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!

Dusting off the sugar and moving on

Yesterday - 12 hours in the presence of cake

Today I am coming out of my sugar coma... Not because I ate a ton of the sweet stuff but because yesterday I was so covered in it I could almost feel it seeping into my pores. Another Lisa fact: I am a cake decorator. In addition to my full-time teaching job, I make cakes. I love, love, love it BUT it definitely adds to my weight struggle. Yesterday's projects:

(Both of these will be decorated with some fresh flowers today to finish them off before I set them up at the wedding, but in these pics they are mostly complete)

The Sticky, Sweet Struggle

I'm sure no one will be surprised to hear that I became interested in cake decorating not only because I love the creative outlet it provides but also because I have an out-of-control sweet tooth. Back when I started decorating as a hobby it was not uncommon for me to make a cake just to eat at home (of course I told myself I needed to do it to practice my skills!). Now, however, I do my best to avoid a lot of processed sweets. Am I perfect? Absolutely not. Do I usually indulge in something sweet every single day? You betcha! I just make sure I have the points for it! I also like to think I am past the point of allowing myself to down half of a gooey cake!

So, herein lies the problem. When I am baking and decorating I am tempted all day long to taste. "Oh, I better have a bite of this chocolate cake to make sure it's okay. Well, that was good. I wonder about the vanilla. I should probably taste that too. The frosting tastes okay, I tried it earlier. I wonder what the chocolate cake tastes like WITH the frosting. I should try it and make sure it's edible..." and on, and on, and on.

I will admit, some amount of tasting is necessary. Especially for fillings and icings that I need to make sure have enough of a certain flavor. That being said, typically one itty bitty, tiny little taste is plenty enough to determine if something tastes "right". Clearly, my struggle is stopping after that one itty bitty taste. I have, however, acknowledged that struggle and really been working hard at overcoming that temptation.

Anti-Sugar Strategies

Here are some things I did yesterday to avoid going overboard with the tasting:

1) Ate a filling breakfast - Fiber One cereal, fat free milk, banana, melon cubes, coffee (By the way, I was the incredible melon slayer this week... See below... I hacked up an entire watermelon and cantaloupe to have in the fridge so I could grab it quickly for a snack. Talk about sweet! These are so good they're like candy! But much better for you, of course).

2) Packed a lunch and plenty of snacks - Sometimes I get caught in the trap of not having any food with me when I'm decorating and I get hungry! All that does is lead to snacking on cake trimmings all day long! So I brought chicken and orzo for lunch, and my snacks were carrots and celery with a spicy mexican dip and more melon.

3) Water, water, water - I made sure all day long to have water at my side and even brought limes to put in it since I think the tap water in the bakery tastes funny.

Was I successful?

I guess we will see for sure on the scale this week! Overall, I felt that it was a pretty positive day. I tasted only a tiny bit (I estimate about 6 points worth) and also stayed within my daily points despite the tastes. Unfortunately, I didn't get all my GHGs in, but today I am focused on doing that to make up for yesterday. So, I give myself a B- for the day... not terrible, but room for improvement next time!!

Good luck and stay healthy!!