I just finished the Harry Potter book. Yep, it took me a whole week to read it and I was actually attemping to savor it by reading slowly, but to no avail. No, I am not going to spoil the ending, but suffice it to say it all makes more sense to me now. I will miss my old friend Harry (as in no more HP books), but at a certain point certain relationships require closure, so HP, it has been nice, but Adieu and I wish you well. Thanks for letting me in to your magical world.
So the past week I have been playing with http://myfooddiary.com (MFD). What an eye opener. I think I have not been eating enough for my metabolism for the past six years (which may clear up a certain mystery that has been going on for a while). MFD, which is basically a calorie counting program (don't worry, I don't spend every second looking up calories because after a while, all your favorite foods are saved in there). I also have been going too low on fat which may also be the culprit behind this mystery. No doctor has bothered to look at what I am eating although I have spent way too much money asking for their opinions.
MFD tells me I should eat at least 1200 calories a day for my height and weight (I am 5'1"). I may lose slowly, but at least that way my body will be getting what it needs to stay healthy. I am also forced to eat my exercise calories. What good is that you may ask? In the long run it all comes down to living a healthy lifestyle. If my body is in too much of a deficit for too long, certain hormonal changes may occur. Exercise brings on a bigger deficit than just eating losing calories which for a small person like myself may put me in the danger zone metabolically speaking.
On WW, I was always reluctant to eat my Activity Points, thinking not eating them would only boost my weight loss. To a certain extent a little bit, but then I would get so hungry I would double dessert at night or worse.
Since I am not about to give up running, bellydancing, lifting or anything else that helps me to remain depression (and fat)-free, I decided to try the MFD suggestion for one week about eating back most activity calories. It recommended I lose no more than .9 as a safe weight-loss (remember I want to get back to my personal goal).
Well, I did as it said for the most part (although since I was a little worried about overestimating, I came out slightly short 5/7 days and over my maintenance zone by a little on 2 days, the weekend) and lost .8 which is pretty dang close. The scale I weigh on only weighs to the nearest tenth.
Four areas which require attention for me, according to its system of smilies and frownies, are sodium (looks like I will rarely achieve this one since I am addicted to salsa and bread plus I run in the heat which makes me crave sodium even more), dessert (sorry, but I am not giving up my nightly dessert of <200 calories and no I am not counting it as a "snack" just to get a smilie since what I eat is essentially a treat with hardly any nutritional value), iron (I am a rare meat-eater so this one is tough) and fat (too low in fat since we drink skim milk, I rarely eat cheese and I limit healthy fats -- but I know now I can eat back my exercise points in peanut butter, avocado, nuts and olive oil - yippie!).
So there. Let's see if by eating a little more fat and calories I will continue to lose the .8 a week and get/stay healthy at the same time.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Thursday, July 26, 2007
You've been served!
Last night at bellydance class our teacher had us gather in a big circle for what she calls the "Yalla circle" (yalla="let's go!" in arabic). Then she had us go in two by two and have a "dance off" with each other. One would dance and the other would reply and try to outdo the other.
It was too much fun! This was the first time that the ladies really came out of their shells and got jiggy with it. In fact those shells were cracked wide open. I keep smiling thinking about how fun it was. It was fun to watch the mothers and daughters especially. Nothing like a little friendly competition to get things rolling.
Ha ha, it was a female fight club with hips instead of fists ;) But no black eyes and everybody laughed. Now that is exercise for the soul.
And that was after we each did a shimmy solo in which the teacher told us which direction to move. Again -- too fun!
How could this be exercise. If this is exercise than I will take more of the same please!
This week R and I entered into a little friendly competition of our own, a little weight loss competition to see who can lose the most percentage of body weight each week and by the end of six weeks. Again, no losers. This was just what I needed since I was finding it hard to find a new and exciting way to motivate myself to lose these niggling few pounds (six to eight to be technical if you want to go with the evil night reading at my official weigh in on Monday night). The winner gets a massage! The loser also gets to have one that day, but must pay for the winner.
I too have joined the ranks of myfooddiary.com and am loving the little motivating comments about how much weight I will lose or gain if I choose to continue to eat a certain way. In fact it encourages me to eat my exercise calories to get the most bang for my buck. Interesting how at my weight it also recommends I lose no more than .9 pounds a week. I know I can make that goal. I also know the difference between one and two pounds is dessert every day which I refuse to give up!
I wasn't that way when I was losing 110 pounds. Desserts were sacrificed for the greater good and I was fine with that. Nowadays if I don't get my Weight Watchers cookie dough sundae fix or my Skinny Cow, I am doomed.
In any case the MFD has encouraged me to cut my Skinny Cow ice-cream sandwiches in half and see if half will work as well as a whole. And you know what? Mostly it does!
If you are in any way competitive, I recommend a contest. In the end it is only ourselves we are competing against and if you pick your contests wisely, all will be winners in the end.
Just a catch up on this week's happenings... got in uber long run (13 miles, but felt like 15) with L on Sunday. The heat haze and humidity (welcome Monsoon season!) was a killer, but we did it and finished strong. That post-run dunk in the pool never felt better!
Monday was aerobic machines, abs and free weights at the gym.
Tuesday was my first speed workout in like forever with R. We covered about 5.5 miles of undulating terrain doing fartleks of 2 minutes fast with 3 rest. There were some warmup and cool down miles as well.
Wed I met L and she kicked my b#++ in the weight room. We were doing all the stuff you need spotters for, the stuff I usually avoid doing because I don't have a spotter. The Hubster used to spot me on the bench, etc. Now there is L! I SO feel it now.
Not to mention last night's veil, zills and basic BD moves class.
This morning's 5.2 mile run started slowly and a little sluggish, but I managed to pick it up on the way back. Methinks I just had to wake up.
It was too much fun! This was the first time that the ladies really came out of their shells and got jiggy with it. In fact those shells were cracked wide open. I keep smiling thinking about how fun it was. It was fun to watch the mothers and daughters especially. Nothing like a little friendly competition to get things rolling.
Ha ha, it was a female fight club with hips instead of fists ;) But no black eyes and everybody laughed. Now that is exercise for the soul.
And that was after we each did a shimmy solo in which the teacher told us which direction to move. Again -- too fun!
How could this be exercise. If this is exercise than I will take more of the same please!
This week R and I entered into a little friendly competition of our own, a little weight loss competition to see who can lose the most percentage of body weight each week and by the end of six weeks. Again, no losers. This was just what I needed since I was finding it hard to find a new and exciting way to motivate myself to lose these niggling few pounds (six to eight to be technical if you want to go with the evil night reading at my official weigh in on Monday night). The winner gets a massage! The loser also gets to have one that day, but must pay for the winner.
I too have joined the ranks of myfooddiary.com and am loving the little motivating comments about how much weight I will lose or gain if I choose to continue to eat a certain way. In fact it encourages me to eat my exercise calories to get the most bang for my buck. Interesting how at my weight it also recommends I lose no more than .9 pounds a week. I know I can make that goal. I also know the difference between one and two pounds is dessert every day which I refuse to give up!
I wasn't that way when I was losing 110 pounds. Desserts were sacrificed for the greater good and I was fine with that. Nowadays if I don't get my Weight Watchers cookie dough sundae fix or my Skinny Cow, I am doomed.
In any case the MFD has encouraged me to cut my Skinny Cow ice-cream sandwiches in half and see if half will work as well as a whole. And you know what? Mostly it does!
If you are in any way competitive, I recommend a contest. In the end it is only ourselves we are competing against and if you pick your contests wisely, all will be winners in the end.
Just a catch up on this week's happenings... got in uber long run (13 miles, but felt like 15) with L on Sunday. The heat haze and humidity (welcome Monsoon season!) was a killer, but we did it and finished strong. That post-run dunk in the pool never felt better!
Monday was aerobic machines, abs and free weights at the gym.
Tuesday was my first speed workout in like forever with R. We covered about 5.5 miles of undulating terrain doing fartleks of 2 minutes fast with 3 rest. There were some warmup and cool down miles as well.
Wed I met L and she kicked my b#++ in the weight room. We were doing all the stuff you need spotters for, the stuff I usually avoid doing because I don't have a spotter. The Hubster used to spot me on the bench, etc. Now there is L! I SO feel it now.
Not to mention last night's veil, zills and basic BD moves class.
This morning's 5.2 mile run started slowly and a little sluggish, but I managed to pick it up on the way back. Methinks I just had to wake up.
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