Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Finally!

After gaining gaining gaining for awhile I think my body has finally gotten the memo that we're losing weight now. That's right, calorie deficit and working out regularly equals losing the weight. Nothing dramatic or anything, just a consistent going down of the scale that's making me happy and feel like this isn't all for nothing. Just the other day I was feeling really discouraged because I have been so meticulous, but after weighing myself last night I had to remind myself that exercise and food changes usually take a couple of weeks to start showing up.

So, Body, keep up the good work. Eat that fat. And if you could concentrate on the bum and leave the boobs alone, I'd really appreciate it.

Monday, September 25, 2006

Scary Ad

I saw an ad on the Metro the other day that I found really disconcerting. I don't even remember what the ad was about, just that the woman in it was freakishly skinny. The ad showed her sitting in a chair with her laptop on her lap, her arms raised over her head in exuberance over something she saw on her laptop.

At first, I couldn't really figure out what it was about the ad that looked wrong to me. Then I realized how much her arms looked like sticks. Basically they were just her arm bones covered with skin. Then I noticed how her whole body only took up about half of a normal-sized chair. She was sitting in the center of the chair, with a quarter of the back showing past one shoulder, and another quarter next to the other shoulder.

Then I noticed the biggest problem: her torso was only a teensy bit wider than her head. This woman's body was basically the same width as her head! Does that strike anyone else as just absolutely wrong?

Is skinnier and skinnier becoming the norm in advertisements, TV and movies, or is it just me? Pretty soon we'll only see walking skeletons in the media. I think we're already seeing some of that.

Friday, September 22, 2006

Knowledge

Sometimes I hate knowing stuff. Sometimes knowing stuff does me no good. Like, for instance, today a little Googling revealed that a standard street corner soft pretzel is 390 calories.

My splurge day list keeps getting longer and longer.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Progress is Being Made

I feel like I’ve been doing pretty well lately. All last week I was very meticulous about recording everything I ate in my ediets nutritional tracker. Then I figured out the calories burned with my exercise, as well as my calorie deficit because I’m not eating 1800-1900 calories a day like I would need to in order to maintain my weight. Most days I had a calorie deficit ranging from 500-1000 calories (I just wasn’t that hungry on the -1000 calories day). As of last Wednesday I got to weigh myself from the 150 marker on the scale instead of the 200. I've been teetering at the 200 for a few weeks now.

This past weekend I moved all my stuff up to Boston. You can read all about the excursion on my other blog. So from Thursday afternoon on I wasn’t really keeping track of my food as meticulously. However, I was also hauling stuff around and stressed out in bad traffic and rain so I figure I probably didn’t do that bad. I did eat cookies on Monday night, but my ediets plan gives me a free day once a week.

Jason’s cat ate one of my Zone Perfect bars that I had brought for breakfast on Monday morning so I had to grab something to eat on my way to an interview. I got a corn muffin at Dunkin Donuts. Yes, I know, not the best choice. However, it was hot and muggy and I spent the afternoon unpacking boxes in no air conditioning, so, you know, it all works out. Right?

Yes, I know, excuses, excuses. However, last week I worked 50 hours in 3 ½ days and still managed to work out 3 times. Plus, I measured myself this morning and my hips have shrunk an inch. Yay! My boobs have also shrunk, but I’m ignoring that measurement.

Saturday, September 09, 2006

Feel the Burn

I love this stuff. Today I found a Calories Burned Estimator online. You can enter in your weight and the minutes that you do various exercises in 5 minute increments and they give you calorie burn estimates for each activity. The site also has other calculators that are fun to play with too. Well, fun if you're not in total denial about what your actual body fat and BMI are.

Do you think my desk pedaler counts for anything? Like I said, my muscles are tingley afterwards, but I don't know if that's just due to circulation increase or if there's any aerobic activity going on. Pedaling warms me up and if I'm not freezing already, I may perspire a little. I was thinking maybe the Bicycling - leisure category on the estimator might work. Stationary Bicycle - moderate seems way too vigorous.

And how's this for making a positive step? I have no work to do right now because I ran out of documents to review. I told the attorneys yesterday morning that I would be out soon and one of them emailed me and said she would give me some more. Well, now I'm totally out and no sign of a new folder. So I emailed them all again to remind them, and now I've been here 2 hours and 15 minutes with no work. The work I do is boring, but it's even more boring to be here without anything to do.

But here's the positive part: instead of sitting on my ever-expanding bum, surfing the web, I went for a walk. Downtown DC is so quiet this early on a Saturday morning. Well, comparatively quiet. There's still a little traffic and a few major construction projects jackhammering away, but it's quieter than on a weekday at this time. I walked for 25 minutes, and from prior experience I know my moderately quick walk is about 3 mph. I plugged that into my little calculator and lo and behold I burned 165 calories. Nice.

One caveat with the calculator: I think it overestimates with the elliptical. I did 40 minutes last night on resistance level 6 and the machine said I burned 438 calories. The calculator says 40 minutes on the elliptical burns 688. That's a big difference, but I think I'm going to believe the machine more since it knows how fast I was going and what the incline was and how high I made the resistance.

Friday, September 08, 2006

New Toys

First off, I wound up buying the pedaler. This one, actually:
I love it. If you're stuck at a desk for a long time every day like I am, this is a great little thing to put under your desk. Make sure your desk is kind of high, though, because otherwise your knees might be hitting the bottom. I think once I'm not working here anymore, this will be great to have at home to pedal away while I'm watching TV. And then it can come with me to my next job.

It's very quiet overall, although the second day it started squeaking a little bit. I'm going to get some WD-40 to take care of it, but the squeaking usually stops after I pedal for a few minutes and the pedals lube themselves up. Another noise hazard: if you're wearing jeans and your thighs rub together (ahem), then there will be a constant swooshy sound of fabric rubbing against fabric. Not a problem if you have your own office, or if your officemate wears headphones, like mine does. I would think regular trousers wouldn't make as much noise. I know skirts are silent because I've worn a skirt the last 2 days.

I pedaled for an hour and a half yesterday, broken up into 3 chunks throughout the day. I don't know what it's doing for me aerobically, but I can tell it's getting my circulation going as my muscles are all tingly when I finish and I usually get warmer, which is quite nice since my office is freezing. If nothing else, it gives me a little boost and wakes me up a few times a day. I've already done a half hour today.

My other new toy is an online toy: I joined ediets again. I actually joined in Spring 2005 on Dr. Phil's food plan and really enjoyed having my meals all planned for me already. Plus the recipes were yummy! I got pretty adept at substituting for things I didn't like and wound up losing about 15 pounds (all gained back now. Sigh).

This time I joined Bill Phillips's Eating for Life plan. The days are broken up into 6 mini meals, which seem to work well with my metabolism. I don't get hungry in between meals so much and I think having my metabolism constantly running makes it more efficient. I get a free day once a week, but I'm going to do my best to still eat well for 3 out of 4 of those and stick to my one splurge day a month plan.

Unfortunately because of work and trying to cram in as many hours as I can, I just don't have the time to prepare the meals. We don't have a full kitchen at work, so I'm left to do the best I can for now. For that I am using the ediets Nutrition Tracker where I'm entering in everything I eat to keep track accurately. It's kind of fun. They have an exercise tracker too, so I'm using that as well, including my pedaling. Even though I can't prep the meals right now, I'm printing off the meal plan, recipes, and grocery list for each week so that I'll have a stockpile once I get back to Boston and can cook for real.

Last year it was only $12 a month to join, but I think this time I'm paying $16. However, from what I can tell from perusing the site, I have access to more things with my basic membership than I did last year. Ediets should really hire me for marketing because I have raved about them before.

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Darn It!

I discovered Tom Ka soup yesterday as I made my way through the soup list at the local Asian take out spot. They have great hot and sour, mediocre wonton. So I gave it a go. Oh. My. Gosh. Heavenly.

I thought to myself, "There is no way something this delectable can be in any way good for me."

I just googled calories for it and they vary wildly. One site says there are 882 calories a serving, another says 241. Based on the nutrition facts I just read about coconut milk I'm inclined to believe the higher calorie counts. Darn. Guess I'll have to add Tom Ka to my splurge day list. And I was actually thinking about having some with some edamame tonight for dinner.