Reuniting With an Old Friend

Happy Thursday, friends! I've been having a fairly busy week, so I haven't had a chance to update you all on how I'm doing.

First, the good news. I am still exercising like a mofo. Last week, for the second week in a row, I worked out 6 times! Actually 7 times if you count a Rest & Renew yoga class I went to... but that mostly consisted of lying on cushions and such. This week, I'm planning to get in 6 workouts as well (3 with my trainer, and 3 short cardio sessions on my own).

Next, the slightly-less-good-but-still-pretty-okay news. I haven't been eating as great as I would like to... last Saturday I think I ate all of my meals out (including a burger and onion rings for lunch that made me feel sick). On Sunday, I decided I would just get back on track... but I wondered what back on track should mean for me. I am no longer following the Fast Metabolism Diet, and when I just try to "eat healthy", that somehow turns into a crazy food free-for-all. It seems I'm either following a super strict diet (which leads to me binging like crazy when it ends), or following no diet at all (which leads to me binging like crazy most days). What's a girl to do?

Oh, Weight Watchers. A few months ago, I impulsively signed up for a 6-month online membership in a fit of desperation. Until this week, I hadn't even tracked a full day. But, as of this past Monday, I have been faithfully tracking everything I've eaten.

Part of me thinks this is totally the wrong way to go... I feel like I shouldn't have to track everything I eat, that I should just choose the right foods, and that if I follow Weight Watchers I'll just end up eating too much junk/processed food/etc because I'm allowed to eat whatever I want as long as it fits into my daily points... but obviously, just trying to choose the right foods has not been working for me. And it was Weight Watchers that got me to my lowest weight ever four years ago.

In just under 6 weeks, I am leaving on my trip to Nashville, Memphis, and Chicago. I can only imagine how great I will feel if, until I go, I track consistently (not to mention continue with all of my exercise!). It will be HOT in Nashville and Memphis in August, and I'd like to feel a bit more comfortable in my summer clothes. I'm also taking the trip with an extremely fit friend, and I want to be able to keep up!

So, I hereby declare, that I will continue tracking until the trip. That would make 6 weeks of tracking!

I'm not sure if I will do the weekly weigh-ins, though. Lately, I've been weighing myself frequently and feeling quite discouraged. I've been working so hard at the gym that I feel like the weight should just be falling off; but, of course, it really comes down to what I eat (which hasn't been ideal). My trainer suggested that I put my scale away for now, and I think I will. :)

Now it's time for me to finish cooking dinner (two recipes from Eat, Shrink & Be Merry!: Sticky Chicky and Mashed Fauxtatoes) in my adorable apron:

I tried taking several photos. Believe it or not, this one was the least awkward.

Set up for Success

Hello, all! I'm a happy gal because I finally have groceries. I managed to coast along without any food for a couple of days--surviving off of a lone box of Cheerios I picked up at a nearby convenience store, the kindness of my new roommates, and the orientation barbecue I attended yesterday--but last night around 6 pm, I set out to find food.

I wandered around my new neighbourhood, starving, when suddenly a small food store appeared. I ventured in, and it turned out to be a vegetarian take-out place that also sells some specialty food items! The store is called Bonobo's Foods. I bought some Silver Hills Sprouted Bakery Squirrelly bread (which I've been meaning to try for awhile) and I got a veggie burger with a salad for dinner.


This was maybe the BEST veggie burger I've ever eaten. The salad was also delish! I really lucked out finding this place. :)

This morning, the lovely Tiffany took me to get the rest of my groceries. I was a bit shellshocked by the amount of money I spent today, but I was really starting from scratch. Not only was I buying food, I had to buy laundry detergent, toiletries, some food containers, and other things that I couldn't bring with me on the bus. I won't need anything else for awhile!

I am really excited about doing some cooking, making healthy lunches to bring to school, and all that jazz. It's honestly been AGES since I cooked anything.

And what's this I see?!


Why it appears to be my Ultimate 3 Month Tracker! That's right, today I began tracking again! I have decided to stop going to Weight Watchers meetings while I'm up here to save some money, but I do have the tools to follow the program on my own for awhile.

There's just one thing missing... I have no scale up here! I think this will be a good thing, however. If I feel good and my clothes feel looser, I'll know I'm succeeding. And maybe I'll see a great number when I'm back in Toronto again!

My goals this week are to track everything, bring my lunch to school 3 days out of the 4 days I have classes, and workout once. I feel this is totally doable. My tuition fees include a gym membership, so I plan to take advantage of that.

Yesterday, I met a bunch of people from my program at orientation. Everyone was very friendly, and a few people mentioned they want to utilize the gym. Hopefully I will get some gym buddies asap!

I just love back-to-school season. Don't you?

The ugly truth.

202.2 pounds.

That's what I weighed in at this morning. This is not really surprising to me, but it's still hard to accept.

When I joined Weight Watchers meetings on November 7, 2009, I weighed 201.8 pounds. On May 1, 2010, I reached my 10% goal, and an all-time low of 181.6 pounds. So I've regained just over 20 pounds.

This has to stop. I can't let it go any further than this, and I won't.

I'll report back in the next couple of days with my action plan! It may or may not involve signing up with a friend to run a 5k.

Toodles!

Weigh-In & Back on Track!

Guess what, guys!

This girl has been TRACKING! :D

It all started on Saturday.

I haven't been mentioning my weigh-ins lately... I'm sure you can guess why! But let's come clean. On Saturday, I weighed in at 191.6 lbs, exactly 10 lbs higher than my lowest weight. On May 1, when I got my 10%, I was 181.6. I know I can drop these new 10 pounds really quickly, because I put them on quickly while eating total garbage.

Saturday's meeting topic was falling in love with your tracker! How fitting! I picked up a paper tracker to use this week (I have a 3-month tracker right now, but it has so many empty pages, it depresses me). I told Ashley, my leader, that I would give it to her next week as a little extra incentive.

Off to a good start:

I also rekindled my love affair with my Weight Watchers food scale (I swear, one of these days I'll devote a post to how wonderful it is). And have I mentioned how much I love Silver Hills Little Big Bread? These two slices (they must have been small end-slices) worked out to be 1 point total!

I've been keeping my meals pretty simple. Some PC Blue Menu Encrusted Wild Keta Salmon and a salad with tons o' avocado:

Homemade hummus, Mary's crackers, and tomato soup:

On Sunday, I even managed to sneak in a green smoothie! I'm sure my body was thanking me.

As for exercise? On Sunday morning, I dragged myself out of bed before 8 am for my first run in many weeks. I managed to go for about 25 minutes. I'm quite happy with that. I'm also planning to hit up BodyStep tomorrow morning.

It's good to be back! 100 pounds lost, here I come!

Weekend Wrap-Up & Operation: Buff Week 6

Happy Monday!

This Saturday I had the honour of getting together with some of my fellow bloggers at Fresh restaurant. Check out Kat's blog for a recap & some pictures! It was a blast! Everyone was super nice and welcoming, and I'm so happy that I got to meet them all and make some new friends. :)

This weekend also concluded Week 6 of this session of Booty Camp, and Week 6 of Operation: Buff. I'm happy to say I'm still on the workout wagon!

Here are my workouts from last week:

• 20 minutes on the elliptical (Monday)
• 2 BodyFlow classes (Monday & Sunday)
• 2 Booty Camp classes (Tuesday & Wednesday)
• BodyStep (Tuesday)
• BodyAttack (Sunday)

I also did some dancing while out with my friends on Friday night. Let's just say my weigh-in on Saturday was less than stellar after drinking & snacking late into the night on Friday, and chugging back water on Saturday morning BEFORE my meeting so I wouldn't be too hungover for the GTG... yeah. Up 11 pounds. My body is capable of some crazy fluctuations, as you may have noticed, so I wouldn't be surprised if that was all gone again next Saturday.

I've managed to stick to my dairy-free experiment for an entire week now! I think my sinuses are a lot clearer, but I'm not sure yet how much of an effect the no-dairy is having. I think I'll be able to tell better when I try reintroducing it. I'm using these guidelines on the World's Healthiest Foods site (one of my faves) for testing for a dairy allergy.

Now it's time to finish my homework for my class tonight! Leaving things to the last minute, as usual...

What's in the Box?

Could it be?!

Yes!!! I reached my Weight Watchers 10% today!

On November 7, 2009, I switched from Weight Watchers online to meetings, with a starting weight of 201.8 pounds. This morning, I weighed in at 181.6! I'm down 20.2 pounds (and 94 pounds in total)!

I have had 3 weeks in a row of staying completely on plan, which is a huge deal for me. I'm not really sure what led to my recent change in mindset: I have been totally motivated, and not succumbing to crazy bouts of emotional eating. I've been focusing on staying relaxed and easing stress. I think all of the exercise of late is definitely helping, too!

Joining Weight Watchers meetings was exactly what I needed (I only wish I had done it sooner). Last summer, I slowly gained back about 10 pounds that I'd lost, and I knew I needed to shake things up. I owe so much to my wonderful leader, Ashley, and the wonderful members at my meeting! Here I am with (the always-fashionable) Ashley this morning:

After the meeting, I went straight to Second Cup to enjoy a latte while getting some of my massive pile of exam marking out of the way.

I got hungry, and decided I needed a snack... I saw a packaged "Breakfast Cookie" that looked reasonably healthy - and only 100 calories! I bought it before I realized something... I had almost been taken in by the oldest trick in the book... the portion size on the nutrition info!

Apparently, each package contained TWO portions, not one. I would have bought it either way (and I did eat it, and enjoy it), but it was a bit irritating. Since when is half of a cookie one portion!? This is why you must be VIGILANT at all times, people! Although I must admit, I almost wish I hadn't noticed, so I would have two more points available to eat. ;)

Now I'm off to do the Booty Camp Fitness DVD... I'm going to attempt the ADVANCED workout. Yikes!

Weigh-In

I was down 2.2 this morning! 183 pounds - a new low! :)

This means:

• I am officially in the LOW 180's
• I am only 1.2 pounds away from my 10% key ring!!

But EVEN BETTER than having a good number on the scale is the fact that I have had an amazing 2 weeks in a row on plan.

Not just tracking while still going over points.

Not just being super-careful for the last few days of the week to salvage a few days of eating too much.

But TRACKING and STAYING WITHIN MY POINTS for two weeks in a row! And I feel like I'm really in a groove. My willpower is on fire! Honestly, I was really wavering for a couple of months there. I'm worried about jinxing it by telling you, but I feel really good about my ability to stick with this lifestyle right now. I feel like I'm actually listening to my hunger signals - and guess what - I'm not always hungry! Who knew?!

I am determined. I will stay on track and reach my 10%, and then reach 100 pounds lost (7 pounds away!), and then reach my Weight Watchers goal weight. Watch out!

Quick Weigh-In Results

Hello lovelies!

I was right - I TOTALLY rocked this week. Down 4.8 pounds. I'm back to my lowest weight ever - 185.2! (Let's ignore the fact that this is where I was on March 6, too).

I bought a new 3 month journal, and I need to make a commitment.

I will be on plan for at least 10 of the next 12 weeks. I don't want to say all 12 weeks (although that's what I'm aiming for), because if I have an off-week (or two), I don't want to feel like a failure. If I hit 10/12 weeks, it will be a MAJOR IMPROVEMENT over the last 12 weeks. Persistence, not perfection, right folks?

I'm off to attend a friend's birthday party - in Tiverton, Ontario! I will not be back until tomorrow night, at which point I will be catching up with all of you folks.

Have a great weekend! :)

Weigh-In

So, as I expected, I was up this week... up 4.2! Yikes! I guess that's what happens when you go over your points every single day... But I have a good feeling about this week. And, really, it's all IN MY CONTROL anyway. I can choose to eat well, or not. And I will choose to eat well :)

Kate was at my meeting today, and we walked home together! It was great. She also introduced me to this great bulk store near our meeting that carries big 1-point tortillas. It's so handy knowing fellow Weight Watchers!

I had a great start to my Weight Watchers week: I did the Booty Camp dvd and I went to the movies (Shutter Island) and brought my OWN snacks, which I didn't even eat most of (there are some doubles because I brought some to share):

(I found those All-Bran Bites at the dollar store today! The entire box was a dollar!! They had tons of granola bars and such, but I restrained myself and just got these to try. And, sadly, I didn't like them all that much). Popcorn is maybe my favourite thing ever, so I'm really proud that I didn't even bat an eye at the concession tonight.

I also tried cooking dried chickpeas today for the first time, in my slow cooker. It worked really well, and I made an quick chickpea curry dish for dinner (I basically just stir-fried olive oil, onions, chickpeas, diced tomatoes, curry paste, turmeric, curry powder, cumin, ginger, and garlic... and then ate it with some avocado).

Some other eats from the past couple of days (sorry my photos aren't as nice as many of my fellow bloggers'!):

Some plain yogurt with orange and cantaloupe chunks (in a bright 'n' cheery bowl)!

Any ideas what that is?? Quinoa flakes! I tried them today for the first time... I wasn't sure about the taste at first, but I mixed in some strawberry Crofter's and it was better. I think I just have to get used to it.

I'm off to bed! Stay tuned over the next couple of days for an Operation: Buff update...

Weigh-In Frustration

I had plans to go out dancing with some friends on Friday night (which I don't do often), so I was determined to weigh in Friday morning and avoid trying to make it to my usual Saturday morning meeting.

I had checked the Weight Watchers website and there was no mention of meetings being cancelled on Good Friday (even though several locations mentioned they were closed Easter Sunday), so I assumed meetings were on. I got up early on Friday and arrived at a meeting only to find... nothing. No meeting.

I went home, feeling pretty annoyed. I was all set to weigh in (I felt super light, too). I looked online to see if any other meetings were possible.

I will spare you all of the frustrating details, but I made a lot of phone calls (to Weight Watchers and various stores in a mall that had a Friday meeting to see if the mall was open -- this should have been easy to find out but it wasn't) and after a lot of answering machines I decided that all the meetings were probably cancelled. (I know it's probably obvious that there wouldn't be a meeting on Good Friday, but I was annoyed it wasn't listed explicitly on the website, like other holidays were--if it was, I would have gone to a meeting earlier in the week).

On Friday night, I ate some delicious homemade fish and chips. I drank some alcohol. I danced up a storm. I had some post-bar chicken shawarma at 4 am.

And I managed to get up early and get across town (I was sleeping at my friend's house in the west end) to the 10:30 am meeting at The Big Carrot. I am committed!!

I was down 0.4! I am so, so happy with this. Obviously, I did a lot of my splurging right before weighing in... but overall, it must have been a pretty good week to balance that out somewhat!

My goals for last week were:

• at least 3 workouts (Check!)
• measuring and tracking food accurately (Almost check! I didn't make it through all of Friday, but I did well up until then.)
• drinking 4 water bottles every day (Check! I think this made a big difference.)

I will post again soon about the rest of my weekend! Right now, I'm going to unwind a bit and get to bed early. :)

Cookin' (and Lookin') Good!

I am a proud Weight Watcher! I wore my name tag from Saturday's meeting all the way home (under my jacket...):

Do you ever forget that you live alone and buy enough groceries throughout the week to feed a small army? I do. Often. So I've been doing some cooking & baking (which means I pick recipes that necessitate me picking up a few MORE groceries, and the cycle continues...). Here are some of my eats from the past couple of days:

Loaf Potion # 9 from Eat, Shrink and Be Merry! It has cranberries, walnuts, carrots, and zucchini in it. SO DELICIOUS!

I made it a double-loaf day with some banana bread.

(I know, I know... it doesn't really look like banana bread. It's a weird recipe, I think). The recipe is from The Duke Diet. I think the best part is the brown sugar and walnuts on top.

I brought some of each loaf to my parents & my sister and froze some more. As I mentioned above, I live alone (and as much as I'd like to, I probably shouldn't eat vast quantities of baked goods in short periods of time).

One of my impulse grocery buys was some fat-free ham. I hemmed and hawed over the high sodium content, but decided to treat myself (in small portions). And so the past couple of mornings I've been enjoying a healthified egg mcmuffin for breakie (with egg whites, light cheddar cheese, and a whole wheat english muffin! And the ham, of course).

And today's lunch creation:

My first time making cream of broccoli soup! It was pretty good. I got to use my immersion blender, which is always a good time. :)

I had it with some black beans, corn, and cheese on a tortilla (with greek yogourt)!

Tonight: pad thai! Seriously! More cooking!

I've also already gotten TWO workouts out of the way this week! Yesterday I went for an awesome treadmill run. I reached NEW SPEEDS (I think). I definitely had some (short) intervals that were around level 6.5. I covered 2.75 miles in 30 minutes. I don't think I've ever run that much before in that time period! It felt great!

This morning I started my day with the Intermediate workout from my Booty Camp dvd. Does anyone else find it easier than the Beginner workout, or am I just getting stronger? ;)

In other news, apparently I look great:

• Last week, one of my students from last semester noticed I'd lost weight.
• Today, I went to a coffee shop where I like to work sometimes, and the girl working there said I look really good and I should keep doing whatever I'm doing! I didn't even know she knew who I was!

I'm used to people who haven't seen me in a couple of years telling me I look different, but I'm not used to people who only know the "new me" noticing new changes (does that sentence make sense?).

I haven't lost much weight in the past couple of months, but I think my body composition has changed (thanks to Booty Camp!) and that must be what they're noticing. Yay! My clothes are fitting pretty well.

I have a cockeyed idea that I'm going to get up at 5 am tomorrow to squeeze a workout in before work... yeah, wish me luck with that. (Don't worry, if I can't do it, I'll work out sometime in the afternoon instead).

Have a nice night, all!

Weigh-In!

Happy Saturday, everyone!

So I had my wonderful Weight Watchers meeting today, with the wonderful Ashley. (Um, is it obvious how much I love my meetings?) Today's meeting was especially great - 2 members got their 10%'s, 2 members got to goal, and 2 members got LIFETIME! WOW! If that's not inspiring, I don't know what is!

I was a bit nervous about my weigh-in... I had trouble resisting food several times this week... and for some reason, decided it was a good idea to buy White Chocolate Wonderful peanut butter a few days ago.

But I was down 1.8!! That means I've lost weight two weeks in a row! It has been forever since that's happened. Can I make it three??

True, I haven't lost the 4.2 I was up two weeks ago, but I don't even care. What's the rush, am I right?

What I accomplished last week:

• 3 "real" workouts and some extra walking. (I did the 30 Day Shred Level 3 twice, and I did the "Bring the Heat" Cardio workout from my Booty Camp dvd once.)
• Despite a few bouts of emotional eating, I kept persisting and did not throw my entire week down the toilet.

Goals for this week:

• at least 3 workouts.
• measuring and tracking my food accurately!
• drinking 4 water bottles' worth of water every day!

What are your goals for next week?

Easy vs. Hard

I had my weigh-in yesterday morning.

Drumroll, please.......

Down 1.4! *sigh of relief*

I am SO GLAD that I went hardcore for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of last week (rather than give up because I'd already "ruined" it) because I couldn't have handled seeing another gain. I could focus on the fact that I haven't lost the 4.2 pounds I gained last week, or that I'm only down 1.8 pounds overall since late December, but I won't! I will focus on the fact that I am back on track and feeling really good. :)

Yesterday, I had my parents over for dinner and decided to try the chicken parmesan recipe from last month's Clean Eating magazine (my first--but not my last--time buying it!). I decided to recreate one of my favourite restaurant meals (from the grad pub at my university): a chicken parm wrap!

But, alas, my grocery store did not carry panko bread crumbs. So I grabbed some Fibre 1 cereal instead, remembering that Hungry Girl uses it to coat things all the time. I kind of combined her recipe with the Clean Eating one (but it was mostly hers), and ended up with this:

And then I grilled the wraps on my George Foreman (which I've never done before, but clearly will be doing ALL THE TIME now):

The verdict? They were... fine. I don't know if I love the Fibre 1 as a coating (it sure kept the Points low, though! I calculated half a wrap to be 4 points). The other problem was the tomato sauce (which was mainly from the Clean Eating recipe). It just wasn't exactly what I was hoping for.

Today though, I made a wrap from leftovers, and added in some sliced tomato, and it was pretty great.

To go with the wraps, I made some potato wedge fries (the wedge recipe is after the sushi recipe in the link) from Rose Reisman's The Complete Light Kitchen.

They turned out really well. The last time I made them (just for myself), I had planned on having leftovers... I ended up eating them ALL. So I am very pleased to say that last night's leftovers are still in a container in my fridge! I managed to keep myself from eating EVERY LAST WEDGE like I usually do!

The past few days have been "easy" days for me. I haven't had many food cravings, my willpower has been strong (although I haven't been faced with eating out), and I've been paying attention to my hunger signals.

For example: last night, I made these chocolate ricotta rolls for dessert.

I didn't love them (because of the ricotta... I'm not a huge fan of the texture), so even though I had planned for them, I didn't finish them. I still have a couple in my fridge. I decided it wasn't worth it to eat them. I wasn't hungry, and they didn't taste that good. Usually, I would eat them anyway (hey, I'd already made the decision to eat them, right?), but I re-evaluated while eating, and didn't want them anymore.

(I plan on using won ton wrappers a lot in my future though...)

Have you noticed that sometimes (er... often) eating well and exercising is the HARDEST THING IN THE WORLD and sometimes it's like "Um, why do I ever have a problem with this? Why did I get overweight? Eating healthy feels good and it's easy and I don't even NEED all of my points to get through the day!"

Luckily, today is an easy day... but the past little while, I've had a lot of hard days (and I know I will again). Such is life, I suppose. For now, I'll enjoy the easy days while they last. :)

Weigh-In

Let's not talk about the fact that I gained 4.2 pounds at my weigh-in on Saturday, after going over my points (or not tracking at all) on most days last week.

Let's not talk about the greek food, the baklava, the pizza, the chicken strip-things, and the buttery popcorn I ate on Saturday, or that I was really sick to my stomach at around 4 am on Sunday (I really can't put it away like I used to!).

Let's not talk about the entire container of Ben and Jerry's chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream that I just ate in one sitting (or the huge veal and pancetta burger and fries I had for lunch today).

Let's not talk about how nervous I am about weighing in this coming Saturday and being up again, or the fact that I have not been consistent for months now, or how scared I am that I won't get my groove back.

Let's talk about how I will try again tomorrow. Because I have no other choice.

90 Pounds Lost!

So, how did my week of hardcore planning go?

I was down 11.8 pounds today. I'm still in shock. The receptionist was shocked. Now, impressive as this sounds (and I am proud of my week), this brings my last 3 weeks' total to 1.6 pounds lost. (So, not as crazy as it seems).

My recent trend of gaining a lot of weight one week (from eating way too much), then losing it all the next is not one I'm particularly happy with. I would LOVE to have multiple weeks in a row of losing reasonable amounts.

This week also brings me to 90 pounds lost (90.8 to be exact) since August 2007! I used to weigh 276 pounds and today I weighed in at 185.2. I'm also getting closer to my Weight Watchers 10% goal (which will happen at 181.8 pounds).

Vague, Incomplete Plan for this week:

- Pilates on Monday, last Booty Camp on Tuesday

- some sort of workout this weekend (maybe a long walk today in the BEAUTIFUL Toronto weather, and something more intense tomorrow)

- meal planning to some degree

Challenges facing me this week:

- will not be at home all of this week (am helping my Mom move a bunch of stuff up to a cottage for a couple of days)

- week off from work = lack of normal routine

I also want to work on getting in enough dairy servings every day! Milk in my coffee, 1/2 cup of yogurt, and the occasional 15 grams of cheese just ain't cutting it! It won't be difficult for me to do this, in that I love drinking milk... I usually just don't want to spare the points. But I must!

Enjoy your weekends, everyone!

(Worst) Weigh-In (in the history of Weight Watchers)

Despite what the title of this post may lead you to believe, today was a very good day.

Let's start from the beginning.

I had my Weight Watchers meeting today. I knew that I would be up. My eating has been very out-of-control lately. I stepped on the scale this morning, wondering what the damage would be. Last week, I weighed in at 187.8. This morning, as usual, I read upside-down while the receptionist recorded my weight. He wrote a 1... then a 9... Oh dear, I thought. Back in the 190's. Then the next digit was...

A seven.

Yes. I gained 9.2 lbs this week. That's over 10 lbs in 2 weeks.

I am almost back in the 200's.

Thankfully, the receptionist didn't make any comments (although I wonder what he might have been thinking!). I slowly walked over to my seat for the meeting, in a bit of a daze.

Ashley, my wonderful leader, came and sat next to me and asked how it was going. I am so grateful she did! I admitted that I was struggling, and we had an amazing talk. It was so good to be honest with someone about how I've been feeling, and how much I've been eating. She gave me some excellent advice, and after the chat (still before the meeting even started!), I was feeling much better.

Then we had one of the BEST MEETINGS EVER! A couple of members got their 10%'s, and one member reached his goal! This man, Dave, is an amazing inspiration at my meeting. He has lost a crazy amount of weight (I think around 140 pounds), and he always has something wise to say. When he raised his hand and told us he got to goal, I think everyone at the meeting (myself included) got a tear (or several) in their eye.

The meeting also included a lot of laughs, especially when one woman (who got her 10% today!) told us that her husband works in "chocolate development" (she got a whole string of Bravo! stickers).

I left the meeting feeling, as usual, motivated and excited for an on-plan week. I love my Weight Watchers meeting.

I came home to quickly tidy up for the open house my landlord is having today and get ready to go to a family function I had. There was a lot of food at this function, but I think I definitely exercised some willpower (to be honest, I wasn't even very hungry). I tracked everything as accurately as I could.

At the event, I saw a lot of family members that I hadn't seen in a couple of years (or more)... I got quite a few comments on how amazing/different I looked. A couple of cousins asked what my secret was, and I told them how I'd been following Weight Watchers. It was a nice boost to be reminded of how far I've come!

I came home around 4:30 and got down to business:

The stage was set for some serious me-time. I bought the new issue of Best Health (my fave) a couple of days ago, and I pulled out some of my Weight Watchers booklets and cookbooks to get my motivation in gear. I had just started reading the Week 4 book (Habits of Successful Members), when I decided to get a workout out of the way RIGHT THEN AND THERE. I cleared my furniture out of the way...

... and popped in the Booty Camp Fitness DVD to do the Beginner Workout!

It was TOUGH (but less tough than when I did this workout a few weeks ago! Yay progress!).

Afterwards I gave the Liberte Greek Yogourt another shot. With an orange and some frozen berries:

Delicious! It's a winner! :)

I didn't get the meal planning done tonight like I'd wanted to (I'm totally exhausted) (Edit @ 11:15 p.m. - I got a second wind after writing this post & planned them!), but I have a full day tomorrow to plan my meals, buy some groceries, maybe go for a swim, and do some pre-cooking for the week!

Even though I've been floundering for a few weeks, never once have I seriously thought about giving up. It simply isn't an option. When I started going to Weight Watchers meetings in November, I made a commitment to myself that I am not going to break.

Today, while I was talking to Ashley, she asked me if I was being kind to myself. It was funny, because in some ways I'd been thinking that I've been being TOO kind to myself--i.e., thinking things like "oh, it's okay if you reward yourself with some cereal, you're doing so well!" When I described this to her, Ashley reminded me that being kind to yourself isn't the same as being a pushover!

That really resonated with me. And really, the way I've been treating myself isn't kind. Sometimes, what we really need is some tough love. We have to say no. Eating too much isn't rewarding myself, it's punishing myself, even if it feels good at the time (which it doesn't even, to be honest).

How is your weekend going?

Eating Real Food & Weigh-In

Bitch Cakes has a great post today on how she completely cut out processed foods.

This is one thing that I have made big changes in over the past few years. I haven't eliminated processed foods completely, but if I think back to things I used to consider "dinner" (like a Lipton's Sidekicks), I'm really proud of my diet (i.e. the way I eat) today. I definitely try to eat real food more than fakey, full-of-sodium-and-chemicals, processed foods.

One of my New Years Resolutions was to eliminate the artificial sweetener in my coffee. I think it's time for an update on how that's going! I used to get three sweeteners and one milk in my large coffee from Tim Hortons... I'm VERY PROUD to announce that I'm down to one sweetener!!! That's one-third of what it was just two months ago.

Surprisingly, cutting back on the sweetener was not difficult. I really don't need as much sweetener as I thought I did to enjoy the taste! I know that I'll be down to ZERO sweeteners very soon.

In other news, I had a weigh-in today: up 1 pound. To be honest, I was relieved. I've really been struggling with my eating lately. This week, I was able to somewhat reign it in and only gain 1 pound (as opposed to several pounds, as has happened in the past). Last night, for example, I was very tired and, consequently, wanted to eat everything in my house.

I ended up making a pizza for dinner, and ate the whole thing (it wasn't a huge pizza, but half certainly would have sufficed). I knew that I was going to spend my entire evening just snacking, so I went to bed before 8 pm. What my body really needed was sleep (not multiple spoonfuls of peanut butter). I really think going to bed is what saved me, and what prevented me from being up even more this week.

Weigh-In

Good morning!! Are you psyched for a great, healthy weekend? I am!

This morning I weighed in at 186.8! A new low! I was down 5.8 pounds. Now, last week I was up 4.6 and didn't dwell on the number, so even though I'm down now, I still shouldn't dwell on the number... because it's not about the scale... right?

...

But it feels so good to see that "186"! I used to weigh 276, so I'm down almost 90 pounds. I could focus on the fact that I have really lost only 3.8 pounds in the past 9 weeks... but instead I will focus on the fact that I am getting really close to 100 pounds lost.

Today's meeting was awesome. Lindsay was filling in for Ashley, my usual leader, and she was wonderful. We talked about putting yourself first. It was also awesome because I finally met Kate! We both go to Ashley's Saturday morning meetings, but usually at different times. It was great having someone to sit with at the meeting, and then she gave me a ride home! It was so nice to meet her after reading about her inspiring journey on her blog.

Now, every time I have a really good week like the one I just had, I seem to fall off the wagon and have a week where I gain multiple pounds. How will I avoid that this week? Here's the plan:

• Start off my week with a run, and possibly a workout from the Booty Camp DVD today.
• Incorporate treats into my plan (I have some great frozen yogurt in my freezer).
• Get enough sleep (when I'm sleepy, I just eat and eat and eat!).
• Think of ways to reward myself for reaching upcoming goals (weight watchers 10%, 100 pounds lost). Any suggestions?

Happy Saturday!

Weigh-In & Good Day

So I was up 4.6 this morning. I was expecting it, but it was still hard. I had a few "episodes" this week of uncontrollable eating... but I am moving on. I felt frustrated with myself for a little while this morning, but the meeting helped me to feel better. The topic was positive self-talk, which I sorely needed!

After the meeting, I had the best day I've had in awhile (health-wise). I went for a 30-minute run on the treadmill!! I haven't been running in a few weeks, so I was worried I may have lost some of my endurance--but apparently, booty camp is working wonders, because I was able to go faster than usual!! At least once, I hit that magical point where I feel invincible. I was listening to some good music (I just remembered that "I Can See For Miles" came on at one point and I was thinking to myself I CAN see for miles, I am awesome, I can do anything, etc, etc) and just felt like I was flying.

I never dreamed that I would ever run, and to actually ENJOY it on occasion is really wonderful.

We also ordered Swiss Chalet for dinner, which for me often means french fries, stealing someone's appetizer, and the like, but instead I picked a lighter option.

AND I managed to only use 28 points today!! I get 26 daily points, and I earned 5 activity points, so this is super incredible for several reasons:

• it's Saturday, and I often use up most (if not all, or more than all) of my weekly points on Saturdays (the first day of my weight watchers week).
• I ordered food! And stuck to my plan!
• I didn't even use up all of the activity points I earned today!
• I did not feel hungry or deprived or anything today. I had some really good "treat" foods (like toast with peanut butter and honey... and swiss chalet!)
• I was in control of my food today. I wasn't out of control (like I was last night... the night before weigh-in... eep).

I am all set for a stellar day tomorrow, too. I finally got a new PROGRAMMABLE coffee pot, and I have set it up to start brewing just before I wake up. You have no idea how excited I am about this.

I was feeling worried earlier, because even though I firmly believe I will have a good week this week, it seems that I alternate really awesome weeks with unbelievably horrible weeks. It felt like no matter how well I do this week, I will screw it up next week. I know this does not have to be the case, though. I just have to keep reminding myself of that. :)

There is no point worrying about next week, or the week after. I only ever need to get through today. The rest will follow.

Weigh-In

I lost 3.2! :) So my current weight is 187.8 pounds... I went down to 25 daily points from 26. Eek!

I was so surprised (and pleased!) about the loss. I felt brave enough to raise my hand at the meeting (I'm pretty shy), and I got 3 Bravo stickers! And Ashley, my leader, asked how much I have lost altogether. I said that I had lost 14 pounds since coming to weight watchers meetings... and 88 pounds in total! So I got applause for that too... I love getting applause!! haha

Today's meeting was really good. The past couple of weeks, I went to the meetings before/after my usual meeting, and they just weren't the same. I LOVE the people & the vibe at my 9:30 meeting. Today, we talked about emotional eating. Our "homework" for the week is to list 10 things we can do when we want to eat for reasons other than hunger. I will work on this and let you know what I come up with!

Some goals for this week:

- continue to track everything (even if I go over--last week I went over by at least 10 points or so, but I still lost. If I hadn't tracked, I probably would have gone over by WAY more)

- exercise at least 4 times (hopefully I will finally get to the pool--I've been in the mood for a swim for weeks!)

- try to get to bed at a reasonable hour every night!

What are your goals for the week?