Post-Holiday Weigh In

I'm ready for a clean slate, but in the past I have regretted deleting my weight history. So, I thought I'd do the same thing I've started doing with my monthly workouts ~ I'll keep these in a post so that it's there to go back and review if I wish to.

Now...The damage from the holidays. On Monday I was actually up to 148.1, which I was not happy to see. But as of today I am back down to 146.5 which is pretty much back to the upper end of the range I've been bouncing around in for the past several months. So I feel ok with that. It's still not where I want to be, but at least I haven't made things any worse.

So. Clean slate time. My new starting weight, may it slowly but surely dwindle down to a healthy number...

Today: 146.5

Start Weight:
Aug 01: 145.1
Weigh Ins:
Aug 08: 146.7
Aug 15: 143.9
Aug 22: 145.0
Aug 29: 144.1
Sep 05: 144.8
Sep 12: 144.1
Sep 19: 144.0
Sep 26: 144.9
Oct 03: 146.2
Oct 10: 144.5
Oct 17: 144.8
Oct 24: 146.0
Oct 31: 146.2
Nov 07: 144.9
Nov 13: 144.9
Nov 21: 145.5
Nov 28: 146.7
Dec 05: 145.3
Dec 12: 144.4
Dec 19: 144.5
Dec 26: 146.0

Let's talk about food....

It's weigh in day for me, and for the second week in a row I am up. I don't really have an explanation. I won't say it was a perfect week, but I thought I was doing fairly well. Yes, I know. These fluctuations can happen for many reasons. But seriously. A year. No progress. I don't want to talk about it any more.

Today...Well...Had an itchy, scratchy throat this morning so I gargled with Listerine; think I may have swallowed a bit by mistake and my tummy has been feeling funny ever since. Could be my imagination.

Have been virtuously eating my toast with almond butter for breakfast, ignoring coffee shop muffins for the past 3 weeks. This morning, I decided to heck with it. I'm having a muffin. I was hoping for chocolate chip, but they didn't have any. Had a carrot muffin instead, which has grated carrots and raisins...Almost good for me!

Yes, that's me being delusional. Blame it on the Listerine ingestion.

Then, at our morning meeting there were the usual chocolate chip cookies. Normally I have no trouble ignoring them because they aren't that good. But today they did look good so I ate one. It was ok, but not as good as the chocolate chip cookies I make. Just sayin'.

Decided to buy my lunch today, for a change. I had a falafel wrap and fatoush salad. It was yummy.

Then around 4:30 I had a beer. At work, sitting at my desk. But I did say no to the potato chips that were also offered.

Then we stopped for takeout on the way home and I had Green Thai Curry with rice.

Friday = Fun Food day!!!

Ok, so not a typical day.

I keep saying that food is my problem. It must be right? Because I do exercise. I'm not just making it up when I post about my workouts. So it has to be the food. During the week, my breakfast, lunch, snacks are pretty consistent. Evening meals and weekends tend to be where it all breaks down. Even then, I've always thought I wasn't doing too badly.

And yes, I have considered that perhaps this weight is just where my body wants to be. Problem is, this is not where my ego (vanity?) wants to be. Some days I can deal. Other days I look in the mirror and want to cry. I remember being slim. I'm having a hard time accepting the chubby.

Plus, technically speaking, I have that "overweight" label hanging over my head. I don't like it.

Coming back to the food again (I'm just a boomerang today aren't I?)...Every so often I will pull out a stack of cookbooks, look through them for healthy, [hopefully]tasty, low-cal meal ideas. I make lists. Meal plans. It lasts about a week and I get frustrated and lazy. Husband will have been less than excited about my efforts. I will be tired of cooking and washing dishes, coming up with new ideas. We go back to the tried and true. The easy meals. Which aren't necessarily unhealthy meals. Just not the optimum for weight loss.

But perhaps I need to make more of a commitment to it. Perhaps if I focus my blogging on healthy eating adventures, it will help me make that commitment. I did say that I need something new to occupy me now that gardening season is over.

I haven't come to any firm decision on this yet. Still mulling things over. I may still wimp out because I am at heart a lazy a busy person, with only so much energy to go around. But, I'm considering it.

And a non-food related P.S...

Some photos from today; can you spot the deer? There are two of them in there.







Here is Fred, eating some tasty grass.



And George peeking around the corner (sorry, this one is really blurry).



Suddenly Fred bolted across the lawn.



Looks like one of the deer startled him.



These were taken when we got home from work. I could see the deer when we pulled into the garage, so after I fed the cats I took my camera and went outside. I went to the corner of the fence and was able to take the photos, even though the nearest deer was not all that far away from me.

This was my second deer encounter of the day. The cats wake me up around quarter to five in the morning, wanting to be let out into their enclosure. So I stumble down, let them out, and then go back to sleep. On a good day, but the time we're up and ready for work, they are both back inside. Today was not a good day. I had to go out and get Fred, and let me tell you, he was not wanting to come out from under his bush. But the highlight - there was a deer standing right up against the opposite side of the fence (right behind my urns - all summer the bits of the plants that poked through the holes in the fence got chewed off, guess I caught one of the culprits in the act). I couldn't help but stand there and watch him for a few minutes before I dragged Fred out from under his bush. The deer stayed there the whole time. Guess he wasnt' finished with his snack.

Weigh In: 142.6 (-1.5 lb)

I suppose it's time to - briefly, at least - get back to the whole reason I started this blog: to help me with my weight loss efforts.

I was feeling a need to take a break from posting about it every day. My lack of progress has been stressing me out, the pressure was getting to me. Granted, this is pressure that I have put on myself, but I was starting to feel rather beaten.

So I shifted focus. I gave myself a bit of time off. Which is not to say that I have been ignoring my goals, just...I don't know, easing up and being a bit kinder to myself? I have still be doing my workouts. I have not been counting points or calories, but I have been keeping track. I have been trying to make mostly good choices, but not beating myself up if I don't always make the best choices.

I am not sure where I go from there. The next couple of weeks are going to be a bit hectic for me. I think that means I will stick to the same plan - try to make the best choices I can, but don't stress when I get it wrong, and get in my workouts when I can. I will be away for a few days, so likely I will miss some workouts.

Then, in a couple of weeks, when I am back to my regular schedule I can re-assess. But in the mean time, brace yourselves for more garden pictures, cat pictures and who knows what else. :)

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Daily Record
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BF: Muffin & coffee
Snack @ morning meeting: 1 chocolate chip cookie, grapes (the cookies were not good, so it was easy to stick to grapes after trying one cookie)
Lunch: 2 slices multi-grain bread with hummus, more grapes
Supper: Spring rolls, Pad Thai from Thai Hut

It's Friday!

Weigh In: 144.1 (+ 0.4 lb)

So I was as good as my word last night and I passed on the Tostitos. I was worried that the open bag would be sitting around the house all weekend, tempting me, but it disappeared into Husband's computer room and it looks like he pretty much finished it off. Which is not a good thing for him, no one needs to eat almost a whole bag of Tostitos in one evening, but at least I don't have to worry about them.

I also spent about two hours out in the yard, planting things in my new vegetable patch, then I came in and did a short weight workout. So overall, it was a pretty good day.

With the weather being so warm, and our office having no air conditioning, I'm thinking I may start experimenting with salads for lunches during the week. Normally, I like my salads to be freshly made, but I've been thinking about options and I have some ideas.

Of course, any day now, everyone else will decide it's too hot, drag out the portable air conditioner, turn it on full blast, and then I'll be back to wearing sweaters and freezing (that's what happened last summer). I suppose then I will be happy for the hot lunches.

Anyway, just came in from another gardening session. I'm getting close to having it all planted I think - it's not a huge area, so I will probably finish it off tomorrow. Then I will be all on pins and needles waiting to see if things grow.

Now I am off to relax for an hour or so, then I'll be ready to sleep. Have a great weekend everyone!

What did I just say?

Weigh In: 143.7 (-0.2 lb)

Did I just say a week ago that I was going to get serious about my eating? Did I? So when exactly am I going to start following my own advice?

Sigh.

Well, there was that pie that I had to make and then had to eat (had to! ha!). Then pizza day yesterday. Wanna know what I did this morning? I ate a caramel muffin. But I did pass up on donuts when I got to work. And I did pass up on take-out for lunch today and eat the lunch that I had sitting in the fridge from yesterday. But then it went downhill again for reasons I won't get into here.

Seriously. I have to get my act together.

Aside from eating, here is my week in review:
- 2 strength training sessions
- 2 treadmill sessions
- 1 cardio with weights DVD workout

Also used the Wii Fit twice and did a couple of hours work in my flower beds.

So, people of Blog Land. It's time for JavaChick boot camp. I will keep up my exercise. And I will figure out this eating thing (I say for the gazillionth time). Feel free to give me a kick in the butt if you see me going off the rails, getting lazy, etc. Because obviously I'm not doing such a great job policing myself.

As an aside, my sister and I have started checking in with each other every couple of days via e-mail. She wants to get back into exercising, and I am trying to eat sensibly to lose some weight. It's a good thing. We're encouraging each other. But I think I really need that kick in the butt.

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Daily Record
----------------------
08:20 Fibre1 Granola bar
09:00 Caramel Muffin & Coffee
12:30 Rockin' Moroccan Stew
14:35 Vanilla Latte & Buttertart
16:45 1 Beer (yes, still at work - that's what office fridges are for right? Beer?)
18:30 Panang Chicken & Rice
20:45 Quaker Crispy Minis

Weirdness

 
Weigh in: 143.0 (+0.7 lb)

It's weigh in day, and as you can see I am up 0.7 lb from last week. Normally this would signal cranky-ness, wailing and gnashing of teeth. Today, oddly, I'm not that upset about it. Kinda, sorta in a good mood, in actual fact. Yep. Weirdness.

It's been sunny all week. It stays light much later in the evening, what with it being spring!!! Yes, I love this time of year. I'm not freezing all the time. I can open windows and let in fresh air. I have more energy. This has been making the evening workout thing easier, because cold & dark generally leads to me wanting to sleep. Warm and light makes it much easier to throw on the workout clothes in the evening, and head down to my basement workout area.

I set a goal at the beginning of the week to follow a more structured workout schedule, rather than just doing whatever I happen to feel like doing. Not only did I lay out a plan, I followed through on my plan. I did 3 strength training sessions and 3 cardio sessions. In addition, I got in a pilates-yoga workout and I did an extra 20 minutes on the treadmill last night after doing my weights because I was still feeling energetic. Go me! While my mileage on the treadmill is lower than I have been trying to aim for, I did spend 390 minutes exercising this week (averages to 65 minutes a day over 6 days). Go me! Did I already say that? That's okay, I think I deserve more than one "Go me!" this week.

All of this leads to my feeling strangely optimistic, despite the gain on the scale this week. I'm feeling good, and that should be what it's all about.

I fully expect that this optimistic mood won't last, mind you. Inevitably, I will come crashing down at some point. But for now, I'll take it, and I'll enjoy every minute.

TGIF

Weigh In: 142.3 (-0.4 lb)

I don't really want to talk about weigh in today. So I'm not gonna.

It was a beautiful day, unfortunately the weather forecast for the weekend is not so nice. Guess I will just have to make do with looking at more of my photos from last weekend, which was nice and sunny.





Today, food-wise, was not good. I had good intentions, but it was one of those days when things just didn't go according to plan. I did get in an hour long strength training workout tonight though, so I'm feeling like I got a bit of a head start on the week in that department.

Now it's getting to be that time - off to bed with me!

And back up we go...

Weigh In: 142.7 (+0.9 lb)

These ups and downs can really get to a person. Still, I know I didn't have the best week and I am determined to do better.

I only got in 4 workouts this week (usually I do 5, often 6). 265 minutes spent exercising, 8.80 miles walked. So I ate more and exercised less over this past week. Guess I can't complain about a bit of a gain.

I had good intentions to start off my week. I usually buy lunch on Friday's, as a change of pace, but I still had hummus, pita bread and cut-up cauliflower left in the fridge. After the Tostitos Monday night, and eating out on Tuesday night, I figured I would brown bag it again today. That was the intention.

Good news - our company won a local award for "Most Promising Start Up Company" last night. Bad news - to celebrate, we had pizza for lunch.

I did munch on my raw cauliflower this morning. But then I had 4 garlic fingers, 1 slice of pizza (Hawaiian), and 1 can of Coke for lunch. It was good, but I felt very full after. Also sleepy. Loooonnnngggg afternoon.

I did get in a walk on the treadmill tonight after work - Friday is usually a day off from exercise, but I figured I'd get a head start on the week. I'm feeling it a bit though, so I'm not sure it was a good idea.

Now I'm ready to crawl in bed a read for a while. Seems like a good way to start the weekend.

Friday

 
Weigh-in: 141.8 (-2.1 lb)

So, I'm back down around 142. This is good. Obviously not as big a change as I'd like to see, but still a 2 lb difference from last week.

This week's activity - 350 minutes of exercise, which is a little less than last week, but that's not counting the time I spent working in the yard last weekend which was certainly exercise! I walked/jogged 10.90 miles this week, and got in 3 non-walk/jog workouts.

I also tracked my calories in FitDay every day except Friday. I've decided to have Friday as a non-calorie counting day. I have a couple of reasons for this:

1) It's nice to have a break from obsessing about the numbers, and I think I need that. It gets tedious after a while.

2) It's too easy when you have a day or two where you get behind with the tracking to just give up and go crazy with the eating. I want to consciously have a day where I am not counting, but still paying attention to what I'm eating. Hopefully I can train myself to always be conscious of the choices I'm making, even if I am not tracking. I will allow myself a day to be less strict, but hopefully not overdo it. I'm going to still write down what I eat in the Journal section of FitDay (for now anyway), but not bother with the calorie total for the day. We'll see how it goes.

Um...thinking there was something else...Oh yeah, now I remember...

I finally broke down earlier in the week and updated my weight & goal information in FitDay. I set a short term goal to get to 135 lb by June 6 (first weigh-in day in June). When I updated my weight today with my official weigh-in, it told me I am 6.8 lb above my target weight, and I need to lose 1.13 lb/week to meet my goal. Kind of a scary number considering how slow things have been up to now. So, I'm really going to have to work hard. No more slacking off for me!

And finally, thanks to everyone for the support. The encouraging/commiserating comments really do make a difference and help me to keep going.

It's that day again...

That's right, it's weigh-in day and I really don't want to do it today. Really. Don't. But, it's all about being honest here on the JavaChick blog, so I guess I have to. Still don't wanna.

Weight: 143.9 (+1.4 lb)

That's right. I'm up 1.4 lb. Can I just say that I don't think that is a real gain? I've got that whole "time of the month" thing going on (which maybe you don't want to know, but I'm grasping for explanations here), and for the past week it has seemed like I just can't drink enough water, so I think that's where it's coming from. But I'm still not happy.

I suppose this is just adding to my general discontent with the whole situation, but...As you may know (if you read yesterday's post), I recently signed into my old Fitday account. At first I didn't even think of it, but it was inevitable that I would eventually see that the last weight I had tracked was 133 lbs. I don't know the date that I entered that weight, but my goal weight was set at 115 lb with a deadline of 12/25/2006.

Fitday will only show you a year of past data, but you can go to the calendar section and page back through the months. I did that yesterday and found that the last time I had regularly used my fitday account was the first half of 2006...Hmmm, let's see...In June 2006 I found out the office I had worked in for 7 years was going to be closed. Within a week of that information, I was out of a job and my life was turned upside down. I guess that's when I started to get out of the habit of journalling my food. Though, I still did manage to stay the same weight for about a year. Somehow at the end of last summer, it all went downhill.

Anyway, I almost hate to reset that weight info now, I guess because it's comforting to be reminded of where I used to be...But I will reset it because I am starting again.

On to the rest of this week's summary: 380 minutes of exercise (to put that in perspective, it averages out to roughly 1 hr per day over 6 days). I walked 11.25 miles, 2 of those miles were actually walked out of doors in warm, sunny, spring weather. I went slower on that outdoor walk, but it was the best walk of the week in terms of enjoyment. I also got in two strength workouts, 1 yoga and 1 Pilates workout. I may not be happy with my weigh-in this week, but I am happy with what I accomplished in terms of physical activity.

Now, I am going to do a nice relaxing yoga workout, then turn in for a good night's sleep.

Summer wardrobe, here I come!

 
Weigh In: 142.5 (+0.6)

It's weigh-in day and I'm up 0.6 pounds. It wasn't a surprise and I'm not losing sleep over it. I had a good exercise week - 315 minutes working out, 10.75 miles on the treadmill, 2 strength workouts. Next week that pesky 0.6 pounds will be gone.

I truly appreciate all the positive, encouraging comments on my last post. You all have me convinced that I can do this. :)

So now that I've said I am going to do it, I just need to figure out how. Because the progress has been painfully slow thus far.

I've been thinking on it. I won't write out the entire thought process this morning, mainly because I don't have time. I probably should write it all down, so it will be there to remind me. But for now I have come to this conclusion: I have to pay attention to what I'm eating.

That's it. My big plan. Pay attention, and really think about the choices I make and how they relate to my weight loss goal. Sounds simple doesn't it? Sounds like what I should have been doing all along? I'm not convinced that I have been, at least not consistently.

I still need to track what I'm eating. I'm not sure whether I will do that by continuing with Weight Watchers, going back to Fitday, or just writing it down in a notebook. When it comes right down to it, I don't think it's the tracking method that counts, I think it comes down to having the right attitude. So that's what I'm going to work on.

Wish me luck!

Weigh in day

 
Weight: 141.9 (-0.3 lb)

So it's official weigh-in day, and the results are not quite as good as my weigh in from earlier in the week. But that's ok - it's still a loss for this week, and seeing the lower number earlier in the week makes me feel like I'm moving in the right direction.

It was a bit of an "off" week for me; work has been really busy, I've been tired and feeling kind of stressed. I got in two cardio sessions and 3 yoga sessions. Exercise minutes: 215, 120 of which was cardio, the rest was yoga. Walked 6.07 miles on the treadmill. My workout days were Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday. Not a lot compared to a normal week, but I feel like I managed to cram a decent amount into those 3 days.

Picked up my new Mizuno Wave Riders at The Running Room today. When I tried them on in the store they felt very familiar. Tomorrow they'll get the treadmill test.

Been a long day/week, I'm ready for the weekend.

Weigh-In Day

 
Weigh In: 142.2(-0.6 lb)

I think I'm going to cry. Okay, not really. But I'm sooo tired today and I had this post all written and ready to go and somehow I've managed to delete it or something and I can't believe I did that and I'm too tired to do it all over again. Wah!

So, short & sweet. Down 0.6 lb - Good. A whole whack of exercise this week, and excellent mileage on the treadmill. Also good.

Tired from having my sleep interrupted last night. Yuck. Snowed all day. Yuck.

Deer were out today, after we got home from work:









Thanks to everyone who left comments on my Wednesday post. I appreciate the feedback on the sneaker situation. I will try to get back to The Running Room this weekend to return them. Hopefully they can get me a new pair of the same type of sneakers I have now. At the moment, that seems to be the best bet.

Now I'm going to put on my pajamas and crash.

JavaChick's Gym

 
Weight: 141.8 (-1 lb)

Do you see that? I actually lost a whole pound! It's been ages since that has happened. To be honest, I'm afraid that it's some kind of fluke and by next week it will all come back. Weight loss is a roller coaster ride I tell you, just not a very fun one.

Anyway, to recap the week: I did not track points. For some reason, I just couldn't be bothered. I did try to be mindful of what I was eating, to watch my portions and so on. Do you think maybe I'm on to something? Too soon to tell. I like the concept of "mindful eating", I've just never felt that I was quite able to get it right.

On the exercise front, I spent 335 minutes working out; 270 minutes of that was cardio. I walked/ran 11.27 miles on the treadmill and completed Week 3 of Couch-to-5K. I checked out Week 4 and I'm a little scared, but we shall see.

Continuing with picture week, I thought maybe I'd post pictures of my workout space. I'm pretty happy with my little "home gym" area, and I'm glad that I held my ground when we were partitioning off rooms in our basement. I'm generally a pretty easy-going person, but I was adamant that I wanted space. I got it, and I'm grateful to have it.

Here is the TV on the new stand that we got so that I can see the TV while on the treadmill. There is space to store my workout DVDs in the cabinet. Off to the side, there is space for the treadmill when it needs to be folded up and out of the way.


The old TV stand now stores exercise equipment. I have a little stereo so I can listen to music on the treadmill, or I can watch DVDs. I like to watch TV shows on DVD while on the treadmill. No commercials!


Here is the treadmill, set up and ready to go. It's right by the fireplace, but I will usually open the window while on the treadmill. Then I am also entertained by the cats zooming in and out through their cat door (see photo above). We have an enclosure in the yard for them so they can go out and get some fresh air.


Now you've seen where I'm spending all of those exercise minutes every week. When the weather warms up, I'm sure I'll take some of the walking/running outdoors, but for now this is my hangout.

Moonlighting

 
Weight: 142.8 (-0.3)

I keep thinking this whole weight loss thing feels like a second job. It seems to use up a good portion of my spare time and energy. Meal planning, shopping, cooking, exercising...I'm tracking stats on what I eat, how much exercise I get, how many points are left over at the end of my Weight Watchers week and, now, how many miles I'm walking on the treadmill. All of this in the hope that I will discover the key that will unlock the magical, mystical secret of what I need to do to lose weight.

So how did I do this week? Well the eating was not quite up to par due to a few things that should never have made their way into the house - namely: Pringle's (Moon) and Cadbury Chocolate Eggs (me, all me). The points tracker is telling me I have 7.5 unused Flex Points, but there was a lot of estimating going on so I should probably just consider those to be gone.

As for exercise, 6 out of 7 days were workout days. I spent 380 minutes exercising, including 11.1 miles on the treadmill and 3 non-treadmill workouts. I'm feeling like that's plenty for one week.

Beautiful sunny day today, but the forecast for the weekend is nasty - rain, freezing rain, and snow. I was planning to do some shopping tomorrow, including taking my sneakers back to the Running Room and hopefully exchanging for a new pair. Now I'm wishing I had brought them to work with me so I could do it today at lunch time. Oh well, hopefully if I get out and get things done fairly early tomorrow it won't be too bad. Ugh. Early & Saturday just do not go together. I like my Saturday mornings to be leisurely.

And by the way - Anyone watch Jericho? I had this week's episode recorded and just watched it last night. Bonnie! Nooooooo!

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Daily Record
---------------------------
BF: Toast w/PB, coffee w/cream
Lunch: Sagrati's Greek Fest on WW Wrap
Supper: Takeout from Thai Hut

Planned workout: Rest day!

Sunny Friday!

Weigh-In: 143.1 (-0.6)

It's actually cold out, but the sun is shining so from indoors it looks like a beautiful day! Even better, it's Friday!

It's also weigh-in day, and after all my hard work this week, I am down 0.6 lbs. It's not much, and I am bummed that I am ending February at a higher weight than I was at the end of January...but I am hoping it is the start of a downward trend. I feel like I kicked-butt last week, even with my pizza & Coke indulgence yesterday. My eating was on plan, and I had 12 unused Flex Points by the end of yesterday. I spent a grand total of 360 minutes exercising, including Week 2 of Couch-to-5K. I feel like maybe I've gained a bit of momentum, and hopefully that will keep me going.

I took last night off from exercising and went to bed early. I'm feeling a lot better today. Which is good, because I won't have my usual Saturday-morning-sleep-in tomorrow. I have an appointment for a haircut, then I'm going to buy new sneakers and pick up groceries. After that I will have the afternoon & evening to myself - bring on Week 3 of C25K!

I sound like I'm in a really good mood today, don't I? Gotta love Fridays!

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Daily Record
--------------------------------
BF: yogurt & raspberries, coffee w/cream
Lunch: Tortellini Stew
Snacks: raw cauliflower, grapes
Supper: Takeout from Thai Hut

Deer On Parade

Weigh In: 143.7 lb (+0.5)

As predicted, I'm up this week, half a pound. I am okay though, not freaking out about it or anything. For some reason, the past few weeks have just not been good as far as the scale goes. All I can do is keep at it.

Maybe I am just too tired to care. It's been a long week. I think I hit a wall this afternoon. I was sitting at my desk and I just couldn't think anymore. Just sat there and spaced out. TGIF.

So what do you do at the end of an exhausting week in the dreary month of February when you feel like you want to give yourself a little boost? If you are me and you happen to know there is a 70% off sale going on at your favorite shoe store, you go shoe shopping on your lunch hour!

My shoe sale radar is in excellent working order. It occurred to me earlier in the week that it was about time for the late winter shoe sale, so I took a stroll by the store and sure enough the tables and racks were out and the 70% off signs were up. I didn't have time that day, but I went today. A good dent had been put in the stock, but I did find some things. Happy JavaChick!

Then when we got home after work, we saw eight deer around the perimeter of our yard. They can't get right in our yard. We have a fence up to keep the cats in, and also to keep the deer out of my gardens so my poor plants don't turn into deer salad bar.

By the time we got in the house and got the cats fed (cats must be fed before anything else happens or else they will follow me frantically around the house as if they are starving and on the verge of collapse), the herd had started to disperse. I managed to get a few pictures through the living room window.









I just finished doing 45 minutes on the treadmill (slow walk with inclines) and 30 minutes of weights. Now I think I'm ready to have a shower and crawl into bed. Not a bad day at all.

Weighing In

Weight: 143.2 (-0.3 lb)

Weigh-In day again, and for the second week in a row I'm not really happy with what I'm seeing. But. I know I'm better off than today's weigh-in would seem to indicate.

Normally I post a daily summary (during the week anyway) including my weight for the day, and my meal plans. When I was doing my morning workouts, I also posted those, but since I switched to evening workouts I haven't been including that. I will try to start posting my planned workouts as well. I'm getting off-track here.

This week I wasn't posting those summaries because I was feeling under the weather and not really in the weight-loss mind set. But I was still stepping on the scale most mornings. And this is what I was seeing:
Mon - 142.7 lb
Tues - 142.2 lb
Wed - forgot
Thurs - 142.1 lb

Those numbers are more in line with what I had been seeing up to the previous week when I had that unexpected gain. I was feeling pretty good about the scale, even if the rest of me was not feeling great. Then this morning I am suddenly 143.2. Yeah, I was kind of irritated. But I also know that Moon and I went out to dinner last night, and I ate what I wanted to eat and didn't worry about dieting. That's a choice I consciously made and I am okay with that. Having seen the lower numbers all week, I can be fairly certain that today was just a temporary blip, and next week I will be down where I should be again (you know, assuming I do the right stuff for food and exercise).

This is why I am a fan of the daily weigh-in.

On the WeightWatchers.ca forums, I often see posters "confessing" or "admitting" that they weigh in every day, or that they "peeked" at the scale on a day that was not their weigh-in day. They say this as if they had misbehaved somehow. I think that's such a shame.

I know that many weight-loss programs, Weight Watchers included, recommend weekly weigh-ins. And that makes sense to me. It takes time to lose body fat. I do think it's good to have one official weigh-in day to track your progress over time. I also know that daily weigh-ins are not good for some people.

For me it works. I know that daily fluctuations can happen for a variety of reasons. I usually don't let that get to me. I find the daily weigh-in keeps me focussed and it makes the official weigh-in easier to take because I have some idea of what the result is going to be.

To those who weigh-in even less often than once a week, or who eschew the scale altogether - good for you. I've tried it and it does not work for me at all. For me, the pounds do not come off easily; I have to work hard at it. It's all very well to say that one should not "obsess about the numbers" but that is what it's about. I am trying to get that number to be within the healthy range for my height. Plain and simple. If I'm not seeing the numbers, if I'm not getting that constant reminder, I start to relax which sadly can lead to the numbers creeping up instead of down.

So, that's why I do the daily-weigh in thing. It works for me.

Friday Fun Post

Weigh-in: 143.5 lb (+1.2)

Weigh-in day again, and I am up 1.2 lb. Not a surprise, since I do the daily weigh-in thing I generally have an idea of what's coming.

I want to thank the ladies who left encouraging comments for me yesterday. This is so frustrating, but I am going to keep at it.

I decided I needed a little change of pace here on the blog today though. Something a little more cheery. It seems like everyone is sick of winter, myself included.
With that in mind, I dug up some favourite photos from my garden last year, and of course a picture of my Fabulous Felines just because I can't help myself; I love looking at them!

Holly Blossoms

Lily of the Valley

Catmint
      

My beautiful boys
       

Fabulous Feline Friday

Weight: 142.3 (-0.6)

Yes, it's weigh-in day. I had a strong urge to ignore it this week, but I can't do that. So instead I decided to invite The Fabulous Felines along to keep me company. They always cheer me up and perhaps they will serve as a useful distraction ~ who wants to look at my weekly weigh-in numbers when they could gaze upon my beautiful boys?

But wait...if you were paying attention, you may have noticed that I actually managed a little bit of a loss this week. Unexpected, but I'll take it!

Since I already had this post drafted, I figured I'd go with it anyway. Who doesn't like looking at cute cat pictures?

In a bit of a rush this morning, so that's it for now. Maybe more later.