Stairs

I've been going to the high school track every day to walk and today I conquered the stadium stairs after doing 2 miles around the track.

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I was with a friend and we ran, weaving up and down each staircase and across the sections twice, for a total of 20 sets of stairs.

It took us 7 minutes and I could definitely feel the burn when I was done. Next time we are going to try for 3 times in 10 minutes, and I eventually want to do them 4 times without stopping.

Stairs are such a good workout, I calculated on livestrong how many cal/hr I burn running stairs and it's a whopping 1060 calories per hour. Just walking up and down the stairs I could burn 570 calories an hour. Good to know since we live in a split level house and I feel like I am constantly going up and down the stairs some days. :)

{Food- 6/9}

Breakfast

3/4 c chocolate cheerios

1/2 c skim milk

1/2 banana

198 calories

Lunch

Flat Out Wrap Pizza

226 calories

Afternoon Snack

Light String Cheese

Special K 90 cal strawberry bar

150 calories

Dinner

2 beef soft tacos

300 calories

Evening Munch

2 Special K multigrain crackers*
*I just bought them and wanted to "test" them.

10 calories

Total Calorie Intake:  884 calories

Calories Burned: 488

Net Calories: 396

It looks like I'm way low on calories, but I haven't felt hungry between meals today and I had plenty of protein and fiber today, but should work on the fresh fruit and veggies for snacks, but I did some major grocery shopping tonight so that will change tomorrow! I hadn't realized how low I was on calories until I put everything in after dinner.

{Shout Out and What I Ate Today}

My good friend Laura had a baby a couple months ago and just started a weight loss blog to track her weight loss journey. Our 25th birthdays happen to be just two days apart and we have the same goal of 125 lbs by our 25th birthdays. She even posted her starting weight, which also happens to be the exact same as I weighed this morning. Quit copying me Laura :) Just kidding, I'm excited to have another friend with the same goal as me.

I have a few other friends working towards a healthier, thinner life, including my sister and it's great to have so many around me with the same goal and support for me, and I love being able to support and encourage them too! You can see a growing list of other "weight loss" bloggers on my left side bar.

So... what did I eat today?

Breakfast

1 piece of Sara Lee 100% whole wheat toast with spray butter

1/2 grapefruit with 1 packet of splenda

1 hard boiled egg

181 calories

Lunch

McDonald's Asian Grilled Chicken Salad w/o almonds

w/ packet of Sesame Ginger Dressing

(This was divine!! I absolutely loved it)

390 calories

Afternoon Snack

Special K Strawberry 90 cal bar

90 calories

Dinner

Leftover whole wheat spaghetti with turkey spaghetti sauce

2 cups salad

10 sprays Wishbone Ranch Spritzer

363 calories

Total Calories: 1024

Calories Burned: 320

Net Calories: 704 

I predict a cup or two of light butter popcorn with a book in the near future, which will add 30-60 calories and put me right at my calories intake limit for the day. What is it about books and movies making me crave popcorn?

{How Many Calories Should You Eat?}

Have you been on Livestrong.com?

If not, and you are trying to figure out how many calories you should be eating a day to reach your goal weight, go check it out!

I put in my age, height, weight, activity level and how many pounds I want to lose a week and it calculated how many calories I should eat a day. Be sure to update your weight as you lose it, I just updated mine and to lose 2 lbs a week, I should be eat 1090 calories a day...when I started in January, it said 1700 calories a day to lose 2 lbs a week.

You can also calculate how much you can eat to maintain your weight. I was happy to see that once I reach my goal weight and want to maintain it, it calculated I could eat just under 1900 calories a day...I can totally handle that..in fact, I think it will be strange when I can add all those calories to my diet once I reach my goal weight.

{Confession and Food}

After Win, Lose, or Blog Season 4 ended, I gained a few pounds.

The next two weekends involved trips out of town, not that this is an excuse, but one of them was a 12 hour drive to Arizona over Memorial Day weekend...24 hours in the car over a 3 day weekend brought a lot of fast food and snacking for me...and I got sick and didn't work out one week...excuses, excuses, excuses.

The point is I gained, and I'm kicking myself, because that's weight I have to re-lose.

So here's comes the numbers..I've said I want to get to 125, but how far do I have to go? I've hesitated putting this out there, but I feel like I should.

Today I weighed in a 157.8

At the end of Season 4, I was 155.8.

I have two pounds left to re-lose.

At the start of that competition, I was 178.6...

I lost 23 lbs in 7 weeks...

and gained by a little less than 3 in 2.

In January, I was at 183.

Yikes.

I've made a goal to re-lose those 2 lbs by next Tuesday.

I'm going to start doing weigh in's on Tuesday in attempt to feel more accountable.

I'd be thrilled if I could lose 2.8 by next Tuesday, putting me exactly at 30 lbs from my goal weight.

I've tossed around the idea of posting everything I eat, but I just don't have the time..ok, I could find the time, but don't want to...but I have had people still asking me what I'm eating and doing to lose weight, so every now and then, I'll post what I've eaten for the day to give you an idea. Sorry, no pictures this time...

Breakfast

3/4 c chocolate cheerios*

1/2 c skim milk

3/4 medium banana

(my 15 month old always steals some banana)

224 calories

*I feel rebellious eating chocolate for breakfast...mmm...

Lunch

2 cups lettuce

3 oz steak

1/2 roma tomato

chopped carrots and red onion

20 sprays of Ranch Wishbone Spritzer

171 calories

Afternoon Snack(s)

(since lunch was so light, I had a bigger "snack")

Strawberry Banana Dannon Light and Fit Yogurt

10 raw almonds

Special K 90 calorie strawberry bar

221 calories

Dinner

2 oz Whole Wheat Spaghetti

1/2 cup spaghetti sauce with ground turkey

small salad with ranch spritz

1 oz slice of french bread

390 calories

Evening Munchies

6 animal crackers

45 calories

Total Calories:1051

Total calories burned from exercise: 473

Net calories for today: 578

***

Today wasn't a perfect day. Calories were good, but my lunch was a little lighter than it should have been (unintentionally), even though it seemed to fill me up at the moment, it didn't hold me over very long..which lead to two afternoon snacks. I ate lunch just before noon, had a snack at 2, and then again around 4 and ate dinner at 6...I felt snacky all afternoon... I still kept in my calorie range, but it's the want to snack because I didn't fill up at a meal that I worry about. I definitely don't want to develop the habit of "snacking" again.

What am I doing?

Just this morning I had a friend ask me how I was losing weight?

Is there a specific program, diet, or workout that I'm doing?

I've been doing it the old fashion way for the most part.

I stick between 1000-1200 calories a day

and I work out 5-6 days a week...7 days now in June..thanks to the June Boom :)

Back in January, when I started my weight loss journey, I did SlimQuick's Gentle Cleanse.

I didn't notice a huge difference in weight loss, not anymore than I think I would have lost without it, but I didn't feel so sluggish after I finished it..but at the same time, I had been eating better and exercising during that time, so it could have just been from that.

I posted here an example of what my daily diet kind of looks like.

For exercise I run, walk, or do a workout DVD... The Firm's 500 calorie burn or Gold's Gym Stay Ball routine. I got a deal on some passes to Gold's Gym and will occasionally go with a friend while we use those up...I loved the spin class.

So that's it in a nutshell, no fad diet and no specific workout series DVDs, although I wouldn't mind trying Jillian Michael's 30 day shred or something like p90x someday.

Do you have any "tricks" you are doing to lose weight or just old fashion diet and exercise? 

June Boom!

Bailey posted about a June Boom Challenge going on over at Pounds Off Playoff and I decided to join up.

So what did I exactly sign up for?

The June Boom has three rules: 

1. Exercise every day in June. I'll do at least 30 minutes of something every day.
2. Start something you've been putting off.  For me it's running. I've been struggling with endurance so I plan to keep running and lengthening each run. 
3. Be publicly accountable. I'll use this blog and post each day's exercise activity the June Boom page at the top.

I just committed to this last night, so I lost a day (the 1st)...Somedays I'll just be walking, like on Sundays. We reserve Sundays for church, spending time with our family and "resting"...but we love our family walks on Sundays, so that will have to count for my exercise on those days. Other days will be full of running, exercise DVDs, work with the stability ball, and a few workout classes at the gym...I'm sure some days might just mean me jumping on the trampoline with the kids..or hubby :)...but the point is, I will be active for at least 30 minutes each day.