Another “What I Ate Wednesday” Busted!

May 2, 2012 by Leave a Comment

It’s not that I don’t want to share my food logs — I really want the accountability – but today’s not sharing issues are technology related. Apparently, I can print a report from MyFitnessPal.com, but can’t save it as a pdf. Some of that is a limitation of the website, the rest is a software issue on my part.

I’ll continue to try to find an easy and inexpensive way to do this, but suffice it to say that:

  • The entire week wasn’t perfect, especially the weekend
  • After I took Sunday to cook, clean and re-focus, Monday and Tuesday have been much better

Restated from Sunday, these are my goals for this week (M-Su):

  1. No ice cream or trail mix
  2. Eat at least one vegetable every day
  3. Work out every weekday morning
  4. Do at least one day vegan

This is the best recap I can do during my lunch hour, but again, I will continue to work on saving the food log as a pdf so I can share. Whether or not you want to see it isn’t the issue, but my accountability is…

 

Filed Under: Healthy Eating/Nutrition Tagged With: , , ,

What a Week (What I Ate Wednesday Delayed)

April 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment

For the record, the past week is one I don’t want to repeat:

  1. To start out, it was Earth Day week. For environmental folks like me, that week – heck, the entire month of April, really – is THE busy time. Like first week of school for teachers or the week before the election for candidates.
  2. Wednesday, Sister came home to find blood all over the house from Cebu. She had hemorrhagic gastroenteritis, and she almost died. Between Four Paws and the SC Veterinary Emergency Clinic, we spent some major time with vets. We also shed a lot of tears and lost a lot of sleep. (She is now home and recovering nicely, though.)
  3. We attended a memorial service for Dad. He donated his body to MUSC, and every year, they have a memorial service for the families. It was coordinated and all parts of the service done by medical students, and it was surprisingly touching and emotional. I think I cried more there than I did at Dad’s “funeral.”
  4. As if there was not enough chaos in my life, I decided to try a new nutrition and exercise tracking app, Lose It. It’s not NEARLY as good as My Fitness Pal, so I only did it for a short time. Still, what I DID find time to record is in two different programs.

I hate to make excuses, but 1-4 is why there is no “What I Ate Wednesday” posting today. Things have slowed down, Cebu is home and my emotions are back in check, so next week, there WILL be my accountability posting.

 

Filed Under: Healthy Eating/Nutrition Tagged With: , , ,

Transparency Tuesday Leads to “What I Ate ” Wednesday

April 18, 2012 by 2 Comments

Not everything in this ongoing lifestyle change has been fun, easy or pretty, and I try not to use this blog as a place to moan about it. But to have an open and honest forum about the challenges of eating clean and working out, I probably need to share some of those bumps in the road. And the last week or so has been plenty bumpy. Yesterday, I was going to discuss some of those bumps, and title the blog Transparency Tuesday, but Tuesday became Wednesday before I could do it. So now it is Wednesday, and while I am still planning to be transparent about the issues I’ve been having, I also have a possible solution: What I Ate Wednesday.

On March 7, I had the last meeting with my fab nutrition counselor and friend, Traci. I continue to work out with Daniel twice a week and put into practice what Traci taught me, I just don’t meet with her every Wednesday. Instead of asking her to help me face challenges, I’m figuring out how to face them on my own. Instead of having her as a sounding board, I’m having to be my own sounding board. And instead of having her review my food and exercise logs, I’m…uh, well, I’m…not providing the same oversight she did, how about that?

I am still using My Fitness Pal to log my food, water and exercise. Every day except one, I was faithful to the log, writing it all down, the good AND the bad. What I am missing, though, is the accountability; Traci isn’t there to tell me to eat more vegetables or that I’ve had one too many splurges. This has made it easier for me to “loosen up” a little. And while there’s nothing wrong with that, I am determined to 1) stay healthy by maintaining my weight loss, workout schedule and healthy habits; and 2) lose about eight more pounds to reach a final goal weight of 132, exactly 100 lbs. lighter than the 232 recorded on my driver’s license.

Relaxing After Vigorous Evening Lakeside Walk

So, you may wonder, how bad has she blown it?? Not nearly as bad as I would have you think. I did take a trip to Wisconsin that threw me off a little. I ate well there, and I exercised, too. But the time change, along with exercising at night instead of in the morning, threw me off when I got home. I missed a training session or two, and I didn’t do cardio five to six times a week. The most interesting thing? When I don’t exercise in the morning, everything else is thrown off. I don’t get my eight to ten glasses of water in, because I usually get most of those during that morning workout. My energy level is thrown off, and I’m more apt to sneak an ice cream or extra piece of Dove.

Badger State Birthday Cake Ice Cream

While I’m being transparent, ice cream really deserves its own paragraph. I treated myself to one heck of a fabulous ice cream in Wisconsin, produced with local dairy and other ingredients. And while an occasional treat is good, all of a sudden, I became an ice cream monster. I went to Baskin Robbins a time or two (or three), and I even bought a half-gallon for the house. I even caught myself saying that I would have just one more before I “got back on track.” That was the old me talking, not the Lean Green MP.

The exercise suffered a little over the past couple of weeks, but there is still some accountability since I do see Daniel twice a week. The third time I overslept and asked for advice on how to reset my internal clock, Daniel politely, but firmly texted, and I quote, “Man up…because I know you can.” (And I have!)

So, since I apparently miss the accountability, my solution is “What I Ate Wednesday.” Starting next Wednesday, I’m going to publish my weekly food/exercise logs. Not that I expect anyone to read them, but by publishing them on the blog, I am a little more accountable. I know I will be less likely to have ice cream three times in one week. (Yes, Traci, I did really have ice cream three times in a week. But I DID write it down.) Why Wednesday? Wednesday is the day that I met with Traci for 16 months. I’m used to a Wednesday to Tuesday week, so I’ll stay on that schedule. Hopefully, this will provide me a little more accountability and get me fully back on track.

On a related note, Traci hasn’t gone AWOL just because I’ve finished her part of the program, and that really means a lot to me. We email back and forth several times a week and have chatted on the phone regularly, too. Yesterday was her early morning, and while I was outside pulling a weighted sled, she walked with me and reminded me that I could do this. We’re even working on a few Doctors Wellness Center projects together. So while I may have officially her as a nutrition counselor, I’ve kept her as both a supporter and a friend.

We’ve all had slip ups and setbacks. My weakness has been ice cream; what is yours? How do you get yourself back on track? How do you keep yourself accountable with your eating and exercise?

Filed Under: Fitness/Exercise, Healthy Eating/Nutrition, Healthy Lifestyle, Motivation Tagged With: , , , , ,