Working Hard at This

Last WI: 216.8/At Home WI: 216.6

SUNDAY

Things are going well!!! Friday night I drove so Erik could drink. We went out to Y-Knots for poker and drinks. It was fun and we got home about 2:00 am. I had a philly cheesesteak for dinner, but I did get 2.5 miles in before going out. I definitely over-ate on Friday but I've been making it up since. Yesterday Erik went with me to the gym and I did 4 miles and felt great. My muscles were a little sore, but cardio-wise, I felt totally wonderful. We didn't get up till around 11:00 so we went right to the gym. We had dinner plans at about 5:00 so we just had some broccoli for a snack after the gym. We went to dinner at Applebee's and I had a WW meal, just substituting some mashed potatoes. The meal was supposed to be 10 pts, but I'm adding 2 for the "upgraded" potatoes. :-) I had some nuts and other snacks in the evening but came in under points for the day. Very good. We ended up staying out till 3:00 am again. :-)

So this morning, we slept late again and hit the gym together about noon. I did 60 minutes on the elliptical then came home to make a tuna sandwich for lunch. So - for today I've earned 9 APs and eaten 7 so far. Not bad. I plan to eat my target points today but no APs. Tomorrow will not be as good - Labor Day party planned! I know I'm going to go over points because I'm going to be drinking and celebrating FSU's kickoff game against Clemson. But I am going to hit the gym in the morning before the festivities kick off. I'll try to get in at least 5 APs to help counter-act the day's indulgences.

So the goal for the week is, ideally, to get my at home weight under 215 before Thursday, though frankly if I get it to 215.4 or lower, I should see my 1.5lb loss.

I CAN DO IT!

Frustrated At Scale

Last WI: 218.6/At Home WI: 217.6 (BOO!)

THURSDAY

Ok. So I'm mad. I guess I'm usually lucky in that my home scale is usually a pretty accurate reflexion of how I've been eating/exercising etc. I usually go down when I have a good day and up when I have a bad. So when the scale misbehaves I'm pissed. WTF?

I left work yesterday about 4:30 and got home with 15 points left for the day. I had a small 4 pt sandwich cause I was starving and then settled down to digest before heading to the gym. I headed out about 7:00 and did my scheduled speed work on the treadmill which worked out to be about 1.5 miles in about 20 minutes and approx 300 calories. I thought about the fact that Thursday is my rest day and I'd only earned 3 APs with my speed work, so I decided to hop on the elliptical for a couple more points. Well, through great self-talk and some good music I managed to pump out 60 minutes on the machine for a total of about 900+ calories. So all in all, 80 minutes cardio and over 1200 calories burned. I counted 12 APs. I got home and was starving again so I made some low-fat pasta and a piece of chocolate for dessert. Ended the day right at my points target without eating any of my APs.

I totally expected the scale to be below 217 this morning. What do I get? Up 0.2 lbs. WHAT GIVES!?! I'm so frustrated as today is WI day and to stay on-track for my goal of losing 1.5+lbs per week I need to WI at 217 or lower.

Now all hope is not lost. I've had fluky weeks where my at home scale is higher than the WW scale. But not usually. Usually it's very close. Last week, for instance, at home showed exactly what WW said. So I've got a slim hope but not much. I'm so mad!

Now I know if I only get a 1lb loss that's not bad. I should be happy. But that .5 makes a big difference in the long run. And I totally kicked it up last night for this reason alone. If it doesn't work I don't know if I'll have the motivation again. :-(

I don't know. I guess we'll see what 5:00 brings. I've had my protein rich breakfast and now I'm just chuggin water until 1:00.

Here's hoping for the best.

Am I Becoming a Gym Rat

Last WI: 218.6/At Home WI: 217.0 (woo hoo!)

TUESDAY

So maybe I'm not actually becoming a gym rat - I think those people actually look forward to going to the gym. I'm not going to delude myself on that issue - I don't hate it, but it's definitely not the highlight of my day. But I am going much more frequently these days.

Yesterday I got off work later than I hoped - like 4:30 (my usual off time) and made it home a little after 5:00 and wanted to go to the gym. I was concerned that I wouldn't make it home in time for people to start showing up for our Monday night poker game that started at 7:00. Generally no one shows up till 6:45 or later, but on occasion as early as 6:30. And of course, after my work out I need to shower and change before I can be seen by civilized friends...

Anyway, I beeped Erik (love Nextel!) and he said he thought he could get out of work on time and be home by 6:00. Score! I headed off to the gym to see what kind of cardio damage I could do.

I did very well! I did a total of 60 minutes on the elliptical machines. My gym has two types of ellipticals, one type there are about 6 machines, one type there is only one machine. Of course the one that has only one machine is a favorite of most people so it's often occupied. So I jumped on the more common type and kicked out 30 minutes. Just as minute 29 was passing, they guy on the popular machine finished. So I finished out my 30 minutes on the first machine then kicked out another 30 on the other one. Woo Hoo - 60 minutes of good heart thumping cardio. The machines said I burned 960 or so calories, so I'm counting 9 APs. Not bad.

So far this month (which is almost over I know) I've done 91 APs worth of exercise. Definitely a banner month for me. That's over 9100 calories burned. Probably more like over 10,000 since I always low ball my APs. Awesome. Amazing how diet and exercise work. lol.

Well, I ended up getting home about 6:20. No one (but Erik) was there yet so I jumped in the shower. By the time I was cleaned up Holly had shown up and others were on their way. I didn't want to make a sandwich or cook dinner in front of guests, so for "dinner" I ended up just munching on the snacks Erik had put out. I did cut up some broccoli, but mostly my dinner consisted of beer, light tostitos, bacon cheddar dip, and broccoli. Very healthy, yes. But hey - it could be worse.

So this morning I had a gorgeous 217 on the scale. I truly hope that wasn't dehydration from the beer... I guess I'll find out tomorrow.

Due to some running around I missed breakfast this morning and ended up having lunch with Holly at Bugaboo Creek Steakhouse. Now I ordered my favorite non-steak item - the twin peaks chicken sandwich. I had a house salad with ranch to start and it came with fries but I only had like 3 or 4 of them. The sandwich is definitely high points though. I just can't figure out how much. It's a Cuban style bread, grilled chicken, Swiss and Monterrey jack cheese and spicy mustard. Probably a total of 8 or 9 inches long. I'm guessing at least 12 pts. Not sure.

Anyway - tonight I'm headed to the gym, probably with Erik, for 2.5 miles. Hopefully it'll go as well as Sunday's run!

Here's hoping!

The Gym Rejected Me!

Last WI: 212.4/At Home WI: 212.8

THURSDAY

Weigh in day again. Funny how it comes every week like that. I'm not sure what to expect. I've blogged before about how unpredictable my scale is so I could see a 1.4lb gain or a 1.2lb loss. Who knows. I'm a little disappointed in the scale this week because I have been pretty good. I do have to say it was one of my most consistent weeks. After seeing 215.4 on Friday (normal after WI day increase) I was within 1.5 lbs every day this week- right around 213. That's good, as I think I'm getting the "binging/alcohol consumption" under control. But I had hoped to see around 211 this week. I've been religious about points and counting the AP's I earned last night (more on that soon) I was under 2 points this week from WPA, AP's and Target Points. So - hoped for a big loss, but not to be...at least I don't think. Course a did deserve a gain last week, so who knows.

So yesterday I FINALLY got my booty to the gym. It's been over 2 weeks. I know this because I've not earned a single AP this month (had made a goal of 60 for the month). So, I left out the house at about 8:30 with "hopes" to run 4 miles, but "goals" to run as much as I could, then get some elliptical time in. I got the gym, which is one of those 24 hour deals where you swipe your card to get in the front door, and swiped. Nothing.... Swipe.... Nothing.... SWIPE SWIPE SWIPE... Nothing. The door supposed to pop open after a green light on the swiper. What the hell? Did they decide since I haven't been in 2 1/2 weeks that I wasn't worthy anymore? Did they revoke my gym license?

At this point another girl came up on the phone and looked at me strange. I said "I need to follow you in, my card won't work". I totally felt like a freeloader. You're not supposed to let other people in. There's even a huge sign that says your priviledges will be revoked if you do. Fortunately, this girl didn't have such stringent morals and just swiped her card, and held the door for me.

Now, you might be thinking.. uh.. did you pay the bill? Well, the thing is, Erik signed us up for this gym about 6 months ago and got a deal for two people by telling them we lived together (we do). He signed it up to charge to his credit card every month, so I was pretty sure we were paid.

Well, I get inside and the manager guy was just locking up the office and watching our little exchange at the door, suspiciously. I went straight to him and explained my card didn't work. After initially implying that I probably didn't pay, he checked his records, confirmed we'd paid and fixed my card. Phew. They didn't decide that I was too much of a slacker to be a member of their gym.

Workout here I come. I started on the treadmill and set it for 6 miles, knowing I wouldn't be able to do that much but planning to go as far as I could. I brought a towel - something I usually forget - and put it over the screen. I decided to measure my workout from my ipod. I hit shuffle and figured each song was on average between 3 and 4 minutes long. It usually takes me a little over 10 minutes to run a mile so I figured every 3-4 songs was a mile. I manged to not look until after song 6 when I started getting tired. I was just over 2 miles, and pushed to complete 2.5 before doing a short cool down. Finished the night with 15 mins on the elliptical. Not my most stellar workout but the first of the month, so I was happy. 6AP's down (54 to go for the month...hmm, not likely).

I think I'm leaving early today from work to meet up with a friend, and then off to WI around 5:00. I'm hoping for the best. Tonight is probably poker and drinks at Y-knots. I'm going to try not to go overboard. :-)

80 Minutes of Cardio - Hell Yeah!

Last WI: 212.8/At Home WI: 214.0

THURSDAY

Well, here we are, another Thursday. And I've got to WI again. I believe I've minimized the damage of the week, but I'm definitely not expecting a loss. I maintain or less than 1lb gain will be ok.

Yesterday I had a plan. And I followed it, with only one slight modification. I ended up not going to the gym after work. Mostly because I was starving. I missed my "snack" I had planned on before leaving work because things got crazy. So by the time I got home I was really hungry. I cut up some broccoli and had some low fat dip (3pts) with LOTS of fresh broccoli (0pts) It was delicious and enough to get me through till the boys got home. I cooked them some grilled chicken and tomatoes and corn. I had one chicken breast (4pts), some tomatoes (0) and no corn a salad with low fat dressing (2pts). So - I had reached my 20 pts for the day and still felt good. About an hour after dinner, I got the motivation to go to the gym. And I rocked it!

I ran 4 miles on the treadmill. I had a little bit of my asthma acting up and had to stop 1.5 miles in to take a hit off my inhaler, but after that I was good. After my 4 miles, I did 40 minutes on the elliptical, really pushing and sweating a TON. Over all the machines tell me I burned 1250 calories. I counted 12 APs. If the 1250 is accurate, that's about what I ate that day in calories, so yesterday was a 0 net day calories wise.

Now, I know that's not a good idea to do on any regular basis, but for me it was a "recovery" day. I had a leader once that told me that if it was easier for you, you could calculate your points on a weekly basis. Which means I get 28 x 7 + 35 pts each week. Or 231. So, I get in between 196 and 231 points each week, I'm doing ok. Don't worry. I'm CERTAIN I got in over 231 points this week, even backing out the APs I earned (which was only 4 on Sunday and 12 yesterday). So, I'm not worried about "not eating enough" this week. Besides, tonight, as usual, I will be going out and drinking and certainly eating enough to cover for yesterday.

So - today's WI will be interesting. I still haven't figured out the WW scale yet. Last week, my at home scale showed 213.4 right before I left for my meeting an the WW scale showed me at 212.8. Usually, however, my at home scale is very close to the WW scale, if not lower. Who knows. This morning I showed 214 without clothes. So I'm expecting about 214.6 at home with clothes. What that will equate to on the WW scale - beats me. I'm hoping no more than 213.8. I can handle a 1 lb gain. I don't want it. I hate it. I've had 6 weeks of losses and don't want to kill the streak. But I'll take it. I deserve it this week.

I had a huge brief due today in the Supreme Court of Georgia. I just finished it, printed it, copied it, and put it in the envelope to take to the post office to ship it off certified. I'm so pleased with myself. I've had to kick butt this week getting the darn thing done, but I think the product is good. I'm pleased with my arguments, and confident the court will rule in our favor. The exciting news is that I'm going to get to argue before the Supreme Court on this case in the coming months. Something I haven't gotten to do in a while, and something that is always very exhilarating.

Well, with that, I'm off to the post office then home to rest before WI. I'm done drinking/eating until the 5:00 pm WI, so here's hoping for a maintian! :-)