New Beginning - Day 2

At the end of my first 30 days of the body bugg I was super frustrated. I had a calorie deficit of about 860 calories, which meant I should have lost weight. But, I didn't. I did loose an inch off my waist and thighs but.. well.. hard to make that seem like enough.

So I am trying out something different. I am trying the 70/30 percent rule. Meaning that weight loss is truly 70% about what you eat and 30% about exercising. I have exercising down so I can do that 30%. My eating has been in deficit levels but it is just not taking. I have to judge what I eat as well. So I am going to put 70% of my strength into watching what I eat.

I will start by going back to the Atkins. I know, its not the hip way to loose a few pounds but it has worked for me in the past before and I need something that works right now. Its frustrating to be doing more exercise than any other girl I know and yet still be one of the largest girls I know. So lets put the focus on food. I will continue to work out as it is a habit for me now but I will give up Carbs for two weeks and then slowly introduce them back into my diet. Within the next two weeks I will also not have beer which is so hard for me because it is part of my social group to have beer, but I got to make a tough change for big changes!

Day 20 - Return Mega Cal Day

Sorry, I have been gone for awhile. The good news is that I've kept up with my bodybugg wearing and exercise. I had to write about yesterday though. I did Crossfit in the morning, walked to work and back, and then played softball with my company's team for a total calorie burn of 3407! Wow! I was just thinking the other day how interesting it would be if I could make it to 3000. I did feel totally wiped out at bedtime.

Problem though, I only ate about 1400 calories that day for a deficit of 1600, which I know is way too much. This might be why I can't sleep tonight. So I had a hard boiled egg for a late late night snack. Still though I am a bit frustrated.

I am not loosing as fast as I wanted. I should be down 4.5lbs and instead down 3lbs. I guess when I write it out it doesn't seem that bad, which is glad I am writing it down. I just feel trapped at this weight of 190. I am doing so much exercise that I feel like I deserve to have it peeled off me, not creeping off me.

I have this weird body where if just for a week I check out and eat what I sometimes call "normally" I gain 4lbs. This is not just water weight because it will stay on for weeks. Then it takes me three weeks to get that weight off. I have to be on it at all times and it can wear a girl out.

This is a nice victory for me though 3400 calories! Wow! I deserved to eat a nice meal from that had I known. Maybe I should invest in the digital display.

Day 9 - Adjusting Calorie Intake

As you can see my calorie deficit is a lot higher than it has been. I am experimenting to see what difference that makes. Speaking of difference I stepped on the scale today and it read 191.5! Yesterday it was 194! argh. You never know what you body is going to throw at you. But, oh well, I am down the amount I should be if I started at 193, that is a 1.5 lb loss.

I do feel like I am never going to get out of this cycle. I've been roughly at this weight for over a year now. I need to keep things in perspective, its been a terrible year of hospitals, oncology units, and ICUs. Being a bit overweight is not the end of the world.

Day 8 - What Makes Me Happy

I need to re-frame my frustrations into being honest with what makes me upset, what makes my body feel bad, and what makes both my mind and body feel good.

I had a fun weekend with friends but unfortunately that included a lot of drinking and staying out late. My body felt horrible Saturday after a Friday night of drinking and dancing. It was a lot of fun and I got to go out on the dance floor and have a guy show interest in me. It was good, when I stay home or shield myself around my friends I think that no one could ever be interested in me. But when I put myself out there it was nice to see I can be attractive. Which means I can still go out but I don't need to stay out as late or drink as much. Moderation is always the key.

But the thing is, running and Crossfit, makes my body feel happy for days after unlike drinking where I fit terrible the next day. Plus I feel more confident after doing Crossfit. Check out this Crossfit video, I did that workout. I am thinking about stepping up my Crossfit workouts to four times a week instead of three, which months ago I would say is crazy but my trainer says I can do it.

Day 8, WEEK 1 TOTAL - Frustrated

Above is my week average of calories burned vs eaten. Should be good but... not so much.

One week into my 30 day challenge and I don't have amazing numbers to report. I am frustrated. I started out at 193lbs and then by weighing in throughout the week I was buzzing along, going down to a 191lbs, right on schedule. And then this morning's weight in, 194. What the hell? I had a 500 Cal deficit and I exercised a lot.

I need to re-tool how I am eating. I was experimenting thinking that just as long as I eat under my 1950 I should be good. I don't think this is the case with my body. I am thinking about seeing a nutritionalist. I also need to cut down my drinks. My social group basically always meets at bars, lounges, house parties. I love this lifestyle and won't stop it, but I can control how I drink. I have tried to go out and just drink non-alcoholic drinks and my friends are super cool with it. I don't need to drink just because everyone else is drinking. repeat! I don't need to drink just because everyone else is drinking.

For the next week I am going to eat much less, what I used to eat, and really watch it. I can't just give up even though I am frustrated. The minute I even think about giving up and not being conscious of my eating is when I can easily gain 10lbs.

Day 4 - Problems

Its been a hard day. I was checked out all day. On Wednesday I coordinated a community event and got talking to a very handsome man. Honestly this is where I doubt myself. I am not as fit as him and so why would he be going for me? It just made me a bit sad and second guessing myself. We just talked, no date arranged but it makes me feel worse to be at this weight and have to deal with this.

Day 2 - Crossfit

I was moody as heck yesterday. Why? Not completely sure but I do know when I finished with my Crossfit workout I was all smiles. What is CrossFit ?
"CrossFit is an evidence based strength and conditioning program built on consistently varied, if not randomized, functional movements executed at high intensity. It was developed to enhance every individual’s competency at all physical tasks. CrossFit started in Santa Cruz and is now an international fitness program with over 450 affiliates worldwide."

But words don't do it justice. Below is the workout I did yesterday and no I am not in it. Also note, most of the women in this video are all mothers in their late 30s-40s. I am one of the few youngin's in the bunch. When I first started at Crossfit I totally didn't feel I belonged, there but they are very welcoming to all types and now I feel fine working out next to women with 8-pack abs. In fact I admire them more than any super skinny-weak looking girls. My body will never be waif like, but I can be strong. So, for motivation, I want to be around women who worked hard to get strong. Also note, I could not do the pull-ups like they are in the video, not strong enough, but I did modified box jumps that get your heart going. I was so proud of myself that I could do all the weights. Nothing makes you feel like you kick ass like lifting these weights.

Comparing Yourself

It is 10am I am at the office and check out the text I get from one of my girlfriends:

"Making massive quantities of Indian Food! Can you join us for dinner at 8pm????" I winced. 

The main thing that bothers me is that I can't eat like all my friends (ages 25-30). Every time I just eat what they eat and go out like they do bam! 10 lbs gained! At the same time I am the only person I know that can run over a mile. My friends are sweet and they call me athletic. But I am still a size 12 versus their size <6.>

Then again, when I wrote that I eat like they do that is when I am not tracking what I eat and so I really may be packing in the calories. I eat breakfast all the time and they rarely do. I work in an office full of "chocolate mines" (candy bowls on desk) and they do not. I sit at a desk job, they work either a front desk at a hotel or are students. Bodybugg really shows you how these small things can add up. Maybe I deserve my extra pounds after all. 

I am not sure if I will go have that dinner, I have homework tonight, sort of. I did wake up at 5am and did two hours of homework, but I am still sort of interested in doing more. 

Day 1 - Apex BodyBugg vs Nike Plus Part II

So interesting plan. I log in everything I think I will have for dinner, come home from work and upload my calories burned. My plan was that then I could see how many calories I had to burn during my run. I had walked to work and also took a walk during lunch so I was looking forward to an easy one mile or two. Then I uploaded... nope... I had only burned 1770 all day with walking to work. I had to go for another long run. 

I used this as another opportunity to match the Nike+ next to bodybugg. Yesterday I had a wrong weight programed into my Nike+, 7lbs too much. So I wanted to see how things went with my actual weight. Wow, how freaky is Nike+! Not only did I burn a total different amount of calories (537cal today, 600 yesterday) even though I ran a lot longer but the Nike+ mileage had me running a shorter distance (3.76miles today vs 4miles yesterday). I ran twenty minutes longer how could that be a shorter mileage if I ran the same path?! Arg! I hate  miscalculating my mileage, I feel like I am cheating. Well, I pooped out my doggie again. 

The good news. If my Nike+ told me I burned 537calories, I wonder how many my lovely scientific Bodybugg told me I burned... 877 calories!!! Wow! Yes that jog felt like 877! 

This really has me thinking about when I used to run long distance before and rarely lost any weight. I ate probably about 1500-1600 calories at the time. If I was blazing through burning calories than maybe that is why I didn't budge the scale, my body was hungry.   

First Day Shocker

When I got started with my bodybugg program I was pretty surprised to see that they figured I burn about 2700 calories a day and that I should eat 1950. I mean come on, who eats that much food and burn that many calories?! Typically I am eating about 1400 calories and anything above 1600 is a bad day. How can I loose weight eating 1950 calories when there is no way I can burn 2700 calories?!

Well... after I first uploaded my bodybugg info after a day of work I was shocked at what I saw. By just walking around work and walking a bit during lunch, I had burned 2100 calories! Sure my profession in HR requires me to walk around the office all day talking to people but I never thought much of it. Walking around never seemed like exercise to me. 

I still thought something was wrong with my bodybugg. How could I burn that many calories? Then I started getting concerned about my previous eating habits. If I only ate 1200-1600 calories a day that means I was regular running a deficit of 1200 ish calories a day and maybe even putting my body into starvation mode. Maybe, probably not but maybe.   

So now I am trying to get my 1950 in everyday. At first I went over board, thinking that I could just chow down. But when I added up my food it is easy to see how quick those extra calories can come. Also my fat intake was way too high. So now my goal is to eat more but of items that keep my ratio to 20% Protein 20% fat 60% Carbs. This can be hard. 

What the Website Looks Like

Now that my food log is all inputed I can show off what it looks like. When I say show off, I mean how cool the program looks and not what I ate. We'll work on my eating habits soon. So you can see how it clearly shows how many calories I burned on May 31st and how many I ate. Yes that lady can get pretty annoying when you spend too much time staring at this screen. I've named her Trisha and feel that she frowns upon my pint of beer I have with my friends.  

As for the calorie deficit this is where the money is, where weight loss begins. I am on a plan to loose 2lbs a week so the program figured I should have a daily deficit of 750 Calories.  

Figured Out Food Log Problem!

There is something to be said that the first thing I thought of when I woke up this morning is whether or not the Bodybugg food log would be working so that I could input my food from the weekend. I read about how you can get a little obsessed about this gadget, but I figure if you are obsessing about your health it is not that bad. 

So I get into work early to input my food log and, wow, it works just fine! I noticed that the Java application looks different from the one that logs in on my home laptop. So, maybe I am not updated on some Java application? Then again, I do remember it working just fine a few days ago. I think I am going to throw this over to Bodybugg as being their technical issue. But I am happy that I just have at least one computer I can log in my calories eaten. 

Apex BodyBugg vs Nike Plus

Check out this picture of my dog, she is panting up a storm. I love it when I wear her out!

Since I am a full time student/worker I have to squeeze in my exercise when I can. So today after I was trapped in front of the computer for 6 hours for a Finance class webinar, I thought it was best to put on my running shoes and go for a jog with the dog.  

For fun I put on my Nike Plus and used it to measure Calories vs the Bodybugg. The nike plus is a device you use with your IPod and through a sensor you wear on your shoe it can tell how long you have ran and how many calories burned, roughly. Jogging with both a bodybugg and a ipod makes you feel a bit like a robot, but not uncomfortable. 

I set my Nike+ to have me run until I burned 500 Calories. Now since I don't have the Bodybugg digital watch to show me my real time calorie burn, I planned to match up when I got back home. 

I love jogging. I am not a fast runner, I jog about a 12 min mile but at a very steady pace without stopping. My dog and I headed up to the redwood forrest near my house, our usual path that she knows pretty well. 

Running through the redwoods is better than any street or beach path. I always feel its like a video game, you have to jump over logs and always watch the ground so not to trip over roots. When I was 250 calories in (the Nike + tells me over my headphones) I decided to go a bit more to reach a full 2 miles in the forrest. When I turned around and came back in I soon reached my 500 calorie goal with more road to go and so I went for 600 calories. 

Coming back to my house I was just about 585 calories so, to my dogs displeasure, we went past my house a bit and then back for a perfect 600 calorie burn. Yay! It was a total of 4.05 miles, 52mins, and a 12:50mile speed. 

When I downloaded my bodybugg I found that I can adjust my calories to the hour I ran and was surprised to see that according to it, I burned 724 calories! 

Comparing the two sciences of the devices, I am going to go with bodybugg. Nike+ uses your weight to match how many calories you burned and when I checked out my Nike+ settings I still had my weight at 197lbs. Wow I had lost some weight a while back, nice to know and nice to see bodybugg is probably right. 

Food Log Not Working

Wow, it would be great if I could start off with things working. But for this to be a true user review, I have to be honest, the damn thing is broken. This is a re-occurring problem for the past three days. I try to log my food in, takes a few minutes, and I press "Next Meal" and nothing happens. Its been three days since I could add my food which sucks because I have to memorize or write down my food so I can input it when the things work again. Glad I paid $199 for this. 

 

My Starting Point

To lay the cards on the table and to quantify this one month study. Here is what we have to start with. I hate when I read these types of things and no one puts their real weight and height. I mean this is not your financial information, I want to know the numbers so that I can learn from others. So here we go:

Age 28

Gender Female

Height 5'7'' 

Weight 193 (I know I know, a chubster)

Measurements:

neck: 13 inches

chest: 37.5 inches

arm: 13.5 inches

waist: 35.5 inches

hips: 43 inches

thighs: 24.5 inches

calf: 16 inches

Goals:

Starting Goal to Reach by Aug 7, 2009: 175lbs

So by July 1, 2009 my goal should be 182.5lbs

The Plan

I bought my Apex Bodybugg last week and have been practicing with it before I started this blog. For those who need a bodybugg primer, according to the 24hr Fitness website:

"The bodybugg armband calorie tracking device uses a patented process to monitor and interpret your calorie burn throughout the day or during your workouts. Using data from four physiological sensors in conjunction with your body parameters (age, gender, height, and weight), the bodybugg electronic calorie counter provides the most accurate estimation of energy expenditure available outside of a clinical setting." (http://www.24hourfitness.com/training/bodybugg/)

I had been eyeing them for a few months but, like apparently everyone else, I was waiting until the price ($249) went down. Finally magic set in and my company bonus came in at the same time the price went down to ($199) and I snapped one up. I was pretty excited to get started and actually read the directions, something I never do. 

As I started searching the web for more information on the bodybugg and user reviews, I didn't find much. I am taking a Social Media Marketing course for my MBA program and so, why not, I started my own user review blog. For the next 30days, June 1, 2009 to June 30, 2009 I will be using the bodybugg and writing on this blog my findings. With hope I can keep this up. For now, I am just focusing on the first two weeks. Here we go!