Phase 3

Alright, so i took a week off from strict dieting, and fortunately only gained one pound. but that is not a good pound, since it brought me back up to the ugly number 220. hopefully this will shed quickly though. exercise and eating well last week were difficult because i was so busy with school, job fairs, and interviews. everything's going really well though, i'm looking forward to some great job opportunities!

since i'm pretty good at doing short stints of strict diet plans, i think i'll try the Special K Challenge this time. i see the advertisements all the time, "Drop a Jean Size in 2 Weeks," and that sounds pretty good to me! besides, i love cereal. this may just work. so, i'm a loose size 16, i hope to be a loose size 14 by October 25. (does this mean that i will have to buy a new pair of jeans again? i just bought this pair 2 weeks ago! i guess $ is not a problem here!)

i checked out the website and designed a profile with my customized meal plan, and i'm liking it so far. the website is really interactive and easy to use. the meal plan consists basically of cereal and fruit for breakfast, a meal bar and fruit for lunch, 2 snacks, and a normal dinner meal. today i had a bowl of Special K cereal and a plum for breakfast and a Special K snack bar. lunch is coming up soon, i'll probably have a meal bar or another bowl. for dinner i'll have something yummy, with a snack before. i'm thinking that in order to succeed, i need to remind myself of the plan as often as i can and stick to it. no more making excuses to eat out, nina!

of course i will keep to my workout schedule and ride as often as possible. the weather's been beautiful lately.

pulling from my original motivations, my main motivations for this phase are:

1. gotta look good for the recruiters. i'll be spending a lot of time looking for full-time jobs and must feel good about myself during interviews.

2. my best friend, who moved to Idaho, will be coming to visit in November. i wanna should him the new me!

3. i am graduating in december. can't look like a walking refrigerator in mourning clothes when going across the stage!
4. starting a new career. i hope to have a job by the beginning of next year and must be able to fit well in and look good in formal, business, casual, and business-casual attire for every occasion. if i do end up getting a job with the company i interned with (cross my fingers!) i would really love to see the look on everyone's faces when they see how much i've changed.
5. do it for myself! i don't want to feel ashamed of myself being the big person in the back of the photograph surrounded by petite girlfriends. gotta fit in!
6. rack up the miles. weight loss is a big deal, but might as well see how many miles i can cross during the journey!

so, on to Phase 3, Day 1!!

My Last and Worst Bucket100

Phase 2 Part 2 Evaluation

weight: 218lbs

bucket: 121.2mi

total: 291.7

i was so close. i got down to 218lbs, it was difficult to do more. i was only able to work out twice last week, been so busy preparing to the job fair and packing for bucket. riding didn't help me lose too much since i ate a lot to replenish my fuel source.

bucket was awful. haha. usually they schedule it sometime in november, but this year they thought they would be nice by trying to go before it got too cold. but the temperature dropped last weekend and the weather was awful for the ride. it rained on saturday with freezing wind, and was so cold with a 30mph head wind on sunday. i've never done such a hard ride. CoverIN was so much better than this!!! so, in the end, i was not able to succeed in my goal of passing the Orange Helmet on to someone else (unless you count the guy i rode with the whole time and made sure i was in front of him as we got to the finish line) so yea, now i have really lame bragging rights, everyone's gonna think i'm crazy, and i'm so sore. it stinks that i was not able to enjoy the ride too much considering that this was my last one. really disappointing. and i was in such an awful mood today. it was so hard to concentrate in school, all i could think of was how everything hurt and how cold i was. i really hope i don't get sick, i tried so hard to dress well. totally did not get a cyclist's high, and i think RJ's gonna have to go into storage for the rest of the season, especially if it stays this cold. man.....

so yea, i tried as well as i could to accomplish Phase 2 Part 2, so now i think it's time to move onto Phase 3. but i'll set those goals in another blog post at a time when sitting at the computer doesn't hurt so much.

Day 4

weight: 218lbs

days left: 6

today: 0mi

total: 170.5mi

today was very busy, but it was good.

i went to class, then volunteered at the animal shelter for 2 hours, playing with the cute kitties. i tried walking the dogs at first, but there were so many people in the dog area i felt like i was in the way. instead i hung out with the furballs. it was really fun. afterwards i went to work and stood for 3 hours, then went to upper body class. it was a good active day.

i dunno if i ate too much, but it feels like i did. breakfast was yogurt, snack was fiber-one bar, lunch was chili and crackers, dinner was also chili, but with a bowl of cereal and 2 cookies for snack beforehand. i dunno, i guess chili just fills me up. maybe i shouldn't eat so much in one day.

tomorrow i'm hoping to ride to school if i get up early enough and if it's not too cold. if i don't get called into work again, i'll have plenty of time to finally go to volleyball and then to zumba (they're having a short class on wednesday this week, along with the normal thurs and fri classes)

autumn came so fast out of nowhere, it got really cold the past couple of days. i'm starting to be concerned about this little nose/throat thing i got goin on....

weather for bucket this weekend isn't looking so good. 62 and raining on saturday, 61 and sunny on sunday. i hope it won't really be that cold and ugly!! but then again, all these years of perfect riding weather couldn't have lasted much longer. oh darn!

Day 3

weight: 219lbs

days left: 7

today: 0mi

total: 170.5mi

haven't lost any since i was taking it easy this weekend. yesterday i worked really hard, we were so busy! all i had to eat was a pancake for breakfast, a peach for lunch, and a chocolate malt for dinner/snack.

today i was at school from 9am to 11:30pm trying to get a lot of work done before i leave this weekend for the ride. so i didn't get to workout and i had coffee for breakfast, jimmy johns for lunch, and a bowl of cereal and chips for dinner. not exactly the best choices.

tomorrow will hopefully be better. i am extremely busy, but will try my best to go to upper body workout, if the day doesn't kill me first, and i will try to eat good stuff. i'm really motivated to lose those 2 pounds, gotta do it!

Phase 2 Part 2

weight: 219lbs

days left: 9

today: 3.5mi

total: 170.5mi

so i'm thinking we'll call this Phase 2 Part 2, since it'll be a short goal.

i WILL lose the last 2lbs by Monday, October 4. i figure this will give me enough time to healthily lose weight and also get a lot of exercise in during Bucket 100.

motivations for this mini phase are mainly:

1. train for the Bucket 100 ride that is THIS WEEKEND!
2. gotta look good for the job recruiters. there is a job fair this friday and potential interviews too!

today was a good start. i didn't eat much and rode to work, where i stood for 8 hours. didn't ride back because it was raining, poor RJ got left out in the rain. dunno how tomorrow will go, i probably will sleep in and then head to work for another 8 or so hours of standing. we'll see.

oh yea, forgot to tell you, RJ got his new seat installed. apparently they were able to use the same post, so no added cost there. the seat is not as slick as i was hoping, but it looks good and maybe is a few ounces lighter. it's not set at the right hight though, i have to hunt down my wrenched (which disappeared along with my old pump) and get it raised. i also got him a new chain ($13.50) and cogs ($17.99), a hand pump ($19.80), a saddle bag ($10), a rear flashing LED light ($6), and picked up some essential tools ($28). labor was only $12 and i loved how i got 5% off the entire bill because i'm a member or wrcc, saved $10! now RJ is happy and i'm ready for a long, hopefully issue free ride.