ASOIAF Weight Loss Challenge II

[lady narcissa]

I notice I'm better about food and exercise when I post regularly in this thread so I feel I should update. Basically its hard to just do everything and not slip back into old habits as the weeks go by. These aren't temporary tweaks - this are things I just have to keep doing and its hard to adjust to that. And daily updates help stick to it.

In any case I went to yoga yesterday and we did an interesting breathing technique. Apparently its really bad for allergies here right now. So bad that even people like me who don't normally suffer from allergies are suffering. So my sinuses have been a little clogged despite allergy pills. Anyway we did this technique where you cover one nostril and breathe in and out through the other, then breathe through both nostrils, then switch to just breathing through the other nostril - repeatedly for about 5 minutes. And wow, I was breathing so much better after that.

And breathing easier makes working out longer easier. I'd been having trouble with being able to take in deep breaths earlier in the week but am now looking forward to being able to breathe free and clearly this weekend.

[Erik of Hazelfield]

Like many others, I gained some weight last week. But it's unfair I tell you, unfair! My method relies heavily on training, and if I'm sick this doesn't work. I can't starve myself to the point where I lose weight even if I'm sitting still all week.

I'm starting to feel better now though, so hopefully I'm back on track next week.

[cjfshaw]

Portion control: to stop eating before I'm stuffed and realize I do not need to eat everything in front of me

One of the things to realize about this, is that when you eat until you feel as though you absolutely can not eat anymore, you will definitely feel lethargic afterwards. On the other hand, if you eat to the point where you are satisfied, you will feel good after eating. It's something more people need to pay attention to.

[Phoenix]

One of the things to realize about this, is that when you eat until you feel as though you absolutely can not eat anymore, you will definitely feel lethargic afterwards. On the other hand, if you eat to the point where you are satisfied, you will feel good after eating. It's something more people need to pay attention to.

Yes, exactly. My husband calls it "avoiding the food coma".

With my new portion control habits, I'm finding it much, much easier to work out after dinner, and that I can go longer. Amazing feeling, really. It also means I don't have to workout as soon as I walk in the door, when all I want to do is sit my ass down. (I stand about 9 hours a day for work) So, all in all, it's leading to both healthier meals and more exercise. Win-Win.

[Seventh Pup]

Yeah checking in helps to keep me on track as well. I've found adding the vitamen to my routine helped me have more energy. I've been anemitic in the past, and I'm wondering if I might not have been a little anemic, because the bone crushing tiredness that I'd been feeling for a while has pretty much gone away. Yay vitamins!

My clothes are fitting better and my posture has improved, though I'm unsure how much weight I've actually lost, this has been a good thing for me. Also getting me out of the house more, and saving me some money. So as we leave the beginning of the challenge I feel like I'm in a good place.

[Cable]

Kinda new here but I've been trying to cut some weight lately too so this could be a good help to me.

[QuietColours]

This week hasn't been as good for me in terms of staying on track, food-wise. Monday night we got some ice cream to celebrate my husband starting grad school the next day. It's gone now, mostly because of me. As a side note, ice cream did not fix my spreadsheet or change the meeting deadline. I have been really on track with exercise, though. Having gymnastics to look forward to on Tuesday is a major motivator--I want to show that my splits are down, that I'm really getting stronger, and that the skills I can safely practice at home (for example, handstand pirouettes) are improving. And the cardio's definitely necessary so that I don't get out of breath in class as easily.

At a mid-day weigh in, I was up a half pound from the beginning of the week. Hard to say if that's actual gain or just due to time of day. I also weighed both cats while I was at it. They're both down a pound from their last vet appointment in July--a good thing! They aren't horribly overweight, but they could both stand to lose another .5-1 lb.

[Phoenix]

Kinda new here but I've been trying to cut some weight lately too so this could be a good help to me.

Welcome to the Board, and the Thread, Cable!

[Zoë Sumra]

Grilled lunch today, as promised. Set fire to it. Not good. Three of the knobs on my oven melted before I got the overhanging tin tray out of the grill space...

I'm back up to ten stone eight, probably because though I exercised while I was on leave, I didn't do as much as during the previous few weeks. Not at all worried as this still represents improvement over my base level of swaying between ten-seven and eleven stone.

For my next tweak, I am going to figure out why on earth I'm not sleeping properly and fix it. Over the past six weeks or so, I've spent enough time in bed each night - seven and a half to eight and a half hours - but I've been sleeping very lightly and waking up early and not refreshed. Sleep is good for you!

[Seventh Pup]

This week’s tweak for me is to post here every day as a food journal. I find I always have grand aspirations about journaling but when the rubber meets the road I forget to. Hopefully having the journal HERE will help me.

So for today September 13th so far I've had.

A two eggs, parsley, and olive breakfast burrito in a brown rice tortilla. Cooked in a table spoon of Canola oil, and a large glass of water and multivitamin. Total calories - 430. (That surprises me I would have thought less so this tweak is already paying dividends.)

Second breakfast was instant oatmeal and a cup of soup. -320 calories.

First snack string cheese and a can of diet coke. - 80 calories.

Lunch was stew and over mashed potatoes-500

Second snack yogurt-150

Small apple -60

Teddy Gragrahams- 40 calories worth.

Grand total for the day... 1580.

Now because I work nights and this is my transition day into nights I'm going to sleep and won't eat again until late afternoon. Am also weighing myself tonight so should have a better idea of how I’m doing. Had a bad week last week for a lot of reasons (feeble excuses and I won’t even try to justify, mostly things like potlucks, overtime, friends birthdays, visiting family staying with me, etc.) but am going to be back on the ball this week.

Eloisa sleep is really important and figuring out what messed up with you sleep schedule will probably work wonders on your health, best of luck with that. It’s also awesome to here that you have a new normal range of weight, that is exciting!

[Nichole]

Sleep is important and I didn't get nearly enough last night. Eloisa, I have your problem often, I'm in bed, I do sleep, but it is not good sleep. I wake easily and don't really feel rested. And then the next night I might sleep like a log. :dunno:

I'm trying to think of a tweak for this week. At the moment I'm at a loss.

I haven't weighed myself yet. I feel like I'm looking less bulky, and there is some nice definition on my arms, but I just don't think I'll see a difference on the scale.

[Tobin]

Something I ate over the weekend is tearing me up - so my numbers will be skewed for sure.

Getting lots of excercise jogging back and forth to the bathroom though, :leaving:

[cjfshaw]

Been getting good amounts of sleep and eating whenever I'm hungry and doing workouts, all to no avail. Blows

[Nichole]

Been getting good amounts of sleep and eating whenever I'm hungry and doing workouts, all to no avail. Blows

I know you get frustrated, but I kind of see what you are doing this way. You are still pretty young, at that age I couldn't gain weight either. But, you are making healthy changes in your life that will be beneficial as you grow older. Hopefully you with all these healthy things you do for yourself, you won't find yourself gaining weight way to easily in a few years.

[Guest Raidne]

I had an overabundance of happy hours last week and undid all the progress. Just like that. Oh well, here's to starting over again. I don't think I did a tweak for this week, but it will be trying to get more sleep, since it has been correlated with weight loss and I rarely get more than 6.5 during the week. Doing well with the water thing. Slipped up with the beer thing last week.

[Nichole]

Slipped up with the beer thing last week.

It is such a beer time of year. For some reason fall=beer for me and everyone I know. I blame Germans and Oktoberfest.

[lady narcissa]

Its funny that some of you have mentioned sleep and tweaks because I was thinking about that as my tweak for this week. I never get enough sleep, probably because I'd rather just stay awake and end up staying up really late. I'd like to try actually getting 6 hours of sleep every night this week as a start. I know thats not really enough but I know I'll never ever be able to get myself to go to bed at 10 PM so I can get 8.

After all the drinking water discussion last week I started tracking how much liquid I consume every day in addition to whatever I take in from food sources. On average I drink 18 glasses of 8 oz liquid a day. Most of it is while I'm at the office which is incredibly dry...it averages 38% humidity with a humidifier....and gets much worse in the winter.

[cjfshaw]

Its funny that some of you have mentioned sleep and tweaks because I was thinking about that as my tweak for this week. I never get enough sleep, probably because I'd rather just stay awake and end up staying up really late. I'd like to try actually getting 6 hours of sleep every night this week as a start. I know thats not really enough but I know I'll never ever be able to get myself to go to bed at 10 PM so I can get 8.

A challenging run after work and then dinner = asleep by 10pm

[Zoë Sumra]

Yeurk. I made a mistake earlier on and - bypassing my tweak of week 1 - snacked on chocolate after the gym; two thirds of a 30g bar. Ten minutes later I started feeling distinctly ill... fruit to the rescue...

[lady narcissa]

A challenging run after work and then dinner = asleep by 10pm

I wish. But mainly I just have too much to do around the house when I finally get home in the evening. I generally don't have everything done until midnight.

But as for running...I'm currently in physical therapy and its against my doctor's orders to run. I find doing stair climbing before bed helps me sleep better. But it doesn't help me go to bed any earlier....in fact exercising at night takes away from chore time and generally means I have to stay up even later.