Monday, December 29, 2008
Back to counting
Well, I took a bit of a hiatus during Christmas week. I can't bring myself to weigh in as I know it's not good. I can feel the difference in my jeans. But, I'm going to get back on track and do this. I didn't weigh in the past two Saturdays. The first one I was out of town and missed my meeting. The second one was two days after Christmas and I just wasn't going to go there. So I'll try to be good this week despite New Year's being later this week. I can still have bits of my Christmas chocolate and such, but within my points!
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
My Secret Indulgence
Well, I've rediscovered flavored coffee in the last couple of weeks. It's really soothing and warm at night and gives me that bit of sweetness that I'm longing for. I tend to crave sweets in the evenings, so having this around has really helped. The thing that sucks though is I have to drink decaf because I can't handle caffeine after about three in the afternoon. But anyways, it's a great trick to keep me from snacking on things I shouldn't.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Still on the right track and the "rules"
Well, I couldn't help myself again and I snuck in another weigh in. Despite my horrible Saturday I'm still on the right track. I won't reveal where I'm at as far as weight loss goes. I'll post that after the next official weigh in! I'm glad I got right back on track. Sometimes my "all or nothing" nature leads me to throw away a whole week when I've screwed up one day. I fought that this time and have stuck to my points since Saturday. I haven't had much in the way of treats because I don't have my extra weekly points anymore - they were all used on Saturday. So, I've been eating really healthy.
Here's some of the weight watchers rules:
I need to be active every day. They recommend 30 minutes. I'm working on that. I'm trying to incorporate more activity into the daycare day as this seems easier for me to do. However, it doesn't get done every day. But it's happening often enough that I feel successful so far.
I need to drink 6 8oz glasses of water a day. I definitely get this. I LOVE water.
I'm supposed to get 2 servings of milk product daily. I don't bother with this one. Too much dairy makes me groggy. I get 1 serving on most days and some days none at all.
I need 5 servings a day of vegetables. I'm definitely getting this. Actually, this is the biggest change I've made. I eat tons of veggies to help fill me up so that I eat less of the entree. The entree is usually what has tons of points in it. I eat my veggies first so that I'm already starting to get full by the time I get to the entree. This was a great technique when we had homemade beef stroganoff the other night. Normally I'd help myself to several servings of stroganoff and then think about having the veggies if I wasn't too stuffed. So instead, I portioned out my serving size of stroganoff, piled my plate with veggies, ate the veggies first, and finished off with the stroganoff. By that time I was full and the temptation to have more stroganoff was just not there. Okay - I did sneak a few noodles while I was packing away the leftovers afterwards. But still, a lot less harmless than another serving of it!
I need to take a multivitamin every day. I'm not great with this. I'm getting better at remembering it though.
I need 2 teaspoons of healthy oil every day. I don't worry about this one either because I use olive oil like it's going out of style. I cook pretty much everything in a bit of olive oil, so I probably make it to this amount most days.
Last time I did weight watchers, about 3-4 years ago, I didn't bother following the rules. I just stayed within points. I lost weight, but only lasted 6 or 7 weeks. Why is that? Because I was hungry all the time. I wasn't filling up on veggies. I was eating whatever I wanted, usually starving myself for half a day so that I could eat a candy bar or something at night. So this time I'm trying to do it right so that I'm making lasting changes.
Here's some of the weight watchers rules:
I need to be active every day. They recommend 30 minutes. I'm working on that. I'm trying to incorporate more activity into the daycare day as this seems easier for me to do. However, it doesn't get done every day. But it's happening often enough that I feel successful so far.
I need to drink 6 8oz glasses of water a day. I definitely get this. I LOVE water.
I'm supposed to get 2 servings of milk product daily. I don't bother with this one. Too much dairy makes me groggy. I get 1 serving on most days and some days none at all.
I need 5 servings a day of vegetables. I'm definitely getting this. Actually, this is the biggest change I've made. I eat tons of veggies to help fill me up so that I eat less of the entree. The entree is usually what has tons of points in it. I eat my veggies first so that I'm already starting to get full by the time I get to the entree. This was a great technique when we had homemade beef stroganoff the other night. Normally I'd help myself to several servings of stroganoff and then think about having the veggies if I wasn't too stuffed. So instead, I portioned out my serving size of stroganoff, piled my plate with veggies, ate the veggies first, and finished off with the stroganoff. By that time I was full and the temptation to have more stroganoff was just not there. Okay - I did sneak a few noodles while I was packing away the leftovers afterwards. But still, a lot less harmless than another serving of it!
I need to take a multivitamin every day. I'm not great with this. I'm getting better at remembering it though.
I need 2 teaspoons of healthy oil every day. I don't worry about this one either because I use olive oil like it's going out of style. I cook pretty much everything in a bit of olive oil, so I probably make it to this amount most days.
Last time I did weight watchers, about 3-4 years ago, I didn't bother following the rules. I just stayed within points. I lost weight, but only lasted 6 or 7 weeks. Why is that? Because I was hungry all the time. I wasn't filling up on veggies. I was eating whatever I wanted, usually starving myself for half a day so that I could eat a candy bar or something at night. So this time I'm trying to do it right so that I'm making lasting changes.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
A Little Thing I've Learned About Moderation
I've had the same bag of chips and the same container of ice cream sitting in the house well over a week. How is this possible? Me, the girl who can't restrain myself when there's junk food in the house. Well, part of my past failure has been that I'm "all or nothing" about things. I try to eat so good that I go overboard when I do get the opportunity to "cheat". I've always told myself that I can't handle junk in the house and just have no restraint when it comes to that. So in telling myself that for years and years I've wholeheartedly believed in the truth of that fact. When one believes this little lie it's easy to see how binging can happen because if a person truly has no restraint and can't handle it, then it's not that person's fault. That person can't help it!!! This little revelation hit me like a ton of bricks the other day. Believing this lie and trying to keep junk food from entering the house has been extremely detrimental to my success with eating right. Because if a person has no restraint, what happens when that person is outside the safe confines of the junk-food free house. Well, then, it's not that person's fault when binging happens because that person can't help it. Well....I beg to differ. I can help it...I'm in control and I can be restrained if I want to be. In fact, I would go so far to say that I need to have the ice cream in the house so that I don't feel deprived. It's not so tempting when I know I can have it whenever I want it (a portion size of it, that is). I've had potato chips a couple of times this week. They're this all natural brand that actually tastes like real potato. They're delicious. I've always believed the lie that an open bag of potato chips is an empty bag of potato chips. Nonsense. I've had chips a couple of times this week (portioned out in a serving size in a little bowl, bag gets put up right away). There's no need to gorge, because I can have some again another day.
Now I'm not saying that I should spend a lot of my weight watcher's daily points on junk. I would feel like complete crap if I did that. But, there's room for little treats now and then. Usually I have to make a choice. Do I want the ice cream or the beer because I don't have enough points for both? Chips or wine? And so on.
I'm hoping that I can hold onto this new truth and replace the lie with the truth and use that to guide my behavior!
Now I'm not saying that I should spend a lot of my weight watcher's daily points on junk. I would feel like complete crap if I did that. But, there's room for little treats now and then. Usually I have to make a choice. Do I want the ice cream or the beer because I don't have enough points for both? Chips or wine? And so on.
I'm hoping that I can hold onto this new truth and replace the lie with the truth and use that to guide my behavior!
Sunday, December 14, 2008
My 89.5 point day
Well, yesterday someone took us to a Chinese buffet as a Christmas gift. It was very nice and we've been hearing about this wonderful buffet for quite some time. So we decided to check it out. I tried really hard to make better choices while there. Other than 1 crab rangoon and 1 of those chinese doughnuts I avoided the fried foods. Honestly that's a major improvement as I love crab rangoon and those little doughnuts. Usually I load up on them, so one of each was good for me. I tasted sushi for the first time and really liked it!
That, in and of itself, wasn't horrible. Granted I blew threw all of my daily and weekly points. But I figure I'll stick with my daily points the rest of the week and throw in a few extra workouts. No harm done, right???
Wellll, then we get home from the buffet and Christmas shopping. T's friend (who was the one that took us out) and a couple of his other friends come over for movies. And what do they do later that evening? Make a pizza, ice cream, and beer run. Soooo...needless to say I had a few slices of pizza, beer, and some ice cream.
The grand total?? 89.5 points...eek! For those not familiar with weight watchers, this is more than twice the amount that I'm supposed to have in a day. The interesting thing is that if I would've eaten some healthy leftovers we had in the house for dinner (instead of the pizza, beer, and ice cream) I still would have been over, but not by nearly so much. I guess after a certain point I figured, what the hell, I've ruined this day. *sigh* That's the attitude that always gets me, that "all or nothing" mentality.
So anyways, I promised I'd report the good, bad, and downright ugly. This was the downright ugly. But today is a new day and I start fresh with my daily points. My weekly points are gone until Saturday, so I have to stick within daily points for the rest of the week. I'm going to try to get more activity in this week to help counteract yesterday's nightmare.
That, in and of itself, wasn't horrible. Granted I blew threw all of my daily and weekly points. But I figure I'll stick with my daily points the rest of the week and throw in a few extra workouts. No harm done, right???
Wellll, then we get home from the buffet and Christmas shopping. T's friend (who was the one that took us out) and a couple of his other friends come over for movies. And what do they do later that evening? Make a pizza, ice cream, and beer run. Soooo...needless to say I had a few slices of pizza, beer, and some ice cream.
The grand total?? 89.5 points...eek! For those not familiar with weight watchers, this is more than twice the amount that I'm supposed to have in a day. The interesting thing is that if I would've eaten some healthy leftovers we had in the house for dinner (instead of the pizza, beer, and ice cream) I still would have been over, but not by nearly so much. I guess after a certain point I figured, what the hell, I've ruined this day. *sigh* That's the attitude that always gets me, that "all or nothing" mentality.
So anyways, I promised I'd report the good, bad, and downright ugly. This was the downright ugly. But today is a new day and I start fresh with my daily points. My weekly points are gone until Saturday, so I have to stick within daily points for the rest of the week. I'm going to try to get more activity in this week to help counteract yesterday's nightmare.
Friday, December 12, 2008
At the Hop
So, foodwise I'm still staying within my points. I will say that I'm definitely plowing through my extra weekly points. I know sometimes weight watchers participants decide not to use them in order to lose more. I'm sure that works for those people, however, it won't work for me. Why is that? Because if I feel deprived and unable to have even the teensiest of splurges I'll go off the deep end and have a binge fest. So I am staying within the program, but having my little splurges here and there. I'll probably lose weight a little bit more slowly as a result, but I really want this change to last.
Today's workout was to an oldies CD. I popped it in while the kiddos were up and encouraged them to dance. I tried to do a new movement with arms and legs every song and maintain it throughout the song. During one of the songs two of the kiddos wanted to be held. So I had one on each hip and I was moving around to the music. I even threw in some plie`s. What a butt burner that was! But once again the workout was fun. The kiddos were laughing and one can't help but to feel happy when toddlers are laughing. It's pretty infectious.
Needless to say I think I've hit on a discovery. I much prefer free movement and fun to "exercise." Workout tapes make me want to vomit. I've used them successfully in the past, but I always dread putting them in the DVD player. Dancing I don't dread. Of course I'm not really all that sore yet, so we'll see how I feel in another couple weeks of this. But I'm trying to stick to keeping my intensity really high (think pretty close to panting) during the workouts. Since I don't have tons of time I'm better off doing shorter, higher intensity workouts instead of longer, moderate workouts. Granted, I'd love to squeeze in some longer ones as they're great for building endurance. But for now I'm happy with my progress and will work on being consistent with what I'm doing.
After my workout I attempted to stretch. Bad idea with three toddlers running around. It's hard to stretch with children trying to jump on your back, sit on your head, and find any other way to be on your body!
Today's workout was to an oldies CD. I popped it in while the kiddos were up and encouraged them to dance. I tried to do a new movement with arms and legs every song and maintain it throughout the song. During one of the songs two of the kiddos wanted to be held. So I had one on each hip and I was moving around to the music. I even threw in some plie`s. What a butt burner that was! But once again the workout was fun. The kiddos were laughing and one can't help but to feel happy when toddlers are laughing. It's pretty infectious.
Needless to say I think I've hit on a discovery. I much prefer free movement and fun to "exercise." Workout tapes make me want to vomit. I've used them successfully in the past, but I always dread putting them in the DVD player. Dancing I don't dread. Of course I'm not really all that sore yet, so we'll see how I feel in another couple weeks of this. But I'm trying to stick to keeping my intensity really high (think pretty close to panting) during the workouts. Since I don't have tons of time I'm better off doing shorter, higher intensity workouts instead of longer, moderate workouts. Granted, I'd love to squeeze in some longer ones as they're great for building endurance. But for now I'm happy with my progress and will work on being consistent with what I'm doing.
After my workout I attempted to stretch. Bad idea with three toddlers running around. It's hard to stretch with children trying to jump on your back, sit on your head, and find any other way to be on your body!
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Boo "Helped" With Today's Workout
Well, I got in a workout today and that was exciting. I did 20 minutes worth. Boo was awake and thought that I needed help. So he enjoyed pouncing on my tummy while I was doing crunches on my balance ball. Then, while I was marching around the room pumping my arms in the air (to keep my heart rate up inbetween crunches), he insisted on being held. So I found myself marching around the room, holding him on one side, and pumping the arm on the other side (think weight lifting type movements without the weights). I'm sure that I looked absolutely ridiculous. Boo thought it was lots of fun though. It's hard to hate working out when your little one is enjoying it so much! He even joined me for my squats. He enjoyed going up on down with me. Needless to say, my butt and thighs hurt. Finally Boo decided to go play while I finished my workout. I thought I'd give myself a bit of relaxation/stretching during my work out and do a bit of yoga. So there I am in the middle of downward dog in all of its relaxing glory when I get whacked in the back of my head with a push toy. Really hard! The push toy got put away for the duration of the afternoon.
I Couldn't Wait
Wellll, I couldn't wait until Saturday to weigh in. I hopped on the scale this morning..............................................................................................................
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I've lost TWO POUNDS!!!
I'm not going to update the ticker at the bottom yet because there will be a difference between my home scale and the weight watcher's scale as to the actual #, but I've lost two pounds since the last time I weighed in on my home scale. YAY!!!!
Okay, now that I know I'm on the right track I'm going to try to restrain myself from weighing in at home, and only weigh in on Saturdays at my meetings.
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I've lost TWO POUNDS!!!
I'm not going to update the ticker at the bottom yet because there will be a difference between my home scale and the weight watcher's scale as to the actual #, but I've lost two pounds since the last time I weighed in on my home scale. YAY!!!!
Okay, now that I know I'm on the right track I'm going to try to restrain myself from weighing in at home, and only weigh in on Saturdays at my meetings.
Antsy for the Weigh-In
Well my second weigh in is this coming Saturday and I'm already getting antsy. I don't want to weigh myself prematurely as I have a tendency to get obsessed with numbers and I'll be really pissed if the scale hasn't moved yet. I guess I just want some sort of confirmation that I'm moving in the right direction.
I feel like I have a gazillion points to use each day because I'm a nursing mom. I get 10 extra points every day just because I'm nursing! Add this to the 35 weekly points in addition to the daily points and it's huge potential for splurging on stuff I don't need. I find that at the end of the day I often have a few points leftover. Rather than be satisfied I feel the need to stuff anything in my mouth so that I use up all my points. Why do I do that? So I'm curious if I'm going to make progress at this point level or if I'm going to have to take away some of those nursing points. The weight watchers consultant that I talked to at the meeting last week feels like I need those extra points. BAH!
I have started to eat a lot more vegetables as most of them are 0 or 1 point. It's really nice to have that to help fill me up when I only get to eat 1/2 cup or 1 cup of the entree or whatever. My measuring cups have gotten a ton of use this week. Last week we had ice cream in the house, so I would usually help myself to a serving of ice cream most days (within my points). Have you ever measured out a serving of ice cream??? It's 1/4 cup. Measure it out next time you eat ice cream. Word of advice - put it in a very small dish/cup/etc...Otherwise, it looks just sad. But, I have found that it's possible to be satisfied with just the 1/4 cup. I'm just not used to it.
Overall I'd say I'm making some good changes. I'm trying to pace myself in making changes. I know that i have a tendency to be "all or nothing" and I flop when I'm not in "all" mode. So I'm trying to do this slowly, which will inevitably slow my progress. BUT, I want it to LAST this time around.
Well, I guess that's all for now.
I feel like I have a gazillion points to use each day because I'm a nursing mom. I get 10 extra points every day just because I'm nursing! Add this to the 35 weekly points in addition to the daily points and it's huge potential for splurging on stuff I don't need. I find that at the end of the day I often have a few points leftover. Rather than be satisfied I feel the need to stuff anything in my mouth so that I use up all my points. Why do I do that? So I'm curious if I'm going to make progress at this point level or if I'm going to have to take away some of those nursing points. The weight watchers consultant that I talked to at the meeting last week feels like I need those extra points. BAH!
I have started to eat a lot more vegetables as most of them are 0 or 1 point. It's really nice to have that to help fill me up when I only get to eat 1/2 cup or 1 cup of the entree or whatever. My measuring cups have gotten a ton of use this week. Last week we had ice cream in the house, so I would usually help myself to a serving of ice cream most days (within my points). Have you ever measured out a serving of ice cream??? It's 1/4 cup. Measure it out next time you eat ice cream. Word of advice - put it in a very small dish/cup/etc...Otherwise, it looks just sad. But, I have found that it's possible to be satisfied with just the 1/4 cup. I'm just not used to it.
Overall I'd say I'm making some good changes. I'm trying to pace myself in making changes. I know that i have a tendency to be "all or nothing" and I flop when I'm not in "all" mode. So I'm trying to do this slowly, which will inevitably slow my progress. BUT, I want it to LAST this time around.
Well, I guess that's all for now.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
First Week of Weight Watchers
Well, I've decided to enlist the help of the Weight Watchers program. I joined last Sunday. I got a monthly pass that gives me access to all of their online tools as well as access to weekly meetings.
My point allowance is quite high right now due to the fact that I'm still nursing. At first I didn't add on the extra points for nursing because I thought I might not need them. By day 2 I was shaky, irritable, and hungry. So I added the points back in. It seems to be helping. So far I've stuck with it. I like that there's extra weekly points allotted. It gives me a chance to have bad days, as long as I balance them out with good days.
I had a bad day yesterday. My hubby had a Christmas party at his reserve unit (his last monthly drill ever). I didn't even eat that much of the food because it tasted horrible. But when I added up the points at the end of the day I'd eaten a lot. Granted, we also got Arby's for dinner, so that didn't help. Needless to say that I blew threw all but 10 of my weekly points. So I pretty much have to be a saint for the rest of the week. I'm doing good so far today.
One of the tools on weight watchers online that I love is their recipe builder. I can input the ingredients and amounts that I used in a recipe and then input the number of servings. Their tool will tell me how many points each serving is worth. That's pretty great because I do a lot of home cooking.
My point allowance is quite high right now due to the fact that I'm still nursing. At first I didn't add on the extra points for nursing because I thought I might not need them. By day 2 I was shaky, irritable, and hungry. So I added the points back in. It seems to be helping. So far I've stuck with it. I like that there's extra weekly points allotted. It gives me a chance to have bad days, as long as I balance them out with good days.
I had a bad day yesterday. My hubby had a Christmas party at his reserve unit (his last monthly drill ever). I didn't even eat that much of the food because it tasted horrible. But when I added up the points at the end of the day I'd eaten a lot. Granted, we also got Arby's for dinner, so that didn't help. Needless to say that I blew threw all but 10 of my weekly points. So I pretty much have to be a saint for the rest of the week. I'm doing good so far today.
One of the tools on weight watchers online that I love is their recipe builder. I can input the ingredients and amounts that I used in a recipe and then input the number of servings. Their tool will tell me how many points each serving is worth. That's pretty great because I do a lot of home cooking.
Welcome To My Journey
Welcome. This is a new blog for me. The title, Sexy By Thirty, reflects one of my goals. Weight loss and a healthier life is what I'm after.
I've struggled with weight as far back as I can remember. I even remember being a young child and having to shop in the "Pretty Plus" section. How incredibly mortifying. I've grown up with a constant awareness of feeling frumpy. I've lost weight on several occasions. The smallest I got was before my wedding. I was down to a size 6, yes me, the girl who felt thin if I could maintain a 12 for awhile. I felt wonderful. I bought cute clothes and they actually fit. Then I got married...several years and lots of stress later I'm worse than I've ever been.
I'm going to be 30 next year. I'll be entering a new stage of my life. I'm really nervous about leaving my 20s behind. I've decided that I don't want to take all of this extra weight into my 30s. I have a lot of reasons to get this weight off. Here's some of them:
I want to be able to keep up with my child (or children as could be the case in the future)
I want to have another child, but would like to start out at a smaller size prior to getting pregnant. I think this would decrease the amount of strain that the pregnancy weight puts on my body if I could start out at a healthy size. Also, I'd like to be able to find maternity clothes in my size that are cute and fun and affordable. This is extremely difficult when one is larger.
I want to show my child (children) how to live a healthy lifestyle so that they're not trying diet after diet when they're older and not having to shop the "pretty plus" section.
I want to fit into cute clothing and feel attractive.
I want a better sex life. Sorry if that's TMI, but it's hard to be sexy when one feels anything but.
I want more energy. I know that eating appropriate foods and engaging in more physical activity will help me to fight off the fatigue that so often plagues me.
So anyways, I know that I'm not the only one in this boat. I want to be as honest as I can, sharing both the ups and downs of this journey. The good days, the bad days, and the very ugly "fell off the bandwagon" days. I'm hoping that this blog can provide support and inspiration to those that can identify with wanting to lose weight and be healthier. I'm hoping that it can serve as some sort of accountability as I really wouldn't want to have to blog about "falling off the bandwagon" every other day.
I'm NOT going to be posting my weight. Sorry...that's just not my cup of tea. I will try to find a weight loss ticker so that the pounds lost can be posted. But I'm not posting actual numbers. I'm just too nauseated by the numbers to post them for all to see.
I've struggled with weight as far back as I can remember. I even remember being a young child and having to shop in the "Pretty Plus" section. How incredibly mortifying. I've grown up with a constant awareness of feeling frumpy. I've lost weight on several occasions. The smallest I got was before my wedding. I was down to a size 6, yes me, the girl who felt thin if I could maintain a 12 for awhile. I felt wonderful. I bought cute clothes and they actually fit. Then I got married...several years and lots of stress later I'm worse than I've ever been.
I'm going to be 30 next year. I'll be entering a new stage of my life. I'm really nervous about leaving my 20s behind. I've decided that I don't want to take all of this extra weight into my 30s. I have a lot of reasons to get this weight off. Here's some of them:
I want to be able to keep up with my child (or children as could be the case in the future)
I want to have another child, but would like to start out at a smaller size prior to getting pregnant. I think this would decrease the amount of strain that the pregnancy weight puts on my body if I could start out at a healthy size. Also, I'd like to be able to find maternity clothes in my size that are cute and fun and affordable. This is extremely difficult when one is larger.
I want to show my child (children) how to live a healthy lifestyle so that they're not trying diet after diet when they're older and not having to shop the "pretty plus" section.
I want to fit into cute clothing and feel attractive.
I want a better sex life. Sorry if that's TMI, but it's hard to be sexy when one feels anything but.
I want more energy. I know that eating appropriate foods and engaging in more physical activity will help me to fight off the fatigue that so often plagues me.
So anyways, I know that I'm not the only one in this boat. I want to be as honest as I can, sharing both the ups and downs of this journey. The good days, the bad days, and the very ugly "fell off the bandwagon" days. I'm hoping that this blog can provide support and inspiration to those that can identify with wanting to lose weight and be healthier. I'm hoping that it can serve as some sort of accountability as I really wouldn't want to have to blog about "falling off the bandwagon" every other day.
I'm NOT going to be posting my weight. Sorry...that's just not my cup of tea. I will try to find a weight loss ticker so that the pounds lost can be posted. But I'm not posting actual numbers. I'm just too nauseated by the numbers to post them for all to see.
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