Business as usual...

There's nothing new to report. I've been doing really well with the diet. I've taken breakfast and lunch to work all week and I've eaten less than 1400 calories each day.

Tomorrow I will run 3 miles and start ramping up for the half marathon in February.

Off to a good start...

Today was a pretty good day. I brought both my breakfast and lunch to work, instead of eating the food provided in the cafeteria with an untold amount of calories. I had fruit and cottage cheese for a snack.

Food Log: ~1400 calories.

I made it...

So I really am glad that I went to the gym, because I completely talked myself out of it until I had remembered that I had already blogged that I was going to go to the gym.

Todays Log: ~1650 calories and 1hour of Cardio to burn 500-600 calories:

Net ~1200 calories

So many excuses...

It's the end of my work day, I'm slightly hungry, it's cold outside and I have Christmas shopping to do... I almost used all those reasons to talk myself out of going to the gym. But since I blogged earlier that I was going to go today, I suppose I'll have.

I'm sure I'll be happy that I did and it'll get me back into the habit of going after work.

And off to the gym I am...

For Real this time...

Ok... So I didn't really start when I said I would... But this time is for real because I started this morning. Well last night to be honest. I went to the grocery store and I bought healthy foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner this week. I also cooked a healthy dinner last night.

And today, even though it's cold and rainy outside and I'd much rather just go home after work, I'm going to the gym. I just realized my next half marathon is less than 2 months away! I want to try to get a personal record with this half marathon. That shouldn't be to hard because I've always taken an easy run/walk pace while doing my half marathons, however my knee still isn't 100% normal after my full marathon. Today I'll test it out at the gym. My plan is to run the pace that I want to run during the race for 2 miles and then build from there to 13 miles.

Wish me luck!

Ummm....well...

So... I can't say that I really made any changes yet. I worked late yesterday and today, so I skipped the gym. It's always hard for me to start going back to the gym after I've been gone for a while, but once I get going I really stick to it.

Anyway, I know for sure I'm running this Saturday. Besides the Thanksgiving 5k, it'll be the first time I've really run since my Marathon and I'm really looking forward to it.

I just have to get through Friday by making healthy choices....

Back...Again

Well, it's been quite a while since I last blogged. My team didn't win the competition but we came in 7 out of 42. I did, however, beat the coworker that I had a side bet against. During the competiton I ended up losing 17lbs.

After my trip to Hawaii that imediately followed the competition I gained about 5lbs back. But for the most part I remained the same weight for most of the year. I ran my first full marathon in October... but quickly after the marathon I started gaining the weight back.

So here I am in December weighing exactly what I weighed in January when I started the competition... I know... What a bummer.

Anyway, I'm not going to let that discourage me. My goal is to achieve and MAINTAIN a healthier eating lifestyle and I'm starting right here, right now.

Vegetables are good!

I'm back blogging again. I didn't blog Friday night because I went to the All-Star Rookie Challenge in LA. I didn't pig out on my diet either! For dinner I had a 6oz portion of Ahi Tuna and sauteed spinach. Saturday I woke up and went to the gym and ran some errands. Later that night I had dinner for a friends 40th birthday. I ate another small meal. It was a meat stuffed chille pepper with a side of vegetables. Lastly, today for dinner I made a taco salad (minus the nachos). So as you can see, since I started the Low Carb diet I have been doing a good job of eating vegetables. I've actually reached my goal of 8 meals with vegetables.

Daily Journal:
Friday:
I ate about 1300 calories. No exercise on Friday because I went to the game.

Saturday:
I ate about 1400 calories. I burned 530 on the elliptical machine, Stair Master and Treadmill. I also did a full body resistance training workout.

Sunday:
I ate about 1500 calories today.

Xtend Again

I went to the Xtend Barre class today and it was slightly less difficult then the first time I went. I think it was just because the instructor didn't demand as much from the class as my first instructor did. I think I'll just have to find a class that works with my schedule and that has an instructor who really pushes the class.

Daily Journal:
I burned about 300 calories in the Xtend Barre class and I ate about 1400 calories.

Back In the Gym

I haven't been to the gym since last Friday... Boy it feels like a really long time. I just did my normal elliptical machine workout, nothing interesting there. The most interesting thing, dietarily speaking, is that I sauteed vegetables for dinner. I had asparagus, squash, mushrooms and red onions. I'll bring the leftovers to work tomorrow for lunch tomorrow. I'm making good progress on my goal to eat more vegetables.

Daily Journal:
I ate about 1500 calories today and burned 630 at the gym.

The Weekly Weigh-In

Today my team weighed in and our week 5 results were awesome. My team had a combined weight loss of 14.9 lbs this week. That is the most that we have lost since the first week. All together my team has lost 54.3 lbs since the beginning of the competition. I had a big loss this week too. I lost almost 4lbs. That brings me to a 5.84% total weight loss. I'm just a little over 1/3 of the way to my goal of losing 15% during the competition.

My boyfriend also had a big weight loss this week. He lost 4.1 lbs for a total weight loss of 4.45% of his starting weight. Since I'm at 5.84% I'm still beating him. Yay!

As for how well the co-worker I'm competing with is doing, I'll have to wait until the end of the week when everyone's results are posted. However I'm guess that I'm slightly ahead of her.

Daily Journal:

Today I made some progress towards my weekly goals of eating vegetables for 8 means. I ate a salad for lunch and had spinach and mushrooms with my dinner. I've also greatly reduced the amount of carbs I consume. I ate about 1600 calories. I didn't go to the gym today because my car is in the autoshop.

Weekly Goals

It's Monday and on Mondays I like to examine how I did on the goals I set in the previous week. I only had one goal last week and I failed big time. I was supposed to eat vegetables for 8 meals. I probably had vegetables as the main side dish for only 2 meals. So at the end of last week I tried to think of a way to force myself to eat vegetables, so I decided to do a low carb meal plan. From now on I will try to consume only small amounts of rice and white bread and other starchy foods. My diet will primarily consist of lean protein and high fiber vegetables.

Daily Journal:

I ate about 1400 calories today. I skipped them gym to go out to dinner, however I played some lively games on the kinect, which probably burned about 100 calories.

I'm Back

I'm back blogging again, after my one day hiatus from the blog. I was out camping, for the first time yesterday, and didn't have a computer to blog. There isn't much to tell about my diet during yesterday or today, except to tell you that I ate maybe 200-400 calories more than I had been consuming because I was on a mini vacation. I know that one or two days of heavy eating will not ruin your diet as long as you don't let it go to far. I'll be back to exercising and monitoring what I eat tomorrow.

The New Yoga

Xtend Barre and Pure Barre are two names given to the newest workout craze. It's a combination of ballet, Pilates and strength training. I gave it a try today and unlike Yoga I actually found this class to be difficult. Because this class incorporates ballet moves, it gets the heart rate pumping which makes for a great cardio workout. On top of that, small repetitive movements are made with and without weights to exhaust your major muscle groups and even muscles that you didn't know existed (I know I'll be super sore tomorrow). A lot of the moves consisted of squatting, curtsys, leg extensions, standing on your toes and doing squats, curtsys and leg extensions. And if you haven't tried it before, standing on your toes and doing several sets of squats is really difficult. I always enjoy workouts that push my body to the max. I couldn't keep up with the instructor on a lot of the moves, and wanting to be able to keep up is the reason I'm excited to do this class again. Xtend Barre is my favorite new workout.

Daily Journal:
I ate about 1500 calories and burned about 300 in the Xtend Barre class.

The Results Are In

Teh Results from Week 4 of the competition are in and my team has dropped down to 16th place out of 41 teams. We have lost a combined total of 18.97% whereas the top team has lost 37%. All the other teams in the top 10 have lost around 25%... My team seriously needs to step it up in order to win the competition. And If I want to win the individual competition I think I need to step it up too. I may give a modified low carb diet a try. I'll have carbs for breakfast and then the rest of the day I'll do low carb. I'll start it next week to see how I feel to make sure that I have enough energy to work out and that I do not feel hungry or crave carbs later in the day.


Daily Journal:
I ate about 1500 calories. I had to do a short workout today because I went out with friends after work. I burned 200 calories on the StairMaster and the treadmill. I did 20 minutes of lower body resistance training.

No More Slacking!

I must admit it... I've been slacking a bit on my workouts... I know you saying to yourself... "but I have been reading your blog every day and I see that you have been burning between 650 and 700 calories doing cardio 5 to 6 times a week... How can you be slacking off?" Well, it's because I started cutting out the resistance training... When I'm tired after work I muster up all the energy I can to force myself to go to the gym...Then after I finish the first half hour program on the elliptical machine, I again talk myself into doing another half hour of cardio. After all of that, sometimes I just can't convince myself to do resistance training. Even though I know that building muscle makes your metabolism rise because muscle burns more calories than fat. Believe me, I know all the of the benefits...but I still cut it out of my workout when I'm tired. I decided that I would stop slacking and do resistance training every time that I workout, just like I did when I started this competition. I started today with a half hour of upper body weights.


Daily Journal:
I ate 1645 calories today. I put in an hour on the elliptical machine, which burned 660 calories and I finished with a half hour of upper body resistance training.

The Weekly Weigh-In

Today was the weekly weigh in and my team did not do so well. Three of the five members on my team actually gained weight. The most gained was 1.2 lbs and the least was .2lbs. However I am happy to say that I lost close to 1 lb. I don't really believe that my team actually gained weight... I think people drank and ate a lot of food during Superbowl. Alcohol and salty foods tend to make you retain water. Knowing this I weighed myself Sunday morning before the Superbowl and then Monday morning. After the Superbowl my weight had swung up 4 lbs. To get back to my normally weight for the weigh in, I knew that I had to sweat out the water that I was retaining, so I worked out Monday night. When I weighed myself on Tuesday morning, I felt like I still had extra water weight because I weighed .5lbs more than I had been weighing the whole week. And I didn't eat nearly enough to gain half a pound in one day. In the end... the Superbowl festivities wrecked my teams weigh-in this week. However it just means that next Tuesday we will have a really good week, because two weeks of weight loss should show-up.

Daily Journal:
I ate about 1650 calories today and I did not work out because I have a cold. However I did play Kinect for half an hour or so.

Weejky Goals

Last week, my primary goal was to eat vegetables with 8 of my lunches and dinners for the week. And as always, I had a goal of exercising 5-6 times during the week. Well, I exerised 6 times last week and I ate an average of 1450 calories per day. As for eating vegetables as the primary side dish for 8 of my meals last week.... I didn't quite accomplish that. I only had vegetables as the main side dish on about 4 of my meals. So this week, my goal is the same: to eat vegetables as the main side dish for 8 of my meals.

Daily Journal:
I ate 1350 calories and burned 700 at the gym.

Superbowl Sunday

It's the Superbowl, so I knew in advance that there would be plenty of food and tasty treats at my boyfriends sister's house, where I watched the game. Becaause of this I started my day with exercise. I also ate a very light breakfast and saved all my calories for food during the big game. So how did I do you ask, I'm not quite sure how many calories I ate. I do know I didn't eat very many chips or other snack items. I filled up on lean proteins and vegetables. However I did enjoy 2 cookies and a very small piece of cake. I'm guessing I had about 1700-1800 calories for the whole day, which wasn't too bad.


Daily Journal:
I ate about 1750 calories and burned 330 on the elliptical.

Weight Loss Winners!

Today's Weight Loss Winner is actress Sara Rue. The television actress and newest Jenny Craig spokesperson lost over 50 lbs within a year on the Jenny Craig system. Besides eating smaller portions, she incorporated exercise into her lifestyle to lose weight. Sara shrank to a size 6, down from size 14. She continues to use the Jenny Craig system to maintain her weight.

Daily Journal:

Today I ate about 1350 calories. That includes the 370 calories in popcorn that I had at the movie theater today. I don't believe in cutting out foods, rather I believe that a person can eat anything as long as the portion sizes are small and all daily food intake falls within a reasonable calorie range.

I burned 760 calories doing the treadmill and StairMaster.

Something New

Today is normally, Weight Loss Winners day, however I'm not at home using my computer and I don't have much time. So instead of choosing a Weight Loss Winner today I'll do that tomorrow. Today I'll let you know that I took a step in making sure that my back stays healthy. I tried Acupuncture for the first time. I was expecting to have a bunch of needles stuck into my back, however the acupuncturist probably only put 5 into my back. She focused them on my lower back, where I normally have pain. She put a couple of needles in my legs and in my feet. When she inserted the needles, only once did I feel anything, it felt like a light prick. Afterwards I felt refreshed and my back felt good too. I'll have to go a few more times before my back is completely back to normal.

Daily Journal:

I ate about 1330 calories and burned 300 on the elliptical and the treadmill.

Progress Indicators

Besides the scale reading a lower number, I can tell that I'm getting in better shape by my performance in the gym. Last week when I first started doing the StairMaster it was extremely difficult and I could barely get through a 20 minute session without stopping several times. However I've noticed that this week it was a lot easier and I only had to a break once. I've also noticed that I have to increase the resistance on the elliptical machine in order to feel as if I'm getting the same workout as before. I really enjoy the knowing that I'm getting in better shape. I feel stronger, and I can tell that I have more endurance.

Daily Journal:
I ate 1320 calories today. I burned 575 calories on the StairMaster, elliptical, and treadmill. I didn't do any resistance training today...in fact I haven't done any all week. I'll have to remember to do it tomorrow.

A New Habit

Today I had a long day at work. However I still made time for the gym. I didn't work out yesterday, so it was important for me to work out today. Over the past year, anytime I had a long work day, I'd skip the gym. I want to make a new habit of at least squeezing in half an hour of cardio even on those days where I work a long day.

Daily Journal:
Today I ate about 1100 calories. I know that 1100 is a little low. I had a small breakfast because I had an early meeting. At the gym, I burned 440 calories on the elliptical and treadmill.

The Weekly Weigh-In

Today was the weigh-in for week 3 of the competition. My team had pretty good results. This week we lost a combined total of 9.7lbs. I myself lost over 2 lbs. My teams loss of 9.7 lbs translates to a 4.6% combined percentage of weight loss for my team. In total my team has lost 39.10 lbs. That is a combined total of 18.87% of our total weight.

I'm also happy to say that I have lost 3.53% of my starting weight. The other woman on my team has lost 3.35%. She started off losing more than me, but I've since surpassed her. I have to continue to work hard to stay ahead.

In the competition I have with my a female coworker, I only have results through week 2 of the competition and she is just .3% ahead of me. However I believe after the week 3 results are computed I'll be ahead.

Daily Journal:
I ate around 1500 calories today. I didn't exercise because I had dinner with friends tonight. I couldn't sneak away to exercise at lunch because I was supporting meetings.

Weekly Goals

It's Monday, and that means that it's time to evaluate last weeks goals and to set new goals for this week.

Last week's goals were:

1. Eat between 1200-1400 calories
2. Exercise 5-6 times a week
3. Try 2 new workouts
4. Eat a home cooked dinner at least 4 times

This week, like the previous week, I accomplished all my goals except eating between 1200-1400 calories a day. However Tuesday of last week I decided that I should eat around 1500 calories. I read on several different websites that eating too few calories would slow your metabolism down. They all said to eat at least 1200 calories, I figured if 1200 was the bear minimum then to be on the safe side I would eat 1500. So after I set my new goal of 1500 calories a day, I mostly stuck to it. There were several days that I went over...

That brings us to this week which I plan to use focus on eating 1500 calories. I'll still go to the gym 5-6 times a week, eat at least 4 home cooked meals and try new exercises. But I really want to be able to eat between 1400-1500 calories and be satisfied. This means I'll have to eat more of the foods which are low in calories and filling...meaning... I have to eat more fiber rich vegetables. Since I started this new way of eating I haven't eaten many vegetables. I've added fruit to my diet. But I haven't really made eating vegetables a habit. Most of my dinners and lunches have consisted of a meat item paired with rice. So my goal this week is to eat a serving of vegetables with at least 8 of my lunches and dinners.

Daily Journal:

I ate 1450 calories today. I scorched 700 calories while doing the elliptical machine and running on the treadmill.

P.S. I actually did the at home workout yesterday after my blog. I did about 45 minutes to an hour of lunges, push ups, crunches, leg lifts and so on.

Any Given Sunday

There's not a whole lot to report today. I didn't make it to they gym, however I'll still reach my workout goal by going to the gym on Monday. And it's still early today, so I'm thinking around 8pm I'll do a resistance workout by doing push-ups, lunges, crunches and any other exercise that I can do at home.

Daily Journal:
Today I ate abour 1450 calories.

Business As Usual

My back is feeling a lot better today. I made a good decision when I decided not to go to the gym yesterday. I really want to win the bet, but it's not worth it to injure myself. But today I was back in the gym and it was business as usual. I wanted to take it slow to test out my back to ensure I was really ready to be back in the gym. I started off with the elliptical because it's a low impact exercise...and it's my go to exercise. My back felt like normal so I stopped worrying. While on the elliptical machine, I watched the infomercial for P90X. P90X is an exercise program which claims that within 90 days a person can drastically change their body's muscle tone by trying a new exercise routine every other week or so. They call it "muscle confusion" and the goal is to not allow the body to reach a plateau. So I decided that I would try a different exercise because I've been doing an hour on the elliptical machine 4-5 times a week for the last three weeks. I jumped rope for 15 minutes and then I did 15 minutes of stair climbing on the StairMaster. If you are like me and you haven't jumped rope since you were a kid, you should know that jumping rope is a good cardiovascular workout. 15 minutes of jumping rope had sweat pouring off of me. My plan is to jump rope and do the StairMaster several times a week.

Daily Journal:
I ate 1550 calories and I burned 580, on the eliptical machine, jumping rope and climbing stairs.

Weight Loss Winners!

Today's Weight Loss Winner is funnyman, Seth Rogan. Seth Rogan, made a name for himself by playing the lovable overweight loser. However to tackle the roll as The Green Hornet, it was necessary to lose weight. Rogan worked out with celebrity trainer Harley Pasternak and within nine months he lost over 30lbs. Rogan's new movie, The Green Hornet opens today, until you go see it, check out some before and after pictures.

Daily Journal:
I ate about 1300 calories today. I took a break from the gym today because I tweaked my lower back. To avoid making it worse I just decided to rest. Tomorrow I'll just do the eliptical machine, walk and back stretches.

Shaking it up again.

Today I did a class at my gym that they call "Gravity". Basically it's resistance training on an inclined machine. The steeper the incline, the greater percentage of your body weight that you lift while doing squats, arm curls, crunches and any other exercise the instructor can think of. Three hours after finishing the class and I am sore and my arms still feel like spaghetti. I can't wait to go again! I actually like the sore feeling, it's just a reminder that I'm getting a good work out.

Today's workout counts as the second new exercise that I have tried this week and therefore I reached my goal of trying two new workouts.

Daily Journal:
I ate about 1450 calories. I burned about 150 in the gravity class, and 330 on the elliptical.

Switching It Up

I had one of those afternoons where I was dreading the gym. As of late I had been getting to the gym around 5:10. However today I stayed at work late, I was mostly just avoiding the inevitable... the hour and 6 minute routine that I do on the elliptical. The thought of it was just too boring to bear. But I had an epiphany when I got to the gym. Why don't I take my own advice and do a different routine to make things more interesting. Instead of doing a whole hour on the elliptical, I decided to do the StairMaster, elliptical and treadmill. The StairMaster is tough, and that's partly the reason why I never do it. However after my weekend hike, I felt like the StairMaster will prepare me better for the next hike. I haven't run on the treadmill in a while either. For some unknown reason to me I've been avoiding doing a really strenuous run. So today I faced my unknown fear and just did it. I actually had a good time at the gym today. Both the StairMaster and treadmill were difficult enough to feel new and exciting. Plus I get to count today's workout as half way to my goal of trying 2 different exercises this week.

Daily Journal:
I ate about 1420 calories today. I burned 600 calories on the StairMaster, elliptical and treadmill.

The Weekly Weigh-In

Sometimes the scale just doesn't budge. No matter how much you work out and how well you eat, sometimes the number on the scale just doesn't go down. I kept this in mind during today's weigh in. I knew before the weigh in that I had been bloated for a few days, so I wasn't expecting to lose any weight. And sure enough... I only lost .2lbs. I'm not discouraged because my clothes are starting to feel looser, so I know that I am losing weight. I've been through this before, once a month my weight goes up about 2lbs due to water weight. In a few days when I lose the water weight, I'll post an update about on the percent of weight I've lost since the beginning of the competition.

No-one on my team lost a great amount of weight this week. The first week we lost 12.10% of our weight. This week we only lost 2.5% of our weight. I'm hoping that my team stays positive and realizes that sometimes it takes a few days or weeks before your hard work shows up on the scale.

We haven't received the results from all the other teams yet. I have a feeling that most teams didn't lose as much as they had the first week. I'll let you know as soon as I find out.

Daily Journal:
I ate 1300 calories. At the gym, I burned 670 calories in an hour and six minutes on the elliptical machine. Today was my upper body workout, and I spent about 20 minutes lifting weights. Later at home, I played Dance Central and burned another 100 calories.

Weekly Goals

It's Monday again and that means that it's time to assess last weeks goals and set new goals for this week.

Last week my goals were:
1. Eat a home cooked dinner 4 to 5 times
2. Exercise 5 to 6 times this week.
3. Lose 2lbs this week
4. Eat between 1200 - 1400 calories a day.

I achieved my first goal by eating exactly 4 home cooked dinner last week. I cooked chicken with rice, salmon with rice and pork chops with rice. I think I eat too much rice, so this week I'll have to add in more vegetables. In addition to having 4 home cooked dinners I also had leftovers which I had for lunch several times last week. I also accomplished my second goal of exercising 5 to 6 times that week by doing 5 workouts last week. I think I really benefitted from having this goal. As I said in my blog last week, there were a few days where I didn't want to go to the gym. But since I knew that I had set this goal and posted in my blog I felt obligated to go.
As for my third goal of losing 2lbs, the weigh-in isn't until tomorrow. So I'll let you know how I did. From my calculations of calories in - calories out, I believe I should achieve that goal.
Lastly was my goal of eating between 1200-1400 calories a day. There was only on day last week where I actually stuck to that plan. However it wasn't as if I grossly over eating. On average I was only 100 calories over my goal. If I spend a little extra time planning my meals the day before, I believe I will be able to achieve that goal. With that being said, here are my goals for this week:

1. Eat between 1200-1400 calories
2. Exercise 5-6 times a week
3. Try 2 new workouts
4. Eat a home cooked dinner at least 4 times

Daily Journal:
Today I ate about 1500 calories. I didn't exercise today. Instead I decided to give my sore legs a rest after yesterday's hike.

An Uphill Battle

Today I tried a different workout. My boyfriend and I climbed the Double Peak trail in San Marcos. The trail was very steep on the way up to Double Peak. It's a two mile hike from Discovery Lake to the top of the mountain. It was so steep that those two short miles took us 55 minutes. It was well worth it. Not only did I get an excellent cardio workout and a chance to exercise my leg muscles in a new way, I was also rewarded with the beautiful view from atop the mountain. On a clear day, looking south form the Double Peak Park, you can see all the way to downtown San Diego. To the west, the endless Pacific Ocean. To the east, majestic snow capped Mountains. The hike was a nice break from the gym. I think I'll make this hike a regular weekend workout.

Daily Journal:

I ate about 1800-1900 calories today and I burned just under 600 during the hike. I'll talk more tomorrow about my calorie intake goal.

A Little Inspiration

I came across this blog a few days ago and I'd like to share it. The article is about ordinary people who have lost a great amount of weight and tracked their progress using a blog...just like I'm doing. I like to hear/read about others who have lost weight because it keeps me inspired. I didn't want to go to the gym today, but to get myself motivated I re-read that article and I was ready.

Daily Journal:

I ate about 1450 calories today. Which includes a hot dog and popcorn at the movie theater. I was surprised to see the caloric information posted in the theatre's concession stand. I got the small popcorn which was listed as 350 calories. The large was 980 calories. Normally I add butter to the popcorn, but I decided to forgo the butter and it was just as good.

I burned 660 on the elliptical machine.

Weight Loss Winners!

Today's weight loss winner is Kelly Osborne. The reality starlet began losing weight while she was a contestant on Dancing with the Stars. While on the show Kelly lost 20lbs and once she was eliminated, she stopped dancing and she began to regain the weight. Instead of letting it get her down, Kelly began working with and trainer and today she has lost over 50lbs. Read more about Kelly's weight loss journey here.

Daily Journal:
I ate about 1260 calories. I was feeling a little under the weather so I didn't exercise today. If I'm going to meet my goal of 5-6 workouts this week I'll need to workout tomorrow for 5 times and Sunday for 6 times. I'll keep you posted!

The Results Are in....

Today we finally received the results from the first weigh in. Of 42 teams...My team came in 6th place! I am just as surprised as you are. I feel even more motivated than before... we are so close to the top. However it is just the first week and there are still 11 weeks to go... The team with the highest percentage of weight loss was just over 16.5% and the next highest was at 13%. So as you can see, every other team has a lot of ground to cover.

The results were not very well organized so at this point I can't tell you who the biggest male or female loser is for the week, however I can tell you that the woman have been putting in some work. I had been expecting the men to lose 10 lbs in the first week because men lose more than women in general. Also I figured there would be huge losses from men doing Atkins/South Beach or any other low carb diet that would cause them to lose water weight. However what I didn't expect was for the women to lose so much. Me and every other woman that I know who lost weight by calorie counting and exercising lost somewhere between 1.5 to 2.5% of our weight in the first week. However there were some women in the competition who lost 3.5 to 6%... That actually got me down a bit, i really want to win. It made me question whether I was doing all I can to lose weight. But then I realized that it isn't about winning the monetary prize. It's about getting back in shape and feeling good about myself. So whether I'm on the winning team or not, if I reach my goals then I have won!

Daily Journal:
This week I participated in San Diego's restaurant week. Restaurant Week is great because you can get a 3 course meal at a greatly discounted price. Yes I said a 3 course meal. Meaning that I had an appetizer, entree and desert all to myself. And you know what... I didn't feel bad about eating so much. I had fully prepared myself for it. I exercised on two separate occasions today, (a combination of XBOX dancing and jogging outside and elliptical). I also took a look at the menu before I arrived and chose my meal beforehand. Lastly I ate a lot less during breakfast and lunch because I knew I would have a big dinner. Now, I'm not going to claim that I ate under my 1400 calorie goal, however with all the preparation that I did today, I still created a calorie deficit of about 800 calories. So my weight should continue to move in the right direction.

Today I ate about 1750 calories. I burned about 450 calories dancing, jogging and on the elliptical machine.

A little test

I didn't want to go to the gym today. It didn't help that at the end of the day my boyfriend didn't want to go to the gym either. Instead he wanted to have pizza tonight. I tried convincing him that he should go to the gym, otherwise I would easily win our bet. It may have appeared that I was trying to amp him up for a trip to the gym, in reality I was really convincing myself on why I should go. Although he was mostly joking about not going and having pizza instead, in the past that was all I needed to ditch my gym routine. However today I remembered the goals that I set on Monday. I'm aiming to go workout 5-6 times this week. Since I missed working out on Monday, due to my forgotten shoes, I had to go today. So I went. And what do you know, the time flew bye. I had my music pumping, and the boredom that normally sets in while chugging along on the elliptical machine wasn't even noticed. I even think I worked out a bit harder because I was listening to upbeat music.

I'm happy that I set a goal for workouts this week. Otherwise I probably would have ditched the gym, and tomorrow morning I would have regretted that decision.

Daily Journal:

I ate about 1450 calories today. Again I was slightly over the range I was aiming for. I wasn't to much over, but again I'll have to be more conscious. I burned 710 calories on the elliptical. I finished with a core and upper body workout.

First Weekly Weigh-In

Today my work place's version of the biggest loser had it's first weigh-in. My team of 5 did great! We lost a total of 22.4lbs which translates into a combined total of a 12.10% weight loss. The biggest weight loss on my team was 5.26% and the lowest was 0.91% Of the 5 people on my team I had the 3rd largest % of weight lost at 2.05%. The other woman on my team lost a total of 2.96% of her body weight. When I first met her I thought there was no way that she was going to stick to it. I obviously underestimated her. In fact I'm starting to feel quite competitive with her. So I'm entering a secret competition with her. From this point on, my goal is to lose more weight than she loses each week.

Seeing the amount of weight that everyone on my team lost is a huge motivator to work harder. I don't ever want to be the person with the least amount of weight lost.

Daily Journal:
I ate about 1490 calories. I burned about 800 doing a Zumba aerobic class and half hour on the elliptical. I also did a half hour of lower body resistance training. Notice that I said I ate 1490 calories... Yesterday I said my goal was to eat between 1200-1400 calories a day. Obviously I went over. I felt little slightly hungry after eating dinner and without thinking about it I snacked on an open box of crackers and ate more than a serving. I continued snacking even though the hunger had subsided. I should have removed a serving from the box of crackers and had just that. Separating one serving would have prevented the mindless eating. No reason to slit my wrists... but next time I'll be more conscious.

A slight setback...

After a long day of work and then shopping, I said to myself: "Self...GO to the gym!". Even though it had gotten really late and I was starving, I still went to the gym. I was determined to exercise! "And Let me tell you, I had a great workout! You should have seen how fast I was going on the elliptical. If that machine wasn't bolted to the ground I would have surely beaten the woman next to me in my imaginary race. I scorched an amazing 3500 calories in just one hour. I was so amped, that after my cardio warm-up I benched 100lbs...on each side. I must be the strongest woman at the gym!"

That is what I would have said... If my shoes were in my gym bag. Unfortunately I didn't pack them. Even more unfortunate is that I had fully changed into my workout clothes before I realized it. Oh well, life goes on. I'll just have to make up for it tomorrow.

Today I decided that each Monday I will create a set of goals to aim for during the week to keep me motivated.
This week my goals are:
1. Eat a home cooked dinner 4 to 5 times
2. Exercise 5 to 6 times this week.
3. Lose 2lbs this week
4. Eat between 1200 - 1400 calories a day.

To achieve these goals I plan on packing my gym bag the night before and double checking that I have everything I need, no more forgetting to pack my tennis shoes because I'm running late for work in the morning.

To maintain my calorie goal, I have already planned what I will have for lunch, dinner and snacks for the whole week.

Daily Journal:
I ate just under 1400 calories.

Rest & Relaxation

Today I decided to take it easy. After a whole week of working out I decided my body needed a break from exercising. So I didn't go to the gym. Instead I had lunch with friends, which turned into diner with friends, because my boyfriend and I stayed and watched the football games. Later we played Kinect Dance Central. You have to mimic the dance moves of the onscreen dancers, and the XBOX Kinect camera sensor grades you on how many moves you do correctly. That game is quite fun and you can really build up a sweat. I probably burned 150 calories in the half hour that I played the game. For a day off from exercise that was quite good, and besides it was FUN!

Although I took a break from exercising today, I did not take a break from watching what I eat. We ordered pizza and I had two slices of the pepperoni pizza. I was really tempted for a third slice. However I decided that If I got hungry later then I would have another slice.... turned out that I didn't get hungry.


Daily Log:
I had about 1400 calories. 150 calories burned while playing Dance Central.

Party Time!

Today I attended a friends birthday party. I've been to his birthday party for the past few years and I know his family would be serving a wide variety of Filipino foods. I just can't say no to exotic foods. So instead of worrying about having to count calories at the party, I decided to do juts a bit more cardio and strength training today to offset going over my daily calorie goal. I also decided to stay away from the deserts. Yes, I could have indulged a bit in the deserts and that the amount of exercise I did today would have offset it. But I was more concerned about adding that amount of sugar back to my diet. I haven't had sweets in almost a week and I don't crave them anymore. Indulging in just a bit may have brought those cravings back. So I just decided to say NO!

Daily Journal:
Today I burned about 800 calories on the elliptical machine. I did just over a half hour of vigorous lower body strength training.

Weight Loss Winners!

Tonight, while getting my elliptical on, I saw Mo' Nique while she was giving an interview on CNN. She looked great! I did a quick search on my iPhone and found out that the comedienne lost over 40lbs. It was then that I had the brilliant idea of creating a new section for my blog: Weight Loss Winners!. It'll feature photos of celebrities and everyday people who have loss a significant amount of weight. Since I can't find pictures of Mo'Nique that show off her new body, I decided to start the Weight Loss Winners! section with another weight loss winner, Mrs. Jennifer Hudson. The current Weight Watches spokeswoman has lost a significant amount of weight by eating healthier, with the Weight Watchers Program, and exercising. Jennifer dropped down from a size 16 to a size 6. I'll leave you with a few before and after pictures.

Daily Journal:
I ate around 1300 calories. I burned 680 on the elliptical and did half hour of lower body weights.

Dinning Out

Everyone knows that dinning out can wreck a diet... But it doesn't have to, if you plan ahead. Tonight I had dinner with a group of friends. I knew a few days ago that I was going out and where I was going. To make sure that I didn't eat too much, I checked out the nutritional values of the menu items online. I was tempted to get a deliciously high calorie entree and eat half at dinner and save the rest for lunch. But I know myself better than that. During the 3 hours that I would be at the restaurant I would surely begin to feel as if I needed just a little bit more to feel satisfied and I would eventually eat the whole thing. Instead I chose something that fit into my calorie budget for the day without splitting it into halves. Before I set foot in the restaurant I already knew what I was going to order. I didn't even look at the colorful menu with pretty pictures of yummy food.

Normally I like to workout after work, however since I was going to dinner right after work I decided to get my workout before work. Which would've worked out well... if I would have gotten up when my alarm clock first sounded. I didn't. I was half an hour late, which meant I had half an hour less to spend at the gym in the morning. Which meant that I lost out on burning an extra 300 calories. So in order to meet my calorie burn goal for the day, I also had to work out at lunch. I'm happy that I did it. I feel like even with the dinning out I still maintained my burn goal and my weight is still moving in the right direction.

Daily Journal:

Today I ate around 1300 calories. I burned about 540 doing the eliptical machine and outdoor jogging. In addition I did my standard half hour of weight lifting. Today was upper body weight lifting.

Keeping Motivated

If you have been with me since the beginning (2 days ago) you'll notice that I added links to other weight loss blogs on the right hand side of the page. I find that reading daily articles about weight loss and healthy eating keeps me motivated for the day. I like to read them in the morning, they set me on the right track to make good food choices for the day.

Another thing that keeps me motivated is my food and exercise diary. There are a slew of food and exercise logs on the Internet. They will track the amount of food you consume and calories burned while exercising. The better ones will even calculate how many calories you should consume each day in order to lose your desired amount of weight each week. I have tried 2 different online logs, however the one that worked best for me is just an excel spreadsheet I created 2 years ago. I used that from October 2006 to May of 2008 and I lost over 30lbs! I customized my log to provide information that keeps me motivated. For instance each day I calculate how many calories I intake and how many I expend. My log translates that information into lbs lost per day. Knowing that I'm losing .3lbs a day is the greatest motivation I've found!

Last but not least, the other motivator that I'm using for this 12 week period is writing this blog. I'm sure that no one besides my sister and boyfriend are reading this, however forcing myself to divulge my weekly weight loss percentage on the Internet is a strong motivator. I want to ensure that percentage of the weight that I have loss goes up and the .lbs go down.

Daily Journal:
Today I had a great diet day. I ate around 1250 calories and I burned over 700 calories in an 1 hr. and 6 min. on the elliptical machine. I also threw in 30 minutes of lower body weight lifting.

The big weigh in...

Today the competition began with the starting weight weigh in. I cringed when I saw the number on the scale. Oh the horror! At 10am I was 4lbs heavier than I was when I weighed myself at 8:30 that morning. The additional 4 lbs was probably due to drinking water, eating breakfast before the weigh-in and the weight from the shoes and clothes that I was wearing. I'm not going to let those 4lbs get me down. It's just motivation to work out hard!

So besides the Group Competition, I am in two side bets with my boyfriend and a co-worker with $100 on the line in each additional bet. I don't want to lose $125!

My plan is to lose at least 15% of my body weight over the next 12 weeks. I believe there is no trick to weight loss. It's just a few simple math problems.

1lbs = 3500 calories

2lbs = 7000 calories

7000/7 = 1000 calories per day

So if I can create a calorie deficit of 1000 calories a day then I will lose 2lbs a week. Most experts will tell you that the best way to create a calorie deficit is to eat less and exercise more. My plan is to eat 500 calories less and burn 500 calories with exercise per day on average (Average because I probably will not work out on Sundays and days where I go to the gym I'll burn closer to 600 calories, which will make up for not working out on Sunday).

To create a calorie deficit you first need to know how many calories you need to maintain your current weight. There are many calculators online that will do that. I found that for women if you multiply your weight by 11 that yields the amount of calories you consume in 1 day (assuming no exercise).

So a 130lb woman consumes about 1430 calories a day. If she wanted to lose 2lbs a week she

would do a combination of exercising and eating less: 1430 - 1000 = 430 net calories for the day.

In addition to creating a calorie deficit I plan to eat small meals throughout the day to keep my metabolism up.

Twas the night before competition!

So it is the second week of the New Year and everyone is still making good with their New Year's resolutions. So too am I. Well... I didn't have any New Years resolutions until my employer created a Biggest Loser competition. We form teams of 5 and the team with the highest percentage of weight loss wins half the pool. In addition the male and female losing the highest percentage of weight wins a quarter of the pool. As of today the winning team walks away with $1500 and the biggest female/male loser wins $750 each.

That's a lot of money... I want it.

My goal is to lose about 15% of my weight in the next twelve weeks.