90 Day Challenge

My good friend CG and her sister swear by a shake regiment called Body by Vi. I have yet to purchase the shake mixes through the company because I think they are way too expensive. However, CG and her sister are embarking on a ninety day challenge wherein they replace two meals a day with healthy shakes and then eat a sensible lunch or dinner. I've decided to join them, only I'm using Jillian Micheal's Whey Protein powder to make my shakes and some vitamin supplements instead of the Body by Vi shakes.

I plan to record my food intake/exercise log daily on this blog. I've tried this several times before, but my gusto fades away after a short while. Hopefully, knowing that CG and Amanda are following the challenge as well will keep me motivated. Tomorrow I'll weigh in and keep track of my weight bi-weekly as I go through the process.

Day One
Food Intake:
Shake (banana, whey protein, milk, ice cubes, natural peanut butter, honey)
Captain's Wafers Onion and Chive Sandwich crackers
Apple Cinnamon Granola Bar
Mini Babybel White Cheddar Cheese
Honey Wheat pita pocket with lettuce and pimiento cheese
Three slices of deli ham

Exercise:
None

Not fun at all, but has to be done.

I absolutely detest, as anyone with a weight loss goal in mind would, bringing myself down a few notches and facing reality. The truth is, since my last entry, I haven't worked out regularly like I've been meant to, I've been eating fast food quite a lot, and I'm letting my eating schedule get out of hand. My muffin top hovers ever-so-mightily between me and victory and it mocks me from every angle in the mirror. I'm three weeks into this fall's semester, and my well-meaning plans have petered out in the name of convenience and time constraints.

In many ways, I've been lazy about my goals. But in some ways, I can point fingers at my tight schedule as bring partially responsible. However, on the weekends when I have absolutely nothing to do, I'm still choosing to do less productive things than exercise and make meals for the rest of the week. I've let myself down so quickly, and I'm thoroughly discouraged.

So I've decided to make a new list of reasons to lose weight. My motivations may have changed some from my last list, and I want to put my priorities right here in front of my face to further motivate me to push past this barrier I've erected before myself before I've even truly gotten started...

I'll start with number five and work my way up to number one, with number one being the most important reason why I need to lose weight. List below the cut! :)

Day Sixteen: School!

So the Fall Semester has started. I'm determined to stay on track. I haven't had time to work out twice a day, but I'm definitely fitting in at least one workout a day, no excuses (unless a really big homework assignment comes up). I had every intention of working out in the gym tonight, but I had to read a few chapters for my two classes tomorrow so I couldn't. However, I did work out this morning before school so I don't feel so terrible.

Day Fifteen Stats:
Wake Up: 9 AM
Breakfast: Life cereal with 1% milk
Exercise: Biggest Loser Power Sculpt level 1
Lunch: ham sandwich on wheat with mayo and mustard, tortilla chips and salsa
Snack: cheez-itz mini bag, black grapes, sweet chili quakers rice cakes, nutty delight special k bar, banana (not all at once, spread out throughout the day to stave off any hunger pangs)
Dinner: chicken curry and brown rice

Day Fifteen: Time Flies When You're Having Fun! :)

I know I've skipped a few days of posting stats, but I've been pretty busy. That being said, I haven't slacked on my exercising and eating schedule habits, au contraire! I have held to my promise of not eating fast food, skipping sodas, and working out every day. (I have yet to fit in TWO workouts a day, but I at least have fit in one a day).

Day Fifteen Stats:

Wake Up: 9 AM
Breakfast: cup of strawberry milk and yogurt
Lunch: ham sandwich on wheat bread with provolone cheese, mustard, lettuce, and tomato with black grapes and one mini bag of Cheez-itz
Snack: Special K Nutty Delight Bar (MY NEW OBSESSION. They are so good!)
Exercise: 30 mins elliptical, 2.4 miles, 315 calories burned
Dinner: Progresso chicken noodle soup, Quakers Rice Cakes (sweet chili flavor), applesauce

I haven't weighed myself since Day Ten, and I don't plan on doing so until the end of the week. I find that weighing myself TOO often gets very discouraging very quickly. I can feel my clothes becoming more loose on my frame, I can tell my muscles feel tighter, I don't NEED to step on a scale to know I'm still making progress. As an impatient human being, I know that the pounds refusing to melt away day after day will make me want to give up. And I just can't let that happen, not this time. So I'm staying off the scale, perhaps measuring myself every week or every other week.

Also, as a side note, I have discovered a fantastic podcast to work out to: We're Alive. It's a podcast chronicling the survival stories of a group of people suddenly thrust into a zombie apocalypse, centering around a young Army Sergeant. It's fantastically written, fantastically acted, and the quality of the sound effects and editing is sublime. I found my feet pounding along on the elliptical as if the zombies in my ears were coming out to get me! It was a fun way to work out and it kept my eyes away from the clock and the time on the elliptical just flew by, before I knew it, the machine was signalling time for my cooldown and I hadn't had time to sigh heavily and wonder when was this little slice of hell going to end!? So I highly recommend this podcast for any horror/zombie/apocalypse fans, and especially for those fans who also need some fuel for their workouts. This podcast will make any time on the treadmill, elliptical, bike, or road highly tolerable and even enjoyable... you'll want to keep running so you can start the next episode and find out what happens next! :)

Day Ten: Lost Two Pounds!

Stats:
Wake-up: 1 PM (I KNOW, I KNOW, TERRIBLE!)
Breakfast: yogurt
Lunch: none
Snack: banana, chocolate covered almonds
Dinner: bison chili and peanut butter sandwich on wheat bread

Alright, so I stepped on the scale this afternoon and I've lost two pounds! Woo! I've also noticed my pants are fitting a bit more loosely, I have to keep tugging them up here and there. This is exciting! Once the pounds start coming off, it provides more motivation to keep moving forward! :) I'm excited about this leg of the race. I have support, I have drive, I have energy, I have everything I need to accomplish my goals! :)

3 Fat Chicks on a Diet

I have mentioned this website before, I think, and I just have to bring it up again. 3fatchicks.com seems to be a great website for weight loss tips and inspiration. I have to admit, the only thing I have looked at for any length of time is the Goals section of the Forum. Here is where members of the 3fatchicks.com forum post their weight loss success in picture format. They'll post their beginning picture alongside their current picture to show how much weight they've lost. And there are some real heroes on that forum, people who have lost 300+ pounds!!! There's nothing more inspiring to me than to see those pictures and know that I'm headed toward that same achievement, shedding pounds that are doing nothing but holding me back and putting my health in danger...

I can't wait to post my Goal photos!

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/goal-photo-album-200/

Check out the photo album if you're running low on motivation, it will surely kick you into gear! :)

Day Nine: Working Out!

Stats:
Wake Up: 11:30 AM
Breakfast: bowl of Life cereal with Skim milk
Lunch: grilled sandwich with portabello mushroom, roasted red peppers, lite mayo, and paprika on wheat bread
Exercise: Biggest Loser Cardio DVD Level One
Snack: Special K
Exercise: 30 mins elliptical
Dinner:

Today I feel alright. I made the mistake of staying up late because I felt like watching The Full Monty... so instead of my usual 2:30 AM bedtime, I was up until after 3:30 AM. So I ended up sleeping in, which if you haven't noticed, has become a bad habit, the only one I haven't managed to break thus far. I'm sticking to my eating schedule, I'm avoiding eating fast food, no sodas, etc. But sleeping in is something I haven't managed to completely give up yet. :( However, school starts on Monday and I'll HAVE to get up early in order to make it to class... so that's a positive aspect of the semester starting! :)