Small Changes To Yield Big Results

I am sorry I didn’t check in yesterday.  I hope your work week is off to a good start.  I enjoyed my weekend but it is back at it for me today.  I have a happy hour event planned with my girlfriends after work.  Is it 4 o’clock yet?

I had a very productive day yesterday.  I went to my WW meeting and it was good to be back.  I was pretty quiet as it isn’t one of my favorite leaders but the leader is at least decent.  I got a bit upset thought when the leader talked about her recent dining out experience and that a piece of key lime pie at Kona Grill was 109 SPV!!!  Are you kidding me?  I don’t understand why we are being penalized so strongly for sugar and treats.  But, it is what it is and the purpose is so we make it an indulgence and not an everyday treat.  I highly doubt anybody would want to indulge in a 109 point piece of pie.  Ridiculous and if you ask me it is quite silly of WW to develop a program that increases the points on sugar so much.  But, moving on.

From there I went to Curves for my daily workout.  I found two “active senior” women who wanted to chat at a slower pace than the rotation of every 30 seconds to the next machine/station.  I ended up lapping them a couple of times.  It is a good thing they were cute old ladies because how can you really get mad at them for impacting your workout?

I met Kenyon for lunch and hit up Trader Joe’s for some grocery shopping.  I planned some crockpot meals this week so we can have easy dinner after we get off work.  I got my car washed and then did some meal prep so that this weekend will run more smoothly.  Finally I met my friend Phoenix and her daughter Kiki for dinner at Costa Vita.  It was a really nice day off.

It was also a very successful day off in the sweets/sugar/dessert category.  I am not trying to white knuckle it but I was successful in keeping it in check and avoiding sweets yesterday.  I used gum to bypass that time I think about it and/or want to stop for a treat.  I got some FF/SF pudding to make and also bought some WW pretzel chocolate bars (2 SPV) as a “treat.”  Today after my lunch I am having a rice cake with peanut butter and a little bit of honey.  Again, I don’t want to go cold turkey so I am trying to combat it but also reduce.

As far as meals I planned a crockpot Gyros and Beef Broccoli.  I also have stuff on hand for making pita pizza with the leftover pitas.  I really want some falafels as well but I’m not sure if I want to go to all the trouble of some of the baked recipes I looked at online.  Snacks will include yogurt, fruit, cottage cheese, and pickled rolled up in ham and cream cheese.  It sounds weird but it is yummy!    

My goal right now is to make small changes that will build and create larger results.  I don’t want to do a complete overhaul and feel totally overwhelmed.  I am also tracking this week but not yet factoring up the SPV.  With my few planned events this week I didn’t want to get off track and stop tracking due to higher SPV foods. 

The Day Sugar Became Outlawed

Kenyon and I stopped into the grocery store last night for a few lunch items.  As we headed to the register we walked by some Valentine’s Day candy on a stand near the front of the store.  We talked about getting some M&M’s (noting the price difference just to get holiday colored ones) but decided we didn’t need any.  Then I spotted the cinnamon hearts.  I like gummy candy and if you have never tried chocolate covered cinnamon bears, well trust me when I say you should.

I’ve not been tracking so I had no intention of actually checking the SPVs (Smart Points Values) before I actually purchased them.  I had the package open even before Kenyon finished paying and was doing a little happy dance over the delicious sugar hitting my taste buds.  Kenyon was shaking his head wondering why I would even get excited over cinnamon hearts.  I told him I wasn’t sure why but ever since Weight Watcher put the veto on sugar it is all I have craved.

I decided to check the SPV when I got home.  I told Kenyon that I was guessing it was going to be 8 SPV.  I suppose I should buy a lottery ticket because I was correct.  It is 8 SPV for a serving of cinnamon hearts, which is just four hearts.

Ever since WW rolled out the new “Beyond The Scale” program there has been a heavy emphasis on sugar and a very large increase in SPVs for anything that contains sugar.  If you love sugar, this can be a problem.  What might have once felt like you were spending your points on an occasional treat or indulgence now feels like you are spending your points for a whole other meal.  Who would ever want to eat four measly cinnamon hearts for 8 SPV?  That is a whole meal in my book.  It also got me thinking that if my DSPA (Daily Smart Points Allowance) is 33 then 16 cinnamon hearts would equal my whole day worth of points.  I am pretty sure I’d be hungry moments after eating 16 cinnamon hearts, assuming I didn’t eat them all in one setting.  I mean if this is all I have to eat in one whole day I had better ration that portion to last me all day.

I am really struggling with this new impact on sugar.  Clearly, if I had scanned the cinnamon hearts at the store I wouldn’t have bought them in the first place.  8 SPV for four cinnamon hearts is not worth it.  It leaves me with the honest struggle between cutting sugar out completely (not realistic), finding a sugar/dessert alternative that is less SPVs than an entire meal (a realistic option), or giving up on tracking when I want something sweet and thus not getting back to tracking until the new week begins (which is what has been happening and clearly is not working).

I’d love to hear your suggestions for low SPV dessert/treat options. Please share with me.

CurvesSmart

Happy Friday. We are enjoying our weekend on our end. I hope you are about to start enjoying your weekend too.

I went for my workout at Curves today and planned to get signed up for the CurvesSmart program where you use a card to track your weight. The instructor got my card activated and then walked me through the start-up process. In order for the card reader to get an idea of my workout I had to get on every machine completing three reps, waiting, and then completing three reps again. The first tested range of motion and the second tested intensity. After that you are cleared to do your workout. The instructor followed me around to explain how the card works.

When you move to a machine you insert your card and watch the readout to tell you to start. The goal is to keep the color green (not yellow or red) which means you are working your muscles the most. You also want to keep the range lights lit as that is telling you that you are using the full range of your muscles on that machine.

Your first three machines are a “warm up” so you will see the reps dial say “easy”. After that you will first see the number of machines you have left to complete in your circuit. Then you will see the number of reps you complete during the 30 second cycle. When you get to the final three machines the dial will read “cool” and the last machine will read “end workout.” She explained that it was important not to pull the card out too soon or it won't save your information. If you found you got to the final machine but didn't see “end workout” it might be because you pulled the card out too soon on another machine. I got lucky my first round!

After the workout and cool down you plug your card back in and wait for it to load your results.

It's interesting because I could tell during the workout that I wasn't working my left bicep as much as my right one and that I couldn't get the glute machine to ever get into the green color. The results showed that my left bicep and my gluts weren't worked out as much as the rest of my muscles as they had a yellow dot vs a green dot.

It also shows you how many calories you burned. According to the CurvesSmart, I burned 345 calories. According to my Apple Watch I burned 249 calories. It sure felt like I worked out harder than my past workouts but it could be just that I was more focused. The calorie count is around the same amount from each of the times I have done my workout. After seven days you can start graphing your progress. I'm excited to see how this continues.

It was a nice good sweaty workout! I was pooped.