Back on Track- Weigh In #2

Well, I was so flipping busy at work, I didn't have time to even post my weigh in this morning! I lost 2.2lbs! I was so happy, puts me back into the 140's, where I feel much more comfortable!

Plus, I had a complete week on plan! My first in a long long time!

Anyways! Off to enjoy my weekend, hope you guys do the same!

" I've seen extreme bravery from the least likely of people. Life is
about the moments when it's all gone wrong. That's when we define
ourselves."
-- Bear Grylls

Sorry about the lack of posting these days! I started my new job and work, and it has its ups and downs, one of them being I'm on my feet and moving all day long. Now this is a downside because I don't get to catch up on everyone's blogs, talk to the boyfriend online as much, and post my own blog posts, but the good part is, instead of a desk job, I'm on my feet, and I have a very good feeling this will be good for weight loss, and even better for maintaining!

That being said, I've had a great OP week. I have been trying to eat a bit more being I'm moving so much, but trying to add a few more veggies here and there, or what not, not junk. The scale so far is showing good things, and hopefully I will be having a good weigh in come Friday morning. I've been doing pretty well not eating past 8, although most nights, it seems to be I'm done before 9, but with my busy schedule, I don't even get sat down to eat until 730 or 8!

I've been doing well with my running and my crunches/pushups too. I've gotten 3 runs in this week, and two rounds of pushups and situps, which is great. I'm SLOWLY building back up the miles I'm running in hopes of not getting sick again. So far, so good.

Other than that, nothing much new on this front, I'm reading your blogs, and trying to comment when I can! I hope everyone is staying healthy and happy!

Back On Track- Weigh In #1

Sorry! I got so busy at work today, I didn't have time to post! I weighed in this morning for a loss of 1.2lbs! I was happy with that, that's my average loss, I was hoping for more, but yesterday evening I didn't stop my bad day, I continued it, bah! So I think the loss would have been better had it not been for that, but whatever, done and over with new week!

Off to enjoy my weekend, hope you guys do that same!

"Aim at the sun and you may not reach it; but your arrow will fly far
higher than if you had aimed at an object on a level with yourself."
-- F. Hawes

Well, while today hasn't been the best OP day, it has been a victory of sorts.

This morning, things got the best of me, and my one bite of chocolate cake, turned into, what I have listed on my tracker as a "cake catastrophe". Well normally, when I get off track like that, the day is in the toilet, and I say, well, I'll start again tomorrow, but today I didn't do that!

I counted the cake catastrophe at 10 points, which left me like 6 points for the day, which wouldn't have been bad had I not eaten some 7 points of candy, it's amazing how like 3 pieces of fun size candy can be 7 points..I mean seriously? But I counted that too. So I ate that stuff, and I had a small lunch of my sandwich and a cheese stick, and then I had a snack this afternoon of chopped bell peppers and carrots. And tonight, I might have a small amount of protein and some veggies, but thats it. Something small. So today, while it could have been really bad, ended the week with me still having over 25 weekly points left, and activity points. Did I underestimate today? You know maybe a little bit, but I think it was on par, or pretty close.

So what does this give me? My first week of being OP, and hopefully a loss tomorrow! But I'll be reporting that for sure!

Plus, I got in 4 runs, and three rounds of pushups and crunches! So not a bad week!

I do have kinda a good way at looking at my new job also, I'm gonna be on my feet and running around alot, as opposed to sitting on my butt all day, so that should help a little more with taking the weight off, and keeping it off!

Anyways, I'm off grocery shopping tonight, and then I'm gonna have something small to eat and relax, but I hope everyone has great nights, and I'll be reporting in with hopefully a loss in the morning!

"Determination gives you the resolve to keep going
in spite of the roadblocks that lay before you."
-Denis Waitley

Well Happy Hump Day Everyone!

Sorry, I didn't get a chance to post yesterday, let me explain a bit of what I've been dealing with the last couple days.

I told everyone I was getting a job change here soon. I've wanted out the department I am in for quite sometime, since it' a very high stress job with alot of pressure, and quite frankly, I'm sick of it. Well they hired a guy to replace me a couple weeks ago, and he started on Monday, and I've been training him. Well needless to say, he's not the fastest learner....and I'm not a patient person, so this is testing me, but I'm making it happen. Lots of stress.

The high point is that despite the stress, I haven't turned to food, and I've been OP since last Friday morning! I've been doing well, getting in my 8 GHG's, and I've been getting in all my scheduled runs and pushups and crunches, so I'm feeling rather confident!

Also, I peaked at the scale yesterday, and even in the evening (in which I'm typically up a couple pounds), I was showing down a little, so I'm hoping to see a good loss on Friday morning for an official weigh in. It would be nice to see.

I did get in a run on Monday Night, and Tuesday Night, tonight is a rest night for me, which will be nice, since it's doing that cold raining thing outside (at least it's not snow!). Also did my crunches and pushups on Monday night, and will do them again tonight.

I've tried to stick to the not eating after 8, and it's getting better, last night I think I was done with my points for the day by 830, but I did eat a few extras, and that was done by 9 I think. It will take a week or so to get into that habit I'm sure, but it's working.

Anyways, tonight I will be heading out to the boyfriends to hang out, and tomorrow night I will be getting in a short run and some grocery shopping, and friday is my weigh in, which I can't wait for!

I hope everyone is having healthy, happy and OP days!

"Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp,
Or what's a heaven for?"
-- Robert Browning

Happy Monday Everyone!

Well, I have to report, I had my first (in a VERY long time!), successful weekend OP! Now granted, I might have eaten a bit more than necessary, but it was too much of vegetables, so I think it was alright! Now yesterday I did get into a bit of cake frosting as I was frosting a cake for the boyfriend, but it was licking the knife while frosting, not eating the frosting with a spoon, and I counted it, so we're good!

Today has been a good day OP so far. There were doughnuts in the lunchroom this morning, but I completely avoided them. And I should have no problem meeting all my 8 GHG's today! Plus I'm going to get a short run tonight, and do my crunches and pushups, so I'll be getting my exercise in.

I'm still feeling rather bloated, but better than last week.

Another goal this week is to not eat after 8 at night. Which is going to be kinda hard to do, because alot of the time I don't get sat down with dinner made until later than that! But I'll try. I think I will allow myself a small snack, such as a piece of fruit or something after that but that's it.

Also another goal for this week is to try to stay away from the processed food as much as possible, honestly, I haven't been that bad, but it's easy to get away from whole foods and start eating more popcorn, vitatops, and ice cream as opposed to fruit and veggies. So it's another goal this week, just eat snacks of fruit and veggies, and try to have the processed foods as more "treats", I think I've used up my treat allotment already this week, so I'll be sticking to fruit!

Other than that, things seem to be going good, perhaps seeing that number on the scale is what I needed to push my butt back into gear.

Anyways, I hope everyone had a great weekend with their Valentines, and have even better OP weeks!

Happy Valentines Day!

Hey everyone, just wanted to check in and say Happy Valentines Day!

Yesterday was an OP day, and today has been too! I have been a bit munchie, since I'm just laying around taking care of boyfriend who seems to have caught the bug that is going around, and whenever I'm laying around, and bored, I tend to munch, but I've been great, despite the junk (snickers bars, milky ways, cookies, chips) laying around, I've been munching carrots. So I'm good! And with boyfriend being sick, guess whos in charge of dinner? So I've got chicken marinating and sweet potatoes to bake :)

So another day OP!

And to top it all off, even though I was lazy, and soooo didn't feel like it, and mother nature decided to drop 3 or 4 inches of snow on us last night I went out running, and got 3 miles in, and it was a good three, I'm glad I went.

So I'm feeling great and very motivated, and ready for a great week OP!

Have a healthy and happy valentines bloggers!

"Face your deficiencies and acknowledge them; but do not let them
master you. Let them teach you patience, sweetness, insight."
-- Helen Keller

Ok, So I updated my sidebar with my weigh in this morning, and my goals.

At first, I was so embarrassed of the weight I weighed in at this morning, I wasn't going to post it, but then I thought about it, and I know that no one here judges, and I know we are all in the same boat, so there it is. I'm 7.5lbs over my weight watchers goal, and 10.4lbs over my personal goal. It's hard to take, but I know there is no one to blame but myself.

I can look at the reasons this has happened. One, the holidays, yah, they hit, and I ate too much, and I got too comfortable eating that way, and just continued on that path for the first month of the new year, and it showed. I can't eat like that and expect to maintain. Everytime I was devouring a snickers bar I knew this, but that certainly didn't make me stop eating it. I wish it did!

Second, the boyfriend eats bad, and I'm constantly exposed to junk. Once again not a good reason, but it's there, and I have to learn I just can't eat it, whether it's there or not. This week I'm heading to his house armed with all kinds of good food, and my normal snacks, plus two healthy dinners to make us!

Third, I've been fighting being sick since around Thanksgiving, and it's affected my running. It was easy to maintain (and eat a little more), when I was running as much as I was, but I continued to eat like I was running, and stopped running. So therefore I gained weight. I'm getting back into running very slowly, as my immune system isn't quite up to par yet, but I'll get there.

So, I know today's weigh in was a little inflated, TOM and a few other "issues", including feeling massively bloated, but it is what it is, and that's my starting weight. My goal this time around is 140. I picked 138 earlier, and in the same line I said I was crazy happy when I was 140, I picked 138 as a goal. Why would I do that? No friggin idea, perhaps its me always trying to "one up" myself. So 140 it is. I have 12.4lbs to lose.

So whats my goals for this week:

1. Stay OP on WW's. Get in your 8 GHG's, Have 7 solid good days OP. Stay within your points, eat a few activity points, but stay away from flexies

2. Run. Run 4 times this wek.

3. Do three days each of pushup and situp challenges.

4. Blog everyday!

Ok, Ok, so there are the goals, set out before you! I also set a goal to lose 2.4lbs this month, think it's totally doable with 2 weeks left!

Have a great weekend guys, I know I'm going to!

Excuses could be made

But I'm not going to make them. It's my fault I've let it get to this point.

The scale was not nice to me this morning.

Perhaps I'll talk about it more later...needless to say, I'm rolling full steam ahead! Nothing like seeing the damage you've done on the scale as a way to get on track. Glad I caught it now instead of another 20lbs from now...

"We are still masters of our fate,
We are still captains of our souls."
-Winston Churchill

Wow, it's like I'm becoming a real, live blogger again with three posts in a row.

Well it's a gorgeous 51* here today, unfortunately it's pouring, and we're suppose to get an inch of rain today. Yes, gorgeous, but in Michigan, especially in February, we'll take what we can get, at least it's warm, and it's not snow! Things could always be worse!

So today I'm going for Day #4 of being back on track. I tried to throw myself off my having a piece of cake (sure fire way for me to go into a downward spiral which includes eating everything in site!), but I realize I have flex points for a reason, and two, I can eat moderately the rest of the day and still stay on plan.

Similar thing happened last night, I was making the cake, and I started licking batter, yes, I'm one of those people who love raw cookie dough, or batter, I don't understand it, I like it more than the finished product. But I counted the points and moved on, and yes, managed to stay on plan.

So I'm shooting for Day 4, and so far so good! I have faith I can make it!

That being said, weigh in on Friday morning, and I'm not looking forward to it, since I think I'll be up anyways with TOM around the corner, but I'll read it and weep, and know what I have to lose! Time to face it.

This Saturday is Valentines Day, and Boyfriend is cooking me dinner. Now he's a good cook, don't get me wrong, but it scares me, he loves to cook, but cooks not healthy stuff, so I'm gonna ask him to come up with something healthy, and hopefully it won't be too bad!

I might try to get a run in this evening, it's on the schedule, but with the rain I don't know if it will let up enough to go or not. I usually love running in the rain, but with getting over being sick, might not be a good idea. So if it's raining, I'll pass!

Other than that, just plugging along over here, getting my 8GHG's in, and trying to avoid the temptations of yummy baked good!

anyways, that's it for me today, have a healthy happy day bloggers!

"I can't do it" never yet accomplished anything: "I will try" has
accomplished wonders."
-- George P. Burnham

Wow, mark it on the calendar, two days in a row, I’m gonna write a post, like a real post.

So I’ve been back on plan since Sunday, Sunday went off fine, without a hitch. I got all of my 8GHG’s, Ran 4 miles, It was a great day.

Yesterday actually went off without a hitch too, although I did have an incident with some ice cream. Let me tell you how it went down. I get home from work, Run my 2 miles (which was great mind you!), and then head up to the grocery store to grab a few things I need to whip up two cakes for one of my brothers birthday on Wednesday. So I run up there, and I cruise through the ice cream section. Mind you, as of recently, I haven’t even been keeping ice cream in the house. I haven’t really been craving it (who can when it’s 30 below outside), and if its there, usually it just calls my name, so I just haven’t been buying it! One of the joys of living by yourself!

So I pick up a Breyers Fat Free Vanilla ice cream and head to checkout and go home with my new little treat. Now mind you, be the time I get home I’m starving, haven’t eaten since a snack at 3, and I’ve ran 3 miles, you get the point, I’m hungry. So, how these things always start, I go, Oh, I will just open the carton and try a spoonful (it’s what I’m craving afterall!), yah, well that spoonful, it turned out of be a lot of spoonfuls. Needless to say, I did stop myself, but not before I used up quite a few points.

So I sat down and figured out how much I ate, and counted the points, and needless to say, I still had a few left. Unfortunately that meant skipping the dinner I was making (and smelled oh so good!), but I was still able to get my last dairy in, my last oil in and had a toasted English muffin with some preserves and that was enough to satisfy me and keep me full….plus I stayed within my points.

So I was so happy, because after the ice cream incident I could have easily given up for the day, continued to eat (the yummy dinner would have been easy to overeat!). But instead I sat down and figured out what I ate, and tracked it. NSV for sure!

So it feels good being back in control. And I seriously love the way I feel when I’m eating good stuff, and not overeating, I just wish I could remember how bad I feel overeating and eating crap so it would stop me from putting it in my mouth to begin with! But one day at a time right?

Weigh in will be on Friday, like it or not! And yes, I’m back to weekly weigh ins until I banish these few pounds, I’m expecting I have about 8 or 9 lbs to lose to get to 138, but we’ll see. I might be up because of TOM, but not sure there either, since it’s been so long since I’ve done weekly weigh ins!

Anyways, today it totally gorgeous around this neck of the woods, suppose to be almost 60, and sunny too! Unfortunately, I have a run scheduled for today, but I’m exhausted, and feeling cranky, which for me is a good sign of being wore out, soooooo, in effort to prevent my never ending sickness from coming back; I’m begrudgingly taking the evening off….Bah Humbug!

Anyways, should probably get back to work. Have a healthy and happy day bloggers!

I change my mind more than....

I couldn't think of a good analogy, but these days, seems like I've been changing my mind alot when it comes down to what works, and what doesn't when I look at maintaining/losing weight.

So here I am, changing my mind again. Last week I just decided to write down what I was eating, because it worked so well in the summer time. And really it did work great then, I actually lost weight when I wasn't trying too. But I also think it worked so well because one, I was running about 15 miles a week, and two, I was just trying to maintain what I had lost. Running and loosely keeping track of what I'm eating works wonders for maintaining, not so much for trying to lose.

So I keep going back and fourth on how to get these few pounds off. And you know what? It's just me being lazy, or trying to find something easier. I know what works, I lost 25lbs using something that works, so I just need to stop being lazy and get back on board with WW's, because that is what worked for me.

Sooooo, last night I joined WW's online again. I set my weigh in days to Friday, I really like Sunday weigh ins, but I'm never sure whether I will be at my house or the boyfriends Sunday morning, and I'm picky about which scale I use, so therefore Fridays avoids that confusion.

I also made a decision to lose a few extra pounds over the few that I have gained. The end of this summer, I had actually lost more weight (without trying), and hit right about 140, with some days being in the upper 130's. I was terribly happy with this weight, I felt great and felt so lean, so I'm going to set a goal weight of 138 now. I think this is a good weight, and if I get to 140 and feel like that is fine, I'll stop there.

So my first (and very scary I'm sure!) weigh in will be on Friday Morning, and then I'll see exactly how much weight I have to lose, and I'll put back up a weight loss ticker, and goals on the side bar!

So there is my Monday morning revelation!

How was the weekend? Eating wise, it could have been better, could have been worse. Yesterday was completely and totally on plan though, AND I got a 4 mile run in! Plus, it was like 40* outside, which feels like summer in this neck of the woods this time of year. Tomorrow is gonna be in the 50's....I might have to dig out shorts ha ha.

Tonight, I'm planning a 2 mile easy run, as I'm trying to get back into things after being sick. So it will be an easy week :)

I've also started the pushup and situp challenges!

Ok, so there you have it. I'm back on the wagon, back to doing what I know works so I can get back down to "fighting weight".

Watch out bloggers, here I come!

"You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today."
- Abraham Lincoln

Alright, so I'm back. For a real update.

I got my CT results this morning, apparently, I'm only showing about a 40% blockage in my sinuses, which to operate they need about 60%, so whats this mean? I'm screwed. I just get to be miserable until I am in fact blocked more than 60%. It could be worse I suppose, but it's not what I wanted to hear.

That being said, I think I have a cold (not a sinus infection luckily like I have been fighting for 2 months!), and I actually don't feel terrible, but I'm going to give myself until Sunday off of running, and then start back. It's actually suppose to warm up around here, and my run Sunday might be in the 40's, I might have to wear shorts it will be so warm around here ha ha.

In all seriousness though, I'm looking forward to it warming up, at least a little bit, it probably doesn't help my sickness prone self that I am out running in sub or near zero temperatures. So I'm looking forward to a mild mid to upper 30's, and hopefully I can stay healthy.

I've been really battling the blahs. Seems like a lot of people in blog-land are kind of experiencing the same thing. I'm fighting being sick, getting back on plan, carrying a few extra pounds (and not being happy about it), and just ready for some nicer weather. They are switching my job title at work, so I'll be heading into a new job, and the uncertainty with that boggles me a little bit. Just a lot going on.

But I feel like I'm getting a better grip on my eating (finally!), and getting things a little more under control there, and I know with eating being back under control, when my running and fitness returns to normal, the few extra pounds I'm carrying should come off fairly easily. But in the meantime, I'm honestly just bummed I can't run.

When did I turn into a person who was bummed when they couldn't go run? A year and a half ago my motto was "exercise? what exercise?". Just baffles me sometimes in the ways that I have changed in the last two or so years.

So a little wrap up:

- Eating has been good, the bad days I'm having are in the minority, a month ago, it was the opposite for sure.
-Running, Pushups and crunches will resume on Sunday. A light running week will be scheduled.
-CT Scan- good results or bad, depending on what way you look at it, no surgery at least!
- Weight? Notice I didn't weigh this month, we will return to regularly scheduled programming next month, I wasn't feeling good, and I was taking steroids (hello water weight!), so I opted not to weigh for my own frame of mind!

Ok, until next time, have a healthy and happy day bloggers!

Hey Everyone, just wanted to drop in for a quick update post.

I had my CT on Saturday morning, I haven't gotten the results yet. I was beginning to feel better, in fact actually felt very decent yesterday...

Well then I went for a nice short run yesterday, now this morning I feel like it's coming back...seriously can I catch a break?

So, no run tonight now, I'm beginning to get a little pist. All I can do is be a lazy ass and lay around the house to get better...grrr.

Eating? Well it's been ok. It's not been stellar, but it's been way way better than it has been. Although I decided to go back to writing down what I was eating but not using Weight Watchers. This summer when I decided just to keep a journal of what I was eating without counting points or calories, I actually lost weight, and was below my goal weight. So I'm trying the food journal approach, although I'm tracking calories right now too. So we'll see how this works, so far, so good.

Thanks for all the concern, I'm still alive, and when I get the CT results, I'll definately let everyone know what is up. I'm just hoping I don't have to have sinus surgery...again!