Thanks for Another Great Workout Pledge

Today is the last day of my first week "back on the horse" and I'm not sure how well I did.  I've been getting better at using The Daily Plate and today marks the last day of my 3-week 8-glasses-of-water-a-day challenge.  Somehow, I did it.  I ate pretty well this week with the exception of this weekend.  Friday night we went out for beers (I had 2) and Saturday I made dinner for my Mom for her birthday.  We had lemon chicken with capers, mashed potatoes, roast asparagus, and chocolate cake with ice cream.  Yes, we went overboard.  I figured it was a special occasion.  The problem is, how many special occasions are there?  I think I'll cut the butter out of the recipe the next time I make it.  Given, there's only 2 tablespoons in there, but I can do without it.  I could have also replaced the mashed potatoes with wheat pasta or something.  The asparagus was good, but we could have done without the chocolate cake entirely.

The highlight of my week fitness-wise was my workout pledge.  I rounded up to 50 minutes on the elliptical.  I was quite stinky when I got off the machine.  Thank you everyone who commented and donated and subscribed and linked.  I got a great workout!

There's still time to donate to the Special Olympics for my Polar Bear Swim.  Donate here!

Early on, before I really lost any weight, I said I was going to spend one week pushing hard.  Gym every single day, watch what I eat as closely as I can, etc.  Next week will be that week.  As of the last weigh-in, I need to lose exactly two pounds every week for the remainder of my year in order to make weight.  I'm going to try to make March another month like January so I can get out ahead of my goals again.  My weight loss is sure to slow down as I approach my goal.  I'm guessing the last couple months will be hard and I want wiggle room.  Let's see if I can't help my future self out a little bit.

After I posted about the little things that I'm doing to self sabotage, most of the comments I got were people realizing they did the same things or adding their own little things.  A friend of mine made a comment that cut a little deeper.

Mr. Scott said...

It's good to recognize the things you're doing wrong, but it isn't worth much unless you do something about it. This post is long on excuses but short on solutions. You've been posting for weeks about how you're going to start planning meals in advanced. When is that going to happen? Why hasn't it happened yet? What are you waiting for?

He's absolutely right.  What good is it to point out the things I'm doing wrong if I'm not going to change them?  What am I waiting for?  Awareness is a good start but I didn't start writing this blog just to become aware of the things that are making (and keeping) me fat.  I started this blog to change myself. 

For one week, I will not use an elevator.  There is one student I work with one-on-one that I will need to make an exception for, but either than that, no elevator. 

What little thing will you change this week to make yourself healthier?

Little Things - Part 2

A couple days ago, I talked about the little things I'm doing to help me stay focused and increase my success in small ways.  I do things like rinse out hamburger I'm browning, remove the fat from my gravy, take the stairs instead of the elevator, etc. 

Today I want to talk about the little things I'm doing to sabotage myself.  This one is difficult.  It's so easy to say, "It's just two chips, it doesn't matter."  It might not really matter in terms of calorie counts, but it does matter because I'm willingly sabotaging myself.

When I'm counting out wheat thins or chips or whatever, I don't count the broken chips as a chip.  When they broke, all the calories must have fallen out.  Right.  The truth is that I just want as much to eat as I can get. 

I have a history of being lazy.  I take the elevator much more than I should at work.  I should take the stairs every time. 

I'm really bad at monitoring my intake in general.  I'll leave things off my counting.  Not on purpose, but because I haven't been writing things down that day and I don't have that good of a memory.

I stay up past my bed time nearly every night.  I do so well when I get a good night's sleep.  I'm just setting myself back.

I have a hard time getting back on the horse when I fall off.  It just takes a while for me to find the will to eat right and exercise every time I fail to do so for a day or two.

I'm terrible about making excuses.  I try to keep a "no excuses" mantra, but it's really tough.  I'll write a post specifically about excuses some time in the future.

What little things do you do to self-sabotage?

Before I go, I have a few other orders of business.

Please throw in a few bucks to help me out with the Polar Bear Plunge.  You can donate here!

I'm going to start my second exercise pledge tomorrow.  I had a bad week last week and I need to get rid of some extra calories.  If you don't remember how it works, you can see last month's pledge here.  It will be pretty similar.

I'd also like to start publishing guest posts.  You can gain a little extra visibility for your blog (if you have one.  In fact, I'd like to see some guest posts from people who don't have blogs) and give my readers another perspective.  Please let me know if you're interested.

Little Things

When you set out to lose 100 pounds, you make a lot of big changes to your lifestyle.  My biggest achievement thus far is my attendance at the gym.  I'm working on the 100 push ups challenge as well.  I'm also getting used to drinking tons of water.  Hopefully, that will help me flush out my system.

While the big things are important, I try to do as many little things as possible.  Hopefully, they will add up.  You can park your car at the farthest spot in the parking lot from the door.  You can take the stairs instead of the elevator.  You can eat spinach instead of iceberg lettuce.

Photo by Anitacanita.

The first little thing I did today was buy fat free, sugar free chocolate pudding mix.  I was expecting it to taste terrible, but it was remarkably good.  I ate 2 servings of it for a total of 160 calories today.  That's roughly the same as one of those hunks of cookie dough I was struggling with a few days ago.

The second thing I did was take most of the fat out of the gravy I was cooking for dinner.  I know what you're thinking.  "This guy weighs 274 pounds.  What's he doing with gravy?"  Guess what.  I like to eat gravy and I enjoy it in moderation.  For those of you who have never made gravy, let me explain what I did.  I put a beef roast in my crock pot this morning with a little water and some pepper.  I let it cook all day on low then poured all the water into a small pot.  I stuck the pot in the freezer and waited for all the fat to congeal (fat turns solid at a higher temperature than water).  Then I scooped the fat out with a spoon and ate it.

Just kidding.  I threw the fat in the trash.  Anyway, back to how I made my gravy.  I then boiled what was left and added a little flour and water slurry to the mix and ended up with a very delicious, low-fat gravy.  I estimate I threw away around 2-3 teaspoons of fat.  Not a lot, but I have less fat in my body right now as a direct result of that act.

The little things may not seem like that big of a deal, but they keep you focused on changing your lifestyle.  Then the big things seem a little more manageable.

What little things do you do to help you on your journey?