Sunday, June 13, 2010
Alive
I'm here, I'm alive, and I know I've gone silent. And I'm not really going to go into it right now. Just posting to say that I'm still here. And that I'm probably not going to be posting again until after the wedding (6 more days!). And probably for a few days after that too. Good times. :) I'll let you all know how it goes.
Friday, June 4, 2010
The longer post
So. I hear this is being described as the PCP valley. That's a pretty good name for it.
I have some confessions to make, and I really really don't want to make them. I'm embarassed, and frustrated with myself. And angry that many of my posts sound whiny and pathetic.
I fell off the wagon. Hard. Not too badly in terms of food, because as I keep telling people, I LIKE the food. I like veggies, and fruit, and milk. I even like my protein powder most nights.
But here are my dirty little secrets:
1. I've been adding sunflower seeds to my salads ever since my mom bought them and left them in my apartment. Salty salty seeds. I actually threw them across the room last night to make myself stop reaching for them.
2. I've been skipping workouts. A lot. And this is the one that makes me really angry. I know better. I AM better. I want my ideal body; I want to be in peak condition, and damn it I don't want to give up on this stupid project half way through. So what the hell is wrong with me? Evening workouts, for one. Grey's Anatomy for another. I have quite the addiction to it at the moment, and I've let myself be lazy. No more.
3. I use more olive oil than I should.
4. I use a lot more vinegar than I probably should, but it generally keeps me from craving salt. This is totally a mental thing--I used to love salt and vinegar chips, and this tricks my brain into thinking it's being "bad" even though I'm eating a salad.
5. I take more time between sets than I should. I know, I know. I'm not getting the maximum benefit. Can't help it. Sometimes it's all I can do to make myself do that one last set. So if it takes me an extra 20 seconds to start it, at least I started it. I still fail on almost everything anyway.
6. I don't weigh my lunch. This one is both really bad and not so bad. I get as much as I want for veggies for lunch, so I buy lunch at work now. Saves tons of time in the morning. But I end up guessing on my carbs and protein, which isn't great. And I technically don't know how the meat is prepared, so it may have lots of extra salt or something. I'm trying to talk myself into bringing the protein, and guessing on just the carbs. I'm pretty sure I underestimate anyway (I weigh my bread at home, so I know what the carb allocation should look like, more or less, and I eat less).
7. I sometimes forget my evening snack. Oops. It's not on purpose, but I got used to not eating after dinner, and I just sort of...forget sometimes.
There. My dirty secrets. Out in the open.
I have some confessions to make, and I really really don't want to make them. I'm embarassed, and frustrated with myself. And angry that many of my posts sound whiny and pathetic.
I fell off the wagon. Hard. Not too badly in terms of food, because as I keep telling people, I LIKE the food. I like veggies, and fruit, and milk. I even like my protein powder most nights.
But here are my dirty little secrets:
1. I've been adding sunflower seeds to my salads ever since my mom bought them and left them in my apartment. Salty salty seeds. I actually threw them across the room last night to make myself stop reaching for them.
2. I've been skipping workouts. A lot. And this is the one that makes me really angry. I know better. I AM better. I want my ideal body; I want to be in peak condition, and damn it I don't want to give up on this stupid project half way through. So what the hell is wrong with me? Evening workouts, for one. Grey's Anatomy for another. I have quite the addiction to it at the moment, and I've let myself be lazy. No more.
3. I use more olive oil than I should.
4. I use a lot more vinegar than I probably should, but it generally keeps me from craving salt. This is totally a mental thing--I used to love salt and vinegar chips, and this tricks my brain into thinking it's being "bad" even though I'm eating a salad.
5. I take more time between sets than I should. I know, I know. I'm not getting the maximum benefit. Can't help it. Sometimes it's all I can do to make myself do that one last set. So if it takes me an extra 20 seconds to start it, at least I started it. I still fail on almost everything anyway.
6. I don't weigh my lunch. This one is both really bad and not so bad. I get as much as I want for veggies for lunch, so I buy lunch at work now. Saves tons of time in the morning. But I end up guessing on my carbs and protein, which isn't great. And I technically don't know how the meat is prepared, so it may have lots of extra salt or something. I'm trying to talk myself into bringing the protein, and guessing on just the carbs. I'm pretty sure I underestimate anyway (I weigh my bread at home, so I know what the carb allocation should look like, more or less, and I eat less).
7. I sometimes forget my evening snack. Oops. It's not on purpose, but I got used to not eating after dinner, and I just sort of...forget sometimes.
There. My dirty secrets. Out in the open.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Friday, May 28, 2010
An interesting morning
I work at a heatlhcare software company, and they have a cretain interest in keeping their employees healthy. It's a non-smoking campus, for example. Well, the past few weeks they've offered free health risk assessments done by the insurance companies we can have, and this morning I had mine.
I did great. BP 101/70, weight 151 lb with clothes. A solidly normal fasting blood sugar (88 mg/dl; normal is anywhere from 70-100).
And then there's my cholesterol. I wish I knew what it had been before this project. This morning it was low. Very. Total was 145 (normal according to them is below 200). Bad cholesterol... they couldn't even get a reading on it. They actually want me to come in and get blood drawn in a few weeks to get a better reading in general. Triglycerides are supposed to be below 150, and mine were 45, maybe less. Good cholesterol was low too, but she said that goes up with exercise, and before I did this project I didn't exercise. Ever. So I imagine that'll normalize soon enough. We'll see. When I get more numbers I'll let you know.
Oh and my body fat. I REALLY wish I'd known what it was before starting. It's just under 26% now, and their "fitness" level is 22-24% with "acceptable" being anything from 25-32%. I'm impressed with myself, but just being acceptable is not good enough. I can get to "fit." It's really not that far away. I can't wait to see what the second half of this project holds for us.
Go Team Running Rats!!!
I did great. BP 101/70, weight 151 lb with clothes. A solidly normal fasting blood sugar (88 mg/dl; normal is anywhere from 70-100).
And then there's my cholesterol. I wish I knew what it had been before this project. This morning it was low. Very. Total was 145 (normal according to them is below 200). Bad cholesterol... they couldn't even get a reading on it. They actually want me to come in and get blood drawn in a few weeks to get a better reading in general. Triglycerides are supposed to be below 150, and mine were 45, maybe less. Good cholesterol was low too, but she said that goes up with exercise, and before I did this project I didn't exercise. Ever. So I imagine that'll normalize soon enough. We'll see. When I get more numbers I'll let you know.
Oh and my body fat. I REALLY wish I'd known what it was before starting. It's just under 26% now, and their "fitness" level is 22-24% with "acceptable" being anything from 25-32%. I'm impressed with myself, but just being acceptable is not good enough. I can get to "fit." It's really not that far away. I can't wait to see what the second half of this project holds for us.
Go Team Running Rats!!!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Just thoughts on food
I am so sick of bananas.
...Yeah, that's pretty much it. New pictures should be going up tonight (finally!).
...Yeah, that's pretty much it. New pictures should be going up tonight (finally!).
Monday, May 24, 2010
Long time, no posts....
So I sort of disappeared for a while. And I sort of fell off the wagon. Not entirely, more like slipping and being dragged behind while trying to climb back on. The image works better with a horse and a saddle.
I skipped workouts. Including the jumping. I've been eating out, though I have tried to keep it PCP compliant--lots of salads. But apparently all restaurants dump salt on their grilled chicken, which is gross. But I need the protein, so I eat it anyway and then marvel at how bloated my feet are the next day. (Seriously. I was trying to buy shoes and things didn't fit the way they should.)
I even went so far as to eat a couple french fries. And marvel of marvels, I didn't like it that much. I looked at the pile of them that came with my half sandwich and salad, and I knew that I could eat every single one. And I just didn't want to. I had more than the one I said I'd try, just "to see" how it tasted after all this time. And after 3 or 4 they started tasting "normal" again. But they definitely don't have the power over me that they used to.
I'm also slowly climbing back onto the wagon, though I'm now a few days behind. I couldn't stand the thought of just straight up missing those workouts (did that last week, and I regret it), so I started with day 37 or 38 or whatever the start of the week is, and I'm just doing them late. Pistol squats hurt. I suck at everything involving the chest, except standing ovations. I can't do real pullups. But I'm trying, and if I keep a death grip on the wagon/saddle and don't fall off again, I think I'll be ok in the end. (Really, I think I'll be ok no matter what, since my tastes have clearly changed and I'm lighter than I've been since high school, but I'm not done improving yet.)
I skipped workouts. Including the jumping. I've been eating out, though I have tried to keep it PCP compliant--lots of salads. But apparently all restaurants dump salt on their grilled chicken, which is gross. But I need the protein, so I eat it anyway and then marvel at how bloated my feet are the next day. (Seriously. I was trying to buy shoes and things didn't fit the way they should.)
I even went so far as to eat a couple french fries. And marvel of marvels, I didn't like it that much. I looked at the pile of them that came with my half sandwich and salad, and I knew that I could eat every single one. And I just didn't want to. I had more than the one I said I'd try, just "to see" how it tasted after all this time. And after 3 or 4 they started tasting "normal" again. But they definitely don't have the power over me that they used to.
I'm also slowly climbing back onto the wagon, though I'm now a few days behind. I couldn't stand the thought of just straight up missing those workouts (did that last week, and I regret it), so I started with day 37 or 38 or whatever the start of the week is, and I'm just doing them late. Pistol squats hurt. I suck at everything involving the chest, except standing ovations. I can't do real pullups. But I'm trying, and if I keep a death grip on the wagon/saddle and don't fall off again, I think I'll be ok in the end. (Really, I think I'll be ok no matter what, since my tastes have clearly changed and I'm lighter than I've been since high school, but I'm not done improving yet.)
Monday, May 17, 2010
Back Home
This was a great, if challenging, weekend.
Being home and seeing my fiance for the first time in months was fantastic. The bridal shower was awesome, and we got a lot of gifts that I wasn't really expecting to get (like the Kitchenaid mixer). :)
In PCP terms, it could have gone better. I meant to bring my scale, but left it at home because I was rushing to not miss my plane. So I was guessing on everything all weekend.
I also forgot my dinner Friday night, so I had to try and find something to eat in an airport that was PCP friendly-not an easy task. I settled on a salad from Wendy's, and wow have my taste buds changed. The dressing was disgusting--full of sugar and other nasty stuff. Even the chicken was awful. It was grilled, so I thought it might be ok, and I knew I needed to get some protein somewhere, but it was covered in salt and barely edible. I actually almost gagged when I saw a woman sitting across from me putting salt on her french fries. A month ago that would have been me putting salt on her fries.
Dealing with my parents was marginally easier than I anticipated. After they gave me lots of compliments on how much weight I'd lost so far (about 10 lbs), they didn't really push "bad" food on me like normal. I had explained the PCP as best I could without showing them the website, and told them the basic rules of the diet. Even so, I had to opt out of my stepdad's steaks because he'd already covered them with salt, and my mother insisted on me having "just one bite." I did, and it was delicious, but I didn't want more. I was really happy with the lemon herb shrimp they'd made just for me. *shrug* She is definitely something of a saboteur of diets disguised as a model hostess.
But more than anything else, I was impressed with the way I avoided falling into old habits. There is always a candy bowl sitting on the kitchen counter, and in the past, I would typically snack on it throughout the day. Other than a slight pull towards it out of habit, I didn't even look. I didn't snack at night the way I used to. I didn't want to grab a soda, even after two nights of 5 hours of sleep in a row. I didn't eat because I was bored. PCP has changed things for me in ways I hadn't anticipated, and it's AWESOME.
Go Team Running Rats!!!
Being home and seeing my fiance for the first time in months was fantastic. The bridal shower was awesome, and we got a lot of gifts that I wasn't really expecting to get (like the Kitchenaid mixer). :)
In PCP terms, it could have gone better. I meant to bring my scale, but left it at home because I was rushing to not miss my plane. So I was guessing on everything all weekend.
I also forgot my dinner Friday night, so I had to try and find something to eat in an airport that was PCP friendly-not an easy task. I settled on a salad from Wendy's, and wow have my taste buds changed. The dressing was disgusting--full of sugar and other nasty stuff. Even the chicken was awful. It was grilled, so I thought it might be ok, and I knew I needed to get some protein somewhere, but it was covered in salt and barely edible. I actually almost gagged when I saw a woman sitting across from me putting salt on her french fries. A month ago that would have been me putting salt on her fries.
Dealing with my parents was marginally easier than I anticipated. After they gave me lots of compliments on how much weight I'd lost so far (about 10 lbs), they didn't really push "bad" food on me like normal. I had explained the PCP as best I could without showing them the website, and told them the basic rules of the diet. Even so, I had to opt out of my stepdad's steaks because he'd already covered them with salt, and my mother insisted on me having "just one bite." I did, and it was delicious, but I didn't want more. I was really happy with the lemon herb shrimp they'd made just for me. *shrug* She is definitely something of a saboteur of diets disguised as a model hostess.
But more than anything else, I was impressed with the way I avoided falling into old habits. There is always a candy bowl sitting on the kitchen counter, and in the past, I would typically snack on it throughout the day. Other than a slight pull towards it out of habit, I didn't even look. I didn't snack at night the way I used to. I didn't want to grab a soda, even after two nights of 5 hours of sleep in a row. I didn't eat because I was bored. PCP has changed things for me in ways I hadn't anticipated, and it's AWESOME.
Go Team Running Rats!!!
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