Happy Saturday!

I hope the world is ready for a sober Lula....4 days without alcohol and I've already dropped 4.5 pounds and I am extremely energetic!

Check In

Drinking? FAIL.

My weight is not good, so I won't even mention it. Fail.

Eating right? I actually think I did well on this one, snuck a little candy here and there. Well shit, technically-FAIL.

Exercise-Win! Walked/sprinted Sunday and Wednesday, lifted weights Monday and snuck in squats on Tuesday.

Now I just need to get my drinking and sugar consumption under control. I'm actually appalled at my inability to quit drinking. I promised myself a sober weekend-if that doesn't happen I don't know what to say. Rehab?

Check in

So I'm a couple days late with this-I find it helps keep me accountable though, so here goes.

Diet and exercise wise I did surprisingly well this week. Started the week at 142.5 pounds-that really had me flipping my shit. Did sprints last Saturday, heavy weights Tuesday and Friday, with a day of lighter hand weight/push ups on Thursday. So I stuck to my exercise routine-go me!

Stuck to my primal eating plan-even went to In N Out for burgers and had it protein style, though I did cheat and had some fries.

Kind of failed on the drinking-went crazy Thursday night for some reason-made for an interesting day at work Friday.

Ended the week at 136.5 pounds-dropped that water weight and bloat right off!

All in all I'm happy with progress this week, though I really have to stop drinking on Thursdays. Every other Thursday is therapy day, and I promised my doctor I wouldn't drink after my sessions. I didn't have therapy this week, so technically I didn't break that promise, but I really need to build that habit. So try try again!

Ready?

Ready.

My cold is about gone, and I've finally had enough of the extra weight/sluggishness/heartburn that I've been dealing with for 3 months. Time to get back to primal living.

Lift heavy things 2-3 times a week? Check. Starting Saturday.

Move slowly, frequently? Check. Started that last night. (Had to use the elliptical-desk job, you know.)

Sprint at least once a week? Check, though I will probably do some high intensity jump rope, at least until warmer weather comes.

Cut out processed foods/grains/sugar? YES. (Just as soon as I finish this Cadbury Egg. Seriously.)

It all started with the holidays, where I thought "Well, it's Thanksgiving. I HAVE to have stuffing"

Then it was Christmas "I have to make (and eat a shit ton) of my famous Russian Tea Cakes and Rum Balls!"

Then it was the DiGiorno House Party I won-"I won all this free pizza, I have to at least sample each kind!" (Note-if you are watching your weight and need pizza, I highly recommend the Tuscan Chicken Flatbread Pizza -you can eat like a third of it and stay below 300 calories at only 25 carbs)

Then it was the Orowheat Sandwich Thins House party I won-"I LOVE sandwiches!" (Though I must say, if you're going to have a sandwich, Sandwich Thins are the way to go. Low cal and relatively low carb. Will definitely use for future cheat days. WAY in the future)

All this combined with the fact that we had to move the weight bench indoors because it's freezing outside (and makes it a pain in the ass to use with all the attachments) has resulted in constant heartburn, a feeling of general malaise, and a 9 pound weight gain. And I'm sure I've gone up in body fat.

I was so proud of myself before this downward spiral, I really was. I felt good, I looked fantastic, and I was off my reflux meds.

Not pleased. But, this is usually what it takes for me to get off my ass.

So, here we go! I'm one Cadbury egg away from my road to redemption.

I'll report back in one week-let's see if I've really had enough!

P.S. Still not smoking-unless I'm drinking. Need to work on that.

Dear Online Diary......

I'm sorry you've been so neglected lately! I've been so busy lately I'm actually having quite a bit of trouble just keeping up.

I have 7 more classes to finish this month for the Crisis Center-things should at least feel a bit more calm after that. This class every Wednesday night is kicking my ass.

Of course we still have my birthday, Thanksgiving, another holiday party, Christmas, and my wedding anniversary to go. I am SO looking forward to January!

Things have been going well, though I'm still a little concerned that I may have taken on more than I can handle with this call center. I live in a self imposed protective bubble-I don't watch the news, I don't read the paper, and I generally do a pretty good job of insulating myself from the horrors of the world. The classes are enough to send me into a downward spiral, how am I going to feel actually dealing with a woman who has just been beaten? I know I have to focus on the fact that I'm helping people, but I'm still pretty skeptical.

On that note, Sunday is my first "listening shift"-basically just hanging out and listening to the other volunteers for 4 hours. I think that will give me a good indication of if I can do this or not. And for that reason, we have moved family movie day from Sunday to Saturday this week. I need my family time, and I don't really want to just hang out and drink like I do most Saturdays.

Anyway, things are going well, I'm totally overwhelmed, and you, dear diary, are not the only thing that has been neglected lately. You should see my house.

More later.

Lula

P.S. This new plan of eating low carb/primal? Best choice I've ever made. I hit 132 pounds the other day-and bought a new pair of size 5 jeans! Pretty damn proud of that. Now it's all about the strength training.

Progress!

We took our measurements this morning, and not only did I drop a few more pounds (133.5!) but I've lost another inch off my waist and hips. It seems to be a very slow process, but what I'm doing is working. Pretty proud of that.

Shocked, shocked I tells ya!

Since starting on this weight loss/healthy living journey, my goals have changed many times. My weight loss goals have changed, the type of food I want to eat has changed, my workouts have changed, etc..

I was a firm believer in calories in/calories out. I thought low carb dieting was bullshit, and I was sure that working out to various dvd's as well as doing 20 minutes of cardio a day would get me the results I wanted.

Granted, I did lose the initial 20 pounds that way, but my body still didn't look like I wanted it to, and I still, after all this time, could never hit the magical weight of 135 pounds. I was "skinny fat"-thin but not toned. I was somewhat in shape, but I was not strong.

Today, after following my new plan for about 1-2 months, I hit 135.5. I could not believe my eyes!

I've been following the advice of Mark, from Mark's Daily Apple. I had been a reader of his site for a very long time, but I didn't quite believe the majority of his advice. Eliminate processed foods? No problem. But cut out my cardio? Give up my low cal bread and wraps? No WAY!

I finally decided to jump into it once I realized I was truly getting no where.

Now, I spend FAR less time working out, I basically eat whatever I want (avoiding grains and high carb fruits)and I've never been happier!

I do still have the occasional sandwich, and of course beer (and candy!) but I do follow the 80/20 rule (eat right 80% of the time, 20% can be cheating). And I don't only do it for weight loss-once I learned the effect sugar and grains have on your body it was kind of easy to quit.

I am still battling beer and candy-but overall I am 99% better than I was a year ago. I'm stronger, healthier, and I have never looked better!

For more information on Mark and his Primal Blueprint, click here.

The one when Lula rethinks this whole carb business

When I first heard of low carb dieting several years ago, I thought "What could be more dumb than that? Carbs = energy, carbs are our friends."

Then I decided to jump on the bandwagon because I was having trouble losing those last few pounds of (mostly) belly fat.

Lo and behold, the weight is melting off. The trade off-I feel like HELL. No energy, I'm having trouble concentrating, and I was too spent to even work out last night. I've been keeping my carbs between 40-70 on any given day, and that number is just too low for me. My new goal is 80-100 grams per day.

This morning I had a half serving of oatmeal with berries and almonds, and I already feel better. So the great carb experiment wasn't a fail, but I did need to find what works for me.

The pisser? When I weighed myself this morning I was down to 136.5. With hardly any effort. I think I've only seen that number once in the past 2 years, and I'm pretty sure it was after surgery.

Hopefully this number will work for me as well, and give me the energy to lift those damn heavy weights!

So....

Have you ever had so much to drink that you woke up the next day wondering what stupid things you did and who you need to apologize to?

Yeah, me either....

Seriously, that's what I feel like since I cut my carbs. I feel like my body and brain are just soaked in mud-everything is heavy, I have no energy, and my brain just isn't working right.

Though I am proud to say I came home tonight and did my weight lifting with my husband-curls, chest flys, bench presses, and squats. And I actually did my squats 10 pounds heavier than last time.

I'm really looking forward to this feeling going away, but for now-I am DONE.

Holy cow, ya'll!

I did a TON better with my carbs yesterday-my calorie breakdown was as follows-

Carbs 48g (25%)
Protein 75g (39%)
Fat 30g (35%)

I also weight trained with Hubbs, and damn those bastards are heavy! I can bench press a whopping 55 pounds!

But check this out-I started Monday at 142 pounds-this morning I was 137.5. Yes, you read that right. 137.5! Apparently low carb diets cause you to lose a lot of water weight, but still. It felt pretty good to see such a drop in numbers. It usually takes me all week to recover from the damage I do to myself on the weekends.

It's also making me realize that I may not lose the body fat I have by hitting my goal weight of 135. I understand you have to lose the fat to see the muscle, and it all settles around my midsection. I think it's more than 2 1/2 pounds, but we shall see. The low carbs plus weight training might be enough to make the difference.

All in all, I am exceptionally happy right now. I'm very sore, but it feels good knowing I pushed my limits with the weights. I had an awesome evening with my husband, and the numbers on the scale are going down instead of up.

Life is good.

Helping Those Less Fortunate, One POUND At A Time!

See that little widget over there to the right? If you sign up for the Pound for Pound challenge, a pound of food will be donated to a local food bank for each pound you lose. Nice, huh? Report your final results between April 1st and May 5th.

I personally need the extra motivation. I don't know what the hell I was thinking yesterday, but I'm pretty sure I ate (and drank) double my alloted calories for the day. Which means my weight went up, and my self esteem went down. Definitely back on track today!