You Know What’s Better Than a Gap Size 6?

So back in April I wrote a post called Gap Size 6!!!  I was so excited to get into that number.  And then I strayed…strayed from eating paleo…strayed from eating well in general…and I strayed from my beloved size 6′s.

It’s been several months since then and in the last 6 weeks I’ve been doing a new program.  I’ve lost more in a month of this new program than I did in 4 or 5 months of eating 4 Hour Body/Paleo/Primal altogether.

And you know what’s better than a Gap Size 6??  An INC Size 4!!  That’s right ladies and gentlemen, I comfortably fit into the Macy’s brand INC size 4 jeans.

You know what’s better than an INC Size 4?? Paying $14 for said Size 4 jeans.  You read that right – FOURTEEN DOLLARS.

I have been wearing some pretty baggy jeans in the last few weeks and mozied through Macy’s just to look.  I saw some jeans that were on sale from $80 down to $35.  I thought…well it won’t hurt to try them on.  I tried on a pair of 8′s and a pair of 6′s.  The 6′s were good, but I know I’m losing weight consistently so I thought to myself, why bother right now.  Yeah, it’s a great deal.  But maybe in a couple weeks the 6′s won’t fit anymore.  I told my boyfriend this when I got home and he was like – of course it’s worth $35 for you to have clothes that fit!  Go back there and get them!  Gotta love my boyfriend.  ;)

So back to Macy’s I went a few days later.  And what do I see??  Those same jeans are now $20!!  Well.  I grabbed several pair, long, cropped, light wash, dark wash…just to try on.  I pulled on the first pair and they were a little snug, but I thought they fit pretty well.  Not bad for a 6!  Took them off…they were a size 4!!!  Holy guacamole.  So I snatched up a pair of less snug 6′s, and a couple pairs of 4′s.  Took them up to the register and paid with my Macy’s card and one of those 20% coupons they always have and all 3 of those originally $80 jeans rang up at $14 EACH!!!!!!!!!  Gotta love Macy’s.

This all happened about 2 weeks ago.  The 6′s are now baggy and the 4′s fit perfectly.  :)

50th Post, 6 Months, A New Year

So many milestones today!  But the biggest one is the start of another year for me.  My 35th year.

I spent the last 6 months obsessing over my weight, what I ate, and how I prepared my food.  To be honest, that is 6 months too long for any obsession.  Sure I could stand to lose a few lbs.  Yes, I should exercise more.  But writing about my shouldas and couldas isn’t really making me a happier person.

I love writing and felt a little limited by the subject of food alone.  So I’m going to try to write more often and have a different focus.

I’m sure exercise and diet and specifically paleo/primal will still be a topic I write about…I just don’t want it to be the ONLY topic I write about.

I hope you’ll join me!  Suggestions are welcome!  Who knows where another 6 months will take me…

My Whole 30

Have you heard about Whole30?  It’s from the amazing people at Whole 9 Life and you can read about their Whole30 challenge here.  Basically it’s all about buckling down and doing a pretty strict version of the paleo diet.  I’m talking no dairy, no cheats, no… *gasp* alcohol.  To be honest, that last one is what is tripping me up.  And I know what they say – it’s only 30 days.  It’s not hard.  It’s never the right time – there will always be something to celebrate, or a vacation to be had, or even a rough day to console.  No one is forcing the wine down my gullet.  But it’s starting to feel like summer and a nice cold glass of pinot grigio sure tastes good.  And I’ve been sipping a couple glasses almost every day.  Actually, I’ve been making a lot of exceptions over the last 4-6 weeks.  So many exceptions that my cheats are no longer weekly cheats, but more like daily cheats.  My “free meals” turned into “free months”.

So it’s time to crack down.

Ahhh….but that no alcohol thing.  I’m not sure I’ve ever done 30 days sans some vino.  And I’m not sure I can adhere to the strict guidelines of the Whole30 – I can see if I ate at home every day, I could control the ingredients a little better.  But I don’t.  And I’m not prepared to eat dry salads because the salad dressing probably has sugar in it at whatever restaurant I go to.  I’ve become Miss Paleo around the house, but I don’t want to be “that” person at the restaurant.

And so instead of beating myself up over not eating as strictly as possible, I’ve decided to follow my own Whole 30.  I’m going to do the best I can but not get mental about it.  For me this means no dairy (buh-bye my beloved heavy whipping cream in my coffee), no diet coke (which I haven’t had on a daily basis, but I’ve chosen to have it at restaurants more frequently), no sugar (as best as I can – certainly not adding it in, but again, if a salad dressing has it, I’m not going to freak out), 1 piece of fruit every day, more water (75 oz/day), and no alcohol*.

I’ve been reading up on all sorts of different paleo blogs and seeing how other people handle free meals.  Some people just don’t do it.  That is certainly the idea behind Whole30.  One guy said he did 1 cheat meal & 1 cheat dessert every week – on different days.  Another girl said she has pre-scheduled 6 cheat meals during the month.  I think I need to find something in the middle that will be ok on my Whole30.  I’m still figuring it out, but I think Saturday nights will be my 1 free meal and *alcohol will be allowed.  1 or 2 glasses of wine will be ok with me.

In addition to eating a stricter diet, what I really want to focus on this month is more exercise.  I will go to Bar Method class 4-5 x’s/week.  I will walk the lake 4-5 x’s/week (this takes 40min – 1 hour).  I will do the 4 Hour Body kettlebell exercises 2x’s/week.  And I will do tabata sprints 1x/week.

Ambitious?  Yes.  Doable?  Yes.  I’ve put it out there, I’ve written it down, and I will keep myself accountable by updating my progress here.

Here we go!

 

 

No progress = good progress?

Well here I am at the end of April…4 months into this journey.  Just to recap – the first 2 months were pretty strict 4 Hour Body way of eating.  By March, I hit my lifetime legume quotient and basically ate a more paleo diet.  April came and I was ready to buckle down for another month.  But it didn’t really happen.  I ate well probably 75% of the time.  The other 25% was filled with mostly sweets…donuts (who am I eating donuts all the time?), gummy bears, starburst jelly beans (thank you Easter Bunny!), brownies, and whatever else was around.  I also had my fair share of fruit throughout the month.  As much as I thought I would have some pasta or bread or other grain, I really didn’t.  (progress?)  I actually had 2 different nights where I had brown rice pasta and it was just ok.  I piled my plate high and barely touched the pasta.  I would’ve been better off with a bowl of meat sauce.

The good news is that I didn’t gain a single pound in the month of April.  I have remained at the same weight as my last weigh-in.  I consider this lack of weight gain/weight loss as progress.  Now I know what I can do to remain at the same weight!

However I don’t feel like I’ve hit my goal just yet.  My 35th birthday is in exactly 2 months.  And I want to start my 35th year in the best shape of my life!  I want to be healthy, I want visible abs, I want to do the splits!  And I’m almost there.  Seriously, I’m healthier than ever, I have a hint of abs, and I can *almost* do the splits!

I want to focus on cardio this month.  I want to commit to walking 30-45 minutes per day during the week – which sure seems like a lot to me right now considering I do about 0 minutes of walking for exercise per day.  But May 1 is a new day and a new month and I’m going to start new habits.  I’ve been going to Bar Method about 2-3 times per week and would like to commit to 3-4 times per week.  I like the 12pm class which has been on MWF only and starting in May they will offer it MTWTF – so I might even be able to make it 5 times some weeks.  And so I continue on in May with renewed efforts!

Goodbye 4HB, Hello Primal/Paleo!

I’ve become obsessed.  First I was obsessed with 4HB…I wanted to make sure I had all the details down and knew all that I had to do in order to lose 20 lbs in 30 days.  And although I didn’t lose 20 lbs in even 90 days, I wouldn’t change a thing.  4HB helped me take a good hard look at what I’ve been eating, it helped me make the leap to no carbs (which is still shocking to me) and eventually led me to my newest obsession…Primal/Paleo!

I’m not even sure how I started reading about Primal/Paleo…I have a few friends who have posted about it on FB.  I even found an article on Tim Ferriss’ blog about Paleo (check it out here)!  I’ve read the books Primal Blueprint and the Paleo Diet as well as countless websites, blogs, and forums.  (Some favorites include: marks daily apple, whole 9, and everyday paleo)  And it just makes sense.  It’s essentially what I’ve been doing – eating whole foods, protein, vegetables, no white stuff, no legumes, no potatoes, corn, peas, processed foods.  They encourage organic/grassfed/etc…and although I’m working on it, I’m not stressing about it too much either.  I’m still learning all the details but I think Primal/Paleo is the most logical next step for me.  My goal now is not about 20lbs of fatloss, it’s about being healthy and feeling good.  I don’t really care about what the scale says, I care more about what my buddha says!  (buddha = stomach).  I’ve found that beans don’t work for me…and turns out that legumes aren’t great for people with autoimmune diseases!  Who knew?  My body told me before I read about it.  When I eat 3 slices of cheesy pizza like I did on Saturday, even if it tastes super yummy (and it did!)…my body is not a fan of it (big buddha-ache!).  Not sure if it’s the cheese or the crust, probably both.  But I’m learning to listen to my body.

So this is my plan right now – eat protein and vegetables (in that order…for more info why, check out Athletic Greens’ email here and his follow-up email here), take athletic greens and fish oil every morning, some fruit (mostly berries)/dairy/wine on weekends only, not be concerned with 30g of protein within 30 minutes of waking, 1 cheat meal per week…and I’m going to try to stay gluten-free at this meal as well…wish me luck!

 

 

12 weeks + 4HB = 32″

Today marks the end of 12 weeks on the 4 Hour Body diet and my grand totals are (drumroll please….)

-8lbs

-32″ overall

• neck  -.5″
• shoulders  -5.5″
• chest  -3″
• left bicep  -1.75″, right bicep  -1.25″
• left forearm  -1″, right forearm  -1.5″
• waist  -2.5″
• hips  -3.25″
• left thigh  -4″, right thigh  -5″
• left calf  -1.25″, right calf  -1.5″

I admit, I got the book thinking that I was going to lose 20 lbs in 30 days.  I thought I had to lose 20 lbs in order to lose that many inches!!  In my opinion, the inches speak louder than any number on a scale.  And I was very careful to measure at the same spot every week.  But even if my measurements are off by several inches…the numbers are still an incredible accomplishment to me.  I am the smallest I’ve been in my adult life!  Even after years of working out with a personal trainer and running and biking and swimming in preparation for 3 different triathlons – I wasn’t wearing baggy size 8 jeans like I am now!  I am leaner today after 3 months of just changing my diet and eating a certain way.

The best part about all of this is that I FEEL good.  I sleep better than ever.  I have more energy.  I used to have migraine headaches twice a week.  I have not had a single migraine since starting this program.  That in itself is worth it to me.  Those were brutal and I didn’t think I had any control over them.  But now I do.

And that is something to celebrate…with a big bowl of fruit!

I Have A Confession…

I stopped eating beans.

There I said it.  It’s been a couple weeks, probably most of March.  I just started hating them.  Hate is a strong word, but I think it is aptly used here.  They made me want to throw up.  I just couldn’t do it anymore.  I’m glad I started out with beans.  I think it helped me stay on track in the first 2 months.  Kept me full from meal to meal.  But eventually I had a few meals without beans and my stomach just felt better.  I adjusted to eating protein and veggies.

Seeing as beans are such a huge proponent of the 4HB…I’ve wondered if I’m still “on plan”?  The answer is yes.  I’m on plan.  My plan.  And my plan is ever-evolving.  Looking back at this blog will illustrate just that.  I’ve tried being strict, I’ve tried being relaxed, I’ve tried cold therapy, I’ve tried kettlebells, I’ve tried drinking wine and not drinking wine during the week.  I’ve been constantly tweaking this program every week.  And this is just one more tweak.

I’m coming up on the end of 12 weeks (!!!) on the 4HB and have started thinking about how I’m going to tweak it for the next month.  I’ve been learning more about Primal/Paleo diets lately.  And although they include fruits and sometimes even some dairy in their plans, protein and vegetables are the main ingredients.  It seems like a logical next step for me.  I’m still working out all the differences between the programs and will most likely do some sort of combination of the three.  There are things I like about 4HB and there are things I like about Primal Blueprint and there are things I like about the Paleo diet.  I’m picking and choosing what works for me.  Like I have all along.  :)

 

Double Cheats & a Free Week!

Ahhhh…..what a nice relaxing week of not worrying too much if I’m doing this whole 4HB diet to a “T”!  Last week I had a double cheat weekend followed by a week of eating sensibly but with a few freebies every day and this weekend is turning out to be a double cheat as well.  In addition to eating well, lots of protein and veggies, here is a list of my “cheats”:

Last Saturday (which is typically a Free Day for me) – hash browns, english muffin, pizza, cheese, bread, a few vodka tonics, top ramen

Sunday – hash browns, one pancake, sushi, a mini pie which I like to call a pie-lette (actual size is smaller than the palm of my hand), mac & cheese cup

Monday – 1/2 of a small yam, blueberries

Tuesday – greek yogurt with honey, gummi bears (a lot)

Wednesday – cheese on chipotle bowl, 1/2 of a small yam, blueberries

Thursday – banana, 1/2 of a chocolate bar

Friday – two 6″ corn tortillas, a little cheese/sour cream (I made chicken enchiladas for dinner), 1/2 of a chocolate bar

Saturday (TODAY!) – banana, granola w/ milk

I would also like to add that I had at least one or two glasses of red wine EVERY day – normally I may have one or two glasses in a week, the occasional diet coke – which I usually don’t have at all, and quite a bit of cottage cheese for protein – which I never really had before.  I cut out the protein shakes in the am and stuck with whole foods (hence the cottage cheese).  I went to the Bar Method 3 times but did zero kettlebells or ab work outside of class.  I did take a couple short walks this week, but that is the extent of my exercising.

I did sneak a weigh-in yesterday – c’mon….I was so curious to see if I’ve gained a ton of weight for suddenly eating fruit and all the other off-plan items!  I’m happy to report that I weigh exactly the same as the last time I weighed in.  And I even managed to lose 1/2 inch this week.  So all in all, I would say this week was a SUCCESS!!

I’m not planning on going full-out Free Day today.  And tomorrow we have a family brunch to go to and we are bringing the mimosas.  I’m not going to miss out on that!  So this weekend will be a half-assed Free Weekend.  Monday will be the start of a new week and I am going to try to be super strict with food and up the exercise…for REAL this time!  :)  FYI, rebounding isn’t my thing.  Looks fun, wasn’t so bad the first couple times, but I need a serious sports bra to keep the girls happy.  I think I’ll stick with walking.  And with the 70*+ days we’ve been having, getting some vitamin D might not be a bad idea either.

At Least It’s Not Zero

This was the least amount of inches I’ve lost during any week since I started.  ONE.  A half inch off my waist (I’m all for any loss there!!) and a quarter inch off each thigh.  Hey, I’ll take what I can get.  And I’ll admit, I sneaked the scale on Wednesday – but it didn’t do anything for me.  No weight gain since the Saturday before and no weight loss.  So I’ve put it away for real this time.  Not weighing til March 26th.

This week I will say that I wasn’t great with the water (even with my reduced amount) and I only went to the Bar Method twice and I did no kettlebells or ab work.  During the week I kept telling myself that because I got my hair done on Monday and due to the color and the keratin I wasn’t supposed to wash my hair or get sweaty during the week.  Excuses, excuses.  The fact is, I could’ve done something and I just didn’t.  Ever have one of those weeks?

All I can do is move onwards and upwards (er, downwards for the inches?)…next week is a new week and although I’m still planning on some relaxed menus, I’m not going to blow it on ice cream every night.  And it’s back to the Bar Method and kettlebells and I’m going to start walking even if it’s just around the neighborhood for 30 min a few times this week.  Let’s do this!

Planned Cheating

I cheated tonight.  It was an unplanned cheat.  Several spoonfuls of delicious coffee ice cream.  Which isn’t even my favorite.  But it was leftover from when the kids were here.  And I loved every bite.

I don’t think a couple spoonfuls of ice cream counts as drastically off-track.  And I think with the exception of the week I had strep throat, this was probably my first unplanned cheat in 10 weeks.  It made me wonder what would happen if I did go off-track?  What would happen if I ate a few “forbidden” foods one week?  I’m not talking a 7 day Free Week of pancakes and pasta.  I just mean, a few berries here, maybe a yogurt, or a piece of chocolate sometime during the week.

Next week is the 3rd week of the month which in the past 2 months has been a zero weight loss week for me thanks to Mother Nature.  So I’m thinking I might experiment a little…especially since I’m not weighing myself anyway!  The basics will remain the same – veggie, protein.  I’ve almost completely cut legumes at this point anyway.  But I might try a banana in the morning with my protein shake or sprinkle some cheese on my salad.  Gettin crazy up in here!  Then I’ll go back for the last week of the month and go hard-core 4HB!  Maybe it will shock some weight out of my system.  Maybe it won’t.  But I will have enjoyed a week of not worrying about it.  And then we’ll see where April leads…