Still on my way down

Well, from my "cheater's weigh-in" it looks like I'm headed down, down, down. Yay! I'm a little disappointed with myself regarding the exercise though. I almost think part of the problem is that I'm losing weight at such a great rate without the exercise. So I'm not as motivated since I'm still achieving my goal of weight loss. I just need to remind myself that weight loss is only one aspect of being healthier. To truly be healthy I need the exercise!

I did get some exercise on Sunday. I started digging out a new area for this year's garden. We're expanding quite a bit and I got the perimeter dug. That took some effort for sure. It's rained the past few days so I haven't been able to get out there and get any more digging done. So any working out I do this work will probably be in the form of digging. And let me tell you, that's quite the workout!

I really do want to add some toning and get back on track with my treadmill. But it seems there's always a reason not to. I usually work out during nap time. So it's easy to come up with excuses to do something else. I'm too tired, the dishes need done, I want to check my facebook/email/online parenting forum, I want to read this book, the sky is too blue today. You get the idea. Blah blah blah, excuses, excuses.

The Weigh In - 2.4 Pounds Lost!

Well, another 2.4 pounds has gone. Yippee! I only need to do what I've already done approximately six more times and I'll be at my goal weight. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

I did better than expected this week. I didn't get in any working out (see previous post) and that was kind of a bummer. But I did stick to the plan!

This week my goal is to continue to stay on track with my points. I would like to get more working out in. Weight loss aside, regular exercise just has so many health benefits. I want to be able to keep up with my child and any future children. I want to have a healthy heart and lungs so that I can live to an old, incredibly wrinkly age. I want to avoid the "Cherrington arms". All family members will know of what I speak. Right now my arms are headed down that path. Sooo...while I've been doing great incorporating the treadmill, I need to do push-ups and tricep dips and bicep curls and the like **huge groan**. Let's just say workouts that focus on weight resistance are not my favorite. But totally a must for a healthy and fit body. Also, weight resistance exercises are proven to prevent osteoporosis, something I'd like to avoid in my old, wrinkly age.

Working Out Not So Great This Week

Well, my "cheater's weigh-in" did confirm that I'm on the right track...but much more slowly. I don't think I'm going to see as big of a loss tomorrow. I wanted to get in some work-outs this week and it just didn't happen. There were a couple of different things that derailed me on the days I was planning to work out. And now, for the past two days, I've had a migraine. I've never had a migraine before. OWWWWIEEEEEE. And for those that suffer from these regularly...my God...I'm so sorry for you. This sucks. I wish someone would just take a shovel to my head.

Anyways, it's hurting my head to stare at this computer. So another short and sweet post. I'll update tomorrow after my weight watcher's weigh-in.

The Weekly Weigh-In

Well, here's what happened after busting my arse on the treadmill and riding my bike with the fam. I went down 2.2 lbs!

Woo hoo. I'm very excited about my success. I'll update more later. Just wanted to get in this short little diddy!

Kicking into gear this week

Well, tomorrow the scales will tell if I've done enough. The week started off on a not so great note. But come on, Sunday was Easter. Was I really supposed to sit there and watch everyone else eat dessert and rich, yummy food. No way! So I allowed myself Sunday - whatever I wanted. And let me tell you, I had some brownie a la mode that I brought as a dessert. That was great. I also had several servings of the dessert my mom made. Some layered cappuccino pudding thing.

So anyways, Monday and Tuesday I spent in a sugar coma or so it seems. I was exhausted on Monday and Tuesday. I'm not sure if the busyness of the weekend caught up with me or if I really did lose a lot of energy from the less than healthy way that I ate on Sunday. Who knows?

So Tuesday I did my little "cheaters weigh in" that I do almost every week midweek. Well, let's just say that I was NOT on the right track. SOOOoo...on Wednesday I did some interval training and stuck like glue to my points. Thursday I did a long, slow workout instead of the interval training. I walked on an incline for an hour while the kiddos were down for nap. Then I went for a bikeride that night with the fam to and from a local park. It was nice. I packed a picnic dinner (well within my points) and we headed home. Granted, after we got home I had a glass of wine and some chips and salsa. I was hungry after all of the exertion. So I dipped into my weekly points a bit there.

Today I haven't done anything major. I took Boo for a walk in the stroller and to the park. But no major working out. I've just been running here and there all day.

I did do another "cheaters weigh in" this morning and I will say that it looks promising. But I still have a birthday party to get through tonight. Although, I don't think I'll be as tempted to indulge knowing that I step on the scale first thing tomorrow morning. I mean, I won't have time to work out and undo any gain that I create. So, I'm going to try really hard to be good.

I'll update again after the weigh in.

Uncaffeinated Duck

I haven't had my coffee for several weeks now. This wasn't intentional. I stopped drinking it to help with a health issue. No intention of quitting whatsoever. However, that being said, here I am several weeks out with no caffeine. And honestly, I think I feel better. Believe it or not I've been able to find energy in my morning once I'm up around. The difference is that it's a more gradual energy and not a jittery burst. I've always been pretty sensitive to caffeine's effects and for that reason am very careful not to overcaffeinate myself. The few times that I've done that it's been downright frightening. But anyways, I feel like my energy level is more even...not as up and down as it is with caffeine. I know that's a duh no-brainer statement, but oh well. I don't know. I'm seriously considering kicking it to the curb. Granted, I'd probably enjoy the occasional coffee drink now and then on the weekend or something, but not this everyday thing that I've been in. I think my energy level would be a lot better. Also, I think my irritability has decreased somewhat without the morning cup of joe. Decreased irritability is a pleasant side effect of my cutting caffeine. So now I wonder if I can really do this? I'm one of those people that actually drinks coffee for the taste just as much as the energy boost. So that I would miss. I could always look for some good decaf - but the kind that's decaffeinated naturally. I think it's some sort of water process - haven't really researched. Not the kind that has formaldehyde (typical decaf). So we'll see. But for now I think I'm going to keep on going with no joe in the morning. I guess that will be one less thing to do.

The Weekly Weigh-In

I went to my weight watcher's meeting this morning and weighed on. Looks like I was right about being back on track. I lost 2.8 pounds this week. Woo hoo!

Here's some things that helped my success:

I didn't sit around and mope about the gain last week. I just got back onto the program and stuck with it.

The few times that I had food that wasn't prepared at home I tried to make better choices and really watch the portions. We had La Gondola on Thursday night when my son and his cousins dyed Easter eggs. Their garlic bread is amazing. However, instead of mowing down on it I limited myself to one piece - I was the one that cut the bread, so I cut the pieces pretty small. I ate more of the Torpedo sub - a cold cut sub. I had a small portion of the spaghetti. Okay - and I did have a dilly bar afterwards. But because I was so good with the dinner I was able to work this in using some of my weekly points that are available for splurges.

I worked out. Okay - only one day. But one is better than none. And I will say that I busted my arse. We have a treadmill that someone gave us awhile back. It's stuck on an incline...so needless to say it's quite the workout. Granted, it's not a horrible incline, but still enough to make everything harder. I did interval training. I enjoy interval training much more than just plain walking or running. For those that have never tried it, here's the gist. You get your heart rate up by it's max for a minute or so and then you bring it down to more of a fat-burning level. You keep it at the lower level for a minute or so. Then you go back up. And back down and back up. And I think you get the gist. You do that for 20 minutes and you've got the equivalent of a 60 minute workout at a slower pace. Granted, the 60 minute workout has it's place as it helps with endurance. But, it's very hard for me to have a longer amount of time to work out. And this way I still feel like I'm getting a great workout. I also add on a 5 minute warm up and 5 minute cool down. So total, it's 30 minutes. Anyways, I did a lot of interval training when I lost tons of weight before my wedding. It definitely works. And it really helps improve cardiovascular fitness big time.

I didn't give up even when I felt I might have overindulged. Last week I made that mistake and gave in to the lure of Girl Scout cookies towards the end of the week. I tend to get suckered into that type of "Oh hell...I've already screwed up" mentality a lot. So, I fought very hard against that.

Outdoor time. Being out in the sun lifts my mood and helps with my motivation level.

Anyways, that's the update for now.

You Might Notice That The Turtle Went Backwards

The turtle on my weight ticker at the bottom of the screen, that is. Last week was not great. I didn't feel well. Boo didn't feel well all week. So I turned to the comfort of my Girl Scout cookies. Big mistake. Too many cookies. It would've been worse if I hadn't worked out a little last week.

However, I have already cheated and weighed myself at home this week to see if I'm on the right track. Much better. I can tell you that there's probably going to be a loss this week when I weigh in at Weight Watcher's on Saturday. So, boo for a bad week. But hurray for not getting down about it and getting back on track.

I'll Be Happy Just to Not Gain

Well, despite my success at the last weigh in, this week is not going great. I've had a couple of not so great days. That in and of itself wouldn't be horrible. And I did work out last night on our treadmill. That felt pretty good and I earned points doing that.

However, I'm having to drink massive amounts of cranberry juice at this point in time for a health issue. And if I add the cranberry juice into my points tracker, well, I have next to nothing left to eat on. So I've chosen to ignore the cranberry juice altogether and not add it in. This will likely keep me from losing this week. But I don't want to starve...and the cranberry juice is just not optional right now. It's a bummer...but I'm still going to try to do what I can to be responsible with everything else. There's a time where I'd say to hell with it and just eat like crap all week, since I couldn't be "perfect." However, I'm not going to go that route. But I may have to accept little to no progress this week. I'm really just hoping to not gain anything back.