an attempt at week 1, day 1 of c25k

today was the first day i used my new gym.  i liked it b/c there weren’t many people when i went.  thinking i wouldn’t be able to do it i attempted week 1, day 1 of c25k.  i actually thought, i will walk for the 28 minutes and listen to the cues to see how long it really is.  That first cue came and I was off.  why?  not sure.  About the 3rd jog I decided to take it slow as to not injure myself on my first go.  When it was over I was like I am walking another 2 minutes to call this 30.  Honestly I could have gone longer but didn’t want to push it.

i havent been able to jog outside for long.  i guess b/c the ground is harder and the heat (100º +).  the a/c and treadmill were nice.

i think there are about 6 – 60 minute jogs in the day 1 workout.  i was able to do probably 4.5 of them.  i walked at 2.5 – 3.2 and jogged at 4.0-4.5.  this may seem slow one day but it was what i could handle today.  my heart rate was 120 when walking and 160-165 right after a jog.

i am loving my c25k music tracks.  i get mine from ithinspire.blogspot.com.  Jen is awesome.  I love hearing her voice.  I know her from youtube (Her channel is ithinspire).  Her music selection is pretty rad as well.  I am so excited about this adventure.  I will say that my quads were sore after waking up.  feels nice b/c i know i did something good for myself.

I am around 286 now.  Striving for progress not perfection.

~ bandedpenguin

p.s. i will probably repeat this workout until i feel comfortable with it.  for more information about the c25k program visit:  http://www.c25k.com

10 pound challenge

I am participating in a 10 pound challenge.  It is to lose 10 pounds by the end of May.  I am going to drink water, exercise, and stick to my protein.

• I try to get 64 oz. of water in a day.  I can’t drink it in the am though.  I can drink other liquids just not water.  Later in the day however, I can. I do most of my water drinking before bed.  I am lucky that it doesnt cause me to wake up at night.  This is the way it is until my fill loosens a little though.
• I got the biggest loser game for wii today so maybe that will help with the exercise.  I also use wii fit plus.
• I track my food on sparkpeople.com and use this to try and make sure I get protein in and that I am not using my calories poorly. This is a great site.

Winner gets to weigh 10 pounds less and do a happy dance.  Really no one is a loser in this game.  There are some great competitors: bandedgirl and thissecondlife.

Check it out at http://thissecondhalf.blogspot.com/p/10-pound-challenge.html

What Can I Eat?

What I can eat changes fill by fill.  To begin with I could eat anything and now… not so much.  The tighter I get the less things I can eat.  Then as I lose weight and it gets looser I can eat things like pasta.  uh oh.  This is when I go in for a fill.  I have only recently gotten off the once a month fill track so having to push it back or feeling like I need a fill after being at a sweet spot is rad.

I can’t eat much in the morning.  I usually have a protein shake, 1/2 -1 cup of 100% juice, or 1 % milk.  My other options are yogurt, greek yogurt, and cottage cheese but I really stick to the liquids.

I can not and do not eat bread, rice, pasta, or soft tortillas.  I have had more than one occasion of being super sick on these things.  I wish I could share some of these memories for those of you who dont have this experience but alas I get to keep them all for myself.  As long as I can stay away from sweets, this really reduces my carb intake which is a good thing for me.

I don’t really get stuck on foods anymore.  I am not sure why.  I am definitely conscious of chewing and of going slow.  One feeling that things are going awry and I put my fork down.  I may even push my food away.  Usually after a few minutes things are ok again but I don’t want to subconsciously start back in on the food.  I am very careful about how I eat and I think that has improved my issues with that horrible pressure in your chest that comes with food being stuck.  I also know what causes these symptoms and try to stay away from those foods.  When I was a baby bandster, I think I tried to push things more.  See what I could and couldn’t eat.  Now I know that if I eat certain things I am going to get sick.  That’s life with a band, I suppose.

Things that I have had trouble with just coming back up are lettuces, tomato skins, mushrooms, broccoli.  Fried potatoes of any kind like french fries or tater tots.

Carbonated beverages which includes ICEEs give me painful gas and often an urge to vomit.  I guess it is from the pressure the air bubbles put on the bottom of my esophagus.  I mostly drink water (with or without crystal light), juice, milk, and maybe tea.  I definitely do decaf tea though as I try to stay away caffeine.  Apart from my insomnia issues I have a sensitive pouch, I have recently been told, and it gets irritated easily.  Caffeine is one of those things that will make things shut down as far as my intake goes.  again .  I do miss things like soda but not enough to be in the pain that it causes.

I can eat most any type of meat or seafood.  It seems to be fruits and veggies that give me trouble.  I can however eat as many chips as I like.  Weird how counterintuitive that is.

This is in response to the bandedgirl.

Realizations

So I have come to realize that after losing 102 lbs. that I can maintain my weight without exercise but I can not lose much if any without it.  I am ok with that right now because I have found something that has me more excited about exercise than I have been….   maybe ever.  Wii Fit Plus.  It feels like a game to me and therefore not like exercise.  My goal currently is to burn at least 200 calories when I use it.  This usually translates to about 25-30 minutes.

My favorites are Kung-Fu (which I achieved a perfect score on the beginner level today), Advanced Step, Rhythm Parade, and Island Cycle.  I don’t much care for the free run and stuff like that.  I realize quickly that I am running in place and the game fades away fast.

I am doing well restriction wise.  My last fill was about 5 weeks ago.  I was supposed to have a fill at 4 weeks and moved it back to 6 weeks.  I get full on liquid for breakfast, am fine with a couple of pieces of ham for lunch, and a protein heavy dinner.  As long as I am doing my Wii Fit Plus, I am losing so I am holding off on that fill.  I don’t want to get one just to go back and have to be unfilled.  I have been in the boat before and it sucks.  Sucky Boat.

I will be doing real well if I can stay away from the Easter candy.  I don’t enjoy the food part of holidays anymore.  I think, why can’t we celebrate without little marshmallow bunnies and chicks that are freakin’ awesome.  They throw me off track.  Argh!

Anyway, I have been doing better about tracking my food and evaluating at the end of the day, drinking my 8 cups of water, and doing my Wii Fit (exercise).  Those are the three things I have to do right now to stay on the path towards success.  Whenever, I stop doing one of them I undoubtedly stall.  So that is the plan for now: track, water, exercise.

The End.

Rules

PROTEIN

WATER

EXERCISE

that is all…

food tracking for the week

Wednesday 2/17

b – 4 oz low fat cottage cheese

l – lean cuisine – tilapia

d – 5.5 oz of chicken with hot sauce, ½ cup of corn, 2 TBSP cole slaw

1 cup of 1% milk

Thursday 2/18

b – 4 oz low fat cottage cheese

s – 4 wheat thins with 2 TBSP low fat cream cheese

l – 3 oz. Chicken, ¼ cup of corn

d – 1 cup of low fat chicken casserole, 2 oz. Of roasted turkey, ¼ cup spinach

Friday 2/19

b – 3 chicken fries

l – 1 packet cranberry oatmeal

d – 1 cup of roasted turkey, ½ cup of stuffing, ¼ cup spinach, ¼ cup of cranberry sauce

Saturday 2/20

b – turkey sandwich

l – ½ grilled chicken wrap

s – ¾ cup of pasta

d – sandwich thin pizzas -2

1 cup of 1% milk

Sunday 2/21

b – sm piece of frittata

l – 5.5 oz seasoned tilapia and 6 shrimp

d – 1 ½ cups of chicken with spicy tomatoes, ½ cup of brown rice, ½ cup of peas

s – 1 serving of rice cakes and 1 ½ cups of milk

Monday 2/22

b – breakfast bake (egg, turkey sausage)

l – 2 crunchy tacos

d – 10 oz. Of steak, baked potato with light sour cream

Tuesday – got a fill

food tracking

I have found that tracking what I eat is an important part of learning how and what to eat.  It is very helpful to see where your calories, fat, carbs, and anything else is coming from.  I use http://www.sparkpeople.com but know others who use http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/   The important thing is to choose an application that works for you.

Do not think of tracking as counting calories.  This would discourage me.  I enter what I eat each day and then evaluate it at the end of the day to see if what I ate had too many calories or carbs and then alter from there.

My doc asked me to track my food for a week so I figured as long as I was tracking I would share what I was eating.

Yesterday

b – Breakstone’s low fat cottage cheese with pineapple, 4 oz

l – Lean Cuisine Tortilla Crusted Tilapia

d – 5.5 oz of chicken breast, 1/2 cup of corn, 2 TBSP slaw

s – 1 cup of milk

exercise. why i dont hate it.

this post is as much for me as it is for you.  for the past few years i have thought that i hated exercise.  actually, if you ask me now that is still my gut reaction.  hence, the need for this post.

• When I exercise, I have more energy.  This isn’t what you would think but it does.
• When I exercise, I drink more water.  A daily goal of mine.
• When I exercise for at least 3o minutes, I tend to sleep better.  Being that I daily battle insomnia, this is important.
• When I exercise, I am less tense and deal with stress a little better.

4 reasons why it is good for me to exercise that have little to do with weight loss.

I do better if I exercise first thing in the morning.  I feel accomplished all day and it isn’t looming over me.

It is important for me to eat something or least have a protein shake before I exercise.  I feel woozy and faint if I don’t.

I have been using the Walk Away the Pounds DVDs and actually don’t mind it if I can just get up and do it.

I DO NOT HATE EXERCISE AND IT MAKES ME FEEL BETTER.  IT HELPS ME GET CLOSER TO MY GOALS.  I need to remember these things.

So apart from it being good for weight loss, there are many other reasons for me, personally to exercise.  It was important for me when I started to not over estimate what I can do.  Start easy and work up to what you want to achieve.  You and I can do this.

My goal is to try to exercise most days even if it is just for 15 minutes.  I mean what is 15 minutes.  How much effort does that really take?  at least that is what I ask myself.

What are your exercise goals?

My New Ticker

Here are my stats after 15 months.  I am certain that I couldn’t have lost as much weight as I have without the band but I still have a long way to go….  Hoping to hit the 100 lb lost mark soon.

A First

For the first time ever, I have moved my fill appointment back.  I can eat more than a cup at dinner but that is the only time I am hungry.  Felt like if I was unsure, I should move it back.  We will see how I feel in a week of so.