12/26/14 Weigh-In 12/28/2014

I really wasn’t sure what to expect at this weigh-in. I had gone to the doctor’s office two weeks before and it said that I was eight pounds more than I weighed at home two weeks before, which is a big difference, even though it’s a different scale, I was wearing boots, and it was in the afternoon.

I have been eating three meals a day regularly instead of sometimes only two, like I was doing the month before. I wasn’t sure if eating more, smaller meals would help my weight or not, but I knew I would feel better physically if I didn’t eat so much at my meals and I would feel better mentally if I was eating more often (after all, I do fast for 16 hours a day anyway).

I exercised intensely in the beginning of the month, but then I got sick and that slowed down my workouts. However, I did do more running and I ran a race. I’ve also been stretching more often and I looked into doing yoga at home by streaming YouTube videos to my TV, instead of going to exercise classes, including a yoga class, which is where I believe I caught the cold that I had in the beginning of the month.

So the results of my weigh-in were a loss of 1.4 pounds, 0.5 inches, and 0.2% body fat. I’m exactly the lowest weight I’ve been since doing Paleo/Intermittent Fasting. Maybe I’m on a downward trend and will continue to lose a little more weight in the coming months. It would just be great to lose this belly fat! I’ve been working with my holistic doctor about it, which I’ll save for my next post.

I’m happy about the weigh-in and I’m happy with my weight. In fact, I don’t care whether I lose more weight or not. I will just continue my lifestyle and see where it takes me. To continue to improve my health and wellness is my goal.

How are you in your health journey? Have you made any improvements/changes lately? Or are you stuck? Stay strong!

11/29/14 Weigh-In 12/10/2014

Hello, everyone! I hope you’re having a good week so far. I meant to write this post sooner, but I’ve been busy with work and weekend responsibilities. I’ve had a lot of posts I’ve wanted to write, so I’m catching up with them slowly 🙂

November 29th’s weigh-in is very special to me, which is why I want to write about it even though it happened 1.5 weeks ago. I lost 1.4 pounds, 2.5 inches, and 0.4% body fat. I had gained weight at my weigh-in last month, so I am very happy to be losing weight again and getting back down to my lowest weight – only 1.4 pounds to go! 🙂

During the last month, I ate less and amped up my workouts. I skipped meals when I didn’t feel like eating (which is okay for me because I’m doing intermittent fasting and I know the benefits of fasting), began going to a boot camp class twice a week, and running (I even ran a race!). All of that activity and less food helped me to lose weight, inches, and body fat 🙂

To recap, I’m still doing a modified version of the Paleo Diet (Paleo minus fruit/berries, nuts/seeds, and starchy vegetables, due to my doctor’s advice and my personal preference), and intermittent fasting, like I just mentioned. I’ve been fasting for longer periods (18-20 hours, instead of 16), and working out five days a week, consistently, doing the workouts I’ve already mentioned, plus a yoga class once a week. I really do like the balance of my workouts 🙂

I’ve actually been feeling a little sick this last week, so I’ve cut back on my workouts until I recover. And from running every day, due to some December fitness challenges I’m doing (highly recommended for those in need of motivation), I hurt my hip a little, so I’ve been resting it. Now it’s better, so I will resume running soon!

Lately I’ve felt like I haven’t been eating often enough, and that, plus not relaxing enough, is why I think I got this cold. My body is trying to tell me something! Plus, I was eating really large meals when I did eat, eating past fullness.

So I’ve decided to go back to three smaller meals a day so that I won’t be overeating at my meals, and my body will have nutrients more often. I think I can improve my health in this way when it comes to weight loss, because I’ll be listening to my body more and that will allow me to eat just what my body needs.

Yes, I’m still trying to lose weight, and fitness is going to be a big part of it. I’d like to lose 10 pounds, but more importantly, get fitter (cardiovascular and strength-wise) to lose body fat. Losing body fat will be more important to me than losing weight.

I also intend on relaxing more, meditating, and continuing to do my yoga. I’ve already cut back on my workload so that I will be less stressed 🙂

How has your health journey been going? What have you been doing for your health lately?

Finally in Maintenance 07/07/2014

Hello all,

It’s been a while…I know. I’ve been writing short journal entries on FatSecret when I record my weigh-ins every week. I haven’t felt like blogging, because I was continuing to gain weight. I’m 3.5 lbs heavier than I was during my last blog post 3 months ago. But I’m okay with that. I’m even expecting to gain more weight, because I’ve been replacing the muscle that I lost during all of those months of being sedentary when I lost the last 20 lbs. My clothing size didn’t change at all, so I figure it was a combination of muscle loss and fat gain. Can you imagine losing weight and getting fatter while doing so? It’s possible. That’s why muscle is so important. After I had plateaued between a 5 lb range, which became more towards the higher end, because my body just didn’t want to be the lower weight, and no matter what I did with my calorie intake, I wouldn’t go any lower, I decided I was in maintenance. The next thing I decided was that I would focus on exercise and building muscle. I’ve been working out regularly for a while now and I’ve been enjoying it, which is a plus. Not that I never enjoyed it before, but now I feel like working out when I’ve been sitting at my desk for a while. Before, it was an obligation. Now, I do it because I want to. I feel good mentally and physically when I workout, so I like to do it every day (every weekday, actually – the weekends I’m more active than during the week and I take a break from workouts). I’ve mostly been walking, along with some weightlifting and strength training here and there. I need to do more of the latter, since my goal is to gain muscle.

I’ve been eating an average amount, trying to stay under 2,000 calories a day. I try to eat only when I’m hungry. I do well with both of those things. Some days I require more food and some days less food. I go with the flow by eating when my body needs food.

It’s great to be in maintenance. No more mental struggles with the scale. I’m even fine with gaining weight, because I know it’s muscle. As long as my clothing size doesn’t change, that’s what matters to me.

I’m still using It Works! products: greens, hair skin nails, relief (joint support), and vital pack (vitamins, minerals, omega 3). Their supplements are amazing in quality. The relief works, whereas a store-bought brand doesn’t. And the vital pack doesn’t make me nauseous, like store-bought multivitamins.

I completed the first draft of “Freedom from Fat Part 1.” It is a memoir about my weight loss journey. “Part 2” will be about my maintenance journey (starting from the beginning of this year). I’ve been keeping track of my journey all along, and it will all be in those books. Of course, I’ll let you know when they’re published.

Have a great week!

A Loss! Woohoo! 02/22/2014

Wow, I’m so happy to report that I’ve lost weight (2.6 lbs) at this week’s weigh-in! Not only that, I’m now 0.6 lbs below my lowest! That tells me I’ve officially lost weight and it isn’t just a weight fluctuation. I haven’t been this low in weight in two months. It feels great and it gives me hope that maybe I can lose more weight. I’m dedicated to weight loss again 🙂 At least, I’m going to try really hard to do really good.

I recently signed up to have access to my medical records online through my health care provider. It was really neat to see how my health statistics changed over the years. The best part was that I was able to see how much I actually weighed as a teenager, because I didn’t know the exact numbers. My weight now (I just went to the doctors on Wednesday, so I have a accurate number) is 8 lbs above my highest weight as a teenager (age 17). Back then, my weight fluctuated by 14 lbs. I would love to get to the low-end, which would mean I would need to lose 22 lbs. That sounds like a lot more to lose, but it would be nice 🙂 Because of my weight loss this week, I have hope. I might not get to my lowest weight as a teenager, but I can work towards it. My next goal is to lose those 8 lbs, which would put me in the range.

I believe the cause of my 2.6 lb weight loss this week was due to eating less calories and being more active. I ate approximately 100 calories less a day on average. That doesn’t seem like much, but it allowed my weight to fluctuate to the low-end of my maintenance weight and lose an additional 0.6 lbs. It means that I’m capable of losing more weight! I wasn’t being strict with myself; I just tried not to overeat. In fact, on some days I made myself eat a little more, because I felt like I wasn’t eating enough and I didn’t want my metabolism to slow. I tried not to let my calories get too high, ate only when I was hungry, and tried not to eat much at night (after dinner).

So, I’m back in the weight loss game! Wish me luck 🙂

Happy I Maintained! 02/08/2014

As you all know, last week I was sick. Well, I was sick for almost a whole week. Thankfully, I’m feeling better now. To refresh your memory, I lost 1.6 lbs when I was sick. I anticipated I would gain that weight back once I was better. However, at today’s weigh-in (after being well for five days) I was exactly the same as last week! That’s pretty cool 🙂 But, again, I’m not going to get too excited, thinking that I’ll lose more weight, because I’ve been maintaining my weight since November and I don’t want to get my hopes up. I feel grateful today, but I’m not expecting the weight loss to continue. If it does, I’ll be happy, but I’ll also be happy to maintain, which could also mean gaining a little. I’m really grateful to have gotten as low as I have.

What’s really neat is that I’m only 0.4 lbs more than my lowest weight 🙂 It would be awesome if I could reach my lowest weight or lower. That would be a wonderful achievement!

So, how did I maintain the weight that I was when I was sick? I’m not certain, but I have some assumptions:

1. Keeping my food intake slightly under my RDI (recommended daily intake)
2. Doing one workout a day instead of two

Those are the two main things I did during both my sick week and this week. I’ve also discovered that eating a lot of protein (at least 75% of my weight – pounds – in grams of protein) keeps my appetite at bay. I also heard that doing an intense workout the day before a weigh-in can make the weight higher, due to the muscles retaining water. So, yesterday’s workout was just an ab workout and yoga (a total of 30 min). And I ate 100 cals less than normal, which might have helped the scale tip in my favor (even though they didn’t actually tip at all 😉 )

My conclusion is that I will continue doing what I’ve done for the last two weeks and see what the results are. If I continue to maintain this lower weight or lose, I will keep it up. It’s comforting to know that I’m finally figuring out how my body works in maintenance 🙂

Have a great weekend!

Hopeful 08/01/2013

The positive changes in my body have been happening slowly, but at least I’m heading in the right direction. I lost 3.4 pounds and 2 inches in the past month. I’m so happy to be at the lowest weight I’ve been since I was 19 (I’m 32!). I still have 26 lbs to lose to reach the weight I was when I was 18, which is my goal weight. I’ve lost 84 lbs in the last 15 months, and the weight/inches are coming off more slowly now.

In addition, I’ve reached a plateau in my workouts. I was doing the same three workouts repeatedly every week. I was doing strength training mostly. The three workouts were for my core, arms, and legs. I tried out some new core exercises, but it wasn’t enough variety. I began missing some workouts, because I wasn’t looking forward to them.

I evaluated my workout routine and realized I needed a change. I increased my dumbbells from 12 lbs to 15 lbs, which challenges me perfectly. I’m just doing that in the meantime, until I receive my brand new workout program, which I will tell you about below.

I feel advanced fitness-wise. I have a lot of muscle, and my cardiovascular health is good from all the running I did over the last three months. I’m still significantly overweight, but I know I can handle a challenging workout program.

So, yesterday I searched Amazon.com for workout programs. I already had a desire to try a Beachbody program. I found a workout program on Amazon (not Beachbody) for $30.00, but the workouts were one hour long (I would find an excuse not to workout with such long workouts), and even though most of the reviews were good, the reviewers said things about the program that were unappealing to me.

My second option was the ChaLEAN Extreme program by Beachbody. In the past, I was turned off by Beachbody programs, because they are expensive. But I needed to be challenged by my workouts, and I thought a program – one that would provide a structured workout routine – was just what I needed to keep me interested in working out. I wanted the workout program to be of high-quality – something I would enjoy so that I’d be more likely to stick with it.

The ChaLEAN Extreme program seems perfect for me. The workouts are only 30-40 minutes, which is the length of my workouts now, and are designed to get more results in a shorter amount of time. So, I ordered the program, even though it cost me just over $100.00. I think and hope it will be a good investment in my health. I’m hoping I will be more interested in working out, because of the change, challenge, and structure. I also hope I stick with the program for the full 90 days. That’s three months, which seems like a long time, but I’ve been working out regularly for the last nine months, so I can probably do it.

In addition to being more motivated to workout, I think the program will help speed up my weight loss and fat loss. I’m not at a plateau, but I think the change in my workouts, when I do this program, is what I need to increase my metabolism so that I’ll be able to reach my goal weight.

I can’t wait until the program arrives and I can begin! Wish me luck!

Health and fitness update 07/20/2013

Hi everyone,

I hope your health and fitness journeys are going well. As for me, I’ve taken a little break from running because of the high heat. It’s been in the 90s here, which is too hot for running. I’ve been doing other workouts, such as weightlifting, stretching, core exercises, leg exercises, Pilates, and a little cardio, such as mountain climbers, jumping jacks, burpees, high knees, etc.

I’ve been reading a lot of fitness books lately, and I plan on posting reviews for them here soon. In fact, I currently have six health books to review. I won’t post them all on the same day, so that I won’t overwhelm you with all the posts. But these are short, helpful ebooks that I think you’ll enjoy. Being a writer, I try to write book reviews for every book I read that is worthwhile to post either here or on my author blog.

One of the books I read recently was full of core exercises. The exercises are excellent, and I’m going through the book to try all the exercises. Then I will incorporate my favorites into my regular core routine. I am grateful for this book, because my core is something that I want to strengthen.

Today, I’m planning on doing leg and glutes exercises, because I worked my arms, back, and core recently, so those parts are pretty sore, but my legs and glutes aren’t, so they could use some strengthening. I try not to workout sore muscles. I would rather take a rest day, because soreness means the muscles are still healing, and the healing part is when they grow, so I don’t want to interfere with that process.

I hope to go running on Monday. The weather is supposed to be cooler (70s in the morning) and partly cloudy. I’m thinking of doing a fast-walking 5-minute warm-up, a short jog, and then I will do intervals of sprinting and walking. I want to add some variety to my running routine, since previously I was working on long-distance running. Now that I’m able to run an entire 5K, I want to work on my speed, and interval training is what will help with that.

I’m still sticking to healthy eating. My weight fluctuated upwards two weigh-ins ago, but the last weigh-in I went down past my previous weight. So now I’m at my lowest weight. I’ve lost 81 lbs, and I’m fitting into women’s size 10 and size small. I usually wear a size 12/medium, but today I bought size 10 denim capris, and the other day I bought some size small workout shorts. It’s really exciting! At one point I was a size 24/3X. I feel so much better being smaller, fit, and healthy. I also like the natural energy I have, since I haven’t had caffeine in almost 15 months.

Let me know how your healthy lifestyle is going. What workouts have you been doing? What is your favorite, healthy way to eat?