Week In Review

I gained a little this week. I totally expected to have a small loss, since as I mentioned early in the week, I did not exercise AT ALL. However, I wasn't really expecting a gain. I ate well, used most (but not all) of my weekly points, and made sure to drink lots of water. It's a bit frustrating to gain, especially since my past shows me that my body loves to hover around that 170 mark for long periods of time. I definitely don't want to think that I'm going to be bouncing in and out of the 170's for months, so I hope this was the kick in the pants I needed to MAKE time for exercise. Since this weigh in on Tuesday, I have been out running my power line intervals with the pup on days when I get home before dark. I have been trying not to obsess about getting APs, but focus more on the enjoyment of what I'm doing for exercise. I am also trying not to beat myself up on days when I just don't fit in any exercise. It happens. Like my mom likes to say "Bridge it and get over it."

Accomplishments of the Week:

This week I kicked ass because:
1) I tried one new recipe - This was not as many as I had planned, but again I was struggling with finding that balance between going back to work and cooking, exercising, and making time for me! So I was happy to have made something new at all!

Lately I have been really loving the recipes featured on the WW website. I never used to be a huge fan of most WW recipes, because they always seemed to be lacking something but they have really stepped it up over there! This week my new recipe was "Tomato, Basil, and Mozzarella Pasta Salad" which was a refreshing summer treat.

In our house, we LOVE pasta salad and it's really hard to find a satisfying healthier replacement to the traditional version we crave. I really enjoyed this salad! It was whole wheat pasta, fresh mozzarella, cherry tomatoes (from the garden), fresh basil (from my herb garden), oregano, salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil. Super healthy and super delicious. The hub said it was a little dry for him, he wanted more oil. I told him to suck it up, it was healthy! But I liked it a lot and took the leftovers for lunch the next day!

2) I planned ahead and packed awesome lunches - One thing I have relied on in the past and am trying to get away from is eating frozen meals for lunches at work. It's so convenient, but I know I can make much healthier lunches by just preparing ahead of time. Every day of work so far I have packed my lunch the night before (even using leftovers, which I usually forget to do!) and I'm really hoping to keep that up. Obviously there is nothing wrong with frozen meals occasionally, but I find myself jumping on the whole foods bandwagon more and more all the time, so packing something I made is just a better option for me.

Goals for Next Week

Next week I will kick ass because I plan to:
1) Report to this blog on time - I'm really trying to use this as a tool to keep myself weighing in, attending meetings, and being overall accountable. I feel like I really stink at it when I weighed in on Tuesday, attended my meeting on Wednesday, and am finally getting around to reporting on things on Saturday! I am about to start a second job, too (more on that another time) so my schedule will be even crazier. BUT, I really am going to work on writing posts on time.

2) Work in some exercise - As mentioned above, I have already been working on this. I am not going to get caught up in obsessing about how much I exercise or get upset on days when I don't work it into my schedule. I'm going to be more laid back about it, do it when I have time, enjoy it, and reap the benefits that I know will come. I can feel my heart getting healthier all the time!

3) Be the healthy tailgating buzz kill - I love fall because I love going to football games. My team is playing its home opener tomorrow and I will be going to the game with a large groups of friends. We are arriving when the parking lots open, at 8:00am and will be eating, drinking, and having a generally great time all day. I have a master plan to keep tailgating from ruining my healthy lifestyle... I will be posting later with my healthy tailgating tips so stay tuned!

Week in Review

This morning's weigh in was super successful! I lost 4.1 pounds since last week. Typically, that's a pretty unrealistic expectation. However, since I have not been living super healthy for most of this summer, and last week was the first week I really got serious about getting back on track, a pretty big loss was the result. I expect it to be a much smaller loss next week, but I'll certainly take that 4.1 for now!! I'm only 4 pounds away from my lowest adult weight!

Accomplishments of the Week

This week I kicked ass because:
1) I tracked everything I ate (even the junk, even the littlest bites and tastes, everything!) - This is so important! It's easy to ignore little tastes, or write off the junk food as a screw up, but all of it adds up! Note to self - suck it up, admit you ate it, write it down!

2) I made it through a wedding, and several beers, without binging on any junk food there (and, of course, I tracked the beer!) - Weddings are tough. A lot of times you have no idea what food will be served and by the time it IS served, you have made great friends with the bartender. For most of us, more drinks = less capacity to make great decisions. At this wedding, I didn't allow myself to fall victim to the taunts of cheesy pasta, fatty beef, or creamy dips. I ate super clean. I chose chicken breast, a baked potato, steamed veggies, and fresh fruit. All of that even after a few drinks! To me that's a sign of a healthy lifestyle starting to become the norm, instead of something I have to force upon myself!

3) I bought tons of fresh, local fruits and veggies and used them for everything (breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, snacks, you name it!) - 'Tis the season for local produce, no matter where you live. Take it from an upstate NY girl, where most fruits and veggies aren't ripe until mid-summer: seize it while it's available, it will soon be gone! I can't stress enough the importance of supporting local growers. Their produce is fresh, your money is supporting your local economy, and you are helping the environment by purchasing goods that didn't have to be shipped across the country for your consumption. Check out this amazing caprese salad I made the other night with local tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and basil from my own herb garden:

Goals for Next Week

Next week I will kick ass, because I plan to:
1) Try some new recipes - I have three picked out. Not sure if I will get to all of them, but I'm going to try. New recipes really help keep things fresh and exciting. There are some foods I love and could eat everyday, but I don't want to get stuck in a rut or get bored by food.

2) Go back to WW meetings - I am going to admit that (gulp) I haven't been to a meeting since May! Eeeep! Seriously, I love my meetings, I love my leader, I have no idea why I strayed. Then it got to the point where not going just became habit. But tomorrow, I GO! I promise.

3) Kick it up a notch - When I'm not on track for awhile and I decide to get back ON track (like I did last week), I tend to focus on one aspect of a healthy lifestyle at a time. Last week, that was the food part. Since I was so successful at getting my eating back under control, this week I will be continuing eating healthy while also focusing more on the activity part. Today, I already made a step in the right direction:

Here I am, in the reflection of my car window, getting ready for a bike ride (always wear a helmet, people!).  I have a pretty decent mountain bike and I haven't had a chance to ride my favorite trail much this summer. Today was a cool day, but sunny, so I took the opportunity to ride for about an hour and a half. I had an amazing, peaceful ride plus I earned 7.5 activity points!!

My favorite trail is part of the "Rails to Trails" program. It's an old railroad converted to a multi-use trail. People use it for hiking, biking, horseback riding, etc. I really love it because it's such a beautiful ride through the woods and past swamps where I get to see a lot of different wildlife. Today I saw deer, rabbits, and a tiny little turtle sunning himself on a log! Most of the trail looks just like this:

... and makes me think of "The Road Less Travelled". The great part about "Rails to Trails" for beginning bikers is that since the path used to be an old railway, there were rules about how steep the grade could be... Meaning there are no areas where there are super steep inclines!

So I felt really great about getting all those APs right in the beginning of my week. It's a habit I hope to continue as the week goes on. Even when I feel like I don't want to make time to exercise, I try to remind myself that it's essential for a healthy lifestyle. Could I lose weight without it? Sure. But will I get all the same health benefits, just by losing weight and not exercising? Nope. So exercise it is.

Good luck and stay healthy!