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For a little while now I’ve been using Wednesday’s as my Weekly Weigh In Day.  While I love Wednesdays as they are far enough from the weekend that I’ve been able to get rid of any extra salt that I consumed over the weekend, a change was proposed to me. 

I got an email from a good friend of mine, we will call him B, saying that he really wanted to start going to actual Weight Watchers Meetings.  I was a little torn, because I just started to really get into Sparkpeople.  Knowing that 1-He was going to a particularly meeting with a leader (Wayne) who is famous in the Weight Watchers world in our area and 2-I’m still paying for Weight Watchers, made the choice pretty easy, plus Weight Watchers has and always will be my one true Weight Loss love.  Saturday morning I got up and headed over to meet B for the 10:15 Meeting. 

I haven’t been to a WW Meeting in probably 6-8 months.  I switched over to E-Tools only last year after becoming incredibly frustrated with the WW Leader that was near the office I was in at the time.  This might sound bad to some people, but hearing that she lost 17 pounds and kept it off for 8 years isn’t motivating to someone who had a total of 142 pounds to lose, just to make it into a “healthy weight range.”  She wasn’t patient and she never had a good answer for me when my weight became stuck.  She was always rushed and I just didn’t feel a connection with her.

I’ve been to this new leader (Wayne) before, years ago.  I immediately felt a connection with him, but over time I felt like I could do it on my own.  We all know where that has gotten me.  It felt like coming home when I walked into Saturday’s meeting.  He greets you at the door and bounces all over the place chit chatting with everyone prior to the meeting starting.  His hour long session just flies by.  He’s part WW Leader, part Jewish Father, part comedian.  He brings real life into the WW Meeting, so it doesn’t feel like you’re standing up to say “My name is Scale Warfare and I am obsessed with cheetos.”  Does that make any sense?  Some WW Meetings can be incredibly dry and feel like AA for fat people.   I can’t even begin to tell you how happy and motivated I felt when I left that meeting. 

Wayne is on facebook and posts updates all day long, what he’s eaten, motivational little life stories (many of which are HILAROIUS) and he even blogs.  Seriously, my WW leader is a blogger, how awesome is that?

I will tell you that the scale there is about 2.5 pounds higher than my scale at home (I weighed in at home in the clothes that I wore to the WW Meeting.)  So I am going to hold off on posting about losses until the scale at WW catches up to where I am on here.  I am still losing; it’s just a different scale.  I don’t see it as a gain, so I am not going to post it as one.  The scale at home is lower than it was last week, and that is a win in my book!

After I left Saturday’s meeting, I decided to make a promise to myself.  I WILL hit all of the Healthy Guidelines (fruits and veggies, dairy, lean proteins, water, vitamin, exercise, whole grains, etc) EVERYDAY this week.  Guess what?  I have!  I’ve also decided that I am going to eat my activity points, or at least close to them, everyday.  Not only does it give me more motivation to workout (sure I’ll get on the treadmill for extra food, duh!) but I know from past experience that my weight loss tends to stall when I don’t eat enough. 

Hopefully you aren’t too frustrated with me for making yet another change, but it feels so good and so right to me.  I am still sticking with my 30 Day Challenge, this plan fits really well with that.  I am mixing up the strength training though and using the 30 Day Shred 3 days a week to accomplish my strength training goals (Jillian knows how to kick my ass in a very painful and special way.)

Tata for now,

Scale Warfare

It’s Tuesday, so it’s that time again for the Healthy You Challenge Update.  Last week I set out on a 30 Day plan for myself.  The plan included:

  1.   Do the Strength Training 10-15 minute sessions that are created by Sparkpeople.com 3 times per week.
  2.  Get back on track with my RLR Running.  By the end of these 30 days, I WILL be up to 2:30 intervals.
  3.  Get out 1 day a week for an outdoor walk (besides dog walks). 
  4.  Get back to basics: measure, write it before I bite it, 5 fruits/veggies a day, 2 dairy servings a day, whole grains, multi-vitamin every day, healthy oil everyday (the Weight Watchers Healthy Guidelines.)
  5.  Wear my GoWear Fit regularly (not while sleeping, my arm needs a rest lol)
  6.  Get my steps in.  Days 1-7: 6,000 per day; Day 8-14: 6,500 per day; Days 15-21: 7,000 per day; Days 22-30: 7,500 per day. 
  7.  Have a calorie deficit of approximately 7,000 calories per week (which equates to 2 lbs). 
  8.  30 Minutes of Cardio 5 days per week.  So in addition to my 3 RLR Runs, I will need to do 2 more days of cardio.

So how did I do this week?

I did all three Strength Training sessions prescribed by Sparkpeople.com last week.  This week I’ve decided to do the 30 Day Shred three times instead of using the Sparkpeople routines.  This allows me to incorporate cardio, strength training AND abs all at once!

I am back on track with my RLR Running.  I’ve upped my intervals to 2:15 jogs and 2 minute walks, so I am on my way to 2:30 jog intervals by the end of the 30 days (April 8th)

I did not get out for a walk this week (besides walking the dog.)  We had rain Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.  This coming weekend is supposed to be gorgeous, so I am really excited to get out on the trail.  My Maid of Honor is going to be in town and when she still lived up here we’d go on tons of walks.  It’s going to be great to walk with her again!

Tomorrows post will discuss a change that I made this past weekend.  I feel like I’ve made one change after another lately, but this is a fantastic change (for me!)  Let’s just say I am back to meeting all of my Weight Watchers Healthy Guidelines daily!

I have worn my GoWear Fit every day since last Monday!  It really is motivational to see my steps taken and my calories burned.  It gives me an extra boost to work just a little harder!

I went above 6,000 steps EVERYDAY!  I averaged 6,813 steps each day.  Some days were really high, like Sunday when I did an RLR session AND grocery shopped and some days just hit over 6,000.

My calorie deficit for last Tuesday through yesterday was 7,203.  Just barely made it!

I hit 30 minutes of Cardio 5 days last week.  Yay!

It feels great to have this mini plan of sorts.  None of these tasks are all that daunting, but they are all a bit of a challenge and require that I pay attention to what I am doing.

I hope you’ve had a healthy week!

Tata for now,

Scale Warfare

PS-I am SO SORED from doing the 30 Day Shred yesterday.  It hurts to stand up, it hurts to sit down, it even hurt to blow dry my hair lol.

Week 9 of Rubenesque Ladies Running never happened, between being sick and being on vacation, it was bypassed.  Because of this, I wanted to make sure that I eased my way back into running.  This week consisted of 2 minute intervals of jogging and walking.  It felt really good to get back in the groove.

Friday March 5th, 2010-This was my first outdoor run.  The weather was AMAZING, the sun felt great and I enjoyed the scenery.  Those my friends were the pro’s.  The con’s well I’m not sure if I will every be an outdoor runner.  My feet felt like lead during the running intervals.  I missed having the clock on the treadmill telling me when to walk and run and it was awkward to look down at my watch constantly to see where I was at.  I instead decided to pick landmarks to run between and walk between.  I learned that I walk much faster outdoors than I do on the treadmill (I think my treadmill is fairly inconsistent on its speed, I need to call Nordictrack about that!)  I had no idea what my running pace was or how far I was running.  I wound up doing 1.7 miles in 27:53 for a Pace of 16:24 which really shocked me.  I felt like I was moving through quicksand!

Monday March 8th, 2010-My sweet, sweet treadmill, I missed you!  I was worried that I wasnt going to be up to the 2 minute intervals since it had been a week since I know that I jogged for 2 minutes at a time.  The first couple were a little rough, but it got a little easier as I went through.  I feel amazing now that it is through.  This is also the first time that I wore my GoWear Fit during an RLR run, and I learned that I burn approximately 375 calories during the 30 minute session.  I went 1.68 Miles for a Pace of 17:46, which is REALLY slow compared to what I had been doing, but I’ll work on getting it back down :)

Wednesday March 10th, 2010-This one never happened.  I over scheduled myself this week.   I could have done it on Thursday, but decided to walk on the treadmill instead of doing my 2 minute intervals.  I wasnt even going to walk, but I forced myself to at least do SOMETHING.  Walked at 3.1 for 30 minutes.

Bella was on a work trip all week, so I am not sure if she was able to get the RLR Runs in, but you should stop by and encourage her for next week!

Tata for now,

Scale Warfare

Welcome to the next installment of the Bloggy Beck Book Club! 

This weeks assignment was to work on the first four Success Skills in Dr. Beck’s book.  These four skills are:

  1. Motivate Yourself Daily
  2. Weigh Yourself Daily
  3. Eat Slowly, While Sitting Down and Enjoying Every Bite
  4. Give Yourself Credit

I’ll be honest, while I read the skills, several times for that matter, I did a horrendous job at working on them.  This week I am going to focus on doing each of the four skills.  Dr. Beck reiterates numerous times in this section that learning these skills and making them a part of your daily routine takes practice and repetition

Don’t go too quickly!  Dieters progress at different speeds.  For example, eating everything sitting down is quite easy for people who already have this habit.  Others may need to spend days (or longer) mastering this skill.  Most dieters need to practice coping with hunger, cravings, and emotional eating many times before they get really good at managing them.  But remember: No matter what the skill is, the more you practice it, the easier it gets.”

I know for me, weighing myself daily is an easy thing, it’s a habit (except on mornings where I’m running around like a chicken with my head cut off!)  The other three skills are absolutely going to take more work for me, particularly Success Skill 3, “Eat Slowly, While Sitting Down and Enjoying Every Bite.”  This one is going to be incredibly hard for me in regards to breakfast and lunch.  Dinner I do sit down and we eat together, granted, we need to turn off the TV during this time, but at least we are seated and usually having a conversation.  Breakfast and lunch, I eat them at my desk at work.  I work while I eat so that I can leave earlier, which means I avoid some of the traffic (hello…DC has INSANE traffic!)  I do a good job of eating these two meals slowly though, sometimes it takes me 30 minutes to eat my breakfast.

Another success skill that I tend to have problems with is Success Skill 4 “Give Yourself Credit”

Successful dieters continually put the focus on what they are doing right.  They tell themselves, Good job (or the equivalent), whenever they practice a Success Skill and stick to their eating plan.”

I know I need to work on this skill.  I tend to focus on the negatives and not the positives.  I look at the 32 lbs that I’ve lost and instead of seeing those pounds lost, I think about the fact that it’s taken me as long as it has, and that 20 pounds has been off and on.  The reality is, that 32 pounds is a lot of weight to lose, it’s almost 25% of my way to goal weight.  I could be 32 pounds in the other direction if I hadn’t decided to focus on my health. 

All of these are skills that are really skills for life, not just dieting.  I think a lot of people don’t give themselves enough credit for their successes, go too fast in everyday life and forget the advantages of what they are trying to obtain; why is their goal their goal?

Discussion Points:

  • What are your advantages?  What is it that keeps you working towards your goal (whether if it’s losing weight or something else)?
  • Weigh Yourself Daily.  This is a potentially controversial topic.  There are a lot of people who don’t weigh daily because they become obsessed with the scale.  The theory behind weighing daily is that you desensitize yourself to the number, that the number is just that, a number.  Dr. Beck compares the number on the scale to that on a thermometer.  You know you have an issue when your fever is up and that you need to take care of yourself, same with the scale.
  • Eat Slowly.  How are you going to focus on this?  What in your life gets in the way to making this a skill that is tough to master.  What have you done to make this skill a habit for those of you that are successful with this.
  • Give yourself credit.  How do you give yourself credit?  How do you continue to work on focusing on the positive instead of focusing on poor choices and mis-steps in your weight loss plan?

Next week you will be heading over to Bella’s site for the weekly Bloggy Beck Book Club Meeting.  The topics for next week will be Success Skills 5-9.

I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

Tata for now,

Scale Warfare

Weekly Weigh In

This is the weekly Weigh In that didn’t happen.  We were out late last night and I wound up over sleeping.  I spent my morning running around packing my lunch and getting showered and ready as fast as possible, somehow managing to make it in on time.  Therefore, no official weigh in for this week.  I do know that the scale was at 273.4 yesterday which was down 1.5 pounds from Monday, but still up from last weeks “Official” Weigh In. 

Just venting-I feel like our life is so over planned right now and that I am doing a lot of things just ok, but nothing is getting done well.  We are just going non-stop all.of.the.time.  I need a weekend to recuperate and get the house cleaned (because WOW does it need it!)  I’ve been in bed by 10 most nights and getting up at 5:30, so I don’t think I feel so out of whack due to lack of sleep (I need 7-8 hours a night or I am  useless.)  I’m thinking I just need a break from having to do 100 different things.  The good news is, that it looks like we don’t have anything on the calendar the first weekend in April, so I am hoping that weekend will stay open.  Granted every other weekend between now and the end of May have things going on, but there is that one spot of freedom lol.  All of the things we have planned are fun and enjoyable, it just means no downtime.

I am really enjoying my 30 Day Plan, and it’s going shockingly well (only on day 3!)  I think it helps me to have shorter term goals.  In Sparkpeople you can input what you want to weigh by a certain deadline and it’ll tell you the calories you need to consume and burn via activity.  I changed it from 60 pounds by 12/31/2010 to losing 7 lbs by 3/31/2010.  A nice short mini goal.  It is a lofty one at that! 

Tonight is my RLR Run plus the strength training designed by Sparkpeople.  It looks like I will be doing superman (whatever that is lol), calf raises, leg raises and two-part push ups.  Sparkpeople gives great demo videos for each of the moves.  I am sure between dance class last night and tonight’s RLR and strength training, I should be plenty sore tomorrow!

Tata for now,

Scale Warfare

It’s Tuesday and that means it’s Healthy You Challenge Update Date!  Today is day 2 of my new 30 Day Challenge and so far so good lol.  Here were my goals that I posted yesterday and how I am doing with them:

  • Do the Strength Training 10-15 minute sessions that are created by Sparkpeople.com 3 times per week (I’ve never done these before and I’m really excited to give them a try!-Did the first session on Monday 3/8/10.  It was a quick 10 minutes or so that included wall push ups, crunches and squats.
  • Get back on track with my RLR Running.  By the end of these 30 days, I WILL be up to 2:30 intervals. Did 2 minute intervals.
  • Get out 1 day a week for an outdoor walk (besides dog walks).  Hopefully this can be on the weekends, but you never know what the rain will do!  Hopefully this weekend will be nice!
  • Get back to basics: measure, write it before I bite it, 5 fruits/veggies a day, 2 dairy servings a day, whole grains, multi-vitamin everyday, healthy oil everyday (the Weight Watchers Healthy Guidelines.) Met these guidelines yesterday and am on track to do the same today.
  • Wear my GoWear Fit regularly (not while sleeping, my arm needs a rest lol) Wore it yesterday and it is on me today
  • Get my steps in.  Days 1-7: 6,000 per day; Day 8-14: 6,500 per day; Days 15-21: 7,000 per day; Days 22-30: 7,500 per day.  Sort of blew this one out of the water thanks to the RLR Run (total of 9,107 steps yesterday.)  Before the run, I had about 5,000 steps.  Days I dont do something on the treadmill are going to be a challenge.
  • Have a calorie deficit of approximately 7,000 calories per week (which equates to 2 lbs).  Had an 1100 calorie deficit yesterday, YAY!
  • 30 Minutes of Cardio 5 days per week.  So in addition to my 3 RLR Runs, I will need to do 2 more days of cardio. Done!
  • That’s it for my HYC Update. 

    Be sure to come on Thursday for the next installment of the Bloggy Beck Book Club, where we will be discussing the first four skills in Stage 1!

    Tata for now,

    Scale Warfare

    I’m not even sure where to start.  I didn’t blog during my trip, which was by design.  My Mom doesn’t have wireless internet at her house and I didn’t want to spend a ton of time online and miss out on family time since one of my cousins and her family were visiting from Alaska!  It was such a great and relaxing trip but wowza’s did it every fly by.  I feel like I’m still recovering from the first 8+ hour drive (getting there) that the second 8+ hour drive (getting home) is just a blur. 

    I was originally going to try to catch up on the posts that I missed, but that is a bit over whelming, so I figured I’d just start with today, a new day, a fresh clean slate and get back into my regular blogging schedule.  I am finally not sick (it took almost a week to get better!) the snow is almost all gone, the sun is out and it’s finally above freezing!

    The things that haven’t happened in the last week:

    1. I missed all RLR Runs last week because I was sick.  It was my first week of 2010 missing them.
    2. I didn’t get a new recipe done.  Between being sick and then being out of town, it just didn’t happen.  I plan on making two new recipes next week to make up for the missed one.
    3. I was up and down with food choices.  I ate fast food on both the trip down AND the trip back up.  I ate several snack packs of Oreo Cookies.  What is it about going home that you immediately revert back into childhood habits?

     The things that did happen in the last week/starting this week:

    1.  The meals that we ate in and ate out during my trip were fairly smart choices.  The night that we ate out I got broiled scallops and shrimp with asparagus and a baked potato.  Seriously, had I not eaten approximately 11 million hushpuppies, I would have considered that meal a win, ha!
    2. I did my first outdoor RLR run on Friday (RLR weeks run Friday-Thursday.)  There will be more about this on Fridays post.  Let’s just say that after a week off, me and the outdoor running are NOT buddy-buddy.
    3. The weather was in the 60’s everyday that we were down there so I got in some fantastic walks with my dog and then also with family members.
    4. I spent a lot of time out in the sun, which did wonders for making my cold go away.
    5. The scale is up by almost 3 pounds L

    I feel completely out of whack right now, I need things to be back to their regularly organized ways.  I spent a lot of time last night and this morning working on a plan, trying to figure out what I can do to motivate myself for the next movement to drop some weight.  I am determined to lose more weight; I just need to work on my focus.  So here is the plan:

    Scale Warfare’s Next 30 Days (which will temporarily replace my 2-3 weekly goals)

    1. Do the Strength Training 10-15 minute sessions that are created by Sparkpeople.com 3 times per week (I’ve never done these before and I’m really excited to give them a try!
    2. Get back on track with my RLR Running.  By the end of these 30 days, I WILL be up to 2:30 intervals.
    3. Get out 1 day a week for an outdoor walk (besides dog walks).  Hopefully this can be on the weekends, but you never know what the rain will do!
    4. Get back to basics: measure, write it before I bite it, 5 fruits/veggies a day, 2 dairy servings a day, whole grains, multi-vitamin everyday, healthy oil everyday (the Weight Watchers Healthy Guidelines.)
    5. Wear my GoWear Fit regularly (not while sleeping, my arm needs a rest lol)
    6. Get my steps in.  Days 1-7: 6,000 per day; Day 8-14: 6,500 per day; Days 15-21: 7,000 per day; Days 22-30: 7,500 per day
    7. Have a calorie deficit of approximately 7,000 calories per week (which equates to 2 lbs)
    8. 30 Minutes of Cardio 5 days per week.  So in addition to my 3 RLR Runs, I will need to do 2 more days of cardio.

    There it is, 30 days of getting my focus back.  I already have my GoWear Fit on, and it’s all charged up.  I no longer walk the dog twice a day due to a change in my work schedule (don’t worry, he still gets walked twice a day, just now once by Fireman) so getting these steps in will be tough, but I am focused on doing it.  It will likely mean lots of walking around the office through out the day.  If I find that the goals are too big or too small (regarding steps) I will modify this list a bit (today will be a test day to see how many steps I’m naturally getting.)

    Please know that I am not quitting, but this losing weight thing is a constant battle, it is taking me constant modifications to get to where I want to be.  I sometimes wonder if it is easier for people who are not “professional dieters” to lose weight.  If it is easier when you don’t know the in’s and out’s of what it takes to diet.  Sort of like dancing, if you have been doing it for years you’ve gained bad habits that are hard to correct, but if you are new to dancing you are a fresh slate.  If that makes any sense lol.

    Can’t wait to get caught up on everyone’s blogs, I feel like I’m so behind!

    Tata for now,

    Scale Warfare

    PS-I just reset everything in Sparkpeople.com so it’s like I’m starting with a fresh slate.  It’s one of the recommendations that goes along with the Spark book.  It feels so new and clean :)

    Weekly Weigh In

    Having been sick for a few days now, which lead to no exercise including RLR Runs, and having made some bad food choices (no binges, just poor choices), I had no idea what the scale would say today.  Being all hopped up on NyQuil, I forgot to take a picture of the scale :(   The scale read 272.8, which means I am up for the week by 0.8.  I really want to start feeling better soon.  I tried to stop the cold by having a fairly relaxing weekend, but by yesterday I was just out.  I slept almost all day.   Today I’m feeling like poo, but came into work for a bit to get somethings done before I leave for my mini-vacation tomorrow.  Turns out that everyone that sits near me is sick lol.

    Weeks 1-7 of 2010: -7.2

    Week of 2010: +0.8

    Total for 2010: -6.4

    Total for 2009: -25.8

    Grand Total: -32.2

    Today is a new week, so being sick or not I need to regain focus and get back to exercising and making better food choices.

    Posting will likely be light over the next few days while I am out of town.  I have a pretty good feeling that I will be going to bed the second I get home tonight.  I’ve only been at work for about an hour and I already want to take a nap under my desk :(

    Tata for now,

    Scale Warfare

    Sick

    I’m sorry I’m missed posting yesterday, and this is going to be a quick one.  I’m home sick, it’s been building for a couple of days and I woke up with a stopped up head and a bad sore throat.  Hopefully I’ll be back up and running tomorrow so I can get back to my normal posting schedule :)

    Tata for now,

    Scale Warfare

    Weekly check-in on my New Years Promises.  Can you believe that we are already done with the 8th week of 2010?  This year is just flying by!

    1. Jog an entire 5k (See the tab Rubenesque Ladies Running aka RLR)-Finished up week 8 and have started on week 9.  Couldnt be happier with the changes that we made starting in Week 8 :)
    2. Lose 60 pounds in 2010 (would love to see 40 gone by the wedding!)-I’ve lost 7.2 so far in 2010, that is 12% of the way to my goal!  I really wish I was further along in this goal, considering that we are a little over 15% of the way through the year, but I will get there.
    3. Focus on not binge eating.  Binge Free 62 of 64 days in 2010
    4. Try one new recipe each week, and do my best to post photo’s of it on the blog, at a minimum share the recipe with you!  8 for 8, see yesterdays recipe for Chicken Parmesan!
    5. Give myself 2-3 goals for each week.  8 for 8 on this one!
    6. Go vegetarian 1 day each week. 8 for 8!  Tuesday was my vegetarian day this week.
    7. Continue to blog throughout 2010.  I think I’m doing well on this one!  After having a couple of bumps in posting, Im back to posting regularly.
    8. Pack my lunch 4 out of 5 days every week that I am working.  7 of 8 on this one.  I packed EVERYDAY this week.
    9. Journal my food EVERYDAY, regardless of how good or bad the day was.  Everyday but 2 in 2010!
    10. Make 2010 healthier than 2009 was; just as 2009 was healthier than 2008!  Doing the best I can!

    Hope that you’re enjoying your Sunday!

    Tata for now,

    Scale Warfare

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