Weigh-In Wednesday

i did it! i woke up extra early this morning to make it to a weigh-in and meeting.

the week has been going great. i’ve managed to:

• meal plan — i keep some staples on hand so i can have healthy dinner/lunch options available — squash to roast, bulgur for a grain etc
• prep and portion all my meals — after many moons in storage, i pulled out my weight watcher  foodscale to have more accurate measurements, and the battery is dead, go figure!
• have breakfast — i’ve been cooking an egg while doing my make-up in the mornings, it’s working so far, but i def need to make a batch of something for on-the-go breakfasts
• track everything — i fill in my tracker the night before, and then edit during the day as necessary
• be active — biking to work, and the learn-to-run class started on monday

the run class was super fun. i was totally nervous about it beforehand — what if i’m too slow and can’t keep up? what if everyone is more fit, faster? what if i can’t run when i’m supposed to? of course i had nothing to worry about, everyone was so supportive, and there is no pressure at all. the class is a combination of running and walking, and we ran a total of 7 minutes the first night. i felt great afterwards, but couldn’t believe that my hips and thighs were sore the next day! it’s neat to see how being fit for one activity doesn’t translate over to a totally different activity. we have our 2nd run this evening.

the weigh-in this morning was great. i am down, but i think it’s a little misleading — i normally weigh-in in the evening, and will weigh less first thing in the morning. i also wore much lighter clothes — yoga pants and a t-shirt, compared to my usual jeans and a sweater. i think next week’s weigh-in will be more reflective of my effort, now that i have this morning’s weigh-in to use as a baseline. but hey, i’m still totally stoked to be down and have the weight going in the right direction. it’s definitely motivating to see the results!

weigh-in wednesday details:

previous weight: 162 pounds
wednesday weigh-in: 159.2 pounds
difference: -2.8 pounds
total lost: -2.8 pounds

 

happy after a great 1st running class!

Getting Organized

that’s the hard part for me. so today, on sunday, i:

• pumped up my bike tires so they are ready for the week
• went grocery shopping with a list and a meal plan
• packed my breakfast and lunch for monday morning
• know what i’m having for dinner on monday evening
• have some fast and healthy snacks in the fridge — just yoghurt and fruit for now
• got out my ww tracker and started tracking for tomorrow — i’m old school and prefer paper tracking!
• got my running clothes ready for the first running class

the most challenging part of the weekend was what to do with all the fun food in the fridge! full disclosure — i did indulge over the weekend and ate some foods that i normally wouldn’t. it was diwali on thursday, so there are still lots of leftover treats hanging around. i asked mike what he wanted to keep, and now everything else went in the garbage…did i mention i struggle with a major sweet-tooth?! without the temptation, i’ll pick the fruit, and not the treats.

i’m both excited and nervous for monday. i’ve set myself up to succeed, and am motivated — here’s to day 1 of the plan!

Back on that Horse!

so, here’s the plan.
i don’t plan to use this blog as my online tracker — i won’t be listing what i ate item by item, or how many points for breakfast, etc etc. i definitely will include this information, but would like to focus on the bigger picture as well.

instead, i’ll take note of what’s working and what’s not. identifying where i’m succeeding, what’s motivating me, and what the challenges are.

we all know what we have to do to lose weight, eat right and exercise — but how come it’s so hard?!

i’m going to use this weekend to get myself organized and in the right mindset. i’ll be grocery shopping for my power foods, meal planning for the week, and mentally preparing for the first running class on monday!

i’m not “starting” on monday — i’ve already started, baby steps! i’m already making small changes in my daily routine — fruit for snacks at work, riding my bike to work (even when i’m tired!), drinking more water throughout the day. they are small changes, but i know they’ll add up.

and i need to commit to a ww meeting and attend as a member. i work 2-3 ww meetings a week, and struggle to find a meeting that fits my schedule. instead of the usual evening meeting, i am going to try wednesday mornings at 8am. bonus — i’ll likely weigh less at 8am than i would at 6pm 😉

i really do like the ww simply filling technique — no tracking, no portions, it definitely is simple! but i’m going to start with points, so i am tracking and portioning — i personally need the accountability at this point, and to re-acquaint myself with what an actual portion size is!

since i am a goal oriented person, my first goal is to lose 4 pounds by friday november 14 and be at 158 — that’s 4 pounds in 3 weeks.

i’ll do my first official weigh-in after my meeting on wednesday, and then weigh-in once a week on a regular basis.

now that i have a plan, the tools, and a goal, i have what i need to be on my way!

Now What?

so, what’s the plan now? 28 pounds over goal, and no motivation in sight?

i wake up some mornings, and am committed to tracking, eating right and getting back on that weight watchers horse! then, 10am rolls around, and maybe there’s cookies in the kitchen and they look delicious. maybe i go for a coffee, and add on a muffin? someone wants to go out for lunch, let’s get noodles! sigh, and in my head i think, “tomorrow, i’ll start tomorrow.”

some days, i do have a great day, i track for the full day, have a healthy lunch, healthy dinner, and think “that’s it, i’m back on track!”

i may even have a couple good days in a row, but you know what happens? i get lazy — and i go back to what’s easy — no tracking, eating what’s available, and eating til i’m full full, ugh!

i did this before, so i know i can do it again. and i know what i have to do:

• plan my meals and snacks in advance
• grocery shop for these foods
• cook, prep, and/or prepare the meals and snacks
• figure out the portion sizes
• figure out the points plus values
• set my menu for the day

and this is all before i even eat anything! honestly, it’s the prepping that usually gets me.

for me, activity is also really important. i can lose the weight if i just stick to my points plus values — but sometimes i need the flexibility, and this is where the activity points really help. i’m also more likely to stick to the points if i’ve worked out, i don’t want to sabotage my workout by falling off the points wagon. interesting sidenote — on the old points system (before points+), a 60 minute intense bootcamp session where i thought i may throw up from doing so many sprints, burpees, lunges etc, i could eat an apple and a mini piece of light cheese with those activity points, it really put the workout in perspective. that’s why it’s extra important to figure out the point value of a food before you eat it!

on the activity side, i can be active, but i lack motivation. i definitely need organized activity to get me moving. so in addition to biking to work, mike and i have signed up for a running room learn to run class (3x/week for 10 weeks), and one yoga class per week for me. that’s a realistic and achievable activity plan for now. so this is what it looks like:

• biking: monday to friday, 10k a day (3pp/day= 15pp/week)
• run class: monday eve, wednesday eve, sunday morning (1pp/session = 3pp/week)
• yoga: sunday evening (2pp/week)

that puts me at 20 activity points per week to start.

so i have the plan, but can i follow through?!

Then What Happened?

Then, i got married! in april 2013, but the planning started in earnest in january. it was hectic, crazy bonkers, planning the wedding. all my evenings and weekends were dedicated to organizing, consulting, deciding, delegating — and i wanted to look great on my wedding day, so i still stayed on plan. i was careful to plan my meals and snacks, so i wouldn’t be starving and eat mindlessly. i couldn’t make my evening bootcamp classes, so i started getting up at 5:30am to make the 6am class — i am NOT a morning person, so this was very challenging. i started sleeping in half my bootcamp clothes, so i was already partly dressed in the mornings, you gotta do what you gotta do!

even during the week of the wedding, i didn’t want to feel bloated or tired — so i carried around my own food, and didn’t eat a lot of the catering. it was a success, i looked and felt healthy and beautiful the day of my wedding! i had been slimmer, and more fit the summer before – but because i had been working out and eating right, i felt amazing and confident.

excited for the wedding!

ready to party at the reception!

after the stress of planning the wedding, i decided to take a break, from everything — no more WW, no bootcamp, no tracking, no cycling. we did a lot of celebrating post-wedding, nice dinners and brunches out, take-out for dinner…we didn’t want the party to end 🙂

i gained 10 pounds in the next few months, from may to july. i decided it was time to get back on plan, but i was so far from plan, i couldn’t remember what the plan was! then i gained another 10 pounds by october. and since then i’ve gained another 5. in the last month, i’ve gained a couple more. as of today, october 2014, i am 28 pounds over my goal weight.

Life in Maintenance

After i got to Lifetime, i definitely wanted a weight watchers break. but i didn’t know life without my tuesday meeting! i was pretty diligent about weighing-in weekly, and would stay for most meetings.

after i got lifetime, i joined a bootcamp with a friend, so i could tighten up some jiggly areas 🙂  i was hooked! the instructor was amazing — funny and motivating, plus i started to see strength and flexibility improvements right away. i started going a couple days a week, and by the summer i was going 5 times a week. it was definitely pricey, but it was worth it for my health & fitness. i lost another 6 pounds that summer, and i gained a lot of muscle! that summer was the most fit and healthy i had been in my entire life — it felt great!

in the fall, i was asked to work for WW, and i thought it was a great idea to keep me on track. at this point, i was still at goal, but was starting to pick up some of the old bad eating habits! being around WW would definitely help keep me accountable. i joined as a receptionist, since i had really connected with the receptionists during my weight loss journey. it was amazing to see people changing their lives, one weigh-in at a time. i was there to offer motivation and support, but i can honestly say it was often the members weighing in that had the bigger impact on me 🙂

during my 2 years on maintenance, my weight would fluctuate about 5 pounds. once it went over my 2 pound buffer, i would get right back to tracking and eating right, and be back at goal. it did require discipline, but for me, i found maintaining was easier than losing. and this was definitely due to my activity level — i was still biking to work everyday, rain or shine, and going to bootcamp regularly.

yay! loving life at goal, and on maintenance 🙂

The First Time

The first time i joined WW, i wanted to quit after the first 2 weeks. i knew i was eating all the wrong things — i was eating more than double my allotted points for the day, but i didn’t know what i should be eating. i didn’t lose any weight in the first month — i would lose a little, and gain it right back the follow week, totally non-motivating!

i stuck with it, my dad had kindly prepaid for a 6-month membership, so i was in it for the long haul. and it started to get a little easier. attending the meetings really helped, the best part was getting ideas for snacks…figuring out there are midday alternatives to a starbucks cookie! and i became diligent about tracking. looking up the points for everything, and doing the math. i started planning my meals for the next day, the night before. this way, i knew what was on the menu and it helped me stay on track.

after a couple months, i felt like i had a handle on the points, tracking, and meal planning, so i decided to incorporate the activity. the gym wasn’t for me, but a few of my colleagues rode their bikes to work, so i decided that was something i could try. luckily it was summer and it was great riding weather. i bought a cheap bike at a big box store, got a helmet and was on my way. it was a progression, i went from riding only one way each day, to riding both ways on alternating days, then taking off one day a week, til by the fall i was riding to and from work, 5 days a week! now that i had made the commitment, i bought a new bike, rain gear and lots of lights for vancouver winter riding!

the winter went by easy enough — there aren’t as many distractions and i was able to focus. my weight loss wasn’t quick, i would lose about 5 pounds every 6 weeks. slow and steady!

the next summer presented a lot more of a challenge. so many patios, dinners out, events, and maybe some weight watcher fatigue? i did cancel my membership, and instead of going to my tuesday evening meetings, i signed up for tuesday night tennis lessons! i didn’t lose any weight that summer, but i did maintain. one day over lunch i was muttering to one of my co-workers about my lack of progress, and he said something that really had an impact, “you’re unrecognizable” and it wasn’t just the weight loss — i was riding my bike to work daily, no more pasta and pizza lunches, i was active, i was healthy — i couldn’t see it myself, but those around me saw the change!

i rejoined weight watchers later that fall — needing the accountability and discipline. that christmas i lost a total of 50 pounds. i still remember, tuesday december 28, 2010. it was a milestone for me — i cried at the scale. when i had joined, i had set a very achievable goal to lose 40 pounds, i couldn’t believe i had lost 50. my 50 pound “wheel of success” charm is still on my keychain 4 years later, it’s the only charm i kept.

but i still had 8 pounds to go, and it would take me another 4 months…in incremental baby steps, .2, .4 and .6 at a time. in march 2011 i made it to goal, and after 6 weeks of maintenance, i made it to lifetime, wahoo!

my “50 Pound Wheel of Success” — the only ww charm i ever kept, and am most proud of.