The Snowball Effect

Babyfriend and I have the same taste in shoe color.

About a month ago, inspired by my buddy Helen, I decided to join a team weight loss thing --although mine is at my fancy gym. I hadn't been there in months and months, and I wanted to try going again but I didn't know how to start. The promotion is 90-Day Challenge from August 3 to November 3. There is an optional weekly weigh-in (or just weigh in at the beginning and end), and the option to sign up for an extra 10,000-Steps-A-Day Challenge, which I did. There's huge prizes for the winner (it's a nationwide contest since it's a nationwide gym), but the biggest enticement for me was Try It Tuesdays. Every Tuesday there is a free class, sometimes about food but most of it are sample classes in TRX, yoga, pilates, treadmill/cardio, etc. Here was my perfect opportunity to get into a gym routine AND to try exercises I never would on my own! The timing was not good initially -- I was headed for vacation, but I had to go for it.

So I did.

I weighed in, took a godawful "before" picture in a sports bra and shorts (I kind of hope I don't win just so I never have to show anyone that picture) and promptly left town.

Had a super-awesome vacation (which I will post pics of soon). But I was proud of myself there -- I didn't just shut down the whole Getting Skinny project because I was out of town. I tracked my food and drink every day, and I made smart choices and ate tons of fresh, local-grown fruits and veggies, and I tried hard to get as many steps as I could. I even went to a WW meeting during the week!

And laid on the beach for a day.

I felt great about it, and I met all my goals. I made the 10K target 4 out of 7 days, I lost a pound and a half, and I had an awesome, awesome vacation with my husband and friends (and Abby).

Then it was back to work, where I was promptly felled by the flu. The one day I stayed home sick, my Fitbit counted 1,054 steps for the WHOLE DAY. From bed to bathroom to kitchen to bed, hahaha. Luckily it cleared up after a couple of days.

This week is my first full week without vacation or sickness -- and my husband went out of town with his brother for the week. So while it is not quite "back to normal" it's darned close.

As I am sure you are all worried, I am here to say that Abby and I are managing okay in my husband's absence. I went out to the Try It Tuesday class (a lesson about and *at* the grocery store, which..okay, actually I did learn that just as I use real butter and full-fat cheese I should probably eat more low-fat and regular yogurt too; I bought some lemon flavored Noosa to try) and put her back in the crate after our post-work dog park trip, so she was off her nightly routine and didn't realize that Hubby wasn't there and wasn't coming home until pretty late that night. I am sure there will be more pouting by the door tonight. She just lays next to it, and sadly rings the bells with one slow swipe of her paw. Chime, chime, where's Daddy? Chime, chime...I couldn't take it and took her upstairs to bed early. She was fine after that.

As for me, the cleaning ladies came yesterday, so I am doing my best to keep the house as spotless and unrumpled as when they left. The couch is still neatly stacked with pillows, half the bed is still made, and the kitchen counters are still empty. I'm going to see how long I can keep that up, just because I am a weirdo.

Not to jinx anything, but now that all my vacations are over and I am back to my regular work-a-day routines, my commitment to the 90-day challenge is starting to produce results. I've hit the 10K-step mark 5 days in a row, and for two of those I managed to get to the gym and figured out how to work the dumb treadmill.

I think I found a good way to get myself to do it -- if I don't make my 10K steps by 7pm, then I have to go to the gym and treadmill until they are done. If I can get my 10K in, I get a night off. So far the carrot/stick approach is working -- I'm a lot more conscious of how much I am moving/not moving during the day at the hospital, and I try to take Abby out for a long time and long walks in the park or around the neighborhood. If that fails, then I am getting in the habit of just popping over the gym and getting some sweat going.

Next Tuesday is a TRX class, which fills me with both dread and curiosity; there are only a couple of genuine fatties like me doing this challenge, so I feel pretty awkward and noticeable at the trial classes, but I am really grateful for the opportunity to just go and try out these things without having to commit to any of them. Yet. I'd love to find a couple of exercises from this that I can enjoy going forward. Once the challenge is over, the 10K thing won't be the main goal, and my hope is by then the habit of going to the gym several nights a week will be set, so mixing up my exercise routines and trying things other than walking will be the next adventure.

All in all, I am pretty happy with the way this is snowballing; I know myself, and incremental change that builds from one success at a time is how I change my habits best. I look back at myself a year ago -- I was hobbled from still-undiagnosed foot pain. I could barely get up the stairs! Then came the blessed appointment at the ortho, and a long, long winter of twice-a-week physical therapy, and then starting to take Abby to the dog park daily this spring, and then getting my Fitbit...and now I am finally at the point where walking 4-5 miles in a day doesn't cripple me for the rest of the week. Hell, I am starting to look forward to next week with Hubby's return so I can go to the gym even if I do make my steps! From my viewpoint of a year ago, it feels pretty damned miraculous that I got this far at all.

The competitive side of me is a little upset, I will admit. I've been watching the leaderboards for both challenges, and most of the people started out making their goals right on the first day. One person has already lost 11 pounds in three weeks! (I hate that person.) I have eased myself into it, because that's how I incorporate things into my habits. It's tough to see myself in the back of the pack on the scoreboard (the only people below me have already clearly dropped out) but I keep reminding myself that I just need to keep doing it.

Tortoise and the hare, tortoise and the hare.

Even if I don't win a prize, I definitely will have won.

The best selfie I have yet to take.

Friday Bouquet

1. Wow, thanks to everyone who chimed in with some awesome righteous indignation on my behalf as well as some excellent ideas to get me to incorporate 30 minutes of daily exercise for the Bottom Line Challenge at work. Lots and lots of good ideas, and you all definitely nudged me out of my foul mood about it.

Especially my sister, who responded with a cheery, "Suck it up, buttercup!" 

Nice, right? ;-D



 2. Since it is going to have to be every day, I think using a flexible combination of exercise types will work best; I can adjust depending on my time and stress levels of the day. Some of the ones I will be doing are:

-Wii yoga in the morning, either 15 or 30 minute increments
-Wii dancing in the morning, either 15 or 30 minute increments
-walking with Hubby in the early evening
-walking on breaks with co-workers
-walking on my own, with my "cans" on and zoning out to my music
-possibly swimming on the weekend mornings. I have to check if the park district pool has morning lap time on the weekends, or I might look into joining another gym with more pools.
-10-minute increments with the weights and heehee the Shakeweight I bought and never used while watching TV
-make sure my membership at the Chicago Botanic Garden is renewed and do some weekend morning walks there. (Where all the photos in this post were taken over the years. You can thank my mom and dad for buying me a membership for Christmas for many years.)

I'll be starting this weekend.



3. Weirdly, the one suggestion that I won't be doing right away is buying new exercise clothes. I have drawers full of them already; buying cute workout clothes has been my usual default preparation step when I think I am going to start working out, and honestly, those drawers of barely-worn clothes have been just another reminder of my repeated failure to actually implement those plans. So I don't really need them, and I don't want them. I don't want to do this the same way I've done it before; clearly that hasn't worked. So I am just jumping in and wearing what I already have. Maybe later as a reward I'll buy something cute. :)



4. I am so, so glad you guys are enjoying the "They Walk Among Us" series. I am absolutely loving it; while everyone is so different, there are certain themes that echo among all of them, and have already taught me a lot about my own journey.

• Losing significant weight stretches out over a long period of time. Patience and persistence over the ups and downs is necessary; just don't give up.
• There isn't one particular diet that works for everyone, and many of them used a variety of them along the way. 
• Eating whole, healthy food is how you take it off and keep it off.
• Exercise in some form is required.

5. I do have several more interviews queued up, but if you are a maintainer and are willing to tell your story, I would love to have you join us! Email me at lowfatdressing1012@gmail.com and I will send you the questions. I hope to hear from you!!



6. This week has been so strange: my husband has been in London for work, I've had a training class onsite for most of the week so there have been new people roaming the office and I've been working late, and of course the weather has been so amazing the windows are wide open at home all day long.  The cats are completely befuddled; all of their routines are disturbed and there is a person missing in the house. They are not pleased.

Hubby comes home this afternoon, and next week will be our first week of having a full staff on my team. I am sure the first few weeks will be just as busy as the last ones, since the two new people need to get up to speed, but I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Hurray!

Have a lovely weekend, everyone.



1. African Daisies, 2. Purple echinacea, 3. Field in wider perspective, 4. Orange and Purple coneflowers in a field, 5. Gargoyle Fountain, Spring, 6. Irises around the pond, 7. Faces to the sun, 8. A welcoming entrance, 9. Baby Blue Eyes, 10. Inverted Baby Blue Eyes, 11. Like, wow. Totally., 12. Lilies of the Valley, 13. Bleeding Heart, 14. Allium, 15. Colombine, 16. African Daisy

Don't Poke The Bear

I cannot believe it is only March 20. First, it feels like a hundred years have passed since my birthday...which was a week ago. Second, it is more gloriously warm and sunny than it is in June. I am in a horrible mood, but I can't deny how great it is outside.

I'm trying to wear more spring in my outfits without really buying anything new or trendy (you will never catch me in floral ankle pants, in case you were wondering). Since it is so legitimately nice out, all of my sandals from last year are already out and in rotation. So glad I got a good set of them that are still in excellent shape. The orange, the turquoise, the olive -- all are being happily worn. The olive peeptoe booties do a good job of lightening up an otherwise dark black-pants outfit. (The melon cardigan and gold jewelry helps too.)



Then on Friday I took the bears out of hibernation. Shaved 'em and everything!



Wearing nude microfishnet stockings, which are almost the same as wearing no hose at all. A cute dress and a long-lost purple cardigan, some embellished flats and I was good to go!

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In other news, my co-workers talked me into doing a team challenge to lose weight and exercise more. We weigh in and get measured tomorrow, then it starts for 8 weeks next Monday. The challenge is about scoring points, depending on how much exercise you do and how much weight and body fat you lose over the time period. I was all for it -- I could use a good structured kick in the pants -- but then today when we were going over the rules in detail, I got really panicked and now I am dreading it.

I didn't catch before today that you have to do a minimum of 1440 minutes of exercise -- which is 25 minutes a day, seven days a week (or 36 minutes, 5 days a week). Do you know how much I do right now? NONE.

I know, I know, deep in my gut I know that I need to move more, and I was looking forward to this challenge to get that going. But I was expecting to have to do a half-hour 3-4 days a week. I was thinking I could ease myself into it, and then maybe by the end of the challenge add more than that. I was NOT expecting to have to start right off the bat at a sprint. I can't even really miss a day, or I will fall behind, and skip more days, and fall more behind. And then let all my teammates down (there are some nice monetary prizes for competing and winning, and several of them really want to win.)

I am just so...pissed off about the whole thing. I feel like I am doomed to fail before I even start, and the pressure is pissing me off even more. Everyone else was talking about how they already work out 2 hours already a week, and so adding another hour wouldn't be so hard. I wanted to cry.

It feels impossible to me. I can't even get up the stairs without my knee giving out. Which I know should be even more incentive to exercise, but it's not. All I can think about is even if I just do 30 minutes of walking every day, how much every inch of my body is going to hurt, and how little rest I will have before having to do it again the next day, and how I am working 10-12 hours a day and am stressed beyond belief and am barely hanging onto eating right by my fingertips. When the hell am I supposed to even find the time for this? I was just thinking that I needed to start going into work earlier because so much is piling up. I never leave before 6pm, and I am in bed early too. But no, now I need to find a free hour somewhere every day. And my f***ing running shoes. Which probably don't fit. (Can you hear me cursing? I am cursing a blue streak!)

This doesn't feel like something that is motivating me to keep improving myself; it feels like just one more expectation that I can't meet that is crushing my lungs so I can't breathe.

I have 6 more days to get myself into the right headspace for it. Great. First I have to get over being so pissed. Why didn't I read it more closely before I agreed? Damn.

Sigh.

So that's what I'll be working on this week. My f***ing negative attitude.

Walk or Run?

As I've discussed before, one of my New Years Resolutions is to run 5Ks this year. I am working through the Couch-to-5K program for the second time, getting my lungs and my legs back in shape to run 30 minutes at a stretch; I am on Week 5 now and it's going very well.

But my new co-workers/long-time friend was recently diagnosed with breast cancer, and she asked me (and others) if I wanted to do the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, which is a 2-day event where you walk a marathon one day and a half-marathon the next. She ran the Chicago Marathon last year, and does triathlons and other events regularly. I was intrigued of course, not just because I want to do something for my friend but also because one day I will walk or run a marathon. That's in the long-term picture, and I wondered if there was a reason why it was coming up sooner than I anticipated.

I have been considering it; if I agreed, then I would need to start training immediately after the St. Pat's 5K, and for the next three months, work on long walks and probably not do 5Ks at the same time. Which meant my New Years resolution probably would not be achieved. I would still be exercising and it would be a new challenge to accomplish, but it wasn't my original plan. But my friend would be thrilled, and I found out another friend was also planning on doing it and we could train together. The appeal was pretty strong.

Still, I felt like I was letting myself down. Walking a marathon for breast cancer is a noble idea, and I know I would have a lot fun doing it and it would be great exercise and a good discipline lesson etc etc etc, but deep in my gut I was disappointed. Jessie and I talked about it while we were out on Saturday, and she pointed out that I do very well with a series of small mini-goals, as well as just having a competitive nature; running a bunch of small races fit who I am much better than training for a marathon. I realized that it isn't right for me right now; right now I want to be a 5K runner.

So that's what I am going to do. I will donate to both my friends who are walking, and I may even join each of them for a couple of miles that day, but I am doing to stick with my 5K plan. I feel better already about my decision.

And there are SO many to choose from! The heart of the season looks like it is in the summer months, but I can find at least one race every month all year long. I am definitely signing up for the St. Paddy's Day 5K Run/Walk and Leprechaun Leap on March 14th; that's my birthday weekend and we will be staying downtown already. Ooooh, that is the weekend of the Dyeing of the Chicago River and the parade; I love being part-Irish and being born 4 days before St. Patrick's Day. It has always been "my" holiday.

After that, I will coordinate my races with local fishing holes that Hubby may want to explore, and see if we can't find reasons for both of us to go to various small towns around the area.

Yeah, I like this plan a lot. It's right for me.

Wednesday: Twirly

I guess the next time I feel all twirly I should make sure my slip isn't showing. Hee.

I loved this outfit. I was warm but it was nicely fitted and, I don't know if I've said this yet, but my skirt was all twirly. I love this skirt.



The sweater is new from BR, a "gift" from "my husband" (read: I bought it for myself, wrapped it and signed his name to it). I don't own a lot of green, but I love a good dark pine. I couldn't resist this.

I paired it today with my ponte Vocabulary skirt from F&T, just one pair of tights (gasp), grey Franco Sarto oxford booties, thick black woven belt, and my mustard paisley silk scarf from Target. I wish I had knotted the scarf; it kept loosening all day, but knotted was too tight. I need to find another way to fold the next scarf I wear with this.



Completed Week 2 Day 2 of C25K this morning. It feels so good to be in an exercise routine again! I think this might be pretty sustainable; I make sure I leave around 6, a little after my husband leaves for work, and I am ready for a shower by 7. It's kind of smugly satisfying getting to the gym before it's even light out, I have to admit.

(Yeah, we get up early. Usually between 4 and 5. I know it's crazy early, but I'm so used to it now I feel like I have wasted the whole day if I get up at 7. And I used to be the girl in college who slept until 11 almost every day...)

2010 Resolutions

Happy New Year! I hope you have a wonderful upcoming year of love, prosperity, happiness, feeling skinny and looking good! :)

As I said a couple of days ago, I really like New Years Resolutions, and I usually do pretty good sticking to them. I don't make them every year, just when I want and am ready to change. I am ready to change again this year, so here are my resolutions.



1. To become a 5K runner. I already talked about it at length the other day, but I will be running 5Ks whenever I can. I'll be Googling this weekend to find some cool future events to run at; for sure I want to do a St. Patrick's one. Chicago knows how to celebrate that holiday!



2. To get back into my 10s. To me, this means losing the rest of this weight, then embarking on learning how to maintain my weight. I was thinking the other day about how AA gives 90-day chips and other milestone markers for people who stop drinking, and how people who lose weight could use a similar celebration tool. We cheer and mark milestones as we lose weight, but once that part is done you're on your own. I am considering doing a 30-day AT GOAL award of some kind, then 60-day, 90-day, etc. And I would like to have earned a couple of those at least by the time 2011 rolls around.


This is me in my 10s. And my glowing summer tan, and everyone's favorite purple sweater. :)

I'd also like to do more of these type of posts. Good food is fun to eat!

3. Go paperless. I am not a saver or a pack rat; I frequently go through old boxes, old clothes, even my computer files and throw out what is no longer needed. I winnow down books, movies, Christmas ornaments, you name it, nothing is safe from me when I am in organization mode. That said, I am TERRIBLE about keeping up with paperwork, projects and printed photos. My side of our shared office has piles of paper I need to sort through, and there are 4 boxes of photos I have yet to unpack from our move here six years ago. And I am the Family Project Manager in our house; all financial decisions, home improvement projects, family planning events and vacations, all gets done by me. I've got a LOT of paper, and much of it is important.

I did make a big dent last year in it; I had a huge filing cabinet with old bank statements, tax returns, etc that I sorted through and cleaned out, narrowing it down to one drawer in my desk instead of the whole cabinet. But I didn't finish: there is still a huge pile of paper that needs to be shredded, I've let more paper pile up on top since then, and I didn't even attempt to tackle the photos. This year, that will get done. My husband would be delighted to have the office back, I am sure!


4. A New Self-Improvement Project, this time for my brain not my body. I'm thinking about going back to school this year, perhaps for process engineering or some other degree I can use at work. I don't really want an MBA, but I'm not sure what to get. That's part of the project: investigating options and dreaming about what I want next. It's time to do something else, and I'm giving myself the push to try to learn what that is.

It's funny how self-improvement seems to go in cycles for me, and one type of improvement usually spawns another. Five years ago, I quit a 20-year smoking habit. As a way to clean out my lungs and give my mind and hands something to do, I started riding my bike around my local lake after work. For the first time, I noticed all these beautiful wildflowers along the shoreline, and I wanted to identify them. So I brought my then little-used camera along, and when I got home I would download the photos and look them up online and in books and find their names. From there I started taking more photos, traveling around the state to various state parks, and learning more about the nature of the Midwest plains and about photography. I'm a pretty good hobby photographer now; my photos have been used in various Chicago websites, I have a blog for it which I've let lapse a bit, and I always make a family calendar of photos I've taken through the year.

I also turned that bike-riding into a triathlon that I competed in the next year (and then never again, LOL), and I've stayed quit as a smoker since then too. The last couple of years, my self-improvement project has been body-related: I've learned about fashion and dressing myself (I was HORRIBLE before, just ask Shopping Friend!), and last year started the weight-loss kickoff. I've had a great time with this, but it may be time for something new. Hence the idea about going back to school.

I'll be honest, of all the resolutions this one might not turn into anything. And that'll be okay, because when I am ready to do it, I will.

+++++

So those are my plans and promises to myself for this year. Now I am going to give myself a nice New Year's treat and spend the day on the recliner catching up with ATWT and all your blogs. My tabs and my Tivo runneth over! There have already been some great Resolution posts; things I have pondered as I put together my resolution list.

Cranky Fitness talks about resolutions as Gifts. I like that lot. She also challenges us all to one particular resolution: get a bra fitting. Truth be told, I am due for one of those myself! The weight came back to my boobs, too. ;-D

What a Splurge looked at the habits she formed over the last year. I LOVE this one, and I might do another post today with mine, and my 10 favorites outfits/new items of 2009.

Unclutterer (one of my favorite organizational, motivational blogs of all time!) invites us to brainstorm and stretch ourselves with our resolutions, then puts together a staggered three-month plan for the year to achieve her goals.

Pasta Queen has a great list, including a secret resolution. How mysterious!

Zen Habits offers the Definitive Guide to Sticking to your New Year's Resolution.

Happy Reading!

Resolution: I will be a runner.

I was remiss this week on posting about the 13-in-13 challenge. I don't want to do it, even now. I really am tired of discussing my failures in losing weight, in eating right, in blowing off exercise. I'm tired of feeling fat and ungainly and like a failure.

It's time to change. Coincidentally, it's also coming time for New Year's Resolutions. I love New Year's, when the year is fresh and new and full of promise. I like looking ahead, imagining the person I want to be when the year ends again, and setting goals to become that person. Last year, I made a commitment to lose weight, and I accomplished that. I lost a lot of weight, and changed the way I looked at myself and the way other people looked at me. I also began a long obsession with dresses, started this blog, ran a 5K, swam laps at my lovely little secret town pool, and joined the online fashion community. It was a really good year.

So, what do I want to accomplish this year? What person do I want to be when 2010 is over? I've got many dreams percolating, about finishing losing this weight, about maybe going back to school for process engineering, about finally getting a new haircut that I really like. But mostly I dream about being a runner.

I like running. I'm terrible at it, and I hate myself about halfway through and I want to quit/die/curl up on a ball on my couch, but I still like it. I like that's it just me and the path in front of me, no expensive equipment save a good pair of running shoes, a chance to tune in my iPod and shut out the world and run. I like what it does to my body, the way it firms up the flabby parts on my dupa and my hips, the way the deep breathing reminds me it's only been 5 years since I quit smoking, and I never thought I would be able to do that. I like wearing cute tops and shorts in the summer, and yoga pants and sweatshirts in the winter. I like running.

So that's the goal: to become a runner once and for all. I don't have dreams of a marathon or even a 10K, not quite yet. I want to run 5Ks, lots of them, all year long. I plan on signing up for as many of them as I can this summer and fall. Until then, I have started the Couch-to-5K plan again; it's been so long since I ran regularly I might as well start over from the beginning. This time I plan on completing it in 9 weeks, which will be just about when the 13-week challenge ends, just before my birthday. (Hey, maybe there is a St. Pat's 5K I can sign up for! I will check that out.)

I started Day 1, Week 1 this morning. It felt good, but no lie, it was hard. The indoor track at my park center has windows on three of the walls, and at 6am there's nothing to see except one's reflection in the glass. It was hard seeing that, seeing things jiggle that haven't jiggled for a while. Accepting that this is the same size body I was dragging around the same track last spring, that all the work and weight loss of the summer was gone and I had a lot of ground to cover again.

But that's okay; I've got my running shoes on, my iPod has some new playlists, and I am ready to go.

13-in-13 Challenge: Week 2 complete

Good Lord, this is embarrassing. I did even worse on week 2 than I did on week 1.

Let's review the goals:

1. LOSE WEIGHT.
I'm not gonna lie, I used the No-Weigh-In pass this week. It was a rough week: 3 holiday luncheon parties and my womantimes started up. I knew from my own daily weigh-ins the news was not good, but I just could not handle seeing it written down on my WW card. So I didn't.

I won't be able to attend a meeting next week as we'll be traveling so the next one won't be until around New Year's. But as I said at the meeting, this week was really the worst for me in terms of parties. Christmas will only be one meal, and I can survive that.

2. Eat one vegetable-based meal a day.
My mistake here was not preparing that spaghetti squash earlier in the week to have throughout. Too easy to have a sandwich for dinner after a big luncheon, and it showed.

3. Do at least 2 different types of exercise each week.
Um.

At least my running shoes came yesterday? And I took them out of the box today?

I've been thinking about this today, as I frantically worked on all the last of my Christmas preparations. New Year's is in 2 weeks, and I usually try to spend some time thinking about the achievements and failures of the previous year, and making goals for the upcoming one. Last year was a success: my goal was to lose weight, and I did. I'm not finished with that, obviously, so it's definitely something I will continue to work on.

But this year...this year, I really want to make exercise a regular part of my life. I tend to go in spurts; I run or swim or do yoga consistently for a few months, then it fades out for a month or two before my motivation kicks back up again. I'm in a lull right now, as much as I am trying to pretend I'm not. I need consistency, a regular routine. I like exercise, and I love what it does to my body; I like the definition in my arms, when my dupa gets firmer and less wide. I like feeling strong and healthy and invincible.

Consistent exercise is the goal for 2010. I'd like to be running 5Ks when it's 5K season again, so I think a do-over of the Couch to 5K plan is probably in order. Last time, I did it rather haphazardly, ending up finishing the 9-week plan in about 20 weeks. Adhering strictly to the 9-week length will be a great start at getting myself into a routine.

What's nice about making New Year's Resolutions early is that you can get a head-start on them. I'll be bringing my running shoes to Detroit this week!

4. Limit my sweets/dessert/treats to 3-4 per week.
I am going to be so happy when Christmas is over. That is all I am saying about that.

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On the good news front, I brought the last of our fat clothes to a donation place yesterday. I've given away some to friends and family, and I had already donated all of our coats to a charity drive they were doing at a friend's church. Between me and Hubby, we had 15 boxes of clothes that I brought to the Home of the Sparrow. Fifteen! Because I am going to write it off for taxes, I counted everything in the boxes. This was pretty much everything in our closets, under the bed, in storage boxes, all seasons. Going from 18-20 to 10-12 means a complete and total turnover in one's closet. Luckily, we were able to still fit in our shoes!

The tally, MEN'S version:
Dress pants = 17
Jeans = 13
Sweaters = 14
Button-down shirts = 15
Vests = 5
Casual shirts = 18
t-shirts = 45
short-sleeve polos = 29
turtlenecks = 3
shorts = 15

The tally, WOMEN'S version:
Suits = 2
Dress pants = 19
Skirts = 10
Jeans = 18 (many were hand-me-downs from friends over the last year)
shorts = 3
Capri pants = 7
short-sleeve t-shirts = 24
long-sleeve t-shirts = 25
turtlenecks = 5
long-sleeved sweaters = 34
short-sleeved sweaters = 17
dress tops = 16
button-down shirts = 21
tanks/camisoles = 41
workout tops = 6
workout pants = 9
shoes = 9 pairs
belts = 6
purses = 5
blazers = 7
dresses = 8

Plus 7 men's coats and 14 women's.
And the two boxes I sent to my sister, the two boxes I gave to friends, and the jumbo-sized two boxes Hubby gave to his brother.

Okay. We had a lot of clothes. Still do, just smaller sizes now!

++++++

Shopping Friend gave me 5 bags full of clothes that she was going to donate, thus bringing the circle 'round again. My closet is busting from the seams again, now with clothes in two sizes: what fits me now, and what I want to fit me in the next few months. I've already started a new type of donate pile; not just clothes that are too big, but things that just aren't going to work. It's tough work rebuilding a closet from scratch, and I've made plenty of mistakes along the way. In those bags that were donated yesterday were already some losers from purchases this year.

Heh, I should do a photo post of 'gone but not forgotten' pieces. Whaddya think?

16-Week Commitment Challenge: COMPLETE

Hard to believe the 16 weeks is finally over! In some ways, it took forever, and in others it flew by. Strange to look back and see that 16 weeks ago was AUGUST; I thought it was at least the fall when I started it. But no!

Instead of doing a weekly recap, I thought I would look at my success at each goal overall. Looking at the big picture has helped me think about what I want to focus on next, what I've managed to build into a habit and what still needs work.

1. Attend WW meetings every week without skipping any.
This was the primary goal I wanted to accomplish, and I succeeded 100%. Attending weekly meetings is now a regular habit, one I will continue through 2010 at least. I prefer the Thursday leader but I like the convenience of a Saturday meeting better, so if I don't make one I definitely do the other.

For those of you new to the blog, I actually am a former WW Leader. It's a program I love and wholeheartedly believe in. It's not for everyone, but the weekly meeting format is where I thrive. I needed to get back into it, to get over my embarrassment of paying while being Lifetime, of continuing to gain and still attend meetings. It's not just when you are successful that you need to go to a meeting; it's every week. That finally sunk in during these 16 weeks.

2. Exercise 4 days a week minimum.
My success here was much more sporadic. I tried mixing it up, doing running and Wii yoga and stretching, working the Couch-to-5K plan and running a 5K, picking specific days for exercise, etc, but I still could not quite get to a regular routine. I will continue to concentrate on getting this into a habit, because I know regular exercise is so good for my health and for continued weight loss.

3. Count my points in my Tracker.
This took some time to get going, but I have been regularly journaling all my foods in my Tracker for the last 7 weeks. I don't count points but I do write (most) of it down now. Weekends are my weakest still; the Tracker stays tucked away in my purse with the rest of my work papers, unfortunately. I will keep plugging away at this too.

4. Cut back on the alcohol to 1-2 drinks a week.
This was pretty easy, for the most part. We do end up drinking more during the holiday so I will stay more aware of it, but right now my biggest empty-calorie indulgence is cookies.


Overall, I think I did pretty well sticking to my goals. The problem, though, was despite all that focus, I did not lose any weight. In fact, I ended up gaining 11 pounds over the last 16 weeks.

Oops.

So my next challenge will address that. This one will range from today through to my birthday, March 13. Ironically, that is 13 weeks away. Yay, my lucky number! And even more ironically, I want to lose at least 13 pounds by then; that will put me at 166, which is a good middle point to decide what my final goal number will be.

I'm calling it the 13-in-13 Challenge. All the regular things will still be in place: I will be following the WW plan, attending weekly meetings, and exercising. But it's not enough to randomly pick a goal weight to aim for; I need smaller goals to achieve every week that will help me get to the larger goal. These are the ones I am doing for the next 13 weeks:

1. LOSE WEIGHT.
It seems so obvious a goal, but since it didn't happen the last challenge I am going to spell it out here. I will record my loss every week (or my gain, SIGH) instead of glancing once ay my book after weigh-in and not thinking about it again until the next weigh-in.

2. Eat one vegetable-based meal a day.
This means salads, veggie soups, my beloved spaghetti squash and tomato sauce, etc. If I have salad for lunch, then I can have a meat-based meal for dinner (steeak, meatloaf, etc). If I have a sandwich or hot entree at lunch, then dinner will be a salad or soup or spaghetti squash.
I have learned from journaling that the days I do best at staying on-track are days I do one veggie-based meal. So now I am going to do so consciously.

3. Do at least 2 different types of exercise each week.
Instead of focusing on the quantity of exercise, I am going to focus on the type. I have my punchcard for lap sessions at the park district pool, I have at least 2 types of Wii exercises I can alternate, and I will be ordering new running shoes this week so I can pick that back up. Maybe by keeping it changed up I will do it more often, and get into that habit I want so much to have.

4. Limit my sweets/dessert/treats to 3-4 per week.
I have to stop having a cookie a day, but cold turkey will only result in disaster. So I'll try moderation. I hear it's all the rage. :)

So there you have it. Ready, set, get to goal!

16-Week Commitment Challenge: Week 12 complete

Holy cow, where did this week go? I only posted twice this entire week, and now I am about to do two posts just today! I will post more consistently this week, and hopefully not fall as far behind on reading blogs as I did; I lost all my open tabs and my history of blogs I had been visiting so I wasn't able to catch up on the last of them, sorry.

So...onward! How did I do on my goals this week?

1. Attend WW meetings every week without skipping any.
Good meeting topic this week, about sustaining motivation through the holidays. I am almost at the end of my 16-week commitment challenge, and I'm starting to think of what I want my goals in my next challenge to be. Even though I haven't completely achieved these, I know I have to pick new ones or I will get bored and give up. And I have achieved this one, which was the main thing I wanted to turn into an automatic routine. For the next set, "attending weekly meetings" won't even be a goal because it IS a habit now.

The others, well, I will be coming up with new ways to continue to work on them.

2. Exercise 4 days a week minimum.
Oh boy, have I let this slide. I did turn on the Wii though, and I'm about to do another routine on it this morning. Slowly but surely this will come back. I need it to; I need my hips and waist smaller again!

3. Count my points in my Tracker.
I got a little sloppy about tracking on the day it was happening, but I kept going, and I will keep going.

4. Cut back on the alcohol to 1-2 drinks a week.
I did very well on this until last night. Heh.


This week is going to be fine, but this weekend I am going out West to see my family, including my parents, so...we'll see. I do intend to get back into the oyga groove before I go so I will know the moves I can do there as my morning exercise. I really enjoy exercising out there.

16-Week Commitment Challenge: Week 8 complete

Wow, the responses to my photo transformation post were just overwhelming. Thank you all so much for the kind words and encouragement! I skim through my photos all the time in my iPhoto program, but really seeing them all together like that reminds me how far I really have come -- and weirdly enough, how easy it would be to slip back to that. This isn't the first time I've lost a significant amount of weight, but I am determined -- even more so now -- that it will be the last.

And so, it's time to look at my progress on the commitment challenge.

1. Attend WW meetings every week without skipping any.
I was out of town this weekend, so I made sure to attend the Thursday night meeting instead. I even weighed in, which of course showed me the gain of my poor eating and the evening weigh-in. I am really hoping this is the peak of my re-gain; I hit a number I am NOT okay with, and that combined with my clothes not fitting right anymore, is the tipping point for me. Even though I was driving 16 hours or at a casino all weekend, I managed to lose some weight. Enough is enough!

Also, I really liked this leader on Thursday, more so than the Saturday one. The timing of the meeting isn't great, but I think I will try to attend it again this week. I might switch days altogether in the end; a good leader is too valuable an asset to WW to pass by. I've had my share of both; I know!

2. Exercise 4 days a week minimum.
My specific-day commitment worked; I got in 3 days of running on Sunday, Tuesday and Saturday. I did miss getting it done on Friday as I said I would, but instead I ran all around the casino parking lot on Saturday morning. Which was CRAZY because it was frosty cold and I did not even have a sweatshirt, but made me feel super-virtuous. I ran by at least 3 people sleeping in their cars at 7:30 in the morning!

This week I am changing my set days, but I will get 3 in for sure. I also want to add at least 1 day of yoga. My waist will thank me later!

3. Count my points in my Tracker.
No, but I didn't try. I did make sure I got some fruits and veggies in at the casino, and I had good lunches all week.

4. Cut back on the alcohol to 1-2 drinks a week.
I did mention I was at a casino all weekend, didn't I? Nuff said. :)

++++++++

No pictures of this weekend's outfits, but they were plenty cute. You will just have to trust me on that. :)

16-Week Commitment Challenge: Week 7 complete

This was definitely my worst week yet.

1. Attend WW meetings every week without skipping any.
Done.

2. Exercise 4 days a week minimum.
I ran the 5K on Sunday, and then I did absolutely nothing all week. Ugh! Why do I do that to myself?

So I committed to a MF buddy that I would commit to 3 days a week running for the next month, and further I would do it on set days of the week: Sunday, Tuesday and Friday. Both the commitment and the set days were a good idea, as I wanted to blow off running all day today but knew that I could not. So I got it done, hurray!

3. Count my points in my Tracker.
Hahaha. No.

4. Cut back on the alcohol to 1-2 drinks a week.
Hahahahahaha! Oh, goodness, no.

++++++

I don't know why or how I fell so completely off the rails, especially since last Sunday I was feeling like I was starting to turn things around. But I felt and was out of control all week. I am just lucky it didn't impact my weight worse.

This week will be a challenge as I will be driving a lot next weekend and eating out on a trip away with my mother-in-law. I've set it up so small, easy meals will be available at home before I go, and I will stick with my running commitment. And I read that the hotel has a really cool pool so I will be checking that out, for sure!

16-Week Commitment Challenge: Week 6 complete

Before I start my weekly commitment challenge assessment, I want to gloat a bit about my accomplishments this morning. Technically, today's exercise will count toward this week's total, but still I ran a 5K today!

It felt pretty good; I honestly didn't think I was going to be able to run the whole way, and the last half-mile was especially brutal, but I never stopped and I never gave in. My time was 38:01, which was fine by me; I said I would be happy with anything under 40 minutes, and I am. I came in #356, and my girlfriend who ran with me was about 3 seconds faster. She's training for her first marathon, so she's allowed to beat me. :)



I feel great, and I'm definitely going to keep running as part of my workouts, but I won't lie, it was HARD. I'll be ready for another one...eventually. :)

++++++

Otherwise, how did I do this week with my goals?

1. Attend WW meetings every week without skipping any.
I got a Bravo sticker for talking about this challenge; the other members were pretty impressed I've been keeping myself accountable on the blog like this. Hee!

2. Exercise 4 days a week minimum.
I ran Monday, Wednesday, Friday in preparation for the 5K. Whoohoo! I think the next step is to get myself into regular days/nights for workouts; I've been doing it "flexible" style so I could accommodate any meetings, etc, but the truth is our lives are pretty steady. I need a firm schedule.

3. Count my points in my Tracker.
Nope. But I'm going to try this week!

4. Cut back on the alcohol to 1-2 drinks a week.
Yep, just a sangria when we went out for Mexican on Thursday. But I'm realizing that Fridays are VERY tough; all I want to do each Friday is have some beer and pizza, or anything unhealthy and extravagant, and really does take a sheer force of will to remind myself weigh-in is the next day and I would like to see some good results. I'm going to see what I can do to work around that Friday longing.



I am feeling like the ship is finally turning around and may just avoid the iceberg in time; I'm no longer gaining like crazy, and the habits I am trying to create with each goal of this challenge are beginning to settle into my brain and my routine. These are all things I WANT to do differently, but for the first time I am feeling like they're not as far away as they were.

To use a different analogy, I am starting to see the finish line now. BUT. I think I need to remember what happened today when we made our last turn into the park and could see the finish line for the first time. I wasn't able to sprint toward it immediately; I was very quickly reminded that just because I could see didn't mean the race was over. My heart was racing in my chest, my breathing was terrible, and my legs were screaming for me to stop and walk. But I wasn't done; there was still another 1/4 mile to go. There were times as we plodded through that last bit that it felt like the finish line was moving farther away! It wasn't until the very very end, only a few yards to go, that I was able to pick up the pace and run over the line. I thought I would do that from further away, but I couldn't. I HAD to keep my steady pace until I was steps away.

I need to remember that on this journey.

16-Week Commitment Challenge: Week 4 complete

Another week down! I am really glad that I've committed a 16-week stretch; knowing there's a long-range goal is helpful in accepting small victories or defeats. I'm easing myself out of the 'fast results' mindset of Medifast, and instead starting to aim for the horizon.

In other words, losing a little over a pound this week felt as great as it did when I lost 3 on a MF week. :)

Let's recap the 4 goals:

1. Attend WW meetings every week without skipping any.
Almost missed it because I was running late, but I made myself sit down and enjoy the meeting anyway. I also picked up a new cookbook called "Now and Later", which is two different meals from the same base ingredients. I could use those kinds of ideas!

2. Exercise 4 days a week minimum.
I got 3 "real" exercise sessions in, and then did hours of yardwork on Saturday. which I am counting as exercise since my muscles are sore today. :)

But the true victories here were two: I dusted off the Wii Fit and started doing morning yoga sessions again (which will be great at firming up my core and waist, which has gotten flabby again), and I signed up for a 5K on September 27th. So I definitely have to complete the last 5 days of C25K before then! LOL.

3. Count my points in my Tracker.
Didn't do this at all. Ill try again this week. I need the honest accountability.

4. Cut back on the alcohol to 1-2 drinks a week.
A couple of pear martinis at dinner last night, and that was it.

+++++

I think it's time to drill down and concentrate on better eating. I do well with menu planning, so I'm going to try that this week. I've got today wide open, so there will be fridge cleaning and shopping and maybe a little food prep.

But first, there will be some outfit photos. I've been buying some new dresses and I think some are too similar to ones I already have. So it's time for a deathmatch! Stay tuned for details... ;-D

Thursday: Backup plan

I wanted to play in today's challenge, I really did. But none of my browns were working together and I needed to be dressier than what I could cobble together. So I bowed out of today and wore a little-worn Loft LBD with a short-sleeve cranberry cardigan. I don't know why I don't wear this more often, but I love it. It's the first size 10 dress I ever bought. I almost cried when I realized that was my new (and final) size.



I think I don't wear it a lot because it's almost more of an evening dress than a day one. Pairing it with a sweater brings it down enough to be appropriate for work. (It's kind of funny how much effort I put into wearing appropriate work clothes when almost no one else in my department does.)

++++++

In exercise news, I signed up for a 5K race on September 27! Still two more weeks to go to finish C25K, and I think I will be ready. I'm not the fastest runner but taking my time getting through the program has been good for me; I'm consistent, I move my feet now, and frankly, I'm pretty amazed still that I can do this.

I also brought out the Wii Fit yesterday and did a round of yoga. It had been 104 days since the last time I used it! Yeesh. I was better at most of the poses than I had been before, but I realized how flabby everything has become since I stopped doing it. It really made a difference in my core and waist, and I want that leanness back. So back to regular yoga workouts it is! This is a good thing; I've been struggling to find another cheapo workout on my non-running days. Swimming is great, but I don't have time for more than one workout a week. I can do a yoga workout in the morning before work.

I will get 4 workouts in this week, yes I will. Monday was running, Wednesday was yoga, today was running again. Hmmm, yoga will be tomorrow, and I'm hoping I can get a run in Saturday. Ha, I might even make it to 5!

16-Week Commitment Challenge: Week 1 complete

So I completed Week 1 of my 16-week challenge. How did I do?

1. Attend WW meetings every week without skipping any.
Done, and it was great! This week's topic was about mental plateaus, and I realize I have essentially been on one since I switched plans. Got some good tips for getting myself in gear again.

2. Exercise 4 days a week minimum.
Hrm. Only got in 3 days this week; I fell apart mid-week because I had errands to run after work too many nights. Since I have work meetings in other locations all week and I won't be on the same getting-home schedule as usual, I am going to work on getting in my exercise in the morning. I certainly get up earlier enough for it; now I just need to pull myself away from the internet to do it.

3. Count my points in my Tracker.
I did this for a day or two, and erratically even then. I will get there soon.

4. Cut back on the alcohol to 1-2 drinks a week.
Went out for dinner with cocktails a few too many times this week. I want to eat in more this week, so that issue should be eliminated.

That said, I went down -.4 from my previous week's WW weigh-in (which I am going to start using as my official weigh-ins, not the ones on my home scale), which pleases me. I have been careening up and down the scale 3-4 pounds per week, and it's been too much. A small amount up or down is much more reasonable and realistic.

A related accomplishment occurred yesterday: for my sister's birthday, a bunch of our pals from MF agreed to each run 5K yesterday in honor of her. I was on Week 6/Day 3 of the C25K, so I was supposed to run 25 minutes non-stop. I did, and I am pretty sure I ran the whole 5K distance! I tried to track according to the markings on the path (the town 5K is held there), plus I ran an extra amount while getting to the running path around the lake. I may have shorted the distance a little bit in the end, but I ran for 27 minutes non-stop, and it felt great! I am looking forward now to a) start increasing my endurance and distance, and b) measure the distance I can run more accurately on the indoor track. Whooo, I am a runner! Who knew?

In addition, Hubby and I have been noticing that I am developing muscle definition on my shoulders and upper arms. I will have my Michelle Obama arms yet! (I used to call them Linda Hamilton Terminator arms, but that's so 90s, LOL!)

This week, my main concentrations will be attending meeting and getting in all my exercise and waters. We also ate out a lot this week, and I'd like to rein that in a bit. Amusingly, we ordered a pizza (medium, with spinach and onions -- hey, it's a start) on Wednesday, and "our" regular driver was the one who delivered it. We hadn't seen him in a while, and he was pretty amazed at how much we'd both lost! Hubby replied, "This is what we've been doing since we stopped ordering pizza from you!" Hee.

Vacation recap

I am back from the woods of Tennessee! I had the Greatest Vacation Ever. Ever. Ever. We had a blast with my nephews and sister and BIL, Hubby caught fish every day, I went swimming in a lake with water moccasins and still loved every minute of it (eeek! snakes!), we are ridiculously tan and relaxed, we drank beer around a campfire, Hubby finally got to know his BIL, we shared our s'mores with a dozen kids next door who had never had the real thing before, we went to Graceland and marveled at the tackiness.

I ran three miles almost every day up massive hills or on a woody trail, my husband took me for an evening ride on his boat, I played Go Fish and Crazy Eights with my nephews, taught the older one how to do an underwater handstand in the pool, went on a shopping spree at Walmart with my sister, went hiking, saw a bald eagle and two owls up close, and ate a Thin Mint Blizzard at Dairy Queen.

We took an impromptu trip to St Louis on Sunday afternoon as our stopover spot on the way home and stayed at a new casino hotel overlooking the Arch; we gambled a bit, ate fancy hamburgers and slept like logs on a down bed. The next morning I won $900 on a slot machine, therefore pretty much paying for the whole trip.

Greatest vacation ever. I should have photos up on my photo blog all week.

++++++

Clothing-wise, I ended up bringing too many shoes, mostly of the non-hiking variety, and came back with a few casual shirts unworn. I overestimated how much non-activity/gear clothes time there would be, and so the "dressier" items numbered too many. "Dressier" in this case means ballet flats, espadrille sandals, and pretty cotton shirts, which as you know is my usual "dressed down" look. So you can imagine how much gear I was wearing! I ended up going through 2-3 gear outfits a day. Morning meant a run with my sister, then we changed into bathing suits or hiking clothes, then maybe by dinnertime we would put on regular clothes. So most of the time I looked like this:


(You would think after all the self-portraits I have taken I would stop with the super-wide angle pose by now, wouldn't you? You would be wrong.)



We did go to Memphis one day, where we went to Sun Records, ate ribs, and toured Graceland. I got dressed up that day: cotton dress, leggings, and denim jacket!


I've decided; I just don't like capri leggings on me. The long ones are fine, but the short ones, meh. I think this outfit would have been cuter without them.


Hubby and I made this same trip on our honeymoon 13 years ago, and somewhere buried in a box is a photo of the two of us in this exact spot in front of Graceland. I need to find that photo.

+++++

Exercise-wise, it was everything I wanted, and then some. I did GREAT on the running; my sister completed C25K months ago and has been running 3 days a week since. Her second 5K will be in a couple of weeks. We ran together almost every morning, some days doing week 4/5 of C25K for me, sometimes just running. There were some killer hills in the area of our cabins, and I pushed myself so by the end of the week I was running up them without stopping. We even did one run on a woody trail, which about killed me. But I kept going, and I am so glad I did. Today was Day 3, Week 5 of C25K: 20 minutes non-stop running.

I did it. I DID IT. And it wasn't even all that hard!

Week 6 looks like a repeat of week 5 -- day 1 is 5 run/3 walk/5 run/3 walk/5 run, day 2 is 8 run/5 walk/8 run, and day 3 is 20 run. I am so ready for it -- I may even have to find a hill just to keep myself fresh, LOL.

I was in the water a lot too, but it wasn't laps. I chased my nephews around, had a good old-fashioned mud fight with my grown sister, swam on a boogie board with my nephew to the end of the swimming area, did underwater handstands, and played Marco Polo, etc. A different kind of workout, but I did miss my laps. It may be time to hit the town pool tomorrow.

Lastly, the evening ride in my husband's boat convinced me that I do want a kayak. I'll start a savings account for it now, keep trying out different rentals and will get my own next spring. We've already booked our vacation in Natchez Trace for August 2010, and I can't wait to get back out there. I loved being out on the water more than I can put into words; maybe this last self-portrait will show how happy I felt.



++++++

Eating-wise, it could have been better, and it could have been a lot worse. I ended up gaining just a couple of pounds which is reasonable given what I ate. I have more thoughts that I will save for another post, but I am up 12 pounds from goal, and I can feel and see it. I'm not pleased with this development, but I know how to change it.

++++++

Oy. Work is going to be a tough adjustment tomorrow!

Off to Tennessee

I may have overpacked. Heh.

But it all fits in the CR-V, and includes a box of food/kitchen supplies, a BOAT, camera equipment, hiking equipment, three fishing poles and two giant tackle boxes, swimming gear, two pillows, and a disgruntled cat in a carrier on the way to the cat hotel.

There is also a suitcase of shoes. It was Hubby's idea!

My food scale and my real scale are tucked in between towels and boxes of Medifast bars. We're not going on a mental vacation, just a physical one. I plan on being tan and trim and relaxed when I return.

Maybe I'll even get my sister to take my daily photos for me. I certainly packed enough clothes to show! :)

See you guys soon!

Newsflash: I am 41, not 14

Here's a hard lesson I have learned this weekend: I am not a teenager. I may be in the best shape of my life, and am actually smaller than when I was a teenager, but I do not have the actual body or metabolism of one.

Here are the injuries that I have inflicted on myself while trying to keep up with my 14-year-old niece this weekend:

1. I burned my finger taking oatmeal out of the microwave (okay, this happened the morning before she arrived, but I still have a nasty blister on my middle finger.)
2. I blew out my vocal cords screaming on a roller coaster. I have had no voice for two days now, and so far, it's still not back. I sound like a squeaking frog, much to the amusement of my husband and niece.
3. I think I gave myself a concussion on another roller coaster, which bounced our heads side to side against a not-cushioned-enough padded harness. I have had a minor headache ever since.
4. I fell off a Segway on our awesome tour of downtown Chicago, scraping and bruising my palm, wrist, elbow and hip. Also humiliating myself. But the Segway was still AWESOME, and I will do it again next year when my nephew visits.
5. I gained 4.2 pounds. !!!!!!

She leaves on Monday morning, then I have a crazy busy week at work, then we leave on Saturday for a week-plus in the Tennessee woods with my sister and her family. Much hiking, running, swimming, and other activities will be going on then, and hopefully the eating will be reasonable. We are staying in a house with a full kitchen, and we have to bring all of our own food since there are few-to-no grocery stores nearby, so it should be okay.

Still. I have got to pull it together. The eating is out of control, and it's mostly been dessert/junk, like ice cream and gin-and-tonics and such. I fare better with actual meals, where I am easily able to put together a lot of veggies and lighter choices, but in between, it's been bar the door, Mary!

So the Diet Goals this week are:
1. No more ice cream. If I need an icy treat, it's back to the popsicles, which I love anyway. Or have a WW yogurt -- I am loving the lemons right now!
2. Stick with the 21 points a day.
3. Start to eat down all the fruits and veggies in the fridge before they go bad.

Exercise Goal: I got in 5 days of exercise this week, no problem! Mainly because we were so active and I tried several new things which I am now obsessed with. Today we are either going kayaking again or swimming, or maybe even both. Yay! Then I will get my runs in on M-W-F, and hopefully be able to swim on either Tue or Thur. (C'mon, weather! Work with me!)

Fashion Goal: get all my laundry done so I can pack for the trip. *g* I've got 4 days of meetings this week, so it will be a lot of dresses and skirts. I think I will break out a couple of my NAS purchases, if I can. Oooooh!

I've also got photos to post, but the niece is sleeping in the room with the computer that holds all of them. So maybe I can get to them later today. Otherwise it will wait until Monday!

Weekly Goals: Diet, Exercise, and Fashion

Yesterday was a strange day, eating-wise. I started off just fine, grabbing a bar on my way to my WW meeting (down 3 pounds from the last weigh-in!), and then I was off to the farmer's market and grocery store where I stocked up on all kinds of good stuff for the week. I had a second bar on my travels, which kept me from buying any of the tempting baked goods at the farmer's market. I was being proactive!

Then I got home at lunchtime, and everything went downhill. I ate at Chipotle, drank beer all afternoon, ordered pizza for dinner, heck I even had ice cream before the day was through. Not one "real" piece of food crossed my lips all day. I'm not even sure why -- of course the alcohol turning off all my inhibitors and sense of responsibility was a huge factor -- but I don't know what prompted me to have the beer in the first place. Boredom maybe, or the freedom of having a day with no responsibilities, or...who knows? I don't particularly feel guilty about it; there was an impact on the scale of course, but nothing's permanent. I don't want to repeat it, though.

Anyway, it got me to look back at my Food Tracker (yay for journaling my food!), and I did notice that the days where I went more off the rails than others are usually the day that I start off with a MF bar instead of oatmeal or yogurt&berries. So this week's Diet Goal is to save the MF bars for mid-day meals, not as the first one of the morning.

I don't think the bar is to blame for my issues, but it's like I commented at my WW meeting yesterday: when I go on vacation, I make it a point to utilize the hotel gym or pool first thing in the morning. Even though I may have a walking-filled day ahead of me, getting in some serious exercise right at the start stimulates and motivates me to make better choices throughout the day. So if I start the day with a healthy, filling, WW-style breakfast, I will be more likely to think about the rest of my food through the day that way. Whereas eating a MF bar is just "2 points of fuel" for me, and the candy-like flavors tend to trigger junk food cravings in my lizard brain. They're great for a 3pm meal, but not in the morning, at least not for me right now. I've got to remember that.

My Exercise Goal is to again get in 5 days. I managed to up it by one more day this week, and I'm still frustrated by the cool weather keeping me from the pool, but I want to make this happen. I am loving running, and today I will be going on a long hike with friends. So that will be 4 days = 1 hiking, 3 of the Couch-to-5K program. What will be my 5th exercise? Hmmmm...ooooh, my niece is visiting this week, and I've been talking to Hubby about renting a kayak for myself while the two of them go fishing on his new boat. If we can't get to the pool, then kayaking it will be!

My Fashion Goal is three-fold:
1. I need to sort through my boxes of clothes in the basement, and rearrange them by size. I have a couple of friends who are looking for some particular sizes and I want to share what I have. Shopping Friend suggested a clothing swap with our friends; now I have to figure out who to invite!
2. Want to continue to rotate all the new summer pieces I've added lately, and continue to cull out anything that is just too big, or new and needs to be returned.
3. Now that I am out of the shoe department LOL, the shopping ban is back in place!

That's the plan for this week. I think I can stick to it.