Let there be light!

Weigh In: 138 (-1 lb)

Weigh in day - down 1 pound. Very happy with that.

Read this article yesterday about SAD, light therapy and dawn simulators:


Shedding a light on winter depression

This is something that I relate to. I always seem to have more energy during the summer months. I need lots of light! Ever watch Farscape? I think I'm a plant person like Zhaan - need that sunlight, baby! Except I'm not blue. Actually, I have an unfortunate tendency to burn bright red if I'm out in the sun too much. And I'm nowhere near that tall. I don't bloom either. Ok, so not like Zhaan, where were we? Oh yeah...

This time of year, when the weather is turning colder and we're driving home from work in the dark, I just want to curl up on the couch, pull a blanket up to my chin and stay there until spring. And it is sooooo hard to wake up and crawl out of bed in the morning when it's dark. Unbelievably hard. I mean, it can't be time to wake up yet if it's still dark can it? Nope, didn't think so.

A couple of years ago, I got one of these:

Dawn Simulator

The researchers and doctors can debate all they like, but I love this thing. It has made a huge difference for me. It does make my bedside table a little crowded - I have two alarm clocks: the SunRise Clock and a clock radio - but the light really helps to ease me into the state where I am ready to wake up when that clock radio goes off. I feel much less sluggish and groggy. My "hibernation tendencies" (that desire to just stay under a blanket until spring) are much decreased. I hardly ever sleep right through the alarm anymore. Believe, when it's dark, that is so easy to do.

I don't think those hibernation tendencies will ever go away completely, nor will I ever be a person who comes instantly awake and jumps joyfully out of bed in the morning...But winter mornings are much less painful, thanks to my trusty Dawn Simulator.


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Daily Record
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BF: Coffee w/cream, yogurt w/strawberries & rapberries, 1 mini-wunderbar (yes, for breakfast...I have a serious chocolate problem)

Life back to normal...

~ Yesterday's News ~
Fred & I enjoyed our Mahi-Mahi again last night...Seriously, had to fight him off; maybe I should be cooking him his own piece...Ok, ok, I do spoil my cats but I wouldn't go that far. Maybe.

Went to sleep last night with one cat, woke up this morning with two cats and a husband. Life is good.

Moon brought me two boxes of chocolate from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. I appreciate this. It was thoughtful. He knows chocolate is the way to my heart. I also know more chocolate around the house is maybe not what I need right now. Will try to refrain from opening the boxes just yet.

There used to be an asian grocery just down the road from our house. It was convenient and had a nice variety of products in stock. It closed a few months back which was disappointing. Drove by this morning and it is now a Thai Hut location. This is good news/bad news...Good news: They make yummy thai food and this will be extremely convenient for stopping in on the way home from work. Bad news: They make yummy thai food and this will be extremely convenient for stopping in on the way home from work. This would very likely have been our supper tonight except that I already had soup defrosting, so now it looks like it will be our supper tomorrow night.

~ On the Diet & Fitness Front... ~
At the beginning of November I signed up for a fitness challenge on the weightwatchers.ca forums. The challenge was to set a goal for the number of minutes you would spend working out during the month. I decided to join just out of curiousity...I wanted to find out how many minutes of exercise I usually get in during a month. So I set my goal at 1000 minutes.

As of Monday, I was pretty darn close and if I had stuck to my regular workout schedule, I would have blown right past it. But then I hit my lazy streak this week, where I started skipping my morning workouts so I could sleep in my snore-free bed instead.

Last night I was close to skipping the workout again...until I thought about this challenge and how close I was. I didn't have any good reason not to do a workout last night. I got home at a decent time, was not feeling overly tired out or anything. So I went ahead and pulled out my Pilates-Yoga blend DVD and felt good when I finished. And then I convinced myself to get up this morning and exericse. I am now just 20 minutes away from hitting my goal. Go me!

I guess this is why people participate in these challenge things. It really does give you a push.

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Daily Record
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Weight: 137 lbs

BF: Multi-grain toast w/pb, coffee w/cream
Snack: Apple
Lunch: Totally Tubular Pasta (Looney Spoons/Crazy Plates recipe)
Snack: Yogurt, raspberries, strawberries
Supper: Mexican Crockpot Soup, Multi-grain bread.

AM workout: Walk & Jog DVD + push-ups & sit-ups

Interesting article on CNN

I rarely add 2 posts in one day - as a matter of fact, this is the first time - but thought this was interesting:


5 foods that should have a place in your diet

Yay for all of these except the mushrooms...Have never liked mushrooms. They are one of the few things that I can't hide in something else in order to make myself eat them...I can always tell they are there. It's the texture.

But as for the rest - peanut butter, eggs, coffee and avocados - I'm on board!

Now excuse me while I run and get another cup of coffee....

Can't believe it's only Wednesday...

Somehow it seems like it should be later in the week than only Wednesday. But that may be because I have been counting off the days until Moon comes home - which is late tonight! So, I have enjoyed my last night of ear plug free sleep, but I guess the trade off is ok. :)

I did not get in my workout last night, which is not good. Even worse, I did not get up again this morning. This whole luxuriating in bed thing has got to stop, so it's probably good that Moon will be home, snoring away again.

The Mahi-Mahi was not bad, I think I could get to like it. Very easy to cook - just throw it in the oven and bake. Fred, my cat, certainly thought it was good. He was all cute-sy and lovey-dovey and begging up a storm. So of course I shared with him. I am such a push-over.

I will definitely convince Moon to give it a try. I know that we should be eating fish because it's healthy. I used to eat it growing up and didn't mind it at all. I just don't feel like I know how to buy it or how to cook it. But this was pretty easy, so now I don't have any excuses!

Had a check-up/cleaning at dentist yesterday and my mouth is sore. Hate going to the dentist. Have to go back. I apparently have one molar with a piece broken off, so the dentist wants to fix it up. How do you break off a piece of tooth and not know about it?

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Daily Record
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Weight: 139 lb

BF: Multigrain Cheerios w/2% milk, coffee w/cream
Snack: Apple
Lunch: Mexican Crockpot Soup
Snack: Yogurt, strawberries, raspberries
Supper: Mahi-Mahi, stir-fried cauliflower, bell pepper & bean sprouts
Snack: Weight Watchers Smart Ones Double Fudge Cake

PM Workout: Crunch Pilates-Yoga Blend

Wait! What am I eating?

Sleeping without ear plugs - what a novel concept! Much as I do love my husband, I have to say that I very much enjoy sleep with the absence of snoring...So much so that I decided to sleep in and skip workout out this morning. Oops! But there is only me again tonight, so I will get in a workout before supper.

Speaking of supper...I stopped at the grocery store on the way home last night and bought a package of frozen Mahi-Mahi. The package contains two portions, so hopefully I will like it enough to eat it again tomorrow. Actually, I hope I like it enough to think that Moon might like it too and maybe we can work some fish into our diet on a regular basis.

This morning when I entered my breakfast and lunch into the points tracker, I also looked up "mahi mahi". The search found it, and the results came up as "mahi mahi (dolphinfish)...Wait! What? Dolphinfish? That can't be dolphin can it?

Had a momentary panic attack there. But then I looked it up and dolphinfish and dolphin are indeed different things. Phew. So now I am kinda looking forward to it again. I am going to try baking it with a black bean & garlic sauce (PC Memories of someplace-or-other), and stir fry some veggies in the same (or a similar) sauce to go with it. Maybe even some brown rice, depending on how ambitious I am feeling by then.

Despite the extra sleep I feel really tired for some reason. Maybe it's the grey, dreary weather.

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Daily Record
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Weight: 137 lbs

BF: Multigrain Cheerios w/milk, cofee w/cream
Lunch: Pizza on WW Pita
Snack: Yogurt w/cranberry granola
Supper: Mahi-Mahi, stir-fried veggies.

Ready to have a good week.

Weekend was not bad. A few relapses, particularly last night. Let's just say my evening did not go as planned and leave it at that. But I should still be able to have a good week. I still have lots of Flex Points left.

I am on my own for the next few nights, Moon had to go to Toronto on business...Wah! But at least I have the cats to keep me company. Also, when I'm on my own it gives me a chance to have meals that Moon doesn't like. I'm thinking I might try some fish. We shall see. I still have some food in the fridge that needs to be used up.

4 pm.
Moon just messaged me to say he's heading for the airport. I'm all bummed out for some reason. He used to travel all the time for longer periods than this and I was fine. When he told me he had to go I felt bad for him because I knew he wasn't happy about it, but I wasn't worried about me. But I've been feeling all sad since last night for some reason and I felt like I was ready to tear up when he said good-bye. Sheesh. What's wrong with me?


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Daily Record
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Weight: 140 lb

BF: Multigrain Cheerios w/ milk, coffee w/cream
Lunch: Mexican Crockpot Soup, apple
Snack: yogurt, strawberries, raspberries.

A.M. Workout: Hi-Def Sculpt (incudes push-ups & crunches)

Weekend winding down...

Don't usually weigh myself on weekend mornings (mostly because I forget) but I did this morning and was happily surprised to see 137 again. Weighed myself twice, just to be sure.

Wish weekends didn't disappear so fast. Never seems like enough time to get everything done. I am not ready for it to be Monday again!

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Daily Record
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Weight: 137 lbs

BF: Coffee Crisp (not good, I know), Red River Cereal, Coffee
Lunch: WW Pita bread w/leftover spaghetti sauce & part-skim mozzarella
Snack: raw cauliflower, diet coke, Quaker Crispy Tortillaz
Supper: Mexican Crockpot Soup, apple pie

Workout: Fat Burning Pilates + 20 Min Yoga Flat Abs

Ah, Saturday!

I do so love a weekend morning when I can sleep in...Or any morning that I can sleep in for that matter. I usually wake up with one cat sleeping by my head and the other one sleeping on me lower stomach/hip area. Granted, this is a 15 lb cat we are talking about, so having that weight sleeping on my does tend to make my back feel a bit strained, but somehow I still like it and I love being able to lay there and enjoy the snuggles rather than having to drag myself out of bed too early in the morning.

I think it is a chilly day out, but the sun is shining so it doesn't seem so bad. I will light a fire in the woodstove later, so the house will be cosy. I had a nice hot breakfast - red river cereal and 2 cups of coffee, and soon I will go out and get the grocery shopping done so I can have the rest of the day to do as I please.

I will confess here that I did eat 1 mini snickers bar while I was waiting for cereal to cook and coffee to brew (Moon has a bag of mini chocolate bars in his computer room - saw them last night and the snickers have been calling to me) but I counted the points and I will not eat any more of them today.

I'm thinking maybe pizza on whole wheat pita bread for supper tonight, with a side of raw veggies to munch on...It's been a while since I've had pizza.

Did my push-ups/sit-ups last night. That was it for exercise yesterday.

And I believe I was going to share an anecdote:

~ The Moment I Realized I Am An Exercise Junkie ~
I won't claim to be any kind of athlete. I'm not. I remember being quite stunned when an acquaintance referred to me as being athletic. I was the kid who hated phys-ed in school. It was always my worst subject. I did not like/was no good at any of the team sports - I think they require a certain amount of confidence and agressiveness that I just do not have. And running laps - how is that fun?

To be quite honest, I was not good at any of it. We used to do those Canada Fitness Tests every year in gym class and I dreaded it. I just was not good at any of it. A couple of times I did manage to scrape a bronze patch, not even sure how I did that now.

Which is not to say I never did any kind of physical activity. When I was a kid, I loved swimming at the lake. We went camping and I enjoyed hikes and bike rides. In the winter I liked to cross country ski. But I never thought of any of that as "exercise".

I did gradually discover some activities that could be classed as "exercise" that I enjoyed. To this day I still have no interest in any kind of team sports, but I have discovered that I like challenging myself at certain things. I enjoy walking, and I try a bit of jogging/running now and then. I like aerobics, pilates, yoga and weight training. I enjoy the feeling that comes from knowing that I am getting stronger, building more stamina. It's weird because when I was younger I never would have expected that.

Anyway....I should finally come to the point of this story...A few years back I developed some serious problems with my "mouse arm". That's what you get for working with computers day in and day out I guess. I was experiencing a lot of pain, it even affected my sleep.

I was discussing this with a friend, listing off my complaints about the situation and I mentioned that I couldn't do push-ups anymore. My friend responded with: "Oh I can't do push-ups, I have weak wrists."

I was speechless. I couldn't comprehend that she would just accept the fact that her wrists are weak, therefore she can't do push-ups. How could she not try to build up her strength? How could she be complacent about having weak wrists? Sure, I understand it would be hard, and she wouldn't be able to just get down and start doing full push-ups....But she could start with wall push-ups. Surely she could do that much? Then eventually she would be strong enough...

Well, you get the point. I knew that I would not be able to just accept that "I can't do push-ups". Thing is, there was certainly a period in my life where I might have made that statement. I certainly remember saying more than once "I can't run". But now I do. Not for major distances or anything, but I work away at it.

That day it hit me just how far I have come. I am one of those crazy exercise nuts. One of those people I used to think I would never become.

My recent change in jobs really cemented that. With my previous job, there was a gym in the same building and my time was pretty flexible so I was able to take an hour out of my day and hit the gym. This made sticking to an exercise routine so much easier.

But, all good things must come to an end...That job disappeared and I had to move on. Now I find myself getting up an hour earlier in the morning to get in my work out. Anyone who knows me well knows that mornings are not my friend. It is the worst time of day for me. Waking up is a painful process. But I couldn't see how else I was going to maintain my exercise routine, so I started to do the unthinkable, that which I always said I would never do...And I have been doing it for about 8 months now. When I mentioned this to my Mom, she said "Wow. You really must be addicted to exercise." I had never thought of it that way, but I guess I am.

Believe me, no one is more surprised than I am. But now that I'm here, I kind of like this whole Exercise Junkie thing.

Don't get me wrong. I still like to spend plenty of time sitting on my couch reading a novel or watching TV. But I feel so much better knowing that I got my workout in too!


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Daily Record
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BF: 1 mini snickers, Red River Cereal w/ 1/4 cup 2% milk, coffee w/cream.
Lunch: 1 egg roll, 3 chicken strips (DH made lunch)
Supper: Pizza on WW Pita bread, raw veggies
Snacks: Mini Snickers & coffee crisp

Workout: The FIRM Hard Core Fusion, 30 crunches on stablity ball + 15 oblique crunches each side. 5 Sun Salutes, 2 X boat & reverse plank, stretching.

Friday - Reset Day

Weigh In: 139 lbs (+3)

So it's weigh-in day, and I am up 3 lbs. And I know why. I know I have not been following the plan for the past few weeks. I have been sporadic about tracking. I have been cheating on the weekends. This leads to the feeling that I've already blown it, I'm not going to lose this week, so why bother? This leads to the "tomorrow I diet" mindset where I figure I might as well go ahead and eat that fudge or those peanut butter cups now, because come Friday I'll have to be good. Which all just snowballs.

However, it is Friday again. My points reset today. As far as I know, we have no plans for the weekend that would make it difficult to stay within my points. I am ready to do it right this week. That means tracking points on the weekend, even if I feel too lazy to go down to the computer. This means making smart food choice. I know I have done it before, no reason I can't do it again.

I've joined the Christmas Countdown Challenge on the WW online Less to Lose message board and set my goal as 4 lbs in 4 weeks. That's agressive as I normally don't lose that fast, but I feel like I need to make up for lost time, so to speak.

I also think I need a new scale. I don't trust mine. I've been getting on all week and seeing 140, then 139...then got on this morning and saw 137. That can't be right, I thought, so weighed myself again...139. Tried a couple more times....139. But it's frustrating, I'm never really sure I'm getting the right reading. Plus, it only does whole numbers, it might be nice to see the decimals.

I'm a little afraid to replace it now because what if it's completely off and I've been weighing more than I thought all along? So I will replace it, but not sure if I'll do it right away or not. We'll see.

Push-ups and sit-ups were harder last night. Was feeling it from the day before. But I did them anyway. I'm thinking I may have to give myself at least one day, possibly 2 days a week off from doing them to give my muscles a chance to recover. We'll see.

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Daily Report
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BF: 6 almonds, yogurt w/strawberries & raspberries, coffee w/cream
Lunch: Greek Fest Wrap (WW tortilla, 1 cup greek salad, 1 chicken breast)
Snack: apple
Supper: PC Combo meals: Pad Thai, Red Curry Chicken, Sweet & Sour Pork
Snack: Multigrain Cheerios w/2% Milk

PM Workout: Push-ups & Sit-ups

Day Four of Get Back On Track

Three things today:

1. Food was not good yesterday. It's very hard to confess, but I will...Most of the day was good. I stuck with my meal plan. I did cave and buy a package of peanut butter cups (I have a serious addiction to these things), but then I decided I didn't need them so I put them away in a desk drawer to save for another time. Felt good about that. After supper is when it all went bad...Let me just say that if you like fudge, that new PC Butter Fudge is just too good. Sadly, I ate 20 points worth of the stuff last night. So I will not be buying any more of that, because I don't seem to be able to exercise any portion control whatsoever.

2. Have been reading on a few blogs of ladies who attended a fitness bootcamp, and after bootcamp was over decided to keep up with doing 50 push-ups and 50 sit-ups every day. So, I decided to create a little mini-bootcamp challenge for myself: push-ups & sit-ups every day. I haven't come up with any exact parameters - how long I'll keep this up or anything like that. I just thought I'd start and see what I could do. So last night I did 15 full push-ups, 15 sit-ups, 20 (I think) modified push-ups (from the knees) and 15 more sit-ups. I actually am not sure now if it was 20 modified push-ups or 25, I didn't write it down right away because I thought I'd remember...Silly me. But for now I'll say 20 and see how it goes tonight. I actually am pretty proud of the 15 full push-ups, that was more than I expected. Sit-ups are hard and I have to confess that I did them with my toes against a wall...Still really hard, I'd almost say harder than the push-ups.

** The push-up thing also reminds me of The Moment I Realized I Am A Fitness Nut. I'll have to post about that later - maybe tomorrow. Today's post will is long enough! **

3. Tried a new Yoga DVD last night. I used to go to a yoga class at my gym. It was a great class and I felt like I sort of progressed along with the instructor we had. I think he was fairly new as a yoga instructor and at first the class was fairly easy, but it still felt good, and I was having serious problems with "mouse-arm" at the time, so I kept going. Then the class gradually started to get more and mnore challenging. Sometimes I would find myself in class thinking "Oh God! I'm going to die!" But after the class was over I always felt great and as I continued I really noticed an increase in my strength and stamina. Unfortunately, things change, I no longer go to that gym and I miss the yoga class. Even more unfortunately I am too lazy to seek out an evening or weekend class. I do have a couple of yoga DVDs at home that I like, but I don't get to do them often enough. I find when I am focussed on weight-loss I want to use my time on cardio and weights.

That was very long-winded...Anyway, I was browsing around on amazon.com a couple of weeks ago and I came across this Yoga Makeover set by Sara Ivanhoe. I have a couple of her Crunch DVDs and I like her a lot. The DVDs in the Yoga Makeover set are each 20 minutes long, so I thought maybe that would be a way to start getting in more yoga on a regular basis.

I ordered the DVDs and they came last week, but I hadn't got to them yet. Last night I was feeling neck & shoulder tension from my day hunched over the laptop reviewing log files, so I thought it seemed like a good time to try one out. I decided on the Weight Loss one. I found it challenging but not impossibly so, it moves fairly quickly and I think previous experience with yoga is a must here. Because it is only 20 minutes, there is very little time spent on explaining poses - you just get right to it. 20 minutes is short for a yoga workout, but I felt like I was working and when I finished I had that refreshed feeling that I get from doing yoga. So I am very happy with this purchase so far, looking forward to trying the other DVDs in the series.


Sadly, gave in and ate the peanut butter cups this afternoon. Was not even really hungry. I could hear those little voices arguing in my head: "You're not hungry, you don't need them"..."But my points reset tomorrow and then I'll have to be on a diet"..."You should be following your plan now"..."But I already know I've gained, might as well go ahead and eat them"...And the little red devil won that round. But at least they are gone.


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Daily Record
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Weight: 139 lb

BF: PC Crunch & Creamy Vanilla Yogurt with Cranberry Granola
Snack: Apple
Lunch: Black Bean & Corn Soup
Snack: Yogurt, strawberries, raspberries; Peanut Butter Cups
Supper: PC Indian Rogan Josh Cooking Sauce w/chicken, cauliflower, bell pepper & PC Garlic Naan

AM Workout: Crunch Fat Burning Blast
PM Workout: Push-ups & sit-ups

Day Three of Get Back On Track

Happy to see the number on the scale drop down a bit today. Sadly, I don't think I'll be back down to 136 by Friday. That's what I get for my weeks of goofing off I guess...Feeling better though. Next week should be better since I will be able to plan meals and do grocery shopping on the weekend.

Workouts still on track as well. Actually got up this morning and was able to really throw myself into a higher intensity workout - normally don't seem to be able to do that first thing in the A.M. Maybe because I had three days in a row of no exercise (being away for the weekend), I don't know.


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Daily Record
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Weight: 139 lb

BF: 1 slice WW toast w/PB, coffee w/ cream
Snack: Apple
Lunch: Totally Tubular Pasta
Snack: Yogurt, strawberries, raspberries
Supper: Spaghetti w/meat sauce.
Snack: fudge

AM Workout: The FIRM Cardio Overdrive
PM Workout: Push-ups & Sit-Ups, 20 Min Yoga Makeover - Weight loss

Day Two of Get Back On Track

So, yesterday did not go quite as planned, but ok for the first day...I'll count it as easing into things. It's funny, when I started this in September the first few weeks seemed so easy and now I'm struggling. That seems to be the way it goes - cycles of easy-to-hard-to-easy-to-impossible-to-hard....I need to get back to the "easy".

What went right yesterday:
- lots of water
- 2 workouts (morning & evening)
- good fruit & veggie intake

What went wrong:
- didn't have a real supper plan, it ended up being more than it should have
- gave in to temptation in the grocery store (after work, hungry) and bought a package of the new PC Butter Fudge bcs I wanted to try it (had one serving, wrapped up the rest & put it away).
- too much sodium

I do have all my meals/snacks planned out for today, coming in at a grand total of 25 points for the day which is ok. I have 20 pts/day, I've got 2 activity points already, which leaves 3 to come from Flex (unless I get in an evening workout).

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Daily Record
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Weight: 140 lbs

BF: WW toast w/PB, coffee w/10% cream
Snack: Apple
Lunch: Black Bean & Corn Soup
Snack: Yogurt w/strawberries & raspberries
Supper: PC Indian Biryani Cooking Sauce w/chicken, cauliflower, red bell pepper, PC Garlic Naan.

AM workout: Walk & Jog DVD
PM Workout: WATP 1 Mile Walk

Monday Again...

So, I feel like I'm starting all over again. I have not been sticking to the program for the past few weeks, I've been very sporadic about tracking points. I think I did not too bad over the weekend - for the most part I was enjoying everything in moderation and not stuffing myself silly...Unfortunately yesterday on the trip home I was not making good choices at all. My tummy was not happy, and when I stepped on the scale this morning I was not happy either - 140 lbs! that puts me back up to where I started! Official weigh-in is not until Friday, so I'm hoping some of that will disappear by then if I can get back on track this week.

So...Back to working hard! Back to tracking points! Exercise...I kept up with that, I seem to be addicted now, but if I can get in some extra activity this week, that'll be even better.

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Daily Record:
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Weight: 140 lbs

BF: coffee w/10% cream 6 almonds, 1/2 cup raspberries, 1/2 cup strawberries, 1/2 cup yogurt.

Lunch: Totally Tubular Pasta (From Looney Spoons/Crazy Plates - can't remember which)

Snack: 1 apple

Supper: 4 PC Spring rolls w/orange & ginger sauce, 1 M&M Chicken Breast Grill, Stir-fried veggies, 1 serving Uncle Ben's Chicken & Herb Rice, 1 serving PC Butter Fudge.

A.M. Workout: Self Bikini Ready w/Ellen Barret (1st time for this DVD)
PM Workout: WATP 2 mile walk.

There's no place like home...

We had a great weekend, but I am glad to be home and looking forward to sleeping in my own bed.

Also, I worry about the cats whenever we go away and leave them. I was happy to come home and find them safe and sound. They did manage to get the cat treats from the cupboard above the stove - not sure how they managed that one, but it was our last resort as a location because in the past they've managed to retrieve them from every other spot we've tried. And, it looks as though they decided to attack a roll of paper towel in the bathroom, but they just unravelled it a bit; nothing serious. I'm just happy to find that neither of them got sick or anything while we were gone.

Food-wise, I think I did ok this weekend, up until this afternoon. Hoping that tomorrow I can go back to clean eating and get back on track. There were some family pictures taken this weekend, and I was not happy with how I looked, so that gives me an extra bit of motivation.

Now I'm tired and ready to head off to my comfy bed. I can't believe tomorrow is Monday already!

Busy like a bee...

It has been a busy, busy week and I have to confess that I have not been a good little Weight Watcher. I expect this trend to continue until Sunday, at least. I'm hoping things will get back to normal on Monday.

Moon & I will be leaving the house before 8 am tomorrow to go line up for the ferry. I expect all meals will be eaten out tomorrow - technically, we could have breakfast at home, but Moon really needs activities to occupy him when he is cooped up for 3 hours, so we usually eat breakfast in the cafeteria on the boat.

The ferry will doc around lunch time, and technically we could wait to eat once we arrive at a parental home (not sure which we'll be stopping at first at this point), but it's an hour drive and Moon will be hungry and cranky from having been cooped up on the ferry for 3 hours, so we will probably stop to eat again.

Then the plan is to go out for supper. We are having a weekend celebration of my parents 40th wedding anniversary (which technically was last weekend, but they had other things going on, so we're doing the party thing this weekend) which will kick off with us (Baby Sis & I, with our respective husbands and Baby Bro) taking our parents out to dinner.

Then Saturday morning, Baby Sis has planned a family breakfast. Then in the afternoon we are having a lunch, to which all the aunts, uncles and cousins are invited (because the parents did not want a big party, but we thought something should happen to mark the occaision, so lunch was our compromise). It will be a buffet style thing, sort of an open-house type idea where people can come and go as their schedules permit.

Baby Sis is also hoping to set up a video chat with our West Coast Sis and her family after supper on Saturday night...which leads me to believe that there will be a supper on Saturday night, although I'm sure we won't really need it.

Sunday we are hoping to visit with Moon's family before we head back to the ferry for the return trip. I feel bad that we won't have much time with them this trip, but Baby Sis had the whole weekend all planned out for us and the reason for this trip is my parents anniversary celebration. We thought about staying an extra day, but we have no one to babysit our kitties so we didn't want to leave them alone for any longer than 2 nights. Hopefully we will be able to make the trip home again for Christmas and stay with Moon's family then.

Of course, Moon hasn't even called his parents yet to let them know we will be around this weekend, so who knows...Maybe they already have other plans or something.

Anywho - it'll be a busy couple of days with lots of food.

Tomorrow is weigh-in day. Not sure what to expect - I've been avoiding the scale and eating has not been goood. But I will brave the scale anyway. Not sure whether I'll have time to post, mornings not being my best time of day, but we shall see.

Friday Weigh-in and Owie!

Weigh In: 136 lbs (no change)

So official weigh in day, and I am still at 136 lbs. I can live with that. I did step on the scale yesterday and see 135 which made me happy. It has given me a little extra motivation - I feel like it's within my grasp...Maybe next week!

And the Owie...We have a portable dishwasher which Moon hooked up before he came to bed last night. Which is good. When we bought it he promised me he would help out with it (dishes are a major issue since he refuses to wash them and I resent having to do all of it myself) but most of the time I seem to end up doing it. Anyway, there is a mat on the floor in front of the kitchen sink area which he did not move out of the way when he hooked up the dishwasher. So this morning when I tried to move the dishwasher out of the way, it didn't move easily like it normally would (if the mat had been moved) and my foot slipped and I slammed my ankle into the bottom edge of the cupboard. Hit it right on that knobby ankle bone. Yeah. Owie. It's sore. I'm going to have a beautiful, colourful bruise.

Lunch out today, and no plan for supper which is not good. Oh well, one day at a time, right?

Overweight But Fit

I have seen articles debating this idea from time to time...That you can be overweight, but still be fit and healthy if you are doing the right things to take care of yourself. But up to now, the prevailing attitude that I have seen is that living a healthy lifestyle is not enough; if you are overweight, you need to lose it.

I have wondered about this. Ok, so technically I am overweight. But I do try to be healthy. I exercise. I eat my fruits and veggies. I do my best to limit unhealthy foods (hey! we all deserve a treat now and then, right?). I get 7 - 8 hours of sleep every night. I drink lots of water. I feel pretty good. Doesn't all of that count for anything? Sure, I'd like to be thin, but if it doesn't happen, does that mean I'm not healthy?

I had even asked my doctor about it at one point. I eat healthy, I exercise regularly, I told him. Consulting his BMI chart, he told me You should weigh between 120 - 123 lbs. You need to lose weight. (I found it interesting though that he never mentioned it until I specifically asked. Does this mean I'm overweight but don't look it?)

Yesterday on the way home from work, Moon was telling me about this article he read. A study has been done to show that being a little bit overweight can sometimes be good, says Moon. So of course I had to go find the article and see for myself:

A Little Extra Weight Not Deadly

On the one hand, this article makes sense to me. It even feels a little bit like vindication. All my efforts count for something after all.

On the other hand...This should not serve as an excuse to be complacent about one's weight. I could just see the wheels turning in Moon's head...Yeah! It's ok to be overweight! I knew I was healthy!

Problem is, there is a difference between being moderately overweight (the article specifically states up to 25 lbs) and being obese. I may not know exactly how many pounds Moon is overweight by, but I know it's more than 25. I know he's in denial because he doesn't want to do anything about it. So he just keeps telling me that he's healthy. And I keep worrying about Something Bad happening to him.

Ok, I know there are no guarantees. You can be healthy and still have Something Bad happen to you. But I figure it's gotta be worth it to take care of yourself; can't hurt to improve your odds, right? So I wish that Moon would make an effort. I mean, it's really kind of nice to have a husband around the house; he can reach the top shelf in the kitchen cupboards and change lightbulbs (did I mention I'm 5 feet tall and he is 6' 2"?), and he's always warm which comes in handy for a person like me who is always cold...But I digress.

Boiling it down - I do think it makes sense. The important thing is to live healthy. That doesn't mean you can ignore your weight - as it points out at the end of the article, extra pounds can creep up and push you out of that safe "moderately overweight" zone. But if you don't manage to get the number on the scale down to the magic number, it does not automatically mean your days are numbered.

So I'll keep on truckin', trying to get down to the target weight range for my height. What I will take away from this is that if I don't manage to get there, it's not the end of the world. The important thing is that I keep doing the right things to keep myself healthy.

Challenges...

I have been doing my best this week to recover from the weekend binge. I check in on a daily thread on the Weight Watchers Less to Lose board, and this Monday it seemed that many of us had a similar story - too much candy/chocolate over the last little while. Many of us set a goal for the week to not eat any candy. So far so good.

So, I've been concentrating on Staying Away From The Chocolate Stash and haven't really been thinking about other goals or things to work on. However, this morning Jasmine at ourwickedweighs threw a challenge out there to make a change for the better and try to stick to it for at least a week.

This got me to thinking (again) of the changes I have made, what has worked/not worked, what changes I (think) I can't make, and why am still stuck here, trying to lose these pounds. Periodically I do wonder: What change can I make? what can I give up? What can I do what will translate into results? So far I haven't figured it out. But I'm willing to try again, so here goes...

First off - to get it out of the way - exercise. I've noticed this seems to be a big complaint for a lot of people, but for me it is the easy part of the equation. It wasn't always that way mind you. For a long time I was an on-again/off-again exerciser, struggling to get in 3 workouts a week. But for the past 5 years I have been working out 5-6 days a week. So: Yay Me! It's a healthy habit and I know I am doing something good for myself. Unfortunately, this has not translated into weight loss (pounds or inches). I am more fit - I have definitely seen changes in what I am capable of doing, but it did not make me skinny.

So, next issue - and this is the biggie...Food! Glorious food!

I am a pretty fussy eater, long list of dislikes, particularly when it comes to veggies (unfortunately), and it is very important to me that I enjoy my meals. I have learned that if I don't enjoy my meals, I don't feel satisfied and I end up looking for something else to eat. So I do try very hard to eat healthy foods that I enjoy, but there are definitely challenges.

The easiest way to do this is probably to describe a typical day:

BF: could be cereal, could be whole wheat toast. Coffee with 10% cream.
I grew up with whole wheat bread and non-sugary cereals, so this is not a problem for me. I honestly have tried to switch to 5% cream or 2% milk in my coffee. I gave it a good 3 weeks, maybe a month. Didn't find it was making any difference as far as weight loss goes, all it did was detract from the enjoyment of my morning coffee, so I went back to 10% cream.

Snack during the day: Usually low-fat yogurt with berries (frozen berries, thawed). Lately since it's apple season have also been having a Honey Crisp Apple (love them!). If I'm really hungry will have a few (6 - 12) raw almonds.
Again, I tried fat-free, sugar free yogurt. Again, gave it 3-4 weeks, just couldn't hack it. Compromised - would rather have full fat, but went for low-fat.

Lunch: Usually bring lunch from home. Have been doing this for years now. It's usually a meatless vegetable soup with some type of bean/legume.

Supper: Varies. I try to make sure it include more veggies, and to watch portions/servings.
My darling husband will not eat brown rice or whole wheat pasta. He also thinks that an evening meal without meat is a crime.

Other than my morning coffee, I usually drink water. There may be the occaisional glass of wine or can of pop (soda, whatever), but this is a treat and does not happen often. When I do treat myself, I account for it (whether it be counting points or calories).

So that's a typical weekday. I try not to have snacks after supper if I can help it. And this is my normal way of eating whether I am "dieting" or not. Well, except if I am not in "weight loss mode" at a given time, I tend to relax the no eating after supper thing.

I think where I mostly go wrong is weekends. Weekends tend to be unstructured. Often meals are not planned. I get busy with other things and don't think about what my meals should be if I want to reach my goals. Binges happen most often on the weekends.

When I joined Weight Watchers in Sept, I deliberately made my start day Friday. And at first I was very careful about planning my weekends. And at first I was losing weight. But I've gotten a bit sloppy with the weekend planning thing.

So, I guess the first thing is to take control of my weekends again.

After that, I'm not sure. I'm not interested in giving up coffee or completely cutting out sugar - I think these things are ok in moderation and I cannot stand artificial sweeteners. I would be willing to give up meat, except that my husband has a fit every time he hears the word "vegetarian". And I don't see any good reason to give up dairy either.

It's basically all the extra treats that do me in. I'll be honest. I like junk food. Prefer junk food. Crunchy-salty things. Chocolate things. Things smothered in cheese. I do try to limit these things, and sometimes it works. But sometimes it doesn't.

So, I don't know. Maybe I'm just coming back to good old-fashioned discipline, and want it bad enough to Commit To Avoiding the Bad Stuff.

Bad, bad weekend

It was a really bad weekend food-wise. For some reason I just seemed to want to eat constantly - stuff that was bad for me of course. I feel like I need a serious detox now. Flex Points are pretty much gone - 5 left for the week.

I did get in 2 good workouts, but I am very disappointed with myself.

I'm also tired and cranky because, yet again, I feel like I'm the only one trying to do anything around the house. Moon has sat behind the computer all weekend. I don't mind him playing games, we all have our preferred ways of relaxing, but ya can't spend all your time playing.

I'm so tired of the house being a disaster, but I feel like I can't - and shouldn't have to - do it all myself.

Okay, that was my whine for the evening. Tomorrow is a new day. Hopefully a good nights sleep will make me feel better.

It's Friday!

Weigh In: 136 (-1 lb)

Walking to the Market to get lunch, saw a pigeon on the sidewalk pecking away at a piece of KitKat. Made me smile.

Mars Bars! And Smarties! And Twix! Oh My!

So, I've been hoarding chocolate.

Ok, it's normal for me to keep a few bars of dark chocolate around. I eat a few squares after supper most nights. It's enough to keep me happy, but not enough to do any serious damage. But lately I've been picking up extra little things and hiding them away. Like the little Halloween themed box of Russel Stover chocolates - it's wrapped in orange paper with a black cat on it. Only 5 chocolates in the box, so it's not like I can go too crazy. But I didn't eat it, I just brought it home and put it away in a cupboards.

But I kept doing it. I buy little bits of chocolate and put them away. As long as the packages don't get opened, I can leave them alone. And in a way I feel good that I have it there, it's like knowing that I can have a treat if I want it. But there is also this little voice in my head wondering if this is just a binge waiting to happen.

Up until now it was just me. But we stopped at the grocery store to pick up some veggies on the way home from work today, and being the day after Halloween, what should be sitting right inside the entrance but a huge pile of chocolate.

Now normally I would count on Moon in this situation. He will usually just walk right on by, and after a longing glance at the chocolate, I follow. Not today. Today he stopped to look. And we walked all around the pile of chocolate. And as we walked, packages of chocolate found their way into our basket. Too many packages. Most of them will be hidden away to join the stash.

So, I know this is probably not good, but there it is.

Big old stash of chocolate sitting there waiting to be eaten.

I think I need chocaholics anonymous.