So clearly I am very out of practice with the whole making a video blog thing. It took me more than 7 tries of stumbling over my words and saying extremely weird and random things in order to get it as right as it’s going to be. Here we go.
So in case you can’t watch the video because you’re at work – in it I do make a pretty big announcement about my weight. In the end of 2012, I had a full physical exam with my doctor and was talking with her about my weight and the history there. She asked me lots of questions, took a lot of measurements, and recommended that I set a higher goal weight than what Weight Watchers told me was the highest healthy weight for my height of 5’8.
The doc wrote me a note that I passed along to my Weight Watchers boss recommending that I maintain 175-180 as my goal weight. Weight Watchers says you can’t have a BMI higher than 27 as your goal weight, so we reset my weight goal to 177 pounds. I weighed in yesterday at 178.4, which was .4 down from not quite a week before. That means, I am within 2 pounds of my goal weight for the first time in… I can’t even remember how long! Granted, it is a completely different (and much higher) goal, but still.
I am feeling really great about the fact that I no longer have pressure from anyone except me to lose the weight. As I mentioned in my 2013 Intentions post, I really want to use this year to focus on getting to, and staying at, my happy weight. I think 164, my original goal weight, is just too low for me to reasonably maintain. That said, I would definitely like to lose a few more pounds and get to a place where my body, mind, and life just feel… good.
The big difference is that now I am going to keep doing this for ME. I am the reason I started this in the first place, and doing it for me is the only way I can truly stay committed to the long term habits I need to stay healthy. I plan to continue to weigh in weekly as I go through this new phase of my journey with weight, and want to keep doing video weigh ins as I plug along and find my happy place.
Thanks for all your support and for bearing with me through the ups and downs – I really value each and every one of you! Yes, YOU!
Not the best result this week, but also not the end of the world.
Wow I look ecstatic…
This week I was up a little bit, but I honestly wouldn’t have been surprised if I was up by much more so I’ll take the small gain.
For the most part since recommitting 10 weeks ago, I’ve felt really in control with my eating. I’ve splurged many times throughout those weeks of course, but it never felt like it was spiraling out of control. This week though, it started right after weigh in and just wove itself throughout the week. I’ve felt like over the last many weeks theres been a day or two where I’m like, “Woah there Beth, reel it in” (I don’t talk to myself, I swear…) but it’s never been more than 1 or 2 days during a week.
I’m not really sure what caused it exactly, but this week I felt off track more than on track, and it just wasn’t a good feeling. I’d had a big dinner planned for Saturday night which I was looking forward to (and could have reasonably induldged on without gaining had I planned my week better, but I just had slip up after slip up leading into the dinner, and it just sucked. Especially because I knew this week would be even more challenging…
But, enough of that – today is a new day.
I’m actually leaving for San Francisco tonight and I am SOOOO excited. My goal for this week is to have fun, try to make good decisions about when to indulge, keep up with exercise, and enjoy myself! If I can maintain or keep my gain to less than a pound, I’ll be happy. If it’s more than that, I will deal. If I lose, something isn’t right.
What’s your favorite place to visit in the states?
Another Wednesday, another weigh in video. Good results this time!
This was taken fresh out of the shower last night, so forgive my lack of makeup.
In the video, I mention that I also took measurements last night for the first time in 5 months, and I was down an inch almost everywhere on my body, including each arm plus my waist, bust, and chest, and 1.5 inches on each thigh! Exciting to see 8” gone over the course of 5 months, though of course I still have a ways to go.
This week, I really want to focus on getting more healthy fat into my diet. I am honestly not eating that much dietary fat day to day, so my goal is to have one serving of oil, avocado, and/or nuts (am I missing anything??) every day this week and prioritize getting it in.
I also have a 10k coming up this weekend so I want to perform well on that and I am just going to trust my training rather than set specific time goals, because that tends to work best for me!
Also, I was going to make another goal to change up my activity a little bit, specifically with cross training, and last I tried zumba for the first time ever! I absolutely LOVED it and got such a great workout. I was drenched!
Plus, I loooooved that the women in the class who were the best, plus the instructor, were all curvy ladies! I fit right in.
Do you do group exercise classes? Which is your favorite?
But you know what? I’m not letting me get it down. A number is just a number and I am not going to let it dictate how I feel about myself.
Weigh In #7
While not thrilled with the results, I am honestly feeling so good right now. I ran 7 miles on Saturday at a sub 9:00 minute pace. Below 9 minutes! Me! So that is what I’m trying to focus on, rather than the number on the scale.
For the week ahead, here are my goals:
Keep up with planning splurges rather than having unplanned ones.
Focus on having a lot of protein at each meal.
Try to limit fruit to 3-4 servings/day (it’s getting a little out of hand, especially when I ear most of my activity and all of my weekly points).
Track everything.
Focus on living healthy, not getting too caught up in the scale.
Adjust to working at home! This week I start working from home two days a week, which is going to be challenging/different for me.
Hi guys! I hope everyone enjoyed yesterday’s post from Matt. If you didn’t have a chance to read it, I suggest you take a minute to do so because it’s pretty powerful stuff. I’m looking for more submissions for the In Her/His Words series, so if you’d like to share your story, please email me at bethsjourneyblog at gmail dot com.
Without further ado, here’s my weigh in video with yesterday’s results.
I wish I had more of a say in the still shot shown above…
I am pleased with the movement on the scale, though of course I wish it was more. These are THE HARDEST pounds I’ve ever lost – and trust me, I’ve lost (and gained) many, many pounds in my lifetime. It’s frustrating, but I know the only thing I can do is keep on trucking.
One thing that is really good is that I feel completely in control. I haven’t had any out of control eating in weeks and it’s not even something that is tempting me, which I think is a good sign that I am feeding my body what it needs, honoring my cravings, and making smart decisions about fueling.
My goals for the next week are:
Eat less processed foods (minus the Salted Caramel Smoothies I bought yesterday…)
Eat more protein (switching out pop/baked chips for cottage cheese at lunch, eating a bigger serving of Greek yogurt at breakfast, etc)
Keep on going with mindful eating and being active
If I do all these things, I hope to be reunited with the 170s at this time next week!
Tell me… what are you most proud of from this past week?
I finally had a breakthrough on the scale this week and it feels sooooo good! I think a big part of it was that this past weekend was the one I didn’t travel for during the whole month of May, and being at home really helps me be better about staying on track. Even though I was home, I did go out for dinner/drinks on Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday night, one of which included pizza and bruschetta! This is why I love Weight Watchers – I can still eat things that I love like pizza (and vodka and wine) and lose weight!
Since I knew I had a few plans that would involve dinner and drinks, I wanted to make sure I didn’t go too too crazy any of those nights eating-wise and really focus on having healthy, balanced meals at home/at work when I was preparing my own. On top of that, I resisted a bunch of office treats and sweets that always seem to present themselves, because I was thinking about the three outings I had planned and those were more important to me.
Outside of food, I remained pretty active and got in three solid workouts. Here’s what my activity schedule looked like:
It should be noted that on days that I consider rest days, I usually try to walk both ways to work, which is 2.6 miles total, or about 45 minutes. I think I had to say that mostly to make myself feel better because there’s more rest on there than workouts, but its true!
Anyways, I had a feeling I’d have a good result when I got on the scale, but I was thrilled when it said I was down 2.2 pounds! I can’t even tell you the last time that I lost that much in one week, and it feels especially good because I kept on living and enjoying myself while being mindful of what I was getting into.
This means, since recommitting on April 24, I’m down 4.2 pounds total. This has included plenty of travel, a staff retreat for work, lots of meals/nights out, and some more exciting life changes that I’ll reveal soon – so I’ll definitely take 4.2 pounds in not quite a month! This means I have “just” 12.6 pounds to go until I’m back where I need to be! I can do this!!
These past couple weeks have been super super busy, which has made it really hard to stay on track. The weekend before last, I was in Philly from Saturday to Sunday to run the Broad Street Run with my sister, and then I went directly from her house to a staff retreat for my day job on Sunday night. I was at the staff retreat through Tuesday, and then back in the office Wednesday and Thursday. Friday, I took a vacation day from work and drove up to Woodstock, NY to see my family for Mother’s Day Weekend, and didn’t get back until after 10pm on Sunday night. Whew!
The staff retreat proved the hardest part of the past couple weeks for eating. We had it in an old farm house, and it was fully stocked with sour watermelons, M&Ms galore, chips, dorritos, skittles, party mix, cheesy poofs, sunchips, chocolate, pretzels… you name it. And that was just for snacks!
In addition, we had the meals catered and since we were in a pretty remote area, they were made by two sisters who cooked comfort food out of their home. Most of the food was heavy – think mac and cheese, spinach lasagna, cheesy pasta, pulled chicken, coleslaw, etc. I don’t do well having all that tempting food around me constantly, so I overdid it pretty badly with the snacks and the meals alike. I also won a crab eating contest and picked and ate 17 crabs on Monday night, so that didn’t help much either.
The weekend at my sister’s house in Woodstock was a lot better health wise, because now all five members of my immediate family are following Weight Watchers, even my dad! This is HUGE and something I never thought I would see. He is the one who initially inspired me to try Atkins because he had such success on the program without having to use moderation, so for him to adopt a program based around moderation has been so awesome. He and my mom have lost over 8lbs each in just a few weeks on the program!! I am so happy for them.
Anyway, since everyone was trying to be on track, the meals were pretty healthy throughout the weekend, though the wine and booze were flowing from dinner on both nights. Each of my sisters took on two meals, while I was in charge of Mother’s Day brunch since I’m the only female non-mother. Though, my 4 (and a half!!) year old niece Claire did ask me, “Auntie Beth, Do you hope to one day be a mother?” Oh, kids.
The biggest saving grace during the past two weeks of busyness has been that I have been REALLY consistent with working out, and for that, I’m proud! I got in four solid workouts both weeks despite traveling quite a bit, and you can see what I’ve been up to workout wise here, but I’ve basically been running a couple times a week, doing strength training, and using the stairmill for cross training. I even got an 8 mile run in with my sister on Saturday in Woodstock!
I already tried to take control of the meals that I could. When I was home/not traveling, I stuck fully to my PointsPlus for the day and prepared healthy meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Even while gone, I tried my best to start the day with a healthy breakfast, and then made sure to get in a lots of fruit and veggies throughout the day. I also tried to keep hydrated and drank a good amount of water throughout those two weeks. In short, I did the best I could.
So, I honestly wasn’t sure WHAT to expect when I stepped up on the scale yesterday. When I did, and found out I was down 1 pound from two weeks ago, I was actually really pleased!
The last time I weighed in and lost a pound in one week, I was a little disappointed because I had tracked EVERYTHING I’d eaten and didn’t have that many obstacles that week to get in the way of losing weight. This time, I had a lot of things going on and didn’t track completely the whole time, so I am really proud of that pound.
That means, two pounds down in 3 weeks back on the program and I am feeling good!
Last week for the first time in I can’t even tell you how long, I tracked EVERY SINGLE BITE that passed through my lips. Even when I first started Weight Watchers in March 2009 (for the second to last time), I would allow myself one “cheat day” where I wouldn’t track and would just consider all my extra points gone but wouldn’t actually track it to see how bad the damage was.
So how much did I have? I ended up eating all of my daily points each day, plus 56 extra points, which included all 49 Weekly Points and then some of the Activity Points I earned. Tracking can be so eye opening because there were times when I felt like I really wasn’t eating that bad, but I was using way over my daily points. They go so quick! But, that’s what the weeklies are there for – to make the plan livable.
Activity wise, I got in 4 solid workouts, earning a total of 34 Activity Points:
Wednesday: 45 minute walk
Thursday: 30 min intervals on the stairmill + free weights
Sunday: Biking outside, 20 mins intervals on stairmill, NRLFW Stage 1, Workout A
Though I’ve been doing more strength training lately than I have in the past, it’s been incredibly random moves and routines. It’s been moves that I’ve learned through Jillian Michaels, things I know that are good for me like pushups and lunges, and also random ab work. I have really been wanting a bit more structure so that I know I am getting a solid, full body strength training routine in, so I decided to purchase the New Rules of Lifting for Women, which I’ve heard awesome things about. I just did the first workout on Sunday and am planning to do the second one tonight and will do a dedicated post soon. I did actually take measurements on Saturday for the first time ever, so I am excited to hopefully see and share some results with you, too!
So how’d I do on the scale?
Down 1.0 pounds!
While I am happy that the scale is down, I was hoping for a bit more since I made an effort to be really good and tracked all week for the first time ever. I know 1 lb is a solid weight loss and would tell a member he/she was silly for not being proud of that result, but when the tables are turned it’s hard not to wish for more. That said, I really am happy to be moving in the right direction and it feels awesome to be back in control!
One More Thing
I am excited to report that yesterday’s morning meeting was probably the best one yet. I feel like I am finally really starting to hit my stride as a Leader and am LOVING leading the meetings. I feel so comfortable in front of the group and really look to the members to teach me! I learn and hear new things at every single meeting, and as of yesterday, my meeting officially doubled in size from when I took it over!! I am so excited!
