Work Blues: A Gateway to Snacking

I'm sitting here at work and my motivation level is not super high. Its Tuesday, it's raining, and I still have way too much work to do on a marketing plan that's due soon. I keep waffling away from my computer screen and thinking I want a snack. And not apples or carrots. More like M&Ms or Fritos. This has long been a problem for me...the boredom sets in at work, and I use snacking to break up the afternoon. Sometimes its out of hunger. sometimes its merely for distraction. And sometimes, its both. But its interesting when you actually stop to think about your cravings. Right now, I am not hungry. But everything in me wants chips, chocolate or anything else that's bad for you.

Monday Weigh-In #4: Back on the Horsey

So as I said last week - I fell off the wagon for a few days at the tradeshow. But now its Monday, it's a new week, and time to get back on the horsey.

Today's weight - I gained a pound. Not bad for all the crap I ate last week, so I'll accept that weight and make this week about losing at least two pounds to make up for it. 73 pounds to go.

This week's objective: get to the gym. I've been super busy in the last six or seven weeks, and haven't been to the gym much at all. Time to change that and really find time to go. So I'm going to tonight. Gym goal: Go at least three times by Monday, November 2.

Well I Feel Sheepish...

So as you can see, I didn't weigh in and/or post about it on Monday, even though I promised to do it every Monday. But this week I was away at a conference in Boston. And I admit, when I am traveling for business, I am the worst at dieting. Its even harder than dieting when I'm on vacation for pleasure. Here's why:

*My time is not my own. I can't eat at all my regular hours because there are certain times I need to be working, and sometimes breakfast, lunch and dinner happen at weird hours.
*There's mostly fast food in the convention center, so those times I can't leave make it difficult to eat healthy.
*There's all kinds of candy and other temptations all over the exhibit hall. Lots of exhibitors give out candy to attract visitors to the booth, and sometimes the convention center will put out snacks like cookies and danishes.
*All meals are covered by my company, so there's unbelievable temptation to go to great restaurants and eat lots of fattening but awesome stuff.
*Alcohol is usually out in full force at these things too - you're out with co-workers, or clients, or at cocktail parties, and alcohol = more calories.
*Exercise is almost non-existent at these things. Number one, there's no time. Two, even if you do have time, your legs hurt so much from standing in the booth all day, the idea of doing any kind of cardio is just silly.

Those things said, I know that I eventually need to learn how to eat better, even when I am on the road. While its impossible to do everything right on the road, it is possible to do a better job than I did this week. So...I'm starting over next week, and we'll see where I am next Monday.

Monday Weigh-in #3: A little late

So since yesterday was a holiday and I was out of town - I did not get to weigh myself yesterday morning. Instead, I weighed myself Sunday morning and was going to record that as my official weight loss for the week. The result was that I'd lost a pound - which was justified - I'd been fairly careful about what I'd eaten all week, and just a little mischievous over the weekend. I never got around to doing a blog post though because I was busy running around and going out of town.

So this morning, back home, I weighed myself to see how much damage I might have done in Atlantic City. I was away for my cousin's birthday, and didn't count points at all. So my weekend included a dinner at Carmine's, dessert at "the devil's workshop" and a freaking cheeseburger and fries at Applebee's yesterday. Bad, bad, bad. But somehow it all worked out, because when I stepped on the scale this morning, I somehow had lost another pound. That brings the total so far to 3.

Seriously?

Seriously. 72 pounds to go.

Temptation of the Day

When you're trying to diet, you build yourself an arsenal. You empty your home of crappy foods and fill it with healthy stuff, or at the very least low calorie stuff. You march out of the house armed with your meals and your snacks, determined to stick to the plan you've set for yourself that day.

And then you get out there in the world. It's inevitable - the minute you decide or announce that you're dieting, the universe seems to begin to throw food at you. It's everywhere. The temptations are some of the toughest pitfalls of dieting, and I found one of them today in the office kitchen. Someone brought in their child's box of World's Finest Candy bars to sell, so its sitting in the kitchen with an envelope of money attached. Pay a dollar, take a candy bar. I have a weakness for these chocolate bars - probably because they have nostalgia attached to them, because I used to sell and eat the same ones when I was a kid. So since I don't have children, I don't see them around much anymore, except for rare occasions like this. But I didn't take one. I'm on a mission, and I'm sure I'll give into some other temptation before this week is out. So for now, I'm holding out.

Weigh-In Monday #2: What Happens in Vegas...

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. That being said, I won't tell you what I ate while I was there, but I will tell you - I did not stick to my diet last week. I knew I was headed to Vegas - land of the never-ending buffet - and had decided that the lure of endless carbs and desserts was too much of a battle for me. So I'd made a decision not to fight it, and decided to just let Vegas be Vegas, and get back on the horse when I returned to NYC.

So, I got on the scale today because I said I'd weigh myself each Monday - and somehow, I'd still lost a pound. Actually, its a pound an a half counting the half a pound I'd gained last week. I am not going to take any credit for this weight loss, but I'll take it. Facts are, sometimes when you work hard at dieting and losing weight, sometimes your body doesn't let you lose anything. And sometimes, when you go to Vegas and suck down carbs, your body loses a pound anyway. So I'll happily take the 1 pound loss and say - 74 pounds to go.

Now this week - back on the horse and trying to be really good.

Weigh-In Monday #1

So this morning was the first weigh in which I promise to do every Monday no matter what. Unless I'm not near a scale. But anyway. I weighed myself this Monday knowing that I hadn't followed my diet plan all week like I should have. Being away for the weekend is difficult - there's lots of snacks, there's lots of restaurant eating, and there's rest stops full of crappy fast food to contend with...and while I made some smart choices, I made some crappy ones too. So today's result is: gained 1/2 pound. I'm not going to cry about it, but I've got to get back on the horse and do the best I can. Although, Vegas lies in my future, so maybe this week might just be one where I'm lucky to maintain...

Weekend Challenge: Climb a freaking mountain

So this weekend I was upstate in the Adirondacks with Brian, Lindsay, Kelley and friends. One of our activities was to do a 3.3 mile mountain hike to a summit at Buck Point. I was psyched at the idea of getting really good exercise but a bit worried about my stamina for this journey.

The photo is of Andreas and Kelley walking on the wooded trail. The hike itself was really pretty - we were surrounded by green tall trees, cool mountain air, and all the rocks, branches and earth you could imagine. The first few paths were okay - just winding dirt road and a hop or two over a rocky stream.

But soon enough the climb got challenging. A mountain hike means quite a bit of it is up, so there were all these steep (and not so steep) hills that needed to be ascended. My legs got tired fast, I was breathing heavily, and wondering how the heck I was going to make it even more than a mile. Brian stuck with me for most of the hike, and held my hand to help me up some of the more challenging parts of the hill, for which I am totally grateful. I was mostly telling him I hated him during the experience though.

In the end, I did not make it all the way up to the summit, I was just too darn exhausted. I told the crew to go on without me, but even when I was alone, I kept ascending at my own pace. I passed a few hikers coming down. I kept asking how much further it was to the summit, and for some reason, everyone kept saying twenty minutes. Even after I'd walk twenty minutes they'd say twenty minutes. Ugh. So in the end, I made it about three miles up. I was pleased enough - and then there was the 3 mile trek down. Six miles in a day is not bad for me - glad in the end that Brian dragged me up there and I saw how far I could go. Maybe sometime in the future I'll be thinner and able to get up the whole thing.

Health check

So there's a Wellness Fair happening at my office today, so I figured I'd take the opportunity to get a quick (and free) blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose screening.

I waited with one of my colleagues, John. They were having trouble getting the cholesterol machines working. So blood pressure first - mine was 125 over 90. Basically this means I'm a little higher than I should be, but not in a scary awful range. Just need to diet and exercise a bit which I am trying to do now.

My glucose reading was 67. This is actually pretty low - but I hadn't eaten lunch yet, so if I had, I guess I might have fallen into the normal range which is between 80 and 120.

Lastly, the cholesterol was...LOW. After all the waiting and playing around with the machine, that's what the reading said. No number, just LOW. Um, okay. I shrugged and left, figuring if it said low, it couldn't be too bad.

John came by my desk after his screening. I was on a conference call, so he wrote me a note. He said his cholesterol was 180, and there was no way that was right, so just an FYI. HA.

Ugh

Its never easy to diet because the minute you start, out of nowhere sugar and snacks just find their way to you. And normally that fazes me, but so far I'm not feeling it at all. What annoys me is that I've reached a point in my life where I have a sensitive stomach and when I start eating healthier, its first instinct is to react violently.

This is annoying.

A good part of the reason to eat healthier is to feel better, so when my stomach feels worse on healthy days, I very quickly get annoyed. I know at some point this will pass and my body will get used to it if I keep it up, but for now, I'm stuck with the struggle of the beginning and trying to deal with feeling crappy.

At least I've got a blog to complain on.

Here we go: Day #1

So it's Monday, September 21, 2009, and this is the first day of the project. I went food shopping last night and bought healthy-ish stuff and only low calorie snacky snacks, so I'll be on my way. I weighed myself this morning - so I know the starting weight. You won't see it here - nobody feels like sharing that number, so I'll only be saying how much I lose and how far I have to go to reach my goal of 75 pounds. So while I'll be posting in between, I'll be weighing myself once a week and reporting on my weight loss each Monday.

The good news is I have already found a sponsor for part of the prize - the great Norway adventure. I was telling Brian about this blog and mission on Friday, and he said, and I quote: "Jenn, if you lose even 60 pounds, I will buy your plane ticket to Norway." Whoo hoo! Does that include Business class Mr. Bishop?

Seventy-five pounds to Norway

The idea for this blog has come from several different things:

#1 - I want to lose weight. I've been heavier than I'd like to be for a long time now, and more often than not, I lose the war on trying to do something about it. So setting up a way to stick to a weight loss project seems like a pretty good plan.

#2 - I want to go to Norway. I don't know why, and I'll elaborate on this in later posts, but its something I want to do so its become the strange finish line to this project.

#3 - I read/saw Julie/Julia and I got it. While it may seem silly to cook your way through a cookbook in a year and blog about it, facts are the woman was in a rut and found a way to get herself out of it. And got a book/movie deal to boot. Need I say more?

So the challenge is - I need to lose 75 pounds. I'm not putting a time constraint on it because that would just be unhealthy. Instead, there's a big prize in the end. If I can lose 75 pounds, I get to send myself to Norway. I don't know when it will be, but in my head I'm saying I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Start date: Monday, September 21, 2009.