Track that!!

Here's my piece about tracking (or journaling, or logging, or whatever you want to call it).

I have found through my personal ups and downs with healthy eating, that I'm going to have ups and downs. That's just the way life goes.  And so, my results on the scale tend to go up and down a little bit too from week to week.  A great tool for me is to be able to look back at my food journals and see what the heck happened to cause whatever victory or misery I'm looking at.

Here's my deal though, it is very tempting not to track my food for the night when it looks kinda like this:

junior bacon cheeseburger
10 chicken nuggets
large fries
large diet coke (oooooh good going)
6 scoops of cookie dough
6 cookies (actually waited for these ones to BAKE!)
2 cups of milk

You get the idea.
Who wants to see those calories add up? Not this chubby waist girl.  But I do it. And I do it so I can see where the damage came from.  Plus, what would I rather think? Um, I magically weigh this much despite eating 1000 calories a day and busting my booty in the gym and there is something inherently wrong with me that I can't change?? Or I weigh this much because I had a bad day last week that I am going to do my best not to repeat?  And also, I can work that mistake off because I'm awesome.

So besides looking back at the binges, tracking my food keeps me accountable, because oftentimes I will track before I eat, or track as I go.  This helps me to plan my meals a day in advance or even just a few hours in advance, so when hunger strikes, I don't have to think.  I'll log in a day's worth of food that adds up to my caloric goal, when I'm sane and full the night before, with groceries I actually have in the fridge, and then move on to other things.  Then all I have to do is eat it! Easy peasy!

Also, with MyFitnessPal tracker, I can look up foods and track right as I plan to eat them, which helps me to make good food choices on the fly.  I did this at The Cheesecake Factory recently.  All the menu items I looked for were available on the MyFitnessPal app, and I checked calories and fat content of a view Skinnylicious menu choices before ordering. Shazaam! Magic. And tracked right then at the table.

I've been tracking my food every day since high school, whether in a pink sparkly notebook or on fancy shmancy iPhone apps, but basically, it's really important to weight management for me. When I let it go, I really LET IT GO. Yikes.

If you bite it, write it. Good, bad, or ugly. If it goes in my mouth, it goes in the tracker.

Jazz and Big Macs

My awesome little sister Audrey gets free Jazz tickets at work! And she let me have two and come to a game with her! Best Christmas present ever! It wasn't really a Christmas present, but it was still grrreat!
The game was last night, and I knew my evening would be busy, getting off work, picking up my friend Claudia, and driving up to the game in Salt Lake and all.  But I knocked out a 45 minute Jillian workout DVD the moment I walked in the door from work, cooked a salmon filet and sweet potato while I showered fast, got pretty, and ran to the game. And OMG, it was the best game ever.  Sweet win, 3 pointer by Mo Williams on the buzzer to win it. Plus, our seats were in the second-from-the-top-row, and I filled my water bottle 3 or 4 times, so I went up and down those killer stairs plenty of times.  My booty was killin me all day today.
Also, I snuck in a ton of healthy snacks to munch throughout the game: cuties, almonds, string cheese, apple, but was still starving after the game.  It got out at 11:30 and I had burned lots of calories throughout the day so yeah I was...  HUNGRY. I made the conscious choice to stop with Claudia for chicken nuggets and a diet coke, but when we got up to the McDonald's window, the girl saw we were both in Jazz jerseys... And asked us for ticket stubs from the game for FREE BIG MACS!! Winning Jazz ticket stubs get you free Big Macs apparently! So we got those instead. Too many calories for my day, but oh well. Call the wahhhhmbulence.  I was being festive and having Jazz spirit.  And I will still lose weight this week. Watch me. 

Friend Michelle's lucky jersey.  Won us the game and free food.

 

Before the game. Um, a little excited!!

Audrey, Claudia, Me.  Jazzed.

Time out.

Okay this being sick and still being successful is harder than I thought. Last night as I struggled through my work out, I noticed I didn't have my usual strength.  I took one bathroom break during my cardio on the spin bike (TMI?) but finished out the 30 minutes I had planned on eventually.  When I moved to my floor work for bridges and cruches for toning  for the day, I had a really hard time getting my reps in.  I was tired and weak.  Only did about 50 crunches instead of my usual 200 plus. I'm happy I at least did something for my body, but boooooo. I really wanted to lose 3 pounds all in one week this week to get to my next milestone/goal and reward.  I have these rewards plotted out for myself in a list in my iPhone, a prize for every few pounds lost to keep me going and make it fun without being about food!
I have a definite feeling I will need until next Friday's weigh in for my 184 reward.. the mythic Michael Kors booties I keep fantasizing about. Especially because I...
Cheered up my sick self with a big bowl of cookie dough ice cream last night, with a scoop of peanut butter on top, sprinkled with sliced bananas.
You do not get a photo, because this is not a food porn site, and I don't want to look at it later and want it again.
I felt miserably ill, and consoled myself with sweets, after I had been doing so well at taking care of myself in healthy ways: rest, hot lemon tea, vitamins, nutritious foods, lots of fluids, moderate exercise.  I caved. And then went to bed.
The lesson in this?  Had I not had the ice cream in the house, I could not have eaten it in my weak moment.
Mission: Throw out remainder of quart of ice cream the moment I walk in my house after work today. And for future, treats may only be purchased in single serving sizes.  Extras need to be immediately given away or thrown away.  It is not wasteful, it is wise. My goals are worth it.

Pass the tissues

I don't know if I got sick because I worked myself too hard, or because I rested too much. Or I just got sick because it look like the North Pole outside. Regardless of the cause, I feel like doo doo.  And all I want to make myself feel better is comfort food, comforter, hot cocoa, and movies.

But I made it to the gym this morning. Through the snow.

I rested this weekend.  Actual rest.  Like a full 2 days happened with no workouts.  Now my streak restarts.

And I am committed to lose 3 pounds at this week's weigh in, regardless of physical handicaps and less-than-ideal weather conditions. 3 pounds will get me to my first goal-milestone, and earn me the Michael Kors boots waiting in my closet for a lighter me. Gotta get there this week. I'm too excited!!

To get there without sending myself to the hospital with pneumonia, I'll be doing 2 a day workouts, but being very careful to eat very nutritiously and also sleeping 8+ hours per night.  I make my to do list and schedule every day and make it happen. PLANNING. It's possible. Writing this out is helping already. :)

Yummy lunch

PEOPLE

Even when I want to throw my worn out body off a cliff, I just learned it can do more. 5 min into my workout, muscles warmed up, sweat broke, endorphins kicked in, and it's all worth it again. Lesson learned? NO DAYS OFF.

Idk if I'm bout this life. I just want to go bed. Body hurts from yesterday... But I'm getting on this bike.

Miss Jillian Doesn't Mess Around

Yesterday was my loooooong day. We all have them.  Packed with crap to do.  We know they're coming in the week, and we just have to brace for them.  I had early morning payroll to put in at work, then an eye doctor appt (yippee I'm old), then errands to run, then more work at the office, then school.

Then finally home.

My key here for sanity, and not self-medication with sugar to make it through, is PLANNING.  I packed and brought my old standbys for healthy snacks and meals:

• apples
• bananas
• cuties
• almonds
• boiled eggs
• pumpkin seeds (personal obsession)
• string cheese
• low-fat lunch meat
• whole wheat tortillas
• dark chocolate
• low fat popcorn
• red peppers
• baby carrots
• blueberries
• grapes
• more apples (seriously, they are the perfect portable snack)

And yes I ate all of that food, continuously, all day long. Kept me going strong! 

Also, I knew darn well I wasn't waking up at 4:30 to work out on this morning before my extra early work day, so I planned for a fun and different, cardio and strength combined workout for the evening, after some down time. I chillaxed and ate my quick-easy dinner (baked sweet potato and grilled salmon fillet; it cooked while I laid on my bed and stared at my twitter). Then I pulled myself together for this:

Jillian Michaels kicked my butt. 

She scares me. Look at her face. 

I tried to be tough. Look at my face.

All in all lovely busy day yesterday, and I'm sorrrrrre and tired today. Jillian would laugh her evil laugh. And the scale was happy with me today. You'll get to see proof tomorrow!! I bet you are all peeing your pants with excitement.  Weeeeeeeee. 

Dreams of Excellence

So I had great intentions of working out this morning, I put out my clothes, shoes, water bottle, headphones, all of it, alarm set ready to go. And then slept through my alarm.  The funny part is, when I woke up at 7, it was from a dream of working out.  My subconscious knew what it wanted to be doing, but I honestly think my body was just too tired.  Does that count for something?

Anyhow, I will log extra minutes tonight after my work holiday party.  Which I'm stoked for.  We have a good time.

Freakin Weekend

Heyyyyy.  So I had a great weekend, and great food, and took no days off from gettin my sweat on. And I've lost more weight, but you don't get to know how much, because you don't get to see my scale for 5 more days and I get to look whenever I want. :)

Friday I was craving chocolate baaaaad on my period. My bestie Claudia was too, so that didn't help matters for moral support!  I had done my morning workout, but I forced myself to burn some more calories on the bike at  home, and still wanted a treat, so we got Blizzards, and enjoyed every bite of them, guilt free. I tracked the damage and moved on!  

Saturday was a super busy day.  I had my sweet roommate's masters violin concert (it was fantastic), work errands, brow wax, birthday gift shopping and wrapping, laundry, birthday dinner, and an hour drive to work in there.  So, I got up early and did my workout first thing.  40 min cardio and then jumped in to the to do list.  And helped my roommate Katie with her hair.  Did I mention how cute she is? 

Later, at my fab friend Emily's birthday dinner at Ichiban in SLC (great place), I filled up on edamame and water, and enjoyed a delicious Pink Power roll with shrimp and asparagus. Yum!!! Great times with the girls.

Me, Adriana, and Kristy Kay. Love. 

Sunday. Lounged. Loved it. Still worked out! Smooches!