So far, so good!

Today was the first day of the very low calorie diet after 2 days of loading.  There is an evil, evil cupcake sitting on my kitchen counter absolutely calling me to eat it.  However, I am holding strong, reminding myself why I'm doing this, and eating an apple dusted with cinnamon.  Yum!  I'm looking forward to weighing myself tomorrow to see what the first day brings!

I did gain 2 pounds during loading.  However, that is perfectly normal on the HCG diet.  I'm a little hungry today, but then again I only ate 1 meal instead of the 2 I am allowed - I wasn't hungry at dinnertime!  Lunch was a chicken breast grilled on my George Foreman grill.  I bought it because it's too cold to use the outdoor grill.  And romaine lettuce, an apple, and the croutons from a Caesar Salad kit.  It's a very filling lunch, and then at dinnertime I just wasn't hungry. 

A cheat that I use to get some dressing taste (no dressings allowed except for balsamic vinegar), is to put the dressing in a cup on the side, dip my fork into it, then spear the lettuce.  I get just a hint of dressing as opposed to a salad swimming in it, still get the taste, and don't stall my diet. 

The absolute wonderful thing about this program is that it works, it works very quickly, and that I am able to easily keep the weight off once it's gone.  Even the "approved" weight loss protocols don't do that.  When I work out and eat well, I can only maintain.  HCG is the only thing that has worked for me for weight loss.

I'm still nursing that sore shoulder - the pain isn't as bad, but my arm still goes to sleep at inopportune times, like when my kids are leaning against me and want affection.  It's irritating as can be. 

Getting back to workouts....

I injured my shoulder about 6 weeks ago.  After 3 weeks of trying to work through/around it, I finally had to let it rest.  It was bad enough that working was agony - and I work at the computer!

It's starting to get better, so I decided to start running again.  I do interval runs only, 5 minutes of warm up walking, then 6 rounds of running for one minute, walking for 2.  Then a 5 minute cool down.

Interval running burns more fat than "steady state" cardio does, and gets you into shape faster. I don't know if it's desirable to do the hard, hard, intense workouts - I know trainers who promote them, but I believe I can reach my goals with a much gentler approach.  What good does it do me to work out hard if I keep hurting myself?

My plan is to maintain my nutrition, plenty of vegetables and fruit, lean protein,  a gallon of water a day, and stay off the Diet Coke.  I'm using this weekend to start easing myself into it.  Then I'll do the "hard core" dieting during Lent, appropriately enough.  :)  Actually, 40 days ought to be enough time to take the bulk of the weight off and get used to a new eating plan.  I will also do the interval runs every day except Sunday.  I may run tomorrow anyway to establish the habit.  (There is a major winter storm supposed to be coming in tonight, so the weather will be a factor in running tomorrow.)

So, anyway, I just finished my run, and it was very difficult this time.  I was winded - I hadn't been winded during an interval run in ages.  The lack of exercise has been showing up in a tighter (almost uncomfortable) fit to my jeans, not just on the scales.  But since I know what to do, I'll keep up the hard work and know it will come back off.  Then it will be a matter of working off the rest of the extra weight....

Back to Working Out

I am re-starting my exercise program tomorrow.  Boot camp on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and Couch to 5K on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.  This is going to take a lot of self discipline.

I've looked hard at my nutrition and eating habits.  I eat fine, plenty of veggies and protein, easy on carbs.  Nothing extreme, which I think is how nutrition should be.  I should have a healthy relationship with food, not worrying about everything I ever put in my mouth.  I've eliminated sugary foods and most carbs, focusing more on fresh stuff.

Now I need to get back to exercising.  When I have lost a lot of weight before, I worked out every day, sometimes twice a day.  I'm going back to that.  Couch to 5k, developed by coolrunning.com, is designed to help a non-runner (like me) work up to running 3.1 miles a day (5k) comfortably in a 9 week program.  It's interval training, which should make my trainer, Mat, happy - he preaches intervals and tabatas. 

I've been injuring myself a lot (shoulder, hip, knees), so I will probably take longer than 9 weeks. 

One of my challenges with working out is simply that I have so much to do, I need to get up early in the morning to do my workouts, and I don't like getting up early.  However, my alarm is set, and I'm planning on a 6:30 wakeup every day to get this in. 

And, she's off.....

Haven't been working out....

Between bad knees, an injured shoulder, and a pinched nerve in my hip, I feel like I'm falling apart.  I've taken 3 weeks off from boot camp, hoping that the rest will help my poor body heal.  I do feel a lot better, and I think I'll be able to return to my regular workout schedule next week.

Nutrition has been going well, except I still don't like vegetables, and I still don't like salad, and I know I'm going to have to eat grilled meat and salad to get this weight off.