Whew

July 23, 2012
Pounds lost in week nine = 6
Total pounds lost = 36 (average of 4 per week)

Finally broke the plateau - relieved.

So I was watching Dr. Oz and he recommended White Bean Extract because it blocks starch and prevents carbs from being absorbed in the body. I'm not a big fan of adding supplements - mainly because I think 'whole' foods and a balanced diet should really do the trick. But, I have a certain amount of trust in what Dr. Oz recommends - he better not lead me wrong!

Well, I went to GNC to pick up a bottle, and before I knew it, I was hearing about all these other supplements to increase my weight loss and strength. What a sales pitch, most of which I didn't understand. I was good at saying 'no', but I did buy a container of protein shake mix, since I have a hard time eating the required amount. The smoothies at the gym have whey protein in them, so I figure it's not a bad thing to have on hand.

Anyway, he must have thrown 15 samples of various things in my bag - pills, powders, gels. He offered a warning with most, like "Don't have these two together because of the caffeine," or "Don't have this one on an empty stomach."

Is all this crap really good for a person? Are you supposed to be throwing all those chemicals into your system? I can't believe that it is, although I did buy my White Bean Extract and protein shake powder, so I guess I must believe some of it.

Here's an article on About.com about white bean extract: http://altmedicine.about.com/od/weight_Loss/a/White-Bean-Extract.htm

Jinxed it

So, I jinxed myself by saying I hadn't missed a day of workouts yet. This morning, around 4:00, I woke up with a pounding headache. I took some Advil, but when I woke to my alarm at 5:00, my head was still pounding.

Now, I've worked out with a head cold in the past and a jacked-up knee more recently, but I really can't picture getting my heart rate up to 150 when the blood is whooshing through my brain vessels with every small move. So, you see where I'm going with this - I made the decision to skip 5:30 class today, shut the alarm off and went back to sleep.

At 5:40, my phone rings. I don't recognize the number, but when the phone rings at 5:40 in the morning, you answer it, right? Conversation went like this:

Me: Hello?
Caller: Kari...
Me: Yes?
Caller: Why aren't you here?
Me: (Oh shit, it's Trainer Troy) I woke up with a headache
Troy: A headache?
Me: Yes (with a nervous little laugh)
Troy: Only two of you showed up again today. We need you here.
Me: Who are the two people who made it?
Troy: I'm only concerned with the people who DIDN'T make it.
Me: Sorry
Troy: We'll see you tomorrow. If you wake up with a headache again, take some Advil and get in here.

The rational side of me realizes that he's frustrated with our whole group (Monday only 2 out of 5 of us showed up; Tuesday it was the same 2; Wednesday 4; today back to 2). I'm also proud that this was the first day out of around 45 days that I missed (not counting the 4th holiday). And, I realize he must recognize that I've been religious about coming in - perhaps today was the day that his patience ended and he called all who did not show (it was just my bad fortune not to be there on this day). He also saw me running on the treadmill last night and twice last week, so he knows I'm committed - at least 95% of the time...

But the little kid in me felt like I was busted by the teacher for faking an illness to get out of a test. And this is exactly why I need a trainer - because the guilt I feel for missing, even when the reason is valid, is a very strong motivator for me. I just don't like disappointing people. Unless it's myself - I can let myself down without giving it a second thought. Which is pretty backwards when I think about it.

Great, just great

This morning before class starts, I'm walking on the treadmill next to another member. She's in some other group - we've seen each other before, but never spoken. She says to me, "So, you decided to come back today, huh?" Me: "Yeah," while my brain is scrambling to think why she would ask that question. "Oh, did you see me struggling yesterday?"
Her: "Yes, good for you for coming back. He's unrelenting, isn't he?"
Me: "Uhh...yeah, you could say that."

So, clearly, I'm making as big of a spectacle of myself as it feels. Although, I suppose it would be odd if no one noticed me yesterday, since I was gasping for breath sooo loudly.

Again today, it was just me and another girl. I should be happy that I'm getting such individual attention from Trainer Troy, but all I can think of is sending an email to the others saying, "By all that is holy, please please get your asses back to the gym!"

On another note, I made fish at home for the first time ever - all my years of cooking and I've never ventured into seafood-land. I found a bag of individually frozen cod fillets at Costco and I was impressed by how nice the fish looked when I opened the packet. Anyway, here's what I did.

Broiled Cod
1 6oz. cod fillet
1 Tbsp. mayonnaise
1/8 c. panko breadcrumbs
Butter spray
Salt and pepper to taste
Paprika for color

Preheat oven to 400.
Rinse and pat dry the cod; salt and pepper both sides. Place in a small baking dish.
Spread the mayo on the top of the fish, then top with the breadcrumbs. Press the crumbs into the mayo a bit. Spitz the breadcrumbs with a few shots of butter spray and sprinkle with paprika.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until fish is flaky in the center.

It was really good, but I think I'll leave off the mayo next time. That added a richness I don't think it really needed. I eat broiled fish with cocktail sauce and lemon, which is why I don't think I need the extra flavor from the mayo. But it did probably keep the fish moist, so that's something.

It is what it is

July 23, 2012
Pounds lost in week eight = 0
Total pounds lost = 30 (average of 3.75 per week)

Ugh...official weigh-in results in 0 pounds lost. I'm going to print off my food journal and bring it to the dietitian because this is getting ridiculous. I kept to 1000 calories per day, and even worked in three additional walk/runs this past week. Ate lots more veggies, tried to limit the carbs. I think what really gets to me is that I don't remember ever having a bad two-week stretch like this when doing Weight Watchers. That was usually 3, 2, 4, 1, 2 - a more regular up-down-up pattern.

The only plus side - and it's feeling like a small plus - is that we logged in on the body fat reader today and I lost two pounds of fat mass. So, I guess I'm gaining muscle to offset that, which I suppose is good. However, I think my calves are out of control - think Arnold Schwarzenegger. Yuck.

This morning at our 5:30 work out, I think Troy was mad. Only two of us out of five were there. So, naturally, he took it out on us! Ha ha...really, it was probably a matter of me not being able to slack off in a larger group. He only had two of us to keep an eye on. I think I'll hear "Come ON, Kari," in my sleep.

Here's a slice of our fun circuit to share with you (and by fun, I mean hellish) - run up a flight of stairs, run down, hop up the stairs, run down, pick up TWO 30lb weights and walk up/down the stairs. Rest for 30 seconds, then 20 crunches, sprint between a series of cones (short, then back, medium, then back, long, then back), 20 crunches, then sprints again. This is when I saw Jesus. Those crunches really set off my asthma - I started gasp-honking. Super adorable, I'm sure. Troy came up to me (probably to make sure I wasn't dying), and I was like, "I (honk) sound (honk) like (honk) my (honk) dog." However, when I got my breathing under control, I ran the crap out of those sprints. I think Troy would have let me pass on it, but I felt like I needed to do it. And I did really well - fast with a good long stride.

Another mental check-mark in the win column - I realized today that I'm the only one of my group who has been to workouts every day (not counting the Fourth of July). EVERY day. Proud of that.

And speaking of running, here's a clip making the rounds on Pinterest - LOVE it:

WTF

I have nothing funny to report, and I'm feeling really disappointed with my lack of progress. I'm eating 1000 calories a day and burning around 2500 (workouts plus BMR). A pound equals 3500 calories. Simple math tells me that I should be losing about a pound every other day - or around 3-4 per week.

But no...I'm stuck on the same stupid number - day after damn day. If I was cheating or not working hard, I would probably just feel mad at myself. But to know I'm working out so hard and eating the right things (or more important, not eating the wrong things) and seeing no progress is really disheartening.

Troy surprised us this morning with a pre-weekend weigh-in. No surprise to me, I was no different today than I was on Monday. Not an ounce. I went back out on the gym floor and let all the frustration build up. Before I knew it, my eyes were welling up and I had to dash off to the bathroom before embarrassing myself by boohooing about it publicly. I think my red eyes when I returned might have tipped them off anyway.

So, maybe on Monday's official weigh-in I'll see a drop. Who the f*** knows.

One

July 16, 2012
Pounds lost in week seven = 1
Total pounds lost = 30  (average of 4.3 per week)

So, I could have had ice cream and pizza with this kind of number - that's all I'm thinking.

My average calorie count has been near 1000-1100, but the average percent of carbs was 52%. Of those carbs, 35% were sugars.

Today we played basketball again. I like these days, but I just cannot last on the court. So much running. I'll have to practice outside of class (though not this week, when the temp is 100 or so).

Quinoa and Qualms

So, I'm not looking forward to weigh-in tomorrow. I'm in a plateau - at least my home scale tells me so. I'm consistent with my calories, and consistent with the workouts, but that damn scale has been stuck all week. The recoil from my 8 pound success last week perhaps.

How to fix it - more veggies and more activity. My goals for this week are to have 3 servings of veggies every day and to work out two evenings during the week and once on the weekend. Hard workouts - no half-walks with Joey looking at me with his "Are you kidding me?" face.

This weekend I made a quinoa salad that I found on Pinterest. This was my first taste of quinoa and it was pretty darn tasty. Found here on The Healthy Foodie blog.

Quick and Easy Quinoa Salad - The Healthy Foodie

And, a funny story for this week's workouts. We were doing step-ups onto weight benches. Troy wanted us to go up with the left foot, bring up right, down with left foot, down with right. Easy, yes? Well, when he said 'lead with the same foot', I interpreted this as L, R, R, L. I guess the other girls did too, because he kept trying to get us to do it correctly. "No, UP with one foot, DOWN with the same foot." For a good 30 seconds he kept trying nicely to correct us. Finally, he says, "Holy Christ, Ladies." I think we exasperated him. Ha ha ha.

I started wanting to recreate some version of this to get him to say "Holy Christ" again...because I'm that kind of person.

Mini Goal

July 9, 2012
Pounds lost in week six = 8.5
Total pounds lost = 29 (average of 4.8 per week)

There it is...there's the high number I was looking for. Week 6 resulted in 8+ pounds lost. How did it happen? Not too sure, really.

However, about three weeks ago, Troy had us set mini goals. For instance, by July 9, I want to weigh what? I set my goal at 15 pounds by the end of the three weeks, just a smidgen more than I had been doing. A reach but not an over-reach. I have to say, I definitely focused on meeting or surpassing that goal. And I did - surpassed it by one pound.

I did some moderate work-outs three of the evenings this past week, and I tried to up my veggies and protein while lowering my carbs. Emphasis on the 'tried'.

The next mini goal is 10 pounds by July 23. I'm gonna shred that mo-fo (but probably not...but maybe!)

Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition

ABC has been airing new episodes of Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition. This show is so inspirational to someone with a significant amount of weight to lose. Probably to more people that that, actually.

Before my own journey, watching this show filled me with longing, jealousy and a small measure of inspiration. Now, when I'm going through my own similar situation, knowing that I'm making progress, all I feel is inspiration. I could feel longing that I'm not as far along as these people; I could feel jealous that they have a full-time trainer and some serious rewards (cars, trips, surgeries). However, I don't really feel those emotions this time. Why is this?

Clearly, the difference is action. When you act toward something, it changes your mindset - hopefully - from being on the outside of some unattainable dream to being in the midst of that change. It occurred to me tonight that the best way to banish negative feelings is simply to act - in any way, big or small - in the opposite direction.

In tonight's episode, Ashley won a trip to Hawaii about 2/3 of the way to her goal. She had to take a 15 mile hike up to the crater of a volcano. At the end of that hike, her trainer surprised her with another challenge - to zipline down the mountain. This reminded me of my ziplining experience in Costa Rica.

Now, I'm fairly afraid of heights and loss of control, but I'd made up my mind before my trip that I was going to do it. I wasn't going to back out. So, we traveled into the rain forest, strapped on those lady-part smashing harnesses, put on our helmets, and we walked up to the first platform. What I soon realized is that I would have to jump up toward the cable while one of the operators quickly snapped my hanger into the clip that secures us to the cable.

Here's a secret - big girls don't like to jump. Much less when in the presence of strangers, some of them cute young Costa Rican men. When the operator threw his knee under my ass to give me an extra boost...well that was just down-right humiliating.

So, surprisingly, I discovered that ziplining is pretty awesome. I also discovered that I had very little fear actually zipping down that line - all thrill, no fear. Wanna know what my fear was? Every time we got to another transition platform, I was practically terrified of the jump up, rump boost, clip on procedure, wondering, "Will I get close enough to the line for him to be able to snap me in? Or will we have to do it again and again until my jump and his hoist come together in a perfectly-timed combination?" Uno, Dos, TRES! Uno, Dos, TRES!

How ridiculous is that? My weight is so unbelievably limiting, but it's clear my mind has been an equal co-conspirator in keeping me from acting and doing...living. Time to knock that shit off.

July 2, 2012
Pounds lost in week five = 4.3
Total pounds lost = 20.5 (average of 4.1 per week)

We played basketball today - kind of fun, but also exhausting. Two games of 2-on-2, and my partner, Susan, and I lost both games. My shooting was terrible - I'd get a break-away opportunity and then blow it by missing the basket. But we didn't lose by much, so that's good.

Not much else to report.

Pizzadilla

Pizza without the cheese - is it still pizza? Not in my world. But this little snack still satisfied that pizza craving anyway.

Pizza-dillas
1 whole wheat tortilla
3 Tbsp. Pastorelli's pizza sauce (only the best pizza sauce in the world)
2 marinated artichokes, chopped

Spray a skillet with non-stick spray. With the heat just under high, put the tortilla in the pan, spread with sauce (over the whole tortilla) and distribute artichokes over half. Fold the tortilla over and cook on both sides until tortilla is browned and crispy.

You could probaby add a low-fat mozzarella without adding too many calories. Without the cheese, this was 220 calories, 7g fat, 7g protein, 7g fiber.