Week One Weigh In!

This post should have been made on Saturday when the news was all big and fresh and exciting in my mind (oh heck, it still is!) Saturday is my weigh in day at WW and the weigh in I use throughout the challenge. But our phone and internet service was on the blink then and continued in that state for a few days. Thanks, Verizon!

Anyway --- without further ado:

Starting Challenge Weight 201.8

Week 1 weigh in: 199.2

Challenge loss so far: 2.6!

AND.... did ya notice that? Lookie thar! (said in my best cowgirl twang!) -- I am in

ONEDERLAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That was one of my goals for this challenge and now I can say mission accomplished!

I have been doing well in fitting exercise into my life on a regular basis. When my day does not include exercise, I just feel "off." It's great for relieving stress!

I'm also doing Couch to 5K and that has kept me motivated.

Seeing progress keeps me motivated! I saw my family at a gathering over the weekend, they had not seen me since early October and they were full of compliments about my progress. Stuff like that goes a long way in fueling me to keep on keepin' on!

Of course, I also have my fabulous teammates to thank. My friends on the Lean Green Losing Machine Team are just amazing in what they are capable of, how they continue to do their best, day in and day out. We really encourage each other.

I am ready for Week 2, which by the way, I am starting off with a Turkey Trot 5K tomorrow, a great way to kick off Thanksgiving in a healthy way!

Who woulda thunk it? 

Ho Ho Ho - Here We Go! It's Hoedown Time!

Today starts a new challenge over at The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans. it's called the Holiday Hoedown and I am READYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!

Remember that great tribe I wrote a lot about from the last challenge? The ones who became super supportive friends of mine and helped me to have a loss 6 out of 7 weeks of said challenge? Well, we are a team together again, plus one, and I could not be happier or more excited to get going.

I've been steadily losing even after Shrinkvivor ended. It was because of those healthy habits that stuck and because even inbetween the challenges we kept in touch and supported each other.

Today was Day 1 and it was a great day! I got a fantastic workout in, part of which included my Week 3 Day 2 of Couch to 5K.

I am amped!

My goals for the Holiday Hoedown:

Hit ONEderland

Get to a spin class

Continue my C25K

No gains

Continue tracking workouts on my iCal and dailymile

Lose 9 lbs. (last challenge I lost 8.4)

No skipping WW meetings

Be an active and supportive member of my fabulous team!

Kitchen Mission No. 1

So, this month's project over at www.shrinkingjeans.net is all about getting into the kitchen to try some tasty recipes. The Sisters in the 'Hood have been doing a fabulous job of posting fantastic looking recipes as part of its Taste of the Sisterhood series.

I am not the cook in my house. Growing up with three brothers, I was always playing outside in the mud and the muck and backyard sports games. I took little interest in the kitchen. My sole jobs were to set the table, clear the table and load the dish washer. I was lucky to marry a man who loves to cook, and who loves to cook healthy meals. Every now and then I try to give him a night "off". On those nights, our dinner nine times out of 10 comes from a crock pot.

So yesterday, with a fairly lazy Sunday ahead, I told him I'd be cooking a meal for the freezer, something we could enjoy down the line since had the meals already planned for the week pretty much. I chose the Crockpot Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti which can be found here: http://shrinkingjeans.net/2010/11/taste-of-the-sisterhood-crockpot-cheesy-chicken-spaghetti/

"I'm going in! Cover me!" I said to him, as if I was a federal agent entering into a drug den. I was just going into the kitchen, but to me the danger and intimidation level is just as high. I have very little confidence when it comes to my cooking skills and I was determined to let the Taste of the Sisterhood give me some "practice."

I gathered the ingredients.

We were missing some ingredients and so I made the executive decision to just go without. I used a box of linguini because that was the only pasta in the pantry. I used about 3 cups of frozen chicken I had in the freezer. We had no Velveeta. And I added a couple cloves of minced garlic because we are big garlic fans. The nice thing about all of this was when he came into the kitchen and showed me his spiffy way of dicing up an onion. We are rarely in the kitchen preparing a meal together so this alone made me glad I embarked on my mission.

At another point, he said from another room, 'It smells divine," but what I heard was "I smell the wine." Well, I knew I had no wine in the recipe and so this caused a degree of alarm for a moment or two.

Anyway, long post short -- it didn't come out the way I thought it would -- it was a bit dry even after I added extra water, but it tasted great! I froze it for us to use at a later date and when it's time to serve, I will add some spaghetti sauce.

Mission accomplished! And no major disasters : )

C25K Week Two -- DONE!

So, not only did I have a great weigh in this a.m. at the House of WW (down 1.6 yeee ha!!) but I also finished my second week of the Couch to 5K program. This was my first workout taking it to the street outdoors. I loved it! It was so beautiful out and our leaves are finally at their peak in all their glorious splendor. What a difference from the scenery at the basement treadmill!!

Looking forward to Week 3.

It feels good to see hard work paying off!

The power of one healthy choice

Today was what you call "one of those days."

You know the kind. Lot of things --- none of them good -- hitting you at one time. Tomorrow will be better, I know. But what to do with the "ick" of this day?

I had a choice. My scheduled W2D2 workout was the plan in my head when I woke up this morning. It was not the plan in my head when I walked in the door, home from work after this icky day.

I fixed myself a cocktail. Yep. I am grateful we do not keep bags of chips in this house. They'd have been gone.

I filled hubby in on all the ins and outs of this icky day. And then I said out loud. "Bed or treadmill?" It was only 7 p.m. -- too early for bed but you know and I know that when you are having a bad day sometimes you think about bedtime regardless of what the clock says. You want sleep to be the answer.

I answered myself. Outloud. "Treadmill." Went upstairs, changed into workout clothes, went down to the treadmill in the basement and did my W2D2 workout and actually felt like it was my strongest one yet.

Came back upstairs. My cocktail still sat on the living room table. All watered down. It got poured down the drain. (I know, it's not like me to waste alcohol! lol) I had no desire for it.

Exercise really can RESCUE the day, oh yes it can.

And so, week two begins!

Today marks the start of Week 2 of the Couch to 5K training I'm doing over at the 'Hood. I truly enjoyed my day of rest yesterday. Didn't do the workout in the a.m. but I finally got on the treadmill around 8 p.m. after coming home from work around 7 and chilling out for a bit. I'm proud of myself for not blowing it off. And proud of myself for getting through it. Then I walked two more miles to a DVD as part of another challenge I am doing leading up to Thanksgiving. I'm rewarding myself now with a bit of computer time and a cup of tea!

The intervals tonight were 90 seconds run/ 2 min walk. I am the first to admit that I am huffing and puffing a LOT and I am super slow, but I just keep telling myself "one foot in front of another!" and remind myself that I just want to get through it. I look forward to the day when all of this becomes "second nature!"

In the meantime, I'm excited. Another day down!

Momentum

Week 1 is DONE!
I'm doing the Couch to 5K training for our Virtual 5K over at the 'Hood. I did the program on Monday, Wednesday and Friday of this week. And by Friday, each time it was a tad bit easier and I could feel myself gaining strength and confidence. I'm excited about the possibilities!

In other great news....

At my WW meeting this morning, I was down 1.6 lbs!!! AND I reached my 5 percent. Now, the people at my meeting, were they to read this, would be shaking their heads in confusion. They have seen me at these meetings for what seems like forever. Surely I would have made more progress than this by now?! BUT they do not know that one day in June, after weeks or even months of beating myself up over gains at the scale, or wimping out by using a "no weigh in" pass week after week so I wouldn't have to face the music, I told my leader  I'd like a Week 1 book again, and a new starting weight. I told her I wanted to start over entirely. New day. New starting weight (which was not pretty and difficult to "own". A new outlook. And NO looking back!

It worked for me. Ever since then I began to focus and not just show up at the meetings. I paid attention to what was going on with me in between the meetings. And of course not long after that Shrinkvivor came and my awesome tribe mates! I am seeing progress now. Steady losses. Better habits. Better choices. It's starting to show, and most importantly, I have the right message in my head -- the message that I CAN do this. I'm excited about the possibilities ahead!!

Another small victory -- we went to go see Blue Man Group tonight. Amazing show! After, we went to dinner. I boxed half, and had a salad in place of fries. Felt great to walk out of there not feeling stuffed!

Shrinkvivor Final Weigh in

Let me tell you I am sad to see this challenge come to an end! This is the challenge that got me moving again, that got the scale moving again - SOUTH, that got me COMPLETELY understanding about how the whole blogging/accountability/building community thing REALLY are helpful tools in this journey of mine.

I have had the privilege and honor to be on a tribe of incredible women who motivated me to no end. I will always be grateful to them for that. We really built each other up day after day and got 'er done! THREE out of the final 7 were from my tribe (Go Green!). I am so proud of them and of the entire tribe.

This morning I got up at 4:45 a.m. to meet a friend for our regularly scheduled 5 a.m. walk. It's 3 miles.We do this on Wed. mornings because this is the only time that fits into her schedule. I felt great even though I tell myself I am not a morning person. Guess what? During those Shrinkvivor challenges I got moving in the morning AND lunchtime AND evening to get in those miles or minutes. In other words, it showed me I am not going to turn into the world's crankiest grouch by exercising in the morning.

Anyway... normally I would have said to myself "I walked this morning. That's it for me for the day." But wait! I am doing the Sisterhood Virtual 5K and am committed to sticking with it, and with the training, so tonight when I got home from work I hit the treadmill and did my W1D2 workout and felt great. Mr. Fiddler saw me going downstairs to the treadmill and he said "Getting more miles for your team?" lol I told him no, these don't count for that any more, but I was going to do it anyway.

Soooooo on to the numbers, yes? I am proud of the progress I made. Slow and steady, it's coming off. People are noticing. I am smiling more. I am noticing.

Starting Weight WW 214.8

Starting Weight Shrinkvivor: 213.4

Week 1 weight: 211.6

Week 2 weight: 210.0

Week 3 weight: 207.3

Week 4 weight: 209.2

Week 5 weight: 208.6

Week 6 weight: 206

Week 7 weight: 205

Total loss for challenge: 8.4

Looking forward to seeing what more I can do!!!!