Oh Yes I Did!

I lost a pound this weekend.  Oh Yes I Did! (insert happy dance to Club Can't Handle Me by Flo Rida).  I went to Weight Watchers for the first time since returning from vacation and was happy to see a familiar face;  a friend who is also a lifetime member like me but she's just a bit over her goal right now.   Oh how hard it was to get on that scale to register the vacation gain.  The leader just smiled and said "did you have a good time?".  Oh Yes I Did!  The scale read 225.0.  In my head, I'm down one pound.

The leader is awesome.  I can never be sure of her name.  Susan, Suze, Suzie?  Anyway, she is a great speaker and motivator and the best WW leader I've ever been to.  I'm always happy I went and feel better when I leave.  Her talk last night was about goals and commitment.  The timing was perfect.

I've managed to stick to my goals every day so far even though yesterday was terribly difficult.  I was in a mood.  An everything sucks mood.  An I'm too old mood.  An I'm too fat mood.  An I'm not good enough mood.  By the time that mood got to the end of a Monday work day, I was in no mood to go to the gym.  But Oh Yes I Did!  Between the endorphins (I'm told this makes you happy when you exercise so I'll go with it) and The Office episode where Michael is wearing a woman's suit, I was feeling somewhat better when I got off the treadmill.  It's a pretty hilarious episode.  Anyhow, I went to the gym again today and did my treadmill time, hehe, another funny one from The Office kept me company.

The eating was great.  I stuck to my points.  Had a delicious smoothie that I got out of Oxygen magazine.  Basically like the one I always make but they use cooled green tea instead of water.  Genius!  And I added spinach as well.  Great way to get veggies while barely noticing and it does NOT taste like spinach.   This is my recipe.

Fruity Green Tea Smoothie (no idea what to call it as it would change depending on what fruit I have)
1 cup mixed frozen berries
1 cup skim milk
3/4 - 1 cup cooled green tea
1 1/2 cups spinach leaves
1/2 scoop whey vanilla protein powder

Blend blend blend!  4 points.

And for supper I had spaghetti with homemade marinara sauce.  I used my garden tomatoes and a few tablespoons of the Epicure Marinara seasoning and blended it.  Then just let it simmer for about 15 minutes.  I would definitely do that again.

Starting to think about what I can add to my goals for next week.  I can't believe I've gone to the gym for four days in a row!  Can't remember the last time that happened!

I'll finish here with a little excerpt from The Office.  ☺

Darryl: Are you wearin' lady clothes?
Michael: What?
Darryl: Are you wearin' lady clothes? Those look like lady... pants.
Michael: No, this is a power suit.
Darryl: That there's a woman's suit.
Michael: [Darryl laughs] I do not buy woman's clothes. I would not make that mistake again.
Darryl: I'ma call Roy, man.
Michael: Ohh... kay.
Darryl: This is gonna make him feel better.
Michael: All right.
Darryl: This is too good.
Michael: Alright, you know what? Pam, could you please tell Darryl that this is not a woman's suit?
Pam: Oh my God, that's a woman's suit!
Kevin: You're wearing a woman's suit?
Michael: No, I do, I, I wear men's suits, OK? I got this out of a bin.

 

Michael: There were these huge bins of clothes, and everybody was rifling through them like crazy, and I grabbed one. And it fit! So I don't think that this is totally just a woman's suit. At the very least it's bisexual.

The Road Back to the Gym

I have had a membership at the Y for a long time.  For the last 6 - 8 months I've been their best customer in that I pay and yet take up no space there whatsoever . . . until now.  My week one goal to walk every day for 30 minutes was nearly thwarted before it even started!  I had pulled out my gym clothes, gym bag, running shoes, membership card, and water bottle and had them all ready to go.  It came time to go and first I pulled on the pants.  They were tight.  I mean TIGHT.  Then I went to put on the sports bra which I desperately need and I thought I wouldn't get it done up but I did, barely hanging on by the last clasp and it is working hard!! I decided to go with the tight pants and all until I walked down the hallway to the door and I sounded like a 5 year old in ski pants!!   SHUSH SHUSH SHUSH.  No way could I hit the gym like that!  I was already wearing the XL in the MEC pants so Walmart was my next best choice for something affordable.  Thank goodness they had some quick dry capris that are the softer fabric so although my thighs rub, they rub soundlessly, just a little smoke.

I walk into they Y early on Saturday morning, heart beating, trying to suck it in.  As soon as I walked into the gym equipment area, I breathed a sigh of relief.  There were only about a dozen people there.  A couple guys in the weights area too in love with their own reflection to notice me, an elderly couple walking on side-by-side treadmills in track suits, a larger woman on a mat doing some exercises, and one woman in front of the windows doing a choreographed (in her head) dance to whatever she was listening too.  With all the dancing, gesturing, and sometimes out loud rapping, everyone else was looking at her.  Phew!  She was quite entertaining actually and I thank her for taking the pressure off of me.  I hope she's there next Saturday morning as well, maybe she'll teach me the dance :)

After the first ten minutes on the treadmill, I felt at ease and it was good to be back.  To return this morning (Sunday) was even easier.

There are all ages, shapes and sizes there so if you're sitting there reading this (doubtful) and wanting to go back as well, just do it!  It's a shame I didn't do it sooner because the road back to the gym was easier than I thought.

Today IS Tomorrow

For months now I've been saying, "I'll start tomorrow".  Every time I have a plan to "start tomorrow", there is a last supper of sorts.  I have the bad stuff I will miss once I start on my diet.  Then tomorrow never comes and I've once again ingested more calories than I likely would have had I not given myself the tomorrow deadline.  About one hundred "last suppers" over the last 6 months eventually equated to another 30 pounds!  So hard to swallow these situations I created myself.  But . . . TODAY IS MY TOMORROW!  It's Saturday today.  I figured it would be easier to get myself back into the gym if I started on the weekend so I wasn't waiting for the Monday (last supper-ing away my weekend) and by Monday I will have two gym visits under my belt.

My Goals for Week One
1. Walk 30 minutes per day.
2. Drink 3 litres of water per day.
3. Eat at least 5 servings of fruits & veggies per day.
4. Try a new recipe.

I've decided that I'm starting small and will add/increase goals every week.  So many times I've created this crazy all-out plan and then I last a week and burnout and gain back more than I lost in that week.  I want this time to be the time that the weight stays off.  Forever.

The Beginning of the End of the Last 75 Pounds

I've started this blog to keep track of my goals and weight loss and for some accountability. A little background on me . . . I'm 36 and I started gaining weight when I was about 22. By the time I was 25, I was 170 pounds. I could pull it off easily enough because I'm 5 feet 9 inches tall and I gain weight fairly evenly. This also made it easier to deny the path I was on. Enter a new desk job and three years later I was 219 pounds and desperate. I had yo-yo and crash dieted at some points but always gained it back. At 219 pounds, I joined Weight Watchers. Over the next year and a half, I lost 69 pounds and became a lifetime member. I maintained that for about a year and slowly but surely, it started coming back. I spent a few years around the 170 - 180 mark and over the last 6 months I've ballooned to my all-time highest weight ever of 226 pounds where I sit now. Disappointed and devastated and I can hardly believe it. I can't believe I've done this to myself again.

Some goals to kick this plan into effect:

1. Go back to Weight Watchers. Next meeting closest to my place is Monday. Because I'm a lifetime member I can get away with not joining up completely and just paying to weigh in. I also don't have to pay for every single week, thank goodness because I can't afford it! So every two weeks I'm going to weigh in and go to the meeting.

2. Create weekly goals, gradually adding elements of exercise and routine for consistency.

3. Have a few friends to be accountable too who will ask me how things are going and come to the gym with me sometimes.

I'm off to work on my first week of goals now.  I will update what they are tomorrow and get started!  I'm both excited and scared.

Bye for now!