Bodybugg

So, after several weeks of being on plan and really kicking butt with my exercise, but not seeing any real changes, I bought the bodybugg. I just wanted to know my calorie burn in reality, not an estimate based on my weight, age and height. I am extremely short so I often fall so far from the bell curve that averages can be quite off for me.

It has been an EXCELLENT tool! I weighed in at 139.2 this morning. In the two weeks I've had the Bodybugg, I've lost 4 pounds. I've learned that if I hardly do any exercise in a day and spend all day on my bum working, I burn about 1400 - 1500 calories. If I spend 30 to 60 minutes exercising moderately, I burn 1900 - 2100 calories. If I spend at least an hour exercising AND am active all day, I can burn anywhere from 2100 - 3000 calories. I am now able to ensure that I am eating less that I burn no matter what kind of day I'm having. I now see that when I was always aiming for 1200 - 1500 calories a day in consumption, and sometimes going a little over that, on the days I wasn't really active I was either breaking even or eating more than I was burning, even though the website I was using to track my calories always said I was under my calorie burn.

I would highly recommend this tool to anyone wanting to be more exact in their calculations for eating. You do have to track calories, but I was doing this anyway. It also helps to see how many calories you are burning, even the burn per minute. When I'm working at my desk, I'm burning about 1.4 to 1.9 calories per minute, depending on how often I'm getting up from my seat. When I work out, I can burn anywhere from 2 calories per minute to 10 calories per minute. I watch that burn and push myself harder on my workouts so I can get a higher burn. I also use it to try to hit a calorie burn of 2100 calories a day. Knowing how few calories I burn when I'm working all day, I've started taking breaks from work to jump rope, jog in place or other exercises to get my heart going and increase my burn by the end of the day. Or if it is getting late and I'm nowhere near my goal, I'll go for a walk or do some house cleaning to get my burn up. It's really helped to keep me motivated in moving.

Anyway, not to try to sell a product, but it has been great for me. I'm almost under 30 on my BMI! YAY!

Day 32

I am on Day 32 of my 100 days of exercise goal. 32 days straight of exercising for at least 30 minutes a day. I think that's damn good, if I say so myself. I am doing a variety of exercises at the moment and I think I may even be a bit addicted to it. For instance, today I went for a bike ride (nearly 9.5 miles) and then completed a work-out DVD later. Yesterday I did a workout DVD, of strength training, in the morning and 3.5 miles on the treadmill at an incline in the evening. The day before that I did 45 minutes of weight lifting and an hour of walking/jogging on the treadmill at gym. Crazy, huh? But, I seem to really enjoy exercising at the moment. I love how I can move my body rather easily. One day hubby and I walked with the kids to the park and I jumped on the monkey bars. He was like "no way you can swing all the way across" but I did! It was hard and it felt awkward and my arms felt like they were going to fall off, but I did make it across. Only, it bugged me that my back didn't feel strong enough and that my abs were still a bit too weak. I felt like I was only able to control my body a little bit, nothing like when I was a kid. I know that all things get more difficult as we get older, but I decided that I wanted to get into good enough shape that I could easily swing across the monkey bars. It has definitely spurred me on with the strength training. Anyway, it totally helps to have a gym buddy too.

Plateau? Or What?

It's been a while since I've blogged! But, not because I've been off the wagon. In fact, I've been doing really well, with both eating and exercising. I still eat more than I'd like some days, but I'm usually a good 250 to 500 below what I've burned. And I'm exercising every day, without fail, for between 30 and 120 minutes. Some days I'm burning 500 to 600 calories. I've been strength training too. And walking/jogging at least 20 miles a week. So, I've been doing crazy well.

So, what's the problem? Well...I've hardly lost any weight! I'm down a pound in the last few weeks. I should easily have lost 3 to 6 pounds. I should be below 140! But, I'm just floating along, not really seeing any weight changes. My clothes aren't looser. I feel like I'm running in place, faster and faster, and getting no where.

So, I know it's only been a few weeks. And I know that I should be building muscle. Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. Maybe I'm not tracking my calories correctly. Maybe I'm burning a lot less calories than I think.

I really don't know.

So, I've decided NOT to jump on the scale for the next two weeks. The scales are put up in the laundry room out of reach. I also bought a tape measure. I'm going to measure myself and then not weigh myself or check my measurements again for two weeks. And keep my calories down, but not too far down. And keep exercising. And I SHOULD see results. If not, I'm going to the doctor! :)

Motivated

I've been motivated by progress. Since tracking my calories and feeling some renewed determination using SparkPeople.com, I've started to see some real progress. I'm at my all-time low of 145.4, my clothes are definitely getting looser and I'm getting stronger. I'm tracking my mileage from my walking/jogging and I'm doing about 15 to 20 miles a week, which is impressive to me! In fact, I'm going to take the kids on a long walk today. It's great to actually feel like my efforts are paying off. I'm still having my food days and I still think about food constantly, so I have a long way to go, but it's nice to be going in the right direction.

Progress

I am finally making some real progress with my diet. I've even increased my exercising. I'm jogging most days and walking several miles in the afternoons. I'm keeping my calories between 1200 and 1600, depending on how active I've been that day, on most days. I'm tracking my calories and my fitness and my water intake.

I'm not entirely sure of the reason for the turnaround, although I think a big part of it is that I've joined a new weight loss website that I find to be particularly motivating. (SparkPeople.com) It uses a point system and awards and has some cool tracking options that motivates me to do well. I found them when I saw their diet book on Amazon.com. Anyway, if you're looking for motivation, I highly recommend checking them out.

I've also become more friendly with one of the girls in my mom's group. We've known each other since October, but have only recently began spending time together away from the group. Her husband is also away overnight for work so we have dinner together quite a bit. Not only to give each other company and distract the kids, but also to share the cooking, cleanup and child care aspects of dinnertime. Its been working out really well. She's very easy to be around because we share similar positions on child rearing and she isn't in competition wiht me at all. On top of all that, she is also trying to lose weight and we are jogging/walking together most mornings. We can share our ups and downs with food without worry of censure and we know the other understands. We even have similar food issues. I'm very lucky to have become friends with her.

Everything else is plodding along. I didn't get a chance to post my weigh-in, but I was down to 147 this week. Hoping to hit 145 next week, but we'll see. I know that I don't tend to see much progress on the scale when I'm working out a lot. It'll come off with time. I'm in that awkward phase between pants sizes and I'm hoping to lose enough to get out of my baggy pants and into a size 10. That will be great!

This is It

How many times have I told myself "This is it!" thinking that I had finally made the firm decision to lose weight once and for all, only to lose that determination, slowly or suddenly, over the following weeks, days or even hours? I've had so many "aha!" moments, I think I don't actually know what an "aha" moment is. I've convinced myself many times that I have hit a turning poing in my life...only to realize that nothing has actually changed. My "This is it!" became: "This is it (I hope)!" or "This is it (please)!" or "This is it (until it's not)!"

I am on my umpteenth "This is it!" I am tracking calories, making smart choices, exercising, not snacking at night...doing everything "right." And, you know what? This IS it, right now. And that's okay if I slide back to some bad habits, because every "This is it" has been a forward part of my journey. So "This is it right now!" is my new catchphrase. Every good choice I make, is a time I didn't make a bad choice. Those add up, as surely as does the calories and the pounds. It isn't "on" or "off," it just is whatever is happening at that point in time and every moment of every day is "This is it right now."

An Imrovement

I've had an improvement in my eating over the past couple days. I ate less than 1300 calories both today and yesterday. Yesterday I didn't exercise, other than a couple hours shopping, but today I went for a bike ride with the kids and am about to get on the treadmill. I feel much more able to control myself. I went out and bought a food scale because I'm determined to track my calories better.