Hey everyone,
I haven't been around since summer; but have maintained at the weight I lost down to. After a full hip replacement, recovery and starting my masters I have about fifty  pounds to finish off. I went from a size 30 to a size 16. For those of you that are new here, wlb is wonderful. Hang around and ask someone (me if you want), how to find the challenges and teams. The challenges are the biggest motivator for me. A little competition always gets me fired up. Good luck everyone. Great to c u
Samantha

My computer was in the shop for a couple of weeks. Even though I keep a "hard copy" journal to share with my nutritionist and doctor, it really helps for me to be able to blog here. I noticed the difference in my eating habits when I wasn't able to publicly post the last couple of weeks.
In the last 20 days, I exercised 18.5 hours andI ate significantley over my 1000 calories three times. The last time I weighed was April 2, at 233, down from the previous 239.
Haven't had the best week, and am not expecting any great results at my next weigh in on Friday.
Sorry to all those buddies that I like to keep in touch with for not being around lately, i'm hoping that my activity here will pick up again since my computer is back up.
Hang in there, we can do this
How do you eat an elephant? ONE BITE AT  A TIME!

Hello all WLB's

Day 51 MONDAY

I wound up at the pediatrician's (where I always weigh) on Monday, so I decided to go ahead and take a peek at the scale. I couldn' t believe it was down at least a pound and a half, from when I weighed on Friday 239 now!!!!! It has been about seven years since I have gotten down this far! I really hope the scale keeps crawling down on the numbers!
  
75 min Circuit at Y, 96 oz+ water
B: 80 yogurt
L.180 yogurt and banana
D 290 box
S   70 s/f pudding
      97 s/f n/f chocl milk
     120    10 ten saltine crackers

   837 TOTAL 


Day 52 TUESDAY

80 min circuit, over 120 oz water

B: 180    yogurt and banana
L: 290    box
D:380    box
S:200     2oz summer sausage
      60     1 homemade jalepeno popper

1010 TOTAL


Day 53 WEDNESDAY

90 min circuit, over 140 oz water

B: 160   yogurt x2
L: 150  3" Turkey/Ham subway
D:330 Box
S:390 6 oreos and 8oz n/f milk

   1030 TOTAL

I seem to be dropping quite a bit of weight again after coming to a complete standstill for a bit over three weeks. I made two drastic changes which may have  caused this. One, I changed my workout from the standard cardio for 30+ min, followed by weight training for another  thirty or so minutes.
Now,  I now spend about five minutes on a weight machine, vigourously pumping more for cardio, than for weight building--then move to the recumbant bike for at least three minutes (I may add a minute or two if I need to get my heart rate up better, I stay around 150).This is known as interval (circuit) training and is commonly used in gyms such as Curves and Slender Lady. My workouts seem faster now that I've made this change. My stregth and cardio endurance seem to be increasing much faster than when I' ve used other forms and ways of exercise. and Now, I sweat again, A LOT! 
Sweat means a lot to me, sound weird? Before my doctors and knee stopped me from running on the elliptical I would gauge how great of a workout I had by how soaked I could get my shirt (I know that sounds gross for a woman, but I take my work outs seriously). Until my program included interval training I could never get the same sweat that I got from the elliptical workout.
The second, and most controversial change i made was instigated by my nutrionist and backed by my doctor. Dropping my diet to 1,000 cal's a day, and having those cal's measured in a box may or may not have helped the ten pounds of loss that I have had in the last seventeen days. I really wish that I had made these changes one at a time so that I would have more awareness of what helped the most. It really doesn't matter, at some point I think I may have to up my calories for a while anyway, so I will probably find out then how much the reduction in calories has really helped when that time comes.

http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/tipsandtricks/a/Intervals.htm       (More about how to use intervals)
http://exercise.about.com/cs/cardioworkouts/l/aa022601a.htm             (find your fat burning zone/heart rate

Remember we can do this if we stick together!
How do you eat an elephant? ONE BITE AT A TIME!!!

I weighed in on Friday at 241 lbs, that is three pounds down from last week and a total of 17 pounds in 48 days!

I have had an odd few days with my plan. Friday night, the kids and I were up talking and spending time together. i wound up in the oreo's around 2 am. Broke one of those golden rules about eating ...again...
I've really been craving real meat (I don't call what they put in a box real meat!)  so on Sunday I tried to have more of a no (bad/white/processed) carb day, and paid less attention the calories. I really didn't eat much, but we chose a poor grade of meat when it came to calorie counting.

Day 48

No exercise, weigh day-241. 64 oz water

B: Yogurt                          80
L: Box                              320
D: 6 in turkey/ham sub300
S: 22 cashews                87
     8ozs/fn/f choc milk     97
     reeses cup                 125


Total                                   1009                 


Day 49

75 min Circuit/Y, 96 oz + water

B: yogurt                    80
L yogurt/banana      180
D: pot pie                  270
    1 pcpeppizceas   230
S: 9 oreos                 450
oops! 


TOTAL                      1410



Day 50

No exercise 64 oz water

B: yogurt                  80
D  4 oz lean
top round              700
dressing                 60 (11/2c salad)
cocktail sauce       60
1/4 c. 3 oz shrimp 40
3/4 c fresh pineap100


 TOTAL                     1040


Back to the gym,  boxes and yogurts tomorrow.
Hope everyone had a great weekend and for those who need to, that you set your clocks forward!
We can do this together,
How do you eat an elephant? ONE BITE AT A TIME!

Yesterday,
started out to be on track until we packed everyone up and went to the Drive-In. I don't think that my over consumption of cashews is all that negative in the whole scheme of it really. This has been, in the last 12 days of being on the 1,000 calorie plan the one time so far I busted loose a bit.  I think I did really well to pass the candy bars up as much as I did. I'm horrified to think of how much of it all I used to eat pretty regularly!!

65 min Circuit at Y
96 oz water

Breakfast: yogurt 80
Lunch:box/ no carrots 290
Dinner box 330
Snack: this is ugly!!
 3 single candy bars 375
3 red vines  140
Countless Cashews ..................Total: somewhere a bit over 2000 calories for the day.


Today (47)

Breakfast: yogurt 80
Lunch: 2 fresca tacos 300
Dinner: box 330
Snack : 13 cheese puffs 145
 banana/cool whip/ s/f choc topping: 145

Total: 1000    (I am really tempted to add milk to this making it 1090, haven't decided yet though)
96+ oz water

120 min circuit

I didn't plan to spend so much time in the gym today. It was just a chaotic day. The first time in I only got 35 min because my kids jog -a -thon landed in the middle of it, so I went back to finish with another 35 min. This afternoon, hubby ran late at work, and my daughter had a teen fitness class at the Y, so I wound up putting in another 50 min. when I was waiting for both of them. I'm feeling glad that since weigh day is on Fridays a gym break will be due.

We can do this together
How do you eat an elephant? ONE BITE AT A TIME!

Hey everybody!
I got to the gym at about 11 am to do my circuit. I have a routine if using the bathroom as soon as I get there (all this water...). I always wash my hands and dry them really well before putting on my gloves. I could have died when I looked down drying my hands and the stone to my wedding ring was gone!
 I searched all over the gym for no cause and after shedding a few tears,  I put in my 65 minutes of circuit. I noticed when I had to pee again on the way out, that my ring caught in my panties a little. The first place I headed when i got home was to my bathroom. I grabbed my bathroom rug and gently shook it over the floor. There was the tiniest of clinks as the diamond hit the linoleum!!!!
Boy do I feel blessed today!

64oz water: my intake has been down for some reason!

Breakfast: yogurt        80
Lunch: Box (- the nasty carrots and - 2oz or so of meat)
                                    290
Snack: Cashews     100
Dinner: Box               330
Snack : Milk                 97
  Total:                        897

I may add another milk tonight which would bring it up to 994

Thanks to all of my buddies who continually give me support here at WLB. We can do this if we stick together!

How do you eat an elephant? ONE BITE AT A TIME!

                                    

Day 43
Breakfast: yogurt 80
Lunch: box          280
Dinner: box         330
Snack:mcd's cone 150
Total: 840

Circuit Training: 65 min.      water: 80 oz


Day 44
Felt very flu like today.
no exercise, no water..bad bad bad
Breakfast: milk 90, yogurt 80
Lunch: McD's cheeseburger 280
Dinner: 2 oz shrimp 1/16 c. cocktail sauce 65
               1 c. chicken noodle soup  120
                25 Lays saltnvin. chips      200

Total: 835

We can do this together: How do you eat an elephant? ONE BITE AT A TIME!!

Great and awesome weigh in day!
 Down five more pounds to 244! Fifteen pounds in 6 weeks.  YIIPPPEEE!

No boxed meals today and no exercise either. I didn't even get my water down like usual. I did stay within calories I guess.

Breakfast: yogurt: 80, fat free milk 90
Lunch: 6 in turkey subway  280
Dinner: 9 in turkey subway 420
Dessert: Mcdonalds cone 150
Total:  1020

Back to the gym tomorrow am.
Keep haning in there we can do this together.
How do you eat an elephant? ONE BITE AT A TIME!

I went to my first appointment with my orthopedic surgeon today, and got what I think is good news. He shared with me that the suspicions that my MD had about needing knee replacements were inaccurate. Apparently my joints are in decent shape. I am scheduled for an MRI to see what else could be wrong. Because the coritsone was affective in my knees, he knows there is a problem somewhere in my knee. Thank God I found a doctor concerned enough to actually try to find out what it is. He is suspicious of a torn meniscus (sp?). If it is, the recovery time from surgery to repair it is considerably easier than knee replacements! I am now waiting for insurance approval and  an appointment for an MRI. My doctor is a little heavy himself and has struggled losing weight. So of course he understands what I am going through. A big difference from a few of the other younger, healthier doctors that I have run into. 

Yesterday: day 40 (3)
I kept within range of the 1,000 calorie limit for the day, but not the way I was supposed to. My hubby got a gift certificate to Burrito Loco for the family.
Life is life, and I am not saying no to having a nice meal with my family. I did have notice to the occasion (of sorts), so I ate minimally until dinner time. However, I didn't have any boxed, pre counted calorie boxes of crappy food doing it.

80 oz water
65 MIN Circuit training

Breakfast: yogurt: 80
Lunch: Vista Fresca Taco  150
Dinner: 2 med flour tortillas 160, 6 oz carne asada 335, 1/4 c refried beans 75, guac and s/cream 120, bellpeppers/onions
Snack: 8 oz nonfat milk 90
     
Total 1010

Today: day 41 (4)
Pretty much back at the boxed precounted meals again-aside from the chips that I couldn't keep out of my mouth.
96 oz water
80 min Circuit Training

Breakfast:  yogurt 80
Lunch: Box 280
Snack: chips 150 (probably less)
Dinner: Box 330
Snack: nonfat milk 90, 1/2 c s/f pudding 70

Total 1000

My husband's and ortho's  main concern is that I over -do exercise at they gym. I plan to take tomorrow off.
If it doesn't rain I'll bust my a** in the garden instead!
Tomorrow is weigh day: to weigh, or not to weigh, that is the question.......

How do you eat an elephant? ONE BITE AT A TIME!
Hang in there everyone we can do this together.

I've gotten a lot of responses concerning this 1,000 calorie plan that I have a started. I would like to first say especially to my buddies who have been with me a while:  thanks to everyone who is genuinely concerned for me and my health, the second part of this blog is not intended for you....

I would also like to emphasize that this plan isn't  MY  plan. This plan is one that my MD and nutritionist are working on together. So some of the more highly opinionated and uneducated  "constructive criticism" isn't necessary. I think if my medical professionals are going to be challenged it should be at least by another educated professional.

 I just need all the support I can get here and greatly appreciate every single bit of it that I do get here at WLB.

Thanks