LadyofLayton

Sunday was the most epic day of the week. I pulled off my second strength workout in the morning, did a new yoga routine for the warmup, only ate 52g of carbs, and my husband and I did the most work on the garden plot ever. We got the boxes built, pulled up all of the grass/weeds and I started to mix in some compost before I had to quit for the night. The earlier part of the week was not so great. We did a lot of eating out and my weeks average carb intake ended up being 111g a day. I also went over my calorie allowance a bit more than usual this week. However! I had a doctors appointment where I got to weigh myself on their nice scales and I'm officially down 20lbs since I started in March. 20lbs! I think I'm still 10lbs away from my pre pregnancy weight but I'm just so happy that the numbers keep dropping. I'm doing something right this time and I'm not mad, irritable, angry or starved. I feel good. I feel like I'm really leveling up. I'm going to lunch with somebody today that hasn't seen me since I started the diet so I'm hoping she says something. So for the goal grades 1. Strength Training--A- I wish I was getting my second workout in before Sunday morning so I'll tack on the minus. 2. Cardio routine-- B I have only been doing different cardio routines as warm ups for my strength workout. I feel like this is my way of avoiding an actual aerobic workout but still getting in on my challenge. :/ I think next week I'm going to challenge myself to do one night of a full aerobic routine. 3. Carbs-- C Not so great. I went really high a couple of days in a row. The days I do well though, I do really well. So just keep swimming! 4. Garden-- A! Yes, I'm so stinking excited. My husband was such a great help. I thought I had lost a couple pumpkin starts by not watering soon enough but they perked back up after a couple of days. All I have left is to further cultivate the soil and I can put those suckers in the ground!

Hey Fonzico, I just wanted to pop by, say thank you for all your support and chime in on how great it is that you did a chin up! I'm nowhere near chin ups but pretty close to fried pickles. I love your meal plans and I am a little jealous of the routine. Keep up the good work

Great job Arlene! Sorry to hear about your internet. That's rough stuff. I like that you typed Geek Squid, my imagination is running wild.

Thanks for the tips Arlene! I'm sort of clinging to the counting calories and carbs right now. I'm afraid if I don't I'll overeat in a hurry. I'm not sure where I got the idea that I should always eat until I'm sick but it's been a hard habit to break. The idea of just eating without the stress of counting does sound wonderful. I'll get there! I'll look into the cookbooks, although the thing I like best about the idea of paleo is that there isn't much thinking put into it. Meats, veggies, less ingredients and more smiles. I don't remember who put it this way but it's my favorite way to think about it. Veggies>Meat>Fruit>Everything else. Easy peasy. It might be helpful for times like now, I'm in a mexican food rut because I made, what seems like a lifetime supply of barbacoa pork. I just finished my first workout for the week! I didn't half ass it and I feel pretty good. No work tomorrow so I'm hoping to get some outdoor time with the family.

I had a great day! I casually mentioned to a friend/coworker in the lunch room that 'I haven't eaten at the restaurant next door since I've been trying to eat healthy' and he said 'Well I can certainly tell you're losing weight' I mentioned it to one of my girl co-workers (we're very girly and chit chat about everything) and she said that she was just telling somebody else how I have 'obviously' been working very hard because she can tell that it's paying off. And to top it all off, the only other person in the office who watches my favorite show Game of Thrones, told me that I remind her of 'the little girl' I said...who? Arya? yes...Arya Stark. I remind somebody of Arya Stark. I am officially the coolest person in the world. Anyhow I've decided to procrastinate my first strength workout of the week another day. It's awful but I didn't get much sleep last night due to a teething toddler so I feel justified in geeking out on the computer for another 20 minutes and going right to bed. Also, if my calculations are correct I only ate 35g of carbs today. I'm on a roll! (maybe not a roll, maybe like a...low carb round nut. like a brazil nut)

Hey Arlene. I found your new post! I'm glad you were able to revise your goals successfully. My first goal is exactly the same is yours! You can find the link to my first challenge/current challenge in my signature. I am trying to eat paleo but starting out by making one of my goals to reduce my carb intake. Have you been eating paleo long? I think the reasoning behind paleo really makes sense to me and I would like to convert my whole family to eating paleo. Though I think it will be a great battle to get my husband to stop eating potatoes. I've never used a rowing machine, but I bet 20 minutes at a steady speed would be a good place to start? Good luck and keep up the good work!

Thanks so much for the support Fonzico. It has been a rough week. I went over my calorie limit 4 days in a row and seem to be either a)not losing weight or possibly b)actually gaining some back, which is discouraging. HOWEVER, I am not going to give up. This is usually the time I would throw in the towel and resign to being just a fat person. I am not going to beat myself up this time. I am not just a fat person. I am a good mom, with a beautiful daughter that deserves the best. I will not give up. I'll fail as many times as it takes. So here's the weeks breakdown and...grades? I guess grades. I haven't graded before but I am now. I actually did do my strength routine twice this week though I half assed both of them, so I give myself a C. I danced the other night. In my living room, in my work out clothes. This could work for me. I also took 3 walking trail trips this week. I'm going to count dancing and give myself a B. (Since I didn't try a new video workout which probably would have been a better workout) I may have gone well over my allowed calories 4 days in a row but I managed to do great on my carb intake. I averaged 96g this week. I feel like this is a step in the right direction. I didn't struggle very hard making lower carb choices. (I just struggled on snacking quantity) So an A here as well! My current average from both weeks is only at 107g so I'm getting there! The garden. My starts are looking huge and still alive! Also I went to Home Depot today and bought some wood and nails to have my husband build me a box for a raised garden. So I certainly worked towards it. A! Realizing all of these small victories has really helped me stay positive about my lifestyle changes. I had tried to use the snack challenge as a kick in the pants but I didn't have enough will power and crashed a little so NEW CHALLENGE to help keep me on track. I need to work on eating planned meals on the weekends. Weekends are a huge pitfall for me. We go out to eat and I make less than stellar decisions or since I don't have the routine of work everything gets out of control and I end up snacking all day instead of eating meals, which leads to overeating. I can see that the routines I have built during the work week have been working really well for me so the weekends need to fall in line! Excuse the wall of text, I'm trying to pep talk myself! As Yo Gabba Gabba says "Don't stop, don't give up!"

Hey Arlene! Any news on revising your goals? How are things going?

Well, this week has been a struggle. I got in a fight with my mom Tuesday afternoon and my mood spiraled downward. I ended up skipping my workout that night and half assed it last night. It's so frustrating. Over the past couple of weeks I've been feeling great about what I'm doing and excited about the changes. As soon as my mood shifts I have these crazy cravings and urges to eat foul things (like muffins and sandwiches). Then, I got on the scale last night and I haven't lost a lb. It's only been a few days since I last checked but things had been moving so quickly before so I'm a little discouraged. I read Steve's new post about snacking and thought maybe trying his 3 day challenge on snacking might help me push through this rut.

Not doing so great today :/ I had to leave work early because my babysitter bailed on me. So while sitting at home I just want to snack, snack, snack. I've already snacked on a bunch of small healthier things but I just want to eat a giant cheese and green chili quesadilla so badly. Hrmph. Well I'm looking forward to doing my strength training tonight at least.

No problem! It's nice to be able to help somebody.

Things are going pretty well! I squeezed in my second strength training session in this morning. I probably put it off for too long but I still got it in. I did go out to eat Friday night and that did set me back for my goal of averaging less than 100g carbs by the end of the challenge but, it's okay. I've been doing really well on other days so if I can keep it up I should be fine. I actually did the warm up portion of a cardio video as my warm up for my strength routine. I've decided to change my life goal to my veggie garden. This will be my first time gardening ever. I've got some starts..eh, started (this is my second batch) I will be doing pumpkins and green beans. I still need to sort out the area my garden will be in. I've decided to do a raised garden but the area still needs to have the grass and weeds pulled up, compost tilled in and then place my raised frame. I really REALLY want to get this done this year. I'll edit my main challenge post sometime tomorrow when I have free time!

Welcome Arlene! I'm new here too. I started my challenge last week and it's been great. May I suggest reading the first week mini challenge? Reevaluating my goals was really helpful for me. I'm wondering if making time for extra walking AND time for strength training might be a little much. How much working out or walking do you do now? I look forward to your update posts!

Maybe you could try keeping a little container of nuts in your car? Usually when I get home from work I am famished. I used to always eat a quesadilla and then start cooking dinner. Now I snack on nuts or trail mixes WHILE I cook dinner so that a healthy option is ready sooner and the snack keeps my mind off of how hungry I am. So maybe when you drive past the fast food joint you could munch on an almond? If not nuts maybe a cheese stick or...well you get the idea. This advice has been my saving grace this time around; If you still end up at the fast food joint don't beat yourself up over it, just try to do better on your next meal. Sometimes I try to pick the best thing I can find on the menu, or I'll eat my burger/hot dog without the bun. (I love Carl's Jr. Low carb burgers) Don't give up! Creating permanent habits take time to start. So it's okay to take a step back every once in a while. 2 steps forward one step back is still forward motion Good luck and keep letting us know how it's going!

Yessir, Layton, Utah born and raised. I love living in Utah. I don't know if I would change that, though sometimes I feel like living in the town I grew up in...is lame? I feel like people look down on you if you haven't left the town you grew up in. Where abouts in Utah are you at? I see you're an aspiring assassin as well. I picked Assassin because I would love to take advantage of all of the extreme outdoor activities available here so parcour and rock climbing sounds right. Is that why Assassin is your goal too? Have you thought about the 6 week challenge any more? I know I've heard that it's okay to start late in them. I'm digging the challenge, it's keeping me honest. As long as I don't stop checking in on the forums every couple of days I should be able to keep it up. I hope I didn't bombard you with crazy questions.

Hello Dustin! I like your post. I wanted to ask you which Nerdfitness articles are your favorites? I really love 'How to (Successfully) transition your diet'. I love how NF emphasizes making changes that last a lifetime not just quick diets to hit your goal. I'm sort of addicted to the articles on the blog so if you have any suggestions on articles that were helpful to you I would love to hear them!

Update! Was successful at doing a strength training workout last night! One down, one more to go before Sunday. I stayed under 100g carbs today. I also went to costco and bought ALL THE LOW CARB THINGS! heh. I still have a lot of pasta, granola, and microwave meals around but, it's nice to have some better choices available. Tomorrow is date night so we will be going out to eat. I'm not going to call it a 'cheat' because I've already planned out my breakfast, lunch and snacks and I should be good for a decadent dinner. I did find some cardio videos available on amazon prime, picked one out and...did strength training. I think that counts as working towards finding a cardio routine though. It's the first week and I made some effort. I spoke with one of my friends and she helped me sort out my fourth goal. I'm thinking get one truckload of junk out of the house. I will update soon, but for now off to bed much later than I should be.

It sounds like you're doing pretty well. Have you checked out the first mini challenge? It's a challenge to revise your goals and make sure that the goals aren't too far out of your reach. How bad is your fast food addiction? I started really small "no soda unless I was out to eat" then "no refills on my soda while at the restaurant" and now no soda at all. It took me months to get here but I don't even think about soda. It's good to have a game plan. I'm a newbie here too but starting small really struck home for me. Good luck to you! I would love to see your plans to complete your goals!

Progress! I made it well under my carb target today! Although I went over my calorie target today by just a hair. My daughter just went down for bed so I am now going to research cardio routine's I have access to and then...probably do a strength training workout anyways. I haven't been getting as sore as I used to so I would like to push myself a little further tonight.

I was so bummed when I came upon the following phrases that the health and fitness community are constantly saying "You can't outrun your fork" and "Diet is 80% of losing weight" What a bummer! I love working out and love eating bread. Why oh why can't I be healthy and still do both?! Paleo is sort of scary but I'm still going to work on integrating it into my lifestyle. Your nutritionist sounds like they have the right idea, for me trying to do it all at once seems impossible and I'm afraid I'll fight it and end up binging. I'm taking baby steps and trying to ADD new, healthier foods, instead of taking the bad stuff away. Do you have any specific planned steps to getting to your goal of eating well? It looks like you're already making a huge leap by enlisting the help of a nutritionist! For me I bought a bunch of healthier snacks and I promise to use at least 80% of the vegetables I get in a co op basket. Writing them out can be surprisingly helpful. Good luck with everything, your goals look great.

I love your preparedness goal. I can never get down creating a weekly meal plan and then shopping for it. How do you do it?

Is this day 3 now? Things are going just okay. I've gone over 100g of carbs both days but stayed well under my daily calorie goal. This is why I said average over the course of 6 weeks. I think I can get there but it will take some time and trial and error. The more I look into Paleo or Keto the more nervous I get. Cutting carbs is hard as heck. EVERYTHING prepackaged has sugar in it and bananas are, apparently, the devil. I'll get there though! The other goals...well hey, it's only Wednesday and it's been a rough few days at work. This is your third challenge? Are you enjoying the format of challenges? Has it worked out for you?

I just bought some tonight and couldn't think of anything that might make the gel part tolerable except for salad dressing. I put a tablespoon of them in a little bit of water and mixed with 2 table spoons of balsamic dressing. It's my lunch tomorrow so I'm still not sure how it will turn out. They're such weird little things!

I really like your goals. They are somewhat similar to mine. Have you been doing paleo long? I'm so curious about it, I'll admit that I'm afraid of the 'strictness' of it. I'm excited to see your progress.

Thanks for the response! I am going to try to visit the forum as much as I can when I can. I've been trying to participate over at r/loseit on reddit but the upvote/downvote system can be intimidating. Now to address everything! I like rambling A) You're right about that being too many workouts to start out with. I originally was planning 3 strength training workouts a week but I know I need to be doing cardio on the off days so thought to add that in at the last second. Perhaps I should revise it to "work up to 3 strength training sessions and 2 cardio a week." starting with 2 strength routine's and 1 cardio, Thanks for the input Thanks for the tip, I'll try changing the ratio's little bits at a time to work up..eh or down to 100 carbs a day. I'm more concerned about how to slowly introduce paleo eating habits, not just for myself but for my family as well. I'm really hoping I can find some more tips on how to make healthy eating a life long change. C & D) That is a great idea. I could break whole goal into little mini goals. I couldn't decide on what to do because there are so many small things to reach this mega goal of getting my cleansed of all clutter and unnecessary items. I plan on assigning points and grades to everything. I have a little spreadsheet in my evernote to help me give the challenge more detail. Seems like a future edit of my goals are in order! Thanks again for your help. The nerdfitness blog has been a tremendous resource for me I'm looking forward to finding people with similar goals that I can share this experience with.