And Miles to Go I like eating. I’m not always crazy about exercising. But I want to lose weight.

Breakfast

Breakfast: half a bagel with half an ounce of cream cheese. And tea. 255 calories.

Challenge Week 7 Results

Congratulations to Julie this --week her cumulative 3.19% loss is enough to keep her on top this week. But a big thumbs up to Krista for make a HUGE jump into second!

I've been incredibly busy lately which is why it's the middle of the week and this post is just going up. :X My exercise has not been good, but I just got my Nike+ back so I'll be jumping back on the treadmill soon and hopefully that will jump start my weight loss which seems to have stalled out a bit. Ugh.

Good luck this week ladies!

Challenge Week 6 Results

Congratulations to Julie for her 4.4 pound loss which is good enough for the top spot in our challenge this week! We've got to keep this up guys! Even if you're a slacker (like me!) we've got 9 weeks left to make something happen!

I have been struggling this past week and a lot of it is because of my work schedule. Work is bearing down on me and I can't seem to stop a) eating total crap that they bring in for dinner or b) feeling like working out after being at work for 10 hours.

Gotta find some balance. :\

Oh God

Lunch was roughly 1300 calories. I walked 1.5 miles back to the office. Didn't quite make the dent I was looking for. Can't eat the rest of the day (And frankly don't feel like it at the moment) and I'm going to have to work out a LOT. Ugh.

Challenge Week 5 Results

NMR is still sitting on top with her maintenance of last weeks 2.8 loss. I see a bunch of movement on the board too so congrats, ladies, on all of your losses! I even got to post a loss finally! Woo!

We're heading into the last 10 weeks of the challenge so you guys better watch out because I plan on smoking you all in the coming weeks! >=D

Progress, Slow but Steady

Yes! My jeans are fitting loser! I had a bit of a muffin top going towards the end of the year as I ate my way through the holidays, but even that is (mostly) gone now.

I've definitely followed through on all of my goals this week--I did 1450 extra burned calories through exercise, and I followed my calorie guidelines to the letter. I may have come short a few days, but I never went over. And I did my 2 weight-lifting days PLUS I not only did a 1.75 mile run, but today I did a 2 mile run! So I got that monthly goal finished.

I'm feeling good. The ONE thing I have to kind of constantly remind myself is that this is not a quick fast sprint. This weight loss for me is more of a marathon. Even if I lost a pound a week I wouldn't lose all the weight I want to lose until May. And honestly a pound a week is probably not going to happen. Not because I'm not doing the work, or eating more than I should, but just...sometimes these things happen. Too much sodium, not enough sleep, not enough water. And yeah maybe some weeks I won't make the calories in calories out. But I have to be on this at least 90% of the time. If I do I'll probably be where I want to be at SOME point this year. And that would be better than last year when it NEVER happened.

I can and WILL do this!

Ack!

Dammit. I just had half a  serving of large McDonalds fries. I said no when they were intially offered, but then they just sat there untouched and I ended up picking at them with this other guy. Ugh. I put them down in my food journal to account for them and basically I've got 400 calories left for dinner if I don't snack.

Which was not helped by my boss coming by and dumping a bag of a dozen cookies on my desk. Ugh. I offered those to co-workers although I did have a tiny (1in by 1 in) taste of one.

BUT In brighter news...I did my 1.75 mile run this morning! Total I did 2.5 miles and I felt good! My cardio is definitely coming back a bit which is great.

Goals For Week 2

A day late in posting, but I have been following them to the letter!

Week 2 Goals

• Follow calories guidelines
• Burn 200 calories a day (net by week)
• lift weights at least twice
• do one 1.75 mile run

Progress on Week 1 Goals

• Workout 5 times this week - Not done, only 3 total workouts
• 3 workouts with 1 mile runs (without stopping!) - Not done, BUT I did 2 1.5 mile runs. That's got to count for something!
• Lift weights twice this week - Done!
• Log food every day - Done!

In other news, I figured out an exact calorie count for each day and I'm feeling good about it. I was reading Body By Pizza more specifically this post and I used the equations provided to figure out how many calories I could eat to still lose one pound a week provided that I burn at least 200 calories a day (hence goal number 2 up there). The result was 1378.05 calories a day. Taking that information I came up with the following schedule:

Sunday: 1625

Monday: 1250

Tuesday: 1250

Wednesday: 1200

Thursday: 1300

Friday: 1400

Saturday: 1625

I wanted to cycle my calories to ensure my body didn't get used to one level, plus I wanted to be realistic about weekends and how many calories I could eat then.

I need to burn 1400 calories extra a week (which is 200 calories a day, or two 400, and two 300 sessions) to make the math work and create a 3500 calorie deficit every week.

My HRM will help me out there, and counting calories will help me out with the food side. Armed with this knowledge I feel more comfortable with my plan and goals.

The only variable is weight lifting which might screw with my numbers a little bit, but I'll be watching my body fat percentage on a weekly basis so hopefully I can keep my expectations realistic.

Challenge Week 4 Results

Congrats to NMR for taking the lead spot this week! A bunch of you guys are doing a great job with your weight loss--I hope to join you next week! I think I'm going to actually post a loss for the first week since week one!

Keep up the god work guys! There's still plenty of time to lose weight, we've got 11 weeks left!

Checkpoint

Hmm...I'm not doing great on my goals. My eating has been pretty much perfect, but I've only worked out one day this week. Getting into shape--at least cardiovascularly-- has become more important because my boyfriend just booked a ski vacation for the two of us.

I'm excited, but I'm a terrible skier and it is a pretty demanding sport, so I think sticking to my exercise plan with this new goal in mind will make things a little easier. I want to be able to enjoy myself out there!

I seriously need to get on a regular weight lifting regimen too. I'll need strong legs to swoosh down those slopes!

Also the scale is annoying me. I ate well 3 days in a row why aren't you moving, darn it?!

(Maybe because this weight loss thing is bigger than just 3 days, maybe it's trying to teach me something...stupid scale)