More of the Same

So I maintained today at Weigh in. While I am happy to not have gained, I was hoping to at least have hit 207. I wasn't terrible this week, I stayed within my points and focused on good healthy eating. I did use more of my weeklies than I normally do (46), but  I earned 38 APs to combat it. And I tried to be OP  on easter too! I am thinking that maybe this is residual from last week, with all the drinking and eating that occured that weekend. Ahh well, moving on right?

This puts me 3 pounds up from my goal for April, and 8 pounds away from my goal of 200 by Memorial Day, which unfortunetly I don't see happening. I'm still going to try and get as close as I can though. Even 202 I'd be happy. 5-6 pounds in a month is totally doable, right?

Here's my game plan for the weekend:
-Work out at least once. Try and do something active on my day off. There has been talks of a hike tomorrow, since it's going to be gorgeous outside :-)
- Eat healthy at mealtimes, and measure everything.
-Only drink one- two times this week, and one of those times no more than 2 drinks max.
-Don't drink so much that you feel hungover the next day. That is just a bad recipie.

I think that coupled with an OP week (besides dinner with a friend on Monday, I have nothing to deter me) I should see a nice loss next Friday :-)

As I'm sure you have all heard, the "Royal Wedding" was this morning. I kind of expected myself to be excited for it, and while I think they are cute, and like the fact that they are visibly in love and took their time with their relationship, instead of rushing into things, I really just wasn't into it. I will say though, I think Kate is gorgeous, and I loved her dress :-)

I think the fact that they had to have it on a Friday, and caused the country to lose billions of the dollars by having a bank holiday, irks me, and takes away from the magic. The reality is, England is hurting just like everywhere else is, and to me, it's a bit inconsiderate to the taxpayers of England to have their wedding be so grandeous (I mean, 50,000 pounds to have trees and a garden set up in Westminister, really?) and cause a huge hit to their economic progress. I know from what M has told me (he's from Scotland, so he has a ton of family over there), and just from what I've read, a lot of people weren't too happy about it all. It takes away from some of the magic of it all, for my anyways. That said, who doesn't want to envision themselves as a princess? :-)

rant over, I'm a total hypocrite, because I totally looked at all the pictures, and thought it all looked so sweet. But I couldn't really get into it with that fact hanging in the back of my mind.

Happy weekend everybody!

3.2

As you remember, I've had some bad knee pain from running as of late. I took 2 full weeks off, and haven't run anything over 2 miles since. After my last one, my knee started to bother me again. Not bad pain like before, just uncomfortable.

So my plan for this week was to continue the strength moves, through videos and free weights. Also, for cardio do a walking/smal run/eliptical combo. I was a bit nervous to run still, so I felt this would be best.

I get to the gym yesterday, and realize that they finally got in the new treadmills! The old ones were awful, and rickity, so I won't lie, the gym geek inside of me was pretty excited.

So I got ready, climbed on, and planned to run 1 mile straight, varying my speed between 4.8-5.0 (I'm slow, don't judge. Its hard with 45 extra pounds on me!)

I got close to the mile point, and said to myself, you know what, you are already at 12, why not just run till the 15 minute mark. And I did :-) I ended up running a little bit over, to bring me to 1.3 miles ran, 1.5 total with the warm up. I started to walk, and realized that I felt great.

I had no pain, my right thigh was a bit tight and sore, but nothing awful.

I could keep going.

And I did. I walked 5 minutes total, at a fast pace, and then ran another 10 minutes. Let me just state that I normally run 7 minute increments, taking 30 second breathers to catch my breath. This run made me realize that I was holding myself back. I wasn't pushing myself, and I was creating a wall. I had started the c25K program last summer, bearly being able to do 3minute miles. Since then I've lost close to 30 pounds, and don't need to walking breaks like I used to. I was telling myself that I would teeter out if I didn't take those water breaks every 7 minutes, when in fact I can definetly make it till 10, even 15 minutes without needing a breather.

After the 10 minutes, I was at 2.65, farther than I've ran in a long time. I took another 3 minute walking break, and started up again, running the final 7 minutes bringing me up to 3.2 total. With cooldown 3.35, but a 5k none the less!

I felt invigorated, for the first time in a long time after a run. It didn't feel like work, it felt great! I actually enjoyed myself while running. And what's more, I had no knee pain. I was stiff, and felt exhausted, but after a few squats and lunges, my legs felt more limber, and I could feel how much stronger they are, even though I only started focusing on my strengthening 3 weeks ago. I can see the muscles becoming defined, and I see the inches lost in my hips and thighs. It's awesome, I love it, and It felt amazing last night to be able to accomplish the full 3.2

I have 1.5 months till the Milton road race. June 14 630pm. I am going to start running outside, to get used to the heat, but at least it'll be at night, so even if it's really hot by then, it won't be too bad.

And I'm just going to say it now. I plan on running 80% of it. I am going to take what I did yesterday, and train with that. Run a mile, walk .2, run a mile, walk .3 run .7 mile. Totally doable. I want my time to be under 40 , and I think that's definetly achievable.

:-)

You Know Who I Am?

I'm the girl who totally forgot it was Easter last Sunday. Until after work on Friday/Saturday morning. I had a nice healthy weekend planned, and then I realized that Sunday was a holiday. A road block, if you will. I think going from years and years of having long drawn out holidays for Easter weekend, (in high school, we had a half day thursday, then Friday off, in College we had Thursday-Monday off!) to being an "adult" (yuck) and not gettin any time off. It kind of takes away from the holiday, but I think it's more I miss my school vacations :-)

Anyways I didn't have a bad weekend. I ate healthy at mealtimes, drank within my plan on Friday, and not at all on Saturday. I watched my portions on Easter sunday, indulging without binging. We had the most amazing meal too, I was super proud of myself.

My dad HATES ham, but loves Lamb. My mother likes both, but hates not getting ham, so we have both. Between the 6 of us. I'm not a big ham fan, so I stuck with the lamb and a half slice of the ham. Both were really good. The lamb was cooked just right and was so tender and flavorful, I loved it. Coupled with mashed potatoes, carrots and parsnips (a Walsh family staple), and turnip, we had a pretty awesome meal.

And I didn't go overboard either. Part of what I owe that to is the fact that in my house, my parents cook a roast dinner EVERY Sunday. Since... forever really. I can't remember a Sunday where we didn't have a big meal (except for the odd sunday in the summer when we grill, or holiday weekends). Whether it's chicken, roast beef, lamb, etc, it's always a big to do, and I have forced myself to portion things out. It's not as crazy a meal when it's every Sunday, you know?

I also took a small slice of the cake (which was also phenom) and split my chocolate bunny with M. I went over my points, but not by a ridiculous amount. And a lot of that I owe to the glass of wine I had, and the salsa and chips I snacked on all afternoon :-)

I'm still hoping for a loss, I consider the whole easter day a victory, and while I did go over my points, it wasn't a fiasco. I was really full, and stopped eating as a result, which is 10 times better than how I used to behave on holidays (read: threw caution to the wind and ate whatever the fuck I wanted).

Plus I've kept to my workout schedule:.
S-Eliptical and weights- check!
M- Running and weights- I left my freaking sports bra at home, so the gym was going to be a hassle. Did No More Trouble Zones instead, and feel sore today!
W-Video- Going to do a cardio workout instead!
Th- weights and cardio


****Edit: Apparently I did remember, haha, see post below. I'm out of it, I think I need a vacation ;-)

Here's to a good rest of the week!

50!!

So I proved that not so WW behavior and drinking and drunk eating can be recitified by good WW behavior!

I lost .8 today, bringing me down to 208.0, exactly 50 pounds from my start a little over a year ago!! It's especially exciting, because I figured with my not so great WW weekend, I would end up maintaining or gaining this week. But yay for making it work! I definetly worked the plan this week, and it paid off!!

-I was OP every day. Tracked before treats, and stopped myself if I didn't have the points to use.
- I worked out every day, just like I planned. The only difference was I did the 30 Day Shred instead of NMTZ, but hey, that with a walk still burned 375 calories. Not too shabby!
-I pushed myself in those workouts. Running yesterday, I wanted to stop. But I kept on going, and I'm soo happy I did!

So yes, hopefully I can keep up these healthy living vibes, into the weekend.

My weekend is low key. Tonight M and I are hanging out, making dinner, and then going to a bar about 5 minutes away to watch the red sox game for an hour or two. Should be fun :-) I love our date nights. Tomorrow I have no idea what is going on, except that M wants to go to the gym, which should get our butts in gear! I may be babysitting, but I haven't heard anything yet... Hopefully, hopefully.

An Sunday my plan is to either go for a long walk, or a run. Hopefully a run :-) I'm wicked excited for Easter dinner, as we are having lamb and ham. I'm not a big ham fan, but I loove lamb. Love it!


I think overall my lazy weekend should be fun, and well needed! I was so tired this week, Wednesday night I ate dinner and then went to bed at like 9, which rarely happens. It felt good, but at the same time I was STILL tired Thursday morning. I can't wait to sleep in tomorrow!

I read an interesting article in Glamour about a girl with a self diagnosed binge eating issue. One thing I really had to work through when I started WW was the fact that I was in denial about my eating. Ever since I was young, I used food as a crutch. It comforted me, and whenever I was sad/angry/frustrated, since I had trouble expressing my feelings (something I've worked through when I saw a therapist), eating helped satiate that pain.

I would also hide it, from my family. I would take 10 slices of cheese, and stuff it under my shirt, and take it to my room. Cookies, candies, crackers, whatever we had in the house. I did it all the time, because it made me feel better about my parents fighting/mean kids at school/ feeling leftout with friends.


Whatever was bothering me. I remember in 4th grade I went for my physical, and they had told my mom that I had gained 50 pounds in the past year. 50 POUNDS, when I was 10 years old. And I didn't let it stop there, I kept on going, and by the time I was 13 I weight 232 pounds. At that point, my doctor said something, and had me see a nutritionist, who basically told me to portion food and not eat like I was. Big help, right? obviously this wasn't intentional, but I subconsciously needed food. I had friends, but they weren't very nice, my parents fought a lot, as this was the time when both my parents had hurt themselves on the job, so they were making literally half of what they should have been, while supporting 4 kids under 14. I remember my dad used to make comments about how I was hiding food, and that's why I'm so big. But eating, at this point, was the main focus of my day. It's what I enjoyed the most out of life, why would I take that away?

It stayed like this till I was 15/16, and I became closer with the friends I had made in high school. I had something that made me truly happy, but I was like weighing in at 250 and when you are 16 and don't drink, there are few activities out there that don't involve food.

So the point of this whole speech? Is that I am beyond guilty of binge eating, and overeating. Even Wednesday night, I got home late, had to cook up dinner, and was pissed off at something my mom said. What did I do? I reached for some chips. And ended up having about 10 of them before I stopped myself.

That's right, ladies and gentleman, I stopped myself. I remembered the article in glamour, and how it listed the different signs of binge eating, and ways to overcome it. I asked myself why I was eating, and put the chips away. I realized that even though I thought my using food to cover up what I was feeling was a thing of my past, from when I was a kid, I still to some extent do it.

I still turn to food when I'm sad. I still make excuses for my eating, and will sometimes get candy, and make sure I eat it before I get home/pick up a friend.

But, you have to know, that for me realizing that I do this is half the battle. Pre Weight Watchers, I didn't think there was anything wrong with the way I ate. I really didn't eat more than my skinny friends. But in order to lose the extra 100 pounds I packed on as a child, I was going to have to do more, and I was going to have to embark on a healthy lifestyle. And part of that healthy lifestyle is recognizing where I falter, and slowly bettering myself. And stepping back, asking myself why I am doing this, is a big step for me, and I couldn't be happier with myself because of that :-)

My goal for April was to hit 205. I'm at 208 even right now, so I doubt it will happen. But I am going to be good this week, in hope that I can at least come close :-)

New URL!

So I updated my URL to myweightlossbalancingact.blogspot.com, if for no other reason than it corresponds better with my title. And I'm crazy like that :-)

No, but my old url was my username for a bunch of (albiet harmless and non private) sites, and I wanted to veer my blog away from the relation to that, keep my information quasi private. :-)


enjoy it, bookmark it, do what you will with it ;-)

There's Good and Bad in Everything, Right?

That's how I'm viewing this weekend :-) Honestly, I wasn't great. I have no weeklies left. I didn't workout at all. But I didn't overdo it. I tracked and owned what I drank.

For Starters, The Good:
-I ate healthier to make up for the drinks! I ate the Turkey bean chili my sister made for lunch Friday Saturday, and Sunday. Hey, for 8 points with cheese, it's a great go to!
       - Friday night we got a veggie pizza at Beer Works. The pizza was alright, too doughy for my taste (it was thin crust, but tasted like it should have been cooked more) we split a personal sized pizza, and I ate 3 slices, all of which were on the smaller side. I was happy with myself for that :-)
      -Saturday night I made chicken sausages and sweet potato fries for M and I. It was delicious, and I kept myself to 1.5 sausages, and only one roll. Go me!

- I tracked as much as I could. I'm sure there were things that I'm missing, but I know I got all the drinks in! And I estimated everything the best I could (IE the chinese food plate that M made on Saturday night when we got home. I really only had a few bites of it, but I still tracked estimated points to try and make it realistic.)

-TV on the Radio was amazing!! I took a bunch of videos and pictures, and had a great time! I also didn't keep on drinking, once I finished my drink I just stopped for a bit, and waited until after to concert, which I was happy about :-) Minus some drama afterwards (which was more irritating than anything else!) It was a good night! Unfortunetly I have a 50 dollar pending charge from the House of Blues, which concerns me. Going to have to call them later on today and sort that out, because I did not drink that much!

The Bad:
-My advice? Never sit in the Family section of Fenway. Ever. Begining of the game, everyone was yelling, having fun. Then they started losing, and people left, or moved up, whatever. M started to boo them. Just booing, like everyone else was doing. And the lady next to him very rudly told him he should move down, and when we said that we paid for these seats, and were fine here, she gave us this nasty smile and went "You didn't pay for these seats". Stuck up biatch, in my opinion. I moved over , M however didn't want to let it go, so he continued booing, and told her she was the worst red sox fan ever. She called security and told them he was harrassing them. Guess who they believed?

Yep, now we have a fun story of M being thrown out of fenway park. And running away because he thought they were going to arrest him. I cried, called my friend J who lives down the street, who was really nice and let me hang out in her apartment until M finally resurfaced. I was so angry, and the night kinda sucked because of that experience. Who gets kicked out for booing?

-I drank a lot. I haven't had a weekend where I drank like that in awhile, but I did. And now in 3 in the red.

- My plan to workout on Sunday was ruined. By a super nasty hangover. I didn't even drink that much. Not enough to incur that bad of a hangover, anyways. Ugh. I slept all day, and woke up, and did a whole lotta nothin. Blech.

So There you have it. We are now entering into damage control mode. Here's my plan for the week!

-Go Grocery shopping, buy more healthy food for work. Lunch for this week: Wraps! I haven't made a good wrap in awhile, and I'm starting to get tired of pita bread
- Work out every day. Tentative plan is:
         -Monday: Eliptical and weights
         -Tuesday: Running
         -Wednesday: No more trouble zones, and maybe some light cardio
        -Thursday: Cardio and weights
hopefully that, coupled with being on plan will help repair some of the damage I did this weekend. I did peek at the scale this morning, and was only up 2, so it's definetly doable!

I'm in a better mindset than my crazy weekend a few weeks back. I attribute my wanting to eat everything in sight yesterday to the hangover. And it's very possible that my lack of true sleep and lazy days is why I felt so crummy. I drank my water, and while I had a lot of drinks, I wasn't that bad. So yesterday was a good recoup day. Now I'm back in action!!
      

Daydreaming and Goals

Fridays, oddly enough, tend to be one of my post productive days. I love being busy on Fridays, just because it makes it go by so much faster (I can't believe its already 230!) I am leaving work at 3, and got through everything I planned to do by about 130, so now I'm just going to coast till the end :-)

I'm so excited for this weekend! Red Sox game tonight. Hopefully they win, although that hasn't been the common denominator  lately :-( M and I have a 2-1 record though (out of the 3 games we've seen together, they have won two!) so odds are in our favor :-) M also is a very passionate fan of sports. To the point where he gets so upset and angry, it makes me irritated, haha. After the Pats-Colts 4th and 1 fiasco, he had to take a walk because he was so furious. I love watching sports with him, but not so much when they lose :-)

Then tomorrow is TV on the Radio. I'm so excited for this concert, because I've heard they are amazing live. For those of you that don't know them, look em up. Most of their songs are so pretty, and they are totally rockin. I work out to them a lot, just because they definetly fire you up!

All in all it'll be a good weekend! I'm going shopping with my friend tomorrow afternoon, and then I will workout on Sunday, earn some APs :-) To combat the extra drinking I'm doing tonight and tomorrow M and I are splitting a pizza at the bar tonight (I will only have two slices, I will only have two slices...), and then cooking some turkey burgers on the grill. So that should give me some extra room to splurge a bit.

Also Weigh in today put me -1, which brings me to 208.8 or 49.2 down. Soooo close to 50! I was secretly really hoping to hit 50 today, just so I could celebrate with this weekend, but ahh well, it'll keep me more accountable, so I can hit it next weekend!

I'm still happy, and I have two more WI this month, so hopefully I can hit 206, or around that :-)

I'm so happy that springtime has sprung! Even though it means allergies galore, I am excited for this summer, because I feel like I have a lot of new things I want to try and do this year. Last summer I was so focused on losing weight and being on plan, this year obviously I want to continue that, but I have accomplished so much, and gotten into such a better mindset, that I want to "broaden my horizons", a little bit :-)

So, here are My Summer 2011 Goals. I'll check back in to see where I'm at!

1. Be around 185.
I know, I know, I shouldn't set Weight loss goals. BUT  I feel like it helps me challenge myself more, and stay On plan better! I want to be at 200 by memorial day (or close to it!) so I think I can definetly lose 15-20 throughout the summertime! I lost 14 last summer (June 1- Sept1) and I was still adjusting to the program, so I think I have the recipie for success down now!

2. Shop Farmer's Markets
 I hope to be moved out on my own by the end of the summer, but even so, there is a Farmer's Market every Wednesday in the center of the town I work in. I'll save so much on Fruits and veggies for work, and I'll get the opportunity to try new things!

3. Try new activities outdoors
 Last summer's Kayaking attempt was a failure (we showed up and the place was closed), but I definetly want to give it another go this year. I also want to swim more, and run outside more.

4. Run the Milton Road Race
June 14th, 630 pm. It's a 5k, similar route to the best buddies 5K last November. My friend wants to do it with me, and I think that is just enough time for me to train up to be able to run the entire thing, or 80% of it.

5.Travel the Area
Last summer M and I did a daytrip up to Gloucester. It was awesome! I want to do more day trips like that, explore Massachusetts and the surrounding area.

6. Try at least 5 new fruits and veggies
I get stuck in ruts. It happens. I need to work on this!

7. Try 5 new recipies
Branch out!

There you have it. Definetly attainable, and a recipie for a really fun summer!

Happy Friday!

Guess what I did yesterday?

I was about to head to the gym, and I just plain did not want to go. The idea of hitting up the eliptical machine again seemed unbearable. all I could think of was how nice it was outside, and how I'd rather go for a walk.

or a run :-) I changed my clothing at work, and headed home, not stopping until I reached Wollaston beach. I used to try and run here all the time, key word is try.  I would run for a minute and be so out of breath I'd have to walk for three. I wasn't pacing myself, or building up my endurance. But either way, when I thought about running outside, this is the first place I thought of. It's a long stretch of pavement along a beach that is always full of people running or walking (or sitting). It's very peaceful and serene, and it's where I headed. I stretched, and did a quick warm up walk and then took off. I chose to go back a bit in the C25K program, because I know running outside is very different than running inside.

And I realized that part of my frustration with running comes from running on a treadmill. The only  times I've tried running outside was during a race. The pressure was on, and I tired myself out early. This time there was no pressure. I get tired? I can sit for a minute. I can walk if my knee starts to hurt. Either way I tried, and that's all that matters.

But after the first few minutes, I realized that I didn't want to stop. I wanted to keep going. I ran the entire length, took a two minute break at the end to drink some water, and bring my HR down a bit, and then ran the entire length back, and cooling down by walking further down the beach a bit. I ran for a total of 22 minutes, and felt awesome. I wasn't bored, or tired, or feeling nauseous from not being able to breathe. I felt confident, strong, and happy. Don't get me wrong. All these months that I've tried running, I haven't hated it. I've just never really reached that point where I hit a stride, and felt comfortable. But yesterday I did, and it felt awesome.

And more importantly, I have zero knee pain. A bit discomfort yesterday afterwards but icy hot helped to cure that ;-)

My weekend, as I said, was quiet. Saturday M and I took a lovely walk with the puppy, down this bike trail a few minutes from my house. It was so pretty, and full of people walking, biking, running, etc. I loved how warm and lovely it was, and could feel the amount of walking we did in my legs later on that day!

I ate pretty healthy throughout the weekend, although snacking and grazing is something I still struggle with. I need to just not allow myself to eat anything that isn't on a plate, you know? But alas, I didn't. Thankfully my meals combatted this (I think)

Friday Dinner- 2 slices of pizza, salad, a glass of wine and then 4 beers later on.
Saturday Lunch- buffalo chicken deli meat with muenster cheese on ciabbatta roll. It was delicious, and worth every point.
Saturday Dinner- cheeseburger on a bulkie roll with a salad.
Sunday Breakfast- 1 egg 2 egg whites, 2 slices toast, fruit salad. 
Sunday Dinner- Roast chicken, 1/2 C mashed potatoes, 1/2 C carrots and parsnips.

I did snack in between on Sunday, including 6 munchkins that my parents graciously put in front of me. But otherwise, not too shabby :-) Plus I kept my drinking to one night. Last night M and I hung out and watched Food Inc, because he had never seen it before. I had 2 glasses of wine and a beer, but I was ok with it, because I have a ton of weeklies left to use up, and was in the mood for a few drinks :-)

I hope to stay OP for the rest of the week. I really want to come close to my 50 pound goal at WI this week, so well see. Today I have all my meals planned out, and my sister is cooking something OP tonight. I think I will do a video when I get home as well, just to get some APs in.

Tomorrow more of the same, except I will be going to the gym for a nice long workout :-) Thursday night I have a dentist appointment, so I may not get a great workout in, although my sister offered to go to the gym with me afterwards. Well see :-)

And after that it's Red sox game on Friday, and TV on the Radio on Saturday! Such an exciting weekend ahead of me!!

The Ever Eluding Scale

Back when I first started WW, I was using our old bathroom scale. It was definetly on its way out (we've had it for years, and eventually one of the "feet" broke off), and I would weigh myself 7 times in a row, and take the most common. I would get numbers all over the place, but what choice did I have? based on my results, and how much I weighed on my new scale, I'd say my method was pretty accurate.

Today I stepped on the scale after going to the bathroom, and it read 210.0.


I won't lie, I was a little dissapointed. I burnt almost 3500 calories this week, I ate pretty well (probably OP 80% of the time). And while that's still a loss, I was really hoping to get out of the 210s. I decided to try one more time.

209.2

what?? Ok now I'm confused. One more time

209.8.

I tried 4 more times, and kept on getting 209.8. I even went to the bathroom again, came back out and tried again. So that is the number I went with, and while I'm just bearly out of the 210s ( I mean, really, it's a .2 difference from my first weight), It felt 10 times better. Isn't that silly? It is, and I 100% believe it isn't the amount I lost (I mean, .8 is awesome!) but more the fact that I was still in the 210s. Whatever, I'm happy, and would like to thank the scale gods for moving me down just a tiny bit, to appease my insanity.

Moving on :-) I "reset" in a way, because last week marked 52 weeks on WW tracking (I did technically start the begining of march 2010, but didn't get serious until April), so now we are onto year 2, week 1! You will see where I post my WIs that we are now back to week one :-)

I'm excited for a quiet weekend, tonight I'm just hanging in and tomorrow night I am babysitting. Next weekend is a Red Sox game (hopefully they will have won a game by then) and then Saturday night I am going to see TV On the Radio at the House of Blues. It's going to be awesome, they are a band I've wanted to see ever since M got me into them 2 years ago, and they are so lively and melodic, it's going to be a great concert :-)

It's supposed to be high 50s/low 60s this weekend though, which is awesome! Saturday M and I are going to bring the puppy for a long walk through the marshes, and Sunday spend some quality time at the gym, so hopefully I'll spend a lot of time getting in those Activity points!

I haven't ran yet, but can really feel an improvement in my knee! I've been doing squats and lunges religiously, and can tell that it's making a difference. Even on the eliptical, or walking up hill, I would have slight knee pain, but now it's nothing! It's amazing how such a small thing can make a big difference! I am going to try and run on Monday, and see how it goes, hopefully it will make all the difference.

Not much else to report! It's been a quiet week, but sometimes you need that, right?

How to take Care of a "Case of the Mondays"

So I was really looking forward to writing about my weekend, because weight loss journey wise, I had a really good one! But for some reason I  just woke up on the wrong side of the bed:

-I had a pain in my arm all day (I think I slept on it weird)
-I was grumpy
-My stomach was gross all day
-I had some not so fun emails to deal with at work.
-I was sassed by the lady at the grocery store
-It rained.
- M had a bad day, and was grouchy on the phone (not why I was in a bad mood, but it didn't help)

All in all, not what I'm looking for in a Monday. All I wanted to do at 4pm is go home and curl up in my bed.

Flash forward to 10pm, and I'm feeling pretty happy, and more importantly content with myself, instead of all grumpy. Here are my 4 cures for the "Mondays":

1. A Dose of Puppy Love

how cute is he?

Now how can you be sad with this face? One of the reasons I like living at home is because I get to come home to this little guy, who is always ecstatic to see me. Sometimes, you just need a puppy cuddle ;-)








2. Hitting up the Gym
 So the last thing I wanted to do today is go to the gym. I even considered just going home and doing a small video, or  taking the night off and only going 3X this week.

But I went, because I know that 99% of the time I feel better afterwards. And this time was no different. I didn't do any weights or anything special, just because my arm was hurting me and I didn't want to further hurt it. But I did 25 minutes on the elliptical and 15 minutes walking on an incline. I burnt 580 calories, and felt 10 times better afterwards. All my aggression and anxiety was gone, I felt content and was practically skipping out of there I was so happy to be out of my funk.

3.Comfort Food
Sometimes, ya need it.

Mine came in the form of Reese cups (my absolute favorite candy. It gives a peanut butter and chocolate fix, all at once!), and burgers for dinner. I made my burger healthy, but all the same, it was comfort food, it made me content

4. Finding that Happy Place
For me, the best cure for those Monday blues are to spend some time jamming out to music, and forgetting all my troubles. I have millions of playlists set up on my itunes from the past few years, and I love to put on a current mix, or an old mix, and just zone out, so to speak. It helps me find my happy place.


And with that, ladies and gents, my Monday Blues are over!!

My weekend was good. I ate well, M and I made kick ass enchiladas on Friday. They were time consuming, but so worth it. Our friends grouped together for a beer tasting, where we all tried a different beer and drank. Some awesome choices, and some interesting choices. All in all, a really fun night. And M and I resisted stopping at Wendy's on the way home :-) We're learning


Saturday was also pretty healthy. I stayed in my points, and babysat, which is a great way to stay busy! I took a walk with the puppy, but nothing crazy, I was still really sore from doing No More Trouble Zones on Thursday night. Getting back into squats and lunges sucks.

Sunday I spent a solid 90 minutes at the gym, did 40 minutes eliptical, tons of squats, lunges, and weight moves, and get in some ab workouts before M, sister and I had to go home. I was exhausted when I got home.

And here we are. Overall I'm happy I had a good weekend, and hopefully it translates into a good rest of the week, and more importantly a good WI!

This pretty much sums it up...

Gains, and Struggling with Food Guilt

My biggest problem when I have a bad day is it is never just a "bad  day". It's a bad few days, or week, because I have so much trouble combating the guilt I get the next day. Now you would think a bad night would make me say "ok Marie, you had a bad day, lets make today a good one!".

But I don't. Instead I let myself fall back into old habits, and I have no idea why.

I posted on Monday about my not so good weekend, and all week, while I've been good, I haven't been able to shake the off feeling. It was my first "really bad night" in a long time, and while I told myself to track it, move on, try and make up for it, I still felt like this in the back of my mind:

I had a pretty good week, after Sunday. Earned 35APs, portioned my foods. And I worked myself hard at the gym with strength training and a video yesterday that has caused me massive stiffness and pain in my upper thighs today, so there are many reasons why I would have gained, not just my bad weekend (although I'm sure that's part of it). I should have jumped back on the bandwagon after Friday night, and cut my losses, but I didn't. I let it get to me, when I shouldn't have. It was one night, and I let it turn into a weekend event.

Sigh. I'll get over it, right? Something to work on :-) This whole WLJ is a work in progress
Moving on, one thing I am going to work on is recognizing the difference between enjoying myself, and overindulging. I think I let myself get guilted too often for enjoying myself, and that normally leads to guilty eating, and overindulging.

It's ok to eat out, and enjoy myself, or drink for the fun of it. Eating because food is there, and drinking just to get drunk, or because everyone else is, on the other hand, is going too far. Again, something I struggle with. 

I need to stop letting temptation get to me. Getting fit and thin will be 10 times more worth it than any of those curly fries were.

GOALS FOR THIS WEEK
-Limit my drinks to 2-3 nights, and only  a few each (Tonight and tomorrow I am driving, so I won't be drinking much, if at all. Tuesday is trivia but that is only 1-2, so I shouldn't have a problem with this).
-Work out Saturday and Sunday. They can be light workouts, but just do something!
-Eat well, and focus on portions and GHGs. Tonight, M and I are making chicken enchiladas from skinnytaste.com, one of my favorite recipie sites. It's going to be delicious, and low calorie!

Non Weight Loss Related-
- start spring cleaning! I have SOO much crap in my room. I cannot even do it justice (maybe I'll take a picture). Every weekend this month, I plan on tackling a different part of my room (Starting with my clothing. I am going to make the Sancta Maria House So happy with all the clothing I am going to donate.) After clothing comes my desk and drawers, under my bed, and my corners.
-Sort out my loan situation. Ugh is all I have to say to that.

Happy weekend, and most importantly happy RED SOX opening day!!