I am so proud of myself! I actually completed a full day of C25K!! Now I know that it's not a huge deal to some people, and honestly, I've done days that I couldn't finish and I would continue onto the next day anyways, even though I didn't successfully complete a day. But I did it! I can say that I totally completed Week 5, Day 1 successfully. I ran a total of 15 minutes, and walked a total of 16 minutes, burning around 170 calories.
My food today was not the greatest, but I'm kind of confident that the scale will be going down again tomorrow. I snuck a peek earlier in the week and I was down 3 lbs. from last week - see I told you that it wasn't my real weight - which is awesome.
I was within my points this week, I tracked just about everything, but I definitely did not overeat and not track it, that's for sure. This morning while I was at school I sit at a table on the second floor of our campus center, right above the fast food place. Well today, I smelled bacon. Now I don't normally crave bacon, but this morning, I just had to have it, so I gave into the craving and got a bacon, egg and cheese wrap. I could have made myself a better one, but that's okay. I tracked it, and I went over my points today, but only by a few.
I'm supposed to be in class tonight, but I came home instead since the hubs had a rain day, well afternoon anyways, so I came home to relax with him.
I'll update tomorrow after my WI - keep your fingers crossed!
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Monday, October 11, 2010
WW or Sparkpeople?
I'm loving my day off. I was debating on going to work tomorrow. I know we could use the money, but I feel like today is my cooking day, and tomorrow is my homework day. That's what I think I'm going to do.
Speaking of saving money, I feel like I can maybe, maybe, maybe quit paying for WW and switch to Spark People. For those of you who don't know, Spark People is a free weight loss website. You can tell it how much weight you plan to lose, and it recommends a certain timeline for that. Instead of doing points, you track calories, fat, carbs, and protein, among whatever else kind of nutrients you would like to track. It lets you know if you've gone over your nutrients or under them. I feel like it's more realistic than WW is. WW is definitely easier, but if you want to find out what you're putting in your body, then Spark People is the way to go.
The only hesitation that I have with dropping WW is that it's so much easier to do it when you're going out, all you need is calories, fat and fiber. With that said, Spark People is free, which sounds better than $17/month, obviously. But in order to add something to Spark People, you need all the NI, not just those three things. Another thing that I am annoyed with is that I would have to transfer all my recipes to Spark People, it's just easier to keep the points.
I know that a lot of people on the 20's WW board are switching to Spark People because it teaches you a lot more, which it definitely does. That's the only problem that I have with WW is that the smaller the points value, the more you can eat, but you might not be eating real food; a lot of chemically altered food is super low in points, and people eat it because of that, but it's not teaching you anything. I love to cook and I want to eat healthy and teach my family to eat healthy, too.
So I'm still stuck between the two. I can do both, and I have been doing them both, but I've been more continuous with WW than Spark People, mostly because if I make a recipe that I already know the points for, then I don't have to worry about adding the recipe to the recipe builder, I can just add the points and be done, while I can't do that on Spark People. I think I'll keep doing both, and we'll see about switching to free Spark People.
If you've done Spark People - what did you think?
Speaking of saving money, I feel like I can maybe, maybe, maybe quit paying for WW and switch to Spark People. For those of you who don't know, Spark People is a free weight loss website. You can tell it how much weight you plan to lose, and it recommends a certain timeline for that. Instead of doing points, you track calories, fat, carbs, and protein, among whatever else kind of nutrients you would like to track. It lets you know if you've gone over your nutrients or under them. I feel like it's more realistic than WW is. WW is definitely easier, but if you want to find out what you're putting in your body, then Spark People is the way to go.
The only hesitation that I have with dropping WW is that it's so much easier to do it when you're going out, all you need is calories, fat and fiber. With that said, Spark People is free, which sounds better than $17/month, obviously. But in order to add something to Spark People, you need all the NI, not just those three things. Another thing that I am annoyed with is that I would have to transfer all my recipes to Spark People, it's just easier to keep the points.
I know that a lot of people on the 20's WW board are switching to Spark People because it teaches you a lot more, which it definitely does. That's the only problem that I have with WW is that the smaller the points value, the more you can eat, but you might not be eating real food; a lot of chemically altered food is super low in points, and people eat it because of that, but it's not teaching you anything. I love to cook and I want to eat healthy and teach my family to eat healthy, too.
So I'm still stuck between the two. I can do both, and I have been doing them both, but I've been more continuous with WW than Spark People, mostly because if I make a recipe that I already know the points for, then I don't have to worry about adding the recipe to the recipe builder, I can just add the points and be done, while I can't do that on Spark People. I think I'll keep doing both, and we'll see about switching to free Spark People.
If you've done Spark People - what did you think?
Friday, October 8, 2010
Sigh - it's finally Friday
Now I'm full out sick. I'm glad this week is over. I gained, but I don't care. I mean I do, but I knew I was going to. Week before TOM and I ate garbage this week, I gave into any craving I wanted to. I'll track, but I know this week's number means nothing. I didn't eat that bad. I only earned 7 APs, and I didn't track most of my week. I knew I was going to gain. Oh well, I'll get my act together starting today.
I had a midterm yesterday, and another paper to hand in. I am so looking forward to my long 4 day weekend/fall break. I have a lot of catch up to do, but I'll be really excited to just not have to get out of my jammies for 4 days. Yes, I very well may not get out of my pajamas for 4 days.
Since we're staying home this weekend, have only have my cousin and her family come to visit tomorrow, I should stay on track all week. I need to.
That sickness that I thought I wasn't getting? Yeah, I got it. It's a cold, not a huge problem, but I just want to sleep. And I'm planning on sleeping all weekend and it's going to be glorious.
I had a midterm yesterday, and another paper to hand in. I am so looking forward to my long 4 day weekend/fall break. I have a lot of catch up to do, but I'll be really excited to just not have to get out of my jammies for 4 days. Yes, I very well may not get out of my pajamas for 4 days.
Since we're staying home this weekend, have only have my cousin and her family come to visit tomorrow, I should stay on track all week. I need to.
That sickness that I thought I wasn't getting? Yeah, I got it. It's a cold, not a huge problem, but I just want to sleep. And I'm planning on sleeping all weekend and it's going to be glorious.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
It's Hump Day!
I'm pretty happy about this. I did leave work at 11:30 on Monday and I successfully wrote my paper for tomorrow. I had one midterm last night, and it went okay. I have another tomorrow and my professor for the last one decided to do a take home midterm, which I'm kind of bummed about. I was looking forward to being done with midterms and since I don't have any midterms the week after fall break, I'm planning on vegging on the couch all weekend. I know I have some catch up work to do, but that's it.
I'm going to make the hubs his favorite meal - Sicilian meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, and broccoli smothered in butter. WW friendly? Heck no, but it'll be worth it. He's kind of stressed with our money situation right now, and I'm not helping at all. Hubs does the bills, and I feel like I need to take that over, then maybe it will teach me that we don't have money, and that money doesn't grow on trees, and we don't have a hidden savings somewhere. Then hopefully he won't be as stressed. He's having a hard time at work, too. He's such a hard worker, and the people that the company hires are crap. They're older, sliding from job to job to pay their child support and their divorces and new girlfriends. Chuck's waiting for a foreman title, then I think he's going to look elsewhere for a new job. I pray that he can find one, he's not making enough money for what he's doing, and the company is so tiny and is always on the edge of bankruptcy.
With that, I get to work for the day. I'm eating terrible this week, and I am fully expecting that scale to stay where it was last week or go up. Honestly, I might not weight myself this week and just wait until next week. I'm not feeling it this week, and I think that's okay. Maybe next Mon/Tues while I'm home I can get some good workouts in, maybe go for a walk and jog. I think I like that idea better than weighing myself on Friday, I just get depressed when the scale goes up.
Side note: I was talking to the hubs about eating healthier. His great grandfather died of a heart attack, his grandfather has a terrible heart, his father had a heart attack at 47, and I know who's next in this line.. He keeps saying that he works off all the calories, which he does, he's as thin as a rail, but he's not eating healthy. I'm going to try to help him. I mean he eats vegetables at home for dinner, but that's about it. I've been trying to give him grapes or something in his lunch, but he needs something he can grab and go, and I don't really have good ideas about that. Any suggestions?
I'm going to make the hubs his favorite meal - Sicilian meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, and broccoli smothered in butter. WW friendly? Heck no, but it'll be worth it. He's kind of stressed with our money situation right now, and I'm not helping at all. Hubs does the bills, and I feel like I need to take that over, then maybe it will teach me that we don't have money, and that money doesn't grow on trees, and we don't have a hidden savings somewhere. Then hopefully he won't be as stressed. He's having a hard time at work, too. He's such a hard worker, and the people that the company hires are crap. They're older, sliding from job to job to pay their child support and their divorces and new girlfriends. Chuck's waiting for a foreman title, then I think he's going to look elsewhere for a new job. I pray that he can find one, he's not making enough money for what he's doing, and the company is so tiny and is always on the edge of bankruptcy.
With that, I get to work for the day. I'm eating terrible this week, and I am fully expecting that scale to stay where it was last week or go up. Honestly, I might not weight myself this week and just wait until next week. I'm not feeling it this week, and I think that's okay. Maybe next Mon/Tues while I'm home I can get some good workouts in, maybe go for a walk and jog. I think I like that idea better than weighing myself on Friday, I just get depressed when the scale goes up.
Side note: I was talking to the hubs about eating healthier. His great grandfather died of a heart attack, his grandfather has a terrible heart, his father had a heart attack at 47, and I know who's next in this line.. He keeps saying that he works off all the calories, which he does, he's as thin as a rail, but he's not eating healthy. I'm going to try to help him. I mean he eats vegetables at home for dinner, but that's about it. I've been trying to give him grapes or something in his lunch, but he needs something he can grab and go, and I don't really have good ideas about that. Any suggestions?
Monday, October 4, 2010
It's going to be a stressful week.
I gave in. I had to stop at Walmart to get the hubs a new apple juice container for work, and I knew that I had a paper writing evening ahead of me, so I decided to get a Starbucks frappuccino. Not only did I get that, but I also picked up a King Size Reese's PB Cup, oh yes. It was delicious. I'm not tracking it. I will hopefully eat good this week, mostly, but it's going to be a stressful week, so I won't beat myself up for it.
Another Weekend Confession
Why, oh why did I eat so much. I have such a bad food hangover I couldn't even run this morning. I ran for only 5 minutes and I walked for 15, it was terrible. I felt like barfing. So now you ask, what did I do that made me feel like this. I ate, and ate some more, oh and I ate even more. We'll start with Saturday. I was pretty good all day, until we went to my cousin Mike's house, who is that fabulous cook I was telling you all about. And he made homemade spaghetti and meatballs. Oh. My. Gosh. It was delicious. Not to mention the fact that spaghetti, anything Italian really, is my weakness. I had two huge bowls, even though I wasn't hungry when I started eating the first bowl. And I finished it off with a nice slice of ice cream cake for his step-daughter's birthday. Felt like garbage yesterday morning when I woke up.
Sunday: I had my oatmeal for breakfast, we went out to the food court for lunch and I got Chinese. I know, not the healthiest option for me, but I haven't had Chinese in quite a while, so I gave in to the craving. I tracked it and moved on. I got home last night and what does the hubs want to do? Go out to eat. Now my lovely husband runs a very tight budget, and for him to say that he wanted to go out to eat, I'm totally going to take advantage of that situation and go out to eat. Where did we go? Buffalo Wild Wings. We had never been there before, so it was an experience. Especially to go to a bar-like atmosphere about 30 minutes outside of DC when there's a Redskins vs. Eagles game on. I think I went partially deaf last night it was so loud in there. I mean, honestly, I didn't eat as much as I could have, but I definitely did not make healthy choices. I had 3, yes 3, glasses of lemonade. There was only 3 different kinds, I had to try them all! I had fried pickles for an appetizer, and I ordered ribs and chicken tenders for my entree. The hubs got wings, so I had two wings, only ate about 1/2 the appetizer, and about 3 ribs, and 1 chicken finger. I did eat all my fries, however, and they were quite terrible, so I ate them all.
I'm not even calculating the points for this one, I'll try to stay within my dailies for the rest of the week and expect to stay the same or gain this weekend. I'll try to step up my "workouts" for the rest of the week and see what happens. I told Chuck this morning to remind me how I felt today the next time we go out to eat. Ugh. And it's raining. I'm leaving work at 11:30 so that I can go home and do homework, which I know is going to turn into doing the dishes and the laundry before I actually do my homework, and I have a speaker that I need to go to tonight, so I can't even do homework all night. This week is going to suck, flat out - 3 midterms, and two papers to write. The only thing that's going to get me through it is that I'll have next Monday and Tuesday off and I can relax and do nothing.
Maybe I should pick up a coffee habit this week...
Sunday: I had my oatmeal for breakfast, we went out to the food court for lunch and I got Chinese. I know, not the healthiest option for me, but I haven't had Chinese in quite a while, so I gave in to the craving. I tracked it and moved on. I got home last night and what does the hubs want to do? Go out to eat. Now my lovely husband runs a very tight budget, and for him to say that he wanted to go out to eat, I'm totally going to take advantage of that situation and go out to eat. Where did we go? Buffalo Wild Wings. We had never been there before, so it was an experience. Especially to go to a bar-like atmosphere about 30 minutes outside of DC when there's a Redskins vs. Eagles game on. I think I went partially deaf last night it was so loud in there. I mean, honestly, I didn't eat as much as I could have, but I definitely did not make healthy choices. I had 3, yes 3, glasses of lemonade. There was only 3 different kinds, I had to try them all! I had fried pickles for an appetizer, and I ordered ribs and chicken tenders for my entree. The hubs got wings, so I had two wings, only ate about 1/2 the appetizer, and about 3 ribs, and 1 chicken finger. I did eat all my fries, however, and they were quite terrible, so I ate them all.
I'm not even calculating the points for this one, I'll try to stay within my dailies for the rest of the week and expect to stay the same or gain this weekend. I'll try to step up my "workouts" for the rest of the week and see what happens. I told Chuck this morning to remind me how I felt today the next time we go out to eat. Ugh. And it's raining. I'm leaving work at 11:30 so that I can go home and do homework, which I know is going to turn into doing the dishes and the laundry before I actually do my homework, and I have a speaker that I need to go to tonight, so I can't even do homework all night. This week is going to suck, flat out - 3 midterms, and two papers to write. The only thing that's going to get me through it is that I'll have next Monday and Tuesday off and I can relax and do nothing.
Maybe I should pick up a coffee habit this week...
Friday, October 1, 2010
WI Friday - SV again & October goals
Woo Hoo! I'm so psyched - I'm down another 1.4 lbs. this week which brings me down to 164.4. Yay! I was hoping to see that 164 number on the scale. I'm so glad I've finally figured it out, I just need to track. Yeah, I know it's simple and it's what WW is all about, but it just clicked. I consciously think about what I'm eating and I make sure to get my GHG (good health guidelines) in just about everyday, with the exception of the activity. I've been slacking in that department, but I try to do my weights, crunches and push ups everyday, just for something.
Okay, so let's look at my September goals and see how I did before setting up my October goals:
September Goals:
- Keep up on school - success for the most part. I've started to fall a little bit behind on my reading, but I'm doing better than I normally did, I think.
- Read Bible/pray daily - success again, well half. I've definitely read my Bible, mostly 2x/day, and I'm pretty excited that it's become a normal part of my routine. The praying part is a little bit harder, but I'm still working on it.
- Keep food budget - Success. Other than our trips to Walmart/Costco, I generally stay within my budget for food.
- Be more outgoing - Okay, this is a fail. Since I'm a senior, friends have already been established and I don't think I'll make more friends.
- Be kinder to my hubby - I think this is a kind of success. We still have our disagreements, but I think I'm being a little nicer, I'll keep working on it though.
- Continue jogging - Yep, continued. Not as much as I would have liked to, but I've definitely continued.
- Lift weights - Nope, failed, but I'll keep working
- Push ups - Kind of done. I can do 15 real push ups now :)
- TRACK! - As I've mentioned before, I've discovered the amazingness of tracking everything
- Eat cleaner foods - I like to think that I've done better. I think I have, but I'm still using some processed foods, but my snacks have turned into carrots and dip and bananas rather than chocolate covered pretzel 100 cal. packs.
Overall: not too bad I think. I started the month at 169.2 and ended it today at 164.4 and I think that's pretty awesome. 5lbs. a month is really realistic I think, and if I continue that, I'll be at goal by my birthday in March, which I think is my new goal. 150 by Christmas, and 135 by my birthday. I'll still keep going month by month, though. I don't really know what I want to do once I get to goal. Obviously I don't think I need to keep paying for WW - maybe I'll switch over to Spark People? That'd be free at least. I've been playing around with it, and I really like how it tells you if you're eating enough fat, protein, carbs, calories, etc. rather than just giving you a certain number of points. The only thing I don't like about it, so far, is that I have to transfer all my recipes over to it.
Okay, let's set up some October goals:
Non WW first:
- Continue keeping up on schoolwork. This has to come first. I need good grades to get a good job so I can make better money so that I can have babies quicker! If I think of it like that, maybe I'll actually keep up on my readings and such.
- Keep being kind to Chuck. If he leaves dishes in the sink, don't yell at him for it. Be extra grateful when he does extra chores for me. Don't hold grudges, and forgive as Christ forgives.
- Plan meals and keep a food budget. We just opened a Costco card, so we bought enough snacks for hubs to last a loooong time. I won't have to buy him snacks for quite a while. I just need to cook simple meals with a few ingredients, and it'll be cheaper. Cook leftovers for both him and me for lunches and we're set.
- Read Bible/pray and go to church. As mentioned in my previous post on Monday, we're having troubles going to church. It's so much easier to wake up 5 minutes before Charles Stanley is on and watch it from bed rather than get up, get dressed and drive 25 minutes to church. My goal is to go to church every Sunday in October.
WW goals:
- Continue C25K. If I kept on the program, I should be able to run a 5K by the end of the month. I don't know if I'll be able to continue it that strictly, but I'm sure going to try. I'm on week 5, and I can so finish this by mid November.
- Weights, crunches and push ups daily. That way, even if C25K isn't on my important to do list, I can do these things while watching TV or doing homework, and it's some activity in.
- Track! This is HUGE - as long as I keep tracking and holding myself accountable, I can keep loosing weight. It's easy, and I can do it.
- Get GHGs in everyday. Or at least make an effort to consciously think about what I'm eating.
There you have 'em. I think I'll do a check up around the middle of the month to see how I'm doing. I still can't believe it's October already...
Okay, so let's look at my September goals and see how I did before setting up my October goals:
September Goals:
- Keep up on school - success for the most part. I've started to fall a little bit behind on my reading, but I'm doing better than I normally did, I think.
- Read Bible/pray daily - success again, well half. I've definitely read my Bible, mostly 2x/day, and I'm pretty excited that it's become a normal part of my routine. The praying part is a little bit harder, but I'm still working on it.
- Keep food budget - Success. Other than our trips to Walmart/Costco, I generally stay within my budget for food.
- Be more outgoing - Okay, this is a fail. Since I'm a senior, friends have already been established and I don't think I'll make more friends.
- Be kinder to my hubby - I think this is a kind of success. We still have our disagreements, but I think I'm being a little nicer, I'll keep working on it though.
- Continue jogging - Yep, continued. Not as much as I would have liked to, but I've definitely continued.
- Lift weights - Nope, failed, but I'll keep working
- Push ups - Kind of done. I can do 15 real push ups now :)
- TRACK! - As I've mentioned before, I've discovered the amazingness of tracking everything
- Eat cleaner foods - I like to think that I've done better. I think I have, but I'm still using some processed foods, but my snacks have turned into carrots and dip and bananas rather than chocolate covered pretzel 100 cal. packs.
Overall: not too bad I think. I started the month at 169.2 and ended it today at 164.4 and I think that's pretty awesome. 5lbs. a month is really realistic I think, and if I continue that, I'll be at goal by my birthday in March, which I think is my new goal. 150 by Christmas, and 135 by my birthday. I'll still keep going month by month, though. I don't really know what I want to do once I get to goal. Obviously I don't think I need to keep paying for WW - maybe I'll switch over to Spark People? That'd be free at least. I've been playing around with it, and I really like how it tells you if you're eating enough fat, protein, carbs, calories, etc. rather than just giving you a certain number of points. The only thing I don't like about it, so far, is that I have to transfer all my recipes over to it.
Okay, let's set up some October goals:
Non WW first:
- Continue keeping up on schoolwork. This has to come first. I need good grades to get a good job so I can make better money so that I can have babies quicker! If I think of it like that, maybe I'll actually keep up on my readings and such.
- Keep being kind to Chuck. If he leaves dishes in the sink, don't yell at him for it. Be extra grateful when he does extra chores for me. Don't hold grudges, and forgive as Christ forgives.
- Plan meals and keep a food budget. We just opened a Costco card, so we bought enough snacks for hubs to last a loooong time. I won't have to buy him snacks for quite a while. I just need to cook simple meals with a few ingredients, and it'll be cheaper. Cook leftovers for both him and me for lunches and we're set.
- Read Bible/pray and go to church. As mentioned in my previous post on Monday, we're having troubles going to church. It's so much easier to wake up 5 minutes before Charles Stanley is on and watch it from bed rather than get up, get dressed and drive 25 minutes to church. My goal is to go to church every Sunday in October.
WW goals:
- Continue C25K. If I kept on the program, I should be able to run a 5K by the end of the month. I don't know if I'll be able to continue it that strictly, but I'm sure going to try. I'm on week 5, and I can so finish this by mid November.
- Weights, crunches and push ups daily. That way, even if C25K isn't on my important to do list, I can do these things while watching TV or doing homework, and it's some activity in.
- Track! This is HUGE - as long as I keep tracking and holding myself accountable, I can keep loosing weight. It's easy, and I can do it.
- Get GHGs in everyday. Or at least make an effort to consciously think about what I'm eating.
There you have 'em. I think I'll do a check up around the middle of the month to see how I'm doing. I still can't believe it's October already...
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