1000 minutes in January!!!

I can't believe it but I did it! I worked out 1000 minutes last month and at the end of it I was exhausted but proud. What was great about this goal was, on days when I would normally have taken the bus or just taken Rumble downstairs, I walked. I walked 3 miles to and from the downtown office one day, and took Rum for longer walks just to get my time in. My sister also introduced me to yogatoday.com, an awesome website that let's you stream new yoga videos each week.

I've also settled into a pretty good eating plan. I manage between 1600-1800 calories per day and have reduced my "cheat" meals on the weekends. One great thing I tried this weekend was Jimmy Dean's D-light breakfast bowls. I feel like I've had a big breakfast when really I've only taken in a little over 200 calories. I've also stocked up on the fat free yoplait yogurts. I go for one whenever I have a sweet tooth.

I put on a few pounds early in the month and as of today, have lost 1.5 of them. So I am going into February at 156.5.

So my goals for this month. First, another 1000 minute goal. Second, to lose 5 pounds. Third, to begin really training for a 5k. A friend sent me a link to a couch to 5k program that I can download to my ipod (thanks Mana!) so next week I begin training. I've also signed up for a 5k in late March/early April.

So all in all, a really good start to the year. I feel awesome and am excited about my goals. And as always, thanks to everyone for your continued support.

So my goals

319 minutes down - 681 to go

Where to start??? For starters, I'm up 1.5 pounds this week. Other than that, last week went really well. I was back in the gym, cooking at home and bringing my lunch. I also discovered that my goal to work out 1000 minutes this month was way more aggressive than I originally thought. But I'm not going to wuss out - I've just started finding creative ways to work out so I don't kill myself. Long walks with Rumble, yoga, running, weights - every minute helps!

This week has started out well. I made a rockin pot of chili to bring for lunch this week and have been making super yummy salads (grilled chicken, grilled veggies, honey balsalmic dressing YUM) for dinner. I adjusted my sparkpeople.com settings so they were more realistic as well. I'm just not ready to live off 1500 calories a day but I can manage 1700. The weight may come off more slowly but hopefully my progress will be more consistent as well. I've also signed up for yogatoday.com - it's this really cool website that lets you stream one free yoga class per week so I get to try all kinds of new yoga classes - YEA

What else? I think that is it for this week. As always, thank you for your support and wish me luck this week!

Happy New Years!

Overall the holidays were good to me! My travel was easy, I managed to work out (ok only once but hey) and I didn't gain any additional weight! YAY! So I am starting this year off at 156 pounds, three pounds heavier than this time last year.

And today I was back in the gym, bright and early. It wasn't easy - I had gotten used to sleeping in till 8am and starting the morning off slow. Today, I was up at 5:20am (just a little later than I was hoping) and at the gym by 7am. I packed my lunch and bought enough groceries to get me through the week.

I've revamped my goals for this year. Instead of weight loss only goals, I've set up monthly goals that include also include nutrition and fitness. This month, my goal is to work out 1000 minutes. If I get there, my blond hair will be going brown for the winter ;-)

I've also set up some medium and long term goals.

Medium = run a 5k. I signed up for the Race to Wrigley in April.
Long term = lose 20 pounds this year and get myself in shape for my November trip. I found this awesome trip - one full week hiking and kayaking in Hawaii. Add a day or two at the end for some spa treatments and I have a prize worth working towards!!!

All in all, the year is off to a good start. Thanks for sticking with me and as always, for your support!

Ten days till vacation

And I have been sorely tempted to just say screw it and start over on New Year's. But I just can't seem to do it. Yesterday, I wanted to be totally lazy. But I found myself putting on my gym shoes and heading downstairs for some quality time on the elliptical. I decided not to count calories this week but I find myself still sticking to my eating plan and eating pretty healthy (except for the daily hot chocolate or peppermint mocha which I just can't seem to resist). And tonight, I came home, cooked a healthy dinner and packed my gym bag - even though I'm not tracking my exercise minutes this week.

Today, I also received an extra boost of willpower to get me through the next few weeks. A friend and colleague, Mana, stopped me in the hall today to tell me that she reads my blog and is so proud of what I am trying to do. We started talking about a podcast to help get me over the hump and able to finally run a 5k. Which I am oddly excited about - never thought I would be excited about something that would help improve my running. So thank you Mana for that extra incentive to stay on track!

So I'm all set for a pretty good week. I'm not deluding myself - I have holiday parties and brunches and Christmas markets to get through the next few weeks, not to mention being home for a week. But I feel like I can do this - my focus is to make healthy choices where possible but not feel guilty when I indulge. And any time the holiday stress, or work stress, or whatever, gets to me, I'm going to throw on my running shoes and enjoy some quality time in the gym.

As always, thanks to everyone for your support and constant motivation. And in case I don't get around to another post before Christmas, happy holidays everyone and I look forward to blogging with you in the new year!!!

Surviving the holidays

So I'm starting to sound like a broken record but they (whoever they are) tell me that consistency is the key to weight loss.

The last two weeks (despite the holiday) have been good. The holiday was really nice - had some friends over for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. I managed to stretch my leftovers for two days, which was good because it means that I only over ate once and while the other days were high in calories, I didn't feel overstuffed.

I've lost a half pound since my weigh in two weeks ago and taken up a new workout - hot yoga. I've done it twice and it's kicked my butt both times. Note to self (and anyone thinking of trying hot yoga) do NOT eat a heavy snack too close to class time. It will make you super nauseous. I'm enjoying the class though - not only is it a good 90 minute workout, but it works muscles that I didn't know that I had.

This week I've refocused on tracking my food, counting my calories and getting my workouts in. I also want to focus on the weekends - I have a habit of extending my "cheat" day into the whole weekend. Eating crap, skipping workouts, etc. I need to really focus on not going overboard on the weekends.

My goal is to lose at least another 2 pounds before Christmas. Again, an aggressive goal but I'd rather try to lose and maintain, than give up and gain.

So wish me luck and thanks for your continued support!

Week 10 - Fell off the wagon

So this past week, one of my very best friends, Tara, came to visit Chicago for the first time. We spent 4 fabulous days walking all over Chicago - exploring the Mag Mile, shopping, walking Rumble all over my neighborhood, cruising Millennium Park, freaking ourselves out at the top of Sears tower and dancing the night away at Kingston Mines. We also ate our fair share of everything Chi-town had to offer, including hot Italian beef, deep dish pizza, BBQ ribs and pub grub.

Add to that a few pounds of water weight and the scale told me today that I am up a horrific 4 pounds. And while I'm sad that I have a little more work to do to get to where I was two weeks ago, it was worth every bite. I really believe that a healthy lifestyle should be flexible - the important thing is getting back on track.

And that I did this week. I went over my calories yesterday but it was all home cooked, healthy meals. Today I was back in the gym - cardio and weights. I may go a little over my calories again today but not by much. So, when you fall off the wagon, it's all about dusting yourself off and getting back on.

I know that the holidays are just around the corner. My work has a challenge to everyone to NOT gain the average 5 pounds that most Americans put on every holiday season. I would like to think that, instead of maintaining my current weight, I can not only lose the weight I put back on, but a little more by year end. I would love to head home 10 pounds lighter - keep your fingers crossed and those words of encouragement coming!

And as always, thanks for your support!

Week 8 - no clue

So I haven't had a chance to weigh myself yet but I'm having such a good week I wanted to get it all down.

This morning, I went down to the gym to do my workout and before I knew it, I had run for 13 minutes straight! Now, this may not seem like a lot, but for me, this is huge progress. The most I've ever run is 20 minutes and that took me forever to recover from! I've been running on average 5 minute stretches but today it just felt good so I kept going. I'm sure I'll feel it tomorrow but it gives me a benchmark to work from.

The weight lifting is also going really well. I lift two times a week and focus mainly on upper body and core. I want to add a third day when I focus purely on lower body but I'm not there yet.

As for food, that is still going well. This week I'm trying something new from cookinglight.com. They give you one shopping list which you can use to make 5 different dinners. I'm focusing on vegetarian this week - no particular reason except the recipes looked really good. I've made three of the recipes so far this week and each has been great! And they are a great mix of healthy carbs, protein and veggies. It has been difficult to get my daily fiber now that all the great summer produce is gone but several of the sparkpeople.com members gave me some great tips which I've started to incorporate.

So focus for this week. I have another big workout on Thursday and I want to try and add another big cardio session this weekend. I've been sticking to about 1600 calories a day, my fiber is good, so I guess my food focus this week will be to get my 8 glasses of water a day and to keep my sodium low.

As always, thanks to everyone for your support and wish me luck!

PS: I did reward myself last week with a super cute haircut. Yay me!