Do it like the GUYS!

So I was reading an article in Self's November 2010 magazine titled, Lose Weight: like a guy. I think the whole article had some great ideas, but the one that stuck out to me the most was to have a one-track mind. Men tend to focus on one issue at a time. If he is at work, he tends to focus on work. If he's at a party, he tends to focus on having a great time. Women multi-task. It is something we do so well. For example, I listen to music, write, and think about things that I need to do later either in the day or in the week. My life is full of doing many tasks at once.

This tip makes me ponder though, what if when we worked out, we focused on our work-out? If we focus on our run and what muscles are being used and how we feel, I wonder how much better we might do. The author, Tula Karras, suggests doing one thing to lose weight like removing soda from our daily diet. Men typically focus on one thing like removing beer from their diet. Women typically do everything at once like eating less, going to the gym daily, cutting out soda, and etc.

Karras feels this is why women typically fail. I agree with her. When I was student teaching, my focus was not on losing weight, but I did. I made two changes and I saw results. I was moving all of the time instead of sitting and I ate a lot less than I use to.

So she challenges us, and now I am challenging you, pick your worst diet habit (eating out all the time, drinking soda, etc.) and a challenging fitness goal that you can do (zumba, spinning class, running, etc.) for 4 weeks. What are your results?

I am going to to the challenge with you!
The 4-week challenge

My bad diet habit: drinking 3-5 cans of diet soda daily. :(

The challenge: Drink 1 or no cans of soda daily!

My challenging fitness goal: Work-out 240 minutes (4 hours) a week!

I am starting this Wednesday, December 29, 2010.
After 4 weeks, Wednesday, January 26, 2011, I will let know how great I feel and see if there are any results!

Miracles Do Happen!

So much has happened since March 22.

I did really well with the Flat Belly Diet until finals came. I tried to start it up again, but life was so hectic. After school ended, I helped my mom move, broke-up with my boyfriend (who I thought I would be spending the rest of my life with), went on vacation and then I moved to the other side of town. It was overwhelmingly crazy! Once I moved in and settled my own life just a little, I attempted to do the Flat Belly Diet again. I couldn't. I tried, but I couldn't stick to the regimen.

So I went on vacation to FLORIDA over the 4th of July. I booked the tickets just 3 weeks prior and I decided to work-out five days a week and eat healthier that way I would lose some weight before I was at the beach in my swim-suit. I ended up not working out 5 days a week like I wanted, but I still lost weight. I was down to 210 lbs when I left. :)

I came back and gained some weight. I told you my story above about reattempting to do the Flat Belly Diet. Then school started for me on August 25th and I was student teaching. This meant I was on my feet for 6 hours a day, constantly walking around. I lived one hour away from the school so I was running out the door without much to eat. Lunch was whatever I grabbed out of the freezer. After school, I would then go to work. I usually ate something frozen for dinner as well. Let's just say after about 10 weeks, I was sick of frozen food. So between eating less and constantly moving around, I lost weight.

I lost so much weight and I lost it fast. I am now down to 194.5 lbs. I am a size 16/18, depending on who makes the clothes. To me that is a miracle. I was losing 1 to 2 lbs a week which is nice because I've struggled so much with my weight in the last few years!

This holiday season, I've managed to maintain which makes me very happy. Since I am not in school any more I can work-out and focus on my health a lot more in 2011!


Weight Loss Over the Months
March 22: 220-225
June ?: 216
July 3: 210.5
July 6: 212
Aug 23: 215
Oct 29: 201
Dec 3: 196
Dec 27: 194.5

Flat Belly Diet

I am amazed at how much dedication one must have in order for a life style change to work. It is difficult when there are a million other things happening in your life.

I have been fluctuating between 220 and 225. I know this weight is not healthy for me, but what am I suppose to do? I can't completely forget about school and work. Something wasn't clicking, and I was starting to fall behind and not care about school and work. So I decided for the last two weeks, I am taking me time. That me time was not very productive and I felt myself slipping into a depression.

So I am making a change to be active in my life. If I focus on me I do not feel as stressed, but I do feel guilty for not spending the time on school work. A way to focus on me that is productive is getting healthy. My mom decided to try the Flat Belly Diet and in two weeks, her belly is much smaller. I am jealous!

I do not know if it will work for me. I gained 3 lbs overnight, which I know is just water retention... but still... a little discouraging. The plan starts with a 4-day anti-bloat plan. 2 items I have had so far makes want to gag, but surprisingly I love the food. I was leary about putting flax seed oil in my smoothies, but it actually makes them taste better. This whole program is focused on eating healthier including eating MUFAs (MonoUnsaturated Fatty Acids). It takes your attitude and changes it because there is a connection between your belly and your mind that I do not comprehend just yet.

Anyway the Flat Belly Diet takes just 32 days, which is enough time to create new habits. So my configurations, I will be done on Wednesday, April 21. I will see if any weight and inches have been lost by then!

Amazing!

I am amazed! Because of how tight money is getting, I have decided to eat out less and eat in more. I have been eating in for 2 weeks now. I have lost four pounds. I am seriously amazed. Now I am back down to 221 lbs. I had gained weight after school started throughout the first 4 to 6 weeks.

Now I have decided to eat in a lot more, though it will be difficult.

I also went and worked out today. It has been about a month since I worked out last. I need to work out more often!

It's been a while

Life has been busy! School has me so stressed that I can not seem to concentrate on anything else.

I went and worked out today probably for the first time in a month. I feel exhausted, but I think it is good to feel that way.

I weighed myself and I weigh 228 lbs. Of course, I did that with shoes and workout clothes on, which I normally do not do. But still 228... I haven't seen that number so I need to start taking better care of myself!

Anyway, I have plenty of homework left to complete so I will be back later.

Week 5

Today begins week 5.

Oh my gosh, week four was really bad!!! I drank so much Sprite. I had a hard time tracking my calories, and I didn't even work out once. In fact week four was an emotional week. I had several "break downs" so to speak. A friendship was on the rocks and it was bad. Things are a bit better in the friendship, I hope they continue to improve.

I have been so busy this weekend that I didn't have a chance to weigh myself... but I am not sure if I really want to. I over ate... I didn't work out... I went out with friends and drank a little bit. All of this typically adds up to gaining weight.

With school going, it is hard to keep track of three goals so I am going to worry about two goals.
1. Track my calories.
2. Work out at least once this week.

I have fallen off track as far as tracking my calories so I need to remind myself everyday to track them. As far as working out goes, the more I work out the better. But... with my scedule the way that it is makes it difficult to find time.

Lets see how week five goes.

Week 4

So week four began on the 18th. I lost half a pound, but I wasn't sure how I did it because I over ate a lot that week! I also worked out once.

I did not do a very good job of my goals during week three so I decided to redue the three main goals that I had.

So week three goals:
1. Track my calories.
2. Work-out three days this week. (Ahh, schools starting!)
3. Drink diet soda instead of regular soda.

Week 3 Goals

So... I lost half a pound! Woo-Hoo! I wish it was more, but I will accept the half a pound graciously. That is more than I typically would lose in a week. So tracking my calories and working out a little bit have been helping out. I now weigh 221 lbs. Yes, I did hear about the study saying that most nutrition totals are not accurate. I am not shocked by this study at all! I've worked in fast food and even if you cook your own meals you are not going to know the true accuracy of nutrition unless you can test it yourself. I do feel strongly though about tracking your calories. It may not be 100% accurate, but it will give you an idea of what your intake it. If you're still throwing a fit take your calorie total for the day and add 20% of the days total to it and it will more than likely be more accurate, but you never know.

Since week 3 begins tomorrow, I need to add a new goal to work towards. One thing I noticed is that I like to drink soda and not diet. I know diet has aspartame and can be harmful to your health and that is why I typically avoid diet soda. What's more healthy, all that sugar or the aspartame? I am unsure, either way my new goal this week is: if I drink soda, it needs to be diet. All of the sugar and calories are taking up my calorie usage.

So week three goals:

1. Track my calories.
2. Work-out three days this week. (Ahh, schools starting!)
3. Drink diet soda instead of regular soda.

Since a new semester is beginning, I will probably be on here only once, maybe twice, per week. So have a great week!

French Fries

I am like the biggest addict to fries. Ever. In fact, if anyone remembers me from my show choir days, while we were on tour we had to introduce and say something about ourselves. I mentioned that I love french fries. Everyone just kind of stared at me, but what can I say, I like what I like.

Anyway if you are a french fry addict like I am, I challenge you to give it up for one week. If you're really, super-dooper craving it, I can not help you. If you can, give it up for one week. At the end of the week, eat some. Actually taste them. What do they taste like to you?

I have not had fries in about a week, minus sweet potato fries which are different, and I had fries today for lunch. The taste is not that great. Now, not all french fries are going to be this way but a lot of them (most actually, some experts may even say all fries) are unhealthy for us and after a period of time being away from something so unhealthy, our taste buds can taste the greasiness of it, at least for me I did.

So if you are game, take the challenge!

Surprise...

Every time I go hiking I always think that I am going to drop at least half a pound, and every time I never drop any weight... I always maintain it. It is rather quite frustrating! If someone knows the real reason to this, I would love to hear it. I assume it is because I am building muscle mass and since muscle weighs more than fat, I in turn do not weigh any less. I thought it could be from my intake of calories, but this trip I kept track of my calories and I still did not lose a thing. I could not believe how out of shape I am... I need to get healthier!

Also another surprise... So my boyfriend bought some saltwater taffy, the small round pieces. I added those to my calorie tracker. One of those little things contains 60 calories. I could not believe it! It is amazing something that small and yummy is so unhealthy for you. I am sure the dentist would agree.

Pic and week 2 goals

This is me. January 1, 2010 at 221.5 lbs. I want to be able to see a side by side photo where I am at least 3/4 that size. I can not wait!

My goal for this week is going well so far, I am tracking all of my calories and my "exersizes". I am using an app on my iPhone and a website to do this. Both are wonderful tools!

Since I am leaving Sunday for vacation and I refuse to be near any electronics (except my iPhone to track my calories :p)... I am posting my goal on here now. I am going to Zion and I plan on doing some hiking. Now a book I read close to two years ago says that it takes 21 days to create new habits, like working out and tracking your calories. So, each week I am going to add a goal until I max out at 3 goals a week. This might get hectic, but I want to try it.

So, along with my goal to track my calories everyday, my new goal for week two is to at least hike for 2 hours each day while I am at Zion (3 days). And after I get back, I want to get to the gym at least once for a minimum of 30 minutes.

I do not think that is too much! :)
Hope everyone had a great New Year!!!