As I said in my mobile post - the official WW weigh in has me down 4.1 lbs! hooray!  Resiting  the fudge temptation paid off.  And, I'm going to bring all the left-over fudge with me to the New Year's Party so I can be rid of it forever.

The gym was packed this morning.  Luckily the only thing I needed to do was arms - so I didn't have to stand around and wait for a bench or squat rack.

I'm so stoked that I was able to go up on bicep curls again.  Arms have always been a struggle for me and going up in weight is a constant battle - today I felt like I 'won'! :D

(And no one laughed at me at the gym today either!)

Standing Barbell Curl:  6 x 60 x 2

Hammer Curl:  6 x 25 x 2

EZ-Curl Bar - 6 x 60

Hanging Leg Lifts:  6 , 8

Cable Kneeling Crunch:  10 x 110

Week 2 - Day 3

I was planning on running on the treadmill at the gym, but, as I said it was BUSY and not only were they full, but there was a line!  I was waiting in line, but as I stood there looking out the windows and saw the sun shining outside I decided to brave the cold and get some Vitamin D.  So, I headed home, grabbed the dog, a dozen layers of clothes and headed out.  It was cold(ish) but fantastic, and to my surprise when I came home and downloaded my watch, almost all my running intervals were over 5MPR and all my walking intervals over 3.5MPR - so I ended up with my best pace to date!  (1.9 miles in 26:46 for a 14:07 pace) And the sunshine did wonders to elevate my mood! Yay for outdoor running.  

Almost forget - did the 'test' for my chin ups - the goal is to be able to do 20 chin-up this year.  Of course I can only do assisted chin-ups right now.  So for the test, I did 7 with 155lbs of assist.  When I get to 20, I'll start from the beginning again, but at a lighter assist weight.

First official weigh in. Down 4.2 pounds.

Well, today went really well.  I was thinking there might be a little bit of a struggle but I guess last night's fight with the fudge was the worse of it.

As for the gym - it was a fantastic workout

Incline Dumbbell Press: 6 x 45 x 3
Dumbbell Bench Press: 6 x 50 x 2
Decline Dumbbell Press: 6 x 45 x 2
Dumbbell Shoulder Shrug: 10 x 75 x 2

I feel like I could actually push more weight on these, but leveraging dumbbells into place by myself is a bit of a challenge. Ah well - I'm still making improvements and that makes me happy

Almost the end of day three and the Feast Beast is starting to raise his ugly head.  It's almost always at this time during my diet that he starts to say WTF Mate.  The Feast Beast likes carbs and the simpler the better.  He started with just a little poke, a little prod -- then tonight, when I opened the fridge to take out the chicken, there, staring me in the face was fudge.  The urge to grab a piece of chocolate and shove it my mouth hit me like a punch in the stomach.  I was literally frozen in place for just a second.  But that second was all it took for the 'Real Me' to remember my goals and shut that fridge door.  Unfortunately that didn't shut down the Feast Beast.  He continued to whisper at me that "it's not the New Year yet"  and "This might be the last chance to have sugar for a long long time".  With the fridge closed it was easier to tell him to to "STFU" and get on with my evening.  Day four is usually the make or break day - I can tell ya here that I'm not going to break.

Warning!  - the video below can offend -- well, just about everyone - but it's funny.

stickK

Hey! I created a Lose Weight Commitment on stickK.  Help me stay on track by becoming my Supporter! http://bit.ly/dNANaL

The alarm went off at 5:00 and I SO didn't want to get up.  I kept hitting the snooze justifying it by thinking I didn't really HAVE to be to work until 9:30...

So, I finally drug myself out of bed just before 6:00, got my crap together and headed out the door.  Luckily, traffic is good this time of year, so I was in the gym and working out 7:02.  Back Day, lovely back day!  I like back day as much as leg day.  Except of a lingering/nagging shoulder issue, working out my back always feels great.  I've been trying to take it easy because of my shoulder, but today I just got the urge to go for it!  And... my shoulder held up and I went up on every exercise! woo hoo!

Lat Pulldown: 6 x 125, 6 x 130, 6 x 135
V Bar Pulldown: 6 x 135 x 2
Cable Row: 6 x 135 x 2
Dumbbell Row: 6 x 55
Hanging Leg Raise: 6 reps x 2 sets
Cable Crunches: 10 x 110, 6 x 110

What really surprises me though is that I went back and checked my logs from when I was working out VERY consistently in 2006 - My high for Lat Pulldowns was 125 -- High for Cable Rows:  115.  Maybe all the swimming I was doing had some advantages?  Or maybe because the chiropractor fixed the popped rib/pinched nerve in my back/shoulder?  I donno.  I just know I'm happy to see some good numbers like that.

 Then it was over to the treadmill.  Same workout as Monday.  I did the first running interval and thought "Oh my god!  I don't know if I can do this!"  My legs felt like lead and I could tell that my heart rate was MUCH higher then last time because I was huffing and puffing after just 90 seconds!  But, I gutted it out and finished the whole thing.  Yes, there was times when I had to 'grab on' to the treadmill for a second or two but I didn't lower the incline and I didn't change the speed.  1.9 miles in 29 minutes.  No, I'm not setting any speed records, but the goal is incremental improvement.  I'm 100% sure that the hard leg workout yesterday and the lower carbs/calories had a lot to do with my struggle today.  But I'm also 100% that I'm a better person for having worked through it!

In other news, I've now joined two contests (other then my own) on Weight Loss Wars with the chance of winning almost $300 (so far) if I can have the greatest weight loss %.  That's got me in a happy motivated place right now.  I'm also thinking about setting myself up a monetary challenge on Stickk.  Can't decide if I want to make it short or long term though.  I'll have to think about that one.

Oh!  and I've been getting super excited while looking through the race calender for the year.  I want to do them ALL!  The one thing I know I'm not going to be able to do is the San Francisco Sharkfest Swim.  The thing fills up fast (as in, it's full up usually in January), and I'm just not going to have the $150 in the next few weeks.  But, some things I know are going to be on my schedule is the Central Valley Oli Tri (where I PRed a few years ago)  and the Bridge to Bridge Run.  Oh! and I'm also putting the Midnight Half Marathon on my schedule because running around at midnight just seems like an awesome way to do my first Half!

Mulligan

Alright - I decided that I'm going to combine my Triathlon Blog and my Weight Loss Blog into one.

I'm calling it "Tri-ing to Lose"  and you can find it here:  http://shawn-nawlb.blogspot.com/

PS:  NAWLB = "Not Another Weight Loss Blog!"  which is kind of how I feel - lol

Hit the gym this morning and did my thing.  Leg day, one of my favorites.

Barbell Squat:  6 x 205 x 4
Leg Press:  6 x 590, 6 x 610 (still trying to find my max here)
Stiff Leg Deadlift:  6 x 175 x 3

I could feel that my legs were tired from my run yesterday, but I still managed to push the weight I wanted.

I've made more progress on a Tri Training plan.  I'm still planning on easing into it.  Focusing on weight lifting and running for right now though I'm still tempted to throw some swimming in.  I'll see how I'm feeling at the end of this week, what with the reduced calories and all.

Also in the 'good news' department my home scale says I've dropped a pound or two already! yay!  I'm interested to see what the WW scale says on Friday.  I didn't check my home scale before going WW so I don't know how different the two are.

Tired and have a headache, but, I had a 100% on plan day - woo hoo!

In other business, I set up a couple of other external influences for myself today.

I joined not one, but two challenges over at Weight Loss Wars.  One of them I created myself and is really just to keep myself accountable, but the other cost money AND has a monetary reward if you 'win'.

I also took some starting photos last night - NOT pleasant

And I found out today that I'm going to have to take them again when I start the challenge on Jan 8th.

I kind of need to anyway because the quality sucks - trying to take photos in the mirror - not good.

Oh my god - look at that wheat belly.  I can see all the crap food I've been eating.  I'm looking just like my mom and grandmother - this HAS to stop!

New pictures at the end of every month.

And last, but not least - I'm working on my race schedule and training plan for the year.  Things are going to be slowly ramping up for me, and I'mreally excited about it.

Almost forgot!

Hit the gym this morning and got my workouts in.  It was at the Mil-Gym.  It was nice and quiet, just the way I like it.  I'm really dreading next week and all the resolutioners!  Maybe I should have planned a rest week that week - heh

Anyway - I got my Shoulder/Triceps workout in:

Dumbbell Front Raises: 6 x 15, 6 x 17.5, 6 x 17.5
Seated Dumbbell Press: 6 x 40 x 3
Side Lateral Raise: 6 x 25 x 2
Triceps Press-Down: 6 x 60 x 3
Lying Triceps Extension: 6 x 50 x 2
Seated Dumbbell Extension: 6 x 60

Then I jumped on the treadmill and did week 2 of my 5K program.  Still doing 5MPR on the runs and 3.5 MPR on the walking all at 1.5% incline.

Kept the 12 Min per Mile pace up for all of the 90 second intervals so I'm still hanging with that goal - hooray!

I'm trying to get back into the habit of logging/blogging...

The good news is, unlike other times when a laps in my blogging meant a laps in my focus - I've actually been doing very well.  Well, on workouts at least.

Wednesday was a back workout:

Lat Pull-down: 6 x 125, 6 x 125, 6 x 130
V Bar Pull-down: 6 x 130, 6 x 130
Cable Row: 6 x 130, 6 x 130
Kneeling One-Arm Row: 6 x 50

Followed by an interval run/walk following the Podrunner series.  I'm following the program using 5 MPR (12 min mile) for the running portion and 3.5 MPR for the walking.  I'm hoping that'll allow me to do a 5K at a 12 Min per mile pace.  We'll see - I managed to keep up the pace for the whole 60 seconds of each interval, so that's good.

Thursday was a Back and Traps at my 'other gym' in Sacramento:

Incline Dumbbell Press: 6 x 45 x 3
Dumbbell Bench Press: 6 x 50 x 2
Decline Dumbbell Press: 6 x 45 x 2

Dumbbell Shoulder Shrug: 10 x 70 x 2

Friday was a holiday but I hit the gym anyway - it was Arms and Abs day:

Barbell Curl - 6 x 55 x 2
Hammer Curl - 6 x 25
Close Grip Ez-Curl Bar - 6 x 60 x 2
Hanging Leg Lifts - 6 x 2sets
Cable Kneeling Crunch - 10 x 100 x 2

Weirdest thing happened at the gym though.  I was standing, doing my workout when this guy walked passed.  He was staring, so I did what I normally do, I smiled (a little) and nodded.  The guy started laughing!  He looked me up and and down and then laughed so more before walking away.  I still have NO IDEA what that was about - but oh well.  I shrugged it off and went back to my workout.

I was supposed to get one more run in over the weekend - but that didn't happen.  I didn't feel like running on Christmas Day, I was too busy enjoying having all my kids over, and Sunday we spent all day walking around Six Flags so I feel like I at least got a workout in.

As for nutrition.  Well, it's sucked.  Let's just say I've enjoyed the holiday and leave it at that.

But, I do want to talk about my plan for a minute.

Remember, back at the beginning of this blog when I mentioned ADHD?  Well, I'm sure what I'm going to say here is going to seem very much in line with that.

First thing is:  I joined Weight Watchers.  I know, I know, by now you've counted three different nutritional plans that I've mentioned, and I've only been blogging for about a week!  But, hear me out.

I know that I do best when there's some sort of external pressure associated with a goal, or task.  Weight Watchers has a public weigh-in/forum as part of their program and THAT is the portion of their system that I am using.  I'm also playing with the online site and smart phone ap.  The new WW program places emphasis on whole foods, fruits and vegetables, and I'm thinking I can use the points system to do a fairly simple weighed and measured Paleo Plan.

And what about Medi-fast?  That's not very peleo, and frankly I have always felt a little guilty while on the program.  Yes, I see results and I see them quickly, but I've always wondered at what cost.  So, I'm going to spend this week 100% on Medi-fast and any left over food I have will be emergency food for those days I forget or get too lazy to pack a lunch.  No excuse to head down to the Burger King when I've got a high protein tomato soup sitting in my lunch drawer that I can eat instead.

To that end I've got 6 dinners per week planned on a calendar along with recipes and shopping lists.

One other thing I would like to note - the more exercise I do, the more I want to do!  lol!  I've found myself wanting to add more work on my 'weight lifting only' days.  I've noticed that I have access to a gym with a pool at least two days a week (once at my Sac gym on Thursdays and then either day on the weekend).  Maybe it's time to add a little aqua cardio to my program?

Ooooooor - maybe I'll reign my ADHD self in and finish my running program instead! lol  I've got plenty of time after this 5K in Feb to roll back into some swimming and biking.   Let's just say that Tri's are starting to call my name again.  And it's a nice feeling.

It's Tuesday, and workout wise, everything has been going well.

Sunday before bed I made sure that I had my phone charged, my podcasts loaded and my headphones working.  I also loaded up a yoga session (just in case) and threw my heart monitor and garmin watch inside my bag so that I was all ready to start back into the cardio training.  The next morning I hit the gym nice and early only to discover to my ultimate frustration that I had left my phone at home along with my headphones, watch and heart rate strap! So, basically my entire workout was over 40 miles away :(  I headed in anyway and did a workout from my head.  When I checked back later, it wasn't that far off from what I had planned.

Front Lat Raises:  6 x 15, 6 x 15, 6 x 20
Dumbbell Shoulder Presses:  6 x 40 x 2
Side Lat Raises:  6 x 25, 6 x 27.5
Lying Triceps Presses: 50 x 6, 55 x 6
Seated Triceps overhead press:  50 x 6

Then I went over to the Treadmill, warmed up for 5 minutes, pushed the incline up to 1.5% and did intervals - 2 minutes running, 3 minutes walking for 25 minutes.  After 30 minutes I had gone 1.8 miles.  Not too bad for a first day back.

This morning I hit the gym bright and early once again.  It was leg day - that always makes me happy.

Squat:  6 x 205 x 4
Leg Press:  6 x 560, 6 x 580
Stiff Leg Deadlift:  6 x 175 x 3

Felt tired but GREAT after all of that.

The food front hasn't been as great.  I got my new shipment of Medifast meals on Friday and I was really excited about all the new stuff like pancakes!

Friday night I went shopping and got a big load of meat and veg for my one 'lean and green' meal per day and I felt ready.

However, Friday night also started the great bake off.  Rum Balls, Oatmeal Cookies, Gingerbread Cookies, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Biscotti etc all went into my oven - and portions of each also went into my mouth!

Saturday started well with Medifast pancakes, and a bar early in the day, but I folded when we went to the Dicken's Faire and bought a bag of cinnamon and sugar roasted almonds.  Later in the day I topped all that off with more baking and more 'tasting'

Sunday started with a brunch for a friend's birthday and ended with more baking and more tasting.  By the time I woke up on Monday morning, I had a terrible stomach ache weighed 220 lbs!  up almost 3 lbs from a week ago - DARN HOLIDAYS!

Yesterday, my lunch(s) were at home (along with my phone) but I had a bunch of meals stashed in a drawer at work so I figured I would be ok.  And I was.  I even got my husband to fix dinner so that it was ready and waiting for me when I got home.  But, then there was more baking and more cookies and more batter testing and bleh!

Of course there's the chance that going heavy at the gym is putting some of this weight on me, but certainly not all of it.  I just know I'll be glad when the holidays and all the partying and cooking is done! Cause apparently my will power isn't enough to overcome the magnetic pull of sugar cookie batter!

I would hate to think what I would weigh if I wasn't 'dieting' while eating all this cookie dough! lol!

My goal right now is not to beat myself up over my less then perfect start and keep working to make each day a bit better then the day before.  I'm in this for the long haul and that means learning to live life - and sometimes living means enjoying a fresh baked cookie (or three)

Happy Holidays All!

Hi, and welcome to my blog.

Despite the fact that this is my first post here, this is hardly my first blog, so, on the off chance that you’re interested in a little history, I’ll point you to those old posts.

In Dec 2002 I decided to start a Body-for-Life challenge and to chronicle my progress through the 12 week contest.  Little did I know that that little blog would turn into a 8 year chronicling of the ups and downs of weight loss. 

My highest weight in that time:  240lbs

My lowest weight:  170

I also had a lot of posts about weight lifting and what I was doing at the gym.

But through all those years, no ‘ultimate success’.

In Oct 2008, I joined Team and Training and signed up to do a triathlon (at 240lbs).  I started a blog to chronicle my training as a way for folks to track me and (hopefully) donate money to the cause I was supporting, the leukemia lymphoma society.  When I finished the training and did the race I found I had been bitten by the triathlon bug, and the blog stayed up as I chronicled my races and struggles.

I struggled with keeping both blogs going and keeping relevant information on the appropriate blog.  Then, 2010 hit and I fell into a big giant slump.  Both blogs went ‘dark’.

And, so, here we are, on the edge of 2011 and I’m finding myself on a journey again.  I’ve been hitting the gym regularly ala my ‘Body for Life’ days, I’ve started a regimented diet, and I’ve signed up for a 5k race in Feb.  It just seemed to be a good time to pull all my thoughts into one place and start the new year with a bright shiny new blog.  And this, my friends, is it.

So, what is this blog about then?

It’s about a lot of things.  It’s about my getting to my goal weight – and staying there.  It’s about getting strong and getting fit, and getting my head in a good place.  And it’s about laughing a little along the way.

Who am i?

Well I’m a wife to a wonderful, amazing, and supportive husband, a mom to three great kids.  (22, 19, 17) and I work full time as an IT Project Manager.

Where am I at?

I weighed in on Monday at 217.2 lbs.  I’m going to the gym 5 days a week and using a training program called Max-OT.  I’m on a diet program called “Medifast”, because it’s simple and works for me, but I believe long term that the Paleo/Primal lifestyle is the way to go and it’s where I plan to live my ‘maintenance life’.   I’m currently signed up for a 5K in February and I’ll be starting a couch to 5K program next week.  As I’ve worked/struggled with my weight over the years, it’s become apparent to me that I’m a food addict, there will be portions of this blog that is related to that.  I’ve also recently come to suspect that I have ADHD.  So, as I learn more and get skills to deal with that, I’ll post here as it relates to my fitness and weight loss journey.

Where do I want to be?

Weight wise I want to get to 130 lbs.  2011 is the year I reach that number.  While I do that, I’m going to maintain, if not improve my overall strength (muscle mass).   Later in the year I’m going to return to training for and competing in triathlons.  I want to go back to some of the old tris I did and beat my time.  As I drop the weight, that should get easier and easier to do.

Please, feel free to post questions, comments, encouragement or… whatever… but realize that my blog is really a journal for me.  A way for me to take stock, record my journey and explore my own thoughts and feelings.  Although I might entertain/enlighten someone along the way, it’s not my primary focus, and if you don’t like the way or content that I post, I’m OK with that.  Don’t expect me to change.

2010 - kicked my ***

So here's the deal...

2010 wasn't so great a year for me.  I lost focus, stopped training and gained back some of the weight I had lost in 2009.

On the flip side I did get some things accomplished.  I moved, I got a new less stressful, better jobs AND in the past few months I've started going back to the gym.

I feel like I've regained focus and that I'm on track to get back to being an athlete again!

That being said, I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do with this blog.  It started as a way to chronicle my training as I went through Team in Training for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society.   Then, as I found I liked doing Tris, and wanted to continue doing them, I kept posting to this blog about my Tri tribulations.

However, this was only a small window of the 'big picture' of my 'athletic life' and I actually had an older blog that I was maintaining that had years and years of my weight/training struggles posted to it. I found myself struggling to decide what to post to that blog and what to post to this one.  I didn't want them to be mirrors of each other, and was trying to keep information that was related to the 'subject' of the blog on each blog.

As you might guess, with two subjects so closely intertwined, it got difficult and as my motivation fell, so did my posts.

Now I'm left with a quandary.  As I start to ramp back up in both endeavorers, getting fit and losing weight what do I do with these blogs?  Do I continue them, but keep them separate?  Do I retire one or the other of them?  Or, do I close them both and start a third blog with the focus being my entire 'fitness' journey.

Given that my posting has been so sporatic that neither of these blogs get much of a 'visit' I think the third option might just be a good idea and a great 'clean slate' for 2011.