Weigh-In Wednesday #11

 

it was another amazing weigh-in this week. i was down -1.8 pounds. i’ve officially lost 10 pounds, and i feel great!

i’ve been doing a lot of good things — tracking, exercise, meal planning etc. but i’ve also had cheesecake, bbq, and a 1/2 bottle of wine the past week. on monday, i ate 41 points, well above my daily 26. i honestly don’t understand how come my weight loss has been so high, but as the receptionist at the weigh-in said to me this morning, “ours is not to question why!”

i’m hoping this trend continues, it’s really motivating me to keep going. normally, on wednesdays after weigh-in, i consider it my cheat day. usually i buy a “fun” lunch, and have an extra-tasty dinner with some wine and/or dessert. today, i added 1pp creamer to my coffee, and i brought a piece of 8pp cheesecake to have after lunch — everything else is normal. fruit and yoghurt for breakfast, an 8pp lunch of chicken and salad, hummus and veggies for snack. i’ll go over my points for today, but it will likely only be by a 5 or 6, and not double! it’s the success that’s making me want to stay on track and keep seeing results.

since i was dramatically over my points on monday, last night i decided to go for a 20km bike ride to try and make up for it. i earned 6 activity points, and was pretty proud of myself for doing a mid-week ride. i also finally activated my yoga pass, and i’m going to my first yoga class tonight. and i’m still biking to work every day. i take the slightly longer way so i can take the scenic route. i am really blessed to have such a picturesque ride to start and end my workday. i took a snapshot on my way in this morning, i’ve posted the photo below.

i have the 50km bike ride in a few weeks, but i still haven’t cycled that distance in a single ride, i’m starting to get pretty nervous! i need to do at least one long ride this weekend, i am aiming for 40km on sunday.

in my quest to stay engaged and encouraged — eg. my vision board, wearing a fitbit, keeping this blog etc — i also just started keeping a planner where i can track my daily accomplishments, record my day in general, plan my activity, and set some goals. i’m finding the more tools i have, the more invested i am in my journey. it’s also a fine line to add them in slowly as needed, otherwise i feel overwhelmed! i take the time to get comfortable with my current motivational tool, let the novelty wear off a little, and then slowly add in something new. prior to the planner, it was creating/shopping for/viewing/editing my vision board that was keeping me on track. now that the vision board is pretty much done until the end of summer, it was a good time to get more in-depth and start keeping a daily log. i saw someone do it in a youtube video, and immediately, i was like “i need one of those!!” — i love making lists, coloured pens, and stickers!

it’s a 3-day weekend this week, in addition to relaxing, i’m hoping i’ll use the extra time to do positive activities — some extra fitness (bike and yoga), as well as meal prepping and planning for the week ahead. it’s another week where i’m hoping to just keep chugging along 🙂

weigh-in wednesday details:

original starting weight: 166 pounds
wednesday weigh-in: 154.4 pounds
difference since last weigh-in: -1.8 pounds
total lost: -11.6 pounds

the lovely view from my seawall bike ride to work

Weigh-In Wednesday #7

happy canada day! wednesday was the canada day holiday, so there was no ww meeting or weigh-in. instead, i went a day early, tuesday after work. it was a later weigh-in for me, at 6:30pm, instead of my usual 7:30am weigh-in. so i was expecting to be up a little, and it was just a little, up only 0.2; it makes me excited to see a bigger than usual number for next week’s weigh-in, and motivates me to stay on track!

this week tracking was way better. i did actually track! it was nice to see how often i’m able to stay on track. most days i use up all my points (26), and a couple of days i went over by up to 7 or 8 points. but i was able to stay within my 49 flex points, and didn’t dip into my activity points at all.

since wednesday was a holiday, i got up early and went for a bike ride. i chose a route that i’ve been avoiding because of a giant hill that i am very afraid of. this hill has a bit of a reputation, and is a popular place for super-fit folks to train. my worst case scenario goal was to go up the hill, and if it was truly terrible, bike right back down and come home. otherwise, if i survived, i would do a bit of a celebration loop, and then head home. it ended up going better than expected! i made it up the hill, felt ok, kept going, and then started following a training group of 10 cyclists to see where they were going. i followed the group for about 20 minutes, then stopped so i could turn around and come home. i ended up cycling 38kms, and it took me about 2 hours, but i conquered that hill! i’ve added some motivational quotes to my vision board, and the image below describes exactly how i was feeling post-ride!

my goal for this week is to keep on trucking — the meal planning, tracking, and fitness have been going really well. my motivation did take a bit of a dip earlier in the week — like when i had haagen dazs ice cream bars on consecutive days, but the bike ride has really put me back on track. i recently purchased a 3 month unlimited yoga pass for $99, so i plan to activate it this sunday. and then go to yoga 2ce a week for the next 3 months. with the weather so nice, yoga feels more like a winter activity, but at that price, i couldn’t say no!

i have a few events this week/weekend where i’ll need to be extra careful — a girls get-together, lunch with a friend, a wedding celebration dinner at a chinese restaurant, drinks out with coworkers. these are the activities already planned, so i’m hoping nothing else comes up. i have a plan for all of these, most of them involve eating beforehand so i can have just a tiny sampling of food at the get together, and drinking diet cola instead of alcohol. i’ll let you know how my willpower holds up!

weigh-in wednesday details (tuesday evening weigh-in this week):

original starting weight: 166 pounds
wednesday weigh-in: 159.2 pounds
difference since last weigh-in: +0.2 pounds
total lost: -6.8 pounds

yes, i can!

My Vision Board — In Progress

after wednesday’s ww meeting, i was inspired to create my own vision board. in the meeting, the reasoning focused on the “why” of your journey; i would like to be at my goal weight because i feel healthy, strong, and very confident at that weight. at my current weight:

• i struggle to dress myself the way i want
• i want cycle faster/longer carrying fewer pounds
• i feel self conscious in certain social situations

it’s not mentally healthy, but not being at my goal weight really takes a toll on my confidence.

my vision board is more of a motivational tool. starting at the left, here’s what i’ve got so far:

• post-it notes in 4 pound increments, up to the 32 pounds i need to lose. i am planning on crossing out the 32 pounds, and tracking it as how many pounds i have left to lose, instead of how many i have lost.
• dresses for greece! i found some fun dresses online, and made this postcard. mike and i are planning a cruise for september 2016, and it’s my long term goal to look absolutely fit and fabulous, and have some professional photos taken at various stops during the trip.
• some “after” photos — these are selfies at my goal weight, i would love to fit into those clothes again!
• some bike goals — distances from 20km to 50km. it’s my goal by the end of august to have gone for a bike ride at each of these distances at least once.
• fitbit screenshots — i really need to move more in the evenings, so i’ve set a daily goal (8ooo steps) and a goal for the end of august.

i’m still going to add some quotes, and some checklists around how to keep me on track so it’s more interactive. i’ve placed my vision board in the dining room, right above where i park my bike — so it’s very visible, and i see it up close every morning when i leave for the day, and every evening when i get home; plus i can see it out of the corner of my eye while watching tv!

i saw some vision boards on pinterest and there were lots of fun ideas. someone hung a bikini on theirs, which i loved. i would have done that too, but no way will these little cork boards stay on the wall if i pin fabric to them!

from a cost perspective it was pretty reasonable, i spent around $10 — i did all my shopping at the dollar store, the cork boards were $2 each, the coloured pad of paper was $2, and it cost me around $2.50 to print the photos. the markers, pushpins, and heart shaped post-its, i already had at home.

i plan to use this board as inspiration til the end of august. and then refresh it for the winter months. hopefully it’ll become another piece of my motivational toolkit 🙂

 

my vision board in progress