Gaining Muscle or Fat? 4 Pounds in a Week, Yikes!

I hereby declare Week 1 of the Mulligan officially over! I was at the gym by 5:30 a.m. every day this week, Monday through Friday. I drank 2 liters of water each of those days except Wednesday. I lifted Monday, Wednesday and Friday, doing 20 minutes of cardio on the elliptical trainer those days. I did 30 minutes of cardio on the elliptical on Tuesday and Thursday, and did 60 situps all five days. And I gained 4 lbs. Yeesh! Hopefully it's muscle, or water. Don't stressed muscles retain more water, then release it after a couple weeks when they're more accustomed to a new workout routine? Cross your fingers for me.

I had a couple rough spots... Friday I parked my car in front of the gym and seriously considered just going straight home again. And for no reason really except that I was tired of being in such a rush getting ready for work after the gym; not having time to get pretty, just having time to get clean and neat. Mid-week I walked into the restroom and saw alot more of someone than I would have preferred to see. C'mon, let's preserve a little mystery, thank you. There are plenty of semi-private areas in the locker room to dress in, no need to stand out in the middle of everything in your altogether while you try to find a matching pair of socks in your gym bag. Anyhoo, I recovered from both episodes and finished my workouts.

I have one more week committed to the morning workout. Hopefully after that it will become habit. I do enjoy the workout itself, and the drive home is pretty relaxing. Plus I feel virtuouos all day, having gotten in my exercise 1st thing in the morning. However, I am so tired in the evening that I take a nap after dinner, then go to bed early. I thought I would have more energy from working out regularly, not start napping like my grandma. I haven't gotten anything done around the house and have fallen behind in emailing or calling family and friends. My mani/pedi needs to be touched up (I do it myself and do a pretty nice job, if I do say so) and seriously, it would be so nice to have time to fix my hair before work, instead of just quickly blow-drying it with a little product in it and hoping for the best.

I will stick it out another week and see how I feel at the end of next week. I'm excited about the changes that are coming. Yesterday I crossed my arms while I was talking to someone and was surprised to feel my triceps! Whoo hoo!

Moving right along

Well, Wednesday's almost over, I'm halfway through Week 1 of the Mulligan and I'm doing ok. I've gone to the gym 3 days this week at the crack of dawn... technically before dawn; it's still dark when I pull out of the garage each morning. I've done cardio and situps each day, and my upper-body weight-lifting routine Monday and today as planned. I drank 2 liters of water Monday and Tuesday but today drank not much more than 1 liter.... will just have to make sure I keep working on that tomorrow. I had salad for lunch Monday and today. Let's not discuss yesterday's Burger King run at lunch. Fast food for dinner each day but these two weeks I am only focussing on exercise and water. Oh yeah and adding in more fruits, veggies and grains. Need to keep that last one in mind tomorrow.

Rock On!

I did it! Got up at 4:45 a.m., went to the gym and did 20 mins cardio on the elliptical trainer, then stretching, situps and upper body weight-lifting. There was a woman at the gym who was only on the tricep curl machine intermittently but left her towell proprietarily on the armrest between sets. She was doing some kind of routine involving that and 2 other machines. I could not believe that in the morning, when everyone was trying to get their workout in before work, she would hog 3 machines at once! Yeesh! Of course I would not cared if it weren't one of the machines I wanted to use.

I brought a salad to work for lunch. And I had 2 liters of water by the time I got home from work. Of course then I ate a huge dinner, but at least it was Subway, full of protein, iron and veggies. I almost went for cheeseburgers and fries.

All in all, I'm calling today a success. Rock on!

Preparing for the Mulligan

I hope everyone had a fab 4th! I went to two bbq's and saw lots of awesome fireworks and a friend's cutecutecute 3 month-old baby girl. Today I'm preparing for Week 1 of The Mulligan. Starting Monday I'll be getting up ultra early to work out and then it's straight to work, so I'll be pooped when I get home. I figure it will be nice to have worked out and come home after work to a clean house, so today is a big house-cleaning day and making sure all the laundry's done so I have gym clothes and work-clothes. Nothing like the old "I don't have a clean sports bra!" excuse when you don't want to go to the gym at the crack of dawn, so I'm making sure it's not an option!

My 1-liter water bottles are full and chilling in the fridge.... I drink one on the elliptical and I'm going to try to drink the other at work. So my main goals for this week are 5 cardio workout's and 3 upper-body weight-lifting sessions for the week, and 2 liters of water a day. And I almost forgot adding in more fruits and veggies... I have bananas and frozen cherries, so I need to freeze some 'nanners so I can make cherry-banana smoothies. I could not resist the big bag of ruby red grapefruit so that is on hand for evening snacks. And I bought 2 kinds of lettuce and made hard-boiled eggs, so if I do my prep-work today I can take a salad for lunch tomorrow. My to-do list is growing, sigh. But I'll be glad when everything is ready.

Ok, I'm off to rotate the laundry, continue dusting and cleaning, and prep some salad. Wish me luck!

Mulligan

Ok, I hate dieting, I do not like being hungry, I despise restricting what I eat, and I resent logging my food and counting calories or points or polar bears or whatever the hot food-logging marker of the moment is.

I also hate, do not like, despise and resent being fat.

However, I like working out. This still may be doable.

When I lost the weight last time I just ate once a day. I saved all my hungry up for dinner-time and then ate as much as I wanted. At first I could eat a whole pizza and an order of fries every night and the weight was dropping off me like rats off a sinking ship. My only exercise was a 1 mile walk twice a day, plus some situps and pushups and leglifts. As I got smaller I started decreasing my intake and increasing my exercise. I added in small snacks during the day, like little boxes of raisins and chocolate milk every morning. But overall it was pretty unhealthy and I'm probably really lucky that it did not permanently mess up my metabolism. The fact that I became and remained skinny as hell reinforced the behavior and I stuck to that plan for about 7 years. The last few years I had taken up running and on the weekends I ate more than one meal a day; my own form of maintenance, increasing exercise and allowing a higher daily caloric intake. Then some big life changes, decreasing the exercise, eating alot all the time, and all the weight eventually came back. Which is heartbreaking, especially since I kept it off for so long.

I've tried things in the last few years and I can remain whole-heartedly invested in a program (not a diet, a way of life...) for several weeks, but eventually fall off the wagon. I AM SO TIRED OF NOT CONSISTENTLY FOLLOWING THROUGH WITH WEIGHT LOSS. Don't I care about myself? Don't I care about what I want and what is best for my body? Well duh, of course I do, but I don't act like it.

My latest commitment to weight loss lasted about 2 weeks. Then it was back to fast food and only going to the gym twice a week. Which is why I'm calling MULLIGAN! I want a do-over and it starts Monday.

So, what are my strengths and weaknesses regarding weight loss efforts? Clearly consistent follow-through is a weakness. I hate counting or eliminating food groups. I like working out. I like seeing results. I like lots of healthy foods: fruits, vegetables, whole grains.

So here's the new plan: instead of concentrating on limiting foods, focus on incorporating more of the good stuff. Eat more fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Work out: cardio 5 times a week, lift 3 times a week. Re-evaluate after 2 weeks.

Last week I started the week on vacation (stay-cation really), had my last day at my old job Tuesday, started my new job Wednesday. My eating was horrendous but I went to the gym Tuesday and Wednesday, and due to my schedule that meant I was up at 4:45 a.m., at the gym by 5:30 a.m., and then it was time to water the garden, let the dogs out, shower and get ready for work.

For the next two weeks I want to go to the gym every work-day morning in order to get my cardio in. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about the weight-lifting though. I would need to get up even earlier to make sure I had time to lift, but I guess if I want to see results I need to do that.

I'll post daily if I can, for accountability, discussing my successes and failures. We shall see!