Weigh-in and Eating on the Go

I'm traveling for a job interview today and tomorrow, so I have to eat on the go. So far, I'm doing well! I had my favorite breakfast at home today, which is whole wheat toast with peanut butter and jam. I know, I know, jam has a lot of sugar in it. When I'm done with this jar, I'm going to try to make my own with frozen berries and agave nectar. I had a layover around 11, and I found myself a Subway and had a sandwich. I typically don't like Subway but when your options are bagels, pizza, donuts, or Subway, you eat Subway!

When I got to my hotel, I had some extra time, so I went to the fitness center! It felt great to workout again. My cold is definitely almost gone. I had some reading to do to get ready for tomorrow's interviews, so I brought that with me and did 35 minutes on the elliptical. After my workout, I weighed myself, and I'm happy to report I was at 160 pounds! That was the middle of the day and fully clothed! My goal for Christmas is 157, so I am well on my way! PLUS, that means I've lost at least 8 pounds since September, and I'm happy about that.

Tonight is dinner out at an Italian restaurant. According to myfooddiary, I have 959 calories left to reach my lose 1 pound per week total. I don't plan to have wine because I'm still taking some cold medicine, so that should save calories. Their salads look great, so I'll definitely start with those, and hopefully have a fish or chicken entree. The menu had a few chicken dishes on there that looked good, but I'm hoping there's a fish special. I'll skip dessert but I will most likely have one piece of bread. That should keep me satisfied but in check!

Hope everyone is doing well in their health journeys!

3 Fabulous Days in a Row!

This second challenge is going quite well. It's the 25 Days Till Christmas Challenge, and I'm just trying to eat clean and workout. My cold has sidelined the working out, but the food is going so well! I can actually feel the difference. It makes you wonder why you ever step out of the clean eating habit. It feels like crap! I'll have to remember that whenever I want a cupcake or pizza! I wish you could bottle the feeling and take it out whenever you need it.

On the workout front, I'm thinking I can do a little workout tomorrow. My cold is much better today than the last few days. On Monday I'll be starting up my P90X-half marathon training hybrid. Can't wait!

I'm moving into a new apartment this weekend, and I'm also really looking forward to that. It's on the ground floor as I've probably mentioned before, so I can jump all I want. I dropped my keys at my old apartment tonight, and it was kind of surreal. I don't know why, but I always get a little sad when I leave one place and move to another. This apartment even bothered me a lot, but I think I get a little contemplative because it symbolizes change to me. I've left behind the life I had in that apartment, and I'm moving on. And, I've had so many changes in my life over the last 9 months that it is a welcome change! It's kind of like the icing on the cake... or maybe the peanut butter on the apple!

Fighting a Cold

Ugh, I am still fighting a cold. It makes me realize how important working out is! I can't workout right now because I'm so exhausted, and that leads me to have to eat way less to be healthy! OMG, that is hard!!! Today I'm around 1400 calories, and I could probably fit in 200-ish for a snack later. I think I'll have some dried fruit or maybe some yogurt. I've been drinking a ton of decaf tea for my throat, so I'm sure I'll have some of that too!

My challenge officially started today, but the cold is getting in my way. My scale is also packed (I'm moving this weekend), so I'm going to have to really kick it off in full gear on Saturday!

At least I have The Biggest Loser to watch tonight! Usually I end up working out during that because it's impossible to sit still watching Jillian and Bob work with everyone. Sigh... today will be a relaxed BL session for me!

My virtual models!

I went to virtualmodel.com and created these for myself.

Me now:

Me at goal:

Fun! I also joined in on another challenge for December so I have a group to keep me accountable. Excellent! Today is going well. I've tracked my food and I have about 650 calories left to meet my goal for the day. My only exercise was walking to and from school, but I'm feeling healthier today than yesterday, so I'm sure the workouts will be up and running in no time.

Have a healthy night!

Goals!

I've thought about things a bit, and I have come up with goals for myself.

Goal #1: Reach 157 pounds by the end of 2009

Goal #2: Goal Weight of 142 pounds

Another step in the process was to visualize myself at the goal so I can begin to expect that it will happen, instead of just wishing it would like I've always done. I found this website, although I'm not quite sure I have a photo that works well for this exercise. I found something on Fitness Magazine's website once too, so I think I'll go searching for that. For now though, I have a short term goal and a long term goal. That's progress!

So, now what I am doing to reach the short term goal? First, I've got to be logging my food. It's just not possible for me right now to get by without logging. I will of course be exercising, although not today because I have a ripping cold. So I'll have to take it easy and rely on food choices today. And rest so I get better!

Do you want it? Or do you expect it to happen?

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Mine was very nice. Headed home to see my family and had some fabulous quality time with everyone. I didn't work out on Thursday because we went into NYC to watch the parade, but I got in a long walk and some lunges, squats, and abs on Friday. Today I did a 30+ minute interval workout with some Kenpo X moves, biceps, back, and shoulders. It was around 450 calories burned. I'll take it! I'm moving this week so I am now surrounded by a sea of boxes and very little to eat or to exercise with.

Over the last few days, I signed up for a daily motivational e-mail called the PEERtrainer (by Jackie Wicks... you can go here to find it). I came across when I googled the Fat Smash Diet, which is actually one of my favorite ways to eat. It's pretty similar to the way the eating plan is set up for P90X. Anyway, the tip I received in the mail a couple days ago had this:

"One generally gets what the expect, not just what they want."

That has got me thinking... do I expect to reach a goal weight? Or do I want to reach a goal weight? Do I even know what that goal weight is? I think I do well in that I exercise on a regular basis, but I do not do well in that I haven't set concrete goals and I don't actually expect things to happen. I just sort of hope for it... and we all know that doesn't work! I think I feel like exercise is enough, but there's so much more than that! Now, I'm not saying I workout and eat like crazy, but if I put in as much effort with what I eat as with what activity I do, I'd be doing so much better! I'm going to take some time over the next couple days to do a few things that will get me on track:

1. Set a concrete goal weight for myself.
2. Visualize and believe that I can reach that goal.
3. Set up a series of smaller goals that will allow me to work toward the final goal I have set.

I hope it works!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you have a wonderful day! I will be heading to my parents' house today and then we'll be off to NYC for the day tomorrow to see the parade. Fun! We haven't decided where we're going to eat yet, but plenty of places are open in NYC on Thursday. We're going to do an official Thanksgiving dinner on Friday. My plan for my health for the weekend is to eat more veggies on the side and to exercise as much as possible!

Speaking of exercise... today I'm doing a yoga routine from the November Fitness Magazine. It was written by a woman named Kristin McGee, who just so happens to be engaged to one of my classmates. It looks great! It's a bit cardio because of some flow moves, but then there are slower moves for strengthening. I'll let you know how it goes!

Today's Yoga Workout