Tuesday is usually a raquetball day but Troy was not feeling well. So I hit the cardio machines instead alternating 15 minutes on each as usual. Except today I did a total of 45 walking on the treadmill (3.8 mile per hour pace) and 45 minutes on the eliptical trainer (3.5-4.0 MPH). It was a great workout but I’ve been exhausted the rest of the day.

Tomorrow I’ll do just 30 minutes of cardio and then 30 minutes of strength training.

Discovery Health has a great article describing the benefits of both Cardio and Weight Training.

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Starting Weight: 149
Goal: 125
Week 3: 144 - lost 1 pound
Total Lost: 5 pounds

Last week I made progress on my workouts…

I got in a workout each day Mon-Fri. Tuesday Troy and I played racquetball for 45 minutes - I won the match just barely. I also did a yoga class in the evening. The rest of the days I used the treadmill and elliptical trainer. I alternate 15 minutes on each to keep it interesting.

Friday I went to a retreat for the weekend and did okay on my diet, eating moderate portions. I did splurge on Saturday though — breakfast was biscuits and gravy, but I limited myself to one. There were also some very tasty treats - brownie pie and chocolate chip cookies, oh my! I really fell off the wagon Saturday night though when we went to a Cajun restaurant — too many fried foods. But it was all very tasty and a fun time with friends, so I’m not regretting it too much. Now it’s Monday and I’m back to my senses.

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I’ve lost exactly…nuthin’.

I’d like to say that it’s because I replaced ten pounds of fat with ten pounds of rock-hard muscle. I really, really would like to do that.

Problem is, I can’t.

I must admit, I did less of what I need to do and more of what I need to do less. It happens.

However, now that’s behind me and there’s STILL no snow here. Walking’s not a problem, although that also means no cross-country skiing this season. It also means no snow shoveling so far. Oh darn.

Pass the rice cakes and damn the torpedoes ( or subs or hoagies or po’ boys or whatever you call ‘em). Full speed ahead!!

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The first few days of the challenge went great. The weather was unusually warm and springlike and I walked each day and really enjoyed it. I started feeling bad the end of last week and have been down with some kind of bug and haven’t felt like doing much of anything.

I am feeling better now and hope this next week I will be able to have some real progress to report.

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Went to gym four times this week (missed Thursday). I was happy with my progress this week — and I felt pretty good, too.

After the spinning class this morning, I headed off for my official Friday weigh-in… but to my horror, the Physician Beam Scale that I normally use was gone. In its place, one of those ‘pay’ digital things. I don’t know how accurate they are — but I guess as long as they don’t remove this one, it should be OK.

Bloody thing said I had gained 0.1 KGs! LMAO

12 Week Goal: 72 KGs (158.4 lbs)
Week (Jan 11): 81.40 KGs (179.08 lbs)
Week (Jan 13): 80.10 KGs (176.22 lbs)
Week (Jan 20): 80.30 KGs (176.66 lbs)
Week (Jan 27): 80.40 KGs (176.88 lbs)

Weight Loss This Week: 0.1 KGs ( 0.22 lbs)
Total Weight Loss to Date: 1.0 KGs (2.2 lbs)

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Having healthy snacks on hand is essential to staying on track with any diet plan. (That and ridding the house of the junk foods!)

Here’s some of the healthy snack foods I keep on hand:

Nuts: pecans, peanuts
Dried cranberries (a good snack is to combine nuts and dried fruits)
Bananas
Apples
Frozen Peaches (for smoothies)
Rice or Popcorn Cakes - Cracker Jack Butter Toffee is very tasty!
Cereal

Here’s some links that have some other healthy snack ideas and recipes:

2 Minute Recipes (from FitTV)

GI-Friendly snacks (Discussion Thread from Prevention.com)

What are your favorite healthy snacks?

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I’m still here - I am, I am!!

I’ve really enjoyed reading up on what you guys (& gals!) have been doing these last two weeks. Great stuff! As for me, I have been down with a flu bug for the last week that has just really done me in! 

I’ve been taking naps, eating chicken noodle soup and drinking plenty of water… not by choice mind you (laugh) but I can at least report in that I’ve lost 3 pounds

I am hoping to be over this little bout in the next few days (fingers crossed) and have signed myself up for the local Cardio Kickboxing class. I took it last year and loved it… so I am really looking forward to getting back into it. If all goes well, I am hoping to start on Thursday evening of this week. I dont want to push the “getting well” phase, but I am being positive and hoping for the best. Worst case scenario it’ll be Monday of next week…

I think one of my biggest “issues” is breakfast. In the last year or so I have been either skipping the breakfast meal altogether for several cups of coffee (with plenty of sugar) - OR I have opted for eating out… which usually involves greasy meats and gravy or a Sausage Egg McMuffin (ack!).

So far, that is my first major accomplishment: I have been consistently eating a cup of Basic 4 Cereal for breakfast every morning. This is a good change for me, obviously, and it has a lot of immediate benefits. I have more energy, for example - and it cuts out the craving for something sweet too.

I have been more concious of what I pick up for snacks and meals, but have not gone on a full-blown “diet”. I am making small but smart changes there, and am focusing more on drinking water (up to half a gallon a day so far) and exercising regular (which I hope to begin again later this week).

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Some find dieting easier than exercise.

That’s mostly because they think of exercise as something you do for a half hour or more at a time. In reality, a few minutes here and there count too, and can perk you up throughout the day.

Enter my handy dandy one hour timer.

I try to work on things one hour at a time…page setup and optimizing, article writing, posting to directories, etc.

When that timer dings, I set it for five or ten minutes and get up and DO something.

In my case, it’s usually housework. Hurray.

In five minutes, you can load a dryer and reload the washer. In ten minutes, you can vacuum a room. And so on and so forth.

It cuts down on the drudgery too.

Time to get up offa that thang, people!!

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I’m now 233 lbs.

Again, this is NOT typical! I’ve been going gung ho South Beach style and it’s not unusual for some to lose this much in the first two weeks.

My walks of approximately one mile per day and light weight lifting/calisthetics continues. This will become more crucial as I eat a little less South Beach style. I still don’t touch white flour or sugar…so far.

And I’m still being sane about it all!

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Several of us in our challenges have said that we’d like to lose 2 pounds per week. So what does it really take to lose that amount of weight? As Andre said, it’s easy - diet and exercise.

With a little math we can figure out exactly what it will take to reach that goal.

The first tool to use is the Daily Calorie Calculator which will help you figure out how many calories you should be consuming per day. When I entered my details it told me that my daily calories to maintain current weight was 2106 and to lose 1 lb/week, you will need to eat 500 calories LESS each day, which brings me to about 1600 calories per day.

To reach an additional 1 pound per week loss exercise is needed. My exercise plan is to workout 6 days per week, burning 580 calories per day. (Which I’m still working up to.)  Combining a healthy diet plan of around 1600 calories per day with exercise should help me to lose 2 pounds per week.
These figures are based upon the fact that 3,500 calories equals one pound.

Current level of activity, muscle mass and metabolism also effect weight loss results. Personal experience may show that it takes you more or less exercise and more or less attention to diet. It is possible to lose 2 pounds per week without the strict guidelines above, it just depends upon the individual. However, knowing these figures helps to give a goal to shoot for.

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