CW 253

Yep another gain. I don’t know what happened. I was within calories except 2 times this week. I went to aqua aerobics and I have been walking around.

I do have to admit that i am still having a hard time getting a handle on binges. I’ve had a couple which include having 2 dinners on Saturday night. Yes I ate fast food burger meals (the small burger not the big one and the small size fries etc) TWICE in one afternoon Saturday. I don’t know what is causing me to binge like this and it’s frustrating me to no end. It’s like if I have the opportunity I will eat until I am sickly full. It’s something i need to work on without over analyzing it so that i don’t slip back into old eating disorder habits of restricting and fasting heavily.

I’m going to revisit SparkPeople though and go back to their idea of how many calories i should be eating each day. I thought it was a bit low because when I was tracking with LoseIt! they had me at like 1900 calories per day. This is what i switched SP to when I started back up. I am thinking now the LoseIt app was wrong and Spark was right.

I have some stuff to work on this week though and my goals did not get met so we’re carrying them over.

• Stay OP all week and try to stay op on the weekends
• Go to the gym at least 3x this week
• do strength training 2x at home
• Work on avoiding binges
  

I put that I wanted to TRY to stay OP on the weekends because I am usually away from home and eating what others serve me or am at a potluck type event on the weekends. While I always bring a healthy choice for potluck, I find that when I am away from the house my routines are out the window.

Working on avoiding binges is going to be the toughest one as it stands right now. I plan on just redirecting my attention when I feel like i want to head for the kitchen. I am also not going to purchase any of the 100 calorie packs again for awhile. I eat too many of them. The pre portioning doesn’t seem to stop me.

So that’s where I am this week. Hopefully I will be down next week with these goals in place.

Question – How do YOU handle binges?

This has been a totally draining week. I decided to go off Weight Watchers and start just counting calories again. I just feel that I do better with that mentally than the points. Not to mention I wasn’t losing a thing.

Then my cat I’ve had since she was a baby passed away on Saturday after being sick for 2 days. I will miss Birdie and hope that she is in a better place now.

So it was no surprise that when I weighed today I was up to 252! I have been eating like crap all weekend. I didn’t track Saturday and I tracked SUnday and came in so far over my calories that i don’t dare mention it.

The strangest thing is i was eating healthy and OP most of the week. But I guess that’s what kept me from gaining more.

How’d I do with my goals?

• I DID go to the gym once this past week.
• I did NOT work out at home due to the heat
• I did not stay OP 100%

I can’t beat myself up over it. I just need to set more goals

• Work out 3 times this week weather it be at home or at the gym.
• Track every day
• Restart the 200 Sit Ups challenge

I think I can do this. It will be good for me.

Today I had to take a long hard look at my priorities. I had to take Birdie Cat in to the vets office. She’s been really lethargic and mopey lately and starting to get a bit whiny. So I signed her up for the vet’s pet insurance plan. It was cheaper to do that and pay monthly than to pay the fees associated with taking her in for her routine check ups throughout the year.

That got me to start thinking about my finances and about what I’m doing for my health.

I joined Weight Watchers to see how i would like it. I’ve not noticed any loss so far after 2 weeks I’ve fluctuated around the same weight. I’ve tracked and counted my points and really nothing has happened.

When I was counting calories and going to the gym I lost almost 10 pounds. Yes I went astray and got back to my starting weight but, I was able to lose the weight this way.

So it was coming down to closing my gym membership, closing Weight Watchers or getting rid of my cell phone. Well I’m certainly not getting rid of my beloved iPhone! If I go to the gym 8 times a month my current employer will pay me back for the monthly dues.

So it was a no brainer. $17 a month to do something I can do on my own for free? I wasn’t going to meetings I was just doing the online version. It is a glorified Spark People but without as much support.

So after Monday’s weigh in I will be going back to calorie counting with my iPhone app and either Spark People or LoseIt! (or some other app if I find a better one!)

Update on my goals this week so far:

I have stayed OP all week. I used some of the “extra points” on a pretty bad binge last night but luckily it was stuff that was healthy and like 2 points a piece.

I’ve gone to the gym once and will be going again tomorrow.

I have not worked out at home because it is SUPER FREAKING HOT in my house and I really don’t wanna pass the eff out. But, I did get my Wii hooked up and will be able to do streaming Netflix which means more access to workout videos!

Question

What form of controlling your food intake do you use? Weight Watchers, calorie counting, carb counting etc?

I’ve been learning a lot since I’ve joined Weight Watchers. The one thing that I’ve been figuring out is that what I think is a portion size is usually way too big. If I just eyeball a portion of pasta or meat I’m way off.

So why the heck am I so far off when it comes to the portion size of what I’m eating? A lot of the problem is that I’m used to eating away from home. A portion at an average restaurant is 2 to sometimes 4 times the size of what a portion should be. So, when I get home and try to make my own healthy meals I think the serving size suggested seems awful small.

• 3 oz of meat looks like a deck of playing cards
• 1/2 cup of pasta is one cupped hand
• 1 cup of cereal is 2 cupped hands
• A piece of fruit is about the size of a tennis ball
• 1/2 cup of cut up veggies looks like the size of a light bulb (the bulb part)
• 1 oz of cheese looks like a matchbook

There are way more things we could compare out there but this is just a brief rundown of what portions should look like.

I’ve started trying to measure everything i eat now. I think that is one of the most important things about losing weight is knowing what you’re putting in your mouth. Guessing is not an option unless you have no other choice.

Question

How do you control your portion sizes in different situations?

I was reading today and came across something that asked how hard do you push yourself. I had to think about it for a minute because, as of late, I felt like I’ve been pushed to my limits. School, work, finding a better job, staying OP, workouts, my jewelry business, coven stuff and that little bit of “me” time that I like to have is a LOT!

Then I thought about it in the sense of my working out and staying OP. Am I pushing myself in those areas at all? At the party this weekend I could have stayed a little further from the food table. I could have gone to the gym Sunday, or Monday, or today and I didn’t. So what the hell am I really doing then?

I have access to a taxi service that can take me to and from the gym. Yeah it costs money but that $5 might have ended up a value meal at some fast food place anyway right?

I have a Wii and some workout DVDs. I don’t like them because our house is up on a foundation and everyone can hear when I’m working out. EMBARRASSMENT! But I’d be a little lighter on my feet if i would just do it.

I know there is going to be food everywhere when I do my jewelry parties or go to friends parties. It’s just the way it is. I can honestly say to this one I’ve gotten better but I could be even better if I would not mingle at the food table.

So the realization hit me that no, I am in fact NOT pushing myself the way I should. This is why the goals that I set yesterday mean so much to me to accomplish. I NEED to get to the gym, I NEED to do a workout at home and I NEED to stay on my points all week.  These things will push me to think more abotu my health. I will be just a little closer to my main goal and feel so much better for it.

Question

How do YOU push yourself further weather it be through your weight loss journey, working out or general healthiness?

Today I weighed in at 249! I’m 2 pounds down from where i was last week which is just a little happy dance for me this week.

A few things to consider about this weigh in are

• Jewelry party this weekend
• Pizza dinner with BFF and family
• No workouts at all this past week
• A horrible binge on Thursday night

So, with the jewelry party there was wine and cheese plus other snacks served. Everyone brought a few things. I ate relatively healthy (hummus, bruschetta, crackers) I stayed away from the brie and other cheese that was there but the wine I did not stay away from. I had at least 3 glasses. Of course for me this is not bad at all.

Sunday was pizza dinner with my best friend and my family. We ordered pizza from our favorite place and since I wasn’t the only one eating I couldn’t order my plain cheese pizza on a thin crust or a veggie pizza. It was pepperoni and mushroom, there were 3 pieces, a salad and some garlic knots consumed. Then I proceeded to have a slice of cheesecake. I knew better at the time but I did it anyway.My reasoning? ” My best friend bought it for me and i can’t just let it go to waste.” Now, my best friend knows I’m doing Weight Watchers and so it shouldn’t have mattered. I should have told her just to not add one on for me. After the nasty uncomfortable full feeling I had after this meal I knew I wouldn’t want to do this again. I was miserable!

This weeks goals are going to be simple ones.

• Stay within my points every day
• Only use the extra points for something special
• go to the gym once
• Work out on the Wii once

I’ll revisit these goals next weigh day and see what i’ve accomplished. If I meet these goals I’m going for a pedicure on payday!

In all honesty I didn’t eat badly this weekend. I chose healthy foods and I tried to not eat too many of them.

Saturday was a good friend’s birthday and party. I made hummus rolls (which I will post the recipe for when I figure out the nutritional info!) and brought them. There were chips and popcorn there and I munched on them but, my downfall was the alcohol. I started out really good. I sipped on the party punch (which is made with kool aid.) and didn’t start out drinking heavily. After awhile I switched to white wine and that’s where the issues began. I didn’t realize i had people coming around while I was talking and filling my cup.  So I drank a lot which ended up having me munching on chips since the hummus rolls went FAST.

Earlier that night I did eat dinner. My friends are vegan so we ordered delivery from a really tasty Asian place. I had pan fried noodles, fake chicken and scrambled tofu. It came with a salad which I ate as well.

The next day I didn’t eat much until we barbiqued. I had a kabob with veggies & tofu dogs, corn chips and guacamole, cantalope, watermelon and veggie burgers with cheese (they have cheese because 1 roomie is vegetarian.) & veganaise. I also had some wine that night as well.

Yesterday was another light day but still over points I’m quite sure. I ate lunch with the girls at a vegan pub. We had an appetizer of deep fried gnocchi and I had a veggie torta with jackfruit carnitas with sweet potato fries. I brought home a “carnitas” burrito for the family to try and ended up eating it for dinner since only half of it got eaten. Later I was snacky so I ended up eating some carne asada that was left over from my parent’s 4th of July celebration.

So I am up a pound to 251 today. I have changed my weigh days to Wednesdays but since I’ll be running around like crazy tomorrow i wanted to weigh so I didn’t forget.

Question

How do you count points when you’re eating at other people’s house or at restaurants that don’t list calorie counts?

This is a good one especially because I eat at a lot of little cafes and pubs. Just wondering how everyone else handles it.

Well I’ve finished my day with 1 point to spare. This is much better than what I ended up with yesterday. I really need to figure out what fills me up though because I find myself still a little hungry.

Today’s food:

Breakfast – Scrambled egg whites, bell peppers & a little chicken breast with a tiny corner of a cheese slice, sourdough toast.

Snack #1 – Peach smoothie (frozen peaches, greek yogurt, spenda and a half serving of Designer wey.

Lunch – Turkey & cheese sandwich w/ hummus spread, cottage cheese double and baby carrots

Snack #2 – 100 calorie brownie bites pack

Dinner – Chicken fajitas with only 1 flour tortilla and 3 onion rings

This really doesn’t seem like a lot of food to me at all. I’m worried that I’m not eating enough but I’ve stayed within points and have gotten my veggies, protein and dairy in. Now I need to go hunt me down a 1 point snack that i can have closer to bedtime that will keep me from being starved in the morning.

I’d love to hear any advice from anyone on Weight Watchers as to what your daily food looks like.

When I started this weight loss journey I had decided that counting calories was what i was going to do. I struggled with the math. Even doing the counting on an iPhone app was hard for me to do. The app didn’t have the foods I was eating and all this crap just started to frustrate me.

I decided after thinking long and hard about it that joining Weight Watchers was what I needed to do. I didn’t join the meetings I am doing the online. I would love the support of a meeting but they’re all at churches and I am NOT a church goer. Last time I tried WW I found that everyone who went to the meetings was and it was pretty uncomfortable for me.

So how’d I do today? Not good.

I didn’t eat breakfast because the electricity went out at my place.

Lunch was 2 Jack in the Box Tacos and a small fries

Happy hour with mom I had 2 veggie taquitos and 3 glasses of wine.

I was hungry when dinnertime rolled around and ate 2 Del Taco Burritos.

Yeah I know that this is NOT good. The skipping breakfast and the eating out all day was horrible. It couldn’t be avoided given the electricity situation. I went 4 points over my daily points (taking a few from the weekly extras.) I did however gain 3 activity points from all the walking I did today. I walked for a combined 30 minutes at a pretty brisk pace, which is what you tend to do when catching buses!

Tomorrow will be better as long as everything in the fridge is still good.

Today’s question!

How do you handle happy hours?

Honestly?

I got sick, fell off and never got back on. I just started tracking on LoseIt! again earlier this week and went to the gym after work last week. I don’t know what happened. It’s the same thing that happens each time. But, this time I’m going to take the advice of all my fellow shrinkers and put that BS behind me.

So here’s the deal. I’ve gained back all of the weight I lost. I have slipped back into my old eating habits and got lazy. So I’m going to turn each one of these things around.

I will be hitting the gym at least 3 times a week. I will be tracking my intake on my iPhone and I will not give up!

I’m going to try an experiment that I’ve seen on other blogs as well. I am going to post here what I ate each day for a week. This is going to include when I’m with friends and at parties since it’s the 4th of July weekend coming up. Am i nervous? Hell yes! But I know I can do it.  I need to do it as my first step back to holding myself accountable. At the end of the week I will re-evaluate how I feel about doing the food blogging and see if i want to continue.

Another thing I am considering is joining Weight Watchers online. I’d love to hear some thoughts from anyone who is or has been on it.

Until next time (which will be a shorter next time!)