Perfect Week... Accountable!!

Perfect Monday:
Breakfast... coffee, greek yogurt, 16oz water

Ran 1.66 miles, burning 222 calories and drank another 16oz water

Lunch... spinach/hummus wrap

Snack... 300 calorie diet meal, 16 oz water

Snack... one piece of wheat bread with peanut butter.

Peas/98% fat free mushroom soup, 16 oz water

Perfect Tuesday:

Awesome high fiber breakfast with Mary!!!!  High fiber cereal, fruit, yogurt and one egg.  Coffee. Looks like a lot of food right??

Work out with Mary... 2.22 miles, 20 min elliptical, 2/10 glute machine and 2/10 leg press. 32 oz water....burned 303 calories.
Lunch... Greek tomato wraps (wrap, hummus, dill mustard, spinach, goat cheese, calamata olives) and cauliflower salad. Yummmmmmm!

Dinner: Great big salad, very light dressing. 16oz water
16 oz water.
Glass of wine.
Spoon of peanut butter

Perfect Wednesday:
Early 1.41 mile run with Mary.  16oz water.
Mary goes home today. :( 
Challenging day today, as we will be in Pittsburg, shopping, etc. Hard to eat right and get my water!

Breakfast: Fruit, high fiber cereal.

Lunch: Mexican Restaurant!!! Tough!! :) Had spinach enchiladas...but also chips, salsa, etc. BUT also had 32 oz water with it!

Dinner: Spinach wrap
Snack: spinach quesadilla

Second run/walk just to feel better about the day...
1.1 miles, 147 calories

Perfect Thursday:
Ugh! Out of town again!

Ok, my eating, was all over and not great, BUT not a lot either, so probably not over my calories, regardless of content.  Coffee, chinese, mini donuts, sunflower seeds, small salad.

Did get my 64oz of water and DID get to the gym 30 minutes before they closed! 1.7 miles! :)

Perfect Friday:

Ugh. Regardless of weighing..I can tell I am not losing. I can feel it. This makes me grumpy. I have been to the gym everyday! I blame the water and muscle..so I will stay the course. :/

Breakfast: High fiber cereal, coffee.
Lunch: Spinach wrap
Dinner: Portabella burger
snack: grapes
water: 50oz

No gym today. Decided to give my legs a break... but then remembered the gym is closed on the weekends... so I may have to run in the HEAT,,, gasp!!! I'm pretty grumpy. I feel fat. How can that be????  Ugh!

Not-so-Perfect Saturday:

Saturday started out with a spinach/hummus wrap and coffee. No big deal. But then we went to Bartlesville and it was downhill from there. Only slightly worse than Thursday, with some eating out and though maybe not an extremely high calorie count, probably not the best for quality of food. Dinner at Golden Corral (ugh) but I made wise choices.

Water probably about 40oz and no exercise...unless you count walking the mall!! :)

PERFECT Sunday!!:

Perhaps if I capitalize things, my brain will get the idea. :)

Breakfast: Ice. I eat tiny ice cubes while writing and I have a blog due tomorrow. :)
Lunch: Spinach wrap
Dinner: Popcorn   (I know...!!lol)

No exercise, ok on water

WEIGH IN MONDAY:

Cherilyn, Lost 1.4%
Mary, Lost .069%

We are underwhelmed, but loss is loss... we power on.
This week I will be in Topeka, in a hotel... no gym, eating out...you know the drill! We'll see how I overcome this challenge!! :)

Wading throuth the Water

So... I'm not a doctor, but I've seen some on tv.  So then...

I'm wondering about this whole water thing. Of course we should drink 64oz of water a day. If you don't know that, you live under a rock or something. So it occurs to me, that if you find it difficult to adhere to this rule, when you finally start to insert some discipline, exercise, diet, whatever - then obviously you haven't been doing it, for quite some time, if ever! Perhaps you have been walking around dehydrated for years! Ugggghhhh!  Why is this sooo bad??

Water weighs alot.
If I used to be dehydrated and now I am drinking a lot...even though, yes, the water does aid in weight loss and general good health... I am giving my body more water, some of which it will keep, because I was never walking around with enough in there in the first place!!!

Translation?
It seems to me, I will gain a little, before I lose. As I am losing fat and other ugly stuff, I am gaining water. The water will balance out and the weight will continue to decline, so it's a temporary bump, but geeeez.... a bump just the same!!!  Oh well. I feel great.  :)

Portions.... Don't make it hard on yourself...

We all know about portions right? We all know that the amount listed as the 'serving' amount is tiny and it breaks our heart and our stride, every time we see it!!!!  Why is this so hard??

Probably because we're trying to eat our cereal out of popcorn bowls and we don't understand why we can't lose weight!!!

So... as Mary and I were enjoying our super high fiber breakfast this morning, on Perfect Tuesday... we ate our Fiber One and greek yogurt out of tiny bowls like those pictured above. Of course Melamine, my favorite material of all time! But you can use coffee, cups, measuring cups, paper bowls, anything SMALL will work!

Stop relying on your will power.
Stop fighting with yourself at the kitchen counter.
The stories about smaller plates are TRUE!!

Also... if you are awesome and actually give yourself tony servings in these oversized dishes, as you look down at the dwarfed amount of food, you're brain is already thinking, 'this isn't enough,' 'I'm still hungry!!!'

Small bowls. Enough said. :)

The Perfect Storm

Cherilyn: GAINED, 2.3%
Mary: LOST .39%   ...and the RockStar disco ball for this week goes tooooooo.....

Weigh in Monday and all my motivational speeches have not miraculously made me smaller!! I know, I am shocked as well! haha!! But seriously... shall I list my excuses? Company all week...still haven't run... heat? Ok, I'm worthless, but as always,  I have the answer.  

I have always talked about the skinny girl in me. That I have never seen this woman in me, a third smaller with a small waist and tank top worthy arms, etc... I have seen glimpses of her and when I imagine what she must be like!!??   Woooooweee!! :P Lol.  Anyway, I think this calls for a perfect week. I mean perfect. Water everyday, eating right everyday, exercise everyday. It's like finals week, when you have to ignore your friends calling, let the laundry go and focus on one thing...just for one week. No excuses. I don't want to hear about all your responsibilities!!! Shouldn't responsibilities be me first and then the rest...in that order??  Once we're in the best health of our lives, we will be better wives, mothers, employees, daughters and friends! The sacrifice is worth it, the rewards are great!

Why? Here's why. Throughout a typical week...we him and haw, we have ups and downs and we manage. I think it's because we never really believe it. We never REALLY believe the weight is going to come off, all of it, for good. We need something dramatic. We need to stand on the scale and look down and say... "Whoa. It really does work." I think the motivating adrenaline from that shot of success will carry on. I don't mean perfect months or anything, but we will get rid of the negative Nancy sitting on our left shoulder, because we will know, when we do the work, our bodies respond, just like we want them to.

Perfect Week people....it's time! :)

Did she say perfect? We can't be perfect...what happened to "no one's perfect?" 

Stop!!   It's a week. Seven little days!! If you have to, break it up... it's actually just a perfect day... seven times! Whatever you have to tell yourself. It's those tiny little slips all week long that kill us on the scale, that turn months into years and here we are, thirty-something, trying to lose weight!! I will NOT do this when I am forty! I refuse! I will spend this Christmas eating pie and not worrying because I am so much smaller and I know how to get it right back off come January. I will wear a smokin hot dress on New Year's and I WILL look better than I did in high school, at me twenty year reunion!!  Whew. There. Sorry I yelled. :)  I promise...this will pave the way, making more perfect days easier down the road! :)

.......... insert Jeopardy music here........

I know right??

It's weigh in Monday... and where's the blog??

I have it ready, drafted, waiting...for Mary!!! I was being sympathetic, thinking her poor little butt was sleepin in.. but NO, she's on facebook, chatting away, but ignoring my texts for her Monday report!!!

Blasphemy!!

Yes, she did just run four miles..... I know, she's awesome!!! All the more reason I am holding her awesome, Nike running, cellulite sweating, Cherilyn killing butt accountable!!!!!!!

So.. there is not blog yet. We are waiting for Mary!!! :P

Why We Weigh Once a Week!

It may seem self explanatory, that weighing once a week builds up the anticipation, gives you a greater loss and therefore motivates you more. It may seem like we are shameless BL followers who will blindly do anything Bob & Jillian do! It may be the OCD and weighing daily comes before coffee and that's all there is to it! No matter! Here's my story...

I used to weigh every day, first thing in the morning, without fail and I swore by it! If it was more than an hour after I had woken up, you couldn't pay me to step on that thing!  In my defense, I was afraid of the weight getting away from me. If I had gained ANYTHING, I knew it and I could get myself back in order... but the fact is, it wasn't really impacting my loss in a positive way, in fact, I think it was hurting it. In my mind, it was like, wow, it's just a day. Do you see how that works? We are much more likely to waste a day, than a week, a month, etc. So if I weigh today and I gained a pound and then I stay on track and the next day that pound is gone.... that was tooooo easy. Then the next time I gain a pound, it's really no big deal, no panic, because I will get to weigh in again in 24 short hours and I am sure it will be gone again. Only sometimes it's more than a pound and sometimes it's not gone the next day, but it's too late. The short term poison has already seeped into my brain.

We are much more likely to hold ourselves more accountable, when there's an entire week on the line and we DON'T know how we're doing! Keeps us on our toes. Should I eat this? Is my weight ok? I DON'T KNOW!! Better not. :)

Also... In any given week, say you weigh 160, you gain one, you're sad, you work harder, the next day, 160 again. You're happy. Then 159, even happier, then 160, sad. Then 161, miserable, then you're back to 160, happy again. You right back where you started!!  The little losses are a false sense of security and the little gains are unecessary hits to your stamina. It's an emotional roller coaster! Get off! :)

Never mind the fact that any doctor will tell you weighing daily is just nuts. :) I have read that today's weight is a result of eating three days ago, so it really isn't about yesterday's food. The body is full of mystery and checking daily for a number that has so many contributing factors, well, I already mentioned... nuts.

So...we weigh once a week. Yes, if you step on the scale and it's up or the same...ugh!!! Don't you wish you knew that three days ago! Now you've wasted a whole week and it's like starting new. But that's good. Holds us accountable, makes us work harder.  Sidenote: I recommend a digital scale. Those others, like in my photo, really all over the map and unreliable. Accuracy is best!

YOU need to control yourself daily and keep yourself on track... no fair making the scale do it!

~

OK, so it's Friday. Three days to weigh in. I feel good. Not fantastic, but good. I'll take it! I drank more water than usual yesterday and I'm happy about that. I am having a little problem with popcorn. I know everyone says popcorn is healthy and maybe it is. I'm just not sure. I make it homemade, not microwave, so the oil concerns me. Research time!!

Today I am craving avocado, so I plan to make that a staple in my meals today. I love good fat! :)

I promise myself to go start our gym membership today. I promise to run or walk or jog to try out my new running shoes. I promise not to eat anything past 7pm. There. Three promises ought to keep me busy!!

If Only We Could All Be Like Mary...

Can I get an amen for my sista Mary!!! This is the motivational message I got from her, today at 7am! (from last night)

Power Mindset: 1. Make Amazon wish list for rewards 2. 10 glasses of water 3. Yoga on Thursday 4. Write out dream page for motivation 5. continue to use mantra, "I'm worth it."

Reciprication: 1. email Cherilyn 2. Text with Kelly who is doing very well with her fitness journey

Three things done well today: 1. Ran 2.5 miles 2. Did 20 push ups, 25 crunches, and 10 extended leg raises while watching movie with Amara 3. Healthy breakfast

One thing I'll do better on Thursday: Plan my meals so that I don't get hungry from waiting too long. Today I had nachos and a baked pretzel with cheese at the pool with the kids after my work out. I was hungry when I started to work out so I made a poor decision.

~

The best part I see in Mary's message is the way she bounces back from a bad decision. We all make them!! How dod we get here after alll??!!! :)  It's the bounce back that matters!

Me? Pffffttttt!!  I am too busy worrying about all the non-health items on my agenda for the day! This is good and bad. Does it get me to the track? No. It actually makes me too busy, BUT it does get me motivated in general, thinking positive, feeling great about myself and that DOES keep me away from the refrigerator! So... everyone is different. I HAVE to exercise more, there's no doubt about that. But on the days I don't make it...at least I am not down on myself or doing more damage.

Embrace YOUR way! As long as you have one, you're on the right track!

Have an awesome Thursday women!