The Week In Review May 27-Jun2

Once again my week started off well with good intentions.  Points-wise I did well every day except Wednesday, but I had a slight issue with ice cream this week.  That' and Wednesday's atrocious eating contributed to a 1.8 lb weight gain.  I'm still not nipping this weight gain in the bud but I keep trying.

Here's my week in review (click to biggify)

The Good

• I ran my first 10K race ever on Saturday!
• I ate well Friday-Tuesday
• I have kept out of the candy dishes at work
• I scored my first point ever at Ultimate Frisbee!
• I keep going to my weekly WW meetings
• I tracked honestly (despite Wednesday)

The Bad

• I did not exercise enough this past week, I only ran my 10K and played Ultimate
• Ice cream!

The Ugly

• Wednesday: I started out with a good breakfast but then I wen to a 1/2 day meeting.  I started off with a muffin bar.  From there it went to two slices of awful pizza (I don't mean evil pizza, but pretty crappy pizza that wasn't worth the points).  I should of stopped at one or really not eaten it at all.  Then there was a piece of cake, then a decadent ice cream bar.  After I got home from Ultimate I ate two bowls of cereal and 5 chocolate caramel rice cakes.  Yup it was a disastrous over 40pt day!!!

Upcoming Challenges

• Ice cream, I can only have it once this week (which I did tonight).
• Get in one long run this weekend
• Be active 6/7 days
• Cook dinner!
• I'll need to keep running, I just registered for a 1/2 Marathon in September with Amy!

Week In Review May 20-26

Sadly, my good efforts this week didn't pay off this week, I gained 0.6lbs but that's pretty small in the scheme of things I suppose.  I was a little disappointed with it because I thought I had a descent week, lots of activity (running, walking, ultimate frisbee, and Taekwon-do).

Tomorrow morning I'll be weighing in (and paying up).  The sad thing is when you weigh in monthly your weight tracker doesn't really reflect what's gone on in the last four weeks.  It doesn't show that my weight went even higher, then I've dropped it back down roughly to where I was when I last weighed in... but not to be within 2lbs of my goal weight which is why I'll be paying up.  Since I've lost the bulk of my weight, its just so hard to make my body lose anything, even after I've put on a few too many undesirable extra pounds.  I'm at a loss for what to do/what to change to make the weight shift.

So here's my week at a glance (click to biggify)

The Good:

• I exercised 6/7 days this week
• I started a new activity, Ultimate Frisbee... I had never played before!  I quite enjoy it and my teammates were very patient with me.
• I got out for a 9.75K run on Saturday evening, I'm definately ready for my race this Saturday!
• I did very well with the candy dishes this week
• I am still doing well with temptation!
• I am still tracking honestly

The Bad:

• A little frustrated that my efforts didn't pay off at the scale
• I think my food is getting static and I don't know how to change
• I had a migraine Thursday night

The Ugly:

• I can't think of anything ugly, so I guess that falls under the good category????

Upcoming Challenges:

• To keep my chin up and keep on the right track towards weight loss
• Keep to my 6/7 days of activity per week
• Come up with some changes to shake up this body!
• Running 10K on SATURDAY!!!

Week in Review May 13-19

Another week, another pound.  Well actually, that's 1.4 lbs the scale moved in the right direction again this week this time with a better number from the week before!  Slowly I hope I'm well on my way to getting rid of my recently gained weight.  Only 6 lbs to get back to goal, 4 lbs so I don't have to pay at Weight Watchers!  I don't think that will happen for this month, since next week is my last opportunity to get weighed in for the month of May.  Miracles have happened...

The week I would say started out well, and went fairly well.  I do see a trend though, I do really well with the temptations until about Wednesday then things go downhill.  I would say I ate pretty well all week long until then, for some strange reason I have this urge to pig out Wednesdays/Thursdays.  Am I afraid of my own success and trying to subconsciously sabotaging myself?

So this is what the week looked like (not bad I'd say):

The Good:

• I've earned a lot of activity points this past week and I'm back to running, but the weather wouldn't co-operate for outdoor runs.  We pretty much had rain every day this past week.
• Each week I feel I'm doing better dealing with temptation
• I went to my WW meeting today, 3 in a row now!
• I'm up to 21 days of tracking honestly

The Bad:

• Candy dishes continue to haunt me
• Everywhere I turn at work lately there seems to be food up for grabs somewhere!
• I hit the mid-week slump and started making some bad food choices

The Ugly

• I ate way too many cookies on Wednesday (but they were tracked)
• I've been having some issues with migraines this past week

Upcoming Challenges

• I don't think this food thing at work is going to slow down, we're heading into our last month of school soon and food seems be ever present at this time of year.  I have to just focus on not giving into temptation one more day that the previous week and eventually it'll be all seven days!
• Next Saturday is Ottawa Race weekend!  Eeeek!  My 10K is upon me!

Week in Review May 6-12

After last weekend being a rough one, from being sick I finally started to feel better on Tuesday.  The week just improved from there.  The end result of being sick though was all the getting caught up which I felt like I was doing all week.  Not only was playing catch-up all weekend but I was spending my other free moments getting ready to have my friends over for a stitching get together!  It was our usual routine of stitch-eat-sleep!

Now as for my journey to get my extra 8lbs off, sigh.  I'm only down 0.4lbs this week, but its a move in the right direction.... right?  Every little bit helps.  I was awesome for the first part of the week, but once Wednesday rolled around, my resolve and will-power started flagging.  I admit to some bad choices in the latter half of my week.

So here's my week at a glance (click to biggify)

The Good

• Moving towards making more better choices each day
• Tracked honestly for 17 days in a row
• Gone to WW meetings two weeks in a row
• Exercised each day that I could
• Starting to feel better and better about myself
• The scale moved down a little

The Bad

• Wasn't healthy enough to run this past week
• Started being tempted by sweets
• Busy = No proper dinners

The Ugly

• Thursday saw more sweets going into this girl's mouth.

Week in Review April 29-May 5

Oh what a week!  I woke up on Tuesday with a sore throat and it just all went downhill from there.  Tuesday night I went and saw Bon Jovi in concert despite the sore throat and exhaustion.  I think that's the one night all week long I had my best sleep due to being so tired, I've not slept through the night since.

So the sore throat on Tuesday progressed to a cough on Wednesday, to stuffed up Thursday night.  Today its full on congestion, cough, and low grade fever.  Oh yeah, and I can't TASTE anything, nothing, nada.  Sigh.  Did not make it to the gym or anything today!

This morning was the dreaded weigh in day and that's just what it turned out to be, I had hopes for a stay the same or maybe loose 1/2 a pound maybe even a pound.  Nope I gained 0.8 lbs so now I'm pretty much 8lbs over my goal weight.

I had a not bad week food-wise, a number of days I ate over my daily allowance but not wayyy over.  I still had weekly points left.  Now I did have some empty calories this week, on two occasions I was brought a cupcake (which never happens) and well cake/cupcakes are one of my never turn down foods and they were both worth the points.  On the other hand I earned over 40 activity points, I did some sort of activity 6/7 days this past week.  The result of my efforts and honest tracking... a kick in the face.  Fingers crossed, its just my body's reaction to this cold and that next week will be better.  So I'll continue on this course of tracking honestly, trying to do some sort of activity 6/7 days a week (today had to be a rest day so I'm hoping I'm feeling well enough for a walk tomorrow).  Hopefully I'm feeling well enough to go to WW tomorrow morning.

The Good

• I made it to my WW meeting on Saturday
• I exercised 6/7 days this week
• I tracked honestly every day
• Have managed to vary my food menu all week long

The Bad

• Still having sugar cravings and sometimes giving into them

The Ugly

• I have a awful cold!
• Probably ate too many empty calories (2 cupcakes, 1/2 slice banana bread, a few too many oatmeal chocolate chip cookies), but I tracked all of them!
• Had a bad craving for chewy, soft oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, and started eating around my carving.  So I knew it was best just to buy the smallest pack I could get from the grocery store bakery and get it out of my system.  At least Todd helped or the damage could of been worse.

Upcoming Challenges

• Shake this cold, and be healthy for race weekend
• Try to remain active without making this cold worse
• Continue to track honestly
• Try to eat less empty calories
• Go to my WW meeting

Week in Review March 18-24

Its been a long time since I've done one of these!  Travel and life got busy real fast.  March Break was great and I enjoyed getting away (though I didn't enjoy the long hours spent travelling to SW Arizona) and seeing some great friends, that was followed by one of my Stitching Retreats where we eat far too much food!!!

At Dateland, Az. enjoying my first Date Shake since 2007 oh yummy!!!

When I returned from Arizona as I mentioned before I came back 2.5 lbs heavier, and this week I weighed in down 2 lbs!  So that extra trip weight is almost gone!  The nice thing is I didn't have to work overly hard to do it.  Yes I did work and I watched my points but not as strictly as I can sometime.  So it was a pleasant surprise, that and I stayed off of the scales during the week, there was no peeking.

So here's my week at a glance:

The Good:

• Got back to running the morning after I got home
• Got in two runs outdoors, its warming up!
• Getting my eating back to normal seemed easy this week!
• Was NOT tempted by chocolate, candy or other treats
• Didn't buy a single treat this week (victory!)
• Exercised almost every day except Wednesday

The Bad:

• Gained weight while in Arizona
• Did better at my food choices at Retreat this time, ate some junk but not as much and lost weight despite it, I usually gain weight after retreat
• Didn't exercise Wednesday or Thursday
• Didn't get to the gym despite my best intentions

The Ugly:

• I don't really think anything ugly stands out at all from this last week

Upcoming Challenges:

• Its my 35th birthday tomorrow, so there will be cake with my family tonight (there was cake at work yesterday).  Cake is one of those foods I don't turn down, now I will leave a piece after a bite if it doesn't taste good.  On the other hand I know it will be a healthy meal with roast chicken and the assorted fixings.  I'm very fortunate that my Mum is an excellent and conscientious cook, also my Dad watches what he eats too (we gain weight very easily in my family) so I know I'm eating a tasty "safe" meal.
• I won't be getting to the gym on Tuesday or Wednesday.  I'm hoping to get a run in on Wednesday night once I'm back at home.
• I'm hoping to continue on the good stretch where it comes to eating well and not being tempted by the foods I love.

I did get myself an early Birthday present on Thursday (thus the reason for missing the gym).  Todd and I decided that when I was ready we'd get another cat.  When I met this little guy, I just fell in love... his markings are just gorgeous!  Todd has fallen in love as well, now Hunter he's growled, hissed, and given the kitten a few clawless swats.

Week In Review February 25-March 4



Me at an ocean-front restaurant in Santo Domingo, D.R.

 This week has been spent trying to get my body back to normal after my Dominican Experience the week before.  While I was away I was VERY mindful of how much I ate as the diet was pretty much based on carbs and protein (rice, white bread, plantains).  I really paid attention to my body's hunger signals! 

My weight is doing very well!  I weighed myself the morning I left for the DR and I was back down the 3lbs I put on the week before.  Upon my return last Friday I was down another 0.5 lbs SUCCESS!!!  This week, my weight stayed the same.  Last year's trip I put on 5 lbs then another 3 lbs the following week.

Since I returned I've been dealing with severe sugar cravings and lack of self control that I had last week.  I used to have a strong will over my cravings and food urges when I was actively loosing my weight, now I find that its just not there.

I was very disciplined when I got home last week that Saturday morning, despite flying from 4PM to 12AM and going to bed after 3AM I got up for my 9:45am Weight Watchers meeting.  I've got every intention to go to my meeting again tomorrow morning and weigh in for the month.

Before I went away I stopped in at my Doctor's office.  For months I've not been feeling well, not feeling like myself, tired, no energy, no desire to go out, do anything, etc.  I had also been experiencing really bad night sweats for a few weeks prior.  Also my migraine medication just wasn't cutting it anymore (I have been able to manage with Excedrin for Migraine for a few years now), so I wanted to be put on something else to help manage them.  Yesterday I went in for my follow-up.  My blood work came back fine, my liver function, hemoglobin, thyroid, and B-12 levels are fine.  Now my Iron is on the low end of normal but nothing that couldn't be helped through diet.  So I came away with a few information sheets on how to get more Iron in my diet.  Also something I've done on my own is to double my vitamin D dose, instead of taking 1000 units/day I'm now taking 2000 units.  There is no harm in taking higher amounts of vitamin D and there are studies starting to show that 1000 units/day may actually not be enough.  So if you're feeling down, low on energy and live in a Northern climate think about increasing your vitamin D dose if you don't already take it.

Here's my week at a glance, I ate very well, except I had a bit of a junk food splurge on Wednesday (the dangers of your gym being above a grocery store).

The good :

• I lost weight while in the Dominican Republic
• I have maintained that weight loss
• I have gotten my eating back on track with a tonne of fruits and veggies (how I missed you!)
• I have been able to get back to my exercise schedule of Taekwon-Do classes and visits to the gym
• I tracked honestly this week
• Today I managed my cravings
• In one week I'll be on vacation, heading to sunny Yuma Arizona with an overnight trip to Phoenix (more sunshine!)
• I am feeling 100% myself again!

The bad :

• Cravings for candy and chocolate
• Giving into those cravings
• Hitting the candy dishes at work pretty hard Monday-Thursday.

The ugly :

• Between Wednesday and Thursday I consumed a whole bag of the new mini Reese's PB cups (oh how I love you)
• I also ate 1/2 a bag of pretzel sticks those two days
• I had to spend $700 on my car this week.  I needed a new front right bearing, windshield washer fluid pump, two lights, a rear wiper blade, oil change and when putting the wheel all back together a bolt and its bracket were stripped so that required replacing the calliper because it is attached to said bracket.  That probably didn't help the eating either.

Week in Review February 4-10

Once again I started the week with good intentions, yet again but it didn't go well. The scale can certainly attest to that. Those three pounds that crept on at the beginning of the week stayed put with me by weigh-in day on Friday. I've been good enough though to stay off of the scale for now. So I'm now up to a point where I don't like to be, and I can feel those extra pounds on my body. I'd really like to try and get rid of the 4 lbs I've put on in the last two weeks before this upcoming Friday... before I go to the Dominican Republic. I won't be sunning myself on a resort beach with a buffet and umbrella drinks, but on a third world experience with students from my school. I did this trip last March and the week I was away and the following week I put on about 8lbs and it took me until August 2010 to have a weigh in where I didn't have to pay at Weight Watchers. So I'd like to take care of a few pounds this week... if I can!

I didn't make it into a Weight Watchers last week, getting ready for this "field trip" has taken over my life! I also had a Taekwon-Do seminar all day on Saturday which is my usual meeting day. I am pretty sure I won't make it in this week either. If there is any day where I'll have the time, it'll be Wednesday and I should try my best to go.

Here's a snapshot of my week :

The Good :

• As promised, I did something for myself (see my previous post, Taking Care of Number One) a good haircut is always uplifting
• I got myself to the doctor and talked to her about how I've been feeling. I'll be getting some blood work done, and I now have a new migraine medication.
• 
  I exercised 6 out of 7 days! I got to the gym, to Taekwon-Do, ran and a bit of a walk on the night I got my hair done (had to park quite a few blocks away)
• By Wednesday I started feeling "back to normal" and have been this way since
• I only had one migraine

The Bad :

• I did not eat as well as I would of liked
• I am still not dealing with treats and temptation very well
• I didn't cook one "real" meal all week long
• Still not tracking 100% honestly

The Ugly :

• Obviously my weigh in, I am currently above my 2lb allowance from Weight Watchers
• Chocolate, need I say more?

Upcoming Challenges This Week :

• Continue to get myself back on track
• I'd like to drop 3 lbs before I leave the country
• Find the time to exercise, even if its just 10 minutes on the treadmill
• Get ready for my trip
• Spend some time with Todd before I leave, and hopefully make us one descent meal!
• Control my impulses to grab food/treats when offered
• Chocolate

I wish many of you the best of luck with your Valentine's Day temptation(s), Todd knows better and he doesn't buy me chocolates.  Actually he already got me some lovely flowers and a card... perfect.

Week in Review January 28-Febrary 4

Boy, did I start last week with really good intentions.  Intentions to get my workout schedule, back on schedule and get life "back to normal".  That didn't happen, it was another rough week in a row of many lately.  So let's just get to it and hash it all out.

I was getting very close to finishing a large Cross Stitching project of mine this past week so what did I really want to do all week?  Stitch of course!  I am very happy to report that I finished Art Deco Sprits at 11:30 last night and it sure is beautiful!  Also my mental state really lent itself more towards sitting at home and stitching than going out, getting to the gym and getting to Taekwon-Do classes.

Friday's weigh in was not conductive towards getting to my healthy BMI, I gained 1 lbs this last week.  Am I upset or angry over this?  No, not really, I earned this gain in more ways that one.  My drive to get in some exercise just plain sucked, I made it to the gym on Friday and to Taekwon-Do on Monday, that's it that's all.  I was feeling so rough that by  Tuesday I bumped my once a month massage up by two weeks and went in on Wednesday.  I beleive my massage therapist's words were "who poured cement on your shoulders?"  Like I said ... rough.  Then I had a huge issue with chocolate this week.  I wanted it, and I wanted it BAD.  The thing is it had nothing to do with hormonal cravings.

Here's this past week at a glance:

The Good:

• I did exercise twice.  I did intend to exercise on Tuesday and Thursday (but didn't)
• I took after myself and got a massage because I desperately needed it
• I indulged in my hobby and finished a big project
• I discovered a new recipie (Thanks Amy!) and it'll become a part of my cooking repretoire

The Bad:

• I did not get back to my usual exercise routine.  On Tuesday I was invited to have dinner with Amy before Tuesday stitching, and I accepted the invite (and still don't regret it), also knowing that I would work out every other day that week.  Wednesday due to my massage I wasn't going to throw away the efffects and my money by going to Taekwon-Do, which got cancelled due to the storm we had that day.  Thursday, well I just decided to go shopping (and bought nothing) and then home to relax.
• I did not track everything accurately last week

The Ugly:

• One word: chocolate.  I hit one of the candy dishes at work pretty hard this week.... I can always count on it having chocolate in it.  I wanted chocolate badly, desperately, and worse than my "monthly" cravings!  When shopping on Thrusday I stopped in at Laura Secord to get my favourite chocolate bar (mint), because if you're going to indulge have that thing you absolutely love.  Well the chocolate bars were 2/$3 so the irrational side of me took 2 bars to the cash and once in the car I proceeded to eat BOTH of them!  They were good, I did enjoy them and I counted my points.

Upcoming Challenges This Week:

• Get Back On Track!!!!
• Do my best to resume my workout schedule
• Do something to help me feel better.  I've been feeling blah, meh, whatever.  This has resulted in me being bitchy to the ones I love, lethargic, not happy or even my usual self.  I'm having headaches/migraines, and I'm exhuasted physically and mentally.

Week In Review January 21-27

So my week starts on Friday and my weekend as a good one but full of FOOD challenges!  Several times a year I go off to a girls stitching retreat at a wonderful B&B, the motto is pretty much "Stitch, Eat, Sleep".  We do these things exactly in this order too!  Over the years the food we bring to these events has evolved like many of us have, food is definitely getting much, much healthier but as usual there are temptations, treats to be had!

Me with my stitching friends Bonnie and Clare, we were showing off

our matching stitching bags on Sunday

Needless to say I got so much progress on my main stitching progress, and had a great weekend with friends.  If you want to see/read about it... go here.  I often come away from these weekends a pound or two up... I mean what can you expect when you sit all weekend and enjoy wonderful food?  I was pleasantly surprised this morning to find out that my weight had stayed the same!  So no loss, but better yet no gain.  I can't wait until March when we do it all over again! (of course I'm hoping it'll be warm/nice enough to get out for a run each morning).

I have to say I had a pretty good week, except for Monday!  What a day from HELL that was!

First of all, I woke up to this... at one point it did say -30c.  Now let me tell you, -30c is COLD!  So cold, my car (which I had to admit was outside, has no block heater, and I had less than 1/2 a tank of gas) wouldn't start.  Todd (deep down inside he's a real sweetie) went outside at 6:40am to start my poor little car.  It wouldn't start.  On top of this the furnace "wasn't running right" needless to say it was running for 30-45 seconds at a time and cutting out not bringing the house up to temperature, also there were fumes in the house (we have oil heat) ... not right.

Once Todd finally got my car started... at 9am I rushed into work, because I should of been there at 7:30am!  Once I got "settled in" I called the company we have a service contract with for our furnace.  Like most service calls I was expecting someone to tell me they'd be there at 1 or 2PM, I was almost speechless when he asked me if I could be at the house by 10:45am.  So back into the car I went and home to sit in a chilly house while the kind service man tried to fix my furnace.  It took the poor guy until 2PM to fix my furnace!  When its that cold out you need heat!

I am relieved to tell you the rest of the week went very well, and after a day like that things can only go uphill from there!

So here's what my week looked like in the world of Weight Watchers (as usual click to biggify)

The Good :

• Came out of a retreat weekend not gaining any weight!
• Resumed my workout schedule which I had abandoned for almost a week!  I went to the gym 3 times, taught 3 hours at Taekwon-Do and took 1 TKD class.
• On Thursday I really felt like going straight home from work but I toughed it out and made myself to go a spinning class.  Glad I did.
• I felt good most of this week

The Bad :

• Got into a bit of a habit of dipping in to one of the candy dishes at work, she's got Hershey Kisses in there right now!  I have trouble resisting them since they changed the chocolate to be creamier!  Have I mentioned I like chocolate?

The Ugly

• I have a habit of mine I need to confess, and its one I need to STOP!  I've gotten in this habit of going into the kitchen and grabbing something to eat before I go to bed.  I mean right before I go to bed!  Its either a handful or two of cereal, a handful of raisins (nature's jujubes), a few almonds, or a cookie.  Since I do this as I'm going to bed... well I'm quite bad and I don't track the points.  Breaking the cardinal rule of Weight Watchers... if you bite it write it!

Upcoming Challenges This Week

• Getting in my workouts
• Trying not to get stressed out or "anal" on my upcoming Dominican Experience trip for work (yeah I know hard life)
• I have a fairly quiet week besides going to the gym or TKD and I'm going to try to keep it that way.

I'll be hitting my regular Weight Watchers meeting tomorrow, so I'll have another entry for you soon!

Week in Review January 14-20

My rough week seems to be just rolling on into a second rough week.  I finally hit the wall this week, and my Mum warns me about this constantly and Todd will sarcastically say "look at me I'm never home until midnight" (an exaggeration but I'm often not home before 9PM on a week night).  I have spent this week just feeling physically and mentally exhausted, and I'm not sleeping well... actually I've only slept through the night one night so far this week and its getting to me.  On top of all this, the migraines have hit again this week.

I have been stressed out and a lot on my mind, which has been affecting my sleep.  Unfortunately not a lot of this is under my control right now.  I'm heading to the Dominican Republic in about 4 weeks with a group of high school students on a 3rd world experience.  We're hitting crunch time in terms of fundraisers and collecting clothing, medical supplies, etc. to take with us.  So I'm doing what I do very well, get stressed out and have migraines.

I weighed in this morning and just as I couldn't believe I had put on 5lbs in 2 weeks, I've magically taken off 4 lbs in one week!  The body is truly a mystery over the two weeks where I gained I was running, going to Taekwon-Do and the gym.  This week I made it to the gym once, ran twice and Taekwon-Do once... my last day of activity being on Monday.  I'm very happy but just as puzzled!  I'm going to make a point of hitting a Weight Watchers Center to get weighed in for the month of January since I know I won't be at my regular Saturday morning meeting.


So here's this week at a glance (as usual click to biggify)

The Good :

• I have tracked every day as is my habit
• I'm doing very well with my sugar cravings!  They're not so bad anymore and when they've hit I've tried to satisfy them with a cup of tea with milk and honey or a few tablespoons of raisins (nature's jujubes)
• Friday I bought a big container of jujubes, again letting my cravings get the better of me.  By Saturday I threw most of them out (I did eat some).  I've not had to do that in a long time, but it somehow felt feeling to throw those evil, tasty drops of sugar, colouring, and chemicals away.
• I went to stitching group and enjoyed it!
• I had a massage and skipped my work out and didn't feel guilty.
• I've actually not exercised since Monday and I'm not feeling guilty.

The Bad

• Todd broke my treadmill earlier this week, he thinks he can fix it, and we can't afford to replace it right now.
• I'm not listening to my body and I'm fighting to stay up so I can have "more time" to stitch, be online, laundry, etc.
• I only cooked dinner one night this week (tonight), this usually doesn't have great effects for my weight loss efforts
• I gave in and bought the earlier mentioned jujubes
• I've not been to the gym in a week now

The Ugly

• I ate way too many mini-cream puffs on Sunday at my Mom's birthday dinner.  But I had the points
• Migraines
• Stress
• Poor sleep
• Its been freakin' cold
• I have allowed the scale to dictate my mood which I usually refuse to do
• I have not been happy this week

Upcoming Challenges This Week

• Potluck situation this weekend
• Definitely no opportunity to exercise on Saturday
• I'd like to feel happier
• I'd like to get back into my exercise routine
• I'd like to manage my stress better

Oh and remember I mentioned its been freakin' cold.... look at what my weather station said Monday morning?  Now that's in Celsius and without the windchill!  Sunday is looking to be pretty cold as well!

Once again I have not made it into a Weight Watchers meeting for the second week in a row I'm feeling pretty bad that I have no gems of wisdom to share with you from my awesome meeting leader!

Week In Review January 7-13

Ohhh this past week, what can I say about it?  As you saw from my Friday morning post I was not happy, and you know what?  I'm still not happy at all.  I'm still just as puzzled at how the HELL I gained 5 lbs in 2 weeks?  Two weeks where I have been active, and the last week I ate my daily points every day without going over.  I honestly didn't feel like during the week I had put on 3lbs, my clothes fit fine, I felt fine.  I often can tell when I'm up and I just couldn't tell this time around.

So here's this week at a glance (click to biggify):

Except for Friday I ate 29 pts a day which is may daily target.  I also got in activity points every day that week, and I have every day since.  I know this upcoming Tuesday I won't be earning any as I have a massage booked after work and then I'll be going to my new stitching group.

The good

• I stayed within my point range all week (except Friday because I didn't find out about the challenge until Saturday morning).
• I tracked every day
• I exercised every day in some form
• I did something for myself this past week, I joined a stitching group (read about that obsession here).  This has nothing to do with weight loss or exercise, a good move for me I think.
• As of Monday the last of the chocolate (which I should of disposed of sooner) in the house is gone.

The bad

• Sugar cravings
• Despite it being sparring week at Taekwon-Do, classes were a disappointment and I didn't get in the killer activity points I was hoping for.

The ugly

• I've not been able to stay away from the treats that have come into work, but I did track every bit... of course as best as I could guess not knowing the nutritional information.
• I'm up 3 lbs this week, 5 in two weeks.  I'm quite upset about this.
• Homemade chocolate chip cookies, someone brought some into work on Thursday, I ate about 6 of them... now they were small cookies but I still ate 6 of them throughout the day.

Upcoming challenges for this week

• Start focusing on loosing those 5lbs
• Enjoying my "me" time on Tuesday (massage and stitching group after work on Tuesday), and not feeling guilty about taking a break from working out.
• Being more disciplined when my sugar cravings hit.  I know if I slowly cut down this will get better.
• Family dinner tonight, practice portion control and not got silly over dessert.

I did not make it into a Weight Watchers meeting this week, I had company overnight Friday and they had to head home early.  So I didn't want to be rude and leave for my meeting and have them be gone when I got home.  I need to come up with a solution for this upcoming week's meeting as well since I know I won't be in town this weekend.  I'll have to look at my options.

Week In Review & Weigh In

Once again, its been awhile since I posted, I feel like I haven't had anything to "talk" about, but my Weight Watchers Week is over so I do have something to blog about.

I spent a lot of Sunday in a pretty crusty mood for two reasons, first of all I had to go back to work on Monday.  Don't get me wrong I do love my job, but honestly if I didn't have to work... I wouldn't.  There are so many things I could pursue on a personal level instead of working to live.  Secondly I had to go out and replace my laptop, it was unexpected so it turned more into a chore I wanted to get done and over with instead of having some fun and getting a new toy (boy do I love toys!).

I had planned to take this week by the horns and get myself back on a normal schedule in terms of food and exercise.  As usual the body likes to throw us for a loop when we have a plan in mind.  On Monday morning, by 10am I had a headache coming on that by 11am turned into a migraine (I was diagnosed with them at the age of 9) despite medicating myself twice, there was no relief.  It kept on through Tuesday as well, leaving me feeling pretty miserable and sorry for myself by the evening.  So my plans of getting back to Taekwon-Do after an almost two week break were thrown out the window, I just couldn't function.

This morning is my weigh in day, and I'm not surprised at all I'm up 2lbs (why???) back up to 145 lbs so its the usual dip below 143 and right back up to 145 again.  So am I subconsciously sabotaging myself or is it truly my body's rhythm?  On the positive side the last month to two months my weight has stabilized in this area and that's a good thing.

Sooo here's my week at a glance (click to biggify):

As usual I have tracked every day, I'm good at that.  However I'm making a strong effort to track honestly, every bite, every naughty moment.

The Good :

• I tracked honestly every day
• On Wednesday I felt great, finally back to normal!
• Got back to my exercise regime on Wednesday with a trip to the gym.
• Had an awesome first Taekwon-Do class of 2011 on Thursday night
• I've "felt skinny" this week

The Bad :

• As you can see from my WW week I didn't exercise for 3 days that of course starts getting me concerned about the week's weigh in.  I find to just maintain my weight I have to work hard.
• There is still too much chocolate in the house, some days I'm able to eat it in moderation, and some days I don't.  At moments its tempting just to eat it and get it over and done with.
• My weight went back up to 145

The Ugly :

• One word : migraine
• My bad mood on Sunday pushed me away from exercising that day.

Like I said earlier I had an awesome first class of 2011 at Taekwon-Do, its patterns week my favourite and it felt so good, and so right.  Even the warm-up felt good!  It was a small class tonight, I have a classmate Danielle (I'm a Danielle too!) she started out as my student years ago when she first came to Taekwon-Do.  Once she became a teenager she and I became classmates instead.  I was so proud of her in November 2009 when she tested for her first Degree Black Belt and I got to test with her for my 3rd Degree with her.  She is the first student I have seen through from a White Belt to a Black Belt.  What a great day that was for me!  Anyhow Danielle was there tonight and we both wore our "Christmas Presents" from Mr. Marin.  I insisted we take our picture together tonight.

Do you like our snazzy new black tops?  In my 14 years involved in Taekwon-Do we've never had the opportunity to wear anything beyond the standard dobok.

Upcoming challenges for this week :

• Continue to track honestly
• Getting back on track with my exercise
• Dinner out at a buffet

Week In Review & Weigh In

Holidays always make being on plan and on program a challenge.  These two weeks have certainly been a challenge for me in terms of no schedule, eating, and exercising.  I've eaten out more than I have in a very long time!  I've also had holiday eating to deal with this week as well!

Today was my weigh-in at home and surprisingly I'm down!  I'm down 1.5lbs!  I'm not sure what really played a roll in that, the daily exercise/running I've been putting in for two weeks now? (which yesterday I took a break from, no activity points at all yesterday).  The unpredictable eating and foods?  Who knows

Here's what my week looks like from Weight Watchers land :

This past week's highlights :

• Exercising every day since December 17-29!
• Having some valuable "me" time (stitching time)
• Getting to see family & friends

A definite highlight was seeing my good friend Kathy for dinner on Tuesday night (sorry no pictures).  I won't get to see her again until I fly down to Arizona for March Break.

I also got to spend the afternoon and evening with Claire, we've been best friends since Grade 10.  She is up from Jacksonville, Florida visiting her family.  I think I'm going to have to look at flights to FLA this summer during my holidays.  Boy every time I see Claire I realize just how much I miss her!

This past week's challenges:

• Meals out
• Holiday food
• Chocolate
• Motivation to exercise

Challenges for the upcoming week:

• New Year's Eve
• Getting back on program and back on schedule.

I didn't make it to a Weight Watchers meeting this week so no wonderful words of wisdom to share with you.

Have a Happy New Year everyone!