Weigh-In Wednesday #3

i can’t believe it was weigh-in #3 this morning — these 3 weeks have gone by quickly!

the weigh-in wasn’t as successful as i was hoping — my weight was up a little. i can guess why; the fun food at my nephew’s birthday party on saturday, or the wine and nachos i had at the comedy club last night. yikes! i had planned for the wine, and saved 4 points to use. but i didn’t anticipate my friends ordering tasty, cheesy nachos, and my willpower taking the evening off! i i did enjoy, and tracked the extra 8 points for the nachos.

since the week was challenging, i did go for an 18k bike ride on tuesday so i could earn some extra activity points. it was a sunny, chilly day, and i felt a real sense of accomplishment once i got home. and earned 5 activity points!

tonight was run club, and we’re up to run 2 minute, walk 1 intervals. tonight we ran about 3.4k, and i earned 1 activity point.

after this morning’s meeting topic of “add a little more” around fitness — my goal for the week is to get at least 8,000 steps on my fitbit. my average last week was just over 5,000 steps a day. i’ll do this by getting outside for at least 15 minutes on my lunch break, and one walk around the block in the evening.

i don’t know if it’s real or just in my head — but i’ve been feeling extra hungry in the evenings, and i think it’s because of the increased activity. the problem is, i’m usually out of points after dinner! so, i’ve swapped out my 1 point yoghurt snack in the afternoon, for a whole whack of veggies with 2tbsp of hummus for 2 points. it keeps me feeling full longer, and somehow keeps me eating less later. i’ve also brought back the 0 point peppermint tea before bed.

here’s hoping these small changes will lead to a more successful weigh-in next week. and here’s hoping that maybe i’ll meet my first goal of weighing in at 158 pounds this friday evening.

weigh-in wednesday details:

previous weight: 157.6 pounds
wednesday weigh-in: 158.2 pounds
difference: +.6 pounds
total lost: -3.8 pounds

my new afternoon snack, lots of veggies — served with 2 tablespoons of hummus.

a nice view during my 18k bike ride!

Fitness Frustration Foiled

i admit, i would rather watch tv than go out for some activity. some days i’m motivated to go for a walk, or a bike ride — but i’m too tired, it’s too dark, too rainy, i’ll go tomorrow. 9/10, the couch wins 😦

a timely example, mike and i talked about running friday evening, and then saturday afternoon — that way we could skip the 8:30am sunday run club and sleep in. we didn’t go. so we’ll be up extra early tomorrow for run club!

but, this has taught me that i really need organized activity. i need to pay for classes, and have some accountability. for years i paid a lot of money to go to bootcamp, anywhere from 2 to 5 days a week. in addition to a couple of different bootcamps, i’ve signed up for snowboarding lessons, tennis lessons, belly dancing classes, a personal trainer, yoga classes, pilates and more — as a friend once said, “you’re such a joiner!”

this has allowed me to try a lot of different activities, and find what i like. i’m not a gym person, and that’s totally ok.

biking has been a life changer. i’ve put well over 10,000kms on my bike over the last 5 years. and i did it one 5km bike ride at a time. my daily commute is 10km round trip, and i ride 5 days a week, rain or shine. i don’t have to make plans, find time, or pay membership fees. just some regular maintenance 😉

for me, it’s a combination of finding something i really enjoy, and that doesn’t take up a lot of my free time. i want to feel that spending that hour in yoga class adds value to my life, and i’m not forcing myself to participate. it also makes it easier to go when you enjoy the class, or have a friend to go with.

to get extra motivation, i’ve also worn a pedometer off and on. i bought a weight watcher’s pedometer a few years ago and it helped to let me know a good day from a bad. minimal movement and i’d get 4000 steps. more effort, and i could average 8000. the worst was a sunday where i drove everywhere and had 1700 steps by bedtime, that was the lowest day! i’ve had a few 13,000 and 15,000 days — awesome!

this week i got fitbit activity monitor, and i’m loving it! i get real time updates on my smartphone, and it’s already getting me moving. on wednesday evening, i was at 9400 steps, so i walked circles in the apartment to get to 10,000, success!

it can be hard to find the time to get to activity points — but finding something you enjoy, and can easily fit into your day has been the key for me. the activity points really help me stay on track, and give me some flexibility. they were also really important in helping me maintaining my weight, especially when i got lazy with tracking points.

right now biking, running and yoga are keeping me moving, and i’m enjoying them all!

10,000 steps on the fitbit!

 

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!