January 20, 2010: Packing day!

Today the packers showed up to pack all of my belongings to ship to Texas. It was a stressful day! But at least I didn't have to do any packing. The house is now full of boxes. I hope everything survives the drive!

Results

Week 12 Day 3
Weight: Full of cardboard
Calories eaten: 1707
Calories burned: -112
Net calories: 1595
Exercise: 1 dog walk (45 min)

January 19, 2010

I'm getting nervous about the move. Stress doesn't help that it makes me want to eat more! I hope that once I get settled after the move I can find a better meal/exercise pattern.

Results

Week 12 Day 2
Weight: #$@^$*A!
Calories eaten: 1955
Calories burned: -112
Net calories: 1843
Exercise: 1 dog walk (45 min)

January 18, 2010: I blame Rodizio Grill

Whoopsies yet again! It seems that when life gets busy, it's really easy to slip up! And there are soooo many yummy restaurants to eat at. Today's culprit, Rodizio Grill, a Brazillian Steak House! Yummy endless salad bar, appetizers and meats.

Results

Week 12 Day 1
Weight: Fried bananas
Calories eaten: 1971
Calories burned: -112
Net Calories: 1858
Exercise: 1 dog walk (45 min)

January 17, 2010: Much better eating day.

Today I didn't go out to eat, this really helps with staying on target. :) I spent the day working on a beer cap table. You know, and end table covered in beer caps and then coated with epoxy to seal it. Pretty awesome!

Results

Week 11 Day 7
Weight: Beer cap-filled
Calories eaten: 1537
Calories burned: -61
Net calories: 1476
Exercise: 1 dog walk (25 min)

January 16, 2010: 3 Rio Margaritas

My last weekend in Colorado. :( It has been busy this past week gathering things for the movers. And today I went to dinner with a large group of friends to one of my favorite restaurants. Especially the margaritas! Limit of 3 and I pushed myself to the limit. Calorie-wise, not the best idea. Deliciouness-wise, they were all sooooo goood!

Results

Week 11 Day 6
Weight: Margarita-filled
Calories eaten: 2418
Calories burned: 0
Net calories: 2418
Exercise: Too busy drinking and singing karaoke!

January 15, 2010: Only 8 more days left in Colorado.

Well my time in Colorado is coming to and end. A little over a week and then I move. I'm not looking forward to that. On the positive side, I get to go out to eat with my favorite friends at some good restaurants. :) Including Pasta Jay's for some yummy pasta and dessert!

Results

Week 11 Day 5
Weight: lalalal
Calories eaten: 2236
Calories burned: -199
Net Calories: 2037
Exercise: 2 dog walks (50 min)
               1 mile run (12 min)

January 14, 2010: :Day after hump day.

I think I need a personal organizer. They say often times amount of clutter correlates with amount of weight. Well I have a lot of clutter and I am having a hard time getting rid of it. If I could just get rid of things more easily! In the end I know all my junk will get moved and hopefully one day, after I'm settled in Texas, I'll sort through it. :)

Results

Week 11 Day 4
Weight: ---
Calories eaten: 1719
Calories burned: -237
Net calories: 1483
Exercise: 2 dog walks (50 min)
              1 mile run (12 min)

January 13, 2010: Hump Day

More cleaning and packing today. I got my work outs in and ate well. Controlling my diet is much easier when the boyfriend isn't around, then I only have to plan/eat for me.

Results

Week 11 Day 3
Weight: Packed scale away
Calories eaten: 1393
Calories burned:-237
Net calories: 1156
Exercise: 2 dog walks (50 min)
              1 mile run (12 min)

January 12, 2010: Keeping it going.

So it looks like I will keep up the challenge a little bit longer and see how it goes. I will be moving next week, so these next two weeks could be a bit crazy!

Today I spent the day getting some exercise in and scrubbing the kitchen. It was some good work and there's lots more to do!

Results

Week 11 Day 2
Weight: Don't feel like weighing myself
Calories eaten: 1701
Calories burned: -198
Net calories: 1503 (yay, good work)
Exercise: 2 dog walks (50 min)
              1 mile run (12 min)

January 12, 2010: Challenge completed!

So I miss labeled my weeks and thought I had one more to go, but it turns out I completed 10 weeks of the eating better/walking more challenge! I will take today to reflect on my progress.

Results

I think I did well, successful with eating/walking at least 80% of the time. In terms of 10 lbs in 10 weeks...well that didn't happen. My weight did fluctuate throughout the weeks, but from Week 1 Day 1 to Week 10 Day 7, my weight stayed exactly the same.

Things That Worked

• Walking the dog-she motivates me to keep going and I get my exercise in.
  

• Focusing on walking, I think walking is easy, so I'm more inclined to do it compared to running 5 miles which just seems overwhelming. 

• Writing down what I ate. The numbers don't lie. Using the Lose It iPhone app sent me weekly food/exercise summaries which made it clear why my weight wasn't moving.  
  
• Not having too high expectations. While it's good to tell yourself you can lose the weight, I also told myself that if I didn't lose the weight, it's no biggie. I can try again. One day I hope to find a system that works for me (besides working out for 6hrs a day and having mommy cook for me).
• Trying to do a little each day. Whether it be just walking for 5 more minutes than I had to, or just trying to get one walk in when time was tight. Also just trying to make one healthy food choice decision a day. It's hard to radically change the way you eat, but if I tell myself today I'll eat an apple instead of a golden graham treat, that's a step in the right direction.
• Write down/log what you eat immediately! You'll forget otherwise.
• Bloggins-it kept me accountable to keep up with it. Even if no one is/was reading this blog.
  

Things That Didn't Work

• Eating less than 1800 calories...I just love my desserts. I definitely need to work on this area!
  

• Starting in the winter without an indoor gym membership, this put a damper on some days exercising.

• Falling being on tracking my food, this would lead to over eating and I wasn't aware of it until after the fact.
• Not having a challenging enough exercise schedule. While I like the idea that the walking plan was doable, I think I need to put at least one exercise per week that will push me to my limits.
  

Future Tips

• I should pick a race to train for, this will give me the end goal of the race to include with the Eating Better/Exercising Challenge.

• I should plan my meals ahead of time, this will allow me to be stricter with what I eat, and hopefully lower my caloric in-take.
• I should write out my training and eating schedule clearly on a large calendar in plain sight. Maybe even putting notes up around the house. If I see it everwhere, it will be easier to keep on track!

Well that's all I have for now. Thanks for reading. If I come up with anything else useful/useless or tips, I'll update this post.

Until the next challenge! Adios!

January 11, 2010: Time to start packing.

I'm really unmotivated to start packing up my stuff. I don't really want to move, so that really makes it difficult to be happy or excited. I did get a good walk in today with the dog. The advantage of all the moving is it gives me an active -lots of moving around- day.

Results

Week 11 Day 1
Weight: Ugh!
Calories eaten: 2039
Calories burned: -123
Net calories: 1916
Exercise: 2 dog walks (50 min)

January 10, 2010: Visiting with my old roommate

Today I had brunch with my roommate from freshman year of undergrad. We lived together 10 years ago! It was great to catch up and I really enjoyed my french toast. I did a good job at watching what I ate.

Results

Week 10 Day 7 (only one week to go!)
Weight: No se.
Calories eaten: 1016
Calories burned: -37
Net calories: 979
Exercise: 1 dog walk (15 min)

January 9, 2010: First day back in Colorado

During the next few weeks I know I'll be doing a lot of moving while cleaning, packing and sorting. But I will also be trying to eat at all the Colorado restaurants that I'm going to miss. We'll see how it goes.

Results

Week 10 Day 6
Weight: Scale has been packed away. :)
Calories eaten: 2011
Calories burned: 0
Net calories: 2011
Exercise: Hectic day, no exercise

January 8, 2010: Finally made it back!

Yay! Bella and I were able to fly out of Ohio today to Colorado! The weather was warm enough for us to make it on the plane. While vacation is nice, I have a lot to do in Colorado before the move.

Results

Week 10 Day 5
Weight: No scales on a plane
Calories eaten: 2180
Calories burned: -366
Net calories: 1815
Exercise: 2 dog walks (40 min)
             Snow shoveling (50 min)

January 7, 2010: Still in Ohio

It's still too frigid in Colorado for me to fly home. Luckily I have no job in CO, so I can take my time getting back, but I'd like to get back to take care of all the stuff I need to do before the big move. This is a bit frustrating, but you can't control the weather. If Frontier had a flight with earlier departure/arrival times, I could have been home a few days ago. While it's nice to be home a bit longer, I have a lot of restaurants to eat at in CO. Ugh, on a good note, I did get some good dog walks in despite the snowy cold weather. And! I did a good job choosing my foods for the day. Good for me!

Results

Week 10 Day 4 (almost done with the challenge!)
Weight: 6 inches of snow on the scale.
Calories eaten: 1226
Calories burned: -189
Net calories: 1038
Exercise: 2 dog walks (55 min)
              Snow Shoveling (10 min)

January 6, 2010: Too cold to fly!

Well I tried to get on the plane back to Colorado today, but it turns out it's too cold in Denver for Bella to fly. This put a kink in plans and I get to try to fly out again tomorrow. If this weather keeps up, I might be in Ohio until Friday. On the plus side, I got two good walks in with Bella to try to tire her out.

Results

Week 10 Day 3
Weight: Scale is packed away is suitcase.
Calories eaten: 1801
Calories burned: -135
Net calories: 1665
Exercise: 2 dog walks (55 min)

January 5, 2010: It has stopped snowing!

Finally, after a week of daily snowing, it stopped snowing this afternoon! This is exciting because I was able to get my run in. It was still chilly though. Overall today was a good day with food and exercise. I'm pretty sure I haven't lost much weight, but if I continue to have more good days than bad, then something should eventually happen.

Results

Week 10 Day 2
Weight: Scale is full of snow
Calories eaten: 1649
Calories burned: -225
Net calories: 1424
Exercise: 2 dog walks (45 min)
              1 mile run (12 min)

January 4, 2010: Wowie, still snowing!

I have definitely forgotten what it's like to live through and Ohio winter. Days and days of flurries of snow. I've shoveled the driveway nearly every day for the past week. The nice thing is that the snow gives me a good work out, but does slow down my mile a day running goal. I just don't want to risk falling on ice. Luckily, my dog loves the snow so I am still able to get walks in and enjoy freezing my tush in the process.

Results

Week 10 Day 1
Weight: Scale is frozen
Calories eaten: 1965
Calories burned: -86
Net Calories: 1879
Exercise: 2 dog walks (35 min)

January 3, 2010: Swenson's!

Yay! Today I got to eat a yummy Galley Boy Burger and a milkshake! It was worth it, and I got a lot of working out in. It pretty much snowed all day and it was about 19 F all day. This made for a rather chilly run, but I got it in.

Results

Week 9 Day 7
Weight: I'm not sure
Calories eaten: 1805
Calories burned: -317
Net calories: 1488
Exercise: 2 dog walks (50 min)
               1 mile run (12 min)
               Snow shoveling (15 min)

January 2, 2010: And the snow keeps coming!

So far the start of 2010 has been frigid...actually just plain freezing! Luckily, one look at those puppy dog eyes and I'm out the door walking. I got my two dog walks in, but a little abbreviated. I was starting to feel frost bit in my fingers so I thought it would be best to get home and get warm!

Results

Week 9 Day 6
Weight: Waiting to be back at altitude so I weigh less. :)
Calories eaten: 1635
Calories burned: -74
Net calories: 1561
Exercise: 2 dog walks (30 min)

January 1, 2010: New Decade, New Year, New Day

Happy New Year! It is the start of another day. And this year will be better than the last. I ended 2009 with an exercise bang, but 2010 came with wintery blast of cold and snow, so walking and shoveling were the best activities for the weather! It was also a day of lots of baking! Not the best things to eat, but ooooh  so tasty. I made some apple pie, pecan turtles and Russian tea cookies. This might have pushed me over the edge, but it was worth it. :)

Results

Week 9 Day 5
Calories eaten: 2142
Calories burned: -218
Net calories: 1924
Exercise: 2 dog walks (45 min)
               Snow shoveling (20 min)

December 31, 2009: The end of 2009. Yea!!

Well it's the last day of 2009. Yea! It is a great feeling that the year is finally over. I think I'm ending it pretty well by attempting this 10-10 Challenge. It's a good way to start of 2010, a great lead in to make 2010 a more healthy and fit year. And I had a great day today. I finished 2009 with an exercise bang! : 2 dog walks, snow shoveling, and in between rain/sleet, I got a mile run in. Good job to me! The best is yet to come.

Results

Week 9 Day 4
Weight: Last day of the year, who cares.
Calories eaten: 1773
Calories burned: -356
Net calories: 1417
Exercise: 2 dog walks (55 min)
              Snow shoveling (20 min)
              1 mile run (12 min)