Thursday Report Card

1. Eat clean and kept calories 1,350-1,600, 50 push-ups for days I'm over. 1,538 1,892-50 push-ups, 1,565, 2,188, haven't done my push-ups yet
2. Drink 96 oz of water. Y, Y, Y, Y
3. Exercise 6 hours. 60 min, 62 min, 12 min, 60 min (total 3:14)
4. Calorie deficit of 3,500 for the week. -934, -689, -604, -326 (total -2,553)
5. Carbs 45% or lower, Protein 30% or higher. (53c/25p), (51c/24p), (47c/26p), (47c/17p)
6. Log food and report every day even weekends. Y, Y, Y, Y

Non-Fitness Goals:

7. Get DD practicing for State finals (with or without nagging). Y, Y, Y, Y
8. Sign up for Summerfest Race. No, just found out I'll be at a family wedding that day, so it's a complete no go.
9. Call the autobody place and set up appointment. N, N, N, N, I have GOT to do this TODAY!!!
10. Call the eye doctor and read her the riot act. Y
11. Smile more, bitch less and (stealing from Crimpet) 10 push-ups for infractions. 20 push-ups, YES, YES, YES
12. Clean out pantry area in basement. Some, NO, YES, YES
13. Order more parts for elliptical (I'm starting to call that thing "the money pit"). N, N, N, N
14. Housework:
Monday bathrooms, laundry
Tuesday kitchen, stairwell, hall, laundry
Wednesday living room, bedroom, laundry
Thursday dining room, bedroom, laundry
Friday den, master bedroom, laundry
Saturday, closet, porch, laundry
Sunday, basement, cupboard, laundry

Yesterday was NUTS, absolutely NUTS, (top secret EB shopping, basement cleaning, dress rehearsal, soccer games and on top of it all I had 4 extra kids with me, YIKES!!!). Anyway, I was away from home all day and when that happens I almost always go over calories and don't get enough protein. This time I was my own worst enemy because I made peanut butter scotcheroos on Tuesday, and yesterday I caved and ate one. I didn't think they were all that bad, until I did a recipe calculation on them, 360 calories EACH and loaded with sugar and fat. I guess I'll have to look at a way to make them less totally horrible for me. But not today, I'll be off line the rest of the day, we're going to see my cousin. I haven't seen him in like 4-5 years, although I did visit with his wife and children about 2 years ago. Our families were really close when I was growing up, so it will be really great to see him again. Staying on budget today is going to be almost impossible, cuz is staying at grandma's house, she's a retired pastry chef, good for a gain of 2lb/day minimum. OY!!!!

I've failed pretty miserably on all of my goals this week except for my calorie limitations... go figure. My weight is staying stable despite the high carbs and lack of fruits and veggies probably because I've been super physically active. Planning a quiet weekend (starting at noon today... :)) Don't foresee any eating mishaps or high cal, no choice meals coming over the holiday weekend so I should be ok. (May have to slip in a frozen yogurt or a diet A&W root beer float, though. ;))


Thursday:

Food and Fitness Goals:

* 1200-1400 calories per day. Y, Not sure- no time to log. I seriously can't remember what I ate. Y
* Multivitamin daily. Y, Y, Y, Y
* Floss Daily. Y, Y, Y, Y
* Joseph's Lavash Wraps instead of bread. Y, N, Y, N, Arby's Jr. roast beef sandwiches were 49 cents and 250 calories!
* Walk as weather permits. No time. Walked ALL day. N, Y
* 3-4 fruits and veggies per day. N, N, N, HUGE FAIL this week!
* No cheese, bread or cereal. N, one granola bar. N, force-fed mass quantities of bread in a car by a crazy old woman. N, No, stupid Arby's. (I'm a sucker for a bargain.)

Personal Goals:

* Figure out an Easter Brunch menu. Kind of. Yes.
* Prom dress fitted and beaded by Friday... no excuses. Fitted, not beaded. No time.
* Clean office closet. No time. No time. No time. No time.
* Do something kind while smiling and bitch less. Y, Y, Y, Y
* "Just say no" rule. If someone asks me to do something that they should handle on their own, just say no... and mean it. No, didn't come up. Spent the entire day doing things for others, but they needed the help. Ditto. Ditto yet again.

I was reading through some of the other threads last night and it seems like an awful lot of people, who are normally really good, are having trouble this past week. Busy family schedules, work issues, Easter goodies... lots of ways to cause a slip.

I've been the same. Tired and overworked usually means my nutrition slips, which it has.

I'm giving myself a "semi-pass" until Monday. Keep my calories under control, but eat what I want otherwise. Not really all that hungry lately... I think I'm just tired. End of the year school schedules are killing me.

Cassie: Maybe so - Dad and BF don't talk much, and the convo with BF happened before the convo with Dad. I think he just saw that my mood was off, or perhaps I'd made comments about my weight without realizing it? I don't know, I talk to myself a lot, I'm fairly certain he hears my ramblings more often than I think he does. ;) Thanks for the kind words. Things there are good now. I hope you didn't beat yourself up too badly about the granola bars - they're not TOO bad, when all's said and done (you could have had the pop tarts! Be happy for yourself!)

almeeker: Your Easter sounds amazing for your girls! I'm envious! Great job, and of course you had it all planned! :D

Mern: Enjoy your gradkids!!

Julia: Oh man, you're taking me back -- I remember my freshman ecology class (which consisted of going out for four hours, hiking, and having the teacher call out whatever plant/wildlife we came across and making us repeat scientific names...) we'd come across spartina almost every day. I will never, ever forget the scientific name of Spartina alternaflora until my dying day. I think I said it out loud like 300 times. Beavers are AWESOME, so are you planning on sticking with freshwater, or going for brackish/marsh? I think they're such interesting and undervalued ecosystems. And...I know what you mean about feeling stupid. I feel stupid at some point almost every day and am fairly certain I snuck my Ph.D. out of the back somewhere by fooling everyone into thinking I was smart. I love meeting the prospectives too, and hearing things from a consideration of how they picked this place to interview, and where their research has taken them, how they picked a research goal/path, etc. You gotta love it! :D

quinn: We're all beat. I think it's great you feel you can give yourself a little break. I still wrestle with that.

Man...everyone is so so busy and it seems like we're all having a rough week. I'm having a weird week - I'm hitting my goals for the most part but am really starting to feel blah'd out. I think too much time with a lot of mentally tedious/difficult work is making me feel zombie-ish, and my body is just dragging...


Thursday Report Card

Food, Exercise and Lifestyle Goals:
1) Achieve a 7,000 calorie deficit by the end of the week M: -924 T: -654 W: -1,752 Th: -734 (Week Total: -4,064)
2) Do not take off two days in a row from exercising. M: Roughly 30 minutes weights, 15 minutes non-HIIT cardio (stationary bike) T: Day off W: One hour HIIT cardio (elliptical) Th: Day off
3) Achieve a 30% protein average for the week M: 20% T: 32% W: 29% Th: 31% (Weekly average: 28%)
4) Carbs at or below 50% average for the week M: 53% T: 37% W: 43% Th: 44% (Weekly average: 44%)
5) Protein powder after every workout in a smoothie M: No T: N/A W: out of fruit! Had powder + milk (ew) Th: N/A
6) At least 96 oz. water daily M: Yes T: yes W: yes Th: yes
7) Report here each and every day - that includes weekends! M: Yes (following morning) T: yes W: yes (following morning) Th: yes (following morning)

Other Life Stuff:
1) Easter cards out by Wednesday!!!!! M: No T: No W: Crap, I forgot! I'll have to get them out tonight and pray... Th: Yep
2) Make an effort on my appearance every day M: Minimal... T: Yes, but no makeup W: Yes Th: Yes
3) Work on my embroidery for at least five hours M-W: No Th: 1 hour (Week total: 1 hour)
4) Don't worry, be happy! M: Yes T: Yes W: Totally Th: Meh...I wasn't happy, but I wasn't sad either

Weighed myself this morning --- aaaannnd I weigh pretty much exactly what I did Monday (actually up 0.2 lbs.). It's weird. I know I'm not actually gaining weight (in fact I should be down about a pound) so I'm guessing that I'm just retaining water for whatever reason. Chalk it up to eating out a lot this week, probably. I'm in a really weird space. Bodily, I'm tired. Mentally, I'm clear but also tired. I've been cranking out lots and lots and LOTS of writing and I feel this sort of nebulous stress that probably has to do with not producing much physically except words on a screen. And stress does wonky things to metabolism. I'm just going to keep on keeping on. Perhaps I'll try to be more cognizant of having up-and-down calorie days, as that's slipped this week and I've been pretty much between 1200-1300 every day.

I work in a job of ideas, but sometimes I wish I had more physical fruits to my labors than words. I think it's one of the reasons I like embroidery so much! Haha.

Happy Friday!

terri, you reminiscing about your freshman ecology class makes me smile! i love environmental science type stuff bc i'm most interested in looking at things from a broad scale--ecosystem level--and how diff stressors impact numerous things relating to people, land conversion, pollutants, climate change, economy etc... I feel stuck in a niche of the N cycle and not broad enough to really make interesting findings, but hopefully I can broaden myself after the phd. the other part of me wants to be a stay at home mom after my phd and just volunteer w/ fun people doing rewarding work! who knows. When did you get your phd? you are fast!! i'm at the 2.5 yr mark, i hope to do it in 4.5 yrs...
you are very inspirational to me as you seem to be so productive! i'm jealous. i hope to learn how to crank out the writing one day, but right now I am slowly writing my first chapter. figures, results, and methods are done...the rest is scary.

cassie & quinn, yeah I've slipped badly. I do have "wiggle" room, when I jump up and down my belly wiggles. Today I'm back up to 174.4#.
Low carb? Sure, yesterday I had ice cream, cookies, cake, jambalaya, etc. etc. I was at an even for the Chamber of Commerce and there was more junk food than you could ever want... oh wait. :(

I used to do Chamber events every month.. the food (and booze) were endless! :eek: ...but pretty tasty! ;)

I'm a broad-scale sort of person too! In neuroscience this equates to being interested in brain circuits and systems (and not, for instance, genetics and molecules). Don't worry too much about niches etc. for your Ph.D. - you're there to figure out what you're interested in and get some solid methodology/bench work under your belt while you're learning concepts. You're absolutely right that post-doctoral work is the time for broadening yourself.

I hear you on "stay-at-home-mom." The Ph.D. is a funny thing. Sometimes I think life in academics - especially hard-nosed grant-driven research, is not for me. It's a stressful lifestyle that seems to delay a lot of "life" - you do your grad school, you do your post-doc, then you slave for 6-7 years to get tenure -- suddenly you're pushing 40 (or more) and are only just then getting a glimpse of job/financial security and respect. Crazy! Much of the time I feel as though I might be happier teaching at a four-year college with less emphasis on research. I LOVE research, but I really, really love teaching too, and I feel it a-calling me...

I got my Ph.D. in May 2010 (almost a year, criminetly...) and I started in August 2005, so that puts me in at just under the 5 year mark. And oh, you will learn to crank out the writing, never fear. You're smart to start now -- what my advisor did was had me start writing papers in year 2/3 and get them out there - my first publication was in late 2008, with another following in early 2010, right before I graduated. I'm working on my third from my final dissertation project now. Then, when I went to actually write the dissertation beast, I already had chapters 1 and 2 done, with only minor tweaking needed. That was half of the body! Chapters 3 and 4 were well-outlined and I got a lot of help, and my advisor left the General Intro/Discussion up to me.

I got the General Intro done about a month before my defense, and then completely staggered on getting the General Discussion done. Suddenly it was 5 days before the dissertation was due, or something like that, and I just had to write it - I wrote it in a blur of rage and insomnia (and carb-highs!) but I got it done (Hilariously, my advisor said it was the best writing I'd ever done, hahaha! Obviously, I just need to be half-insane, that's the ticket...)

The Intro and Discussion are the scariest parts of any paper, especially when you realize you have to suddenly form an argument and integrate ideas. I always wish I could just say "Okay, so this research is SO COOL, just read it, and you will see it is awesome! It speaks for itself!!" That should totally be the intro of every paper! :D You'll get it though - have faith in yourself, and don't worry if you think your drafts are crap. EVERYONE thinks their drafts are crap, but getting that first draft down is really important, because revising is easier than idea generation any day. You sound like you love what you do, and that is 90% of the battle!

Hey everyone~sounds like everyone has had a crazy week, mine also has been crazy at home and work...TGIF though thats for sure. Busy Easter weekend for most of you I see, I hope all goes well...I plan to relax a little and have dinner with my side of the family, my parents go to Arizona 6months a year so this is the only holiday I have with them. Hopefully I will have time to actually write some goals this wknd...been behaving for the most part this week, could really use some "comfort" food about now but will resist until Sunday dinner... Well it's back to work I go, Everyone have a wonderful Easter looking forward to hearing how bad or good you were:eek:

hi all,
I'm seriously lacking motivation. I have become very lazy during the last 2 months or so, making this excuse and that one.... DH told me that my body is becoming 'soft' again :((( so here I am, returning to you guys.
On the positive side, I hadn't put an ounce on, thank God. It's just that my muscles lost their tone. Maybe I am yo-yo proof :D
Very glad to be back :)

I'm usually lurking here - actually gaining inspiration.:) But just trying to keep up with everyone... whew... full time job!

BTW, I am a PhD plant biologist (finished quite a few years ago). I work as a research scientist with the Forest Service and I can tell you that there is an intermediate between the craziness of academia and giving up entirely. If teaching appeals, as it does to Terri, by all means go that way. But if you are still interested in working in research there are Federal, State, and sometimes tribal and local positions that are great, but are not quite in the publish-or-perish environment of the "Major Research Universities".

Muna, I've been lacking motivation myself. Monday starts a new week!

"I can tell you that there is an intermediate between the craziness of academia and giving up entirely."
I agree with Pam. Follow your heart with your careers; you will have the flexibility to make it all work, and happily. It's just such a major shift in getting out of the student mindset that it's hard to see when you're in the midst of pursuing your degree and launching your career. It will happen and you will be glad you made all the decisions you did.

Muna, I'm so glad to see you post. I've been wondering how you were doing.

Mike, hang in there. I'll be looking for you bright and early on Monday ;).

Check in:

1. Maintain at least a 250 cal. deficit to get the last 1 1/2 pounds off. Again. 258, but it wasn't easy! 247 (on average, I'm still ok!), 157, gave in to late night snack when hubby had the pretzels out, 562 (thank you, tennis opponent who took me 3 sets & over 2 hours), 281
2. Weights three times this week instead of two. One down, Two down
3. Sleep 7 hours (at least). I keep trying to go 7/7 on this one. Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Missed by 1/2 hr
4. Balance the pie chart. Yes (fair), Yes, Yes, Yes, Fair
5. Drink 2-3 sports bottles of water daily. Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes
6. Pay attention to posture (I'm a slacker on this). A bit, No-forgot, Forgot again! Erm, forgot AGAIN, and again

7. Put annuals in front flower beds by end of weekend. Not yet
8. Re-do Spring Break at-home pedicure...bright turquoise is not tremendously professional at my age. Done
9. Plan Easter basket with a balance between healthy and treats. Yes
10. Try two new recipes this week. Yes- Stir-fry shrimp and walnuts; it was really good, new applesauce recipe, but not counting it since it was just a side dish, Yes-chicken and cashew stir-fry (what is it with me and stir-fry this week?
11. Plan mini-trip. I'm ready to stay home and avoid this logistical nightmare

Well, this is one of those weeks that is falling under the heading of "when you do everything right and it still doesn't work." I've gained 2 1/2 pounds in 3 days and there's no mathematical way that could've happened. I've actually had a very much in-control week. Something out of the usual is going on, but I'll ride it out for a while. Hopefully that will be good motivation to limit the goodies this weekend.

JJ, I second...being short does suck. But nothing will change it, so we've got to move on, right? Your red dress will look awesome. Hope you post pics.

Kim and Quinn (and everyone), enjoy your Easters; I too am looking forward to coming back afterward and coming clean!

Yesterday was fantastic, we drove down to my grandmother's house to visit my cousin and his family. I haven't seen him in 4 1/2 years, and we were really close as children. Anyway it was fantastic, I really wish we would schedule longer visits with everyone, but it was just for the day. I ate the whole day, grans is good for 2-2.5 pounds/day minimum. She made potato soup and subs for lunch, pulled every little thing out of her cupboard for snacks and then gave herself the night off and ordered PIZZA for dinner. When we got into the car to drive home I was in agony, which stuck tight with me until this morning. I should know better, but I don't. OY! I ended the day with a higher intake than burn (not as bad as I thought it was going to be though), but that happens when you spend 5-6 hours in the car and eat whatever your chubby little heart desires.

One really funny thing that happened is that my Aunt on the sly said to my mother, "So Amy looks like she's recovered from her surgery really well". And my mom was like "what surgery?" So then my Aunt goes into the whole "hello, her loss surgery" bit. My mother totally cracked up and set her straight. The really funny part is that my Aunt wasn't judging me, she wanted the name of my surgeon, what she left with was a web address and the brand of elliptical to avoid. I dare say she was more than a little disappointed with that.

Happy Easter everyone, I have a feeling come Monday morning we'll all be on track again. Out of guilt if nothing else.

JJ yes, you must post some pics of your red dress. I will if you do... Admittedly I have to go shopping if I have to post a pic of myself wearing a red dress, so take your time - please.

Cassie, Terri and Julia, at one time I gave serious consideration to the whole PhD. thing. I had about 3 offers to do research on construction materials, concrete, asphalt and FRCA (fiber reinforced cementitious asphalt, sometimes pronounced "freaka"). I have to say if the offer had been just a little more money I might have done it. But there was a nasty political scene in that building and I wanted no part of any of it.

Muna and Mike: My post today isn't too inspiring, but can't wait to see you both back in! Happy Easter weekend!

Pam: That's a great point about working for the forest service and other government jobs. To tell you the truth, I have a secret desire to somehow meld my current goals in neuroscience with my old (but still strong) love for whales and dolphins. Maybe I should invent underwater brain scanners :D

Cassie: After the day I had yesterday, advice to remember to follow my heart was really needed. I do love teaching, a lot. Sometimes I think I'll let my family down if I'm not SUPERSTAR RESEARCHER AT HARVARD or something, but I have to remember that in the end, they want me to be happy. I should want me to be happy too. Thanks :D

almeeker: Politics and science go together too well, unfortunately. There's political crap in my building that gives me a terrible headache. But materials science is AWESOME and it scares me, I usually feel that I'm not nearly as smart as those working in it, so kudos for the job offers! I'm sure you're happy where you ended up and with your decision. I think any career like that, you have to be SURE you want it, and jumping in eyes closed is not a good thing to do. Good for you for knowing exactly what you wanted and didn't want.

Friday Report Card

Food, Exercise and Lifestyle Goals:
1) Achieve a 7,000 calorie deficit by the end of the week M: -924 T: -654 W: -1,752 Th: -734 F: -650 (Week Total: -4,714)
2) Do not take off two days in a row from exercising. M: Roughly 30 minutes weights, 15 minutes non-HIIT cardio (stationary bike) T: Day off W: One hour HIIT cardio (elliptical) Th: Day off F: I got home from work at 10:00 and stuffed my face with Chinese food :(
3) Achieve a 30% protein average for the week M: 20% T: 32% W: 29% Th: 31% F: 18% (Weekly average: 26%)
4) Carbs at or below 50% average for the week M: 53% T: 37% W: 43% Th: 44% F: 43% (Weekly average: 44%)
5) Protein powder after every workout in a smoothie M: No T: N/A W: out of fruit! Had powder + milk (ew) Th: N/A F: N/A
6) At least 96 oz. water daily M-F: yes
7) Report here each and every day - that includes weekends! M: Yes (following morning) T: yes W: yes (following morning) Th: yes (following morning) F: Following morning

Other Life Stuff:
1) Easter cards out by Wednesday!!!!! M: No T: No W: Crap, I forgot! I'll have to get them out tonight and pray... Th: Yep F-Sun: N/A
2) Make an effort on my appearance every day M: Minimal... T: Yes, but no makeup W: Yes Th: Yes F: No
3) Work on my embroidery for at least five hours M-W: No Th: 1 hour F: No (Week total: 1 hour)
4) Don't worry, be happy! M: Yes T: Yes W: Totally Th: Meh...I wasn't happy, but I wasn't sad either F: Stress stress stress

Ugh, I want to pretend yesterday never happened.

My day started off okay, I had a whole-wheat bagel with peanut butter for breakfast. And then at about 10:00, my graduate advisor let me know that she wanted the paper I was working on done BY THE END OF THE DAY GOSH DARN IT (in so many words - this paper is the culmination of my dissertation work, and even though I got hooded last year, still working on it with old advisor...) and I went on a mad stress-fueled panic attack with e-mails flying back and forth and a sudden craving for anything carby and fatty. My current lab was also being inspected, and oh, it was graduate research day, so I was expected to attend lectures between noon and 4:00 in the afternoon.

Lunch was McDonald's. Dinner was Chinese food dumplings with soy sauce. At least I got steamed dumplings? Amazingly, it was only 1,330 calories according to fitday (I kept feeling like I was adding it up wrong...) but it was like 45% fat or something ridiculous like that, and NOT good fat, and I don't even want to know how much salt I consumed...and the scale was 189.8 this morning, bloated up from 188.7 yesterday.

Ugh. I don't even know why I weighed myself. I must be a masochist. I guess this weekend is going to be a DAMAGE CONTROL! weekend. I keep feeling like I should tell myself it's not a big deal, but I'm really disappointed in how quickly I succumbed to the comfort eating.

Good news is... I got the paper done? It's a beast, and I'm giving myself until Monday to submit it because I want to triple-check for errors, and at 9:30 last night I'm pretty sure I was starting to hallucinate, lol.

I think I need the weekend emergency button. I'm just glad I'm not attending any Easter celebrations, for the first time in my life...

~Terri

Had a lovely day with my husband yesterday while the daughter was working. It was kind of cool and rainy, so we took a long drive to a favorite little diner and shopping. Then it was out for a late night dinner. (I think I'm going to like this working thing! ;))

Cassie,

If you've done everything right, don't sweat the scale. Just when we think we've figured out our body chemistry, we find that we haven't. My advice is to enjoy the weekend, within reason of course, and figure it out on Monday. ;) Wait... maybe that wasn't very motivational.... lol

Muna,

Nice to see you again! Hope everything is going smoothly for you now. :)

Mike,

Where are you? Wait a minute... is that you I see over in the corner in your green Easter bonnet, pimp cane and chocolate bunny smeared on your cheeks??? Just kidding. Hope you're enjoying the weekend!

almeeker,

What a great feeling to have people not only notice your accomplishment, but want to know your secret! My husband works with several women who are trying to lose weight and when they ask what we did, and he tells them strict, healthy diet and exercise, they nearly decapitate him. There are no magic pills or easy ways out. If you want to do it long term, and keep the weight off for life, we all know that it is a complete life style change... no doubt about it. So glad you enjoyed some time off with family... you deserved it! :)

Terri, first off, congrats on pulling that paper together by the end of yesterday!! amazing!! hopefully on monday it will still look good to you, and you won't have much to fiddle with.

Regarding food, honestly, you only ate 1300 or so and that was bad? I feel like you should congratulate yourself. That is no big deal, and the minor weight gain is no big deal either. Don't beat yourself up, as it will make you not want to stick to this for the long term...go easy on yourself and be proud of the good decisions you made!

I was delighted to read your advice regarding my phd...thank you so much! I really liked reading it and felt better afterward that you had some of the same dilemmas with writing and what not. I feel like you would be such a great teacher because you seem really caring and genuinely interested in helping people! Don't worry about researching at XYZ university as you might get there and then still feel regrets about not being able to interact as much with the students or something. You are right, parents really just want their kids to be happy. I know you have already made them immensely proud, hopefully the pressure will subside regarding whatever future endeavors you choose. Or you can just choose to explain to them why what might be deemed to be the most prestigious job has some major drawbacks for what you know would make you happiest.

Pam, I would love to work for the Forest Service, EPA, USDA, NOAA, etc. I feel like that allow me to have some freedom with my research while also having the ability to tackle problems that govt or society is facing. I hope to apply for govt post docs when the time comes. Do you like working with the forest service? I was going to get my phd in plant bio from NC state, but then the students warned me about a specific professor that I really wanted to work with and I decided it was too risky to take a phd there. Thanks for chiming in though and reminding me of options!

Cassie, thank you for your perspective that my current student mindset is likely to change once I get out of grad school. I will try to follow my heart and hopefully have the flexibility to make decisions that I feel good about.

Almeeker, so you're name is Amy!! I never knew that! Congrats on the huge compliment this weekend regarding how committed you are to eating well and how much it shows! You seemed to not totaly blow it w/ the food so--more power to you! I have heard of FRCA and that is awesome that you were offered those positions. Being a female engineer is hard enough, add on the political stuff too! ugh. I'm glad you are happy with your decision and still ended up having a job you enjoyed in engineering. Are you interested in returning to work when the girls get older?

Who knew this weight loss blog would also be so great for life advice! thank you all!!

Mike, not only is Monday a new week, but 2PM is a new hour, and tomorrow is a new day! You can reboot anytime. Happy new minute!

Muna, glad you are back, I was wondering about you! If Lou told me I was getting soft I'm pretty sure he would be slapped. Or he would just get a very moody, bitchy girlfriend who then went into the kitchen and ate all of his cookies. *Although I'm trying to work on not being like that!

Ok, I'm off for a dance class with Lou! haha. this will be funny.

Oh, wow! I feel like a stranger here! Didn't log in Thursday; Friday for an unknown reason my attempts to post didn't go through. Looking forward to catching up on Monday. Daughter and family coming for Easter dinner tomorrow and I'm pledging to be good all day on food EXCEPT I plan to have a small dessert.


Only things good in my report Thursday is that I know I for sure had a calorie deficit, and hit my protein and water targets. But I bounced back yesterday quite well, except for exercise. Thursday I didn't exercise due to laziness; Friday I didn't exercise because of a bad sinus allergy headache.


Thursday and Friday reports:

Calorie limit 1600 1544, 1476, 1599 (that was close :D) guessing 1900-2000, 1289
Calorie deficit (including exercise) 1037 per day 1109, 1220, 1097, guessing 479-579 deficit, 1190
Carbs less fiber limit 25g 26.3, 20.3, 23.8, possibly as many as 35g, 20.3
Protein goal 120g 130.2, 120.3, 117.7, pretty sure reached 120g., 123

Artificial sweetener limit one packet per day 0, 0, 0, 2, 0
Sugar free candy limit one piece per day 0, 0. 1, 3, 0
More healthful evening snack to satisfy sweet tooth ricotta cheese with cinnamon; a square of unsweetened baking chocolate (I already knew I like that); swiss cheese; some healthful & some not; protein shake

Water goal 64 oz. YES YES, YES YES YES

Work up to 30 minutes of Richard Simmons' Sweatin' to the Oldies workout video. 24 minutes, 30 minutes. 30 minutes NO NO

Wishing everyone who celebrates a very happy and blessed Easter.

Big hugs to all!

yeah I know. The only thing with P90X is that it's a series of workouts. It's 7 days a week, day 7 is either rest or stretch and I'll choose to rest. With that being said, I want my rest day to be on a Sunday, so I'll start on Monday. ;)

I also plan on journaling (if that's a word) everything with pictures and videos as I have in the past with P90X. So Monday morning with be my weigh in and pictures. I'm not an early morning person but I hope I can change that and get my workout in 1st thing in the morning. Towards the end on my 90 day journey I'll start training for my next 1/2 marathon (in Sept. in Va Beach).

I'm trying to enjoy my last bit of "freedom". Once Monday hits, it's on. I already have my nutrition plan lined out. I just need to figure out my calorie intake. I'm planning on 2100-2400 cals/day but I'll know more once I start. The last time I did P90X, I didn't focus too much on the nutrition part, that's going to change. My goal this time to stay injury free, shed the last bit of fat and try not to lose muscle mass. If I can do that, I'll be happy. Scratch that... I WILL DO THAT!

Mike, now I understand what you meant by Monday. Thanks for explaining. Your plan sounds great. Are you looking forward to starting?

I think for me, I need to use the "every minute is a new minute" bc it helps me to prevent a small binge/break down from taking over the day and making it all a binge. However, you are more talking about an exercise regime mixed with food plans.

Happy Easter to everyone who celebrates!! I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!

Julia,
I am looking forward to starting, I hope that I'm not that sore to begin with this time. I'm looking forward to eating clean as well but that's not to say that I'm not enjoying that fact that in a minute I'm going to hop in my car and go get a Butterfinger Blast. :D

Happy Easter to everyone as well!

Had a wonderfully productive day today, and a relaxing evening...our local HS theater put on one of my favorite plays. Glad many of you have had some enjoyable days also.

Check in:

1. Maintain at least a 250 cal. deficit to get the last 1 1/2 pounds off. Again. 258, but it wasn't easy! 247 (on average, I'm still ok!), 157, gave in to late night snack when hubby had the pretzels out, 562 (thank you, tennis opponent who took me 3 sets & over 2 hours), 281,151
2. Weights three times this week instead of two. One down, Two down, Three down
3. Sleep 7 hours (at least). I keep trying to go 7/7 on this one. Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Missed by 1/2 hr, No-6
4. Balance the pie chart. Yes (fair), Yes, Yes, Yes, Fair, Yes
5. Drink 2-3 sports bottles of water daily. Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes
6. Pay attention to posture (I'm a slacker on this). A bit, No-forgot, Forgot again! Erm, forgot AGAIN, and again, and again

7. Put annuals in front flower beds by end of weekend. bought them today
8. Re-do Spring Break at-home pedicure...bright turquoise is not tremendously professional at my age. Done
9. Plan Easter basket with a balance between healthy and treats. Yes
10. Try two new recipes this week. Yes- Stir-fry shrimp and walnuts; it was really good, new applesauce recipe, but not counting it since it was just a side dish, Yes-chicken and cashew stir-fry (what is it with me and stir-fry this week?
11. Plan mini-trip. I'm ready to stay home and avoid this logistical nightmare

Cassie, glad you had such a nice day and got in all that tennis.

It rained all night, so the Easter egg hunt for the grandkids will be indoors. Picking up teenage granddaughter at 12:30--she volunteered to help cook dinner for our family.

Wishing all a really great day and control while cheating with all the Easter goodies.


Saturday report:


Calorie limit 1600 1544, 1476, 1599 guessing 1900-2000, 1289, 1661
Calorie deficit (including exercise) 1037 per day 1109, 1220, 1097, guessing 479-579 deficit, 1190, 818
Carbs less fiber limit 25g 26.3, 20.3, 23.8, possibly as many as 35g, 20.3, 21.9
Protein goal 120g 130.2, 120.3, 117.7, pretty sure reached 120g., 123, 159

Artificial sweetener limit one packet per day 0, 0, 0, 2, 0, 0
Sugar free candy limit one piece per day 0, 0. 1, 3, 0, 1
More healthful evening snack to satisfy sweet tooth ricotta cheese with cinnamon; a square of unsweetened baking chocolate (I already knew I like that); swiss cheese; some healthful & some not; protein shake; protein shake

Water goal 64 oz. YES YES, YES YES YES, YES

Work up to 30 minutes of Richard Simmons' Sweatin' to the Oldies workout video. 24 minutes, 30 minutes. 30 minutes NONE, NONE, NONE

Julia: Thanks very much for the pep talk. I was angry at the quality of food (fast food and chinese) more so than the calories -- I've found that I'm really able to keep my portions in check and am getting a good mental sense of when to stop, but crap is still crap, whether I eat 1300 calories of it or 3000 calories of it. I was beating myself up a little unneccessarily though, so I appreciate the reality check! :D And thanks very much for the compliments. I'm blushing :o I still struggle daily with my own expectations vs. others, so I also appreciate the reminder that my own should trump, haha! I really, really do want to teach. My heart goes there. A government job would be nice as well just for the added security - I'd love something that allowed me to interact with people a lot. It's funny, because I'm shy personally, but publically I get to have a persona, and I find it much easier. Weird, right?

Mern: Sounds like the hunt will be great indoors or out, and awesome for your granddaughter to help on the cooking! You're making me wish I could turn back time and offer more things like that to my own family when I was younger, haha! NEver too late to start, though.

Mike: Enjoy that butterfinger, my good man!

Cassie: Oooh, yay high school plays! As a former drama geek, I am thrilled that you went to support, haha!

Saturday Report Card

Food, Exercise and Lifestyle Goals:
1) Achieve a 7,000 calorie deficit by the end of the week M: -924 T: -654 W: -1,752 Th: -734 F: -650 Sat: -1,494 (Week Total: -6,208)
2) Do not take off two days in a row from exercising. M: Roughly 30 minutes weights, 15 minutes non-HIIT cardio (stationary bike) T: Day off W: One hour HIIT cardio (elliptical) Th: Day off F: I got home from work at 10:00 and stuffed my face with Chinese food Sat: 1 hour HIIT cardio (elliptical)
3) Achieve a 30% protein average for the week M: 20% T: 32% W: 29% Th: 31% F: 18% Sat: 19% (Weekly average: 25%)
4) Carbs at or below 50% average for the week M: 53% T: 37% W: 43% Th: 44% F: 43% Sat: 37% (Weekly average: 43%)
5) Protein powder after every workout in a smoothie M: No T: N/A W: out of fruit! Had powder + milk (ew) Th: N/A F: N/A Sat: yes
6) At least 96 oz. water daily M-Sat: yes (Sat 128)
7) Report here each and every day - that includes weekends! M-Sat: Yes

Other Life Stuff:
1) Easter cards out by Wednesday!!!!! M: No T: No W: Crap, I forgot! I'll have to get them out tonight and pray... Th: Yep F-Sun: N/A
2) Make an effort on my appearance every day M: Minimal... T: Yes, but no makeup W: Yes Th: Yes F: No Sat: No
3) Work on my embroidery for at least five hours M-W: No Th: 1 hour F: No Sat: No (Week total: 1 hour)
4) Don't worry, be happy! M: Yes T: Yes W: Totally Th: Meh...I wasn't happy, but I wasn't sad either F: Stress stress stress Sat: Better

Went up another level on my HIIT yesterday, and got back that feeling of thinking it was too hard for 10 minutes in there! It felt good to exercise.

My weight is still up for no good reason, so I'm going to continue water flushing until I feel like I can't pee anymore. It might be a difficult couple of weeks. I sense a plateau, but I'm not sure. This is the same thing that happened LAST time I plateau'd around 202 lbs. Then again, it's been a week of eating out because BF and I are locked in a war of "It's your turn to get the groceries." I realized it was petty and childish, and got a little mad at myself. He's nto been pulling his weight around the house lately, but I know that I haven't either, if I'm honest with myself. We're both stressed from work (he's been taking doubles, I've been crazy writing) and the house has gotten disgusting. So, I can either blame him for it, or simply take the opportunities this weekend to clean and hope that it's at least appreciated (and if not, that doesn't mean I didn't do a good job!)

I attempted to cave to getting groceries yesterday, only to find that it was completely mobbed and they were missing half a dozen of the foods I wanted. I should have kept going, but I got discouraged and just left -.- I managed to scrape together a casserole last night, but there's not much left in the house to eat today, unless we all want to have chicken noodle soup all day!! Something will get figured out. At least the gas station is open and I can go get hot dogs...or soimething. Happy Easter, lol.

Everything is otherwise closed for Easter today, so I'll do actual grocery shopping tomorrow. I think I was just in a terrible down-on-myself mood yesterday. It happens to all of us :) I snapped out of it in the evening, and I'm just going to try and keep on today.

Have a fantastic Easter with your families, everyone! And if you don't celebrate, then just have a wonderful Sunday!

~Terri

Mern, enjoy your kids and grandkids and have fun hiding eggs!

Terri, sounds like the opportunity to develop a new, fun, creative Easter tradition :). Hot dogs, sandwiches, soup, beef jerky...just think, in 10 years, you can explain to your kids why you have this funky Easter tradition!

We've all been through those times when it's just busy, busy, busy...the house will still be there when things slow down, so don't worry with it; think triage. Take care of the immediate stuff (any health or infectious disease risks, lol ;)) get the work done, and catch up when you can. Maybe you guys could sit down and come up with a plan to divvy up the things that need to be done and who has time to do what, when.

"Shovel the house" is a frequent item on my To Do list!

Hope all who are celebrating have a happy Easter today!

I'm glad this week is over but another harder week is ahead lol I start a new telecommute job Monday evening, so that we can bring in extra income to svae for our paperwork and relocation. We're excited but I'm totally exhausted in every meaning of the word. To boot there's family drama stirring now with my mom who has NPD, so I'm having to deal with that at a very dificult time and the things she has said to me the other day has thrown me into a heavy depression. I'm hanging on by a thread simply because I havn't got the time to be depressed or throw a pitty party for myself. lol

I truly missed everyone on here this week, but havn't had the chance to get on, and barely had the chance to log my foods every night. Usually I come on through out the day to log as I go, which helps me keep in check for my caloric intake. This week as been screwy, one day I'll have too low of a deficit, the next day will be over my caloric recommendation. I havn't even been able to exercise, and I'm lucky I get walks in. I don't know if I lost weight, though I should have lost some. My scale is seriously messed up, and I havn't had the time to get to the mall scale. It's busting my motivation because seeing the scale drop really helps motivate me, and seeing that Body fat index drop helps too..I did measure myself, and I'm down from last month, which helps.

So, I'm hoping that even though this week will be super rough, I can atleast not cave in to binges and break for sodas. I admit I've been drinking WAY too much coffee and practically eliminated ALL water..I'm lucky if I can get in half a liter =/

If I can survive this week and next week I'll be good lol This week I start the new job, on top of running around getting more paperwork and documents together, and also have my last lace project to finish to hand in to my class Friday for the exhibit on the 5th.

Seriously..cant wait for this Visa stuff to finish...

I really miss you guys, and being able to read all your successes and daily posts. =) It really cheers me up. =) Hopefully I can get back to it by the end of next week. =)

I hope everyone had a safe holiday

Haha!

On the menu today was: two over-easy eggs for breakfast with a slice of bacon each (I found that we had two eggs left, woo-hoo, and some of that pre-cooked bacon things he likes...)

Hot dogs and chicken noodle soup for lunch...

And we split a Subway sandwich for dinner, because the gas station down the street has a little baby Subway in it, and they decided to be open, yay! ;) Easter tradition sounds fun to me, we'll have to see if it catches on and remains for next year.

You're so right about the house too. Actually, we both woke up this morning in the mood to clean (imagine that) -- he tackled the piles of clothing and proceeded to iron/fold/put away while I cleaned sinks, toilets, kitchen counters. I also put new sheets on the bed, and he vacuumed.

We probably couldn't eat off the floor, but it's much better. "Shovel the house" indeed... next time he has a day off in the middle of the week, I'll put it on his honey-do list and see how it goes ;)

Crimpet: Hang in there, girl. It sounds like a roller coaster, and it's so hard, but you're doing an awesome thing. I hope you can keep focused and not have any MORE unnecessary drama come at you. We're here when you need us, and sending good vibes to you in the meantime!!!!

Oh, me too!!! Only I think I have to update it from "shovel" to "backhoe". OY!!!! It's soooo bad, it was bad before Easter morning, only now it's dusted over with Easter grass and aluminum candy wrappers.