Silvercivic's Blog

I kinda ate really crappy last weekend.  I had some drinks, ate lots cookies and candy at a Halloween party, and just sorta let loose.  Yes, I still worked out and no, I didn't binge or completely lose control- but still.  ugh.  I felt fat and gross come Monday.  

I had a major urge to "diet" on Monday.  I wanted to restrict my calorie intake and try to eat only 1200 calories no matter how much I exercised.  I wanted to vow to eat salads all week and stay away from carb-heavy snacks.  

But then I remembered the old saying:  "don't throw out the baby with the bath water".  

I've been doing so well over the last couple months.  I've been exercising more and eating smarter.  I've been incorporating my favorite foods into my daily calorie goals and I'm slowly losing weight.  It is WORKING.  Why would I want to throw all that away after just 1 "bad" weekend?! 

So yesterday I worked out, and I logged my foods, I stayed within my calorie goal, and I ATE.  I even had some candy. And I'm sticking with it today too.  This new lifestyle is my "baby".  My bad weekend- the bathwater.

I've learned that I should probably try to limit my "let loose" days to maybe 1 per week. I've also learned that if I mess up it doesn't mean that all of my hard work is flushed down the drain. 

I'm one of the weird people at the gym who doesn't listen to music. Not because I'm really zen or anything- the real reason is because my ears are small and I hate wearing ear-buds or any type of headphone.  If they allowed speakers I'd be rockin' out hardcore.  

So since I can only do so much people-watching, I've had to come up with other ways to not get bored while I'm running, ellipticalling, or stair-stepping.  (thank gooness for my cardio kickboxing and spinning classes- I only have to keep myself busy on the machines 2-3 days a week!)  

For starters, I like to rotate.  I'll do like 20 minutes on the treadmill, 20 on the elliptical and then end with the stair machine.  Or if I'm felling particularly ADD that day, I'll do 2 "sets" of 10 minutes on each machine.  

I find the treadmill particularly boring- so I've come up with a silly game I like to call "lets go faster!"  I'll start running at 6.5 mph.  Then after the machine says that I've burned 10 calories (told you it was a silly game), I take it up a level to 6.6mph!  I do this every 10 calories until I die.    (jk- I do it until I've reached 200 calories) 

Now, 10 calories is roughly equal to running a 10th of a mile, and I'm sure I could do it by distance instead of calories- but it is more fun for me to watch the oh-so-accurate 'calories burned' number go up and up.  (I really gotta get a HRM...)   

I have not come up with similar workout games for the other machines yet...so I usually just find something on TV and turn on the captions.   Anyone else do quirky things on the machines in order to stay motivated?  

My food diary is not a model for healthy eating.  Don't get me wrong- I'm not filling my calorie quota with bags of candy or anything. (although that would be delicious!)  But I almost always have too much sodium or carbs or snacks or whatever...and ya know what?  I don't really care.  This is a process and I don't have it all figured out yet.  But I'm in control of my eating, I'm eating relatively sensibly, I'm losing weight and feeling great!

But this post is about WHY I share my diary!  I share my diary because when I first started MFP and peeked at what everyone else eats, I saw a ton of diaries of people who ate at or under 1200 calories a day (not net!), didn't snack, stayed under in the sodium, carbs and sugar departments and basically ate really clean.  I was impressed and depressed at the same time.  Even if I was able to adopt that kind of eating I knew that I wouldn't be able to (nor did I want to) keep it up for the rest of my life.  

I did see a few "real people" diaries.  (I'm totally not dishing on clean eaters out there! mad respect- just not for me thanks!)  And seeing those diaries gave me hope.  If other people can figure out how to incorporate candy and snacks into their lives and still lose weight then I can to!  

I'm not perfect.  My diary reflects that I'm a creature of habit, I love crunchy snacks, and I eat back every single one of my exercise calories.  It also reflects that I do my best to eat fruits, veggies, lean meats, nuts, eggs, drink plenty of water and stay just under my net calorie goal.  I'm not embarassed or ashamed by my food journal- so judge away judgers!  

I hope that by sharing my diary I can help someone else in the way that other people's less-than-perfect diaries helped me.   

I've always secretly admired the women who go to the gym looking so put-together in their tight little pants and fitted performance tops and matching sports bra.  (or maybe I hated them...can't seem to remember...) 

When I first started going to the gym I wore sloppy lounge pants, cotton camis and my nursing bra.  Smokin' hot, right?  ha.  

Clearly I have no intentions of trying to look super sexy or anything at the gym- who do I have to impress?  I'm married to my hottie husband and I don't really care so much about what the other women at the gym think about what I'm wearing.  Besides, those tight pants and fitted tops don't look so great on top-heavy short girls.  

Maybe there is something in the water at the Y because as I've been changing my body, my gym attire has been changing!  First it was the sports bras.  Then I got some new shoes.  Then I bought some workout tops. (you know, the racerback style tanks in bright colors that help repel sweat?  don't worry- there was a sale.)  

The transformation is almost complete- I just need to find me some new pants!  (the ones I wear fall down as I run and it gets pretty annoying trying to pull them up the whole time!)   

It may sound silly, but I feel like I get a better workout when I'm wearing my new gear. Maybe there actually is something to the promise of "performance" wear.  

I can guarantee you that I will never shower or put on makeup before going to the gym.  (I throw my hair up in a pony tail and hide it all in a hat. A sweaty Chicago Bears hat.  or my pink Illini hat...neither of which match any of my new tops)

It is fun to finally be able to wear sports bras and fitted tops without massive amounts of back fat poking out.  I'm not dressing this way to attract men or look good for anyone else- I'm doing this for ME.  It is nice to finally enjoy what I see when I look in the mirror at the gym!  

Ok, now that I've outed myself as a watcher of the show, let me share how I enjoy this guilty pleasure of mine.  

I do not watch the show live.  Thank god for my DVR- I don't think I would be able to handle having to sit through all of the over-produced crap.  I fast forward through the intro, the commercials, most of the challenges, all of the Subway promotions, most of the weigh-ins, any time Anna K. opens her mouth... come to think of it I fast-forward through most of the whole damn show! I watch all 2 hours in like a half hour.  

I watch TBL during my kid's nap time.  I also make myself a nice 'carb-y' snack and munch munch munch as I watch.   I can't explain it but watching that show really makes me want to eat.  OK now even writing about the show is making me want to eat...  

My husband does not understand why I even watch it.  I think it is because I'm fascinated by watching peoples bodies transform.  I also like watching people workout.  weird, right?  

The strange thing is that I never watch TV during the day or during my kids' naptime.  Only on Wednesdays and only Biggest Loser.  I really look forward to it but then I fast forward through most of it!  Go figure.   

I used to be a compulsive scale-stepper.  I would weigh myself constantly.  After doing MFP for just about 2 months now I am no longer weighing myself multiple times a day.  However, I do weigh myself once a day, everyday.  And I love it.  And here is why:

I've noticed a little bit of a pattern when it comes to the numbers I see.  Lets take today's weigh-in for example.  Today I hit 125- a new low number.  Tomorrow I wouldn't be surprised to see anywhere from 126-127.  I rarely see the new low number for 2 days in a row.  I have no idea why!  My weight will hover between 125.5-127 for a full week and then either Monday or Tuesday of next week I will probably see 124.5.  

So if I weighed myself once a week, I might actually see a weight gain when in fact the next day I would probably weigh less!  Since I have no intentions of logging weight gains, I'd rather weigh myself every day and log the number when it is a new low.  It keeps my spirits up and makes me not freak out so much when I see a higher number on the scale- I know that my body goes through little fluctuations and it won't always take exactly 7 days for me to lose a half a pound.  Last week I lost 1 pound in 6 days.  This week I lost 1/2 a pound in 8 days.  It averages out to about a half a pound per week.  

Slow and steady...