Back for the Attack

Just like Dokken, I am back for the attack.

This past week's battle of the bulge got brutal. It was like a big sundae of fitness derailment. Just start with a big dollop of Thanksgiving and a dollop of birthday celebration food temptations, top it off with an NFL football game, sprinkle on some routine-disrupting travel, and add a bad cold on top!

Can we survive the stadium concession stand?

I found myself faced with many challenges:

• Wednesday night I found myself sneezing, wheezing, and unable to sleep through the night


• We had intended to workout before we left for our Thanksgiving travel Thursday morning, but Jeff took pity on me and we moved our "off day" to Thursday


• I struggled with motivation and energy because of the cold


• Grabbing meals on the go made it very difficult to do the right thing.....I'll be honest, I did not always make the right choices


• We had to figure out how to fit the exercise in without our usual equipment and routine
• We also had to find time in our busy travel schedule

I was proud to have some shining moments throughout the weekend:

• I successfully used my Spark People Thanksgiving strategy of getting small portions of the Thanksgiving goodies and no seconds!!! This is my most calorie-reasonable Thanksgiving EVER!


• In fact, I had a positive calorie differential on Thanksgiving Day!!! Wow.


• Minimal liquid calories - a tough one on a social holiday weekend that was pretty cold. (Dear Peppermint Mocha, I'm so sorry. It's not you, it's me. We can still be friends, right?)

• I even went to Panera, AFTER the cold football game and resisted the Peppermint Mocha Latte.


• A new development of late - I find myself getting full sooner than expected. So, I successfully stopped noshing, even though I had plenty of tasty goodness left throughout the weekend. (My "clean your plate" Granny is probably turning in her grave right now!)


• We made our workouts a priority. Thanks to my sister and brother-in-law, April & Sam, for letting us use their house and weights. They even exercised along with us and found us a nice running location.


• We did EVERY scheduled workout this long holiday weekend, even getting up at 5am to fit in some Power 90 before heading to Cleveland for the football game on Sunday.

I have to admit, I feel a huge sense of accomplishment for our successes this past weekend. I am ready to dig deep and pull out all the stops.

We have one month left in the Power 90. I am in attack mode and mounting a full-out assault in this battle. Bulge beware - I'm gunning for you.

Movin' on up!

While I wish we were movin' on up to a deluxe apartment in the sky, unfortunately we are just moving up to Sweat Cardio level 3-4. We have decided that week 9 is time to take the cardio to the next level. Boy, are we crazy or what???


Here is the difference:

• Each routine goes from 2 sets to 3 sets (except for kicks, which thankfully remains at 2 sets!)
• Increase the pace to manic lunatic speed
• Double the target number for the abs routine

Here is the result - OUCH! It is a real butt kicker, no pun needed. My glutes are telling me all about it today and so are my abs!

Maybe this next level is what I need to help me burn some yummy Thanksgiving calories.

Speaking of Thanksgiving calories and overindulgence, SparkPeople has a GREAT article about reducing some calories: 8 Ways to Trim Calories & Fat from Thanksgiving Dinner

I plan to adopt some of these strategies to try to eat less calories this year. What are YOUR holiday survival strategies?

Decade of Decadence

Today, Jeff and I officially celebrate 10 years as a couple. To start the morning off with a bang, we began week 9 of the Power 90 with the Sculpt Circuit 3-4. Who says romance is dead???

Just for fun, here is an old school photo vs. one taken recently.

The early days vs. now-a-days

Oddly, we are so much more active now than we were back then, and yet sooooo much fluffier. But we are working on that, right?

So, now, how did Week 8 go?

Exercise

We stayed with level 1-2 Sweat Cardio, but continued with the Level 3-4 Sculpt Circuit. I have to say, the new pace and intensity of weight training is kicking my butt a bit.

My running was less consistent. I made it out on Monday, but missed my Wednesday run/walk. On Saturday, we pulled our carcasses out of bed early to do the local Turkey Trot. One thing is clear, I need to get back to some hill training!


Some turkeys ready to go trot

Diet

My calorie differential was on track all of last week. However, my calories were higher than I'd like them to be on Thursday, Friday, AND Saturday. Sigh.


Coming soon . . .

Well, I'm sure it will come as no surprise that this coming week will be a challenge. We have two BIG obstacles to face: travel and the grand-daddy of all calorie-fest holidays, Thanksgiving. I'll be thankful if I can keep from putting on EVERY pound that I've lost so far.

Will we find time in our busy travel schedule to keep up with our exercise regime? Will we be able to resist indulging in a total pig-out bonanza?

Stay tuned, my friends. In the meantime, have a Happy, Happy Turkey Day!

You CAN Have Your Cake and Eat it Too!

Coldstone Cake that is! Let me 'splain . . .

Hello. My name is Valerie. I am an ice-cream-aholic. I always have been, but since the moment I first met Coldstone, every day I crave the rich, creamy yumminess that they offer. Unfortunately, along with the amazing taste comes and amazing number of calories. Therefore, I try to ration my Coldstone indulgences.

For those of you don't follow Coldstone news (and I don't understand who would not), yesterday they introduced new 8-layer cakes and had a free tasting at all participating Coldstones across the country. FREE??? Coldstone? You KNOW I had to go!

Here is where the having & eating comes in. You all know I have my daily calorie budget and I struggle to stay within it. My strategy was to PLAN for my visit to Ice Cream Heaven. Luckily, Coldstone does publish its nutritional information. Birthday Cake Remix is typically my flavor of choice. So, I did my research and developed the following plan:


I know that it looks like a hot mess, but it is SOOO delicious!

1. Eat a sensibly for lunch and breakfast to ensure that I had the extra calories left to "spend" at Coldstone


2. I would consider my Coldstone calories as part of my dinner calories, and scale back on my "dinner" to compensate by eating a smaller portion meal after my visit to Coldstone


3. Request a taste sample of the "sinless" lower fat and calorie version of Cake Batter ice cream to see I could save calories that way (I did, and NOT the same)


4. Plan B: Ihad actually planned for full calorie, full flavor all along! Cake Batter is not the lowest calorie flavor, but I was willing to spend the extra 20 calories for it.


5. Remix the Birthday Cake remix: hold the chocolate syrup (really a bit much for me, anyway), hold the brownie (this WAS a compromise), at just 25 calories keep the rainbow sprinkles (which is my favorite mix-in anyway).


6. With my remixed Remix, a "Like it" size would be 355 calories

So, everything went according to plan until Step: 6. From there I took a detour. Not to worry, it was a good one!

My friends ordered their Coldstone in the kid-size. This inspired me to follow suit. The smaller portion (about half the "Like it" size), saved me even more calories and still satisfied my Coldstone Craving!!!

To be cautious, I recorded my calories for the Remixed Remix and the small cake sample as 1.5 "Like it" size of Birthday Cake Remix (which I know is more than I actually had). Even with those calories, I was still within my weight loss calorie budget. And, the scale showed it with a decrease of 0.04 lbs this morning!

So, when losing weight, you CAN have your cake (metaphorically speaking for a low calorie day), and eat one at Coldstone, too!

Ohhhhh, We're Halfway there . . .

No, we're not Livin' on a Prayer. But, we ARE halfway through the Power 90. Over halfway, to be precise. We have now completed 7 full weeks of the program. Only 6 more to go! (At least our first go-round.) I am proud to say we have not missed a single session!


As promised, we did an official weigh-in this week. Drum roll, please . . .


Jeff: 232 .......... + 3.8 lbs (since last weigh in) - 0.6 lbs (total)
Valerie: 200.4 .......... - 1.4 (since last weigh in) - 6 lbs (total)

For those of you who are Biggest Loser fans, you know this weigh in would have resulted in a large "GASP!" Someone is heading the wrong way! You would also be able to see who is the Biggest Loser in our house right now at approx. 3% total weight loss vs. .3%. Not that I'm gloating, or anything. (Teehee!)

As for the progress report:

Exercise

We had to shift our schedule again to accommodate a busy Saturday. It just was not feasible to get up at 4:30am to try to fit it in before I headed to LOC to do some training. So, we did our day off on Saturday, and shifted our final day of the week to Sunday. It just means that this week we will do 7 consecutive days of workouts.

Chatty Cathy - someone PLEASE clip her string!

We also switched from Sculpt Circuit 1-2 to Sculpt Circuit 3-4. Wow. I think the toughest part overall is the pace. It is much more aggressive, so I don't get much of a chance to recover between exercises. Which makes my stamina wane as the workout progresses. It is also a longer strength routine.

My kryptonite is that Tony (Horton, that is) wants the first set of push-ups to be regular rather than modified. My muscles are still not capable of being the load of my behind. I tried my best, but I am not sure that anything I did this week could actually count as a real push up. I am thinking that I was getting more out of the modified, so I may go back to them until I either: a) build more arm strength, b) shed some poundage to lighten my load, or c) both a and b.


For the cardio, we are still at the Level 1-2. Progress is consistent. Kind of at a plateau here, not really improving, but not getting worse.


On the running front, I never made it out this past week. I know that is lame. I did finally make it to Fleet Feet to get a much needed pair of new shoes. I went back the Saucony Progrid Omni. I really liked them before. I also registered to the do the Hickory YMCA Turkey Trot 5k this weekend. I am going to pre-burn some of those Thanksgiving calories!!!


Diet


My calorie differential ROCKED this past week! Well, except for Saturday...wah, wah, wah, wahhhhh. We won't talk about Saturday. Let's talk about 12 consecutive DAYS of having negative calorie differential (remember that means I burned more calories than I consumed). That is success that I can take to the scale! And the scale approves - see above weigh-in results.

Coming soon . . .

Will I see success at the Turkey Trot 5k this week? Will Jeff turn around his trend on the scale (let's face it, he doesn't have quite as far to go)? Will I EVER be able to do a real push up?


Stay tuned, my friends. And, thanks for being here to make sure I pull my butt out of bed in the mornings!

Fear and Loathing in Our Living Room

Fear that I might throw up and loathing for Tony Horton, that is. Today we shifted from Sculpt Circuit 1-2 to Sculpt Circuit 3-4. It is a a lot of the same, just faster and/or more of it, plus they add in more exercises. To top it off, I discovered that I was doing the "close" push ups wrong, so now I am basically starting almost from scratch on them, and they hurt even more the right way. Sigh. Oh, and Tony wants me to transition to REAL push ups, you know, not on my knees. (hence the loathing).

It did not help matters that I'm still a bit sore and worn out from yesterday's Marshall University Half Marathon relay. I posted my best pace EVER! Kind of crazy considering how much I've struggled with pace lately.


Team Deviled Legs

My relay team, the Deviled Legs, did awesome! It was a family affair. My teammates were my sister, April, and niece, Johanna. We all did great and beat the first marathoner to the finis!. Jeff beat his race time from last year - YAY, Jeff! My brother-in-law, Sam, finished his first half marathon with an impressive time, as well. It was a great race day!



Jeff sprints to a finish

On the diet front, my calorie differential (calories eaten vs. calories burned) has been in my favor for the past 8 consecutive days. You all know how I struggle to maintain this, so this is serious progress. SparkPeople.com has a great report that lets me track this daily, weekly, monthly....this site is a great resource (Disclaimer: this is not an add, this is just my favorite site).

Join the Web's Only Nutrition & Fitness Program Just For Teens! Diet


Now, I know that we owe you all a weigh in. Today we travelled all day, so a weigh in would have been distorted. Check back soon for the weigh in.

And the Holiday Season has hit

This past weekend officially marked the start of the holidays with Halloween.

If this weekend is an indication of my will-power to come, then I am in for trouble. Of course, I am not in charge of any large scale public event during the next two holidays, so that may help.

As co-chair of the Hickory Jaycees 13th Annual Halloween Masquerade Ball, I was presented with plenty of opportunity for extra physical activity and calorie burning. Not enough, however, to off-set my poor dietary choices.


Get it? 13th Annual, Friday the 13th??? Good times!

Since it was a rough weekend (and I forgot to do the weigh-in), we'll do another two week results post next week.

But, for now, here is a summary of last week:

Exercise:

I felt pretty good doing both the weight training and cardio last week. I think we are close to moving on to Phase 3 & 4 Sculpt Circuit. We kept to our schedule, even getting out of bed Saturday morning for Sweat Cardio before heading out for more Halloween set-up.

As for my run/walking, this also went very well. I saw a decent improvement in my pace, which excites me. I was really starting to get bummed. Hoping this means that my body has now adjusted to my new demands.

Bonus: In addition to the hauling, lifting, and lugging this around during Halloween set-up, I burnt plenty of dance dance calories on the dance floor.

Diet:

I started the week on track and stayed that way until I hit the weekend. I knew this weekend would be tough. It is always a high calorie weekend.

If I am honest with myself, it really was not as bad as I have been in year's past. I did make some adjustments to try to keep the train near the track. However, as you will see, that does not mean it was a good weekend . . .

The good: I ate my leftover vegetarian Pad Thai for lunch on Friday starting the day with a healthy meal to fuel up before the chaos began. I also skipped lunch on Saturday (not intentionally - I just ran out of time). This did help shave some potential calories off the day. Also, I developed a plan to limit my alcohol calories at the party; choosing flavored vodka and diet tonic, rather than super-yummy and super-caloric Killians beer. Then I chose to walk away from my drink and keep myself on the dance floor as much as possible.

The bad: My breakfast on Saturday was a sugar cookie. Then, hunger and dining out both Friday and Saturday eroded my will power. Come on, who can resist dessert at the Old German Schnitzel Haus???? Obviously, not me. Oh, and I may have had a couple jello shots.

The ugly: After a VERY long, hectic weekend full of hard work, my resistance was down on Sunday. We hit the drive through on our way to tear down Halloween. Yes, I COULD have ordered something reasonable. I SHOULD have. But, the cheeseburgers and fries were calling. Sigh. I followed that with some ice cream and pizza to round out the day. FAIL!

So, things were not as bad as they could have been, but also not as good as they should have been this past week. I picked up the pieces and jumped right back on that horse, and have been keeping my diet in check this week.

Coming soon . . .

This week is race week, so that will help keep our diet in check and add bonus exercise. Stay tuned for next week's weigh-in and update!