WW Weigh-in #1

I made it through the door!



Starting weight: 233.2 (235 according to WW) --highest recorded WW weight ever :(
Height: 5'6"

But I did it and I am so glad that I did! I am excited for the next week and what it can bring.

So how was yesterday?

Instead of waiting for my son to get on the bus to go grocery shopping, I went at 7:30. Advantage of my husband working from home. Should have started doing this weeks ago! I didn't need a ton since I had gone on Tuesday, but got milk and produce, both desperately needed!

I didn't get a walk break in until 11:00 but since I hadn't gotten in my 9:00 break, I walked for 20 minutes (in case I hadn't mentioned it, I am walking at 3.0 with a 1.5% incline, so 20 minute miles (1/2 mile in my 10 minute breaks)).

"Normal eating" through the day, even staring at the Chex Mix - knowing I have weigh-in the next day really is a great motivator!

At 3:20 I got in a 25 minute walk - I just wanted to bang out the rest to get to 10K.

And "dinner" was my pre-WW staple: banana, single serving of Nutella (I buy the snack size with breadsticks and throw out the breadsticks), and a flaxseed tortilla.

What is up for the next week?
Still need to menu plan - we are trying to keep down expenses so will plan from what we have (which is quite a bit)

Today will be raining but tomorrow I'd like to get a walk in outside, even in the 30s temperature.

Not 100% sure yet what I plan on doing for lunches - I think I may stick to the Lean Cuisine pizzas one more week while I work on the rest of my day, then the following week start to faze them out again.

I have my last meeting with the Nutritionist on Tuesday before she retires. I don't think I will be making an appointment with another one - I really need someone to talk to weekly which is why I am considering the Coaching aspect of WW.

Continue tracking and continue walking and continue my water....

My view from home

At the last minute (ie I drove out of the driveway to take my son to the bus stop and then drove back in the driveway instead of to work) I decided to work from home. I am a wuss in the snow and even though I knew it wouldn't last, it was slippery.

When I work from home by myself I usually move around a little more during the day, but when my husband is WFH as well, I park myself at the Island where there is a plug.

And from this vantage point I can see the fridge and the dreaded Chex Mix (right next to the paper towel). But I prevailed yesterday! Part of it was because the scale said something awful - 236.4! Granted, AF arrived late Wednesday so I was pretty bloated and crampy yesterday, but still. I thought the 235 the other day was a fluke! I guess so, in the wrong direction :(



Not only did I resist the Chex Mix yesterday, I took 5 10-minute walk breaks on the treadmill between 9 am and 7:30 pm and hit my 10K steps. And I am starting to listen to podcasts! I need to find some good ones about healthy eating and weight loss and well as ones about visualizing your goals. Yesterday I had picked a running one, but for elite runner - nothing I could relate to.

I didn't feel like tacos for dinner, so around 4:00 pm me and my friends were chatting about chicken in the Instant Pot. I didn't have any frozen chicken breasts in the freezer (we usually only have them during the summer) but I did have some chicken tenders so I cooked them (needed to cook them longer than the 12 minutes googling told me to). And I made a yummy chicken/pasta bake and have lots of leftover chicken. Only downside to the day was I had two servings for dinner. Baby steps.

Eating on Thursday was similar to Wednesday:

7:30 am fruit cup
9:15 am - Combo plain and vanilla yogurt, blueberries, 1/8 cup granola
11:30 am - 2 string cheese, fruit cup
1:00 pm - Lean Cuisine pepperoni pizza, carrots
3:30 - hard boiled egg, celery, light mayo egg salad in flax seed wrap
6:30 - 2 servings of chicken/pasta bake with green beans

walking breaks:
9:00, 11:00, 3:00, 5:30, 7:15

Darn Chex Mix

The first day back to work was going so well..... until 4:00 pm

I got on lots of steps (2 10-minutes walks around the floors at work and 2 10-minute walks on the treadmill at home)

I packed my food:

• 225g of Greek yogurt (about 2/3 plain and 1/3 vanilla); blueberries; 1/8 cup granola
• 2 string cheese and peaches for snack
• Lean cuisine pizza and carrots for lunch

I got home at 1:45 and waited until my alarm said 3:30 for a snack: egg salad of 1 egg, 1 stalk celery, light mayo, flaxseed tortilla

So I was NOT hungry at 4:30 - I was just stressed about work and having no dinner plans. The ONLY snack in the house was my husband’s homemade Chex Mix (third batch this holiday season). Do j had one small Pyrex dish full....then 30 minutes later another. Darn Chex Mix.

But I did get 10K steps for a second day in a row.

Huff

New Years Outing

I fully enjoyed going to bed at 10 pm on New Year's Eve - it was raining quite hard, and quite warm, so I slept with the window open.

Originally I was going to drive to the rail trail (25 min each way) to run/walk for 3-4 miles and then come back and see if anyone in the family wanted to go this walk. Because it had been hovering near freezing the night before, and the rail trail is in an area where it is colder, I was concerned about a slippery trail and roads. Plus I decided I didn't want to set my alarm on New Year's Day after all. But I ended waking up around 8:15 and saw that it was over 40 degrees so headed out to a Reservoir down the street from my house.

I wasn't going to run at all - I was wearing my hiking shoes. But since part of the trail is an fire road, I decided to go for it. I wasn't wearing my Garmin (but did have my FitBit on) I just ran when I felt like it. The other part of the trail is very technical - too many roots and slippery leaves and pine needles for my good.

I estimate that with 2 loops I did about 3.4 miles. But it wasn't about the miles or the time. It was enjoying being out on a beautiful morning (for the second loop I took off my jacket!). Who knows if we will see such nice temperatures, on a weekend, before spring.

The rest of the day was spent organizing, doing our budget for the next 3 months, and relaxing. Today was trash day so I did the final purge of the fridge/freezer/pantry this morning. So there is no more junk left in the house. None. I even got rid of the dark chocolate bits because I could do serious damage with those. I want zero temptations!

The look ahead.....

I am not even going to reflect on what happened in 2018. It wasn't all bad
1) We went on a cruise in April
2) We rented a house in Maine in August
3) My husband and I went on a much needed trip away to Walt Disney World without kids
4) We didn't lose any more relatives and we both took many steps for healthy screenings, some of them greatly overdue
5) We paid down a lot of debt

But we still have some debt going into 2019 but a plan to get rid of it if we can stay the course over the next few months.
And I need to be happier with myself - it isn't a surprise that there is a huge lacking of pictures of me in 2018. And I have a HUGE trip coming up in less than 6 months that I want to be photographed in! But it isn't all about losing weight......

So, this is what I need to do in 2019:

Lose Weight - first and foremost. I stepped on the scale this morning, despite having a salt dinner, and saw 235. I've never seen that! These are the baby steps I need to take that I can start immediately:
1) Drink more water - 100 oz per day; don't drink my calories (except perhaps smoothies)
2) Track my food - even if it is what I ate, not how much (that can come later)
3) Sleep better - in bed by 9:30-10:00 every night
4) Move more at work - Walk 1000 steps every 2 hours at work; wear my Fitbit

The next set of steps, which I can start immediately, but are harder
5) Get back to Weight Watchers (and preferably pay for the coaching option)
6) Food prep and menu planning
7) Exercise - TBD exactly what this will look like


Mental Health:
Get outside more
Work on my photography skills

Spend less/do more - this has been a "to do" for so long. I have so much "stuff", "stuff" I want to use:
1) Gym and sports equipment - inside and out
2) Kitchen gadgets - mix it up in the kitchen - I did some of this this year and loved it
3) Craft items - me and my daughter did some over the holidays - it was so much fun!
4) Book I want to read!

And I know I am more successful when I write stuff down, so I really hope to be posting more to keep myself accountable.

So I am not going to try to say a goal by end of 2019 (um, under 200 would be WONDERFUL!!) but moving more, eating less/better, and writing it all down should hopefully do wonders!

 

Bye Bye 2018

Pictures are worth a 1,000 words and this one is the icing on the Cake from Hell. It was taken by my lovely daughter at Christmas Eve. I already felt bloated and gross at the beginning of the meal - stress of the holidays will do that to you!

But overall, we had a wonderful holidays
We went to the Patriots game

We wore matching PJs

We went to the Nutcracker and a Chocolate Buffet

We went to Maine to see lights and trees

We took an impromptu trip to NYC

And I got to take lots of pictures

 

But the fridge and pantry and freezer are cleared out, and except for one final meal (which won't be all that crazy except for the Chocolate Mousse I made), I am ready for 2019 to be here. 2018 was supposed to be great and it wasn't by any means. I am ready for 2019 to be a year of change. More on that to come.

 



 

Then and now...the same

I do exist. It's been a crazy busy fall. But, even though the holidays are starting, our lull period has begun now that fall sports are over.

I'll do more of a re-cap soon. But just a couple of pictures. Me and my husband recently went on an adult-only trip to Disney. And the pictures had me cringing......



But we did run a 5K race while we were there. One that required us to get up at 3 am, without kids!


Here is me 6 years ago. I weigh as much as I did back then. The trip that had me running to WW and losing 50 lbs over 18 months.....and the weight is officially all back on.

I'll be back very, very soon to talk about where I go from here!