August

My post from my fitness group. 

Goals~

Weekly: 

1. Journal everything that goes into my mouth! I've been a slacker lately and it makes a difference to do it. 

2. Count points and work to stay within the points. 

3. Walk everyday minimum 4 miles. 

Monthly: 

1. Complete my weekly goals!

2. Incorporate my new riding workout schedule.

My overall goal is to loose 30 lbs by next summer. I've got the first 50 off and now I need the next round. I think it is going to be much harder unless I get in a better mind frame. 

My other goal is to keep eating healthy. I've eliminated some bad food out of my life and I want to keep up with it. 

My exercise is walking- I do two miles with my dog and 2-3 at a faster pace. It's habit and I don't plan on stopping- it's my mental medicine. The bike riding is my cardio. Let me tell you I'm out of shape! 

This is me with my new bike. I have a mountain bike that I ride on the city paved trails and mountain bike ( dirt) trails. I can't ride the mountain bike though on long road rides with husband and son- and I really hate being left out! So finally I decided to get one! I tried it out last Thursday- My son, Parker and I rode 26 miles. OMG It was the hardest thing I've ever done. Those hills!!!! The main hill you have to ride up is a bit intimidating. But I was confident I could do it. I couldn't..bout 20 yards from the top I just couldn't make the bike go...so I walked it. I was sweating profusely ( HUMIDITY and HEAT) and I had just killed my thighs...Parker waited for me and when I got to him he asked why I was in the high ( hard) gear.... hahhahahh no wonder....we got all that straightened out (I made it coming back ) and I did OK- I was wearing clip on shoes for the first time, I had eaten cereal - got nauseated- wore a CamelBack- too heavy- so  I learned a few things to do and not to do for the next ride. In September we are signed up to do a 68 mile ride in Corpus Christi along the Texas coast- That is what I'm training for. I love doing something athletic with my son and husband and I've always liked riding bikes so it's a good fit. 

As far as my whining about gaining two lbs. I'm not sure I have gained or not. My scale is all over the place. It varies depending on what I eat--- water retention and heat. We have set records this July for the hottest month on record in TEXAS...oh boy...The morning I rode it was in the upper 90's. It is getting old, but instead of using it as a crutch, I'm trying to work though it!!! 

Update

Well I wanted to have a good week last week with exercising and staying within my points. I did great until the weekend! Boy did I blow it eating wise. Holiday weekends are hard. Heck summer is hard. I did walk a bunch last week. In fact on Saturday I was so weary- legs were tired. I took the day off. I try and listen to my body. I just wish I knew why I am so hungry lately. It must have to do with my hormones. I'm in headache mode. About 1 PM the head hurts and Imatrex isn't making a dent on it. That scares me for when school starts. I'll deal with it...not fun, but I get through.

The big news for me is on Monday hubby and I got up and sent Parker off with a friend on a sailing expedition on the lake and we took our bikes to the trails. Our mission was to ride from end to end...We did! 24 miles total. It was awesome. Hubby admitted it was harder on a mountain bike than a road bike. If it's hard for him, then I know it being hard for me is ok!!!!
YEY..I'm becoming an athlete again.
Reclaiming life...what a concept!
Healthy life is a happy life.

The Weekend and a Monday

I did pretty well walking this week. I did pretty crappy staying within my points! But today I'm ok and back on track.

Saturday we took the boat out, so I decided to get up and walk at 6 am...it wasn't pleasant. I prefer dry hot heat over cool humidity! I only did 3.2 miles before I called it quits. Last night I put n 5.5 miles! My husband offered to walk Jack and boy did I let him! It was awesome to go my own route and not stop!

Scale was up a bit..but I never panic too much after a long walk...I will just keep my eye on it the next few days. Today I made the decision to go back to the Points +   program on WW instead of the old way. I read over the material again. I think it's really all the same. I don't eat white flour hardly at all and stay away from bad carbs on either plan. I'm just going to be more vigilant counting points and reading my "full"  factor.

Today I made tuna salad. I used my " NINJA" ...it was more like baby food tuna salad. LOL It didn't chop, it pureed. I figured out how to barley press it and it worked. I put in tuna, cucumber, pickles, onion, and mayo. I had it with cottage cheese and some crackers. Not bad. I had fruit for my snack.

Don't know what dinner will be. I think I will eat after I walk. So it will be cereal probably. Nothing sounds good. Fruit is the only thing that sounds good right now. That or something salty. I've got 9 points to use, so it's not much!

I'm BAAAAACCCCCKKKKK and Setting Goals

At the beginning 

Now- in the Middle! 

I'm back to using this blog as my fitness/ weightloss blog. I had combined this blog with my other blog, Consciously Living, but that's weird, so I'm back. I need to really catch up on what's been going on. First of all I love reading about my struggles when I started. It was hard. Funny thing is, right now exercising and eating right doesn't seem hard at all! That's because it's now a habit for me.


I am however at a plateau. It's very frustrating because at first the weight came off easier. Now I'm probably on four months of only loosing 10 lbs. I'm not too frustrated. I've upped my exercise and seem to be less concerned with the extra lbs I still carry and that is because I feel so darn good and look so much better!! Who wouldn't after loosing 50 lbs! 


I've been doing WW pretty faithfully. When the new plan came out I tried it and that is when I started to plateau. I didn't now I was plateauing and I thought that the plan wasn't working for me. So I went back to what I knew and that was the old version. However after being on it a while, I can't see much of a difference.


I'm eating too much. I'm eating extremely healthy, BUT I'm going over my points by not being vigilant. My problem stems from not cooking more. I rely on quick dinner because I don't like or do not have time to cook. I just have to be honest. Cooking isn't my gig. In fact this summer I've relied on cereal for dinner. I try and get my veggies in at lunch. Sometimes because it's so hot, I eat cereal for breakfast and dinner.


I know when school starts I'll be so busy, the eating thing will be easier for me. In the summer when I'm home and bored I snack. Late night snacking is a killer. Damn those Goldfish. But thats only happened a couple of times. I made myself little snack packs and that was good - controlled portions.


So, to kick this off...I need to set some goals.


Weight 
Lose 30 pounds in the next 12 months. The sooner the better, but in reality, I think slow is better- that's reality.  I plan on continuing with WW which for me is the only thing that works. It helps me keep my boundaries as I learn how to stop eating when I'm full. I'm getting there, but not quite. It takes more than a year to break addiction and bad habits.


Fitness 
I plan on upping my walking from 4 miles daily to 5...on most days. If I walk less...I'll walk faster - This is my mental heath workout!!


I want to incorporate biking-either mountain biking or road biking. I want to do 40 miles weekly and build from there-this is my cardio workout.
I need to do some sort of weight lift training starting after my hernia repair.


Nutrition and Eating Habits
I have cut out all fried food except occasional chips when I eat Mexican Food and I've cut out hamburgers, pizza, french fries, and full fat items. I already drink a lot of water. I'll continue these habits.
So as far as cutting out there isn't much for me to cut out.


I would like to eat more of a variety of food and not just cereal each night :)

Extra Baggage

Finally the weekend is here. It's been one crazy week. I don't think I left school before 5:30 on any day except Friday. I had a killer headache so I left when I could. Most nights I came home and did more school work. I'm still not caught up. Fall is the worse! However it's all in the name of the game and the good news is it's keeping me from eating all the time because I'm too tired to eat. haha

Food and exercise wise I'm going well. I think the walking every day is paying off even though it's getting boring. I tried the treadmill last night because of the rain. I went for 20 minutes and said forget this. It just isn't the same as being in the heat and humidity. LOL 

I've been following my WW points. Yesterday I really was HUNGRY..first time in a long time. We ate at Olive Garden. I got a lunch portion and the lightest thing that wasn't chicken-lasagna. I had two breadsticks. Meant to only have one. Haven't had bread in so long that wasn't my whole grain fiber bread. LOL It was yummy. But I can't do that very often. Anyway....I ate about 10 cheetos and some peanut butter for dinner....and guess what I still lost a pound this AM...So I'm down 19 lbs. ish....I know tomorrow after I walk today and hopfully ride my bike I'll gain a couple...-water...but for now I'm going to relish in my glory. My pants are almost too baggy to wear....but I figure I can hold out a bit longer before I have to buy more. My skinny jeans fit. :) One size down only 4 more....:) 

This is a before picture. I can see the difference in my face. 

 "During" picture. :) 

Bye Bye Extra- Baggage

Shoot

Ok..last week every morning I got a surprise! I was down by .4 or .6...this week...Well a pound of it showed back up and now I am holding steady. What gives? My migraine medicine make me pee like a banchee...I guess that's it. It was water.
 This week in TX after Tropical Storm Hermine, it has been as humid as it gets. Talk about FLAT HAIR. WATER RETENTION. BLAH. Where the heck is fall-like weather? Oh yah, I'm in South Texas. LOL

So it goes. Going grocery shopping. Gonna fill up on fruit..been craving fruit....that's been my joy lately. Peaches and grapes. Yummy.
Since I've been not eating processed foods I like to get sweetness somehow. I guess my WW ice cream every night has sugar.....not giving that up..nope. After a hot sweaty walk, icecream and water is my savior.

Another Week

YEY..I had a good week!!! I don't know if it was the new scale or what...but even with 4 days of a headache that won't seem to quite go away I managed to drop three pounds. The new scale measures in increments of .2.....talk about motivation! I could see the progress each morning instead of it taking so long.

My brother from Arlington is visiting and that's always scary to me- will I cheat? Will I not care and blow it? But I didn't!!!! I am into this for the long haul and making good food choices eating out. I hope next week is just as good. I wanted to ride my bike-tires flat....Tomorrow I'll get it fixed. I'm not liking that I don't have much time at night to walk...it gets dark too soon. But Jack still has to be walked. Don't know how it's going to work. :)