Hello again...

I know that no one reads this, but I don't care. I am going to re-up this blog and keep it for me to log what I am doing. I am going to spend the next 4 weeks trying to be healthy and being more active. 4 weeks is nothing, right? I can totally do this.

I started simple - 31 minutes doing wii fit activites...and I cooked some grilled chicken and veggies for dinner.

I am going to push the water more this week too. That's an easy thing to do, right? It's hot out anyway.

So here we go - no pound goal, no size pressure. I just want to make healthy changes in the next four weeks. My reward is a two week vacation with my favorite person in the whole world. I can't wait!

January 31 - Day 14

I totally sucked at posting last week. In fact I barely even tracked my food. I was sick a few days and did not much but lay on the couch, sleep, watch movies, take the dog out and eat.

All of that aside, I lost 3 pounds last week! Yes!

I have a fridge full of deliciousness, some too naughty, but I've been trying to eat in moderation.

Does anyone read this? I feel like I am talking to myself and only myself.

January 23 - Day 6

I know, I know, I haven't posted in a few days. I have been doing well though and sticking to my points for the week. Work has been nuts though and I've been bummed out that my someone awesome is so far away.

I decided that Sundays are my weigh in days since that was the day I first weighed myself last week. Drumroll...... I lost 2 pounds! Yay!

Not a bad start to the new Red! I know it will get easier as I go. Money has been really tight lately so it is actually helping me plan out food and NOT go out to eat or pick up junk.

Here's to another successful week.

Does anyone have any good recipes? I'm looking to cook more and try new things. Post a comment if you have any to share!

January 19 - Day 2

I worked from home today, so I had a little more time to make some breakfast. I kept it pretty simple today though.

Breakfast:

2 slices of white wheat bread toasted

1 scrambled egg with a little bit of cheese on top (I put my eggs on top of my toast, I'm weird I know).

I cooked up another egg for the dog too. It's his favorite treat ever, so why not.

Before lunchtime, I started my first pot roast. I used my Crock Pot Slow Cooker Bible that I got for Christmas and decided to try the Yankee Pot Roast and Vegetables.

Before eating the roast:

First reaction, I really hate cutting up meat. It kind of creeps me out. Cutting fat off of meat is not fun. I did my best and didn't chop off any appendages so I think I am ok. I put the rest of the ingredients in and am hoping for the best. It seems a little salty but hopefully it tastes good. The recipe says it makes 10-12 servings, so I think I might freeze some of it? We'll see.

Lunch:

Leftover Turkey/Pasta. Delicious as always

Dinner (After):

It was DELICIOUS! I did it! Hooray! I am definitely making that again (though maybe next time finding a less fatty piece of meat so it isn't such a hassle cutting it up). The recipe definitely didn't make 12 servings....but I split it up and am ready to chow down on leftovers in the next few days. Sweet!

Activity: Because I worked from home, I didn't go to the gym, though I did take the pup out a few times to play...cleaned up my kitchen and got a bit more organized. Tomorrow - more racquetball.

January 18 - Day 1

Day one = success!

Last night I cooked up some chicken and made up lunch for today. I made chicken/romain/feta whole wheat pitas for lunch. I had that with some carrots, water, and a vanilla pudding cup. Yum.

Breakfast was a Clif Bar, an apple, and some black coffee,

I still have 17 points to spare for the rest of the day, so I see something delicious in my future.

I'll get the hang of counting again. This whole change in the Weight Watchers PointsPlus has thrown me off a little. I'm sure if I went to the meetings I'd get more info, but I'll trust my iPhone app for now to count every crumb.

I'm drinking a lot of water (something I knew I was lacking before). I know I won't be perfect, but I can make efforts to improve myself.

****************

I am finishing this blog a few hours later...

This afternoon I played racquetball for an hour. I'm a terrible athlete... no, actually I'm not an athlete at all. We had fun though and laughed a lot.

Tonight I cooked some whole wheat pasta, some red sauce and ground turkey. Delicious!

I may be overly excited, but I hope to keep this good start going. I am optimistic and wish I could just fast forward.

Here's to new healthy habits...

Dusting off the blog

Ok ok, so the past year has been stupid. Really stupid. It was a rough year of stress, tension, and a lot of change. Not all of it was bad, but I totally abandoned my good habits in the world of food. The worst part of it, is that I never stop paying on my weight watchers subscription, though it went to an online only subscription instead of the monthly pass. What a waste of money. I can't even think about how much money I wasted.

I decided that since I am already paying for this month because my idiot self didn't cancel the subscription yet, I am going to just start using it again. I am tired of making excuses, I am tired of having this "problem."

I could list out all of the negatives that I have encountered, but that wouldn't really do me much good. So I am going to move forward with the positives.

1) I didn't gain back ALL of the weight. That's a plus right? At least I didn't totally start back at square one.

2) I can no longer blame someone else's eating habits on my lack of success. I live on my own now, cook all of my meals and buy all of my own food. No excuses. I don't hang out with anyone anymore (resisting urge to turn this into a negative).... so that isn't an issue either.

3) I don't really drink at all anymore. No more wasted calories or regretful moments or stupid decisions. Keeping it positive... I still enjoy a glass of wine here and there, but this will not be a wasteful temptation on my progress to being healthy anymore

4) I have support. I have someone who loves me for who I am right now. I am going to make myself better for me... and I'm sure they will dig it too :)

So - here it goes. I just spent $100 on some groceries and am about to put some music on and get cooking. Since I am not going to WW meetings anymore, I am going to use this blog as my accountability. It may not be the most interesting read ever, but I would appreciate support and suggestions/ideas.

priorities

Stress seems to overrule my desire to be healthy sometimes. Does this happen for you? When I'm stressed, I usually stop caring about taking the time to eat right and exercise (the dreary cold weather doesn't help either). I have been eating terribly the past 2 weeks, but thankfully, I dropped down .4 pounds. No record breaking numbers, but at least it's a loss.

Ready to get this train movin. I'm the only one holding myself back. I need to get myself to the grocery store and plan out some meals. What am I waiting for? sigh

Back in the Saddle Again...

So I didn't reach my 10 pounds before New Year's plan.... but I also didn't plan on being sick with whooping cough for several weeks. I'm still coughing, and therefore not exercising much yet.

I slacked a lot over the holiday in regards to counting points and being "good" when it comes to eating... I returned though, to Weight Watchers on Wednesday for the dreaded weigh in. I gained 4 pounds since just before Thanksgiving. I'm ok with that.

I'm trying to get back in the swing of things again with eating right and hopefully exercising a bit more.

I got a Wii Fit for christmas, and have had a blast playing with that.

It's going to be a good year, I know it. I feel hopeful about a lot of things, including being more healthy.

Cheers!

Comparison

I took photos today of my dog and I for our annual Christmas photos... and I decided to do a little comparison to last year.

To date, I have lost 27 pounds this year... Some days I can see and feel the difference, others I can't.... Looking at the comparison from last year to today is so crazy. Yeah I still have a ways to go, but wow... it feels great to know that my progress really is visible... even if it's a little here and there.

Brown sweater = December 2008 / Purple shirt = December 2009

Sick

I'm sick of being sick.

I've basically been sick since November 20th. Today is December 9th.

I have gone through 15 days total of 2 diff kinds of antibiotics, 2 bottles of robitussin DM, a few doses of Delsym, A box of sudafed, a box of mucinex dm, a maintenance inhaler, a rescue inhaler, my daily clarinex, about 10 doses of my breathing treatment/nebulizer, prescription tussinex, and prescription robitussin w/ codine.

....and I'm still coughing.

The doc is treating me for whooping cough now. They haven't said I for sure have it, but have said that most of my symptoms are the equivalent. Either way, it sounds like I have about 6 weeks of a terrible cough ahead of me.

I am feeling a little more human today, which is good. My energy is slowly getting better too.

I haven't been to weight watchers since I've been sick.... and am thinking about going today, but I'm not sure. My scale at home says I have been at about the same weight the past few weeks, I'm just not sure if i'm up for it yet.

Anyway - just thought I would update.

On a good note, I have lots of healthy food in my fridge and am eating some great things. Even when I haven't been hardcore losing, I haven't gained... so there's that, at least.

Keeping Tabs...

So the other day, I said 10 pounds by New Years...

just for those keeping tabs, I'm 3 down from that... so 7 more to go by New Years.

EASY! :)

Can I get a hellyeah!?

So I went and weighed in at weight watchers....

I lost 3 pounds this week! Back on track!

This brings my grand total to 27.2 pounds down since February. HOORAY!!

I'm so excited and re-inspired. YAY!

Back on track...

I have successfully been eating perfectly the past few days and feel so much better.

I'm going to weigh in at weight watchers in a little while. hopefully i'll have a good result. I have a clue that it's going to be good... my scale is fairly close to the weigh-in center.... if that's true then I will have officially gone down to another past 5 pound marker (overall weight loss, rewards given in 5 pound increments)... AND gone down below a huge benchmark I've been trying to get under for a long time.

Fingers Crossed... I think I can do it.

p.s. I walked 1.3 miles this morning with Charlie in about 20 minutes. Not bad! :)

Failure

I failed. I failed I failed.

and I'm going to hop back up and get back on the wagon.

I have decided that my slacking and pity party and business is no longer an excuse for my plateau. I'm going to start "anew" November 1st.

I've lost almost 25 pounds, and KNOW that I can easily lose another 10 by New Years. So that is my goal. 10 more pounds by New Years. You heard it first here.

I ate a non-meal of random things for lunch today and feel terrible. I can't do this anymore. Am I tired still ? yes. Am I more active now? YES. Will I start dropping pounds when I get back to a strict diet? YES. i know i will.

so here it is. my commitment. Please hold me to it.

If you read this, post a comment.

Contributor

So I am now a contributor to this blog: http://wwtastetesters.blogspot.com/ Weight Watchers Taste Testers. Basically we are going to post recipes and review them. I posted my first one today... gooooo try it! :)

work it

I've been walking about 2 miles a few times a week with Charlie, including last night at the River. It keeps him happy and well exercised and keeps me moving... plus it's a blast watching him play/swim/run.

This morning I swam 1/4 mile (9 laps) with Tasha. I feel good. Hopefully I'll be able to push myself off this plateau again. We are going to swim 2x a week. Yay!

Been a while...

I haven't updated this in a while because... well... life has been ridiculous lately. All personal stuff aside, blogging and focusing on weight has been the last thing I have had time to do.

I did make it back to Weight Watchers yesterday and I lost .6 pounds. Not much - but it's the right direction. I've been "maintaining" for a few weeks/months now... and I am more than ready to move forward.

So here's to renewed commitments and progress!

Walking!

Just updating that I walked about a mile tonight in about 10-15 minutes with the pup. Yay! Hopefully that walked off some of the catered food I had today at work.

Feeling Great

This week I have done really well. I have filled half my plate at every meal with veggies or fruit. I've also taken 1.25- 3 mile walks a few times.

It's hot out there but I feel great and I have a good feeling that, despite being insanely busy at work, I'm sticking to what I need to do.

Hooray!

I'm a Loser!

I ran into weigh in today during a hectic day and lost 0.6 pounds! Hooray! I'm happy that I lost, despite going to a wedding and eating a cupcake and having some beer this weekend. Hellzyeah!

I hope this is the start (again) of more big losses!

How are YOU doing with your losing? Got any good recipes to share?