Mitigation Tactics

I need to take a look at my calendar as I'm not sure what day I'm on.  I guess I could do that right now...okay its Day 18.  I told you yesterday I wasn't going to weigh myself until Friday.  I woke up this morning, went to the bathroom, showered, dried my hair and weighed myself like normal, even though I said I wouldn't.  I am only up 1 lb from last week so that makes me happy.  Today I'm thinking alot about challenges and things we can't control in our day to day lives.  So below you'll find my gripes and mitigation tactics for getting through the unexpected, or expected but can't do anything about that I've encountered the past few days.

Car nearly breaks down (think STRESS!)
Didn't see it coming, can't really plan for it.  The impact of this was a lot of added stress while Matt and I tried to figure out how to get it towed, how I was going to get to/from the gym and then waiting to find out how much it was going to cost.  I made it to the gym but didn't have a very good workout.  Stress got the best of me.

My towing situation could have been worse

Mitigation Tactic:  The fat kid in me wanted to eat away the stress.  Trust me, I opened a bottle of chocolate milk but didn't drink it.  I contemplated doubling my dinner portion  from what I would normally eat.  I looked at the wine rack, pretty seriously.  However I decided to take a nice hot bath and read my new book.  IF and this is a big if, I was still stressed and craving something outside of the zone diet after my bath then I would let myself.  So I made a cup of hot chocolate (made with water and the 25 calorie packets) and settled in for what ended up being an hour.  I wasn't stressed anymore and in fact was so tired I couldnt' wait to get comfy sweats on, watch the rest of biggest loser (a show that randomly makes me want to eat while watching it) and go to bed.  I've found that if I can distract my mind for a bit I end up not being hungry and not wanting what I originally wanted. Diet crisis avoided.

Corporate Purchased/Provided Lunch
I don't know why, but it is nearly impossible for my work to provide healthy lunch options when providing lunch.  I've been in all day training for the past days and lunch has been provided.  Yesterday it was pizza and salad already drenched in dressing followed by brownies.  Today it was sandwiches, already covered in mayo and other dressings with chips, sweets and thankfully, some fruit.  As I sit here, watching everyone eat their brownies I am tempted to have one myself.  Then as it it makes it better I think to myself, what if I don't eat the brownie but go dig in to the candy bowl and only have a few pieces of candy.  However, I was aware I would be in training and assumed lunch would be provided.

Not the actual pizza but this made me not want to ever eat pizza

Mitigation Tactic: I knew about this training and since it's in my office there is no excuse to not bring my own lunch, and snacks.  So as everyone broke for lunch I stepped out to put together my own lunch.  I did get some grief from people but overall I found that they were jealous of my healthy lunch.  See, while they are sitting eating their pizza they are thinking to themselves, man how am I going to make up for this.  Meanwhile, I'm eating my turkey sandwich and half apple feeling great about my choices!  Planning ahead helps me feel in control and is the one thing that if I'm not able to do freaks me out!  Anyways, diet crisis avoided!

Happy Hour/Concerts/Not At Home
First off, I am not complaining about going to happy hour, concerts, hanging out with friends or anything related to fun.  However, those things can make it difficult to stay on track and can add in a rapid amount of calorie consumption that was originally not intended.  Tonight I am likely going to happy hour and then a benefit concert.  Tomorrow I am going over to my soon to be sis-in-laws house to try on dresses and likely eat/drink.  Friday I will be heading down to Salem so we can leave the following morning for Sunriver and then...I'm in sunriver!  So all awesome things, all things that take me out of my comfort zone of planned eating, work out times etc

Mitigation Tactics:  Make time for the gym, even if it means getting up super early.  If I'm likely to stray from my diet I need to make sure I also don't stray from the gym.  Eat an early dinner and pack a purse snack!  I will be going to the gym AND eating my own dinner before leaving for happy hour.  I might have 1 drink, but that is all...just 1.  I'm going to pack some almonds in my purse so that if I get hungry I can snack on something healthy rather than bar food.  For Sunriver I am going to make up a big batch of zone chili, to share of course, that I can eat as my meals since I know exactly what is in it and how many blocks a serving is.  I'm also going to just empty out my fridge and bring my own food.  I may need to eat my meals before/after since I likely won't eat the shared meals but the same thing applies as above.  Eat my own dinner and bring snacks along to avoid mindlessly eating/drinking whatever is around me.


General Tips
On a minute by minute basis (at least it feels like that sometimes) I am tempted to stray from my diet and I've found a few things that help me make it through those moments.

• Gum - Peppermint gum works for me.  I buy Orbitz because I like the flavor and it lasts forever.  I used to eat sweet gum thinking it would help but I found it only increased my craving.  Peppermint gum is sweet but the minty flavor makes whatever you eat after chewing it not taste so good.  It helps me get through small cravings and since the flavor lasts so long I usually forgot about whatever else I wanted as the gum distraction works long enough to get me through it.
• Water - When I start to feel a little hungry I drink a bunch of water.  I prefer room temperature, I don't know why.  I drink it fast so it fills up my stomach and usually can get me to the next planned meal/snack time without issue.
• Lip gloss - Haha this one is random but its a distraction and once I get my lips all pretty and shiny I like to keep them that way, at least for a few minutes.  So when I start to crave some candy or something sweet, I put on my sweet lip gloss
• An extra, pre-measured snack - I always intend on only eating one snack before working out but I always bring two because some days I find I am more hungry than others.  This way if I end up getting hungry I already have a healthy, measured snack ready to go, which is always better than the candy bowl!
• Coffee - Coffee helps fills me up.  I'm not a big tea person, don't know why, but tea would probably work as well.  Having a nice hot cup of coffee to sip on helps pass the time and curbs hunger.  I just need to be careful that I don't drink too much caffeine!
• Blogging - It helps pass time and also holds me accountable.  I can't start being honest and blogging and then all of a sudden stop, people will call me on it!
• Reading - (or playing Wii!)  I've found that if I sit and watch too much TV then I start to want to snack.  So instead I've been reading a lot more and playing my Wii!  If I get up and move or occupy my brain in a more active way I don't have any craving to snack!

Day 12 Feeling So Good + Healthy Recipe!

Okay well actually I'm working through a hip injury so I'm not feeling 100% and haven't been to the gym for 2 days.   HOWEVER...I'm now down 4.8 lbs, which if you round up is 5 lbs!  It feels so good to be back on track!  I'm heading back in to the gym today and am going to modify and make up my own workout so I can keep making progress in the gym while giving my hip another day or two of rest. 

My new favorite thing?!  Just Dance 2!  I broke a sweat last night playing that game on my new Wii, so fun!  There is something that just feels so good about dancing like a fool and hoping your blinds really are shut and no one can see you.  There is also something about breaking a sweat that just feels good, makes me feel good about myself.  I fully intend on playing today and tonight!!

I think one of the best ways to ensure you stick to your diet is to plan ahead, cook extra portions so you always have something healthy to eat.  The zone diet is easy to follow but its been hard for me to find a meal I can make a largo portion of and easily scope out a portion for me at 3 blocks and a portion for Matt at 5 blocks.  However, I found this Zone Chili recipe (add whatever spices you want, I added tons of Chili Powder, lots Red Pepper Flakes, not quit as much Cayenne Pepper and some Garlic, like those measurements!).  Anyways, if you follow the recipe 2 cups plus 1 oz of cheese on top equals 3 blocks, which is the perfect lunch/dinner for me!  I made it up on Sunday and have a little bit left today.  My goal is to find more recipes like this that I can take to Sunriver to help me make it through the trip and stay remotely on track.  So without further delay:

Zone Chili

Ingredients:

• 18oz ground beef 10% lean [12P] (I used 7% but its close enough)
• 6oz mozzarella cheese [6P]  (This is the cheese you put on top and you can use whatever cheese you want)
• 3 cup onion (petal) [2C] (About 1 whole medium onion)
• 2 cup green pepper (chopped)[1C] (1 cup of chopped peppers equals about 1 medium to large pepper, just FYI)
• 2 cup red pepper (chopped)[1C]
• 4 cup tomato (chopped) [2.5C] (I used canned diced tomatoes, so much easier!)
• 2-12oz cans V8 juice [4C] (Winco sells individual cans)
• 3/4 cup canned tomato puree [1.5C]  (I used tomato paste, less than 1 small can)
• 1-1/2cup black beans [6C]
• 6 tsp olive oil separate [18F]
• chili powder
• onion powder
• basil
• parsley
• cilantro
• crushed red pepper
• sage

Directions:

• Brown ground beef, salt & pepper and some spices in 3 tsp of oil. (I added a little hot sauce to the meat to give it a little kick!)
• Place all other ingredients in crock-pot, except for cheese.
• Add 2 cups of water. Add browned meat. Add spices to taste.  (I did not add the water and don't think this step is necessary, it will make it more like soup and less like thick yummy chili!)
• Cook in crock-pot for several hours until hot through out, stirring occasionally. (I just let is simmer all day, house smelled so good!)
• Divide into 6 serving (2-cup servings) bowls and top each with 1 oz of cheese. May be frozen/refrigerated for later consumption.

Remark: Makes six 3-block meals, 2 cups each

Tip - To make the Chili last longer, add more cheese and some fresh avocado (once scoped out in to a bowl) to increase the protein and fat rather than adding more cups of chili (which ends up being too much volume in most cases).  You can sub 3 blocks of fat for one serving of carbs, so its easy to make it be a 5 block meal while still getting your 6 servings out of it.  Enjoy! 

Day 3 of an always hungry me

So lets start by recaping the end of last night.  I fell asleep watching Stanford spank VT!  I have to say that although Vick only went there for a bit, I can't help but want to ALWAYS cheer against VT, so I'm glad they lost and I'm glad Stanford won, go PAC 10!  I woke up on the couch around 10 and was hungry, of course, just like I am right now!  So instead of going to bed hungry and likely paying for it at 3:00am, I had a few almonds and a glass of non-fat milk mixed with sugar free chocolate, doesn't that sound tasty (it actually is but was funny to write for some reason)!  It did the trick though, I didn't binge and ate something that provided healthy fat, protein and carbs.

It did work though because I woke up this morning hungry, but not starving, which is good.  I also was down another 1/2 lb, which is also good!  I've said it before and I'll say it again, I am OBSESSED with weighing myself every morning, so get used to it :)  I did some reading about supplements last night and think I'm going to start adding in a few things to my diet in order to support weight loss and muscle gain, lean muscle that is, don't worry I'm not trying to look like this:

However it is important to ensure you are fueling your body properly, especially when calories are restricted and workouts are TOUGH!  After some research I've decided to add Beta Alanine, fish oil and a good multivitamin to my diet along with a PWO shake (Post workout) after tough workouts.  The PWO shake is a small serving (for me) of protein and carbs directly after a workout to ensure your body has enough protein to build lean muscle rather than break it down.  It will help with recovery and ensure I'm making good progress in the gym. 

So it's 10:45am and I'm hungry, but I haven't had much water today, so I'm hopping that will help get me to lunch without any issues.  Today is easier than yesterday though!

1:32 - Lunch came and went, I think my co-workers are starting to hate me for not EVER going out to lunch with them because I ALWAYS bring my lunch.  However, they eat at really unhealthy places and I end up saving a bunch of money by eating my turkey sandwich and apple everyday!  However, right now I am hungry and feeling a little shaky, like low blood sugar shaky.  Not horrible, but a little on egde :)  I also went and picked up a bottle of liquid Omega - 3 supplements with EPA and DHA (think fish oil + more) that claims it tastes like lemon meringue.  I'll let you know how that works out. 

3:21 - Just tried the Omega 3 supplement, quite tasty and lemony!  Trying to wait until 4:00 to  have my last snack before the gym.  I need/should take the beta alanine with food, about 2 hours before working out so I'm hoping that isn't too early to eat.  No one likes to have a growling stomach while working out! 

8:18 - Let me start by saying that Beta Alanine can make you face (or in my case hands) tingle in an almost painful, slight turn in to a tweaker kind of way, at least the first time you take it.  I took it before the gym and my hands hurt!  However, I also took it after the gym and was fine.  Anyways, I'm sitting at 12 blocks right now and I feel good about that.  I was really hungry today which is okay,  I made good food choices so 12 blocks instead of 11 is fine.  I had a good workout at the gym, kicked my ass.  Came home and worked on stretching and did a mobility WOD, or MWOD.  Check it out: MobilityWOD. ANYONE can benefit from doing the daily MWOD to help with mobility, flexibility and general pain in hips, shoulders, neck etc. 

I'm feeling good about the day, stayed away from the ENDLESS pile of candy at work and stuck to my diet plan.  Now time to watch the Biggest Loser and get some shut eye. 

Late night binge

Well as I mentioned in my last post, I went to bed feeling hungry.  I went to bed early with the intentions of waking up early this morning and running, yay me!  Around 3:30am Phoenix decided to play in the shower, knocking over EVERYTHING and scaring me half to death.  I was wide awake and HUNGRY!!  I laid in bed for a few minutes but couldn't fall back asleep.  I drank some water but my stomach was growling (not loud but loud enough to give me internal justification to eat something).  I got up and grabbed a handful of almonds, nice choice!  Here is where things went wrong...I was craving something sweet.  I wandered in to the kitchen and found nothing (as I made sure to not buy any chocolate for the house).  I opened the freezer and found a tub of frozen cool whip (fat free) and dug in. 

Now it could have been worse, but it could have been better.  I didn't eat the whole thing, but I wish I hadn't picked it up at all.  I went back to bed thinking to myself, its okay, it takes time to adjust and plus, you are running in like 2 1/2 hours so it will be okay.  This is where the night took a second turn for the worse, my iPhone alarm clock FAILED me and did not go off. 

I was woken up by Remi walking around the room at 6:30.  Plenty of time to get ready for work, but not enough time to run.  So now it is 10:15am (I am blogging through out the day, helps me stay focused on the goal)  I am hungry, not starving but being kept alert by the feeling that my stomach might make some noise at any minute.  I'm chugging water, trying to make it to 12:00, although may end up eating my lunch around 11:30 if it gets too bad.  I know this is all part of the adjustment and soon it won't be so bad, but detoxing after eating so many carbs, sugars and drinking way to much wine is tough.  My body wants what it can't have right now!

In search of motivation, and at the request of Karinya, below are pictures of my hands after the workout last Friday.  Yes, they hurt, but surprisingly, they are already pretty much healed up.  Tender but not bad!

If I can push through that and finish the workout, I can stay away from the chocolate and avoid another late night binge!  Another point of motivation, between yesterday and today I'm down 3 lbs.  Think about that, that was likely all water weight I was carrying around because I was eating SOOO bad!  3 lbs, woot woot!  In order to get below 150 in 60 days all I need to do is lose about 11 lbs, totally achievable!  In fact, I think I might need to be a little more aggressive with my goals, I'll make adjustments after seeing where I'm at after the first 30 days.

12:18 - Lunch has been devoured!  A turkey sandwich and half an apple.  I don't feel full, not even close but my stomach is no longer talking to me so that's good.  There is holiday candy EVERYWHERE and even though I know it won't be as good as a piece of amazing dark chocolate, it is tempting!

3:08 - Its funny that I can last a lot longer between breakfast and lunch then I can between lunch and a snack. I'm sure its a mental thing. Anyways, snack consisted of the other half of my apple from lunch, one slice of cheese (1 oz) and 3 almonds. Followed by an entire bottle of water and I'm feeling okay. I read an article about how being on the edge of hunger brings about a certain alertness and readiness. Rather than being stuffed and sluggish, I feel good, fueled and ready for what's next rather than a nap. I think this feeling is ruined by having to continue to sit at a desk all day though....that's another topic though :)

7:56 - Had a second snack right before I left work, applesauce with cottage cheese and 3 almonds.  Took the dogs for a 2.25 mile run when I got home then went to the gym where we did the Crossfit Total, which requires you to find your max deadlift (225), max backsquat (175) and max press (80).  This is also a 6 week challenge where we do it again in 6 weeks and hopefully see some good progress!  I'm sitting at 11 blocks plus a few extra blocks of good fat (avocado and almonds) which is necessary to keep up strength while on this diet.  I feel good right now, I'm going to drink a few more bottles of water and go to bed once again with the intent of NO late night binges!!

New Year New Me?

2011 is here.  The holidays are over.  THANK GOD!  Don't get me wrong, I love spending time with friends and family, but the holidays have DESTROYED any progress I made in losing weight.  So it's time to refocus, get back on track with the zone diet.  I lost 6 1/2 pounds in 2/12 weeks when I was focused, so I know I'll see results quickly.  The challenge for me is staying on track.  I tend to celebrate my weight loss by cheating on my diet, a lot!  Oops!  I'm not going to make any unrealistic goals and say I won't have ups and downs with my diet, but I am going to make a short term goal to get back on track ASAP! 

This last week at the gym was hero week, meaning every WOD was dedicated to a hero who lost his life serving our country.  These workouts will kick your ass, they are tough and a reminder of the struggles and hardships endured by the people that serve our country every day.  My big achievement this last week is that I did the prescribed weight on all 4 workouts I did!  I am so excited about that because these workouts were tough!  Thursday's workout was 5 rounds 15 deadlifts (155 lbs), 20 box jumps and 25 pullups.  I ended up ripping both of my hands during that workout, but finished!  Friday was the mental challenge, the day I pushed through a mental barrier I didn't even realize I had!  The workout on Friday was Murph, run 1 mile then do 100 pullups, 200 pushups and 300 squats.  You could break up the reps any way you wanted to, but once they were complete you had to finish with another mile. 

This is who the MURPH workout is named after

The workout itself was tough, but the hardest part for me was the pullups because my hands hurt so freaking bad.  I got to 35 pullups and could feel the tears behind my eyes, I wanted to quit in the worst way.  I kept saying, I'm too much of a sis, I can't do this, there is no way I'm going to be able to get to 100.  And then everyone started finishing up and heading out for their last mile run. 

Here is where the breakthrough came, I was given an opportunity to quit, to do dips instead of pullups, to not do any more pullups.  In my head I screamed no!!  Out loud I snapped back, I'm going to do this!  I got strong and started back at the pullups, this time not with fear of the pain, not with anger or anxiety building up in the form of tears but with sheer determination to finish.  I said to myself, I didn't get shot, I am alive, I am lucky and this pain isn't THAT bad.  I worked through my pullups as the last of the others came back from their last mile, they were DONE with the entire workout.  I don't like being last and normally this would have set off breakdown number 2, but I wasn't doing this workout to be first.  I was doing it for me, to prove to myself that I am stronger than I give myself credit for.  I was doing it for me to push myself beyond my comfort zone.  I was doing it for everyone who has given their lives so that I can go to the gym and do stupid pullups!  It felt so great to get that last pullup and head out to run my last mile.  I finished with the slowest time of the day, but I finished and I did it all on my own! 

To top things off, I finished the 100 mile challenge and 50,000 meter row!!

In all honesty 2011 won't bring a new me, but I don't want a new me anyways.  I don't know if I'm going to make a new years resolutions.  No one ever sticks to them, they are way to vague with endless timelines.  The only one I might make is to bowl a 300 in Wii bowling!!! 

Happy New Years everyone!  I hope everyone has a great, healthy 2011!!  Back to the zone diet I go....tomorrow!

Goals - Part 4

Okay, so as promised, below is a snapshot of what I ate yesterday as part of the Zone Diet, prescribed by Crossfit.com.  Now this isn't perfect and probably isn't quite ideal, yet.  But its a start.  I'd like to highlight that I opted to have hot chocolate (made with fat-free milk) for my evening snack as I needed some chocolate.  That is not a Zone snack and is not recommended, however one day at a time right?! 

One thing I'd like to point out is that I try to underestimate how many calories I've burned while working out.  I would rather underestimate than assume I burned more and in turn eat more than I should.  So when all was said and done yesterday, I netted just under 1000 calories, and felt pretty good.  I did drink a bunch of water, just didn't feel the need to track it. 

The target is that each meal, and therefore the total for the day, is comprised of 40% carbs, 30% protein and 30% fat.  I'd say I was pretty dang close to hitting the target.  My protein percentage was a little low and my fat a little high, but that's okay.  From what I've learned by researching nutrition, especially nutrition around trying to also build a strong body, that fat is a key element.  So you'll likely see me adjust my fat consumption and possibly sub out cards for fat.  For now I'm going to stick to the plan as much as possible for the next few weeks to see how my body adjusts. 

I've included the link to the article I read and have been following (note there are new block suggestions around veggies (cards) which basically means you can eat more (volume) of veggies) The Zone Diet