I am so tired, but in a good way

My kids are at camp (mornings only) this week, so, even though I have a billion things I need to do, I decided to use the time to exercise.  Mostly walking, with a little couch-to-5K sprinkled in.  Because my schedule is constantly changing, I've decided I have to plan out my exercise in advance for each week.  So, this week is walking and walking and walking and a little running.

Next week, I hope to be able to do some classes at the Y.

Eating has been pretty good.  I have decided to eat veggie wraps for lunch, until I get tired of them.  The veggies come from my garden or the farmer's market, so they are full of flavor.  I sautee onions and squash in butter, mix them with fresh cucumber and tomato, goat cheese, and I put everything on a couple of Trader Joe's low carb tortillas.  Yummy.

I did go out with friends last night, going out for pizza with friends on Thursday night, and out to lunch at Panera on Saturday.  So, that is not all that good.  Also, my husband made brownies last night.

I would love, love, love to be in the 134's on the scale on Sunday.  We'll see.  I'm going to do my strength training before we head for the pool.

Weekly Weigh-In

So, yesterday I weighed in at 136.6.  And my period was over.  So, there we go, I guess it's time to change my ticker from 135.2 to 136.6. 

I decided that I needed to take my eating and exercise a lot more seriously.  I'm not sure there is any way to lose weight without being at least a tiny bit hungry.  Otherwise, how would I have a calorie deficit?  So, I started doing that today.  I'm not counting calories formally, but I am paying close attention to what I eat and not getting as full.  And I'm kicking the exercise into high gear, as in 1-2 hours a day, 5-7 days a week, until I reach my goal. 

My goal is to get down to 125 by August 1st and then maintain.  Based on past experience, I believe that I can do this. 

Sometimes I do wonder why I care so much.  Everywhere I look, I see people who are much larger than me.  I wear a freaking size small in most clothes, occasionally an extra small, and more occasionally a medium.  I am a size I would never have believed I could have gotten down to at certain points in my life.  Still, I'm a little thick and a little wide, and I really wish my tummy would shrink. 

I know someone in real life who has started a blog.  She is 2 inches taller than me, and her goal weight is not far from my highest weight.  It just kind of puts things in perspective. 

I have another friend who has a completely flat stomach with well-defined ab muscles.  I know I will never get there.  I have neither the motivation, nor, I think, the genetics to get my body fat down that low. 

But what I really need to do is to stop comparing myself to other people. 

Sunday Weigh-In

Today, with my period starting, I weighed 135.8.  That's okay.  It's not great, but I'm not upset about it.  I don't appear to be either gaining or losing weight right now.  Just fairly stable.  Stable is okay.  Gaining is bad. 

This is really a new experience for me, starting at a relatively low weight and working down to a lower one.  The two times in my life I've lost weight I was a lot fatter to begin with. 

I broke my vow, which was to keep my clothes budget tied to my weight and not to buy clothes until I've reached my geal.  I bought clothes, some pretty summer clothes at summer sales online that I hope to enjoy wearing.  I bought dresses and skirts.  I hope they'll help me to feel good about myself.  I want to enjoy the body I have, even if it is 10 pounsd more than the one I want. 

I've also found that the BEST way to lose weight is to buy some clothes you really love.  It never fails.  At that point, I will lose weight and then my beautiful clothes will look baggy.  Oh, well. 

The good news is that my kids' end-of-year programs are over, and things should settle down a little, and I should be able to get into a better routine.  I'm hoping to take some classes at the Y.  I just need to put them on my calendar and GO.  I'm interested in Zumba, line dancing, yoga, pilates, and spinning (although the spinning classes tend to fill up).  

I did have a fun 30 minutes of roller blading one day, while my son biked. I would have loved to have kept going, but he was done.  After I took a fall, I realized that I need knee pads before I try it again!  My scrapes have healed fine, but I'm over 30, and hurting my knee is a lot bigger of a deal than it was when I was, say, 12. 

The Couch to 5K is not going well at all. Ugh.  I could do it if I weren't so overloaded, but I think for now, I need something a little more exciting and different from what I'm used to. 

Once again, I would love to see the OTHER side of 135 next week. 

A Binge

I went on a terrible binge yesterday, which honestly is fairly unusual for me.  My problem is normally too much grazing and occasional overeating. 

Last night, after driving through Friday evening traffic to take my son to a dress rehearsal for his dance recital, we waited around there for over an hour until he was finished, and then I drove him home through Friday evening traffic.  By the time I got there, I was HUNGRY.  I ate 4 slices of (homemade) pizza, admittedly they were small slices, had 3-4 glasses of wine, and a very generous serving of Oreo ice cream.  I don't even want to know how many calories I consumed. 

Yesterday was also emotional because it was my younger son's last day of preschool, and it just marks the passage of time.  I'm both happy and sad not to have a toddler around anymore. 

I am tired and cranky, and my period is starting.  I am wishing that I had gotten the hormonal IUD instead of the copper one so that I wouldn't have this monthly insanity.  Pre Menstrual Psychosis.  It's not pretty. 

Weekly Weigh In

I weighed in this morning at 135.6.  I was less than thrilled.  Well, I'll just hope to be on the other side of 135 next week.  I need to do better on exercise.  Next week is going to be hectic, and then it should start to slow down (I hope?). 

I've gotten back to staying up late and getting up late, and I really do believe that my 45-minute-to-an-hour walk each morning is a key to success. 

If I keep losing weight at this rate, I will be finished in something like 5-10 months.  Which would be okay if I had 50 pounds to lose, but I think it's a little extreme for 10 pounds.  I think I need to step things up, especially with the exercise! 

Tried out My 15's

I went up to 15-pound dumbells for most of my strength training exercises.  I was using 12's and didn't expect the 15's to be so hard.  But they were. 

I could do tons of reps of chest flies with the 12's.  With the 15's, I only did 8.  I wonder if I did multiple sets, if increasing weight would be a little easier.  I might want to think about that before I try 20's in a few months. 

The strange this is that, because the heaviest weight I had was 12, I was using it for nearly all of my exercises (except for the lateral raise, which I can barely do with 8's).  When I first started strength training years ago, doing the overhead press with 5's was painful.  Now, I look back on that and think, what they heck was wrong with me? 

Anyway, now my overhead press is the same weight as my bicep curl, and it was actually easier to increase weight on the overhead press than it was to increase the bicep curl.  Very, very weird. 

I have not been doing much lower body exercise.  My lower body is pretty muscular just from life, thanks to my freak genetics that cause me to build muscle easily.  (My parents and sister are the same way.)  I think it would good, as far as my weight loss goals, to add in some squats and lunges next time.  Nothing excessive that would take me much longer, just something to round things out and work my lower body too. 

So, a happy day.  I also randomly weighed in mid-afternoon and came up with a weight of 134.4.  I'm really hoping my Sunday morning weight is something close to that! 

How many sets?

I confess, like the author of the blog post I'm about to link to, I only do one set of strength training.  After reading the article and the comments, I have to conclude that one is better than none!  Read it here:  Cranky Fitness: Strength Training: Multiple Sets or Just One.

This About.com article, for what it's worth, says that for converting body fat into muscle, one set is probably fine, especially for beginners. 

Like the Cranky Fitness blogger, I don't really care how strong I get, I just want to look good and be healthy.

UPDATED:  I found this little gem from the Mayo Clinic, stating that for most people, only one set is needed!  I think I'll believe this guy and enjoy my one-set lifestyle!