10 Minute Flailing

Exercise in the last day or so hasn't gone well. Last night I was all set to go an hour on my exercise bike except the computer kept resetting on me. Five minutes in, blam, it resets. So I set it again and 10 minutes later, blam, it resets again. At this point I figure I've run down the batteries and so I went scrounging for new ones for about 15 minutes. I couldn't find any and wound up sitting on the couch in defeat for the rest of the evening watching a really bad movie on TV.

This morning, I tried again (my husband finally found the batteries) and was able to do a nice 30 minute ride. Afterwards, I thought I'd try out my new 10 Minute Solution DVD which arrived yesterday. Wow. To say that I totally sucked at it would be an understatement!

I picked the first workout in the list and it went well for the first few minutes. Shoulder-rolls and some Turbo Jam-esque standing moves. It's when the workout moved to the floor work that things went horribly wrong. The instructor is very lean and sinewy and she had some strange notion that an overweight gal like myself would be able to hold herself up with one arm while doing really difficult combos of push-ups, planks, single arm lifts and leg lifts. The push-ups I did OK with. But trying to support yourself at a 30-degree angle with one arm while lifting one leg? No way. My arm gave out before I could complete a single move. I gamely tried for 5 minutes before giving up completely on the whole thing.

Needless to say, I won't be doing that one again until I'm lighter and have some upper-body strength. Fortunately, there's 4 other workouts on the DVD. I previewed some of them while drinking my morning smoothie. They look a lot more doable than that first one. Let's hope so!

Half-marathon

Oh, did I mention? I signed up to do a half-marathon walk in October. I'll repeat that again because I'm having a hard time believing it. A. Half. Marathon. 21 kilometres. Of walking. All at once. And I signed up for it.

I still haven't gotten over wanting to hurl in the corner.

Strangely, the rest of my walking buddies have signed up, too. Misery loves company! We'll be training over the summer with other walking events and just getting out there. I'll post more about it once I get my training plan solidified.

On setting my goal weight...

Since starting Weight Watchers, I've been focused on losing 74 lbs. Now, I'm not so sure anymore. After reaching my 10%, I had a chat with my meeting leader about setting my official goal. She seemed to indicate I should set it at the high end of my weight range which is 141 lbs. This confused me greatly (I thought she was saying that I'd never get lower than that), but thanks to the great people at the forums, I realized she was trying to help me get to goal quicker so I wouldn't have to pay as much.

Nice intentions aside, I'm still not sure I want to do that. Saving money is great, but I'm not too concerned about that. Not that money grows on trees but that when I first started, I committed to myself that I would pay right through till goal, whatever that might be. Others have also said setting a high-end gives you a nice cushion in the event of life's little bumps. This is true, but...

Well, what about my own personal goal? I know I want to be 130 lbs and I'd rather be in the 120s. The last time I was 140 lbs, I was definitely on the big feeling side. Setting a high-end goal is almost like giving up on that dream. I know I can set a personal goal, too, but wouldn't it be nice to have that goal and my Weight Watcher's goal coincide?

I also found a weight chart that indicated that for my age and height, the maximum I should be is 135 lbs. This is definitely more in keeping with how I feel about my body and how it handles weight.

There's lots to think about, for sure. I'm going to keep pondering this question for the rest of the week. Come weigh-in day this Saturday I'll commit to an answer.

Now what?

After the glow of accomplishment started to fade, I was left with a feeling of "now what?" Even though I know it's an expected emotion, I've been a bit mopey this weekend past. And I'll let you in on a little secret – Saturday, the day I achieved my 10% goal was the worst day of eating I've had since being on plan. How does this happen?

Well, not planning for one thing and not having a goal to focus on. I thought I'd coast this week on setting my next milestone, but after the near disaster of this weekend, I need to set one right now. 20 lbs worked well for me, so that will be the next target I will work towards. 164 lbs, here I come!

Progress pictures of my 10%

I did promise that I'd post some before and after pics as soon as I achieved my 10%. So here they are! My "before" picture was taken late last summer on a camping trip. My 10% picture was taken yesterday. I wore the same ol' clothes and tried to strike the same pose. In fact, I don't wear those clothes anymore because they're way too baggy! I really must get a nicer picture up here. Maybe after I've gone shopping? :)

Sixteenth Weigh-in - I DID IT!!!

I did it! I achieved my 10% goal!!!!!!!!! WHOOOOHOOOOOO!!!!

I was nervous all week and almost didn't go to weigh-in because I thought I hadn't lost much, if any weight. But would you look at that. I'm down another 1.4 lbs for a total loss of 21.2 lbs. I received my 10% keychain as well as a big round of applause from the meeting members. It was the most wonderful feeling in the world.

I know I couldn't have accomplished all of this without Weight Watchers, the unending support of my husband, the support from the forums and from my blog readers who've posted encouraging comments and suggestions. A big smooshy hearty loving thanks to you all. Mwah!

Now that my 10% is achieved, I'm looking forward to my reward (I may try to get the appointment moved up) and to buying some new underwear. It's a good day :)

Photos can sometimes tell the truth

Yesterday my friend invited me out for an afternoon of kite flying (side note, it's a fun way to earn activity points) and she took a number of pictures which she sent to me this morning. One of the photos is a picture of me. As far as pictures taken of me goes, I don't look particularly glamorous. Wind-messed hair and the jeans/t-shirt look will do that no matter the skill of the photographer. Despite this, I kept sneaking peeks at it all day today. It's the first picture of me in a long time where I don't look utterly fat.

While the scale has told me that I've lost weight, I confess I don't really see it when I look at myself in the mirror. When you live in your body 24/7 (except in the rare cases of out of body experiences), you don't really notice the day-to-day changes. I may feel thinner, I may have people who've noticed I lost weight, I may have hard facts courtesy of Curves and Weight Watchers, I may have all of this, but I haven't been able to say without a doubt that I look thinner.

My brain must've known I was onto something when I kept stealing glances at the photo today. My logical mind told me that in order to get final proof, I had to suck it up and look through all the unflattering photos of me from last year. So I did.

The ugh factor aside, I can now say it without reservations: I look thinner. I AM thinner. Beyond a doubt. Beyond any doubt. I can see it at last. I LOOK THINNER!!!

At this point many of you are silently saying, "Post pics!" I will. I promise. Once I hit my 10% goal I'll post some before and after shots. In the meantime, I'm going to go stare at my friend's pic again.

Putting it into perspective...

Despite all my whining and whinging about slow weight loss, I've come to a startling realization. I'm almost at the same weight as I was seven years ago when I got married. This means that it's only taken me four months to undo seven years of weight gain.

You know what? That's pretty inspiring!

100 km!

I reached the 100 km mark this morning on my exercise bike. That didn't take long at all! It's amazing how far you can go in 45 minutes. I clocked 14.65 km this morning alone.

I've decided my reward will be....more activity points! I ordered a 10 Minute Solution: Blast Off Belly Fat DVD from Amazon. Although I know that you can't spot reduce specific areas, I ordered it because I really haven't been exercising the ol' abdominal muscles. I figured 10 minutes of ab work after every exercise bike workout will be the perfect combination. My muscles will be warmed up from biking and then I can hit the mat and start strengthening that stomach of mine!

My next goal on the bike will be to reach 1000 kilometres. As a reward, I'll get a pedicure since my feet will have done most of the work.

Fifteenth Weigh-in, rewards and an NSV

Would you look at that!! I could hardly believe it when I weighed in today. I am down two pounds. Two pounds!! I am .2 of a pound away from getting to my 10% goal. Wow. I'm utterly flabbergasted and jazzed at the same time. I thought it'd be at least till the end of the month until I got this close.

And if that wasn't enough, take a look at my new charm! I received it at my meeting today as a commemoration of my 16-week joining anniversary. I didn't actually count my joining weigh-in when I first started blogging (too depressing!) but yes I've actually been on program for 4 months now! As a reward I bought myself something I've always wanted to get but didn't because it was too much of an indulgence. That's right. A history book. About pirates. Arr. (You think I'm kidding.)

To top it all off, someone else noticed that I had lost weight! My husband's coworker told him that I was looking really great and that she had meant to mention it to him the last time she saw me. Eeeheehee! I'm on cloud nine.

And as an aside, I went to my community rec centre's fitness room today; the first time I've gone to a real-ish gym since becoming overweight. I really wanted to get back on a treadmill again as well as give my new iPod shuffle an inaugural workout. I felt self-conscious at first, but I got right into it and did an hour on the treadmill. The shuffle worked out wonderfully and is absolutely the best present EVAR!

This has been quite the day :)

10% Reward Update

In the midst of the birthday frivolity yesterday, I went to my skin tag consultation appointment at the clinic. The technician explained the process (basically zapping them with a current so they fall off) and said it would only be $75 to remove all of them. They can even do the one on my eyelid. I would need to go in for two sessions (included in the price) in case there's strays after the first session.

Although I thought I had a lot of skin tags, I don't have many compared to other people the technician has treated. It was a nice reminder that there's always someone who is worse off and that you're not the only one.

At the end of the consultation, I booked an appointment for the 14th of June. That should give me enough time to lose these last few pounds. Here's hoping I don't run into a weight loss plateau along the way!

Birthday wrap-up

Wow, what a day yesterday! I'm totally bushed this morning but I guess that's a sign of a most excellent birthday.

The birthday cake at the office didn't appear but that's only because the boss wasn't in and he wanted to be here for the cake. I don't quite understand that either. He's in today which means treats sometime this afternoon. Since it's not technically my birthday anymore, I don't feel quite as obligated to eat any of it.

Which is just as well because I kinda ate a lot of the wrong sort of things last night. I only just now finished journaling the damage. Most of it I can attribute to the fried rice. I knew it was a lot of points but I'd forgotten just how much "a lot" is, especially when eating 2 cups of it. The rest of the points went to eating part of a present my friend gave to me – a big box of Nutty Mac Whites. To my credit, I only had one and shared the rest out.

The rest of the evening I spent feeling too full and slightly yicky. It's amazing how rich high-fat food no longer sits easily in the stomach after a few months of eating really healthy.

Even still, I had a great time with everyone and I'm ready to start earning some more Activity Points. I'm going to need to as I only have 9 weekly allowance points left for this week!

It's my birthday and I'll shuffle and time myself if I want to

Today I received the best birthday presents EVAR! My mom gave me a sports watch with 12-preset interval timers and my husband gave me a swanky iPod shuffle!

Great birthday presents aside, these will totally help me in my quest for fitness. I can't wait to start training with them! :) :) :)

Decision on 10% reward

I've finally decided what I'm going to do for my 10% reward. This may be bordering on too much information, so be warned before reading on.

Over the last few years I've developed a number of skin tags in one of my underarms. I also have a small one on my eyelid that I'd dearly love to part ways with. It's really embarrassing and ugly. I don't want to go swimming because of it. Well that, and I look like a blobule. But it's mostly because of the skin tags.

I used to say that I'd get them removed when I got to my goal weight but now I'm thinking "Why not now?" I hate them, I'm sure they don't like me much, and it'd do wonders for my self-esteem. Maybe I might even get into that bathing suit again.

I'm going to book a consultation at a local clinic to see what's involved. It looks relatively inexpensive but I just want to make sure that the price quoted isn't per skin tag. And if all is as it appears, I'm booking an appointment when I reach my 10% goal. Exciting!

UPDATE
I was a little nervous but I did it. I booked a consultation appointment for tomorrow evening!

Healthy Living?

Although I love Cool Whip, I've never actually laboured under the delusion that it's anything close to a "healthy" product. When I saw an advertising banner on WeightWatchers.ca that combined a picture of Cool Whip with the words "healthy living" I scoffed quietly to myself but clicked through anyways. I was surprised to find an assortment of recipes using Cool Whip, Jello gelatin, pudding, and/or fruit.

• Kraft Canada Healthy Living Desserts

Despite what the marketing firm would have you believe, these sorts of recipes aren't actually healthy in the sort of organic free-range whole-food sort of way. But dayum if they don't look tasty! I think I'll keep these recipes in mind the next time there's a family dinner, picnic or otherwise special occasion.

Sobering truth

Sometimes, at the height of our revelries, when our joy is at it's zenith, when all is most right with the world, the most unthinkable disasters descend upon us.” – from A Christmas Story

I wouldn't say "disaster" per se, but I am feeling rather dumpy this morning after seeing some pics my husband took last night when we were out at a dodgeball practice (don't ask). The high of having someone congratulate me on my weight loss so far is fading in the light of the sobering truth: I have a ways to go yet.

I know photographs lie and all that and I have come a long ways already. But I've got to keep focused and not get too cocky. The popcorn was a nice treat but I can't let that become the norm. Keep eating right and indulge only once in awhile!

Bruschetta in a Bowl

Ah, I love it when the sun starts shining longer and all the fresh fruits and vegetables start coming out. Earlier this evening I thought, "This is barbeque and bruschetta weather!" And suddenly, I really really wanted some bruschetta.

Now, I don't usually wing things. I like recipes. That way, if it turns out to be an inedible mess, I can always blame the recipe. But wanting bruschetta and having a package of beautiful ripe cherry tomatoes, I didn't really have an excuse not to try.

So I decided to make a bruschetta salad. Quartered cherry tomatoes, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, Parmesan cheese and basil. And you know what? It actually tasted just like bruschetta except without the bread.

It felt really good to stand in a sunny kitchen and eat bruschetta out of one of my nice Chinese blue china bowls. When eating simple food like this, I can't help but think life is good.

Was it worth it?

In the long run...probably not. But it's nice to know I can indulge in cravings on Weight Watchers as long as I'm accountable (and am good for 99% of the time!)

The craving of which I speak is popcorn. Specifically, movie theatre popcorn with butter. While salmon is without a doubt my Achilles heel, movie theatre popcorn is my Achilles elbow. And boy, did I indulge in it last night!

I ate an entire (small) bag of the stuff last night at a late movie. I knowingly took part in it, too. I earned 6 APs yesterday and I was bound and determined to use them and then some. When I got home and used Calorie King to look up the Nutritional Info, I wasn't really surprised at what I saw. Needless to say, it took a chunk out of my Weekly Allowance Points.

This morning, I'm a little "plugged up" and it seems too much of a coincidence. Fortunately, one bag of indulgence like this usually lasts me a few months or more. Ah well, here's to drinking water to get things moving again and to counteract water gain from all that sodium!

Curves Monthly Measurement - May

I finally went back to Curves yesterday. Even though I had missed it, it was still difficult to get going again. But I'm glad I went - not only did it feel good to work out again, but it was also time for my monthly measurement.

I wasn't expecting too much out of it because I hadn't been to Curves for about three weeks. However, the printout that I received clearly said otherwise!

Since starting Curves, I've lost:

• 16.5 inches
• 16.0 pounds
• 3.8% body fat

14 of those pounds was body fat. That's 9.25 inches down from last time and I couldn't be more pleased. I've been carrying the sheet around the house all weekend like a magic charm. I just can't help staring at it - 16.5 inches gone!!!

Fourteenth Weigh-in

I'm down another 1 lb! Whoo! I am so close to my 10% goal!

:) :) :)

My new Starbucks friend

Meet my new summer friend - a tall Mocha Frappuccino Light from Starbucks. Standing at the counter undecided, I took a gamble by ordering it. I was in too much of a rush to ask for the Nutritional Information and so I trusted to a faint memory of it having been discussed before on the Weight Watchers forums as being somewhat points-friendly.

Once I started drinking it I knew I had made a terrible mistake. Something this tasty - a light frosty deep cocoa-y blended coffee - couldn't be points friendly. I had fallen into a points trap again. Would I never learn?

However, once home in the comfort of the Internets, I found the NI (calories 140, fat 1.5, fibre 3), ran it through the calculator and came up with a startling low value - just 2 points! And it even tastes good, too!

This discovery has come in the nick of time. I look forward to frosty blended drinks in the summer time and this will fit the bill nicely!

Somebody Noticed!

I'm absolutely floored. Somebody noticed that I had lost weight and it wasn't my husband! (Bless him, he does let me know when I look thinner ♥)

I was in the kitchen at work when my project manager asked me how I was doing. I told her I felt great. I guess she thought that was a good opportunity to say "Well you look great! I gotta say you've lost a LOT of weight."

WHOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She then went on to say that it was definitely noticeable and she'd been thinking to herself, "what has she been doing?" I was utterly flabbergasted. The last time I lost weight, no one noticed (or were afraid to mention it).

So, I told her I was on Weight Watchers and she was duly impressed. She said that she's been thinking about losing some weight, too (which is strange because I never considered her to be overweight) and that maybe she should join some place like Curves. Well you know that I had to tell her I go to Curves as well!

Eeeeeheeeeheee, I'm just totally giddy now :) :) :)

Avoiding your own birthday cake

I hadn't really thought about the fact that my birthday is coming up next week until an offhand comment by one of my coworkers this afternoon reminded me. I thought "oh geez, I'm going to have to change my profile!"

And then it hit me: I'm going to have to dodge a birthday cake. I know my husband wouldn't get me one, but the office sure will. Uh oh.

It's not that I wouldn't have the points to have a slice. It's just that it'd be hard to track. And the slightly troubling fact that I adore birthday cake so much that I'd want more than one slice. Not to mention there may be other hidden traps in store for me like dinner at a restaurant. Yikes!

Well, forewarned is forearmed. I'm going to start mentally rehearsing. "A second slice of cake is bad, a second slice of cake is bad, a second slice of cake is awesome...no wait...it's bad."

I ♥ my exercise bike

Although I've had it put together for over a week now, I haven't written about my new exercise bike. In short, I love it.

It makes a great kleenex box holder (see picture, right) and it's very quiet. I really like the programs on it (6 in all) and that I can vary the length of them for variety.

I had to take a break last week because I developed a chest cough, but this week I've been really using it. Normally it takes herculean measures to get me out of bed in the morning, but I've been surprising myself by hitting the bike first thing. So far, I've done five workouts altogether using either the Fat Burn program or the Max Fat Burn program.

I've even been keeping track of my workouts with an Excel spreadsheet. I'm tracking length, distance and calories burned. When I get to 100 kms, I'll reward myself!

In short, I'm really enjoying it and I'm glad I got it. It's an easy way to get exercise in :)

Lazy daisy

Ah, I've been so lazy these last few weeks! I know it doesn't take long to blog, but somehow there's always been something that needs doing. Or not doing if there's a good show on TV.

I've put my exercise bike together, bought a new cookbook, tried three recipes from said cookbook and even tried another new recipe tonight - Balsamic Roasted Carrots. But have I blogged any of that?

I gotta get back at it, I really do. It helps me talk through things and keep motivated. I can't remember when the last time I set a goal either.

Okay, okay, that naturally leads to me setting a goal this week: BLOG! But maybe tomorrow...

Thirteenth Weigh-in

Just a tiddle of .2 lbs I'm afraid. It looks like my body has recovered well and good from the cold. My home scale said 185 lbs so I'm up from last week but still down over-all. Now, onwards to health and fitness!

Things what come in the mail = awesome

My new workout clothes from See Jane Run finally arrived! And not a moment too soon. The 2X gym pants that I've been wearing were seriously making me look like MC Hammer.

Of what I ordered I don't know what I like best. The shirt is so soft and pretty. It's nice to have a woman's fit shirt instead of the man's shirt I've been wearing. The capris I ordered (in 1X!) also fit perfectly and are so comfortable. Everything looks and feels great and it's making me feel great, too!