Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Courthouse Nutrition Plan - Week Two Summary

7/19-7/25, 2010
Week Two Summary

Day 1 - Well, I'm still the anti-plan. I'm on a ricochet from being so hungry last week and in a cycle where I kind of blew it this weekend and am too lazy to clean it up just yet. This happens to me when I do the too-hungry thing with my diet. This is exactly the roller coaster I've been on the past few months. It doesn't help I'm not enamored with my food plan this week:

Meal 1 - egg + egg whites, low fat cheese on a Thomas bagel thin (a breakfast sandwich!) and a banana - yummity yum yum and something I was already eating before

Meal 2 - Parfait with yogurt, peach, and healthy cereal. Using a Stevia packet to sweeten Greek yogurt since it tastes like Sour Cream. The term yogurt in relation to Greek yogurt is used very loosely apparently.

Meal 3 - Chicken on a salad with nuts and dried fruit tossed in. Only, they want me to used canned chicken and have you ever smelled that? Alpo. Pure Alpo. Will need to cook a real chicken breast if they really want me to eat that. Guh-ross.

Meal 4 - Energy bar and grapes. Sounds good to me!

Meal 5 - Fish tacos - their recipe. Pretty good. I'm a fair weather fish person, so it'll do but not my favorite dinner selection.

Meal 6 - Cheese and crackers. Good in my book.

Day 2 - I swear this is the last day of being Mrs. Anti-Plan. I'm actually starting to feel icky from not doing what I should be; both mentally and physically. Tomorrow is the day to get it back. It's amazing what your psyche can put you through. 3-4 days vacation from a food plan is certainly not that big a deal and considering I've been living this life change for a year and a half, I'm certainly able to get back on track no problem. But the mind takes me to dark places, especially when diet/weight are concerned. It's like a society-induced trauma. Time to get over it and feel good again.

Day 3 - Ahh. A fresh start. What the heck was I thinking? Woke up determined to get a good workout in and stick to the plan today. Lifted just a few weights and ran 5 1/2 miles. It felt good, like I was circulating bad karma out of my body. Drank my gallon of water. Stuck to the plan. Going to dinner tonight with a friend at Red Robin. Could be a pitfall, but I won't let it. Not today. I'll get a salad with chicken breast on it. And get this: I packed my dried fruit/nuts and dressing with me. Model Courthouse Nutrition animal here.

I should note that the blog and Facebook accountability really helps too. People want to know how I'm doing and I can't really be a testimony for the plan if I'm not adhering to the plan now can I?

Day 4 - The weight is coming back down! It came off bigtime since yesterday and I'm assuming I'm debloating from all the food I ate on my weekend rampage. I did great at Red Robin last night, I forgot my packed along items in the car, but I ordered a salad that had those items on it and a balsamic vinaigrette dressing on the side which I used sparingly. Worked wonderfully. I was so tempted to grab some of my friends french fries, but I told myself "it's time to be serious". French fries will not give me the result I am looking for. I did a big workout today: an hour of upper body weightlifting and a very vigorous step aerobics class. I found I was running out of gas about 20 minutes into the step class, so I made a note to email my NT about ways to avoid that. Otherwise, my hunger was in check today. I was hungry when it was time to eat and not much in between. Feeling good!

Day 5 - I woke up out of energy. I'm skipping my workout today - a hilly run - and emailed my NT ASAP. Especially because I have a 12 mile run this Sunday and I'm training for my next half marathon. Now is not the time to be skipping out on training and I'm pretty sure this calorie plan is not allotting for burning 1,500 calories in a single workout. I've had a really stressful couple of days dealing with a screwed up business transaction and I'm wiped. A rest day, both mental and physical to help me get it all figured out is just what I need. Plus I get a massage today, so that should be just what I need to make a full recovery! Now that I'm back on track, I'm officially down 3 pounds net since the start of this endeavor. That seems reasonable and on track with what you always hear about 2 pounds a week being reasonable weight loss.

And so begins the weekend. Dinner tonight out - chicken on salad with vinaigrette dressing. I did partake in a small vanilla cone. Being that I prefer Buster Bar Blizzards, I'm calories ahead by a small cone. Once again, by the end of the week, some of my least favorite food items on the plan actually became tasty and I looked forward to them.

I did not hear back from my NT today re: my email this morning. I'm surprised, as their speedy replies before really shocked me in their timely arrival. Now I'm kind of worried because Sunday is fast approaching and I may have to wing it. And history has proven I am nicht so gut at that.

Day 6 - Ah, right at bedtime last night the anticipated email came back. The answer? Eat more the night before and the day of your long run. Okay. I shall. Since tomorrow is going to be an extreme workout, I usually take the day before off or do something light. Since I skipped yesterday, I feel like doing something. I took a Jazzercise class. It figures her routine this week was actually pretty strenuous. Oh well. It felt good to work out. I am a model Courthouse Nutrition Animal today all day until dinner. My plan was to eat what I want for dinner for my mini "load" before my long run. We went out to eat and I had a Gardenburger and fries (oh, they were GOOD) and a small fresh fruit shake. Soooo good. Mmmmmm. I also had a G2 (diet Gatorade essentially) to top off my electrolytes as well as multiple bottles of water to hydrate. For those of you who do not run endurance, it may be interesting to know that the hydration you need during the race comes from what's put in your body already, not what you drink during. So it's very critical you drink lots of water the day before so that your reserves are at the optimum level. I learned that from my Jeff Galloway books.
Day 7 - I woke up and ate two Zone Perfect bars. I was hungry and I'll admit it, scared I would run out of gas during my run today and I so wanted to have a good run. I let it settle for about a half hour and drove to my run destination. I usually don't eat much before a run, but I figured let's try this and see how it goes. I supplement with bits of energy bar during my run and since it was warm already this morning, stopped by my car at miles 6, 8 and 10 for a quick sip of electrolyte and water. My run was amazing! Because I am leaning out and a few pounds lighter, I feel much lighter on my feet. Aerodynamic almost. And the food I'm eating must be giving me energy deep within despite my whining about being hungry a lot because my energy couldn't have been more even. Excellent progress!
I noticed today too that my weight training efforts this week seem to be more visible. I think I put on some muscle or maybe just leaned out some fat so you see more muscle. Either way, my stomach (problem area priority #2) and my arms are noticably more muscularly defined. Sweet.
I ate out again for lunch - Mexican (this is my lifestyle). I didn't go crazy though, so just kept it healthy and in moderation. Split chicken fajitas with hubby again and only had one tortilla. Dinner was not on the plan but still a healthy, clean choice. BLTA - turkey bacon, lettuce, tomato and avocado on a Thomas bagel thin. Considering I burned approximately 1,500 calories today, I'm not worried.
Net weight loss to date: 3 pounds (it's too soon to tell how the run/eating for the run will affect scale weight). Endurance runners have a tendency to lose muscle mass and I believe it's due to shortfalls in their nutrition. So, hopefully I'm preserving as much as I can.

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