Trials of a Long Haired Girl

Happy Monday friends!   So many things we didn't use last week and need to make this week, but a lot of it I can prepare meat on the side and put it into only part.   We had a "family meeting" to discuss with my daughter the fact that I need to be able to cook some meat.   As she has made this decision to go meatless, I just really wanted to discuss with her before just fixing meat.   I told my husband that I will likely make it and freeze it in smaller amounts so we could pull it out if we want to use it for something.   Our plan for meals this week will look a little like this: -         Smothered bean burritos -         Roasted veggie bowl with quinoa -         Spaghetti and zero point marinara and salad -         Taco Salad -         Macaroni and cheese and veggies - ...

Wow!  Sometimes I have quotes that just hit me like a ton of bricks and this was one of them.  I have been struggling with this the last few workouts.  My body aches and my legs will feel like they are going to cramp up and my breath feels like I just can't get enough...but I give myself a pep talk while I'm on that machine and tell myself...hey you only have 7 minutes left...you did 30 minutes yesterday or the day before or whatever.  Sometimes it really is mental for me just to get me there.  I was hoping to do Zumba yesterday, but, well, it simply didn't happen.  Life got in the way, but I am planning to try to make it next week.  If I plan ahead, I can make it happen, right? This morning started out very frustrating,  but I am trying to turn it around.   I did decide that, instead of a rest day,  which I normally take on Thursday because if weigh in, I am walking for 30 minutes and going to do a few sets of squats,  lunges...

While everyday is not the best day, I can honestly say that I am feeling the changes that are coming.  Even though my sweet husband didn't feel like going to the Rec Center, my DS15 said he would go with me.  It is always better for me when I have someone holding me accountable.  It is a process for sure.  I want to make sure that I have lunch and snacks prepared so I can make it work for my day.  Tomorrow will be a little longer tomorrow because I have weigh in.   Tonight DH and I went to the Rec Center and rode the recumbent bike for 30 minutes.  My legs have been trying to cramp up so I decided to do something different.  I'm just proud of the steps I'm taking to get me healthy.  Lunch is fixed for tomorrow but I do still have to do my yogurt and such and probably and extra snack so I know I've got enough to get me through until I can get home and have dinner. Unfortunately, I've got a bad case of the "I don't want to's" since my kit...

So I was watching CSI: Cyber episode called “URL, Interrupted” which is about a girl being cyberbullied and Peter MacNicol’s character (Simon Sifter) was talking to his son about participating in cyberbulling.  His character said “Your words hurt this girl.  Words have consequences.”  Honestly, this statement could not be truer.  These are not just the words that we say to others, but the words (or thoughts) that we say to ourselves.  Negative self talk is not a good thing for any of us.  I have really been trying to focus on changing my mindset, but it isn’t always easy.  Sometimes those thoughts pop in your head out of habit.  Once those words (or thoughts) pop out, you can’t take them back.  I remember hearing when my oldest child was little to “be careful because little ears hear what you say”.  Those seemingly innocent thoughts like when my leader announced the loss for the group last night and the thought that popped in was “I did...

So, honestly, I have been feeling like I am headed in the wrong direction.  I haven’t been eating quite like I need to everyday and I haven’t been working out.  After probably an hour or more of holding our Bichon Frise to get him trimmed or helping trim him, I got up this morning to an aching body.  My wrists, elbows, knees and hips hurt.  I was being reminded that my health is important and I need to take care of me too.  I have really started trying to rely on essential oils for my pain relief rather than Tylenol, Ibuprofen, etc.  So today, I am trying Wintergreen.  Although it says to mix it with fractionated coconut oil for larger areas, I put it directly on.  It was a weird sensation, but it seems to have helped with the pain.  As you may be aware, I have decided to focus on real food.  For purposes of Weight Watchers, I am using mostly the Power Foods list.  However, I am not eating fat free or low fat anything.  I ...

I have felt a little disconnected lately.  I think part of it is because I failed to track for a few days and pain/stress, etc. just got in the way of what I was trying to do.  I’ve really had to remind myself over the last few days, seemingly since weigh in, that I am not in this to be perfect.  The only perfect person that walked the earth was Jesus Christ and I am certainly not on the same as Him.  What I can do is do the best I can with what I have each day and make the best choice I can.  Like Saturday evening, after our church service at our new start up church, they announced that they were going to dinner.  DH decided we had to go because he hadn’t been to that restaurant in ages.  I know that Mexican food is a weakness for me.  While I know I probably ate more tortilla chips than I should have, but it seemed to take forever to get our food because of our large group.  Ultimately, though, I am not displeased with my choices while the...

I know I have really been slacking on writing the blogs and keeping everyone updated.  We've had a lot going on around here.  DS13, whose birthday is today so he will now be referred to as DS14, went to California for the World Championships in Robotics.  So much preparation for that, reservations to be made, etc.  I am not going to lie, I really started having a bad case of the "I don't want tos".  And I had to have a "Come to Jesus" meeting with myself and determine what I really and truly don't want.  I have been on this journey for longer than I would care to admit to myself, but while at my WW meeting the other night, I did admit it to a girl that has been coming.  The other part of this is that we had a very nice member from another meeting come to our meeting.  He has lost 210 pounds.  Again, I was reminded that just because I don't track it, it doesn't mean I didn't eat it.  The only person I cheat when I do that is ME.  So ...

So I am checking in after my weigh in last night…and I lost the 5.2 that I gained the week before.   Still not certain how that gain happened in the first place, but I am thankful for the loss.   I am trying to be more diligent in my tracking.   Also, I have been looking for some new recipes.   I found a girl on youtube (WeightWatchergirl1) and she has some great recipes on there.   I am excited to try a few of them out…well, minus the sloppy joes because I had a bad experience with sloppy joes as a child and I just won’t eat them. Also, let’s be honest, I have been told repeatedly that I dress frumpy or older than I actually am, etc.   I was raised Pentecostal so I dress modestly compared to many people.   I don’t like to wear skirts too short, etc.   I know that it probably doesn’t help me look any taller or anything, but I prefer to maintain my modesty.   I told a friend that I would go to a personal shopper after we hit our w...

As of last night at my weigh in, I gained 5.2 pounds over last week’s weigh in.   I am upset by this, more than I can really express.   I have been walking 10,000 steps or more per day and trying to eat well.   I can honestly say after looking back at my food logs, I probably did not have enough veggies and fruits everyday and several days I was slightly below my calorie range (even the 1200 mark, if I’m honest).   I didn’t eat anything crazy this week.   I didn’t have any sodas and was, in fact, pretty proud of the fact that I was hitting 10,000 steps most days including Sunday, which I normally take as a rest day.   I came home, depressed, as you can imagine and promptly started making my meal plan for the coming week.   I normally sit down with everyone and discuss it, but I decided that I couldn’t wait for everyone else, so I started going through the recipe book (I print off recipes and put them in a binder) aside from my cookbooks that I hav...

Yes, I know I have been lax again in my blogging. I think I was in a bad mindset. I had 2 weeks of gains, they were both less than a pound, but equaled a pound. I think that it was the not eating thing, but I managed to lose 2 pounds this week. Not quite sure how, but I am thankful for it. Today starts a new challenge for the next 8 weeks. My goal in the next 8 weeks is to lose 9.3 pounds, which is about 1.2 pounds per week. I know I can do it. I think this will definitely help me to focus on more active rest days on the weekends. I was reminded by a friend on another board about using the library as a source for the audiobooks again. I think that I may try that to help me get through my time on the machines at the gym. The other plan I have is to make sure that I prepare my salads for lunch this week (we got salad mix with Greenling this week) and I'm going to make use of it...aside from just having sandwiches. I think I am getting in a food rut and I need to get out o...

I will likely see a loss on the scale this week…thanks to the dentist. Yep, I have mouth pain again. They were trying to remove the temporary crowns and although it hurt, I thought I could suck it up because they would pop off in a minute. Yeah, not so much…those temporary crowns did not want to come off. The dentist came in and looked at them and they have decided to wait for 2 more weeks because my teeth were so tender. I can’t say that I’m not frustrated because I would be lying to myself and everyone else. It frustrates me when I can’t floss between all of my teeth. I wound up taking the first pain pill but when it didn’t help, I did take second one. Then my annoying friend “Insomnia” showed up. Not the way I wanted to spend my night/morning. I didn’t make it for my date with my boyfriend “GYM”, but I’ll definitely work on getting some extra steps in today to try to make up for it. Just hoping I can get in enough calories when I am not able to eat much. So today’s Spa...

So tonight is weigh in and, again, I have no idea what to expect. I have been doing better with my food and only having a splurge here and there. I guess one of the main reasons that I am unsure what to expect is that I have gone to the gym every day this week except Tuesday. My “dates” with my boyfriend Gym are getting more consistent. I love how I feel going through the day knowing that I started my day right. I have also noticed that I am feeling more rested when I get up. I do try to get 8 hours of sleep at least…and sometimes I go to bed at the same time as my two younger children because I want to make sure I can get to sleep to get at least 7.5 to 8 hours of sleep. Here’s what I have been doing to sort of insure I don’t have an excuse not to go to the gym. I have been laying my clothes out at night at the end of my bed (socks, undergarments, etc.) with my sneakers where I can find them. When my alarm goes off at 5 a.m., I can grab my stuff and start putting it on becaus...

So this morning when I was going through the SparkCoach tasks, Becky Hand was discussing your “Happy Weight”. She defines this as not being about a chart or graph or some magical number that you have in your head for years. This really made me start to think. I talked to my doctor awhile back about my goal weight for Weight Watchers. I told her that I honestly didn’t think that I could get to the ideal weight of 96 to 120 pounds. We agreed on 135. She indicated that it would not put me in a healthy BMI range. Honestly, I can remember being 125 when I got pregnant with my son and felt pretty good at that weight. Sadly, even smaller than that, I thought I was fat back then, but my body honestly seemed comfortable at 19 years old at 125. This is a journey and I’m fully aware of this. I’ll see where my body is comfortable and how I feel. What I do know for sure is that any loss of any percentage of my body mass right now, is a step in the right direction and will give me great h...

I must admit that I am feeling frustrated this week.   I tried to push myself last week to getting to the gym and wind up with an upper respiratory infection which has had me knocked out most of this week.   I am not going to let it stop me though.   I am more determined than ever to make sure that I do what I need to do to not fail myself on this challenge.   That is the thing about this…whether I do workout or follow my meal plan, the one person that it really affects…is ME.   What have I accomplished since starting this challenge 14 days ago?   I am listening to my body.   I stop when I am feeling full and don’t push myself to clean my plate.   Yes, I am a clean plate club member.   I don’t know if it was only the time I grew up in.   I am not pushing myself when my body says STOP, I need to rest.   I’d feel so much better about working out right now, if I could NOT hear myself every time I breathe.   My chest s...

Well, you may have noticed that I have been MIA for the last couple of days. This was not by choice. I woke up Sunday feeling under the weather but was really hoping that a day of rest would help me to feel better by Monday. On the contrary, however, I woke up Monday feeling like I had been run over by a MAC truck and they backed up a time or two just to make sure. I suspect that it is allergies that have turned into an infection of some sort…especially when I started noticeably running a fever. I listened to my body and literally did not move (other than to go down the hall) and stayed in bed. This means that no exercise or workouts were done. This was NOT the way I intended to start the week…or get through the first month of my challenge, but it was a sure reminder that I can plan all I want to, but my body has the ultimate control. I’m not sure I feel up to doing a full on workout today, but I am hoping that I can at least get 15 minutes on the upper/lower body cycle just to...

Well, last night was a rough night.  I want to do nothing more than lay down.  We had a dog that did nothing but cry all night long.  Sadly, I don’t think it is the new dog, but one of the other ones and then the oldest dog starts barking because the younger dog is getting on her nerves.  DH goes in to check out the situation, Daisy (my oldest dog) makes a mad dash out of the kitchen (which is where we keep them).  I know good decisions are not always made when one is tired.  Thankful for my meal plan.  We are having beans and special cornbread tonight.  I did wake up this morning feeling bad.  I have a bit of a sore throat and I feel like one of the 7 Dwarfs…I just can’t figure out if I am Sneezy, Sleepy or Droopy.  Oh and on a random side night, I got flour and gluten to make bread.  I am hoping it will be as much fun as I remember. Yesterday was a fun day with the family.  We played games and learned a couple of news ones....

Okay, so today is a week since I started my challenge. How am I feeling? I’m feeling pretty good actually. I’m getting into the habit of planning my activities. Meal planning is becoming more of an obstacle to do as a family. DH and I took on the task by ourselves. Here’s what I know, I definitely have to have a meal plan and a grocery list. I don’t want to go crazy with the Points so I’m trying to stick with the Simply Filling foods. I definitely see more salads/side salads in my future for this week. I may even try to throw together lasagna. I have seen several crockpot recipes or recipes that I know I can transform into crockpot recipes that I want to try. I am getting excited about cooking/baking again and I feel positive about that. Goals for the week? Well, I have already said that I want to try to workout enough to not use the Weekly PointsPlus allowance. I don’t know that I can make that happen, but I’m going to try. I know eating more of the Simply Filling Power...

As I write this, I have to tell you I went into my Weight Watchers meeting thinking that I maintained at best. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I had actually lost 1.8 pounds. Weigh-in the Thursday before Starting the Challenge: 189.6 Current weigh in: 187.8 Loss: 1.8 According to what I had set up for myself for the challenge: Lose 14 pounds to 28 pounds (Starting Weight: 189.2 [02/27/2014] End of challenge Goal: 175.2-161.2) Given that, I am off to a good start in the right direction. I am excited to see where the rest of this challenge will take me. My DH and I have struck a deal. He will let me try to do 2 classes (actually I guess it’s a class and a half) tonight and we’ll have pizza. My goal for the week is to try to stay ahead of the Weekly Points that I am using. It is definitely going to require some effort on my part, but I am excited about trying.

I must admit that I sometimes feel it is a bit much for me to write about each day of the challenge, but at the same time, I feel like I should to hold myself accountable. Head was so bad last night that I pretty much went home and to bed. My sweet husband put dinner together for me and brought it to me. I am so blessed to have him. Although I don’t tell him nearly often enough how thankful I am for him. For the most part, I have an idea how to finish out the week. Whatever happens on the scale tonight, I have an idea of what needs to change for the coming week. While I had planned on having leftovers today for lunch (probably more PointsPlus than I should have been eating anyway), my plans got changed when I was offered something from outside the office. I opted for a mixed greens salad from Paradise Bakery. I did get ranch dressing, but I kept it on the side and just dipped which prevents me from using too much. For those of you that know me, you know that I enjoy baking and...

Today is a new day. I realized after eating dinner and tracking my food that I have depleted my Weekly Points and my Activity Points. Admittedly, I felt like this was going to happen. What does it mean? That I’m going to have to workout in order to eat the foods that are going to cost me PointsPlus. Tonight my Weekly PointsPlus start over. In the coming week, I will need to be more careful of what I am spending my Weekly Points on. Honestly, as frustrated as I may be over that, I am proud of the fact that I have been tracking consistently. I feel like that is definitely a step in the right direction for me. In the past, I have tracked breakfast and lunch, but not dinner. Speaking of, I changed up my smoothie and put Greek Yogurt in it, along with some fat free organic milk, mixed berries, banana, flaxseed and protein powder. I have figured out that most of what goes in it, besides the protein powder is Power Foods. For lunch today, the plan is to have the Simple Start Tun...