Goals and Challenges

HooBoy, Do I have goals. I was pretty lazy about getting them down this month, but here goes.

Physical Health: Back to tracking all food and attempting to stay within weight-loss points. Also, committing to a 4-day regime with 2 stregth session per week.

Give Back: I really think my roal with WW is a part of this. I haven't been able to go to other meetings this month as my husband is working evenings. Other than that, I'm focusing on preparing for the meetings ahead of time as best I can and sticking fairly closely to the meeting agendas.

Finances: In maintenance phase. Not a priority during the winter usually. Trying to stick to budget and not acquire further debt.

Continuing education: Sometimes I don't feel like I have the time for this. Last year I gave up the CGA program of professional studies. I've been thinking lately of other alternatives. Massage Therapy could be good...they have a weekend training for free in the city that sounds interesting.

Self-improvement: Something has recently caught my attention that intriques me about the masculine and feminine energies. I want to further explore this information in the next several weeks. As a result of this, I have had several conversations with my husband about my lack of vision - and how that's OK. He has vision and has struggled against me for years as I tend to live in the moment. I think it's time to let go of fear and allow him to create.

Take care.

And it goes on.

Not sure what's going on. I think I'm in a funk. Food is OK, except that I succumed to pizza today at lunch. And not just any pizza - Pizza Town donair pizza. Anyway, back on track this afternoon.

Been walking in the evenings with the dog and kids. The weather has been lovely. Tomorrow we will visit my mother-in-law. There's been someone sick since Christmas, so this is the first weekend it's safe to go. The monkeys are over-tired in general and a couple of nights early-to-bed will be good for them.

This week has been a difficult one emotionally. A lot going on and winds of change blowing in I believe. We have a friend that just took quite a large drop in pay and changed his career completely. Pros and Cons to everything, but he's happy with the change. I've been wondering for the past year if my problem is with my chosen career or my chosen job. I've tried to make the best of it but think self-sabotage sometimes happens in all areas of our lives. I moved frequently in my life - moving often for change and improvement. Or maybe it's just a mid-life crisis - or maybe I'm just tired.

Times like this - emotional ones - it's hard to focus on why you're eating. I'm grateful for my diet this week. It's filling and I don't have to think about it. But if you get down, or stressed or happy and turn to food, one of the things I do is use the Anchoring tool from Weight Watchers. Just stop and place your hand on your belly and ask,"Am I hungry for food?" If you're eating for comfort only, you may want to re-evaluate and do something different - like post a blog, take a walk or relax in the tub. Ahhhh...I never get to relax in the tub anymore. The lock is broken and someone always 'needs' me. Gotta get that lock fixed.

I hope everyone is doing well.

Food plan for the week

I started my menu for the next week today. I'm going to follow this menu, give or take some items, for the next week, then I'll switch it up. Activity will include different things each day, but for today I needed to get the kids and dog out, so that's what we did. The dog is on a diet at 10 lbs over-weight and has a slipped hip, so she needs to be walked around 1 hour a day. Easier said than done in the great, white north. Hubby had her out for a quick walk earlier today, so we took her out again.

Morning
1 item(s) Wheat English muffin - 1
1 tbsp reduced-fat peanut butter - 2
1 large grapefruit - 1.5
1/2 cup(s) reduced-fat soy beverage - 1.5
Subtotal - 6
Morning snack
1 medium banana(s) - 1.5
1 tbsp reduced-fat peanut butter - 2
1 regular plain rice cake(s) - 0.5
Subtotal - 4
Midday
3 oz cooked chicken fillet - 2.5
1 slice(s) Lite Sliced Cheese - 1
1/2 medium serving(s) baby carrots - 0.5
1/2 cup(s) celery - 0
1/8 cup(s) homemade hummus - 1.5
Subtotal - 5.5
Afternoon snack
1/2 cup(s) Cheerios - 1
PC LF yogurt - Quick-added food - 2
Subtotal - 3
Evening
1/2 cup(s) reduced-fat soy beverage - 1.5
3 oz cooked farmed Atlantic salmon fillet(s) - 4.5
1/2 large cooked sweet potato - 1.5
1 cup(s) cooked broccoli - 0
Subtotal - 7.5
Food POINTS values total used - 26
Food POINTS values remaining - 0
Exercise
40 min walking, leisure - 1
Activity POINTS values earned - 1

What do I know?

After almost 2 years, the scale is still a mystery to me. Tonight I wore jeans and a light sweater and weighed in at 144.2. Shocked to say the least - pleasantly so. Still, the goal is to get below 143 sometime in the next few weeks, so work to do. Just not as much as I thought.

Did approximately 30 minutes on the elliptical tonight. I really want a tready. Measurements to be taken in the a m. G'night.

And the Scale drops the morning AFTER Weigh-in

OK, so last night was not my official weigh-in. But, I had stepped on the scale last Monday evening (with indoor jacket and boots on) and kept track of my points all week. So, last night I stepped on the scale again to get a feel for what was happening - and because all of this was related to a new meeting project for the travelling journal. Yesterday morning I had also stepped on my home scale. Let me give you a re-cap of what the various scales said:

Monday the 5th - evening: WW scale: 150.0
Monday the 12th - morn: Digital devil: approx 152
Monday the 12th - evening: WW scale: 149.6
Tuesday the 13th - morn: Digital devil: approx 148

Just goes to show you that the scale provides feedback only. The general trend is down (yay for journaling). Having said all of this, I will only be weighing-in once a week in the future. Multiple weigh-ins are not good for stress level (of course, WW already knows that).

By Wednesday evening I will have my 'official' WW WI (sweaters and shoes removed). The last 'official' WI was well before Christmas and I am not expecting to see a number below 145 again yet, so I have some work to do. And, I am looking forward to attending a meeting as a member. Sticking with WW pts for weight-loss again this week.

Mexi-Style Salad Bowl

One of the interesting things in the new WW 3-month journal is that it has a recipe for every week. I tried out the week 1 recipe today and hubby had some too. I made a couple of substitutes out of necessity - like digging out baby corn from the frozen stir-fry to replace corn kernals and we didn't have red-wine vinegar so we used balsamic vinegar. Also, we skipped the cilantro or basil to taste - I didn't have any fresh and knew it would be good as-is. What would I do differently next time? Less jalapeno pepper - there was half a pepper in each salad and we are just not used to that intensity. I'll post here the recipe that WE made.

And YES - I would make this again!!! In fact, I made up another container for my lunch tomorrow. Two thumbs up.

Mexi-Style Salad Bowl

2 oz thinly sliced chicken thigh, pan-grilled
2C mixed salad greens
1/2 C defrosted baby corn
1/2 C rinsed canned black beans
1/4 C mixed bell pepper, chopped
1/4 C diced red onion
1/2 minced jalapeno pepper
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp olive oil

Arrange chicken on top of greens and add remaining salad ingredients. Drizzle vinegar and oil over salad.

Tracker, Tracker on my Desk...

make my tracking the very BEST!

I'm a tracking machine. I had adjusted my pts this week to weight-loss mode, but so far have been using 6WPAs daily. To offset I'm going to plan my weekend to include filling foods and a high-protein breakfast each day. I'm going to try to make Sat & Sun each only use 2WPAs.

As far as the 3-month journal goes, which name do you like better: a 'magic' journal or a 'travelling' journal. OR, any other suggestions?

On the exercise commitments, only made 30+ mins on elliptical Wed night. Tuesday I can't remember what happened and last night was a meeting with my friend. She recently returned from a 6-day conference in Florida with Anthony Robinson, so lots of information was shared.

Hugs to all. Have a great weekend - I'll likely be popping in and out.

The Best Defense

Imagine my surprise yesterday when I walked into the lunch room at work and saw not one, but several boxes and bags of treats. From chocolate and cookies to pretzels and chocolate-covered caramel popcorn. Then what landed at lunch? Food from a cancelled meeting. Sandwiches, soups, sweats and a veggie tray.

I didn't do so well with the chocolate, had a bowl of leek soup, a half sandwich made with real chicken (not the processed stuff) and stuffed myself on the veggie tray. It could have been worse. The treats are still here today. What would you do?

Ahem...what would you do?

Jan 5/08 - Day 1 of a commitment to write it before you bite it.

Coffee with whole milk (1)
Oatmeal with blueberries, 2/3C soy drink and splenda (5)
Water and multivitamin
Coffee with whole milk (1)

Make pulic my commitments:

1. Track all foods eaten for this week
2. Cardio - 30 mins - 5x
3. Strength training - 2x
4. NO chocolate this week

It's 9:40am on Day 1 - So far, so good. I will be tracking in my handy-dandy WW 3-month journal this week and then hand the journal on to one of my members to track in next week. Talk about accountability!

So, what do you think about a rotating journal in meetings? Is this something you would do? We'll be marking the weekly weight-loss of the different members in the book - hopefully starting with me. Also, is it a good idea to start the book with me. My thoughts were: I wouldn't ask you to do it unless I was willing to do it myself. Plus, it provides a good template (I think). Thoughts and feedback on this are greatly appreciated.