Shrinking Sisters

Rest and recovery, with a little weight loss thrown in

How best to heal exercise-related injuries? My body decided that I should catch a big, stinkin' head cold. That way, if my exercise guilt got the best of me, I wouldn't be able to breathe through a workout.

Smart, eh?

This has been the extent of my physical activity this week.

So I'm sitting on my can, blowing my nose and re-evaluating my workout choices.

I've been jogging once or twice a week with absolutely no issues, plus doing various strength, yoga and aerobics DVDs the rest of the week.

But three weeks into my weekly Zumba class, my left shoulder ached, my left elbow burned and my right knee feels like someone wrung it out like a wet sock.

Yes, I'm wearing the right shoes and the Zumba class is on a smooth surface. But I dance like nobody's business and tend to fling limbs with abandon.

(Can you get Zumba Elbow?)

I haven't done anything active since the weekend, which was 20,000 steps at Universal Florida and mini golf the next day, and all the wonky parts are feeling better.

But I'm bummed, because I really like Zumba. Perhaps I like it too much.

But all is not Sudafed and moping -- I actually lost 4 freakin' pounds this past week. QVC had a sale on a Nutrisystem Weekends Off plan and I bought it. I've been trying to "automate" my meals anyway with a lot of healthy no-brainers like smoothies and protein bars, and Nutrisystem has come a long way in the quality of its food, even including a daily whey protein shake to the plan to pump up the protein. 

Nice thing about weekends off is that on the weekends, I'm not really off off. But if there's something I want during the week that's not on the plan, I say to myself "fit it in on the weekend."

This feels do-able, for the first time in a long time.

I like the idea of "not right now." In fact, there's a blog post that I frequently refer back to year after year, from The Skinny Daily Post. There are so many quotable passages from this post but I'll leave you with this:

When it’s always available, choosing not to have it right now is just a choice.

I am my own weight-loss guru

Funny thing happened on the way to today's blog post. Last week I thought I'd be telling you about the miraculous amount of weight I lost following a new book's plan that promised a pound lost a day. I was psyched and bought all the groceries and printed out the high-intensity workout plan.

Three days in, I found that I had gained 2 pounds.

Five days in, not wanting to make things worse, I went back to my own plan -- the plan that allowed me to lose three pounds the week before.

Why do we I keep falling for the latest, greatest books/supplements/foods/DVDs/etc., when the best expert is right under our noses (or is our noses)?

In the run-up to starting the plan, I was excited yet calm in the notion that my days would be planned out for me. Turns out, that calm I felt helped me NOT do those self-sabotaging things that get me in trouble (hello, nighttime eating!).

But I've already been doing that. At the start of the year (and I keep writing about it) I got a copy of the book The Simple Diet and I jumped head-first into the plan that keeps things really simple -- shakes, bars, frozen entrees and 5 servings of produce a day. The only tweak I made was to sub out a home-cooked dinner, within the plan's calorie and protein parameters.

So I'm back on my own plan -- the plan that was working before I went on the plan that backfired. And the fretting over the weight gain is replaced by the renewed calm in knowing that I AM MY OWN WEIGHT-LOSS GURU. (Ommmmmm...)

But I did pull some ideas from the other plan:

• Oatmeal is a really filling breakfast -- even a measly package of instant.
• An apple and a small handful of almonds makes a great snack and it's totally portable.
• If you split up your water 16 ounces at a time for every meal and snack, you'll get through 10 glasses in no time.
• The lunch was great and it gave me a whole new appreciation for sprouts, which I hadn't bought in ages. (I bought the spicy sprouts.) It consists of a couple pieces of Ezekiel bread, which I spread with a 100-calorie pack of Wholly Guacamole. Then I put on a big pile of sprouts, some baby spinach and a big slice of tomato with a sprinkle of True Lime granulated lime juice.

Lesson learned: I need to stop getting in the way of myself. (Haven't I said that before?)

Escape from Lazy Town!

We're long past the Nickelodeon shows in our household (I miss me some 'toons!), but Lazy Town was one of my favorites. The Icelandic import had a great message for the kiddies: Get off your butts and do something!

The past couple of weeks, I have been the Queen of Lazy Town (you can see me reigning over my kingdom in the Photoshop monstrosity above). The constant keeping my eye on the ball and obsession with weight loss can get tiring, especially when you've been doing it for 40 (yup, yup) years.

So, even though I've been tracking my food in SparkPeople and getting in three to four days of workouts, my head has not been in the game. And when that happens I don't lose weight -- not one ounce. But I don't gain either, so at least there's that.

So today, I'm leaving Lazy Town and getting back on track. I'm going to get back to working out every weekday and giving myself the weekends off from deliberate exercise. If some sneaks in over the weekend, then it's a bonus.

And I need to cut back on the calories, which I find difficult because I don't lose weight at 1,500 calories (sucks!). That means smaller meals and fewer and smaller snacks. So I'll be hitting the (water) bottle more often to stifle the growling stomach.

I reminded myself this morning that not that many years ago I was stuck at 260 pounds and now I'm stuck in the 230s so there has been some progress.

But if I want to see new progress, I need to buy a one-way ticket away from Lazy Town.

Working out with a trainer... and I didn't vomit

My good friend, Sara, who is an awesome SAT instructor, is also an amazing trainer.  She recently had a baby (6-8 weeks ago) and is back to her pre-baby weight -- probably even less.  She approached me at my desk last week to help me to lose my baby weight, with her direction, and I said yes (my baby is 12 years old).

We tried this before -- boot camp style, where she triumphantly made me vomit (my proudest Biggest Loser moment), But we stopped -- her pregnancy, my move, her move, we couldn't get it together -- until yesterday.

I warmed up on the elliptical (the machine I love to hate -- or hate to love) then did upper-body weight work mixed with cardio.  I've never trained with a trainer before and to have her there, pushing me, made all of the difference in the world.

The gym at my apartment has all of the same equipment that she has, but in the hands of an experienced professional, it all made sense. I look at the stack of free weights, and the combo machine and I'm lost.  With Sara's guidance, I felt like a pro.

This was just day 1.  I've commited to Sara two days a week with her training, and four days on my own.  I'm excited to be doing resistance training -- I can figure out cardio on my own.

Tuesdays and Thursdays -- my promise to myself and to Sara. 

If you punish yourself, you're gonna get bruised

That is the inside of my upper right arm and a ridiculously colorful and large bruise. I got it after falling off my Bosu ball Saturday morning.

It's also the exact moment when I decided to stop punishing myself because the scale wasn't moving. I've been beating myself up the past few months and now I've got the black and blue marks to prove it somewhat metaphorically (I also have a bruise on my left calf and my backside).

I've been absolutely wonderful on the exercise component and good on the food component, but nighttime snacking was probably unraveling all the work I did with exercise. We all know that too many calories can completely undo any fitness plan.

I've been so stressed about "performing" on the scale that I believe (definitely not scientific) my body was hanging onto every pound. When I decided to not worry about the number on the scale and just eat and exercise like a normal person, I stepped on the scale this morning and lost a pound.

I tend to make my diet far too difficult than it needs to be. Did I eat protein? Is it time to have a snack? Am I even hungry? Should I wait until I get hungry?

Gaaahhh.

Meal time became too complicated and fraught with indecision. So I'm going back to The Simple Diet -- Dr. James Anderson's book and plan that came out in January. He realizes that his eating plan isn't a lifetime thing -- just something brainless to get the weight off. And I really, really like smoothies and protein bars, so it's something I can live with and not have to engage my overactive brain. (You can read more about Anderson and his plan HERE.)

And heck, even my beloved Arctic Zero can figure into the plan -- a pint of it is 150 calories and 15 grams of protein, which would count as a meal-replacement shake.

So that's where my head is at this week, and it feels much better.

Birthday week wrap-up: Pilates and pounds

Stick a fork in it: Back to reality.

How quickly can you gain weight? I'm asking because I stepped on the scale this morning after a weekend of birthday party food and the ensuing leftovers.

5 pounds. Zoinks.

In the past, I'd mope around all day lamenting the gain and wondering how I'll ever get back on track, given that we still have pizza, taquitos, potato chips, birthday cake and assorted evil dips lingering in the kitchen.

But not now. I realize that some of the gain is the "false fat" of sodium and starchy carb bloat (the rest is pizza grease). It's not how I normally eat and I've gotten the thrill of the food out of my system. So that 5 pounds should disappear pretty quickly.

Pretty evolved thinking for a "career dieter." But getting my head in this place took a lot of work, talking things out with my Weight Shrink.

Yet, the thought that someone's healthy eating plan can go so far off the rails in such a short period of time boggles the mind. This is why I can't take my eye off the ball for one second. I did and 5 pounds flew on.

But they will come off.

So, the Pilates part of the headline, what's up with that?

I've avoided Pilates for awhile because of my non-curvy neck.  A lot of the moves are just impossible because I don't bend that way. But after a trip to the Cleveland Clinic walk-in clinic last week for back pain, I knew I had to attack my core strength and stabillity. I don't usually have back pain but this little twinge was bugging me and I was obsessing about it. I mentioned the Pilates to the physician's assistant and she agreed that it'd be good for my core, and in turn, my back. (Don't you love when medical-types suggest exercise instead of drugs?)

I've always wanted to do a "real" Pilates workout, in a studio with the reformers and boxes and barrels. So as a birthday present to myself, I bought 10 sessions at a local studio.

Wow, what a workout.

I had no idea what to expect, and frankly, I thought I'd be in pain after the first session. But it was the opposite of pain. I swear I felt taller and more limber. I also was surprised that my body could do some of the things the instructor was demanding (yes) of me.

I can't say my technique was fabulous or that I could even do all the moves, but the reformer and all the other tools made it easier to keep proper form and not throw anything out. The first class was free and I have nine classes left on my account, so I'm looking forward to see what changes I can make in my core.

And taquitos are not part of the equation.

Tiny trail mix and other small victories

See this?

 

That's my new "go fuel." I call it Tiny Trail Mix because it's simply a tablespoon of raisins and a tablespoon of chopped walnuts. Around 70 calories, I eat this before I go running. I used to just run on an empty stomach but I was feeling a little sluggish during the early part of my runs and this clean little bit of carbs and healthy fats seems to do the trick. The two times I've used this I've had a much easier time getting up to speed and staying there.

 

So, the small victories.

I'd been pretty stuck on the scale the past month but over the weekend I was playing around with a retractable tape measure I got from Dr. Oz's Transformation Nation initiative. I wrapped it around my waist and was surprised to see that it was 2 inches less than the last time I measured my waist, which was probably in summer.

Then this morning, I got on the scale and saw that I dropped 2 1/2 pounds this past week. That's not a small victory -- that's a huge one.

 

I'm now on the bottom of the yo-yo again. And my goal this week is to cut that damn yo-yo string.

 

What if?

I stopped making a big deal out of New Year's Eve a long time ago. Too many expectations to make it fabulous and exciting and meaningful and glamorous.

But darn it! The end of 2011 is so ripe for making big, stinkin' proclamations. The end of the week, the end of the month, the end of the year and the beginning of the year that I turn 50.

So ... 50 pounds.

There. That's my goal for 2012.

It's totally realistic -- less than a pound a week. And it will bring me to pretty much done with my weight loss.

Do you know how many times I've made a New Year's resolution to lose weight? Decades of Dec. 31 deals with God, wishing on stars, holding the lucky end of a turkey wishbone.

Actually, I did lose 15 pounds this year, getting down to pre-baby weight, so I made good on the nebulous "lose weight" resolution.

But what if?

What if this IS the year?

What if I get rid of those 50 pounds?

What if next year's goal is to get the last 20-ish pounds off? (That sounds so easy compared with 50.)

What if I actually stick to a program for just one day? I'm terrible at sticking to eating plans. I tend to veer off on a whim. But 24 hours, that's all. How hard can that be? Then I'll do it again and again.

Do I have it in me to make it a reality this year?

Do you have it in you to make it a reality this year?

And now, a little too many boat analogies

I've wiped the slate clean a few days early.

Looking back over the year, I lost 15 pounds. Not the 50 pounds that I thought I was going to lose, but I didn’t gain any weight. And I can now finally say that I'm a runner. It's not fast and it's probably not proper form, but I know it's not walking. And my waist measurement is in the 30s.

Fifteen pounds is nice but the rest has got to come off in the next year. And why wait until Jan. 1?

There’s no time like the present to turn the ship around if it’s going in the wrong direction, and since my “stern” side is bigger than my “bow” side, it may take a little time to turn it around. I've been in "weight loss mode" since the age of 10 and next year I turn -- aaack -- 50.

But the ship is turning.

And now, off to run my “aft” off.