Munky's Journey in Progress (Still at it...)

[Munkers]

Mini update

Lifting was soooo much fun. I really, really enjoyed my session. Still figuring out how much weight to use for various exercises, but I'm sure I'll start to get things hammered out and develop a solid routine as time goes by and I do more sessions. I really, really love doing leg presses and feeling the burn in my glutes. whee

It also seems that my body has decided to let go of some of the extra weight it's been holding onto. I don't have a scale reading to confirm it yet, but with as many times as I've gone to the bathroom today, it better be getting rid of something.

I'm pretty sure that my tricpes and shoulders are going to be killing me in the morning. 4laugh  

[Munkers]

Morning After

I'm actually kind of disappointed by how easily I can move today. I expected my shoulders and arms to be killing me. I can feel a few small twinges now and then, but that's it.

In more exciting news, I'm finally down to a new low weight after carrying around a bunch of bloat for awhile. Overall, I'm only down by 0.2 pounds since this time last week, but considering that my weight shot up by a full two pounds, I'd say that this is happy progress. I'm also tentatively hoping to see another half pound or so fall off since, in theory, I should still be holding on to some extra water since I've start a new weight training program.

Now it's time for food and then a run.  

[Stars in my Pocket]

[e-cookie for me for catching up on your journal, hee]

e-cookies are the best, calorie free!

Protein in your diet is definitely a plus; I feel the same about "empty calorie carbs". Even if they're complex, I feel like I get more bang for my buck with protein-filled snacks.

Half of weight-training is discovering your limit. You should decide if you want to add muscle bulk or lean out.
Bulk: 8-10 reps. Lean: 12-15 reps. Find a weight where you feel the burn! As a girl, I always opt for lean. So find a weight where reps 13, 14, and 15 BURN. And that's the weight you need. If you can't do 11, weight is too much. If you can do 16+, too little. So find the happy medium, it'll take a few tries, and it'll keep changing, but it'll get you the best results. Good luck! <333  

[Munkers]

That's what I'm trying for right now. My goal is to do 12-15 reps per set and to be lifting to failure by the time I get to the end of the set. I've also been trying to pay attention to "negative reps" after reading some lifting articles that discuss the lifting versus the lowering phase of a rep. My aim is for the lowering portion to take 2-3x longer than the lift so that I'm maintaining control and getting the most out of my workout.

I do want to put on some muscle mass, but I don't necessarily care to have the figure of a fitness model or anything like that. My upper body could definitely use the strength training as my upper arms are flaaaaabby and I'm overall just not as strong as I'd like to be. My main hope is just to add some muscle to help keep my weight loss efforts from stalling since I'm in or very near that dreaded "so close to goal, but can't make it" zone.  

[Munkers]

Updates

We ended up taking our rest day earlier than expected because a friend came over and it was just way too late to work-out. I think my enthusiasm is waning a bit which, hopefully, is just because I'm getting ready to start my period and my energy usually plummets during that time. But Kent's helping to keep me going by prodding me off my butt and to the gym with him.

And I've run three times this week and lifted twice! My shoulders are kinda sore. I was actually trying to scratch my back earlier today and couldn't reach all the spots that I normally do because my arms didn't feel like cooperating. I'm going to go ahead and lift like normal tomorrow, but I might need to back off on my arms a little bit. They've had two days of rest now (minus the bit of work they do swinging while I run) and I can still feel it a little in my shoulders. It's not like actual pain or soreness, but they're not completely recovered. Maybe I'm pushing a bit too hard.

In other news, my weight is up again, but not as much as before--about half a pound. Which, considering the ice cream binge I had the other night and my impending girl time, I guess I'm getting off lucky. I weighed in at 145 this morning, up from 144.4.

Over the next few days I'm going to be doing some grocery planning. It's a balancing act between keeping the tab down, but still letting me have some of my "diet" luxuries like Laughing Cow and Babybel cheese. I think if I actually bother to menu plan and only buy what we need then I can pull it off. The bottom line is that I need to cook more often and maybe, just maybe, cook a big batch or two of something that can be frozen into individual portions and kept in the freezer as our own little TV dinners. Considering that a Lean Cuisine or Smart Choice dinner is around $2.50 and I can make a multi-serving meal for around $3, that's definitely easier on the pocketbook AND it's not loaded up with sodium and words none of us can pronounce.

I guess that's something else to think about while I'm thinking about groceries.  

[A Touch of Evil]

I completely agree. Homecooking meals is SOOO much healthier than eating out or relying on tv dinners........tv dinners don't even taste good compared to freshly cooked meals at home. Those tv dinners have probably been cooked a million times over and freeze dried for shipping only to be cooked again.....it's kinda gross......I'd rather stick my own cooked green bean casserole in the oven and eat it fresh when it's ready.

So yea, you are better off cooking your own stuff, not to mention, you will be much healthier. Remember small protions though, every few hours. If you over eat on healthy foods, you can still gain weight because getting too much of something isn't healthy either.  

[Munkers]

I track what I eat about 80+% of the time and my body's pretty firmly settled into the routine of eating every few hours. I actually had to start making it a habit to eat more sometimes because I was in the habit of eating about 100-200 calories at a time and then I was struggling when it came time for my evening workouts because my overall calorie consumption til that point was too low. I'd eat a smallish breakfast (still not a huge breakfast-eater though I do WAY better than I used to), a snack, a smallish lunch, maybe another snack and I'd only have taken in about half of my day's points. The constant snacking was also making me ignore some of my hunger cues. I'd tell myself "but I just ate" and forget that the last thing I ate wasn't very big at all.  

[Sunsway]

So you have four meals during the day, then exercise, then dinner? That sounds like a good system... the last snack would probably have to be at least 1.5 hrs before exercise, though. That's a problem for me, so I tend to have larger meals but skip one snack.

Do you snack on fresh/homemade food, or do you buy things like muesli bars [that would limit the calories]?  

[Munkers]

Sunsway

So you have four meals during the day, then exercise, then dinner? That sounds like a good system... the last snack would probably have to be at least 1.5 hrs before exercise, though. That's a problem for me, so I tend to have larger meals but skip one snack.

The exact numbers vary a bit from day to day, but yeah--in general I eat a few times during the day, then my husband gets home, we workout, and I finish up my points for the day. If I'm running that day, I try to make sure I have two hours before my last bit of food and my run. If I'm lifting that day, I don't worry about timing so much. I also try to make sure that I have about 5 or 6 points (around 250-300 calories) to spend after I workout because I know I'll be hungry.

Sunsway

Do you snack on fresh/homemade food, or do you buy things like muesli bars [that would limit the calories]?

A little of both. I'm addicted to FiberOne bars because they really help my chocolate/junk food cravings. I'm also kind of a fiend for grapes and am trying to always have them in the house. Other snack stuff: lean turkey breast, Babybel cheese, sugar free jello and/or pudding, high fiber bread. It all just depends on what's in the house that day. Yesterday I made a big pot of kidney beans so that was what I ate most of the day along with some low fat corn muffins. whee  

[pinkcatminht]

one thing that's really easy to freeze up is a tomato or broth-based soup with lots of veggies, beans or lentils, & whole wheat pasta. just find a good recipe, make a huge batch, & consume over the course of the week. smile

 

[Munkers]

I really, really wish that we didn't live in an apartment. I'd kill for a deep freeze or for a bigger fridge that had a side-by-side freezer so we would have more storage space. As it is, my tiny freezer fills up so fast. sweatdrop  

[Munkers]

Game Change

My motivation has really been slipping lately. It started when my weight kept yo-yoing and plateauing. I'm sure part (all?) of it was because of my period, but it was getting me bummed out and discouraged. Maybe it was a genuine plateau, maybe it was just because I was getting lazy in my eating. I don't know. But like I said, my motivation was headed down the tubes. Part of it was that I was getting tired of counting points and weighing/measuring my food. I had been contemplating doing Weight Watcher's core plan for some time now. I really like the idea behind it, but didn't trust myself to abide by the "eat til satisfaction, but no more" rule and also wasn't 100% sure I had all the information I needed to be successful with it. Then I started thinking about having another go at the South Beach diet. I figured that, if nothing else, even if I only do Phase 1, that should be enough to get rid of most, if not all, of the extra weight that's crept back on in the past few weeks. It would also mean that I don't have measure and record every. freaking. thing. that I eat.

Kent decided that he would do it along with me which was a pleasant surprise. We started doing a bit of grocery planning and mentioned it in passing to Chai who decided to get on the bandwagon with us as well. So, for now, we're a South Beach household apparently. xd

Foods for today

Breakfast: None. I was a lazy Munky and slept in.
Lunch: Souper Salad! HUGE plate of spinach and romaine with red onion, black olive, shredded zucchini, diced ham, mushrooms, and cranberry vinaigrette (probably not actually Phase 1 friendly, but I barely used a tablespoon worth). Cup of lentil soup with potato and carrot removed. Cup of Italian chicken soup with pasta removed.
Snack: 15 natural almonds. Coffee with sugar free creamer and splenda
Dinner: Orange roughey filet with dill and lemon, oven roasted asparagus with olive oil. Sugar free fudge pop for dessert
Evening snack: Light string cheese. Turkey slices with mustard. Sugar free jello (At least one of my daily snacks usually turns into more of a meal.)

Tomorrow I'm making egg muffins (think mini quiches without the crust) with green onion, turkey smoked sausage, and possibly some cheese. They're delicious and highly portable which makes them awesome for Kent's new crazy early work schedule. There's also talk of making guacamole tomorrow and using it to top some chicken breast. May have some beans to go with it.

I also need to make it a point to drink more water tomorrow partly because I've been slacking lately in general and partly because I've been hungrier today than I should have been and the water I just drank made those feelings go away.  

[Munkers]

Day Two

Stepped on the scale this morning and I've shed two pounds of the post-binge water weight. I was expecting to see maybe a pound of it gone. Kinda curious to see what the scale will say tomorrow.

Current weight: 147
Low weight: 144.4 (up 2.6lbs)

I'm trying to stay creative with the meals. We had fish last night, Kent made steak and mushroom for lunch, and then dinner was spinach, smoked sausage, and egg muffins/mini quiches. Tomorrow I'm planning to make stuffed zucchini with ground turkey and onion, but lunch is probably going to be a chef's salad or something. I'm also going to ask Kent to bring home a container of fat free sour cream and a packet of Ranch mix so that I can make veggie dip and nom on the broccoli we bought the other day. I'm getting an okay amount of veggies right now, but there's always room for improvement. Which I really need to do with my water intake. >.> My hunger and thirst signals are definitely crossed right now. I was certain that I was going to need a snack before bed, but then I took a drink of water and suddenly felt fine. Ho hum.


Today's intake:
Breakfast: Two egg omelet with onion and salsa. Coffee with sugar free creamer and splenda
Snack: Natural almonds, no sugar added yogurt
Lunch: Petite filet with double helpings of balsamic mushrooms and mixed green salad
Snack: String cheese
Dinner/Dessert: Turkey smoked sausage with spinach. Egg muffin (egg, smoked sausage, green onion, little bit of cheese). Sugar free fudge pop


These fudge pop things are kind of amazing. Why did I not start keeping them in the house sooner?  

[Munkers]

Notes to self

I keep meaning to post recipes, but then I never get around to them. I think the pumpkin manicotti recipe way back is still the only thing I've shared. Blargh.

Things to share:
Egg muffins
Stuffed zucchini
Farinata/socca


I think I'll re-read some of my earlier posts and see what else I mentioned but never shared.

I'm really, really hoping that I'll see new weight loss tomorrow. As of this morning, I'm under half a pound away from my previous low. Why does any of this matter to you? Because fluid retention can make a HUGE difference in what your scale says and in how your clothes feel. I was up by five pounds AND my pants were feeling more snug, but every bit of it was water and now that it's gone, everything is back to the way it was.


Foods for today
Breakfast: Sugar free yogurt
Snack: Coffee with milk and splenda
Lunch: Didn't eat it because I woke up late and threw off my routine
Snack: Almonds, diet cranberry juice, string cheese
Dinner/Dessert: Stuffed zucchini (one plain, one with flavored fat free sour cream), mixed green salad
Snack: Turkey slices with mustard, string cheese, broccoli with more flavored sour cream  

[Munkers]

Week One Done

I'm still a slacker on the recipe front. I've made it through a week of doing South Beach Phase 1, but I think I'm going to have to call a stop to it. Our grocery budget just can't handle all three of us upping our meat consumption. I did lose the rebound weight though plus a little more. On Monday morning I weighed in at 143.8, up by 0.4 pounds after having cake at my nephew's birthday party. I can live with that.

The possibility of a plateau is still going through my mind. I'm not sure if I'm just not trying hard enough or if my body is genuinely trying to tell me that this is a weight it enjoys. I took some measurements the other day and I've lost about a half inch off my hips and lower abdomen. I think I lost a bit off my waist as well. My pants are all getting pretty loose these days which is exciting, but I don't have the money to replace my closet. Maybe I'll go bargain hunting later this week. I also need to punch holes in my old belt as it's kind of hilariously big on me now.

The other big plus from my South Beach venture is that I think I now have the confidence to tackle Weight Watcher's Core Plan (which I think they've no renamed the Simply Filling technique? Maybe?). I was concerned about eating and trusting my hunger cues to tell me when to stop, but that's what I've been doing with South Beach and I did just fine even with including more calorie dense foods like almonds and peanut butter. I think I'll go back to my points counting for the remainder of this week, continue my reading about the plan, and get a better grip on things. Then I'll weigh-in on Monday and it's off to a new adventure.