syllabelle

I’d like to start by saying thank you for all the supportive comments on yesterdays entry. It was a bruise to my ego to be so worn out after only a mile, but what I really needed to do was lower my expectations a bit. I am still a beginner in the “fitness” department, and I can’t think of myself as anything more than a beginner. As long as I keep reminding myself that “Hey, I’m just starting!”…I really have nothing to be disappointed about.

I did go ahead and get back on the treadmill last night. I pushed through 1.25 miles in 30 minutes. I skipped the “mountain” and set the speed and elevation manually. I like to start out slowly, but I like to increase my speed faster than the treadmill is programmed to do. I also like to stay at a higher rate of speed for longer than the treadmill is programmed. After 30 minutes, I felt like I could have kept going, but I wanted to keep it at 30 minutes for now. I feel a lot better about this walk than I do the walk from Sunday night. (Maybe because I didn’t expect so much out of myself?)

I do have to report that I didn’t reach the goal I set last week. I wanted to lose 1% of my body weight, and I didn’t lose anything. Fortunately, I didn’t gain anything either, so I can report that I maintained. I’m a tiny bit disappointed, but frankly, I ate 100% on plan all week, drank more than enough water, and put in more cardio than I have since I started, so I know I am doing what I need to do. Up until now, my weight has been dropping pretty quickly, and I had a feeling this was going to happen.

I am not discouraged in the least. In fact, I’m more motivated now to push past this little mini-plateau. No matter what happens, I’m pressing on.

I’ve been thinking all morning about what I should add to my “Two-fer Tuesday” goals. I’ve made so many small changes that have really added up, so I know the small changes are just as important as big changes.

So, I think I need to start getting more sleep  and try exercising in the morning. Mornings are tough for me, so the thought of getting up an extra 45 minutes (or so) early just makes me want to yawn. However, I think that if I start going to bed a couple of hours earlier than I usually do (12:30-1:00 a.m.)…then getting up at 6:00 instead of 6:45 should be no problem. I could at least try it, and if after a week or so I decide that I’m just not ready for that change, then I’ll try it again in a couple of months. (That sounds like I’m already making an excuse to quit…but I really am going to give it 100% effort.)

Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE BUDDYSLIM!?!?! I really do. I love this place. I look forward to reading everyone’s blogs, and seeing your progress. I never knew how much motivation I could get from just reading about other people on a weight loss journey, too. It’s so encouraging to connect this way, and I’m so glad I found this place.

If I ever needed a reminder of how far I have to go, I certainly got one yesterday evening. I decided that I was going to quit “playing around” on my new treadmill, and get serious. Meaning, I was going to quit doing these little 10 minute walks where I just break a sweat, and then step off, and cool down. So at 10:00, when the news came on, I stepped on the treadmill. I programmed it for “mountain”, and set off. The incline was only at 1.5, and the speed starts at 1.7 mph. I set it for 35 minutes, and then started walking.

At 5 minutes I started breathing hard. At 10 minutes I was sweating. At 15 minutes my legs were burning. I was determined not to quit, and at 20 minutes (and 2.7 mph) I caught my second wind, and was just cruising for about 5 minutes. At 25 minutes, the speed began to decrease, and I felt like I had hit my stride. At 30 minutes I realized I was almost at a mile, and as the speed began to decrease even more, I realized that that last little bit was just going to creep by. At 35 minutes, I had walked 1.15 miles, and was sweating like crazy! When I stepped off the treadmill, my legs were shaky, and my heart was racing.

The point of all that?

I’m sooo out of shape! I can do 100 crunches with no problem, but I can’t walk a mile in under 30 minutes. Actually, to be fair, the “mountain” starts out VERY slowly (1.7 mph), speeds up periodically, has a peak speed of 2.7 mph, and then slows back down to 1.7 at the end of the walk. I think tomorrow evening, I’ll try the walk at 2.7 for the entire walk, and see if that feels any better (and gets me any farther.)

I’ve got complete confidence in my ability to feed myself nutritious foods, and to stay under my calorie limit for the day, and to quit eating by my cutoff time, but my body disappoints me. I don’t (mentally) feel like I’m doing anything too extreme, but my body sure disagrees with my head! I’m sure that in six months or a year from now I’ll look back at this and laugh at myself for being whipped after one measly mile, but right now I feel like…a fat person! *sigh*

I’m just wondering if the walkers and runners on BuddySlim remember what it was like to struggle through a mile. I most definately am not losing my motivation or determination, but I’d love to hear some of those “I remember those days!” stories.

(And to think I THOUGHT I wanted to get the Turbo Jam series! That would probably make me keel over and die on the spot! haha!)

Happy Monday to everybody, hope you had a great weekend.

I know we all struggle with staying motivated during this journey. When the weight doesn’t come off as fast as you want it to, when your next mini-goal seems out of reach, when you swear you can’t eat another salad, that’s when we need some inspiration.

For some inspiration may take the form of a coveted pair of “skinny jeans” that are hanging in their closet. Just taking those jeans out and holding them up for a comparison is a kick in the behind to get going.

Others may use a “skinny picture”, or a 3-D model, or a picture of their favorite celebrity as inspiration.

Some of us use our blog as inspiration. Re-reading “before” entries reminds you where you were, and where you don’t want to be again.

Some others use visualization to stay motivated. Closing your eyes and picturing yourself at goal is a strong morale boost.

One of the best things about BuddySlim (and other sites of this nature) is that you can meet people that are going through the ups and downs while you are…and you can get motivation from each other. This isn’t really a new idea though, because I’m sure there were weight loss groups back when the WWW was nothing but BBSes.

Anyway, there was a point to this post…and I’m getting to it.

I’ve recently realized that I am MOST inspired by stories that include “Before and After” photographs. I love seeing the change. When people lose weight it completely changes them. Not only do they weigh less, but they stand a little taller, pull their shoulders back a little more, raise their chins in pride, and frankly, most of them just GLOW!

Don’t believe me? Go to Google and do an image search with the key words “Before and After”, or go to 3FC and look at some people at goal there.

I’m telling you…I WAN’T THAT! I want that self-confidence. I want to not only look good, I want to feel GREAT, and I want to feel good about myself. I want to be able to post my picture here next year and have a newbie see it and be inspired. I. WANT. THIS!

What ispires you?

Your goals, minus your doubts, equals your reality.

-Ralph Marston

This is to answer Carrie’s question in the comments from my last blog entry:

My joke about Atkins is because about 3 1/2 years ago I went on Atkins and lost about 35 pounds in a month! I was really happy with my weight loss, but I could never duplicate that, and ended up going on Phentermine (a prescription appetite supressant) to keep losing weight. I did lose a lot of weight, but I can’t say it was healthy or smart.

Anyway, my thoughts on Atkins. Ultimately Atkins works by taking away our biggest source of calories..in the form of carbs. If you’re only eating meat, eggs and cheese with a few leafy greens tossed in…you’re also restricting the amount of calories that you eat, and the weight will just DROP off…and you think it’s because “I’m only eating 30 carbs a day!” when in reality it’s “I’m only eating 800 calories a day!”

Does that make sense?

Anyway, I have similar feelings about SBeach, because in the end of it all it works because you’re REDUCING YOUR CALORIE INTAKE.

I’m almost 32 years old, and truthfully I just recently have I realized that reducing calorie intake while increasing your water intake and exercising several days a week is really the ONLY way any diet will work consistently.

Whether it be SBeach, Atkins, WeightWatchers, Jenny Craig, NutriSystem or ANY of the better-known diets…they work by decreasing your calories.

Now, let me make myself clear on one thing: I don’t really have any problem with ANY of those diets. Whatever one has to do to lose weight, as long as it is healthy, is good. Some people can’t tell themselves “I need to only eat 1800 calories today.” and then follow through with it. However, take that same person and tell them “At the end of the week you’re going to go to a meeting (WW), and step on a scale for EVERYONE to see how much you weigh.”…that’s some motivation there. When everyone else is dropping 1, 2, 3, even 5 pounds in a week…wouldn’t you want the same? I know I would!

There’s things about those diets that work VERY WELL! I can’t say anything bad about them. It’s just not what will do it for me. Not right now anyway. Maybe when I get down to the last 30 pounds and I’m at a plateau and not making a pound of progress…maybe then I’ll need a little group motivation, but right now I’m trying a little do-it-yourself.

I started here: http://www.caloriecontrol.org/calcalcs.html and then I’ve also been using the tools here: http://www.sparkpeople.com .

I don’t want to sound like I’m some know-it-all or that I’m preaching…because I’ve only lost TWELVE pounds, but what I can say is that I finally feel like I understand the reason why I am losing weight. I feel like I’ve got this figured out. …and I’m on a roll.