Thursday, July 29, 2010

Weigh-in Results July 29th, 2010

I had a great week and lost 4.2 pounds!! Wow! That certainly makes up for last week! That also made my goal to lose 30 by July 30th, I'm now down 33.6!! I'm thrilled to have made my goal...and exceed it! Photobucket

My next goal is to lose 8.4  pounds by Labor Day, which is September 6th. I will count my weigh-in on September 2nd for the goal. That 8.4 pounds will take me down another decade of weight and will bring my total loss to 42 pounds. I will place a new ticker on my Goals page to track this next mini goal of mine.

My DH, DS and I are leaving for a family vacation soon! I'll be traveling to see family and friends for the next two weeks. I have my WW meetings planned out and won't miss one while I'm away! I'll be drinking my water, exercising and tracking my points all along the way. This is not a "diet" I'm on, but a new lifestyle I'm living and I'll continue to practice that lifestyle while on vacation! I will have internet access, so will continue to check in. I can't wait!

Oh the 30 Day Shred! I haven't done it for a few days. I'm on Level 1 still. I had a cold a few days ago and TOM showed up early, so I didn't exercise much at all this last week because I just felt like crud. I will be bringing it with me on my vacation, though!

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Friday, July 23, 2010

30 Day Shred ~ Day 3


The cartoon above is how I felt this morning. I was dressed for exercise early, but checked my email, made some phone calls and thought about it awhile longer before I actually started. I always feel great once I'm done, but sometimes getting started is the hardest part!

I visited with Jillian again this morning. I didn't mind the jumping jacks at all today. The butt kicks are another story, but I did them anyway. Day 3 was much, much better than day 1! I won't be doing the Shred every day, but since it is already getting easier for me I'm feeling good about it! I think I'll stick with level 1 through the weekend and then try level 2 on Monday so see how I can handle it. Wish me luck!

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Thursday, July 22, 2010

Cleaning House

No, this is not a post about cleaning your house or FlyLady (I do love her, though!).

After admiring many blogs with tabs at the top for different pages, I finally figured out how to put them on my own blog. Yippee! Up above you'll find a page about me, progress picture page, a goal page and then the Home page comes back to the main blog page. I hope this will allow my readers to read more and navigate more easily throughout the blog. I'll be working on the new pages in the next few days, so be sure to check them out!

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Weigh-in Results July 22nd, 2010

I really wanted to lose at least one pound this past week. I was confident that I could do it, too, probably too confident. I've lost almost five pounds in a week before, surely one pound would be easy, right?! Well, I guess not! I did lose weight this week, but only .4 pound! It is almost laughable. I'm a little irritated with .4, but I'll take it and move forward.

I have to lose .6 pound this next week in order to make my goal of -30 by the 30th of this month. Here is how I plan on doing that:

  1. Keep drinking my water 
  2. Exercise at least 5 days this week. Walking 5K's is my preferred exercise, but it is so stinkin' hot outside that I'll be visiting with Jillian, I'm sure.
  3. No eating after 7:00 PM
  4. No soda for the rest of the week (after I finish the Diet Coke I'm drinking right now)
  5. Go to bed by 10:30 PM every night so that I have the energy to exercise in the morning!
  6. Keep tracking my WW points and staying on budget


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Wednesday, July 21, 2010

30 Day Shred Review

Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred is no laughing matter. I'm certain that it will take me longer than thirty days to get through it, too. I've learned that I hate jumping jacks, but that I'll do them anyway if Jillian tells me to! I did love it, though! I love getting a good, hard, workout now and Jillian certainly provided one. I love the circuit training and switching the different parts of the workout around like that. She focuses on cardio, strength and abs.

If you haven't tried it, you should. The DVD only cost me $9+tax, so it doesn't break the bank and all you need along with it is some hand weights. I used my 2lb set today and it was enough for me.

I'll be joining Jillian again tomorrow morning as it is just too hot & humid outside for me to be walking right now with my asthma. My air conditioned family room will have to do until it starts to cool off out there!

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Monday, July 19, 2010

Hydration

Bob says...



There are so many great things that come from the simple act of drinking pure water! I'm drinking mine, are you?! Click on my sidebar picture of Kenz and Sean's P.E.W.C. challenge to learn how others are drinking water and the changes they're experiencing because of it.


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Sunday, July 18, 2010

What I Eat

My friend, Amber, asked me to post more about what I eat from day to day. The beauty of Weight Watchers is that you can seriously eat anything you want! It is all in moderation and learning about portion control and what kinds of foods will fill you up vs. what foods will leave you feeling hungry.

Since she asked so nicely, here are a few of my favorite things:

1 point bagel thins. There are different brands and varieties to choose from. These are super yummy with peanut butter or jelly for breakfast with some yogurt or fruit as a side.

1 point sandwich thins are so good! Any kind of sandwich on them, or a hamburger and you're saving points on your bread while still getting a great taste. Again, there are different brands for these, any will do and they're all good.





I'm not a huge fan of pop tarts, but these are good and surprisingly filling with 20% of your daily fiber! 3 points for one makes for a nice, quick breakfast. I do prefer them toasted, but you don't have to toast them to enjoy them.

 I love fruit and bananas are a staple for me. The potassium in them are good for my muscles that I'm actually using now! Small bananas are only 1 point and med. or large bananas get 2 points. Other fruit that I love are: strawberries, blueberries, water melon, peaches, pears. I try to fill my lunch plates with half fruit and veggies to get my 5 a day in!

Gum helps me keep from snacking all day long like I used to. Any kind of gum, preferably sugar-free. I like peppermint the best. Zero points for most sugar-free gum, but watch it if you have a lot throughout the day. Those 5 calories can add up quickly.

I have a weakness for ice cream. I used to love a BIG bowl of ice cream almost nightly. Now to satisfy that want, I eat these little WW cups at only 2 points per cup. I especially like the mint chocolate chip flavor, but they're all pretty good. I also love the WW ice cream bars that are just like Snickers ice cream bars, but only 3 points for one. I'll also make a yoplait or WW smoothie to satisfy that want for something creamy and cold. Skinny Cow brand has some great ice cream treats, too, all of which I'm a fan.

Laughing Cow cheese wedges are good for a snack along with some special K crackers or Wheat Thins. The cheese wedges are only 1 point each!

I have a new love for yogurt. I never liked yogurt before about two months ago! These little 4oz Fiber One yogurt cups are only 1 point each (some people say zero points, but my WW calculators always come up with 1, so I count it). If you haven't noticed yet, I'm a big fan of Fiber One products. Their cereal is good, the muffin mixes are yummy and their snack bars are so good!

WW has some great snack foods. I don't buy many of them, because I do feel that they're a bit expensive, but they're a nice way to quickly grab a snack and know how many points it is without having to calculate them if I'm in a hurry. I love these new Ranch Multigrain Crisps. They are a great alternative to potato chips for me to have as a side for a sandwich or for a mid-afternoon snack. They're not too bad for sodium, too, which is great to avoid for water retention.







I hope that helps you get a few ideas on some simple changes you can make to what you're eating and still have great taste that will fill you up! I will post some meals of mine more often, too. Thanks for asking about it, Amber!



Do you have any questions for me? I don't have all of the answers, I'm learning as I go, but I'm happy to share what I do know! I won't tell you how much I weigh, how many points I get every day, or post the WW quiz so that you can figure out how many points you should get. Otherwise, I'm pretty open. ;o)

 _______________________

Look what I bought today. I know, it is a tough work-out, but I'm hoping that I can at least make it through level 1 to use on rainy days and then work my way up to and through level 3...eventually.




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Friday, July 16, 2010

Blog Award & Water

I was given my first blog award yesterday! Ana from Vegan Ana sent me this pretty:




Here are the rules:
1. Thank the person who gave you the award.
2. Share seven things about yourself.
3. Nominate fifteen newly discovered blogs.
4. Let your nominees know about the award.

  1. Ana is a Weight Watcher, like me!  I just "met" her through this award, so I'm excited to learn more about her and her weight-loss journey. She is eat vegan (no meat or cheese) up until dinner time, so I'm interested in learning more from her about this to see how it works out for her. She seems super sweet and her blog is cute and fun!
  2. One: I'm a natural blond, but dye my hair lighter blond because I'm turning gray and don't want to age gracefully. :)  Two: I'm a devout Christian. I don't consider myself one denomination or another, I just have a love for Jesus and walk with Him as much as I humanly can. Three: I've been married 10 years (in August) Four: I have a four year old son Five: I have taught piano lessons for almost 10 years, but my musical passion is singing, not playing the piano Six: I'm creative in many ways, from creating tutus and hair bows to painting to being crafty with Mod Podge and stuff like that Seven:I have PCOS and am excited that I'm fighting it by losing weight without any medication!
  3. I'm not sure I know 15 new blogs, but I'll try!
Kelly@ http://kelerific.wordpress.com/
Sam@ http://believeinyourself1.blogspot.com/
Lyn @ http://escapefromobesity.blogspot.com/
Deb @ http://debshrinks.blogspot.com/
Chris @ http://chrislivessimple.blogspot.com/
Whitney @ http://www.slimmingdownforthegown.com/
"D" @ http://mybattlewithbulge.blogspot.com/
http://pencilskirtbound.blogspot.com/
Kate @ http://fearlesskate.blogspot.com/
Connie @ http://www.fat2fitmommy.com/
Kaitlin @ http://every-day-grace.blogspot.com/
http://biggirlslim2010.blogspot.com/
Ellen @ http://keepingitoffblog.blogspot.com/
Marianne @ http://txmarianne.blogspot.com/
Sarah @ http://gettingmarried2009.blogspot.com/

Thank you, Ana, for my first bloggy award! :o)


I'm drinking my water...
are you?!


I changed the way to comment, so it should be easier for you folks who were feeling a little lost in the process. Love to you all!



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Thursday, July 15, 2010

Weigh-in Results July 15th, 2010

My nervousness about this morning's weigh-in was all for nothing, I lost 2.6 pounds this week! Yay! I'm now down a total of 29. Tonight at my WW meeting, I will get my 10% key chain as I reached my 10% goal plus a bit more! YAY!

My current goal to lose 15 pounds by July 30th is going well, I'm one pound away from meeting that goal and have two more weigh-ins to get there. No problem!

I have a long, long road ahead of me to get to my goal weight, but I'm well on my way and I'm excited to keep going and see just how my life will change as I get closer to it. I'm already feeling much more energetic and my mindset is changing as well as I now think about what I'm eating and about exercising much more than I ever have before. All good things.

A little motivator for me is to think about this: Photobucket I have now lost 116 sticks of butter...gross, but great!!


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Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Water Challenge & Couch to 5K!

So far, so good with drinking my water! I had 64 ounces on Monday and 72 yesterday!

Today I started the Couch to 5K program. I have it as an app on my iPhone and it is awesome! It makes it so easy to know when to switch from jogging to walking and it keeps track of which work-out I'm on. I'll admit, I'm very much out of shape, so even today's first work-out was a tough one for me, but I'm going to keep plugging away at it and hopefully by the time the 9 weeks are up, I'll be in much better shape and jogging won't be such a big deal for me. Click HERE to see what Couch to 5K is and to start yourself! I can't wait for it to cool off so I can walk outside. We have a major heat advisory out today. Perhaps I need to look into a gym membership; once it cools off winter won't be far behind!

I weigh-in tomorrow and am not feeling positive about it even though I've stayed completely on-plan with WW! I need to get these negative thoughts out of my head right now!

Wish me luck!

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Monday, July 12, 2010

Water Challenge!

Today starts the water challenge that I talked about last week. I will be drinking at least 64 ounces of clean, filtered water every day for the next three weeks in order to build a healthy habit! Wish me luck!

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Friday, July 9, 2010

Comment Love


Writing a blog about my weight-loss takes some guts. I see you all coming in and reading, but I don't see a lot of comments! Comments let me know what you think. I LOVE getting comments and reading words of encouragement, praise, constructive criticism, and such. Comments are mini motivators for me. If I read that you're checking in on me, than I'm more likely to write more and I often have great days for staying on point knowing that someone out there is thinking about me. So, if you would, leave me a comment!


Perhaps you don't know how to leave a comment. Here's how!

  1. Read the blog posts, view pictures, look around and remember what you liked.
  2. At the bottom of every blog post there is a place, after my glittery name, that shows how many comments have been left. It looks just like that example on the right:
  3. Click on the part that, in this example, says "2 comments" and write something nice in the little box. You'll be asked to type in a jumbled word, that's just so I don't get spam leaving garbage on my blog.
That's it! That wasn't too hard, was it? ;-) I can't wait to read what you all have to say!


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Thursday, July 8, 2010

Not a Gain...

...or a loss! I had exactly the same weight as I did last week. I was a little worried that I would have a gain, so staying the same this week is just fine by me.*


I went ahead and weighed in this morning and I liked doing that so much better than weighing in the evening. Now I can eat normally and drink my water throughout the day and not have to worry about how that intake would affect the scale. Much better! Since I keep track of my points and weight on WW online (eTools), with my monthly pass, I switched my weigh-in day and start of my week from Friday to Thursday today, too. That way I can weigh in in the morning and have a fresh start to the week every Thursday morning. I will still go to the meetings in the evening so that I can leave DS at home with DH and be able to pay attention to the meeting.

I got a free sample of a new WW product, Ranch Multigrain Crisps. I'm having them right now and they're yummy! Just the right amount of flavor and saltiness to have with a sandwich as a side or on their own or with a wedge of light Skinny Cow spread for a quick snack. Only 2 points for the 1oz bag.

I am joining a new challenge that Kenz and Sean are hosting! It is all about H2O and goodness knows that I could stand to drink more of it! The challenge is to drink 64 ounces (8 glasses) every day for three weeks to build a healthy habit. They're starting on July 12th and ending the challenge on August 1st. Click on either of their names to join in, too! If you have an iPhone or iPod touch, you can get an app called Water Your Body that helps you keep track of your water intake each day and will give you a "grade" for each day and trophies for consistency. It is only 99 cents and it is great!

Looking forward to a successful week...

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*Edited 7/9/10: It is fine by me because TOM came today, a week late (!) at that, and I was feeling pretty yuck all week because of it.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Weigh-in Tomorrow!

What happened to the last week?! It just flew by with DH having Friday and Monday off to celebrate the 4th!

I have no idea what the scale is going to say tomorrow. This week was a strange one for me. I've stayed within my points and such, but just haven't felt the motivation that I have felt all along up until now. Hopefully staying on point will be enough to see a loss on the scale.

I'm considering going in the morning to weigh-in and then attending the meeting in the evening. I tend to not eat much at all on Thursdays before my 5PM weigh-in and by the time the meeting is over, I'm ravished and often feel sick because of it. I don't want to do that to myself anymore, so I think I'll try weighing in the morning, with my same WW leader, so that I can eat normally and not feel like it is going to affect my weigh-in results.

Do you ever have a week when you just aren't feeling it? How to you get over that?


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Friday, July 2, 2010

Thin Dependence Pledge

Last night at my WW meeting, my leader shared this with us. I hope you all have a happy and safe 4th of July weekend full of healthy choices!

Thin Dependence Pledge

I pledge allegiance to myself in quest of my weight goal
and to the healthiness for which it stands.
One body...
under control...
indisputably...
with confidence in new clothes for fall!



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Thursday, July 1, 2010

A charming loss!

My weigh-in tonight was great. I lost another 1.6 pounds, which brings my total to 26.4 gone! I earned another 5lb star sticker and my 25 pound charm for the 10% key chain (that I hope to earn in a week or two...I'm so close!)! YAY!


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First 5K!

I did it! This morning, along with four great friends and all of our kids, I walked my first 5K! I pushed my son in our jogging stroller so that I could keep a good pace and keep going. It is kind of a bugger to steer, though, and I have blisters on my palms, but I don't care about that at all, I did it!

To the left is a picture of the path we took. It is a nice lake park not far from my house with a 5K trail all around it. There are some hills, but none too big for me to handle. There was a moment for me, right around 2.8 miles that I wanted to stop, but I had no choice but to keep going and I'm so glad I did!

Feeling good this morning and hoping for a loss on the scale tonight at my weigh-in. TOM is still waiting to come, so I have some bloating and such which I hope won't show on the scale. As long as I hit 25 pounds lost tonight, I'll be happy and that is only a loss of .2 pounds!

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