Saturday Morning - Health update and goal setting

Saturday morning weight in and health evaluation time. I like to take time to think about the week ahead on Saturday mornings and how I can make it a better week. What can I do to be stronger and healthier? What are my concerns?

This last week was a struggle with food. I didn't go crazy - but I felt a little out of control. The voice of justification (It's ok - eat a cookie!) was in my head too much and usually that means other things are going on that make me feel like I need extra. Extra love, extra food, Extra stuff to fill the holes in my soul. I try to be mindful of that voice - it's a trickster and will lead me astray.

So I did the "Please let me not have gained" prayer as I stepped on my Wii this morning and was happy that I saw a little loss. Not even a pound, but it's the right direction and I consider that a win.

I have noticed my Zumba workouts aren't destroying me as much anymore, so I want to step up the workouts. Either the intensity of the short work-outs (Since I am on beginner) or trying the 40 minute work outs. I am not sure what makes sense to do yet - but I need to change something there.

I only have three more work outs to go on my 2nd tread-mill afghan and then I can be done knitting on my treadmill. I have been wanting that to be harder too, and I just can't go too fast while knitting. Visions of being impaled on my pretty hard wood knitting needles fill my head. No thank you! I have the incline at 50% and walk for an hour every time. It's enough that I drip with sweat every work out - but I am to the point that I really want to work harder.

I REALLY need to finish putting together my first tread mill afghan. I pretty much just have to finish stitching on the seed stitch borders surrounding the blanket and it's done. I run screaming from finish work.

I thought I would include a couple pictured of Emma in the cat bed. We purchased the largest heated bed we could thinking the girls might share. We find Emma in the bed as often as the cat. They have a nice view of the bird feeders from the bed and some nice sunlight. Pretty sweet spot.

This is how she curls - all her feet together in a pile of cuteness. She is giving me the "What? What now? I just want to nap!" look.  Love my fur-babies.

Saturday Mornings are Good Mornings

My trusty work-out sneakers. I am going to DESTROY you!

It's Saturday morning - So it's Weight in day. I actually LOVE Saturday mornings. Not just because I don't have to work - that is just a Du! But I love everything else too. The last two Fridays I have fallen asleep well before 9:00pm. This morning I slept until just past 7:00 - so I really got some good rest. I get up and let the dog out and feed her. Then I can sit at my computer and sip on a cup of coffee and wake up s l o w l y. How lovely to not rushrushrush. Then when I am ready I head over to my Wii Fit and weight in.

This week I had my biggest loss - 2.7 lbs. (-13 on WW and -28 from my heaviest). I found this surprising since last Sunday I splurged and ate a calorie & fat laden extravaganza from our local Mexican Restaurant. Re-fried beans and cheese galore. It was amazing and I have no regrets whatsoever about eating it. But I thought it would slow my weight loss this week. Apparently not. Good lesson learned. One meal does not a fat-ass make. Flipping that coin around, I am learning patience and persistence is key in lifestyle change. I am still delighting in how much and the variety I can eat. I have ice cream frequently - It's just not a pint of Ben & Jerry's anymore - now it's a Skinny Cow drumstick - which are VERY good btw. Love them.

My increased exercise has been doing me good. I feel like my body is pulling in and I kind of feel like I have a little of the ol' Jenny swagger back. Not quite up to Old Spice Guy on a horse level of Swagger - but I am slowly getting my mojo back.

One of the joys of this journey and this steady slow drop in weight is that every day when I pull something out of my closet to wear I get the joy of it slipping on and instead of trying to find something I can fit into. To wear clothing that I could never really fit into and have it kind of hang on me now is soooooooo gratifying. Yesterday I wore a blouse that I had avoided for some time. I would have to wear a tank or tight tee under it and then button one or two buttons rather strategically to hide bulges. Yesterday it buttoned top to bottom and there was much room to spare! I actually had the thought that I should wear a tank under it because it is a little too big and gaps open. Oh yeah! I will take that my friends!

This next week:
I feel like I am pretty on track for my goals. I want to continue with my exercise routine and always always always drink more water. (Why is this so hard?)

Hang in there - It's almost the weekend!

My weeks are really flying by quickly lately. I think this is in part due to my increased work out schedule. I went from tread-milling three times a week for an hour (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday) to Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday (still an hour a session) and added a 20 minute Wii Zumba session after each tread mill session. My days are just FLYING by!

That being said I am always so grateful for Friday to arrive. I am pretty tuckered out at the end of a work week and look forward to a little rejuvenation on the weekends. Sleeping past 4:45 am and getting more than 6 or 7 hours sleep is wonderful. I always seem to be short on sleep and I know I will have to work on that as part of my health quest. Being on Weight Watchers is helping with that as well - I have cut my coffee back to one cup most days with only an occasional Starbucks Skinny Cinnamon Dulce Latte as a treat. I have cut way back on my wine drinking (although I always like wine better in the winter - so we will see how that goes....) which seems to bother my sleep quite a bit. And I am training myself to be able to get up and use the restroom in the middle of the night and go back to sleep. I am increasing my water intake quite a bit - so this has become a needed skill. And I feel like the more I exercise the better the odds of me getting a good nights rest.

Sleep is so important but it is so readily sacrificed.

Health Quest & ZUMBA

Today was my 5 week weight in on Weight Watchers. I am down -10.3 pounds on WW and just over 25 pounds less than my highest weight two years ago. GO ME! Am very pleased with my progress and am still in love with Weight Watchers online.

I confess - I was initially a little disappointed in my weight loss when I got on my Wii this morning. And I blame The Biggest Loser on my unrealistic expectations. I watched the first two episodes of the new season this week and I think watching these people drop such massive amounts of weight on week 1 and then still pretty amazing amounts week 2 (although almost all of them were in tears for ONLY dropping 2-10 pounds.....) it kind of skewed my perception of what reality is for a normal mortal. I am averaging a 2.1 pound loss per week since starting WW. Before Weight Watchers I would drop weight one week and then gain it back the next. Boing Boing Boing. So I need to use caution on my brain when I watch shows like that. I do not have Bob Harper standing on my throat and screaming at me. (Nor would I want that! Yuck!) Inspirational? Yes. Expectational? - NO.

So I am very pleased with how this week went. I did increase my Tread Mill from 3 one hour sessions to 4. AND!!!!!! I got my Wii Zumba in the mail this week.
LOVE IT! I got it in the mail on Tuesday and after my tread mill session I turned it on and started on it. I found it a little confusing to navigate the menu. And the tutorial would either stick on a step forever (if I did it without the wii stick in my hand) or skip through at lightning speed if I did hold the Wii stick, but once I got into the actual work out I was a happy girl. I was dripping with sweat at the end of the 20 minute beginner routine and panting for air. (Whether that is a commentary on my level of fitness or how good this is for a workout - I don't know. Either way.....) So on Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday I added a session of Zumba to my workouts. After the first day I was VERY sore in my upper body and back. Day 2 was hard. I was sore and my list of excuses was mighty. Told myself to "Woman up!" and did it. Day three I wasn't as sore as I thought I would be and was looking forward to getting my three days of exercise behind my belt. When I woke up on Friday I was surprised at the lack of stiffness in my back and body in general. Nice!

So my new exercise schedule is: Saturday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and I am doing one hour of knitting/walking on my treadmill at a 50% incline and then hitting my Wii when I finish on the treadmill for a Zumba session. Sunday, Monday & Friday are rest and recovery days. If I stick to this for the Tread Mill schedule I will be done with knitting on my Afghan in 7 more weeks. I am anxious to be done with it so I can ramp up my speed and change my focus. I can't go too fast on the tread mill when I am knitting so I have jacked the incline up to compensate and make it harder. I drip with sweat every session and my heart rate goes up - so I know I am burning calories and doing some good to my body, but I really want to keep ramping up the work outs - so that means this will probably be my final afghan on the tread mill.

I am trying to focus on the little things to see my success on the health quest. Like my pajama bottoms are all dragging on the floor now. And when I went to put on a long sleeve T that I lived in last winter I was sure it must be a 2XL because it was just too big. When I took it off and looked it was a 1XL - which means I am sneaking slowly into Large girl territory and will soon not be an XL girl. (Happily said goodbye to 2XL Jen awhile ago.) My jeans fit better every week and I foresee needing to go shopping for the holidays. And I am excited about being more comfortable in my own skin this holiday season. AND my 40th Birthday is 5 weeks away and I am excited to see where I am at on my 40th birthday! Go me!

THIS WEEK:
I want to stay on my exercise routine that I started this week.
I want to keep ramping up my water consumption. (I drink more water when I exercise!)
Take all my vitamins every day.
Try a new WW recipe.
Get. More. Sleep.

I'm Back in the saddle again!

Well - I made my first square on my treadmill afghan today. Again. I believe it was March last year that I pooped out on this thing. We got the dog, Tom lost his job, excuses, excuses....

So. We got a Wii and I have been doing the wii fit faithfully for 10 days in a row for 30 minutes a day. And today I dusted off my needles and headed down to the treadmill and made a square for my afghan.

I know it's cliche to start trying to be healthy again at the New Year - but now that the holidays are over and I have months of ice, snow and cold to look forward to, it just seems like a good time to work it out.

I am trying to not obsess over the numbers but facts are facts. I want the numbers to LOWER. One thing that is a blessing and a curse about the Wii is the tracking of the BMI and the Weight. I love it when it does what I want - hate it when it goes up. (guess that is a du.)

I am having a hard time setting goals in terms of numbers. I want to drop a lot of weight. If I do the math - and I set a goal of 2 lbs a week from now until June 1st - that would be a 52 lb weight loss. That would be amazing and wonderful - but it still would be well above an ideal weight for me. I am struggling with what is reasonable. Should I set my goal at a weight I haven't been since high school? As a woman pushing 40 - that seems a little unlikely. I guess that is why I have been silenced in my goal setting. I just know that I am not healthy right now and I know movement and a healthy diet are key to what I need to do going forward. I feel like I should not worry about where I end up so much as just putting my head down on the path toward healthy and just keep trucking up the mountain. I will know when I get there.