October Apple Watch Activity Challenge

 Happy Halloween!

Since I work tonight, and I will be in costume, it just isn’t the same when I am not at home to answer the door to trick-or-treaters.  For a few days now, I’ve been ready to take down the Halloween decor and put up Christmas.  I suspect I’ll do that next week.

I completed the October Apple Watch Activity Challenge of walking 100.7 miles (which is awarded me 100.8 miles).  Yeah!

With back-to-back challenges that really made me reach for it, I am not sure what to expect for November.  As always, I am hopeful I can get back to some cross-training and not just one type of exercise such as walking.  Please be nice to me Apple Watch.  This makes 10 months of challenges completed for 2020.  WhoooHooo.

Weekly WI: On The Downward Trend Once Again - YEAH!

It has been a hot minute since I have found time to sit down and blog with a very busy few last days.  I had a great day on Sunday celebrating my birthday.  That is a day with very low sleep with a long workday on Monday.  From there I rolled into training and I am on Day 2 of an online training put on by the Division of Human Resources called Crucial Conversations.  It has been a great training.  Whew.  It has been busy.  The next two days are free so that is a huge plus.

I had a great weigh-in last night which made me really happy.  

I focused really hard on staying on track and it paid off.  This coming week has some challenges and I may end up using all my weekly points.  I am glad there is a brand new month next weigh-in.  I am ending October on a great note.  With the return to in-person weigh-in and workshops, I had a slight jump in the scale.  

Regardless of that, I am up only 0.6 from my September end-of-month weigh-in at home with no clothes and shoes.  That looks like success to me!

This year is going well.  I could be in a much more different situation as everybody has their own personal struggles.  I am very happy with where I am and I will continue to push forward towards reclaiming goal.

This Is 41

I posted on WW Connect my #facetofacefriday photo - Birthday Edition.  

Today I turn 41.

Today I am 100.6 pounds lighter than I was when I stepped into my local WW Studio almost 14 years ago.

Today I am healthier.

Today I am happier.

I have always loved my birthday.  The photo above was my birthday before I joined WW, taken October 2006.  I was in my first year with my career at Idaho State Police and had not yet met my husband.  I was living life with no complaints except one, I always struggled with my weight.  At 41, I am older and wiser and have experienced a whole life journey like none other.  

WW has given me a better quality of life.

I won’t be celebrating today as I work this evening.  I did some celebrating on Thursday, where The Homestead Bar & Grill gave me a free shot for my birthday.

I’ll be meeting up with my gal pals for a socially distance visit at Danielle’s house, which means we can use her garage for shelter and warmth.  With the drop in temps, we will be bundled up, wearing coats, and having a great time seeing our friends.  2020 has really put a wrench in life.  Let’s hope 2021 has better things in store.

A Dose Of Positive

 Good Morning.  Happy Saturday.

It is rainy and cold as our beautiful Fall temps have taken a turn towards dreary Winter-ish weather.  Some part of Idaho, as well as neighboring states, even got some snow.  Yikes!

My weekend was not long enough.  I was a bit busy so I didn’t get the rest/relaxation I was hoping for.  I was exhausted when I returned to work yesterday.  It is going to be a rough go from now until the end of the year with training new employees and working on employee evals.  I am also feeling some stress with personnel as well.  Some day I ask myself, why can’t it all just be easy?

I found this dose of positive motivation from Instagram.  Thanks Megan On WW.  

These words of wisdom are true in a lot of aspects of life.  My WW program is going well this week.  We have eaten out many meals, all pre-planned for the most part, and all tracked.  I had a high point day on Thursday and had 12 WSPA left.  I have since added 4 rollover points to that bank from Friday and have the potential to add some rollover again today.  

I have no idea what the scale will say but there were many times this week that I had the opportunity to chose to be really off-track.  I powered through, was accountable to what I put into my mouth, and balanced things as necessary.

I am in the last push to complete my Apple Watch Activity Goal for October.  Oh please, please, let November be an easy goal.

Weekly WI: A Celebration

 Good Morning.

Tuesday and Wednesday have flown by in flash…no…I’m not ready to go back to work so soon…and I missed checking in with you on my Weekly Weigh-In.

I have “officially-officially” re-claimed my 100 pounds lost now that it is on the WW Record Books once again.  WhooooHoooo!

I knew losing three pounds was a lot to ask of my body, but despite an evening weigh-in and wearing tennis shoes, I pulled out a three pound loss.  It feels amazing.  I worked really hard to stay focused last week and I am always grateful when it pays off.

I’m staying focused this week to ensue I don’t dip back above 100 pounds now that I have been celebrated again.  I posted on WW Connect and go a lot of love and shout outs.  I love this community.

The Workshop Weekly Technique was a good one: What’s Your Why?  

This topic is an important one because it requires you to dig deep as to why you are on this journey and what you want to gain out of it.  What does success at the end of your journey get there?  What steps will you take to get there?

My WHY for joining WW was to buckle the airplane seatbelt.  It continues to be my WHY because travel is important to my husband and I and in order to be able to travel, I need to make healthy food decisions and keep my mobility good.

Speaking of healthy food decisions, I am having an early birthday celebration this evening with German Beer.  I am also meeting up with a local WW Buddy, whom I’ve never met in person, for lunch at a local German Deli.  I have pre-tracked and am prepared for a high point day.  I find it only fitting to start my day with coffee from my Munich mug.

Cheers.

The Time I Almost Lost 140 Pounds

 My 41st birthday is less than a week away.  This week 11 years ago, I was getting ready to celebrate my 30th Birthday.  I had my last “official weigh-in” at my WW Center the day before my birthday.  

After I had met my doctor’s goal weight of 175, I continued to lose in hopes that I might inch closer to WW’s top goal range of 155 before I turned 30.  The closest I made it to was 165.

I was just shy of hitting the 140 pound mark.  While at that time I was a tiny bummer, the impact this journey had on my life back then, as well as today, is amazing.  

If you aren’t familiar with the journey over the last 11 years, the cliff notes version is:

• I eventually hit the 140 pound milestone
• I maintained pretty easily for five more years
• I regained 80 pounds
• I’ve lost 50 of those 80 re-gain pounds
• I’ve been lucky enough to dip into Onederland three times again

On the cusp of my 41st Birthday, I cannot be more proud of my journey over the last 13 years since I made the decision to join WW.  The highs will always out number the lows.  Bottom Line: I am no longer 304.8 pound Lindsay.

Confessions Part VII

Despite having walked many 5Ks, 10K, one 12K, and two half marathons, I don’t really love walking goals.

My Apple Watch Activity Goal to walk 100.7 miles this month has proven to be quite the challenge.  Some days, my body is just too tired to move.  I do enjoy walking but I prefer to walk at my pace and distance of choice.  I don’t really like feeing forced to walk log distances.  With 13 days left to go this month, it is going to be tight. 

But, I’ll keep moving.

Our weather is absolutely beautiful which makes going for a walk that much more enjoyable.  It can be hit-miss on the air quality and I am thankful we have had a good few days of blue skies and sunshine.

Once this goal is complete, I plan to get back to more cross training.  I think over the last couple of weeks of October, I’ll try and sneak in some weigh training again.  I just need a break from walking sometimes.

Lentil Sloppy Joes With Easy Prep

 After our WW Virtual Workshop on eating more plant based foods, Coach Cindi kept plugging the Trader Joes cooked lentils, which I’ve seen in the produce section.  I decided to pick some up and give it a whirl.  I also picked up the Mirepoix to make my life easier with meal prep this week.  It is $2.99 for cut up celery, carrots, and onions.  I’ll take the convince over the price any day.

I have loved the Rachel Ray Sloppy Joe Recipe and have always modified with with less brown sugar and/or brown sugar Splenda.  I have made it with ground turkey breast and with lentils.  After Coach Cindie suggested using the lentils from Trader Joes, that eliminated the step of having to cook them.  I threw together some Lentil Sloppy Joes, adding a few more ingredients than the original recipe.

I am planning to serve my Sloppy Joes over steam n’mash potatoes.  It was a very easy meal and on the Purple Plan, it is a whopping 1 point!  Even better.

Mid-Week Check-In

 I have been focusing this week on more accountability with my tracking and so far, it is going better than it has all month.

I am also working on eating my daily points each day.  I tend to make low point meals later in the week to offset the high point days off.  This week, I am trying to balance more.  Tuesday and Thursday, I went over my points and still earned a blue dot.  WhoooHooo.  That included enjoying a freebie birthday pizza.

I am keeping up with my activity goal this week as well.  I struggled with feeling so tired yesterday and took a rest day.  I was back at it today with house cleaning and a walk on the treadmill.

It is mid-week and I’m feeling good.  I am starting my work week with a meal plan in place and groceries ready to go.  I am determined to see a loss on the scale this week.

Weekly WI: It Feels Good To Be Back

 My local WW Studio opened it’s doors for just weigh-in again back in June.  This week, they opened up two meeting with limited attendance, 18 total chairs.  It was fantastic!  It feels wonderful to be back.

I went to the Tuesday PM meeting where there was only six total in attendance.  A few others came for weigh-in but did not stay for the meeting.  I told the Coach, Susan, that I will support WW anyway I can in getting more doors open so if there is spot, I’ll sit.  If there is somebody else that needs the spot, that is okay too.  I am just excited they are open again.

The new policy with weigh-in at the Studio is to wear shoes.  I was having a debate on whether or not I should wear my lightest pair of dollar store flip flop or wear tennis shoes, which will mean I weight more this first time.  I went to Connect and FB for advise and got some really great answers…all pointed to just wear the tennis shoes.  The other potential problem was that I decided to step on the scale at home when I woke up, naked with no food or fluids, to see where I was from last week.  While I don’t plan to do this every week, I wanted to try out the different shoes.  I was a bit bummed to see that I had gained over 2 pounds last week.  This meant I would not only be weighing more in the Studio with clothes and tennis shoes, but I would also be weighting more because of my gain last week.  Ooof!  I talked it over with my WW Virtual Workshop group who made me realize it is just a number and I needed to face the scale no matter what.

Here is what the numbers on my home scale revealed:

Last Week At Home Weigh-In: 202.6

This Week At Home Weigh-In: 205.4 (+2.8)

At Home With Clothes & Flip Flops: 207.2 (+1.8 more)

At Home With Clothes & Tennis Shoes: 208.4 (+1.2 more)

As you can see, clothes and shoes add up when it comes to extra pounds.  Now, I don’t have a choice on wearing clothes to my WW Workshop (thank goodness) but after thinking on it more, I knew I would just wear my tennis shoes and leave the flip flops at home.  With winter coming, I’d rather not be wearing flip flops and if they relax the policy again, I just go back to slipping off my tennis shoes.  No big deal.

When I stepped on the scale at the WW Studio for my “official” WW Weigh-In since March 14, 2020 my weight was 206.8…

…drum roll…

My weight yesterday was 207.2.  

I had a gain of ONLY 0.4 pounds from when I last stepped on the scale inside the WW Studio.  That is fantastic!

Now, when you look at the gain from last week to this week on my home scale plus clothes and shoes, it was a doozie of a gain.

I am bummed that I am back out of the 100-pound-loss-club and that I am further from being back under 200 pounds.  However, in a weird way this has given me a new energy to see that number go down and this time, I get to celebrate those milestones again with my in-person Workshop WW Peeps.  I will get there.  It might take me forever but I will get there.

If you are fearing the scale and need a fresh start, now is the time.  Get on the scale and chose to look at it as a starting point from NOW forward.  We can’t go back and change what we did.  We can only move forward from here.

The In-Between

I seem to have settled into this comfortable zone.  It is what I like to call the “in-between.”

I remember this place and I’ve been here before.  The difference is when I was here about six years ago, I was convincing myself it was an okay place to be.  Being here again, it takes little convincing.  The opposite is the truth…I am trying to convince myself to find that drive to keep going.

Weighing 200 pounds is not where I want to settle.  My journey is not done.  While I have been hanging out close to 200, and toying with seeing 100s a few times this year, I have developed this new comfort and appreciation for myself and my WW journey.  If I was ready to maintain where I am at now, I think I’d be fairly prepared.  Of course you all know it only takes a couple vacations to see that scale number spike.

However, right now, I just feel sort of content.  I feel good in my clothes and think I look good too.  I feel good with my food plan and activity isn’t a struggle.  I guess I just feel good in life in general (generally speaking as I am still struggling a bit with my supervisory role a work).  This calm feeling right now makes it hard to find the energy to work at moving the scale closer to 190.  I am not ready to settle.  I don’t want to be in the 200s for the rest of my life.  

It just feels exhausting sometimes.  

I guess I’ll sit here with my cup of coffee as I watch the leaves change and my most favorite season arrive.  My 41st birthday is in 13 days.  I think what they say is true about caring less as you age.  This new type of maturity looks good on me.

A Day Off Of Fitness

 I needed a rest day today and decided to sleep in.  I’m drinking my coffee, lounging in front of the TV, and eventually will get some meal prep and breakfast made.

A storm blew through last night which cleared up the air quality.  I am feeling a slight bit of guilt that I didn’t plan some activity so I could get out for a walk.  Our temps have dipped and Fall has officially arrived.  I love these brisk days, especially when there is beautiful sunshine too.

My October Activity Challenge is a mile challenge and thankfully it means I can collect all steps/miles throughout my day.  

I have been working on getting in some time on the treadmill too.  I will hopefully resume outdoor walks if our air quality stays decent.  I busted out a FitOn video yesterday and completed a lower body workout that has my muscles slightly sore today.

I am planning to resume in-person Studio Workshops on Tuesday evening.  It is limited seating but important for me to support this organization that means so much to me as I really want to see it survive these economic troubled times.

Until it’s time to go to work…I’ll be lounging on the couch. 

Wendover - Utah & Nevada

 We escaped adulting for a few days with a quick trip to the two neighboring towns of Wendover, both in Nevada and Utah.

There are several resorts/casinos on the Nevada side and we booked a two-night stay at Montego Bay.  It actually sits right on the border of both Nevada and Utah, which you can see both signs from the parking lot.

We ended up losing all our money.  Booooo!  I have one big win, a machined that I put $20 into and bet $0.80.  I hit the spin button once and won over $125.  That kept us going for a little bit but not enough to come home with winnings.

Kenyon noticed a nearby air museum on the Utah side.  We ventured to Historic Wendover Airfield for a tour of the airfield.  It was a small group and we had a great tour guide.

We also saw the plane used in the filming of Con Air.  That was the highlight of the trip for me.

You were allowed the climb the tour so we also got in a workout.

On our drive home, we stopped at Cactus Petes in Jackpot, NV for a bit more losing…er…gambling.

It was a nice little get-away.  Now, back to reality.

WW Weekly: I SURVIVED This Week

 I survived this week!!!

It was a very busy week with lots of overtime at work, lots of stress about staffing, and struggles with sleep due to the stress of it all.

Many times this week I told myself, “Don’t eat the stress.”  “Don’t give into the tired.”  Most days I won.  Some days, I didn’t.

But, I survived!  And THANKFULLY I have three days off to rest, recuperate, and spend time with my husband.  I am really looking forward to this time away from work.  While I do love my job, there are some days (or weeks) that are just downright tough.

I am looking forward to tackling the WW week head starting on Friday.  Until then, I’ll be taking some rest and working on some self care.  I just got some great ideas from my WW Workshop this week with some new meal ideas and maybe some meals I haven’t prepared in a while.  It will be nice to shake it up.  

I was really happy with my small gain this week.  I had feared the worst thinking I might even gain 3 pounds.  So, the small gain was a relief.  I went back to look at my weight record and I am lower than I was over the last five years.  I am only 3.8 pounds heavier than I was six years ago.  This makes me feel really empowered.

Stay The Course.

Hello October

When I reported in on my Weekly WI Tuesday, I completely forgot we had ended another month.  Goodbye September…Hello October.

 

I ended September slightly higher than August, however, looking back at 2020, I am still down overall for the year.  WhoooHooo!  I also went back to look at December 2019.  At month’s end last year, I was 208.4.  That means I am officially down 6 pounds for 2020. 

 

Considering the world fell out from under us, that make me ecstatic.

I am going to work really hard to continue to see that scale come down.  I want to be under 200 pounds by the time we ring in 2021.  In October, my local WW Studios will be opening up one of its locations for in-person limited attendance Workshops.  I am looking forward to getting back to that weekly routine.  However, it means I won’t be able to weigh-in at home anymore.  Also, if I decide to go to the Tuesday evening location, it will mean trying to eat/drink light on Tuesdays.  But, I’d love to get back into the Studio and hopefully soon can reunite with my usual Tuesday morning WW peeps that I miss so much.

We are still in survival mode at work and we are debating if we should make our planned road trip to New Mexico in early October.  This is also my FAVORITE month because it is my BIRTHDAY month.  Bring on the freebie foods!  I am stoked.

Hello October.  I’ve missed you my friend.