Starvation Mode?

So, I keep hearing over and over again that if you don't eat enough calories a day your body will go into starvation mode and you won't lose weight; you may even gain it.  Is it just me or is that a load of crap?  I am on a quest to find out.  I'll let you know.  So, to appease my mom...I upped my calories yesterday.  Okay okay, yes, there WAS a cake involved.  I'm still blaming mom though :)

Since I didn't post yesterday here's a quick recap

THE Count: 139

Cal Count: 1502

breakfast		Milk 2%	130
		Mrs. Butterworth's Original Syrup	77
		Bisquick Pancakes	160
lunch		Chocolate Decadence Cake	325
		Digiorno Rising Crust Supreme Pizza	270
snack	Jimmy John's	1/2 Wheat Blt W/ Light Mayo	285
dinner	Lean Cusine Spa	Szechuan Style Stir Fry W/ Shrimp	230
		Tomatoes	25

Exercise:

1) 20 min video - I have a lot to post about this one.  Guess it can wait til later.
2) 40 min yoga

Calories burned 325.

First Day of School

It's the first day of school and my baby girl is a senior! Oh, and my baby girl is a fourth grader, oh yeah and my baby girl is a first grader. Oh and my little man is in the eighth grade, oh yeah and my other little man started college.

 


 Oh and lest I forget, my OTHER little man is defending our country, but he can't take a picture worth a darn.

Also it's a Groundhog Day for me - this is what we call it when we stay up all night long - so yeah not a WINK!



Cal Count: 958
1 1/2 Bisquick pancakes w/Mrs.Butterworth's syrup  387.5  - breakfast with two little girls on the first day of school - priceless
Cold Stone Creamery Key Lime Ice Cream - 1/2 a Like It size 170 calories
Taco Supremes (2)  400 - honestly this can't be right but that is what both Taco Bell and Livestrong say.

Exercise:
Slim in 6 RIU  ~ 400 calories earned

Sigh

140.2

Cal Count: 877

Slim Fast 200
Slim Fast 200
Lean Cuisine 240
Brussel sprouts 65
Butter on brussels 72
Mango Chunks 90


Exercise:
Found a new website last night and watched this video by Rumiana Ilieva on her website Workout Routines for Women.  It is a unique site.  I did the Anti-Cellulite video that I watched last night.  The exercises are not difficult to understand but the sequence at her pace WILL make you sweat.  The video is 20 minutes long so obviously not a full cardio but hey if you have 20 minutes - calories burned are calories earned.  By the scale that I found here and figuring that I was putting a rather decent amount of effort for a first showing, I am thinking between 150 and 200 calories in the 20 minute span.  Not too shabby.  Now, this is a NO FRILLS video.  She is simple and sweet and there is no music.  Aha...I just set my Pandora to KISS and turned the volume off on the video.  :D  The pace was actually pretty close.  Bonus - I didn't get annoyed by some way too thin, peppy blonde :)  Not that Rumiana is those things.  She has a very sweet way...I just needed music today.  ***Important side note --  She doesn't do any stretching after the workout so plan on 5 more minutes for a proper cool down, kk?*****

I have high hopes to accomplish some Yoga later.

Later:
Sadie Nardini Low Back Flow videos from YouTube.  This is GREAT!  I guess all told it was about 25 minutes of Yoga held within 3 videos (so 140 calories according to Livestrong).  But that's not the great part.  She REALLY takes a LOT of time to explain the different transitions and the core circles from side angle pose that I have been trying to figure out.  The con of that is that we are holding poses as she explains so LONG hold times.  DANG I worked hard!  I think that I may go back and just WATCH the vid again because though I learned much during the practice I am quite sure I missed just as much.

This week

Start 138.4
End 140.6

Okay I am really really really upset now.  I might as well have eaten cheeseburgers and french fries all week.  My birthday is this week and I have been trying to get from 150 to 135 before my birthday since MAY.   I am so freeeeeeeeeeeeeeking frustrated.  I have really been trying to see this as a journey, but it is hardly much of a journey if I am not GOING anywhere.

I have to go somewhere and think.  I do not want to be this negative but what I feel inside in black sticky icky goo.

A little while later:

Now I have exercised and sweated some of the black sticky icky goo out of me and had some quiet to listen to that inner teacher, I do feel better.  That was one fierce and determined workout though.

1) Slim in 6 Phase 2
2) Yoga Journal's Home Practice - Hip Openers

I applied the principles that I have learned from Sadie Nardini to the whole of the workout - tried to at least.  I particularly focused on using the Bandha's that I studied last night in this great article.  I struggle with the Jalandhara (throat)Bandha so clearly more study is necessary.  Overall, my workout strength and energy were off the chain. 

I thought about deleting all that I wrote this morning but I decided that this blog might just keep me honest about more than cal counts. It is a journey and I am just stuck in some kind of tourist trap - like South of the Border.  I just have to be even more determined and get back on the highway.

Cal Count: 960
Turkey Sandwich on multigrain deli thins with thick slice of slimcado (yeah tastes as good as it sounds)  200
Nachos that I stole from Abigail, Mary  and Tess's plate 300 ( I am over guessing here because stealing means I didn't measure
1/2 cup Bush's Grillin Beans 110
1 Garden Veggie Patty (Morningstar Farms)   110
1/2 avocado  125
1 tomato 25
Mango Chunks 90

BTW - I get my cal counts from http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/

Lawn Mowing: Spa treatment, Calorie torcher, Therapy and all around Zen experience

So the other day in my exercise column, I included mowing the lawn.  According to the calorie burn calculator that I found online, I burned off 370 calories.  I kinda thought it would be more than that.  I was judging by the eery and totally unnatural color of my complexion (picture a Smurf only red).  Whatever.  Calories burned are calories earned, yes? Also, if you mow the lawn in August in South Carolina, you will get glowing skin. But I gained so much more from my hour than (supposedly) losing some poundage and old skin cells.

First let me say that I haven't mowed a blade of grass in I don't know when.  I used to mow all the time when I was a teenager (in shape and in a bathing suit :) ).  But hubby and teenage boys have taken the job over for the past, say, 20 years.  To tell you the truth, I don't know what possessed me.  Oh, I remember now...I didn't want to do the dishes.

So, I got on my grass cutting couture and just so you are aware it is VITAL that you wear a bra to cut the lawn.  I only mention it because my teenage son sent me back to my room to change.  Apparently, he knows etiquette that Emily Post didn't write about.

Bra firmly in place, I went out to face my task.  I wasn't sure that I would be able to start the lawnmower.  Heck, I didn't even know where it was and son #2 had to remind me that it needed gas.  As if I didn't know that (cough cough).  But I did start it all by myself and I revved up the tuneage on my iPod and started to walk.  Back and forth and back and forth and back ... you get the idea.  And then something really amazing happened.  In the relative peace and quiet of the movement, I had time to hear myself think.  I was almost surprised to hear my own inner voice.  My life is so full of noise, a constant chatter, that I just didn't notice it was missing.

My favorite yogini, Sadie Nardini mentions the inner teacher at the close of her yoga practice.  Honestly, didn't know what in the world she was talking about.  How could anything inside this scattered brain/soul teach me anything?  I get it now.  I learned more about myself mowing the lawn than I've learned from anything or anyone else in recent memory (like even Dr. Phil).  I don't guess it is important to write down what all I thought about - just that I thought.  In the quiet...I thought...I heard what that inner teacher had to say and it was important.

This is where the frustration lies

Weight:
+1.6 pounds   REALLY?!

Cal Count: 1244
Mango chunks 90
Crunchy Taco Supreme 200 - See this is what I do when I get a bad number on the weight.  I misbehave.  However,  I really thought I was misbehaving WAY worse than just 200 calories.   But that is the count from the website.
My daughter made cookies again 100 - these cookies are really yummy all chocolate yum
Edamame 100
Pizza (mostly I was good and had the thin and crispy which is much lower in calories but I did partake of the cheesy fluffy goodness for a  couple of bites - yes, it upped the cal count but ahhhhhhhh) 500 est.
Glass of wine because I was savoring my pizza  :) 154
Edamame 100

August 12

Weight
-.6

Cal Count: 1255
Granola bar 140
Mango 1 c.  90
Ham Sammich 300 (have to stop eating these - not a lot of fill for the count)
Carrots  35
Edamame 75
Lean Cuisine Chicken with Basil Cream Sauce - MY FAVE  250
Ice Cream Sammich 100 - omg soooooooooooo good
Was doing so good and then Mary wanted to make chocolate cookies again 300 (I am trying to estimate sneaks from the dough and then the warm cookie I am gonna eat


Exercise
How I wish that running errands counted as cardio
Need to think of what I can do that won't hurt my neck :(
1) Johnny Gillespie's Brand New Beginner's Course - Class

Basically it came down to I didn't have enough energy to do any real workout.  I added some of Sadie's sun salutations and some good leg stretching to what we got done on BNB class. Besides the Saints v the Pats in 9 minutes - I am sure I will get some jumping up and down points!  Gotta go get my Bush Jersey  Woot

Fat and Frustration

First I really want to let it be well known that my profile picture is not what I look like right now - it is my goal.  I think it was taken 4 or so years ago.  Also,  I know that I am not fat;  I'm just not where I want to be (see photo).  So, having said that.  I am this close to completely giving up.  It's ridiculous! I have been working and starving and trying and striving and can't get or keep these pounds off.  Dammit.  So I am going to try this blogging/diary/journal thing.  I'm going to honestly track my food, poundage, water, feelings and just what is going on. I sincerely doubt that it will be remotely interesting but I don't care.  It will be honest and hopefully keep me on track.  It would be a LOT easier if the stupid space button on my computer would SPACE.  Just another aggravation.

I'm hoping that I can edit this post a few times a day to update the calorie count and anything else that comes to mind.

So food today:
1/2 ham sammich 160 - can you believe that many calories for 1/2 a sammich?
1 1/2 cups mango chunks 180 - I haven't actually eaten all of this yet but I measured it out to eat throughout the day
Slim Fast - Chocolate Royal 200
A chocolate cookie - okay yes I know but when your sweet 9 year old gives you a cookie that she made with her own little hands what can you do 100
Flat bread Pizza with Roasted Bell Peppers and (a little) Peperoni 340 :)  - yeah it's bad but I earned it. :D
Lean Cuisine 330
                          Total:  1310  - yeah (and I was naughty)
Exercise today:
1) Sadie Nardini's Yoga for a Sexy You

I used her Youtube video's for Sun Salutations and Abs


I have just recently found Sadie's Yoga Teachings.  I guess I hadn't looked before because they are all over!  I really like her energy and sassy attitude.  She has a terrific heart and has put so much of her work out on the net for Free.  I'm hoping to get her DVDs or book for my birthday (wink wink nudge nudge knowhatimean).

2) Don't think this really counts because it is kind of a basics class with not a lot of movement but since it was just AMAZING I am counting it.  Found it on YogaVibes - Johnny Gillespie's Brand New Beginner's Course.  I was trying to show my son's girlfriend some Yoga and so we've decided to do all six lessons in this course together.  I don't consider myself a beginner, but I know I've missed some of the basics in my very roundabout journey.  Can't stress enough how amazing and incredibly informative this class was.

3) Mowed the lawn - I think I am going to write a whole blog about this because it was totally Zen.

Side Note - this was not a normal exercise day for me.  I'm not completely crazy.

On to life in general.  I am still getting over being sad about my birthday party.  I'm throwing myself into working out right now but not having a party to celebrate saying goodbye to the thirties kind of put a damper on my resolve.  I mean this whole time I've been saying I want to look great for my birthday party :(.  Yeah, I know - pity party for me.

Then there is son number 2.  He is such a bright child (understatement) and I am afraid that he is not going anywhere fast and it is hard to watch. I would really love to see him trying - really TRYING.  ANYTHING!!!!  Out of all my children, somehow I've managed to let this one down the most - and he thinks I'm nice (unless I am asking him to do chores).  The fact is he is charming and I'm a sucker.  How can I get more mean?

Son number 1 still doesn't have a plane ticket home for my brother's wedding in two weeks that I am aware of and DH hasn't checked on it.  I don't think that I can check on it because I have already (repeatedly) and I don't really WANT to be a nag on top of everything else.

Son number 3 WAS driving me nuts yesterday and then we had a really wonderful moment last night which made me feel a little like maybe I am not failing completely and did make the right decision to come back home.

My little baby brother's wedding is coming up which is exceedingly exciting!  They have been together forever and I just love my not-sister-in-law.  However, no wedding is without stress, right?

Oh yeah, if you've never met me then you should know I'm a mom to six kids (3 boys and 3 girls) and I have just quit my job to be a stay-at-home mom.  My oldest son left a year ago for the Marines and he is stationed in Arizona until he leaves for Afghanistan next September. My fortieth birthday is coming up VERY soon and so, of course, is my brother's wedding. So, no pressure. :)