What is on your IPOD

Need workout music people

Send me your playlists.....I'm downloading on amazon now and can't think of anything upbeat to download to my mp3

So Far I've got

Nina Simone- Feeling Good 2:57 (Warmup)
Janet Jackson- I Get Lonely 5:17
Jay-Z- Empire State of Mind 4:37
Jay-Z- Run This Town 4:34
Jay-Z- 99 Problems 3:54
Kelly Clarkson- Since You've Been Gone 3:09
The Black Eyed Peas- I Gotta Feeling 3:49
The Black Eyed Peas-- Boom Boom Pow 4:11
Monica- Love all over me- 3:50 (Cool Down)
Rageem Devaughn- Believe 5:12(Cool Down)

Approximately 42 minutes.. I'm pushing for another 15 minutes. Help???



Mandy

My nominations

Happy Tuesday everybody,

Not much to discuss as far as weight loss goes but I thought I would let you guys know that I've been doing fine. I weighed in last week at 155 but refused to weigh in this week. My period is coming and rather than be stressed out about my water weight gain I thought I would allow myself one and a half weeks off so that I don't stress and ...eat!

I just wanted to post a thank you to two people that nominated me on their blogs for being supportive.

Julie @ the accidental fat chick blog- really good read and posts information that is really thought provoking.

MissHaneefa@ blackgirlgetsfit- a member of my 10 pound weight loss challenge and a lady that I know will reach her weight loss goals.

Thank you guys for mentioning me on your blogs. Keep pushing and I know that you both will reach your goals (weight loss and otherwise)

Mandy

Stages of Weight Loss

OK so I've been deep in thought about this. There are stages of grief right. For me there are stages of weight loss. Let me know if you think I am right on this.

1) Starter- This is what you are going through on the first couple of weeks. You are on a "weight loss high". You just started and you are making all of your workouts. You are eating EXACTLY on plan. This is the stage where you are buying all the weight loss books and dvds that you can afford. You are googling weight loss at your lunch break and doing all of your research. You are looking at inspiring stories on youtube. You had your first week and you lost an amazing amount of weight (mostly due to water) and you know that this is the best decision that you have ever made.

2) Settling in- This is the stage where you've been losing weight for a couple of weeks and you begin to miss workouts. You get used to losing weight and you relax a little on your eating habits. You may have a bad week this week as you realize that you didn't lose weight (or worse YOU GAINED) and you don't know why.

3) Toddler stage- I call this the, "I am on a diet and I DON"T LIKE IT!" stage. You are doing what you HAVE to do to lose weight instead of focusing on the journey. At this point you try to realize how soon you will be done. You are focusing on exactly how many workouts that YOU HAVE TO DO this week in order to make goal. You loathe the fact that you can't eat the old foods that you like but you know if you give in that you won't make your weight goal this week. This is the week where you are mean to your loved ones and you can't wait for this to be over.

4) Mature- If you make it beyond the toddler stage this is the stage where you "just keep your head down" and do what you need to do to lose weight. You've accepted that this is a journey and you don't focus on each pound lost (or at least you don't focus as much as you did during the toddler stage). You just focus on doing what you must do to continue the weight loss. This journey isn't something that is wonderful/fantastic or horrible. It just is.

5) You reach your goal. It is either your Sweet Dream or a Beautiful Nightmare. This is the stage where you reach your initial goal and you are on cloud nine or you realize more work needs to be done (i.e. either toning or more weight loss). This is the stage where you realize that your weight loss doesn't fix all of your woes. Actually it just creates more. In fact you find that you are the same person in a lot of ways. Yes you are a thinner person but you still have insecurities. You are human. If you relax during this stage you stand to gain all of your weight back plus some. The point in this phase is to realize what made you gain weight in the first place and make the necessary changes that will allow you to remain at your current weight (food choices/habits and exercise that you can maintain over a lifetime).

Am I right on this one guys? Any other stages I should prepare myself for?

Does anyone else do this?

After dinner I usually want a nice dessert. Something I can eat slowly and really savor. Instead this has become my routine.

I eat my meal.

I usually have diet coke in a glass with a few pieces of ice. After my meal I slowly sip the ice while I talk with my daughter about her day. It is kinda the same feel as having a drink with a friend sans the alcohol.

For the past week I've been able to keep from sending my daughter to the corner grocery store to get mommy her snickers.

Does anybody else do this. What else have you done to keep from eating dessert.

Exercise DVD Haul!!!

Ok I plan on going on amazon today and buying 5 exercise dvd's to do at home. Sometimes I just don't feel like going to the park or to the gym. Any ideas on some exercise tapes. Here is what I am looking for:

1) Difficulty- OK guys I really want to sweat here. I want some really fast movements, choreography etc that keeps my heart rate up and keeps me sweating. I really like to dance so either that or aerobics.

2) Good Music

3) Not too cheesy.

I was thinking about the Crunch: Fat Burning Blast DVD but am looking for others.

Send me your ideas.

10 Pound Challengers

Hey Challengers,

Update me on your progress! I wanna know how you are doing.

155; Yippee Lost Two pounds last week

See you can entirely go out 2 nights in a week and have a few drinks and still meet your weight loss goals for the week.! Yippee.

Worked out last night. 30 minutes on the elliptical. Can't wait for my ipod to be shipped this song I will def. add to my cool downs.

Raheem Devaughn (Believe)

With affection like a dreamer
with patience and understanding
like a teacher with a student, vice versa
promise not to hurt you, not to leave
not to lie, not to cheat, not to fuss
not to stress, like the rest in your past

Believe me I ain't like most men
I ain't like them others
you done dealt with in your past
just have some faith
that is all I ask, believe in me (repeat)

why go searching, else where lurking
when you been hurtin for the real thing
since I'm here before your eyes
lets make love till sunrise.

I be something like the rebirth
of love with a twist
it started with a simple kiss
what could be more precious
then the rebirth of love

Chours (repeat)
Believe in me
Believe in me, just try...try
believe in me
Chours (repeat)

I got another way I want to tell you

lately I have been thinking
about this crazy world,
being one step away from war
So tonight baby,
I want to make love to you
Like this world is coming to an end
and if we should die tonight,
In the next life
I'm gonna love you the same
Ain't nothin gonna change


What's on your ipod?

My week.....My week

I have only ran once this week bc I've had a rollercoaster of a week. Hopefully I'll feel better tonight after a long run. Then all I need is another workout on Friday and I'll be all better.

So ok so I know this is not the point of my blog. But why do people always want what they can't have. If they could have it would they even want it. Shut up Mandy and run your two damn miles on the treadmill. After about 27 minutes....you'll feel so much better. lmao

Happy running,

Mandy

157.0; HYAA Take that Scale!

Lost 1.8 last week. Now I'm at 157.0. Really worked out some kinks in my calcs and my activity level.

I already shared this once but I thought I would share with you guys again in case you would like to try it.

Harris Benedict Formula= BMR*Activity-calories in=weight loss

Activity is as follows:

0-1 workouts= 1.2
2-3 workouts=1.375
4-5 workouts= 1.55
5-6 workouts 1.6
6-7 workouts 1.725
Hardass=1.9

I had 5 workouts last week so I'll take 1.6
My average caloric intake was 1539.

So plug the numbers

(1490*1.6-1496)*7=1.78 (i.e my weight loss for the week!)

It works you guys. Try it. If you are a little confused with the formula you can send it to me and I'll send you my spreadsheet for you to plug the numbers.

Next week I want to up the weight loss a little so I think I'll try to watch my intake of bread, pasta, and rice. I think this will only eat those before noon and see if my weight loss accelerates to 2.5. They say as long as the weight loss is under 3 pounds per week that you aren't losing muscle. How are you guys doing?

Day 4

I went out last night and did not go to the gym so I will update you guys on my calorie count and my activity on Monday. I will do a full update on Monday with weight, calorie count, and activity, plus a review on my calorie count spreadsheet and its effectiveness. I hope you all are doing well!

Mandy

Anyone else getting by on sugarless gum and diet coke

As it seems gum can actually cause you to snack less after lunch and minimize cavaties see below:

http://caloriecount.about.com/blog/partners/chewing-gum-conundrum-b397664

I also think that drinking diet coke as a zero calorie drink is bad bc it isn't water but it is better than drinking a high calorie drink. I even drink diet coke instead of regular when I order mixed drinks (i.e. diet coke and rum). I figure that ever less calorie helps me to get to my goal.

What do you guys think?

My weight loss over time

Some people have asked about my weight loss over time.

To the side I have posted the dates and my weights so people can see how fast I lost the 50 or so pounds over time.

I guess you can see that the weight was up and down. This has definately been a journey for me. I've learned some very good things along the way.

1) I can't get comfortable.
2) Calorie counting has become a way of life for me.
3) Once I reach my goal I cannot get comfortable.
4) I can gain weight easily/quickly if I stop counting and stop exercising.

5) Although life gets stressful I cannot say that I will worry about weight later. That only leads to a bigger problem to fix later (see the jump from 142 to 161 only 4 months later. It looks like a lot of weight but it is only 5 pounds a month aka 583 calories over maintenance per day). I have to stay present and I have to remain vigilent about my health and especially about my weight. For me my health is tied to my weight. I have a family history of diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. I don't currently have any of these problems thanks to God and my exercise and my eating habits. However I cannot let that allow me to become comfortable with my weight. Yes I can still run at my current weight but I know that I could run a lot faster, a lot farther, and a lot easier if I was 30 pounds lighter.

Yesterday I went to my doctor for my monthly checkup and she actually told me that my cholesterol and blood pressure levels are something that you just don't see with people of African desent. I can only attribute that to running a lot and really pushing myself. That is something that cannot stop once I reach 130. Although I will be at goal the only way to keep these health problems at bay is to continue the cardiovascular exercise.

6) I will never stop pushing until I reach 130 so I might as well focus and get there.

7) For me I cannot say I won't eat this or eat that. That only leads me to binge. Calorie counting allows me to eat anything I want within a specified caloric number per day. This freedom allows me to feel like I can have anything that I want and that makes it a lot easier to continue a weight loss regiment. I also don't mandate my exercise I simply know that I get a higher burn rate and lose more weight if I exercise more. For me this is the motivation that gets me to the gym when I'd rather just watch TV.

What lessons have you learned as you've lost weight?

Mandy

Day 3

Ran 2 miles in 27:42. Felt really hard bc I actually counted the two minute warmup. Faster than when I did it last week at 28 minutes. Here are my eats for day 3 of the competition.

BF
1 pc bread 70
1 fried egg 90
1 tsp butter 102
1 tsp jam 40
coffee 180
1/8 pineapple

Snack
1 full bar 160

Lunch
3 cabbage rolls 300
1/2 cup pad thai 172
1/8 pineapple 29

Snack
3 cookies 144 (I hate it how 3 cookies was similar in cals as a whole fillet of sea bass that I ate for dinner)

Dinner
6 tbsp rice 78
1/2c greens 19
1 sea bass fillet 125

Dessert
5 tamarinds 25

Total 1563

Challenge Day 2

Feeling pretty good. I have worked out every day since last Thursday. I'm really trying to push that scale this week. Yesterday I went to the Sizzler with a co-worker. I tried going to the site before I went to figure out what I was going to eat and did ok:] Here are my cals for the day.

BF
1 pc bread- 70
1 fried egg- 90
1 tsp butter 102
1 tsp jam
coffee 180
1/8 pineapple 29

Snack
1 cup pineapple 78

Lunch
1 hamburger (only beef, tomato, lettuce, onion)- 507 (happy I said no to mayo and cheese)
french fries 286
1 mini snicker 80 (the old me would have ordered a dessert- small changes)

Dinner
3 cabbage rolls (2 tbsp rice and 0.5 oz pork ea) 300
1/3 potato 92

Total cals 1954

Workout- Before dinner I turned on some reggae and did aerobics for 30 minutes (really pushed myself) then did a 5 minute abs and cool down.

My Account Day 1 of Challenge`

Hey challengers,

Please email me with your weight for day 1 of the challenge. If you decided that you don't want to participate please email me at mparham-seotsanyana@usaid.gov so that I don't send you any unnecessary emails.

I felt a little sluggish on my first day of the challenge. I had worked out every day since Thursday of last week so Monday was my fourth workout in four days. I jogged to Lumpini Park where they had an aerobics class. I did the aerobics class for 35 minutes and then returned home. Total workout time: 60 minutes

As far as eating I tried to measure everything as well as possible. Here is what I actually ate.

Meal Food Calories
Breakfast- 1 pc toast 70
1 egg fried 90
1 tsp butter 102
coffee 180

Snack Full Bar 160

Lunch 1/2 mango 68
3 oz fish 119
1 rose apple 25
4 tsp rice 52

Dinner 1 cup pad thai 344

Total Calories 1210

YIPPEE!!! My caloric goal for each day of the challenge was 1300 (If I do this and my starting calories burned per day is 1426 (low-balling) plus exercise at 1.725 (6-7 workouts per week) my new spread is (1426*1.725)-1300= 1159 or 2.3 pounds per week.

Question: Does anyone else out there calculate their spread like this to figure out how many pounds they should lose in a week?

Mandy

10 pound weight loss challenge starts today!

Ok everybody. We have 5 challengers including me! I weighed in at 158.6 this morning 3/8/2010. It seems I am at a bit of a standstill so I am glad that this competition will get me back in the game. When you get a chance sometime today let me know what your start weight was for the competition.

If you find yourself at a standstill with your weight loss here are some tactics to get the scale back moving in the right direction.

1) Start writing down everything that you are eating. I started looking at my writings and noticed that I was getting a little slack with the serving sizes and amounts. For instance I would write down that I had 2 slices of watermelon without weighing the watermelon or trying to figure out the EXACT quantity. Without the exact quantity it is impossible to know the exact number of calories that you are eating. Without being sure about the quantity you can never know if your anticipated spread is correct.

2) Write down what you are going to eat and its associated calories BEFORE eating it and not afterwards. Sometimes the numbers will make you eat less and/or help you make better choices. This is especially a good idea before going out to eat.throught the competition I am going to blog my calories each day so you guys can see what I'm eating.

3) More exercise. Not my favorite thing but if your body is used to what you are doing you have to change up the intensity or the length of time spent exercising if you want to get your body to release more fat. I started jogging on Saturday. Although it was hard I think my body needed it and I think that this will continue to allow my body to push towards the final goal.

What have you done when your weight loss stalls? Any ideas are greatly appreciated!

Mandy

10 pound weight loss challenge

THE WEIGHT LOSS CHALLENGE STARTS ON MONDAY. All of the contestants have been contacted. It's gonna be a blast! Really looking forward to it.

Mandy

10 pound weight loss challenge

OK guys lets keep it interesting.

What if we had a 10 pound weight loss challenge?

We could all promise to send $10 to the winner. So either you have to send the winner $10 or you win the winnings.

How does that sound. Race to the 10 pound finish. If you wanna do it leave a comment in this blog (mention it to your fellow friends on blogspot) and we can have a small competition.

Oh and one more thing. I live in Bangkok so I thought I would add a little something to really keep it interesting. The winner will also be sent an authentic Thai elephant made out of Thai teakwood.

Picture enclosed at the top of the post. Or a set of authentic Thai pillows (I can buy in the market next to my apartment so I'll choose whatever color you like and send to you for free- that is if you beat me).

Just trying to keep it interesting. Let me know if you would like to participate in the challenge.

Still Logging. Still Blogging

Waiting for my period. Still bloated. Pre-men worries. But pushing through. Sometimes it feels harder than others. I feel like " I JUST WANT TO BE THERE ALREADY". I'm looking forward to seeing what life is like for me when I don't have to worry about this weight anymore. What will be on my mind? What sort of projects will come to the forefront of my mind when the thought of weight loss isn't there? Just keeping it real. It's not always a journey where I'm clicking my heels and enjoying every moment. It's not that I want to eat something or that I feel like I'm withholding from myself you know. I just feel like I want to move on to the next level. For now I'm keeping my head down and pushing forward. That is what separates those from finishing from those that don't. We all start off excited and enjoying the process. It's what I do in this moment that matters. What's important is that I don't quit. That I keep pushing. That I keep leaning forward when someone else would lean back.

Here's to leaning forward!

Mandy