Tessie's weightloss journey log

[Bookworm_Tess]

Okay so it's way past my bedtime but I wanted to set this up before I turn in.

 

I have decided to lose weight. After a long journey of self image metamorphosis, I decided it's time I actually lost weight.

 

Not get stronger, not get healthier, not get more skilled. Get thinner. Smaller. Lose weight.

 

Don't get me wrong, all those things too, I'm not going to throw away everything I've learned in this journey. But I decided it's time to focus on my weight. It took me 13 kilos (29 pounds) to get here, since I quit smoking two and a half years ago. I have been exercising to find myself, to keep my mental health in balance, to discover the pleasure of sport, to learn how to lift weight. Well, now I want to lose some weight. Yes, I know it's mainstream, but it's just something I have to do.

 

I took some unflattering pictures of my belly in order to express what's been bugging me. 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm not really sure how to go about it. I have half a plan, which means I'm not completely clueless about what to do to exercise-wise. And I know I have to eat less, but I don't have a concrete plan yet. All I know is no low-carb (tried and got seriously sick), no paleo, no primal, no making this more complicated than it should be. 

 

I also don't know how to recruit accountability and help through NFR, but here I am. Step one, check.

[Bookworm_Tess]

Caloric intake & body composition spreadsheet

 

My weight

 

January - 74,65 Kg

December - 74,60 Kg

November - 76,00 Kg

October - 76,75 kg

[Bookworm_Tess]

(November/December log)

Nov. 12 - --- rest ---

Nov. 11 - Full body strength

Nov. 10 - --- rest ---

Nov. 09 - Swimming
Nov. 08 - Full body strength
Nov. 07 - --- rest ---
Nov. 06 - --- rest ---
Nov. 05 - --- rest --- *injured!
Nov. 04 - Lower body strength
Nov. 03 - --- rest ---
Nov. 02 - --- rest ---
Nov. 01 - --- rest ---
Oct. 31 - Upper body strength + Treadmill
Oct. 30 - Swimming
Oct. 29 - --- rest ---
Oct. 28 - Upper body strength + Treadmill
Oct. 27 - --- rest ---
Oct. 26 - Treadmill
Oct. 25 - --- rest ---
Oct. 24 - Lower body strength
Oct. 23 - Swimming
Oct. 22 - Upper body strength + Treadmill
Oct. 21 - Lower body strength
Oct. 20 - --- rest ---
Oct. 19 - Treadmill
Oct. 18 - --- rest ---
Oct. 17 - Teadmill
Oct. 16 - Upper body strength
Oct. 15 - --- rest ---
Oct. 14 - Treadmill

Oct. 13 - Lower body strength

[Bookworm_Tess]

Thursday, Oct. 16, 2014

 

Exercise

Alright, just had my workout, it's the third since I set the goal of shrinking. Today was upper body.

 

I do a whole lot of things during my training and if I write everything everytime it will take me forever. Plus, there are things I can't say in English, as there are things I never learned in my mother tongue (Portuguese), (e.g. bodyweight exercises). When I'm at the gym, I write everything down (check out my paper jounal pic!).

So I'll just put down the most important exercises, those related to my goals (e.g. do a proper push-up), so as to track progress.

 

 

I'm working with bodyweight and dumbells for now.

 

Holds

Hollow body 2 x 30''

Plank 40'', 30''

 

Push & pull

Push-ups (from the knee) 3 x 8 (form: not deep enough yet)

Inverted rows (knees bent 90°) 10, 8, 8

 

Food

Breakfast: green smoothie (w/ pineapple, mint, parsley, spinach and table sugar)

Lunch: rice, spinach, and grilled chicken hearts : D (love them)

Before school: a banana, a handful of sweetened peanuts 

Extra, not planned meal (I was real hungry): a chicken breast and mayo sandwich at school

Dinner: yeah... this went way wrong... one beef esfiha, one kibe, two glasses of 0 cal. soda   AND a BAG OF CHIPS!     

 

Half a day, half a win *sigh*

I need a diet plan.

[Bookworm_Tess]

#mimimi - Chapter One: My knee

 

I have an effed up knee. When I started exercising like a maniac last year, my knee began to hurt, then it began to hurt bad, then it swelled and I could hardly stand on it. When I got it checked, I learned I had made a stress fracture on it.

 

Since I was biking as a primary mean of transportation, and learning big lifts (squats and deadlifts and whatnot), and playing beach rugby at the same time, it was hard to know what exactly had caused it. I had to stop it all, and, on account of a ligamentar injury on my lower back, I stayed off everything for quite a long time.

 

I started easying back to stuff some three or four months ago. I tried a little Pilates (bleh), then I tried bodyweight exercises on my own and liked it. I'm still off big lifts and I may never go back to rugby (I'm afraid lol).

 

But when I started biking to school, to avoid the killer traffic of my city, my knee (the left one) started to complain again.

 

I know what I have to do. If I don't do it, it's because I have no real commitment to my body and my health. Knees, my friends, are absolute key to happiness, simple as that. Gotta take care of them even better than you teeth. Cuz teeth you can replace... kinda lol. 

 

Just... squat and floss.

 

What I gotta do:

 

- Strengthen abs and glutes (otherwise known as core), to take pressure off knees.

 

- Stretch. Really stretch. Not just that stretchy thingie you do before working out, but really adding stretching sessions to training weeks.

 

- Lose weight. I read somewhere that every couple of kilos you lose, you take off eight kilos' worth of pressure from the knees. Even if those numbers are bull, it makes sense that getting heavier is bad for your knees. Specially when you had had a lifetime of sedentarism and then tried to became a motherfucking athlete on the heaviest weight of your life. I even think I owe my knee an apology...

 

So that's one of the reasons I need to lose weight for.

[Bookworm_Tess]

Friday, Oct. 17, 2014

 

Treadmill training

 

15' dynamic stretching, mobility & glute and core activation.

 

(32')

5' warm-up at 4.4

5' easy 5.0

7' medium 5.7

5' easy 5.0

5' medium 5.7

3' easy 5.0

2' cool down 4.4

 

--> The purpose of this training is to be build the ability to run, to lose more weight by running. But I got that problem with that knee and I never really ran. I know tho I gotta walk before I can run, so that's just what I'm doing.

 

Also, I do live just by the ocean and I could go outside to walk and run and see people and hear the see, but due to my orthopedic history, I'm getting started on the controlled and safe environment of the treadmill.

 

I put in some strecthing time too. Gotta build me a repertoire of stretching exercises... After the treadmill training, I stretched and stretched for another 20 minutes or so, taking advantage of the fact that my muscles were pretty warm. But I only worked with legs and back.

[Leimanu]

Looks like you have a pretty good plan.  I don't think I've seen low body day, but you could do a full body weight workout on your two workout days.  There's enough rest time in between in your schedule.  Doing some intervals on the treadmill is good to build up the running ability and weight loss as well.  Check out Steve's articles on HIIT workouts.  The diet looks good too, pretty clean.  A good way to start with diet is to try either cutting out one thing (less sugar) or adding one thing to the diet (for example, serving of vegetables).

 

Hey girl, what I've learned in fitness is that it's a journey, and there's a lot to learn about yourself.  I learned what I will eat and won't, will cook and when, what makes me hungry and what really satiates me.  The good news is that when you start, every little bit good you do for yourself is a gain and makes a difference.  The most important thing is to stick with it.

 

Good luck, and keep with it!  Also keep in mind the great things you've done, like quitting smoking!  And you have lost weight and gotten stronger and found some activities you enjoy doing!

[Leimanu]

Oh, and please tell me how to eat chicken hearts.  I'm terrified of organs.

[Bookworm_Tess]

Hey girl, what I've learned in fitness is that it's a journey, and there's a lot to learn about yourself.  (...) The most important thing is to stick with it.

 

 

Totally. It's the best part too, the learning about yourself. Setting some specific goals, like lose weight or do a proper pull up, are in the end just ways to discover new facts about our own body. 

But I do hope I lose some weight and my body changes a bit. My size is making me worried (I don't fit into anything anymore and I looove my clothes :'( )

 

 

Oh, and please tell me how to eat chicken hearts.  I'm terrified of organs.

 

I hate organs too, except for chicken hearts. It's built into our barbecue culture, and I'v been eating them forever. I absolutely love them. It should be seasoned with pepper, lemon, and whatever else you like (garlic, any kind of herbs or spices) and barbecued or roasted. If you put them in the oven, you have to take out the water after it's cooked and let it toast a bit. It's pretty fast. I always roast some when I bake vegetables for lunch.

 

let me know if you gave it a try!

[Bookworm_Tess]

Checking in. Just moved this weekend and I don't have internet yet in the new apartment. Got to the University earlier so I could log in and say hi, I'm still following the plan. 

 

Saturday was moving day, so I didn't get a chance to go to the gym. Sunday was painting-the-old-apartment day and I was very very tired at the end of the day so I didn't do strength training, but got a nice walk on the treadmill instead.

 

The new place is AWESOME, besides the apartment being great, the building has an amazing gym, stocked with treadmills and dumbells and exercising balls and BARBELLS. Including a proper olympic bar. Mamma's going back to the bench, dearies!

 

The dieting plan is starting to gain shape. More on that when I have the time.

Had a few non-kosher meals on the weekend moving craze, but not all of them (not even most of them) and now I'm back on track!

 

Gotta go to class! Stay strong ya'll.

[Bookworm_Tess]

Saturday, Oct. 25, 2014

 

Finally I got Internet in the house! I feel like I've been in recess from the world and had just resurfaced.

 

But here's what's important: I've been following the plan all these days I haven't been able to log.

 

Actually, I got access to NFR just in time, since I've been starting to slip in the diet and the journaling about the process is the thing to put me back on track.

 

Exercising has been going beautifully. The days have been so busy I forget what was it that I did yesterday or the day before. Thank god I got the paper training journal. 

 

Exercise

Ugh not a very good day. Didn't exercise, but instead I took a nap and went out with my husband... Ah, okay, I'm only human.

 

Food

Not a very day good here either...

 

(I'll start numbering meals instead of calling them lunch or dinner or whatever because I eat a little erratically, depending on my hunger and my activity schedule. The plan is to have four, ideally three meals a day.)

 

Meal 1 - Proper homemade bolognesa sauce with high-quality pasta (cooked for me & my husband today) --- two small portions ---and pineapple & mint juice, no sugar 

Meal 2 - A boiled egg & a cucumber with some tahine dressing

Meal 3 - Two roasted chicken legs & some leftover pasta (a small portion)

Treat!! - (Here's the trouble) a small bag of popcorn, a can of diet soda & a bowl of ice-cream!!

 

Obs.: today, that I had pasta, was the day I felt the most hungry since the diet started.

[Bookworm_Tess]

Ladies and gents, I have a diet plan!

 

[Bookworm_Tess]

Sunday, Oct. 26, 2014

 

Exercise

Treadmill (58')

 

18' Stretching, mobility, and glute & core activation

 

(29')

5' at 4.4 (warm-up)

5' at 5.5 (easy)

10' at 6.5 (medium)

2' at 5.5

5' at 6.5

2' at 5.5

 

Cool-down: 5' streching

 

Food

Meal 1: a glass of zero lactose milk

Meal 2: cod with vegetables, olives & quail eggs (my husband's recipe <3)

Treat! - I had a small pack of cookies!!

Meal 3: hot dog night with good hot dogs & nice buns (two hot dog sandwiches), and an apple

[Bookworm_Tess]

Monday, Oct. 27, 2014

 

Today was a day of atrocious eating, but successful task-accomplishing. We need to get the old apartment ready to give the keys to the landlord, and it has been an ordeal. I didn't exercise today, but I did clean the entire apartment: washed and dusted and took out garbage and carried boxes. I'm counting it as a workout, only I'm not including "cleaning" on the battle log because it might set a dangerous precedent.

 

Food

Meal 1: 10 cookies and an apple

Meal 2: leftover hot dog

Meal 3: an apple

Meal 4: cashews and a can of light grape juice

Meal 5: pepperoni pizza

 

Yeah... no shit.

 

It may not help me to lose weight, but it certainly helps to explain how I got here.

[Papa Raf C]

At least you had some apples, eh?

[Bookworm_Tess]

At least you had some apples, eh?

Hohohoh! And water! Don't forget the water, all very natural...

[Bookworm_Tess]

Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2014

 

Exercise

 

1st session (noon)

Upper body strength (65')

 

15' Stretching, mobility & core activation

 

- Press (very slow, practicing technique) 3 x 10 x empty bar

- Bent over rows (dumbbels) 15 x 3 kg, then 2 x 15 x 4 kg

 

- Elevated feet plank 2 x 40''

- Bicycle sit ups 20x, 28x (both sides)

 

- Lateral raises 3 x 10 x 4kg

- Push-ups (knee) 3 x 9 (good form!)

 

Cool down: static stretching

 

2nd session (9pm)

Treadmill (45')

 

5' stretching

 

(30')

5' warm up (at 4.5)

5' easy (at 5.8)

15' medium (at 6.4)

3' easy (at 5.5)

2' cool down (at 4.5)

 

5' stretching

 

Food

I started the day with the wrong foot, since I wasn't home for breakfast and I stooped at a cafeteria. I live in a city with a major coffee cake culture. It's even hard to chose which cake to have (carrot? orange? coconut & manioc?). Also, they only sold sweetened coffee. (They also sold fruit bowls and fried eggs and such, so there were really no excuses).

By the time I finished my double coffee & piece of cake, I was feeling sick from the amount of sugar. Never again! (Lol.)

 

However I decided not to believe in my morning mistake. This was not going to be a failure day. After that, I got back on track.

I realise I'm going to have good eating trends and bad eating trends, I just gotta make the good trends outlast the bad ones.

 

Meal 1: piece of coffee cake & double sweetened coffee

Meal 2: rice, roast beef, pea pods on butter

Meal 3: an apple and a light cereal bar

Meal 4: tapioca (basically a root) and scrambled eggs

[Bookworm_Tess]

Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2014

 

Exercise

 

Rest day again. It may seem like a lot, but I got to be extra careful about my knees. I'm both building skills in strength training and running (ok, Im still on the walking phase, but the goal is to run safely soon), so I have to alternate days with stress to the knee with days without it. Treadmill, rest, squatting, rest, treadmill, rest etc.

 

Food

Meal 1: Tapioca (essencially a root), banana and a little bit of coconut milk (like this <3)

Meal 2: Roast beef and vegetables (pea pods, carrots, onion) & olive oil

Meal 3: Chicken salad sandwich & fruit salad at the school's cafeteria

Meal 4: Fancy grilled cheese noght w/ friends lol. NIce bread, nice cheese, coke (regular!!) and some flour-sugar-milk dessert was also involved... 

(Treat: I had some candies too...   )

[Bookworm_Tess]

Maybe I should just blog...

[Bookworm_Tess]

#mimimi - Chapter Two: The perfect workout plan

 

I just put together a beautiful trainig schedule. One that includes all the things I want to do and rest days. I am aware that things might not go totally according to such a beautiful plan, but this way I already know what I have to do everyday when I wake up in the morning. 

 

I really do believe having a plan will increase my chances of exercising with more regularity.

 

Paper & pen are really easier but... also I'm a bit pround of my handwriting <3

 

Following the advice of this coach I trust, I'm including a high volume training, mostly for technique building (there are other important adaptations that I really don't understand, but if I get to do the exercise 12 times, I just may learn to do it right) and a big weight training each week. "Big" weight is very subjective, please keep that in mind.

 

Also, I'm spliting my training so I don't have to spend the entire afternoon in the gym (I'm a Law student, a teacher and a housekeeper) (but I don't really have much of a life lol): lower and upper body strength.

 

Lower is basically squatting and a few exercises preparing the body and leading up to that. Upper is somewhat messy just yet, I'm experimenting with presses now that I have a bar available; I used to do inverted rows but I no longer have a place to do that... Essencially I try to pull & push. As for pushing, I'm working on push-ups and my current goal is to do a proper push-up (I do them from the knees, curently at 3x9).

 

I want to be able to run, so I'm working on that. Ultimately, I want to run to lose weight, but I can't run yet, and I have to be careful about injuries (my history: plantar fasciitis, tendonitis in both ankles, stress fracture on the left knee, ligamentar injury on my lower back). So for now I'm facing treadmill sessions as skill training. And I'm using the treadmill, not the beach, because there I have a safe environment in which to get started safely.

 

Since I have 4 sessions that involve the knees, I can't alternate every one of those with a rest day (there are only 7 days in a week), I'm doing the next best. HIIT training will be done in the swimming pool, and there is only one of those because of the time I will spend building my running skill. Because I want to run.

 

All training sessions you see programmed should be really quick, running at about 45 minutes each (less for HIIT). I have actually been spending about 50 or 55 minutes every session, but the plan is also for that: reducing the time of each session. (Since I'll know what to do beforehand.)

 

It's truly beautiful. Let's hope it works!! 

[Bookworm_Tess]

--- nevermind this post --- 

[Bookworm_Tess]

Now this sh*t.

 

This is the second time this happens. No, third. The last two, after I've left the pool. I've been swimming for over a year and I never had these.

The first time it lasted for several weeks, some time after I got better form the nephritis, and I have no idea what caused them. I went to see the doctor, he declared it was an allergy and not important.

 

But there they are.

 

I really don't believe in censoring the human body, but the internet is a bitch.

 

They spread all over my belly and down my thighs, and some on my back. They do not respond to the doctor ordered corticoid cream. And they look like sh*t.

[AlexCold]

HI there! Just thought I'd stop by and show some support. 

I think you've done well in thinking things through, and I like that you write everything down. 

 

I'm curious on your diet. Are you measuring calories? 

[Bookworm_Tess]

I'm still lost with my diet. I'm comig to think I can't diet. Every chance I get to screw it up, I do. And I don't have it very clear yet, what I sgould do.

What I'm trying now is a suggestion I got from a physical educator, which is write everything down, everything you eat, and then in the end of the week count the calories. This way you're not really controlling the calories (I've tried that with no success), but getting to know your eating habits.

Since I'm SO lost, I thought it was worth a shot...

[AlexCold]

I'm still lost with my diet. I'm comig to think I can't diet. Every chance I get to screw it up, I do. And I don't have it very clear yet, what I sgould do.

 

Nonsense, of course you can. Just takes some getting used to.

The reason I asked because what you were logging seemed to contradict what you had set out in your goals. For example, you wrote down no treats and then ate treats later. 

 

Personally, what worked/works great for me was focusing on the meat and vegetables. The larger the portions, the less unnecessary carbs I had. I wasn't super low carb, keto guy, but I made sure I wasn't eating any more carbs or fats than I really needed. Essentially, if you focus on having a large portion of meat and vegetables, it becomes very hard to eat too much bread or pasta or potatoes. It's just physically impossible, unless you push into eating until it hurts which should be avoided.

 

This method proved really useful because I never counted calories and I lost weight consistently without much stress. The only stress came from what am I eating today? Which is the same if you ate any type of food.

 

Since you're goal is weight loss, focus on your diet. You cannot outwork a "bad" diet. Too many calories is too many calories. The more you workout, the more you'll want to eat. So instead, focus on the food you eat, and the workouts less. I literally did nothing and lost weight by focusing on eating less. And I ate good. I had steaks every other day. Nice servings of roasted vegetables. 

 

One tip for breakfast: the egg is hard to beat. It's superior in my book to any breakfast food. It keeps me full longer than anything else. And any nonsense about cholesterol is jibberish. I eat 4-5 a day, and have half the "normal" level of bad cholesterol. 

 

I know you can do it!