Sweet tooth and the realization that losing weight is not my full time job

I am back with an upgraded computer (no more 20 minute post uploading times!!) so I am happy to say I will be posting with regularity again!

 

ooh shiny

And now that I have a super speedy machine, this post (and those to come) will be especially gif heavy!

I have been sick the last few days with a cold.

 

It's been so long since I've had a cold that I feel like it's worse than I remember?

We've had reports of valley fever so of course my neurotic self had to do research to make sure that's not what I have (I'm still not convinced).

I've been working so hard on losing weight and putting so much pressure on myself that honestly, having to take a break feels strangely nice, even if it feels like my head's about to pop off. I've been indulging in binge watching all my favorite true crime shows and taking naps, two things that I used to do all the time when I was morbidly obese but rarely do now. (Well, I still watch enough true crime to convince my husband that I'm plotting his demise, but I usually do it at night. You know, there's nothing like stories of dismemberment and unexplained disappearances to unload the day's stress.)

true story

We went to San Diego at the end of July for a long weekend, and I ate my way through the city's vegan fare like it was my last weekend of eating. Ever.

normal people don't get this excited about nachos, do they?

By my third desert in two days (maple pecan cupcake, mmmmm), my sugar addiction reared its ugly head again and it's been so hard to get it back under control. I haven't been indulging in desert every day or anything since, but it's been so hard to not have a little something sweet every day!

I've also been increasingly busy with work (yay!) but the downside is actually having a life and obligations beyond the gym makes it harder to work out consistently. I know I just have to get used to this new schedule and make time for it, but it's been a reminder that, hey, losing weight is not my full time job! As much as it feels like it sometimes...

I will talk more about what kind of workouts I've been doing in a future post, and I have a pretty epic milestone approaching (did somebody say [almost] 90 lbs lost?!?!?) so expect more from my little corner of the internet!

Back by popular demand...

I've had a few people reach out to me since I disappeared off the face of the earth this blog.

What's funny is that I have at least 5 drafts going that I haven't finished and published!!!

Just because I haven't checked in here doesn't mean I've been slacking on my workouts. I'm still working out at least an hour 5-6 days a week. I had a surge in weight loss at the end of May/beginning of June, but (as my body likes to do) I am in another plateau. We went on vacation for a week in June and eating out nearly every day (regardless of how careful I was) didn't help. Water weight comes on overnight but takes a week to come off- how the hell does that even makes sense?!?

My current workout schedule looks like this:

Mondays: Group Power (basically the same thing as BodyPump and holy shit do I love it)
Tuesdays: Zumba or cardio machines (preferably Zumba, because I am getting super sick of the elliptical)
Wednesdays: Group Power or Zumba (depending on what time of the day I can get to the gym)
Thursdays: Zumba
Fridays: Group Fight (MMA/kickboxing)

As you can tell from the above schedule, I have joined the cult of Zumba. I got over my self-consciousness in class when I realized how much freaking fun it was to just stop worrying about perfecting the steps and just move (more on my new Zumba addiction in a later post)! According to my  Fitbit Charge HR, I burn between 700-800 calories in a class. I've been going to Group Fight for a couple months and it is SO. MUCH. FUN. I burn a crapton of calories during that class too.

Last Friday, for the first time ever, I doubled up on my classes- I did 40 minutes of Zumba followed by an hour of Group Fight. And I felt pretty freaking badass.

Hopefully this surge in activity (I'm only on week 2 of this schedule, before that I was piecing together time on cardio machines with a few classes here and there and not getting as good of a workout as I am now) will help me push past this new plateau.

I am sooooo close to 90 lbs lost that I can practically taste it! And it tastes like cake. Just kidding.... sort of.

Progress!

As I've mentioned ad nauseum over the last few months, I have been working my butt off to break through a weight loss plateau. Finally after 10 months of bouncing around in the same 5-10 lb range, the plateau is definitely broken!!!

I'm down 4 lbs from my lowest weight. Even though a 4 lb loss over the course of 10 months is slightly depressing, I am so unbelievably relieved and happy that things are moving along again.

Also, I've lost 1-2 inches over most of my body over the last month! That's made a huge difference in my clothes. I had a couple dresses that were too small that I've been hanging on to (one I've had for so long that I don't even know if I still like it) and they now fit.

I've been tracking my weight and inches lost throughout the last 2 years on a massive excel spreadsheet, and I've finally been able to start tracking on there again. It's insane to look at how much I had to lose when I started and how much lower that number is now.

I have changed my workout a little bit over the last few weeks, so I will write about that in my next post!

Happy Monday!

Night Owl to Early Bird Update

Way back in January, I pledged to go to bed early and get up early. I'm happy to report that it has gotten progressively easier to get up when that alarm goes off! I'm asleep by 10:30 most nights (give or take), and my alarm goes off at 6:45. It is really nice to have more time during the day to accomplish all that I need to. I do usually stay up a little later on weekends, but I've found that it's a lot harder for me to sleep in late... I'm up around 8 am most weekends.

All in all, I'd say this experiment has been a success- I may never be a morning person naturally, but at least I've made it easier for myself!

On a related note, we got this sticker out of the vending machine at the grocery store, and I had to laugh because it's so me (at least before coffee):

Crickets

Sorry about the radio silence over here. There has actually been a lot going on!

Over the last few weeks I have:

Purchased a Fitbit Charge HR to replace my bulky old Body Bugg (more to come on my Fitbit love later)

Gotten my realtor headshot taken so I can finally start actively marketing myself (instead of accosting random strangers at Walmart that make the mistake of mentioning their rental search. In their private conversations. True story. But she did contact me, so I must not be too creepy.)

Finally had my tattoo worked on and made totally awesome

And, best of all, I broke my 10 month long plateau!!!!

I think a combination of two things led to me finally registering a loss: mixing up my exercise routine and eating more.
Yes, that's right, I've been eating more and I think it's helped me lose weight. For months, various people (most of whom I feel are pretty knowledgeable on nutrition) have been telling me that I'm not eating enough. And as much as I know about TDEE and BMR and blah blah blah, I just couldn't get past the less is more diet mindset. But I was pretty desperate to break this plateau and decided to increase my calorie intake to 1600 a day vs the 1200-1400 I was consuming before. The NEXT WEEK I was down 4 lbs. I've been making sure that those extra calories are quality calories, and I've been eating more protein.
Of course, changing up my workout routine and adding strength training in last month had a hand in it, I'm sure. It was pretty freaking awesome to update my weight loss tracker (an epic spreadsheet that I've been tracking my stats in for the last 2 years) for the first time since June.