So, where are we now??

Well, it's been well over three weeks now, since I started tracking my calories on myplate at livestrong.com. And it's definitely making a difference. In pounds, I started at 195.4 and have since gone down to 187. That's a big difference in a relatively short amount of time. Eight pounds is pretty close to two pounds a week. So, it's a healthy amount to lose at a time. And, it sure is motivating!! We have a scale that approximates how much of your body is fat vs water vs muscle and I'm now measuring around 38%. That's over 2% of body fat that is hopefully gone forever.

On the food front, I've been doing well. I still find room to have the occasional treat, but I make sure that there are calories to spare. The biggest challenge was when my parents visited. For some reason, the choices just aren't always that healthy. Jeremy did a great job though making a meal with lots of choices when we made supper, and when we went out for Chinese food, we had exercised earlier in the day to make sure we made up for any calorie surplus that might exist. We also made a point of drinking lots of tea, and tried hard not to fill our plates too full. All in all it was a success and although those might not have been our biggest days of losing, we still stayed within our net calories for the days.

As for exercise, I've really made it a point to include it in my day every day. It doesn't have to be much. A half hour here, a half hour there. But it does have to be there. And it's been quite varied. I have run, walked, biked, spun, swam, done weights and even the Jacob's ladder. I've made a point of using my lunches at work to do something. Even though there's really only half an hour of active time, it's still a half hour. Plus, by not being in the lunchroom, I am not tempted to buy foods that aren't healthy or sit and watch tv only. It really is a mindset to get out and be active and it's working. I've even run with a bunch of different people at work. So, not only am I being active, I'm encouraging others to be as well!! And maybe some of them would have gone anyways, but others have made a point of bringing their shoes etc.

So all in all, things are changing for the better. There's a little less of me now, and I'm already noticing that my pants aren't bursting at the seams anymore (thank goodness!!). So now, just have to stay motivated and keep going...

Oh, and in case you are wondering about the husband, well, Jeremy is now down 12 pounds and doing great as well. I think having him on board and working for similar results has really helped both of us stay on course working towards our goals!!

Swimming etiquette?

So, I swam today. Trying to swim a bit more often, just to stay regular and get stronger in this discipline. Swimming comes fairly natural to me, for that I am grateful. I can get in the water and swim. Not much thought needs to go into it. It's nice that way. Mostly all I do is the front crawl. Boring I suppose. But, the backstroke is just annoying since I can't tell where I'm going, and the breaststroke is just too slow. Which brings me to my question...

Is there such a thing as etiquette in the water? I know at triathlon races, if you touch someone's toes, they are supposed to let you pass them at the end. But I can't ever imagine touching someone's toes at just plain public swimming. At our pool, there are only two lanes to swim in. Most of the time, it's not a big deal, but sometimes it gets a bit busy. Like today for instance. It was crazy. Funny enough, the lanes for swimming weren't too bad, at least at first. Twice, I nearly ran into someone trying to cross through the lanes. I'm guessing they don't have a clue since they went right through the swimmers to get to the deep end. So to them, I don't worry too much. Annoying however, are the pesky breaststrokers. I mean, please, it's not a very fast swimming skill. Some people are quick, but the vast majority are slow, slow slow. And since there are only two lanes, I don't understand how someone can think they are fast and choose to swim in the fast lane. Really, you might be faster than one other person, but you are slower than anyone else!! So swim where you belong!!

I managed to swim 28 laps (there and back, or 56 lengths), before it became an issue. But at that point, it was just too much. There were three people going uber slow in the fast lane. I ended up moving to the slow lane just so I could get in a couple more laps, but then I gave up. at 30 laps, I was done. I wasn't playing dodge the breaststroker, just not worth my time. So, at 1.5km of swimming, I called it, and stopped. It was a great swim, up until the last two laps. I just wish people understood why there are signs for fast and slow. I know I'm not super fast, but I am considerably faster than the leisurely breaststrokers that decided to drive me crazy!!

Oh well, there's always next time... stay tuned for an update on where I stand as far as eating, exercise and trimming down a bit...

My poster...My vision board...

I have to say, I am definitely motivated by posters. I bought a bulletin board awhile back, and kept bugging my husband to hang it up for me. I suppose I could have done it myself, but I eventually got him to do it. The first thing I put up was a poster of the month of August I had made. It had a running program written on it, but never did follow that. However, what I did do, was start working out. August was an amazing month for working out. I swam about 4 times. I biked about 5 times, I ran about 18 times, and I did weights about 3 times and also played around on the wii a bunch.

Every time I worked out, I wrote it onto the calendar. And then I highlighted it in green. The desire to have green stripes on my calendar was huge. I'm not quite sure why it was so huge, but it was. And as a result, there were enough workouts in August that I exercised every single day (well, a few days were double workouts). But, the bottom line is, I have gotten back in the groove. Was it the poster? Or the motivation to lose weight? Probably both, but I certainly am motivated by the poster!!

Next I will be putting up September. I hope that it carries the same number of stripes as August did. I think it will. This past month has been so motivating that I'm already looking ahead to courses I can take to keep on this fitness train and someday maybe help others in a similar circumstance!!

Are you thinking of putting up a poster? It will help. There's something about colouring in those stripes, or squares that just makes you feel great. Looking at August, it's a sea of green. And I earned every one of those. Last summer I created a poster based on weeks until a half marathon. And it was a colourful one. And each square that was coloured represented a workout. Life is better when you get to colour a little, so I highly recommend it!!