Food Sabotage

Isn’t it funny how when you think your motivation and determination is so iron clad, then it seems as though life sabotages you? For instance, you start a new diet, swearing off sweets, go into work and forgot its Jane’s birthday, and your having Georgetown cupcakes!!! Life sabotage. For me, it has been something like this…I have been working at my job for 3 months now, at a high turn over place, and the week that I enter this competition, it is my turn to train the new employees! That means we have our standard meals, post training session, that you get to eat with the new employee. Monday’s night menu was fish and chips, crab cake, grilled shrimp on penne pasta and oh yeah, a whoppie pie. Today’s menu was deviled eggs, chicken sandwich, blt wedge and banana pudding. Now yes, everything sounds and is truly delicious, and yes, I did eat all of it, but I am proud to say I did really well with my portions, and post-meal work puts (one being at 10pm one night after work). But seriously? Why the temptation?? And why the very day after I weighed in? Oh, life.

I have a couple techniques that really helped me that I’ll share. One, I drank a whole glass of water prior to the meal to cut the hunger pangs. Two, i ate off of the small, appetizer plate. I had a perfectly portioned, miny meal. For desert, I used a large desert spoon and took two of the most decadent, fully loaded bites I could, enjoyed every taste bud tingling morsel, and put the spoon down, to finish up with some more water to wash everything down. Not only did I not feel like I missed out on anything, i got to satisfy my need for picking off of other peoples plates, with out my entire entree portion in front of me as well. I probably had a reasonable amount of calories to be considered a light meal or snack, and was still able to work out afterwards with out falling into a food coma. WINNING!

Tomorrow I am going to plan my snacks, stay away from extra picking and have a really successful eating and working out day. I can already feel my metabolism sky rocketed and my body is craving foods that are hearty and good for me again, rather than the sweets I was solely living on during the holidays. I teared up when this elderly man helped his handicapped wife put on her jacket today at work, so my period is well on its way…Why not add a little more challenging aspects to this golds gym challenge!

P.s. still waiting on my before pic that is going to be sent to me by email, and still have not relieved my “challenge accepted” grey t shirt from the gym to wear and add to my public humiliation!

The challenge

So I realize if you are following these posts consecutively that there are some serious conflict of interests and internal battles that are already present. The good thing is I am aware of them though, right? Ever heard of the quotation, “first step to change is admitting there is a problem? That being said, i have entered a challenge…the 12 weeks golds gym challenge to be precise. Now, yes, this is going against the previous post saying that diets don’t work and such, which is true, I am not going to start some crazy diet to get the results I want. This competition is 12 weeks, so it’s not going to be a complete easy fix, but am ever present remind that I set out to do something, publicly, so I have to follow through. The competition measures weight, body composition and inches, so hopefully I can drop some serious lbs and win this thing! But if I don’t, I know my competition…Jenny! We are in this together once again, for moral support, and also because we know that it’s going to take some sort of competition to really get us on them right track. I know this is a twisted statement, but unfortunately, we both came to the conclusion that we have maintained a lot of self confidence while gaining the weight over the years, so nothing truly has motivated us to lose it. Now dont get me wrong, we both do have weight to lose, and would both love to be smaller sizes, but since college I think we have gained so e perspective that our weight does not define us in the grand scheme of life. That great realization being accomplished, we are now going to self affirm that we are not all that and need a lifestyle change in order to win this competition and look awesome in our bikins this summer!

So Sunday was the initial weigh in. I was finally given that piece of humble pie that all of my former clients always wanted to shove in my face, when it was me meeting the stranger personal trainer for the first time and him putting down on paper numbers I have been avoiding for a while. Now, there was one other horrifying component to this equation I have not mentioned, and have surely not done to any of you…the “before” picture. There is truly nothing quite like having to wear a sports bra and short spandex while holding a newspaper in the most unflattering light, to put you in the cardio mood. I have not yet seen this absurd photo, but I’m sure seeing it is going to be a smack of realty. Let’s just pray for the after picture to blow that one out of the water!

My plan is to treat this competition (and therefore my health) as my part time job. Meaning, I have to put in at least 15 hours a week in the gym in some shape or form (strength, cardio, yoga, swimming) to get the pay off. That will allow me to not be as stingy with my diet in the beginning weeks, although I am still going to be completely aware of the calories going in, I will not be counting and seriously cutting until the last 6 weeks of the completion. The first weigh in is the 1/2 way point, and my goal is to lose at least 12 pounds by then, that way I would be able to only have around 9 more to go, when the weight starts to get more stubborn (obviously the more the merrier)! Side note: I carb/calorie loaded like crazy before weigh in for a little bit of competitive edge so I’m hoping a couple of those pounds are purely water weight!

For you followers, dont worry, I will share all if my secrets, triumphs and tribulations. I absolutely hate it when you ask how someone loses weight and they are like, “well I actually did have to try hard, it just kind of happened”…trust me, that is NOT the way my body works. I will have to be aware of every bite and keep up those training hours to a T. Another thought, if any of you are members to a golds gym, the last wave for the competition starts this upcoming Saturday, so join us! The winner of each sex specific age group wins $250 dollars, then is in the winning for $1250 between three gyms, then a winning of something like $30000 in the national competition! Jenny and I decided we would split any money earned because we are in this together!

Wish me luck, it’s going to be an interesting 12 weeks!

In all honesty…

Blog: check
Game plan: check
Gym time: check
Grocery Shopping: check
Will power: ________

Check? No, in all honesty, no check is deserved. Ugh, Why can I not get out of this cheating on my “game plan” rut? (I am refusing to call it a diet). And why does cheating always sound so appealing when it is literally a lose, lose. First, no one is making me diet, I am literally cheating on myself, and I always feel the burden of guilt after my bad decisions so I enjoy my cheat for about .3 seconds….worth it? Why do I always think so when the temptation is there?!? Holidays are over, weight has been gained, resolutions have been started, but nothing has been resolved. I want to eat like a normal person, not be hungry, and lose weight, is that so much to ask?

Anyways, the “game plan” was and has been to start counting calories while taking out thebad stuff completely, because lets face it, weight loss is calories in vs calories out, whether your calories are coming in from saltine crackers and egg whites or small continuous pieces of chocolate cake, your call. The problem is, i said that last night, and I didn’t do it today. To be fair to myself, I did work the entire day, and unfortunately my job has me surrounded by food continuously, but still, it has got to be a priority, and it was not. Then maybe I’ll blog more and actually encourage people, rather than continue to make excuses for myself. The well is running dry.

Tomorrow is going to be positive and count as “day 1” so here goes nothing (again) and wish me luck!

I’m backkkk!!!

Happy New Year!

For a little update on where I’ve been and why the former blog stopped, please click the “about” tab…but long story short, Jenny and I were both in a very vulnerable time with our families and personal lives going through a lot of changes, but we have made it through stronger, happier, with a new perspective and new year!

You may ask what happened to the Dukan Diet? It failed. I gained the few pounds lost (plus a few more) back over the holidays, a short vacation, and a family who believes that “the holidays” means baking a cooking amounts of food only conceivable for an entire army to finish. Not cool with me…I am a throwing away food phob. Therefore, the bowls of leftovers thrown in the trash makes me feel extreme amounts guilt (there are starving kids in Africa you know) go into my mouth. Besides the food overload, I find that when coming off of extreme dieting it leads to an all or nothing “cheating” mentality, which was such poor planing to come off of one prior to the holidays. You dieters know what mind set I’m talking about…it’s the “well I already cheated with that one piece of bread, why not have the whole loaf, I’ll start my diet again on Monday” mentality. It is such an unfortunate “side effect” to dieting and a hard habit to break.

So what now? Is the question I found myself asking after yet another failed diet, and another year passing with the typical “I will lose ten pounds” resolution. I mean, I’m only 24, how many more years and pounds is it going to take before I truly make a change? Now, if you are thinking “psh, she’s 24, she so young, she doesn’t even know what it’s like to really diet and it matter” please keep reading, because you are so wrong. I have spent countless hours studying the human body and it’s functions in college, I have wasted so much time and money buying into the next fad diet, I have put in multitudes of hours in the gym training, learning, and teaching others to do the same, I have been on a “diet” since I was 14 and adjusting to having a figure, and I am still trying to squeeze into my skinny jeans, so bear with me and see what we have in common.

My resolution…my own “diet” plan. Created by me, for me. Diet is in quotations, because in no way is it truly a diet, it is a gradual lifestyle change, and can be modified to anyone who would like to join me. The program is 12 weeks long, the results are to be determined, and when the time frame is up, guess what? You are going to continue everything you did for those 12 weeks (in moderation of course). So here’s the deal, 12 weeks, 12 things you are willing to give up, one at a time. Simple as that! I must tell you, I am already on week 3 and I feel much better. Caffeine was the first to go for me, because of all things it is truly the thing I was the most addicted to, in terms of withdrawals, so I needed to tackle it head on, and alone. My second week was sweets, which had to happen because I was close to ODing on them, and the past week was bread. Now you are totally hearing from this in hindsight, but so far so good. I’m never going to lie to you, I have had my moments, and will continue to, but I’m back in control of what I put in my mouth, and it feels good.

What to look forward to in upcoming posts: my bitching and complaining as I give up more and more things, my full 12 week plan, some tips in both the health and fitness realms, a little bit of humor to make light of this very serious problem in America, and some religious inspiration from my one and only strength and thing to which I owe anything good about me, God.

Thank you to all of you friend and family who have stayed on me about bringing this blog back, 2012 is looking like an amazing year of change and optimism for me, so let’s do this!!

Under Construction!

Please come back and look for posts starting in the New Year! Thanks!