My Weight Loss - Day 19

Today was a great day for calories. Even with a little wine for Fat Tuesday, I came in nearly 400 calories under what My Fitness Pal allotted for me today - after working out.

Today's workout came from http://fitnessglo.com/ (which I was able to connect to through my Roku). I am on a 15-day trial and then it is $15/month. It's similar to the Daily Burn that I tried yesterday. When you go to the site, you can choose your workouts by instructor, duration, level or style.

I did a workout called "Dance Party." I liked the instructor the more I watched her, but the class didn't challenge me enough. The biggest reason was because most of the class was spent learning the steps to the entire dance in parts, mostly in a slower tempo and a ton of repetition. You only really get to do the entire routine twice in full and at full tempo at the end of the class. I'm used to going in with no instruction and doing what the class leader is doing, so this bored me and didn't challenge me nearly enough. I ended up burning a decent amount of calories despite that --- but this company doesn't have nearly the amount of features that the Daily Burn did. They do offer all types of workouts like Daily Burn does, however, and I think I will go back and try more just so I give it a fair shot. Perhaps this video just wasn't at the level I needed, but other people may really benefit from it. Regardless, I came away with a whole new dance that I don't think I could forget if I tried. :)

I'm just a couple days away from the next weigh-in. So far, I think I may have lost a pound or so... but I'm worried that I won't get out of the 200s like I had planned for this week. I wonder why I feel I am losing weight so slowly when others are dropping it much more easily. Am I building muscle with these dances? I do feel a bit slimmer in the belly region... not a lot, but enough that it's a little noticeable to me.

Carrying on...

My Weight Loss - Day 3

Today I did 45 minutes of Zumba, medium intensity. I burned 546 calories! I always feel so accomplished when I am done with a good workout. I think I will rotate Zumba with the BeachBody's  Slim in 6 workout video. My husband and I used to use this video quite a bit, but we haven't done it in a while.

It's going to take me a while to get a good food schedule down. With my workout today, My Fitness Pal says that I am well under my calorie limit. But I had a dinner that was 620 calories... isn't that a lot? My breakfast, just coffee, a hard boiled egg and a clementine was 122. My lunch was 340 calories... a turkey sandwich and string cheese and then for dinner we had a turkey burger, boiled green beans and about a cup of a fresh mozzarella and tomato with Italian dressing salad. So, although I am under my calorie allowance... I still feel like I did something wrong. Do you have a per meal calorie allowance that you try to follow?

Today I packed up breakfasts for the week. I modeled them after Starbuck's protein bistro box... A hard boiled egg, a small slice of white cheddar cheese, about 1/4 cup of red grapes, a clementine and 3 pieces of celery that I will have with a little peanut butter. Not quite what Starbucks has... possibly better than? The celery and peanut butter actually replaces the muesli bread and peanut butter that they include.

Now that we are back to the busy work week and next weekend my husband and I are going away for our anniversary... it's going to be a bit more challenging. I'm glad that I'm in a very determined place, mentally, which I think will really to help me get through it.

Until tomorrow...

Gonna lose some weight!

 In an effort to become healthier, hopefully lose 50 lbs and be accountable for all of my actions - good and bad - I am going to blog here about how it goes. I am going to try to be as open and candid as possible about everything I try in order to hopefully attain my goals and maybe help out a few of you too.

This last Friday, I weighed in for the first time for our Biggest Loser contest at work. Last year, when we did this contest, I didn't take it seriously probably only succeeded at bringing my team down. This year, I'm feeling gung-ho! My weight at weigh-in was 208.5... but in the days leading up to weigh-in, I actively tried to "bulk-up" in hopes that this next Friday I will have dropped a lot of weight. Yesterday my scale said 201. I have yet to see if the scale at home is the same as we use at work.

Yesterday (Saturday) I did 40 minutes of Zumba using this link - click on the "play all" button so they play one after another: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5079A893E559DA3B

Using an online calculator, I burned 476 calories!

I am using the My Fitness Pal app on my iPhone to track my calories and exercise. My base amount of calories each day is 1200. The app gives you credit for the calories you burned, so I was given 1676 for the day. At the end of the day, I had 128 left... and that's only because I drank a few glasses of red wine (which is a lot of calories). Something I am going to start working hard at is curbing the amount of wine I drink... cuz I really love red wine. :)

I also bought the Nike FuelBand. It tracks the calories you burn through the day, the steps you take and gives you an overall score. My current goal is 3000 points per day. I started at 2000, but that didn't challenge me enough. At 3000, I find myself walking extra sets of stairs or walking in place just to bump my score up. The FuelBand syncs with your smartphone and/or your computer to keep track of how you've been doing. Since I bought the FuelBand, I also came across the FitBit which is less expensive than the FuelBand and works in conjunction with My Fitness Pal. I may decide to sell the FuelBand and try the Fit Bit out at some point.