The Shred--Day 5

Do you guys even care, or would you rather that I just keep posting pics of my kidlets?

Well, if you don't care to know how the Shred is going, move along now (Ashley wrote a nice blog entry about yours truly, if you want something different to read) 'cause I'm gonna talk about it.

I did my 5th day of the Shred today. While I'm not nearly as sore as I was earlier this week (meaning that I can move both legs in a forward motion at normal intervals, almost resembling walking) my stamina was back down today. I'm not sure what that's about exactly. Could be psychological because I know it's Friday and I'm fairly certain that I'm going to take the weekend off of the Shred. Or, it could be related to my eating habits.

Eating habits: For awhile now, (since shortly after Jack's birth) I've really been reigning in my portion sizes and not eating a few hours before bed. In the past, whenever I've needed to shed a couple of pounds, I've had good results from going to bed just a twee little bit hungry. I always remember seeing Bob Green on Oprah saying that your body burns fat while you sleep. If you eat a giant bowl of say, ice cream, before bed, your body nibbles on that while you sleep, but if you go to bed without the bowl of ice cream in your body, your body attacks your existing fat stores instead (i.e. your ass). That always stuck in my head and I've had good luck with it. Amazingly enough, you also feel really good when you wake up in the morning and don't immediately need to head to the fridge (at least in my experience). Breakfast lately has been either a small bowl of high-fiber cereal, with no-fat milk (I'm not a milk drinker, so I've never had anything other than fat-free milk in my cereal--but I understand that a lot of people hate fat free milk, especially if you're used to whole milk, which is like heavy cream to me--blech!) or a hard-boiled egg and fruit. Both keep me going through the morning (oh and my coffee...with fat free milk, no sugar or sweetener).

So, I've been eating well and doing the no-eating before bedtime for awhile. Another one of my tricks (please don't take my word for the Gospel. I'm not a nutritionist or doctor--I'm just blathering on about what I'm doing) is eating way more veggies and fruit than anything else--especially at dinner time. I've always considered myself a healthy eater--I love vegetables and was vegetarian for a few years. An example of what a typical dinner is like for me: the other night, I made a pork tenderloin, broccoli and corn on the cob for our dinner. For me, I ate a very small portion of the pork--about half the size of my palm--a large helping of broccoli, corn on the cob (with Smart Balance instead of real butter) and then also made myself a salad with some almonds on top. I wasn't full to the point of discomfort, but I felt satisfied. I'm also not worrying so much about what I eat for lunch. Most days, I make a quick sandwich (ham or turkey, whole wheat bread, mustard, lettuce and tomatoes) and have a small bag of chips--not the baked kind. The full-fat, fried yummy ones. I've found that the calorie difference between the "good" and the "bad" chips is minimal (when you're not eating them by the 1 lb bag) and, well, I enjoy the "bad" chips a lot more, so that's what I eat. Also, it's in the middle of the day, so I have plenty of time to burn it off. Also, I'm just not worrying too much about what I eat on the weekends. More often than not, there are margaritas on the patio at Berryhill at some point during any given weekend, (typically on Saturday, when margaritas are half-price--hooray!) some wine at dinner or a beer or two while Kevin grills and I observe.

Ok, so all of the above drivel leads me to why I think that I have had less stamina the past 2 days of the Shred: I think I'm not eating enough. I think that I need to incorporate some nuts or other form of healthy protein into my day.

Based on my scale that may or may not be accurate, it appears as though, in the past 4 weeks, I've lost approximately 7 lbs. I think that's fairly commendable--especially since I'm not trying desperately hard and I don't have that much to lose in the first place. So, I'm pleased. Still hate every minute of the Shred, but I'm doing it and something is working.