So I haven't been blogging. I also haven't been losing weight.
For the past few weeks I've been hovering. Why am I hovering? A few reasons, most likely.
I've been eating out slightly more often, and that's increasing carb intake. I'm snacking on a few things I shouldn't... a chicken finger, some real peanut butter, more sauces than I should be eating with my chicken and mushrooms, etc. going heavy on sodium and not keeping my carbs under 100g is not helping.
I'm just not drinking my water. I know I need to and I'm working on that today.
I'd stopped exercising as much.
So, I need to actually pay better attention to water and sodium and carbs for a few days, and then I'm going on vacation where the goal will be to 'eat like a healthy person' and not 'eat a medifast diet' or 'nom nom nom buffet food and dessert bars'.
I want to get home from vacation within 2 lbs of where I started (ideally 2 lbs lower, but 2 lbs heavier is ok).
I'm currently at 260. My low is 258.2, but that was an outlier when it happened. I've been bouncing between 259-261 for a couple weeks now and it is definitely time to buckle down and do something to kickstart my metabolism. I'm hoping that more/different types of exercise and different foods will help.
However, let's go over a few NSV that have happened:
I can mow the entire lawn, with edging, and cleanup and not get winded.
I was up on the roof cleaning gutters and it was perfectly fine.
I'm wearing size XL shorts and shirts and they fit.
I put on a pair of size 38 pants and they fit!
I was straining my size 44 pants when I started this. I'm not totally comfortable in a size 38 yet but it is close. All my 44s are gone to Goodwill, and the 42s are on their way. 40 is comfortably loose (requires a belt) and 38 is a little tight.
I still have 20 lbs to lose, but I feel great and am getting slimmer and stronger. So I can't complain too much when I'm having a scale plateau at this point.
Showing posts with label NSV. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NSV. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Thursday, May 22, 2014
Brief weekly update (Week 18!)
It's been a hectic week and I haven't had as much time to blog as I'd like. I'll try to get a full weekly update post up soon, but here's a quick one!
Progress: I lost over 4 lbs the week before Geekway, but this week I ended up 1lb over last week. I know exactly why: working out last night, not drinking enough water at the convention, and not staying on plan. I had rice, potatoes, bread, etc while at Geekway, and all those carbs reloaded my glycogen stores, so it's back to the Medifast Plan at a fairly strict level for the next few days to get back on track.
Here's my weekly progress chart:
My weekly average has dropped to 3.8 lbs/week, which is still pretty awesome. I expect to have a big loss this week as well, if I'm right about holding onto glycogen.
Since I don't have any scale victories this week, I'll add a couple non-scale: I had to add ANOTHER (this is #3) hole to my belt. It's really ridiculous at this point for me to still keep it, it's so long.
Also, last night at workout class, I got about 75% of a pull-up done. This is the first time I've actually gotten most of the way there, and I think I'll be able to knock one out in a couple of weeks.
Progress: I lost over 4 lbs the week before Geekway, but this week I ended up 1lb over last week. I know exactly why: working out last night, not drinking enough water at the convention, and not staying on plan. I had rice, potatoes, bread, etc while at Geekway, and all those carbs reloaded my glycogen stores, so it's back to the Medifast Plan at a fairly strict level for the next few days to get back on track.
Here's my weekly progress chart:
Since I don't have any scale victories this week, I'll add a couple non-scale: I had to add ANOTHER (this is #3) hole to my belt. It's really ridiculous at this point for me to still keep it, it's so long.
Also, last night at workout class, I got about 75% of a pull-up done. This is the first time I've actually gotten most of the way there, and I think I'll be able to knock one out in a couple of weeks.
Monday, April 7, 2014
New non-scale victory
As silly as it may sound, one of the catalysts for this diet and exercise plan was that my waist size was increasing and my size 44 waist pants were becoming too tight.
Yesterday, I put on a pair of jeans with a waist size of 40, and they fit. Like they seriously fit, and not 'I could barely squeeze into them' fit.
In fact, I probably could squeeze into a pair of 38" waist pants at this time.
While this is great news, it does mean that big swathes of my wardrobe are about to all become deprecated in another inch or two. Which also means the possible purchase of 'interim clothing' while I am still shrinking down to my desired goal weight.
In other news this morning I hit 275.5 pounds, which means my micro-goal of being at 275 prior to PAX is well within reach. On the other hand, I've got workout class tonight, so I could end up holding on to a couple pounds of water, too.
Either way, we'll see!
Yesterday, I put on a pair of jeans with a waist size of 40, and they fit. Like they seriously fit, and not 'I could barely squeeze into them' fit.
In fact, I probably could squeeze into a pair of 38" waist pants at this time.
While this is great news, it does mean that big swathes of my wardrobe are about to all become deprecated in another inch or two. Which also means the possible purchase of 'interim clothing' while I am still shrinking down to my desired goal weight.
In other news this morning I hit 275.5 pounds, which means my micro-goal of being at 275 prior to PAX is well within reach. On the other hand, I've got workout class tonight, so I could end up holding on to a couple pounds of water, too.
Either way, we'll see!
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
NSV at work today, and NSV's in general
So today while I was working, my company IM pinged at me and I got a great NSV (Non-Scale Victory):
What are some other NSVs?
45 pounds down, 47 to go. One pound away from my (relatively arbitrary) halfway point. I'm pretty excited about the next 47 pounds too, as I'm now lighter than I've been in probably close to a decade... and not only that, I'm now at a weight where I can tell that I'm in better shape than I was when I *was* lighter than this.
Co-worker [1:47 PM]:
today is other coworker's bday and we have some cake for her, if you want a piece stop by but it's going fast.
Marshall Jansen [1:48 PM]:
Thanks! I'll stop by and say Happy Birthday, but cake is not on my diet
Co-worker [1:49 PM]:How about that! People at work are noticing my weight loss. Also, I said 'Happy Birthday' and did NOT eat the 'Death by Chocolate' cake they had there.
sorry to be the evil food pusher and i just said that you look like you've lost a lot of weight to someone.
What are some other NSVs?
- I can visibly see my stomach is shrinking. When I 'suck in' it's impressively flatter than it's been in years.
- I threw away a belt today. It was simply far too big and not worth dealing with. I have another belt that is good enough that I need to punch a couple extra holes in it, and the belt I'm wearing today is no longer tight on the last hole either. I now only have one belt that truly fits, and I bought it a couple weeks ago.
- My cardio is going through the roof. I have to really hammer the EFX to break a sweat and keep cranking up the levels.
- I'm taking the stairs every day at work and not winded at the top of them.
- My glasses and ring fit better.
- My face is slimming down and I'm losing the double chin.
- Clothes are fitting better than they ever have before.
- My XL and smaller XXL t-shirts are back in rotation (and my XXXL are on their way out).
45 pounds down, 47 to go. One pound away from my (relatively arbitrary) halfway point. I'm pretty excited about the next 47 pounds too, as I'm now lighter than I've been in probably close to a decade... and not only that, I'm now at a weight where I can tell that I'm in better shape than I was when I *was* lighter than this.
Saturday, March 8, 2014
An exercise in thwarting temptation
Today is my daughter's birthday party. She's here with 4 other 12 year old girls, and they are having a fairly standard party with candy, cake, ice cream, pizza, corn dogs, juice, etc.
Baking her cake today (zebra-striped cake of orange and chocolate, frosted with homemade dark chocolate buttercream), I managed not to lick any utensils. I had one small dollop of frosting when I was done icing the cake.
I made sure to get ice cream I had no interest in eating, it's some neon birthday flavor.
Mini corn dogs and bagel bites normally don't tempt me, but today they looked good.
But, made it through. I ate my Medifast meals, and had an early Lean and Green of Tilapia and mushrooms, and some egg beaters to finish off my protein later.
Tonight I'll go to the gym and knock out some elliptical work. Also I need to drink more water, I've slacked off on it today after doing well yesterday.
Overall, though, today is a success, despite having party snacks and sweets all over the house!
Baking her cake today (zebra-striped cake of orange and chocolate, frosted with homemade dark chocolate buttercream), I managed not to lick any utensils. I had one small dollop of frosting when I was done icing the cake.
I made sure to get ice cream I had no interest in eating, it's some neon birthday flavor.
Mini corn dogs and bagel bites normally don't tempt me, but today they looked good.
But, made it through. I ate my Medifast meals, and had an early Lean and Green of Tilapia and mushrooms, and some egg beaters to finish off my protein later.
Tonight I'll go to the gym and knock out some elliptical work. Also I need to drink more water, I've slacked off on it today after doing well yesterday.
Overall, though, today is a success, despite having party snacks and sweets all over the house!
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Good bye, Spring! Hello Trivia Night!
Just got back from running an errand to Trader Joe's, and it's cold again... around 30 degrees, after yesterday's 60s. Oh well.
Trivia last night was a lot of fun. The categories were based on superheroes, and while there was too much DC and not enough Marvel, it was a good time. Lots of people in cool costumes, tons of superhero T-shirts, and it was all for the Make-A-Wish foundation, so it was a great cause. We bought raffle tickets and did the balloon pop but didn't win anything this time... we also came in 7th place overall, a few points out of the money, due to musical categories and the Make-A-Wish category that were really hard!
In the past, Trivia nights have been buffet grazing zones with cookies, preserved meats, cheeses, and crackers. Tonight we brought a veggie tray and some Medifast snacks. Watching the rest of the table have Jimmy John's sandwiches and homemade blondies was actually a little bit harder than I expected it to be, but we both managed to avoid either temptation.
This got us thinking about the future of these types of events. Obviously, the key is to not let them be random grazing, but have a plan. Once we're at goal, there's no reason not to have some cheese, some crackers, and a blondie... we just need to track it and be reasonable, and make sure there's something healthy there to go with everything else. So, the veggie tray should be a staple, and then it's that plus a couple of other snacks and we should be good to go.
On the success front, this week has been crazy. Last week I was up .7, down 2.4, up .6, down .2, up 2.2, down 2.4... all that bouncing around and I ended up with a 1.7 lb loss. I realized late in the week I'd been sleeping less and drinking less water and I made an effort to correct both of those things, as well as continuing my exercise.
This week, I've seen losses of .6, 1.6, and 2.6. I'm sleeping better and drinking a ton more water and so far it's been steady drops. I'm not sure I can expect that to stick around, but my theory is that my body is getting used to my exercise intensity and finally letting go of some extra water... and me staying hydrated is probably helping.
In the land of NSV's, my favorite belt is honestly getting to be too big. I need to punch a new hole in it. I've moved 3-4 holes from when I started.
Trivia last night was a lot of fun. The categories were based on superheroes, and while there was too much DC and not enough Marvel, it was a good time. Lots of people in cool costumes, tons of superhero T-shirts, and it was all for the Make-A-Wish foundation, so it was a great cause. We bought raffle tickets and did the balloon pop but didn't win anything this time... we also came in 7th place overall, a few points out of the money, due to musical categories and the Make-A-Wish category that were really hard!
In the past, Trivia nights have been buffet grazing zones with cookies, preserved meats, cheeses, and crackers. Tonight we brought a veggie tray and some Medifast snacks. Watching the rest of the table have Jimmy John's sandwiches and homemade blondies was actually a little bit harder than I expected it to be, but we both managed to avoid either temptation.
This got us thinking about the future of these types of events. Obviously, the key is to not let them be random grazing, but have a plan. Once we're at goal, there's no reason not to have some cheese, some crackers, and a blondie... we just need to track it and be reasonable, and make sure there's something healthy there to go with everything else. So, the veggie tray should be a staple, and then it's that plus a couple of other snacks and we should be good to go.
On the success front, this week has been crazy. Last week I was up .7, down 2.4, up .6, down .2, up 2.2, down 2.4... all that bouncing around and I ended up with a 1.7 lb loss. I realized late in the week I'd been sleeping less and drinking less water and I made an effort to correct both of those things, as well as continuing my exercise.
This week, I've seen losses of .6, 1.6, and 2.6. I'm sleeping better and drinking a ton more water and so far it's been steady drops. I'm not sure I can expect that to stick around, but my theory is that my body is getting used to my exercise intensity and finally letting go of some extra water... and me staying hydrated is probably helping.
In the land of NSV's, my favorite belt is honestly getting to be too big. I need to punch a new hole in it. I've moved 3-4 holes from when I started.
Monday, February 17, 2014
Another Snow Day...
My Monday morning workout class was canceled due to the holiday, but would have been canceled anyway since we have ANOTHER snow day. I'm going to go to the gym tonight and do cardio and weightlifting, though.
My weight finally dropped below 300 and stuck there for a day, so hooray! We had D&D last night, and I avoided the chocolates and the brownies, and we ate our Medifast meals while everyone else had chili. We've been doing this long enough now that it doesn't even really bother me anymore, although I am looking froward to getting into transition!
I got compliments on my weight loss last night, which was great!
We also just put in our next order of Medifast foods. We're pretty clearly getting into this... cereal, mac and cheese, crunch bars, chewy bars, pretzels, brownie bakes and pudding are our staples, and both of us are still happy with our system. I threw in some BBQ bites to see if I like them, but I still haven't found a savory crunchy snack better than the pretzels yet.
I need to be drinking more water, I did well Saturday, but Sunday and now Monday I've been slacking. I also haven't been walking enough the past two days! I need to step it up so I have a good loss this week!
My weight finally dropped below 300 and stuck there for a day, so hooray! We had D&D last night, and I avoided the chocolates and the brownies, and we ate our Medifast meals while everyone else had chili. We've been doing this long enough now that it doesn't even really bother me anymore, although I am looking froward to getting into transition!
I got compliments on my weight loss last night, which was great!
We also just put in our next order of Medifast foods. We're pretty clearly getting into this... cereal, mac and cheese, crunch bars, chewy bars, pretzels, brownie bakes and pudding are our staples, and both of us are still happy with our system. I threw in some BBQ bites to see if I like them, but I still haven't found a savory crunchy snack better than the pretzels yet.
I need to be drinking more water, I did well Saturday, but Sunday and now Monday I've been slacking. I also haven't been walking enough the past two days! I need to step it up so I have a good loss this week!
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