Don't Look!

If you are like me, someone who loves to get on that scale every morning to see how much you weigh, you have to keep several things in mind!
Number one, is that the scale is very misleading. It will show you how much you weigh, yes, but it can not tell you whether that is muscle or fat or how much of each? Unless of course you get one of those scales that will scan your body and tell you some of those numbers like water weight, body mass, fat percentage, etc etc...
I do love those scales. I had one or two of them but after a while it was a pain to have to tap in your information each time. I even had a scale that kept track of which person you are, profile 1 or 2 or 5. But I just couldn't see it as being all that accurate and I needed to have the chart blown up or something to help explain the numbers and letters and not only that, but those numbers flashed off so fast, I wouldn't catch them half the time!

It was also hard to figure out how accurate it really was.

Soooo I opted to get a regular old scale that just showed me big digital numbers I can see easily.
BUT!
I got that scale with the understanding that it would be a general number and not specific to fat or muscle ratios. Now when I step on the scale, I have to really fix my mind to not get discouraged when I see the number higher at all. A few times I might think it is stuck and the way to find out is to grab something heavy and step back on the scale. If it goes up, I know it's not broke!

So anyway...talking about that this morning because I've been stuck at the 194 mark. 194.5, 194...it's hovering there. But I reminded myself that that's ok. It's not going up and it means, which my muscles were a telltale sign and confirmation of it, that I am gaining muscle.
My muscles are getting stronger and I am building them now at this point. I know so long as I keep at it and continue to eat right, the number on the scale will drop again!

I have faith in that and the biggest reason or confirmation I can have that yes, things are moving around inside me, are the measurements. That is what really matters more than the weight total, that's the measurements. I have taken measurements at the start and every now and then, I take them again to see my progress. So for this week of remaining still, and I know I ate a couple pieces of chocolate for Valentine's Day and over the past weekend too, for me to remain was just fine. My body has been adjusting to the workouts and I can still feel sore from them so I know they are still working and I have not completely gotten used to them yet. It seems that I am sweating more lately as well which is a good thing to me. It could be with with the warmer temps outside heating the room a bit more or just me.

I have lost 7 1/2 inches as of last Sunday and this Sunday, I'll be taking measurements again to see what has moved around, what was gained, what was lost. That's the exciting part for me, to see those numbers go down for I know that means lower sizes in clothes! You can be whatever number in weight but oh it's the clothes that matter most!! To be in a lower size and fit back into my favorite jeans and not have to squeeze into them or feel your circulation being cut off! Or to fit into my lower sized bodice for the Ren Faire...well there is nothing like that and lets you know you ARE looking good!

Last night I had some baked tilapia and steamed broccoli, a few carrots and applesauce. Not bad! :) Tonight will be some rotisserie chicken and steamed broccoli again, possibly the applesauce.
I will also be sure and eat every 2 hours and keep that up whereas last night I know I missed my times a bit and ate late again. So tonight will be early! :)
I've done really well not eating the ice cream that is in the freezer, nor gorging on the dark chocolate covered pretzels (my all time favorite). I've had one of those a day and that's it. I did well not eating those other two Reeses PB Valentine Hearts. I had one in the first package and that was it. I won't touch the other two. It just sat so heavy in my stomach and I felt blah after eating it. Could this be the end of that craving?? *blink* Say it isn't so! Haha!

Well, still...that makes me happy tho'. To finally break some of those bad habits and get back to healthy eating.

OH! By the by, I did call Shakeology yesterday and ordered the Strawberry/Vegan/Tropical/Pink Shakeology for March 1st! After I get it, I will change it back to Chocolate and postpone the next delivery until like June 1st as I still have another pouch of chocolate here and I already have one I just opened up. I wanted to try the strawberry however as to just have something different.

Plus, they said the Strawberry is Vegan and from one of those lil diet crazes, I want to say the blood type diet thing, I would do best being a Vegan. *ugh* Sorry, I just love meat way too much to give that up! I have set aside the beef a great deal. I won't say utterly or completely, but I have limited it to a very small amount and not often, made it a rarity in my diet.
A comment on the beef thing...I was at the doc's with my daughter for an appt as her ears have been bothering her, and I couldn't help but overhear this other lady in the waiting area talking about food. She had come from N'Orleans, obviously one of those who left from Hurricane Katrina. She was going on and on about the burgers here in Texas and how she has become a burger person now and has not ever gotten a bad burger in Texas, how much she loves them! I had to wince as they talked of people not knowing how to cook and how they loved having their fried catfish, mac & cheese, potatoes, corn, etc etc....the list went on. I listened to all that high fat and fried stuff and all the heavy carbs and things like that. Just how heavy that all sounded in the stomach to pile it on. The burgers alone, all that beef sitting around in her stomach and all I could think about was how she was setting herself up for high cholesterol and a heart attack later on in life.

I know, right, I should talk eh? When I was younger, first married, we often split a whole pound of hamburger, gorging on the Enchilada dinners from El Paso box dinners where we used a pound of hamburger and lots of cheese and we'd split that entire thing between us! Wow...I can't even imagine eating all that stuff now.  They were good back then but oh so bad!  We'd follow it up with a big ol York Peppermint Pattie of course, which was tons better for us than those enchiliadas! LOL
Unbelievable.

I think when you are young, at least 30 years or so ago for me, you just didn't really think about it that much. I was 19 and just doing alot of walkin and exercising too. We were much more active, going to waterparks on the weekends and to the beach and whatnot. I look back at when I was 144 or so and how 'fat' I thought I was. HA! I would love to be there again! But then, I think 152 or so was more perfect weight for me. The chart in the doc's office said I should be about 125. I think that is very old and outdated as that was what it was in the military too back in the '80s.
I don't have a petite body frame at all, it's more medium. Besides, I definitely do not want to lose my curves, just define them a bit. Having read online tho' that it is impossible to focus weight on one area and there is no way to save my curves from being slimmed down, I know without a doubt however that eating those fad diets or shakes or stuff, is not the way to go. It's all about lifestyle change and exercise. Food choices.

I think the Shakeology is probably an exception because of how healthy it really is and it is not meant to be your whole mainstay, but it teaches you about portion control and the type of foods you choose. Then, Beachbody comes in there and teaches you about muscle confusion and offers up the programs that fit your needs and preferences. I adored Slim in 6 for example. It was a simple 6 week program and if you dedicate yourself to it, it really did work! I loved it! I went from 191 to 179 on that program. It was awesome!

But see, going off it, going back to old habits...puts the weight right back on. I think diets and such fool you into thinking it's just a temporary thing. But what many don't realize it is only a temporary fix and like anything 'temporary', once you stop and go back to what you were doing, you will simply gain it all back and then some. It will be worse and harder to get it off. Harder to get started again and harder to maintain that workout regime and it is discouraging on top of that. You are fighting alot of battles then!

Why I am a firm believer that it is all about a lifestyle change, not a diet, but a permanent and more cognitive and conscious choices in what you do and what you eat and how much. It is also something that is hard to accept and stay with. As we get older and with these times being so much more health conscious than ever, I think we realize earlier on in life that we really do need to eat better. We start to listen to our bodies trying to tell us that OUCH! That hurts to eat that. We can see and feel it inside our bodies, our stomachs as it sits there like a lump of clay, dragging down our energy and dragging down our body as it starts to shut down and saying, OH HOLY CRAP! WHAT DID YOU JUST DO???!
So it will shut itself down to try to digest that heavy stuff or high fat stuff.

And yea, don't get me wrong...oh how I do love and adore that high fat stuff, that sweet stuff! Man o man I do, I do, I do, I do, I DO!
BUT!
My body is like ummm Wanda...NOT!
Don't do it!

I know I suffer because of it. And now, I have the doom of cholesterol meds looming over my head like a death knell. Saying you had better get your butt in gear and get healthy before you get stuck with a medicine cabinet to take every morning!! YIKES!

I won't forget seeing elderly people with their bottles upon bottles of meds. I just tossed out some old stuff I had and will probably be going thru my cabinets some more to get rid of stuff I don't need or is too old. I really don't want that to be me.
Right now, I am taking Calcium, Vit D and Folic Acid and that's it. I may eventually drop Folic Acid. I have been trying to get that Activit Multi-vitamin in during dinner and will see about incorporating it at that time.

Once I finish Power90 and I order P90X, I would like to go ahead and get the supplements at that time too. I've been wanting to get them, but...just expensive. I do want to immerse myself however in the P90X once I do so as it will be about May and time to kick it into high gear before summer vacation is here!  I am very excited tho' that I am doing this! I am in week 3 of Power90 and I almost finished with it and going to be starting week 4 on Monday!! You know, it has really helped me alot to think of it in that way and to see when I will be moving to the blue disk. I got to have something to look forward to! It's just amazing and this has been the best I have done on this program since the first time I attempted it when I lived in Vegas, some 7 years ago!

Well time to go to WOWY and check off the days I have worked out and catch up with myself at the supergym there. :) Have a great weekend!