From Flab to Fit AGAIN

It's going to be a good day

2011-08-11T05:27:00.001-05:00

So I've decided it's definitely going to be a good day. Today is the day I get my groove back.

That's all for now, actual post to follow.

It's all a mindset

2011-08-10T17:59:00.002-05:00

"Whether you think you can, or you think you can't--you're right."
Henry Ford

Well I promised I would be back today, and I am! But unfortunately I don't have good news to report.

I tried my old, don't eat til I get home strategy and I failed miserably. When I first started Weight Watchers in 2007 I had TERRIBLE eating habits, I wouldn't eat all day and then I would come home from work and eat junk, and too much of it. So when I started Weight Watchers, it was typical for my body to not want to eat til I got home from work, so it worked for me.

However, this time is different, When I developed good eating habits, I started to eat breakfast and feed my body throughout the day. So When I tried to not eat anything throughout the day, my body rebelled and I got ravenously hungry. Unfortunately I didn't plan for that, and had nothing to eat at work (how freaking stupid looking back now), and I ate all the wrong stuff. I had candy, some pop tarts, other odds and ends that just weren't good. And it was my fault and my fault alone, I should have been prepared.

Well I decided when I got home that I would get back on track and eat a sensible dinner, and that is what I did. I'm forewarning you, I do eat lots of weird combinations of food. I eat them more as courses, not together, so don't think I am eating my corn with my eggs and toast.

So tonight I came home, i had two ears of sweet corn (fresh picked that I got on my way home), I had two eggs with two slices of toast and then as a snack afterwards I finished some Pirates Booty I had left (which I would think to be about 1 serving). So I had a very yummy, and filling dinner. And that will be it for the evening.

We will just call it an early start to a good day tomorrow :)

I've also decided for whatever reason I cannot, as hard as I try wrap my head around the new WW's plan. I've tried, and tried, and for some reason I can't do it. I'm not good with change, and I loved the old plan, so you know what? I'm going to use the old plan. I found a WW Diary application for my droid, and I can keep track using the old points program on that, and that's what I plan to do.

My Weigh In this last week (on Sunday) I was 167.6, and I do believe that was a little high due to a TOM gain. This week I will not weigh, so my next weigh in will be on August 21st, which is 11 days away.

My goal between now and then is pretty simple. Stay on Plan. Thats it.

Anyways, I will write more tomorrow.

I don't even know where to begin...

2011-08-09T19:37:00.002-05:00

Well, I've spent alot of time avoid the facts. And the facts are I'm fat. In fact, I probably weigh more now then I did when I first started Weight Watchers the first time back in 2007.

I've been avoiding this blog for almost a year. And I don't really know why. Well, actually sitting here thinking about it, I do know why, I'm ashamed of what I've done to myself, I'm terribly unhappy with my weight and my activity level. I probably don't have any readers from my journey before, but I guess I was afraid to come back here and face the people who came to know me as this fit and healthy person who was so into cooking, running and healthy eating. I not only let myself down, I let the people who looked up to me and found inspiration in my story down.

As I sit here tonight, I feel gross. I just spent the day eating junk. I ate too much chocolate today (along with my standard healthier fare) and then topped it off with chicken tenders and french fries at applebees for dinner. When I know darn well Applebees has plenty of healthy and sensible weight watchers meals I could have chosen from, but I didn't.

It all starts with the bad choices. And I make them every single day, multiple times a day. I'm the one who chooses to put the first piece of chocolate in my mouth knowing darn well that that will lead to an uncontrollable spiral downhill where that one piece of chocolate will turn into 24 pieces, or the 2 bites of cake will turn into a 1/4 of the cake, really you get the point, once I touch a trigger food its done.

Its not only the fact that I gained weight that bothers me, it's the fact that I no longer feel sexy (even though my DH tells me I am ALL the time), and since I don't feel sexy, well it doesn't make me exactly want to take my clothes off. You get the drift.

Also, I find myself cranky, tired and unmotivated to do much. I also am finding myself putting things off until I "lose some weight", and I don't want life to pass me by. I don't want my stepson to know me as a fat, out of shape stepmom who never did anything fun with him.

I feel like alot of my bad eating habits come out of anxiety. I pace alot at work, and while I pace, I pace past the candy dish at work, and that's how I end up getting started on one piece and it leads to more.

I don't know why I get the anxiety, maybe it's more boredom then anxiety. But regardless, I need to change that habit. If I need to pace or I am bored, I need to pace elsewhere where there isn't a candy bowl.

Also, while I know breakfast is important, when I first began Weight Watchers back in 07, I spent most of the day just lightly snacking and drinking water and saved a majority of my points for at home in the evening. This worked for me, because I am generally a person who is more hungry throughout the day when I eat in the morning.

While I know it's not a generally acceptable "healthy eating practice" I am going to go back to having basically coffee and water in the morning, and introducing a few little things in the early afternoon, and I will eat a majority of my points in the evening. This worked for me at first, then I gradually started to learn to better split my points up throughout the day and eating breakfast.

So I think that is mainly my goals for the next two weeks. I only plan to weigh myself once a month (maybe sometimes during the weeks as a spot check). I would like to lose 25lbs, but I will shoot for 5lbs at a time.

For the next two weeks, I will eat most of my points in the evening. I will learn to pace elsewhere besides past the candy bowl. I will avoid trigger foods.

Tomorrow I will update all the stats on the sidebar and the ticker to reflect my current journey.

If there is anyone out there that still reads this thank you for reading this incredibly raw and long post.

The Weekend!

2010-12-06T09:08:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone had a good weekend. I know we did. Although the weekends never quite seem to be long enough.

This weekend was good, especially eating wise. I did great and stayed OP all weekend, I’ve been such a good little WW’r! And to make it better, I’m learning to stick to the new plan! I’m loving that fruit (and veggies) are free, even if it did mean that points of my other favorites went up.

DH is also doing very very well staying OP. About the only time he complains is on Sundays when we go out to eat with family and everything is so many points, and he can’t get what he normally eats. But this first week back OP from his Thanksgiving Eating (and leftovers), he lost almost 7 pounds, I’m sure some of which was water weight from eating so bad. But still, way to go DH. He only has about 10 more pounds until he gets where he would like to be. I hope it takes him a month or two at least, because with him, it’s not so much about the Weight Loss as I’m trying to teach him to make smarter choices, and portion control.

DH was never one of those guys that had a weight problem (and really, even today, he is only about 10lbs over weight). In fact, when DH and I met in 2004, he was about 60lbs lighter than he is today. He HAD a hyperactive thyroid, and he could literally eat ANYTHING he wanted and not gain an ounce (hence the beginning to my weight issue!). Well overtime, his hyperactive thyroid has become normal, and he no longer can eat anything, and unfortunately his eating style didn’t change, hence the 60lbs of gained weight in 6 years.

So really for him, this isn’t about losing the weight, although I do think it will help lower his cholesterol, give him more energy and just in general make him feel better. It’s more about learning healthy eating habits and maintaining a healthy weight. It’s easy to let your weight get out of control before you know it, and I didn’t want to see that happen with him.

So I lost 1.6 pounds since my last weigh in, and I was really happy with that. The last time I had weighed was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, so on that loss was Thanksgiving eating, and three days of not so great eating while trying to get the hang of the new plan. So I will definitely take it. I’m excited for this weeks weigh in, especially if I can keep rocking the plan the way I have been. I’m really really hoping that even though the holidays are this month I can still manage to lose the 5 or 6 pounds I want too.

Other than that, not too much going on here in Michigan. I’m waiting for the Baseball winter meetings to see how my Tigers round out for next year, and then of course excited to get to the College Football Bowl Games, but other than that, Nothing terribly exciting.

Hope everyone has healthy and OP week!

Weigh In

2010-12-04T09:16:00.001-05:00

Well just a quick Weigh In post! I weighed this morning and lost 1.6 pounds! I'm more then happy with that!

Enjoy your Saturdays!

December Goals

2010-12-02T12:06:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I was MIA yesterday, but I swear, I’m not dropping back off the blogging bandwagon! I first want to touch on some goals for December, and then hit on some struggles I’m having, primarily with the new WW program.

First, I want to set three goals for December

1. Run, Try to get in most, if not all of my scheduled runs. I understand sickness can happen and sideline things, or an injury, but don’t “opt out” of runs I could normally go on.

2. Stay OP as well as possible, giving myself a lenient Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Being lenient on myself seemed to work best for Thanksgiving, so that will be my stance on the Christmas Holidays as well. New Years shouldn’t be much of an issue for me.

3. Hmm, now for Weight Loss Goals. I think I’m going to shoot for losing 6lbs in the month of December, that would put me at 156.4lbs when I weigh in on Christmas Day (which I may just move up to Christmas Eve morning). I really think I can do this. I’ve been running and doing pretty well OP (barring a few issues this week), so 6 pounds it is.

Well there the goals are. I will definitely include them in a wrap up at the end of December. I’m looking forward to a positive December and feeling A LOT better.
It’s amazing to me that I’ve only been back on WW’s for a couple weeks, but I feel so so much better. Even my clothes already fit better (albeit not as well as I would like them to fit), but it’s just amazing what some exercise and eating right can do for your body. You often forget how good you can feel when you’ve gotten stuck in a rut of gaining weight and feeling bad. But I’m so glad to have that feeling back in my life, I’m happier this way.

Ok, so my new feelings about the new WW’s plan. Well, I like it in principle. I was doing a lot of the things they are trying to promote through the new plan, already on the Old Plan, I tried to pick healthy, less processed foods, and eat a lot of fruits and veggies. But for some reason I can’t seem to get into the swing of the new plan, I have no idea why.

When I would lose a point before with WWs I always found it hard to adjust to having even just one less point I could spend throughout the day. Now, I’m dealing with having more points, and I feel like I should be able to go buck wild, and that’s exactly what happened yesterday. I don’t know why I can’t wrap my head around having more points (even tho my other stuff costs more points now).

So what am I doing? I’m stopping the bad days before I get too off plan, today I’m doing exactly what I was doing for the two weeks prior. I’m following the older points system, I will enter everything into the new points tracker eventually, but I’m doing EXACTLY what I’ve done before. I have routine, I like routine, and any upset to that throws me through a loop, so right now I’m doing what I know.

This doesn’t mean I won’t go over to the new plan, it just means for right now, I don’t want to get out of the groove I’ve been in, and I’m gonna stick with this.

I hope everyone is having a healthy and OP day!

November Wrap

2010-11-30T16:11:00.001-05:00

My Short and Sweet November Wrap-up, bullet point style.

• I’m working hard to stay on plan, prior to them switching the plan, I was doing fantastic. For some reason the new plan is throwing me through a loop, I don’t know if I see all those points and get giddy or what!
• We will see what my weight loss on Saturday brings to give a final, I lost X pounds in November, but I’m thinking I will have made my November goal of ending up at 162 pounds, which is a 2 pound loss in two weeks, with Thanksgiving thrown in there, not to shabby, a pound a week, I will take it.
• Running, I’ve been doing good running, and since I restarted, I haven’t missed a run. However I’m dealing with a little bit of bronchitis (which I have meds for!), so I will be taking tonight off, I will just make up the run another night this week in order to give my body some rest.

Other than that nothing terribly new. I’m just trying to adjust to the new plan, as I said for some reason I’m having a hard time, it’s like I see all those points (and I’m aware there aren’t really more points, it just seems that way!), but I just go nuts, so I’m trying to be gentle and remind myself, sometimes change can take a few days to get the hang of.

Tomorrow, December goals!

Week # 2!

2010-11-29T15:14:00.000-05:00

Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving.

I had a great one myself, We had dinner at my Mom’s house, and eventually trekked on over to the in laws house for a second dinner. But I did so good on my eating. In previous years, when I was on WW’s, I would often have a free for all when it came to food for the holidays, I ate everything that wasn’t tied down, and enjoyed every bite.

I don’t really know why this year was different. Maybe it was that we were busy and running, or maybe it’s cause I just started WW’s again seriously and didn’t want to get sidetracked that much, but whatever it was it sure helped. I went into the day with a very laid back attitude, if I wanted it, I was going to eat it, afterall it was Thanksgiving and it was once a year. But I also went into the day with a “don’t overstuff yourself” attitude, and that’s exactly what I did. In fact, yesterday mid day I even weighed myself and I was showing down just under a pound from my Wednesday Weigh In, so maybe a nice loss this week will be my reward for a well played Thanksgiving.

DH has also been doing WW’s, and needless to say, Thanksgiving wasn’t so hot for him. But lets back up. His cholesterol is a bit high, and he is a bit overweight (by about 5 to 10lbs) so after a recent trip to the doctors, I convinced him if he just lost 15 pounds his cholesterol would go down and he would feel better, so he agreed to do WW’s with me. Well it came time for him first weigh in, and he told me he would laugh when he didn’t lose anything, since he had been on plan all week. Well come to weigh in, and in less then a week he lost almost 4 pounds! Go DH! Well, he weighed yesterday, and he was back up about 6 pounds, so today he is back on the boat. We actually got him a subscription to WW’s online, since it changed so drastically as of today.

So about the new plan, what is everyones feelings on it? Seems like most people on the Message Boards either love it or hate it at this point in time, and there are a ton of posts about how peoples favorite low point treats have went *gasp* up in points.

Here’s my thoughts. WW’s is FINALLY trying to get the processed overly carb-loaded food out of our diets, and they are FINALLY trying to get people to eat more fruits and veggies by making them no points. Sure our Fiber.One Bars or Giant.Fudge Bars are now respectively higher in points, as are the Hostess.100 calorie packs, but who needs that stuff? And on top of that, it may be more points, but that Banana is now FREE! And you get more points! And more Weekly Points, so where really is there something to complain about? There isn’t, WW’s spends millions on research, and their goal is to make us lose weight, so don’t you think they would continue to want people to do that? If people stop losing weight they are going to stop making money! Plus, many of us who have been on weight loss programs before have cleaned up our eating already, and now WW’s is just reinforcing that was the right decision.

So my overall verdict, calm down, it’s a change….but change is good!

Hope everyone is having a fantastic day, I’ll be back around later in the week!

Weigh in #1

2010-11-24T07:20:00.001-05:00

Well, I'm super busy today, but I wanted to stop by and post my weigh in results for week on of being back on track.

I lost 1.6 pounds this week.

I would have loved to see more, but being that I had a bad day on Monday with eating, and the fact that TOM is around the corner, I will definitely take it!

Have a great and Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Day #7 -Back on Track

2010-11-22T11:01:00.001-05:00

I hope everyones weekends went well!

Mine did, and I even pretty much stayed OP. I’ll admit that my being OP has been a little more lax that it used to be, but I figure if I’m staying pretty close to plan for now, I’m doing LEAPS and BOUNDS better then I was, and I’m trying to improve on everything a little at a time. Nothing changes overnight.

However on a high note, I do feel like my clothes are fitting better, and are more comfortable, so even though the scale wasn’t showing anything when I spot checked (I think TOM is around the corner), I think my body is changing, and it feels great.

Little NSV this weekend. I didn’t want to run on Friday even though I had a scheduled run, since it was really windy, and I really hate running when it’s crazy windy, so I put off the run, and I ended up running on Saturday Morning instead. Well come yesterday, I didn’t feel like running again, one because I was tired from running the day before, and I knew Sundays run was longer, plus I was tired and feeling like I was getting a cold, but I ran anyways. As much as I tried to talk myself out of running, I kept saying no no I should run! So I’m hitting that point that I can’t talk myself out of it, and that’s a great thing.

And, I made two healthy recipes for the DH and I this weekend, and he liked them both, which is great. He’s pretty much your typically DH he doesn’t like me messing with his food, removing the fat, cheese and all the good stuff. But I made the Chiminchangas I told you about Friday and I make Turkey Meatloaf on Saturday and he loved them both…so score!

Also, DH has been trying to follow WW’s. It’s kinda cute to watch him. The first day he had points left over and was bragging how he wasn’t hungry and this was way easy, anyone could do it. Well by yesterday he was singing a different tune. He was saying how he just simply needed more food then this and he couldn’t live on this. The most suprising for him was we went to Max and Ermas for lunch, and I got my normal, but his normal wasn’t on their healthy menu, so he got the Caribbean chicken. Well that Chicken was 12 points, he couldn’t believe that chicken was 12 points. I told him, well you can only imagine how much your normal meal is then! So needless to say he went over his points yesterday. It’s a learning curve and he’ll get it. He only has about 15 pounds to lose, so it shouldn’t take him long, but hopefully we can clean up his eating habits in the process.

How is today going OP? Well it could be better, it could be a whole lot worse. So we’ll see how the rest of the day goes!

Running Stats for last week, 4 runs, 11.31 miles almost 2 and a half hours of activity and 987 Calories burned….go me!

Anyways, hope you guys have a great week, I’ll be back before Thanksgiving!

Day #5- Week #1

2010-11-19T11:38:00.001-05:00

Well I am at the start of Day #5 of being back on Weight Watchers, and really I’ve been doing quite well. This morning I did have some candy I shouldn’t have had, but That’s what Flex Points are for right?

In my previous weight loss stint, I didn’t use Flex Points, I guess I figured if I didn’t use them, or activity points, I would lose quicker. I don’t know that is necessarily true now that I think back on it. Of course I don’t have any proof.
My first weight loss journey that time took me a LONG time, in fact it took 19 months to lose 27 pounds. Now there was stints where I wasn’t following, wasn’t trying, ect. But on average that is 1.7lbs per month, now when I was actually losing weight, I was losing at a rate of about 1.2 pounds per week.

But I often look at the Flex Points now and think, would I have adhered to the plan better if I spent those points? Would I have not had bad days, where I felt like I ate everything I wasn’t suppose to if I used those points? Would I actually have lost weight faster, or maybe more consistently over time?

I often wonder about these things. As hard as it is for me, I’m going to try to use them. It’s sad, whenever I go beyond my “22 points” per day limit (even if I have all 35 flexies left), I feel like I’ve somehow cheated, and I’m not OP anymore! So I’m trying to get into this mindset, I’m going to try to use most, if not all of my Flex Points and see where that takes me. Maybe I will lose, Maybe I won’t, but I can always readjust, and what really is the race to the finish? It’s a life long journey anyways.

On that note, I’ve been doing pretty good. I have stayed OP for four whole days, and besides the Reese Peanut Butter cup/Flex Point debacle earlier, I think today will be OP also. It’s so hard to get back into the swing of things when I’ve been out of the game for so long.

Also, my running has been going good. I’ve done 3 of my 4 runs this week, with the 4th one being tonight. I’m slow, and I’m out of shape, but I will get there. I’m excited to be running again, and I’m already getting the “disease” where I feel guilty if I don’t run, and want to run on days I have scheduled aside for rest. That’s a good thing though!

Tonight I am making Turkey and Cheese Enchiladas for dinner and praying that the hubby likes. He really could spare about 10-15lbs, so I’m hoping to be able to get him on board with the Weight Watchers mentality. Even if he’s not counting points, just getting him into the mindset of eating healthier and watching his portions would help immensely I’m sure.

No real plans here for the weekend, mainly just getting ready for the Thanksgiving holiday, shopping so I can avoid the stores come Tuesday or Wednesday when they are nuts.

Have a great weekend!

Where the heck have I been?

2010-11-17T09:16:00.003-05:00

Where the heck have I been, well that’s probably a good question. There is no good excuse for not blogging, there is no good excuse for letting my health and my weight go, but any way you cut it, I’ve been busy. Been busy planning a wedding, then adjusting to life as a married woman.

I’ve pretty much gained back most of my weight, as you can see, I’m at 164, which 168 is where I started in 2007. So I guess the good thing is that I didn’t gain it ALL back, the bad part is that I’m basically starting over again. But I’m happy and looking forward to taking control of my life and my weight. I don’t feel good when I don’t eat properly, and well, I haven’t been, so I haven’t been feeling good.

When I lost weight I was confident, felt super sexy and slim, and more importantly I was crazy happy and fit. With the weight gain, I’ve seen myself slide into feeling fat, unconfident and a lot of self loathing. I don’t just have myself to worry about anymore, I have the hubby, the step son and two dogs that deserve me being happy and healthy.

So, in the last 6 months or so, things have been busy. In May the hubby moved in, which was quite a change being that I went from being alone to having hubby and a 3 year old there all the time! Crazy! Then in September, we got married , and proceeded to go on a cruise for the honeymoon. It’s been two months, and I’m honestly not sure what we’ve done in the past two months, but it sure has seemed busy. Below are a few wedding pictures.

So where does this leave me? I’ve been on Weight Watchers again for two whole days (it starts one day at a time) and I’m doing pretty good far. I’m a little nervous about the upcoming changes to the weight watchers program, but I’m excited about it too. I’ve long thought that they don’t put enough emphasis on the healthy food, and just look at Calories, Fat and Fiber, and it looks like they are getting away from that. So nervous and excited.

I’ve been running again, unfortunately I’m so out of shape, and heavier then I was before, so my mileage is really low, and I intend to keep it that way for at least a few weeks again to get a little back in shape again before I jump into more miles.

So my goals for the rest of November are pretty simple. Follow Weight Watchers, allowing a day of moderate eating for thanksgiving, lose 2 pounds and do all my planned runs (which is 4 days a week). Seems pretty simple right? Well when your first getting back into the swing of things, things aren’t as simple as they seem.

So here’s to one step at a time, and one day at a time!

Is anyone still around?

2010-11-17T08:46:00.001-05:00

**Sticks head out from around the corner**

Does anyone even still have me on their readers? Well if they do, I'm back, and look for an update post soon...with wedding pictures!

The 6 W's!

2010-04-05T17:42:00.002-05:00

"The Six W's: Work will win when wishing won't."
-- Todd Blackledge

Sorry, this attempting to post everyday thing isn't working out quite as I had hoped, but I've been better about posting than I was, so I'll take that.

I really like today's quote, it's true, everything work having comes hard, and it takes work. Wishing we were 20lbs lighter certainly isn't going to help us get there, but working hard towards that goal will.

So how did my easter weekend go? Well besides the "healthy eating" part of it, it went really really well. We had the little one all weekend, so those weekends are always so much fun, I miss him on the weekends that we don't have him. So we enjoyed our weekend.

The eating was way less than stellar, but I'll have to admit, today, I was happy to go back to eating my good food, I missed it. I have a good chance to get on track, and stay on track these next two weeks, and I'm going to take advantage of it. I'm going to work really hard, to make sure I meet (or exceed) my goals this month.

So that leads me to what my goals will be for the month of April. I'm going to keep them pretty simple.

1. I'd like to lose 6lbs. I think it's doable, and if I can manage to melt away 6lbs a month for three months, it will put me at near my goal weight for my first dress fitting. A girl can work towards something right?

2. I'd like to continue my running. I've been struggling a bit the last two runs, they've not been good, and I think I'm needing a week of reducing mileage, so I am going to do it. In the past I would just push through it, then I would end up overtired, overtrained and unmotivated. So I'm gonna take a cut back week, and keep building on that mileage and continue my training plan.

3. I know this sounds kind of general, but I want to have more good days then bad. My months (or the last year) have been a cluster of horrid eating days sprinkled with a good couple days here and there, but I'd really like to start the change this month and get back to heading in the right direction.

So that's it, three simple goals. I think it's totally doable and can be achieved. Also, I'm only going to weigh in at the beginning of may to see the loss. I don't want to get too wrapped up in that number. I'd rather get wrapped up in how I'm feeling, and how my clothes are fitting, not the number on the scale.

Anyways, off to finish watching my very first Tigers game of the Season, which we are currently winning....GO TIGERS!

The Impossible...

2010-04-01T17:58:00.002-05:00

“The only way of finding the limits of the possible
is by going beyond them into the impossible.”

Arthur C. Clarke

Well I’m wrapping up my first week of being back to blogging, and really really trying to get back on track. How have I done this week? It could have been better certainly, but lately I’ve had weeks that were a whole lot worse, so in retrospect looking back, I did really well, out of 7 days, 5 were on plan, so I will take that for what it is. It’s an improvement from what it has been.

I used to most a motivational quote everyday, kind of as a way to inspire myself, and a way to inspire others, so I decided to start doing that again. Today’s quote I think we’ve all been there, we’ve all pushed through what we thought is possible, and before we know it, we are doing something, or living life in a way in which we never thought was possible. It’s a great feeling when that happens. I remember the first time (as an adult, out of High School) I ran 2 miles in a row without stopping; it was such an awesome feeling. I never dreamed it possible that I could be a runner, but I pushed myself, and I became a runner. And the longest run to date I have run is 8 miles, which seemed so impossible, but it’s not when you push yourself.

It’s kinda of the way I looked at the weight loss thing when I first started it. My roommate and I decided on a whim to start weight watchers in January of 2006. I said, heck, if I can’t do it, I can’t do it, but we’ll see. And two years later, I had went from sedentary, and the higher end of my healthy weight range, to almost 30lbs lighter and running 20 miles a week. It was quite the accomplishment, and I never dreamed I could have done it.

Now here I am today, I often feel like I can’t do this again. But I remember I have before, and I have proved it’s possible. So I know that I can do it, it’s just about finding the motivation to do it again. And I’m slowly but surely finding my motivation again. I know how good I felt, I know how confident and healthy I was, and I want to get back there, and I know I will.

Tomorrow is my weigh in, and truthfully I’m not expecting a whole lot, I haven’t weighed in since the beginning of March, and I had A LOT of bad days between the beginning of March and now. I expect to see a gain of a few pounds at least, but that’s ok, I can handle it. Tomorrow after my weigh in, I’ll be back here to set some goals for the month of April.

I’ve still been running, I ran the 14 miles that I had scheduled this week, and all my runs were great except for today, which, even though it was not a great run was an accomplishment in itself. I was not feeling good towards the end of work, I was tired, I was shaky and I just did not feel like running (In part due to my allergies which become miserable this time of year), but instead of putting my run off, I went out, and I did the miles I had planned on doing. It was slow, and involved stopping and starting, and stopping and walking (which I hardly ever do), but I pushed through and finished the run, even though I did not feel like it. So GO ME!

Anyways, back tomorrow with an updated weight so I can see just how many pounds I have to lose before this wedding ;) Hope everyone is having a healthy and happy day!

Day #5

2010-03-30T14:41:00.002-05:00

Today has been a success!

I've learned, it seems for some reason when I eat more carbs in the morning, I seem to have more hunger and cravings, if I mainly have protein in the morning, until lunch, I seem to do better. Whether or not this is just a mental thing, or actually something that helps, I don't know, but I'll go with it for now.

Today I've stayed OP and within my points so far, and I haven't let the candy bowl here at work call to me, which is GREAT! we'll see how the rest of the day goes, but it's looking to me like Day 5 will be great.

We had pre-martial stuff last night, and that went well. We had to take some test, which apparently helps identify areas where we disagree so that we have to talk about them with a therapist and work them out. I'm really impartial, but if they think it will help us , I say go for it.

I didn't run last night, but I plan to tonight, plan to run 4 miles I think. It's gorgeous here today, It is like 55 and sunny with hardly any wind, so I'm going to take advantage of it, and get outside for my second longest run this week.

This weekend is suppose be in the 70s, in Michigan nonetheless! I don't know why mother nature is playing tricks on us, but I'll take what I can get!

Other exciting new, I put a deposit on my wedding dress today! Woo Hoo! They had one I tried on that actually fit, so I went ahead and bought it off the rack, I got $100 off for doing so. So now I just have to lose a few of these pounds so I look even better in it :)

Anyways, that's it for today, I hope everyone is having a healthy, Happy and OP day!

Day # 4

2010-03-29T14:39:00.002-05:00

Well, Day #4 didn't go so well, but instead of dwelling on it, and letting it get to me, I'm going to tell you exactly how awesome I was all weekend.

Friday, Jason had stopped on his way out to my house to get McDonalds and asked if I wanted anything. I said nope, no thanks! And not only did I not have any, I also ran friday evening, and stayed within my points.

Saturday we had a good morning, and a busy afternoon, which ended in dinner and a comedy club with some friends. Well dinner was at an AWESOME local Italian restaurant, where I managed to avoid the bread basket, cheesy cream sauces and desserts which were on the table. Instead I had half of my serving on Linguine marinara and a bit of the free tiramisu the host gave use for me finding an eyelash in my salad. But another day, spent within my points allowance.

Sunday was also good. I got up, and even though it was starting to rain, I headed out on my run, and got 5 miles in. The rain has picked up while I was out, and I managed to get pretty soaked, but believe it or not, I love running in the rain. The rest of the day was spent within my points allowance.

Then today happened and that damn candy bowl got to me again. But instead of focusing on that, I'm just gonna to say I had a great and OP weekend! And I'm going to try to remember tomorrow when that candy bowl is calling my name, just how crappy it made me physically feel today. My body does NOT enjoy processing that junk!

Anyways, tonight we have a meeting with the priest to do a "pre-marriage inventory" whatever that is,and on the way we are gonna stop at a stir fry place, where I know I can eat healthy. No running tonight, but will be back at it tomorrow, wednesday and thursday!

I hope everyone is having healthy and OP days, I'll be joining you back on the healthy side, starting now.

Back on Track Day #1

2010-03-26T11:14:00.001-05:00

Day #1 Back on Track has so far been great. I can’t say that I haven’t been tempted by the candy bowl here at work, which has seemed to be the main contributor to be demise in the last year. And honestly, when I look back at the reasons that I just couldn’t leave the candy bowl alone, I can’t even come up with one. I’ve never had that much of a sweet tooth, in fact, prior to being on weight watchers the very first time, I could take or leave chocolate completely (I know, I know, I’m a rare one), rather I gained my weight by just plain old eating too much, and loving salty snacks like chips and dip, nachos and all the good stuff. Oh, and I loved cheese. If I recipe called for 1 cup of cheese, I was sure to AT LEAST double it. So chocolate was never a huge problem for me, but lately, it’s become one.
So today I’ve walked past the bowl like I do every other day, usually snagging something out of it, and then that leads to the downward spiral for the day, when pretty much I’m just hugging the candy bowl. Today it has these little nestle Easter eggs in it. They have Butterfinger, nestle crunch, milk chocolate and caramel, and quite honestly they’ve been calling my name. But I’ve been good, and I’ve been remembering, with me, it’s not just one. And that’s my problem lately. I always say “oh I will just have one”, and then it always always always leads to me not stopping, and ending up blowing way more then my points. So, today I’ve been telling myself that, you CAN DO THIS. You have before, and you WILL again!
So that’s my mantra, kinda like a train, I know I can, I know I can.
On that note, I had a good end of the day yesterday, I ate healthy, and I ran 3 miles. Even though the 3 miles were a serious pain in the butt. I drank a meal replacement or “protein shake” about an hour beforehand and it seriously made me sick, so today I switched to having that for breakfast and I’ll try a pear about an hour before I run. However I hadn’t eaten well all day, so It’s hard to tell if it was the protein shake that caused the stomach upset (and the run to be hard) or it was just the lack of nutrition for the day. But either way, we aren’t repeating that!
I’ve also decided, in order to take the emphasis off the number on the scale, and put it more on what I’m doing right, how I feel and how my clothes fit, I’m just going to weigh once a month. I weighed in on March 5th and was at 159lbs. I haven’t been great this month (but did start running again!) and my next weigh in will be a week from today, April 2nd. In ways I’m looking forward to it, other ways I’m not.
This weekend we don’t have much for plans. Tonight the Fiancé comes in from travelling for work, and I think we are just going to take it easy, so that should be a nice controlled night of food. Saturday we are going to try on Tuxes, and make sure that he likes the colors that I’ve picked out. Then we have dinner and a comedy club with another couple. Dinner is at a nice Italian restaurant in the area, and I’m just planning to stick to Marinara sauce and noodles and keep it to a smaller portion and I’ll be fine!
Anyways, that’s it for now, I’ll probably post menus for awhile, so look for that later.

Anyone still around?

2010-03-25T15:00:00.000-05:00

Well I’m not even sure I’m even on anyone “radar” anymore, so I don’t even know that this new post will be found by anyone, let alone all the great friends I used to have in the blog world!

It looks like the last time I wrote on my blog was September 3^rd, 2009. Kinda of crazy to believe something that was such a staple in my life has went 6 months without any updating, and even longer that that without a steady number of posts.

A lot, and I mean a lot has happened in my life in the last year and half. Needless to say, part of what has happened is that I’ve gained a lot of weight back, although probably only about another 4lbs from the last time I posted a weight which was about 7 months ago, so that’s not too bad.

However, I’ve tried and tried again to get back on the Weight Watchers boat, and it just seems like I can’t do it. I was never one to say I couldn’t do something before. But I’ve just struggled and struggled. I’ve had the mentality of “oh I’ll just start tomorrow” Well putting it off til tomorrow has now left me with 20 pounds to lose again. Putting it off meant letting all the hard work that went into my health and fitness fall to the way-side. And when I sit here and write, I’m actually disgusted that I let it come to this point. I honestly “feel” unhealthy again, even though I’m really just at the very high end of my healthy weight range, this IS NOT where I’m comfortable at.

Now don’t get me wrong, this stuff may have fallen to the way-side. But my life has been awesome for the last 18 months. I have a guy in my life, and I got engaged in November of 2009. We are getting married in September of this year, and I can’t wait. I’m getting AN awesome 3 year old son in the deal, and I couldn’t be happier.

BUT, at the same time, as happy as I am, my eating being out of control, and the weight coming back seems to weigh on me pretty heavy. I know I’m not healthy, and I know that I can be so much better of a person for myself, for my DF, and for my DS. It’s not something I THINK I should do, its something I KNOW I need to do.

That being said, I’ve been trying, I am running again, and It’s finally getting out of the stage where I have to push myself to go, I’m getting back to the point where I’m addicted to it. And that makes it a lot easier to keep up on when I’m not dreading the next run.

So, the next in line to do is to get my eating back on track. I’ve blown today out of the water, but I’m going to a sensible and healthy dinner, and stay on track for the rest of the day and start a fresh week tomorrow.

My first weight goal is to be under 160lbs. I think my ultimate goal will to be where I once was. But I would be ecstatic to be under the 150lb part for my wedding.

Anyways. That is it for me now. My goal is also to post 5 times a week, and post menus.

Have a good one if there is anyone left out there!

Back on Track Day #3

2009-09-03T20:42:00.001-05:00

Well, I dont have much time to write tonight, but it was a good, and very successful day OP! I even got a short jog in! Go me. Heres the menu!

Thursday, September 03, 2009

Morning

20 oz black coffee

1 serving(s) Dannon Light n' Fit

96 oz water

Kashi Go Lean and Milk

Subtotal

Midday

1 serving(s) Sandwich

1 serving(s) Progresso Zero Point Soup

1 tsp canola oil

1 serving(s) Dannon Light n' Fit

Subtotal

Evening

170 gm broccoli

1 serving(s) Spray

1 tsp Ranch

Zeros - Quick-added food

Hot Dogs - Quick-added food

Buns - Quick-added food

Condiments - Quick-added food

Pudding - Quick-added food

1 tsp canola oil

1 large banana(s)

Subtotal

Anytime

1 1/8 cup(s) Cap'n Crunch Cereal

Subtotal

Food POINTS values total used

Food POINTS values remaining

Activity

15 min jogging

Activity POINTS values earned

Check off these important items daily:

Liquids	Milk & Milk Products
Fruit & Vegetables	Multivitamin/Mineral
Healthy Oil	Activity
Lean Protein	Whole Grains

Starting Over- Day #2

2009-09-02T18:52:00.002-05:00

Well, Day #1 went not as well as planned, but it could have been a whole lot worse. But you know what, I have tickets like that, maybe never again in my life, so it was a once in a lifetime thing, so I enjoyed it, it's done, it's over.

Day #2 started out with great intentions, it didn't end the way I had hoped though. I started off the morning with a good breakfast, and had a snack and lunch and did good. I had a couple small boxes of nerds and one small piece of laffy taffy, it had hit my points kinda hard, but I counted it and moved on.

The high point of today, I didn't feel like running at all, and I knew that I would be heavy and slow on a run since I ate crap food last night, but regardless, I went out running. Didn't run long, but I got out, and that was a good thing.

When I got home, I had an "attack", I've had these before, and honestly, nothing makes me feel better except to eat. When I have these I all of a sudden feel week, clamy, cold and hot, light headed and just generally feel bad. Well needless to say I had one of these, and I had some stuff to eat, which put me over my points for the day.

So Day#3 is going to be my stellar awesome day I've decided. I have my lunch packed, my dinner planned, and I'm also going to run when I get home!

Until tomorrow, when I will post my menu, stay healthy and happy bloggers.

Day #1

2009-09-01T14:32:00.002-05:00

Well here I am, Day #1 of being back on track. Has it been perfect? No! But has it been manageable, most definitely! I knew going into today that it would probably be a bad day to start back on Weight Watchers. Why you ask? Well I bought tickets awhile ago to the Tigers Game for this evening. And they aren't use Tigers Tickets, they are REALLY awesome Tigers Tickets that include box seats and use of a Clubhouse there on site, where, one of the highlights is that they have a full dinner and dessert buffet which of course is free. So I knew today would be hard, but I also paid really good money for them, so while I'm not going only eat lettuce, I'm also not going to overeat. I will go, have a good time, enjoy a small portion of the food I want, and be back on track the minute I leave.

But today started off great, I had a good breakfast of some Kashi Go Lean, Fiber One and cup of Milk. Then I had a Cottage cheese for a snack, a sandwich and some yogurt for lunch, and just had some cucumbers and carrots for a snack. Now I'm gonna be heading to the game in a few, hopefully the Tigers can pull it off, and the White Sox can beat the Twins for us!

Go Tigers!

Hello?

2009-08-31T14:36:00.002-05:00

*sticks head out from underneath the rock she's been hiding under*

Anyone out there still? 6 months of quietness does tend to leave people deleting you from their daily reads!

It's been long quiet 6 months, there are highs and lows...the lows being my weight has went back up. I'm still not at square one, but If I don't get my stuff together, I'm gonna be starting at square one, and that's not cool with me. So here I am, I've gained roughly 16lbs, and I'm back to lose it. And the only way I'm going to is with you guys to keep me accountable.

I've been trying to get back on track since March, I'll do great for a day, and then I fall back off, seems like I can't string together a week or two of good solid OP days.

On a high note, a year later, I'm still running, sporadically, but I'm still running. I managed a pretty bad injury to my foot in April (running down the stairs after a ringing blackberry is not a good idea folks!), and I'm still to this day battling lingering pain and stiffness, which leads to a very sporadic running schedule. But I'm working on that, and I've still been running consistently.
So that's a high note.

So my first goal. String together two good solid OP days....Today not so hot. So starting tomorrow.

Wish me luck, I hope I've got some of you guys still around :)

Back on Track- Weigh In #3

2009-03-07T08:55:00.000-05:00

Wow, I'm a terrible blogger!

I weighed in yesterday for a loss of .4lbs. Not alot, but I'll take it, especially since I ate my face off two days last week!

So here is to the next week, and a full week on plan!

Back on Track- Weigh In #2

2009-02-27T18:11:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-02-24T18:06:00.002-05:00

" 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

2009-02-20T18:45:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-02-19T15:45:00.002-05:00

"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!

2009-02-18T10:39:00.002-05:00

"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!

2009-02-16T11:11:00.002-05:00

"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!

2009-02-14T17:53:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-02-13T11:22:00.002-05:00

"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

2009-02-13T07:32:00.002-05:00

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...

2009-02-11T11:52:00.003-05:00

"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!

2009-02-10T11:50:00.000-05:00

"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....

2009-02-09T09:28:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-02-05T12:56:00.002-05:00

"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!

2009-02-03T10:58:00.001-05:00

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!

Im still here...

2009-01-27T20:10:00.003-05:00

I just wanted to stop in and say, I haven't fallen off the wagon (or at least totally!), and I'm still alive. Seems as though the antibiotics they are putting me on aren't quite doing their job. As soon as I get off them, bam, the infection is back. So I'm sick again, and I'm down and out. I have a CT scan on my sinuses on Saturday so maybe they can figure out what is going on. But in the meantime I'm here, a little down, and eating a little less than stellar (but tracking it all!).

Hope everyone else is doing great!

2009-01-23T16:33:00.002-05:00

Had a less than stellar day today. BAH! But I wanted to post this article for you guys to read. Being from the motor city myself, it hits home, maybe it will with my midwestern friends also.

The Courage of Detroit

Enjoy! Happy Weekend!

2009-01-22T09:02:00.002-05:00

"The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected
without trials."
-- Chinese proverb

Good Morning Everyone!

Thanks for all the nice comments on my blog yesterday about my bad day. I did end up eating more in the evening, and unfortunately it wasn't all great stuff, but the day is done and over with, and I'm back on track and plugging full steam ahead today!

I do think I figured out why I ate the candy yesterday though. I hit a situation at work where I felt nervous and stressed, and anxious. Work has been this way lately, and it's been adding up. So yesterday, I felt nervous and anxious, and I went for the candy bowl. So it's definately something I need to be aware of, but now that I see that is what is causing it, I can make that change.

So today is going to be my 4th and final run for the week, and it will be a short 2 miles. It might actually feel "warm" running today, as we are expecting temps in the upper 20's and low 30's! I don't know what I'm gonna do, I'm so happy!

Next week is a "cutback" week, which is good, because I'm kinda tired, and feel I could use a week. But this weeks runs all went good, and my times are dropping back down to wear they were before my one month hiatus from running, and they should drop even more when the temps go up a bit, and they finally plow so I'm not running is 6-8 inches of snow on sidewalks!

So really everything is going good, I'm getting my runs in, my pushup and situp challenges are getting done, and I'm on plan MOST of the time, if I can just get that back to being ALL the time, I'll be doing great.

But all I can do is keep trying, I know that everyone falls on their face once in awhile, and that's why I make sure to post the good, the bad and the ugly on my blog, so you guys can see, even those of us that have succeeded, we still struggle! It's a constant battle!

Keep up the good work everyone, and once again, I appreciate the kind thoughts and encouragement!

Back on Track Day #4

2009-01-21T16:48:00.000-05:00

Ahhh so today didn't go so well. I had a fight with the candy bowl at work. I don't have a clue on how much I ate, but it was way too much! Basically I"m just gonna drink alot of water, and be done eating for the day now. I know I didn't use all my flexies, but still, I was doing oh so well! Ugh!

Back on Track Day #3

2009-01-20T20:40:00.003-05:00

Well, I didn't have time to write a big long post today, but I just wanted report that Day #3 of being back on track went off without a hitch! I got in all 8 of my GHG's, and ate within my 20 points.

I also ran 3.5 miles in subzero temps on roads that haven't been plowed! I have to admit it's alot harder running on the unplowed roads, and in the cold temps. But it feels good to get out there and do something in the winter, and even better to enjoy doing it so much. Tonight when I got off work, I so did not want to go running, but I promised myself just to get out there, and just go a bit, and if it was bad I could turn back. But I ended up getting in the 3.5 I had planned.

I also completed my pushups and my situps for both challenges.

Needless to say, I'm feeling pretty accomplished.

Alright off to do some lazying around the house! Have good nights!

Back on Track Day #2

2009-01-19T21:40:00.000-05:00

Day #2 went successful, and I stayed on track all day!

Plus, I ran 2 miles in the freezin cold to boot! Not too shabby!

2009-01-19T09:18:00.002-05:00

"If you doubt you can accomplish something, then you can't accomplish it.
You have to have confidence in your ability,
and then be tough enough to follow through."
-Rosalyn Carter

Well, instead of looking back at last week and point out the things I did wrong, or could have done better, I'm gonna look at 3 things I did right!

1. I had several days that were totally on plan!
2. I started running regularly again, and got 4 runs in outside, even in subzero temperatures!
3. I started the hundred pushups plan, and the two hundred situp plans, and completed three days of each!

So there you have it, I did some good stuff last week.

So my goals this week?

1. Stay On plan with WW's for the week! This includes eating my 20 points a day, plus a few activity points and getting in my 8 GHGs.
2. Run 4 times, and get in my situps and pushups.
3. Make my three healthy, planned meals for the week.
4. NO SCALE!

Alrighty, so there are the goals for the week.

How was the weekend? Not terrible. I ate too much on Friday and Saturday, but I had a great an OP day on Sunday, so Day #1 of being OP! I ran 4.5 miles in the snow, and ate healthy, made good choices, and got in my 8 GHG's!

Day #2 is throttling full steam ahead, and so far I've avoided Cake and Brownies in the lunchroom! I just keep telling myself, if I even have one, it will turn into having way WAY more, so I'm not having any!

Anyways, I hope everyone had great weekends!

2009-01-16T15:54:00.002-05:00

"None will improve your lot If you yourself do not."
-- Bertolt Brecht, 1933

I'll admit it, I seriously don't know where my motivation is. It's just like I have no motivation to get back on track, and to stay there.

I know I've done this before, where I can't find my motivation. But I don't know how I got it back.

I know I'm under a lot of stress lately, and I'm sure that has to do with it some, I have a tendency to eat for comfort...I'm sure alot of you can echo that. Plus we are just coming off the holidays.

But I guess I ask, as many of you have asked me before...where do I find the motivation?

Days I'm running it's great motivation to eat right, cause my runs are so much better, but the days I don't run, I struggle!

I appreciate any tips! Thanks!

Menu 1.13.09

2009-01-13T20:42:00.001-05:00

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Morning

1 serving(s) Pumpkin Oatmeal

1 tsp canola oil

20 oz black coffee

1 tbsp Cocoa

1/2 cup(s) 1% low-fat milk

120 gm bell pepper(s)

1 serving(s) Breakstone LiveActive Cot Cheese

90 gm carrot(s)

Subtotal

Midday

90 gm carrot(s)

Zeros - Quick-added food

1 tsp canola oil

Taco Soup - Quick-added food

1 serving(s) Dannon Light n' Fit

140 gm peeled sliced cucumber

two packs emergenC - Quick-added food

Subtotal

Evening

170 gm broccoli

90 gm carrot(s)

1 tsp Ranch

1 serving(s) Spray

Zeros - Quick-added food

Pancakes - Quick-added food

6 item(s) egg white(s)

Toast - Quick-added food

1 serving(s) Dannon Light n' Fit

Subtotal

Anytime

128 oz water

Pita Bread and Hummus - Quick-added food

Subtotal

Food POINTS values total used

Food POINTS values remaining

Activity

24 min jogging

Activity POINTS values earned

Check off these important items daily:

Water	Milk & Milk Products
Fruit & Vegetables	Multivitamin
Healthy Oils	Activity

2009-01-13T14:53:00.002-05:00

"You are built not to shrink down to less,
but to blossom into more."
~Oprah Winfrey

Ahh, it's amazing how one day can give you such a sense of renewal.

Yesterday, I felt like crap after I ate when I did. My body just doesn't process junk food like it used to two years ago, I eat it, and my body literally is like "what the hell is this?". I get headaches, indigestion, and feel just tired and wore out when I'm not eating good, does anyone else feel like this?

Well yesterday, that's how I felt since I decided to have a cookie party. But when I got home, I decided I was gonna go for a run, even though I felt like crap. I promised myself just to get out the door, and I would just do a mile if I still felt like crap. Well I ended up doing three. So go me!

Today is much better. There are more cookies (yes, different ones than yesterday!) on the table today, but I've managed to avoid the urge to eat them, and I've eaten lots of good stuff, and have drank almost a gallon of water. I feel so much better.

And it's currently 20* outside, with a wind chill of 6*, and I still just can't wait to get home and run. I don't know when I became crazy, but I did. I'm one of those people who is running in the winter blowing snow, that I used to laugh at for being crazy.

So today has turned out to be a good and OP day, one of many to come! I will post a menu later on!

Menu 1.12.09

2009-01-12T18:58:00.004-05:00

There will be no menu posted today, because basically its just me showing a bunch of crap I ate that I guesstimated on ha ha. I did just zero out my flex points for the week just to be safe, so I feel better about that. Great thing about weight watchers, and this journey is everyday is a new day :)

On a high note, even though I didn't feel like it, and it was cold and snowy, I did get out and run another 3 miles. Running makes me want to eat good, because it so much easier and feels so much better to run when I'm eating healthy.

Alright! Back tomorrow!

2009-01-12T11:58:00.002-05:00

" Think not of lost opportunities... but future possibilities."

I think this is a good quote, especially for this time of year, when we maybe have all gain a pound or two from the holidays, and we're trying really hard to get on track. It's best not to think about the past and what we did, only to look forward and think of how great we're gonna feel when we get back on track!

That being said, I had a food "mishap" today. I've been trying desperately to get back on track, the master cleanse helped, and I have been using Weight Watchers again since Friday when I got off of the cleanse. Well today I hit a stumbling block. It certainly could have been worse that it was, I stopped myself before I dug myself a whole that would blow my week. What did I do you ask?

Well I started on some leftover holiday treats here at work. You know, I know this is my one weakness, that if I start on treats, I have trouble stopping, so I shouldn't have even started, but for some reason I did the "oh just one" mantra that caused me to gain a few pounds over the holidays, well I finally got a grip on myself, but it wasn't before I ate quite a bit.

When I'm nibbling, it's hard to tell how much actually went in the mouth, plus I'm sharing with the dog (yes, I give Duke sugar and fat laden treat...bad dog owner!), but I estimated the damage out at about 20 points, it could've been a little more, maybe a little less, but that's what I counted.

Well, it used about 5 of my WPA points, which isn't terrible, and my plan for the rest of the day is alot of water, some tea, and only veggies. It could have been worse...but I feel better now that I confessed.

On a high note, I did get a 4 mile run in yesterday (in the snow, and on unplowed roads mind you!), and I'm planning to get another 3 mile run in tonight. I'm trying to get my runs in as early as possible this week, because its suppose to be highs in the single digits later in the week, so I want to try to avoid being outside as much as possible.

So overall, things are going ok, just a few "getting back on the wagon" bumps to deal with, nothing we all don't experience, and nothing we can't get over!

Happy Happy Monday! Menu later!

Menu 1/11/09

2009-01-11T20:49:00.001-05:00

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Morning
1/2 cup(s) 1% low-fat milk	1
20 oz black coffee	0
1 tbsp Cocoa	0
Pumpkin Oatmeal w/Oil - Quick-added food	3
1 serving(s) Breakstone LiveActive Cot Cheese	1
Subtotal	5
Midday
170 gm broccoli	0
90 gm carrot(s)	0
Banana Muffin - Quick-added food	4
Apricot Chicken - Quick-added food	5
Subtotal	9
Evening
Pumpkin Pancakes - Quick-added food	2
Toast - Quick-added food	1
Pita Bread w/Hummus - Quick-added food	2
Yogurt - Quick-added food	1
Subtotal	6
Anytime
No entries for this meal time.
Subtotal	0
*Food POINTS* values total used**	20
*Food POINTS* values remaining**	0
Activity
52 min jogging	6
*Activity POINTS* values earned**	6

2009-01-11T14:23:00.003-05:00

Happy Sunday everyone! I'm sitting around waiting for cupcakes I baked for my mom's birthday to cool so I can frost them, and waiting for them to come through the subdivision with a snowplow, so I can go out running, alot of waiting around huh? We recieved 8 to 10 inches of snow on Saturday, and they are expecting more tomorrow night! We are heading to Olive Garden later for my mom's birthday, so I will probably just wait to run until after we do that, they will hopefully have plowed by then.

On a good note, I was checking out Olive Garden to see what I was going to order today, and they have always provided Nutritional Information for their "garden fare" items, but now they provide nutritional information for the rest of it, I was very pleased. I think I will have the Venitian Apricot Chicken, which is only 3 points if I eat half! yay!

I did enjoy a couple bites of banana muffin, and some licks of batter, so I worked up the Nutritional Information for the muffins, and it looks like one is 4 points, even though I don't think I ate one muffin, I still counted 4 points to be safe.

I made up some Taco Soup so I would have some for lunches this week, it should be a good treat, I love soups this time of year. I have another soup recipe I will make later in the week. Soups are so filling too!

Anyways, nothing to exciting happening here, but I will update later with my menu for the day!

Menu 1/10/09

2009-01-10T22:10:00.001-05:00

Did well today I think, I'm never quite as good about getting all 8 GHGs on the weekend, but I think I got them all except a half of dairy.

aturday, January 10, 2009

Morning
1/2 cup(s) 1% low-fat milk	1
1 tbsp Cocoa	0
20 oz black coffee	0
Pumpkin Oatmeal - Quick-added food	2
1 tsp canola oil	1
peppers and carrots - Quick added food	0
1 serving(s) Breakstone LiveActive Cot Cheese	1
Subtotal	5
Midday
progresso soup - Quick added food	2
chex mix - Quick added food	3
1 tsp canola oil	1
1 serving(s) Dannon Light n' Fit	1
90 gm carrot(s)	0
140 gm peeled sliced cucumber	0
Subtotal	7
Evening
1 item(s) Turkey sausage, egg white and cheese on a muffin made with whole grain	5
1 tbsp Tomato Ketchup	0
1 small pear(s)	1
1 bag(s) 100 calorie pop kettle corn, popped	2
Subtotal	8
Anytime
No entries for this meal time.
Subtotal	0
*Food POINTS* values total used**	20
*Food POINTS* values remaining**	0

Menu 1/9/09

2009-01-09T21:05:00.002-05:00

Here's the menu for today, nothing exciting, but got in my 8 GHG's, and I did go out for a run, although only ended up going a mile, as we got about 4 inches of snow, and it's quite hard running in deep snow! I never would have guess, whew. But I got out there and did it! Heres the menu!

Friday, January 09, 2009

Morning

Oatmeal - Quick-added food

1 tsp canola oil

1/2 cup(s) 1% low-fat milk

20 oz black coffee

1 tbsp Cocoa

120 gm bell pepper(s)

1 serving(s) Breakstone LiveActive Cot Cheese

90 gm carrot(s)

Subtotal

Midday

Progresso Soup - Quick-added food

1 tsp canola oil

1 serving(s) Dannon Light n' Fit

90 gm carrot(s)

140 gm peeled sliced cucumber

Subtotal

Evening

Hashbrowns - Quick-added food

1 cup(s) Corn Flakes

1/4 cup(s) ketchup

Pumpkin Pancakes - Quick-added food

6 item(s) egg white(s)

1 serving(s) Dannon Light n' Fit

170 gm broccoli

90 gm carrot(s)

Zeros - Quick-added food

Subtotal

Anytime

No entries for this meal time.

Subtotal

Food POINTS values total used

Food POINTS values remaining

Activity

15 min jogging

Activity POINTS values earned

Check off these important items daily:

Water	Milk & Milk Products
Fruit & Vegetables	Multivitamin
Healthy Oils	Activity

A Review of '08 Resolutions

2009-01-09T16:06:00.002-05:00

Ok, so everyone is going through their new years resolutions, and I want to review mine, and then come up with some new ones, this post will be reviewing;

1. Consistently get to the gym all year, even if it dies down during the summer to a measly once or twice a month. But during the cold months, stay going, weekly, on a regular basis. I don't think I did to shabby here! I consistently exercised most of the year when sickness or other events weren't in the way. I began running outside in July, and racked up around 300 miles by the end of the year! Go me! I've now been working out consistently for over one year!

2. Be more social! I have a tendency to be a hermit. I like quiet time, alone time, but I'm going to make more of an effort to go out. I want to go out twice a month, whether that is on a date, or catching dinner with a girlfriend, or going to a party. I did get out a little more, but not nearly as much as I would of liked to, or should have.

3. Try to be a more positive person. I have a tendency to look at things with a negative view at times, and I would like to change that. I was a more positive person for most of last year, believe me, I did get down, but I worked through it, and I would say I'm happier.

4. Pick up a new hobby. Any new hobby. Can we say running? I became addicted, took until July, but it truly became a new hobby of mine!

Alright now for the weight/health related goals.

1. Finally reach my goal weight of 142. I'll get there, I know it! Got there 7/20/08!

2. Gain more knowledge of nutrition. Weight Watchers is a great program, but as long as your eating your points, you can eat whatever. I would like to focus on keeping my Carbs, Fat and Protein in order. I learned alot about nutrition this year, I think in the end it all comes down to balance. You can eat that cheesecake, just eat it once a month, I am more aware of what I'm putting in my mouth and how it affects my body, I think I learned alot here, but I know I have alot left to learn too!

Well I think overall I did well, I mean sure there were a few things I didn't follow completely through on, but overall, I think I mad 2008 a successful year! And I plan to make 2009 an even better year.

I'll be posting menus from now on to, as a little keep myself on track tactic. I'm only going to be weighing once a month, and I will be in weight loss mode until I see the infamous 142 number! Next weigh in will be February 2nd!

Ok, menu tonight, first day back on program/food is going good!

2009-01-08T11:07:00.002-05:00

"Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently."

-- Henry Ford

Guess what? I've made it to Day 7 of the cleanse! I was shooting for 10 days, but decided today would be my last day. Why?

Well there are some good reasons, and probably some not so good reasons. One, Sunday is my mom's birthday, and I would really like to enjoy the family dinner with them, instead of sitting there drinking my water. Probably not a great reason, but whatever. Two, I miss eating, but I miss eating good food. I could careless about the crap food that people have around, but last night found myself drooling over broccoli at the grocery store. I think this is a good indication that I'm ready for food. I'm not just hungry, I'm hungry for good food.

So do I recommend what I just did? Yes! Will I do it again? Yes, planning to in April after the Easter Holiday.

It's definately not easy, and I honestly thought it would get easier as time went on, but I found as the days grew on, I found it harder and harder. Yesterday night (after the broccoli drooling incident), I really wanted to give up and chow on some carrots and broccoli, but I didn't.

But I got to thinking today (as I'm still craving veggies and fruit), something is wrong here if I am craving the good stuff, and not allowing myself to have it. If I was craving bad stuff like I was for the first couple days (hot dogs, ect), then yes, I should stay on longer, but good stuff? My body wants to good stuff, who am I to deny it?

So whats life after the cleanse like? Well the first couple days are easing yourself back onto solid foods. The book says to use orange juice, so I'm going to be drinking watered down OJ for breakfast tomorrow, and maybe full strength for lunch, and then onto some organic veggie broth for dinner. If all goes well with that, its gonna be full strength OJ for breakfast Saturday, Broth for lunch and vegetable soup for dinner! Yum! I can't wait.

The Sunday will be a return to solid food, but I will definately be taking it easy!

One thing I did not like about the cleanse? The lack of energy for running. I'm sure it would've been better had I been running consistently and not been trying to start again on top of cleansing, but I didn't like the way running felt on it, I didn't feel like I had anything for the body to burn off.

Weight loss? So far 6.2lbs in 6 days. I'm expecting a little more by the time I get back to solid foods, at that point the scale is going to be put away, and I'm going to go back on Weight Watchers, in loss mode for 3 weeks until my next weigh in, which should put me under my goal weight, which will be good. Then it will be back to maintaining.

I feel the cleanse helped me get my willpower back, and get all the crap I ate at Christmas time out of my body. I'm going to cleanse again in April.

Anyways, I hope everyone is doing well, I'm going to be posting more in the new year! Happy 2009!

2009-01-05T13:37:00.002-05:00

"It is the nature of man to rise to greatness
if greatness is expected of him."

-- John Steinbeck

Alright, well after quite sometime, here I am, I'm back.

I've been battling being sick for quite some time, it started as a sinus infection on December 10th, they gave me antibiotics, it appeared to go away, even though I wasn't feeling great, but then I got off the antibiotics, and it came back, and I went in the 29th, and had a sinus infection, bronchitis and strep throat, lovely huh?

Well needless to say, after a week of antibiotics and steroids, I feel pretty good.

So I'm going to attempt to run again tonight, even though its been so long, I know it's not gonna be easy, so I'll start with an easy mile tonight and if that goes good, I'll do a little more tomorrow, back to trying to build my base from scratch again, I hate that!

I did start on the master cleanse on Friday, it's interesting, I can't say I have an opinion yet on whether its good or bad. The first day was fine, and I felt good, the second day, I really felt like I had the flu, and I was tired all day, which they say is pretty normal. Yesterday and today, I feel alright, have a bit of a headache today, but nothing major.

Everyone asks if I'm hungry, and no, for the most part, I'm not hungry. It's hard when the boyfriend is around piling food in his mouth in front of me, or when food is cooking and I can smell it, but as far as actually being hungry, not very often. I think more than anything I miss eating, like the process of doing so, tasting good food, chewing ect. Just goes to show me how much I eat to eat, and how I'm not necessarily hungry, puts things into perspective a bit there.

Well I updated my weight on the sidebar for my monthly weigh in, which I am up at 144.6, which is still under my weight watchers goal, but over my personal goal. It's not bad for holiday season, and I know after the cleanse and when I get back to running the couple pounds will come off, so I'm not too worried about it.

With the cleanse they claim you will lose weight, but you will gain about half back. The way that I'm going, I will lose about 17lbs on the cleanse, but when I gain back I will still be under my goal weight, so that is ok. I will keep you posted, on Day 4, so far I've lost 5.2lbs.

Anyways, I will update again tomorrow and keep you guys posted on how the cleanse is going.

Happy New Year everyone!

2008-12-22T15:24:00.003-05:00

Ok, so I've been doing some soul searching here at work today, probably because it's slow, and partially because I feel like crap and haven't eaten anything of nutritious value today, yes, that's right, I've had a steady diet of cookies. While this is an exceptionally tasty diet, I've learned, one, it makes me feel like crap, including a headache, and just overall yucky feeling. The bad thing is, this has been the story of my life for much to long. My body is in serious serious need of good food.

My days always start out with great intentions, a healthy breakfast, nutritious lunch and snacks planned for the day, and a good menu for the evening, but for some reason, my usually exceptional willpower of turning down the goodies that are brought in hasn't been there, and I start with one, and it's a downhill spiral.

So it stops right now. RIGHT NOW. I know that the holidays are coming up, and I can't expect to track on those days, I can try to eat sensibly, and enjoy small portions.

So here we have it, in the next 10 days (December 23rd to January 1st) I plan to track 8 of those days. I am going to track using 21 points a day, and using weight watchers online.

The house has been, and will remain cleared of junk food, I've been great at home, and at the boyfriends really, it's just the crap at work that's killing me, I have no willpower.

Also, I haven't been running, first I was sick, and now it's like in the subzeros outside with windchill, I can't run in that, even as tough as I've been running through about all conditions. A goal is to get back to running as soon as the weather permits.

Also, I've made a commitment to doing something kind of crazy come the first of the year. As I've always been about overall health, and nutrition, and making my body feel better, I've committed to doing a "Master Cleanse" come January 2nd. Has anyone else tried this? I hear it's not an easy thing to do, but it intrigues me, and from the hundreds of reviews I've read, you feel great, and gain a new relationship with food (learn to appreciate it more). Now generally, they say anywhere from 10 to 40 days on it safe, I'm shooting for between 5 and 10 days for my first shot. Does anyone have any experience with this, tried a cleanse? Known anyone who has?

Alright, well there is my game plan for the next couple weeks. I'm going to try to stick to primarily core foods, and try to track as many day as humanly possible for the next 10 days, and then I will be moving onto hopefully 10 days of a detox and then onto some more weight watchers and tracking!

So there be it! I will be posting everyday, the good, the bad, the ugly!

2008-12-22T14:32:00.000-05:00

Ok so getting back on track with tracking hasn't been going so well, my days have been a disaster...

Seriously, I feel gross, I'm overeating, yet I can't get control of it, and I have no idea why...I so hate when I feel like this...

2008-12-18T07:20:00.002-05:00

"The world of achievement has always belonged to the optimist."
-- J. Harold Wilkins

Hey everyone! I hope the holidays are being good to everyone so far! As I said in my post last week, I'm totally ready for it to be over! Although I did finally get my tree up on Monday night, so I'm feeling a bit more festive!

So I've decided I am going to go back to posting my menu's for you all to look at! I know, I know, your on the edge of your seat, and you absolutely cannot wait!

I've just felt like I've been totally off track lately, luckily the scale isn't showing much of a gain right now (and it is the holidays), but I don't know how long I'm gonna get away with it without a huge gain, so time to get back on track, start posting what I'm eating at least until I feel I've gotten control back, and hopefully have gotten through the holidays. But for me Christmas and Christmas Eve and New Years and New Years Eve are off limits for tracking lol!

I'm finally getting to feeling better, but I still haven't been able to run, but I'm not pushing it, because I know that I will get even sicker, and that's not a good thing!

Anyways, I will update with a menu post later, wish me luck with my first tracking day!

2008-12-12T15:08:00.002-05:00

" You see things and say, 'Why?", but I dream things and say, 'Why not?"
~George Bernard Shaw

Wow, mark it on the calender, twice in one week, it's hard to believe.

Just a short little update. I was doing real well this week, sticking to plan, running and all that good stuff, and then Wednesday I came down with being real sick (somewhere to the tune of about 103* fever), so yesterday I was laid up all day, and today, while I'm at work and I feel a bit better, I'm still fighting it. And I'll admit, I'm not the best about staying on plan when I'm sick. Yesterday the only thing that tasted good was sherbet on my sore throat or hostess 100 calorie packs (who knows why!). But I figure first priority should be getting better, then we'll be back to the grind of weight watchers.

Anyone else ready for the holiday season to be over with? I love the holidays, and I love the time spent with family, but I'm really ready for all the treats to disappear, and for my normal schedule to return.

Even being sick this week I managed to get in 12 miles...not too bad, this winter my goal has been 15-20 miles a week, so 12 isn't bad being my week was cut short.

Speaking of Hostess 100-calorie packs, I'm a little late on these I'm sure, but they have strawberry ones now! They are great, picked some up when I was shopping last night, yum! A good treat once in awhile!

Nothing terribly exciting planned for the weekend here, probably just recovering a bit from this cold so I can get back to normal running and eating schedule!

Oh and I did weigh in this morning at 142.2lbs, so still at maintenance weight, I'm happy with that!

Alright until next time, take care everyone. Happy Holidays!

2008-12-09T07:34:00.002-05:00

"Mental attitude is more important than mental capacity."
~Walter Dill Scott

Well geez, It's been forever, do you guys even remember me? That is the few readers that I even have left? I'm so sorry that life has gotten the best of me the last couple months, and I have been less than attentive to my blog.

First of all, Happy Holidays to everyone. I hope everyone had wonderful Thanksgivings and are looking forward to, and getting ready for the Christmas Holiday.

This is one of my favorite times of year, I love spending time with the family, baking and more importantly, eating all the yummy food that comes around with Christmas time!

I've been doing ok sticking to plan, I have good days, and I have bad days, but more importantly, the weight in doing ok. I was not home this Sunday for my official weigh in, but I checked the scale last night to "check in" on myself, and I'm showing to still be right in the area of 142. It's hard to tell exactly, since I'm always up a little during the day. I'm taking it as I'm doing ok though, and even if I was actually up a little bit, it is the holidays.

I'm actually trying to following weight watchers again during the holidays. That way on the days I'm not busy with social events, ect that comes with Christmas time, I'm doing very well, it makes the days that aren't so hot have less of an impact on my weight. Although I have to admit I was a little put off by the changes they made with the new momentum plan, but I'm getting used to it.

As far as personal life is going, everything is going decent. Mom, Dad and all my brothers are all doing well. And the guy that I've been seeing and I are doing well.

Running is still going good. I am now on my 22nd week of running, and I have to admit I love it. I go through cycles it seems, where I'll love it, and then I'll despise going out and running. The weeks where I love it, I get out as much as I can, and the weeks where I loath it, I just try to get out once or twice. It all works out, and I'm still doing it on a regular basis, which in my eyes is great. I'm also still running outside, even though it's cold. Everyone thinks I'm crazy, and you should see the looks I get when I'm out running at its 20* and snowing out, but I just love it. That's one of the great things about Michigan, you'll never get bored with the weather! On the other hand, it does get awful expensive making sure you have all the right clothes to go fight the weather, ha ha.

Eating as a whole has been good. I'm learning maintenance isn't about "being good" all the time. It's about enjoying Pizza and Broiled Chicken on the weekend, and then cutting back during the week to make up for it. It's about having the piece of cheesecake at dinner, but only eating half. And don't get me wrong, there are still plenty of times I still want to (and have) broke down and eaten for comfort, but I suppose you can't kill all your old habits right off the bat.

Anyways, that's the update for now, I'm off to catch up on some of your blogs since I've been such a bad blog friend! Hope all is well with everyone!

I'm still here

2008-11-12T10:51:00.002-05:00

Well, I really apologize for falling off of keeping up on the blog as of lately, life has been terribly busy!

As far as maintaining weight, I'm doing ok. I weighed in this week for my maintenance weigh in #4, and I weighed in at 142.2lbs. Not too shabby being 142 is my goal. But I do know that If I don't reel things in a little bit, it will be going up with the holidays and the way I've been eating.

The candy bowl here at work has been calling my name lately, and unfortunately I've been indulging in it a bit more than I should be. I remember last year around this time, it was doing the same thing, I don't know if it's just this time of year, and the comfort food aspect of it or what.

But I'm working on reeling it back in, and getting back to my normal controlled eating patterns, and I know I can do it.

As far as running is going, I've been doing well getting out there, even though it's getting cold out, and it's getting to the point where its basically dark when I'm leaving work. During the summer I was running 4 days a week, but I've cut it to three now that it's getting a little more inclement out. But I'm still getting out there, and thats what really matters. Right now I'm nursing a bit of a knee injury, so I don't know when I'm going to be able to get back out there, which kinda bums me out. But I know if I don't give it time to rest, I'll end up hurt and laid up for even longer.

But I love that I'm now bummed out when I can't run, it's become an addiction for me, it's habit, and I love that is now a part of my life.

I'm gonna try to be posting more, as I know it will help me stay more on track during the holiday, which all of us have a hard time with! And also I'll try to start stopping by your blogs again, I love you guys!

2008-10-19T15:27:00.002-05:00

"Pain is temporary, Pride is forever"
- Anonymous

Well, I guess this is getting to be a once a week thing, instead of a once a day type thing, it's not intentional, I swear.

I don't know about you guys, but I love the fall time. I love the changing colors, I love the cooler weather.

Lets see a little bit of a quick update. Running has been almost non-existent for about the last three weeks. I guess I wouldn't say non-existent, but very limited. I've been fighting with being sick for about three weeks now. It started as a sinus infection, but just remained hanging around as a cold with congestion and being tired all the time, so needless to say, running took a back seat for a bit. I've still managed to get at minimum one run a week in, and this week, I'll be back to a full schedule. I ran 6 miles this morning, and it went great, so I'm looking forward to getting back into that groove.

As far as eating goes, it's been alright, I won't lie and say it's been phenomenal, because it hasn't, but it could be a whole LOT worse. With not feeling real well, I can tell you that usually the last thing on my mind is eating great, and the candy dish at work has been calling my name lately, perhaps a little too much. But this week, being I'm finally starting to feel on this side of the living, I'll be getting back to my very good ways.

I feel so much better and have so much more energy when I'm eating right and exercising, when you get thrown off by sickness you can learn to appreciate it even more!

I'm still seeing the guy that I mentioned a couple posts ago, I'm always afraid to go into details about new guys, as it seems like when I do, something blows up and it ends ha ha. But needless to say, I'm still seeing him :)

Anyways, I think that is the longest update that I've done in awhile, but I promise I'm going to catch up on your guys blogs next week, and I will post again this coming week!

Happy Fall everyone!

Month #3 Weigh In

2008-10-12T11:46:00.002-05:00

Well I weighed in this morning, and while the scale didn't show down as much as it did early in the week, it showed me to be 140.0lbs, which is damn near amazing. I didn't think I'd ever see that number on a scale. Still my goal weight in 142, but heck, I'll take the 140.

I ran 5.5 miles this morning, it wasn't a stellar run, I had to walk a few times, and it was a little slow, but nonetheless, I got it done, hopefully tomorrows run will be a bit better.

Anyways, I keep promising real updates, and I'll do it again, hopefully tomorrow. But I'm alive and doing well, I swear!

Hope everyone is doing wonderful!

Interesting

2008-10-07T19:33:00.002-05:00

Hopefully a real blog post tomorrow again.

But had to share. I've been avoiding the scale, because I knew the digital devil would not be nice to me, I have been sick, and stressed, and while not eating bad, I've been eating more than I should have.

So tonight I decided to buck up and get on the digital devil, I knew I would be a little up, because I always am at night, but I was very very surprised when I read the number 138 on the scale.

Where the heck did that come from? 4lbs under goal weight? What the heck?

Anyways, that's my interesting news.

2008-10-02T14:01:00.002-05:00

" Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has many--not
on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some."
- Charles Dickens

I'm alive, I swear.

This cold has been kicking my butt for about the past two weeks, it started off mild, and I could function, and then it got bad, and I got some meds, and now it's being back to mild where I can function, but I'm still just wore down.

Being I'm wore down and been fighting this running has been miserable, and that makes me feel lazy and fat. I finished all but one run last week, and this week I've ran once, and I'm hoping to run another one or two times. Then I'm hoping to be back to normal schedule next week. Kinda a downer when you get so used to something being such a part of your life.

Eating has been fair. I'll be honest, you know how it is when your sick, you just want the food you want, and you don't want to think about anything food related, or at least in the healthy aspect. Have I been doing terrible? Not in the least, but could I be doing better? Most certainly. I'm sure between the lack of running and eating not-so-great, I've probably gained a bit, but I know when things get back to scheduled programming I'll be back down, so I'm ok with that.

Other than that, I've been seeing someone, and seeing alot of them. I'm very happy, and I'll fill you guys in on some details on that at a later date. But the dating front is looking good.

I've decided I won't be weighing in this month, just for said reasons, I don't need a scale to tell me I'm up a bit, i can tell by my clothes. I'm really very content basing my weight on my clothes and not a number, It's becoming a nice "freedom" to have.

Other than that, nothing to new and exciting. Baseball is in Divisional Series, and I'm looking forward to watching those. My long shot that I'm rooting for this year is the Brew Crew! Go Milwaukee!

Anyways, promise the updates won't be so far in between next time, I'm off to catch up on you guys!

I'm alive

2008-09-29T15:09:00.000-05:00

I swear I haven't fallen off any wagons or anything like that, I've just been WAY under the weather with a cold, and I've been really busy on top of that, so it's been crazy.

Promise an update this week!

2008-09-21T16:41:00.002-05:00

"Courage is the greatest of all the virtues. Because if you haven't

courage, you may not have an opportunity to use any of the others."
-- Samuel Johnson

Good Afternoon Everyone!

I hope your having great and on-plan weekends.

I wanted to pop in real quick to tell you guys about my run this morning. It was my longest run yet, 7.5 miles! I've been fighting a cold the last couple days too, so even getting out at all was a bit of an accomplishment. But I finished 7.5 miles, and it was at an average pace that was less than my 7 miler before, quite an accomplishment.

Eating has been good this weekend. I've started doing a few new things that seem to be working well for "portion control".

First, on ice cream, I bought a bunch of these 1/2 cup glad ware containers, and as I buy ice cream, when I bring it home from the store, I put it in individual 1/2 cup containers. Keeps me from eating out of the container and controls portions, it works wonders.

On the same front, I've been doing it with pretzels, wheat thins and things like that too. I just put them in individual snack baggies.

I think it helps a lot, I am one of those people who mindless grabs a handful here and there, and this prevents that.

Other than that, nothing to new and exciting around here. Just fighting this cold and trying to rest up!

Hope everyone is doing good!

2008-09-17T13:43:00.001-05:00

"He who finds diamonds must grapple in mud and mire because diamonds
are not found in polished stones. They are made."
-- Henry B. Wilson

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

I really intended to post again on Sunday, although I got busy and didn't have time, and Monday, I was off work, so I didn't get around to it, then yesterday, I was busy catching up! So now, here I am!

To answer some questions;

One, I started moderating comments because I was getting spam, and I hated it, but then it kinda got to be a pain to publish all the comments, so I just put word verification on now, hopefully that helps.

As for Tech, I think things are on their way out on that one. It's kind of shame, but I'm not upset. He just doesn't seem that into me, and truthfully, I don't think I'm that into him. Plus he's got a few flaws that I don't know whether or not I'm willing to deal with, since they are personality flaws (like being overly critical). But on a high note, I met another guy, he's an electrician, so I will just refer to him as that! He seems nice enough, we'll see where it goes, and I will keep you guys posted.

Eating has been pretty successful. Sunday was a challenging day for me, but I think I handled it well. My parents have this all you can eat brunch that they go to sometimes on Sundays, and it used to be my most favorite place to go before losing weight. And honestly, while I was trying to lose, I wouldn't even dare go near it, because it would tick me off that I couldn't eat more than like one thing. But I had a couple bites of everything I wanted when I went. And when I left, I wasn't stuffed, I felt satisfied and comfortable. Later in the day my mom made my favorite homemade meal, BBQ Meatballs and Mashed potatoes. I wasn't terribly hungry since I had a big breakfast/lunch, so I had a small (very small) helping of mashed potatoes, and 4 meatballs, and some sweet corn. I left there feeling full, but not sickly stuffed. I opted out of eating the rest of the day. I think I did well.

I think it's the big thing with maintaining, is to learn days like my Sunday are ok, once in awhile. Are they ok every sunday, or every day? Nope! But food isn't the enemy, food is good, and I enjoyed what I ate!

For some reason this week, pretzels have been calling my name. I don't have any idea why. There is a large (like sam club sized) jar of pretzel sticks on the table here at work, and they have been calling to me. I've had some, but I'm eating them plain, and I've been limiting them, so I think I'm doing ok.

I'm reading Intuitive Eating right now, and I'm really enjoying the book, and I'm trying to put into practice the stuff in it. So far, I really do think it's a great way to become a "normal" eater.

One thing that really hit home with this book was the talk of how when you restrict yourself from certain foods, you want them even more, and are more likely to binge on them. Lets look at example.

My friend Peanut Butter. Me and Peanut Butter had a good relationship before WW. I was fond of it, but it was one of those things that I could take or leave, and if I did eat it, it was rarely something I over ate. Now enter WW's, where PB was high point, and I avoided it, because to me it wasn't worth the points. All of a sudden, it became a forbidden, and it was something that if I started on, I usually ended up overeating. I just ended up not keeping it in the house anymore, because quite frankly, I couldn't deal with it.

Now that I'm maintaining, I've been allowing myself a small amount of PB on a regular basis. Usually this small amount is about 1/2 Tablespoon with some pita bread. If I feel like it everyday, I have it, if not I don't. And you know what? PB has lost it's Binge potential for me, it no longer has that "hold" over me. I can have it whenever I want, so therefore I don't have to eat it like I will never eat again.

This is a common theme of intuitive eating. Now that someone is pointing it out, it's making sense. I promise to update more about the book as I learn more.

In other news, running has been going good. I got in a 5.5 mile run on Sunday, 4.5 on Monday and tonight I'm planning on doing another 5. It's been so nice out, and I'm so enjoying running this time of year! I can't wait til it cools off even a little more!

I DVR'd Biggest Loser last night, and I can't wait to watch it! Although it's been ruined by a few blogs I've read today :( Oh Well, I still like watchin it!

Anyways, I think I've been chatty today, but I hope everyone is having a healthy and happy Wednesday!

Maintenance Weigh in #2

2008-09-14T09:01:00.002-05:00

Well just a quick little update right now, hopefully I can post a little more of a "quality" one later while I'm watching some football :)

Weighed in this morning for the 2nd time on maintenance, and I weighed in at 142.2. Perfect! Only .2lbs up from the last one a month ago, and honestly, .2 absolutely nothing! So month 2 was a success!

And this morning, I got in a run of 5.5 miles, it's been pouring here since yesterday morning, but luckily, I woke up this morning to a break in the rain, which looks to be temporary. But I got the run in so I was happy!

Anyways, Happy Sunday everyone!

2008-09-09T14:50:00.002-05:00

"Babe Ruth hit more home runs than anyone; he also struck out more
often than anyone."
- Anonymous

Just a quick little Tuesday check in!

Things are going good here. I'm still fighting a cold/bad allergies (which I really think is a cold that was caused by bad allergies, but not sure!), but still doing well.

As far as exercise goes, I took Monday off from running, as I typically do after a long run, and today I plan to do a short 2.5 miles. I have 2 more runs schedules for the other days this week, and plan to get those in hopefully Wednesday and Friday, although the days might change.

Eating has been going ok. Sunday I decided I needed a scheduled day, and a day to put portions back in check, so I weighed things and sort of counted points. Upon weighing things, I found I'm still doing good keeping my portions in check, which is great! Yesterday I got home from work, and I was ravenous, I think it probably was the result of not eating enough on sunday after the long run. So I ate alot. BUT, I kept it in check, and I wrote down what I ate, and by the end of the day, it was still a successful day. Today eating has been fine. Tonight I'm meeting Tech for dinner at a steakhouse, and I've already looked at the menu and decided on a 6 ounce sirloin with a side of steamed broccoli and brown rice. Very calorie friendly, especially if I don't eat all the rice (which normally I don't like rice at restaurants, so I don't eat it anyways), and just eat 1/2 or 3/4 of the steak.

Weight wise, I think I'm doing ok. It's really hard to tell, because I'm trying to avoid stepping on the scale. Last time I checked, i was up a hair. But I'm not really going to get upset about it. I know that 95% of the time I'm eating properly, and I'm exercising enough, so as long as I'm doing the right thing, and my clothes are fitting, I need not be concerned with the number on the scale. I'm trying to grasp this concept.

Speaking of clothes fitting. My size 8's I bought as my goal weight present to myself are falling off of me. In fact, I'm down a loop on my belt So even if the scale shows a bit up, I'm thinking maybe it's muscle from running?

As far as my books I posted about last weekend, I'm reading intuitive eating right now. I really really like this approach. It makes many very valid points, and I will touch on them all when I'm done reading it in my review. But if your looking for good reading, and are looking to get past the "diet mentality", you might want to check it out.

Things with Tech, I really don't know about. I'm very on the fence about him. I'm beginning to think he's in it for the "thrill of the chase" not a relationship, which isn't what I'm after. But we'll see how it works out. I'm trying not to count my chickens before they hatch. Regardless, we're going out tonight.

Anyways, I hope everyone is happy, healthy and staying on track, and I'll catch up soon!

My Long Run!

2008-09-07T12:31:00.002-05:00

I just wanted to report in for inquiring minds! My long run this morning went fantastic! I ran 7.04 miles!

Now, I think it was a NSV (or just shows I'm addicted to running, one or the other!), I work up this morning about 730, and I heard it raining outside, it was raining hard, so I rolled over and went back to sleep. I finally got out of bed around 830, and it was still raining. I've been fighting a cold and bad allergies the last couple days too, so I didn't feel real hot.

Well I checked the radar, and it looked like the rain would be out of here in an hour or so, so I ate my oatmeal and hung out, and about 1030a I left for the run, instead of scrapping it.

Now in the good ol' days, I would've used any excuse possible to get out of exercise, allergies and not feeling well would've been good enough, let alone rain.

But, I went out, and I had a great run, the roads were muddy, so I got a bit wet and dirty, but it was part of the fun, dodging the mud puddles. The sun came out about half way through the run, and it started to get very gorgeous. I made sure to pace myself, and started off very slow, so I could be sure I had enough energy to get through the 7 miles. And I did, I finished and I felt great!

I hope you guys have great Sundays, I'm off to finish watching my Lions get their butts handed to them.

Books to Review

2008-09-06T13:57:00.002-05:00

So, as always in a process to continuously improve myself, and better understand the emotional implications behind my eating, I've picked up a couple of books today which I'm going to read and offer reviews on in the next couple of weeks/months.

These books include:

Mindless Eating: Why we eat more than we think by Brian Wansink

Eating Mindfully by Susan Albers

The Rules of Normal Eating by Karen Koenig

Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole

I'm excited about all of them. I scanned through them all, but the one I chose first is Mindless Eating, be looking forward to tell you guys about it. Already it's incredibly interesting the studies they've done, and how they can give people stale popcorn at the movie theater and they eat it it just because it's there. That's amazing to me.

Anyways, hope you guys are having fantastic weekends, will report tomorrow how my first ever 7 mile run goes!

2008-09-04T10:23:00.002-05:00

"Too many people overvalue what they are not
and undervalue what they are."
-- Malcolm Forbes

Happy Thursday Everyone.

I just realized it's been a long time since I posted last. Wow! I guess I've been pretty busy, so let me recap on things that have been happening, both weight loss/eating related and not.

Well lets see, I finished off Monday as a relaxing day. I did go over to my parents and we had a great summertime mean of bacon tomato sandwiches and sweet corn yum! I think overall the meal was a success, although I did eat some powdered donut holes (what the heck?) and I picked a little too much at the apple crisp I made for my dad. But on the other hand, I passed on having bacon on my sandwiches, and I bought my own bread over, instead of eating the high calorie oversized stuff they had. And I stopped eating the apple crisp before it got bad. Then I went home, and I didn't eat the rest of the day, so you know what? The day ended up being not too shabby.

Eating the rest of the week has been fine.

As far as exercise goes, I'm still running. I've gotten in 3 of my 4 runs this week, with my 4th planned for tonight. My 3rd run was even in the rain. I actually kinda liked it...I know I'm insane.

In as vague of terms as possible, things with Tech are going good. I had gotten the feeling he wasn't interested anymore as of late last week, but finally just asked him yesterday night and turns out there was something bothering him, but we talked about, and things are back to being good.

Today would've been 4 years with the ex. Of course he had to send me an email to remind me. Thanks...I remembered.

I've found a new person who makes me proud to be a woman in S-arah Pal!n, I don't want to type her name, because I don't want my blog getting 400,000 hits because her name is on it. This isn't a political blog, and I don't impart my political views on people, but seriously, I love her. And yes, I despised Hellary Cl!nton.

As far as what my weekend holds, I'm not really sure yet. Tonight I plan to get in a 2.5 mile run, and then make some tuna dish for dinner, yum! Then one night this weekend I'm seeing Tech, although he wasn't sure which night was free yet, but I'm totally excited about it, since we got what was bothering him out of the way, it should be a great time. Then Sunday I have a 7 mile long run planned, it will be the longest I've ever run, I'm excited about it, but nervous also!

Anyways, you guys have great rest of the weeks, and great weekends, and I'll be catching up soon!

2008-08-31T11:05:00.002-05:00

"The most absurd and reckless aspirations have sometimes led to
extraordinary success."
- Vauvenargues

Good Afternoon everyone. Typically I don't post on Sundays, unless it's a weigh in day, but I figured what the heck, I'd put in a short update.

Emotionally, I've been doing ok. I still have some rough spots, but overall, I'm beginning to get back to normal, and becoming the old me again, that makes me happy.

Exercise, has been good. I finished up 15 miles this week, which is what I had planned, and I mark that as an accomplishment, because I certainly could have used a wide variety of excuses that would have been great excuses not to run, but I didn't. And this morning, I started another week of running, with a run of 4 miles. It was a perfect morning, it was about 60 when I headed out, without a cloud in the sky, and the wind was calm. I had a good run.

Food wise, I think I've been doing well. I have been writing down what I eat, just not keeping track of calories or points, and I like this approach. I try to pick something I did good at the end of the day and write it down, and I also try to pick something I could improve on. I think it keeps me honest.

Other than that, I haven't done much for the long weekend. I needed some downtime, and I've taken it. Tech is gone to the north, dirt biking, so that left me without a man for the weekend, which, with my man hating attitude, perhaps that was a good thing. I do plan on taking duke and heading to one of my girlfriends tonight for a fire with her and her dog. It should be fun. Then tomorrow, when the parents get home, we are doing the classic summer meal, bacon and tomato sandwiches and sweet corn. Yum. Of course I will be buying turkey bacon for me :)

I've been eating the heck out of sweet corn this year, I've been stopping and getting a couple ears on my way home from work at least 2 or 3 nights a week. I'm so going to miss it when I can't do that anymore. Just a seasonal delicacy around here ;)

Anyone else love sweet corn?

Anyways, I hope you guys have fantastic rest of the long weekends, and I'll be touching base with ya'll next week :) Happy Labor Day!

2008-08-28T08:46:00.003-05:00

"The most absurd and reckless aspirations have sometimes led to
extraordinary success."
-- Vauvenargues

Well I won't talk much about what I wrote yesterday other than this;

- Thank you for all your kind comments. They truly help more than you know.
- I never received an email back from him, I don't know that I expected to.
- I renamed him, he doesn't have a real name, his name will from now on only be lying cheating man whore. Fits him better.
- It's in the past, it's done and over. I'm moving on.

That being said. I'm putting on a happy face today. Do I feel better? A little. But I'm trying!

I did have a decent end to yesterday though. I had done a lot of crying earlier in the day, but was able to avoid it most of the afternoon. When I got off work, I pretty much felt like crap. I had only slept a couple hours the night before, and I cried a lot, so my sinuses were all screwy.

BUT! This is where I surprised myself. I actually went out for a run. I didn't feel like it, I had 4 miles on the schedule, but I promised myself just to get out the door, and if it was bad, just turn around. I also promised myself I could switch my 3 miles from tonight to yesterday if I wanted to only do 3. But I did the whole 4. Granted it was slower than normal, but it was a good run, and when I got home, I felt much better. When I got home I made myself a yummy dinner (pork chop and barley bake, yum!), watched some tv, had a beer and hit the sack.

I'm glad to say the last couple days my eating has been fine. Probably a little on the light side, but after the brownie incident on monday, I probably could use a couple days of light anyways. But I've been eating, and at a time like this, that's an accomplishment, as I have to force myself to eat.

Tonight I think I'm going to stop and get some sweet corn on the way home, and have that with a tuna meal that I have planned for tonight, it should be most yummy. And this will be after I get my last 3 miles in for the week. Which will make my total mileage for the week 15 miles...which was what I planned.

Other than that, nothing too new and exciting around here, but once again guys, thank you. You mean the world to me.

2008-08-25T13:05:00.003-05:00

The person who removes a mountain
begins by carrying away small
stones.
-Chinese proverb

Well greetings fellow bloggers. I didn't realize that It had been almost a week since I visited. It's kinda crazy how fast time is flying by these days!

Just a little update. The end of last week went well. I was suppose to go to bike night with Tech on Thursday night, but ended up feeling under the weather (whether than be allergies, or beginning of a cold, I'm not certain), so I begrudgingly canceled plans and spent the night at home on the couch. Friday night I got a quick run in (in the heat, yuck!). Then hit the grocery store and came home to watch the tigers.

Saturday proved to be terribly hot, which found me spending most of the day indoors. I got alot of running around done, but I wasn't feeling real hot again, so I spent the evening watching some tv and hitting the sack kinda on the early side.

Sunday I got up in the morning, and ran 6 miles. When I set out it was about 830a, and it was on the cooler side, about 70*, but it was very humid...about 93% when I left. So needless to say it was a very sweaty run! But it was a good run, and I got home and felt accomplished. Then I made some brownies and Apple Cheesecake bars for work (and didn't taste test hardly at all!), as well as getting a new kielbasa recipe ready in the crockpot for today too. I felt good about the kielbasa recipe, as I used turkey kielbasa and splenda brown sugar blend in it, and you know what? The guys never knew the difference...and they ate much healthier. Then I watched the tigers, finished up some chores, hit Mongolian BBQ with the parents and then a movie with Tech. So it was a full weekend!

How did eating go? I think it went pretty well. I didn't have any situations that were bad, no times where I really ate too much ice cream, or too much of this or that. Weekends are always a little harder for me, I have a tendency to eat a little more than normal, but I just make sure they are fruits and veggies, and I figure I'm safe. But I think overall the weekend went well food wise. I'm still struggling with not eating when I get home late from a date with tech. But I'm working on it. One day, one thing at a time!

Today has been a little more of a challenge. I started this morning off with my normal oatmeal, which today was "pumpkin pie" oatmeal, and I sprinkled some splenda brown sugar on it, and a few walnuts, and it really was quite tasty. Then I followed it with my normal mid morning cottage cheese.

Now this is where it got a little sticky. We were having a BBQ for my dad's birthday here at work, which is why I made the yumminess I was making yesterday. So of course I had to try the kielbasa, which was very yummy! Very much so! I stopped at a couple slices of kielbasa, no big deal. Then they made me cut the brownies and cheesecake bars. I got through that with minimal picking. But over the course of time, I picked more than I should have. I probably (over time) ate one or two brownies, plus I had a couple bites of the cheesecake bars and a couple bites of the apple cake someone made dad (can you tell he loves apple?). Did I eat more of things than I probably should have? yes! Did I stop before it got too out of hand? yes! So even though I went a little off my plan, lets look at the things I did that were a victory to me.

I stayed away from the grilled hamburgers, sausage and hot dogs.
I stayed away from the baked beans and little smokies.
I stayed out of the potato salad (a favorite of mine!).
I stopped before I dug my hole too deep!

Also, in the old days, I would've eaten like that, and then I still would've eaten my lunch and snacks I bought with me. But at this point, I have eaten anything else, because I haven't been hungry. I'm thinking maybe I'll have my grapes in a bit.

So even though I had a less than stellar day, I did a lot of things right, and that is what matters my friends, and it's part of this maintenance game I'm now playing.

What did you do right today?

A little yummy treat I tried this weekend (and a tip!), The guy I work with (who is also health conscious, because of me!), suggested taking some cinnamon toast crunch and coarsely crunching it up and putting it over ice cream, and oh my god it's the best! I found a new favorite once weekly treat!

Also, I don't really like to keep sugared cereals in the house, mainly just because I'm a cereal person, and cereals like trix, capn crunch and honeycombs are dangerous, I can eat out of the bag like chips! So I recently started buying the variety packs of individual boxes and just having the cereal as a treat every so often, it works great, controls the serving and prevents you from eating the whole bag!

Anyways, back to work for me!

2008-08-20T10:10:00.002-05:00

"If you have made mistakes...there is always another chance for
you...you may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this
thing we call "failure" is not the falling down, but the staying down."
-- Mary Pickford

Well I lied in my last post. I said I would update Monday. That didn't happen, as today is Wednesday and I'm just not getting around to it, sorry about that!

Things have been going well.

Monday night Tech came over for dinner. I made him a healthy (yet yummy!) dinner of Marinated Honey Pineapple Chicken, Brown Rice and fresh corn on the cob. Then for dessert I made individual trifles, with sugar free pudding, cool whip and fresh blueberries, strawberries and some small chunks of angel food cake. He seemed to enjoy it, so I was happy. He's not picky with food (which is great...the ex was!) and he even cleaned up after dinner! I was impressed :) Tomorrow night we're going out again, this time to a "bike night" in a local city. He has a motorcycle, and I've never been to a bike night, so it should be a good time.

The other good thing about Mr. Tech? He's lost some weight himself. So he enjoys eating healthy, so he doesn't question my sometime weird eating habits, since I've been upfront with him that I lost weight. That's a relief for me.

As far as the family situation, thanks for all your well wishes. I can't get into major detail, but the brother and his wife are going through a rough patch, and there was a talk of the big "D", but they've decided to try and work on it. I was the only family member he confided in about it, and I was relied on for advice, and help, and that stressed me out a bit. But I did manage to control my food during this time, which really makes me believe that this is a "lifestyle" now for me.

I'm three days sober from my scale-addiction. It's hard, it really is. I'm so used to stepping on it all the time, I'm paranoid that I'm gaining weight, and constantly analyzing how my clothes are fitting. I've been tempted to grab it from hiding a few time, but I've left it put away. It will get easier, I know it will.

Running is going. I had a really crappy run on Monday, but I think it was just because it was so hot. It was 90 when I ran, and needless to say, that took it out of me. Plus I ran 4 miles, which was the day after I did 4.5. I'm not quite up to that many miles on back to back days yet. So needless to say, the last mile was a run/walk combo. But I finished it. Took last night off, and tonight I'm looking forward to 3.5 miles. Plus the weather is only suppose to be upper 70s, so it will be nice!

Eating has been going good. I've been a little into the "late night" snacking lately, and I know this is because since I'm now seeing someone, I have a tendency to get home late, and I'm hungry again. Usually at the hour I get home, I'm in bed fast asleep, so this hungry again feeling isn't noticed. So I'm really going to try to focus on not eating when I get home. It's my goal for the week. But other than that, I think things are going good. I'm really on a path to stay away from the processed foods, and I've been trying to choose snacks (even when I have the munchies) that are fruits and veggies. Choose an apple over the triscuits, that type of thing. It's going good so far, but it's still and effort on my part, and one I will continue to make!

Also, Jodi recently talked on her blog about the new Yoplait light flavors, which were Pineapple Upside Down Cake, Strawberry Shortcake and Raspberry Cheesecake. I have tried all three flavors, and my favorite was the Raspberry Cheesecake and then the Strawberry Shortcake. The Pineapple Upside Down Cake wasn't bad, it just tasted like a Pina Coloada to me, which isn't my favorite of flavors, if that is your cup of tea you would love it.

Other than that, I can't think of anything else! So I will get back to work, but talk to you guys soon!

one month down, a lifetime to go!

2008-08-17T11:05:00.002-05:00

Well I weighed in this morning, one month on maintenance, at 142.0 lbs. Which means, my first month was totally a success, and I'm happy about that!

Just a quick bullet point update:

- Date with Tech last night went really well....I like this one.
- Ran 4.5 miles this morning, went well!
- NSV's this weekend, I've been dealing with some pretty emotional family issues, and I've managed to not find comfort in food, which is a pretty big deal for me. Did I eat a little more than normal? Yes, but it was good stuff, and it involved no binges. Go Me. Hopefully I can tell you guys about this situation a little further into the week (involves older brother and new wife).
- Ate out twice this weekend (which is ALOT for me), and made great choices both times.
- Today I'm making Brownies and Blondies for work in the morning. Yum! I will stay out of the batter, I promise.
- Michael Phelps, 8 gold medals, remarkable.
- More detailed update tomorrow.

Happy Sunday everyone!

2008-08-15T07:52:00.002-05:00

"When nothing is sure, everything is possible."
-- Margaret Drabble

TGIF everyone!

I don't know about you guys, but I'm a seriously glad it's Friday! It's been a long week! If you have ever worked in a customer service related industry, you know what I'm talking about. Yesterday was one of those days, everyone I talked to was cranky and being an idiot. I swear, it wasn't just my customers either, every salesman here was about to kill their customers. I was so glad the day was over. And today is looking like it might be quiet, which is good!

Has anyone not been following Michael Phelps? Seriously, that kid is half human, half fish! Did you guys see this article about how much he eats? Honestly, a breakfast that consists of three fried egg sandwiches, a five egg omelet, a bowl of grits, coffee, three slices of french toast and three chocolate chip pancakes? I couldn't eat all that food in one day, let alone one sitting. And he struggles to gain weight, in fact most of the time, he is losing it. I wonder if at that point, eating becomes a chore? I can't imagine it ever being a chore, but it seems like at that point, it might become that way.

Everything is going good for me right now. Eating has been good, and under control. I would say I'm probably eating a little more, but it's primarily fruits and vegetables, so I don't really see that being a problem. I start eating more ice cream and chips, that would be a problem. I've just taken the approach that I don't keep the stuff in the house. I have one bag of crackers which I finished (wheat thin multigrains...yum!), and I keep cereal, those are my snack foods. I have ice cream, but I've learned to keep it in the freezer in the basement, that way if I'm grazing, I don't "stumble" across it. One of my favorite snacks as of lately has been frozen bananas, terribly yummy, and taste like ice cream!

Running has been going good, I planned for a total of 13 miles this week, and I got them in, so that's great. Next week is 14 miles, and I'm looking forward to it. Although next week is suppose to be alot warmer, so it won't be quite as pleasant as my 75-80* running weather this week!

I think I've decided to step away from the scale again, and just weigh once a month. It's getting a little insane, I'm weighing myself like 5 times a day, and this isn't a good thing. I am up about 1lb, averaging about 143.....but get this my clothes are feeling even bigger. My 29 pants I bought just a month ago, are getting a little big on me. So I'm assuming with running I'm gaining muscle, losing fat. So that's a good thing. So I can't fixated on that number on the scale so much. So My official one month weigh in will be Sunday, and then I will put the scale away for the month..

This weekend should be a good one. Tonight is my normal Friday night (I'm totally a routine person!), Grocery Shopping, and then the Tigers are on, and I will watch them. Tomorrow I'm going to be doing something with Tech, although I'm not sure what yet. And Sunday a run, and then normal chores, and I think I might meet a girlfriend at the park with the dogs. So should be good, plus I have to do a little baking! Fun!

What's your guys plans for the weekend?

Have great weekend guys, and I will catch up with ya soon!

2008-08-12T15:18:00.002-05:00

"The aim of life is self-development. To realize one's nature perfectly-
that is what each of us is here for."
~Oscar Wilde

I was bored this afternoon, so I thought I would stop in for a quick little update.

Yesterday went well, eating wise I had no problems. Running went good, I got two miles in real quick when I got home, and got showered, and had something to eat before heading off to meet Tech to play some mini golf.

The date went well. I had made chocolate chip cookies the day before as I had mentioned, and I saved a few to take to him. So we played some mini golf, and hit some balls in the batting cages and went to part our separate ways, and I gave him the cookies, which he loved...but he had made cookies the night before and brought me some. So it was cute, it was like a little cookie exchange. Of course being a man, his were from the dough you buy at funraisers, and mine were homemade, but still it was totally the thought that counts.

And I was good, I really was tempted just to toss the cookies, being I don't normally even eat stuff like that anymore. But I had small bites of each (peanut butter and choc chip) and then tossed the rest. So it's kinda another NSV for me too. Just proof that the health thing is just a way of life now, For along time it was all or nothing for me. I couldn't just have a bite and stop. And somedays are still like that. But yesterday I had my small piece, and even though I wanted more, I was done.

And yes, they were good!

So Date #5 is in the works, probably towards the end of the week!

Other than that, nothing new and exciting on this front. Planning a 2.5 mile run tonight, even though I'm tired as heck (I had to go back to work after the date last night..computer problems, didn't get home till almost 11, yuck!). Then I'm making some tuna salad for dinner, and going to chop up a cantaloupe that I got on Friday that should be so yummy!

Anyways, I hope everyone is having great days, catch up with you soon!

2008-08-11T10:20:00.003-05:00

"Far away in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach

them, but I can look up and see the beauty, believe in them and try

to follow where they lead."

-- Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) American Writer

I hope everyone had good weekends!

I had a pretty good weekend, both eating wise and just in general.

Lets see, Friday was my normal laid back night. I went for a run, grocery shopped, and came home and flicked back and fourth between the Olympics and the Tigers baseball game. It amazes me how many small countries there are throughout the world that participate in the Olympics, I honestly had no idea that some of them even existed. Boggles my mind.

Saturday was good too. I didn't do anything too exciting, I got up and had breakfast, watched the Olympics for a bit and did some running around. Later in the day I went with Tech to a Baseball Game, and I'm glad to report Date number 3 went remarkably well, and there will be more in the near future, in fact date 4 will be tonight (more on this later!).

Sunday was uneventful, but good. I woke up, and went for a run. Did 5.5 miles, and it went great. When I set out it was actually a bit cold out. I almost had to go back inside and put on more clothes, but remembered they always say to dress like it's 10 degrees warmer than it actually is when running. I'm glad I stayed in just shorts and a tank, cause I still sweat'd pretty good! After that did crunches and pushups and had breakfast and hung out most of the day. I did make myself some yummy (and healthy!) french toast yesterday. I just made it with milk and egg beaters and light bread, and it was fantastic! It's been A LONG time since I had french toast, yum! I also had a bit of an NSV, made some chocolate chip cookies for the guys at work, and I had one! Just one! Wasn't even tempted. Which is pretty good for me, normally I avoid making cookies, or trying to have just one, because I can't.

So otherwise, a great weekend on my part.

I did weigh in yesterday at 142.8lbs, which is the same I weighed last week, which is good! I was up this morning, but it seems I usually am on Mondays...I'm thinking it's because I don't drink enough water on Sundays so I retain a bit more!

Food Choices were pretty good all weekend. Friday was fine. Saturday I was faced with eating "ballpark" food for dinner, but we went to a coney island that is in the ballpark, and I had a greek salad with dressing on the side. I picked off a majority of the feta cheese, and didn't use alot of dressing, so I was pretty happy with that choice.

Sunday, I did well, I did have a bit of an incident sunday night. I had some ice cream with a vitatop for dessert, and for some reason, I started eating some sherbert out of the container in the freezer. I have no idea why! I did stop, and I probably only ate a 1/2 cup, maybe a cup, but still, kicked myself. Didn't need it, but that mindless eating took over.

Other than that maintenance has been going pretty good. Last Year when I went off weight watchers, I don't think I was quite ready for it. I remember eating alot. Alot more than I should have been. This time is different, I'm making healthy choices, and I'm fitting things into a healthy lifestyle. Sure there are days where I eat a bit too much, but then there are days where I don't quite eat enough to balance it. I'm sure there will be times when I have to really watch it to drop a pound or two, but I realize now, that's all part of the game. Maintenance isn't about being perfect all the time, and never gaining a pound, it's about staying within a range. I feel more prepared this time.

Anybody been watching the Olympics? Any favorite events?

As far as tonight, I'm gonna go for a short run when I get home, and then eat a quick dinner, and I'm meeting Tech to play some mini golf. It should be fun, and it's a 4th date...I haven't made it this far in quite sometime!

My new addiction food-wise? Hummus! I've been loving it lately, and it's such a healthy snack. I've been making Hummus and turkey sandwiches for lunch everyday, just using the hummus in place of something less healthy...say mayo? Very yummy, very filling. It's been my lunch for awhile now!

I'm really looking forward to my runs this week, they are all relatively short, and the weather is suppose to be gorgeous (and cool!). It's really getting a hint of "fall in the air". I love it.

Anyways, I'm being chatty-kate again, so I will get back to work, but I will be updating on said date tomorrow :)

2008-08-07T12:41:00.002-05:00

"It is never too late to be what you might have been."
~George Eliot

So this morning, while browsing through the abundance of news, I came across two rather shocking things. The first of these things, was that our mayor has been thrown in jail. Very nice huh? I'm glad I don't actually live in Detroit, what an embarrassment.

The second really disturbed me even more, because I care so much about my healthy lifestyle. Check out this article. It says, that in 40 years, if the current trend continues, everyone in the United States will be obese. Now I don't know about you, but something like that baffles me. I understand that they are giving an "if situation" basically saying if we see the same increase in the next 40 years as we do in the previous 40 years it will happen. But I don't think it's possible, I think people are much more aware of the epidemic, and there are many more people who are eating healthy and taking charge of their health. I think we will see a decrease in the trend over the next 40 years, in my opinion. What do you think?

Also along that lines, I've been meaning to share this article with you also. Kinda goes hand in hand with the above said epidemic. Look at the pictures of those hamburgers. Just looking at them, and thinking about how much calories and fat are in them make me sick. Whew.

Ok, onto other things. I've been tinkering with the idea of going back to school. I'm one of those rare people who actual enjoy school (I know, I know, very odd!), I enjoy the challenge, enjoy learning new things.

I've been tinkering with going back to become a registered dietitian so I can become a nutritionist. It's just a field that interests me so much, I feel like I would be such a help to people who were in desperate need (but who didn't always want help). Just something I was thinking about, nothing I've committed to, but wanted to throw it out there.

As far as the weight front things are going good. I'm having another day where I'm feeling like a balloon today, and I have no idea why. I'm thinking my cycle is all out of whack because of my new running schedule, that's the only thing I can attribute it to. The scale showed 144 this morning, after a couple days of high 142-low 143. So it's echoing my feeling of being bloated. I'm ok with that.

My maintenance plan is going good. The only thing I haven't quite gotten down yet is the eating after 9p thing. I was so good about this for so long, but as I've gotten into running (and with summer being here), I seem to not be able to sit down to eat dinner til 730 or 800. So by the time I want a snack it's after 9p. Do I honestly need a snack? Probably not, I guess I just need to get over the mentality that I do. I think alot of it is mental.

But I have been doing good listening to my body and only eating when I'm hungry, and I've been doing well not eating out of the container. Yesterday I had some frosted mini wheats, and instead of eating out of the bag, I put a handful in a bowl and took it to the couch. Sometimes it's hard, and it's a hard habit to break, but I'm working with it.

But other than that, nothing terribly exciting here. I plan to run 3.5 miles tonight, and I'm looking forward to it, since the weather is finally cooling off a little bit. It's only a high of 80 today, and no humidity. Can't wait.

One fruit that I am just loving right now are Bananas. They are a fruit that when I was counting points, and especially when I was trying to lose I did not eat, because I refused to spend 2-3 points on a banana. I love Bananas! If you've never tried it, try slicing them, and freezing them for 1-2 hours. They taste just like ice cream. Very yummy!

So I think that is it from the peanut gallery today, but talk to you guys soon!

2008-08-05T10:41:00.003-05:00

"Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success.
If you love what you are doing, you will be successful."
~Herman Cain

Thank you for all the nice, encouraging and helpful hints in your comments yesterday, they mean the world to me.

So after freaking out a little bit yesterday (ok, so I freaked out ALOT), I went home from work (after drinking over a gallon of water, and eating my food for the day) and weighed in .4lbs above what I did that morning. So totally water weight. But I finished out yesterday on 21 points, and I packed myself lightly for a 21 point day today.

The digital devil showed 143.2 this morning. Much more of a reasonable number. See with weighing everyday, I see alot of fluctuation, and I've been averaging my daily weigh in's over 7 days as my "weigh in" for the week. Well my normal average is right around 143, and I'm ok with that. I realize that averaging a weigh in of 142 would many many days below that number, and I don't want to shoot for that. 143 average is fine with me.

So, when I went on maintenance, and then subsequently decided to stop counting points, I never actually had a set in stone plan to deal with gaining a few pounds and how to handle it. I basically just get 145 as the upper limit, I hit that, ever, and I go into emergency weight loss mode. That was my plan. Well I have a new one now, that is a little more detailed, and should prevent further freak outs. Plus, honestly, why would I freak over 2lbs? Getting back on plan, I could easily lose that within a couple week, no reason to freak out. So here is the new plan.

Maintain a weight of between 142-145. Average of daily weigh ins for the week should remain around 143.

An average weigh in of over 144lbs mean, raised awareness to what I'm eating. Start writing it down, don't worry about points/calories yet. Just journal it.

Average weigh in over 144.5, start journaling with points.

Any two consecutive weigh ins (daily at or over the 145 mark OR more than two consecutive weekly weigh in averages over 144lbs, go back into full weight loss mode, which will be 21 points, 8GHG's, counting zero point foods, until the scale returns back to averages of below 143. Much easier to get rid of that pound, than it is to get rid of it, and five of it's little buddies!

Also, I'm setting up some guidelines for my pointless maintenance:

1. maintain between 142-145 (sick of hearing this yet?)
2. Continue running 4 days per week
3. Try to avoid eating after 9p at night, and try to limit after dinner snacks.
4. Limit "processed foods", aka granola bars, vitatops, chips
5. Limit ice cream to two servings per week. Also on the same note, only buy the pint containers of ice cream, how much trouble can I get into with only 1 pint in the house. It's only 4 servings!
6. Eat primarily fruits and veggies.
7. NEVER, I repeat NEVER eat from the container (even if it is standing in the kitchen, that doesn't make it alright!), or take the box/container of ANY food to the couch...NEVER. Your allowed to take a bag of veggies or fruit, or a bag of popcorn to the sofa...but nothing else.

I'm taking a list of these to the fridge door when I get home tonight. All great reminders to myself, and all things that I follow pretty much on a regular basis.

So there you have it, a little more in detail maintenance plan, hopefully it will prevent future "flip outs" Anything you guys have in the way of suggestions?

I also wanted to thank you guys for the Peanut Butter suggestions last week, I have been doing well with peanut butter so far. I have only been buying the natural type for about the last year, I love it. Plus now on maintenance I've been allowing myself just a smidgen everyday, and that seems to help immensely in having a problem with it. If it ever becomes a problem I'll throw it out again, simple as that.

On a food find note. Have you guys seen all the flavors of frosted mini wheats they now have? Holy smokes, back when I used to eat these things, they just had the original one kind. I like frosted mini wheats because they aren't a cereal which I can tolerate a ton of it dry (unlike say cap'n crunch or honeycombs), so the binge potential isn't there. But I got the cinnamon stresuel ones on Sunday, and they are pretty darn tasty!

Other than that, last night the date went well, and we have tentatively planned on going down to the tigers game on Saturday and spending some time in Detroit beforehand, so I have that to look forward to. We met for coffee this past Saturday, and we had dinner last night at Max and Erma's where I had the hula bowl, YUM! We will call him "the tech" for now. He's a prototype technician for a big company in the area. He's 28 and he doesn't live terribly far from me. He seems smart, cute and outgoing thus far :) Plus he's interested in spending more time with me, who am I complain? But I will keep you posted, a third date would be a record for me in quite sometime, lol.

Running is going good. Yesterday was a rest day, and today I'm planning an easy 2.5 miles tonight after work in the nasty humidity, but I'm still looking forward to it. I'm debating on what I will make for dinner. My options are a cajun stir fry, turkey enchilada casserole or egg salad. Leaning towards the turkey enchilada right now!

Alright, back to your regularly scheduled programming now! Thanks for listening :)

2008-08-04T12:28:00.003-05:00

"We mustn't run away from our battles,
because sooner or later we will have to face them,
if that's the case, why not now?"
~Jasper Tong

So this should be an interesting blog post.

On Friday night, I made an executive decision to stop counting points. I finished my Friday off, but made the decision starting Saturday I was just going to start listening to my body, afterall, I know what I should be eating.

Why did I decide this? Because I honestly felt some nights like I was eating points just for the sake of eating points, not because I was actually hungry. I felt like somedays I needed 27 points, or 30 points, and other days, I was fine with only 21 or 22, but I was eating 25-30 everyday, because that's what I was given, and afterall, weight watchers always told ya "eat your points!".

So I decided to stop counting.

Overall the first two days went good. Saturday I ate a bit more than necessary during the day, but basically didn't eat anything in the evening, because I was busy, and I wasn't hungry.

Sunday also went good, I think I grazed a little more than necessary, but overall, no big incidents. I made cookies and lemon bars and managed to not lick spoons or taste test. AND! I had lunch of a sandwich with a Banana and some carrots, and I was full after half the sandwich and half the banana, so I wrapped the rest and put it in the fridge! I was happy about that, maybe I'm learning something? We then went out to dinner at Red Robin and had this awesome Asian Chicken Salad (we will come back to this), and I came home, I had a Fiber one bar I probably didn't need, and then I had a small serving of ice cream, with a vitatop of dessert later in the evening, so overall...pretty darn successful for a couple days sans points. Enjoyed having the freedom, and just not obsessing over it, because really it had gotten to that.

So how did the scale look over the weekend...not bad...until this morning 145lbs...where the hell did that come from. I heard the term "digital devil" used this week on another blog, and I would say the digital devil was not kind to me this morning.

So what do I do? I flip out! Of course, that's true Kate fashion right there, act and then think about it later. So I re packed my lunch for today to account for only eating 21 points throughout the day, as that is my weight loss points. So I'm on 21 points today.

Now of course everyone I talk to (and I know this in the back of my head), says you can't gain 2.2lbs overnight. And yes, I know this. I had plenty of good weigh in's recently, so I know I didn't actually gain and that I don't actually weigh 145, but that number was on the scale, and it flipped me out.

I promised myself anything over 144, would put me back in to Emergency Weight loss mode...so here I am. Necessary? It might not be, but I'm not taking chances.

What do I honestly think caused this? Bloating of course. I feel like a balloon today. So I think I should see it disappear, but until I do. "Hi 21 points a day, my name is Kate".

So about this Red Robin Salad, being the good and healthy person I am, my parents decide they want to go to Red Robin last night, so I look through their customizer feature, and figure out what I want. I pick the Asian Chicken Salad, with nutritional content of 338 cals, 3g of fat and 6g fiber for the salad without the side of bread, I knew it was a good choice (since I know points by heart, i was like 6 points, fantabulous!). I go, I eat the salad, dressing on the side, yum!

Well I come home, and being OCD, I want to check the info again, well I go to look at it, and I realize it doesn't account for the rice noodles or almonds that were in the salad, as I don't see them listed anywhere. So I finally find them in the "add an ingredient" section. So I add them, and pull off mandrian oranges which weren't on the salad I find I've eaten quite a few more points, completely unintentionally.

So what do you guys think? Whats up with that? Should they have to state that certain ingredients aren't included in the calculation? I mean, I would have asked for no almonds or rice noodles had I known they weren't included in the provided NI, but no where did it say that. PLUS, it said it was included in the salad on the menu. I was a bit peeved.

So I think this might have had a bit to so with the scale being unhappy this morning as well. I mean I'm sure the thing was chocked full of sodium, making me retain more water too.

So what does this week hold for me:

I plan to run 12 miles this week. Did 4 yesterday. Tonight I'm taking off, I have a date...a second date (stay tuned for updates!).

Stay in "weight loss mode" until the digital devil tells me otherwise, after which point, i will make another executive decision on how to proceed.

Start the push up challenge again. I wasn't able to handle week 3, so I'm going to drop down to week two this week.

not let the scale rule my life and moods. I was ticked off this morning, even though I know I shouldn't be, since I commonly can fluctuate a couple pounds.

Alright, so there you have it, lots of information! Sorry to have babbled on so long. I'll be stopping in to a blog near you soon!

2008-08-01T10:37:00.002-05:00

"Through action, our potential becomes our identity;
our dreams become our life."
- David Jaing

Good afternoon everyone!

Welcome to August, goodbye July! How many of you had good July's?

I had a pretty good July, I think for the most part it was a month full of change, which there is nothing wrong with that. Change is good right? I would review the goals I set for July, but most of them are irrelevant at this point, since I shifted focus. Although my goal was to get to my goal weight this month, and I did! So I'm very happy to report July was successful.

Looking back on July, I had a good month. Eating was good, I did have a couple days at the beginning of the month where I was off program, and I ate alot, and alot of stuff that wasn't that healthy. But such is life, the world goes on, and the rest of the month was on plan, and as I said, I reached goal, so I suppose that weekend indiscretion in the midst of things seems irrelevant now right? Just goes to show, don't beat yourself up, just move on and get back on plan.

Activity this month was great. My goal was to log over 20 AP's a week, and I handled that with no problem. I also started running outside this month, and it went well, and I'm throughly addicted to it now.

So what's August to bring for me?

1. Maintain my healthy weight of 142-145.

I have been weighing everday lately, just while I get the hang of maintenance, and I will continue to do so, I've been using an average of the 7 days weight as my "weigh in" for the week. Anywhere in the 142's or low 143's for average, I'm golden. If it starts to creep into the upper 143's...time to take notice. So there is the weight goal.

2. Keep Running!

This is a broad goal, but heck, I just want to keep running and having fun.

3. Enjoy myself, and my vacations, but keep eating healthy, and tracking. Vacations= leeway, but that doesn't mean go on a stuff my face fest.

Ok, so there is the goals for the month. I think they can be done!

So what's been going on with me this week?

Well I ran 4 miles on Tuesday, and it was just about the most miserable 4 miles I ever ran! Not good! It was terribly hot and humid, and then to boot I got 2 miles from home, my garmin died and I had to use the facilities. BUT! I didn't let this deter me, I got out yesterday for an awesome 3 mile run!

I did decide to change my training plan a bit. My body was telling me I was doing too much, too soon. How was it telling me this? I was having joint problems, my muscles felt lethargic, and I was so freaking tired. Perhaps I should've taken into consideration increasing from 9 miles on a treadmill to 17 miles outside in a matter of a couple weeks wasn't wise.

So what's the new plan? I'm stepping my mileage back by 20% next week, and then I will steadily increase it from there. I probably should've started lower, but we live and learn. I just want to remain running and uninjured!

Got another set of bad news on the Mom situation the other day. She now told me she's been having problems with high blood pressure. So she went to the doctor and got on some meds. I hate to see people use meds to control something which could be controlled by lifestyle changes.

BUT! She is trying. I know everything comes in stages. I told her awhile back I would print her the information WW's had on Diabetes if she wants me to, but never said another word. So she asked for it the other day, and this morning I printed it for her. I've also offered help several times, by telling I would help her with Weight Watchers if she wanted to go that route. So I think she is coming around, slow process, but we're trying.

Other than that, nothing to exciting. Grocery Shopping and a run tonight. A Date a some point this weekend (let you guys know how it goes!). I have to make some cookies for a guy at works birthday, and then just other stuff around the house. Plus I think I am going to go see the new Batman movie, looks cool!

Anyways, have great weekends and I will talk to you guys soon!

2008-07-29T14:18:00.002-05:00

"To go forward, you have to leave something behind."
-Steve Jobs

Hey Everyone, I hope your all having good weeks.

My week is off to a good start, the scale has been showing up in the past week, but with TOM around the corner, those pesky few pounds should be dropping off in the next couple days. But on a high note, my clothes are still fitting nice a lose, and I'm feeling skinny, despite those couple pounds.

I've had two non-scale victories in the last couple days, yes, two! The first one was, the jeans I bought last summer (mid way through my weight loss journey), had become too big, I mean I like my clothes on the looser side, but they were getting a little ridiculous, so I went and bought new jeans, and I'm pretty sure I could've bought 28's, although I bought 29's because I'm not one of those girl who likes their clothes to fit like spandex. So I was very excited, I think it's the only time (I can remember anyways), ever buying pants under the 30 waist size. In fact I found an old pair in my closet not long ago that were 33's!

My second NSV came last night. I was incredibly munchy when I got home from work, and I pretty much had to do everything possible to keep from eating everything in my refrigerator. I've been keep whole bagged carrots in my fridge, and when I'm feeling like I need to eat something, I peel a carrot and eat it. My theory behind this is that since it takes work, I'll be less likely to just "grab a handful of carrots", and I think it works. But regardless, I had a couple carrots, popped a stick of gum in my mouth and called it a day. So this is where the NSV came.

Later, by this time dinner was done, I actually left some of my portion of dinner on my plate. I just wasn't hungry for it. I ate what I wanted, and then stopped, but the rest back. I think it's the first time especially since being on WW's I've put food back. Usually if I've counted the points for it, I'm gonna eat it. So a major bonus for me.

I think I've been trying to "enjoy" my food more, and eat slowly, and I think that is helping, and perhaps that's the reason why I put the food back. But I also just don't feel like I need to eat a certain amount everyday with maintenance. I know some days I will want to eat a bit more than others, and that's fine. I'm no longer trying to lose. I think it takes alot of pressure off the situation.

But I have a confession! yesterday was also the first day in quite sometime I didn't get both of my oils in...opps! I forgot about the second one, and then even though I had the points left, I didn't feel like adding it to something else to eat it, just solely to get that in, so I skipped it. I think I will probably live.

Running has been going good. The run on Sunday went good as I said before, and yesterday was a rest day, which was much much needed! It's amazing how this running stuff takes it out of ya. Tonight I have 4.25 miles scheduled in the heat. Not overly looking forward to it, but I know I will feel great when I get it done.

New little feature I'm going to starting doing a "Question of the Week" feature. You guys can even suggest a question for the future ones. But every Tuesday I will compile the answers, and hopefully we can get some new ideas based on what everyone else is doing. I love to get new ideas. So brings me to the question of the week;

What are your guys favorite cereals?

The ones I eat the most are Kashi Go Lean and Go Lean Crunch along with All Bran Extra Fiber and Fiber One Original. But I love (and can't keep from eating straight out of the bag) Capt Crunch and Honeycombs (yes, I know, I'm like a 2 year old!).

Alright, back to work I go. Have great evenings, can't wait to hear your answers.

2008-07-27T10:35:00.003-05:00

"Think Beyond, and you will go beyond"
-Marion Licchiello

Well I think my first "maintenance" weigh in went well, I was up 1.8lbs, but that's a pretty standard TOM gain for me, so I should be back down by next week. Plus with weighing daily right now, I know it's not a real gain as I seen 141 a couple times this week. I'm good with it!

I ran 6.5 miles this morning! I was so excited, once again, it's a milestone because it's farther than I've gone previously! Plus, I had good times too, I had several miles that were in the 12's! That's awesome for me! And, I surpassed 50 miles run for the month! Plus, I picked a route today (unintentionally) that had some pretty big hills in it, so I was bustin my butt! The first three miles were into the wind, and that was a little hard, but overall a great run. I'm exhausted!

No huge plans today, I have to clean a bit, do some laundry, you know, that normal fun sunday stuff...yay!

I hope your all having great weekends, and I'll talk to you soon!

2008-07-26T09:13:00.002-05:00

"A person is only as big as the dream they dare to live."
-- Unknown

I typically don't post on Saturday's, but I had to post about a great run that I had yesterday on my day off!

My day started off not so great, my phone rang at 7a on my day off, it was work, telling me they were having computer problems, which I had to come in and handle. So I was not a happy camper. So it threw my schedule all off, I was suppose to get up when I wanted, mosey around, and then go out on a run. Wasn't turning out that way.

Well I got home from work about 10a, and I decided to go out on a run, even though I totally didn't feel like, and my allergies were miserable. The first mile or so of my run was hard, I wanted to turn around, but I kept telling myself it would get better, and it did!

I ended up running the 4 miles I had planned, and two of those miles were at a pace almost a minute faster than I normally run! I was so happy!

So I got home, and I was totally wiped out, but felt so energized, I actually wanted to go out and run more! After that "high" wore off though, I was just bushed, I think it was probably the combination of allergies, being a little stressed this week, and not sleeping well. So I spent alot of the day off just kinda lounging on the couch.

Food-wise things are going great, I haven't had any problems with maintenance so far, I'm sure I'll hit a bump in the road eventually, but so far, so good.

Weight-wise, those 2lbs I was up earlier in the week have seemed to disappear, yesterday I was actually my lowest weight ever at 141.6, and this morning I was just a tad over 142. So I don't know what this means, I thought I should see a TOM gain this Sunday, which would actually mean that I'm about 2lbs less than that, which isn't good, because that would mean I'm still losing. So we will see how this plays out, might have to make some adjustments to eat more. Suppose with all the running it's still possible I'm losing. We'll see what it looks like over time.

The rest of the weekend, no real plans. My truck needs a bath and cleaning, the dog needs a walk (or at least thinks he does!), zucchini is sitting on the counter begging to be baked into something, and chores around the house screaming my name. Plus I have a 6.5 mile run tomorrow that I can't wait for!

Anyways, have great weekends bloggers, and I'll be catching up soon!

2008-07-24T11:00:00.002-05:00

"What ought one to say then as each hardship comes?
I was practicing for this, I was training for this."
- Epictetus

Happy Thursday Everyone! This is actually my Friday, as I felt I needed a day off, so I took tomorrow off! I'm very excited, it will be nice to have a day to "catch up".

Things have been going good over in this neck of the woods.

My Running has been ok. I've been getting out there and doing it, but the runs have been a bit harder this week. I think it's the fact that one day, I started off to fast and tuckered out, and then yesterday my allergies were bothering me pretty bad. My long run will be 6.5 miles this week, that will be a new record for me, and I can't wait.

I have learned though, that I need to just focus on getting the miles in, and not worry so much about the time it's taking me to complete them. I get a little wrapped up in that aspect of it, so I'm trying not to focus so much on that. I'm slow, but I'm running, and that's all that matters!

Eating has been good, it's taking some getting used to to be eating more, I guess I'm still in that mindset that I should be losing, even though I'm not anymore. So I think it's more mental than anything, and I'm sure I will eventually feel like this is the norm for me.

I have decided that I will be counting points until my subscription ( I buy three months at a time) to WW's online comes up at the very end of September, and after that, as long as I haven't gained, and I am doing well, I will not renew it.

Weight-wise, I'm doing ok, I'm up 2lbs for the last two days, but, I believe TOM is right around the corner, and this is a normal gain for that. Plus I totally forgot how inconsistent my body is! I looked back at the sheets from when I weighed everyday last year (around this time), and it's not abnormal for my body to be up and down as much as two pounds on any given day, does anyone else who weighs everyday see this?

Tonight I'm hitting Red Lobster with a girlfriend and cannot wait! Yum!

Other than that, 4 mile run planned for tomorrow during the day at some point, and some relaxing on my day off (speckled with some chores of course!), and I was given some zucchini, so I think I will make some zucchini bread this weekend for other people of course! lol.

Anyways, if I don't chat with ya'll tomorrow, I hope you have great weekends!

2008-07-22T13:58:00.002-05:00

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it's
dressed in overalls and looks like work"
~ Thomas Edison

I'm a firm believer in the mantra "if it were easy, everyone would do it!", and I think the quote above kinda puts that into perspective. But then again, I don't think any of us are here because we think it's easy (we may have thought it might be at the beginning!), we all understand this weight loss thing takes hard work (heck, this running thing is the same way!). We all understand that there are days we are going to be in our groove, and then there are gonna be days when we feel like giving up, but the important part is, in the long run, looking at the overall picture, we stick with it.

So little bit of a confession, since hitting maintenance on Sunday I've been weighing on a daily basis. I would like to not weigh on a regular basis, but right now, I think it's kinda necessary. I have to know how my body is reacting to the amount of food I am feeding it. I want to find a good number of points that will let me maintain. The good news is, so far, I'm doing good, so I might be where I need to be! But truthfully only the results over the next couple weeks will tell the full story. But I don't want to not weigh for a month, and gain 5lbs over that month because I was eating too much, so that plan isn't feasible yet.

So I've been thinking alot about this running thing. I set a goal of running in a 5k, but I think I need to set some more tangible goals. Or something that working harder will produce results. So here are a few goals for the upcoming months, I think I will add a sidebar eventually.

1. Run in my first 5k, just finish it, but give it all I have.
2. On my long runs, get to where I am holding a steady pace of under 12 min/mile, right now I'm at about 13:25 on my long runs.
3. On my shorter runs, break into the 11 minute/mile range.
4. Run over 20 miles a week (this week I will be running 16).

So there are a few goals. I'm looking forward to trying to beat some of those!

Eating has been good, I do find that I'm not hungry for all the points I have now, lol. I just feel like I get so much, and it's only 4 points more some days! But I will get used to it. Right now, I'm eating alot of fruit because of the season of course, so that's more filling and lower point.

I have started to bring a few of the things back into the house that I didn't buy when I was trying to lose, mainly Peanut Butter. I have issues with Peanut Butter, anyone who's read my blog for while knows this. But Peanut Butter is an important part of a runner's diet, so I bought a small jar. And so far, it hasn't been calling to me. I'll keep you posted on that.

I have a four mile run planned tonight, really don't feel up to doing it, as my allergies have been bothering me, but I'm gonna go, because I know it will make me feel better. Then some crunches and a Jambalaya for dinner. YUM!

Anyways, I better get scootin, but have a great day guys!

2008-07-21T13:56:00.002-05:00

"Seek respect mainly from thyself, for it comes first from within."
-- Steven H. Coogler

First of all, I wanted to thank all of you for your kind words on my post yesterday. It's so nice to have people who are supportive and proud. I don't know what I would do without my blogger buddies.

My first day on maintenance went off without a hitch. In fact, it was great!

After I posted yesterday, I went for a 6 mile run, and I'm proud to say I ran the whole thing without stopping to walk once! It was great! Mind you I'm slow, very slow, but at least I ran it all without stopping!

After that, I came home and was exhausted and sweaty, so I did some crunches, took a shower, ate my normal oatmeal for breakfast, and did some other stuff around the house.

In the afternoon I met my parents for dinner at Ruby Tuesdays. Normally I just get the salad bar, since I like to eat throughout the day, and by the time I get to dinner, I seldom have a ton of points left for a good dinner on the town, as everything adds up so quick. But last night, I had plenty of points. So I had a half of turkey burger, and half order of french fries (I may have sneaked an extra french fry or two!), and that was 13 points for dinner...I don't know that i've eaten that much for a meal while being on WW's....and I still had 2 points left for some sherbert when I got home. I was happy.

I did decide to add the 4 points they recommend, which brings me to 25 points a day. On top of that, my Garmin estimates calories burned running, and I'm eating 1 point for every 100 calories burned (I am rounding up). I'm not touching my weekly points....because I never really have. So yesterday I had 25 regular points, and then I burned 450 calories on my run, so I took 5 extra points. I'll probably weigh in on Sunday just to get a gauge on whether or not this is working.

Once I do figure out what is working, and what is not, I will be back to monthly weigh in's. I like that approach alot.

As far as the weight range I am going to set for myself, I'm not going to set a lower limit, because I'm not worried about losing "too much" weight, but my upper alarm limit is 145 (on a non-TOM weigh in). So if I hit 145, it's time to go back into loss mode and really buckle down.

I'm also not worrying so much about the zero points foods anymore, if I start to gain, I can reexamine that.

I already feel substantially less stressed over my food plan. Much more relaxed. I was micro-managing my food big time, and now I feel like I don't have to as much. Although it will take a bit to get into the schedule of eating that revolves around more points. It will take some adjustment and getting used to, but that's ok, I'm up for the challenge.

Anyways, that's about it, no run tonight, scheduled rest day, maybe a walk with the dog. 4 mile run scheduled for tomorrow.

Have a healthy happy day bloggers!

Well....

2008-07-20T08:02:00.003-05:00

Well this morning, I stepped on the scale and he decided to be very nice (amazing huh?). I seen the lowest number I have ever seen (or at least since like Junior High). What was that number? 141.8 pounds. What does that mean?

I have reached GOAL!

Of course, I ran to get the camera, and take a picture of what the scale said, and somehow, I gained .4lbs doing that! But I did take a picture yesterday on several occasions when I seen 142....So I have a picture (yes, I'm a dork). So here it is ;) Excuse my ugly feet!

So there it is!

I removed my weight loss ticker from the top of the page, and smaller ticker in the sidebar, plus I changed the layout, figured it would be a good "new start". On the sidebar is still my current weigh in, and how much I've lost, etc.

I do plan on writing a quality post of "what I learned on my Weight Watchers Journey", but I have to actually put some thought into it, so that will come.

For those of you who have reached maintenance, or thought about it, how have you handled adding points? It adds 4 points to my daily total, that seems like alot, should I add the 4, or start with two and see if I lose still or what? what do you guys think?

Alright off to run now....6 miles, and I'm so freaking excited! Have great Sundays!

2008-07-18T14:51:00.002-05:00

"Seek respect mainly from thyself, for it comes first from within."
-- Steven H. Coogler

Happy Friday Everyone!

Just a quick little update....

Took a day of "rest" yesterday from running, can't say that I enjoyed it, all I could think about was how I wanted to go out and run! But, it was crazy hot yesterday (hotter and more humid than the day before for my run), so I was very happy I had the night off. But today, I've not been feeling so hot, so I don't know that I will be able to handle a run, I'll go grocery shopping after work, and then we'll see how I feel, definately don't WANT to take the night off, but might NEED to. Usually exercise does make me feel better though.

No huge plans for the weekend, just grocery shopping tonight, maybe a run and the tigers game is on. Tomorrow I think I am going to golf with my brother in the morning, and then maybe just take it easy for the afternoon, maybe head down to the Ann Arbor Art Fair, and see what is going on down there if the weather holds up. Maybe a walk with the dog if I think he can tolerate the heat. Sunday, I have my long run planned....6 miler! Wowsers! It's scary because I've never ran that far, but exciting too, because I know I can do it! Then probably lunch or dinner with the parents and chores.

Oh, and weigh in on Sunday! I'm looking forward to it! It will be interesting to see what it holds after a month (yes I have peeked in that month, but only a time or two). Decided my next weigh in after this is going to be the same day as my First 5K....August 17th, so exciting day :)

Anyways, that's my weekend plans, what do you guys have planned?

2008-07-17T09:10:00.002-05:00

"Better keep yourself clean and bright; you are the window through
which you must see the world."

-- George Bernard Shaw

Good Morning! I just thought I would swing by for a little update this morning.

The Running is going great! I guess I never believed that you could get "addicted" to running, like everyone said you could, but now, I totally see how you can. It's only been two weeks since I've been running, and It's all I think about!

I had a run last night, and it went well. I almost didn't go out, because it was just plain out nasty out yesterday, about 88 with high humidity that made it feel like it was mid 90's. But this is where that "addiction" comes in, I wanted to go, I wanted to go bad, so I did. Needless to say it was my "long run" for the week, the pace was very slow (heck it was hot out!), BUT I did run all 4.5 miles of it, and I didn't stop once! I was very proud of myself.

I'm not as worried about speed right now, just the distances that I'm doing. Today is a rest day, and I'm looking forward to it, plus the weather is suppose to be worse today than it was yesterday, so good thing I got the run in yesterday :)

Tonight I have to go get some compression shorts to where under the shorts I'm wearing while running, I am getting some "chaffing", and it should fix the problem hopefully.

I got some new running shoes, I picked up the Asics Gel-Nimbus 10's. I've only ran in them two days, but I'm in love. They have helped my knees soooo much!

As far as staying on WW's goes, I'm doing good, I haven't had any bad spots. I've been getting in my 8 GHG's and everything so that's no problem. I do realize I am a bit more hungry than I have been, but I'm sure the running has something to do with that. I've been basing the extra points I am eating on the calories my Garmin tells me I'm burning. I'm figuring an Activity Point for every 100 calories burned, and I'm eating half of those.

My monthly weigh in will be on Sunday, and I'm looking forward to it, I feel like my pants are falling off of me, and that's great! So I can't wait to step on and see what it's got to tell me after our long hiatus.

On that note, I am also thinking monthly weigh in's are good for me right now. It helps me to take the focus off of just that number on the scale.

Ok, well other than that, I don't have anything terribly exciting to update on, but I will be cruising by your blogs soon!

2008-07-15T12:27:00.004-05:00

"Victory is sweetest when you've known defeat."
-- Malcolm Forbes

Happy Tuesday everyone!

I have an announcement to make! In 32 days, I will run my first 5k race! I took the plunge and signed up for a race here in town on Sunday August 17th! I was going to make my first race be one in Septemeber so I would have a little more time to train, but I wanted to get one under my belt, so I have an official "time to beat". So there we have it.

I have also decided (now this is a long shot, especially for a, newly aspiring runner like myself!), that on Saturday May 23rd, 2009, I am going to run in my first half marathon. It gives me a goal to work towards. I think ultimately, I would like to run a marathon, but right now, a half seems very much attainable, so that will be my goal. And the half that I intend to run in is up north in Traverse City, along the Lake, so it's suppose to be gorgeous!

So there we have it...a MAJOR goal! I'm very excited.

I figured out what my problem was last week. I do have a tendency to get into these depressive states, where I am just not happy, not feeling motivated among a variety of other things. Well normally these happen between "major things" in my life. Such as the point in my life after I got done with my undergrad, bought my house and settled in....all of a sudden no goals...enter depression.

Time # 2, After I got out of my master's program and before I started Weight Watchers, I got into a mild depression, which was helped along by a failing relationship, among other things. When I joined Weight Watchers though, that turned around, I had motivation and focus again.

Ok, well you get the drift, you see where it's going. I'm essentially done losing weight. I'm still playing with a few pounds here and there, but I'm at or under my weight watchers goal, and have been for awhile. So I lost motivation and started to get depressed, because I don't have anything to focus my time and energy on.

So enter running an half marathon....What better way to maintain my weight, and give myself goals then to set a goal to run a half marathon come spring. It's not something you can do on a whim. I've found the 10 week training program that I will follow come March (10 weeks pre-race), but in order to follow the plan, you already have to have been running 30 to 35 miles per week, for at least two to three months.

So, I've set up a plan to gradually get myself to that level. I'm increasing mileage by 4% every week, which the sources I read say this is a safe increase, which will least likely lead to injury.

So, just a few of my training plan details. I am starting running 15.5 miles a week (that is this week), and I will top out and maintain 30 miles per week in early December through March. I will be running 4 times during the week, one long run, two medium runs and one short run. I'll be keeping you guys posted.

I did have a NSV the other day! I ran a complete 2.5 miles...without stopping once! not once! Now granted, I wasn't fast....but I ran it all!

As far as eating goes, it's been going good. I've been munchy (perhaps the increase in running?), but when I'm feeling that way I'm just grabbing for carrots and not counting them, no one got heavy eating carrots right? But other than that, still avoiding the processed food, and it's going good.

Weigh in on Sunday, I think it will go fine my clothes are fitting good!

Other than that, nothing new and exciting around here, I'll be dropping in on your blogs soon :)

2008-07-11T07:31:00.003-05:00

"Perseverance is failing 19 times and succeeding the 20th."

-- J. Andrews

Just a little update! I got in a 3 mile run last night...it felt great! Since I've been using a heart rate monitor, I can run farther and longer. Turns out I was just flat out running to hard, to fast, to soon, hence the reason I would tucker out like in no time! My mile times aren't stellar, but I'm working on being able to run for a full mile, then I can worry about getting the times down.

Tonight, 2 mile run! Can't wait. Yes, I'm now an addict.

Totally had a great moment running last night. I was on a bike path near the road and a whole truck of guys honked and whistled at me. It was a good feeling, I NEVER get hit on!

Date with Up North boy went well. He's kinda OCD like me....which could be scary. He had his DVD's alphabetized. I'm a list person, my spices for cooking are alphabetized...yes I'm one of those...and so is he, could make things interesting. Ended with a nice hug, and the offer to take me golfing this weekend...very exciting!

Eating, great! I've been doing well, and I allowed myself my treat of vitatop and ice cream last night....yum! I think I appreciate it more when I'm not eating it every night.

No huge plans for the weekend. A guy from work is taking me fishing tomorrow, that will be exciting. Planning a 2 mile run tonight, 4 miles tomorrow...and another short one on Sunday.

Hope everyone has fabulous weekends!

2008-07-10T15:08:00.002-05:00

"If you really want something,
you can find out how to make it happen."
~Cher

This is a completely non-weight loss related post! One mention of weight only, and that is that I spot checked myself yesterday, and I was showing to be up a bit...but I expected that after my weekend of eating, so no biggie.

Onto other, and more important topics. I'm kinda becoming addicted to this thing they call running, I now know what they mean by a "runners" high. On the days I don't have runs scheduled, I WANT to run. Yes, you heard me right, I WANT to run. Funny thing isn't it? I'm a total non-runner. But I know the rest days that I have incorporated are important, so I am taking one full rest day, and one day on the bike.

For this week the exercise is as follows, so far;

Sunday: 3 mile run
Monday: Day 1 of pushup challenge, Rest Day
Tuesday: 3 mile run
Wednesday: 10.25 mile Bike Ride
Thursday (planned): 2 mile run
Friday (planned): 3 mile run
Saturday (planned): 4 mile run

Not looking to shabby huh? Tonight was originally suppose to be a 3 miles run, but I have a 2nd date with aforementioned up north boy, so I had to do some moving around of the schedule so that I could get out the door in time. But look at me "squeezing in" a run, how's that?

Eating has been good, not using any activity points this week because of the eating of the weekend, but I will be back to using some of those come Sunday again. I do feel like I could use them, as I'm hungry with the exercise I've been doing.....but my body has plenty of "extra" to run on, believe me! I've been munchy this week, but I'm just grabbing for the carrots when I get a bit hungry, and not counting those as long as I don't eat two pounds.

I was worried date boy might think I'm odd. I don't frequently share my weight loss trials and tribulations with someone new, very few people I've date since my ex have know I'm trying to lose weight or have lost weight. So date boy decided he wanted to have me over for a movie, said he would make me dinner....sounds nice right?

Very nice! But who in god's creation knows what he would make and how many points it would be! So I weaseled out of dinner by coming up with an excuse (I know, I'm terrible!), and then he said ok, just a movie is great, can I make or buy a dessert you like? So I told him I was training for a 5k race right now, and I'm trying to stay away from sweets, and he said ok. Hopefully he doesn't think I'm too much of a crazy!

Everything else is going good, except for the fact that my Tigers are currently tied 6-6 with the twins in the bottom of the 9th since we have a closer who flat out stinks!

Anyways, back to finishing some work...then a run and a date....have a healthy happy evening bloggers.

I'm baaaack!

2008-07-09T14:00:00.002-05:00

"No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars,
or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit."
~ Helen Keller

Well hello there! Thanks for all your sweet comments on my last post about the break. It was much needed, and I've done much thinking. So I've got a lot to catch you guys up on! We will do a little bullet pointed list.

- one of the things that was getting me so down, was my cat. I got a kitten about 7 months ago, it was kinda be default, as we had one at work, that we needed to get rid of, and no one would take him...so I ended up with him. I was never a cat person, I just didn't care for them, nice as pets, but not as my own pet. Well I'd tried hard over the past 6 months to love him, but never could feel "connected" to him, not the way I feel with Duke (who might as well be a child to me!). It bothered me big time that I didn't feel he was getting the love he needed from me, so I made the decision to find him a home. And I did. It was hard, and involved a ton of crying, and feeling badly, but I found him a home, where I know he is well taken care of, and he has a 4 year old who just adores him. I now feel good about that decision.

- My exercise routine was getting stale. I was getting sick of what I was doing, and that was bothering me too. I had been so good with staying on a steady exercise plan for over 6 months, that I certainly didn't want to falter on it. But I wasn't feeling it anymore. Needless to say, I have a new plan. I'm now running outside. And I'm actually running (instead of just intervals), and I'm actually going to train towards something. I'm thinking a 5k this fall, I haven't picked one yet though, but will let you guys know when I do. I've been out twice this week running (3 miles both times), and I've wanted to go out the days I haven't ran...so that's a good sign!

- I completed Day 1 of Week 1 of the 100 Pushup Challenge on Monday. It felt great! I was tired when I was done, and my arms, even today, are still very sore! Tonight is Day 2, and I can't wait!

- Besides Running 5 Days a week, I'm going to try to get in at least one day of "Cross Training" on my bike. Tonight is cross training night! Yay!

- Weight-wise, I couldn't tell you where I'm at, because as promised, I haven't stepped on a scale. I plan to weigh in on July 20th!

- I went up north for the weekend. Eating was less than stellar. My mom does like to sabotage me intentionally sometimes I think, and I know that sounds bad, but I think it's the truth, she purposely made, and set out things she knows I can't stay out of.Thanks mom! But I was right back on plan, exercise, and not eating any activity points when I got back...so that's is awesome!

- Feeling about my weight right now, I'm probably up a little. But I'm ok with that, I'm feeling good!

- I decided to re-examine my diet, I was beginning to slip into eating alot of processed and high fiber, high calorie, low point items. Such as, I was eating ice cream with a vitatop at least every other night....that's not necessary. Did you know I gave up ice cream for lent this year, and I didn't miss it? I proved I could live without it. So my approach to food right now is, get in my 8 GHG's, still count a point for every 5 zero points I'm eating, and stick to primarily whole foods. Aka, Fruits, Veggies etc, for snacks. This has been my mantra since sunday, and I'm glad to say the first food I had that wasn't really a "whole item" was a western alternative bagel last night with my homemade whole grain pancakes. I've decided to limit myself to One Western Bagel, one vitatop with ice cream and one bad of popcorn per week. Other than that, I'm sticking to fruit and veggies as snacks. One staple I haven't give up, yogurt with Kashi Cereal. Kashi is whole grain, so I'm not giving it up.

- I think I feel better and I have less cravings without the processed foods in my diet.

- I had a good date up north (the guy is also living downstate, but from up there), and I'm looking forward to date two! That's a record for me lately...two whole dates! lol

- I'm enjoying my break from the scale. It's so easy to get caught up in that number and not appreciate everything you've done and how you've changed, its nice to step back from that!

Alright, I think I've wrote enough of a marathon post, I hope your all still awake...I'll post again soon...until then, Happy Healthy Day Bloggers!