New Year's Eve

Our plans have changed for New Year's Eve.

We have decided that we are DONE with the holidays and all of the eating, drinking, and excess that it brings. The thought of attending another party, having another hangover, or eating more unneeded high-cal food is extremely unappealing. We are both looking forward to a good, fresh start and want to start this health-kick off in style.

My boyfriend and I will be attending a silent, candlelight hot yoga class tonight! The yoga goes from 10:30 TO 11:30, followed by a long meditation. Then people gather in the lobby all sweaty and uplifted for refreshing snacks and drinks, and a toast to 2011.

I am REALLY looking forward to this. I am not even disappointed that I won't get to wear my new dress :) We will then be spending Saturday and Sunday on a fresh-juice fast, using the new juicer we got for Christmas. It's not for weight loss but for kicking all the processed junk from our systems. We will clean out the cupboards so that on Monday when we go back to eating solid foods there are only good choices in the house.

What is more relaxing, refreshing, and renewing than a hot yoga class and raw food/fresh juice fast?

So Happy New Year! This is the year of GOAL for me... Not only will I reach my weight loss goal this year (I will! Notice this is not "I might", or "I hope"), but I am also graduating university and reaching my goal of becoming a teacher. Both projects took 5 years to complete... I started my weight loss journey only a few weeks before entering first year university.

To all my friends who have helped me along the way - may 2011 bring health, happiness, peace, and see many goals achieved :)

It's over, but it ain't over...

So, Although I'm disappointed, I'm not dwelling on it.
I missed the week of bootcamp and it was entirely due to end-of-semester busyness and very little to do with motivation. I've been wanting so badly to get out and get exercising. I've been wanting fresher foods around the house and cannot WAIT for my break do I can clean up and work out.

Today would be the day that I take my measurements and pictures and what not, but I feel like it wouldn't be that accurate of a comparison. I lost 22 lbs in 9 weeks, and then week 10, 11, and 12 were written off. One for laziness, two for business. I knew getting into the program that that would be a possibility.

Would I do it again?? Heck yes!! I love that kind of accountability and butt-kicking :) It's too expensive for me right now, but I do enjoy it a lot.

In my 3 weeks away from tracking and working out, I went up, up more, down, down more, fluctuating all over the place. This morning, I stepped on the scale (sunday mornings are my Official WI day) and I am back down to my lowest. :) Thank goodness!

Start 231
Current 208.8
Total 22.2
Total lost to date: 146.2

I don't know that I'll make 199 by New Years Day, but I'm sure I can make 150 lbs lost by New Years day. That's only 3.8 lbs away!

Sunday WI

Down 2lbs, which is pretty darn good considering I missed bootcamp twice this week and didn't watch what I ate, had major stress, etc etc...

I am going to try to step it up a notch this week. There are only 4 WI's left for this bootcamp so if I want to lose that 13 lbs - or even get CLOSE - I'm going to need to give it some serious effort!

I don't know if 13 lbs in 4 weeks is doable for me at this stage of the game, but hey - I can try. My goal was to have it off by New Years Eve, so I'll still be satisfied with that!

Feels good again!

I took a few days off over Thanksgiving and I think that is exactly what I needed to feel better! The last few workouts I've had have been fantastic.
Yesterday, I did 30 minutes of spinning with my trainer before class. I was drenched by the end - and felt great! Then we did cardio boxing again, which I'm totally loving. We also did a bunch of lunges, squats, push-ups and crunches. It was a great day overall, totaling about 2 hours of exercise.

My new exercise watch says I burned 1580 calories. I was ECSTATIC!! It sure felt like I could have burned that, the spinning itself was SO intense. However, my boyfriend doesn't feel that is an accurate number. So I punched my exercise into Fitday.com and it came back saying about 900 calories. Okay, fine. I was a little less excited about that but it's still good!

I've been doing fine without cereal, and the no carbs in the evening thing was going well... until last night. I had some popcorn. I had plain air popped though, so there was no margarine or salt!! Just plain ol popcorn.

I was going to go to the gym this morning but I couldn't get out of bed. It was just too cozy in there, cuddling my kitty and snuggling my boyfriend. I may go after work, or I may just take the day off. Tomorrow is WI and super-buttkick day at the gym... so perhaps a rest in preparation :)

My home scale is showing me down about 4 lbs this week. I'm eating fresh today and drinking lots of water - fingers crossed that number sticks around for tomorrow! The scale says 217 - Every time it gets lower, I am more bewildered. I am 217 lbs? ME? I am actually at a weight that I don't really consider to be that bad. I'm at a weight where years ago I would have dreamily thought "Wouldn't it be nice?" haha.
I was right - it is nice :)

I have my sights set on Onederland. It's coming up around the corner - I know I'll get there :) In the summertime I set a personal goal of being 199 lbs or less by New Years Day, 2011. I think it can actually happen!!

:)

Month One Stats!!

Bootcamp Start Weight: 231 lbs
Today's Weight: 221.5
Month one loss: 9.5 LBS

Caliper readings, listed as start#/current#

Pec - 23/12
Subscapular - 39/26
Bicep - 14/12
Tricep - 26/20
Kidney - 50/34
Suprailiac - 26/22
Abdominal - 35/24
Quadracep - 52/42
Medial Calf - 23/18

In total I lost 78 clicks on the calipers, bringing my body fat percent down from 33.6 to 25.6!!

Lean Mass Start: 152.2 lbs
Current Lean Mass: 164.8 lbs

Fat on my body to start: 77.8 lbs
Current fat on my body: 56.7 lbs

As you can see, my body fat has gone down significantly and my lean mass has gone up. THAT is why, as frustrating as it is, I've only lost 9.5lbs according to the scale. In actuality, I have lost 20.9 lbs of Body Fat and gained 11.4 lbs of Lean Mass!

I really needed to hear that today!!
I was at the end of my rope. I was sick and tired of working so hard with no good news at the scale. I do feel like this assessment is right, as ALL my clothes fit better (or are too big!) I feel firmer and stronger, and people have been noticing the weight loss. To hear that I've lost 20lbs of fat really sounds RIGHT to me! It just has not been reflecting on the scale because of the 11.4 lbs of muscle and water that I've put on.

The ultimate goal during the program is to lose 10-20lbs of body fat per month, so although the scale isn't being nice, I'm actually right on track :)

Thank goodness for good news!!

September Bootcamp - Starting Stats!!

I start the fitness bootcamp on Sunday night. I enrolled today. It was simple, I just had to fork over more than two months rent, my soul, my first born child, and an arm. They said taxes have recently gone up (dang HST), so technically I owed them a leg, too.

So here it is. The big weigh and measure. I expected to not be as fit as I was when I left bootcamp last time, but it turned out not to be so bad. 1 year of intermittent, half hearted exercise has not reduced me to a gelatinous blob. I actually weigh 10 lbs lighter and am12.5 inches smaller. Go Me!

Here are the digits:

Weight: 230lbs

Pec - 23

Subscapular - 39

Bicep - 14

Tricep - 26

Kidney - 50

Suprailiac - 26

Abdominal - 35

Quadracep - 52

Medial Calf - 23

** calipers are sort of wacky for me, because I've lost so much weight and have excess skin. They may not be entirely accurate, however measuring them will still show progress. It's kinda like a scale that isn't calibrated to start, but will still show a downward trend.

Chest - 40"

Waist - 40"

Hips - 48.5"

Arms - 14.5"

Legs - 29.5"

Calves - 17.5"

Lean Mass: 152.2 lbs

Fat on my body: 77.8 lbs

GOAL:

Lean Mass + 20-30lbs fat (optimal health) = 172.2 - 182.2 lbs

That means me losing 47.8 to 57.8 lbs...

Sounds about right to me!! I would be very happy at 182 lbs. Ultimately my personal goal is 177.5, which may seem like a trivial number, however it is exactly half my start weight. It also falls into the right weight range for optimal health, according to MY BODY. My lean mass, my personal fat percentage. :)

New goals set :)

I have always known that I do much better when I set goals for myself, yet somehow I tend to ignore that. I recently cracked a milestone - with barely any effort - and it has re-inspired me to set some proper goals.

So here it goes!

I will go to the gym 3x per week, bike twice, and walk daily.
I will track my diet using fitday.com and weightwatchers.ca
I will drink 3L+ of water, daily.

My next weight goal has been set for December 31, 2010.

Current weight: 229.8
Target weight: 199.8
Total 30 lbs in just under 19 weeks

It CAN be done, but I will have to bust my arse!! I will be tracking, exercising, and weighing in. I have made a progress chart to make sure I'm on track to kicking these 30 lbs.

I know it will be a very meaningful day for me to see 199 lbs; I would LOVE to see that on the scale!