I decided to move my blogging activities over to tmblr
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Friday, February 18, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
In a battle between me and my cravings, who wins?
I DO! That's who.
Well, at least I'm working on it..
It's been a challenging 2 weeks for me on this weight loss journey. I've been tempted by chocolate, and I gave in a few times. Last Thursday at the scale, I registered a 0.6 gain. I didn't beat myself too much about it because I knew what I had done the previous week: one stressful night where I drank too much wine and went for the chocolate, and another few nights where I snacked on chocolate right before going to bed.
The good news is: I tracked everything.
The bad news is that I've been giving in to these cravings way too often. Am I self-sabotaging? Why is it harder for me to resist these things now than it was before? How am I going to continue to lose weight if I keep on doing this? What's the deal with my night-time snacking anyway?
These are all questions that I'm trying to answer right now.
Friday night I thought of throwing away all the chocolate that's in my house. There are some leftover Halloween candy, as well as some Brazilian chocolate I brought with me on my last trip. I decided against it. Instead, I put it all out in a bowl on the living room and had some. I also allowed my kids to have some, in hopes that the numbers would decrease.
Then Saturday morning I did some thinking during Zumba (for some reason I do great thinking while I'm exercising...). I came home and wrote messages to myself on bright orange index cards. There is one on my refrigerator door, at eye level that says: "Are you really hungry right now? or just bored/anxious? Brush your teeth, drink water, chew gum..."
There is another on the bathroom mirror that says "You are beautiful and strong"
There is another on my scale that says, "You can do this! Don't self-sabotage! You deserve it!"
And finally, the one by the chocolate bowl that says: "Who's stronger, You or Chocolate?"
I haven't touched the chocolate since. The cards are really helping me. I've been more mindful about my nighttime snacking. I will do my best to continue these positive behaviors.
Well, at least I'm working on it..
It's been a challenging 2 weeks for me on this weight loss journey. I've been tempted by chocolate, and I gave in a few times. Last Thursday at the scale, I registered a 0.6 gain. I didn't beat myself too much about it because I knew what I had done the previous week: one stressful night where I drank too much wine and went for the chocolate, and another few nights where I snacked on chocolate right before going to bed.
The good news is: I tracked everything.
The bad news is that I've been giving in to these cravings way too often. Am I self-sabotaging? Why is it harder for me to resist these things now than it was before? How am I going to continue to lose weight if I keep on doing this? What's the deal with my night-time snacking anyway?
These are all questions that I'm trying to answer right now.
Friday night I thought of throwing away all the chocolate that's in my house. There are some leftover Halloween candy, as well as some Brazilian chocolate I brought with me on my last trip. I decided against it. Instead, I put it all out in a bowl on the living room and had some. I also allowed my kids to have some, in hopes that the numbers would decrease.
Then Saturday morning I did some thinking during Zumba (for some reason I do great thinking while I'm exercising...). I came home and wrote messages to myself on bright orange index cards. There is one on my refrigerator door, at eye level that says: "Are you really hungry right now? or just bored/anxious? Brush your teeth, drink water, chew gum..."
There is another on the bathroom mirror that says "You are beautiful and strong"
There is another on my scale that says, "You can do this! Don't self-sabotage! You deserve it!"
And finally, the one by the chocolate bowl that says: "Who's stronger, You or Chocolate?"
I haven't touched the chocolate since. The cards are really helping me. I've been more mindful about my nighttime snacking. I will do my best to continue these positive behaviors.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Following up on current goals
If there's anything I've learned about being successful in my corporate retail job, it's the power of following up.
Here I am, applying my accountability skills to my health goals:
I set these goals 10 days ago, here:
1) Get back to 176 by Thursday by drinking lots of water and trying to stay within my points. Accomplished!
2) Get down to 170 in 6 weeks, on the 2/24 weigh in. I will do that by practicing the two things above, and also by exercising regularly. In Progress
3) Improve flexibility on my right hip. This is because my right hip is very inflexble in yoga, and I feel it's holding me back and preventing me from doing some of the poses. I will do this by continuing to practice yoga and by challenging myself when stretching. I found this amazing Yoga lady on youtube, and started practicing some of her videos. One of which immediately started helping me open up my hips.... AMAZING.
4) Spend an entire week without eating chocolate, starting now. Almost... this was written on a tuesday. Sunday I had some chocolate. Will continue to try every day.
5) Get more sleep: I was sleep deprived last week and I felt overly tired and craving chocolate. In Progress (and it's working!)
6) Tighten my abs by continuing to practice Yoga, PiYo, and crunches. In Progress
7) Continue to track everything I eat YES
8) Continue to measure and have portion control. YOU BET!
Original weight: 222lbs
Current weight: 174.8lbs
Pounds lost: 47.2lbs
Here I am, applying my accountability skills to my health goals:
I set these goals 10 days ago, here:
1) Get back to 176 by Thursday by drinking lots of water and trying to stay within my points. Accomplished!
2) Get down to 170 in 6 weeks, on the 2/24 weigh in. I will do that by practicing the two things above, and also by exercising regularly. In Progress
3) Improve flexibility on my right hip. This is because my right hip is very inflexble in yoga, and I feel it's holding me back and preventing me from doing some of the poses. I will do this by continuing to practice yoga and by challenging myself when stretching. I found this amazing Yoga lady on youtube, and started practicing some of her videos. One of which immediately started helping me open up my hips.... AMAZING.
4) Spend an entire week without eating chocolate, starting now. Almost... this was written on a tuesday. Sunday I had some chocolate. Will continue to try every day.
5) Get more sleep: I was sleep deprived last week and I felt overly tired and craving chocolate. In Progress (and it's working!)
6) Tighten my abs by continuing to practice Yoga, PiYo, and crunches. In Progress
7) Continue to track everything I eat YES
8) Continue to measure and have portion control. YOU BET!
Original weight: 222lbs
Current weight: 174.8lbs
Pounds lost: 47.2lbs
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
A letter to my future self
So I was passing time with Stumbleupon and found this cool little website: FutureMe.org
Unable to resist the temptation, I wrote a letter to my future self. Here it is pasted below. It will be delivered to me 38 weeks from now, when I expect to have lost the remaining 38 lbs of my goal.
"Dear FutureMe,
I wish this would work in reverse. I wish I could get messages from you instead, but whatever. We need to take what we can get, right?
I hope when you get this, you will have reached your weight loss goal. If not, I hope you're close to it. We've come this far not to make it. We worked hard for this, and we're continuing to institute life-long changes in our behaviors toward food and exercise.
How does it feel to not be "chubby", FutureMe? I bet it must feel awesome.
Now that you've reached your goal, do me a favor: don't forget how you got there, and don't take your health for granted. Continue to nurture your body and take care of yourself.
Enjoy your slim, fit and healthy body!
Your best friend,
Present Me."
Unable to resist the temptation, I wrote a letter to my future self. Here it is pasted below. It will be delivered to me 38 weeks from now, when I expect to have lost the remaining 38 lbs of my goal.
"Dear FutureMe,
I wish this would work in reverse. I wish I could get messages from you instead, but whatever. We need to take what we can get, right?
I hope when you get this, you will have reached your weight loss goal. If not, I hope you're close to it. We've come this far not to make it. We worked hard for this, and we're continuing to institute life-long changes in our behaviors toward food and exercise.
How does it feel to not be "chubby", FutureMe? I bet it must feel awesome.
Now that you've reached your goal, do me a favor: don't forget how you got there, and don't take your health for granted. Continue to nurture your body and take care of yourself.
Enjoy your slim, fit and healthy body!
Your best friend,
Present Me."
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Getting back on track
As I mentioned on my last post, the holidays were full of temptations, breaks in routine and a general minefield that derailed slightly off my weight loss path. I say slightly because I still worked out regularly, and was able to not gain. Nevertheless, I also freaked out about my weight a lot! Especially on Mondays, after some particularly indulgent weekends. A few weeks in a row now, I've freaked out on Mondays, worked really hard through Thursday and was able to show either a small loss or a maintain at the WW weigh in.
What's been going on?
I've been having some fun. A couple of parties with wine, chocolate and appetizers. I love appetizers... there's nothing more genius than being able to try lots of different things in small portions. As much as I love this kind of thing, I realize how much it can derail me. I end up eating without quantifying, and later when I track... bang! 35 PointsPlus in 1 evening...
I know what you're thinking (if you're in WW): "That's why we have the 49 weekly PointsPlus!" yes, indeed. But if I haven't saved them for the occasion or planned my strategy, I'm in danger of falling back into old bad habits of mindless eating and general gluttony.
So here I am, during another "Damage Control" week, committing myself to getting back on plan, and to continue to do as well as I had been doing before the holiday. I thought I'd start by setting some small goals that I can hold myself accountable for:
1) Get back to 176 by Thursday by drinking lots of water and trying to stay within my points.
2) Get down to 170 in 6 weeks, on the 2/24 weigh in. I will do that by practicing the two things above, and also by exercising regularly.
3) Improve flexibility on my right hip. This is because my right hip is very inflexble in yoga, and I feel it's holding me back and preventing me from doing some of the poses. I will do this by continuing to practice yoga and by challenging myself when stretching.
4) Spend an entire week without eating chocolate, starting now.
5) Get more sleep: I was sleep deprived last week and I felt overly tired and craving chocolate.
6) Tighten my abs by continuing to practice Yoga, PiYo, and crunches.
7) Continue to track everything I eat
8) Continue to measure and have portion control.
I can do this!!!
Original weight: 222lbs
Current weight: 176.2lbs
Pounds lost: 45.8lbs
What's been going on?
I've been having some fun. A couple of parties with wine, chocolate and appetizers. I love appetizers... there's nothing more genius than being able to try lots of different things in small portions. As much as I love this kind of thing, I realize how much it can derail me. I end up eating without quantifying, and later when I track... bang! 35 PointsPlus in 1 evening...
I know what you're thinking (if you're in WW): "That's why we have the 49 weekly PointsPlus!" yes, indeed. But if I haven't saved them for the occasion or planned my strategy, I'm in danger of falling back into old bad habits of mindless eating and general gluttony.
So here I am, during another "Damage Control" week, committing myself to getting back on plan, and to continue to do as well as I had been doing before the holiday. I thought I'd start by setting some small goals that I can hold myself accountable for:
1) Get back to 176 by Thursday by drinking lots of water and trying to stay within my points.
2) Get down to 170 in 6 weeks, on the 2/24 weigh in. I will do that by practicing the two things above, and also by exercising regularly.
3) Improve flexibility on my right hip. This is because my right hip is very inflexble in yoga, and I feel it's holding me back and preventing me from doing some of the poses. I will do this by continuing to practice yoga and by challenging myself when stretching.
4) Spend an entire week without eating chocolate, starting now.
5) Get more sleep: I was sleep deprived last week and I felt overly tired and craving chocolate.
6) Tighten my abs by continuing to practice Yoga, PiYo, and crunches.
7) Continue to track everything I eat
8) Continue to measure and have portion control.
I can do this!!!
Original weight: 222lbs
Current weight: 176.2lbs
Pounds lost: 45.8lbs
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
The holidays truly are tough on weightloss
Almost 2 months ago, my Weight Watchers leader Alyce gave us all post cards and told us to write a goal of where we'd be at on the 1st week of January. At the time, this was 10 weeks away. She told us that holiday time was challenging, and that setting a short term goal was helpful. She said we could make them non-weight goals too, such as exercising more or eating more veggies. Or even to not lose anything, or even gain 2lbs!
At the time I was thinking to myself: "what? How can people choose a goal of not losing anything..." ever the goal oriented person, and being in a good momentum in my weight loss, I chose to lose 1.5lbs a week over those next 10 weeks. That put my goal at 172lbs in Jan wk1. It seemed achievable considering my rate of weight loss had been averaging about 2lbs a week through that time.
Unsurprisingly, my weight loss speed slowed down a bit: I'm lighter now. My body is more efficient and doesn't burn as many calories as it used to just to move around. It's also been getting colder and the carbs just call to me, especially at night! It took me a while to get through the 180s. My sister came for Thanksgiving and I ended up eating a lot.
Then I got back on track and had a good 2 weeks of substantial losses (-1.8 2 weeks ago, -2.4 last week). For once I thought, maybe it will be possible to get to that 172 by january week 1... After all, that's just 4.6lbs away. Then my dad came to visit, we ate out most of last weekend, and I didn't exercise as much. I also had a holiday party at work where I ate a loosely estimated 33 PointsPlus! (could have been more)
Conveniently, I skipped my daily weigh in this past weekend: Monday morning I was up 3.5lbs! Say it isn't so, Wii fit plus! So now I'm not so worried about my goal anymore. I'm worried about going to my weigh in tomorrow and not showing a gain! I haven't had a gain on the weekly WW weigh ins yet, and I really don't want this to be the first time.
It's probably fluid, my friend says... I hope she's right, although I always weigh in 1st thing in the morning, after going to the bathroom, so maybe not.
Since monday, I went down 2.2lbs, and I'm hoping to shed the remaining 1.3 today and tomorrow. If it shows flat when I go tomorrow evening, I will consider it a holiday victory! :)
The challenge: I'm taking my kids and my dad to an indoor water park resort today and we'll be returning tomorrow. This means we're basically going to be eating the next 4 meals out, maybe more.
I also won't be exercising, so let's hope the hot waters of the hot tub help me melt away a little fat.
If not, there's always next week!
Original weight: 222lbs
Current weight: 176.6lbs
Pounds lost: 45.4lbs
At the time I was thinking to myself: "what? How can people choose a goal of not losing anything..." ever the goal oriented person, and being in a good momentum in my weight loss, I chose to lose 1.5lbs a week over those next 10 weeks. That put my goal at 172lbs in Jan wk1. It seemed achievable considering my rate of weight loss had been averaging about 2lbs a week through that time.
Unsurprisingly, my weight loss speed slowed down a bit: I'm lighter now. My body is more efficient and doesn't burn as many calories as it used to just to move around. It's also been getting colder and the carbs just call to me, especially at night! It took me a while to get through the 180s. My sister came for Thanksgiving and I ended up eating a lot.
Then I got back on track and had a good 2 weeks of substantial losses (-1.8 2 weeks ago, -2.4 last week). For once I thought, maybe it will be possible to get to that 172 by january week 1... After all, that's just 4.6lbs away. Then my dad came to visit, we ate out most of last weekend, and I didn't exercise as much. I also had a holiday party at work where I ate a loosely estimated 33 PointsPlus! (could have been more)
Conveniently, I skipped my daily weigh in this past weekend: Monday morning I was up 3.5lbs! Say it isn't so, Wii fit plus! So now I'm not so worried about my goal anymore. I'm worried about going to my weigh in tomorrow and not showing a gain! I haven't had a gain on the weekly WW weigh ins yet, and I really don't want this to be the first time.
It's probably fluid, my friend says... I hope she's right, although I always weigh in 1st thing in the morning, after going to the bathroom, so maybe not.
Since monday, I went down 2.2lbs, and I'm hoping to shed the remaining 1.3 today and tomorrow. If it shows flat when I go tomorrow evening, I will consider it a holiday victory! :)
The challenge: I'm taking my kids and my dad to an indoor water park resort today and we'll be returning tomorrow. This means we're basically going to be eating the next 4 meals out, maybe more.
I also won't be exercising, so let's hope the hot waters of the hot tub help me melt away a little fat.
If not, there's always next week!
Original weight: 222lbs
Current weight: 176.6lbs
Pounds lost: 45.4lbs
Friday, December 10, 2010
Over the half-point!
Yesterday at my weigh in, the lucky scale in the back of the WW center finally stopped wiggling up and down at the number of 179. This means I'm over the half point between 222 and 137. This feels like a great accomplishment, as now I have less to lose than I've already lost! I celebrated by going to PiYo afterwards and working my butt off (literally! LOL). Lesson of the night, if you don't want other people to see your beige sports bra, don't wear a loose shirt to PiYo! (That shirt used to be tight on me, by the way...)
I put an updated pic in my picture page.
Original weight: 222lbs
Current weight: 179lbs
Pounds lost: 43lbs
I put an updated pic in my picture page.
Original weight: 222lbs
Current weight: 179lbs
Pounds lost: 43lbs
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