Garbage That GOO!

I’ll take this weigh-in!

I actually had a good weigh-in this past Monday... got the basic info up, but never had a chance to post until now. Doing the semi-fasted cardio in the mornings is eating into my online time!

Anyway, the new official low is 221.8 pounds, for 40+ pounds lost.

I can't say the eating/exercise was spot on for the week either. Several missed meals, a few not ideal meals where I didn't eat my veggies. But I was pretty good at keeping the calorie deficit I wanted, so I'm happy! It negates the gain last week, and adds to my losses.

Naturally I got tired yesterday and blew it first at Les Schwab's where I was getting new tires for the car and indulging in free popcorn and marginal coffee while I waited, followed by grabbing a half dozen potstickers at Safeway along with some veggie shopping and then followed by pizza, but today's spike is water weight, I'm not worried.

I'm taking a break from the fasted cardio today, my feet are feeling it. So a rest will be a good thing. I should be resuming tomorrow. It has gone fairly well so far, other than that I get sweaty and so had to fit a shower in before going off to water aerobics on Monday. So not entirely convenient on my pool days but do-able.

Here's my Joe's Goals screenshot for the past week:

Gotta post a gain, sigh

Given my eating was all over the place the past week, I'm not surprised. But I sure hate to have to put my buttons and ticker in reverse!

Gain of 1.2 pounds.

Can't be happy about that, but I suppose it could have been worse. I'm on track now and this week should be better. My plan, since my body got plenty of calories last week, is to drop my cals a little to 1900 on cardio days, go to 2400 on my weight training days and stick with 1700 on my rest days. Rest days I'll also go a little lower on the carb scale than I usually do and do 20% carbs instead of 25%.

Here's my Joe's Goals screen...

10% meals are skipped meals, or meals eaten off plan that do not comply with the habits of Precision Nutrition. To stay at 90% compliance, I can have 4 of these per week... but they should not be gorge fests, but just things I might enjoy and want as a treat in moderation.

Tax day, weigh day

My Saturday meltdown was continued on Monday as I picked up taxes, ran them home to go over them, then ran them up to hubby at work so he could sign the paperwork so we could e-file and ran them back to the accountant. My first two meals were A-OK... but by the time I had the various checks written and mailed, I went to the store and it was there that I just caved to the stress of the day. Bought two king sized candy bars and one snack size bag of Cheetos along with the usual healthier fare. Needless to say, the bad stuff was gone in a flash as soon as I got home.

I managed to squeeze in enough online time to update my weigh-in page, my ticker and my traineo button, but didn't have time to write a post, sorry!

Later, I just felt crappy and tired, I think partly because of all the temperature change about lately, but also because it was quite windy out and I think the pollen must've been flying around, because I suddenly had sneezing going on and allergies and itchy nose kicking in. And instead of fixing dinner, we ordered pizza. Not our usual healthier take and bake, but a full blown pepperoni pizza with breadsticks. And I ate a half cup serving of ice cream after as well.

To be frank, I felt sick from acid reflux later in the night. All that fat and carbs! The breadsticks didn't even taste that good to me!

Anyway, the taxes are done. The stress is gone!

My eating today hasn't been stellar either, as I had leftover pizza for breakfast and a healthier TV dinner for lunch. Planning to get a little exercise in and just try to get right back on track with the eating/drinking. The fridge has been refilled with veggies.

As for my Monday weigh-in... it was an improvement over last week at 222.8 pounds. Naturally today's after pizza weigh-in was pretty awful! So back on track before the two meltdowns become a train wreck!

1st April weigh-in

And NO CHANGE... in weight.

But this past week, I've been seeing lower body fat readings on my Tanita body fat scale... which, while it does tend to swing a lot, it's the first time I've seen some of these numbers on it EVER! And the Omron has also been giving me lower numbers more regularly than a month ago.

I will try for some girth measurements tomorrow. But even if I don't see much going on there, I'm not worried. I've seen scale numbers in the 223 range this past week. The weight loss is coming.

So oddly, even if the scale reading is not what I could wish, I feel good! Happy even! Getting our appointment with the accountant set up this morning may have *something* to do with it... but not all. I feel like I am on the right path and it is just a matter of time. Every month, I weigh less than the month before.

I'm reminded of an article that Kelly posted on her blog Radical 180, called "The Egg". Worth a read if you are feeling a little frustrated with scale progress. Things are changing under the surface here... like that egg.

The food bit

Eating went fairly well this past week. I had that small binge, and a skipped meal and one normal 10% meal. So I kept 90% compliance which is what I am usually aiming for. One thing that wasn't entirely ideal, with hubby being on evening shift, we ate a fair few Jack In The Box salads. I'm not much up for cooking near midnight and didn't have a chance to fix a stew or soup or chili or something for him to just nuke when he rolls in after work.

But the Asian Chicken Salad really isn't too bad, veggies, fruit, chicken, almonds. I usually add some protein, either chicken of my own, or deli turkey and use minimal dressing, or substitute something of my own. Flexibility is a good thing in a long term plan.

Here's my Joe's Goals sheet for the week:

Better on the water and meal front than last week, but there is a bit of room for improvement.

Workouts

On the exercise front... I filled in another star on the President's Challenge site. Two more and I'll have completed a long delayed little goal! I also got in my planned 5 hours of exercise for the week. This week could be a bit more erratic, thanks to taxes, but I'm hoping to still get in plenty of exercise. If the weather cooperates... maybe even some yard work.

Under 75 pounds to go!

Definitely a happy weigh-in day... I'm under 225 pounds, and LESS than 75 pounds to go to my "stop and see how I look" goal of 150 pounds. I've added a new button from Traineo to show progress as I whittle away at the rest of my goo. OK, it HAS taken me three months to get rid of 10 pounds... but slow progress is still progress, nonetheless.Past week's eats & exercise

Pretty good. I ended up taking four 10% meals... but that's still 90% compliance. Water... close to a gallon on the days I missed, just not quite there. I feel it too, when I don't get that gallon of water. Exercise... took two rest days, but worked hard otherwise. Water aerobics M/W/F, usually followed either by swimming or water walking. Tuesday some Nordic Track. Saturday, TRX trainer.

I changed my Joe's Goals page to drop the 6th meal, since I only rarely eat one and to add exercise instead. I'm putting a check in for each 30 minutes I do. I'm also starting it off on Mondays, my weigh-in day.

BMI progress

I'm also approaching another small victory. My BMI (body mass index) is at 35.1 today... and I don't think it will be long before I will see that slip to 35.0 or below! When I started this journey in October 2006... my BMI was 41.0 (the morbidly obese category).

I'm not morbid... YAY!

Body fat %

On the body fat percentage front... a month ago I was seeing figures like 40.0, 39.8, 41.1, 39.7... lately, I've been seeing some 39.0s, 39.3, 39.7 and today's 39.4. It's definitely a downward trend going on there.

Strength Benchmark

I haven't been doing formal weight training... but with the TRX trainer, I am adding body weight training back in. I'm still at the point of learning and getting used to the various exercises, though Saturday's workout was quite good! I was still feeling that this morning, especially in my core!

I can hold a kneeling plank for a minute. So I guess that can be a strength benchmark I can work on increasing.

I've got three stars on the President's Challenge site!

Just had my 5th meal of the day over an hour ago... and still have a few calories left. So once I'm done here, I'll grab a quick yogurt or cottage cheese/protein powder snack and head for bed.

No eggs cracked THIS weigh-in!

Well, you should've bet against me on that! I hate Mondays. More to the point, I hate the way my muscles decide to retain water after every little thing I do. Who knew they'd react like this to YOGA of all things?

I should've known... I'm sore.

Note to self: Don't count your weight loss eggs before they've hatched!

So, my weight is up a pound for my official weekly weigh-in. C'est la vie. I suspect it will pop right down again, because of the three sub-225.0 weigh-ins I saw during this past week. Gotta like the new body fat % number though! Not that I think it is entirely real in all of this either, but the trend keeps going downwards. Gives me some hope for the next set of girth measurements.

The good news is that this has nothing to do with my eating. That's been good this week, except for last Sunday. Actually, since I do my weigh-in day on Mondays, next week I will change my Joe's Goals graph to reflect that, as it should give a better picture of my true week. I could have done a little better on my water drinking and am working on getting that up to par.

Here's my graph... as you can see, decent except for the water.

Delayed weigh-in

As I felt that weighing in on Monday would not truly reflect my progress this week, I made the "executive decision" to do it today. If I'd done it yesterday, it would have depressed me to post a gain when I knew that it wasn't the true story. So I didn't. And I'm not sorry.

I am at 225.4 pounds. And possibly retaining water, as I've not gotten my gallon of water in lately. I still have sore muscles from SATURDAY'S bodyweight resistance workout. Still another 1.2 pounds gone!

My eating Sunday was not ideal. I had hubby bring me a Subway breakfast sandwich before we left. Bread and no prior workout... non-compliant. Then, I did OK on portions at Kwan's, and did not have dessert.

But, by the time we got back from the drive, I was jones-ing for protein... and ate all three of the protein bars I'd bought for the drive! Not so good. Protein yes, but also a lot of sugar. Part of the trouble there was that I was starting to really feel the DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) from Saturday. And I was tired and only had about 4 hours sleep.

Still, just excuses, I *could* have eaten a proper meal, but with Power Bars in hand, too easy to eat them instead.

Then, tired and feeling even more sore, to the point where I was barely able to get up or sit down, I went out to get a prescription that I'd called in Saturday. And as I was getting hungry again, I went and ate at McDonalds. So the day went from bad to worse, I didn't make healthy choices there! The food didn't taste as good to me as usual though, so that's a plus.

Way too many 10% meals this week. Not enough water.

All in all, I feel like I escaped a bullet this week! Forward HO!