A Little Whine With My Cheese

Uggh. Early plateau. REALLY early plateau.
My metabolism, I think, is being really stubborn. I've stayed between 76.6kgs and 75.5 for the past month. My dad, who is also eating right and exercising, has been dropping a kilo a week. BUT there is a difference in both of our cases- he's never dieted or exercised before, whereas I'm fitter. I have been doing about three hours of exercise every second day with limited results. Sadly, that means I will have to up the weight I'm training with, and also up the days that I exercise. I'm being very very impatient, but the last time I lost a heap of weight I too was losing a kilo a week. This time, not so much. I think it's because last time my body went: "good god! she's eating regularly, and eating healthy stuff! And moving!!! What's that about???" and it responded.

On the plus side, I'm not neglecting weights and resistance this time. Last time it was pure cardio and even though I reached my goal weight I still had a high fat percentage. I hope that once I reach my goal this time it will be for the very LAST time, that I can maintain it. I could kick myself for letting myself put all the weight back on, but my lifestyle changed so rapidly in such a short space of time that I totally forgot about having a maintenance plan in place. It was; well, I'm skinny now, I can't eat ANYTHING I WANT!!! Erm...no. Not without regular exercise I couldn't.
I'm hoping that if I stick with it, things will work themselves out.

Move it To Lose It

You've heard of the phrase "move it or lose it", right? I prefer the phrase "move it AND lose it."
I've started back exercising again. It began with 45 minute walks in the park every morning to get my stamina up, wearing my new toning shoes. I know the scientific studies say the shoes don't work, but I beg to differ- I lost centimeters around my calves, which is the place I usually find I don't lose weight until very much later! But in order to make the scale move and decrease my body fat, I knew that I couldn't just walk the weight off. Previously, when I lost 50lbs I could, because I didn't have a baseline of fitness already. I sort of shocked my body into losing weight because it wasn't used to phyiscal exertion, other than jumping to conclusions. But now I have to work quiiiiiite a bit harder.
Yesterday, I did an hour and 30 minutes of exercise, including 30 minutes on my stationary bike, and mixing and matching of various fitness DVDs. I tried Shape's 20 Minute Makeover DVD for the first time too. Whoo! It's exhausting but I think it's worth it. It incorporates cardio intervals with strength moves, and combines yoga postures with traditional ballet moves. It gave me a bit of a bad Black Swan flashback, but the moves were appreciated! I woke up sore this morning, but seeing the scales move a fraction overnight was worth it.

I like to mix things up on a daily basis, so I find DVDs that have 10 minute routines are fantastic for this. That way I can change things around and keep my body guessing, and make sure everything gets a good workout.

The Shakes

It's day 2 of my healthy new lifestyle (I am attempting not to use the word DIET because it makes it sound so temporary), and so far so good. I haven't had any sugar crankies, and I think that's because my blood sugars are stable for the first time since before Christmas due to eating 3 regular meals and 2 snacks and basing my food choices around fruit and vegetables. I must admit to having a real sense of apathy towards breakfast, which is strange because I usually am okay with breakfast, but to get around that I have been having a protein shake instead of just going without breakfast, which would be worse. I can even still have dessert- I have been having low-fat, low-calorie Chocolate Paddle Pops to treat my ice cream craving and to control my portions of said ice cream!

I did have one moment of longing, however. There was an advert for Wendy's Flake Shakes and I started salivating. Which is weird, because I like shakes but I wouldn't go out of my way to have one. But that's been my only real moment of craving.

Exercise has been an issue, however. I hurt my back on Monday, and as much as I am gagging to get into the full swing of exercise again, that little twinge is annoying me. I have been applying heat and ibuprofen gel and stretching, so I am hoping by tomorrow I can get back into things.

I also set myself a goal this month on my NikePlus account to burn 40,000 calories by walking, which is a ginormous amount, but we shall see how I go!

Healthy 2011

In the New Year I started a Facebook group called Healthy 2011. I have to admit right here and now that it was completely self-serving; I did it because I am most definitely going to need support in reaching my health goals this year. It's had a great response from my friends so far, especially those that have goals of their own. Of course, I'm aiming to get back down to my goal weight, but I have other little mini-goals as well, like aiming to eat 5+ serves of fruit and vegetables per day, and because I'm such a fussy eater I want to try new vegetables that I have been avoiding like the plague. This week it's tomatoes.

Even my Dad is getting on the fitness bandwagon, exercising and switching from full-fat milk to low-fat. I also discovered that through my Pedometer on my iPod I can share my progress on my power walks on Facebook, which is kinda neat.
But most of all, I want to be healthy and stay healthy. I want to keep my depression at bay and get my confidence back up after having to resign from my job. I want this to be a good, positive year full of possibilities!