Walk or Run?

For some reason, I can not get up and go for a run.  I need the Nazi pookeys.  The good news is that in place of the running, I am walking home from work.  I am really enjoying it.

Today, according to my pedometer, I walked almost 10k.   This includes my 5k walk home.

I will commit to running at least once on the weekend to get my run in.  I'll see how I do.

Who knew people were healthy?

I started my walk/run home tonight.

(Thanks to Tim for lending me his hat and taking the action shot of me leaving work, ready to tackle the 5ks.)

I was hoping for a 45min/5k walk but it took about an hour.  I hit every single light down St Kilda Road.

But, it is pretty walk and goes quick because you are walking with purpose.
There were a lot of people walking home.  Who knew that people did healthy things like that?

Total Dehydration?

 

I don't know the reason -
I am sick and completely dehydrated.
I have eaten nothing but chicken soup for three days.
I have not exercised in a week.

I FINALLY OFFICIALLY HIT 50 POUNDS LOST!!

I'm sick

Surely that gives me a pass on exercise?
Can't get out of bed.

GCC starts tomorrow

The Global Corporate Challenge starts tomorrow and I am on team UXC Walking Tall.  This is teams of 7 people from all over the world who commit to tracking their walking for 16 weeks.  This is coming at a good time since I have been so lazy with my workouts the past two weeks.  (I did get up this morning - thank you POOKEY A!!!)

As a participant of the GCC, I get a backpack, 2 pedometers, socks (giant size) and a globe squishy ball.  My initial goal is 10,000 steps per day.  Is that a lot?  I have no idea!

I was considering walking home from work one day a week.  Scab has challenged me to RUN home every night.  It is 5km from the office to the new apartment.  I'm thinking.  I'm thinking.

Is anyone up at 6:45?

I need someone to call me and yell to get to the gym.  I have all but stopped since leaving Pt Coo.

It is impossible to break a habit

So they say that it is 4 weeks to break a habit.  Or 6 weeks.  Or 8 weeks.

In the past week, away from Point Cook, I have so easily dropped back into several habits.  And, if I didn't have some sanity, I would be back to completely eating as I was before.  I don't think you can break a habit.  I think you can make a choice.  I think you can avoid your habit.  But, I don't think you can change.

I moved, I'm tired, I needed a fix

So many excuses this week.

I didn't exercise for a full week.   Talk about no excuses...I moved into a new apartment with a brand new gym and lap pool and still didn't exercise!  I did get up off my bum and run this morning and it felt good.

I ordered sugar at a restaurant this week.  A cupcake.  I haven't done that since fat camp.  I think I am over that.  (I have had desserts but it was planned and part of my 10%.)

I had my first real pig out since fat camp.  (I have had big meals but again, always planned and part of my 10%)  Last night I ate garlic bread and pizza.  No dessert which is good.

I think my head is back in the game.
No excuses.
Just get back on it.

And I did lose 1.7 pounds/.8kg this week.  :)  That always helps.

Photo Journal

I am reading The 4 Hour Body by the guy who did the 4 Hour Work Week.  So far, his ideas are pretty cra-cra but it is interesting to read about new ideas.  While most of his stuff is too extreme for me, one idea he has which I love is instead of tracking calories by food diary, keep a picture diary.  The research, from the University of Wisconsin (so it must be true!!!!) says that the photojournals act as an instant intervention and forced people to consider choices BEFORE the damage is done.  The research states that photos are more effective than journals.  I am going to try and do both.

Take a picture of all of your meals.
If I had to take a picture of a cheeseburger and french fries and post it, would I order it?

Today's lunch was 1/2 of a whole grain sandwich with turkey, cucumber, tomato and avocado.  It was a small lunch as my brekkie was late and a bit bigger.  As soon as I figure out how to do a picture diary on here, I will start posting.  The good and the bad.

ALMOST but not quite

I was hoping to do a full week no sugar every week and then on the weekends be a little less stringent.  Made it to Thursday.

My brekkie is straight porridge now with a dash of cinnamon instead of sugar.

Lunch and dinner are pretty easy.
No dessert.
No sugar added to my coffee or tea.

Today I had it all over the place.  I even forgot and had ketchup at dinner!  (FULL of sugar)
I was still pretty great with the calories so I can't be too fussed but it is really interesting to experiment with my sugar addiction.  I am actually enjoying seeing how I can cut it out.  I just need to make sure I am still under my calories.

I Jeesh Luuuuuuuuv It

Today was a double work out day; elliptical before work and zumba at lunch.  I go to the gym at the Hyatt for Zumba and change there.  I don't know what boys do in the locker rooms but girls don't talk or walk around in towels high fiving like they do in the movies.  And we don't have the group shower and talk crap.  (Is that real?)

So, imagine my surprise when this women starts talking to me in the locker room!  Ladies don't talk in the locker room!  I quickly figured out she was a South American traveler using the gym and staying at the Hyatt.  I answered her questions and made small talk since she they obviously have different rules in Rio.  As she is leaving, she turns to me and in her accented English say, "I jeesh luuuuuuv working out, doont you?"

To which I smiled, and said "yes."

Slightly Off Pace

With today's weigh in and another .88lbs/.4kgs gone (YEA ME!) I am slightly behind on my pace.  A few weeks ago I said that I needed to not pout about my weight loss slow down and get back on it.  And, I have done that.  Two weeks in a row of weight loss and I am really, really proud of not giving up and just getting back into it.  I lost again this week and I am really pleased.

But...next Sunday weigh in should be 50 pounds.  I am 2.7pounds/1.2kg off pace.
So, I am going to GO FOR IT!
My goal is usually 1 pound per week.
I am going to kick it up for one week.
Where will I find an extra 1.7 pounds?

1 - Keeping to strict 1200 calories will give me 1 pound
2 - Exercising an extra 1/2 hour each day will give me about .5 pound.
3 - No sugar will hopefully give me the extra .2 pound.

I refer to 18 July 2011 post...

My second post EVER was a bitch about my roommates.  If you recall, I came home and sitting in between the two of them was this -

an empty Tim Tam container.  I don't know what made me more bitchy; the fact that they brought that crap into the house or that they didn't share my favorite Aussie treat.

I don't know if it is my low GI carbs, or my avoiding sugar, but tonight at work, the boys had an empty Tim Tam container.  And, I was not interested at all.  I hope this lasts, but it was a great win for the day.

Addicted to Fat Crack

I have spent the last few days reading about sugar addiction.  I have always said I am addicted to sugar and it is almost impossible for me to stop at one cookie or a small amount of anything sweet.  It is very much like an alcohol addiction - it is crack.  It is fat crack.  (as termed by Pookey A)

Here is something I just read on someone else's blog:


The gist of Lustig's teachings, and Gillespie's writings, and results from an increasing number of research projects, is this - sugar makes us fat in two major ways. Firstly, the fructose in sugar gets converted into fat in our liver, which leads to a whole range of problems not to mention weight gain, and secondly, it changes the way our brain recognises energy, and makes us think we're starving when we're not. Explained: 

1. Fructose converts into fat. Quickly. As I said last post, our liver is the only organ in our body that can process fructose, so 100% of any fructose we eat ends up there. Once in the liver, fructose triggers a very complex metabolic process that produces 1. fat droplets (which stay in the liver, causing insulin resistance), 2. a damaging form of cholesterol called VLDL (which can cause heart disease), and 3. triglycerides, which get stored as fat in our muscle (particularly around the belly). In other words, when you eat fructose, you're eating fat. But not all of the fructose is converted into fat. Some of it ends up as uric acid, a waste product known to cause gout and high blood pressure. 

2. Fructose throws our hunger hormones out of whack. This is the second blow, the second major way fructose makes us fat - fructose, unlike glucose, does not supress the hormone in our body that tells us we're hungry (called ghrelin). So we keep thinking we are. And you know what else? It also interferes with our brain's ability to recognise leptin, the hormone that tells us we're full! In other words, we can keep eating fructose and our brain won't get the signal that we've had enough. It makes us think we're starving when we're not.

And this:

Fructose does stimulate our pleasure hormones, so on top of losing our ability to tell we've had enough of it, we want more!


I am going to read Gillespie's book for more information.  I am not ready to give up sugar all together, but I am going to try and really cut out the sugar.  I think it will help with the fat around the middle.


I am also going to try and stick more closely to low GI carbs.  This will be difficult because one of my "go-to" meals for weight loss is sushi for lunch.