Thursday, October 16, 2008

I'm a "Lifer"!!!

Wow! It's been over a month since I've blogged! Well, I finally crossed the finished line and am tasting the sweetness of victory!!! I am now a "Lifer" as in Lifetime Member of Weight Watchers! I made it through the 6 weeks of maintenance and ended up losing another .6 pounds during it. During those 6 weeks, I was given an additional 3 points per day to "stabilize". The guideline to follow is that if I gained/lost 1 pound or more, I would need to adjust my points by 1 point less or more until I "stabilized".

I went down .2 pounds each week for the 1st 3 weeks. I got down to my lowest weight of 138 pounds! The 4th week I celebrated my wedding anniversary with my hubby and gained 1.4 pounds. Oops! But I got my butt back to the Y and worked it off. So at the 5th week, I had zero gain/zero loss. Overall, at that point I was only up .8 pounds. So during the 6th week, I just kept up my usual routine of eating and working out and at my final weigh-in, I was down 1.4 pounds exactly!!! So I was at my lowest weight to date (138 pounds) when I reached Lifetime! I can't tell you how awesome it feels!

So now that I'm "done", have I changed any of my new habits? Actually, no. I'm so used to eating the right things and working out that it's just a part of who I am now. Sure, I like to indulge once in a while, but I remember how hard I worked to get to where I am and stops me from going to far and end up on a "slippery slope" back to being overweight and uncomfortable in my body. I don't want to feel miserable again! And I'm still going to the Y to work out at least 3 times a week. I still look forward to step class! Oh, and by the way, I came in 2nd place for the Summer Slim Down contest! As I just told a friend of mine, the sweet taste of victory is far more satisfying than those "tempting foods" can ever be!

Friday, September 12, 2008

Changing my mindset

So now that I'm maintaining, I have to change my mindset about what I'm eating and how much I'm working out, and especially the scale. I'm one of those who weigh myself every morning after I get up. I even bought one of those WW scales that gives the weight in .1 increments! I still want to see those numbers going down, but know I have to keep it the same in order to complete the 6 weeks of maintenance phase. At last week's weigh-in, I had lost .2 lbs. I was happy with that because it was still a loss, but not so much that I would have to add a point (to my daily allowance). This week, I'm down a total of .4 lbs. I've even gone over my weekly points - a lot! I'm using all of my daily points too, as well as my activity points! It just figures, right? When your not trying to loss, you will. What a dilemma, right? To be honest, how can be upset about losing 1/2 lb this week? As long at it's not a full pound, my points can remain the same.

I've been working out this week as normal, except for skipping Wednesday because my schedule is too tight that day. So I'm working out 4 times a week now. I did a Spin class on Monday, Step and half a Boot Camp class on Tuesday, the same classes on Thursday, and 20 minutes on the Eliptical, plus a Body Pump class today (Friday). In maintenance, your supposed to earn at least 4 activity a day. So I'm mostly keeping up with that (I shop and run arrands on Wednesdays, so that's a lot of walking)!

My eating pattern has pretty much stayed the same as well. I still have my 2 low-fat, high fiber Eggo Waffles with a glass of Light OJ and 2 cups of coffee (with fat-free creamer). For lunch I have my favorite salad (see below), and for dinner I make a well balanced meal that is around 8 points. I snack on popcorn in the afternoon and have a WW dessert after dinner. So, since I'm keeping all of that the same, that would explain why I'm still losing weight. So today I added a couple slices of french bread to have with my salad. And I'm going to the movies tonight, so I might have a little snack there. But that my be too risky, so maybe I'll just save my points and have a yummy snack when I get home from the movie, so I can be more in control of my points!

I want to say a special thanks to my WW buddy, Cara for giving my a shout out on her blog today! Thank you again, Cara! Check out her blog if you get a chance! Also, thanks to those who checked out my blog for the first time and gave me congrats on meeting my goal! It is very much appreciated and encouraging! Now that I've meet my goal, I will continue blogging on how to maintain, so keep checking back as I figure that out myself!

Sunday, August 31, 2008

Goal!!!


I did it! I reached my goal weight with WW!!! I had 1/2 lb. to lose this week in order to make my goal and I lost 8/10th lb.!!! This loss also marked another huge weight-loss milestone for me - 50 lbs. lost total! It's been 16 months since I began this journey (again) and I am so happy to finally accomplished this goal that I wasn't able to make the first time around (before I had my 2nd child). So I got my little star charm and my 50 lb. charm yesterday and added them to my keychain. Now all I have left is that little key when I make Lifetime. For the next 6 weeks I am in Maintenance phase to hold my weight with 2 pounds +/- of my goal weight. This will be a whole new way of thinking for me since I have been in weight-loss mode for pretty much the past 12 years of my life (minus the 18 months I was pregnant for). So I recalculated my points and I have an additional 3 points per day now at 25 points. I still also have my 35 weekly flex (bonus) points. I decided I still have to be making good/healthy choices like I always have and just add a little extra in. For instance, at lunch yesterday, we went to Chic-fil-a as usual and I ordered my same Chargrilled Chicken Sandwich (7 points) and split a medium fry (4 points) with my son. And for my drink, I decided to treat myself to a medium sweet tea (3 points). It's one of my favorite things to get at Chic-fil-a that I haven't allowed myself to indulge in in quite a long time! It may not seem like that big a deal, but it's just so good! I still felt like I was staying in control too by not indulging in a coffee drink at Starbucks or a sweet treat at the Dairy Queen or the cookie store.

Last night we went out for dinner too and chose Ruby Teusdays (no waiting on a Saturday night and kid-friendly). I ordered the Chicken Fresca with mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli, but only had half (9 points). I was "flying blind" too because they didn't have any nutritional info for it. So I decided to just eat half, and get a big salad (mostly greens and veggies with a light ranch dressing). Good decision as I later found their nutritional info online and discovered the points value of the meal.

I also got in some activity yesterday by gardening (in between rain showers) for a couple of hours (trimming hedges, pulling up plants, weeding) and earned 3 activity points.

So I think I'm doing well so far. We went to Crispers for lunch today and I had 1/2 a smoked turkey and cheddar sandwich (7 points) with a small tossed salad (5). I always use most of my 35 flex points during the weekend because we go out to eat 3 times, but during the week I eat at home for every meal so I can be in total control of my points. That's just what works around my lifestyle and why I love WW so much. You can totally tailor it to fit your own lifestyle!

So, here I go this week trying not to lose or gain any weight! I'm concerned with how my workouts will affect my weight now that I'm not trying to lose, so we'll see what happens!

Monday, August 25, 2008

My Favorite Lunch

I want to share my favorite lunch. I've been creating the most delicious, simple, low-point salad for the past 10 months that I have every (week) day for lunch. I can't believe it's been that long! But it's just sooo good. The points value of the salad before dressing is 5 points. It's just the perfect blend of cool, crunchy, sweet, and flavorful. Since I make it everyday, I also make it quick and convenient by chopping the lettuce, tomato and onion after I bring them home from the store and keeping them in the fridge ready to go. To save money, I buy a whole head of lettuce and wash and chop it myself ($1 savings). I store it in one of those "green bags" that keeps produce fresh longer. It seems to work. I also buy a block of cheese and shred it myself ($1 savings) and store it in a ziploc bag. So here's all the ingredients:

2 cups Lettuce (green leaf, romaine, whatever)
1/4 cup diced tomatos
1/4 cup diced onions (red, vidalia)
2-1/2 oz. diced chicken (I use Tyson or Perdue precooked chicken slices)
1 oz. shredded cheddar cheese
1 TBSP pre-sliced almonds
2 TBSP Craisins
2 TBSP Dressing: I like Ken's Steakhouse Lite Bluecheese (2 points) or Wishbone Bountiful's Tuscan Romano Basil (1 point).

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Consistency IS the key!

So I ran some numbers when I got home from my weigh-in this morning, but first let me tell you what my loss was. I wasn't expecting a whole lot since I couldn't work out all week, but I did keep track of my points very closely and the result was a .6 pound loss! I'm only .4 lb. away from my goal weight! Yeah! My usual leader wasn't there today, (Charlotte was subbing - I love ya Charlotte!) so in a way I was okay with not making my goal because I want him there to share in the joy since he's seen me through this whole journey.

So, back to the numbers. I found some very interesting things about my weight-loss. I've been at this a total of 71 weeks now (about 1-1/2 years), and my average weekly loss has been .7 lb. So what does that mean, you ask? Well, I'll tell you. I also ran numbers just since the beginning of this year because I had set a goal in January of losing 1 pound a week (on average). I wanted to see where I was on that. So we are in week 35 of this year and I have lost 24.8 pounds this year alone. So I didn't meet my 1 pound a week average, but in figuring out what I did average, I found it was .7 pounds! The same as it's been for the entire length of my doing WW! Also, the first week of the year was at the halfway point thus far (36 weeks). So at that point I had a total loss of 24.8 pounds (May thru December). And if I look at the last 35 weeks (January thru August), I've also lost 24.8 pounds! Crazy! It's been so consistent! That just shows me that it pays to keep on going even when you feel like your not making any progress. I have lost .7 pounds a week on average consistently! I also looked back at my weigh-ins for the past few months and found a rough pattern every 4 weeks with losses of 1.6 lbs.. 1.2 lbs., .6 lbs., 0 lbs. (not always those exact numbers, but pretty close to that pattern). So that shows me that my body has a pattern of weight loss. I will have 2 weeks of big losses, then I will start to slow down, then it will pick back up again. The key is to hang in there and keep doing what you know is right during those low points. Don't be discouraged when your weight-loss slows down, it's just your body trying to balance itself out. It was so encouraging to see this.

So, hopefully, next week I'll be celebrating reaching my goal weight! Oh yeah, and I'm officially under 140 lbs. at WW now!

Thursday, August 21, 2008

1 Pound to Goal!

I officially lost 1.2 pounds at my WI on Saturday. Not as much as I thought I had according to my home scale (still under 140 there), but still a good loss! I think my home scale wasn't correct because my baby girl had been sitting and stomping on it recently. I'll have to recalibrate it somehow. At WW I am at exactly 140 pounds! That's 49 pounds lost! I decided I want my Lifetime goal to be 139 pounds because that is an even 50 pounds lost, and it's under 140 which is where I want to be. I can always loss more weight later if I want to, but I never want to go over 140 again!

I haven't been able to workout all week because of the weather and other things going on, so I'm not sure if I'll reach my goal at this weekend's WI. I've been watching my points closely all week, but have also had to hurdle a couple of birthday parties with awesome cakes! I really miss my step class though! I can't wait to get back to a normal schedule next week!

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Under 140!!!!!

After 10 years of trying, I've finally achieve my goal of being under 140 pounds!!!! Although, it's not official with my WW weigh-in yet (I have to wait until Saturday), I hit that magic number of 139.0 on my home scale yesterday morning! It was a complete shock as just the day before I was 141.4. So I dropped 2.4 pounds literally overnight! I don't know what I did, I think it was just my body being ready to give it up. I've been working so hard the last month with the scale hardly budging, and then this past weekend overindulged a bit at a baby shower and totally exceeded my weekly points allowance by 29 points. My workout on Monday wasn't that great and I only burned 250 calories. But for some reason, conditions allowed my body to drop those pounds. So am I saying, forget eating right and working out hard? No way, I'm saying keep on keeping on with what is proven to work, have fun now and then, and your body will respond in it's own time.

I had a great workout yesterday. Probably because I was on cloud 9 about my weight loss. I did my favorite Step class and Abs Lab:

Workout Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes
In the zone: 45 minutes
Average HR: 136 (for Step) 126 (overall)
Maximum HR: 163
Calories: 510

This morning, the scale was my friend again as it says I've lost another 1/2 pound! Let's hope this holds true for my weigh-in on Saturday! If so, I'm only about 2 pounds away from my goal weight! If I keep going at this rate, I just might make my original goal date of my son's birthday in 2 weeks!

Thursday, August 7, 2008

500 Calories Burned, $43 Saved!

I had a good workout today despite that I had a hard time getting the new routines in my Cardio Step class. I kept messing up the turns and which direction I was supposed to be going. I almost had it at the very end! But, luckily she'll be repeating those routines next week so I can catch on. After that class, I stuck around for Abs Lab with my favorite trainer, Rich! Rich was my team trainer during the Body Transformations contest this spring which I came in 2nd place at. I won 8 free personal training sessions with him from that.

They are remodeling (finally) the locker rooms at my Y. So they've put the men on the other side of the women's locker room (wall-off of course), so we are down to 3 showers. I didn't get in there by 10:30 (when a couple other classes end), so I had to wait 15 minutes for a shower! I ended up being late to pick up my kids from childcare, but they seemed to understand. I can't wait until the remodeling is done which it's supposed to be by October 1st. Although, the women do get to move into the remodeled men's locker room at the end of this month! I think that's fair since they are getting their's remodeled first.

Anyway, here's my workout results from the 2 classes:

Cardio Step
Workout time: 60 minutes
In the zone: 45 minutes
Average HR: 135
Maximum HR: 161
Calories: 425

Abs Lab (not really a cardio workout, but I tracked it anyway for calories burned)
Workout time: 23 minutes
In the zone: 3 minutes
Average HR: 109
Maximum HR: 135
Calories: 108

Total Calories Burned: 533

So I made my 500 calorie burning goal today! By the way, if you were wondering about the scale this week, I have maintained the 8/10th pound lost so far. I hope I'm able to make it an even pound by my Saturday morning weigh-in!

Now, from weight-loss to money savings. After working out I went on my weekly trip grocery shopping with both my kids. With my 16-month old daughter screaming most of the way through the store and my almost 5-year old son complaining that I was taking too long, it was a very stressful trip! I went to two stores because one is clearing out their inventory (they were purchased by Publix), so I figured I could get some good bargains at 5%-25% off food and merchandise. I also picked up school supplies at 25% off! Then I went to my regular grocery store to get the rest of my list and used two $5 off coupons I got in the mail and from the Entertainment Book. Overall, I saved $43 dollars! So even though I was stressed out by the kids, I felt good about saving so much money!

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

500 a Day to Keep the Pounds Away!

I found a great resource for figuring out how many calories you need per day, and what foods you should be eating. It's called www.mypyramid.gov Yes, it's a government website! But it has a lot of useful information about what we should be eating and how much. I was wanting to know how many calories I should be eating a day. I know I have my WW points system, but I wanted to know what I was eating in actual calories. As they say, weight loss is a result of your calories out vs. calories in. Actually, if you consume 500 less calories per day for a week (whether by eating less or exercising), you should lose 1 pound. I heard this on a Today Show segment last week and it sparked my curiosity about how many calories I'm consuming and burning off each day. I wear a heart rate monitor while working out so I know how many calories I'm burning. So then I wanted to know how many calories should I be consuming to maintain my weight, then subtract 500 to know how many calories I need to lose 1 pound per week.

So I went to mypyramid.gov and clicked on My Pyramid Plan and put my stats in (age, sex, height, weight, activity level) and it told me I should be having 2200 calories per day to maintain my weight. So I subtract 500 from that and I should be at 1700 calories per day.

So, each day I have the choice to cut 250 calories and burn 250, or cut 500 calories, or burn 500 calories and I should lose 1 pound per week. Today, I decided to burn the 500 during my workout. I did 10 minutes of high intestity on the Eliptical machine (100 calories), then I did my weight circuit lifting 18,105 pounds total (200 calories), then jumped back on the Eliptical for 20 minutes at high intensity (200 calories). Here's the results of my workout from my heartrate monitor:

Workout time: 1 hour & 15 minutes
In the zone: 47 minutes (between 93 - 158)
Average HR: 139
Maximum HR: 169
Calories burned: 526

It was an awesome workout and I did it all on my own! No classes today. Tomorrow is Step class again which of course I am looking forward to. Then I will do an Abs Lab for 20 minutes after that to put some extra focus on that problem area of mine.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Down on the Scale, Up on the Step!

So I stepped on the scale this morning and was down 8/10ths of a pound!!! It may not seem like much, but that's a lot for 1 day, and especially since I haven't lost any weight in 2 weeks! I'm just so excited!

I went to my favorite class at the Y this morning, Step. The instructor taught us some new routines today. She usually repeats the same routines for 2 weeks (4 classes), so we can get comfortable with them. It's almost like a dance class using a step. It's so much fun that I forget to look at the clock. The only thing I keep checking is my heartrate monitor so I can make sure I'm "in the zone." By the time the class came to an end, I was still ready to keep going. I can tell all the exercise I've been doing for the past 15 months is making a difference. It used to be that I was tired 20 minutes into the class. Now, I can keep going for at least an hour! She wrapped up the class with some new ab exercises to that targeted those problem lower abs I have! I've had 2 c-sections and need all the help I can get toning it up down there since I can't afford to have a tummy tuck! So here is the results of my workout according to my heartrate monitor:

Workout Time: 60 minutes
Average HR: 141 (high intensity for me= 130-158)
Maximum HR: 166
In the Zone: 44 minutes
Calories Burned: 426

That's an awesome workout for me!

So for all that hard work, I earned 7 activity points!!! For lunch, I treated myself to a small baked potato with some light butter and light cheddar cheese (3 points) along with my usual salad (6 points: romaine, tomatoes, onions, diced chicken, light cheddar cheese, almonds, and cranberries with Wishbone Bountiful dressing). I normally just have the salad for 6 points, but since I worked out so hard, I needed to use some of those activity points so my body wouldn't think it was starving. I love it when that happens!

Monday, August 4, 2008

No Loss, No Gain

So, I stuck to the basics as much as I could last week, but the results on the scale weren't there as I didn't loose ANY weight! I guess I could look on the positive side that I didn't gain any either. But I put in 4 days of workouts! I also drank lots of water. I did go over on my points a little though. I've just realized, I only get 22 points a day! It must have dropped in the last month and I didn't notice. But on a normal day, I usually eat 25 points and just deduct those extra points from my weekly points allowance. That is if I have any left after getting through the weekend! That's where I think I messed up. I went over on my weekly points allowance by 10 points. When you get down to the last 5 pounds, every little thing makes a difference.

So, now I know that I need to really stick to my points and keep track of everything more accurately. I'm continuing with my 4-5 workouts per week and drinking water all day. I take a 24 ounce water bottle to the Y and make sure to drink the whole thing by the time I leave. Then I have a 16 ounce glass of water with my lunch, another in the late afternoon, and then another with dinner, and a last one before I go to bed. So thats 88 ounces a water a day if I drink all of that! Sometimes, I'll swap out a diet soda in the afternoon, but otherwise, I pretty much stick to this.

My WW week starts on Saturday, and so far, I only have 7 points left in my weekly allowance. We went to Sonny's BBQ on Saturday, and even though I made the healthiest choices, it was still a lot of points! I tried their new BBQ Pulled Chicken, but they don't have the nutritional info available for it on their website yet. But if it's anything close to the BBQ Chicken then I used up at least 18 points on chicken alone! Looking at their nutritional info online, a better choice would have been the charbroiled chicken (6 points), smoked turkey (2 points), or sliced beef (9 points). Well, at least I know that for next time! I did well on the side though by choosing the Baked Sweet Potato (5 points) and Green Beans (2 points), plus 1 slice of garlic bread (4 points). If my chicken was as high in points as I think it might have been, my dinner was my whole day's worth of points! Ridiculous! I'm glad they put their nutritional info online though so at least we know how bad it is and can make informed choices.

For lunch on Sunday, I did really good. We went to a great little cafe where you can order a customized salad. I chose romaine lettuce, red onions, cucumber, tomatoes, cranberries, almonds, feta cheese, and grilled chicken with a greek vinigarette dressing on the side. I estimated the points to be 10 because it was a huge salad! But I was so proud of myself for ordering so healthy!

So, I just need to stay within my points each day this week (since I most likely used up all my weekly points this weekend), keep up my workouts, and drink my water. I really hope I lose some weight this week, as it's been over a month since I last had a real loss (on 6/28) because of 4th of July and our 12-day vacation last month that threw me off track a little.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Back to the Basics

So my vacation is over. Actually, it was over a week ago, but you know it takes time to get back into your "real" life. I didn't do to badly either considering I didn't weigh myself for 12 days and wasn't keeping track of points. I just drank a lot of water, kept my portions in control, and stayed active by doing 1-hour workouts, whitewater rafting, or walking. When I got home and stepped on my scale the morning after we returned, I was only up 2 pounds. I had 4 days until my weigh-in on Saturday at my WW meeting. I went to the Y everyday to workout and ate carefully. Except for cake my son and I made together on Friday. I overindulged in that by having 2 servings! What can I say, I have a weakness! But I ended up skipping dinner to make up for the cake. At my weigh-in on Saturday I was down 6/10th of a pound!

I'm hoping to have a good loss this week. We didn't go out to eat this weekend which really helped. We invited some friends over and I made a healthy, low-fat spaghetti with a salad and garlic bread. I also got rid of the rest of the cake by sharing it with everyone! And also had one last piece for myself with some low-fat frozen yogurt. On Sunday, we normally go out to lunch with our friends after church but none of us were able to make it this weekend. So, my husband went out and got a sub from Subway.

So, I'm on the right track for loosing weight this week and getting back on track to my Lifetime goal. I'm hoping to be there by my son's birthday, but that is only 4 weeks away now. I have no room for backsliding, so I need to stick to my good habits. It's just a matter of following the basics: drink plenty of water, write down and keep track of points for what I eat, and exercise!

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Vacation mode

Right now, my family is on our yearly vacation to Colorado. I love coming out here every year because I grew up here. It's nice to visit familiar places when you don't live there anymore. There's just a sense of nostalgia every time we come back here and visit my best friend from high school or go downtown and play tourist. Since I moved away over 15 years ago a lot has changed too and it's fun to see those changes.

I'm trying to stay on track weight-loss wise while on vacation. It's hard because you get into a different mindset. I haven't been tracking my points at all since we got here 2 days ago. Since then, I've had McDonald's, cherry pie a la mode, a Starbuck's chocolate mint mocha frap, and movie theater popcorn. I know I've already blown through my weekly points allowance. I normally weigh in on Saturday mornings when I'm home, but I didn't bring my booklet with me so I couldn't go to a meeting today to see where I am. I have a plan to reach my goal by mid-August (my son's birthday) and don't have room to get off track since that is only about 5 weeks away! So 1 pound a week is what I need to lose now. Luckily, we are staying very active while on vacation. I worked out, we took the kids to a pool, and went on a walk so far. We also plan on doing a hike, going to a zoo, and going whitewater rafting this week. Well, here's hoping I have a great vacation and don't go too far overboard on the indulging!