Ch, ch, ch...changes!

     After a lot of thought and some discussion with friends and neighbors, I've decided to stop being a weight watcher. I'll not be tracking my "points" and such or attending meetings anymore. The last two weeks I've been tracking things through a free app called My Fitness Pal. I love it! It's calorie based, but also looks at your nutrition and activity throughout the day. Since I've been tracking with that, I've lost more than I was with WW. I'll also soon be getting a FitBit. I once had one and liked it, but it broke and then I used the WW active link. I like the FitBit and look forward to using that again. I feel like having a bit more control over what I track and such will lead to better choices that I can maintain for a lifetime. I don't really want to track WW points forever. I still believe that WW is a great program and I encourage anyone who wants to lose weight to give it a try. It does work! I just want to focus more on overall health than just weight-loss, so I feel like this is the best path for me.



 

Skinny Fat vs. Healthy & Fit

     I haven't written a post for a few weeks, so just wanted to check in with anyone who may be reading! I lost 2.1 pounds last week. What's different is that I hardly tracked anything I ate with WW last week. I was slacking, but just trying to make better food decisions and move more. When I was doing Weight Watchers before, I was set on counting points and NEVER missed a day of tracking. I'd track as soon as I ate, or quite often would even before I took a bite. I was fully dedicated to losing weight. I was also very focused on getting thinner, however I wasn't necessarily focused on getting healthier. I wasn't working out, I wasn't getting good nutrition, I was just eating smaller quantities of junk. This time, I'm much more focused on getting healthy. It's not about the size I wear or the numbers on the scale, those will drop with time because I'm making choices to eat healthier foods, move more, lift weights, and drink more water. I'm focused on being fit and healthy, not skinny. I heard a new-to-me term the other day, "skinny fat". I understand it to mean skinny people who are actually fat as far as their health goes. Just because they wear smaller sizes and look thin when dressed doesn't mean that they're healthy. Their cardiovascular system is weak, their bones are weak, they have very little muscle mass. I want to transform myself into someone who's physically fit. Like I said, smaller numbers on the scale and in my clothes will come along with that, but it's not my main focus. I'm still going to stick with WW, at least for now, and track what I'm eating. I'll still stick with weighing myself weekly as I think it's a good reflection of what the week was. I will, however, not let those things determine how I'm feeling about myself.

Weekly Weigh-in {Aug 22} & Weight-Training

     At last! I've had two weeks of losses in a row. I've finally broken through the loss, gain cycle that I've been on since I re-joined Weight Watchers and lost 2.8 pounds this week!! I'm so close to my first 10 pounds, so I'm hoping to reach that next Friday. It would be a sweet way to end the month.

 

   I've been staying on track with lifting weights with my friend. I'm pretty proud of what I've been able to do so far. I'm lifting more than I thought I could. We rotate days and lift three days a week. Right now we're doing the following:

Day A:
Squats (3 sets of 5) 75 pounds
Overhead press (3 sets of 5) 65 pounds
Deadlift (1 set of 5) 135 pounds

Day B:
Squats (3 sets of 5) 75 pounds
Bench Press (3 sets of 5) 75 pounds
Barbell Row (3 sets of 5) 80 pounds

Weekly Weigh-in {August 15}

     I lost 3.2 pounds this week! This zig-zag of losses and gains each week continues. My WW leader knows that I'm frustrated with it, but she told me just to keep at it and we'll look at it more in a few more weeks. Whatever the reason is, I'm still losing at an average of 1.32 pounds per week, which exceeds the WW goal of 1.25 a week. So, I'll take it! A number is just a number, it's no reflection of who I am.

     More importantly, I'm moving more! I've been weight-training and walking with a neighbor friend of mine. It feels good to move! I treated myself to a cute new pair of walking shoes, too, so no more blisters, hopefully! :)

Weekly Weigh-in {August 8th}

     Up, down, up, down, up....this seems to be the pattern I'm in for my weight-loss! It's frustrating that I'm not seeing consistent losses, but I'm sticking with it anyway. I know that in the long run, I will see results.

    

     I was rewarded a "Bravo" star at my meeting today. I told them about how on Wednesday I started weight-training with my neighbors. I'm excited to start this! We decided we'll do it three times a week. So, my quads are a little sore, but we're doing it again tonight. I kind of like feeling a bit sore because I know that I did something good to gain that soreness. It's not enough to keep me from moving, so I'll keep at it. :)


 

Weekly Weigh-in {August 1st}

     I lost four pounds this week! After a gain last week, I was really hoping I'd lost what I had gained and maybe a bit more. I did it!

     Each week, I write down what I'd like to see on the scale the next week. I use it to focus on staying on track and keeping my goals in sight. I typically keep my weekly goal in a 1-2 pound range as that's a healthy rate of loss each week. WW averages a 1.25 pound loss for those who stay on track each week. If I use that average, it will take me approximately 120 weeks to reach my goal weight. That's just over two years. Ouch. That's hard to think about, but I know that if I just stick with it, how long it takes to get to my goal really doesn't matter. What matters is that I live a new, healthy lifestyle for the rest of my life. I'm only 36 years old and hope to have at least another 50 years in me, so what's two years out of that to work towards a goal of a healthy life? It's nothing and it'll be totally worth it!

      I spent a lot of my free time this week working on a project for our house. I've wanted family rules in our home for years, but never found any in a store that I loved enough to buy. So, I finally decided that I'd just make it myself! It took many hours to complete, as I hand-painted it, but I think it was worth it. It measures 2x4 feet and I have it hanging in the center of our house, where we can't help but see it daily. So, this week I'll have more activity built in since I won't be sitting down working on a project! :)

 

Active Goals

  

  I have my Active Link goals after my week long assessment. My WW leader told me to not try to be a rock star during my assessment week and just do what I normally do for activity. Well, that's not much, so even though I felt ready to go for more walks, do some yoga (more on that another day), and really move during my day, I didn't. So, my ActiveLink goals are small, but completely attainable if I just get up and move more during my day and go for a walk or do some yoga. It gave me a 12 week challenge to bump up my activity and, once I'm done with that, I can set up another 12 week goal if I'd like. I'm excited to get moving and earn some activity points and see those lights light up to 100%!

 

No Pain, No GAIN?!

     I weighed-in at my Weight Watchers meeting this morning. I gained three pounds. Hmm. I tracked every bite I took, stayed "on-point", and even had two more weekly points that I could have eaten. So what happened? Well, if you ever watch The Biggest Loser, you know that week #2 is often a tough week! People don't lose weight like they were expecting to. You see, our bodies a long, LONG, time ago, had to store fat so that we wouldn't starve. This was so long ago, we're talking about cavemen. If the body thinks that it is losing too much fat too quickly, it goes into "starvation mode". That doesn't mean that you're actually starving, of course, but that the body isn't going to let go of fat when it's used to having it. So, dropping five pounds in my first week made my body freak out a little and it decided it doesn't want to starve. That coupled with TOM (look it up if you don't know what that means) and me wearing blue jeans to weigh-in (I will from now on) added three pounds to my weight. Am I upset by this? Not at all. I know that I did everything I was supposed to do this week and I know that it will be reflected on the scale in the near future. Weight-loss journey, or rather journeys to learning how to living a healthier life, are full of up's and down's. This wasn't my first gain and I'm sure it won't be my last. I'm going to just keep swimming and stay on the right course.



In other news, I'm in my last day of assessment with my ActiveLink today, I think! It says 1 more day, so I hope that tomorrow I'll get my 12 week program to get more active. I'll keep you posted! :)


 

A New Look

     I just changed up the look of my blog. The yellow and turquoise reflect some of the colors I love to use in my home. I love how cheerful they are! The touch of hot pink is because it's my favorite color.  I realize that anyone reading this on their phones isn't going to see it quite right, but it's still better than what it was before when you couldn't see any of my sidebars at all. I hope you like the new look!

     You may have noticed in my pictures that I posted yesterday that I'm sporting a new look, too. I've dyed my hair back to a closer-to-natural color! Yikes! I've been dying is a lighter blonde for years and decided that I was tired of having major roots showing every 3-4 weeks. I love it!





 

The Proof is in the Pictures

   This morning I took my "Before" pictures. I've lost five pounds as of last Friday, the 18th, so I put that date on them. When I had lost weight before, these pictures really motivated me to keep going once I saw what a difference just 10 pounds makes. When I focus on my goal weight and how much weight I need to lose, it can be daunting, so instead I'm focusing on just ten pounds at a time. I will take these same four pictures every ten pounds lost.

   If you're trying to lose weight, I suggest you do the same. You don't have to share them with anyone, but you may just want to after you see your progress!

Weekly Weigh-in {July 18, 2014}

I attended my second Weight Watchers meeting this morning and lost 5 pounds this week! I received my first 5lb sticker and was celebrated at the meeting. It felt so good to get back into it and have  success!

I also reached my first goal of tracking every bite I took all week. I didn't miss a thing and it obviously paid off!

Today I purchased an ActiveLink at the meeting. It's a tool similar to fitbit and things like that, but it sets goals to be more active after an 8 day assessment. So, for the next week I'm to just live my life as usual and then next week I'll receive some goals to get more active. I'm looking forward to it!

Since I earned my first 5lb star sticker today, I made myself a little laminated card to put with my WW books that I take with me to meetings. It's just a little place where I can save my stickers to see how far I've come as I go. :)

First 5lb star!

 

No Soda!

It's been just over a year since I've had any diet soda of any kind. I did it!!! I posted that accomplishment on Facebook almost two weeks ago and a friend of mine challenged me to stop ALL soda. Now, I didn't drink much of it anyway, but I still had one at times. So, as of July 1st, I haven't had any soda at all. I don't miss it at all so far. Small changes like this will lead to other healthy choices and I'm looking forward to leading a healthier lifestyle!


 

WW meeting #1

Today is July 11th, 2014. It's been nearly a year since I've visited or written on my blog. This has been a whirlwind of a year! My husband, son, and I moved from Omaha to a brand new house in the Minneapolis area the week before Christmas and the rest of the year was either getting ready for the move, showing our house for sale, packing, moving, unpacking, painting our new house, decorating, building a deck....etc. It's been busy, but well worth it!

In the mean time, I've put on more weight. I'm now at the highest I've ever been. Today I stepped into a Weight Watchers meeting for the first time in a LONG time. It's been way overdue. I know that WW works and I'm more than ready to get back into it and stick with it. Despite pouring rain and a series of events that easily could have deterred me from going, I went, and I'm glad I did. I'm already looking forward to next week.

So, here I am, yet again promising myself to finally stick with it. I can't do it alone, so I'm praying for Jesus to walk with me in this journey. I would love anyone who's reading this to join me, too. Send a comment my way to let me know you're out there. I'm not looking back at the past, but am starting today. Every day we are blessed with a fresh start and today is mine.