Progress pictures

Hoo boy, I can't believe I am DOING this, but I'm going to post the side profile before and after pictures from the 12-week Blast the Fat Challenge at PnP.

My daughter took the afters and I didn't have the heart to ask her to try to get the same distance and profile as the befores. I also couldn't find my shorts. I daresay the belly is shrinking though. I'm going to really focus on this in the next few months before NS beach weather.

The nice thing about this is, even with any flaws, the current after is going to be a before in a few short weeks. Onward and downward (the waist that is).

Oh, and I lost at WI last night. A nice 3 lb buffer between me and that WW 'goal'. Next week will be my last paying week - woohoo.

Cheers, and have a great day.

I have to Share

Are you trying to lose, but end up maintaining?

Do you find yourself taking a bite of this, a lick of that, just a taste of the other?

Even if you don't maybe you're 'mindless' about it. I know I was. Even healthy BLTs add up.

This post by Corinne at PnP will shed new light - at least it did for me. I'm not as bad as the scenario she set out, but at least once a day over the past week I have stopped and caught myself - often with spoon for hand-held morsel half way to mouth. Instead of BLTing, plan to eat a few carrots during clean-up, or chew some minty gum during food prep. Even healthy BLTs add up.

Spring Ahead

This weekend was all about moving the clocks ahead an hour. Is anyone else falling asleep at their desk today?

It's clouded over, but there's definately a different feel to the sunshine lately. A more direct glow and it's working for me. After a couple of nights sleep I'll be able to enjoy it more.

We're having a bit of a BLT challenge at PnP this month. I never considered myself much of a BLTer, but let me tell you - when you're conscious of it something pops up (or in) every day. The penalty for licking the pb off the jar or gobbling up that scoop of left-over KD - your choice of pop-squats or push-ups. I haven't had to do any yet, but have caught myself with hand on way to mouth almost daily to pop some nutritionally empty off-plan nugget in there.

OK, the work-out plan for this week. I'm hoping my brain stays functioning long enough to plan my menu this week - something I should have done yesterday.

Monday: Lwr Body ST and 20 minute cardio
Tuesday: 50 minute cardio
Wednesday: Day off (and week 1 of maintenance weigh-in)
Thursday: Dance/yoga
Friday: Upper body ST and 20 minute cardio
Saturday: Lwr Body ST and 20 minute cardio
Sunday: Day off

Not ready to post pictures yet.

Swizz asked if I was going to post progress pictures of my PnP progress. I will - someday. I didn't take any when I started the end of November, but did take a few for the beginning of Blast the Fat Challenge. We will take more after the challenge and, depending on if I can see differences, I may post them both. This is huge, because of the way I have 'shrunk'. My tummy is still 'out there'. Head on - great. I can look in the mirror from the back side and say, "Not Bad". Then turn slightly and...ooooh, there it is. And, the progress pics are in workout shorts and a sports bra, so not much hiding behind clothes there.


Funny, in my July picture, it really isn't so bad (except the hair - what's up with that?), but I know that when I turned sideways my belly and butt were huge. I remember walking by windows, getting a glimpse and thinking, "I look like I swallowed a beach ball - an oblong beach ball.". Well, I guess I still feel that way about my front and, while I can put it down in words, I can't share the photos just yet - although I did send them to Corinne. I am hopeful that some sculpting will help carve some of that off. I know that after Ci was borne, my belly went back to normal (the bulge went back to below the belly button zone), but after J it decided to stay up high - it's also lop-sided, so I'm not sure what she was doing in there. I hoped that dropping weight would be enough, but it just wasn't.

To further emphathize, when I calculated my body fat index, it read around 30 (not so good)when I just put my core measurements in. Then dropped to less than 25 (healthy, thank you) after my arm and wrist were entered. I know I can make this work, and have found something that I have been able to stick with for 2 months now. That's impressive given my track record.


I will report monthly inches lost. Friday is measurement day, so I'll get those out soon. And seriously, we're just starting week 3 of the 12 week challenge, if there is a nice change, I will definately post my before AND after pictures. Hopefully my hair will have grown out some by then - I hate the in-between stages.


Oh, and I'll only be doing what I can for that abs routine, Swizz. I tend to not complete most of Corinne's non-strenght training workouts as written because I am a beginner and they would seriously kill me. So try it out and let me know what you think. I'm gonna have a go at it Wednesday evening. My tummy still hurts from another of her ab torture supersets I did on Sunday night. It seriously got my hear rate up and I was popping a sweat. I went to bed right after and couldn't get under the covers I was so heated up. I could only do 80% of the MINIMUM for that one.

Weekend and Cardio with 'The Man'

The weekend ended off in more of a weak-end, if you know what I mean. It was really just one splurge night, but the thing that gets me is that, when the event popped up last minute I quickly developed a loose 'plan'. I should have written it down. I'm not even going to calculate the points for a high-fat Chinese food and chicken wing dinner. I didn't go wayyyy overboard, just more than I am comfortable with. Also, skipped out on anymore cardio for the week Mon-Sun. Ended the week having done 2 Strength sessions and 1 cardio + a quick walk after Saturdays ST session. It was freezing out and even Baloo was contesting the walk.

So, Sunday night I did a kick-ass abs session. My gut is still burning today. Corinne challenged all Blast The Fat challengers to complete an insane abs session before the week is over. I took a look at it and will attempt it, but I can't promise my core will complete the quantity outlined. Check it out, give it a go, and let me know how YOU did.

Last night I convinced hubby, who does seasonal physical work, to join me in a cardio session. This is one of the cardio no-equipment routines Corinne developed for upper body. We decided that, on the 2 minute stairs parts, that he would take the high road (go upstairs) and I'd take the low road (to basement). He was DIEing. After less than 1.5 minutes of jumping jacks he was thinking I was crazy. Everytime we switched he tried to sit down and I'd call out, 1 minute dips or what-have-you. I found it hard, too, but not as bad as he did, lol. I think he convinced himself to start doing something or he's going to be in a world of pain when work starts up again. I told him we'd do the ab challenge (above) together tomorrow night.

Challenges Past and Present

More of the ongoing saga aptly named 'Journey to Thin'. Blah, blah inches down from diet alone and I feel great. More energy than I thought I'd ever have again, but why is this beach ball still in my tummy. Somewhere along the lines my tummy decided to move up from the area where it had been housed forever into the 'pregnant-only' zone under my chest. Unfortunately my chest decided to drop at the same time to join the belly in an oh-so-confusing mish-mash of what's what. So, not much I can do about the chest without surgery, so I invested in some good bras - stay up, damn you.

But the belly...

Well, as it has shrunk there has been a wee bit of downward movement. Not as much as I'd like though. So, even though I'm still working on WW goal I feel that my rib cage, waist and abdominal measurements really need a good kick in the butt.

I began strength training in late November and am really enjoying it. The cardio aspect of exercise almost seems like a punishment though. Last night was strength, but I just couldn't bring myself to jog in place or walk the stairs for 20 minutes of cardio afterwards, regardless of benefit - apparently your hemoglobins are spent from ST and this forces the cardio to burn fat instead of muscle.

So, onto the competitions. It seems all of the competitions I join are tied into trying to make exercise a regular part of my life. Why should the latest one be any different.

Octoberbest: a 12-week challenge proposed by Kim in July. This was housed in Sparks and I constantly tried to get in 150 hours per week of activity. I didn't always succeed, but I did enjoy several noon-time walks and began the C25K, but cold weather hit and that was that.

New Years Best: Following Octoberbest, some of the Sparks girls continued the tradition of weekly weigh-ins and support into the new year. I continued to report my weight, but didn't utilize the group as I had done in Octoberbest. Still, Sparks is a great resource and this challenge kept me connected.

Christmas Challenge: Simultaneous with New Years Best I joined a blogging challenge that Carolyn proposed. The Christmas challenge was to keep us all on track during the most challenging eating months of the year. These included Thanksgiving, Halloween and Christmas. She and Randi headed up a blogsphere support system and, with the 2 of them focusing on the gym I really spent a lot of time figuring out what I wanted to do in the arena of exercise. Tese two ladies really motivate me.

PnP: Not a challenge, but an on-line personal trainer. I joined PnP in November and focused on strength training. There was a challenge going on at the time, but being new I focused on my beginner routine and struggled with getting the cardio in. Now, there is a new challenge. Very simply, members pick a program and go to it. Report each week your compliance with food and exercise. So, since I don't want to report a non-compliance I need to do the right things. Oh, and as proof of our compliance, we sent pictures and measurements into Corrine and will re-take more at the end of the challenge. Pictures of front, back and side while dressed in shorts and a sports bra are always an eye opener. I just know I'm not ready to post them here yet. I'm hoping to receive as a reward for this competition a smaller waist, smaller bum, and bigger guns. Check out Dawn from the last challenge. Isn't this awesome! Crazy what 12 weeks will do.

Challenge Updates

I've been tired the past few days and have blogged not much other than updating my menu post for this week. I figured this was 'cleaner' than a new post each day.

I've finally visited all of the blogs from the Christmas Challenge that I could access. Some pretty cool girls out there. Most seem to be doing really good and Corinne and Randy are doing top-notch trying to keep it pulled together here in blogland. I unoficially changed my challenge goal to 153, but this is just for me. I realized that reaching my WW goal of 148 was not going to happen in the specified time period

I had also signed up for a New Year's Best Challenge housed at Sparks. After the first few weeks the leaders made the forum private so ya'll can't see it. Actually, they just wanted to keep the group intimate and didn't want people joining part ways through. We have little weekly challenges which, I must admit, I haven't been into much. I try to visit there a couple times a week, but aren't on Sparks as much as I used to be. There's still a lot of support in the little group and I like the forum environment and the ability to post specific threads.

I also changed my WW goal. I chatted with my leader and decided to go for 150. You may recall that the original one that I had was for 145. Anyway, I guess that's why you have time to think about it. I told her that I may just walk in one day and decide that I'm at goal and she said that was fine, too since I'm now in the healthy range, according to them. Oooh, I'll leave you guessing.

In unrealated news, we have decided to spend Christmas with my mil. Apparently we are going to have my niece, too, but sil is working that day (VON nurse). Hubby was talking about fixing beds, etc at mil's - not sure what was up with that, but forget it. I told him we'd bring up the air mattresses and all of the girls could sleep in the front room, including the niece (she's 18, quite overweight, and won't likely appreciate it, but oh well). Mil's house is a bit messed up. She has the old LR 'upstairs'. She had an addition built on that includes her bedroom and a huge sunroom, which is really the new LR (there's only 3 steps). You can't see one from the other, so Santa can do his thing in private, ya know. Mil is really excited we're going there and so are my girls. I'd say by this time next year, mil won't be 'with' us - as in mentally. She appears to have alzheimer's and it's progressing rather quickly, so we're trying to make this a memorable event for our daughters and, to some extent, Nanny. If it's a bad winter, we'll also find it more difficult to visit regularly, so we're trying to get in as many visits as possible now.

Cheers,

Holding my Head High

I am trying to hold my head high as I report a gain of 3.2

It is a gain, definately. The scale said 163.6 - or did it? OK, this is where I try to justify the gain. Why? Because I can't accept that a few beer, a couple glasses of wine and 5 VERY small chocolates did this.

I had a debacle at a lawyers office last night and was 'required' to sign new mortgage documents ASAP. NOT - the documents were nothing like what I had discussed with the banker - variable vs fixed, term, interest rate - they were ALL different. What a waste of time. I'll be back there again on Saturday to, hopefully, sign the right documents.

Anyway, this meant I couldn't go home and put on my weigh-in outfit - I was running late for meeting as was. Usually not a biggie, but yesterday I was wearing cords and a belt with a buckle! So, shocker, they weigh significantly more than my cotton slacks.

Also (TMI) I was quite bloated. See, when I go home I usually also hit the washroom. But this was more than that. Something wasn't sitting right. Also, likely related to this, I had processed soup for lunch both Tuesday and Wednesday, which usually means sodium. My MO is to avoid excess sodium after Monday evening.

So, I suspect I DID gain this week, but that a good portion of this gain will be gone by tomorrow morning.

I've also been reflecting a bit after reading Carolyn and Randi's blog and realize that I haven't been celebrating the non-food aspects of this journey. I am going to build some personal challenges surrounding exercise as I know I've been slacking - I didn't have a lot of time available in September, but that's a relatively lame excuse. I'm going to be busy in November, too, but that doesn't mean I can't fit in 2.5 hours/week. I think I'll always struggle with this aspect, so it will be my focus in the coming weeks (again).

Also, thanks to my co-worker Heidi. She brought in 2 more pairs of pants. A pair of black slacks I could do up, but some major muffin toppage and tight buttage happening. I also have a pair of black slacks that fit like this last spring that I'm thinking of sizing the larger ones, but will take some pictures first. So, in line with other Christmas challengers, I have found my Christmas challenge pants that I hope will be suitable for wear by Christmas. The nice thing about this part is that it's not a scale item that we're comparing to, and it's not all food that will get me where I want to be. It's crunches, glute moves, walking, etc.

I really do feel rejuvinated today. It's the start of another week. My food journal is a clean slate and I'm excited to fill it up with great choices and activity points.

Octoberbest Coming to an End

So, Octoberbest is over - or here, however you want to look at it. How did it all pan out? I started this 12-week challenge at 174 and convinced myself that I could be well into the 150's by the time it was over. HA! Guess what? I'm so close to the 150s I can taste them. 160.4 as of last night for a total loss of 13.6 in 12 weeks, or 1.13/week average. This included vacation, a mini-plateau, BBQ's, etc.

First, the results of this week: I am down 1.6 lbs

I have lost 15.65 inches in this same time period, and if you scroll down to the bottom of my blog today, you can see my overall WW ticker from May 23 until today and chart of the same.

Now, a little reflection on Octoberbest.

What was good:

• Sparks, first and foremost. I got a lot from the site tools and articles as well as message boards. It kept me focused on trying to build exercise into my day or week at a level that was comfortable for me. This is by far the most difficult thing for me. So, I do attempt to exercise semi-regularly and will continue this focus throughout the Christmas Challenge. IT is getting easier all the time. I like the arm flex measurements and use them to reflect on what other muscles may be building in my body as the weeks progress.


• The people. I have loved meeting people who have participated in the challenge. I really want to thank Kim for opening her personal challenge to so many of us and taking on the responsibility of coordinating this. Also, to Jodi for agreeing to co-captain this. For those of us who looked towards this challenge in any way, shape or form for accountability or personal challenges it was a great benefit.

What was not-so great:

• The message board used could have been a really great tool to bounce ideas around and get support. It was highly under-used and just seemed to be a weekly reporting spot for the most part. I suppose many of us belonged to other boards, have our blogs, etc., and you only get out of a challenge what you put into it. I guess that's why I set my Sparks ticker to start at 174, and created a new Christmas Challenge ticker. When looking at time-specific challenges, I think it's good to look at the results from the bottle, not just your weight loss journey results.

Well, I know I promised pictures, but my camera is AWOL. We're looking for it and I may break down and buy a new one as the one we have is old and doesn't always co-operate as it's been dropped a time or two:0)

OK, onward and upward - er, downward. Christmas Challenge in a bottle.

A New Goal

With the wrap-up of Octoberbest in just over a week, I felt it was time to focus on a new challenge. Randi and Carolyn have great timing as I was just about to scour the Sparks pages for something else. Carolyn has listed participants and the range of weight loss is anywhere from 5-almost 20 lbs. I would like to meet my WW goal of 148 by Christmas. As the days progress I am questioning if this is doable. I will put my best foot forward, though and keep thinking that every week extra it takes me to get there is real cash out-of-hand. Yes, I could re-set my WW goal to as high as 160, but I don't really want to. I'm leaving the door open on this one, though and will be buying a book of 10 coupons once my book of 5 runs out. This will commit me on 2 levels.

Bad, Baby, Bad: My weekend food indulgences (not the best choices, but not horrible)
Fri night: Baked apples with LF margarine, brown sugar and cinnamon. (instead of the planned cantelope)
Sat supper: Small Tim Horton's Whole Wheat loaf (some bread gutted and discarded) with pizza sauce, some LF cheese and 4 Chicken meatballs. 1/8 of WW recipe apple pie
Sun evening: 3 oatmeal raisin cookies (4pts, 180 calories). I told Myself not to eat more than 1, but Myself didn't listen to I. After the third one, Me stepped in and put the bag away.

Cooking - trying to be healthy:
Apple pie using Splenda (even the crust)
Double-Baked potatoes - frozen for quick food. There was a lot of cheese in this (3cups for 23 halves, so 1/8C in each). I used Veggie cheddar and regular montery jack, but will need to look for a LF version next time. The 9yo really likes them - woohoo! I didn't have any of these and will need to calculate their pts
Eggplant/Zuchinni lasagna - 2nd time with this recipe. I left out the tofu this time, but didn't have cheese, so used a bit of mozza flavoured soy product.

I estimated on the high side for points. Went over 5pts on Fri and 9pts on Sat. I didn't finalize my pts for Sun yet and left my books at home. Today is going well. Monday and back to work always helps. I have my lasagna for lunch. Breakfast was yogurt, granola and berries (4pts) and coffee with 1/4C milk (1pt). I also have carrots, apple and orange for snack. If I get really hungry I'll have half a bagel with PB, but I don't think I'll need it.

Cheers,

Wednesday WI

OK, without fanfare this week. I gained 1lb.

Why?

• I did no exercise except Thursday
• I went over by an estimated 19pts on Sunday with very little whole foods included. The estimate is because the Blueberry Kruger/Danish thing I may have had more. I'm not beating myself up over 1 bad day, but it really took the wind out of my sails for the week.
• I've stopped eating my snacks. I didn't think I 'needed' them anymore, but I'm going to start have a little something mid-morning and mid-afternoon.
• This weight has been with me a lot longer (5+years) and I was around this weight for quite a while before 'movin on up'. I think our bodies 'settle' in periodically.

Plan for this week:

• Implement XBX Plan - do Chart 1, Level 1 at least 4x
• Walk and/or jog at least 30 mins 3x
• Attend Dance/Yoga class
• 2 fruit pts/day as part of my F&V
• 8 +cups H2O/day
• Maintain 25-26 pts/day - do not go over 28 pts even on weekends
• Have snacks in morning and afternoon (ForV in am and carb or protein {pretzels, nuts} in pm)
• Count pts, but stick as close to Core (whole foods) options as possible for main meals

C'mon Candace, we have 2 weeks left of Octoberbest, and need to kick start Christmas Challenge. If anyone else is interested in the Christmas Challenge, check out Carolyn or Randi's blogs (see links to left). I have a personal goal of getting to 148 by Christmas. It's doable, but whatever's been going on for the last 2 weeks has GOT to change.

Wednesday Anticipation

My activity this week has been little to none. I got a little over-tired and haven't gone for 1 walk, and have basically stopped my morning routine (this I feel badly about as I was doing so well).

A new week for the Octoberbest Challenge and with only a 2 weeks left I am determined to get back in the game. I am going to follow the XBX program I posted about Mon night, with only 3-4 work-outs/week. Other than that I want to just focus on walking, jogging only if I feel like it. Maybe I'll try the C25K in the winter (I'm hoping for a treadmill, but may end up joining a gym later if they have a 'membership waived' promo).

Sunday was bad food wise. As stated I was under the weather, but not sick to my stomach. I didn't feel like 'food prep' and picked at stuff I didn't buy for myself. How bad is that, and I know EVERYONE does this. Danish-type stuff for breakfast, and the seafood lasagna - 13 pts worth on Sunday, then pizza for 6pts, small piece of pie, large glass of wine. All totalled, I was over around 19 pts (couldn't get an accurate est on the danish stuff), but without excess quantity consumed. Just bad choices. Get over it, Get on with it.

Very little food to choose from Mon and Tues, but we didn't do so badly. I managed to stick with daily pts and get in my GHGs with 'odd' selections - at least odd to me. Last night I ended up needing an F&V and an oil and had 1pt left. No fruit in the house, so I fried up some frozen asparagus in olive oil, but a skimming of mayo on weight watcher bread and enjoyed for 1pt, an oil and an F&V. This would not have been a 1st choice, but it was good. After supper, the LO and I hit the grocery. We were scheduled to go to the pool, but with preschool starting she's picked up a bug and I'd rather her not be in the pool this week.

The scale has been sedate for 2 weeks now. This morning it still only looked to be just below 165, which means to me that tonight will be another stays same or minor move. It feels like a plateau, but I'll give this week my best shot to take that sucker down a notch.

I was thinking about not weighing in, but I want to every week until Octoberbest is over. I feel the need to be accountable to my group. After that, I may skip the odd week that I know I haven't had a change. I had the summer saver plan, so my first 15 weeks I was paid for anyway, but now I pay-as-I-go (or pay with coupons) and am just not sure how it works. Just wondering if, by not going, do I not have to pay? And how often can you do that without losing your 'paid-up' status.

Today's ramble

Boring post today, but hey, it's whatever floats my boat, right? And I really feel the need to post something.

For the past 2.5 months I have been on some king of bi-weekly schedule. Every second week is a minor loss or a small gain. I actually expected it this week and am finding the whole thing rather amusing because - no matter how hard I work in the minor week it doesn't matter. Good thing Octoberbest ends Oct 3rd - should be a loss week.

I tried Wendie this past week again and have decided just to stick with my daily pts + an average of 3-4 weekly pts. Although I have been exercising, I don't think APs are worth 'eating' at this point. I will play this one by ear.

Between the whole milk in my coffee and the processed cheese I'm giving myself a dairy. Will likely have half a glass tonight as I do recognize that processed cheese doesn't technically count. Cup 4 of water finished while writing.

Blood. It's in You to Give.

With the long weekend coming up, there is a call for Blood Donations. Also, with the anniversary of 9/11 there is a symbolic reason for donating at this time of year. There have been floods, fires and daily local incidents that put a demand on reserves. There is a calling for blood of all types in recent weeks. I urge anyone who hasn't donated in the last two months to take the time and make a donation of life now. Blood - It's in you to give!

September Goals

I posted this on Sparks, but figured I'd add it here as well. I read something the other day that said the point of challenges/goal setting is not that you WILL get them all done every day/week/month, but that you'll TRY. Being accountable to them daily means I'll do better than if I didn't have them. Kind of like WW GHG's.
This week I've also given thought to a Cindy, a lady from my meetings. She's been having a 'maintenance' summer, not by choice, and she seems discouraged about it. I think she'll pull it together once fall hits next month. The point of mentioning her is that I joined WW the end of May and have worked diligently over the summer, even while on vacation, trying to figure out my body, experimenting with different foods and points, etc. Anyway, I say I'm down 18.2lbs, but sometimes think, "I'm down 25lbs from where I WOULD have been now if I hadn't done this." How so? Both Cindy and I would likely have put weight on this summer had it not been for Weight Watchers. As it is, I have lost 18.2lbs and she is still down around 60lbs from starting.

So, the reason I am posting this is to keep momentum happening in the face of new changes with the schoold year starting, Mark taking a realtor course, fall activities starting up, and just generally less 'ME' time all of a sudden. So, without further ado,
My goals for September are (many of these are also part of the 12-week Octoberbest challenge for me, others are WW, others are just me):
- Get to below the 160lb
- Drink at least 8 cups of water daily
- Some type of exercise or activity for 150 mins/week, incorporating abs/glutes/arms/cardio (all my weak areas)
- WW GHG's of 5 F&V daily, 2-3 Dairy daily, 1-2 healthy oils daily (I have recognized that I have a hard time with oils, but if I can get in even 1 it's better than none and I'm gonna count it as a success, even though it falls short according to WW)
- If I slip forgive myself immediately, not the next day, and get back on plan. No sense in turning a 1 meal slip-up into a 1 day or week slip-up.
- Journal all my meals with the exception of Wednesday nights (With Wed WI before, if I have points available, I don't worry about this meal - just keep the guidelines in perspective)

I am also currently attempting to follow Wendie. Mmalloy is having success with this, but I am in the 'test' phase. Yesterday I was 1pt shy from Wendie, but I was done, so that's cool. Tonight is WI and the September Goals will officially be in place tomorrow for 5 weeks (ending Oct 3). This will also wrap up Octoberbest Challenge.

Cheers, and Happy Hump Day!

Goals met/or not

I decided to set similar goals as Swizzle this week and - well, she did better than me in sticking to them. This is how it played out: Incomplete, Complete

My goals for the past week (Wed - Tues):
Exercise 3 times for at least 30 minutes - 2 20 minute walks
Do a daily 10 minute morning routing for 6 of 7 days - Mon and Tues only
Copy my manual journal into Sparks Food log daily to check on 'value chart' - even though many of these food choices are brand-name and do not reflect my choices 100% - mostly and will complete and analyze later today.
Have a fruit or veggie with every meal - Check
Drink at least 64oz of water every day - 5/7 days met - short on Sat and Sun
Write something positive about myself every day to help boost my self image - 6/7 met - missed Sun

On the exercise front, I know I did less than I should have. No excuses, just trying to get back on the wagon (or should I say on a wagon). I think I'll strive for a more structured guideline this week.
Water - I guess I need to figure out a way to keep water in front of me at home, as I do at work. Maybe I'll buy a honkin' big jug.
Food - I seem to be hitting my goals on this front fairly regularly.
Personal positivity - This was an interesting exercise. This may be a neat thing to do once a week.

Great OP week

I did use some FP, but not as many as I had intended - I think I have used around 16 (plus mis-counts), but I forgot my book today, so can't be sure.
I am going to have to re-think the 'free' baby carrots. Took a look at the nutritional info and the 2C I down amost daily is actually 2 pts :0)
I also realized when I measured my nuts and pretzels today (cashews today, yum) that my serving sizes had gradually been getting larger (bit-by-bit) over the past couple of weeks. Another :0) and time to get back to basics.
I bought some frozen chicken breast - you know, the bulk ones. I usually just count chicken breast as 1pt/oz or so. I calculated these babies using the nutritional information and 100g (approx 4oz) was only 2 pts. A good :0)

Today I treated myself to sushi. I don't usually eat sushi in the days before WI because you can't eat sushi without soy sauce. And soy sauce is water retention. The container was crying out my name at the grocery last night, so I brought it home. How can you just walk away from that lovely 4pt lunch. So, I'm going to down another 600 ml of water (hmmm, there are 2C in 500ml) this afternoon before stopping until after WI. I learned my lesson drinking too much too close to WI.

I got in a fair bit of exercise this week, considering I was going to say "Heck, I can't do 150 minutes by the end of Tuesday". Today is the last day of my WW week and the first day of my new challenge week. The exercise relates to both, I guess, but mostly to the challenge. I managed: 15 mins of lawn mowing on Sat before the mower ran out of gas, 15 min walk to the coffee shop and back on Mon, 35 mins of dancing on Mon night, 45 mins on Tues night (stairs and lawn mowing) - for a total of 110 minutes. And today I've already did a 20 min walk at noon, but that's towards next weeks challenge numbers.

I'm feeling good this week, but we'll see what the scales have to say tonight.
Cheers, Candace

OK, I'm Lame - Get Over It!

So here I was complaining about pigging out on baby carrots while members of my support team (every link is my daily inspiration) was stressing over much more serious matters, such as cravings, ice cream, cake, cake mix and diet coke (ew!) and so forth. How lame am I?
I think the problem was really the Shrimp Marinara (lunch before the carrots). Must have gotten something bad as my tummy was just not right the rest of the day or this morning. I managed to eat 24 points yesterday, but the last couple were very difficult and upset me all over again. I really just consumed them to meet the GHG's. I'm finally feeling better and appologize for lamenting about carrots.
In all seriousness though, I have been giving thought to Core, but am nervous about it.

Challenge: I've been neglecting the exercise part of my Challenge commitment this week. I think I have about 15 minutes of lawn mowing in and may count 15 minutes of running up and down the stairs doing laundry, but I doubt I'll reach 150 minutes this week. Now is the time to get over myself though. Forgive myself for my poor behaviour, re-set my weekly goals to something that can be done by Wednesday (say, 75 minutes - Mon walk 30, Tues stretch 15, Tues walk 30) and put the past behind me.

Onward and upward: Met today with senior management and will need to do a bunch of analysis stuff (ugh). Maybe this is why I've been 'off' for a few days - I always stress about meetings with management. I know they're just people and we're all after the same goal, but man the pending meeting really messes with me. This analysis is going to be even more difficult because I am on vacation for 2 weeks starting Friday at 5pm, baby, and I'm not coming in for it!

Vacation: OK, enough work talk, something fun. Mark (aka hubby) has to work every other weekend, but is off my 1st and last weekend and will try to take the last Friday off with me (YEAH!). Even when he works he's home at 9:30am, so I shouldn't complain, but he's just so gosh-darn tired until after a nap, so he maysawill work 'till noon.
More exciting stuff: My little sister is coming home and will be going to the cottage on the Monday of my 2nd week off. Woohoo - I really miss her and her little angels. So, I think we'll pack the tent and head up for a few days, then back-track to my mil's cottage and meet up with Mark for the last weekend. The first week I just don't know...decisions, decisions...we might just hang out around home and spend afternoons and evenings at the pool. I'm really gonna have to plan the 4yo's birthday party soon (July 4 - been and gone) and vacation seems like a good time to fit it in.

Weekends - Challenge or Opportunity

Well, that went well, I think. Having decided to take part in Kim's challenge, I was making a concerted effort to get in activity time. I had a 20 minute walk on Saturday morning with the dog followed by 10 minutes of glute and ab moves with the 4yo. She told me I should be doing them faster. Later in the day I walked to the local pool with the 9yo while she biked. I took Sunday off, except for the house cleaning. Points wise, things went OK. I've been focusing on getting at least 8 pts in protein/day and this is still a work-in-progress. Got kind of weak cleaning on Sunday and had to stop to remind myself to eat. This may have as much to do with the fact that hubby and I stayed up Saturday night to watch MI3 - too late and I was close to sick most of Sunday.

My mother is visiting for a few days - thus the cleaning frenzy. She arrived at around 8:00 last night and we talked until going on midnight. She is diabetic and took my blood-sugar and it was 7.2. Apparently that's kind of high. My oldest brother is also diabetic and on quite strong meds for it. I think I may wait until I lose some more weight before visiting the doc as he tests me for diabetes and thyroid every year. That tag is just so restrictive in terms of insurance, etc. I just know I feel so much better now than I did a couple of months ago and I'm sure in another 10 lbs I'll feel that much better again. Hopefully I'm catching myself in time.

It's back to work again. It'll be a very busy day, but I had to check in on everyone. I love that Colette is re-motivated and that Steph is going to find some activity suited to herself rather than Trixie. I can't wait to read on their progress. I've been averaging my daily points + 4 weekly points/day. I haven't been giving myself extra AP points for the activity I've put in this week. I feel good that my motivation lasted more than a couple of days, though.

The 9yo is home with Nanny today and just called upset (so that's where my cell phone is) because I have her bathing suite in the car, Nanny is on the phone with a lawyer and she just missed swimming lessons. It's the end of the world! OK, just got off the phone - Nanny is going to take her shopping for a new bathing suite today, so all is right in the world again.

Cheers everyone, and have a great OP day!

Challenge Prep and Bathing suits

Challenge Prep:
I am getting so excited about the challenge. I don't think, other than consciously trying to hit 8 cups of water/day and exercising 150 mins/week, that it will be a stretch from what I'm currently doing. So, to prepare:
- I am going to buy a tape measure and take my measurements in the morning. This is something I haven't done, but know others did. I think that isolating this 12 weeks and documenting these things for this time period will be good for me.
- I am going to buy more water from the grocery store tonight. Our tap water at home is starting to taste yucky. Hubby says it always tastes off, but it never bothers me in the winter.
- I am going to dig out that yoga video that I bought over a year ago (and watched once).

For exercise I thought I would:
- Yoga 1/week
- Twister DVD dancing 2/week (for a child's game, this is impressively the most intense of my choices - and fun with the kids - the challenge is securing the TV for 20-30 mins)
- Walk/Jog 2/week
- Crunches or other abdominal exercise for 5-10 mins/morning (this I am not looking forward to, but the belly-butt needs this to get the best it can be without surgery - sorry Roni, but it just looks so painful - , so we'll see how this pans out)
- Other options: I have a set of in-line skates and may try them out, plus we go to the pool regularly, so if it's hot enough to get in and someone is watching the 4yo I can try some laps. I always feel foolish swimming in front of the teenage life guards as I never took lessons, just learned to keep afloat in the ocean. But I also don't look that great wearing a 3-piece bathing suit so no-one can see my body.

3-Piece Bathing Suit:
Actually, I also have a 1-piece suit, but the 3-piece is my preferred choice. These were purchased as separates last year from Wally-Mart on my quest for something that fit and covered all my required parts (which is totally different than pertinent parts). I don't really like the 'skirt' suits and find they hold a lot of water, so I looked for something that was suitable for a 30-something size 16 and came across a top that has a bikini top, but a flowy part that covers the tummy. I also picked out a nice pair of bathing shorts to go with it that have elastic at the waist and cover the top of my thighs (on a side, if you didn't shave the bikini area recently, they also cover that - love those shorts). Once I got home I realized that the shorts were not suitable for swimming and required a 'panty', so went back and purchased the traditional bathing suit bottom to wear under the shorts. These are relatively low on the outer thigh and high in the waist - NOT a bikini bottom. That doesn't matter, though as no one has ever seen them as the shorts always cover them.
A mini-goal is to actually get to a point where I can wear this suit without the shorts THIS summer. I don't expect anyone IMRL to notice, but if I ever get there, I'll let ya'll know. So VERY much to look forward to.