oh gosh, has it really been so long since I last blogged on here? What a slacker. Truth is, we had an insane end of the week last week. Saturday we had two birthday parties and then loaded up our car so we could head to the lake first thing Sunday morning. We spent a glorious day there and the fabulous thing was we managed to eat super healthy the whole weekend and get some swimming in for exercise.
Then everything fell apart. I got the worst sunburn of my life. I still can’t bear to have anything touch my back four days later. I gravitate between nausea and extreme hunger so my points have been all over the place (no, I haven’t gone over, but I’ve either had 8 left at then end of the day, or used my daily points plus flex other days.) So yesterday for the end of the challenge I was actually up 1.2 pounds over the week before.
I’m not going to beat myself up about it though because that’s just counter productive. I’m already in enough pain! And I know that not exercising is also thwarting my weight loss efforts, but it just hurts too much to try and do anything. So for now I’ll have to let my skin heal and double my efforts next week.
Last Chance Workout
You know, I started this blog because I thought it might help others who are on the same journey as me. And I’m still hopeful that my ramblings do inspire someone, somewhere. But what I’ve really found along the way, is a community of people who inspire and encourage me. Thanks to everyone who comments on this site here or through email. I’m always a little insecure about this because it’s not the first time I’ve tried to get healthy and when I fail, it’s always pretty obvious. But it’s an amazing feeling to know that I’ve got so many awesome people rooting for me.
That said, last night I was up here reading through some of the blogs on my fitness blogroll. It had been a long, long day (hubby was just putting the kids to bed at 930!) and I was gearing up to start clean up downstairs. I figured that despite having promised myself that I would work out every day this week, I could excuse myself this once.
Then I went and read Bella’s posting for the day. She just reached a major milestone (50 pounds lost, woo hoo!) and rewarded herself with 20 personal training sessions. What an awesome idea! And reading through her post so inspired me that I went downstairs and did three sets of 20 each curls, planks and butt tucky thingies and the same of lungest and squats. Then with wobbly legs I took myself to the basement to watch ANTM (OLD cycle) and 20 minutes on the elliptical. I would have done more, but I could tell my body was tired (we walked for about 2 hours in the hot sun yesterday, me pushing my preschoolers in a stroller) so I decided that was a good regime.
Today was my Weight Watchers Weigh in and I really wasn’t even expecting the 3 pound loss I got for my Shrinking Into Summer Weigh in yesterday. For the Shrinking weigh in I use my scale and somehow the numbers never add up exactly. So with fingers crossed I went to my WW weigh in and LO AND BEHOLD I’m down 4.8 pounds! I don’t really feel like it was completely deserved (I didn’t get back on track from my semi meltdown until Sunday) but whatever, I’ll take the loss. I know that I can’t sustain this pace forever, but I did need this little boost to help keep me motivated for Whistler this month and Ontario in August.
…and while I’m not rewarding myself with personal training yet, I did reward myself by heading to the nearest berry farm for fresh berries – my latest splurge. OH YUM!
Redeeming the day
On Monday I planned a little blog posting (which I completely ran out of time to actually type and post) about my day. I’m still ravenous all the time and while I started Monday with good intentions, but mid afternoon I was eating everything and anything in sight. I forced myself to stop and write everything out, hoping that it wouldn’t be too bad once it was on paper. And it wasn’t. In fact, 20 minutes on my elliptical could undo the damage I’d done, if I didn’t eat anything else that day. Done and done.
Tuesday was hard, but I know that I can’t keep saying, “Today is hard, I’ll have a cheat day and start afresh tomorrow.” So I kept myself on track and looked forward to the veggie lasagna and angel food cake with berries I’d planned for our Canada’s Next Top Model Finale Party. It was SO worth the wait.
And I swallowed my pride and did my 20 minutes on the elliptical then endured wet hair through our party (because I didn’t have time to exercise, cook and look beautiful!)
Well, I think I’m being rewarded for soldiering on. Or being given incentive to continue. Because this morning when I stepped on the scale for Shrinking Into Summer Weigh in 7, I was down a whopping THREE pounds!
I’d been feeling a little blue thinking that I might not fit into those new skirts in time for our conference in Whistler after all. But now I’m all jazzed up to keep trying!
HELP!
It’s been a few days since I posted last, but I hope you don’t think that means I’ve fallen off the wagon. To be honest, this has been a rough two weeks. I’m way too busy and instead of spending my spare time making sure I have nutritious home made meals to bring along with me, I’ve been either eating frozen dinners, quick easy (and not filling or super nutritious) meals OR eating out. And I’m struggling.
I also haven’t had a lot of time to work out. Lately my only time to work out seems to be in the morning first thing, but no matter how hard I try, I’m always far too tired to get up. One day this week my alarm went off for 30 minutes before it woke me up. THIRTY MINUTES! Do you see how tired I am?
It’s not a good combination and it means two things.
One: I’m not losing any weight. I haven’t lost anything substantial in two weeks, but I’m actually very lucky that I haven’t gained anything. BECAUSE…
TWO: I can’t stop eating!
So I’m freaking out a little here. And desperately trying to find my will power. So far I haven’t blown all my flex points which is probably what’s keeping me from actually gaining. BUT I can tell I’m getting a little too lax with myself and if I can’t my head back in the game I’m going to start down a slippery slope. Not happening.
So Rachel, Tash, Chad…anyone? I need you to get all Jillian on me. I’m gonna get all Jillian on myself.
Here are my goals:
1. I am exercising EVERY DAY this upcoming work week. 3 days of circuit training and Elliptical training on my days off.
2. No unplanned snacking this week. In fact, no snacking after dinner. It’s too easy to talk myself out of the bowl of raisin bran and into a cookie or a bowl of frozen yogurt. So, dinner is my last meal of the day!
3. I’m going to plan for everything ahead of time. So unless there’s some sort of unavoidable emergency, every meal is going to be preplanned. And nutritious.
Hopefully I still have time to register a loss this week!!
oh so frustrating…
I may have hit my first plateau. And I’m not happy about it. But, it would be worse if I knew I was behaving perfectly right now and had hit a plateau, right? So since the scale doesn’t seem to be budging this week (and I still have one more day) let’s do some self examination…
- We have been spending way too much time on the road the last two weeks. I know, it’s summer. And summer equals crazy schedule and spur of the moment road trips. And I think I’ve even been doing pretty good about choosing healthy things to eat. But, let’s face it, road food isn’t as healthy as fresh, home made food. So as much as I am able, I’m going to try to plan ahead and bring food for us.
- I have a sneaking suspicion that sodium may be playing a factor in this. I don’t eat a lot of salt if I can help it, but this week we’ve had smokies at a bbq and yesterday we had veggie Kielbasa AND veggie Italian Sausage. Those things tend to be kinda high in sodium.
- It’s getting close to the time when girls often bloat and binge. ‘Nuff said.
- I think I did pretty well with my no sugar thing. We went to Point Roberts on Sunday and stopped at this local ice creamery. So I had ice cream there. And yesterday I had to have a coffee before work. I was dragging my heels. So I wasn’t perfect. The good news is we seem to be out of sugary stuff at home. So I can aim for perfection for next week.
I have also been hitting the gym pretty hard (except for Sunday/Monday which were rest days). It could be that I’m not losing pounds, but I am changing shape. I went shopping for t-shirts yesterday and I’m definitely down a size. In fact, I tried on my favorite black vest (which hasn’t fit me since last summer) and it fits again.
…so once again, I’m giving myself a pep talk. Don’t let minor set backs cause a pity part or an excuse to slack off. AND, I need to make sure I’m getting enough sleep. hah.
I just read one of my team mates blog postings for today. I can SO relate. I’ve been doing fairly well with this whole program, but then I usually do for a few months. Then I fall off the bandwagon. Last year I signed up for Sure Slim (using a $1000 inheritance; that was money well wasted). I did awesome for the first three months, lost 60 pounds in fact. And then, I started slipping up. Small things, here and there, but before I knew it I had gained back every single pound I’d lost. It was so freaking infuriating.
So even though I’ve been on a consistent downward trend this time, I’m not getting excited until I actually lose and maintain a weight loss.
And this week sucked. I barely got to exercise. We bought two tubs of ice cream and I’ve had some (sure, I measured and accounted for it with my WW points) every single day. And that my friends is the reason why I only lost one stinking pound. Before you get all up on my case about being happy to have lost a pound, well, I am. But I know I could have done so much better. I still have over a hundred pounds to lose so I need to be consistent about losing weight or I’ll be 50 before it’s gone. And by then I’ll have who knows what kind of health troubles. UGH!
So while I was at the gym this morning, I decided I’m going to swear off ice cream for a week. Entirely. Which, considering today is Canada Day and Saturday we have a birthday party, is no mean feat. AND, I’m going to stay away from added sugar. Bye bye non fat hazlenut latte. See ya later, lite mocha frappe. No treats for a week.
And then we’ll see about adding them in again as treats. But not as every day indulgences. I’m gonna get me addicted to lunges and squats again. oh yeah.
Lest anyone think that I suffer from the delusion that I am perfect, or even that this weight loss journey is too easy, let me tell you about my weekend:
First of all, I’ve had the worst time trying to get myself to exercise. I think the last time I was at my gym was early last week. See, I can’t even remember when. I did force myself on to the elliptical a few times, but then on Thursday I bought Wii Active. I did the first day workout and haven’t done a thing since. Even though I know the key to weight loss for me is exercising. ugh!
I would have gone to the gym on Friday (I skipped lunch so I could leave early), but I had to be home early. And then I was going to go when my husband got home but he wanted to take the kids to a movie. And an early movie is the only option for preschoolers. We didn’t even make the movie because their debit/credit machines were down, but by the time we made it home my gym was closed. I did a few minutes (20) on the elliptical and said Wii workout.
Saturday I had every intention of going to the gym, but by the time I’d done my chores, everyone was raring to be out and enjoy the day. I hadn’t eaten yet by the time we left so I was RAVENOUS, but managed to stay on point. We stopped for ice cream at my favorite dairy (don’t worry, all accounted for), but you know, I think I’m losing my taste for ice cream. It was good, but I didn’t feel good after.
By Sunday I was seriously grouchy that I wasn’t getting any say in what goes on around here anymore. Again, I did my chores and then we took off for the beach. I have to admit, I was in a really bad mood about it. I think next time I’ll tell hubby to take the kids to a closer one and let me exercise. Cause I probably dampened the day a little.
On top of all the lack of exercise, we’ve been eating out a lot. And while I’m writing everything down and staying on points, it’s not the wholesome food I want to be eating. I have insisted that we make smart choices when we stop for food, but I’d rather we planned ahead and brought our own food. But rather than be grumpy about that, I guess I’ll just have to insist that we try to plan our weekends and make sure we have lots to choose from when the weekend does arrive.
Tonight I’m going out with a friend so I won’t get to go to the gym tonight either. I WILL make an effort to carve out some time for myself on the elliptical today.
So I’m not expecting big numbers this week, but I’ll trade it for the lessons learned and I will not allow myself to use a disappointing few days as an excuse to let the rest of the week slide.
Friday Recap
Thursday marked the end of seven weeks back on Weight Watchers. In seven weeks I’ve lost 19.6 pounds. Unfortunately, I only started taking measurements a few weeks ago so I don’t have a record of my measurements for the whole seven weeks. BUT, I do know that I’ve lost six inches…three inches each from my waist and hips. I measure my hips, thigh, bicep, bust and ribcage as well and haven’t lost as much as a mm from those areas, but I’m sure that’s cause I’m getting so muscular from all my circuit training (HAH!) Ah well, I always lose from the bottom up so hopefully the rest of me will catch up eventually!!
Two weeks ago I bought a new pair of jeans and two skirts. They were all intended for when our family heads to Whistler for a conference at the end of July. Two sizes smaller than the size I started out at. I decided to try the jeans on this morning and crazily enough they fit perfectly. Don’t get excited, they’re what Reitmans calls Comfort Fit and what I jokingly call my non-prego maternity pants. They’re made of super stretchy denim. They also have no zipper; they’re just like high rise maternity pants. But, they’re also trouser style and really cute AND act as a bit of a girdle. Win-win I say!
I was so excited that these pants fit me that I threw on a pair of heels. I haven’t worn heels in about four years because I’ve been kind of scared of toppling over in them. Uh, for those of you who don’t know me, I’m kind of built like a tomato on stilts. And I’m almost 5’11” so that’s a long way to fall if I do topple. But, bolstered by my (almost) 20 pound loss and by fitting into jeans 2 sizes down, I decided to give the heels a whirl.
Surprisingly, it wasn’t keeping my balance that was the challenge. I just had to remember how to step softly in heels. I was trying to walk in the heels without making noise all day. Then I noticed one of the skinny girls from another department go stomping by in her heels. She didn’t care that everything was shaking, or that it sounded like a herd of elephants was coming. She just powered on by. So I decided to stop tip toeing around and strut with some attitude. You know, I’d forgotten how good heels are for your calves. I might have to wear heels more often again.
Once I got home from work, the day got a bit stressful. My kids haven’t been sleeping well lately, which means neither have I. So I’m tired. And they’re grizzly. Which is usually an excuse to binge. I managed to do really well until dinner time and then I had a hard time not bingeing. I did succumb to ½ a chocolate chip cookie (gourmet sized, not Mr. Christie sized) but I had the points for it, so all is not lost.
I had intended to go to the gym today after work, but I had to rush home early to get the kids. So then I thought I’d go when my husband got home, but that didn’t work either. I did get 15 minutes on my elliptical and then while hubby put the kids to bed I did day one of the Wii Active 30 day challenge. I’m not sure if I like it so far. I guess I’ll let you know tomorrow. I’m not too worried though since I do love my gym circuit and my elliptical. If I decide I don’t love the Wii Active now, I’m sure I’ll be interested in picking it back up again once I’m a few sizes smaller. In the meantime I’ll give it a few more days and let you know how I feel.
One thing, I’ve heard a lot of people online complaining that the leg strap doesn’t fit them so I was really worried that it wouldn’t fit me either. Well if any of you have a lot of weight to lose, let me set your mind at ease. I have still got about 100 or more pounds to lose and I’m tall. I had a good 3 inches spare on the strap so chances are it will fit you too.
Never gonna be satisfied, am I? or, Shrinking into Summer Weigh In 4
I have this very bad habit of stepping on the scale multiple times throughout the week. I know it’s bad, but I can’t help myself. I would hide my scale, but I need it for these weekly weigh ins (that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!)
So on Monday morning when I stepped on the scale I was down four pounds. I know, right!? So I decided I would step up my game big time and try to make it another four before today. I was setting myself up.
On the other hand, it did motivate me to work out, even when I really didn’t want to. I did two times around the circuit at our gym (it’s a huge circuit, takes 30 minutes to do it once) on Monday, as well as my 30 minutes on the bike. Tuesday I hopped on the elliptical twice for a total of an hour.
And today I hopped on the scale with my fingers crossed…and I was UP a pound since Monday morning. D’oh!
Even with the change, I’m still down three overall for this week. Which in three weeks puts me at almost 9 pounds for this challenge. You know what, I’ll take that. And keep hoping for Biggest Loseresque drops next week…
10 Best Diet Substitutions
The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans has a great article up this morning: 10 Best Diet Substitutions. I’m sure we’ve all heard lots of ways to make our meals lower fat, but this article had some new ones that I can’t wait to try. Give it a read here.
Since my four year old son is an extremely picky eater (I jokingly call him a fruitarian, but he will also eat McDonalds), I’m always looking meals that are kid-friendly but pack a nutritional punch. Smoothies are a big hit at our house and it’s so easy to sneak in all kinds of great things. Butternut and acorn squash for instance. He can’t tell I’ve snuck them in, but at least I know he’s getting some veggies.
We don’t eat a lot of potatoes at our house, but when I do make mashed potatoes, I usually throw in a vegan broth cube, or some garlic. And I almost always try to make them half white potatoes, half sweet potatoes. But what I haven’t tried yet are sweet potato fries. That’s next on my list.
And soup is a big hit in our family. Our favorite is a spinach and lentil soup that I puree until it’s just a goopy green mess. My kids love it and I love knowing there isn’t a bad thing in it.
That said, summertime is hard for me. I have no problem getting either kid to eat fruit, but so far I haven’t found any raw vegetables that my son will eat. Not even if they’re dipped or covered in peanut butter. So considering we move the kitchen on to the balcony and pretty much bbq all summer long, I’m left feeding him cooked peas and corn or no veggies at all.
I know that I shouldn’t worry about it too much. My brother was a similarly picky eater growing up, and now he’s probably the most adventerous eater of all of us – when he’s not claiming to be a vegan – and he’s also the healthiest. Still, any ideas on how to sneak those veggies in would be appreciated!
