Weekly and Monthly Goals
Monthly Goal
Another month has come and gone, can you believe it? It feels like just the other day it was May 1st. It is pretty unbelievable that tomorrow is June 1st. As it is the last day of the month I needed to weigh myself to see if I met my monthly goal of losing ten pounds. This morning I weighed in at 258.8 (hello 250’s!) to which I added 0.8 pounds to adjust for the difference between my scale and the WW scale. This brought my weight to 259.6 for a loss of 8.2 pounds for the month of May. Not ten pounds but I’ll take it! Although I would love to reach the goals I set for myself I cannot be upset because I gave it my all this month. There is nothing I would have done differently and for that I am proud. Tomorrow is June 1st and I start the month with a clean slate hoping I can get that ten pound loss this time. I also have another weight loss goal I am trying to reach this month; my 10% (28 pounds) weight loss from the starting weight when I joined Weight Watchers. I hope to be at 252 by June 18th, or at the very least the end of the month, because once I hit my 10% I will reward myself with some new clothes. In case you were wondering, my reward for reaching my 5% loss was tickets to Austin City Limits in September. I am really liking this whole reward system!
Last Week’s Goals:
Stay On Plan! Yes, I stayed on plan all week. I used all of my daily points each day and all but two of my weekly points. I also made sure to take my vitamins every day, drink at least 8 glasses of water, and every day I ate at least 8 servings of fruit/veg.
Keep moving! I stuck to the schedule I had laid out for myself; Monday and Wednesday were days off, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday I went to boxing classes, Saturday I rode 20.3 miles in 65 minutes on the recumbent bike and Sunday I went for a three plus mile walk with my friend KJ and our dogs.
Eat More Fiber! I tried to incorporate more fiber rich foods into my diet but I think what helped the most was that taking a fiber supplement. It has worked wonders. I believe that one of the main reasons I had such a big loss this week was that I ‘regular’.
Lighten Up! I think I did a pretty good job putting the previous week’s gain behind me. This week I focused on keeping a positive attitude and not being too critical of myself. I just tried to relax and have fun. By focusing on all of the positives, not just the weight loss, I was able to enjoy myself a little more. Like on Friday, when my sparring partner (one of the trainers) told me how much I had improved from the class two weeks prior I was ecstatic. It felt great having someone, especially a trainer, recognize my progress.
Weekly Goals 5/30 – 6/5
Keep moving! Workout schedule is as follows
Monday: 2.5 mile walk plus swimming
Tuesday: off
Wednesday: Combo class (1/2 boxing, 1/2 weights)
Thursday: Recumbent bike
Friday: Boxing
Saturday: Recumbent bike
Sunday: Walk 5K
Clean House! I literally need to clean my house. My goal this week is to spend thirty minutes a day (non-boxing days) during the week and 2 hours Saturday and Sunday cleaning house. Man, what I wouldn’t give to be able to afford someone to clean my house for me.
Eat Whatever I Want! This goal stems from a discussion we had at WW last week on the subject of breakfast foods. Our group leader was asking what people typically ate for breakfast and most people had fairly typical answers like eggs, oatmeal, yogurt, fruit, etc. Our leader then asked if anyone ate salad for breakfast and most scoffed at this idea. She followed up that question with asking if we ever ate lunch/dinner items for breakfast and most people said no with the exception being pizza. She was trying to get us to think outside the box for breakfast ideas. I mean there is no reason why we need to eat standard breakfast foods. So, Sunday morning I made myself sautéed yellow squash for breakfast accompanied by veggie bacon and watermelon. Yesterday I had carrots, a multi-grain sandwich thin, hummus and watermelon for breakfast because why not? It’s what I wanted to eat. So this week I am going to continue eating whatever types of foods I want, when I want them.
Read more! Preferably read more poolside 
I have a serious addiction, books. I keep bringing more books into my apartment but yet I have really been slacking on reading them. I need to devote some time to reading so this week I am making it part of my goals. Hopefully I can get back into the habit of reading every night before bed.
Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend! Thanks for reading!
Weight Watchers Update- Week 10
Another quick post to check in with my update from this morning’s meeting. I have fantastic news to share with you. After last weeks small gain I made sure I stayed on plan this week and worked towards meeting my weekly goals, which I did. I am happy to report that today I posted my biggest weekly loss to date- an astonishing loss of 4.4 pounds. Yes, that’s right 4.4 freaking pounds! This brings my total loss since joining WW to 19.2 pounds and my total so far up to 25.2! I am beyond thrilled. This brings me so close to leaving the 260′s and hopefully next week I will be in a new weight bracket. It’s definitely something to work towards at least. I will definitely be checking in later to post my goals and other updates so for now I bid you adieu. Have a great weekend! Thanks for reading!
286/260.8/150
Five Reason Why Today is Awesome!
#1 I am wearing a shirt today that I haven’t worn in 19 months. I loved this shirt when I first bought it and was wearing it on Halloween of 2009, the night I got shat on by thirty birds. Well, maybe it wasn’t thirty but it was so many birds that I got poop on my shirt, arms, and head. We quickly returned home so I could shower and wash my shirt, in hot water. After that night the shirt was too tight across my chest and stomach that it made me uncomfortable to wear. This morning while searching my closet for something to wear I stumbled across it and voila- it fits beautifully, not tight in either area. Yay for progress!
Sorry, I am still trying to master taking photos of myself. I know I could have flipped the camera on my iPhone but the picture would have been so close you wouldn't have seen the shirt. My apologies for the crap picture.
#2 One of my co-workers, the only one I talk to about WW, brought me in a bag of tomatoes and squash from his garden. Fresh, organic veggies for free! Double yay!
Bag o' veggies- YUM!
#3 One of my favorite bloggers wrote in her post today that I was an inspiration to her. I cried. It was so amazing hearing (RE: reading) someone say that about me. Not to cast shadow on the real message of her post though which was meeting her weekly goals and her big decrease in BMI. Congrats Simply Sidney! You are amazing!
#4 This happened last night but it put me in a good mood when it happened which in turn carried over into today so I am going to count it. Last night I received my Silver Stars (WNBA) season tickets. I am so excited for opening night next Saturday, June 4th. Go Stars!
Girls Rule!
#5 Tonight I will be attending the special boxing class where I get to punch people in the face AND they can’t hit me back. This class is so much fun even though we only spar for a portion of it, which is good because sparring is hard and drains me of every ounce of energy. You would think that it wouldn’t be much different from hitting the bag but it is like a million times harder trying to hit a moving target. It is difficult but I love it.
I hope you all have a fantastic Memorial Day weekend and please take some time to honor those men and women who have served or are serving in the military- this holiday is for them. We owe them so much.
Thanks for reading!
Thoughtful Thursday
In place of my normal thought-provoking Thursday posts I wanted to share with you some ‘thoughtful’ things instead.
Not sure if you remember me talking about the San Antonio food trucks and how much I love them. I posted about them a few months ago here. Well, the owners of two of our local trucks, Tin Can Tacos and Wheelie Gourmet, packed up the TCT truck and have headed north to Oklahoma and Missouri to prepare/serve food for those displaced by the tornadoes as well as those involved in the search and rescue efforts. This is an amazing thing they are doing and to help out with their costs they are accepting donations. Several local organizations have contributed to this effort which fills me with a great sense of pride for my community. Here is the link to their Facebook page if you would like to read more about their efforts, there is also info about this on Yelp’s tornado relief drive and here is their donation site if you would like to make a contribution. I have not been asked nor am I being paid to promote this, heck I doubt Wheelie or Tin Can even know who I am let alone read my blog, I just wanted to share with you something I think is amazing; small businesses and community members in a different state, hundreds of miles away, coming together in order to help others.
Also, while I have you clicking on a bunch of links to different websites you should go to this one and vote for my BF’s blog James & Jax. Circle of Moms is looking for the ‘Top 25 Mental Wellness Blogs by Moms’ and James & Jax is on that list. You can vote once per day, now through June 15, and I know she would really appreciate your support. She is an amazing mother who battled through PPD and shares her experiences with others. I have learned so much about parenting because of her and she will be a great role model for me if I ever have children of my own. So please go vote for her!
In closing I would like to share some big news in regards to my second blog giveaway. The giveaway item has been decided and I think you guys will love it. Myself and item’s creator have been in discussions working out the last of the details and it looks like we will be doing this giveaway in the next week or so. I will keep you posted. It will be amazeballs! I hope everyone loves it as much as I do and that you all choose to participate!
Thanks for reading!
Let Them Eat Cake!
My office is trying to sabotage my diet. I know it’s not intentional but really, five cakes in five days- that’s just too much! Monday was cheesecake, well cheesecakes actually because we had two; one giant plain one and one giant variety cheesecake. I am not sure what varieties they had because I didn’t want to get too close. It’s like playing with fire; I love cheesecake. Tuesday was German Chocolate which was easy to resist as I have an aversion to sweets with nuts in them. Yesterday was blackberry grunt which I had no idea what that was, I had never heard of a grunt other than the sound I make playing tennis/racquetball. I did a quick Google search and found a bunch of recipes, first and foremost one from Alton Brown, so I knew it was not a made-up dessert name. Today, sitting mere feet away from my desk is some type of chocolate layer cake. It is El Jefe’s birthday but he may not come in to work so I was asked to take a picture of the cake so he can see how awesome it was prior to it being devoured by my co-workers. I think I contracted diabetes just by smelling it. Holy Willy Wonka that cake smells heavenly. I hear tomorrow we are having homemade carrot cake, thankfully that will fall into the desserts with nuts and I will easily be able to turn it down.
You may be wondering right now why I am depriving myself of cake when I preach about ‘everything in moderation’ and ‘not restricting our diets’. It seems like I am being hypocritical but I don’t mean to be. You know that I plan out every meal and snack and each day I have already accounted for how I will use all 40 of my points. This includes some type of sweet treat for dessert. I could have a piece of cake if I wanted though. I could swap it with tonight’s dessert or I could dip into what is left of my weekly points, and I could even use some of my activity points. Really I could have some cake IF I actually wanted to.
See, I am trying to practice restraint. I don’t mind a splurge, which a piece of cake would be (this is a splurge, where what I have as my nightly dessert is normally pretty healthy or at least low-calorie) but I don’t want to splurge all the time. I had a big splurge on Saturday after the Gorilla Challenge. Paul and I hit up our favorite Mexican joint after the race and devoured some nachos and fajitas. Then Sunday, while grocery shopping I picked up a little single serving dessert as a treat for me. That was all I really needed. I work really hard during the week and yes I do think I deserve a splurge or special treat every now and again but not every day, that’s how I ended up here in the first place.
I know I make it sound so easy. I say ‘just don’t eat the cake’ and I don’t eat the cake but really it takes all of my strength and willpower to not go over and grab a piece on the sly. FYI- the view from my desk is of the cubicle we use as our coffee station which is where we put out the cake. So it’s not as easy as walking away or shutting my door (I don’t have one) in order to put it out of my mind. I have to sit here and see/smell these damn cakes all day long. To add insult to injury, the cake table (which is also breakfast taco table on Friday’s) is my office’s water cooler. People love to congregate around the cake and BS. It’s another perk that comes with where I sit but I digress. With all of the temptation it takes much more than mental strength especially when I am hungry and trying to tell myself that cake is an acceptable lunch. This is why I always plan for snacks at work. I come prepared with an arsenal of healthy and satisfying treats that keep me feeling full all day which is how I can stay strong and just say no. Damn cake pushers!
This is the view from my desk. The {evil} cake is sitting under the Happy Birthday sign.
But that’s just me. I don’t want to eat thiscake. But if I did have some, I wouldn’t beat myself up over it and you shouldn’t either. Trust me, when I was eating my Crema Catalana on Sunday I didn’t feel an ounce of guilt. I didn’t feel guilty either when I realized it was 9 points for one serving. Instead I savored every creamy bite, I almost licked the ramekin it came in, and then put it in my Weight Watchers tracker and called it a night. See, we can have our cake (or creamy custardy dessert) and eat it too. For me, I just don’t have it every day.
How do you survive cakes or other foods hanging out in your office. Do they sabotage your diet or are you able to restrain yourself? Any tips for how to stay strong?
Thanks for reading!
{Semi} Wordless Wednesday: My Love
The beginning- spring 2004
Summer 2004
Toga! Toga! Fall 2004
Phi Delta Theta Formal- Spring 2005
Summer 2005
Halloween 2005
Halloween 2005
Paul's Graduation- August 2007
Our Fourth Anniversary- January 2009
Paul's Graduation from Basic Training at Ft. Benning- July 2009
New Year's Eve 2009 into 2010
SA Rampage Pink on the Rink Night - Feb 2011
New Orleans- April 2011
Gorilla Challenge- May 2011
Thanks for reading!
Weekly Menu and Goals
I apologize, I have been slacking lately on posting my weekly goals. Well, I guess it’s better late than never, right?
Stay On Plan! ‘On Plan’ is a phrase I hear all the time on the Weight Watchers website, which for those of you non-WW people reading is like Facebook for WW members, and it just means following the program. Eating right and tracking, getting in your healthy checks like 8 glasses of water, 8 servings of fruit/veg, etc., taking your vitamins, and of course activity. I am pretty good about staying on plan, well at least I have been so far, but that is mainly because I have a great partner who helps me out so I can do so.
Paul has been so great through all of this; he helps with the lunches and dinners so I can work out, he exercises with me and shows me the proper ways to do things, he pretty much says yes to any crazy thing I want to do- Gorilla Challenge, Bikram yoga, and zip lining to name a few- and he never complains about any of this. As you know, Paul is away at an Army training class but before he left he asked me to make sure I stick with the program and workouts even though it will be more difficult on me having no one to help me. I of course said yes and told him I would just figure out how I can convert our routine into my routine. So far, so good and later in this post I will share with you my weekly meal and workout plan.
Keep moving! As you know, this weekend completely drained me. Between all of the walking during the Gorilla Challenge and then the WW walk on Sunday I was so just exhausted. I am finally starting to feel normal again which is good because I have boxing tonight. I really like the Tuesday and Thursday classes so I am going to those ones this week. Friday night I will drop in on the ‘special’ boxing class, you remember- the one where I get to hit people in the face, because it was so much fun and because I am lame and have nothing better to do on a Friday night. Saturday morning I will be back on the recumbent bike for my early morning workout and Sunday I will hopefully be walking with my girls.
Eat More Fiber! I know, I know; this is not really the kind of goal I should be sharing but one of the things I struggle with, especially with the changes to my diet, is staying ‘regular’ and so I need some help. I don’t really eat a ton of high fiber foods so I am trying to incorporate more into my meals. To supplement this I bought a big a** bottle of Fiber Choice from Sam’s Club and have started taking the chewable tablets. They are helping already; I will leave it at that.
*Note: For weight watchers members, if you take more than one serving (two tablets) of the Fiber Choice then you will need to use a point. 2 and 3 servings (6 tablets is the max per day) both come out to just one point. I know it is negligible but a point is a point and so I count it.
Lighten Up! The one thing I continually struggle with is being happy about my weekly weigh-in results. I am happy when I lose but sometimes I still question why I am not losing as much as others. When I have gained I beat myself up for not doing more. Both reactions are ridiculous because every week (with the exception of NOLA) I give 100%. I can’t do better than this. If some weeks I gain or have smaller losses than expected I should still be happy because what I have done has had a positive impact on my health and well-being. Isn’t that the most important thing? So this week I pledge to not be so hard on myself.
Weekly Meals
Knowing I would be cooking for one this week I wanted to make sure I took the time to find some fun and delicious foods that I would enjoy cooking as well as eating. On Sunday I headed over to my favorite grocery store in San Antonio, Central Market. This week is ‘Pasaporte Espana’ so there were a lot of great Spanish foods for sale and for sample. I sampled some hake, which is a Spanish whitefish, and loved it. I also picked up some broccoliflower (broccoli-cauliflower hybrid), brown tomatoes, and shishito peppers to try.
Breakfast – 7 points
Southwestern style egg beaters- 1 pt
Morningstar Farms Veggie Bacon strips- 2pts
Watermelon and Honeydew fruit salad- 0 pt
Peach Kefir- 4 pts
Snacks – 3 points
Chobani Yogurt with fruit- 3 pts
Banana or white peach- 0 pt
Lunch- 9 points
Chicken SaladSandwich– 8 pts
Chicken- 4 pts
Mayo with Olive Oil (3/4 tbls) – 1 pt
Multi-grainSandwichThins- 3 pts
Cara Cara Navel Orange- 0 pt
Brown Tomato and Cucumber Salad with Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar- 1 pt
Snacks- 2 points
Carrots and cucumbers- 0 pt
Sabra Roasted Pine Nut Hummus- 2 pts
Watermelon and Honeydew fruit salad- 0 pt
Dinner- varying points
Sunday: Hake, lemon spinach couscous, and steamed broccoliflower- total,9 points per serving
Monday: Shrimp stir-fry with bok choy, bell peppers, mushrooms, celery, broccoliflower, sprouts, and carrots over jasmine rice- total, 8.5 points per serving
Tuesday: Shrimp stir fry over jasmine rice- total, 8.5 points per serving
Wednesday: Mojo Verde grilled chicken, Mediterranean curry couscous, and sautéed shishito peppers- total, 11 points per serving
Thursday: Mojo Verde grilled chicken, Mediterranean curry couscous, and sautéed shishito peppers- total, 11 points per serving
Friday: Fruit and toast pre-workout, tuna salad and yogurt post-workout. Due to the early boxing class I really can’t eat dinner prior or I won’t have time to digest so I am splitting it up; carbs before, protein after. Total- 12 points
Dessert- varying points
Depending on the number of points remaining I have several options for desserts including zero point fruit salad (I bought a quarter watermelon and a honeydew which for one person is a lot), apple with organic peanut butter (5 pts), WW chocolate smoothie prepared with milk (4 pts), and skinny cow strawberry shortcake ice cream sandwich (4 pts).
Saturday I will be back to Central Market to shop for next week’s meals.
I hope everyone has a great week! Wish me luck on sticking to my goals. Thanks for reading!
Weight Watchers Walk-It Challenge
As you know from Friday’s post, I was planning on participating in the Weight Watchers Walk-It Challenge by doing a 10K walk on Sunday. Since I found out about this event through WW I have been walking weekly and working out almost daily to prepare for it. Unfortunately, my body had different plans for Sunday’s walk. Due to the insane amount of walking I did on Saturday, in the crazy heat and humidity nonetheless, my body just couldn’t push through another long walk in the same awful weather. Instead I convinced my friend SM, who was walking with me, to do the 5K instead. So that is what we did.
SM looking great at the start of the walk!
Once we got there and signed in we were allowed to start. We all started at the same place just not at the same time. This challenge was all about the walk and being able to set goals for ourselves and complete them because of this the walk (not race) was not timed. This allowed everyone to just get out there, walk, and have some fun. SM and I were joined by one of my WW online friends, SF, whom I had only known through the WW website. It was great to finally meet her in person. She is someone who encourages me and gives me great advice through the program and hopefully will become a regular participant in my walking group.
Can you see how low the lake is? The water has receded and the bed is starting to dry up. San Antonio is hurting for rain.
The event was scheduled to start at 8am but like I said we just started once were signed in. We followed a path down to a looping trail that went around Mitchell Lake. I had never been there before but was told that it would be a dirt trail and that there would be no shade. We were lucky that it was overcast and that there was a slight breeze because it was so hot and humid, even at 8am, that without those two factors we may have collapsed somewhere along the trail. The walking was somewhat treacherous in parts; some places were paved, some dirt, and some were paved at one point but now were just broken up chunks of pavement on a very uneven surface. This made walking very difficult for me having rocks pushing up under me feet which were still blistered from the previous day. Ugh, that was definitely the downside of that trail but the three of us persevered and in no time the walk was over.
The start/end point of the walk was also where we got our goodies. Yay free stuff!
I was happy to have spent the morning with two incredible women and really did enjoy the company and comradery of the other participants in the walk. Everyone was friendly and respectful of each other which helped make it such a great experience. Once completed, those who were Weight Watchers members received a 5K charm to go on the WW key ring you receive once you have hit your 10% weight loss goal. I have not gotten 10% yet but am excited to have something to put on the key ring once I do. It is nice that WW gives you these types of tokens to serve as reminders of your successes. All in all it was a pretty great experience and I do not regret my decision to switch from the 10K to the 5K. I am actually happy I did since my feet and knees were somewhat sore after the walk. I know a 10K could have possibly pushed me over the brink and caused me to actually injure myself. It is important to push yourself but more important to know your limits.
Heaven for my poor feetsies!
Thanks for reading!
Gorilla Challenge and Weight Watchers Weekly Update
OMG! I am so exhausted I can barely muster the strength to type this. There is a good chance I may fall asleep before I finish. The Gorilla Challenge was insane and completely wore me out. Not to mention it was super hot and humid today in San Antonio. But I’ll get to that in a minute. First, weigh-in update. Sadly, I gained this week. I went up .8 pounds. I think that brings my total lost on WW to 14.8 – boo that 
I was sad at first but have moved on. I will tell you about meeting (at a new location) and the advice I got at a later time. For now I want to briefly tell you about the Gorilla Challenge.
Nope, we didn’t win. Actually we didn’t even finish. At 2:45pm, 15 minutes before the race ended, we had three more clues to make it to and take pictures at and we were about 2 miles from the finish. There was no way we could make it. After walking all over San Antonio for over 3 hours I was exhausted. I had blisters on my feet, my knees hurt, my hips were starting to hurt and I was chaffing in unmentionable areas. Did I mention it was really freaking hot outside??? So at that point we called it quits. I couldn’t make it 2 miles to the finish so we walked to the car and headed for some FOOD. We were starving! So hungry that we didn’t care how bad we smelled or disgusting we looked we needed to eat.
Now I am home and showered and icing my knees/feet. I wanted to share with you some pictures of us at different points in the race. Some are regular poses in front of somewhere/something and others we had to do different poses for. You can tell in the last picture we are not holding up very well. I hope to tell you more about the event and the clues but for today you will have to be ok with just pictures.
Thanks for reading!
I am so excited….
You have no idea how excited I am for this weekend. I have been eagerly awaiting two events taking place this weekend; the Gorilla Challenge and the Weight Watchers Walk-It Challenge. Tonight I get to start off the weekend with friends and a San Antonio Missions baseball game. The only downside of this weekend is the fact that prior to my walk Sunday I will be dropping Paul off on post so he can leave for training. I am really going to miss him over the next month. I am excited that we get to spend tonight and tomorrow doing some really fun stuff- meaning the baseball game and scavenger hunt, get your mind out of the gutter.
For those of you who do not know what the Gorilla Challenge is here is an explanation from their website.
“Gorilla Challenge is an “Amazing Race” style event where you and your team race to solve clues around the city, taking pictures along the way hoping you either get the grand prize or at least mini prizes at the clue locations, and having loads of fun.
You’re given a card filled with clues pointing in different directions within a 3 to 5 mile radius. Once you get to a location, you’ll find an additional slip with instructions on what to do next with your camera. It could be anything ranging from taking a simple picture with the object, singing for someone, putting together a mini-puzzle, or just making funny faces.
You’ll have as much time as you need to get to 10 out of the 12 clues, with a couple of clues containing tickets to redeem for an iPod, Amazon Gift Certificate, and other gift certificates to local restaurants and retailers.
Once you’ve picked up your 10 clues, you head back to the start location to win the finishing prize, redeem a ticket, or get a nice pat on the back and enjoy the live entertainment and food and beverage specials!
Gorilla Challenge is open to persons of all ages, with the exception of Goa’uld, members of the Dark Side, Borg’s, and Zombies. Jedi Knights are welcome.”
It sounds awesome, doesn’t it? I had never heard of it until I saw a registration discount offered through Living Social and as soon as I read about it I knew I had to do it. So tomorrow Paul and I will set out to dominate the San Antonio Gorilla Challenge and take home the first place prize- $300!
Sunday is the annual Weight Watchers Walk-It Challenge and since there wasn’t an official race schedule in San Antonio different WW centers organized their own events. My meeting location is actually doing their 5K tomorrow, which I cannot make because of the GC, walking 6 laps of the Rolling Oaks Mall. Fortunately for me another location has organized their 5K for Sunday. Actually it is a 5K and 10K and is open to anyone. My friend SM willingly agreed to participate in the event with me and we both are going to be walking a 10K. Wish us luck!
Stay tuned for pictures and updates! Have a great weekend and thanks for reading!
