I Ran! (again)

I was suppose to go to water aerobics this evening, but when I arrived at the aquatic center, the class had been canceled.  Since I did not get my workout in this morning, I can blame the hubby and son for that one, I knew I absolutely had to get out this evening for my walk.  This time I was able to run the distance of three mailboxes rather than two and more often.  I thought it was going to be tough, but it wasn't.  Now, I have no idea how my knee will feel tomorrow morning, but I ran!

If tomorrow morning is a repeat of this morning, I will need to do it again tomorrow evening.  And this is the perfect weather for learning to run!

Sweet Georgia Rain

I have loved today!  There is nothing better than a lazy, rainy, gray Sunday.  We truly needed the rain and the cooler temperatures.

I have taken it easy on the exercise the last few days.  I was getting frustrated busting my butt and not seeing the scale move.  Well, in all my rest this weekend, it moved again, in the right direction.  I am now 242.

I forgot to journal about my experience last week running!  On one of my walks last week I decided to go ahead and do it.  I have been very cautious about running.  It is something I have been wanting to do, but in the last few months I have developed a knee issue.  Who has knee issues after losing 115 pounds?  Me!  It is getting difficult to walk up and down stairs.  I haven't taken the elevator at work since surgery unless I had a ton of things to get upstairs.  The last week or so, I have been taking the elevator most of the time.  My water aerobics instructor mentioned that some people that lose a lot of weight get knee problems because of the shift in how we walk and carry our weight now.  Who knew?

Anyway, while walking one day last week, I just started running. I ran from one mailbox to another.  Then I walked to the next mailbox, then I rain to the next mailbox, so on and so forth.  It felt great to get my heart rate up and my blood pumping.  Since my neighborhood is VERY hilly, with lots of steep inclines, I made sure to only do the running on the slight inclines or more level ground (not that there is much of that here).   

Here is my menu from today. I am at 1138 calories and 65g protein.

Friday, My Friend!

I didn't think it would get here.  I did not put my food into Daily Plate today, mostly because I went to the doctor this morning for lab work and then spent the rest of the afternoon grading test papers so I wouldn't have to bring them home and grade them.  That did not quite work out.  I ended up grading 3 of my 4 classes' tests.  Here is what I ate today. 

No breakfast - Not good, but I had to get to the lab fasting
Lunch - 1 small chicken carbonara sandwich and Baked Lays (ate 1/2 at lunch and the other 1/2 for afternoon snack)
Dinner - I scraped the cheese and tomatoes off of 2 pieces of pizza and one chicken tender (no crust for me since I ate that sandwich earlier in the day)

I did find a few cute ladies XL shirts on clearance at Kohl's today.  I love being able to look other than the women's department for tops.  If I could get to that point with bottoms, life would be fantastic!  I also purchased a new pair of running shoes.  I try to stick with New Balance.  Last time I was in the New Balance store, the guy measured my feet and I was a size 10.5 wide.  Today, I was able to wear a 9.5 wide.  I knew my width would change, but the length of my foot as well?  Weird! 

A much better eating day today.  The menu below looks a little lunch heavy, but it really was not as much as it says.  I am just trying to fit everything under the confines of Daily Plate. I am at 1401 calories today with 88g of protein.  I worked out on the elliptical this morning for 25 minutes and had a kick-butt water aerobics workout. 

Bad Food Day

Today was just an example of a very, very bad food day.  It all started this morning.  I new I should have eaten my breakfast before going to a meeting this morning.  I get to the meeting and there are donuts from DD.  I try to resist.  I did well until I smelled the coffee.  It was the trigger like the one a smoker trying to quit has when they have an alcoholic beverage.  I smelled the coffee and it was all over.  I chose one and poked at it throughout the meeting.  Yes, I finished it.

I decided to climb back on that wagon as it circled around to pick me up.  Little did I know I was sitting on the broken wheel.  During the afternoon, instead of pulling out my cottage cheese, I hit the snack machine.  I felt the need for something crunchy.  As we all know, there is nothing good in a snack machine.  I punch in the numbers and the peanut butter cups fall.  This was not what I wanted.  I was going for the Cool Ranch Doritos.  I try again.  Now I am in a dilemma.  I now have two snacks, neither of which I need.  Instead of just laying them both on the workroom table for someone else to pick up and munch on, I take them straight to my room.  BAD MOVE!  Bad, bad move.

I am now up to 1558 calories and only 64g protein.  All the carbs today are making me feel quite sluggish.  

I did get in my 25 minutes on the elliptical today.   

I am now home.  I did not go for my evening walk, which makes me feel even worse. 

I am going to bed early (I hope).  

Today's Meals

Here is my food journal for today.  As of now I am at 1290 calories and 81g of protein.  I may add a Dannon Greek Yogurt to the list as a bedtime snack.  That will add 110 calories to the total. 
My exercise for the day includes 25 minutes on the elliptical this morning and 50 minutes of water aerobics this evening.   Melissa, the instructor, worked it tonight!  I may be feeling a little sore in the morning. 

Back Again - Menu and pics for Monday, September 20

So I am back again.  Here is my menu from today.  

I am at 1334 calories for the day with 71g of protein.  

My workouts today included 25 minutes on the elliptical this morning before work and a 30 minute walk this evening. 

Here are a few updated pictures.  The first one I am in the background on the left behind the boys.  I was helping my friend, Kacey, with her son, Harris' birthday party.  The second one was taken by Ian the other night.  He actually has pretty good aim with the camera.  We just need to work on focusing. 

My clothes are fitting nicely.  I am feeling pretty good.  When looking at the big picture, I truly cannot complain. 

Finally...

after 5 LONG weeks, the scale has moved below the 244 mark.  I am now 243.  I have not been keeping up with my food intake as well as I should have been.  I am seriously considering going back to the way I was keeping accountable at the beginning, posting my daily intake here.  Even logging it into Daily Plate doesn't seem to keep me on top of things.  Regardless, it is seriously impossible at this point (my pouch is still very tight) to eat 3,000 calories a day to maintain my current weight and activity level. 

I have been thinking about the last 5 weeks and my weight a lot.  I am a very math oriented person.  Mathematically, if I am burning around 3,000 calories a day (according to my GoWear Fit) and only intaking 1,500, that is a 1,500 calorie deficit a day.  I, mathematically speaking, should have been losing 1 pound every 2-3 days, if 3,500 calories equal a pound.  What I have to remember is that our bodies are complex and not mathematical. 

I am now off to teach my first class.  I will post again later today, including my food intake.

Ready for Autumn

I have officially made it through the first four weeks of school!  It feels good to be back on a schedule.  I just wish this heat would end.  The fall is my favorite time of year.  I love the way the evenings feel when it starts cooling down.  There are sensations I experience this time of year that are hard to describe.  It has a certain smell and feel, like no other. 

The weightloss has come to a complete halt.  Things have not moved since I hit 244 pounds three weeks ago.  I did change up my workout routine.  I have been getting up at 5:20 AM each morning to work out on the elliptical.  I have contemplated getting out and walking at that time with the morning temperatures cooling down.  Yeah, with neighbors reporting foxes in the neighborhood, I think I may wait until the time change to get out and walk that early.  I know I have been slipping down a slippery slope that may be contributing to my stalled weightloss.  I am having a hard time not drinking with my meals.  I am making a concious effort to control this aspect of post weight loss practices. 

Everything else is going well.  I went on another shopping spree.  The size 20W jeans I purchased at Kohl's are already getting loose.  I went back and purchased size 18W in the same style.  They seem to be fitting nicely now.  I also purchased a couple of XL shirts from the women's department.  So even though the scale isn't moving the clothes are!!! WOOHOO!

I have added static pages to the top of my blog.  One in particular is a list of my favorite resources on WLS.