March 27: Complicated!

It has been a couple months since I've posted measurements, so I'm doing so today. :) I am not super thrilled with what the numbers show, but what I AM happy about... is that I am CREEPING towards being under 200 pounds!! 4 more pounds to go!!! :) LOL. it's kind of funny, you'd think I'd be a little embarassed to be publicly throwing my weight out there like some girls probably would be.... but you know what... it's called confidence. ;)  I could care LESS what the scale says, because my mirror is looking GOOD! :P Hehe...

Seriously though, I really do feel absolutely amazing.  I look and feel entirely different than I did a year ago, and I'm loving it. My clothes fit way better, I have tons more energy, I just feel stronger & healthier in every way!

So, two months ago, I started lifting at the gym. At that time, I was also in kickboxing classes. Those only lasted a few weeks, and then I was just doing the lifting for an hour a day. I have been consistent with that, and can feel myself getting stronger... and it's only been 2 months! The past couple of weeks I've been re-adding the 30 minutes to an hour of cardio that I did last year each day, because I know that's the ticket to losing this weight. Cardio plus weights.

 I have also been aiming to stick to a low-carb diet. The first few days were confusing, because I didn't realize how many carbs are in most foods. Fruit, Yogurt, Cottage Cheese, etc, etc....many things that you'd think are healthy..... it's baffling! But I found some awesome low-carb wraps that I love... I even had a reuben on one of those wraps on St.Patricks day, and let me tell you... it was AMAZING. I just had a little of the thousand island dressing on it... it was low fat/ lower carb thousand island dressing I found. Seriously, as long as I keep finding ways to incorporate some yummy things into this lower carb diet... I could totally foresee myself sticking to it! 

I'm not gonna lie, I have had 'bad' days. Yesterday for example, the kids chose to go to the Drive In to eat which just re-opened for the 'spring/ summer' [ even though there's still ten feet of snow outside. :P  ].... and there, I had a small root beer, and a burger. :S I didn't feel super horrible about it, because I have enough self control to have something like that once a month or so, and not crave it or want it any other times. I have definitely craved some carbs in the afternoon.. it's usually around 2-3pm when that happens... but I've been decent about not giving in. I've had days where I'd have a granola bar or something, and then I'd kick myself in the butt for it... I felt so bad! 
 

The thing that I find super interesting is the fact that.. now that I'm watching carbs, I'm realizing HOW MANY CARBS I was eating before!! Even over the past year when I was dieting, for a snack I would have 2  peanut butter toast on whole grain bread sometimes... and yes, that's a LOT of carbs. 


I was very skeptical of the whole 'low carb' idea for over a year.... when I first met people who tried talking me into trying it, I thought they were crazy. With my reasearch, one thing  I'm finding is that going low carb is a really good way to cut fat. What I've read is that when your body doesn't have those carbs for energy, it burns your fat for energy instead.  

Strangely, I'm still sort-of in the skeptical phase to a point. In the sense that, I do think it's okay to have SOME carbs. Not A TON like I was, unknowingly, before. But I think that if I have a greek yogurt... which has like 30 carbs per serving.... I don't think that's a horrendous thing, is it? I haven't been having more than around 30 grams of carbs despite my skepticism....because I want to see if this really works. However a part of me  feels like your body needs SOME whole grain,  nutritional carbs to function normally. I don't know, call me crazy! I'm still trying to figure it all out. I have talked to my dietician about carb cycling, and cutting carbs, and he thinks it's bad to mess with your body like that.

The frustrating part is, there are 'scientific' articles alll over the internet stating how cutting carbs is a good thing.... and likewise, there are articles stating that cutting carbs is a very bad thing. It's just frustrating that things can't be more straight forward. Everyone's body is different, and what works for one person doesn't necessarily work for us all, so I'm just trying to figure out what works best for me. I know for sure that cutting a huge amount of the sugar and carbs has made me feel really good. I used to have like 2-3 coffee's a day, with 2 sugars and 2 liquid creamer cups.... and now I realize just how many carbs & sugar that was right there.. a lot. *sigh* Not having sugar has honestly made me wayyyy less moody. When I have delved into a little more sugar, I have had a really bad headache. That seems to kind of tell me that my body was addicted to sugar... and that I'm pretty much un-addicted now. The headache I get from sugar now isn't even worth it!

It's just a struggle figuring it all out. I want to be the healthiest I can, I want to be in good shape... I will do ANYTHING that works here.... I just wish it wasn't so complicated!

 

So, here goes with my measurements::::: Starting with the last ones I took, in January:

January 27, 2014

Current Weight 207

Waist:  36.5"

Hips :  46"

Neck: 14"

Forearm over birthmark: 10.5"

Upper Arm: 12.5"

Calf : 17"

Mid thigh: 20"

Upper Thigh: 25.5"

Body fat %: 46.12 %




March 27, 2014

Current Weight: 203

Waist: 36.5"

Hips: 45"

Neck: 13.8"

Forearm over birthmark: 10.5"

Upper Arm: 13.5"

Calf: 17"

Mid thigh: 21.5'

Upper Thigh: 26"

Body fat %:  45.29




LOL the funny thing is, a few of my measurements went UP  about an inch for the first time since I've been measuring [ Upper arms, mid & upper thigh ] yet my clothes are looser than ever and I'm feeling my best yet!! :)
 

I'm thinking I am going to make an appointment with my doctor to check all my 'stats', see how healthy I am, and see if they can actually figure out my actual body fat percentage. The only way I come up with the above percentages, is by an online calculator where you input your neck inches, waist inches, weight, and height. I'm not 100% convinced of it's accuracy considering everyone has a different body type & such. So my goal for this month is to really check into things and see where I'm at here.


Well,  hopefully things will be even better in a couple more months! Honestly, I don't see how they couldn't with everything I'm doing. I would LOVE to be at like 199 at least... hahah.... like I said I don't care about the number so much, but it would kind of feel good to be under 200 for the first time in almost 8 years!!! I already weigh way less than I have in 8 years, so that's something. :) 

A few changes!

<<  For real though!


Hey guys!

So, it's been a few weeks since I posted last. I have been doing really well with everything, I think!

One thing that has noticeably made me feel different/ better in the past few weeks, is that I've changed my eating habits A LOT. I *thought* I was doing the right things.... around 1600 calories, low-fat, whole grains, yogurts, fruits, veggies.

However, I have heard from a few different sources that going low-carb, high-protein is the way to go. I'm finding this to be true. I used to think that things like nonfat cottage cheese, bananas, greek yogurt, whole grain pasta, granola bars, etc were all really good things to have throughout the day. Do you have any idea how many carbs are in all of that stuff?! A LOT.

The main reason I never really went low carb before despite the fact that everyone said it was the way to go, is I didn't know/ understand WHY it's the way to go. I'm one of those stubborn people who needs to know 'why' before I do things. I need to know how things work, before just taking other people's word for things.

Basically, by eating low carb.. your body resorts to burning stored fat for energy, rather than carbohydrates. That's what I gather from what I've read, in a nutshell. I've also read that it can cause moodiness and hormone fluctuations. LOL... which I've gotta say, I think may be true. Especially at first... it was strangely emotional not eating carbs. :P

What I personally aim to do, is eat as little of carbs as possible. If I'm going to incorporate carbs, I try to do that around lunch time or so. Not dinner. However, I have had a serving of whole grain noodles at dinner time, or a low carb wrap. I try to keep my carb count low, eat every 2-3 hours or so, something small. Typically I'm finding my carb intake to be under 30g carbs for the day. I've read that under 50-150g is actually considered 'low carb' as well, so if I go over the 30 I don't beat myself up, I just aim to stay low.

I haven't been having any sugar or liquid creamer in my coffee, either. The powder creamer I use is less than 1 carb per serving so I measure out 2 servings, and typically only have 1 coffee a day anyways. 2 tops. Then one day last week I had a cookie, because Deslin picked a box of 'red velvet' cookies out at the store just for me, because he thought I'd love them. So I had to have one. I got a headache almost immediately, felt sick, disappointed in myself, and strangely..... anytime in the past few months when I've had a cheat meal... I almost feel hungover!! Just nauseous and dizzy, and sick! So strange. So, that really helps me stay on track with eating right too.

As far as working out goes... I've been doing great. One new thing I've been doing is I have a notebook where I have 6 pages full of workouts. One page per workout day. They are Chest/ tricep, Shoulders/abs, Legs, Bicep/Tricep, Abs at-home workout, and Back / Bicep.

I've been doing these workouts since I started at the gym, but I added a few that I found on bodybuilding.com, and my 'my fitness buddy' app. Each workout lasts an hour, and I've been doing cardio afterwards.  This past week I've been making sure that I get my cardio in. I had been slacking on that for a while, but it's time to get my head back in the game & get on that.

I've also been writing down the date, and what body area I'm working out that day in a different section of the notebook, so I can keep track of what I should be doing and in what order.. as well as how much cardio I'm getting. So far here's what I've done since I've been keeping track::


2/24: Back/ Bicep
2/25: Chest/ Tricep
2/26: Legs
2/27: Shoulders/ Abs
2/28: Off-out of town
3/1: Bicep/ Tricep + 1 hr elliptical
3/2: Legs
3/3: off- Worked 11-7 and didn't make it.
3/4: Back/ Bicep + 1 hr elliptical
3/5: Chest/ Tricep
3/6: Abs at home + 30 min elliptical
3/7: Off- skating show weekend
3/8: Off- Skating show weekend
3/9: Legs
3/10: Shoulders/ Abs + 1 hr elliptical
3/11: Tricep/ Bicep + 40 min elliptical
3/12: Back/ Bicep + 30 min elliptical.


I'm pretty happy with how things are going I'd say. One thing I do want to do maybe in a couple weeks, is start a workout program from bodybuilding.com, and see how that goes. There's one called " Jamie Eason's Live Fit Trainer" that I'm thinking I'm going to try. It's a 12 week program and I think it'll be good to change things up a bit soon. She has specific work outs for each day, along with a basic meal guide... which types of food to eat and when. She also encourages eating every 2-3 hours like I already am, lots of egg whites & veggies.. nothing too different from what I'm already doing besides the workouts are just a little bit different. Won't hurt to try! :)

Anyways that's about all I have for now. One of these days I need to take current measurements & post them. I am most definitely seeing and feeling changes... for example, the other day I flexed my hip muscles and it was so funny, because I don't think I've ever had noticeable hip muscles before. lol...and my legs are much more toned, my butt is taking on more shape. I'm just loving this!!!! :)