Hello everyone--I hope you had a nice weekend. It was so awful waking up this morning at 6:15am. I think I've gotten used to sleeping in =) I really did not want to leave my warm covers but here I am at work. Drinking my second cup of black tea.
So, my weekend was good. Health wise, it wasn't perfect but as always it could have been much worse. On Friday, I went to the gym after work and did an interesting workout with my friend Kerrianne--10 minutes on the elliptical, 10 minutes on the treadmill (at 5.0-5.5) and 10 hard minutes on the bike, followed my some sit-ups. Sadly, that was my only workout of the weekend--I need to get better about this. Then on Friday night, I went to a bar in Richmond with B and ended up indulging in light beer, gin and tonics (my new favorite drink, by the way) and part of an enormous soft pretzel with queso. It was a lot of fun.
On Saturday, I had a potluck at my friend Tamurlaine's house, and I made my old stand-by--chocolate chip cookies. The cookies were a huge hit and they were completely consumed before dinner was even prepared, see I'm not the only one who has trouble resisting them ;) I tried to watch what I ate at the potluck and I completely avoided the cookies, but at the end of the night I succumbed to a slice of cheese pizza and a breadstick =) And then yesterday, I vowed to track my points and I was doing really well until last night when I was watching my all-time favorite movie with B, Funny Girl, and I just had to taste one of my chocolate chip cookies. And drink a light beer. But the good news is, I sent B home with the rest of the cookies and they are officially out of my house.
I'm pretty sure that my combination of eating/ drinking has completely used up all my WPs, if not exceeded them. So, for the rest of the week I'm going to try to only use my DPs. Social engagements might be my downfall, however, haha. Tonight, my friend Adriane's boyfriend's band is playing a show at the Camel in Richmond and I definitely want to go. And let's face it, I'm probably going to at least have a few drinks. But I've already planned out my day and I'm going to save 5-6 points for a few light beers. I know that I might go over, but hopefully it won't be by too much. I might also try to earn some APs before the show, if I have the time...
Oh, and more good news. I have ice cream bars in my fridge that (drum roll please) have been there for over a week and I've only eaten one. That's a huge accomplishment for me because I usually plow through those things. I'm also fitting comfortably into a new pair of size 12 work pants, yay. All right, time to get back to work. I hope that everyone has a good Monday.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Friday, January 7, 2011
Blowing Through My Points
The only downside to losing 7 pounds this week is that my new Daily Points target is 29. For some reason, I really enjoyed having 30 points to play with =) Yesterday, and today apparently, I have blown through my points at lunch. Yesterday my lunch was 20 points and today it was 14 points, which is kind of messing me up, since I like to spend the majority of my points at dinner. Maybe you guys can offer me some suggestions?
Here's my menu thus far today:
B: 1 packet of oatmeal, banana, 1 tbsp RF peanut butter (6)
S: apple
L: Big salad from the grocery store salad bar--lettuce, cucumber, radishes, black olives, 1 hard boiled egg (2 points), some grilled chicken (roughly 3 points), a good sized spoonful of blue cheese (3 points), a spoonful of red beans (1 point) and a packet of ff dressing (2 points). I also had a heavenly piece of Godiva milk chocolate on the side (2 points). All together, 14 points. Yikes! (By the way, no I didn't weigh and measure my food at the salad bar, but I can't get too fanatic about this. I estimated the portions to the best of my ability, and I think that's good enough.)
Now I've only got 10 points for dinner and I'm going out for drinks tonight, so I'm most likely going to use some of my WPs. And yes, I know that using WPs is not a bad thing, I just hate not saving 12-13 points for dinner. I also have a gym "date" after work with my friend Kerrianne, so I'll be earning some APs. But still, I need to lighten up my pre-dinner food...
Anyway, enough food analysis. On to the good stuff, I lost 7 pounds this week. I'm so glad that the huge gain from last week was mostly water weight. I actually have been feeling more confident this week and I'm glad that my re-dedication to WW gave me a nice SV! And the other factor is that I changed my meeting time. I used to fast every Thursday morning and then weigh in. And I completely stopped that. Instead, I ate normally on Thursday (haha, actually a little bit more than normal yesterday) and weighed myself at the end of the day. So, while I am 4 pounds heavier than my lightest weight from a few weeks ago, I think, in reality, I'm only about 2 pounds heavier. Which is not so bad after two weeks filled with cookies, pizza, and booze.
At my WW meeting last night (and I'm sure at every WW meeting this week) my leader talked about how much progress someone can make in one year if you consistently lose one pound a week. In a year, that's 52 pounds, which is no chump change =) She told our group these words of advice--The year's going to go by anyway, probably faster than you expect. But think of how great it will be if this time next year you'll have lost X amount of weight?
Sometimes it can be daunting to think that if I lose weight at a reasonable pace (read 0.5 to 2 pounds a week), it will take me X weeks to get to goal. In my case, that's a little over 30 weeks. But those 30 weeks are going to go by anyway, and I might as well stick with the program and be smaller at the end of it, rather than starting from where I am now (or bigger, as is often the case).
So, I'm going to take things slow, follow the program, have a good time, and hopefully by this time next year, I'll have reached my goal. Anyway, I'm leaving work early to take care of some car issues--I hope that everyone has a great weekend!
Here's my menu thus far today:
B: 1 packet of oatmeal, banana, 1 tbsp RF peanut butter (6)
S: apple
L: Big salad from the grocery store salad bar--lettuce, cucumber, radishes, black olives, 1 hard boiled egg (2 points), some grilled chicken (roughly 3 points), a good sized spoonful of blue cheese (3 points), a spoonful of red beans (1 point) and a packet of ff dressing (2 points). I also had a heavenly piece of Godiva milk chocolate on the side (2 points). All together, 14 points. Yikes! (By the way, no I didn't weigh and measure my food at the salad bar, but I can't get too fanatic about this. I estimated the portions to the best of my ability, and I think that's good enough.)
Now I've only got 10 points for dinner and I'm going out for drinks tonight, so I'm most likely going to use some of my WPs. And yes, I know that using WPs is not a bad thing, I just hate not saving 12-13 points for dinner. I also have a gym "date" after work with my friend Kerrianne, so I'll be earning some APs. But still, I need to lighten up my pre-dinner food...
Anyway, enough food analysis. On to the good stuff, I lost 7 pounds this week. I'm so glad that the huge gain from last week was mostly water weight. I actually have been feeling more confident this week and I'm glad that my re-dedication to WW gave me a nice SV! And the other factor is that I changed my meeting time. I used to fast every Thursday morning and then weigh in. And I completely stopped that. Instead, I ate normally on Thursday (haha, actually a little bit more than normal yesterday) and weighed myself at the end of the day. So, while I am 4 pounds heavier than my lightest weight from a few weeks ago, I think, in reality, I'm only about 2 pounds heavier. Which is not so bad after two weeks filled with cookies, pizza, and booze.
At my WW meeting last night (and I'm sure at every WW meeting this week) my leader talked about how much progress someone can make in one year if you consistently lose one pound a week. In a year, that's 52 pounds, which is no chump change =) She told our group these words of advice--The year's going to go by anyway, probably faster than you expect. But think of how great it will be if this time next year you'll have lost X amount of weight?
Sometimes it can be daunting to think that if I lose weight at a reasonable pace (read 0.5 to 2 pounds a week), it will take me X weeks to get to goal. In my case, that's a little over 30 weeks. But those 30 weeks are going to go by anyway, and I might as well stick with the program and be smaller at the end of it, rather than starting from where I am now (or bigger, as is often the case).
So, I'm going to take things slow, follow the program, have a good time, and hopefully by this time next year, I'll have reached my goal. Anyway, I'm leaving work early to take care of some car issues--I hope that everyone has a great weekend!
And the Verdict is...
Down 7 pounds for my first weigh in, despite the steak lunch and weighing in at a later time. I need to drink my coffee before I write a real blog post, but I just wanted to share the good news =)
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Choosing the Steak
I wanted to wait to post until after my weigh in this morning, but once again I failed to make it to my 11:30am meeting. Instead, I opted to go out to lunch for grilled steak and a baked potato. Haha, I guess I didn't pick the healthiest choice. But what would you do if you had to decide between a free steak lunch versus a WW meeting?
If you would choose the meeting, my hat goes off to you =)
Anyway, after eating 7 ounces of perfectly cooked steak with a baked potato and sour cream, I decided to go to the 5:30pm meeting instead. I guess I might not see the best loss ever this week as a result of my heavy lunch/ my drinking last night, but I'm not that concerned, because overall I did a pretty good job following my goals this past week.
1. I ate (mostly) within my points and I made a wholehearted attempt to track my food. I didn't track points over the weekend, but I tried to remain conscious of my food decisions--i.e. I stayed away from chocolate chip cookies and didn't eat a whole platter of cheese and crackers.
2. I exercised twice. Yes, I did say twice not three times. Unfortunately, life (i.e. being hungover and sleep deprived) got in the way of my gym time. But I'm still glad that I got in some exercise. And I honestly wouldn't trade my nights of much needed fun for that extra time at the gym.
3. I was extremely social. In fact, I overshot my target on that one =)
4. As for cleaning and laundry, I soundly failed on that goal. But I'm going to fit that in over the weekend.
So, to sum up, I did pretty well with my goals last week. Not perfect, but a huge improvement from the previous week. I actually feel good about myself these days, even though I know that I'm not at a perfect weight or in perfect shape.
I had fun with friends and I was able to not obsess about the points of each appetizer/ each drink. The thing is social/ eating drinking is NOT what caused me to gain weight, although I recognize that it may be other people's problem. Nope, for me, I gain weight when I start to eat in private, secretly gorging on junk food. And those binges can sometimes be brought on when I feel too deprived. So, it's very important for me to be social and indulge in a moderate way. Which I think that I accomplished this past week =)
Anyway, moving on with some goals for this coming week.
1. Track points every day, including alcohol (bah!). Stay within allotted points.
2. Exercise 3 times, for real this time!
3. Get enough sleep. I'm running on empty right now, and I really need to get 8 hours a night.
4. Clean the house and do laundry, for real this time!
5. Continue to be social, but don't go crazy with it.
Anyway, I have to get back to work. I'll let you know what the verdict is tomorrow morning.
If you would choose the meeting, my hat goes off to you =)
Anyway, after eating 7 ounces of perfectly cooked steak with a baked potato and sour cream, I decided to go to the 5:30pm meeting instead. I guess I might not see the best loss ever this week as a result of my heavy lunch/ my drinking last night, but I'm not that concerned, because overall I did a pretty good job following my goals this past week.
1. I ate (mostly) within my points and I made a wholehearted attempt to track my food. I didn't track points over the weekend, but I tried to remain conscious of my food decisions--i.e. I stayed away from chocolate chip cookies and didn't eat a whole platter of cheese and crackers.
2. I exercised twice. Yes, I did say twice not three times. Unfortunately, life (i.e. being hungover and sleep deprived) got in the way of my gym time. But I'm still glad that I got in some exercise. And I honestly wouldn't trade my nights of much needed fun for that extra time at the gym.
3. I was extremely social. In fact, I overshot my target on that one =)
4. As for cleaning and laundry, I soundly failed on that goal. But I'm going to fit that in over the weekend.
So, to sum up, I did pretty well with my goals last week. Not perfect, but a huge improvement from the previous week. I actually feel good about myself these days, even though I know that I'm not at a perfect weight or in perfect shape.
I had fun with friends and I was able to not obsess about the points of each appetizer/ each drink. The thing is social/ eating drinking is NOT what caused me to gain weight, although I recognize that it may be other people's problem. Nope, for me, I gain weight when I start to eat in private, secretly gorging on junk food. And those binges can sometimes be brought on when I feel too deprived. So, it's very important for me to be social and indulge in a moderate way. Which I think that I accomplished this past week =)
Anyway, moving on with some goals for this coming week.
1. Track points every day, including alcohol (bah!). Stay within allotted points.
2. Exercise 3 times, for real this time!
3. Get enough sleep. I'm running on empty right now, and I really need to get 8 hours a night.
4. Clean the house and do laundry, for real this time!
5. Continue to be social, but don't go crazy with it.
Anyway, I have to get back to work. I'll let you know what the verdict is tomorrow morning.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Following Through
I am happy to report that I'm following through on some the weekly goals I set for myself--although granted it's only been a few days.
The results: I'm sore and sleep deprived, haha. As I recall, my goals were to exercise, eat within my points, be more social, and oh yeah, take care of my house chores. So far, I have eaten within my points every day (except for a 1/2 of a bud light last night), and I worked out yesterday evening. I have also been social every single night of the week, which might be a bit overkill, haha ;)
I'm not going to lie, the gym was a madhouse yesterday. It's nice that people are trying to get healthier this time of year, but it's so annoying when you can't find a treadmill or elliptical at all; I'm sure it's annoying for the newcomers too. I met my friend Kerrianne at the gym and we almost opted to go for a run outside in the dark/ cold because we couldn't find a treadmill, but we ended up finding a few bikes so we did that instead. Then, miraculously, I did find an empty treadmill and got in some time on that as well. So my workout consisted of 20 minutes on the bike (at a pretty easy program), 1 mile of jogging at 5.0 on the treadmill (12ish minutes) and some situps and pushups. I'm not quite in as good shape as I was prior to my holiday meltdown, but it felt good to get in some exercise.
I made my old stand-by chicken taco salad for dinner and it was delicious.
Some lettuce
1 orange bell pepper
Some finely sliced radishes
1 cup grilled chicken (5 points)
1/4 cup pinto beans (1 point)
1/4 cup RF cheese (2 points)
1 serving of baked lays tortilla chips (3 points)
2 tablespoons of dressing (2 points)
Total Points: 13
So yes, a pretty pointy salad, but as always you can cut the points by cutting the chicken, cheese, chips, dressing, etc... I had the points to spare and was really craving a yummy salad so I just went for it. But you can easily modify it to make it a 7-10 point dish.
Anyway, my plan today is to eat well and get in a nap after work. I can't believe it's only Wednesday...I miss those short holiday weeks =) What are some of your favorite quick go-to meals?
The results: I'm sore and sleep deprived, haha. As I recall, my goals were to exercise, eat within my points, be more social, and oh yeah, take care of my house chores. So far, I have eaten within my points every day (except for a 1/2 of a bud light last night), and I worked out yesterday evening. I have also been social every single night of the week, which might be a bit overkill, haha ;)
I'm not going to lie, the gym was a madhouse yesterday. It's nice that people are trying to get healthier this time of year, but it's so annoying when you can't find a treadmill or elliptical at all; I'm sure it's annoying for the newcomers too. I met my friend Kerrianne at the gym and we almost opted to go for a run outside in the dark/ cold because we couldn't find a treadmill, but we ended up finding a few bikes so we did that instead. Then, miraculously, I did find an empty treadmill and got in some time on that as well. So my workout consisted of 20 minutes on the bike (at a pretty easy program), 1 mile of jogging at 5.0 on the treadmill (12ish minutes) and some situps and pushups. I'm not quite in as good shape as I was prior to my holiday meltdown, but it felt good to get in some exercise.
I made my old stand-by chicken taco salad for dinner and it was delicious.
Some lettuce
1 orange bell pepper
Some finely sliced radishes
1 cup grilled chicken (5 points)
1/4 cup pinto beans (1 point)
1/4 cup RF cheese (2 points)
1 serving of baked lays tortilla chips (3 points)
2 tablespoons of dressing (2 points)
Total Points: 13
So yes, a pretty pointy salad, but as always you can cut the points by cutting the chicken, cheese, chips, dressing, etc... I had the points to spare and was really craving a yummy salad so I just went for it. But you can easily modify it to make it a 7-10 point dish.
Anyway, my plan today is to eat well and get in a nap after work. I can't believe it's only Wednesday...I miss those short holiday weeks =) What are some of your favorite quick go-to meals?
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Clothes Don't Lie
I put on my gray dress pants for the first time since my vacation, and they feel tight. I thought that the 11 pounds I gained over the holidays was mostly water weight, but apparently that's not the case--my tummy and butt have definitely gotten bigger.
And I have no one to blame but myself.
Now, I'm not freaking out and I've been (mostly) on track since my weigh in on Thursday, but geez, it's annoying to know that 2.5 weeks of bad eating means that you actually can gain weight. Since the start of my diet in March, the scale has consistently moved downward, and I kind of got used to shrinking. In fact, I started to believe I was just on a downward trend and I'd never get big again. But now I know that's not true--it's really really easy for me to put on weight. So in some ways this is a good wake-up call for me.
Moving on, yesterday was a success at counting points/ staying within points but I failed to get any exercise in and I didn't hit many of my GHGs. I also spent too much money on food--Subway for lunch and Chipotle for dinner. By the way, the burrito bowl (sans sour cream and cheese) is only 11 points under the new system and you get a ton of food! By comparison, my subway combo--turkey sandwich (with light mayo and cheese) with baked chips--is 12 points and not nearly as much food or as filling.
Today, I'm going to try to get in at least one serving of milk and eat more fruits and vegetables. I'm also headed to the gym after work, come hell or high water ;) I packed my gym bag in the car and I'm forcing myself to go. How do you all meet your GHGs? What strategies do you have for fitting in your workouts?
And I have no one to blame but myself.
Now, I'm not freaking out and I've been (mostly) on track since my weigh in on Thursday, but geez, it's annoying to know that 2.5 weeks of bad eating means that you actually can gain weight. Since the start of my diet in March, the scale has consistently moved downward, and I kind of got used to shrinking. In fact, I started to believe I was just on a downward trend and I'd never get big again. But now I know that's not true--it's really really easy for me to put on weight. So in some ways this is a good wake-up call for me.
Moving on, yesterday was a success at counting points/ staying within points but I failed to get any exercise in and I didn't hit many of my GHGs. I also spent too much money on food--Subway for lunch and Chipotle for dinner. By the way, the burrito bowl (sans sour cream and cheese) is only 11 points under the new system and you get a ton of food! By comparison, my subway combo--turkey sandwich (with light mayo and cheese) with baked chips--is 12 points and not nearly as much food or as filling.
Today, I'm going to try to get in at least one serving of milk and eat more fruits and vegetables. I'm also headed to the gym after work, come hell or high water ;) I packed my gym bag in the car and I'm forcing myself to go. How do you all meet your GHGs? What strategies do you have for fitting in your workouts?
Monday, January 3, 2011
Back on Track
Good morning everyone and happy New Year! So, before I go into my post, I'd like to update you about my weigh in on Thursday. I gained 11 pounds. Now, granted I weighed in during the evening as opposed to the morning and I had a very salty dinner the night before, but let's face it, I put on some weight over the holidays. However, all is not lost. I'm relieved that I weighed in before I gained too much weight and I don't really feel like I gained a true 11 pounds. After all, my clothes still fit. So, I think there was some water bloat going on. On the other hand, I really don't want to put on weight and I'd like to get to my goal of being 150 pounds.
Weighing in really helped me to stop overeating and get back in control of my diet. Prior to my weigh in, I felt like I was 240 pounds again and huge. Weighing in helped put me back in perspective and realize that I'm still 50+ pounds lighter than my start weight. It also helped me to get back to reasonable eating. Unfortunately, I didn't feel compelled to stick to reasonable drinking, haha. But then again, what are the holidays for?
Speaking of drinking and partying, I went out three times over the weekend and I socialized a lot with friends and family. It felt great to be more social, especially after living like a hermit for the last couple of weeks. I think, for me, it's important to socialize in order to be happy. Especially since I live alone and can easily get stuck in a rut with watching a season of Gray's Anatomy and eating microwave pizza and ice cream.
So, in light of the new year and my new weigh in, I'd like to copy Beth (from Beth's Journey) and set some weekly goals. Beth makes a great point in her post--a goal without a plan is just a wish. Therefore, I'm going to attempt to create detailed, manageable goals for this week.
1. Exercise 3 times. It doesn't matter what I do--as long as I break a sweat and exercise for at least 30 minutes. I already exercised on Thursday evening, so I have 2 more workouts to go.
2. Track my points and eat within my points. Now that I get 30 points a day (there is a silver lining to gaining weight), hopefully that won't be too difficult. I didn't track during New Years weekend, but I'm going to start today.
3. Be more social. I'm going to schedule more activities with friends and make an attempt to be more social throughout the week.
4. Clean the house and do laundry...ugh my least favorite activities. But oh so necessary.
Anyway, it feels good to get back on track, and I'll keep you updated of my progress. Happy Monday!
Weighing in really helped me to stop overeating and get back in control of my diet. Prior to my weigh in, I felt like I was 240 pounds again and huge. Weighing in helped put me back in perspective and realize that I'm still 50+ pounds lighter than my start weight. It also helped me to get back to reasonable eating. Unfortunately, I didn't feel compelled to stick to reasonable drinking, haha. But then again, what are the holidays for?
Speaking of drinking and partying, I went out three times over the weekend and I socialized a lot with friends and family. It felt great to be more social, especially after living like a hermit for the last couple of weeks. I think, for me, it's important to socialize in order to be happy. Especially since I live alone and can easily get stuck in a rut with watching a season of Gray's Anatomy and eating microwave pizza and ice cream.
So, in light of the new year and my new weigh in, I'd like to copy Beth (from Beth's Journey) and set some weekly goals. Beth makes a great point in her post--a goal without a plan is just a wish. Therefore, I'm going to attempt to create detailed, manageable goals for this week.
1. Exercise 3 times. It doesn't matter what I do--as long as I break a sweat and exercise for at least 30 minutes. I already exercised on Thursday evening, so I have 2 more workouts to go.
2. Track my points and eat within my points. Now that I get 30 points a day (there is a silver lining to gaining weight), hopefully that won't be too difficult. I didn't track during New Years weekend, but I'm going to start today.
3. Be more social. I'm going to schedule more activities with friends and make an attempt to be more social throughout the week.
4. Clean the house and do laundry...ugh my least favorite activities. But oh so necessary.
Anyway, it feels good to get back on track, and I'll keep you updated of my progress. Happy Monday!
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