Sunday, July 31, 2005

Skinny Pants

Friday was bad in terms of food, I went out after work with co-workers and had bad food (which we can blame on the alcohol I drank). However, I was back on plan by Saturday morning and back at the gym this morning. Last night I lifted weights and did lots of lunges and squats, I really hate lunges by the way. Today, I am wearing my size 10 slacks which is nice, these are the slacks I bought 8 months ago, put them on every couple of weeks and then took them off because they were too tight and put them away. They are slightly tight still but definately wearable now, it is almost like buying new clothes without having to spend actual money. Anyway, now on to my goals for the week: 1. 4 16 oz bottles of water a day and no soda 2. Drink less coffee (note the non-specificity, I'm just trying to cut down a little on caffine) 3. Run 3 or more times this week (I think three times may be my limit) 4. Lift weights 4 times this week 5. Have one really hard workout day-An attempt to ramp up how hard I workout 6. Cut down on mayo-I really love mayo but I am trying to eliminate it from my diet again 7. Eat salad at lunch 2 times this week-here we go with cutting bread entirely out of my diet again 8. No bread with dinner I think that is enough for this week, more than that will be hard to manage and remember over the week. In terms of my weight goal, I am going for being 162 solidly this week which would be about 1 lb this week. I bounced up to 163 after Friday but I'm pretty sure I will get down to 162 by the end of this week. Okay, off to work I go since it is now after 8 am.

Thursday, July 28, 2005

Two down, four to go

Hah, two goals down already this week. I ran again this morning so that is one goal done. I lifted weights 4x this week so that is also done. Done is good to quote a famous saying from my college. Today, food is going to be a problem. There is a work function for lunch and I anticipate there being ridiculous amounts of food in the office. I am just going to try and be really careful because this is not something that I can skip. Normally I would cook for something like this, but I am not baking things right now because I don't want the temptation brought into my apartment. I think bringing chocolate into my house would be a really bad idea. I contributed monetarily instead to the lunch. Oddly enough when I start baking a lot, it is generally a sign that I am completely off plan and need to reign in my eating habits as quickly as possible. I wonder if there is a bakers anonymous program somewhere I could join (just kidding). So, lunch will be a problem and then there is another party this afternoon which will also be a problem. I shall get through it somehow I am sure of that fact. Anyway, I am off to court now.

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

The road to recovery

I feel better today, not 100 percent but better. Last night I felt very yucky so my weight workout at home was rather abbreviated, but the important thing is that I did actually lift weights. This morning I took it a little bit easy and ran very slowly at 5.2 mph (my normal speed is at least 5.5 mph). I was only going to run for 15 minutes but ended up feeling okay at the 15 minute mark so I ran for 25 minutes instead. I did five minutes of warm up and five minutes of cool down on the treadmill and then 25 minutes on the eliptical machine. Last night I did not think that I would be able to run three times this week, now I think I will probably make that goal by tomorrow which is my last running day. In comparison to the running, everything else has been easy to do this week. Mostly though, I am pleased with myself for sticking with the exercise this week, it would have been really easy to skip it based on how awful I felt. Even so I will be glad when this week is over and I can sleep in and rest up for next week.

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Can you sense the theme?

In case you are wondering, the theme for this week on my blog is the following: Kat feels ill. Yup, day three of whining about feeling mildly sick is now commencing without delay. I actually took tylenol this morning before I went to the gym which is unusual for me since I only take medication as a very last resort (I never said I made intelligent decisions). Then after I sort of worked out, there was no running only a hour of not terribly hard eliptical work, I went to the store to see if I could get a thermometer and check my temperature. Nope, none to be had which is not surprising given the way shopping on this island works. Then I went to work and a cup of coffee and a bottle of water later I feel sort of functional. We will see how the day goes. I am still on plan, no slips on food which is probably solely due to the fact that I discovered that one of the supermarkets I frequent sell roasted chickens. This means I can eat chicken for dinner along with things like tomatoes and not really have to cook. This week that is really fabulous due to the fact by the end of the day I feel icky and almost totally non-functional. Oh, on the plus side, I am down to 162.5 on the scale today which indicates that I am pretty well on track since my goal for this week was to be 163. Okay, must go and find klennex now for my nose.

Monday, July 25, 2005

Dr. Kat's Wellness Prescription

This is the Kat method of dealing with a cold (I am thinking of patenting it someday). Feel horrible all day, so bad that you inform defense counsel that you may be out of the office sick in the next few days. Stay until 5 pm and then go run errands rather than going directly home and sleeping. Go home, read a magazine for 1.5 hours and then lift weights for 20 minutes. Somewhere in there have your one soda for the day due to the fact you feel like crap. Go to bed an hour later than normal for no good reason at all. Wake up at 4:40 am and reflect on the fact you still have a cold and breathing through your nose is not really working. Go to the gym. Remember on the way that one of your goals for the week is to run during three workouts. So, start out the morning running intervals on the treadmill. Do not do nice easy intervals due to feeling bad and the aforementioned cold. No, run at 6 mph for five minutes, walk 1 minute at 3.8 mph and repeat until you have run for a total of 25 minutes. Then cool down on the treadmill, wipe off any germs you got on it, and hop on the eliptical machine for another 25 minutes. This means with 10 minutes for warm up and cool down, total cardio time is 65 minutes. Then go shower, buy a latte and go to work (which will be air conditioned so you will have wet hair and freezing cold temperatures). Yeah, this was a really excellent plan for the morning. I think we should all be glad I am a lawyer and not a doctor, we will all live longer because of that fact.

Sunday, July 24, 2005

I feel icky

I think I am coming down with a cold, I have all the initial signs, sore throat, headache, and a generally bad disposition. So, I went to the gym anyway this morning. I'm one of those people who will always go the gym unless I am really, really not feeling well. I am drinking a lot of water, although I don't think the large cup of coffee I just had qualifies as being helpful for a cold. Anyway, I have set new goals for this week which are as follows: 1. Only 1 soda a day (I only have three left in my fridge when they are gone there is no more soda coming into the house) 2. Four 16 ounce bottles of water a day (as opposed to just at work because I am not drinking enough water at home) 3. Bread 1x with dinner. 4. Coffee only in the morning. 5. Weights 4x a week. 6. Run 3x this week. I think that is enough for the week. I have an entire shelf in my fridge filled with water bottles. That's right people, an entire shelf of water. I had to reorganize my fridge to fit it all. On the plus side, I bought a dress this weekend which was size 10 and found another size 10 dress that I really liked but did not buy because it was rather expensive and not practical for work. Eventually I will have to get rid of my whole wardrobe again and drop down a size but I have about a month and a half minimum before that becomes an issue. Anyway, off to work I go again.

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Scale games

Yesterday was a holiday here, so my gym was closed. So, no cardio because it was also raining all day long and I had no desire to go and run in torential rains. However, I did lift weights, thus completing one mini-goal, four days of weight (I also lifted on Wednesday). I had a wrap for dinner last night which is the first bread at dinner this week. I will make that mini-goal as well since I am only counting the week through Saturday (I start my workout week on Sunday so I count weeks from there). Other than yesterday, I have been drinking all my water, yesterday I was really lazy about it but I only had 1.5 sodas so that was okay. Oh, and I did run twice this week, once on Monday and once on wednesday. Anyway, I have also moved my scale in my apartment from my bedroom back to the bathroom. Now, this sounds like a small thing but my bedroom is carpeted and thus I weight two pounds less on the scale in there as opposed to the bathroom which is tile. As of this morning, my official weight is thus 164 lbs. Now, I moved the scale originally because I liked believing that I weighed two pounds less than I actually do in reality. If denial is a river in Egypt, I have been approaching a large lake in Africa for the last 9 months on actual weight loss reality. So, in the spirit of being actually focused on what I need to accomplish over the next 6-12 months I moved the scale back. This is the part that makes weight loss really difficult, the head games, if it was easy mentally we could all manage the physical part. Where people fail has way more to do mind tricks than food or exercise. So, the scale had to go back to the bathroom.

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Earning it

Fergie from the music group the Black Eyed Peas said the coolest thing in a magazine (please I read everything, I already told you this fact). As I recall, what she said was "I believe you earn your self esteem and one way I earn mine is by working out." I read that and thought, yes that is it exactly. Actually, the whole interview was cool because it was a celebrity (in a position to really influence young woment) saying that she has to watch what she eats and work out to achieve the body she has right now, and if she does not eat right, hey she gains weight. I am completely stealing the above statement and using it from now on to explain why I work out. Part of my ability to look at myself in the mirror and be happy is the ability for me to say that I accomplished today what I set out to do. Working out is a huge part of that for me right now. This morning, I ran for 25 minutes and did another 30 minutes on the eliptical machine, I will lift weights at home tonight. I had no soda yesterday, or bread with dinner. So, one goal for the week is already done, two days of running under my belt. and so far so good on the increased water and less bread plan. Slowly but surely I am earning who I want to be, and that feels really good.

Monday, July 18, 2005

Small goals, day 2

I should note initially that I am doing just fine on the mini goals. Drank more that eight glasses of water yesterday and only the two alloted sodas (although I realized at some point yesterday that I was only drinking the soda because it was there, so I did not bring any soda to work today). I lifted weights last night, so that is two days of weight lifting done for the week. There was absolutely no bread with dinner yesterday and I think I even made the required 5 daily servings of fruits and vegetables. I did not run this morning, I am sore and tired so I took it easy and just did an hour on the eliptical and stretching. Tomorrow, I am going to run especially since tonight is a rest night from weight lifting so I should feel better. Overall, I feel one hundred times better than I did even a week ago, my skin is starting to clear up (thank you copious amounts of water), I have more energy and feel less befuddled generally.

Sunday, July 17, 2005

Little Goals

I think in the interests of full disclosure I should make a confession, I spend my life reading random exercise advice. I have read magazine articles, books, online blogs, anything you can think of about diet and exercise. I read Dr. Phil's book, was not terribly helpful for me, I read the stuff by Oprah's trainer, I read a bunch of cookbooks, so on and so forth. So, this weekend I was at the bookstore, and I picked up the following book, G-Force by Gunnar Peterson. Now, I found it really useful, probably because his philosphy on exercise and mine match up, and also because I was looking to change my resistance workout and make it harder. I like a book where I can adopt an actual plan and lift weights at home because it means I can spend the hour at the gym doing cardio work. Oh, and today after using one of his suggested intermediate workouts, my rear is seriously sore. Many squats and lunges on sunday night were probably the culprit, plus I hate lunges so I avoid them usually. In other news (I suddenly feel like a bad evening news anchor, you know with the immobile hair) I am adding mini-goals to every week to get back to being fully on plan. This week, my goals are as follows:
1. Drink more water and only 2 diet sodas a day
(Long term plan is to once again elimintate soda from my diet).
2. Bread at dinner only 3 times this week
( I have been eating way too much bread and not enough
fruit and veg, this is my first step towards fixing that problem).
3.Lift weights 4 times this week at home
(Arms with definition, this is my ultimate goal)
4. Run at the gym twice this week
(I am working on not just meandering along on the eliptical anymore)
There you are, my goals for this week. So far, I have lifted weights once, run once (this am), and eaten one dinner without bread. Oh, and I have not had any soda today and I just drank a bottle of water, .5L plus I drank a bottle of water while working out. So, far so good, now let me see how the week goes along.

Thursday, July 14, 2005

Gym Phenomenon.

Err, yeah. It is friday therefore I am suffering from brain overuse and have nothing to say really about life. I will tell you this, I saw the most interesting phenomenon at the gym today, people drinking coffee while working out. I understand drinking coffee before working out, even drinking coffee immediately after working out, but while working out? Frankly I was rather boggled by it until I realized that one of the two individuals was not really working out hard , rather she was on what appeared to be a very leisurely stroll on the treadmill. In other news, I am starting to get past the whole sugar craving thing, I have now walked past the cinnamon rolls in the office 4 or 5 times without really thinking about it. The place where I do not want to eat sugar all the time is a beautiful location that I have not visited in months. I like it, I'm thinking of hanging out here for awhile.

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

You should work here

Somedays I really love my office. Now it is not just because the secretaries harass me and make me answer phones, or the fact that we have an amazing ability to amuse each other. No, it is for days like today when one co-worker brought in bannanas from her tree and another co-worker brought in home grown avocados. Only my two most favorite fruits in one day. I think if you have read the archives this would be abundantly obvious. Oh, and home grown avocados are a really good thing, trust me on this one fact. Normally, I have an office environment filled with every processed food imaginable but today is not that day. Now, if I could just convince the powers that be to put a treadmill somewhere in the building so I could jog during my lunch hour for stress relief purposes (I'm way too lazy to go back to the gym after I have been there once already), I would be totally set. I think they are going to put in a lunch room instead, sigh. Still, avocados and bannanas in one day, now that is a good day.

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Beating a Dead Horse

I am still thinking about this whole "it isn't about the weight thing", probably because of the comment on the last post (which is lovely and thank you). I think however, it is important to me that it is not about the weight loss because of the following thing. Yes, I am completely re-hashing already covered ground, I am a lawyer and this is what I do in my regular life. Ultimately, I don't think it can be about the weight loss because that is not enough motivation (for me) to maintain the loss. More and more I am thinking about maintainance as a long term goal and the more I think about it, the less it can be about what I weigh on the scale. I do not go to the gym every day during the week at the horrific hour of 5 am because all I can think about is losing weight, I go because I feel better when I walk out of there at 6:30 in the morning. I am not tense, my body is awake enough to go to work, and I feel more focused. I don't watch what I eat just because I am trying to lose weight, when I eat crap I feel like crap. That is what it has to be about long term, because at 60 I don't want to be obsessed about what I weigh, I want to be able to hike through the alps or wander around Paris all day without my body completely betraying me. Heck, I just want to reach 60 without getting diabetes or having a heart attack. So, yeah I am beating a dead horse on this issue, but trust me, in the long run it cannot be about the weight, it has to be about the life.

Monday, July 11, 2005

The deals I make

Yesterday, after I realized that I would not be running around like a little stress ball today I promised myself I would do a harder cardio workout this morning. It was an admittedly odd little deal to make with my own brain but I went with it. This morning I ran for about 25 minutes at 5.4 miles per hour, walked for another 10 (warm up and cool down from running) and did 25 minutes on the eliptical machine. I am fairly certain that qualifies as harder cardio than I have managed since I pulled the muscles in my leg doing jumping jacks. I also lifted some weights before I had to run out of the gym and go to the store to pick up non fat soy milk for my morning cereal. In other news, I have been rereading my old archives from more than a year ago. Personally, I date my weight loss efforts to January of 2004 but I only started blogging in May of 2004. It is a little humbling to be reminded of where I was back then and where I am right now. I worked out harder a year ago, but I ate about the same, and I was much, much unhappier than I am now. I hate to be one of those people who points at weightloss and says "see how this makes your life better" because frankly I do not believe it. It just made parts of my life different, but then again so did getting my job which I have had for almost a year, and my cat, and half a dozen other things. Still, losing weight made me more comfortable in my own skin and I am grateful for that fact. It is the little things, like not worrying about what the people at the gym think when I show up in the morning, not losing my breath when I climb up a flight of stairs, shopping in normal sized people shops, and all the myriad little things that should not be a big deal but are in my life. I figure with all of that and good shoes I am pretty much content.

Sunday, July 10, 2005

Then God said Ha

Well, actually the court said hah. So, my trial just got pushed for probably 3-4 months at a minimum. The sad thing is, I have three or four more lined up in a row so it is more like whose next rather than anything else. I think it is going to take a good three or four days before the tension from the last two weeks really leaves my body. Now at least I can push some paperwork through that I have been putting off and finish getting organized. Well, sort of organized only not really. Oh, and seriously people I now need a nap. I'm just saying.

My body is weird

My body has gone insane, at least this is what I have decided. Yesterday, I stepped on the scale in the middle of the day in an attempt to grab my cat who was playing in my shoes (my scale is next to my closet so this is not as odd as it sounds) and I weighed in at 164. After eating breakfast and having a huge cup of coffee. I decided that this clearly could not be right and could be accounted for by the fact that I was simultaneously reaching for a small furry beast and thus all my weight was not on the scale. So, I tried it again once I had dealt with the cat and nope it was right the first time, 164. So, I think I am not eating enough, I don't have time to worry about it this week but this coming weekend I am really going to have to look at what I am eating and adjust my food choices. This is actually a good sign for me, because it means I am eating pretty clean in terms of food (i.e. minimal amounts of really processed food) and just need to adjust upward. If there is one thing I have learned over the last year and a half, when I am eating really healthy food it is hard for me to hit the correct calorie amount. I almost always end up below where I should be in terms of calories. I aim for 1,500 but have a bad tendency of ending up at 1,200 which is less than I should be eating given my activity level. However, this week is probably going to be pretty hellish, I do not know a single lawyer who doesn't lose weight from going to trial and the associated stress level and so I am not worrying about it until the weekend. I will reevaluate on Saturday when I go and do my weekly grocery shopping and come up with a plan when I have some brain space to spare. Oh and in a side note I do feel it is important to point out the following to my brother, "Dude, you are really old now, Happy Birthday!" (On the off chance I forget on July 12 which is the start date of my trial and his actual birthday).

Friday, July 08, 2005

I'm at work on Saturday. Yes, I reall am that anal and I have a felony trial next week. So, I am at work because it is easier to get things done here than at home and I have internet access. Clearly this is why I am typing on my blog rather than doing actual work. Thank you everyone for the lovely birthday wishes, in the end I went out for a few drinks with my coworkers and then went home to bed. It was pretty much how I wanted to spend my birthday, a few extra calories in the drinks and I had some peanuts and a little bit of bannana bread but overall no major overeating and no cake. Today, I am not working out and already my one leg feels better than yesterday. I am a big believer in rest days to let your body recover from working out and heal itself. It is part of my whole theory that if I am going to do this for the rest of my life I should not do something really detrimental that prevents that from being a possibility. Anyway, back to work I go now.

Thursday, July 07, 2005

Happy B-day to me

So, today is my 28th birthday. I have sneakily managed to keep this fact quiet at work, which prevents all sorts of things such as cake, b-day lunch, and other dietary problems from happening to me. Of course, I ate my lunch at 11 am which may lead to afternoon snacking but I will try to prevent that from happening to me. I am going to trial next week which is the only reason that I am currently at work, otherwise I would have taken the day off. I might go buy myself a work shirt and shoes for my birthday tonight, especially since I am planning on coming into the office tomorrow to do prep work. I am still doing fine on my diet and decent on my exercise since I still have a sore left calf from last weekend. Tommorow is my day off from exercise and I will probably do something light on Sunday like just lifting weights. 166.5 today on the scale which means I am begining to equalize in terms of the initial week of weightloss on plan which is comforting in an odd way. I was going to write a more interesting post than this, but it will have to wait until I am not doing trial prep like mad.

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Oh will you look at that

The amazing thing is, if you watch what you eat and work out, you will lose weight. The minute I started really watching my food intake at work, my weight dropped. Today, I hit 167 which is a little freaky (we could argue about how often you should weigh yourself, but weighing myself a lot has worked in the past so it is what I am going with again) but I assure you I had enough to eat yesterday. I had a small sandwhich at lunch and then I went out for a salad with a co-worker (did not know I was going out to eat at the time I had the sandwhich) and then a small dinner to make up for the large lunch. I know a lot of this initial drop is probably water weight and I expect everything to equalize in the next week. However, it is impressive the change that I can make by not stuffing my face at work. Yesterday, someone brought a cake in, which I managed to avoid and really the only deviation was the salad and a large latte with equal and cinnamon. The restriction on food has also been good for me because I did a lot of jumping jacks on monday and my legs have been sore ever since, thus workout have not been particularly hard at the gym. I have still been working out but not able to muster much enthusiasm for the process. I have managed to lift weights three days this week though and do a lot of sit ups which is an improvement. Once again, I am forced to acknowledge that when I can actually get everything on plan, I do much better than only being partially on plan. I may not be smart about it all the time, but I am learning.

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Addiction

Yesterday was entirely on plan in terms of eating. Stuned? Yes, me too. However, I probably should have eaten a little more because I think I ended up at below 1200 calories, which is way less than the 1500 calories I should probably be eating. Then again, after the last few months a week of 1200 calorie days would not be a bad thing. That is what I am going for this week, a strict no cheats week of on plan food eating. When I am on plan, whatever the plan is, it takes at least a week for it to not be a struggle and a month for it to be easy. I have come to think of my relationship with food as a sort of addiction, I have been overweight probably since I was five years old. I spent about 22 years eating for all sorts of reasons: because it tasted good, because I was bored, because I was happy/sad/depressed, as a social activity, and probably just because I could do it. I still have problems determining when I am really hungry as opposed to wanting food for a different reason. Still, I am making progress and at 28 to be around 168.5 lbs (as of this morning) as opposed to 250 lbs is tremendous progress for me. Still, I have been struggling with food for awhile now and what I need to do for myself is make it easy, no excuses, and no deviations. I made it through yesterday and I can make it through today and right now that is all I am focusing on, a single day, hour, and minute at a time.

Monday, July 04, 2005

Plan what Plan

So this is the realization that I have come to people, at some point you have to stop saying you are actually back on plan and really get on plan. Possibly the fact that I am turning 28 on Friday brought this realization to me, or it could be that I ate entirely too much last Friday during the day and then skipped dinner (not a good method for compensating). Anyway, I know what my problem is in a single word "work". I snack at work on bad things and that must stop. Frankly, what I eat on the weekends is just fine but I am killing any weight loss durring the rest of the week. So here we go again, with a new date in mind, October 17, 2005. Why October 17, you ask, because I may be flying back to the U.S. then and I would like to be down a size or so for when I buy new clothing. Oh, and for the nice poster who asked if I was at goal weight yet, um no, as the above probably indicates, but I keep aiming for it. Oh and I don't expect to have lost all the weight I have to lose by August, frankly I am just aiming for 15-20 pounds which given my life recently seems reasonable.