Why is it so Hard to Lose and Easy to Gain

Today I was on Facebook and one of my friend's posts said "why is it so hard to lose and easy to gain"...then Travis sent me an article and one of the excerpts from it explained it pretty well. Here it is.

You can do okay with one cheat meal a week, but if you decide that you’re going to do more than that; be ready to up the frequency of your cardio. But even if you are prepared to do this, it is still not ideal; unless you are genetically gifted you will almost never be able to exercise enough to mask a bad diet. Even some professional athletes have problems with weight control because of poor eating practices despite the high volume of training they undergo. The reason for this is because a great cardio session can help you burn anywhere between 300 calories or 500 calories if you are really dedicated and plan on hitting the treadmill for a long time. However, in one meal at a restaurant or at a fast food place, it is not hard to consume 800+ calories in one sitting. So if you begin to increase the frequency of your cheat meals in the hoped that cardio will make up for it; you will quickly get caught up in a race you may very well lose.

This is what I have been struggling with this week. I have one little cheat and then I am screwed. I can be good 95% of the day and then 5% of the time I make poor decisions. Isn't 95% still an A? I feel like I am giving it such a good effort and doing so good. I am proud of my 95% but it makes me so mad that 5% can give you an F and make you fail. I don't feel like a failure though. I have got to be on point. No meeting in the middle. There will be time for that when I am on maintenance, but for now if I am going to reach my goal I have got to be in weight loss mode. In order for me to succeed I have got to do better. The good news is that usually at this point is when I give up and I dont feel like giving up, I am just having a little pit stop along my road to success. Fact of the matter is that I have been spending too much time at the rest stop though. The past few weeks have been bad. I haven't lost much weight and even gained last week. I haven't exercised. I have been under lots and lots of stress and I haven't done a perfect job at logging my food. I have also slipped into eating too many meals out. I have been on the run so much lately that it is just hard but it is no excuse. I just have to keep packing my lunch, on CPR nights I need to pack my dinner too. I know that I can do it. While it has taken me a long time to get under 200...there is one thing that I know for sure. Once I get there...I will never go back!

Dont worry....well maybe a little

OK..so sorry it has taken me so long to post. I have had several friends call or text to make sure I dont need an "intervention". I don't. I am still plugging along and I have not given up. I did have a very hard week last week though and think I gained about a pound.

August is my busiest time of year with CPR. Lots of students need it before returning to work, teachers, daycare providers, etc. So I had four classes last week and three this week. It is exhausting and makes it so I am away from home for practically every meal. Last week I slipped up. I found myself eating out more, munching on unhealthy snack foods, not drinking water, not finding time to exercise. Overall, I was still better and more conscientious of what I was eating than normal but definitely letting it slip. The most important thing that I have discovered however is that you can't let one week define you. I just have to pick it up where I left it. I can't get discouraged because quickly you are down the downward spiral.

So, yes...I had a bad week. No..I have not given up or plan to. It has just been a crazy week. I am starting my boot camp workouts next week. I have a friend that is maybe going to do it with me. I also have a new friend starting weight watchers, so it will be good to have another person to share ideas with. I am pretty depressed that I am not in the 100s yet. So close, it is like I have a mental, phyiscal block with that number. The good news is, that once I get there...I am never going back!

Thanks for all the support. I will let you know how the new workouts treat me. I also did not track my points last week. Yesterday however, I started a new! I'll be posting more soon.

Blog Award

This month's Blog Award goes to my life long friend, Tracy Sise, in California. I have known her since I was born and she lived just down the street from me growing up. Her parents and my grandparents are best of friends and we have spent lots of time together. We have lots in common, including our birthday and enjoy talking to each other and sharing our life's blessings, challenges and experiences with each other. Tracy and me are 11 years a part. Growing up, she baby sat me and I always looked up to her as an older sister. I wish I had a recent picture to share but last summer when we went to visit my camera got lost in Yosemite National Park, (so, I had to steal this one from her hubby's facebook page). As we have grown older we have became even closer and I love her tons. She really is the closest thing I have to a sister. She knows my family dynamic very well, being around my mom, grandparents and friends; she knows my past and present as well as anyone. Her parents are also like second parents to me and I love them too.

Tracy has done Weight Watchers before so she has been great to talk to. She also sticks to a strict diet herself and exercises often. She has sent me emails, calls and gives me recipes to try..all which have been very helpful. I posted one of the recipes (salsa pork chops) on the blog. They were great! However, while Tracy supports my diet her real support comes from knowing my story. Like I said, I have known her for so long that I don't really have any secrets from her. She knows me. I call her to vent or to get my emotional support. There aren't very many people that you can get that from so I am so thankful to have her. She also is very honest and we both have told each other things that we probably don't like to hear. But...that's okay, it is what I need.

Last week, Tracy challenged me to workout in the mornings. I let her down. I wasn't able to do it. She has forgotten what it is like to work and have two kids under the age of 3. :) I just cannot get myself to wake up at 5:30am. I am still going to give it a shot but it might have to be next week. I need to prep myself to go to bed at 9 if I am going to do it and not at midnight.

Thanks for all your support Tracy. I Love you! Wish we were closer but excited to see you in the spring!

Weight Watcher results: Week 15

Can I just tell you that it pains me to type this blog post. Literally! I am so sore after my workout yesterday. Everything from my knees to my shoulders is sore and tight. I am wishing that I had the ability to pee standing up because squatting makes me want to cry. I feel pretty happy with this weeks loss! I feel confident that I will be in the 100s next week! Then we will have a new goal of seeing 185 the lowest weight that I have weighed in the past 6 years.

I contacted the personal trainer and I am going to try to do weekly sessions with her. It is small groups of about 4 people and bootcamp style. It is only $10-15 a session which is very reasonable for that type of training. It is hard though because of my kiddos. With the gym you can drop them off at childcare but with this type of training there is no childcare. I hate to put more burden on Travis because he already does so much. I actually wish we could do the bootcamp together as it would be good for him to get some exercise too. Maybe our little neighbor girl can watch the kids if I knew that it was always going to be on Wednesday nights.

Well, down 50 pounds from when I started (which actually means down 54) because of the different scales.

The Pink Ninja

So today I had the opportunity to go work out with Ashley from the Biggest Loser (aka. The Pink Ninja). Her mom Sherry from the show was there as well. It was a crazy workout. Mostly though, the point was to keep moving. Up and down, up and down. Up doing jumping jacks, down doing push ups, up doing squats, down doing mountain climbers, up doing toe touches, down doing plank, up doing lunges, down doing sit ups, up doing sprints and so on. It was nuts. My legs totally feel like jello and I sweat tons but it was a great work out. The 5 trainers walking around your group yelling at you to get your knees up, get your butt up, etc didn't hurt either. Definitely kept you going. I always thought I'd be a great contestant on BL but I am starting to think, maybe not. Haha. It is harder than you think!

Anyway, seeing them in person was amazing. Ashley has lost 200 pounds and her mom, Sherry, has lost 100. What an inspiration! I posted their before and after pics below. While I was there I ran into some people that I knew; they had told me about weekend warrior. They told me that the girl coordinating WW is doing small training sessions for a minimal fee. I have a gym membership right now that I never use. It is $50 a month. I am canceling it in lieu of five training sessions per month with this lady since most of my working out is on the treadmill anyway. I think they will help me stay motivated and bust through this plateau.

It was a great day and showed me that I can do more than I think I am capable. It was motivating and I am looking forward to more workouts like that. Hudson's good friend, Tatum, had her three year birthday party today. Props go out to Travis for taking both of our kiddos to the party so I could have this opportunity. What a good daddy! I sure do love him! Hudson had fun at the party; he even got to ride a horsey. It was actually good I didnt go; not sure I could of resisted all the yummy goodies.

Points for Wednesday

29 Points eaten today, 2 points earned in activity points. Walk-ran at the park, 1.5 miles. It was so hot I must have sweat at least a pound. Haha. Got my confirmation for D1 today for my work out with Ashley on Saturday. I am so excited! I am also going on a short walk/hike with the kids at the Ijams Nature Center on Friday with some of the Maryville Moms. Should be fun!

Over, Over, Over

OOPs. I went over today by 10 points! Arrggh. Let me just tell you how easy this is to do. Travis opened up a bag of Doritos while I was making dinner, 20 chips (5 points). Made cookies today with Hudson (only 2 points each) but ate one two many (2 points), Hudson wanted some fruit snacks this afternoon, sounded good, (2 more points). Since it was my day off I had an extra cup of coffee, the fat free coffee creamer (2 points).

Well, that just shows you how you can easily mess up! I guess I'll have to burn some points off now. Too bad that it is 10PM already. Probably won't be working out tonight. Had my workout clothes on since 8:30 but things came up. Not a good excuse but when your 4 month old needs you and hubby is with the two year old, something has to give. Looks like a 90 minute workout for me tomorrow.