More Yoga

Last night I was good about snacking after dinner and limited myself to dried apricots. I was really craving something salty, but I drank water and managed to ignore it!

I went to yoga again this morning. It was kind of crazy. We used all sorts of weird things like foam blocks and straps and blankets and something called a bolster. (I just re-read this and thought I had typed "lobster" haha!) Oh, and I did a headstand today! Our instructor helped me and I was only able to hold it for a few seconds, but I felt really strong afterward. ;) At the end of our yoga classes we have a meditation period where we just lie on our mats in silence for like 10 minutes. I really like that part of the class, haha. Today's class felt a little easier than last week, and it made me feel like I'm already improving! We also worked on a lot of controlled breathing and I feel like it made me feel really calm and happy all day. Yay yoga!

I weighed myself without my shoes after yoga and I'm at +4.1 over my goal. I think I will try to weigh myself without shoes from now on because I discovered today that they add 1.2 lbs. to my weight, and I'd really like to know when I actually hit my goal and not when I'm a pound lighter than my goal! Also, it was nice to magically lose an extra pound since last week, haha. ;) I think that these last 4 pounds are going to be pretty difficult to lose. I am predicting that I'm going to plateau out pretty soon and it's going to take several weeks to notice any significant weight loss. Oh well, I'm having fun with modern dance and yoga! I feel a little bit stronger and more flexible, but that might just be in my mind. The dieting part of fitness isn't so easy for me, but I've been trying to make healthy choices. I've definitely been drinking more water and I'm more conscious now about what I eat during the day.

Modern Dance

I had my first class of Modern Dance with actual dancing last night. It involved lots of rolling on the floor and leaping across the room. I think it will end up being pretty good exercise, even if I do feel ridiculous the whole time. I'm worried that this class and the yoga won't be enough exercise to offset the amount I eat during the week though. I have time on Monday mornings that I could use to go run at the gym, but I have a feeling I'm going to want to use that time to sleep or catch up on homework. So, I guess if part-way through this semester I find that I'm not really making any progress towards my goal weight, I'll start adding in that extra trip to the gym every week.

Sore from Yoga

The area between my shoulder blades is SO sore today from yoga yesterday. It's really annoying. I hope I start loosening up after a few more sessions so I'm not so sore afterward.

Snacking at Night

Some nights I just fail at not eating. It will be like 10pm and all I can think about is snacking. It's a time of night when all there is to do is homework, and I like to use food to motivate me to get work done. I really need to get out of that mindset, but I don't know how.

Yummy Veggies

Okay, I hate eating vegetables. But I've found that I really like these frozen veggie packages called Green Giant Health Blends. They come in little boxes in the frozen section. I especially like the Healthy Vision blend. Here's what they look like:

Goals and Rewards

I like setting goals for myself with rewards attached to them because it motivates me to meet them. I decided on the following two things:

1. My group fitness pass was $50. Without the pass, each class is $7. I have a bad habit of buying the passes and then never using them, so to motivate myself not to waste that money, I will reward myself with new exercise clothes when I have gone to enough fitness classes to equal the $50 I paid for the pass. 7 classes would only equal $49, so I'm going to push it up to 8 classes. So far I've been to 4 classes, so only 4 more to go!

2. When I reach my goal weight (I should really say IF I reach my goal weight, but I'm trying to be positive here) I will buy myself the new Flight of the Conchords CD. I really want that CD.

Yoga Strength

I went to the yoga class this morning. The class is called Yoga Strength and we'll be working on a mixture of eastern and western techniques throughout the semester. I am not very flexible, and most of the stuff we did today did not feel good. My hands are really sore now from being pressed down on the mat for long periods of time. But I think that it will all get better as time goes on. My weight has been fluctuating a lot since my initial weigh-in, and today I am +6.0 over my goal.

The Semester Begins

Classes began today. I had my first dance class, but we just went over the syllabus. I actually ended up switching to a different dance class when I got home, but it is held at the same times. So, I guess I will see what it's like on Thursday evening. I haven't had time to go to the gym since last week, but this isn't surprising to me. I went to the gym several times over the past two weeks in preparation for the school semester beginning.

I had class and work all day today from 9am to 5:30pm, so I brought a PBJ and two granola bars with me. I also had a hot chai tea in the morning. This evening I made soup for dinner from a mix with lentils and veggie alphabet pasta. I spiced my bowl up way too much, but it was yummy.

Tomorrow morning I'm going to go to my first yoga class. I WILL go. I will not sleep in. I will not sleep in. I will not sleep in.

Work Food

I'm working my first full day at my job today (7:45am-4:15pm) and, because of a few different circumstances, I don't get a formal lunch break. So, I packed a bunch of food for the day because I get so starving at work, and I'm going to try to ration it wisely throughout the day. I brought coffee and orange juice, a banana, a cheese sandwich, a cup of yogurt and a cup of applesauce, and little baggies of dry Honey Nut Cheerios, sunflower seeds, raisins, and pretzels. It sounds like a lot, but I bet I will eat most of it, if not all, by the end of the day.

Chips and Salsa

Stuffed myself with Mexican food and beer for dinner tonight. Anti-diet. Healthy eating fail for the day. Yesterday was pretty good though! I went to the Zumba class and had a good time.

Caved

I know I really shouldn't eat after 10pm, but I just felt so hungry! So I emptied out the contents of a strawberry yogurt cup into a bowl and stirred in a bunch of Cheerios. Delicious. But not so good for healthy eating habits. :/

Week 2

So it is the beginning of week two of this wedding fitness adventure for me. I went to YogaLates again tonight and it was really intense! I'm going to try to go to yoga classes on Wednesday mornings during the semester (which may or may not happen because I am definitely not a morning person). Plain yoga will probably not be nearly as intense as the pilates blend, but it will be good to have some movement to start my day. Today at the gym I was +5.6 over my goal.

This weekend was not healthy at all. I didn't go to the gym on Friday at all, then I had Portillo's that night, Popeye's on Saturday, and Wendy's on Sunday. Ohhhh fast food. Also, Dan's mom made these AMAZING chocolate peanut butter cookies and I ate a lot of those. Oh, and those drinks on Saturday night were not a good choice. But today I hopped back into healthy eating. We made Cajun spiced tilapia, quinoa with hot sauce, and broccoli with cheese sauce for dinner. Then I had a half of a clementine and a mug of chai tea with milk. I still feel starving, but that's because I ate so much junk all weekend. I might have a snack this evening.

Hungry

I am SO hungry! And I did not go to the gym this morning, so I won't have a chance to exercise again until Monday. Not good. :/

Pizza Challenge

I made it through my first pizza challenge! We had frozen pizza tonight and I only ate three slices. Okay, maybe "only" is a bad word to use, but I usually eat four slices, so it's a start. I ate a salad before the pizza (with ranch dressing and croutons -- not healthy) so that helped make me less hungry for dinner. I was actually pretty full after the salad and two slices of pizza, but I decided to pig out and eat the third anyway. All day today I felt like I had very little energy and I was just constantly hungry. I ate a yogurt and a bunch of sunflower seeds after work. We went to the gym this evening and I slowly jogged two miles and did a little bit of light lifting. I just really didn't have a lot of energy for working out. Tonight I'm probably going to start craving sweets or snacks, and I've decided that I can have hot chai tea with skim milk and honey for dessert. Bleh. Today wasn't great. This weekend will be interesting because I won't have as much control over what I eat. I weighed myself at the gym this evening and I'm at +6.4 over my goal weight. Hopefully I can stay at this level for the whole weekend so I can continue improving next week without having to redo work I've already done.

Quinoa

Yesterday I did well with eating. We made chicken with spicy-sweet barbeque sauce for dinner and ate it with quinoa, which my brother introduced me to. It tastes like rice, but looks like weird little circles. Here's a close-up picture of cooked quinoa: http://www.the-gluten-free-chef.com/image-files/cooked-quinoa.jpg
I was still pretty hungry after dinner and I was at Meijer with my friend Dana and EVERYTHING looked so yummy, especially the candy aisle. It was really tempting to just buy a little candy bar, but I summoned all of my strength and didn't buy any snacks. When I got back to my apartment I ate a couple handfuls of raisins and had a glass of water and that made me feel less snacky. I felt hungry when I went to bed, but it wasn't horrible. Today I've eaten kind of a lot so far. We ran out of milk, so instead of cereal I had a piece of toast with butter (well, Smart Balance really) and coffee with half and half for breakfast, and then right before work I had a banana and another piece of toast with peanut butter. I packed another banana and a Special K cereal bar for snack during work and I'll probably eat another snack after work before dinner.

Yesterday I intended to get up early and go to the gym before work, but I was so tired and lazy that it didn't happen. I ended up going in the evening after work though, so it was okay. I jogged two miles and did some easy arm exercises with 4 lb. weights. (I have no arm strength, haha.) Dan was at the gym with me and his routine is a lot longer than mine, so I walked around the track a few times at the end while I was waiting for him to be done. We're going to go to the gym after I get off work tonight again, but I'm not sure I'll be able to go tomorrow morning, so I might not get my full 5 days in this week. I really just want to pack in as much exercise as possible before classes start because my free time is going to be seriously diminished at that point. There aren't any fitness classes that I want to take tonight, so I'll probably just jog on the track again and maybe work out my arms a little more. My legs and back are pretty sore today.

Day 4 of Weight Watchers

Today is my fourth day of Weight Watchers. I feel like today was my hardest day of all. I had a ton of challenges. Here are some of them:
Challenges:

• Once again, I didn't get up in time to do my exercise, and I didn't get a chance to exercise until 10:00 at night, so I did a fast pace 10 minute bike ride. I feel disappointed in myself for not working out this morning.
  
• I worked with one of my younger co-workers today, who happens to be young, skinny and a junk food junkie. Watching her eat a lot of junk food and not snacking at all was very difficult, but I did it! I just sat there and had a piece of gum!
• I forgot to pack my piece of bread to go with my salad today, so without the carbs in the afternoon, I was starving! It was so hard for me to just eat my veggies and banana and not eat everything in sight.
• Steph sent out an invite to eat dinner at Chipotle and see a movie afterwords. I was starving when I got the text and almost decided to have that for dinner. (luckily Ryan already made me the delicious weight watchers Spaghetti and Meatballs recipe so I had that for dinner) Also, going to the movies for me is particularly challenging. I love to snack and smelling all of the yummy junk foods and seeing the giant buckets of pop makes me want everything!

All in all, today was a success. I stayed within my points, and actually have .5 left over. I still have all of my flex points for the week, so that's great! Plus, I have earned some Activity Points. However, I just feel like today was my challenge day. I'm glad I made it through it and I think it shows more than ever that I'm dedicated to making this work! I hope tomorrow that I have time to work out in the morning and that I can get in a super long workout on Thursday. I will really be disappointed and discouraged if I don't lose anything this week. Wish me luck!!! :)

Zumba

I went to a Zumba fitness class this evening. Zumba is Latin dance fitness, and it was a serious cardio workout! And we did like a million squats. It was fun though! Tomorrow I'm going to try to go to the gym in the morning before work. For these last two weeks before classes begin, I'm going to try to go to the gym every week day. It's hard because it is SO cold out so all I want to do is stay in my apartment in my sweatpants, and only the far gym is open right now so we have to drive there and find parking, but I'm going to try to stick with it. It helps that Dan also wants to go to the gym every day. Today I am +7.4 over my goal weight, but I can't rely too much on day-to-day weigh-ins. Once classes start, I'll start recording my weight once per week to get a more accurate idea of how I'm doing.

Today I've done better with eating less. Throughout the day I had: a bowl of granola cereal, a cup of applesauce, a half cup of coffee with skim milk, a handful of raisins, a handful of sunflower seeds, two Special K granola bars, a cup of strawberry yogurt, one half of a crouton (haha, sometimes I can't control my snacking urges), a bowl of salad with ranch dressing, a tilapia filet, and a bowl of whole grain pasta with red sauce. It's officially after dinner now and I've entered the dreaded time between dinner and bed when all I want to do is snack. I'm going to decide right now that when I finally decide to eat something else (because there's no way I won't eat anything else tonight), I can eat a clementine and a small handful of dried fruit. I have to limit myself to that because if I don't, I'll stuff myself with carbs. Oh man, I love carbs. After my fruit, I'll try to fill up any residual hunger space with hot tea. I haven't had any pop today so far, and I'm going to try to keep it up. Dan is sitting next to me drinking a diet Coke right now and I keep having to remind myself not to reach over and steal a sip. This is going to be difficult.

Ow

Okay, after that YogaLates last night I expected to not be able to move my quads or abs, but they feel great today! I have soreness in places that I didn't even know I had muscles, like down both sides of my ribs and in between my shoulder blades. This makes sense I guess, from the types of exercises we were doing, but it is just a strange feeling to suddenly be aware of muscles that I wasn't aware of before.

YogaLates

Today was the first day of wedding fitness!

Food:
I started the day off eating well, but kind of lost it by dinner time. I ate healthy food all day, but I just ate a ton of it. I felt so hungry all day. We made curry chicken with rice and naan for dinner and it was so good that I just ate way too much. Tomorrow I'm going to work on drinking water and tea when I'm feeling hungry and not just saving up my hunger. We went to the grocery store today and I bought some dried fruits and granola and things like that for snacks that are healthier than chips or sweets. Also, I didn't drink any pop today, but I'm not sure how long I can keep that up.

Exercise:
I went to a YogaLates (yoga-pilates fusion) class at the gym this evening and it was so great! It was really challenging and I know that my back and abs and legs and arms are going to be SO sore tomorrow, but it was worth it. I'm going to try to go back next Monday evening. Unfortunately, I don't think this class fits in my schedule once class starts, but I'll find another one to take. I weighed myself at the gym so I can have an official starting point. I need to lose 8.4 lbs. from this point to get to my goal weight.

Tomorrow I will work on eating small healthy snacks throughout the day so I don't overeat at dinner and I will drink more liquids throughout the day.
I'm at +8.4 right now, hoping to reach 0 by June.

Day 3 of Weight Watchers

Today is my third day of doing the weight watcher program. So far, on the first day, I dipped 2 points into my weekly points. (which isn't bad, that's what they are there for) On the second day, after all of my meals, I still had 2.5 points left over! So I treated myself to a glass of juice and a banana and a few 0 points pickles. :) Today I've already had breakfast, lunch and dinner and I still have four points remaining. It's very important that I eat all of my points daily, otherwise my body will think I'm starving it and will learn to retain calories and I won't lose weight. I think that I'm already getting better about eating the proportions and I already feel less hungry all of the time. I can still have a snack in between meals, and I try to eat something at least every two hours, only now, instead of cookies, I have a banana or some veggies. Here's what I ate today:
Breakfast:
1 Dole Banana
1 Dark Chocolate Cherry Quaker Oats Granola Bar (90 calorie variety)
2 Chocolate Chip Waffles (with no syrup or butter, just plain)
2 Glasses of Water

Lunch:
2 cups mixed greens salad with the following
2 tbsp of fat free Ranch dressing
1/4 cup fat free Mozzarella cheese
2 slices of turkey lunch meat
1 slice of bread
1/2 bag of mixed raw veggies (carrots, celery, bell pepper)
2 Glasses of Water

Between Lunch and Dinner Snacks:
1/2 bag of mixed raw veggies (carrots, celery, bell pepper)
1 Dole Banana
1 Glass of Water

Dinner:
1 Ham & Cheese Warm Sandwich
1 & 1/2 cup cooked broccoli
1 Glass of Water

I still have enough points today to do several things! I can have one cookie, two Special K bars, 2 cups of Special K Cereal, 4 Bananas, 2 Apples and many more things! I think I will either have the cookie or a mixture of Special K bars & Cereal. It's kind of exciting for me to have these extra points left over to have fun with, and yet I'm not starving myself at all!

So far in the exercise portion of my weight loss plan I've been using the stationary bike we have downstairs. The first day I did 6 minutes of fast riding. The second day I slowed down my pace a little bit (but not too much) and lasted for 10 minutes. Today my goal is to do another 10 minutes of riding. I would love it if I could do 15, but I'm very tired from work and I'll be happy with just exercising at all. I think I am going to have to switch my exercise routine from the evenings to the mornings, when I have more time and energy. I know 10 minutes doesn't sound like a lot, but for someone who hasn't exercised in a long time at all, I think it's a start. I'm hoping by next week to be up to at least 20 minutes of bike riding. Then the week after that, I hope to be up to 30 minutes of riding! Eventually I will add in a little weight training and some other exercises, such as crunches and push-ups, but I think I will begin doing that next week, or later this week. Once the weather is warm I'll be able to go for short walks and jogs, so that will add onto my exercise routine.

Okay this is getting very long! Time to wind it up...
Highlights so Far:

• I feel awesome! I already think I look better and I'm proud of myself for being healthy.
• It's bringing me closer with my family, friends and co-workers! Everyone is so encouraging and it's a vulnerable thing to open up to others about your weight loss goals.
• I'm eating healthy and exercising. This is a goal that I wanted to achieve for a long time, and it makes me so happy that I'm working towards that goal!

Challenges so Far:

• Motivating myself to exercise after work.
• Not eating everything in sight on the drive home from work and the half an hour before dinner when I get home.
  
• Not eating just to eat. Today I had to stop myself from eating more broccoli, not because I was hungry, but just because I was eating it because it was there.
• Drinking enough water. I'm not used to drinking the right amount of fluids and it makes me pee a lot more and at times feel bloated.

Current Goal:
Lose 10 lbs by January 31st!

Thanks for your support!

Yummy Low-Fat Recipe

Warm Ham & Cheese Sandwich
You will need:
1 French Roll
2 Slices of Ham Lunch Meat (Thinly Sliced, preferably)
2 Slices, or 1/4 cup of a low-fat cheese of your choice
1 teaspoon of Dijon Mustard
2 tablespoons of Light Butter or Butter Spread
Lettuce
Bell Pepper-sliced
Pickles (I use to Dill Gherkins, chopped, but you can use what you like)
Dash of Salt, Pepper, and Garlic Powder

First, spread the butter onto the french roll and add seasonings. Then toast the bread. (I've toasted the bread using a skillet on the stove top and also on a pan in the oven set to Broil-450 degrees F) After the bread is toasted add the Dijon Mustard to both slices. Next add the lettuce and bell pepper. (If you like, you may saute the bell pepper in a few drops of water to soften it first) Next add the pickles, lunch meat and cheese. Then place the sandwich in the oven again long enough to melt the cheese. Enjoy!
Note-I make my sandwich open faced, and add the two sides together after the final toasting. That way you have equal ingredients on both sides. It's very yummy and between 6-9 weight watchers points, depending on what kind of cheese and other ingredients you use.

Amanda's Plans and Goals

Plans and Goals

Wedding Preparation Fitness
Begins: Saturday, January 2, 2010
Ends: Saturday, October 8, 2010
Number of Days: 279
Goals:
- To start out with a ten minute, and increase to a thirty minute workout per day.
- To stick with the Weight Watchers program and stay within my daily points.
- Lose approximately 50 + pounds.
Challenge Areas:
- Hips
- Thighs
- Butt
- Tummy
Promises:
- I will not impulse eat.
- I will eat breakfast everyday.
- I will save my flex points only for special occasions (like the weekend).
- I will drink a lot more water.

Since I'm doing Weight Watchers, and working out from home, unlike Julia, my plan is a little different. My first actual goal is to lose 5% of my body weight, which would be 10 lbs. I hope to do that by the end of this month, and continue to lose around 10 lbs monthly. My goal weight is 130 lbs, since I know I will fluctuate between 130 and 140.

Plans and Goals

Alright, so it's January 1st, 2010. Here are my plans and goals:

Wedding Preparation Fitness
Begins: Monday, January 4, 2010
Ends: Saturday, June 26, 2010
Number of Days: 174
Goals:
- Go to the gym at least once a week
- Make healthy diet choices, including portion size
- Lose approximately 7-8 pounds
Challenge Areas:
- Hips
- Thighs
- Butt
- Tummy
- Upper arms
Promises:
- I will not snack out of a bag or box.
- I will eat more salad.
- When we have frozen pizza, I will only eat 3 slices.
- I will eat dessert on weekends only.