Lessons & Planning

While on vacation I read Jim Karas book, The 7-day Energy Surge, and started to read Jillian Michaels, Master your Metabolism.

I recommend both to you. The first one is not a weight loss book. Indeed it tries to boost your energy combining the renovation of many areas of our life. It's very interesting and very well written. I liked it very much.

I'll talk about Jillian Michael's book when I'll finished it.

Well, I've learned with Jim's book many things, that I'll try to apply in my daily life.
For instance, how to breathe right, adapting music styles to daily activities, sleep well to maximise energy, mind-set techniques, what to eat after working out, and so on.


Planning

I'll keep my previous plan, but I'll add some rules:

• Eat only one portion of bread a day;
• Eat yoghurt or dried fruits after working out;
• Snacks consisting of fruit or yoghurt;
• Eat one cup of soup a day (~ 200 ml);
• Eat one meal of fish a day;

So... let's get back on track!!

Return from "time-off"

Hey!

I'm back to work, to my routine, and to my nutritional and fitness plans.

The scale news are not good. In the last four weeks, I've gained 6 pounds.

I know that in my two weeks of work, I've stepped over all limits I've had imposed to me, and this result is reflecting those errors. In my two week vacations, I tried to maintain my weight, by working out and eating more/less well. But, you know, since I've had many social lunches/dinners it was very difficult.

Today, I'm with 149 pounds.

Now, I'm prepared to get back on track, and lose my last 25 pounds!

Time off routine plan

Another question arises: I'm leaving my routine for a month. I'll be two weeks away on work, and another two weeks on vacation.

My goal is: not to gain weight, and if possible lose it!

I won't behave perfectly, I'm aware I won't, but I'll try to make the better choices in each situation. If my nutritional plan isn't going right, I'll try to exercise more!

Today, I have 143 pounds. Within a month I hope being on the same stage, or if possible, weighting less than that.

Here is my plan.


Vacations Plan

Nutritional plan:

• Have breakfast as always (this is not the difficult part);
  
• Have a light lunch - mainly consisting of a simple salad, or a bread (or toast) with a grilled chicken breast and a portion of tomato, for instance, and a piece of fruit; this meal must not have a portion of carbohydrates.
• Two mid-afternoon snacks, which will include preferably a piece of fruit or/and a light yoghurt (maximum of 60 cals).
  
• Dinner will be a normal meal, with soup, proteins, carbohydrates and vegetables.

Exercise plan:

• Two types of exercises a day, which will be a combination of two of the following: running, jumping rope, playing tennis, or "mini-stepping".
• I'll try to do some crunches and some squats and lunges everyday.
• I'll forget my upper-body strength training during the vacations since I don't have the equipment to do it.

Work-week plan

Nutritional plan:

• Do not eat unhealthy foods (sweets, cakes, etc.) at coffee breaks;
• Try to make good choices at restaurants;
• Drink plenty of water (minimum of 1,5L/day);

Exercise plan:

I don't have really a plan for this time working out of my office. My plan is get to work on foot, and try to jump rope (I'll take it with me) if I can.

During this time I won't be able to step into the scale, so that I'll weight myself the day I leave home, and the day I come home again.

I'll try to keep posting, but I don't know if I would have an Internet connection in the places where I will be. But, I'll be accountable in my moleskine diary and when possible I'll tell you what is happening.

See you soon!

S(caling)-Day

Hi!

This week wasn't so good than the previous one.

In fact, I've had some ups and downs, therefore my week turn out to be more/less.

I think I started to feel that last week I accomplished a goal, and that this week I hadn't to be so strict. It feels strange, but when I manage to work hard during one week, in the next one things get a bit out of order... Despite this, I've lost 1 pound, but I feel that I was a bit too relaxed. Maybe I'm being to rigorous. Week by week, I always want to lose more weight.

Sometimes I made some nutritional decisions that keep me apart from that goal, and I keep telling me that I shouldn't have done that. Hopefully, being aware of this, next week I'll perform better. We'll see...

Unfortunately, I've had issues at work, and it's being tough to stick with the plan, but I'm aware of that, and I'm trying to control myself, but sometimes it's very difficult.

Week conclusions

My week was great!! I followed the guidelines, and the plan.

I've exercised well, and despite an ice-cream I ate with some friends, Tuesday I stepped into the scale and she told me what I wanted to know: I lost 2,5 pounds! :D

I started to follow another rule:
When I made a mistake, I need to exercise more.

I've done that Saturday, when I ate a bad snack. After that, I run for 30 minutes and I also played tennis (my plan only had a tennis game).

Everything went well this week, and I hope the next will too. My absence/vacations are coming and I want to drop some more pounds until then.

Latest news

Hey!

My accountability isn't being updated when I would like it to be, but here I am!
I've stepped over four days, but today I'll account them.

Thursday

The most difficult thing about this day was my out dinner. I went with my family to a restaurant where we usually go, but lately we've been out of there. All of the employees asked where we have been. It was lovely! I don't really know for how long we have not been there, but I think at least six months. One of the employees even told me that I was very pretty, that I always have been, but now I'm prettier. That was very nice!

It's always good when someone that you don't expect to, not only is aware of the differences in you, but also compliments you. It was great! :D

After a compliment like that, I think it moved me not to do mistakes in my ordering. So, I ate roes with green beans. For desert, we've ordered a peach salad, and it was great!

I never felt so good about a very well chosen meal!

Friday

My motivation for this day grew up with the previous day dinner. I had lunch at work, with my colleagues and I ate fish again. This time it was cuttlefish and it was very nice. I stepped over the potatoes and ate a tomato and some fresh melon. It was a very good choice.

At dinner another out meal, another challenge. This time was a friend's birthday dinner. The couvert part wasn't very nice, since I was very hungry (we ate almost at 22h30) and I ate some bread with red peppers, and a bit of butter. But the dish was a good choice. In a meat restaurant, I ordered a tuna salad with a diet sauce. The salad was great and so was the sauce. After that, I had a piece of birthday cake (I had to, since no one wanted to split it...).


Weekend

Well, my accountability stops here. I've been out for the weekend with some friends, and I stepped out of my routine and forgot my diet. Sometimes it's gotta be like that.

But, I had some problems, this was not simply an oblivion. In some moments, when I grabbed a cookie, or something, I was completely aware of my mistake, but I didn't do anything about it. I don't know why... I think it could be some kind of unconscious reward system... Although the awareness I ate it... but why?

I have to figure out the reason, and what triggers this kind of behaviour, to do something the next time it happen.

24th June 2009

Discussion

Yesterday, my plan was defined in order to have a bigger caloric deficit. Besides the three main meals - breakfast, lunch and dinner-, I defined two morning snacks, and two afternoon snacks. These snacks include two low calorie yogurts and two pieces of fruit. I knew that I was lunching out and late and I determined that this lunch had to include only meat (red or white) or fish (rather grilled) and vegetables. If I defined any side dish, it could result in a problem, since in restaurants the most probable side dish is fries. Since I do not eat fries, I preferred to state as a goal that I won't eat a side dish.

Today, I started to weight (again) everything I eat. I found it very useful since I discovered at dinner that I could eat some more calories in order to reach the minimum calorie intake for this day.

Concerning exercise, I've made strenght training and it was a good training. The legs exercises were good and difficult and this is true to the arms and chest ones. The abdominal exercises were a weak, since we haven't had time.

Goals

Nutrition: Reached! Plan followed strictly.
Exercise: Leg exercises were intense, but abdominal ones were weak.

Conclusions

I found the plan very well done.
The abdominal exercises must be more intense.
Haven't had hungry all day. Snack hours well done.

Journaling

In order to account what and when I eat, I keep a food journal.

I've been improving and adding information to my journal. I use a moleskine notebook (could be any notebook, but I like this one).

In its right page, I define a plan, normally made in the night before. This plan contains what (specifically - including calories and food weights) and when (hour) will I eat the next day. Additionally, I define the goals that must be accomplished that day, both nutritional and training goals.

In the left page, I write everything I indeed ate that day. I write in this page as well indications that I had a minimum of 1,5l of water, that I've trained and that I did not eat bread at meals.

Exercise

With this, I am paranoid. I'm in fact completely addicted to exercise. Fortunately is an healthy paranoia! :D I do at least three strength training sessions (60 minutes) and two tennis playing sessions (60 minutes) on weekdays. On weekends, I either run or play tennis. Every day of my week has a training session, and I do not give it up for nothing.

I defined exercise as one of my top priorities. I always do it!!

Psychological Issues

When I started my weight loss plan, I searched for people who were in the same journey as I was. I found on the Internet several blogs of people who aimed to be healthy and fit. Some of them were my inspiration, especially in my down moments. They blogged like problems will always be solved, and that helped me much. So, every day I read many blogs that help me being on track.

I am not paranoid with eating 100g of meat or something. If this week went wrong, the next will necessarily be better. In fact, when we have much weight to lose, a mistake somewhere in the middle of the plan in an out meal won't be a real problem. The next day would be better. And generally, it was! We cannot except to always do the right thing, because this doesn't happen!

Diet

I started a diet made by myself. I learned many things in my years of "diet" and I started to focus on white meat (mainly chicken and turkey), fish, vegetables and fruit.

I determined that I would eat everything, in a moderated way. I defined too that each portion of food I eat I have to like. In the beggining, I didn't focused on low calorie yogurts or snacks. Instead, I focused on yogurts and snacks that I liked. Same for the meals. This enabled me to stick on the diet for a year or so and have shown results. When I realize that I needed to start eating low calorie snacks, I did it (and I still do).

There are several rules I try to follow every day, since they increase calorie intake without giving anything in change:

• Do not eat bread at the meal;
• Do not repeat anything at the meal;
• Do not eat fried food (of any kind);
• Do not drink alcohol or soda at the meal;
  

Dinning Out

When I am dinning out especially on family parties, I eat the meal as normal, with portions concerns, and the fruit too. But when it came to deserts, there was a problem. I love cakes, pies, everything that has sugar in it! So I agreed to my sisters and my mother that they would give me a bit to taste the deserts, and I would not pick a desert plate for me. And, imagine, that works! :)

More difficult are the meals eaten in restaurants. The couvert part is the problem. I eat the bread, the butter, everything! I wasn't able to control myself. Now, I identified that mistake, and I'm trying to control it.

Decision

Since the 1st January 2008 I decided (and that's the real issue) that this time was for sure! My nephew was about to be born, and I didn't want him to know me fat. This was the bell that rung in my head.

In the 1st January 2008 I weighted 192 pounds. Now, a year and a half later, I weight 145 pounds. I'm trying to reach a weight between 120 - 130 pounds. Here they are... my last 25 pounds to be dropped!

Yesterday, I was reading Tom's book, and I figured out that I am stalled. And I need new ways, new approaches to my journey. Being accountable to someone is one way Tom proposes to be sure you are on track. So who's best than the Internet? :) That's why I'm here. I'm telling my story -- I hope it can be an example to someone out there --, and I'm trying to reach my goal!

History

My history started in 1997, when I was 15. I understood that I was overweighted. I went to a nutritionist and learned how to eat. In that time, I lost 20 pounds. Then, I gain them again. Since then I've been "in diet", with some pauses, but always knowing in my head that I had a problem to be solved.

In those 12 years, I tried several times to be on a diet and stick to it, but in the end I gainned all the weight I had lost.

The blog's aim

Hi!

This blog aims to help me getting off my last 25 pounds!

I'm reading Tom Venuto's book "The Body Fat Solution" and yesterday I figgured out that my weight loss had stalled.

Let's do it! :D