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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 30 December 2010 06:36 pm |
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good to know oneday. thanks!
i would definitely want it to sync with my online account. bummer. do you know of anything else similar?
............................
ok, i think i found a substitute. it looks like sparkpeople.com has a free app for the ipod touch that syncs with their website. if has a food tracker and a smaller fitness and water consumption tracker
but do i want to switch to a new online tracker...
just looking through the website, i don't see many foods listed. it's nowhere near as extensive as the daily plate. that could be a good thing though. now that the daily plate is part of livestrong, the food database has become a mess. i kind of like that my food database will hold only my own entries plus the few that it comes with. it's just that it will take some time to enter all of my foods.
the other disadvantage is that i'm going to lose 2 years worth of history. all of the tracking that i did on livestrong won't be ported to sparkpeople. it was motivational to see how far i've come. other than that, i'm not sure what's holding me to livestrong.
i'll take a look at the sparkpeople ipod app first and then i'll make my decision.
Last edited on 31 December 2010 04:56 am by mchen01
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 31 December 2010 05:48 am |
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Day 143 of new diet plan
Today I drank 88 oz of water, and that was just water. I had other fluids such as coffee, juice and a diet coke, but I made the effort to meet my water goal. Right now it feels like all this water does is make me go to the bathroom every hour. It's an annoyance, but maybe I'll burn some extra calories with all those trips to the restroom.
I also did my 15 minute strength routine. Today was lower body. It was tougher than I thought it would be. My left side is weak from the hip injury. I couldn't get my knee to track straight on my single leg squats. It kept collapsing inward. My hip is hurting now. Next time I'll do some easier exercises.
Tomorrow I'm hoping to leave work early. It's been a tough week, and I haven't accomplished as much as I wanted. There was a lot of trial and error in figuring out how things work since documentation is poor. But, I've done enough to satisfy the leads. I want to be home before the New Year's Eve festivities start and traffic becomes scary.
Today's weight was 157.8.
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 1 January 2011 05:50 am |
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Day 144 of new diet plan
Well, today I missed both goals of drinking enough water and doing 15 minutes of strength training. I was close on the water. Even now, I'm trying to force down a bottle before I go to bed, but I'm only going to manage 56 oz. I'm 8 oz short. The 15 minutes of exercise was supposed to be done while watching tv, but I never got a chance to watch tv today.
Anyway, tomorrow morning I'm off to do a 50 mile ride with some friends to celebrate the new year. It's going to be pretty cold, somewhere in the high 30's. I don't like the cold. It's good that I have friends to motivate me sometimes, although I might not think so tomorrow morning.
Today's weight was 157.2.
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 1 January 2011 09:05 pm |
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Day 145 of new diet plan
Day 1 of early rise challenge
Happy New Year!
I just got back from my ride, turns out it was 60 miles. It was cold, but not as cold as I thought it would be. By the time we took off the temperature had climbed to 40 degrees. I wore plenty of layers. The only thing that really froze were my toes which are still thawing 2 hours post-ride. The sun was out though, and the scenery was gorgeous. With all the recent rain the river was swollen and parts of the bike trail were flooded. Luckily there was hardly any traffic so we were able to detour over the street. We saw a coyote during the early hour of the ride and then lots of water birds the rest of the day. What a great morning!
My hip is only a little sore so I'm very happy about that. I'll be doing more bike and staying away from running until I feel the hip is completely healed. That means I'll be spending more time indoors on the trainer, but I'm going to carry my bike in the car everyday. I'm going to take every opportunity to ride during my lunch. I find that if I don't spend enough time outdoors my mood and motivation really deteriorate.
I'm still working on finding my motivation again. Reading back over my journal has given me some clues about how I lost it. I think a large part of it is due to the combination of the hip injury and what that meant to my running and my workload taking over my life again. I'll be starting my early morning challenge again starting today. When I'm able to run again I'm going to force myself to go slow to avoid injury, and not just for 8 weeks this time. I plan on giving myself a good 6 months of slow running to let my body adapt before I push the intensity.
The plan today is to work on my plans, both training and dieting. The sparkpeople.com site has tools to build a meal plan and fitness plan. I think I can print out a week's worth of the plan. That way I can post it as a constant reminder. Part of my problem is forgetting what I had planned and being too lazy to turn on my computer to look it up. I almost always end up overeating for dinner.
Today's bike ride has really made me feel better, giving me renewed energy and reassurance that I'm not completely broken. What a great start for the new year.
Today's weight was 158.2.
Last edited on 1 January 2011 09:06 pm by mchen01
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 3 January 2011 06:50 am |
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Day 146 of new diet plan
Day 2 of 100 days of exercise
I guess I need to start my early morning challenge over again. This morning I forgot all about it and stayed in bed for a nice long snuggle. I didn't get up until close to 9 am. I'm not going to start tomorrow either. It's supposed to be a holiday for me but I have to go to work again. I can at least enjoy some of the day by sleeping in.
In place of my wakeup challenge is a challenge I started with some friends on New Year's day. The challenge is to do 30 minutes of exercise everyday, even if it's just stretching or walking. The idea is to just move. Yesterday went very well with my long ride. Today, my butt was pretty bruised and sore since I'm not used to that many hours in the saddle, but I went ahead and rode for 30 minutes.
I spent some time going over the sparkpeople diet plan. It's a plan that helps you build healthy eating habits into a permanent lifestyle. I hope it works. It's broken into four stages over 18 weeks. The first stage takes about 2 weeks and gives me time to prepare my meal plan and start some easy goals. I don't actually start the diet part until week 3. I like that it's helping me change in small steps. Dieting has been such a difficult thing for me to manage. Working into it in bits and pieces might help.
So, here are my first assignments for stage 1. I have to write down everything I eat. I'll be counting but with no calorie goal in mind, since the calorie goal doesn't start until week 3. As I count, I'll be filling in my food database and setting the portions that I want to limit myself to for each meal. The daily plan has 3 meals and 2 snacks. I also have the water assignment which I started a few days ago. I already keep a 32 oz carafe at work to fill first thing in the morning and the bottle of water that I grab before I get in the car. The goal is to drink the bottle of water during my commute and the carafe during work. That leaves only 16 oz left to drink before bed.
I think I can manage these goals. At least I'll have more opportunity for success. As I meet these goals I can move onto the next goals. If I have trouble remembering or completing these goals I can stay at stage 1 a little longer.
Today's weight was 158.0.
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 4 January 2011 07:54 am |
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Day 147 of new diet plan
Day 3 of 100 days of exercise
It's almost 1 am so this will be a short entry.
I ate poorly with lots of sweets today, including candy corn, assorted chocolates and chocolate cake. I got stuck at work until nearly 9 pm and the cravings hit me pretty hard.
I met my water goal though with about 72 oz.
I also met my exercise goal with 30 minutes of strength and balance work.. It didn't feel like much but my muscles are a little sore.
I installed the sparkpeople iPhone app but didn't do anything with it yet. Hopefully, I'll have time tomorrow. In the meantime, I wrote down what I ate for breakfast and lunch. I forgot to do dinner, but will make sure to jot it down in the morning.
Today's weight was 159.0.Last edited on 4 January 2011 07:56 am by mchen01
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Hiker
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 4 January 2011 11:08 pm |
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| Ouch, candy corn...that stuff is evil. I swear I think I can eat a pound of it by myself.
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 5 January 2011 12:26 am |
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Hi Hiker!
Yeah, candy corn is deadly. There's something about the texture and taste that I just love. I used to take them on long runs before they came out with gels. Luckily, they're all gone now.
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 5 January 2011 06:05 am |
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Day 148 of new diet plan
Day 4 of 100 days of exercise
Today was another very long busy workday. I had to work through lunch and stay late. I was told that I could have this weekend off, but that I shouldn't expect that to happen too often for the next couple months. It's going to be very stressful. I really need to get back to those early morning workouts. Trying to exercise when I get home is too hard.
I got home at 8 pm, had dinner and then had to pickup the girl from a friend's house. When I got home I pulled some work papers out of my case and hopped on the treadmill for a 30 minute walk while I read some research. I tried to put some quality time into my walk by keeping a high cadence in my stride, but that just aggravated my hip. Looks like walking (fast walking, not strolling) is not a good exercise for me right now either. It's looking more like the bike and swimming are my only options for cardio.
It's still a conscious effort to make myself drink 64 oz of water for the day. Even now I'm forcing myself to finish the last 8 oz towards my goal. I hate having to go to the bathroom so often. I can barely make it home in time from my commute before I'm running to the bathroom. I hope this is not how it's always going to be and that my body will adjust. After all, I'm able to sleep through the night with no need to get up, so I should be able to last more than an hour during the daytime.
The diet is not going well. I don't have my head in it yet. I'm still recording what I eat, but I haven't had time to fill in my food database so I can count the calories. I guess I can go back to using Livestrong in the meantime, but I just don't feel ready to take on that task right now. The water and exercise goals plus working overtime are mixing up my routine enough. I need time to adjust.
Tomorrow I hope to get home at a decent hour so I can get to bed earlier. If I can start waking up earlier I should be able to get on the bike for 30 minutes at least.
Today's weight was 158.0.
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 5 January 2011 11:39 pm |
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Day 149 of new diet plan
Day 5 of 100 days of exercise
Today is going better. I'm making a little progress at work, enough to feel like I can take some time off for lunch. I had brought my bike just in case and was happy to see that today turned out to be a gorgeous day. It was just chilly enough for me to have to layer on a couple of shirts and put on my arm warmers, but I was still good in shorts. I had no riding partners today, so I took the opportunity to push the intensity on my ride. My quads hurt and my heart was in overdrive but my spirit was soaring. I felt wonderful.
I'm trying to manage my food intake today in a casual way as I'm still exploring my cravings and eating habits. I'm consciously keeping the snacking down and staying away from the mindless grazing. I've had 2 snacks and one treat besides the usual breakfast and lunch. I'm trying to see if the snacks will keep me satisfied enough to not go into evil hunger mode at dinner. In this learning and awareness stage, I'm trying to experiment with ways to handle my diet when I get stuck at work or when the cravings hit.
Something new that I want to try are more of these finite goals. I've realized that counting the days of my diet plan is pointless because the goal is too vague and I have no definition of success. So, starting tomorrow I will list some explicit goals at the top of every post. I think to start they will all be 100 day challenges. That should be long enough to make it become habit even if I miss a couple days. I already have the water and exercise challenge. I'd like to add 2 more but haven't decided what yet. I'm thinking something like eat 3 fruits/day or limit sweets to 60 cal/day.
Today's weight was 157.4. I am so stuck!
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 6 January 2011 09:48 pm |
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Day 0 of 30 days of 6 AM challenge
Day 1 of 100 days of fruit challenge - 1 day streak
Day 6 of 100 days of exercise challenge - 6 day streak
Day 8 of 100 days of water challenge - 6 day streak
Here are my new challenges plus the old challenges. They include getting out of the house by 6 AM, eating 3 servings of fruit, exercising at least 30 minutes, and drinking at least 64 oz of water (not counting other fluids). I'm also including the longest running streak for each challenge. All of them are 100 days except for the morning challenge which is 30 days. I'm hoping that my hip will be completely healed after 30 days and I'll be able to start running again, at which point I'll need to raise the challenge to an earlier time to accommodate longer workouts.
Yesterday I ended up going to spin class. I hadn't planned on it, but a friend wanted me to go with her. As usual, I couldn't moderate my intensity despite my resolution to do so. I lasted maybe 3 minutes before I started pushing as hard as I could. Today I'm pretty sore and my hip is very tight. I have definitely lost some muscle during my training hiatus.
Spinning also worked up my appetite. I got home ready to eat a whole chicken, maybe two, which I pretty nearly did. I ate about 8 breaded chicken tenderloins in lemon sauce, plus a cup of fried rice and 2 cups of stir fried green beans. I waited 20 minutes and was still hungry so I ate some cheetos (my daughter's school snack). The cheetos was dumb. I feel a bit conflicted about whether I needed to eat that much because I worked out so hard for the day or that I should have just ignored my hunger and stopped eating. I'm guessing I burned at least 1700 cal yesterday but ate all of it back at dinner.
Today, I did a 45 minute yoga class and that's all I have planned for the day. That means I shouldn't need to eat anything extra for dinner. We'll see how that works and how I feel tonight.
Today's weight was 157.0.
Last edited on 7 January 2011 01:57 pm by mchen01
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Hiker
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 6 January 2011 10:54 pm |
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| McHen, way to go on that exercise, you're doing fantastic. Spinning is a great work out, I hate it, I wish I didn't becuase you can really burn calories pretty quick. Good luck on all of your challenges.
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 7 January 2011 03:45 pm |
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Thanks Hiker! I really like spinning. I can't dance because I have zero grace, but being on the bike while listening to music makes me feel like I'm dancing.
Day 1 of 30 days of 6 AM challenge - 1 day streak
Day 2 of 100 days of fruit challenge - 2 day streak
Day 7 of 100 days of exercise challenge - 7 day streak
Day 9 of 100 days of water challenge - 7 day streak
Ok, so I didn't quite make it out by 6 AM. It was actually 6:08 AM, so that's close enough for government work. But, since I don't care for the quality of government work (recently dealt with IRS for my mom and am convinced they are all idiots), I will do better tomorrow. I'm giving it to myself today because I did make the monumental effort of getting up. I was a little late because my tummy was bothering me this morning.
And why was my tummy bothering me? Could it have been that I overate at dinner again? I started out so healthy. I had about a cup of potatoes in apple cider vinegar, 4 cups of stir fried spinach and 4 oz of pot roast. But, I was still hungry! We had leftover pizza in the fridge that I couldn't pass up so I had a slice. To top it off, I ate some raspberry cheesecake and an apple. Wow, pretty disgusting. Once I let myself slide a little my inclination is to just give up for the day and let myself continue to slide. It's like the momentum of sliding is too hard for me to stop. I really need to be stronger, and by that I mean I need to practice awareness of what I'm doing and thinking at the time I decide to put unplanned food into my mouth. I'm not sure how to learn that skill yet. I've been trying to a small degree, but I admit that my self-control with food is still too weak for me to be effective with this. Anyway, I'm not hungry now and have skipped breakfast except for my coffee and cream.
I usually just write in my journal once, in the morning while I take a short break from work. But, with my new challenges I'm going to revisit in the evening to log whether I've completed my goal for the day or not. I think that having to own up to what I've done for the day will help keep me true to my commitment. I did go back through my journal last night before bed, and it helped remind me of my challenges (I had forgotten my morning challenge already).
Update: Ate 2 fruits and drank 8 oz of fresh squeezed juice. Got in a lunchtime ride for almost an hour. Am finishing up the rest of my 64 oz now. Tomorrow is a 7 am ride of about 40 miles. Time to get some sleep.
Today's weight was 158.8.
Last edited on 8 January 2011 04:51 am by mchen01
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 9 January 2011 06:37 am |
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Day 2 of 30 days of 6 AM challenge - complete
Day 3 of 100 days of fruit challenge - complete
Day 8 of 100 days of exercise challenge - complete
Day 10 of 100 days of water challenge - complete
Did ok today on all of the challenges. I got up at 6 am so I was a little later than I planned, but I needed the extra sleep. I was on the bike as soon as dawn made it light enough to ride safely. Today was an easy to moderate pace of 45 miles. I rode with a friend, and we had a great time. Some of the bike trails were either still flooded or completely washed away, but we found plenty of other routes still open. There wasn't much traffic, both cars and bikes, when we started. It was great having the roads so open and clear. By the time we turned around and headed back, the trails had become much more busier. I was surprised to see so many people riding in 50 degree weather. I felt great by the time I got home, no bruised butt. I seem to have re-acclimated to long rides on the bike pretty quickly.
Eating is still an issue for me. I forgot to write my foods in my journal today. It's not pretty. Today I've had 3 eggs and toast for breakfast, a hot dog and vegetable lasagna for lunch, and fried tuna steak, pasta, bread and a tangerine for dinner. Worst of all was going to Coldstone for ice cream.
Tomorrow I'm going to transfer the foods that I've eaten into my online meal planner and start dieting again. It may take some time as I may need to change and reconfigure my online account. The iPhone app does not sync with an existing account. Instead, it wants to register a new account to sync with. I'm going to try and see if I can delete my current account and start over.
I am happy to be trying a new method of dieting, even though I seem to do this often. Finding my way has not been a direct route and I get lost often. Still, I'm happy with how far I've come, and even if I can't lose much more weight, I can at least maintain what I have so far.
Today's weight was 158.4.
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 9 January 2011 08:33 pm |
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Day 0 of 100 days of dinner planning challenge
Day 3 of 30 days of 6 AM challenge - incomplete
Day 4 of 100 days of fruit challenge - incomplete
Day 9 of 100 days of exercise challenge - complete
Day 11 of 100 days of water challenge - complete
Today is my day to work on my meal plan. So far I've created my new account to match the one in my iPod Touch. I'm adding foods to my list now, but that is taking forever. Well, I promised I would do it this weekend so there you go. I ended up getting only breakfast, lunch and my snack planned for tomorrow. Breakfast and lunch can be copied from day to day, which is nice because there's not a lot of variation on the weekdays.
Dinner is something I can't really plan ahead, but now that I know my calorie range for breakfast and lunch, I can estimate my allowed calories for dinner. The hard part is doing the calorie count before I eat anything, but that's my new goal. No matter how hungry or tired I am, I'm going to open up my computer and record my dinner plan right before I eat it. This will help me stick to the rule of mindful eating, and since dinner has been my most consistent point of failure, doing this may be my best chance at success.
Now for the rest of my goals. I failed my early wakeup goal, only had 2 fruits instead of 3, but I did my rest day workout and drank my 64 oz of water.
As an added bonus for the day, I found a free iPhone app that connects an online workout planner with an iPhone version. The website is called ontri.com and it's a triathlon workout planner as well as social networking group. I like the planner and already have an account so this will work well for me. The planner will let me input my whole training program for the year so I can download it onto my iPod Touch and always have the specifics of every workout easily accessible. Yay, a new toy!
Today's weight was 158.2.Last edited on 10 January 2011 05:53 am by mchen01
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 10 January 2011 02:55 pm |
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Day 1 of 30 days of dinner planning challenge - complete
Day 4 of 30 days of 6 AM challenge - incomplete
Day 5 of 30 days of fruit challenge - complete
Day 10 of 100 days of exercise challenge - complete
Day 12 of 30 days of water challenge - complete
I might have too many challenges going on right now, because I forgot to check my alarm for my early morning challenge. I missed my 5:15 wake up call and got up at 5:45 instead. I didn't get out of the house until 6:30 because I kept forgetting stuff. Oh well, I guess the point of the challenge is to keep trying. If it were that easy it wouldn't be a challenge.
I did decide to shorten the challenges to 30 days as I've got a long way to go and don't want to be lackadaisical about it. If I don't feel that I've accomplished the challenge then I'll just extend it another 30 days. But, if I'm done then there's no point in going on with the challenge, and I can move on to a new challenge.
Dinner planning went well. It was after dinner that everything fell apart. First there were the cookies that my mom made, oatmeal chocolate chunk, which ignited my sweet tooth. I made like 5 trips to the refrigerator, opening and closing it and walking away, only to finally give in to a kit kat bar. I was still hungry, but I went ahead and got on the bike trainer for 45 minutes and rode about 17 miles. By the time I got off I was super hungry, so I had half a slice of bread. That and another 40 oz of water finally satisfied me. So, even though I went over my max calories by 240 cal, I still count my dinner planning goal a success. I did portion out my dinner correctly. It just wasn't enough to fulfill my appetite.
I also did some of my workout planning. The triathlon planning site allows you to upload a custom training plan from a CSV file and then download it onto an app for my iPod Touch. That's really cool! It's just what I was looking for. Now to get back into my workout routines. My next race is a half marathon in February. Once again I'm injured going into it and am not sure if I'll be able to get any running in before the race. After that it's just a little 5k with the boy, which should be easy. I don't have anything else planned until the half ironman, but that could change.
Today's weight was 159.2. Oh no!
Last edited on 11 January 2011 06:48 am by mchen01
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 11 January 2011 03:52 pm |
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Day 2 of 30 days of dinner planning challenge - incomplete
Day 5 of 30 days of 6 AM challenge - incomplete
Day 6 of 30 days of fruit challenge - complete
Day 11 of 100 days of exercise challenge - complete
Day 13 of 30 days of water challenge - complete
Ok, I forgot to reset the alarm again and didn't get up until 6 AM. I didn't get out of the house until almost 7 AM. That sucks. Traffic is already heavy by then, and being so time-strapped, I have to pay $5 to use the toll roads and save myself nearly an hour sitting in rush hour. I was up until midnight last night, so I needed the sleep. Tonight I hope to get to bed earlier. I've failed my morning challenge 2 days in a row now so I need to make sure a 3 in a row does not happen.
It looks like I also forgot to do my dinner plan before I ate. I stayed at work late again, so I was tired by the time I got home. I think I just have too many challenges to remember. I'm going to get rid of my morning challenge. Right now it's more important to get my diet under control than it is to increase my training.
Today's exercise was yoga only. I wanted to give running a try, but my hips and lower back are really tight and sore. I can feel the pulling all along my pelvic crest. I did use the foam roller tonight, working the legs and glutes again. I'm going to try and do some extra stretching throughout the day. I've never felt so much muscle tightness and soreness before. Ugh!
Today's weight was 157.4.
Last edited on 12 January 2011 05:38 am by mchen01
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 12 January 2011 05:33 pm |
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Day 3 of 30 days of dinner planning challenge - complete
Day 7 of 30 days of fruit challenge - complete
Day 12 of 100 days of exercise challenge - complete
Day 14 of 30 days of water challenge - complete
Yesterday's eating was totally out of control. Sparkpeople has a nice set of reports, one of which gives me a daily report of my net calories based on my BMR plus exercise. It shows that I ate 800 calories more than I burned for the day. The worst thing about this is that I ate over 1000 calories in just snacking, 700 calories coming from the chocolates that I binged on. While I was eating those chocolates I kept telling myself it was ok because I would work it off with a run and a bike ride. But, I ended up working late again and didn't do those workouts. It's the same mistake, over and over again.
Well, no morning challenge, but I woke up at 6 am. Instead of taking off for work right away, I hung out with mom and the kids. The kids are trying out for honors orchestra, and I wanted to hear their audition pieces. The boy's audition is this Friday (the teacher just announced it yesterday - sheesh!), and he's got a bit of work to do. I'm going to get home a little earlier today and tomorrow so I can help him out. The girl sounds pretty good, but she also needs some work. Hopefully, I can give her some advice and get the pookie to help her out this weekend. I won't be home because I'm taking my mom to Vegas for our bi-annual trip to visit Joe's grave. I'm a little late getting her there, and she's getting anxious enough to start looking into a bus ticket. There never seems to be a good time, but I can't let her travel alone.
My project got canceled today. I'm pretty unhappy about it. I'm hoping I can find funding within the company to continue the work. On the bright side, I now have more free time and don't have to worry about working late for a while.
As for my challenges, I got in a lunchtime ride. The day was sunny and hot. I think it was in the 70s. I then went to spin class after work and did another 20 minutes of foam roller on the legs and glutes. Water was no problem, but with all that sweating I need to put another 16 oz in me before I go to bed. Dinner planning went very well tonight. I weighed out my portions, and ate mostly vegetables. As usual I was still hungry despite waiting an hour for the hunger to go away. But, for once I was good and had an apple and a spinach salad. It wasn't the pizza or burger that I wanted but it satisfied my hunger. I stayed within my calorie goal and had a deficit of 1300 cal for the day. Yay!
Today's weight was 158.2.
Last edited on 13 January 2011 04:56 am by mchen01
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Hiker
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 12 January 2011 10:54 pm |
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| Wow, McHen you sure are busy and you are taking care of so many people, kids, mom etc. That's great, there is nothing like family but be sure to take care of yourself too. Now the kids trying out for honors orchestra, are they your children? If so you must be proud that they are even able to try out, good for them.
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 13 January 2011 04:24 am |
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Thanks Hiker! Yes, the kids are my kids, and I'm very proud of them. It's amazing how kids are willing to work so hard with just a little encouragement. Okay, sometimes the encouragement actually turns into badgering and the occasional raised voice, but there's always lots of hugs that follow the tears.
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Hiker
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 13 January 2011 12:23 pm |
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A mom who raises her voice on occassion...I never heard of such child abuse  LOL.
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 13 January 2011 06:54 pm |
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Hiker - LOL! I can see social services knocking on my door now.
Day 4 of 30 days of dinner planning challenge - complete
Day 8 of 30 days of fruit challenge - complete
Day 13 of 100 days of exercise challenge - complete
Day 15 of 30 days of water challenge - complete
I was supposed to only do yoga today, but my window of opportunity for yoga has flown out with a late meeting and being caught by my manager before I could walk out the door. Since things are slow today, I should be able to hop out early and get on my bike at home. With my current weight I could really use the extra cardio to try to bring my weight down for the weigh-in challenge.
I decided to stay at work late tonight but not to work. I was making my training plan for the ironman and getting it ready to upload to the training website. I have 2 monitors at work so it makes working on multiple apps easier. I didn't finish, but I have most of it done.
Anyway, I didn't get on the bike. Dinner was delicious baked ziti, so I ate first. I did do the dinner plan, but that was depressing on how little food I got. I tried to fill up on asparagus, but I was still hungry. I didn't go back for more ziti, but I ate a big chunk of bread with olive oil and vinegar. I'm about 200 calories over, even with the yoga I just did, but my stomach is still growling. I'm trying really hard not to go back down to the kitchen. It's almost midnight, so hopefully I'll be asleep soon.
Today's weight was 158.6.
Last edited on 14 January 2011 06:51 am by mchen01
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 14 January 2011 04:24 pm |
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Day 5 of 30 days of dinner planning challenge - complete
Day 9 of 30 days of fruit challenge - complete
Day 14 of 100 days of exercise challenge - complete
Day 16 of 30 days of water challenge - complete
Ok, I admit that come weigh in challenge day, I try to get in a weight loss by hanging out in the bathroom until that weight drops. But this morning, no amount of waiting was going to work. So, I am showing a 0.2 lb gain. I am so stuck at this weight, which is frustrating because I feel like I suffer so much just to stay here.
Well, no point in whining. I have to understand what's going on and fix it. I hit the internet to look at a few reasons on weight loss plateau. No new lessons learned there. Then I went back to my logs and looked at my weight chart. I've been at this weight now for 4.5 weeks. That's about when I hurt my hip. Wow, it's only been a month. It feels more like 2 months. Ok, that makes sense. Looking at my exercise log and my diary, it makes even more sense with the depression over not being able to run, the binging, and practically a complete lack of exercise for almost 2 weeks.
My weight chart says it all. I was doing pretty well through November. Then, I went to Maryland on Dec 4, and injured my hip. While I was there I ate poorly. The week following that trip shows a huge weight gain, probably from all that overeating. Generally, I got back on track by eating around maintenance level or over. The little exercise that I did through December seems to just take care of the overeating part. I guess I expected more to happen these past couple weeks though, with the 2 long bike rides I did, I should have burned about 3000-4000 calories on each of those days alone. So, either I'm adjusting to gaining back some muscle that I started to lose at Christmas and also have some inflammation weight, or I've just been eating too much. Either way, I'm going to stay the course for now and see what happens in the next month.
My lunchtime ride was great! It was hot and sunny, and I got a tan in less than an hour, so weird considering all the snow storms everywhere. I'm so glad it's Friday. Vegas will be fun, and after working through the holidays and doing so much overtime I'm ready to have some fun. To make it up to my kids and hubby for leaving them home, I got them annual passes to Knott's Berry Farm and Soak City. Most of us haven't been there, so I think they'll have fun.
Today's weight was 158.2.
Last edited on 18 January 2011 04:06 pm by mchen01
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 14 January 2011 10:18 pm |
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My next "race" is the Los Angeles Firecracker 5k. It's something I usually run with the kids so I don't race it. This year though, the girl has opted out since she doesn't enjoy running. It's too bad because they just announced finisher medals for all participants. Knowing how much the girl likes bling, maybe she'll change her mind once she sees the medals. They're really cute!
As an aside, according to the Chinese lunar calendar, it is the year 4709.
Last edited on 14 January 2011 10:21 pm by mchen01
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 18 January 2011 08:06 pm |
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Day 9 of 30 days of dinner planning challenge - incomplete
Day 13 of 30 days of fruit challenge - complete
Day 18 of 100 days of exercise challenge - complete
Day 20 of 30 days of water challenge - complete
Back from my weekend in Vegas. My diet was pretty good the first day. I went over by 300 cal, but worked out an extra 500 cal, so I think I was good. The second day went horribly though. All the temptations finally got to me, and I was so hungry. I did get back on track on Monday though.
While we were there a bunch of girls were walking around in nothing but bikinis, high heels and a sash. I didn't get a look at the sash to see what it said (not wanting to get caught staring), but they were obviously part of some beauty pageant. The girls were very young, barely out of high school, and extremely skinny. One of them decided to join my mom at the slots (I had gone to bed early), thinking an old Asian woman would protect her from the wolves who had gathered for the feast. They seem to have had an interesting conversation. To summarize, the girl had no aspirations, believing her body and looks would bring her all that she would need and more. She offended my mom by asking her what it was like to be old, to which my mom responded with "It just happens day by day and year by year, and one day it'll happen to you. You'll find out." Mom said the girl hung out with her for quite a while, and I think my mom tried to convince her to think a little harder about her future. I hope the young girl figures it out. Skinny so easily turns to fat, youth turns to wrinkles, and makeup can only do so much for beauty. It's just too fleeting to bet your life on it.
This week I'm going to try and get back into running. I'm taking it very slow and easy. My hip is still hurting, but it's been almost 8 weeks and it's not getting any better. I've lost all patience and just miss running too much. So, this morning I did 20 minutes on the treadmill. The treadmill keeps me honest. I can set the speed and not worry about getting overenthusiastic and accidentally increasing my speed. It was boring, but I was running, and that's so much better than nothing! Oh yeah, and I was up at 5:30 am in order to get to the gym before work.
I was going to wait until I started physical therapy, but I'm having problems with my insurance again. Not only did they cancel my doctor, but it seems they've canceled my physical therapist as well, again without any notification. I just called the PT's office and they said that as far as they knew, they still took my insurance and they don't understand what's going on. I'm the second person who has had this problem. Next to dealing with the IRS, I hate dealing with health insurance. All the person on the other line can say is "I don't see anything in the computer." Wow, a robot could do that job. Thanks for wasting my time.
Finished off today's challenges with forgetting to plan dinner before I ate. It doesn't take long to start forgetting these goals. Everything else seems to be going well and the other goals are starting to become habit.
Today's weight is 161.2. I forgot to weight myself before I got dressed. Oh well.
Last edited on 19 January 2011 05:29 am by mchen01
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 20 January 2011 03:33 pm |
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Day 10 of 30 days of dinner planning challenge - incomplete
Day 14 of 30 days of fruit challenge - complete
Day 19 of 100 days of exercise challenge - complete
Day 21 of 30 days of water challenge - complete
I got really busy yesterday and didn't get a chance to log in and report my day. Basically, I need to get back into a routine and concentrate on my challenges. Once again I forgot to plan dinner, and my daily logging is starting to slide.
I got put on a new project yesterday, so I'm back to being busy at work. Plus, it looks like a couple people are interested in my proposal and I'll probably get to work on that. Yay!!
Yesterday I rode my bike at lunch and went to spin class after work. I decided to push hard at the lunchtime ride this time, hoping the guys with me would be able to keep up. I had to slow down a couple times, but they didn't mind letting me take off to do a couple of sprints up the hills and on the long flats. I averaged 23.6 mph on the 2 mile flat, my first mile at 23.9 and the second at 23.3.
I'm pretty disappointed at my speed as those 2 miles took a lot out of me, and I need to be closer to 25 mph to be competitive at time trials. There is a 20k time trial series that I would like to participate in after triathlon season is over. 20k is 12.4 miles. The last female winning time had an average speed of 25.4 mph over those 12.4 miles. The course record was an average speed of 27.5 mph. Wow!! Well, I have a whole year to prepare, as it looks like the series starts in February and ends in October. I can't do it this year as all my training will be devoted to the Ironman, but this will give me something to work towards after the Ironman is done.
Except for the dinner planning, all the other challenges are going well. I should probably try to drink more water though. With all that sweating I'm losing more than I'm replenishing.
Yesterday's weight was 160.2.
Last edited on 20 January 2011 03:34 pm by mchen01
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 20 January 2011 08:52 pm |
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Day 11 of 30 days of dinner planning challenge - incomplete
Day 15 of 30 days of fruit challenge - complete
Day 20 of 100 days of exercise challenge - complete
Day 22 of 30 days of water challenge - complete
I'm having some difficulties with migraines today. Luckily, it's not like the ones I've had in the past that send me bowing to the porcelain god and crushing my head between two pillows in a dark room. It's actually a mild headache, but it's affecting my vision. I'm experiencing an aura off and on where I get spots of blurriness that move out to the periphery of my vision and eventually disappear. It's not painful, but it's definitely annoying since I can't focus on the computer enough to work.
I went to yoga at lunch and stretching out my neck and back helped a little. I still have a 20 minute run scheduled, but may wait until later this evening to see if I feel better. I'm going to try and relieve the headache with lots of water since dehydration is usually the biggest cause of my migraines.
Today was the first west coast launch of the delta heavy rocket. I was standing by the windows to watch, but just missed it as I was looking about 20 degrees off course. Rats! The contrail is huge! I watched the video to see what I missed. As always, my heart clenches with emotion at the amazing technology that goes into sending something into space.
Once again I missed my dinner planning. I wanted to be at my daughter's audition for honor orchestra and traffic was miserable. It took me longer than I thought so I didn't make it home to drive over with them. I met the hubby and the girl at the audition and she did wonderfully. Hubby and I stood outside while she went in to do her audition. I could tell she was a little nervous, but she had been practicing hard and her confidence came back. It wasn't long before she got out of her nerves and back into the music. Anyway, I got home late and at least measured out my food even if I didn't know how much I was supposed to eat. I was hungry, and I tried to fill up on vegetables. I ate only 4 oz of pasta instead of my usual 8 oz. After I counted everything I was still over by 400 cal. So, obviously measuring does me no good if I don't know my limit for the day.
Everything else is going fairly well. I went to yoga class and got in a 22 minute jog. I drank the required 64 oz of water, but I know that's not enough considering the sweat factor. For now, I'm going to keep my goal at 64 oz because it's so hard for me to get even that much in me. After the 30 days are up, I'll change the challenge to 80 oz.
Today's weight was 159.0.
Last edited on 21 January 2011 04:13 pm by mchen01
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 21 January 2011 09:13 pm |
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Day 12 of 30 days of dinner planning challenge - complete
Day 16 of 30 days of fruit challenge - complete
Day 21 of 100 days of exercise challenge - complete
Day 23 of 30 days of water challenge - complete
I woke up with a headache again this morning, so I hit the snooze and went back to sleep. No aura today, but the lights at work seem uncommonly bright. The plan is to drink lots and lots of water today. I'm hoping to hit at least 100 oz for the day. It that doesn't work then it's got to be something else besides dehydration.
Yesterday I took a quiz on my eating personality. Here's the results:
I'm a "Portion Distortioner", which means:
"This person is a lifetime member of the Clean Plate Club. In fact, you may often continue to eat beyond the point where you're not even hungry anymore. A study by the American Institute for Cancer Research found that 67% of Americans eat everything on their plates regardless of size. You tend to feel deprived when eating smaller portions and, ironically, you sometimes overeat on "healthy" foods.
There is also a good chance you tend to eat out pretty often, and have noticed how restaurants and fast food joints have been up-sizing and biggie sizing your servings. Yet, even though you know portions have grown, you feel like you haven't eaten unless you are stuffed to the gills. Many of this type also use food as their sole source of weekend entertainment. It's what we call "Eat-for-tainment." Eating with friends and having fun is great, but if you are using food much more than other forms of entertainment (i.e. events that involve not sitting) it is something to be concerned about."
Yeah, that's me, or at least that is mostly me. I've changed a lot, but I still eat for entertainment, and I do feel the need to clean my plate. I no longer up-size when I go to fast food places, but I do order the combo meals. At restaurants, I try to halve my portions and take home the leftovers, but I'm not always successful at leaving the other half untouched. And, a big yes to overeating on healthy foods. Last night I ate over 3 cups of brussel sprouts along with 2 cups of spinach, and those were just side dishes. I like feeling full, not overstuffed, just full, because it feels comfortable. It is very uncomfortable to feel hungry. It is torture to be hungry with delicious foods sitting in front of your face.
I ended the day really well. I stayed within my calorie goal, and I got in 90 minutes of exercise. I did my lunchtime ride, and I finally got back in the pool. I didn't make 100 oz, only the usual 80 oz. Getting in that much water is very hard.
Today's weight was 158.2. The Vegas weight is gone.
Last edited on 23 January 2011 05:58 am by mchen01
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 23 January 2011 06:38 am |
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Day 13 of 30 days of dinner planning challenge - incomplete
Day 17 of 30 days of fruit challenge - complete
Day 22 of 100 days of exercise challenge - complete
Day 24 of 30 days of water challenge - complete
No headache today. I feel much better. I was able to get up at 7 am and get out of the house by 7:30 for an early morning ride. It's still cold enough to numb my toes but not so intolerable to keep indoors. There were a lot of cyclists out today, and most of them were passing me by. My legs are tired from the week's workouts. There was a short interval where I got some sudden energy and was able to catch and pass a few people, but after half an hour I was dead again. I only averaged a little under 16 mph for a 3 hour ride. Blah!
It was definitely an accomplishment to get myself up early on a weekend. I'm glad I got my workout done as the day turned out to be long and busy, full of errands and shopping.
I worked up a huge appetite. I ate a breakfast of 3 eggs, 2 slices of toast and yogurt with juice. At least the eggs were poached instead of fried. My body was craving sugar replacement after the long ride so I ate a kit kat bar from my emergency stash. I didn't have time for lunch and was starving by dinner time. We ate out, and I was too hungry to halve my portions. In fact, I had extra portions. In the end, I ate over 3000 cal for the day.
I'm a bit at war with how I should feel about how much I ate today. After all, I burned almost 2000 cal on my bike ride alone. I'm not sure if I could have done better by eating less or if it was better to eat that much to refuel my body. I'm so confused. I'm at both extremes when it comes to eating and exercise, that I can't seem to find the right balance. The only thing I know for sure is that I definitely could have made better food choices. I only ate 3 servings of fruit and zero vegetables. It's just that my body wanted lots of protein and carbs today. I really wanted salt too. I actually used ketchup, which is something I haven't touched in over a year.
With being out today I wasn't able to plan my dinner. I'll need to do a better job at preparing for eating out, like bringing healthy snacks with me to curb my hunger. At least I stayed away from the funnel cake shop and refrained from ordering a milkshake to go with my burger. As much as I beat myself up over my lack of control, I should also acknowledge my successes. Every bit of progress, no matter how small, will eventually get me to my goal, as long as the progress sticks.
Today's weight was 157.4.Last edited on 23 January 2011 04:26 pm by mchen01
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 23 January 2011 04:25 pm |
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Day 14 of 30 days of dinner planning challenge - incomplete
Day 18 of 30 days of fruit challenge - incomplete
Day 23 of 100 days of exercise challenge - complete
Day 25 of 30 days of water challenge - incomplete
Headache is back today, and my upper back and shoulders are so sore. I feel really blah with not only this but a heavy TTOM too. I'm feeling very lazy this morning. I need to get in a short ride and run today, but don't have the energy. I think I'll spend the morning on my foam roller to try and work out all my kinks.
Well, it turns out today is going to have to be my rest day. After more errands and housework, I just don't have any energy. I did get to do some foam roller on my back and some work on the balance ball for my hips to at least meet the minimum requirements for my exercise challenge.
Right now I just want to go to bed, but the girl is working on a speech for school and I have to listen and make sure she's ready. It's going to get busy for a while. Both kids got into honor orchestra, although the girl only made second violin section this year. I feel bad because that's really my fault. I promised to get her a new teacher, one who is actually credentialed to teach violin, but haven't been able to find one I like yet. Well, I'll get back to finding one once orchestra is over with. I'm still proud of both of them. The girl and boy got into orchestra pretty much on their own with little help from their teacher, and that's pretty amazing.
As for me, I'm a big disappointment today. I only did the bare minimum for exercise and didn't complete any of the other challenges. Hopefully I'll do better tomorrow.
Today's weight is 157.6.Last edited on 24 January 2011 05:00 am by mchen01
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Hiker
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 24 January 2011 10:30 pm |
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Hey McHen, sorry to hear about those headaches, since you are also having pain in your shoulders and back it might be tension??
I was looking at the changes you've made in your eating and you have made some great choices, not upsizing and eating half portions. I wouldn't worry too much about an extra cup of veggies...unless they are cooked in lots of fat of course.
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 25 January 2011 01:41 am |
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Thanks Hiker. Yeah, it could be tension. I'm not sure. I know I get headaches from dehydration, but it could be both.
I admit that while I try to follow the rules, it doesn't always work. While I have been pretty successful at no longer upsizing, I still do combo meals, and I still tend to clean my plate. Someday, I hope I can actually be successful at managing my portions at restaurants.
Day 15 of 30 days of dinner planning challenge - incomplete
Day 19 of 30 days of fruit challenge - incomplete
Day 24 of 100 days of exercise challenge - incomplete
Day 26 of 30 days of water challenge - incomplete
I've started off the day with skipping breakfast and eating out for lunch. Not good. It's starting to feel impossible to eat anything filling at a restaurant that is under 1000 cal. Now I only have less than 250 cal left for the day. It looks like I'm going to be over my limit again.
Coming off the weekend is hard. I seem to always lose ground and have a hard time recovering what good habits I've learned. I find it takes 5 days to start being consistent with my goals but only 2 days to completely forget them all. I'm going to have to do much better this weekend the stop this yo-yo.
So, today was a total loss. I admit I just wasn't feeling my best. It was something close to exhaustion, from what I don't know. Maybe at some point I should start working on how much sleep I get a night. Anyway, I went home instead of heading to the gym, ate a sensible dinner, stared at my bike for a couple minutes and then decided to just go to bed.
Today's weight was 157.8.
Last edited on 25 January 2011 04:47 pm by mchen01
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 25 January 2011 06:45 pm |
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Day 16 of 30 days of dinner planning challenge - incomplete
Day 20 of 30 days of fruit challenge - incomplete
Day 25 of 100 days of exercise challenge - complete
Day 27 of 30 days of water challenge - complete
I'm working on getting my mojo back today. I got up early to make up yesterday's missed workout. It wasn't that hard since I went to bed early last night and finally got some good sleep. I had a headache again, but it went away once I got going.
So, I can plan all I want, but it doesn't work if I don't follow the plan. Today was a co-worker's retirement lunch. It included delicious spaghetti and cake, about 1200 cal of deliciousness. With such a large lunch, I tried to make it up at dinner. I forgot to do my dinner plan, but I remembered to eat lighter. I put back the big plate that I usually use, and got a small bowl. I put in about 3/4 cup of rice and a couple ounces of beef and vegetable stir fry. That definitely saved my day.
I got in another run after work and ran into a friend at the gym. We hadn't seen each other for over a year, so it was nice to catch up. I was going slow enough that I could talk while I ran, and when I'd finished my run I stayed on the treadmill to walk while we chatted. It was late and the gym was going to close in 30 minutes so we no one was waiting for treadmills. It felt great to not be rushed and to while away the workout time hanging out with a friend.
Today's weight was 157.8.
Last edited on 26 January 2011 10:28 pm by mchen01
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 26 January 2011 11:00 pm |
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Day 17 of 30 days of dinner planning challenge - incomplete
Day 21 of 30 days of fruit challenge - incomplete
Day 26 of 100 days of exercise challenge - complete
Day 28 of 30 days of water challenge - complete
The day is going well. I'm eating my healthy, nutritious, low calorie salad for lunch. It's not nearly as delicious or pleasing as the spaghetti and cake from yesterday's lunch, but I'm looking for long term gratification, not short term.
Today's schedule did not include a morning workout, so I got to sleep in. Yay! I had a fantastic lunchtime ride. It was a warm, sunny day with strong ocean breezes. I had to fight the wind for my 2 mile sprint so I got in an extra tough workout. Tonight is spin class.
There are nights when I just can't make myself go to the gym. I start out with good intentions with my workout stuff in the car and my sights on the gym. Then, I get to the entrance into the gym parking lot, and in the 2 minutes it took me to get there, my mind has been churning over my exhaustion and how I'm not in the mood to workout. It's almost unconscious when I make that last minute decision to pass the gym entrance and continue on my way home. I always feel terribly guilty afterward as I realize I could have done that workout and that I wasn't really that exhausted. So, my new strategy is to park the car at the gym. It's a quarter mile from work, carrying my laptop, lunch bag and purse, but it will be worth it if it helps me get to the gym for my workouts.
I missed dinner planning again. It wouldn't have mattered as I had a bit of an appetite tonight after my last workout. Despite having a sensible dinner, I snacked on over 600 cal, most of it after dinner. It should be ok, because I still ended with a negative 850 cal for the day.
The fruit challenge is not going well simply because there hasn't been a good selection of fruit lately. The apples are too soft, the grapes have a bitter skin, and the oranges are sour. I will try the bananas next time as they're pretty much a safe bet.
Today's weight was 157.6.
Last edited on 27 January 2011 05:20 am by mchen01
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 27 January 2011 04:06 pm |
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Day 18 of 30 days of dinner planning challenge - incomplete
Day 22 of 30 days of fruit challenge - incomplete
Day 27 of 100 days of exercise challenge - complete
Day 29 of 30 days of water challenge - complete
The cooties have hit our home. First the boy was sick, now it's the girl. The rest of us are hoping to stay healthy at least through the weekend.
The girl's birthday party is this weekend. I've got a 35 mile morning ride first, then I'm off to pick up the birthday cake after a quick drive home to shower and change. The hubby is taking a van load of girls off to laser tag, and I'll meet them there later with the boy in tow. After the party we are having dinner with the cousins, one of whom has the exact same birthday, for a little family celebration. So, Saturday is going to include lots of high calorie foods like cake, pizza and whatever I order at the restaurant. I need to be careful as I don't expect to burn more than 1500 cal on the ride, and I can easily eat that back with the pizza and cake alone. Hmmm, maybe I should take some turkey breast with me so I can eat in the car after my ride. That way I won't be so hungry when I get to the party.
There is not enough time in the day to do the dinner planning. Still, I'm going to keep trying to revive it. At least keeping it in my head is helping me tone down my dinner portions. I'm only 100 cal over for the day.
As for exercise, I got in a yoga class at lunch and went back to the gym after work for a run. I limited myself to 26 minutes, but I wasn't able to keep the pace slow. I'd promised to leave the pace at 12 minutes until my hip stopped hurting, but my music made that impossible. I just wanted to run a little harder for a few minutes, so I pushed the pace up to 8:30/mile. It felt so good! But, now I'm paying the price. My hip is killing me. My stupidity knows no bounds sometimes. I don't have another run scheduled until Sunday. I hope my hip will forgive me by then.
Today's weight was 157.2.
Last edited on 28 January 2011 06:24 am by mchen01
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Sassykat
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 27 January 2011 05:40 pm |
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I envy your focus and writing your goals everyday mchen01.
I especially find birthdays hard. We have 3 birthdays a couple weeks apart and it seems like I've been in a state of celebration eating since Christmas! It's gonna be a task to get out of that mode and fight my sugar addiction again.
I also wanted to mention that I have struggled with migraines most of my life. There are definitely some things that affect them I've noticed. The most obvious for me was my hormones (such as a sudden rise in estrogen) and a second one I've been putting together is something I read that migraine suffers have lower COQ10 levels. Something gets off balance which effects the cells ability to create mitochondria (energy). Taking either a supplemental COQ10 or the precursors nutrients to make COQ10 can be helpful in preventing migraines. Those would inlcude nutrients that are part of the krebs cycle such as magnesium, & B-vitamins such as B-12.
Best of luck to you Mchen, with your weight loss and your migraines. And enjoy your daughter's birthday! It sounds like fun.
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 28 January 2011 06:04 am |
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Thanks Sassykat! I'd never heard of that particular cause of headaches. I'll look into it. And yes, having birthdays this close to the holidays is not good for the diet. What were we thinking!? 
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 28 January 2011 04:40 pm |
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Day 19 of 30 days of dinner planning challenge - incomplete
Day 23 of 30 days of fruit challenge - incomplete
Day 28 of 100 days of exercise challenge - complete
Day 30 of 30 days of water challenge - complete
Today is the last day of my water challenge, but looking over how I did makes me think I should redo the challenge. I missed 4 days, giving me less than 90% success. I would say that's not good enough to feel like it's become habit.
Another thing I'm going to work on are these headaches. The first thing to figure out is what's causing them. This morning it felt like a tension headache. I can feel the tightness in my right shoulder and neck. The odd thing is that the right side of my face feels weird too. While I look alright, my right eye feels droopy and my vision is affected in that eye. It's a little different from last time. Things are not so sharply fragmented, but there are spots of blurriness. Also, my right cheek feels a little numb. Maybe I'm having sinus problems as well, but my nasal passages are clear. Anyway, it's not severe, and there's little pain. It's just annoying. Still, I'm worried enough now to go see the doctor. I have an appointment for later this afternoon and will post what the doc says later this evening.
Got in a lunchtime ride. Skipped the swim to go to doctor's appointment.
Today's weight was 158.0
Last edited on 1 February 2011 05:48 pm by mchen01
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artistjohn
Moderator
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Posted: 28 January 2011 05:02 pm |
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| Hi Michelle. Hope all goes well with your check up. Take it easy with training and listen to your body. You always give me good advice. Seb Coe Olympic 1500 and 800 metre champion is organising our Summer Olympics next year and said something like "When I was training real hard, I was always ill with some bug or other" I am still using my roller on my achilles thanks to you. Last edited on 28 January 2011 05:04 pm by artistjohn
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Sassykat
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 28 January 2011 05:36 pm |
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I hope your doctor visit goes well. I'm glad you are going in. Let us know how it goes.
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 31 January 2011 09:27 pm |
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Thanks John and Sassykat!
The doctor's visit went as expected. The doc has ordered a cat scan as a precaution, but thinks that they are just migraines. The auras and numbness are part of the migraines and nothing to be worried about since they go away on their own. I opted not to take any medication since I don't have that much pain, and most prescription meds have too many side effects to take them idly. The doc recommended I keep a headache log to try and find the trigger for the headaches, which could be anything from lack of sleep to a food allergy, like *gasp* chocolate. In the meantime, the doc said the next time the aura came I should just go into a dark room to wait it out and "enjoy the show". LOL. I'm glad it's nothing serious, as long as the cat scan comes out ok, which I think it will.
I also have my referral for more physical therapy. I am such a mess! I admit it is hard to listen to my own advice. I have a very hard time running slow and taking it easy, and I pay for it every time. I still do the foam roller too. It's cured all of my other ailments, but the hip thing is new and I don't quite know where the problem originates and how to fix it. Hopefully the therapist will help with that and I can move on with my running.
Sorry for the late post. The weekend got really busy and I guess my exhaustion caught up with me. I conked out Sunday afternoon and slept most of the day away.
Last edited on 31 January 2011 09:30 pm by mchen01
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artistjohn
Moderator
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Posted: 1 February 2011 10:06 am |
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Glad everything is ok'ish Take care and get plenty of rest. Watched some golf at the weekend from San diego. Weather looked great. Similar to our 3c wet and grey
 John
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 1 February 2011 06:05 pm |
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January 29
Day 20 of 30 days of dinner planning challenge - incomplete
Day 24 of 30 days of fruit challenge - incomplete
Day 29 of 100 days of exercise challenge - complete
Day 1 of 30 days of water challenge - incomplete
Did a 25 mile ride along Santiago Canyon. The ride had 3 easy Class 5 hills, one a mile long and 2 at 1.5 miles long. I loved the route. Hills are my friends. The only problem was that I forgot to take in any water. The morning was cold and I never felt thirsty. But, my riding partner chastised me for my lack of proper hydration and said I will not survive the Ironman with such bad habits.
The rest of the day was spent eating poorly as expected. I didn't have any birthday cake, because there was no birthday cake - haha! We got birthday ice cream cupcakes from Coldstone and only bought just enough for the kids. However, my hubby talked me into cheesecake at dinner. I was partly good though, in that I divided my dinner and dessert in half and ate only the half portion. I brought home the other half of my dinner and left behind the rest of the dessert. I'd like to say that leaving half the dessert on the table was pretty good dieting, but it's not really. I shouldn't have had it at all. A full slice of cheesecake is over 1000 cal, so I didn't do myself any favor by eating half of it.
I didn't count calories for the day at all. I really didn't want to know.
Today's weight was 158.6.
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 1 February 2011 06:14 pm |
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January 30
Day 21 of 30 days of dinner planning challenge - incomplete
Day 25 of 30 days of fruit challenge - complete
Day 30 of 100 days of exercise challenge - complete
Day 2 of 30 days of water challenge - incomplete
Today was shopping day. Lots of groceries was bought, and I filled up on fruit. I don't know how much I ate for the day, probably too much, but I tried to eat healthy for the most part. Breakfast was peanut butter and jelly on multigrain toast, lunch was chinese noodles with spinach and mushrooms in chicken broth, and dinner was salmon with green beans and new potatoes. I also had a kit kat bar and about 1/2 cup of slow churn ice cream.
I did get in a short run with the hubby and the boy, but the rest of the day was a bust. I felt exhausted and couldn't keep my eyes open when I sat on the couch to rest for a few minutes. I actually fell asleep using my dog as a pillow.
The water challenge is not going well. I will start over on the next day.
Today's weight was 160.2. Boo!
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 1 February 2011 06:29 pm |
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January 31
Day 22 of 30 days of dinner planning challenge - incomplete
Day 26 of 30 days of fruit challenge - complete
Day 31 of 100 days of exercise challenge - incomplete
Day 1 of 30 days of water challenge - complete
Today was a rest day. I was going to do some light stretching and yoga poses, but once again I was too tired. I had stayed late at work to make up for leaving early on Friday. When I got home, I had every intention of skipping dinner and going to my room to stretch and then go to bed. But, when i went to the kitchen to clean up I found dinner waiting in a bowl for me. My mom gets very hurt when I don't eat the food she has prepared for me, and I haven't yet figured out how to throw it out with her not finding out. I ate my dinner, and once I started I couldn't help finishing everything in the bowl even though it was too much.
The kids and I watched videos on youtube of the IBM system called "Watson". It's a natural language answering engine that's going to compete on Jeopardy. It's amazing! Kudos to IBM for conquering a new step in artificial intelligence. I have to say that Watson is the cutest computer I've ever seen. It has a pleasant synthetic voice and a nice "demeanor". The actual show, which has 2 of the best Jeopardy champs, is supposed to air sometime in February. I can't wait to see who won.
Today's weight was 159.2.
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 1 February 2011 06:38 pm |
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Day 23 of 30 days of dinner planning challenge - incomplete
Day 27 of 30 days of fruit challenge - complete
Day 32 of 100 days of exercise challenge - complete
Day 2 of 30 days of water challenge - complete
I got my morning run done. Since I went to bed early last night I had no trouble getting up at 5 am today. I'm slowly turning into a morning person. Yay! There was food at the gym for a welcome back party for our cleaning lady. She's really sweet, always smiling. I don't know why she was gone for a few months, but it was good to see her back. Anyway, I tried to be good by grabbing a bunch of tangerines and some orange slices, but finally gave in to a sugar doughnut. I wasn't able to leave the table of temptations soon enough as one of my riding partners showed up and we talked over the food.
Today's workout plan was for 1 run and yoga class. I decided to add an extra run for today since I missed a swim and short bike last week. Also, I keep forgetting that I have a half marathon this Sunday. My longest training run will only be 30 minutes. Oh well, it's my favorite race and I'm a legacy runner. I'd hate to give up my status if I can help it, so it looks like I'll be running it even with a slight injury and little training. Luckily, a 2 hour race is no longer a monumental feat for me, and it's not like I haven't put in the cardio time elsewhere.
Today's weight was 158.8.
Last edited on 2 February 2011 05:22 pm by mchen01
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 2 February 2011 05:31 pm |
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Day 24 of 30 days of dinner planning challenge - incomplete
Day 28 of 30 days of fruit challenge - incomplete
Day 33 of 100 days of exercise challenge - complete
Day 3 of 30 days of water challenge - complete
Today is super windy! Traffic reports included 5 flipped trucks due to wind gusts. Today's bike ride should be interesting. Hopefully the winds will die down by then.
My brain scan is scheduled for next week. My doctor requested a CT scan but the imaging center said they usually do MRI for migraines. They're going to check with my doctor to find out which one to do. I hope I get to keep the images. It's not often, if ever, that you get to see pictures of your brain.
I got in a nice ride this afternoon, short but sweet, with a new member to our group. I also went to spin class and left a nice pool of sweat around my bike.
The boy had a basketball kicked into his face and had to be taken to the doctor. The pookie was able to take him so I could stay at work. Luckily, the boy did not need stitches. Not so lucky were his glasses. A new pair has been ordered and the old pair is undergoing the super glue test.
No dinner planning, but I'm using my new strategy of small bowls. Since I can only fit so much food into the bowl at a time, I'm assured a proper sized portion. If I'm too tired to get up and refill the bowl, then that means I'm full. I got up 3 times to refill plus a 4th time for a bowl of ice cream. Guess I wasn't tired enough.
Today's weight was 159.2.
Last edited on 3 February 2011 06:36 pm by mchen01
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Hiker
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 2 February 2011 10:43 pm |
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| Getting the images will be great, getting the answer to those headaches....priceless. I do hope they find the cause and can do something for you, headaches like that are not fun, but it sounds like they are trying to find the cause aggressively.
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 3 February 2011 08:19 pm |
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Hiker, yes it will be good to have the brain scan for assurances sake. It may not tell me the cause of my migraines, but I think having a scan that shows no abnormalities will be an excellent start.
HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!! 
Day 25 of 30 days of dinner planning challenge - incomplete
Day 29 of 30 days of fruit challenge - complete
Day 34 of 100 days of exercise challenge - complete
Day 4 of 30 days of water challenge - complete
Got up at 5 am this morning before the alarm went off. That's a good sign. I was still a little slow getting out of the house though. Still being half asleep, I got dressed for work instead of for a run and only realized my mistake as I was packing my workout clothes. So, I went through another quick change, but my head was fuzzy enough that it took extra long to get everything together before I was able to get out the door at 5:50. I really must try and get everything together the night before. Anyway, I got in a 30 minute run on the treadmill and the hip wasn't feeling as bad as it usually does. I also got yoga in at lunch.
The IBM Watson will be on Jeopardy February 14-16. We are all looking forward to a fun and exciting show. The kids love Jeopardy and the girl is especially good at answering some of the questions. Last night's final question was about naming 2 of the 3 second term presidents who were unable to complete their second term. I got Nixon but the girl got Lincoln. Nobody ever remembers poor McKinley.
Today's weight was 158.8.
Last edited on 4 February 2011 04:17 pm by mchen01
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MichelleP
Distinguished Member
| Joined: | 25 March 2009 |
| Location: | Ohio USA |
| Posts: | 685 |
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Posted: 4 February 2011 01:51 pm |
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Hey Michelle -
You are legally entitled to a copy of any medical images/reports that are done on you. Just ask for a copy and when they are ready they have to give you a copy.
Hope everything gets worked out for you soon.
Michelle
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