Weights and Measures

W: 158
M: I thought I had not been measuring because I kept forgetting (which is partly true) , but today when I remembered, I couldn't find the measuring tape! grr.

Fitday says that I've eaten an average of 1652/1900 calories a day in the past week (because it's not completely accurate, I round up and add 200 calories), and that I've burned an average of 2591 calories a day. 31% of my calories are from fat, so that's not bad--I need to lower it a tad, but ok. I need to work on getting more Vitamin K, Selenium, and Zinc in my diet--but other than that, I'm doing a good job getting my RDA's! Also, my fiber intake is right where I want it to be.

skipping

Today I did not do any intentional exercise. I still walked around a good bit, but that's just regular life.

I think it's really strange that the more I move, the less hungry I am in general. I don't know if it's because I'm paying more attention than usual right now, or if being so active is suppressing my appetite. Of course, I am not sitting around doing nothing for stretches at a time, snacking, so that is probably part of it too.

It just didn't work out tonight to walk, since I was rushed for time. Plus, it has been raining off and on crazily this afternoon. Another interesting discovery is that even though I have only been walking/biking, I can feel the difference in my arms and abs as well. Resting today, even though it is unintentional, is probably a good thing for me as well. It's nice to know that I'm doing good things for myself health wise--and that keeps me doing them!

Doing Well!

I'm over 80% for all my RDA's and met my fiber goal for today. I did drink a coffee drink, which I am trying to cut back on--but I could feel myself crashing and I still needed to go to classes!

I also am proud of the fact that I went to the gym and walk/jogged for a mile at the indoor track. Deciding not to chicken out of my exercise was good for me--and that's the hardest part, making up your mind to do it, even when you know it would be nicer short-term to do something else (like go home and go to bed). Long-term, it is best to get my heart rate up for a few minutes each day and then come home and eat completely random food before crashing into bed!

It looks like I will be doing at least a mile a day for the next 6 weeks, plus spinning and/or real bike riding. And after putting my food in at the end of the day these last couple of days, I've realized that I do have time to do that along the way. Plus, I look forward to it, oddly enough, and it motivates me to actually put those few lettuce leaves in my pita. I guess it reminds me that I'm being actively healthy, which is a nice feeling to have.

It's strange what making time for yourself in a busy day will do for you! I feel SO much better this week than I have in a long time and much less overwhelmed. When I was working on my schedule yesterday, and thinking about the time I am taking off for my midterms from my internship and part-time job, I realized that I have very clear priorities. I almost never "take off" from class (usually only for other-school related activities), and I never "take off" from family commitments. However, I started thinking that there is something that needs to be a priority in my life that isn't. It's my health: physically, mentally, the whole nine yards. Apparently, I've decided that my need for sleep or exercise or being outside or having some downtime are the most optional things in my life. I don't think it should be that way, and I'm going to be more conscious about making sure I keep time for these very important things.

life

Well, the study-break shopping trip had to be postponed because I've been informed that we're going to do some stretching to make it to payday on Friday. No biggie.

As for what healthy foods I bought besides salad-ish things--mostly frozen veggies, rice, several cans of beans (to be combined into spicy/filling dishes), whole-grain pasta, and some ground turkey. Things that can be thrown together easily. I have lean fish and chicken already at home. (I hate chicken so much that it is taking me forever to eat the bag of frozen chicken.) Right now, frozen has to rule over fresh because my schedule is so wacky that fresh just rots.

I made some turkey meatloaf burgers tonight (quicker cooking that regular meatloaf), and it turned out OK. Not enough breadcrumbs or eggs or something, since they were falling apart! Not pretty, but still good.

As for RDA's, today I have essentially no Vitamin K and very little Vitamin E. Everything else was at least over 70%--the problem areas are the usual: Vitamin A, Zinc, Selenium, Magnesium. I didn't eat my salad today, just because. But, tomorrow is another day.

Well, it's nice to be able to look at my RDA's again, since I've been filling in my fitday when I have a chance. Yesterday wasn't too bad in that regard, I even got some vitamin K in! The fat was a little too much, but that will probably average out ok.

I've decided that I'm going to try to eat some sort of green salad once a day, every day. Just to get a little green in my diet. Although I can't have my spinach yet, not until everything gets settled on that front. But we'll see how that goes. I bought some salad and savoy cabbage yesterday to work on this.

When I went to the grocery store, I bought mostly good, healthy foods. One bag of potato chips is my only "treat" kind of food, but I should be able to parcel them out. But no candy or ice cream or cookies. Almost everything is unprocessed, and nothing had the gunk that I don't eat. Woohoo!

Also, I did end up cleaning out the fridge this weekend, so I've reclaimed my containers! Today on a study break, I'm going to go buy a new lunch box/bag and some freezer packs. Then I'll be ready to have my own healthy food on hand during the day--which will also save money! I feel so much more prepared now, and tomorrow I start my fitness challenge at the gym, too!

Revelation!

Well, I've finally put the little notebook in my purse and started writing down what I eat. It's only been two days of entries so far, but that's better awareness than I have had! Good for me.

(I weighed in today at 160, as usual.)

Anyway, I've been exercising some--and soon will be adding more daily activity--and I felt like I wasn't eating very much more. With that combination, I thought that I might see some change in the scale. Ha. Yesterday, I ate over 3000 calories!!!!!! No wonder I'm staying the same weight!

Now, I was aware that I shouldn't have eaten 3 bowls of calorie-dense cereal when I came home from work at midnight. But without putting it into fitday and paying attention, I never would have felt the shock at what I was actually doing. On the other hand, I certainly have been getting enough fiber recently! There's always a silver lining, isn't there.

The wheels are dangerously close to coming off this wagon, though!

I still haven't worked on the supportive items that I mentioned last post to help me eat healthily again, although I could go and clean the fridge out tonight. That will be a good start. I can also make a list for the grocery and think about when I'll be able to cook this week. Tomorrow night I should have free to go to the grocery store.

I miss working on my RDA's--I feel so much better when I know that I am eating what my body needs to run well. On the other hand, I am being more active than I was earlier this year. Now to get those two things working together!

Well, well

Life is busy. Very busy.

There are things I never realized about how Dr. MM helps me when we are living in the same state. For example, he is a moderating force on how much I can do. I love packing my days full, but right now I can't take on anything new because I can hardly keep up with the old. He helps me build in down time, because our time that we spend together is never scheduled to the max--we go to dinner, we hang out in a bookstore, we go to the movies, we watch tv together. Secondly, he helps keep our home going. He can go to the grocery store or cook dinner or take care of the cats, all of which needs to be done. None of those things are enormous, but if it's one less thing that I have to do, then there is more time to relax. I miss him (and not just for these reasons, of course) and realize how much he takes care of me. He'll be here tomorrow!

Also, despite the fact that I have three day weekends every week, that is simply not enough time to get everything done. Partly this is because I have to use some of that time to recover from the week. I need to sleep and to get good food in the house and to have some time to not do anything. Then, I have to prepare for all my classes since I am realizing that I don't have time to do that during the week at all. Plus, all the chores and errands. I also need to use some time to work on long term things--event planning for both private life and for extra-curricular obligations; job search; studying for mid-terms; networking.

Anyway, I'm probably back to being anemic again and completely unvitaminfied (my own word, haha). If I had time during the week to get online, I would be back to using fitday. But, I don't have much time online. I have a cute little notebook I can put in my purse for tracking, so I will do that tomorrow. Other than breakfast, I am not eating well at all and I can feel it. I'm very tired and my stomach has been giving me fits all week (partly stress, partly eating spicy food), which if it keeps up I will have to go to the doctor. I just can't feel bad all the time. I haven't seen a green vegetable in days. It's easy to say that I need to plan my food out and take it with me during the day, but I know from this blog that I need to support that decision by taking steps to get me there. Steps like: buying an insulated lunch bag that will hold a couple of meals and snack; buying some freezer packs; cooking on the weekends for the week; planning when I can cook; um, cleaning out the fridge so I can get the re-usable containers back into circulation. Until I do these supportive things, there is no use in wishing to eat better--I'll just end up beating myself up over something I can't start yet.

On the other hand, exercise is going pretty well. I went to spinning twice this week and this has made an incredible difference in the way I feel. Not that I feel great all the time, but I feel as if I'm trying harder to get everything done. I did have to leave early last time, because I was physically exhausted (working too hard in Monday's session, too much stress, not enough sleep) and there was a real possibility of being very nastily sick everywhere. No one wants that! What was awful was that I slowed down (no dead stops) for a while and then got off my bike--and that made me feel WORSE by a whole magnitude. But at that point, I felt so bad I couldn't start again. Tomorrow, I'm going to take it easier from the get-go and just see where that takes me.

Plus, and this goes into the "fills my life up too much" category, I have signed up for this fitness challenge at the gym. It's a six week challenge to walk/jog/run 120 miles. Do-able. At least if you do something every day and work less than 50 hours a week--neither of which are options for me right now. So for me it's more of a time management situation. Or a setting myself up to fail situation. Anyway. I knew it was going to be a challenge when I signed up, but I did it anyway and now I'm going to be happy about it, darn it!

I'm also working on how to reduce my stress and anxiety levels (without reducing the work, haha, which is generally not an option). On the good side, I haven't had more than (literally) two swallows of soda in more than a month. Also, I haven't watched tv since Labor Day when I was at Dr. MM's. One movie at home and no tv. Of course, that's not really by choice--I don't have much awake time at home! And I've been coming here to update my weight at least, which keeps health on my mind and doesn't let me completely dissolve.

Ha. Well, I'm going to try to get some more sleep tonight. Tomorrow, I will take my little notebook with me to track my eating. Also, I will be shopping tomorrow so I might as well put the lunchbag items on the list. I will return!

W

W: 158

I'm trying to cut back on some of my activities so I'm not facing burnout at the end of every day, so until then I may continue to be scarce.

Spinning

Well, last week I had my first two spinning classes. It's an hour of spinning at 6:05am, which really is energizing. This week, I realized that I was less hungry throughout the day after I went--but of course I ate the same amount as always. No logic there.

On Friday, I was 159.

When I first started taking spinning/studio cycling classes a few years ago it was awful. I could not stand and jog and I had to sit down a couple of times during each class for the first few weeks. Every time I start spinning again, I think about those first few classes. It's never been like that since--even after months of inactivity, I don't have those same problems. Partly I think that this is because I still have some underlying level of fitness that all the activities that I've been doing the past few years have built up. But partly I think that I know now that I can do a whole class without dying, and that I am not going to fall over and pass out. I'm always surprised at how much physical acheivement is wrapped up with mental ability.

Of course, this doesn't mean that I can go out and run a marathon today. But if I'd been training for a marathon, my mental strength in pushing me on would be the real fuel in the race.

This weekend has been very nice, just relaxing up here with Dr. MM. The weather is gorgeous!