Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Post holiday plan of attack


Okay, now that we're both well again and the shock of a cruddy holiday has worn off a bit, let's get to the nitty gritty...holiday weight gain.  We bit the bullet and finally weighed in last Saturday.  I was a pound over my guesstimate which is 7 lbs higher than I was before the madness set in.  I wasn't super happy but we all know our bodies and the way they hang.  I have a divot to the right of my belly button that is pretty pronounced when I stand up under normal circumstances and it's only been slightly visible in the past week.  So yeah, I knew I was still up.  The Mr is also up and he got pretty depressed about it.

I knew things were bad when he started looking at fitness products on a road we've already traveled and I wanted him to know we're on the same page even if I'm not shouting it from the rooftops.  I saw Fitness Blender came out with their new 8 week Fat Loss Round 2 program.   For $15, they will tell us what workouts to do as well as throw some new ones in there and we don't have to keep doing the same things and I don't have to hear the Mr sigh in discontent when I grab a WATP or Turbo Fire he feels like we've just done.  (Even if we haven't.)  He said he was glad I did that as a show of support and I was thinking about it anyway but his mood kind of pushed me in the right direction.

I'll be honest, we both said eff it over the holidays.  We ate anything and everything all in the name of "it's that time of year."  I want to say it'll be different this year but we say that every year.  Actually since we'll be out of town over Christmas, maybe it will be different who knows.  But I know my biggest failure over the holidays came from a few things that all came together to set up the perfect weight gain storm.

1)  I ate like crap.  I ate cookies for meals 3 days in a row and not because I necessarily wanted them (okay, I did) but more because I just didn't have time to stop.  Or I'd notice I hadn't eaten and knew I only had an hour or two until the Mr came home so there was no sense in stopping to do a full meal.  Stupid?  Yep.  But in that moment, I didn't care even though I knew I'd pay for it.  Same with a stocking full of candy.  You get that mentality of "get it out of the house" and that should mean give it away to the dingoes at work, not eat it all and consider it out of the house.

2)  I didn't drink water.  When I say I didn't drink water, I mean I was lucky to get even half a water bottle in compared to the three I shoot for.  Do you know what no water in your system does well, to your system?  It ain't pretty.

3)  I stopped taking my probiotics.  There was no good reason for this.  I don't care how busy I was, there was just no reason to stop doing that as I saw them every day other than I was just rebelling against everything in my normal routine.  System problems compounded.

4)  I got sick.  I'd say I couldn't have helped that but I didn't manage my stress so that's what I get coupled with no probiotics to help the immune system and water to flush out the crud, so yeah, taking full responsibility for the cold.

The only thing I did right?  We only skipped one workout because one night I was so friggin' exhausted it was physically impossible for me to do so.  But yes, even when I was sick, I worked out even if it was at a lower intensity most times.  I shutter to think how much worse it'd be if I hadn't.

The only problem was when I felt better, I didn't have that rah rah kind of motivation to get back to business.  Not like I wasn't going to but it just felt like "ugh, back to the grind."  But seeing the way it affected the Mr made me want to do what I could to get us back in the right mindset.  So buying that program and giving him the variety he needs workout wise, was the first step in doing that.

Plan of attack:

I suggested we try upping our water not to pre-holiday levels but at least 2 bottles for me and at least one more for him.

Workout earlier.  He gets off early 3 days a week so he can come home to workout but we usually lazy around, he decompresses by reading crap online and we usually start our workouts around 6-6:30pm when we could be starting at 4:30pm.  So if we shower right after and then I make dinner, we're talking eating between 7:15-8pm depending on the day.  I know there will be some adjustments because we're going to start to get hungry toward bed time but we'll just have to deal with it or make sure we're eating enough so it carries us over.

Tracking.  We stopped tracking the week of Christmas because we had like 3 different holiday gatherings and figured why bother.  The rest of the tracking, we just didn't want to see how shitty we were doing so we didn't.  (He's not a great tracker to begin with but we're going to change that this year.)  I've got my meals planned for this week and I feel in control again

For now those are the changes we're making and it feels good to have "day 1" (even though it's not but you know what I mean) under our belts.  I ate some yummy schtuff...


Lunch was open faced tuna fish with spinach and a pickle slice and my freggies and light string cheese.

Dinner was mahi with an jalapeno tomatillo orange glaze over Trader Joe's quinoa duo.

I got in two full water bottles and my bladder let me hear it but it needs to adjust because I plan to keep it up for 2 weeks and increase it back to pre-holiday levels.

Looking forward to another successful day!

How did you fare in the holiday weight gain department?

====================
Like this post? Don't miss another one...subscribe via email or RSS feed. (Or you can follow me on Facebook )

7 comments:

  1. I've been on my weight loss journey for the last 5 months. I didn't deny myself but I also kept track and continued to exercise as much as I could. Sometimes only 3x but mostly 4x a week. I ended up losing weight to my surprise and delight. But some of my bad habits from the holidays such as having chocolate have stuck on. Normally I avoid all candy. I know it is all about balance, and I make sure to log everything I eat and stay within my calories. So far so good. But in all honesty, it's been sheer will power and change in attitude that has helped me. I try to remember all the time I need food to fuel my body. But I think since you got way with gaining less than 10lbs, that's awesome! Sounds like you and the Mr. have a good plan to get back on track!

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's a solid plan and I know we can do it. I'm glad to have some fresh new workouts as that helps with the boredom and then we can go back to some of the tried and true ones later on.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm up too. I can't even really blame it on the holidays, but I will. Too many fast food meals and junk food, too many bad choices triggered by time demands and sheer laziness. Plus I had no zumba class for 2 weeks and I really struggle with working out at home. So... yeah up 9 from my lowest point, and up 7 from where I was usually hovering. I tracked breakfast and lunch last week and drank my water (dropped that water bottle over the weekend though) and this week I'm tracking everything and working my way up on water intake.

    We all know what we need to do, why is it so hard to actually do?

    ReplyDelete
  4. I gained four pounds but it's still at the highest weight I've been at, so not good. I do pretty well with water because it's my go-to drink, but the problem I've had it I'm going too long a stretch in between bottles. I'm finding that if I drink water out of a glass/cup I'm far more likely to drink more compared to out of a bottle. I just bought some flavored water yesterday that is so good. It's grape flavored which tastes nice and clean. I'm not a fan of the lemon or strawberry/kiwi flavors, so this was a nice surprise. I'll drink that with dinner and plain water the rest of the time. Vegetables have to be my focus now. I used to be so good about that but since I've been off of work, it's been terrible. Meal planning has been awful, so that's another area of focus for me. Focus, focus, focus. Now, where did I put my keys? Ha! Snort!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I struggled the entire year (2015)! And the result was NOT pretty. After seeing a weight that was north of 200 lbs. (a place I swore I'd never go again), in late 2015, I decided it was time to get back on the wagon. But it only lasted about a month, during which time I lost about 12 lbs., then Thanksgiving, then Christmas, and resolve went out the window. But on Jan. 4, I joined yet another Diet Bet. Those worked for me back in 2014, when I dropped a 35 lb. regain, but nothing worked in 2015, and I wasted a few $$ on unsuccessful Diet Bets. But this year I have added motivation, youngest son is getting married in October, and I swore long ago that I would NOT be fat for this last son's wedding, as I was a complete blob for the other two son's weddings back in 2005 and 2006. So I've already lost the holiday regain (8 lbs.), and am back down to 191.2, headed hopefully back to 150 lbs., where I maintained for almost three years, where I felt good, where all my new clothes fit. Heck, I have even had to buy NEW underwear and that was beyond depressing. Let's make 2016 the year we all hit our goal weights Anele!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. not up, but I haven't lost a thing since November when we got back from Disney.. I went from 217 to 185 relatively steadily, but ive been stuck at 185 since, and for my own faults.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I lost 35 pounds between January and July last year, then stalled through October, and GAINED around 10 pounds back between Thanksgiving and right now. I'm trying to get back on the wagon, too. http://rachelrbs.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for taking the time to comment! I appreciate your time! (Heads up though...disrespectful or spam comments will be deleted.)