I haven’t written much about my weight lately.  So, I thought I’d give everyone an update.  I love Weight Watchers, but since I stopped going a few weeks back, life has so much less stress.  I didn’t realize how hard it was on me to take the kids to the meetings.  Paying $40 a month to not be able to participate in the support part of the experience didn’t make sense.  I love having Thursday mornings free as well.  We’ve been trying out the local U-Pick places and it’s been a blast.

Now, my trainer weighs me once a week.  That gives me some accountability.  Several weeks went by without a trainer appointment due to my knee, but on Wednesday, I weighed in.  I was down over 9 pounds.  I am very happy that the lack of activity didn’t impede my progress.  Obviously, my food choices are paying off.

I’m happy to be in the 270’s and on my way down!  Some members of my family recently had some health issues and when things hit home, it’s a bit easier to take care of yourself and work even harder to become healthier.

I’ve had several big changes lately.  I cut out all sugars except honey and maple syrup.  So, I’m not eating white sugar, powdered sugar, brown sugar, rice syrup, corn syrup etc.  I’m on the fence about agave sweetener.  Since we have an unopened bottle in the cupboard, I will probably go ahead and allow it.  It’s similar to honey and maple syrup, but it’s not available locally.  I haven’t been perfect – like when I didn’t realize that Penzeys Pizza Seasoning had sugar in it and I allowed some cranberry bread and I’m sure the cranberries themselves had sugar added.  But, if my only sugar is contained in a bit of spice or a few cranberries, I’ll call that a WIN!

I also quit eating white flour.  So, anything with white flour has been eliminated.  It’s amazing how many “whole wheat” products really aren’t whole anything.  I’ve been focusing on more whole grains and making bread or buying 100% whole wheat bread from Great Harvest.  They make it with honey and grind their own wheat.  Along with this, I’ve stopped eating white rice too.  Most of the time, I’m having quinoa, brown rice, whole wheat pasta, wheat berries, corn meal, etc.  I love it and I’m so much more satisfied.

Between the new flour and sweetener plans, I have essentially eliminated fast food, soda and unplanned desserts.  I don’t even miss it one bit.  I still have lots of treats, but they are whole grain and honey based or made with other “real” foods and take some planning.  For example, we enjoyed homemade strawberry ice cream last weekend.  We had to plan ahead.  I also make banana bread fairly often.  It’s been fun to learn how to cook with honey and my taste buds have adapted so many items are tasting great without any added sweetener.  I can’t remember the last time I had fast food.  I feel great about that and the example that it sets for Nick and Sally.  I also don’t feel deprived one bit.  That is extremely nice.

I’m still working on vegetables.  It’s getting better and I’m definitely eating less meat and more vegetables.  I’m enjoying some spaghetti squash while I type this post.  Now, I do need to figure out some more vegan recipes that are tasty so I can work on my biggest food vice left – CHEESE!  I just eat way too much cheese.  But, it’s a process.

I’m also glad both CSAs have started along with U-Pick season.  Our kitchen is well stocked with fresh fruit and vegetable that will rot if we don’t eat them.  This provides extra motivation to eat at home and cook fresh yummy dishes that everyone will enjoy.

 

 

 

 Posted by at 9:05 PM
 

Today, my husband took care of the kids so that I could go on a field trip to the Metro Health Medical Center.  The focus of the trip was Metro Life Flight and their program.

I’ll write more about the trip when time allows.

I also had the opportunity to go to a Weight Watcher meeting without the kids.  Between the snow, the traffic, and a highway accident, the 24 min drive to Solon took over and hour.  Yes, I’m willing to drive that far for a “Dawn” meeting with out kids.  It was a great meeting and I got to pay attention to Dawn and all of the participants.  Usually, I 1/2 listen to the meeting and 1/2 take care of the kids.

I also met a new person who has lost 100 pounds and shared some of her story.  She’s training to be a Weight Watcher receptionist, works out at the JCC and had lots of great wisdom to share.  I maintained this week and was totally fine with that especially since I weighed in at night and in jeans.  (I know I should wear the same thing each week, but sometimes it just isn’t practical.)

After the meeting, I stopped at Giant Eagle to pick up some more free tuna fish since it was the last day of the sale.  When I went back out to my car, it was dead.  So, a AAA visit and a new battery rounded out my day.

So, a mid-week break from the kids, a great Weight Watcher meeting and a new battery.  I’m all recharged and ready for the rest of the week.

 Posted by at 10:22 PM
 

I already knew that I had an awesome week before I went to Weight Watchers today.  I try hard not to let the scale tell me if my week was good.  But, I am still ecstatic to see progress at the scale, especially when it is such a huge back on track number like 9.2 pounds.  I’m now pretty close to my lowest weight since I had my daughter.  Let the ups and downs of the last few weeks end and the downward trend continue!

Besides the obvious numbers, I just felt good great this week.  It’s amazing what a few days away from jelly beans, peanut butter eggs and other junk can do for my mood and demeanor in general.

This week was all about the following quote:

“If you kind of do it, it kind of works.  If you really do it, it really works.”

My sister said this to me at dinner on Saturday.  I thought about it many times this week as I measured , weighed and wrote down every bite.  Thanks!

Here’s a quick story about my recent Whole Foods trips.

Last Thursday, I was there with the kids, we were all hungry.  It was lunch time.  I tried to get some lunch meat from the deli counter, but the kids were screaming and the service was not going to be quick enough.  We I grabbed a bag of New York Style Cheddar Potato chips and the kids and I munched on them while we shopped.  The points value of the chips did not even cross my mind.  At the end of the trip, we shared a piece of pizza (that wasn’t very good) from the pizza counter along with a can of soda and a mini torte.  Remember, we were at WHOLE FOODS with access to so much great food.

Today, we went to Whole Foods.  We were hungry.  I grabbed a container of cubed cheese, some bananas and a piece of Challah bread.  The kids nibbled on cheese and bread.  I had 3 cubes of cheese and I knew they were about 1 point each.  (I even weighed a couple  at home to confirm.)  After we checked out, we all shared a banana.  SCORE!

Both trips were still better than eating McDonald’s in the car, but today feels good.  The kids were happy and fed upon arrival back home and my snacked tied me over until my dinner with lots of veggies once they were in bed.

No exercise to speak of today, but the dishes are done and the laundry is caught up and that’s a productive day.

Next up: trainer workout with Emily in the morning.

 Posted by at 8:53 PM
 

Happy St Patrick’s Day!  I hope you all wore something green for the occasion.

Today was a busy day for the kids and I.  We started out at the License Bureau.  I hate going to the license bureau because I always seem to be missing one piece of paper that is needed to complete the transaction.  Today, I was over prepared and everything was smooth.  I ordered my amateur radio license plates and renewed my driver’s license.

The Weight Watcher meeting is in the same plaza, so we headed there after taking care of our license business.  We didn’t go to WW last week.  The staff started reserving the seats in the back corner for the kids and I.  It’s really our only option for seating at the new location.  It’s just hard to expect two toddlers to sit still for 45 min under any circumstances.  Today, Sally figured out the she can run from the seats to the door and back.  It was not fun for me since I was the “chaser”.  I’m not sure how long I will be able to attend the meeting since I can’t have them being disruptive week after week.

I gained 3.8 pounds.  I’m still playing with the same 10 or so pounds.  I really need to take the time to recommit and focus.  Lately, I’ve been eating more junk, estimating points more, and measuring less.  This is not a good combination.

So, for this week, I am going to concentrate on WATER, MEASURING, and JUNK.  I’m going to drink water, herbal tea and milk (without chocolate syrup).  I’m going to measure everything I eat.  I’m not going to eat junk.  Junk lately has been things like jelly beans, ice cream, crackers and other nibbles from things the kids have, etc.  I just need one great week so I can turn that into 2 and so on.  Weight Watchers allows for treats, but I need a break from them.  My husband will also be out of town.  So, I need to do some extra planning on the food front so that the kids and I don’t end up eating at McDonald’s or similar venue unexpectedly.

As for activity, the kids and I walked to the park, played and walked back.  The park is about 3 tenths of a mile away.  I also vacuumed the car.  It was nice to clean out all of the cereal, goldfish and other snack items from the car seats and surrounding areas.

Next up: trainer appointment with Emily in the morning.

 Posted by at 8:30 PM
 

Today’s meeting was all about exercise.  I am fortunate to be totally in the groove with exercise.  I’m up to 5-6 solid workouts a week and I am enjoying them.  Dawn is my leader.  She challenged us to keep track of our exercise points this week.  In addition to our daily points bank and weekly allowance, we have the option of using extra points that we gain by moving more.  I’m up for the challenge and will track my exercise points earned this week.  However, I generally choose not to use them.  I’m comfortable with the other points allowed.  So, on the posts about my workouts this week, you’ll notice points earned listed.

For the week 1/20/-1/26, my daily target was 43 (down a point).   I was at or below 43  for 0 days and over 43 for all 7 days.  I used 48/49 of my extra points.  I lost 1.6 pounds this week.  Anything from .5 to 2 pounds is considered good weight loss by Weight Watcher standards.  I didn’t really have the best week since I didn’t get all of my daily guidelines for nutrition in each day.  I’m happy to be down and getting use to tracking again and it’s all good.

 Posted by at 1:11 PM
 

Thursday we go to a local Weight Watcher meeting.    Today’s meeting was about the new Points Plus program and making the most out of your points target and weekly allowance.  We had a lively discussion about using points.  In a nut shell, every food has a point value based on protein, fiber, fat and carbohydrates.  Everyone has a target number of points to spend each day (which varies based on age, gender and current weight) and 49 extra points to spend each week.   I’ll talk more about Weight Watchers in a future post.

For Weight Watcher purposes, my week starts on Thursday and ends on Wednesday.

For the week 1/13-1/19, my daily target was 44.  I was at or below 44 for 4 days and over 44 for the other 3 days.  I used 10/49 of my extra points.  This is a great week.  I lost 6.4 pounds this week.

To catch up from when the blog was still under construction:  For the week 1/6-1/12, my daily target was 45.  I was at or below 45 for three days and over 45 for the other 4 days.  I used 32/49 of my extra points.  This is a great week.  I lost 1.6 pounds this week.