Hmm, can it really be a month down already? I'll be honest, I was hoping to have at least 5 of my 10 pounds of fat gone by now. And I'm still the same weight as when I started. Like with anything fitness/weight loss related, I must be extremely patient and trusting in the process. Because it's like erosion. You chip and chip away and nothing. And then one day...something. Progress. A goal being met. Something concrete that makes you wanna celebrate your own awesomeness for being successful at something that's been such a tormenter.
Some of those milestones for me have been:
1. Pointy Elbows
K, I totally get the confusion on your face right now. I didn't even know pointy elbows were something to strive for. I didn't even know I didn't have pointy elbows until one day I found them. I was in the weight room at the gym and my arm was bent and I spotted it in the mirror. What the? Why does my elbow look funny? Then, a closer look revealed a very pointy bone, one I had only read about in A&P textbooks, showing itself all pokey-like through my skin. I wanted to run up to random strangers and show them my discovery. I ran home and tore through some magazines I have and sure enough, lean people have pointy elbows. Who knew?! I waited with baited breath all day until my husband got home. I told him "Look! I have pointy elbows!!" He said "oh yeah, you always did have round elbows". HUH?!?! I did? How have I managed to miss this? A MAJOR victory on the fat-front and I didn't even know to look for it. This discovery made me start really studying the bodies of people, namely fitness-competitor types that I gravitate towards in magazines to start "shopping" for body attributes I want.
2. The Lack of Butt Slapping During Running
One of the major disappointments when I started running was feeling my but shake, rattle and roll every step I took for miles. What a downer. It made me very hyper-aware of what I might look like, hoofing it out on the road for others to see. It made me focus on the size of my butt and what I had ignored in my life and let it become. And how unhappy I was with it in it's current state. Depressing thoughts like that are very counterproductive because what they make me want to do is drop everything and go hole up in the house all depressed-like and watch movies and eat cupcakes. It took a lot of internal dialogue for me to keep running. I tried to just be logical and explain to myself depressed cupcake gorging doesn't take away this butt slapping but to continue running does. So keep running. I had this conversation with myself like a broken record each and every time I ran for months. And one day, more recently than not, I noticed the absence of butt slapping during my run. I even threw my hands back there to feel it in motion to make sure I hadn't just tuned it out. Nope. It was gone. This is a major victory because I am of the firm belief that my butt has it's own metabolism and conveniently ignores any efforts I make to alter it. It's the final thing on the fat front to go and man, it's a doozy.
3. Push-Ups (the real ones)
Last year my goal was to be able to do a push-up, form perfect, from my toes. It seemed so impossible. Today, I did 60 of them. Split up into groups of 10 with a 20-30 second break in between, but still. 60! Form pefect, from my toes. Erosion, baby!
Whatever your personal victories will be, they ARE big and totally worth the wait. So, with the anticipation of more inspiring discoveries, I press on.
Here is my knight in shining armor, the long awaited but heavily anticipated 2,600 Calorie Meal Plan:
Meal 1 - Cottage Cheese, Peanut Butter Toast, Grapes (If you mix the grapes in with the Cottage Cheese and make darn sure you have a grape in every bite, the cottage cheese's rottenness is less noticeable).
Meal 2 - Banana and Yogurt
Meal 3 - Chef Salad - homemade with eggs, chicken, veggies and Light Cheese Fantastico dressing
Granola Bar & THREE plums
Meal 4 - Zone Perfect bar and a peach
Meal 5 - Hummus, veggies, almonds
Meal 6 - Chicken tenders, brown rice, veggies, fruit
Meal 7 - Quesadilla
The main difference is I get 2 afternoon snacks now instead of 1 and all the meals are more robust. All the things on the menu I like immensely this week, so that's in my favor.
Day 1 - Ahhh, to be back on track does feel really good. I was a little hungry after evening snack and I was stunned that after the gargantuan lunch they give me I was more than ready for my first afternoon snack, but I hung in there and that's a step in the right direction.
Day 2 - I swear when you actually stick to the plan, you start leaning out immediately. My abs are incredibly leaner today. I have a sneaking suspicion that underneath this last fat layer, I'm ripped. I could be wrong, but hints of it are starting to show as I continually get leaner and I think there's something awesome brewing beneath the surface. I'd like to find out for sure. I am a Plan Diva today!
I checked in with my NT today, we did my weigh-in and although I only weighed in 1 pound down in a month, we showed it was all fat. She also informed me my fat is getting squishier which means it's breaking up which means that the last month of suffering and thinking I'm faltering has actually yielded some positive progress after all. It's encouraging.
She asked for my commitment to stay on the plan for a whole week. I quickly said yes like it was no big deal. But ouch. Hopefully she doesn't think that was the issue for me. It really was just that I was hungry. She also is having me check back in in one week to get my stats again and see if 2,600 calories is where I need to be or if I need to go back to 2,300 and just increase the frequency of my meals. Double ouch. I'm sure she sees all kinds in the diet program. I know, because I used to be one of them that would cover up reality in denial so heavily that I believed I was really trying hard when I wasn't. And acting like I couldn't lose weight no matter what when really my mind wasn't in it and I wasn't ready to change. I get it. But I need to prove to her that's not where I am with this program. I'm just a hungry girl trying to make it all work.
Day 3 - Still on the plan. I'm determined. It's been good. I would not say I am a rabid cheetah, but at night, I tend to be more of a Savage Beast of Hunger. It's a step less traumatizing and I'm dealing with it fine. Today I noticed the scale moved. Up .2 pounds! Uh oh, I like the calorie plan, please don't make this be too much food! I honestly don't know how I will cope if I can't eat this many calories. I feel so much better.
Day 4 - Ah, the scale moved. I am now sporting a 1.2 pound weight loss from start of program, down 1.4 from yesterday. Thank you thank you thank you. But Houston, we have a problem. Now that my muscles are obviously getting food and not withering away from starvation, I'm experiencing some serious muscle growth. I lifted weights on Day 2 of this week and immediately noticed what I'd only ready about -a bodybuilder's "pump". After my workout, my biceps looked to me like the Incredible Hulk- they were all hard and defined and looked like they had grown instantaneously from the workout. Alarming to experience this for the first time and without intending to. I kept grabbing my arms all day and finding the same thing. Now, two days later, my arms are rocks. And if I flex, I have a serious bicep there now. Seriously?! And today, I did Lats & Pecs and I'm finding more of the same. As much as the instant gratification of musculature feels good, I am going to have to fix my workout routine STAT if I don't want to actually become the Incredible Hulk in the weeks to come. Holy moly. I'm like a chia pet of muscles. I wanna look fit, I don't wanna look like a dude.
Showing posts with label Courthouse Nutrition Experience. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Courthouse Nutrition Experience. Show all posts
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Courthouse Nutrition Plan - Week Four Summary
Still on 2,300 calories a day. For what it's worth...
Meal Plan:
Meal 1 - Shake of whey protein, berries, banana and milk. I made something similar to this before the plan, which I prefer, but it's okay. The only thing is I feel this is more effective as a post-workout recovery snack and it doesn't give me enough energy on it's own to plow through my vigorous workouts. So...I supplement with a Zone Perfect bar too. So sue me.
Meal 2 - apple and 2 string cheese Tasty but I have a volume problem here, especially coming off of the light-feeling shake.
Meal 3 - Pita with clean chicken salad mixture and some carrots. Tasty recipe but not enough food.
Meal 4 - Clean trail mix recipe and a peach.
Meal 5 - Turkey Meat Loaf burger and Sweet Potato fries and a salad. Tasty and good volume.
Meal 6 - Egg/veggie/feta cheese omelet
The food is good. It's not enough and I will just forego this week's posts with a blanket statement that having to fill in all of the blanks in my hunger is leading to basically no days where I am 100% on the plan and then I end up overeating and eating perhaps the wrong things and it's miserable.
By Tuesday, I started an experiment, because my weight was creeping a pound over where I started and I panicked. I decided that abandoning the plan is not the answer. Instead, I will take 3 days and eat only clean food, but eat whenever I am hungry just to the point that I feel satisfied. My reason was to figure out how many calories are realistic, because I still can't wrap my mind around the fact that I eat 2,300 calories on a "diet" and that I am now living a dual lifestyle as a rabid cheetah in my offtime. I know that in order to request more calories, especially after my bloated weigh-in debacle last week with my NT, I need to have something concrete to back me up. Also, I've heard that excessive exercising, namely cardio, can create insatiable hunger in people and I know that my NT is wondering about that with me and I am too. So I need to find out some things about myself. And at this point, I don't have anything to lose. The downward spiral I've been on isn't taking me toward my goal. And I desperately want to have a version of the Courthouse Nutrition Plan that works for me, that I can stick to and see what it can do for me. But I refuse to starve myself anymore. For anything. I've been on a continual yo-yo diet since I was 13 and the buck stops here. No more starving. I am fit and my food is FUEL. And right now, I'm out of gas, plain and simple.
For three days, I ate when I was hungry a variety of foods all three days, but all clean foods. All 3 days I magically ate 2,850 calories. And for 3 days, I maintained my weight to the ounce. I felt justified and happy as a clam. This means my exercise is not masking my hunger. I'm hungry when I'm hungry and that's that. Also, if I can eat 2,850 and maintain my present situation, requesting more calories shouldn't be an issue, because I exercise on top of all that.
Thursday I emailed my NT with renewed zest. I told her I am a rabid cheetah and explained the findings of my experiment. She said she would increase me to 2,600 calories and that we could go from there. She said she envied my metabolism. If you saw the ridiculous level of fitness and health my NT exudes, you would brush by this comment like it was nothing (with a huge grin on your face) just as I did. Hey, if this chick envies me for any reason whatsoever, it's a victory in life.
I'm looking forward to a fresh start.
Meal Plan:
Meal 1 - Shake of whey protein, berries, banana and milk. I made something similar to this before the plan, which I prefer, but it's okay. The only thing is I feel this is more effective as a post-workout recovery snack and it doesn't give me enough energy on it's own to plow through my vigorous workouts. So...I supplement with a Zone Perfect bar too. So sue me.
Meal 2 - apple and 2 string cheese Tasty but I have a volume problem here, especially coming off of the light-feeling shake.
Meal 3 - Pita with clean chicken salad mixture and some carrots. Tasty recipe but not enough food.
Meal 4 - Clean trail mix recipe and a peach.
Meal 5 - Turkey Meat Loaf burger and Sweet Potato fries and a salad. Tasty and good volume.
Meal 6 - Egg/veggie/feta cheese omelet
The food is good. It's not enough and I will just forego this week's posts with a blanket statement that having to fill in all of the blanks in my hunger is leading to basically no days where I am 100% on the plan and then I end up overeating and eating perhaps the wrong things and it's miserable.
By Tuesday, I started an experiment, because my weight was creeping a pound over where I started and I panicked. I decided that abandoning the plan is not the answer. Instead, I will take 3 days and eat only clean food, but eat whenever I am hungry just to the point that I feel satisfied. My reason was to figure out how many calories are realistic, because I still can't wrap my mind around the fact that I eat 2,300 calories on a "diet" and that I am now living a dual lifestyle as a rabid cheetah in my offtime. I know that in order to request more calories, especially after my bloated weigh-in debacle last week with my NT, I need to have something concrete to back me up. Also, I've heard that excessive exercising, namely cardio, can create insatiable hunger in people and I know that my NT is wondering about that with me and I am too. So I need to find out some things about myself. And at this point, I don't have anything to lose. The downward spiral I've been on isn't taking me toward my goal. And I desperately want to have a version of the Courthouse Nutrition Plan that works for me, that I can stick to and see what it can do for me. But I refuse to starve myself anymore. For anything. I've been on a continual yo-yo diet since I was 13 and the buck stops here. No more starving. I am fit and my food is FUEL. And right now, I'm out of gas, plain and simple.
For three days, I ate when I was hungry a variety of foods all three days, but all clean foods. All 3 days I magically ate 2,850 calories. And for 3 days, I maintained my weight to the ounce. I felt justified and happy as a clam. This means my exercise is not masking my hunger. I'm hungry when I'm hungry and that's that. Also, if I can eat 2,850 and maintain my present situation, requesting more calories shouldn't be an issue, because I exercise on top of all that.
Thursday I emailed my NT with renewed zest. I told her I am a rabid cheetah and explained the findings of my experiment. She said she would increase me to 2,600 calories and that we could go from there. She said she envied my metabolism. If you saw the ridiculous level of fitness and health my NT exudes, you would brush by this comment like it was nothing (with a huge grin on your face) just as I did. Hey, if this chick envies me for any reason whatsoever, it's a victory in life.
I'm looking forward to a fresh start.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Courthouse Nutrition Plan - Week Three Summary
7/26-8/1, 2010
Week Three Summary
I likey the plan this week. A sigh of relief. Makes it so much easier!
My grocery bill was a fortune. Partly because they are giving me large quantities of food to eat (thank you) and if hubby wants to eat it too, then we are buying lots of food. Also, Zone Perfect bars are expensive. Not in the context of it being a "meal". But when you buy a case of 15 of them, then they appear expensive. 18 bucks on bars. Yikes.
The crux of the plan:
Meal 1 - Eggs/egg whites, Cheerios & skim milk, cantaloupe. The quantities are ginormo and I am so appreciative for it!
Meal 2 - an apple with a peanut butter/cottage cheese dip recipe. I don't really care for it, but it's edible.
Meal 3 - TWO turkey sandwiches and some grapes. Yeah baby.
Meal 4 - string cheese, almonds, peach
Meal 5 - a mish mash of potato, ground turkey, salsa, broccoli - their recipe that actually was much better than it sounds. Even hubby liked it and that is saying something.
Meal 6 - Greek "yogurt" and fruit
Day 1 - Breakfast was daunting. That is an awful lot of food. I'm happy though because tomorrow I have a huge workout day and this will be great fuel. I somehow inhale it all, no problem. My snack seemed tiny in comparison to breakfast and I got hungry quickly after that one. Lunch, even though it sounds big, wasn't really and hungry again. Afternoon snack, still hungry. Dinner was tasty and filling.
I have a two week check-in with my NT on Wednesday and at that time I will ask her to gauge how hungry I should be. I doubt this is the norm for most people on the plan, because as far as diet plans go, they are extremely generous with food choices and portions. I am sure my exercise interferes with the hunger piece and this is exactly the issue that brought me to this program to begin with. I am stubborn and won't budge on the exercise, so she will just have to help me figure it out.
Day 2 - I'm hungry. Again. What gives?!?! I can't do it. No. I can do it. But not this way. I broke the diet. I ate until I wasn't hungry and maybe a little more. I'm definitely not on the plan. When I email that I'm hungry, they tell me to eat. But, if I was able to make smart choices on quality and portion control on my own, I wouldn't be paying them to tell me what to put in my mouth. Spinning out of control...
Day 3 - Still out of control. I'm off the diet. Well, I'm on it until about 11. Then it's fair game. And I have a "check in" with my NT tonight. Super. I don't want her to think I'm not on the plan just because I'm weak. I'm willing and able to do this but I'm HUNGRY. Gosh darnit. Help a girl out.
Day 4 - The meeting last night was a disaster. I met up with her, we checked in my friend as my "buddy" on the plan (which saves us both a little $$). She asked if I brought my journal. I intentionally didn't. First, because I've been very poor at keeping it up. Secondly, because if she's seen the magnitude of my ricochets from the hunger, well, that's just embarassing. I told her "I got it" and blew her off. Whew. Crisis averted. I did not know she planned to weigh me in tonight. Had I known that I would have never agreed to a night appointment. Dunno about you, but the minute I put food or drink into my body upon waking, my weight can fluctuate up to 5 pounds above my morning weight. This does not help my off-the-plan case. I weighed in 2 lbs. more than when I started. I explained my bloating issue and even though it has some merit, felt my words were so apparently a cover-up for my non-plan ways that I felt that they thought I was making excuses. Perhaps I was. She decided to forego my stats for the evening due to the bloated spectacle I had made of myself and we would reassess me at a later date. Whew. Gotta take this gimme as a sign to get back on track NOW. I ate the plan today like a good girl, but the rabid cheetah is lurking in the background. This defies logic. How on Earth is 2,300 calories not enough?
Day 5 - I'm on the plan today, but I've got the weekend starting tonight, and well, by now you know that weekends are not my shining moments of dietary goodness. Plus, I have only a 5 mile run this Sunday which means not as much wiggle room on the eating.
Day 6 - Off the plan, off the plan. Hungry + Eating Out Lifestyle = No Plan
Day 7 - More off the plan drama. I want so much to be on the plan. But I can't take the rabid cheetah. Feed me, Seymour.
Week Three Summary
I likey the plan this week. A sigh of relief. Makes it so much easier!
My grocery bill was a fortune. Partly because they are giving me large quantities of food to eat (thank you) and if hubby wants to eat it too, then we are buying lots of food. Also, Zone Perfect bars are expensive. Not in the context of it being a "meal". But when you buy a case of 15 of them, then they appear expensive. 18 bucks on bars. Yikes.
The crux of the plan:
Meal 1 - Eggs/egg whites, Cheerios & skim milk, cantaloupe. The quantities are ginormo and I am so appreciative for it!
Meal 2 - an apple with a peanut butter/cottage cheese dip recipe. I don't really care for it, but it's edible.
Meal 3 - TWO turkey sandwiches and some grapes. Yeah baby.
Meal 4 - string cheese, almonds, peach
Meal 5 - a mish mash of potato, ground turkey, salsa, broccoli - their recipe that actually was much better than it sounds. Even hubby liked it and that is saying something.
Meal 6 - Greek "yogurt" and fruit
Day 1 - Breakfast was daunting. That is an awful lot of food. I'm happy though because tomorrow I have a huge workout day and this will be great fuel. I somehow inhale it all, no problem. My snack seemed tiny in comparison to breakfast and I got hungry quickly after that one. Lunch, even though it sounds big, wasn't really and hungry again. Afternoon snack, still hungry. Dinner was tasty and filling.
I have a two week check-in with my NT on Wednesday and at that time I will ask her to gauge how hungry I should be. I doubt this is the norm for most people on the plan, because as far as diet plans go, they are extremely generous with food choices and portions. I am sure my exercise interferes with the hunger piece and this is exactly the issue that brought me to this program to begin with. I am stubborn and won't budge on the exercise, so she will just have to help me figure it out.
Day 2 - I'm hungry. Again. What gives?!?! I can't do it. No. I can do it. But not this way. I broke the diet. I ate until I wasn't hungry and maybe a little more. I'm definitely not on the plan. When I email that I'm hungry, they tell me to eat. But, if I was able to make smart choices on quality and portion control on my own, I wouldn't be paying them to tell me what to put in my mouth. Spinning out of control...
Day 3 - Still out of control. I'm off the diet. Well, I'm on it until about 11. Then it's fair game. And I have a "check in" with my NT tonight. Super. I don't want her to think I'm not on the plan just because I'm weak. I'm willing and able to do this but I'm HUNGRY. Gosh darnit. Help a girl out.
Day 4 - The meeting last night was a disaster. I met up with her, we checked in my friend as my "buddy" on the plan (which saves us both a little $$). She asked if I brought my journal. I intentionally didn't. First, because I've been very poor at keeping it up. Secondly, because if she's seen the magnitude of my ricochets from the hunger, well, that's just embarassing. I told her "I got it" and blew her off. Whew. Crisis averted. I did not know she planned to weigh me in tonight. Had I known that I would have never agreed to a night appointment. Dunno about you, but the minute I put food or drink into my body upon waking, my weight can fluctuate up to 5 pounds above my morning weight. This does not help my off-the-plan case. I weighed in 2 lbs. more than when I started. I explained my bloating issue and even though it has some merit, felt my words were so apparently a cover-up for my non-plan ways that I felt that they thought I was making excuses. Perhaps I was. She decided to forego my stats for the evening due to the bloated spectacle I had made of myself and we would reassess me at a later date. Whew. Gotta take this gimme as a sign to get back on track NOW. I ate the plan today like a good girl, but the rabid cheetah is lurking in the background. This defies logic. How on Earth is 2,300 calories not enough?
Day 5 - I'm on the plan today, but I've got the weekend starting tonight, and well, by now you know that weekends are not my shining moments of dietary goodness. Plus, I have only a 5 mile run this Sunday which means not as much wiggle room on the eating.
Day 6 - Off the plan, off the plan. Hungry + Eating Out Lifestyle = No Plan
Day 7 - More off the plan drama. I want so much to be on the plan. But I can't take the rabid cheetah. Feed me, Seymour.
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.
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.
Courthouse Nutrition Plan - Week One Summary
Monday 7/12 - Sunday 7/18, 2010
Week One Summary
Week One was an adjustment. And I was already eating pretty "clean". I liked that my grocery bill was low, since I'll be eating the same thing every day all week. Simple. Cheaper. I didn't like that my non-domestic butt was in the kitchen for 2 and a half hours on Sunday making all my food for the week. And I forgot to make two things!
The food plan is tricky. Only in the sense that they somehow make all this healthy food add up to 2,000 calories! I get six meals a day, to try to eat 2 1/2 to 3 hours a part. As a massage therapist, this could get sketchy. My days are usually booked to the minute, no real lunch break to speak of, and the timing could get hard to adhere to. But I'm motivated to see some results and I'll figure it out.
Breakfast is a fruit/protein smoothie. Not good with Greek yogurt, but YUMMY with whey protein. Close to what I was already eating before.
Snack is egg+egg whites and plain oatmeal with frozen berries mixed in. Probably so it doesn't taste like eating a bowl of cement. Blech. I actually came to love the oatmeal by the end of the week by adding a packet of Stevia and mashing the frozen berries in it so much that it flavored every bite.
Lunch is a Greek turkey burger (their recipe, which is DELICIOUS!!) on an Oroweat sandwich thin and some fruit. Yummy, but not filling enough for me.
Snack is a string cheese and 15 Kashi crackers. Yummy, but not filling enough for me.
Dinner is a chicken salad with balsamic vineagar and oil dressing and some random nuts and fruit thrown in for good measure. Yummy. And satisfying.
Snack is 3/4 cup cottage cheese (is it me or does this plain taste like it is a rotten food? Blech.) and raw vegetables.
My problem came as early as day 1. Breakfast great. Snack great. But an hour later I'm starting to get hungry. Moderately hungry. Already. Eat lunch and it doesn't even register on the radar. Uh oh. By afternoon snack I'm a rabid cheetah and inhale the cheese and crackers. Not even a blip on the radar. Dinner helped and evening snack helped. But it's very stressful to feel the panic of starvation and I went to bed feeling okay but a little worried about tomorrow. Day 2 was just as I feared. Even worse than Day 1. I'm starving and I can't do this. I have to eat. In the afternoon I add a Zone Perfect bar to my snack. It helps a little, but I'm not in a good way at this point. I starve the rest of the day. And I'm down 4 pounds in two days, but I'm sure it's not all fat mass and I'd gladly trade some poundage for a meal at this point.
Day 3, 6:30 am I email my NT a desperate plea for more calories. Please. Help. Me. Salvation is delivered into my Inbox by 8:30am with a 2,300 calorie plan. Who would've ever thunk it? So happy to have authorization to eat more, I happily do. The plan basically stays the same, they just increase your portions on certain things and lo and behold...they added a Zone Perfect bar to the menu!! What are the odds?!?! Downside is I didn't exercise at all today. So, up .4 pounds on morning of Day 4. I tell myself not to panic. The calorie fairy is not going to come in and take my extra 300 calories away today for gaining a little weight. I plan to workout hard today, so it will more than make up for it. My workouts today were weight training for an hour, a very vigorous step aerobics class and then my schedule opened up that night so I came back for Zumba. Lots of exercise today. I was fine all day until after Zumba. Then the starvation returned with a vengeance. I told myself it was because I exercised extra today and it will all even out in the wash for tomorrow. Wrong. Day 4 I stick to it but man, I'm hungry. I'm not a pansy about this sort of thing, either. I can handle discomfort. But this is a primal urge to eat. Day 5, I went to run inclines on the treadmill at the gym and 20 minutes in, I feel like I'm going to pass out. I ate my prescribed breakfast, but I'm completely out of gas. I stick to the eating plan knowing we will go out to dinner in the evening. Looking forward to eating something different, though worried about what to order. I don't want to totally blow it. We went to Mexican food so I ordered chicken fajitas, did not partake in sour cream or guac, ate one tortilla and ate the rest of the filling with no tortilla. It was really a half order because I shared with my husband. Yum. Food. We went to dessert. A true Courthouse Nutrition animal would've passed. But I pulled out the excuse of my traumatic, starving week and ate a small vanilla cone at DQ. Felt a little bad, but got over it instantly. With 2,300 calories, surely I am a metabolic inferno!
Day 5...I'm sorry, did I say metabolic inferno? Yeah...not so much. Up .4 today and today is going to be an anti-plan day. We have an event tonight that is once a year and unfortunately completely centered on eating. The food is top notch and there's lots of it. And I'm going into it with a loaded gun...I'm hungry!! And have been for a week!! I'll be honest. I didn't even really try today at all to stick to the plan. It felt great to eat tasty food that sticks to the ribs and with as much as I ate, I'm not sure I ever even felt stuffed. Oh well, what's one day?
Day 6...I'm sorry, did I say what's one day? Try gain it all back in a day! Surely I'm just bloated from real, unclean food. The problem is, the drastic gain on the scale and the taste of the nasty but delicious unclean food has made me want more. I continue to be Mrs. Anti-Plan on Day 7, finishing out my week certainly unlike the way I started.
I recognize this is a lifestyle change and let's face it, sometimes we just don't have it. But here's what this week is teaching me about myself: I'm a weekend diet saboteur. I'm spotless during the week. I make fairly healthy choices when we go out to eat, but no matter what I get at a restaurant, it will never be as calorically balanced and beautifully low-fat as my homemade plan food. And we tend to eat out a few times each weekend, so I need to reach out to my ever-helpful NT prior to this next weekend and have her help me navigate this pitfall of mine.
All in all, I really like the program. In my NT, I feel like I have a buddy alongside me ready to answer questions and cheer me on at anytime. The food gets better tasting over the week and they happily offer alternatives if there's something you don't like or the prep won't work for you. They try to give you food that is findable in a regular grocery store and realistic that you might want to actually eat it. And they try to give you healthy portions to control the rabid cheetah hunger. So far, so good.
Week One Summary
Week One was an adjustment. And I was already eating pretty "clean". I liked that my grocery bill was low, since I'll be eating the same thing every day all week. Simple. Cheaper. I didn't like that my non-domestic butt was in the kitchen for 2 and a half hours on Sunday making all my food for the week. And I forgot to make two things!
The food plan is tricky. Only in the sense that they somehow make all this healthy food add up to 2,000 calories! I get six meals a day, to try to eat 2 1/2 to 3 hours a part. As a massage therapist, this could get sketchy. My days are usually booked to the minute, no real lunch break to speak of, and the timing could get hard to adhere to. But I'm motivated to see some results and I'll figure it out.
Breakfast is a fruit/protein smoothie. Not good with Greek yogurt, but YUMMY with whey protein. Close to what I was already eating before.
Snack is egg+egg whites and plain oatmeal with frozen berries mixed in. Probably so it doesn't taste like eating a bowl of cement. Blech. I actually came to love the oatmeal by the end of the week by adding a packet of Stevia and mashing the frozen berries in it so much that it flavored every bite.
Lunch is a Greek turkey burger (their recipe, which is DELICIOUS!!) on an Oroweat sandwich thin and some fruit. Yummy, but not filling enough for me.
Snack is a string cheese and 15 Kashi crackers. Yummy, but not filling enough for me.
Dinner is a chicken salad with balsamic vineagar and oil dressing and some random nuts and fruit thrown in for good measure. Yummy. And satisfying.
Snack is 3/4 cup cottage cheese (is it me or does this plain taste like it is a rotten food? Blech.) and raw vegetables.
My problem came as early as day 1. Breakfast great. Snack great. But an hour later I'm starting to get hungry. Moderately hungry. Already. Eat lunch and it doesn't even register on the radar. Uh oh. By afternoon snack I'm a rabid cheetah and inhale the cheese and crackers. Not even a blip on the radar. Dinner helped and evening snack helped. But it's very stressful to feel the panic of starvation and I went to bed feeling okay but a little worried about tomorrow. Day 2 was just as I feared. Even worse than Day 1. I'm starving and I can't do this. I have to eat. In the afternoon I add a Zone Perfect bar to my snack. It helps a little, but I'm not in a good way at this point. I starve the rest of the day. And I'm down 4 pounds in two days, but I'm sure it's not all fat mass and I'd gladly trade some poundage for a meal at this point.
Day 3, 6:30 am I email my NT a desperate plea for more calories. Please. Help. Me. Salvation is delivered into my Inbox by 8:30am with a 2,300 calorie plan. Who would've ever thunk it? So happy to have authorization to eat more, I happily do. The plan basically stays the same, they just increase your portions on certain things and lo and behold...they added a Zone Perfect bar to the menu!! What are the odds?!?! Downside is I didn't exercise at all today. So, up .4 pounds on morning of Day 4. I tell myself not to panic. The calorie fairy is not going to come in and take my extra 300 calories away today for gaining a little weight. I plan to workout hard today, so it will more than make up for it. My workouts today were weight training for an hour, a very vigorous step aerobics class and then my schedule opened up that night so I came back for Zumba. Lots of exercise today. I was fine all day until after Zumba. Then the starvation returned with a vengeance. I told myself it was because I exercised extra today and it will all even out in the wash for tomorrow. Wrong. Day 4 I stick to it but man, I'm hungry. I'm not a pansy about this sort of thing, either. I can handle discomfort. But this is a primal urge to eat. Day 5, I went to run inclines on the treadmill at the gym and 20 minutes in, I feel like I'm going to pass out. I ate my prescribed breakfast, but I'm completely out of gas. I stick to the eating plan knowing we will go out to dinner in the evening. Looking forward to eating something different, though worried about what to order. I don't want to totally blow it. We went to Mexican food so I ordered chicken fajitas, did not partake in sour cream or guac, ate one tortilla and ate the rest of the filling with no tortilla. It was really a half order because I shared with my husband. Yum. Food. We went to dessert. A true Courthouse Nutrition animal would've passed. But I pulled out the excuse of my traumatic, starving week and ate a small vanilla cone at DQ. Felt a little bad, but got over it instantly. With 2,300 calories, surely I am a metabolic inferno!
Day 5...I'm sorry, did I say metabolic inferno? Yeah...not so much. Up .4 today and today is going to be an anti-plan day. We have an event tonight that is once a year and unfortunately completely centered on eating. The food is top notch and there's lots of it. And I'm going into it with a loaded gun...I'm hungry!! And have been for a week!! I'll be honest. I didn't even really try today at all to stick to the plan. It felt great to eat tasty food that sticks to the ribs and with as much as I ate, I'm not sure I ever even felt stuffed. Oh well, what's one day?
Day 6...I'm sorry, did I say what's one day? Try gain it all back in a day! Surely I'm just bloated from real, unclean food. The problem is, the drastic gain on the scale and the taste of the nasty but delicious unclean food has made me want more. I continue to be Mrs. Anti-Plan on Day 7, finishing out my week certainly unlike the way I started.
I recognize this is a lifestyle change and let's face it, sometimes we just don't have it. But here's what this week is teaching me about myself: I'm a weekend diet saboteur. I'm spotless during the week. I make fairly healthy choices when we go out to eat, but no matter what I get at a restaurant, it will never be as calorically balanced and beautifully low-fat as my homemade plan food. And we tend to eat out a few times each weekend, so I need to reach out to my ever-helpful NT prior to this next weekend and have her help me navigate this pitfall of mine.
All in all, I really like the program. In my NT, I feel like I have a buddy alongside me ready to answer questions and cheer me on at anytime. The food gets better tasting over the week and they happily offer alternatives if there's something you don't like or the prep won't work for you. They try to give you food that is findable in a regular grocery store and realistic that you might want to actually eat it. And they try to give you healthy portions to control the rabid cheetah hunger. So far, so good.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Courthouse Nutrition Plan - The Consultation
July 7, 2010
Today I signed up for the Courthouse Nutrition Plan. Here's what got me here:
Back in February, me and my fitness coach had figured on a base of 1450 calories and on days that I run several miles or do two workouts, to add back about 60% of the calories I burned so my body knows it's not starving. That worked to get 7 more pounds of fat off my body. But to cut any more (and I'm talking a measly 50 calories a day) I was hitting a MAJOR wall. I'd be starving and because I was so hungry just abandon the whole darn thing and eat whatever, whenever until it filled me up. Then get frustrated and guilty and start all over again. I've been riding that roller coaster since April and out of desperation, joined the Courthouse Nutrition Plan. For those of you who do not live in Salem, Oregon, no, I am not an inmate or otherwise affiliated with the judicial system here in Salem. The Courthouse is our local gym that has managed to take over our town with 5 locations. They've created an image that makes people feel status-y by belonging there and they get away with charging roughly double what the others in town charge all while keeping the major chain gyms struggling in their wake. It's impressive. As a budding entrepreneur, I can only watch in awe and inspiration. Ahem, anyway. I like the Courthouse because I feel at home there. Their staff rocks and are always willing to roll up their sleeves and get all up into my fitness business when I ask them to. So it seemed natural to gravitate toward my "home away from home" for my eating dilemma.
This program was just rolled out in June and due to me never being aware of my surroundings, I didn't catch wind of it despite the posters, pamphlets, etc. until now. The consultation is a 30 minute one-on-one with Personal Trainer-now-dubbed-Nutrition Trainer (who I will now refer to as NT). I explain my problem and the trainer takes my weight and does a caliper test to test my body fat. We establish I am 23% body fat and while that is a healthy number, it's not uncommon for someone in their thirties to be in the teens and since I feel I am not to my goal for my body, we decide to press on with some more weight loss. We decide that if I lose 10 pounds, and if it is all fat mass (and not losing any lean muscle), we may be well at our goal. I am encouraged to think that 10 pounds is all I have left. I mean, I've already lost 50, so 10 seems like such a manageable number! On the other hand, I've been through hell trying to lose ONE POUND as of late, so... Then we look at my activity level. She has me guestimate on average how much I work out. I'm a maniac. I admit it. I love exercising. Mostly I love to dance and move my body in choreographed bliss. And as an adult, exercise classes seem to be the closest I can get to that on a regular basis. I started to weightlift and run, hated those at first, but grew to love them for the way they alter my body athletically. So, I exercise a lot. Mostly because I so rarely have quiet time in my head and time to just listen to music and be me, that I treasure my workout time and fit it in whenever I can. So my estimate is 1 1/2 - 2 hours a day. It's fair. Some days it's more. Somedays it's not. Every once in awhile if I'm tired, I take a day of rest. It's a good number. Based on that, she puts my calories at 2,000. 2,000!! Scary because it's more than I'm used to, comforting because it means I might actually get to eat something. She asks me to trust her and I tell her of course I will, because obviously what I'm doing now is not working. She gives me a booklet that has a grocery list, meal plan, and outline of the "10 Healthy Habits" they want you to strive for as a lifestyle (things such as hydration, rest, yada yada yada). She tells me to wait until Monday to start so I can get my groceries, prep a lot of my food on Sunday and get a running start for the first week. I'm eager to start now, but do as she says. I get a "free" (aka totally paid for in my new nutrition dues) lunch bag, measuring cups and spoons, food scale, food journal. "No excuses" she says as she hands it to me.
Today I signed up for the Courthouse Nutrition Plan. Here's what got me here:
Back in February, me and my fitness coach had figured on a base of 1450 calories and on days that I run several miles or do two workouts, to add back about 60% of the calories I burned so my body knows it's not starving. That worked to get 7 more pounds of fat off my body. But to cut any more (and I'm talking a measly 50 calories a day) I was hitting a MAJOR wall. I'd be starving and because I was so hungry just abandon the whole darn thing and eat whatever, whenever until it filled me up. Then get frustrated and guilty and start all over again. I've been riding that roller coaster since April and out of desperation, joined the Courthouse Nutrition Plan. For those of you who do not live in Salem, Oregon, no, I am not an inmate or otherwise affiliated with the judicial system here in Salem. The Courthouse is our local gym that has managed to take over our town with 5 locations. They've created an image that makes people feel status-y by belonging there and they get away with charging roughly double what the others in town charge all while keeping the major chain gyms struggling in their wake. It's impressive. As a budding entrepreneur, I can only watch in awe and inspiration. Ahem, anyway. I like the Courthouse because I feel at home there. Their staff rocks and are always willing to roll up their sleeves and get all up into my fitness business when I ask them to. So it seemed natural to gravitate toward my "home away from home" for my eating dilemma.
This program was just rolled out in June and due to me never being aware of my surroundings, I didn't catch wind of it despite the posters, pamphlets, etc. until now. The consultation is a 30 minute one-on-one with Personal Trainer-now-dubbed-Nutrition Trainer (who I will now refer to as NT). I explain my problem and the trainer takes my weight and does a caliper test to test my body fat. We establish I am 23% body fat and while that is a healthy number, it's not uncommon for someone in their thirties to be in the teens and since I feel I am not to my goal for my body, we decide to press on with some more weight loss. We decide that if I lose 10 pounds, and if it is all fat mass (and not losing any lean muscle), we may be well at our goal. I am encouraged to think that 10 pounds is all I have left. I mean, I've already lost 50, so 10 seems like such a manageable number! On the other hand, I've been through hell trying to lose ONE POUND as of late, so... Then we look at my activity level. She has me guestimate on average how much I work out. I'm a maniac. I admit it. I love exercising. Mostly I love to dance and move my body in choreographed bliss. And as an adult, exercise classes seem to be the closest I can get to that on a regular basis. I started to weightlift and run, hated those at first, but grew to love them for the way they alter my body athletically. So, I exercise a lot. Mostly because I so rarely have quiet time in my head and time to just listen to music and be me, that I treasure my workout time and fit it in whenever I can. So my estimate is 1 1/2 - 2 hours a day. It's fair. Some days it's more. Somedays it's not. Every once in awhile if I'm tired, I take a day of rest. It's a good number. Based on that, she puts my calories at 2,000. 2,000!! Scary because it's more than I'm used to, comforting because it means I might actually get to eat something. She asks me to trust her and I tell her of course I will, because obviously what I'm doing now is not working. She gives me a booklet that has a grocery list, meal plan, and outline of the "10 Healthy Habits" they want you to strive for as a lifestyle (things such as hydration, rest, yada yada yada). She tells me to wait until Monday to start so I can get my groceries, prep a lot of my food on Sunday and get a running start for the first week. I'm eager to start now, but do as she says. I get a "free" (aka totally paid for in my new nutrition dues) lunch bag, measuring cups and spoons, food scale, food journal. "No excuses" she says as she hands it to me.
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