The Deployment Challenge

The Navy - and I assume the military in general - is full of acronyms, abbreviations, designations, etc. CS, AT, AE, MA, AD... and a ton more that all mean something to someone. Some are pretty easy to figure out, others a bit more of a challenge. I think sometimes that's how people feel about the process of losing weight and/or living a healthy lifestyle. Some things are easy to figure out... like calories in vs. calories out. Other things are more challenging... like weighing the nutritional benefits of one food vs. another or the benefits of one form of exercise vs. another.

For my Deployment Challenge, I'm borrowing FE, or flight engineer. FEs have the important job of operating engines and and aircraft systems - including troubleshooting and fixes - all while the aircraft is in flight. People that choose this job go through extensive training - 9 months of school, plus other requirements. This isn't my husband's job (we looked at the program, but being an FE generally wreaks havoc on family life because they live by the flight schedule).

The way I see it we are all the "flight engineers" of our own journeys - whether its to lose weight, get healthy or continue maintaining a healthy lifestyle. We "operate" the engine and systems that are our body - by the food we feed ourselves, the exercise we choose to do, and whatever we choose to do to nourish our souls or maintain good mental health. As we go about our lives, we troubleshoot to see what's working and what isn't... and we come up with "fixes" to tweak aspects that aren't giving us the results we are seeking... much like the flight engineer must do to keep the plane flying safely in the skies.

By the way, my "starting" weight for the Deployment Challenge is 198.6 lbs. UGH!!!


Now for the Challenge Details...

Some of these may change a little bit month to month... as I "troubleshoot" and tweak.

** Challenge is for six months (June-November) - but broken into one month segments. **

FOOD

1. Eat 1,300-1,500 calories per day/six days per week


2. Plan meals and/or keep food journal (I'll be adding a separate page to my blog with my planned meals/food journals)


3. Enjoy restaurant food two times per week (maximum)

EXERCISE

1. Burn 6,000-9,000 calories per week through cardio activities


2. Do a strength training workout 3x/week


3. Do a core workout 4x/week

Because I like to push myself at the gym, I will be incorporating the following things into my workout schedule:

• A monthly marathon on the bike - to take place the last day of each month June-November with the goal of decreasing my time each month


• Increasing my duration on the StairMaster - basically hop and and go for as long as I can - to take place at the middle of each month June-November (500 floors in a single session is my ultimate goal for this)


• Start the C25K program - I'd like to build up to doing a 10K before the end of deployment

Because every good FE deserves a little dose of R&R, I will be scheduling myself 30-60 minutes of "me" time every day that has nothing to do with the topic of a healthy lifestyle.

There ya have the nuts & bolts of the challenge. If you're interested in joining me for one month - or six - please leave a comment to let me know. I'll be doing a quick daily progress post for this in addition to my regular posts... so that can be our check-in spot.

And my positive - keep me going - motto is...

Believe in yourself, as if the possibility of failure does not exist.

Next post... my planned rewards. Now who is gonna join me???

Caught in the Act!!!

Yep, that's me... rifling through the basket of chocolate at kids group last night. I was anxiously searching for a Kit Kat. The closet thing I found was this...

It is a Kit Kat, technically, but white chocolate just doesn't cut it in my book. So I "settled" for nine Hershey's kisses. I made them last the entire two hours I was there by sucking each one slowly and really enjoying the flavor & texture in my mouth. And since I had left some wiggle room in my meal plan, knowing there would be chocolate there, no guilt for me. :-)

I stayed pretty close to my planned meals yesterday. I did eat one peanut butter creme Girl Scout cookie between breakfast & lunch. For snacks, I ended up skipping the grapefruit; but ate an extra string cheese.

The husband was being a computer hog this morning so I never got my meal plan for today posted. Breakfast was steel cut oats with strawberries, sliced almonds & milk. Regretfully, I ended up at Jack in the Box for a late lunch. I went in with the intention of having the Chicken Fajita Pita & water. But those darn curly fries sucked me into their curliness & forced me to ask for them; I swear they did! On the bright side, I talked myself out of having the sugary root beer along with it. So a little extra time in the gym tonight & a light dinner should compensate.

Does anyone else ever feel like living a healthy lifestyle is a full-time job?

Plan of the Day

Yesterday, I had such terrible lower back pain that I spent the day with muscle relaxers. And as my trainer says, the gym & muscle relaxers are NOT friends... so I had to skip. I was really disappointed and anxious to be there, especially with all the stuff I have left to do there.

This morning, my back is feeling better so far- a little tender, but not real pain. So my plan is to take it easy this morning & then put in a light workout at the gym. After that, if it hurts I will take a muscle relaxer. Hopefully it was just a one day deal... but really I'm not that lucky lol.

On the food front, my meal plan of the day is:

Breakfast- Mini Oat Pancakes with 1 Tbsp reduced fat peanut butter & 1 small banana

282 calories

Lunch- Salad with 2 cups chopped romaine, 1 cup chopped spinach, 1/8 cup chopped red onion, 2 oz shrimp, 1/2 oz. reduced fat feta, 1 Tbsp sliced almonds & 1 Tbsp light sesame dressing; 2 kiwi

266 calories

Dinner- 1 mini bagel with 1 Tbsp almond butter & 1 Tbsp sliced almonds; 1 apple

327 calories

Snacks (as needed throughout the day)- 1 grapefruit, 3 cups airpopped popcorn, 1 light string cheese

243 calories

Calories for the day: 1,118 (plus I'll undoubtedly have a couple pieces of chocolate at kids group, so that should put me at 1200ish)

I typically aim for 1400-1500 calories, but am trying to keep it lower on light or no workout days.

I'm hoping having my planned meals out here for the world to see will help me stick to them better. Debating between doing them as daily posts or putting them on their own page - what do you think???

Off to make my pancakes... hope everyone has a great day! :-)

The Turtle Way...

Meaning slow, but surely, I'm going to get where I need to be. There is NO try here, I will get there. Period, end of story. Still trying to get back on track from the weekend, I took some steps toward getting there today.

First, I figured out exactly what I need to do on a daily basis at the gym to complete the first phase of the "2-4-8-10 Challenge" I'm doing with my friend. I can't believe I haven't talked about that on here yet... we patterned our challenge after the one I did at the gym last year & gave ourselves 12 weeks to do crazy things like almost 4,000 floors on the StairMaster. I'll write about it in detail tomorrow, but we're down to the final five weeks & I still have a LONG way to go.

Then, I set about meal planning for the coming week (starting tomorrow). I still have one day left to figure out. Once I get it all done, I'll post my plan for the week, so you can all hold me accountable to stick with it. I already know we have a special dinner tomorrow & Friday night, so those are factored in.

Though I have eaten way more than I should have today, its all been from the healthy things I stocked the house with. Don't know why I'm so stinkin hungry today. I got in a little over an hour at the gym, split between bike & treadmill. Have I mentioned how much I HATE the treadmill? Oddly enough, it didn't bother me soooo much today. But, for some unexplained reason, my hamstrings are killing me. They were hurting before I went to the gym & by the time I left they both had this sort of numb, but burning at the same time sensation. Planning to go soak in a hot bath & hope they feel better in the morning.

Tomorrow is scale day... I'm prepared for a less than happy outcome after the weekend & I'm ok with that. Scale peeking Friday morning showed I was on the right track & I'll be right back on it as of tomorrow morning... still hoping its not tooooooo terrible though.

That bath is calling me... oh no, inanimate objects are talking to me? I may be in real trouble here. :-)

"Cereal Pa"

Most of my friends have mentioned a "favorite" food that their Mom made when they were growing up - usually something sweet & definitely far from healthy- that has now become a sort of comfort food for them. For me, this is a bit of a foreign concept. My Mom HATES food, cooking and pretty much anything to do with the kitchen. When I was a little girl, before my Dad passed away, I remember her making simple meals (definitely nothing memorable). After my Dad passed away, her primary method of food preparation was deciding which restaurant to drive us to for dinner. Hmmm... could this be why, as much as I LOVE cooking, I find myself drawn to the allure of restaurants so frequently?

While my friends have their "favorite" comfort foods from their Mom's... I have "cereal pa." My Grandpa's favorite cereal was Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch, but when I was a little I couldn't say that & have always called it "cereal pa." I'm not big on sugary, fake flavored cereals, but this is one I can't seem to let go of... and I've pretty much decided not to. However, like so many things in my life... I have assigned little rules to it. #1: I will only buy it when its on sale (ie. no more than $2 per box) and #2: I only eat one bowl (measured serving) per box. Usually I make my bowl, the last serving in the box, so there's no chance of going back for more. This has worked well & kept me from eating it by the box.

A few weeks ago it was on sale for $1 per box, but you had to buy five boxes. Five boxes equals five bowls of my favorite cereal for me - or does it? I made it through boxes 1, 2 & 3 without having a single bowl. On box #4 I succumbed and had a bowl... unmeasured which is so not like me. Box #5 is in the cupboard, unopened... and I'm determined that when it is opened I will resist. One bowl out of five boxes seems reasonable... and I'm not feeling at all like I'm being deprived of something I love.

How do you keep from going overboard on foods you really like? Are there foods you have to totally avoid?

On another note: I'm finding it way more difficult to get back to my routine than I thought I would after the weekend. I mean it was only a couple days...but it feels like its been a couple months since I happily went to the gym & ate a "planned" meal. But I'm working on meal planning for the week (starting tomorrow) and will get to the gym later this evening.

I fell a little short on my mini-goal last week... gonna keep the same goal for this week. Hopefully a "normal" week will make it attainable. Hope every one's week is off to a good start!

One of Those Days!

This has been one of those days I knew was going to be a challenge before I ever drug my tush out of bed. My son woke up two short hours after I finally gave up and went to bed... he was ready to be up for the day & just couldn't quiet down (though I think he was TRYING). The husband came in the door all upset over the "rules" of our property managers. We got a bill for putting out six EXTRA trash bags in one week (for a family of three & I recycle like crazy) - I DON'T THINK SO! Anyway, they are making us pay because we can't "prove" we only had our allotted two bins out. The ear buds for my ipod shuffle went "POOF" overnight and are no where to be found... totally sucks you have to use the special ones that come with it because all of the controls are in the ear bud wires. And to round out my list of grievances... the scale was not my friend (up .8) and I have had cramps from hell all day! All of that, though not earth shattering, adds up to STRESS! Ok, sorry for the vent... actually feel a little better to get it all out there.

I don't consider this part of my challenging day... but I skipped the gym & haven't followed my meal plan to the letter. Honestly, my friend George (aka TOM) is causing me a ton of pain & I just didn't feel like pushing my body at the gym. As far as food goes, I've been STARVING all day. My planned meals for the day normally keep me feeling satisfied (not stuffed), so I'm not sure what the problem is. On the bright side, I've eaten extra of the "convenience" foods I made ahead... avoided the drive-thrus (Starbucks was SOOOO tempting) and "The Danger Zone" at the grocery store.

About the scale... sigh... ugh... but I know what caused it; one part my friend George, one part too many restaurant meals and one part not having a meal plan for the week. Even though I can pinpoint the causes I have to admit I'm feeling a bit discouraged. Maybe disappointed is a better word; disappointed with myself for my weaknesses (all the restaurant food & not declining invites) and not making myself a priority (agreeing to do stuff people, know that agreeing would mean sacrificing gym time).

But, onward & upward as they say... Meals are already planned for this whole week. I have two restaurant meals planned over the weekend & adjusted my meal plan for the week to compensate for them as much as possible. Now if I could just figure out the magic fix to the George issue... lol. Oh and disciplining myself to stick to the meal plan would be a nice touch as well. :)

Time to go make dinner - roast beef sandwiches & mushroom soup... yummy!