Apples and Oranges

Today I walked my usual 3 miles and I felt good. So after I finished my walk I clicked the end workout button in Noon. When you do that it gives you a summary of your work out. Like how many miles you walked, your average speed, the amount of time you worked out, and the calories burned. But before you get to that a box popes up that says congratulations you burned however many calories, but it equates calories burned to a certain number of fruit. As an example, it may say you burned 300 calories = 3 pears. My take on it is if you are using Noon you are trying to lose weight and more than likely you didn’t gain that weight by eating fruit. They should equate it to something good, something that would motivate you to want to keep working out and burning those calories. Example: you burned 312 calories = 1 slice of Domino’s Supreme Pizza or 2 small fries from McDonalds or 1 Chicken Thigh from Popeye’s. I mean that would really get me motivated. Can you imagine you just finished working out as hard as you can and it tells you that you burned enough calories to eat a piece of chicken from Popeye’s with the skin on it if you wanted too? I don’t know about you but that would make me want to find out how many calories some red beans and rice and a biscuit were and get right back out there. By the way a side of red beans and rice is 240 calories and a biscuit is 260. I’ll talk to y’all later I am going back out to walk, because I feel like chicken tonight, like chicken tonight and I’m getting the combo.

Today is a Good Day

Today is looking good so far. I felt good this morning so I got up around 7:30am and went for a bike ride. This time I got on my father in laws bike which was much better that the BFH (bike from h#!!) of my mother in laws. I rode it about 3.1 miles but I only got credit on Noon for 2.4. I am pedaling along literally, singing a song and I realize that Noon is not updating me on my work out. So I figure that the GPS is not working on my phone so I stop to figure out how to fix it. I hop down off the bike and take the phone out of my pocket and that is when I see that Noon is not even on. I was listening to Pandora as I was getting the bike out and I guess I got so into the music that I forgot to turn Noon on. I was mad at myself but I got over it because it was so nice and cool outside. Had it been hot this post would have taken and ugly turn right about now. It was so nice and cool that I decided to walk my 3 miles in addition to riding the bike. I told you today started off good. When I got back I got a bottle of water and as soon as I started drinking it Lil O asked me for some. Usually as a rule of thumb I don’t share my drinks with her but those endorphins had me on an exercise high. So I decided to share and when I got it back I saw her whole meal in my water bottle, from then on it was her water bottle. Then I had Special K for breakfast and a homemade Smoothie for lunch and in spite of everything I’m on my exercise high.  I was still disappointed though because riding those 2.4 miles only burned 119 calories but walking 3.2 miles burned 305. But all in all today is shaping up to be a good day.

Let’s Go Ride a bike

I wanted to change up something in my workout. You know, try something new. So I decided to try bike riding. My mother in law has a bike that she’s had for a few years and it’s practically brand new. MH and I both decide that we were going to give it a try. However because of Lil O we could not go together. So I let MH go first (he barrowed his dad’s bike) and about 10 mins later he comes strolling back in the door. That was fast, he then proceeds to tell me how the bike made his back and butt hurt and he couldn’t ride any longer. So I decide to go ahead and ride my mother in laws bike. I mean the seat is wide and it looks comfortable. So I get Noon working so it can track my workout. GPS is working and I am getting the countdown; workout starts in …5 4 3 2 1 workout began. So I hop on the bike and start pedaling. Mind you I don’t think I have been on a real bike since my Aunt Ella pumped me to South China and got my foot stuck in the spokes. When I get a really good speed going I sit on the seat and immediately feel like something is wrong. But I keep going, maybe it’s just because it’s been so long since I rode a bike. Or maybe it’s because I have a whole lot more that I need to fit on the seat. However I am determined, its one o’clock in the afternoon on a hot summer day in the deep south but I am determined. Then I get a brilliant idea, “I’ll ride four miles. How hard can it be I walk 3 miles all the time? (At 7 o’clock in the morning) I don’t know if it was the heat or my sheer cockiness but this really seemed like a good idea. About 1.4 miles into it (according to Noon) my legs are burning and the only way this seat could hurt anymore is if it wasn’t there. Then at about 1.8 miles I have to stop because this seat cannot be on the bike right. So I flip the seat around and hop back on the bike. Then I immediately hop back off, this is much worse. I put the seat back on the right way and continue on. Even though I felt like this was some kind of punishment, I kept going. And do you know what kept me going, the thought of all the calories I was burning. I was sure I was burning way more that the 300 to 350 I usually burn just walking. So I did it, I rode that bike for 41.45 mins in the heat of the day 4.3 miles. I end my workout on Noon and get my workout summery; total mins 41.45, total miles 4.3, and total calories 208. 208 calories REALLY, you have got to be kidding me. You know what 208 calories equal to as far as food is concerned not even 2 bananas.

The Ring Leader Impediment

My husband, Lil O, and I are riding down the road looking for a place to eat. My husband, (forever more to be known as MH) suggested Sonic. I immediately start to look on My Fitness Pal to see what I could order. When we get there I see the burger to end all burgers. THE RING LEADER! Now to give you a little background: When I first started thinking about trying to lose weight, you know after I found the spare tire. I went to Sonic with the family and saw this new burger. It has two slices of cheese four slices of bacon, grilled onions, lettuce, tomato, pickle, and an onion ring….. I know right, and to top things off I added chili to it. Well faced with this I am in a frenzy trying to find how many calories it has. I mean I allow myself to cheat every 2 weeks or so. This could be my cheat, right. So after a few mins of searching but not being able to find the amount of calories it contains, I start to think to myself. The logical side of my brain is saying order the chicken wrap or the grilled chicken sandwich on the wheat bun. I am sorry but that wrap was out as soon as it came to mind. A tortilla should only be used to make things that end in an O; Taco, burrito, Chili con queso.  Anyway the other side of my brain said, oh these other burgers are like 300 to 400 calories, just don’t add the chili get the small tots and the diet drink, you’ll be fine. Meanwhile my heart is chanting BURGER, BURGER, BURGER. Well since that logical side was out voted two to one, I got the burger. While we were waiting for them to bring our food I figured I would put the name into MFP (My Fitness Pal) and see if it would come up that way. Oh Boy and it did! That one burger alone was over 1200 calories. WHAT! I told MH and he asked me what I wanted to do. After a little thought I let logic win. I told him to cancel my order and just have them bring me the grilled chicken on the wheat bun. He pressed the button and as the lady ask us what we needed I saw our carhop out of the corner of my eye. Never mind said MH and a part of me was secretly happy, while the rest of my body screamed THIS IS SO BAD. Even though I knew it was wrong my mouth still watered. I took that first bite and….. It was not as good as I remembered. Actually it really kind of tasted funny, but I ate it anyway. However as I sat there eating this subpar burger I thought to myself I will never eat this again. I think that knowing how many calories your favorite foods have, can really ruin them for you, especially if they are over your daily caloric intake. Good thing I had those extra 300 calories from walking my 3 miles that morning, but I still hadn’t eaten dinner. However with the size of that burger I didn’t need or want anything else. What did I learn from this? Weight loss is a war and I lost that battle, but I won’t lose the next one.

Getting past the Fat part

So here is the deal. I am 5 foot and I started out in March at 197lbs. (I can’t believe I just put that info on the World Wide Web. My husband doesn't even know that.) Anyway I just got tired of talking about losing the weight and finally wanted to start doing something about it. I am a firm believer that you will not make a change until you are ready to make one. I have a 2 year old daughter and I was 195lbs before I got pregnant with her so I can't blame the weight gain on her. I don't know what happen, well I guess I do, I like to eat burgers. BIG burgers, with multiple slices of cheese and bacon and chili. Oh and fries, they are my weakness. I can make a not so good fry good with a little bit of chili and cheese or some salt in my ketchup. Don't even get me started on Mexican food, cheese, salsa, and guacamole can make a dirty shoe taste GOOD. Anyway, I don't know if I ever realized how big I had gotten. I knew I was fat but I always made sure that any pics I was in were from the breast up and if they were not I just deleted them. But one day I was sitting on the floor playing with my daughter Lil O and I looked over in the mirror and I saw the spare tire from our SUV around my waist. It was at that moment I decided to try to find some kind of quick fix diet trick to help me lose this weight fast. (While still letting me eat the burgers and fries) Then after I found out that didn't exist I started walking a mile whenever I felt like it. (Which was maybe once a week?) I got on the scale and..........OMG I didn't lose any weight what is going on why can’t I lose any weight, I mean I put in the least amount of effort I could without sitting on the couch all day. And then my aunt Ella told me about HCG and I decided to give it a try. I mean it was right up my alley. I could lose weight fast and I was not to work out any more than 30 mins a day. I could do that, so I got some. Five days later I came to the conclusion that I think a lot of other people come to. On 500 calories a day I am a B!%(# and to top that off my sex drive was nonexistent I am sure my husband would rather me be Fat than be celibate So needless to say everyone around me wanted the madness (literally) to end so I stopped taking it. However, I lost 5lbs in 5 days. Now that was not enough to make my husband, nor I for that matter want to give it another try but it was enough for me to get serious. So that day in April I decided to put forth a real effort. I started doing an old work out DVD of my mother in laws, Hip Hop Abs. and walking one mile 3 days a week. In those first two weeks I think I lost about 8oz. I thought I was going to be discouraged as I usually am when I start trying to lose weight and I don't lose 10lbs in one week. But I wasn't I just felt like I needed to do more. Soo I changed my diet, I started paying more attention to what I ate and how much I ate. Then my aunt Ella blessed me with a sidekick and I found two apps that are now a part of my everyday life. The first one is Noon, it tracks my workouts as I am doing them and tells me how many calories I have burned as well as how fast and how far I am walking. Because these are things I could see it motivated me, made me want to get out there and walk. Now I am walking 3 miles a day, my next goal is to start to run. But right now every time I start those old burgers grab hold to my heart and make it hard but I am going to keep trying. The second one is MY Fitness Pal and that it is. It told me how many calories I should be eating a day and I put the calories that I burned from noon into it and it gives me credit for those. 1200 calories are a lot not to mention the 300 extra I get from the exercising it is hard to eat that many I almost never reach that goal (almost). It also has a bar code scanner so that I can scan my packaged food into it and load the calories that way as well as do searches for different foods, restaurants and fast food places. It's my new best friend, so with these two things I have lost 23lbs. I have gone from 197 to 174. I still have a ways to go so I hope someone will join me on my journey and help me stay motivated.