Things that mess with our mind and Aqua Zumba

I think I figurred out what was messing with and aided in me getting too low in calories. I use mynetdiary.com  for my fitness and food tracker. It's a nifty program that I can use on my iphone, ipad and on a PC. You set up your account and plan and it will give you a target for eating. Well, I didn't think I was 'following' what it said (at least I didn't used to). I was eating for hunger. But... it seems I might have been subconsciously affected by the numbers I saw on the screen.

When I set up the account, I set it to sedentary lifestyle which they describe as, "Sedentary: A person engages in typical daily living activities (shopping, cooking, laundry, walking a few minutes to and from car/bus/train) but sits for much of the day. Sample occupations: computer programmers, office and phone jobs."

Now, that does pretty much fit my lifestyle, but maybe a bit too 'extreme' in assuming I sit that much in a day. Sure, some days I do, but I am usually in the kitchen 2 hours a day. I don't think most people cook the way I cook. I water my flowers/plants for 30-45 minutes a day, etc.

The next activity level they have is low active. It is described like this, "Low Active: Sedentary activities above PLUS 30-60 minutes of MODERATE activities (e.g. walks 2 miles at 3-4 mph). Sample occupations: school teachers, cashiers, retail workers, and stay-at-home parents with active children." With this one, I am probably not quite that active, but by putting that as my activity level, it now says I can eat 1406 calories a day instead of 1160. I think seeing that I should only be eating 1160 calories a day was messing with my head subconsciously and I was eating that low (or lower) on most days. I think eating (with my activity level with exercising) around 1400 is a much better number for me. We'll see how it goes.

Yesterday I was quite hungry, so I ended up eating closer to 1550 calories for the day, but that's normal variations in eating and I won't get upset by it. It was all good eating - nutritious foods, but a bit fattier than usual with a brat for dinner. I just needed a couple more snacks throughout the day too. So far today, I seem to be more normal - small breakfast and no need for more (yet).

My exercise for yesterday was aqua zumba. My mother in law has just joined the gym and I thought a water fitness class might be something she was interested in, so I asked if she wanted to go and she did. For me, the class can't produce a high enough heart rate for an aerobic exercise, but it's a really good toning workout with all that water resistance. It was fun. My mother in law seemed quite overwhelmed with following choreography (I don't think she's ever done anything like that ever), but she said she liked it afterwards and plans to go again. For me it must have done something because my abs ache a little bit this morning.

Today is the day my son has occupational therapy, so going to the gym this morning is a bit tough. I will go to a zumba class this evening at 6 pm. That means I will have gone to the gym every day Monday through Friday. Yay me!

Scale is still coming down v-e-r-y---s-l-o-w-l-y, but at least it's moving in the right direction. Eating salty brats for supper last night probably didn't help me much in the weight loss department, but it was yummy!

Stats for 6/24/11:

Beginning weight: 255.6  Now: 203.2

Exercise total hours in 2011: 194

Total miles walked/biked in 2011: 520/1000