Exciting Friday

Good Morning and Happy Friday.

A very special friend comes to visit Boise today!!

I am so excited for Dawny's visit. Several months ago Southwest ran a flight deal where flights to/from Boise and Spokane were just $49. Kenyon and I looked for dates that we could spend a quick weekend in Spokane but with our upcoming New Mexico trip it felt rushed. I suggested bringing Dawny down here to walk the Fit One 10K with me. The idea was put out there, accepted, and now the time as come. I can't believe how fast it went.

I will check I as often as I can this weekend and share all our fun. If it is anything like last time, you know we will be having fun.

Today is also Apple iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus release day. I don't think its fair to pick Dawny up from the airport and then make her wait in line for hours while I “try” to get my hands on a new iPhone. My pre-order from the early morning hours of last Friday is still processing. Sadly, I won't be getting my phone for another few weeks. I am bummed and it will make the next few weeks pass really slow. Hopefully I can find something else to take my mind off the exciting wait!

You better believe though I am dragging Dawny with me into the Apple Store this weekend to at least take a look at the new pretty (and big) iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. Eeeeekkk....such an exciting weekend all the way around!

What’s Your Success Story?

Our meeting topic in WW this week was Success Stories.  I actually have both my weight loss and maintenance journeys already written if you wish to take a gander.  I’m very proud of my weight loss and maintenance journey.

 

As some of you know already I had a back issue come about in August 2013.  This has required me to shift my focus when it comes to activity and I’m not able to do as high of intensity aerobics as I once was.  I also engaged in some emotional eating that made it extra difficult to keep my weight in goal range.  When we came back from vacation in January my weight really jumped up.  It has been a constant struggle to try and bring it back down.  There are no excuses.

September 7, 2013 was the last time I had a weigh-in at my WW meeting where I was I my goal range.  I have now officially been above my goal weight (doctor’s note of 175 pounds and WW range of 173-177 pounds) for one whole year.

This is a lot for me to take in and mentally has been the hardest struggle.

Overall I feel good.  The number on the scale doesn’t really change that and I am not defined be a number.  I still have fat days and I still have days I feel bloated and my pants are tight.  I am still physically active and can walk far distances and get up and down from the floor with ease.  My cholesterol numbers are decent and my doctors don’t hound me about my weight like they once did.  My WW community; made up of leaders, members, and my WW Buddy Group continue to be supportive.  My husband and my family continue to be supportive. 

Being over my goal weight for one full year now is just one more milestone that I need to document.  I enjoy celebrating each passing year of my WW Anniversary and my Goal Anniversary but this is a different type of anniversary.  The last year has shown me that no matter what comes up or how life changes that I can continue to hang in there, persevere, and not give up.  This will not break me.  I simply won’t allow it.

I spoke up at my Monday WW meeting.  There was not a scheduled person to share their success story so I offered up mine.  WW is much like a therapy session and I needed to share how I was feeling and what this last year has been like.  Our WW Weekly highlighted a section about success.  There were a series of questions that had some words you could select to go with your answers.

How did you feel before you joined Weight Watchers?

Before I joined WW I felt unhealthy, anxious, bored, unhappy, scared, frustrated, and weak.

 

What helped you believe you could change successfully?

My very first WW magazine had a success story of a gal my age that had lost around 150 pounds.  That was when I knew this was possible and WW would help me achieve my goal.

How did you feel when you reached your goal weight?

When I reached goal I felt stunned, successful, relieved, healthy, invincible, elated, triumphant, motivated, transformed, grateful, and one more I’ll add…emotional.

How do you ensure that your relationship with food is changing (changed) for good?

I know my relationship with food has changed because even on what I might feel is my worst day of eating it is nothing like it once was.  When my body craves veggies after vacation I know my relationship with food has changed.  I have such a new appreciation for portion control and eating what you REALLY want.

I’ll leave you today with these three photos. 

The first photo is my pre-WW photo.  I was pretty down on myself this trip and yet I’m smiling.

The second photo is from my Canada trip where I was down 50 pounds.  I was feeling good and motivated.  Again I am smiling.

The third photo was taken last month at my annual Hawaiian party.  I can see from this photo there is extra around my middle (which is what my mind feels all the time).  Yet, I am still smiling.

Don’t ever stop smiling.

What I Ate Yesterday (Tuesday)

I have not blogged about my food in a few weeks so I guess it is time I owed you a food post.  I actually wrote this blog yesterday and had to edit it this morning.  Yesterday was an over-indulgence in sweets!  I need to work on my resistance muscle and start saying no more.  Mostly it was poor planning as I had not planned a meal with a dessert in the evening.  If I knew that was on the agenda I wouldn’t have had sweets during the day.  With that being said, the dessert in the evening looked so yummy I didn’t want to resist.

 

Tuesday was my first day back at work for the week. I had eaten out twice on Monday so I decided yesterday I had better keep my PPVs in check! (Or that was the plan as least when I started my day).  I started my morning off with some oatmeal but yesterday I made a change. I was reading on Anne’s blog about building a better bowl of oatmeal. I already pump up my oats by adding peanut butter, Chia seeds, and coconut oil. However, I liked her idea of adding milk (or Almond milk) to create a fluffier bowl of oatmeal. Boy was she right! Yesterday I added Almond milk instead of water and it cooked up so nice a fluffly. I really enjoyed this change. The Almond milk doesn’t yield much extra protein; however, I was more interested in less sugar than regular milk. This will be my new go-to for cooking my oats.

 

I decided yesterday I needed to start reducing the amount of oats/oat bran (which is only 40 grams total uncooked to begin with) because lately the volume after cooking as made me feel a bit too full.  Today I added 20 grams oats and 10 grams oat bran hot cereal.

My teeth and gums are still a bit sore from dentist appointment on Monday so I tried to throw together snack ideas that wouldn’t be too hard on my teeth. The last few weeks I have been eating snacks other than my usual go-to of Greek yogurt and fruit. When I used My Fitness Pal to track for a few days I realized I was blowing through my sugar allotment really fast and early in my day. I am trying to make small changes to yield different results.

I packed two sets of snacks yesterday since I worked a 12-hour shift. That way I wasn’t super hungry by the time I got off work. My first snack was watermelon with cottage cheese. I love this snack!  A coworker brought in fresh donuts so I shared a sliver of an iced old fashioned with my supervisor.

My second was carrots, celery, and cucumbers with sour cream ranch dip and a WW string cheese. I had wanted hummus and pita chips but thought I better give my mouth a few more days rest.  I forgot to snap a photo of my veggies and cheese stick.

Lunch was a boring salad. I had some lettuce on hand to use and I knew a salad was a good way to get in my veggie serving and keep my PPVs low. This is just lettuce and turkey (see, I told you it was boring). I did try out a new dressing: Lighthouse Toasted Sesame Ginger. It has 8 grams of sugar in just 2 Tbs, which is more than I usually would go for but I really like the taste.

I ended up taking a bit of the blueberry zucchini bread that was at work.  I was in a sugar mood yesterday.

My dinner plan was to cook up some peppers, chicken sausage, and potato.  Sometimes we don’t stick to the plan and Tuesday was a good example of that.  My friend emailed me late in the day with an invite to an information talk on the recent medical diagnosis she has been dealing with.  It is at Cottonwood Grille and they serve dinner.  I was feeling really tired and worked a 12-hour shift but I wanted to be there to support her.  There are usually three choices of main dishes and two choices of dessert.  I ordered the chicken and the mixed berry cobbler.  Oh man that cobbler was GOOOOD!

 

 

I ate the chicken breast portion, the broccoli, and part of the potatoes.  I ate most of the salad and had two slices of bread.  When dessert came I dug in for the melty ice cream and the top layer with the sugary crust.  It was delicious.

It is easy to not want to post my food since I went way over my DPA and indulged more than necessary.  I think you can see now why I am still over my goal weight and why I need to make some changes!