weigh in results

It happens EVERY time. The moment I get back on a diet plan, it's the dreaded time of month....I normally see a gain of anywhere from 5lb to 10lbs during this time. Weigh in was today and guess what time it is!

So I have been checking on my scale at home and my weight has not really budged this week, well it's gone down and then back up but isn't showing much of a loss for the week. I was terrified to step on the scale today since but had to remind myself that I should expect a small loss or a stay the same but hopefully I would see a drop in fat loss.

I stepped on the scale and thought that my weight was down, but I knew it wasn't much.... My trainer was happy that I was down and I headed to the changeroom, where I know I had a printout from last weeks weigh in. basically total weight I was down 1.4 lbs but the big deal was in the fat loss. I lost a whopping 7 lbs of freaking fat!

YIPPEEEEEEE

on a lighter note...

I was watching road racing yesterday. It was a huge race taking place in Italy and while not particulary a huge fan of cycling, I was interested in the riders endurance. They are basically riding for 6 hours up a mountain. I believe it was the Italian Dolomites (which I fondly remember from a trip to Europe years ago). I found it interesting the way the fans interacted with the riders, basically running along side them and cheering them on. Many wore helmets or clown wigs in various coulours and at some points on the road, the crowds were so big I was amazed that the riders could get through. Anyway, a friend of mine called and we were chatting and I was watching the t.v., but not fully paying attention, you know what I mean. And then it happened. At first I wasn't sure what I was seeing, if it was an old clip or what, but it soon became apparent that it was happening before my eyes, and I have watched the clip a thousand times, and crack up every single time.

(NOTE: it was nice to see the winner, in a very exciting time trial to end the race, was a Canandian, and it was the first time a Canadian had ever won this race - woo hoo) OK, here is the video - enjoy

The Difference...

A sobering thought

I came across this quote posted on a friends facebook page this morning and it hit me like a ton of bricks. For years I have been playing the "why me" card... Why can't I lose this weight, why can't I get to goal and making excuses for why I am still obese. In reality the reason is that I have not been giving it my all... I would work the program when it suited me to work the program, and when it didn't suit me, I would easily and happily cave into whatever craving I had, or whatever function I wanted to indulge at.

Something happened to me last week where I decided that I WANT THIS, and I will do what needs to be done to get it. So far it's been working, but I am under no illusion that it will be smooth sailing from here on out, I am only a few days in. I am going to continue to take it one day at a time, and try to keep my will going strong.

I also included a picture from my hike yesterday. This is going to be my new "before" picture. Now let the shrinking begin!

UPDATE: I went to the gym today with this whole idea of doing what needs to be done. Worked out for half an hour (warm up on the elliptical) and then my trainer arrived and he put we through absolute HELL.... 90 minutes of boxing which included high cardio running, and punching drills. In between sets, my "rest" period was me lying on the floor doing 50 sit ups with my feet in the air..... In the 90 minutes I think I did 250 sit ups!

I wore my bodybugg today and my total calorie burn was 1, 200 calories..... Flipping heck! A big thanks to my trainer for training me for an extra 1/2 hour. He continues to do whatever is needed to get me to where I want to be.... and encourages me so much along the way!

Ladies and Gentleman, we have Ketosis!

Well I picked up some ketostix from the Drug store yesterday and lo and behold the stick turned mauve, which indicates I am in ketosis. Now its not the darkest purple at this stage but I am beginning to burn my fat stores and I am ok with that. The scale is showing me down 7.5 pounds this morning, so it seems that the water weight has been flushed our of my system

Off to the gym now, and then I'm heading out to do a bit of hiking with some friends. I will actually be walking along parts of the trail that I was mountain biking on Monday, so I will add some pictures later.

Time to hang on!

Today, I did a weigh in.... 4 days after I started my low carb diet. Now seriously this is how *F* up my situation is.... my last official weigh in at the gym was on May 9. Weight was 254.8, BMI 39.9, fat % 49.4%, AND fat mass of 125.8 lbs.... after that point I went on a bit of a binge and based on my home scale (which is where the *f* up part come in... it reads wrong, so when I was showing at a weight of 254.8 at the gym, I was showing as 280 at home) went up 5lbs. Today my weight is 252.4, BMI is 39.5, fat % is 51.4 % , and fat mass is 129.81%.

Basically everything that I have lost in the last few days is water (as expected). Now when I looked at this my first thought was to get upset at the fact that my fat mass went up.... I was able to stop and think about this process. I should be hitting the ketosis stage any day now and then I will start burning fat..... hopefully what that will mean (since I am eating low carb) is that on in a state of ketosis all, or at least most, of the calories I burn while exercising will come from my fat stores. Bottom line is I need to just be patient for a few weeks and see what my body compositon shows! I've never done that before, I always use every setback as a reason to just give up. I am going to keep the faith.

I have been doing some reading on "the ketosis state" as several people have told me that this is very unhealthy and that I shouldn't do it. What I have decided, is that for me (and I can only speak for myself) being in ketosis for a few months (perhaps up to 6 months) can in no way be more unhealthy than carrying around an extra 80 - 100 pounds for 30 years. That's my position and I'm sticking to it.

Finally, the one thing that has been a bit worrysome to me is my energy level. I have been exhausted. I read up on this as well and it seems that the first 3 or 4 days on a low carb diet, your energy levels will drop as your body gets used to the new way of eating.... This morning I boxed and it was really, REALLY tough. Ummm I am on day 4 today and I can say that the burst of energy that is supposed to kick in on day 4 or 5, and kick in at any time now.... I think I am going to go grab some ketostix ( I think that's what they're called) from the drug store so I can monitor my progress. Once I hit the stage of ketsis, I will start adding in some more carbs (from fruit, sweet potatoes etc. I am going to try and stay away from bread, pasta and rice for now)

Anyway, I feel like I have learned a lot in short period of time. Onward and Downward!

Dinner recipes

(note: the burgers were so big, so I cut them in half and wrapped each piece in a piece of lettuce)

Tonight I tried another new recipe ground pork burgers with a surprise centre (melted cheese). Here is the recipe as I found it,http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=334170 and I added garlic powder and oregano to the mix to add some more flavour. They are really good. I used lettuce leaves to wrap them up in but they would be good on a bun or in a wrap. I put a dollop of home made guac on top but these would be equally as good without the guac or the cheese for that matter!

Tuesday and vacation day!

Stepped on the scale this morning and it is showing me down 6lbs from my first weigh in Sunday morning. Now I am not getting too excited about this because I know it is probably all water weight. I have my official weigh in tomorrow at the gym and am interested to see what changes there are to mybody fat. Tomorrow's weigh in is going to be a starting point for me. I also drank senna tea last night to clean me out and help get rid of any carbs that remain in my system. It seems that the last of the bloatiness may be gone now.

I feel like the next few weeks is going to be a learning process for me. Yesterday morning I went mountain bike riding. My last meal was on Sunday at around 6 and I didn't eat anything in the morning before going to ride because of my IBS. I totally sucked out there on the trails. I just had no energy at all. Granted it was my first day out on the bike since last fall, but I was just done at certain points along the trail. Next time out I will have to find something that my body will tolerate prior to going out. Hopefully that will help.

Luckily my friend had a nice protein filled, low carb lunch prepared for us when we got back ( she is not into riding, so her husband and I go together)

Today I am going to hit the gym for a weight cycle (legs today I think) and then my plan is to go again tonight and do a second round of cardio. Like I said, this week is all about getting myself back on track.

This morning I made another new recipe that I found and I'll post it below.... I made the first batch as noted in the recipe but they didn't hold together and were too greasy. So I added a tablespoon of flour to the mixture and fried them up in a small amount of oil and they were yummy... Oh I also added garlic powder to the mixture to give it added flavour, , used green onion instead of regular onion, and used egg whites only (lol, yeah, so I guess I totally changed the recipe)

Zucchini Latkes

1 pound zucchini

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 to 3/4 cup olive oil

Heat 1/4 cup oil in a pan over medium heat until heated but
not smoking.Grate zucchini by hand. Squeeze excess water, either by
wringing through a towel or through fists (like Chuck Norris). Mix in a bowl
with egg and salt.About 2 Tbsp of latke material makes each latke, and
you can fit 3-4 in the pan at a time. Cook for about 5 minutes on each side, or
until latkes are lightly browned.Drain on paper towel. Add more salt as
needed.Keep warm until serving.Makes about 12
latkes.Nutritional information: Calories: 131 , Carbohydrates: 1 g,
Fiber: trace g, Net Carbohydrates:1 g, Protein: 1 g, Fat: 14 g

Day 2 (again)

And I say *again* because I started my new low carb eating plan on Saturday, and on Saturday night asomething happened - that little voice crept into my head saying I was going to fail at this and I may as well just eat now - better to never try than to try and fail and all that bullshit! I found myself on a carb bender - I made white spaghetti (with a cream sauce - um yeah, I'm lactose intolerent) and ate two huge bowls..... FAIL!

But yesterday I woke up and re-grouped and began day 1 again..... for all you golfers (the not so serious ones) I took a mulligan - a do over! I made it through the day nicely yesterday, drank tons of water, kept my carb intake right aroung 20 g and did not cave to any voices in my head.

This morning I woke up and jumped on the scale and my weight is saying I am down 4.5lbs since yesterday morning... Is it all water, yup, do a care as long as I am down. nope.

Today, I am racking up my mountain bike and heading out to meet some friends for our first off road biking session of the year. I'm going to bring my camera and try to take a few pictures of the day.

I just hope to remain verticle today :)

UPDATE: headed out for about 2 hours today. I was tired 5 minutes in but managed to keep going. Big problem was that I am not eating carbs, and didn't eat breakfast before I went and well I was completely exhausted half way through. Food was good taoday, my friends made a low carb protein filled lunch for when I got back :) carb intake 25. Really need to make sure I have some protein before I go next time.

Looking at things differently

Last week I posted a video of part of my boxing routine at the gym. In actual fact I did the same drill 3 times. The first one was ok, but I did not set up properly at the begining - and the second time I got almost to the end and then collapsed! I was out of breath and my shoulders and arms were killing me... My comment when I stopped " I don't want this to be filmed" I was ashamed at what I felt was a failure. I posted the "perfect" video (video 3) because I thought it looked the best but looking back I think video 2 - the failure video tells more of a story. It shows just how hard this drill was for me to do - how much effort it took for me to get through it and most importantly that even though I didn't finish the 2nd time through - I came back and kicked ass the third time through.

Here is the "fail" video:

And here is the "sucess" video"

Low Carb recipe- Southwestern chili

This recipe is called chili, but Phase 1 of the diet I am following does not allow tomatoes or beans, so neither are in this recipe... I bought Boston leaf lettuce and use them as wraps to wrap the beef mixt
Southwestern Ground Beef Chili
Nutrition Info
Calories: 484.9
Fat: 32.2g
Carbohydrates: 18.8g
Protein: 29.9g

2 1/2 lbs Ground Beef

1/2 small chopped onion (lg chop)

1 small green bell pepper (lg chop) (I used a yellow and an orange pepper)

1 small red bell pepper (lg chop)

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1/2 bunch fine chopped fresh cilantro

4 tablespoons chili powder

3 tablespoons ground cumin

2 tablespoons chopped garlic in oil

1/4 teaspoon cayenne peppe

r2 teaspoons salt1 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic or garlic powder

Directions Place the vegetable oil , peppers and onions in a large skillet and cook over a medium high heat until slightly tender. Add in the ground beef and spices and brown .Cook until well done , stirring all the while. Skim off excess grease as it cools. Number of Servings: 8

Push to the finish

I have been feeling rather dejected the last few weeks, quite frankly I am obsessing about my personal training sessions coming to an end in August. I feel like the biggest loser contestants must feel when they are voted off the ranch before they reach their goal. I realize I have made leaps and bounds to get to the fitness level and the body shape I am at today, but I'm not where I want to be. I was supposed to compete in a try a tri (mini triathlon) in June, but quite frankly my goal was to actually COMPETE this time, rather than just finish. I am just not at a weight that I can compete, so I have opted out of doing it. My final fitness goal (to cap off my 3 years of personal training) is to complete a full Sprint triathlon in September. I need to lose a bit of weight before I do this and have decided to basically put everything I have into the next 3 1/2 months to make sure I am able to complete this.

My work outs have become insane, and I really don't think there is a whole lot of room for improvement, but as my weight drops, I hope to be able to up the length of my workouts.

What I have learned, is that getting to a healthy weight is about 10% about the exercise and 90% about what I eat. That has got to be my main focus going forward.

Something else I recognize is that I need to eat low carb to make any headway with my weight loss, so I am combining several low carb recipes (loosely following Dr. Poon, South Beach, and weight watchers).

I have booked a week off of work, to plan, cook and freeze meals, and to get my head in the low carb game and of course plan on documenting my journey here. I have warned my friends and family that I will not be eating out, hanging out with them at patios or having "just one" and I have removed as much stress from my life as possible. This is going to be about me, reaching goal, and proving once and for all that I can be that person that has been elusive for so long!

I am officially regular :)

Just back from a 2 day outlet mall shopping trip to the U.s. Man what a great trip. In the past I would follow my friends around as they tried on clothes at all of the normal stores and eventually we would get to Lane Bryant (Plus size store) and I would do 95% of my shopping there.

This time I found clothes at every store except the pluz size store. Now granted in many cases even the size XL was still a bit too tight, but I would never have even thought to go browse in stores like Banna Republic because I never imagines anything would fit.

So here I am getting ready for work and looking through all of the lovely things that I bought and for the first time in my life I feel kind of regular rather than plus sized... It feels kinda nice :)

Weightlifting -Olympic style

Yesterday I was practicing the "jerk" portion of the clean and jerk. I think I finally got it. Lifting 95 lbs.