is complete. I have to say, I’m pretty proud of myself! With pretty much only a single exception, I stuck to my plan of doing the Shred 3x/week, and going to the gym 2x/week. I did pretty well on my food/Points, too.** The end result in numerical terms is that I’m down 5.5 pounds from October 1-31, for a total of 15 pounds overall. Only about 11 more pounds to go on my end-of-the-year pre-pregnancy weight goal. Woot!

The big asterisks on that one was our weekend away. The food was a total disaster because I made virtually no effort to stick with the plan and just ate whatever the hell I wanted. The payback was a pound and a half gain. Boo! It was also surprisingly difficult to get back with the program after I got home. I was feeling pretty defeated for a few days last week. I think the big difference was that I went whole hog off the wagon that weekend. Other days that I’ve allowed myself indulgences, they were pretty limited. Maybe a single bad day, or single bad meal, but otherwise I was pretty good. Last weekend, it was a free-for-all, and I paid for it. Thankfully, I found my way back to the plan and have erased the gain.

I have noticed something very interesting recently, with regard to eating. We were taking the kids out for lunch at a nearby Tex-Mex restaurant (not a good diet choice, of course, but I survived). As I was sitting on my hands and biting my lip to avoid the bowl of chips, I started to say, “but I’m just so huuungry!” And then I stopped halfway through my whine and realized that it simply wasn’t true. I wasn’t hungry. I’m just not really that hungry anymore.

Obviously, I get hungry. But not as often as I think I will. Not as badly as when I first started counting my points (when all you can think about is how fricking hungry you are). And most of the time, when I start to have the thought I’m hungry, I’m actually not. I’m munchy. I want. But that’s not the same as being hungry.

And that, I suppose, is where the larger struggle actually lies. The hard part of sticking with a weight loss plan is not hunger. It’s those munchy, snacky, WANT feelings that got you to this point in the first place.

So, I will continue to fight the good fight. Drink more water to stave off the munchies. Exercise or sew or catch up on the DVR instead of eating. Exercise some more. And exercise a little more after that. There is much more work to be done.

Comments (10)

Categories : Just me

Tags : 30-Day Shred, Shredheads, weight loss, weight watchers

Eleven

By Goddess in Progress · Comments (22)· October 6th, 2009

In the last 7 weeks, I have lost 11 pounds.

Pants that were downright painful to wear are now reasonably comfortable. I bought two pair of size 18 jeans from Old Navy and have to return them because they’re too big. My rings (the ones I paid way too much to resize almost a year and a half ago) are loose.

I am not eating ice cream or cookies. (Except my nightly 100-calorie Klondike bar.) I am drinking a ton of water, at least one glass of milk per day, and very little Diet Coke. I am in some food ruts, but at least I know they’re my go-to points-friendly items. I still need to work on getting more fruits & veggies.

I have a routine that gets me real, hard exercise five times per week: two days at the gym and three days of Shred at home. Wednesday and Saturday are my days off. I won’t say the Shred is getting easier, but I no longer feel like I’m going to die, and am getting closer to being able to do all of the reps. And I am in love with my time at the gym, even if they had to come get me to change Daniel’s diaper today (after which, he went right back to playing and I got to finish my workout).

I feel a little better. I feel a little stronger. Somewhere, under all of that fat and twin skin, I think I may actually have an abdominal muscle or two. Still weak, but it’s there.

I’m happy about this. I’m proud of it. But I am not throwing myself a party today. There’s too much yet to do.

If I keep up my 1.5 pounds/week average, I can just squeeze out my goal of hitting my pre-pregnancy weight before the end of the year. 15 more pounds to go. But even then, there’s still a long, long road ahead.

There’s a part of me that has to get a little bit mad in order to make this all work. I’m glad that it’s working, but I have to be a little ticked off to work even harder. I also know that, for as decent as my motivation is right now, the time will come when it is going to wear off. I’m going to get lazy, sidetracked, off my game. There will be setbacks. So I feel like I have to make the most of what I’ve got at the moment.

I’ve been pretty good about sticking to my “no eating after 8PM” rule, and good when I’m out and there’s food available (like last night, at a twin club meeting, someone bought a whole bunch of cookies for the table and I didn’t touch a single one). It was a little easier in that I was talking to a few of my friends about weight loss and exercise, and said out loud to them “I am not eating any of those cookies! Please smack the hell out of my hand if you see me reaching.” And because I said it out loud, I actually didn’t feel even the least bit tempted.

But do you know how the ass-kicker (Jillian?) inside my head responds to these situations? Do you know what phrase always runs through my head at times like this?

“I am not fucking around here.”

There’s too much work to be done. I am not fucking around here.

I told you I had to get mad.

Comments (22)

Categories : Just me

Tags : 30-Day Shred, exercise, weight loss

A Goal and a Plan

By Goddess in Progress · Comments (6)· October 1st, 2009

First of all, might I mention that I have a guest post up at Loser Moms? It’s about my first attempt at the 30-Day Shred DVD, and how it almost killed me.

My efforts at weight loss and getting in shape are going well, even if I sometimes wish it would go faster. But I have set myself some medium- and long-term goals that I think will be a challenge but are realistically doable. The first goal is to lose my remaining 16 pounds of post-pregnancy weight by Christmas. It’s a mental milestone for me, as it was just after Christmas, three years ago, that I learned I was pregnant (and, thus, when the “baby weight” ticker started going up). It’s not a given that I’ll achieve it, but it can be done. For extra motivation, I know my dad wants to hire a photographer for a new above-the-mantel family portrait while we’re all in Chicago for the holidays. I don’t want to be embarrassed every time I see that picture for the next 5+ years.

My long-term goal for weight loss is to get to my wedding weight. Before you scoff, I assure you that I was not a skinny little thing that day. I was still technically overweight, and I was wearing a size 12 (I think I had one or two pairs of pants in a 10, which I was very psyched about). Anyways, that number is 35 pounds below my pre-pregnancy weight. So 2010 is all about that 35 pounds.

As for sticking with the program, I am finding the mob mentality group support and competition to be a helpful external motivator. I believe I was the winner for our 30-day mini-Biggest-Loser challenge among friends, and the Loser Moms competition still has two more weeks remaining (no idea how I compare to other participants, but it helps motivate me to think that I have a shot at winning…). And as I was thinking about jumping on the Shredhead bandwagon, anyways, I was eager to join their October challenge. The framework is broad, just do the Shred regularly, try to eat well, and see results! So, here’s my plan:

For food, I am continuing on Weight Watchers. The points have never done me wrong, so I’m sticking with what works for me. I will also continue my “no eating after 8PM” rule. Just having that self-created rule in the back of my head really helps to curb the all-night grazing that I am otherwise tempted to do.

For exercise, the main thrust of the October Shredheads Challenge, my plan is this:

Tuesday & Thursday is gym day (Day 2 was at least as awesome as Day 1… it’s a whole new world opened up to me!). I’ll do at least 30 minutes of cardio, some core exercises, and possibly some weights.
I will do the Shred DVD three times per week: two weekdays and one weekend day. And who knows, maybe by the end of the month, I’ll actually be able to complete the entire 20-minute workout (OMFG it’s haaarrrrdddd!). Oy.

That adds up to five days of exercise per week, which is darn good if you ask me. I used to exercise like that, way back before I got married and moved away from the greatest gym ever. It’s really, really nice to be active and doing something for myself.

So, what about you? Are you going to join the challenge? Do you have your own fitness goals going on right now?

Comments (6)

Categories : Just me

Tags : 30-Day Shred, exercise, Jillian Michaels, Shredheads, weight loss, weight watchers