Another thing

On Fitbit.com, you can add friends and compete against them. When I first started, I was number 1 in my group. Then I started adding more and more challenging people. Then I stopped really challenging myself. So now I'm in 20th place. I'm pretty sure I'm never going to beat ericks37 who has an average of 33,000 steps a day (what the eff? Is he a professional runner??), but I can at least do better than the 65 year old women who are currently schooling me.

Right now my average is 10,000 steps (in past weeks it was around 8-9k). There's a woman named Louann who is currently in 9th place with an average of 15,021 steps per day. I'm going to make it my mission to beat out Louann in the next week. (I have no idea who Louann is. I'm sure she's a perfectly nice lady. I just want to beat her.)

I'm back!

I did a lower body strength workout Tuesday and I did arms/shoulders today. I went over my 15k steps Tuesday and yesterday, but fell short by 4k on Wednesday. I think I'll have a chance to average it out before the week is out. 

I worked from home today and I decided to create a stand-up workstation. I put a chair on my kitchen table, then my laptop on that. Then I decided to put the trampoline in front of that. There's a whole study about how if you sit for long periods of time, you're going to die a horrible, untimely death. Who wants that? Here's one story about it. 

So now when I'm reading some lengthy boring piece of something, or thinking of the thing I'm trying to type next, I can bounce lightly or kind of march in place. It's nice. I had the boyfriend (Bup) take a picture of it. It's quite silly, but if it keeps me moving and from sitting, hooray! 

Also, I've kept up with the food logging. So, so far I'm keeping up my end of the bargain. The scale, however, is being a total bitch. 

Ummmm......

Yeah, checking in once a month wasn't REALLY how I intended to be doing this.

I've sort of strayed from all of my goals. Logging food? Mostly. But I've missed a little bit here and there (usually when it's something so atrocious I don't want to admit it to myself!)

Exercise? My average of like 18k steps a day has dwindled to about half that. I think I went to the gym twice (although, in  my favor, I have developed a pretty nice arm workout at home).

Breakfast? Preparing meals in advance? Eeeek, not so much. When I work from home, I usually get a smoothie or a hot breakfast, but when I go into the office, I'm usually rushing around and then I just get lunch at 11:30.

Weight? Well, it should come as no surprise that today's scale read +3 lbs over last month. 176. I have a feeling that some of that weight will be gone in the next few days. We've got a few hormonal and digestive issues going on here that should resolve shortly.

So here we are, new month, and about 7 weeks away from the big 4-0. So let's renew our our commitment, shall we?

1. Breakfast every day. No excuses.
2. Log everything. No excuses.
3. 15,000 steps minimum. You get the idea.
4. Check in here at least 2x a week. Weight included.
5. Strength training 3x a week. (Actually, I can log it here when I check in...how convenient.)

I'm not upset with myself, or feeling all crappy. Overall, I still look and feel good. I'm down a total of 18 pounds, and that's a great accomplishment. But it's time to get the scale moving in the right direction again!

Monthly check-in

So this month was really slow-going. Part of that is that I lost a little steam. After I got my back straightened out again, it's been hard to get back into the gym. Also having the trampoline means I can watch whatever I want while working out. I just need to step up the workouts some. And I need to watch the eating. Having one or two meals that are a little more "out there" a week is fine. But I can't let it turn into a whole day, or several days.

I have set a challenge for myself for April. I'd like to lose 10 pounds. That's a little aggressive, and would be even more weight than I lost the first month. But I'd like to give it a go.

Yesterday I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. At first I thought this came on suddenly, but going back through my previous labs from a year and a half ago, it turns out I had it then, too. Not sure why the doc didn't make a big deal about it. It explains a lot. Weight gain, being exhausted all the time. So I started Synthroid today and we'll retest in 6 weeks. Hopefully, this will make the journey a little easier. I also was told I have a vitamin D deficiency. Both of these things can cause depression, which is interesting. I've always said that for me, depression is more like exhaustion. I don't actually have feelings of sadness, I just feel like doing things takes a lot of effort. Between the Synthroid and the vitamin D supplements, it would be nice to see a change in the energy levels.

So, now I weigh 173. Which means I lost 5 pounds in March. Which, hey...it's weight lost, right?

Long time!

I kept putting off posting until I had something to report. The entire month was spent gaining and losing the same 6 pounds. It's infuriating! Currently I'm down 4 for the month, and have been for two consecutive days, but the scale is a cruel mistress. For reals.

I haven't eaten perfectly, but I've logged every single thing I've eaten, and when I've eaten more, I've exercised more to compensate. But the hip kept me from trying to run again, and the back/neck thing kept me from trying to lift any weights (except for the 5-pounders I have at home). I had two decent adjustments at the chiropractor, so I've been easing my way back into the gym routine. And by easing, I mean, I've been twice all month! Once last week and once today.

Besides general walking around, making a more concerted effort to get up frequently from my desk at work, and taking the stairs, I got a trampoline. At first I got a cheap model from Walmart, but then I took it back when  friend generously lent me the use of hers...a much nicer model. Pretty much anytime I want to watch trashy television shows, I just bounce around on that thing. It helps me get all my steps in at home, no matter what the weather and it's pretty low impact, so no hip problems or shin splints or anything. I pretty much just bounce, do jumping jacks, throw punches, twisty type things, jog in place--whatever I feel like doing. It came with actual workout routines, which I may or may not attempt. We'll see!

Also, I got a Kinect for the X-box, and that allowed me to get this game. It's pretty awesome. It's got yoga, different kinds of dance, strength training, and different activities. You can set goals and work toward them, and it gives you pointers for your form or if you're not doing a move properly. I love it.

So even though I've been to the gym less, I haven't exactly been slacking off. Unfortunately, the scale just doesn't care. I think part of it is that I do have to watch what I eat more carefully. One fattening, high sodium meal sets me back a week. It's not fair, but it's just what happens. So I have to stick with the plan. Portion control, make as much of my own food as possible and eat every 4 hours. Another part is probably that I traded a workout routine that included some pretty intense strength training for one that's very heavy on the cardio. Cardio just takes a lot longer to see good results.

I think that's about it. There's another week left in the month, so there could still be a little progress, but even if I end up with 4 pounds, it's 4 in the right direction.

Oh, what's that?

Oh, what do you know? I seem to have walked 26.2 miles yesterday. Or, to be more accurate, I half-walked, half-hiked it. I also ran some intervals for a little while. Yeah, that's a marathon. Yes, it took forever. (Actually, I stumbled across a really good sale partway through, so I had to slow down for a bit and acquire cheap stuff!)

By the end, my ankles were killing me and I was very, very tired. But overall, it was pretty great. The best part about walking 26.2 miles? Burning nearly 5000 calories. Being able to eat almost 3000 calories and STILL having a 2000 calorie deficit! (That's pretty much my new rule. You walk/hike 26.2 miles in a day, and you get to eat whatever you want.)

It really did help me readjust my feelings about food some. Sure, 1600 calories is a worthwhile goal to shoot for most of the time, but if I'm spending more and more time being more and more active, then yeah, I get to eat more food. I just need to always track both food and activity to keep it all in check.

Also, at some point during the walk, I think I hallucinated a car in the middle of the woods. And a little later I began thinking how much easier the walk would be if I had a pterodactyl to fly me around the park. But all in all, a totally worthwhile experience. I'm thinking I need at least one crazy challenge like this each month. I'm thinking next time I might go for like 300 flights of stairs (hiking, not actual stairs), or something crazy.

Monthly weigh-in

All right, so I lost 9 pounds in January, and suspected February would be less impressive. I was right, but it was still pretty good. I lost 7, so I'm 178. That's down 16 lbs for the year.

I know that sounds decent, and any loss should be awesome, but I saw 178 on the scale like, three times and then it would bounce back up to 180 and take days to come back off.

Anyway.....

178


Yay!