The World According to Jennyfur

In my pursuit of weight loss, health and fitness, I have begun experimenting with yoga. So far, so good I am enjoying it. Luckily, Netflix has a pretty astounding selection of yoga dvds, not that I expected any less since they have like everything anyways. The first one I got on Friday was a yin yoga series by Jennifer Kries. I think Helen recommended her fitness dvds awhile back and she is a Philly local too. It has three workouts on it from beginner to advanced. I tried all three. Some of it was fairly challenging, but otherwise it just seems almost natural in a lot of ways. I can definitely say I am much better with the sitting or supine poses. My balance is a little off for some of the standing ones and I get wobbly, but I’m sure that will come with time. Yesterday, I did some research online and did a series of poses that are good for people with chronic sinus problems. Whether or not, that helped my current sinus infection or it was the first day of antibiotics, I do feel a hell of a lot better today.

I’ve never been into physical fitness or exercise, well not since highschool anyways when I thought I was fat at 128 pounds. Since, I’ve been gung ho on weight loss and fitness its been weird. Like my body has started craving physical activity. Despite being sick yesterday all I wanted to do was go home from work and do some yoga and do some upper body weighted exercising. Since I’ve lost weight, my biceps are toning up except for the globs of loose under arm flesh that jiggle about when I move. I’ve also noticed since I’ve dropped 20 pounds that my energy levels have picked up and when I am active it doesn’t feel as laborious as it once did to, for example, walk up the stairs to my office on the third floor. I don’t get winded (as much) and don’t get as much muscle burn as I used to.

I hit the 21 pounds lost mark this week as I suspected I would, which is super awesome. Of course now, I had to retool my daily points and am down to 23 per day.  The next 10 pounds I lose will put me into the high end of the healthy weight range for my height and will also put me into a healthy BMI range as well.

I think one of the challenges I endure is that I like to eat a little bit of a lot of foods on a daily basis. I need to find more 0-1 point snacks. I’ve been doing well on the 24 points per day so this shouldn’t be too hard to manage. The first week is usually the roughest, which I expect fully given the impending time of the month looming.

So this week will mark the 20 pounds lost mark since I began Weight Watchers in January. I weigh in tomorrow, but I should be in the 179-180 range. This has been an odd week fluctuating in extremes. The past two days I’ve been binge-y. I’m not really hungry at any given time, but I just want to eat constantly. Granted, I’ve done a little better on what I am eating when I binge…. 94% fat free popcorn, apple slices, carrots w. fat free ranch dip and the usual things cereal, weight watchers snack stuff. My body is craving something, but I am at a  loss as to what it is. I realize that when I binge its more often than not because I am lacking something. I did have french fries for dinner on Tuesday. I was craving them all day. I passed a McDonalds on a walk during the day. I figured if I was gonna give into the craving that I would get french fries and damned good ones too from somewhere else… which I did later in the day at the Devil’s Den. They have damned good french fries too.

It probably doesn’t help that I have a minor head cold. They always throw me off. I’m just stuffed up and a little woosy feeling. I’ve gotten a normal amount of exercise this week. I got a yoga dvd from Netflix yesterday. I haven’t had a chance to watch it yet, but that is on my to do list for the weekend. I also get a heavy dose of double suck because its getting on towards that time of the month too.

I sometimes get paranoid on Thursdays that when I weigh in on Friday that I won’t have lost any weight for the week. I picked Friday as my weigh in day because I tend to splurge more on the weekends than during the week. This week, I’ve splurged midweek more than I did over the weekend or during the beginning of the week.

This week has been an off week for me. I mysteriously hurt my shoulder last Friday and it didn’t start feeling better until Tuesday. On top of that, my sleep schedule has been wonky this week. I woke up at 4:30am yesterday and couldn’t get back to sleep. Consequently, I passed out by 10pm last night and sleep like a rock. I did manage to lose another pound this week, bringing the weight loss total to 19 pounds. I’m nearing the 3 month mark on Weight Watcher’s within the next couple of weeks. I should be around 20-25lbs lost by then.

My activity and exercise for the week was a little off, but I did start adding 10 minutes of weight training into my daily or semi-daily routine. I have some 5lb dumb bells I got awhile back. I also have some 2lb ones, but they don’t really do much. I dug out my exercise mat too so I can start doing sit ups and crunches. I really need to tone my upper body. My legs get a good workout through walking, taking the stairs and the elliptical.

I still need to get better at the cooking/baking aspect of dieting. When I cook I tend to go over or end up burning through the remainder of my points on one thing. I don’t want to totally rely on pre-packaged foods. I don’t mind bringing the Lean Cuisine/Smart Ones/Healthy Choice frozen lunches to work with me, but I don’t want to also eat them for dinner every night. I also need to find some low calorie and low sugar alcoholic beverages. Since I am a girl-drink drunk, all the drinks I like run about 4 points per drink.

Yay!
I was able to fit into a dress tonight that I have not worn since 2002 for the wedding we had to go to. I wonder what other fashion items are hiding in my closet that now fit me that I haven’t worn in years.

My weight loss has become noticeable, which is awesome. I’ve been getting a lot of compliments across the board. It feels good. In a weird way, its like going back in time. Apparently, I’m pre-2004 at this point. So yay for that.

Nay!
I packed up all my old bra’s and god knows where they are at this point. I’m swimming in my current ones and they are maxxed on strap and hook fenagling. I know this is a good thing, but I wish I knew where I put my old ones. I packed up the clothing items that were scattered about the guest bedroom a few months ago. feh. Looks like I am going to have to do some shopping this week. Baggy bra’s do no good.

While on the subject of undergarments, I didn’t have a chance to do laundry and welp baggy panties suck more than baggy bra’s do.

I went way over my daily points today because I had to deal with wedding food and hor’s d’oervres, which is annoying. Even more annoying, I just got home and am not feeling full at all. It really annoys me when I go over, when I don’t want to or when its on subpar splurging.

I hurt my shoulder last week, so I haven’t gotten as much exercise since Friday. That’s also annoying me too. I may hop on the elliptical before bed.

Since my last weight related update, I weighed in last Friday – Monday and realized that my weight was fluctuating around a bit between 182.5 and 185, so I just left my weekly weigh in at 185. Today, I weighed in at 182 even, which is nice since it brings my total weight loss to 18 pounds since January. I’m excited to hit the 20 pound mark within the next week or so.

I managed to sustain weight loss this week despite having gone out to lunch twice and dinner twice during the week as well brunch and dinner over the weekend. This tells me that I am learning to make better choices about what I am eating when I do go out. Although, I did splurge on scallop crepes at Beau Monde last night. Considering that I have been at the mercy of various bars and restaurants more this week that most since I started dieting I managed to do much better with sticking to my daily points and not going over as much, which is awesome since I’m down to 24 per day.

Fitness wise, I am doing awesome. I came in around 40 activity points for this week. I’ve stuck to doing about 10 minutes per day on the elliptical machine at home. Save for Saturday, but I offset it by walking from 21st and Chestnut to 2nd and Vine and last night, while I didn’t walk as far, I did get some extra mileage in my meanderings. I want to up my daily time on the elliptical more over time. I also gave up using the elevators at work, which adds some extra fitness into my daily routine. I work on the third floor, which is about 60 individual steps from the ground floor, so doing that a few times a day helps.

I’ve also gotten back on my vitamin regiment, though there is one appetite control one I take that I think is keeping me awake at night, or its just been a combination of the time change and full moon. I’ve been so tired all week and then I can’t sleep at night.

Otherwise this week I have been enamored with the fact that I can now find and count all my ribs and when I lay on my back they protrude out, while my tummy goes inward instead of blobbing about. I am however starting to suffer from bra despair. My good ones are now on the innermost hook and I’m swimming a bit. I have to say I do look forward to being able to buy bra’s anywhere again. I need to fish through some of my old ones. I think I lost a cup size or so. I am loving the muscle toning and definition. I can really see the difference over the past couple weeks.

Its funny, during the week Tim hugged me and then pulled back to say “just don’t get too skinny, I don’t like skinny girls they are gross” lol. I’m not dieting for strictly vanity purposes, though its a nice perk. Diabetes and Hypertension run in my family. I’m not getting any younger and I know they best way to beat diabetes is through diet and exercise. My blood sugar and blood pressure has always been normal, but I don’t want to be fooled into a fall sense of security about it either.

I really need to become better about cooking/baking within the dietary restraints. While I am losing weight, I am relying too much on prepared packaged and frozen food. I need to get some more Weight Watchers cookbooks.

I weighed myself again this morning and I’ve dropped three more pounds. I probably got rid of my menstrual bloat, which probably accounts for the day to day drop. I did drink a ton of water for some reason yesterday.  I’ve noticed the more water I drink, the more weight I lose.  I’ll weigh in again tomorrow to see if I am still at the same weight and its not a fluke. To be honest, I felt like I lost more weight this week than just a pound. I also resumed my vitamin regiment this week, which I am sure helped a lot too. I had been slacking on it for awhile when I was sick and on antibiotics and then with all the house stuff that was going on.

This week has mostly been about activity and fitness for me. Spring is in the air, as soon as March rolls around my overall energy levels dramatically increase. Being on Weight Watchers now for two full months has taught me a lot of things or more specifically has opened my eyes to new ways of seeing things.

I’ve always had a stumbling block when it comes to fitness and exercise. I hate going to the gym. Luckily, I have an elliptical machine at home, which I am trying to make a concerted effort to use on a daily basis, if only for 10-20 minutes a day. On average since, I began WW in January, for the first month my weekly activity points were below 20 per week. Although, I may not have been accurately counting them as diligently as I could’ve been. For the month of February, I hovered in the 20-30 activity points per week range. This week, due to increased activity I hit 60 activity points for the week. Being more active and physically fit can come from a variety of others things involving not going to the gym. I walk a decent amount on a daily basis whether its just my meanderings around my office, going to and from my car in the garage, taking the stairs instead of elevators, or taking a walk during lunch. Aside from that, being as active as one can be is better than just slow roasting in bed or on the couch. Simple daily activities can boost your metabolism, tone muscles and promote weight loss. I never thought about cleaning being beneficial to my health and well being, but you do burn calories and whatnot when you scrub the floor, do laundry, or clean the house etc.

All that said, I lost another pounds this week bringing my weight loss total to 15 pounds. I’ve started noticing from my increased activity levels that I am losing more body mass in place of muscle development and toning. My biceps aren’t just mushy flab globs anymore, the muscle is coming back, which is awesome. I hated flexing my biceps and seeing no change between the relaxed and flexed states. Hopefully, by summer time I can start wearing tank tops again wtihout being overly self conscious. The muscles in my calves and thighs is toning up nicely too because I try to walk as much as I can. Even my abs are toning up, which is nice.

I realized that I forgot to actually set a new weight goal once I hit my first goal, my next goal is 180 pounds, and I’m 5 pounds away at this point. I’m also about 10-15 pounds away from a healthy BMI (20-25), currently I am at 27. I decided to recalibrate my daily points to 24 from 25 to see how that works out for me. I’ve still been doing well, I went a little over again this week, but still have yet to burn through my weekly points allowance. I tend to use 10-15 extra points per week (out of 35).

Now that I am becoming more active, lets hope I can stick with it. I think once I got over the hurtle it became easier to really want to continue to be more active. I’m going to try to keep up with at the very least doing the elliptical machine at home on a daily basis. I’ve always wanted to learn yoga, but again like going to the gym, I have a weird thing with going to yoga classes. I think its because I am a hard core multi-tasker, committing to doing one thing in particular for X amount of time just never is appealing for me.

As an interesting side note, Tim and I were discussing cheese. I was telling him the other night to use up the regular mozarella before using my reduced fat. He said okay, and then told me just to keep getting the reduced fat cheeses for the both of us to use. Given his cheese consumption, I am putting this one in the win column.