Halftime Show

Monday morning at the office. I am sitting here enjoying a small Chai Latte from the Evil Shiny Coffee Bar in the Lobby. It is the most wonderful almost-coffee I've ever enjoyed.

The reason I am indulging is a three-fold celebration.

#1 - I achieved my 100% goal for Week #7
Woo-hoo! Go me!!

#2 - I've officially passed the 10 lb loss mark

#3 - TODAY IS DAY 50 AND I AM HALFWAY DONE!!!

Some "halftime" thoughts.

I had hoped that this would be going faster. Impatience is really hard to overcome, no matter how much I admonish myself otherwise. However, my minimum hope was to lose 20 lbs on the challenge and at the halfway point I've lost 10. Looks like the math checks out.

Slower is better. Yes, yes, I know, I know. This way, I'm not abusing or confusing my body. Neither am I putting a strain on my mind with excessive denial. Things I've gotten to enjoy in moderation these past seven weeks have included cookies, peanut butter toast, ice cream (once, a small custard bowl in honor of Valentine's Day), restaurant food, and lots and lots of honey-sweetened tea.

 I know I haven't been writing the fun filler blog entries that I've been promising. That's because I've been out there! Doing the work! I don't have time to stop and write about it too! Pffft.

Last week I was heavily preoccupied working on yet another editing pass of my theater novel. This one I'm shopping around for publication and I needed to make some changes before I continued with the shopping. And once I get started on an editing pass it kind of burns up all of my concentration until it's finished.

I still feel better. Leaner, more awake.

The Evil Shiny Coffee Bar in the Lobby

Oy. 100% Perfection this week is going well so far, but it's a bit harder than I thought it was going to be. I work for Goodyear and this week our huge shiny modern new headquarters building was officially open for business including the new cafeteria and fancy coffee bar in the lobby.

It's the coffee bar that's really driving me nuts. I love fancy coffee bars. Yes, I know they're overpriced, but I find fancy, overpriced coffee both tasty and comforting, a delightful indulgence in a dreary, cold February world. Thus far in the challenge I've been mostly able to keep an arms' length distance from Starbucks and its evil mates, but now ... it's right there.

On Monday the temptation was the worst. I think because the shiny new building was SO EXCITING and I always want food to celebrate exciting things. Now that we're on Day #3 things have calmed down and I'm doing better. I feel less crazy with temptation and more wistful.

The shiny new building has good aspects too. There's a fitness center (although it doesn't open for another two weeks), and I fully intend to make use of the elliptical machines as part of my cardio once that happens. Also, the new cafeteria menu has more nutrition focus than the old one, so as long as I'm willing to pay for it, I can add some variety to my lunch in the middle of the day.

On another note, I'm ready for spring...

Graphs, Charts, and The 90%

Week #6 is behind us. And what a slippery week it was. I already reported on being sick-- well, that lasted through half the week. Stuck home all day... not feeling up to much of anything. I didn't eat that much, but what I did eat wasn't always necessarily the best for me. Then yesterday (Sunday) I had a severe attack of "I'm tired of this" blues and ate lots of tortilla chips & salsa at lunch and had twice as many cookies as I was allowed in the evening.

Take a look at Week #5 vs Week #6 stats:


 Week #5

Week #6

I'm sorry to say that Week #6 was the first week since the challenge began that I haven't achieved my goal of at least 90% success. Boo!! :-(


There are two pieces of good news, however. First, I'm still on-track with my overall goal-to-date:

Challenge results to-date: 02-18-2013

Not by much, but 91% still counts!


Secondly, despite everything (perhaps some leftover grace from weeks before and a little for being sick) I did have a drop in weight this week-- not much, only 0.7 lbs, but all things considered, I'll take it and be grateful!

Another interesting tidbit-- my weigh-in this morning was exactly the same as the weight I logged when I first set up my new Wii at the beginning of November. This means.... *drumroll*... I have officially lost all my Christmas weight and anything lost from here on out will be "real"!

I finally have enough data to make an impressive-looking chart tracking my progress. Isn't it pretty?

The next ten pounds will be rarely-charted waters. I've dabbled in the 180's on and off through my various efforts the past three years, always dipping in for a taste, but never staking claim. Well, folks, this time my flag is firmly clasped in my hands ready to take up permanent residence.


Actually...no. That's not right. I'm keeping that flagpole in my hands and using to pole to get me through these testy waters and beyond.

In celebration of losing all my Christmas weight and duly motivated by my poor performance this week, I have set myself a special Week #7 goal:  100% in all categories.

... pardon me... *drinks some of water bottle*.... dern water-bottle drinking...

Anyway, where was I? Yes, 100% for Week #7! I can totally do it, I've just never resolved to do so before. Plus, I have the added benefit of some extra-fun exercising on the horizon: We are having a dance party on Friday! Plus I think I'm going to hit up the roller rink again for my cardio on Saturday.

On that note, I'm going to try to take some time to do some exercise-centric blog entries this week, a topic I've been sadly remiss on heretofore.

Good news and road bumps

Well, the good news is that I was down 2.6 lbs this week, which also brings me below the 190 lb threshhold. Woo-hoo!

The less fun news is that I'm sick.

I woke up on Friday morning with a mildly sore throat, which, as I went throughout my day, didn't seem too bad, and by the time I woke up on Saturday morning, felt perfectly fine. I chalked it up to the dry air in our house.

Saturday evening (regrettably after my niece's birthday party), I felt tired and achy, and on Sunday I stayed home from church and slept almost straight through till 3:30 p.m. except for a brief dalliance with breakfast in the morning.

Yesterday (Monday) I stayed behind from work and this morning I thought I was well enough to return until I got there and worked for two hours and kept feeling worse and my boss told me to pack it up.

The thing of it is... I'm not sure what allowances should be made for my challenges, most particularly with respect to eating and exercise.

This "feel better, feel worse" oscillation I've been experiencing since Friday means that I've still been managing to keep up on my cardio, at least through yesterday, but I honestly wonder if I'm not contributing to the pattern by doing so. One thing I notice when I'm sick is how much harder even my yoga is-- although the yoga that I do is relatively easy, throw a virus into the mix and you suddenly realize just how much you're doing to your muscles and breathing. If I'm sick and I do my yoga, I actually sweat.

So maybe forcing myself to do half an hour of dancing on top of that probably isn't the best idea just now? Or does it make a difference? I'm not sure. I'm worried about sluffing off and losing all of this beautiful momentum. Not to mention my 100% completion grade on cardio, which is one of only two categories to maintain that distinction after 5 weeks.

As far as eating goes, well, I did allow myself a carte blanche on tea with honey for the weekend, which is my favorite thing when I'm sick-of-the-sore-throat.  Actually, the way I drink it in these times can more accurately be described as honey with tea to thin it out.

But today when I came home from work I stopped by the grocery store for some sick supplies-- some chicken soup and orange juice, mostly, both of which I was craving terribly, both of which aren't really part of my ordinary meal plan. Orange juice is too sugary-- far better to eat the orange. And canned chicken soup is really high in sodium, plus it's usually not filling enough to satisfy me. Fortunately, my diminished appetite and tendency to want to just sleep all day are keeping a lid on that particular aspect.

I was surprised, however, as I wandered up and down the shelves, how extra-tempting all the goodies were. I'm not even all that hungry, but I'm frustrated with being cooped up in the house and losing control over my routine, and my "food as a means of comfort and control" beast was roaring something fierce. Cookies are easy. Cookies are nice. I'm sick, don't I get a little something special?

In the end I settled for buying Ramen noodles, which are pretty much high-salt empty calories, but do have the magic of chicken broth going for them, and also the fatty broth is a nice lubricant for a tired throat. Plus, they're fun. I like to eat them with chopsticks.

But how to carry on, is the question? I suspect I'll be home from work yet again tomorrow. I didn't really get a chance to replenish my normal food supplies, though I think I can keep a lid on it. But as far as exercise goes... now my bug feels like it's moved more into my chest and my spidey sense is telling me that heavy respiratory exercise might not be the most advisable thing right now.

In conclusion, as an acceptable alternative to intense cardio this week, l hour of light, low impact Wii games (including my daily yoga) will count toward my fitness credit for Week #6.

On another note, we have officially passed the 1/3 milestone of our 100 days!!

Week #4 (and #3)

Okay, this will be a split personality update. I wrote part of it -- the part between the dashes below-- this morning when I was feeling pretty glum. I feel kind of bad subjecting my readers to my unattractive self-pity, but... it's part of the journey, and I think getting it off my chest in written form was cathartic.

- - - - - - - - - - -

7:10 A.M.

I started slipping this week, especially this weekend. Just little things here and there in between the cracks. Also, I'm having a harder and harder time drinking all the water I set out to drink as part of the challenge. It's just not my instinct and also it makes me have to go to the bathroom all the time and that's getting really old.

Anyway, I don't know what, exactly, is the reason-- eating more than I should, not enough water, cyclical body fluctuations, but Week #4 was the first week I didn't lose any weight. I was up 0.7 lbs.

I didn't lose that much in Week #3 anyway-- only 1.7.

Which means my net weight loss for two weeks was ONE MEASLY POUND.

Why do some people shed weight like molting birds shed feathers and why am I not one of those lucky ones? I noticed that my weight at the beginning of November was about 3 lbs less than where I am right now, back when I wasn't even trying to do anything. It's all I can do to just get back to "pre-Christmas" weight and I don't even feel like I really start getting skinnier "for real" until I drop below that threshold. Like everything I've done up until now doesn't count. And then when I'm resetting my goal on my Wii it suggests that a healthy weight for me might be 153 lbs and I just wanted to cry. That weight seems as far away and impossible as the holy grail.

I need to step back and tighten my bootstraps. But it's winter and I'm tired of the cold and the tights and not being allowed comfort food. *sigh*

Anyway, last Thursday officially marked the 1/4 mark.  I thought I'd be a little more celebratory than I am. This bout of extreme self-pity has been brought to you by the number 1 (stupid lb) and the letter M (for Maudlin and Monday).

- - - - - - - - -

9:05 A.M.

Two hours later and a good chat with my wonderful sister, I'm feeling loads better and my determination is renewed. There are lots of little reasons that probably contributed to this week's plateau, not the least of which was that with the exception of my obligatory 1/2 hour of exercise (+yoga) on Saturday morning I spent the entire remainder of the day being a perfect model of sloth and all things sedentary.

My Saturday of supreme laziness derailed a lot of things. I wasn't productive and not getting something done (usually writing) starts a mini-avalanche of dissatisfaction upon my mood. No matter that I specifically bulked up my word count the previous Thursday in order to enjoy that Saturday "worry free".

So. Once again the perils of navigating weekends. This might seem crazy, but I'm super happy to be back to work this morning.

I was also encouraged by the fact that we did our measurements yesterday-- four weeks after our first round, and I was down at least one inch in every measurement except my arms! (which, I've been doing push-ups, so they're probably more buff than they were before?). Two inches off my hips! That was nice to hear.

Two-week results:

 

The word count number is not included in the combined field. 

Observe how my water consumption rate is slipping. In point of fact, it hasn't been 100% since I began, and it's the only category that hasn't had 100% at least once. So... that's one of my goals this week.

.... *stops to take a big chug of water from bottle*...

Where was I? Right. 100% on water for Week #5. Also, I'm going to try to watch less TV and get more reading and break out the sewing machine this week. And also finish my novel. Did I mention I'm this close to finishing my novel. I would've done this weekend if I had bothered writing anything. At all.

Bring it on, Week #5!