Friday, February 28, 2014

Can I have 2 kicking weeks in a row?

This week isn't even over yet and I am already looking towards next week. I expect to be down 3 pounds tomorrow! I would love to be down another 2 next week which would bring me to my 1/2 way point. Then I would plan to maintain for a couple of weeks because I can't keep dropping more than a pound a week - that just isn't how I lose weight!


Working out this week just didn't happen. Monday night my daughter was up at 4:30 am and Wednesday night my son came in at 2:30 with a nightmare. So sleep was fairly limited.


But eating was 100% on plan this week. Ate my normal foods at work (even had lunch with co-workers in the cafeteria but brought my lunch with me) - though I only cut up my pizza on Monday. After that the sissors disappeared and I was lazy and just ate the full 10 points.


There was no snacking while making dinner outside of some carrots and fruit on a couple of days. And dinner portions were in control, even with meals I loved.


I signed up for 2 more races - the Diva Dash in September and a 10K in June. This will  be my first 10K. It is downhill and then uphill! Coming back it goes up part of which is called "Heartbreak Hill" on the Boston Marathon route.


I've got my 4 mile race on Sunday. Thankfully the weather report has come more favorable than the high of 17 originally planned. Thank goodness tomorrow is March, because this past week has been downright miserable. Not that the next week seems much better. But at least we can say that Meteorological Spring starts tomorrow!

Monday, February 24, 2014

A good Monday

For the last week of February and the weather for the next 7+ days is going to feel like mid-January, the day was okay!


The kids were well behaved in the morning which always sets the tone for a good day. We started instituting an allowance with my daughter again, so she was eager to please! (We'll see how long that lasts). I ran into the grocery store on the way to work to get Israeli couscous for dinner - I wasn't sure the grocery store I pass on my way home has it, and hitting the grocery store on the way home is always a ticket for disaster.


I cut up my Lean Cuisine pizza to make it 8 points instead of 10 points - I can't remember the last time I did that!


My husband was texting me all day with what he was eating and when, so it was nice to be accountable to someone through out the day.


But we all know that the workday is not my weak point. 5 pm - 7 pm is the hardest.


I had decided ahead of time not to cook the full 2 packages of chicken apple sausage. I cooked 6 out the 8 links - I think next time we can just go with 1 package. This is one of our favorite meals but the kids don't care for it, so I am okay with occasionally making the kids a separate meal.


I made 1.5 times the recipe of couscous, but 1/3 cup cooked is 4 points so that is all I took so we had a ton of leftovers. Again, next time, just 1x the recipe.


I drank water and did chores while cooking dinner - no munching. A successful dinner time, a successful day.



Sunday, February 23, 2014

I saw the magic number...

Yep, I actually saw 194.8 this morning. Granted, it was almost 8 o'clock in the morning and I had already gone to the bathroom twice, but it was there. Not sure when I will see it again. But that is okay. I was a little nervous that TOM might arrive 2 days early in the middle of the race since I always seem to have an unexpected dip on the morning TOM arrives.


Last night for dinner I got to try out my spiralizer . I loved it. I made zucchini noodles. I also made caprese salad and homemade sauce. Heaven! I couldn't not have any pasta. But had very little compared to the volume of zucchini noodles I had. I can't wait to experiment more. I did nibble some extra Parmesan cheese while making dinner, but in all I had a pretty good day. We went to a hockey game at night and I didn't even nibble on the popcorn the rest of the family got.


Today was Race #1 day. First we had a birthday party to go to in our old town - the completely opposite direction from the race. I took the kids and my husband came later, so then I could drive to the race. It was 45 minutes away and I only had 90 minutes. I was unfamiliar with the location, the traffic wasn't good, and I had to park further away. The number of spots close by had greatly been reduced by all the snow and the parking on the street was non existent because of the snow.


I had had a banana at home, a PB&J sandwich on the way to the party, and another banana and a whole wheat waffle with jelly on the way to the race. I had never run at 1:00 in the afternoon. Once parked, I changed into my sneakers and I was off. It was 47-50 degrees so I didn't have to worry about extra layers, hats or gloves. It was overcast so I didn't have to worry about sunglasses.


I got my bib at the Irish pub hosting the race and stupid me got my t-shirt. Such a newbie. So many people were wearing their t-shirts, but no way I was going to wear cotton! Even over my 2 layers I already had on. So I schlepped my t-shirt back to the car and jogged back, arriving in line 2 minutes before the start of the race.


The race was 3 miles. The beginning was through windy narrow streets, so the usual congestion, and the usual people not getting out of the way. This was my 8th 5K, but the first one where I wasn't familiar with the route. I had briefly glimpsed at the elevation map, but since it was in a town I don't know and I have never run a race where elevation mattered (ie all the previous ones where pretty darn flat!) I didn't really think about it. But then we did hit a hill that seemed to go on forever. Experienced runners probably wouldn't have cared, but it was hard for me, the girl who spent 99% of her miles running on a rail trail. A lot of people walked but I pushed on. I haven't walked while running in so long - a lot of it is because I have a hard time getting going again, but also because I run so slowly, walking isn't going to make much of a difference!


But 34:26 minutes later, my race was over. Not a PR, not that I was expecting to, but a huge learning experience. I am terrified for next week's 4 mile race because there is a huge hill in the middle of it (it is an out and back with a divergence in the middle for this huge hill) - I am going to drive up there on Saturday to check it out. And right now the weather forecast for Sunday is 17 degree. Yeah....


Another first today was my first race where I went alone. Usually I don't know anyone running, but to not have anyone waiting for me at the end was a first. But honestly it was a little nice because I had no guilt of having someone standing out in the weather (my only race I've done not between Thanksgiving and the end of February, it was raining) was nice. But I am nervous for next weekend - There aren't bag checks at these races, but I would want someone to hold my extra layer. I'll figure it out. And this time I am getting there earlier!


Crappy week for work coming up, TOM will be arriving, weather is more suitable for January, and nervous over what our tax return may be...But come Saturday it will be March, no matter how cold it will be! Spring is coming. Daylight savings starts in TWO weeks!

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Weekly Weigh-in #13


Starting Weight (12/1/2012): 232.2
Last Week: 198.0
Current Weight: 195.8
Change Since Last Week: -2.2
Total Change: -36.4
Height: 5'6"
Goal: 149


To say I was excited this morning was an understatement, though I will admit I was pretty shocked. I was thrilled to not have to go to WW with yet another gain. But then again I have seen this number before....over and over again since Thankgiving time. I've been between 195.8 and 198.8 (and occasionally a little higher) for the last 3 months. It is time to see a new number. Dang it! I want 194.8! I am going to work for it this week, but at the same time, TOM will arrive on Tuesday.


We had a sub leader this morning. She was my leader way back in the day when I went on Friday mornings, a long, long time ago. She has been a leader for 29 years!  She is crass and funny, but I am glad she isn't my leader all the time. She loves to talk and she had us cracking up, but there wasn't a lot of member participation and she doesn't stick to the topic that much (I went to her class back in November and it was a topic I was eager to talk about and she didn't broach the subject at all).


I love my leader because she lost 83 lbs which is about what I will want to lose, so I feel like I can really relate to her.


After the meeting, I rushed to shower and eat breakfast before we all took my daughter to her first indoor soccer class. And then after, I spent a long, long time putting the points on various boxes all over the pantry. My husband says he wants to do the program - The first thing I want him to do is be aware of points. And I need to be more aware as well. He eats  a lot of processed foods - hopefully in time he will reduce those, but one of the first things I want him to do is to eat actual meals/snacks and eat all day long. He'll go all day without eating and then just pig out all night long.


After that project, I spent more time organizing the 7 bins of clothes I have in the attic. I am currently wearing size 16W bottoms and XL tops. My honeymoon clothes (I was about 184 when I got married) were size 14/L. I am pleasantly surprised that I think I will be able to wear the majority of the Size L shirts this spring - Some are too short. Post-kid boobs and post-40 boobs will do that. I am hoping someday I am back to being a B! Trying on the clothes definitely gave me incentive - while some of them do fit, more toning, 10 lbs loss and less belly fat will make me feel more attractive in them.


I have so many clothes in so many sizes! Not entire wardrobes though. I have a pair of jeans in 8, 10, 12 and 14. I've got little black dresses in 6, 8 and 10. I've got black blazers in 8, 10 and 12. I've got a bunch of dress clothes in Size M. I have overalls and overall shorts in size 6!


Again, no goal setting here, but going to work on tracking. Need to get over this hump and into the lower 1/2 of the 190s. 190.6 is a huge looming goal of mine. 1/2 way to my initial goal of 149.

Friday, February 21, 2014

Struggling....

It is not secret that I've been losing and re-gaining the same 3 lbs since Thanksgiving. It is like my body refuses to let the scale say "194.8" But then again, I haven't really been trying either. My evening/making dinner eating has really been out of control, which continues my quote of 'I gained all my weight between 5 and 7 pm"

This has been a weird week because it was vacation week for my daughter. My husband had Monday off and then took Tuesday - Thursday off, and I took today off. I can't wait until next year when both the kids are on the same schedule, because my son is off when the schedule is off (we leave him in daycare, though usually pick him up early).

For 2 years I have been wanting to do this 3 part race - 3 miles, 4 miles, 5 miles. My son has a birthday party to go to on Sunday, a party I want to attend since it is in our old town, so I assumed I couldn't do the race. But Sunday I realized the race is a 1:00 and the party is 10-11:30. So I totally signed up for the whole series. I was going do 4 miles this weekend anyways, so I am okay doing 3 this weekend and 4 next weekend. I am a little nervous about the 5 miles, but I will muster my way through.

Early morning rising didn't happen this week either - late-night Olympic watching and my husband not needing to get up in the morning make it difficult....But I did work out 2 nights! One night the family was watching Star Wars at 7 pm and I didn't feel like watching it so decided to work out - I ran 1 mile on the treadmill and biked for 15-20 minutes. The next night they were out at a high school hockey game and wouldn't be home until 7-7:30. I was famished, my husband had bought tons of junk food that was taunting me. There was leftover turkey meatballs and pasta, so I ate right away and told them to go eat after. And then later on I did a 2 mile run on the treadmill. Better than nothing!

Me and my daughter signed up for a Color Run in May - I had hoped to get in a 3 mile walk with her today but it is pouring. We bought her an ipod Shuffle so she can listen to music while we train. We both are also going to sign up for a Disney 5K while we are on our trip.

I am excited to go to my meeting this weekend. I hated that I missed it last weekend...though sleeping in felt good!

I don't have high hopes for tomorrow. Last night I went out for a work function - I didn't drink any alcohol, but the food was amazing. The scale was out of control this morning (the food was very salty). The thought of weighing in tomorrow is the only thing that is keeping me in line today - the junk food bought earlier this week is taunting me!



Sunday, February 16, 2014

Weekly Weigh-in #12

Starting Weight (12/1/2012): 232.2
Last Week: 196.0
Current Weight: 198.0
Change Since Last Week: +2.0
Total Change: -34.2
Height: 5'6"
Goal: 149


The +2 wasn't from "normal" Friday eating.


Thursday we had yet another snow day, so stress of the kids being cooped up and me and my husband trying to work so we couldn't really spend time with them. Being a working parent can suck sometimes! So there was stress eating, boredom eating, eating because we made homemade cupcakes!


At work on Friday my group had a lunch meeting so pizza was brought in. Really yummy, yummy pizza - pizza I have missed now that we aren't getting take-out pizza every week. So I had 4 slices. Yep, 4. Alebeit thin slices.


In the afternoon we got word that my daughter's first indoor soccer on Saturday was cancelled because it is in a bubble and with all the snow and rain, they were worried it could break so they had to have the snow manually removed. At that point I decided Weight Watchers wasn't going to happen. It would be my only Saturday I could sleep in in the next 4-5 months (yep, months!). So I made a decision....and enjoyed a nice Valentine's Day dinner with my family...which brought me to +2 on Saturday morning.


By sleeping in, I mean 8:30 (instead of 6:20 which is when I get up to go to 7 am WW (and when I wake up during the week). Knowing that it was going to snow yet again on Saturday, I decided to get in a run when I woke up.


Getting to the road was treacherous. My driveway is very long and was completely covered in ice. There is too much snow to walk on the sides. So I slid my way down, knowing, hoping that there was dry pavement on the road. And there was! I wasn't planning on trying to run a fast 5K knowing that I would have to be dodging real ice and black ice. So I didn't even look at my Garmin that much. Fairly quickly into the run I decided I wanted to go more than 5K. I wanted to venture out of my neighborhood (which is scary because the roads are very narrow and windy). It is just a short distance to another small neighborhood. All and all I ran 3.75 miles in 44 something.


So the increasing of the mileage begins again. Slowly I hope. When I've been getting my runs in the last several weekends, I definitely feel a little plantar fasciitis for a few days. I get worried it will get worse. But I want to get beyond 3.14 miles! I dream about when the bike trail will be thawed out (no time soon with the amount of snow we keep getting....granted, it is only February 16th!).


Last night I made a calendar and tried to predict how many miles I wanted to run in my long runs. My plan is to work my way back up to 6 miles by the end of April and do 10 distance for a couple of months, trying to go faster. And then come the end of June start increasing my miles. I foresee that I could get myself up to 1/2 marathon distance by the end of the summer, but I really don't see running an actual 1/2 marathon race. Part of it is because I can't get the rest of the mileage in during the week. I can get in 3-5 miles. I can go the track and do intervals. I can find a hill (maybe! We do have a reservoir down the street that you have a hill to climb to get up to it) to do hill training. But I just don't have the time to do more than an hour during the week. Mornings is when I need to train - I don't do well in the heat so trying to do it after work wouldn't happen, plus I want to enjoy the time with my family.


So that is the plan....Not sure how it will pan out. But I am dying for the snow it go away so I can start running more. But I am pretty proud of myself for getting out there yesterday despite the ice.


March 3 is my running anniversary. The day I started C25K for the second time last year. I did so well up until August when me and my friend were no longer running every weekend because she was training for the 1/2. I did get a couple of long runs in during the fall, the last and longest being 7 miles in November (yesterdays run was the first time I ran more than 3.14 miles since November 23rd!). I wish I had run more last fall. But it was what it was.



Sunday, February 9, 2014

Weekends are too fast!

This weekend was such a blur!


After getting back from WW and showering, we dropped the kids off at my parents. We did a whirl-wind trip to Toys R Us to get a few things for my son's 5th birthday.


Then we headed to the bike store to get us all bikes- well it turned out to be 2 bike stores across the street from each other. Me and my husband got the same Trek bike - just a basic mountain bike, okay for tootling around. We got my son a 20" bike with feet brakes, and my daughter a 24" bike with hand brakes - yikes!


Next we went to the mall (I can't remember the last time I was there on a weekend!) to the Keurig store for my husbands, to Macy's to stock up on Clinique for me. I had tried to get cheaper stuff and never liked it (well, my skin didn't like it) so I am back to the expensive stuff.


Then we went to a brew pub for a late lunch. We each had a couple of beers, split some wings, and I had a pulled pork sandwich (I didn't eat the bread) and onion rings. Yummy! Then we saw "American Hussle" - I fell asleep in the beginning because of the beers (and I thought it was slow). but liked it more after my short nap :) I had a PB&J sandwich for a late dinner when we got home.


This morning I ran a 5K around the neighborhood. It was chilly but felt wonderful to be outside, despite all the snow. And then the rest of the day was all about my daughter:
--I took her to swimming where she moved up a level - no working out or swimming for me
--After a quick lunch and shower we all went back to the mall to get her ear's pierced (she is 7.5)
--Back home for homework, then on to see Frozen (the sing-a-long version)




Too quick! My foot is bothering me some. I am going to just try to work through it. I don't want to go back to basics and run less than 3 miles.


-

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Weekly Weigh-in #11

Starting Weight (12/1/2012): 232.2
Last Week: 195.8
Current Weight: 196.0
Change Since Last Week: +0.2
Total Change: -36.2
Height: 5'6"
Goal: 149


Ugh.....Not that I deserved a loss in any shape or form. Super Bowl munchies on Sunday and Snow Day stress/ boredom on Wednesday, to over all crappy eating each and every evening when I got home from work due to stress and frustration.


I did get some exercise in though!


Saturday I skipped public skating with the family because it was beautiful outside and I wanted to get a run in, so I ran 5K. Wonderful!


Sunday I ran 1 mile on the dreadmill (not continuously, did some intervals), then lifted arm weights THEN swam 8 laps. I was tired!


Today at WW we talked about what we want to do to love ourselves in the next month. And we talked about the routines we learned about last year and which one we can concentrate on in the next week. I chose "Taking some time to think before reaching for seconds" Since 5 pm - 7 pm continues to be my time of difficulty, I am going to work on only eating water and carrots if I have the urge to munch while making dinner, having smaller portions/no seconds, and see how it goes.


Today me and my husband have a date afternoon - in addition to errands, we are going to go to lunch and the movies. I plan on sharing his popcorn :) And not over doing it with lunch - planning my meal before I go and not being hungry (we will be having a late lunch).


I am at 196 today. 190.6 is a milestone for me in that it is 1/2 way between 232.2 (starting point at WW) and 149 (my initial goal).  But for now, I just really want the scale to say 194.8 as I have not seen a new number in 2 months (when I first hit 195.8 in mid-December).

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Weekly Weigh-in #10

Starting Weight (12/1/2012): 232.2
Last Week: 196.6
Current Weight: 195.8
Change Since Last Week: -0.8
Total Change: -36.4
Height: 5'6"
Goal: 149


Totally undeserving for any loss this week as my eating was pretty out of control. TOM and work stress and absolute desire for the frigid month of January to be over had me grazing quite a bit when I got home from work.


But February is here! As of tomorrow winter is 1/2 over! I know last year we had an absolutely incredible amount of snow from February 8th on, but even if that were to happen again, at least the end is near!


I had all these thoughts of celebrating Chinese New Year tonight and all these typical yummy, fattening foods for the Super Bowl tomorrow, but now I feel like doing none of it. Definitely not the Chinese New Year stuff tonight. I want to wake up feeling refreshed and the scale not being out of control. The Super Bowl....I can make healthier versions of some stuff and not go out of control.


Today me and my daughter are getting our hair done and then going to Target and Sports Authority to get her some new soccer and work out clothes. She needs to start doing cardio work in preparation for soccer this spring and I need to get back on the exercise wagon, if even just a little bit. It is better than nothing!


I so badly want the scale to be under 195. I haven't seen a new "number" in a long time - I am where I was in early December and it has been bouncing up and down for 2 months so I've got to get moving! I weighed my son the other day and he was 38.6 pounds - A couple more pounds and I can say I've "lost my son"!