Okay, I have failed miserably so far this week. I start the days off doing right then give in to junk food later in the day. I think it may be me trying to convince myself that it’s okay to prepare for me to go low carb by gorging. Yesterday I fell victim to a king cake, that’s right, it’s Mardi Gras time and king cake is hard to resist. I also attribute my failure to me being relaxed and not being accountable. I’m not one of those people that can reach a weight then let my guard down and coast, it just doesn’t happen. I recently finished another challenge (the same time that I relaxed on this one) and all hell broke loose.

I’m now up another notch on my belt and today tipped the scale at a whopping 174#. I know that some of it is water weight, but not all of it. I feel like I’m slowly starting to undo all my hard work. I also know that I can’t get accurate results of my low carb plan if I’m gorging right before it.

So I’m starting mid-week. So I guess I have Thurs, Fri, Sat & Sunday before I start my low carb on Monday. There will be no half assing it.
Here are my mid-week goals:

1) 2000 cals deficient in 4 days
2) Gallon of water per day
3) No junk food, PERIOD!
4) 4 servings of good veggies per day
5) Bust my ass in the gym twice
6) Do Plyometrics once

@ Quinn- Sounds like you have really found your niche and are sticking to it, an inspiration!!
@ Taubele- I know exactly what you mean when it comes to cooking by the end of a long day of work plus a workout cooking is the farthest thing I want to do. But it has become second nature to just get in the kitchen and put something together. I will say Garlic is my best friend I use it all the time not in large amounts maybe a couple of tablespoons but it just adds so much flavor to just about anything. I will say I am no natural cook but have found that just trying things here and there can broaden the spectrum of what you can really do. Plus, positive reinforcement does wonders!! So keep up the good work!!

Also anyone have any tips they find useful when training for 13mi, love hearing the different ideas and opinoins!

3rd day , just a spoon of icecream so less than yesterday!!!
Goals this week:
1. Gym every day for around 50-60 mins- three days GOOD!
2. Run/ walk 2 miles, interval training, trying to jumpstart the body into training mode have 13 mi to acheive my Sept- three days GOOD!! Mile and a half in 15 minutes yesterday
3. Eat 5 small meals a day, limit candy to 0 and breads to 5 throughout the week, Got 5 Yesterday!
4. Bed by 9:30 up by 5:30- 6 need to start doing the am run before it gets hot! Decided that this won't happen till next week with the schedule but looking at Yoga 1 hr MW, Cycling 1 hr T, TH in the am and do the running and some weight in the evening after work...
Personal goals:
1. Take 1-2 hours out of the week for me time- yet to accomplish
2. Take pups on 2 walks a week- Hopefully will take them tonight
3. Cook dinner for husband and me 5-6 nights a week- So far three nights in a row !
4. Keep up on housework and crafts, doesn't all have to be done at once- Nothing done out of the norm Thinking Thursday and Friday will do after work
5. No wino Unfortunately I think I need a reprieve from the wino to concentrate on my fitness- been good and don't crave it

I keep telling myself once you can manage your weight and fitness without such restrictions you won't have to have these rules!
Where there is a will there is a way!!!

Az,

no tips other than pace yourself. I screwed up b/c I couldn't learn how to run at a decent pace. I would go to fast and wear myself out. Maybe pick up a book on running and find a good training program.

mike ~ that a boy ramp it up & get back on track. you can do it!!!

"Quinn, I have the same question that Mambo asked--as a mostly vegetarian, how do you balance your carbs w/ your protein? I eat a lot of veggie foods and it can make my carbs very high, even if they are mostly carbs from my oats in the AM and the veggies/fruits throughout the rest of the day."

I usually don't talk about what I do because there's always an alternate argument. When I tell people, locally, how I lost weight, they usually say either "I'm not doing that!" or "I could never give up my..." (bread, butter, deep fried, candy... pick one) I can only tell you that it works for me.

I think most of us here are programmed to think "pie chart". Low carb, for me, is probably not what you think. For me, it means that my carbs come from natural, grown sources rather than processed. (Think fresh fruits and veggies rather than bread, rice or pasta, etc.) It's not that I have no carbs, it's that they are healthy carbs. When I'm in a weight loss mode, not maintenance, I eat no bread, pasta, rice, bakery, breakfast cereals (except for old fashioned oats), etc.

As I've posted before, when dieting, most of my carbs (and nutrients) come from single ingredient foods. (Again, an apple, not an apple pie.) Think foods in their most natural form. No human was meant to eat a Twinkie, no matter how good they taste. More processed, less nutrition.

I do low fat at the same time. It's just a very "clean" way to eat. Foods in their simplest form. Most likely how people ate 150 years ago before fast food, processed food and convenience foods.

I respect everyones chosen diet. Everyone has to find what works for them, taking into consideration health issues, etc. This diet is also very easy for me to stick to for a lifetime because I've never met a food I didn't like and the choices are endless. Also, I can eat fairly large quantities and so I don't have to be hungry.

Using trial and error the scale will either move or it won't. You're body is the boss. If you're fatigued, you need to do more tweaking. If you're not losing, again, more tweaking. It's just trial and error. It's what I choose to do and I ask no one to follow in my path because it may lead to fish, drinking and whipped cream...... again, I digress.... quinn

Good Carbs, Bad Carbs: Understanding Natural and Refined Carbohydrates

You have to have the king cake! :D It's a once a year thing and now it's out of your system. You're doing great! Just look at the weight you've lost.

174 doesn't sound bad at all. Can I ask how tall you are? What is your goal weight?

yeah, you can ask how tall I am. ;)

My goal weight??? I think 165#. It was 192, then 185, then 180, etc. etc.

Oh yeah I'm roughly 5'8". I'm a short little dude.

A vacuum isn't the right tool, to suck up a jellyfish you need a wet/dry shop vac. Trust me on this one.

Cassie I have the girl version of Captain Random, times 3.

Today is my one year on fitday anniversary! I didn't realize you guys started at about the same time I did. I don't think I went to the forums very often in the beginning, I was still trying to get a handle on the diet and exercise at that point. On that show Survivor I always think that if they took me and a bunch of my chubby girlfriends and put us on a deserted island, we would turn that bad boy into a cooking show. "Ooooh look we caught a stingray yesterday and marinated it in some coconut milk and mango juice, tomorrow we're going to try it again only we're adding some acai berries and a little fresh nutmeg".

Quin, I don't know about you but I have fond feelings about hot buttered rum, it goes really well with ice fishing, um I think. Okay it goes really well with ice fishing if you have one of those really nice ice shacks, with electricity and cable TV. We have A LOT of lakes here in Michigan, that's all I'm saying.

A short little dude with a lot of big muscles. Now get your butt out of the junk food, don't make me drive down there and kick it myself.

We all have rough days, it's not that big of a deal, as long as the rough days don't run together and make multiple rough weeks/months/years.