Weigh In Report - A New Victory!

It was a challenging week - in that I was back to work. This brings all the challenges of trying to maintain my exercise and diet goals while shuffling many more responsibilities. over all, I did well.

My diet/calorie intake was good - keeping solidly within the 1800-2200/day zone that is my target. This included going out twice to eat. During the week we went out and I simply made some good choices for calories and portion control. Last night I went with my wife for sushi. I ate light during the day so I could afford the extra calories.

My exercise was great, although a struggle from a convenience standpoint. A lot of last minute scheduling commitments made me change a lot of my workout plans. i ended up substituting an exercise DVD at home for my planned workouts twice. Yesterday I had planned a cardio workout at my school's track after work, but they were doing maintenance. Instead, i decided to walk home. 70 minutes later I had a nice walk and a decent cardio (hauling my bag with me helped).

It was worth it at the weigh-in. Despite it being a challenging week, I managed a two pound weight loss. Better yet, I busted through the 270 barrier and stood at 269.

Here are the numbers:

High Weight: 295
Last Week's Weight: 271
Current Weight: 269

This week's loss: 2
Total Loss 26

Next week's Goal: 267
Short Term Goal: 260
Medium term Goal: 250
Long Term Goal: 200
Ultimate Goal: Hit and maintain 190

Kathy Ireland

I am going to be sometimes posting links to books, recipes or sometimes workout DVDs I think are worth a second look. This first one, Kathy Ireland: Total Fitness Workout is almost funny. She made it shortly after she gave birth, and she is having trouble keeping up with the workout herself. Actually, the workout itself wasn't that hard - it is a good beginner type DVD.

Shedding and Working

No! I am not a cat, although with the shedding cats in our house I am beginning to think I might become one. I am a teacher at an Ecuadorian high school, so as I have started my weight loss campaign I benefited by being on vacation (South American schools generally have "summer vacation" in February and March). I haven't had to worry about fitting my diet around work, or figuring out the best time to do my workouts.

That changed today. Mar 22 is back to school or for teachers so here I am back into a work routine. We are up early enough to get our animals taken care of and lunches packed. Then my wife gets on her bus and I get on mine. First day for teachers, of course is fairly simple. We get a couple of meetings, spend some time networking with the other teachers and seeing what everybody did on their vacations. Then we check out our rooms - I got a new desk!

After school was over I changed and did a cardio session on the school track. While doing that I heard a yell. Some of my oncoming seniors were at basketball practice. While the ladies had a water break we talked a bit and briefly got caught up. Fun!

Tonight I'll be trying out a total body fitness DVD. We'll see how it goes!

The Press Republican - Article: Teacher wins big with weight-loss effort

Here is a real success story - a teacher who went from over 400 pounds and was considering gastric bypass surgery. He ended up losing 142 pounds only by diet and exercise. I don't know about you, but I'm going to print it and put it on my refrigerator.

The Press Republican - Article: Teacher wins big with weight-loss effort

Getting Cardio Creative

Yesterday was a challenge to my commitment. I am happy to say I pulled through with flying colors. The problem came when I was called in to substitute for half a day at my wife's school. That threw my cardio plan out the window, because my afternoon was pretty busy, and I didn't want to lose the cardio time. What to do?

The answer hit me as I ended up having to deal with a delay that afternoon. I was at a mall when I got a call that the person i was going to meet was delayed. I decided to start walking. I headed on past the shops of one side, then down the other, then up the stairway to the second floor. Back and forth and up and down, and this was a fairly good sized mall. It wasn't completely smooth sailing, since it was after 4pm on a Friday and the mall was starting to get crowded. Plus I wasn't really dressed for anything too intense. But I still managed 45 minutes of some calorie burn and I was happy when it was done.

Better yet, I was going through some old DVDs in our collection and found a couple of old aerobic/workout DVDs. I popped in a 30-minute low-intensity, low-impact Kathy Ireland tape and had a great change of pace.

In the end, I didn't get in the cardio I wanted, but I ended doing it more and better by keeping my options open. better yet, I've discovered some new resources I can use to keep my exercise/cardio work varied and fresh. It was a very good day.

Healthy Eating Resource

Here is a neat book with lots of good information on eating healthy.

Eating Out Without Blowing the Calories

Proud of myself today. Not only did a good cardio but managed to go to Chili's with my wife and didn't blow the diet. Had chicken fajitas and only used two tortillas and limited myself on the condiments. Even had enough calories left over for some popcorn for my evening snack!