A new low

Well, for this year, anyway.

It's official: I've ZOOMED past the 10-pounds-lost mark, all the way to 11 since 1/1/12.

As both of you know, my body doesn't much care for giving up lard. So what's the secret to my fabulous success? (Please imagine me smirking. Eleven pounds in 14 weeks is, um, WAY less-than-fabulous for most folks, but I must be happy about it or the scale gods will MAKE ME PAY.)

I was able to maintain a seven-pound loss on South Beach, but moving to Phase II stopped the losses. And, frankly, I like whole-grain bread and rice and pasta, so moving back to Phase One felt like being put in a corner for eating normal food. "Nobody puts Baby in a corner."

Is that the kind of food relationship I want to nurture? I. Don't. Think. So.

While driving lately, I've been catching up on some of Jillian's recent podcasts. I heard something a couple weeks ago that we've all heard before. You may have dismissed it as I did, since there isn't anything magical or amazing or even terribly interesting about it. What she said was:

COUNT CALORIES 

So I have been, with a little help from the Lose It app. I've been using FatSecret for a couple years to intermittently record food and log exercise, but just as it helps to switch workout routines or have an occasional high-calorie day, I find it somewhat motivating to try a new way of tracking calories in/calories out. (LoseIt wasn't available for the BlackBerry, so I really should be giving all the credit to the new phone. Heh.)

What I like about LoseIt is that it works like a checkbook. You're subtracting food calories and adding exercise calories throughout the day, with the goal being a zero balance at bedtime. The difference between counting calories now and counting calories any other time I've done it is that I'm actually eating the calories I "earn" by exercising. Usually I think I'm doing myself a favor by sticking to the goal and creating a huge deficit. But, as Jeff and Russ frequently remind us, "Undereating always leads to overeating."

I've been burning a lot of calories lately, but as you can see from last week's summary it hasn't all been in the gym or on the road. I've had more energy to do things that need to be done outside. Yesterday I cleaned the garage, something I've had on my to-do list since we traded the old car for a new-to-us truck. I filled four large garbage bags with stuff; lifted, toted, carried and moved a boatload of boxes, and swept the entire floor with a broom and dustpan. It took three hours. Granted, I needed a bit of a rest afterward, but only a short one, after which I fixed dinner and went to two meetings.

Speaking strictly for me, I didn't have this kind of energy on South Beach. Some people find they do; that's not how it worked for me, at least after about a month.

To sum up, I'm not sure what the real difference is. I've created calorie deficits before and not lost a pound for weeks on end. Something's clicking, though. Let's just hope it keeps on doing it.

Shredding, ever so slowly

No, I'm not getting rid of 10 years' worth of tax records. More like 10 years of flabby abs. Heh.

Jillian Michaels' 30-Day Shred DVD appears to be the motivation I needed to do at least a little something every day. The combination of strength training (with light dumbbells), cardio and ab work doesn't take too long, but I am definitely feeling it after a little more than a week.

Am I shredded? Oh, no. Not at all. I have a long way to go.

But you know that feeling when you first wake up that today might be a "thin" day? The kind of day when your clothes don't bind and you walk taller and you can actually feel formerly hidden bones? I've been waking up like that lately.

It feels pretty good, which is even more motivation to keep on shredding.

When I first read about this workout DVD, I thought, "Oh, c'mon, a 20-minute workout isn't even worth doing." Then my daughter-in-law told me she had been doing it and she really liked it. Personal testimony works very well with me, so I picked up my own copy. I still had the nagging thought that 20 minutes wouldn't be enough. But seriously? I wasn't even doing five minutes, so 20 had to be better than nothing!

And it is. Way better. Better enough that I don't want to give it up even when I'm planning to do some other kind of exercise the same day. Better enough that I'm still not bored by the routine. I'm still on Level 1 (of three), but have started doing the advanced version of most moves, rather than the beginner's.

I still have one problem, and that is that when I do both the DVD and a long walk, I'm wiped out. I want my energy level to increase, so that I can do the rest of the stuff that needs to get done around here. We still need to eat, wear clean clothes and walk through a dust-free house. And we (meaning me) also need to start planting seeds indoors, which doesn't sound like a lot of work, but it creates a lot of mess which needs to be cleaned. By, um, me.

So I'm not even close to where I want to be, body-wise or energy-wise, but I'm making progress. And I'm grateful for that.