Week 29

Time for another fresh start, well not a complete fresh start, but something new.

Last week I decided to try following Weight Watchers Simply Filling plan, the first few days went well, then it got a bit out of hand. The idea behind it is you eat the 'simply filling foods' as much as you want until you are full. For me that wasn't great, as I never seem to get full, things like fat free cheddar, which I found in a local store and purchased two blocks of, well that was classed as simply filling, so i ate all of it in one go! Yes I was the freak who ate from the block of cheese and didn't even cut it!!. So by mid week I kind of gave up and didn't do any kind of tracking :( I did workout last week though, I went swimming three times and went to the actual gym for a workout with the trainer which went really well.

As a result this week's weigh in was a gain of 1lb. Which is rightly deserved and really should have been a lot more.

Time to move forward, I have heard a lot of friends talk about eating clean, so I have been doing some research and it makes sense. So as of today I am going to attempt to eat clean and will be using my fitness pal to track my calories and exercise. I do have a lot of food leftover in my cupboards which is considered less clean and some is 'dirty', but I don't want to throw it out and waste it, so I know I won't be 100% clean this week, but hope to try and be at least 75% clean, and focus on sticking within my calorie allowance.

I have been wearing my fitbit everyday, but now I'm working out at the gym I'm focusing less on the number of steps (47647 steps last week, but then I didn't wear it when working out). I am thinking about buying a HRM to properly calculate my calories burned, but think for now I will focus on the exercise part. Today I did just over 20 mins on the cross trainer, it was hard work, I took a photo of the report at the end of my workout so now I have something to work towards beating this week, I want to work on bringing my heart rate down and also speeding up and doing a further distance in my 20 mins. I put my weight in at the start, so am hoping the calories burned is reasonably accurate. After a few weeks I will try increasing my time to 25 and then 30 mins. I am also do strength training whilst at the gym. I plan to go to the gym M,W,F and swim T and T, although this week I have plans on Thursday, so might have to do something else that day instead.

Last week Melissa (@TheDailyMel) mentioned the Healthy Wage challenge, you basically get together a team of 5 people and you all pay $60, although we paid $50 as we signed up through Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans. Each week you weigh in, the challenge is for 3 months, and at the end of the 3 months the team that is the biggest loser % wise wins $10,000, the second team wins $5000, and the third team wins $3000. There are various challenges on the website so go check it out, and you might make some money. So I'm using this challenge as a great way to motivate me to a: lose weight, b: maybe win some money, c: work in a team, and not let the others down. If you are interested in following our progress you can like our facebook team page Healthinauts.

Have a great week everyone

Sarah xxx

Week 27

Last week seemed to go really quickly, it only feels like yesterday that I was doing my weekly update blog post.

I completed two 5k's this week - the Do Life and The Color Run, both were lots and lots of fun, and I also set a new PR for 5k doing the Do Life run, but was nowhere close on The Color Run as the course made it a lot slower, especially stopping to get colored every kilometer.

Numbers wise, I tracked Monday to Thursday 100% then TOTM arrived and it all went out of the window and I didn't track and as a result of that I had a gain of 0.2lbs, which I think I am very lucky to have had as I was expecting a lot more. My total loss is now at 10.4lbs.

Step wise this week, you would have thought I would have beat my 65034 steps from last week after doing two 5k's - but I guess I was super lazy on the other days. It was very warm so I wasn't doing the usual long dog walks this week. My steps came in at 61097 for the week. My very active % was more this week, but other than that the numbers were pretty poor :( Want to really try hard this week and make it to a minimum of 70000 steps.

 Lots planned for this week, so should be kept active and away from the kitchen.

Have a great week everyone

Week 25

Hey everyone.

So I'm a day late posting this week, as I've been busy out and about doing lots of things, plus I wasn't as eager to post my results this week *hangs head in shame*

Let's get down to the nitty gritty - I had a gain this week! A gain of 3.4lbs this week. My week started well, then I went out to dinner, then gradually as the week went on I did less and less and ate more and more and stopped tracking, and the result was a gain.

I planned to beat my previous steps total from the week before which was 77686, well another fail I only managed 61814, so short by over 10,000 not a great attempt. Although my % of very active this week was 0.3% more.

This week is a new week, and so far I'm doing good and I've tracked 100%. I've even planned out my meals for tomorrow (4th July) so I won't go overboard with my choices. Planning chicken kebabs, grilled corn and lots of salad and fruit, and might indulge in some ribs from my weekly points allowance.

I want to try and beat my previous weeks steps total - so that is my one target for this week.

Have a great 4th of July everyone and stay safe.

Week 24

Although last week was a restart, and this is kind of the start of week 2, I wanted to keep my stats correct, so last week was in fact week 24 since I started weight watchers online.

I set myself 3 goals for this week.

1. To go to three gym classes. I went to aqua aerobics on Monday which I enjoyed, until the evening :( Then I was in so much pain - previously I had been doing water running, which is a class in deep water so there is no impact, I never thought about this when I did the aqua aerobics class and was quite happily bouncing away for an hour, not good when you have two herniated discs :( So that was the end of that! I did then go for a swim later on in the week, I never made it to the gym a third time last week :( BUT I did run a 5k on my treadmill at home - so I think I deserve to say I kind of succeeded in that goal ;)

2. To walk 10,000 steps every day - the week started well and I achieved this Monday to Friday, then Saturday I didn't get out of bed till 12 noon, so struggled to make up the steps, and only did 6800 steps, BUT overall for this week I hit 70,000 steps - and averaged at over 10,000 steps each day. So I'm going to let myself have that one too :) Although looking at my fitbit stats I can see I still am sedentary a lot :( Need to work on that. Going to aim to beat my overall steps taken this week :)

3. To track everything I ate 100% - no grey areas here - i tracked 100% (forgot to tick off my healthy checks though - but that's not super relevant). I used 20 of my weekly points, and ate all my daily points except for one day. I tracked activity points for the days i went to the gym and did my 5k, but never used them.

So how did I fair on the scales after all my hard work this week?

I lost 5.2 lbs :) Taking my total loss to 11.4lbs this year.

I had a great week, wasn't as planned as I hoped to have been, but I did good. I even ate out once and had popcorn at the cinema. Here's to another great week (and hopefully great loss)

Week 19

Finally the scales are heading back the other way - so I think the medication was to blame for my recent gains. I haven't tracked my food this week, but have been exercising lots. I weighed this morning and lost 4.4lbs this week - taking my total loss since the beginning of the year to 11.8lbs, still just under 7lbs away from my lowest weight this year, so hope to be back there very soon.

From today I am starting to track weight watchers points again :) I haven't done it in a long while and have been guesstimating, so need to re educate myself again.

Today is day 3 of my first week of my training plan for my walk in September. Monday was a rest day, although I did end up cleaning the house from top to bottom which took up a good part of the day, yesterday was a 3 mile walk, which I did walking around a local lake. Today is 30 mins cross training, so I plan to go on my exercise bike this afternoon for 30 mins. I am also walking up the huge set of steps near my house once a day, there are 152 steps in total, I've been walking up the middle part which is 75 steps. The top part is super steep, also the bottom part includes a steep slope before the steps, I did it once the other day and thought I was dying!! I'm sure it will get easier with practice.

I went to check out my local YMCA yesterday, it is nice, but I'm not sure I'm ready to go back just yet, so am going to let my membership expire at the end of the month, then maybe in a few months I will rejoin and start back at my water running classes. In the meantime I have lots of exercise equipment I can be using at home

My physio is going well and they are really pleased with my progress and I have a 30 minute strengthening program I do twice a day which is really helping.

I'm addicted to my fit bit at the moment, and love watching my progress and receiving my weekly stats. 

My daily steps target is 10,000 which I am going to keep for now, and my floors climbed is 10, but I'm going to change this to 15 as I am always walking up stairs. These are last week's stats.

Week 16

Going to make this a quick post, as I really need to get on with the packing!! For those of you who don't know we are moving house in two days, well 38 hours to be precise!

This week was a strange week, my appetite reappeared, Which resulted in lots of overeating of not very healthy food this week, as a result on Sunday morning the scales showed a gain of 6.4lbs!! This gave me the motivation to rethink things, and I started making healthier choices again and also started packing which involved more exercise, and less chance to snack!!

The result this morning was that I stayed the same, which I was really pleased with. I'm going to try my best to stay focused throughout the move, plus my little sister arrives on Monday for 12 days, and we are going to Vegas for 3 days!! At least Vegas will involve lots of walking - must remember to charge my fitbit before I go. 

That reminds me, I got my 50 miles badge today with fitbit, which means since I started using it I've walked 50 miles. Which sounds great, but then I thought about the 3 day, 60 mile walk I'm doing in September and that scared me a bit!!

 

 The boxes and packing tape are calling. Have a good week everyone x

Nearly forgot, don't forget my summer challenge starts next week

Week 13

I was hoping to be able to report a good loss this week, and Sunday morning the scales were looking really good with a 3.8lb loss, but by the time weigh in day came this morning, that wasn't the case.

I did still have a loss this week of 1.6lbs, taking my total back to 8.6lbs, which really isn't that great in 13 weeks when you consider the huge amount of weight I have to lose!

Looking at the chart you can see I was doing well, nice and slow and steadily losing, then I got my holiday head on and had the three weeks of gains, and now its finally heading back down and hopefully it will be on a nice steady slope down again.

So, the big question is why am I not losing faster? I think the basic truthful answer is I'm not trying hard enough! I could reel off a whole bunch of excuses as to why but that won't change the fact I need to try harder. At the moment I'm stuck at home unable to exercise and get out as I'm in severe pain with my herniated disc, hopefully next week Ill get my epidural injection and the pain will ease and I'll slowly be able to get back on track. The problem is being stuck in the house makes me bored and bored = eating when I'm not hungry. My fridge is full of lots of healthy snacks but once I get super bored then I just want unhealthy snacky foods. I am really missing my water running classes, and looking forward to going back to them in the next few weeks.

I know I need to up my game, my sister will be here in less than 4 weeks and we have a 3 day trip to Vegas planned, and yes I plan to have a few drinks and hit the buffets, but I believe I can do that in moderation, and hope that I will be well enough to do lots of walking to counteract the extra calories. 

Part of the problem with my herniated disc is the fact I am so overweight, so I need to REALLY try hard and change my eating habits and whole lifestyle, or even once this problem is fixed its likely to return if I don't lose the weight. Each year I have my annual health check and it comes back good, my bloods etc are always normal, and the Dr says that eventually my weight will affect my health and I need to focus on losing weight before it becomes an issue, but I always just carry on as normal. Maybe this current issue with my back is the wake up call I need. As right now the pain is unbearable and I would give anything to have it fixed.

So time to put the past behind me and move on, I have everything I need to make this work, I have an online weight watchers membership including a cool app on my phone, I have a gym membership, I have an exercise bike and treadmill at home, and of course I have my gorgeous two westies who love going for walks, so I have no excuse not to exercise (except for the pain at the moment - which should be fixed soon).  I am the one who controls what I eat, I do the grocery shopping, so only have myself to blame when the unhealthy food makes it into my kitchen. I decided when I came back from England that we wouldn't order take out food between then and when my sister arrives (total of 4 weeks) so far one week in and I'm pleased to report no take out food ordered so far :) (its all about the baby steps!) I have also signed up for an organic fruit and veg delivery service called Albert & Eve, the first box arrives today, so I am looking forward to trying some new fruit and veg, as I do tend to buy the same fruit and veg each week!

I want to say a big thank you to all off my friends on twitter, you are a great support and I'm looking forward to meeting some of you at the fitblog meet up next weekend. I'll be bringing a nice healthy ww spinach and cheese quiche.

I set myself a first goal of getting to 275lbs, and my reward was going to be a fit bit or a Nike fuelband, I decided on the fit bit and have purchased this and it should arrive any day, but I am going to be good and not use it until I reach my goal, so 8.6lbs to go. I'm hoping that will be a great motivational tool to help me increase my exercise too, as I think when I use it I will be shocked to see how little I do actually walk!

I started these weight loss jars a few months back, as you can see only 8 pebbles have made it into the pounds lost jar :( They sit on the side in the kitchen as a constant reminder to me, I hope to be transferring a lot more pebbles very soon

As some of you may know I am going to be hosting a summer weight loss challenge starting next month. So far I have had 12 people sign up, hopefully we will have a lot more people sign up between now and then, and it will be a good motivational tool for everyone who takes part. There will even be prizes too :) I have contacted a few companies and so far Pop Chips have come forward and offered a prize to the winner. So if you like prizes make sure you sign up and tweet and post about it to your friends too so they can also sign up.

Thanks for reading my lengthy post :) Have a good week everyone xxx

Week 12

I'm back from my two week vacation to England, where I had lots and lots of fun, it was great to spend time with friends and family. It's strange as when I'm there it doesn't feel like I live so far away, but now I'm back home it does feel like a long way away :(

Well, I planned to try and be good and not eat loads, BUT.... once I was there, there were so many yummy English foods that I can't get here that I ended up eating pretty much everything and anything!! As a result I gained 4.2lbs, which to be honest is a lot less than I was expecting - I was expecting at least 7lbs gain. I did do a lot of walking and cycling so I guessed that helped, plus I didn't track at all, but did try and make some healthier choices and drink lots of water. This now brings my total loss to 7lbs, which I guess is still a loss.

I went shopping this morning and my fridge is full of lots of healthy fruit and veg, hubby will be shocked when he gets home and goes to find a snack! I have just finished the course of steroids for my slipped disc (not that they helped this time), so I'm hoping that will help with the cravings, as I seemed to be constantly hungry when I was taking them. I have physio tomorrow and will discuss the best exercises to do, but am hoping to go back to water running classes next week, or at least some swimming. 

Its just under 23 weeks until I take part in the Susan G Komen 3 day 60 mile walk. So far I have raised $1295 towards my $2300 target. Thank you to everyone who has donated so far, and if you would like to donate here is the link to my fundraising page. 

http://www.the3day.org/site/TR/2012/General?px=6463345&pg=personal&fr_id=1768
I guess I should think about starting some training plan soon!!

I'm not sure if I mentioned it previously but I have signed up for The Color Run in San Francisco on July 14th at Candlestick Park. I am so looking forward to it, I'm taking part with a group of friends including Marisol There will be lots of photos taken at the event for sure.

I have decided I am going to buy the fitbit not the Nike Fuel Band, but I still need to hit that 275 goal first. 10.2lbs to go. I'm hoping that I can lose most of my vacation gain this week and get straight back on track. Watch this space ....