Makeover Madness!

Hello all. I know it’s been a while since I blogged. I was out of town for a while then just busy. I’ve still been on top of it and I feel like I am in a groove and doing well.

So on to the title - I have been going to WW meetings for 2 weeks (I was strictly online before) and I have to say that I don’t love them (they kinda feel like AA to me) but I made the committment to go so I am going. Maybe next time I won’t stay for the meeting and just WI and get the info. Anyway, I digress. I’ve been playing with the best day to go a mtg so it’s been all over the place but I always WI at home on Mondays. Now, when I weigh in at home I do so completely naked (to get the best reading). I know that clothing usually can add a pound or two depending on what you are wearing. So my issue is that when I WI at WW, it’s always higher. And the last time I weighed in at WW, it showed a gain, when in fact when I weighed in at home (naked) it showed a loss! I generally go by my home scale but still it’s annoying. Anyone else have this issue?

Anyways, other than that things are going well. Like I said, I’m in a groove right now so I’m happy. Today I decided to plan out my meals for the next month and a half. My BF and I are always complaining about what to make for dinner and all that, so I went on WW websites and searched the recipes. I picked out all the ones that looked good to me and made up a schedule of one each night. It’s great because they are all healthy meals, I know the points values so there is no guessing there and I no longer have to wonder what I am going to cook. Plus I printed all the recipes so I can use that to compile my grocery list every 2 weeks. Love it. I highly recommend it.

So yesterday I had a bad day eating-wise because I took time to pack a healthy lunch then forgot it at home. It was raining here and I didn’t want to walk a million blocks to get fast food, so I just stayed here and ate some tomato soup I had on hand for emergencies. Of course, that didn’t do it and I made some buttery popcorn that was in my office that just started the sprial. It wasn’t too bad because all the food I had on hand was fairly healthy, but all the 2 or 3 points here and there that weren’t satisfying I should have just gone out and got real food. I made up for it at dinner because I just ate a salad, so in all I only went over by 6 points and just used my WPA’s. But I could’ve done better.

On to today. I remembered my lunch this time so it’s all good. Here’s what I am doing today (no idea what to do for dinner, we’ll see). For clarification, my fruit smootie in the morning consists of .5 point fiber one peach yogurt, ice, strawberries (about 6) and 1/4 cup milk (.5 points). Very tasty. The combo of peach and strawberries is fab!

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

So my brunch this weekend was a hit! I didn’t wind up making the roasted veggie panini’s because once I made the muffins and frittatas (sorry if I spelled this wrong), I felt like I had alot of food and didn’t think it was necessary. Everyone loved the mini muffins and couldn’t believe they had zucchini in them. They were ultra tasty. I may have had a little more than I needed to, but they were just so good. The good news is that I took the extra batch I had an put them in zip locks with ribbon as parting gifts for my friends. This way it gives them a little treat and I don’t have tons of left over food. The frittas were my favorite. They were SO easy and SO tasty. Just egg beaters, a little cheese, some turkey bacon and chives. Pour the mixture in the mini muffin tin (leave room because they puff up) and your done. When I took them out of the oven they looked like little golf balls because they puffed so much, but once the cool air hits they deflate into a cute little souffle like shape. They were so tasty. The chives really added to the flavor. You can put anything in them - tomatoes, broccoli, ham whatever you like. Loved them.

I saved my WPA’s for the weekend so even though I had more mini muffins than I originally intended, I was still ok in terms of points for the day. I’m happy to announce I am back in the 170’s today at my weigh in. According to WW.com my weigh in day is Monday and I usually weigh myself at home completely nude. When I went to my first WW meeting last week, since you have your clothes on my weight was 183. So I am going to continue to do both for now. I am not going to WW on Tuesday like I did last week because I want my regular meeting day to be Saturday. So I’m gonna wait until then. But my weigh in at home today said 179. So I’m happy. Hopefully I stay here and go down and not up.

I have decided that I’m gonna try and start getting up earlier and doing yoga before work instead of trying to do it after. I started reading this cool blog www.zenhabits.net over the weekend and he talked about the benefits of getting up early. I get up pretty early now as is for work (I have to be at work at 7:00am and leave my house at 6:15  every morning, but although I set my alarm for 5am, I never get out of the bed before 5:45 and then am rushing to get out the door) I want to try and get up earlier. The reality is that I hate going to the gym after work because I hate coming home late just to eat dinner and go to sleep and then start all over again the next morning. I need to time just to chill. I am doing that now and because I get home late from the gym I wind up staying up late so I can get some ‘me’ time and then that just perpetuates the waking up late syndrome. So I am hoping to get up and do my yoga in the morning (from 5-5:30) and then going to work and running at lunch. This way my workout is complete and I can go home after work and just chill.

I have to go to Denver next week for work, which sucks, but I am staying at a nice hotel that has a state of the art gym and spa! So to avoid going out late with colleagues eating out all week, I’ll be hitting the gym. I am committed because it’s the start of a new month and I want to start it off right and I am starting a new running plan.

A girlfriend of mine invited me and some other women to participate in a 10k in the beginning of June. I signed up so I need to get myself together for it. A 10k is 6.2 miles and my plan is to build from .5 miles each week. So week one I will work on getting comfortable running .5 miles. Then the following week I’ll add .5 miles so I will work on getting comfortable running 1 mile. Then add another to make 1.5 the following week and so on until I am at 6. That will get to be running 6.5 miles the week before the race. I feel like this is doable and since I’m building slowly, hopefully it won’t be too bad. I paid for the registration and since about 4 of my other girlfriends are doing it too, I am motivated to make it happen.

So I took advantage of the bad weather here and decided to take off today. All the schools were closed, so I said let me get a “me” day! I have Monday off anyway and was going to go in on Monday but I set up a bunch of doctor’s appts that day, so poor me I’ll just have to have a 4 day weekend! Fab!

So I have a question regarding half points. Last night I went to the grocery store and stocked up on brunch ingredients and found some good deals. I got whole wheat mini bagels that are 100 calories, .5 grams fat and 3 grams of fiber. I also bought this new Fiber One yogurt that is 80 calories, 0 fat and 5 grams of fiber. In the points calculator, both of these items are 1 point. I’m not really buying that because I feel like the yogurt should be .5 points. I left my paper points thing that I got at my meeting at work. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

So today I am slowly getting back into the groove. I worked out at lunch on this cross between a treadmill and elliptical. It felt good to be moving. I had a slight derailment - one of my co-workers brought in doughnuts. I managed not to touch any until just a little while ago. The good news is that I went on the WW site and looked up the points first and looked at my points to find out if I felt like I had enough. Since I worked out, that helps. So I indulged, but it was on my terms so I feel ok about it. It wasn’t a mindless thing.

Moving on…some girlfriends of mine are coming over on Sunday for brunch. #1 - this is my favorite meal. #2 - I’m happy I am cooking so that I can control what’s in there. I decided to do mini everything, so they are cute and bite sized, and so you can control how much you eat.

Mini frittatas - 1 pint egg beaters, parmesean cheese, parsley, chives and chopped turkey bacon. You put them in mini muffin tins and put them in the oven. Tasty and since they are mini’s you can have a few with no guilt. I think I might make half with egg beaters and half with egg whites - just for presentation.

Grilled vegetable mini panninis - WW bread (crusts cut off), pesto sauce (WW has a great recipe substituting the oil for chicken broth), grilled eggplant and zucchini, roasted red peppers and a smidge of mozzarella. Put the sandwhich on a pannini press (I’ll use my george foreman grill) and then slice into strips (so people can have one or 2 strips each). Yum!

Mini blueberry oatmeal muffins - This is from the Deceptively Delicious cookbook. She uses pureed zucchini and banana in the muffins. I went a step further and used whole wheat flour and substituted the butter for unsweetened applesauce. Doing that gives them a cakey taste that is ultra yummy. Add blueberries and your good to go. Throw them in a mini muffin tray and viola!

Additional appetizers - Thomas’s mini 100 calorie bagels with fat free cream cheese, mini fruit cups and orange juice watered down with seltzer to make faux mimosas.

I can’t wait! It’s all healthy and bite sized so you can have one or two of everything and not blow points!

Thursday, February 21, 2008

So I went to my first meeting yesterday. In total I thought it was good. I kinda felt like I was in an alcholics anonymous class for a minute because of the way it was set up. I liked how you weight in and all that and I like that they give you all these materials and stuff to read. I also liked that you could buy WW products there because I have a hard time finding them all the time at the grocery store. The Tuesday meeting won’t be my regular meeting because I’d rather do it on Saturday’s so it will force me to go to the gym first. Either that or Monday, I haven’t decided, but I’d prefer Saturday. I have to go through all the stuff I got yesterday. I did buy a 3 month food journal because I want to go back to writing things down instead of mindlessly putting it into the computer. Plus it’s small enough to carry in my purse always, so there’s no excuse not to write it down. Overall, it was a good experience.

Before I part I want to say a word about hummus. I buy this super tasty roasted garlic hummus from Safeway. The brand is called Tribe. Recently I started putting it on sandwiches instead of mayo or something like that. Very tasty! In the morning on the weekend I put it on the bread, then made a fried egg and 2 sausage links with arugula and made a very tasty breakfast sandwhich (WW bread, of course). The other day, I added water to some hummus to thin it out and poured it over my fish to make a tasty sauce that was super low in points, but super tasty. 

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

So I have been toying with the idea of going to meetings lately instead of just doing it online. Clearly I need the motivation or my progress page would look much better than it does now. I’m just kinda suspect of meetings because I have never been a ‘people’ person. I prefer to just do me. With all that being said, I think I would benefit from them and everyone I have spoken too has said that meetings are great. I need to stop complaining and just go and try it out and see and then make my judgment. There is one today not too far from my house at 6:15. I think I may go. Ideally, I’d like to go on Saturday mornings because a: it would force me to get up and be active instead of laying in the bed until 1pm, b: it would force me to go to the gym in the morning and c: it would help my weekend mind frame since that’s generally the time I start to slip. I’m a go and report back to everyone tomorrow my experience. We’ll see…

 So let me rant for a minute about excuses - b/c I have been full of them lately. I hate them! The good news is that lately I have been very aware of excuses when they come up, the bad news is that I turn the other cheek and do it anyway. WHY!!! Yesterday for example. My BF and I had plans to do some grunt work in our house that we had been putting off for a while. I got up semi early (10:30 - it was my day off) and went to the store and bought fruit and WW bread to make breakfast (so I could start off on the right foot). Then he calls me and tells me some friends of ours are coming over for lunch. Now I could have then decided that when I got back home I would make breakfast and then workout (go for a walk around the neighborhood, do my yoga tape, even go to the gym) and then got myself together with more than enough time for my friends to come (they were coming in like 3 hours). But did I do that? No. I bought a magazine while I was out (at least it was Shape), came home, ate breakfast and then sat outside for an hour reading my mag. Reading a mag about exercise when I could have been exercising! Out of control.

So we go out to lunch at this resteraunt by the house. Instead of ordering something crazy, I ordered a yummy salad with the dressing on the side that I didn’t even eat. Great you say? No, b/c afterwards everyone ordered dessert - include me. I could have said no, I could have even shared mine. But no.

Then later that evening when dinnertime rolls around a neighbor is making mexican food and it smelt great! So instead of going to the store and picking up healthy fixin’s to make my own, we go to the newly built Chipotle that is down the street!

I say this because for each of these things I had a choice and instead of choosing wisely, instead of listening to what my body was telling me, I chose to ignore it. Then right after the bad behavior, I am in my head like why did you do that?! It’s a horrible practice. How ’bout instead of feeling guilty after because you know you did something you didn’t need to be doing, you actually listen to yourself and do the right thing? How ’bout that!

So I’m putting that into practice right now. I have been saying I wanted to go to a meeting, so instead of continually putting it off - I’m going to go. Baby steps. Let’s see how that feels. Then tomorrow I will do the same with something else I’ve been putting off so that eventually I just do what I need to do when I need to do it rather than making excuses.

In the shape mag that I was so leisurely reading when I could have been exercising there was an article about this actress and her workout. She said she ran everyday no excuses. She said, “I never miss a workout, ever, ever. Never!”. Now that could be true or not (you never know in Hollywood) but the point I got out of it was that this person obviously made it a habit and stuck with it no matter what and made it a non-negotiable part of her day. If I can’t carve out 1 hour to devote to myself a day, I have serious issues. GET IT TOGETHER!

Tough love. It’s the only way for me.

Ok, I’m off to my very first meeting!

I’ve been ducking posting this week because I’ve been bad. I was doing good last week and then hit some snags on the weekend. The main issue was that I had no food in my house and wasn’t getting paid until Tuesday to go grocery shopping. So all weekend I feel like I at badly - which I did - but it didn’t effect my points too much b/c since we had no food in the house I didn’t exceed my points. The bad side was that I was getting headache b/c I wasn’t drinking water and eating too many carbs - I didn’t meet any of my good health guidelines. I still managed a 1 pound weight loss, so that’s good.

So on to the evil that is Nutella. Several weeks ago I went out of town to see a friend and we shared this AMAZING dessert. 2 crepes sandwhiched with nutella and then drizzled nutella and hazelnuts over the top with ice cream. It was out of this world! I’d been thinking of it ever since. So on Sunday my BF and I went to dinner and then wanted dessert but the place we were at didn’t have anything appetizing. So we decided to go to the store and pick something up. I bought some nutella and he bought ice cream and pound cake. I preceeded to make a little sundae with ALOT of nutella. It was so fabulous! Then the next day I was off work and at home and bored, so I made another sundae after lunch, and then another one at around 3pm. All the while taking little half teaspoon fulls of nutella whenever I walked by it. The WORST. The good news is that I ate so much I was sick by the end of the day and the thought of nutella now turns my stomach.

I went grocery shopping on Tuesday and stocked up on fruit and veggies, so I’m back to my good eating plan. But the weekend was the only blip. I am thinking of going to actual meetings, as opposed to only doing it online like I have been. I think it will help me stay on target since I will be weighing in in front of people and not just in my house. I’ve never been to one, so I might try it out this weekend as a test to see if I like it.

So today was an ok day. I went out to lunch with my office and had a yummy steak salad with no dressing. It was good and filling. And I should have stopped there. Because it was right next to cheesecake factory, everyone wanted to go there. So of course, I went. All in all it wasn’t so bad because I got a cheesecake, but split it down the middle with a co-worker so that helped. I looked on several sites for points values for cheesecake factory and found most were in the 22-25 range, so I estimated mine to be 24 points and then since I split it, 12 points. I estimated the steak salad to be 6 points - it really was just greens with steak but I’d rather estimate higher than lower.

Last night I had pizza for dinner. I know, I broke my carb at night rule. I was starving and the BF said he wasn’t cooking and wanted pizza so I got on the bandwagon. The good news is that I only had 2 pieces, as opposed to a whole pizza to myself like I normally go. I was satisfied with only 2, so that was a nice change.

Since I haven’t used any of my WPA’s hardly, I didn’t mind using some for the pizza and some today. Since I am going to the gym it’s not as big a blow to the WPA’s as it would be without it. I certainly didn’t do enough fruit today, so that needs to be on my mind. Over the weekend I hope to print out all my food logs for the week and see what changes I can make to do better next week.

Friday, February 08, 2008

Hey there! So today will be short because I have a meeting in a minute and have been stuck in meetings all day, so this is the only time I got.

 I didn’t get to my jog today at lunch because my earlier meeting ran over and I just had 30 minutes to myself right now to eat my lunch before the next meeting, which will last until it’s time for me to go home. I will probably get to the gym early anyway, so I’ll use that time to run. Lord knows I need to get this stress out of me! Work is crazy right now!

Tonight is a double gym class night, so I am hoping that the same instructor isn’t there from on Tuesday b/c I don’t know if I can take it! My legs still hurt from that! You’ll be glad to know 2 things:

1- Last night I resisted the urge to eat carbs at dinner. I thought of it. I even pulled the bread out, but had a salad instead.

2- This morning I went for my usual Starbucks and they had black bottom cupcakes (a major weakness). They don’t always have them at this particular Starbucks, but since they did today and since I knew I was going to rack up a bunch of AP’s with my classes, I toyed with the idea of getting it. But I resisted and just got my plain latte! It’s getting better!

Tomorrow is Friday!! Fabulous. Anyone who reads this knows that Friday’s are my days to read my magazines all night. This Friday I get off work an hour early (I get it every other week). I always say that I am going to go to the gym right after work and get my workout out of the way and then go home and read my mags, but I never do. Tomorrow I am definitely going to the gym because I have an office lunch so I won’t be able to do my jog at lunch (don’t worry - I already checked the menu of the restaurant we are going to and have a salad in mind to order). Anyway, so tomorrow I’ll be doing 2 classes just like today and then going home and reading my magazines. This way if I choose to go out to dinner with my BF, I won’t feel bad b/c I’ll have AP points to use, thereby leaving me all my WPAs for the weekend! Love it!

Not sure what’s up for dinner tonight, it’s not my day to cook.

Thursday, February 07, 2008

So yesterday I forced myself to go to my 2 gym classes in the evening. The first was a weight lifting class that I normally leave after because I’m so tired, but, again, to my surprise I wasn’t that tired afterwards. The instructor told us that she was retiring (after 15 years) and was all sad and really pumped at the same time. Which in turn made me feel like I wanted to work harder, since it’s her last class. She normally teaches the step class after and since I wasn’t too tired I decided to stay (as I had planned anyway). Lord was I in for it!

Instead of that instructor doing the class, the Regional Director of the gym taught the class because she was there doing interviews (for the instructor who is leaving). Aside from being the Regional Director, she also taught the instructors the moves for each class the gym offers! The only way I can describe her is a 6 foot tall Barbie on CRACK! From the top she was super energetic and since she teaches this class to the instructors she was ALL about it. From the minute the music started this bi&#tch was on GO, bouncing around on that step higher than I have ever seen anyone do it before. Even women in my class who consider themselves ‘master steppers’ (I say that about the women who are ultra perky and always on point b/c I am always a mess) were sweating buckets and looking like they were going to pass out. It was far and away the most challenging, best class I have been to and if she was the instructor all the time I would reach my goal just off of that!

All that being said, I am in PAIN today. Not even pain, but my legs still feel like I just came out of the class. I still feel like I just ran a marathon and my legs are like jelly. Also, since I went to the weight lifting class, my arms are a little sore. I am just jacked up from head to toe. It’s out of control. The good news was that when I came home I reached for a banana before dinner, rather than a carb. And even though in my head I gave myself permission to eat carbs at dinner, I didn’t. I had salmon with broccoli, cauliflower and zucchini. Yum! After that I was so tired I took a shower and went straight to bed!

Today I don’t have time to run at lunch like I normally would, I have several meetings back to back. That’s why on my menu I added an extra oatmeal and a grande coffee so it can quell my hunger for the morning because I won’t have time to snack on my fruit like I normally do. Same is true for the afternoon. I only have time today to eat lunch, eat my fruit and then run to the next meeting. Tomorrow will be like that too, but my afternoon meeting isn’t until later in the day so I will have time to go to the gym at lunch. Today I am doing strictly yoga and my push-ups and sit-ups when I get home. It’ll be good b/c the stretching will help. Plus I have yet to use my new hot pink yoga mat!

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Yesterday was rough. I didn’t go to the gym in the afternoon like I wanted to because I didn’t bring a towel (they don’t provide any). By afternoon I was super tired and then looked in my gym bag and realized I had a towel from before! UGH! So now I was forcing myself to go to the gym to run after work instead of just looking in my gym back when I wanted to go at lunch. Hate it. I was thinking of every possible excuse in the book not to go, but I forced myself and to my surprise I felt good after. I didn’t do my yoga or my push-ups and sit-ups because by the time I realized it, it was almost 10. Yes, I could have done them while I was watching this show I got caught up in, but the thought didn’t even cross my mind. But at least I recognize it now and can do better. Day one!

So today I’m feeling much better. I think it was because although I asked for decaf they gave me regular coffee b/c I have been running a mile a minute all day. I did go to the gym today and ran my 20 minutes and to my surprise it was very easy. Let me not say easy, but not as hard as I thought. I could have easily kept going for another 10. Not bad! Because I didn’t have another 10 minutes to spare, I just amped up the speed and did a sprint for the last 3 minutes. Love it. I am starting to get into it! The real test will be tonight when I attempt to go to Body Pump and then a Body Step class right after. In the past I can make it through pump but always leave afterwards. But I’m really gonna give it a try today. Let’s hope I make it!

See my menu below for today. No yogurt because I got Activia lite yogurt and it’s got a funny taste. I’m not a fan. I think it will be better in a smoothie but I didn’t have time to do all that this morning. So I just brought regular fruit instead. Not sure what’s up for dinner. We don’t even have carbs in the house (no rice or pasta) so I couldn’t eat them if I wanted to, but I know I will be super hungry after both classes. It’s not my turn to cook tonight so I won’t worry about that until later. I might do a protein shake (3pts) on my way to the gym just to keep the energy up. Depends on how I feel.

 There it is!

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

So it’s the start of my new 21(and a little more) day challenge! I’m sleepy today but I managed to get everything together last night so this morning, all I had to do was grab and go! I’m doing no carbs at dinner, but tonight I am doing half a sweet potato (I dice mine and roast them) along with my veggies. Technically, sweet potato is a veggie, so I’m ok, but I’m easing my way in. The real challenge will be going to the gym to run at lunch b/c I’m sleepy right now and I know I’ll have to drag myself. But I’m going!

Here’s the food for today. I like that I have it already plotted out, takes the guesswork out.

Monday, February 04, 2008

It’s about 11:30pm on Saturday and I’m awake and plotting. Not sure if this happens to anyone else, but my mind races at night time with ideas and things I want to do. The problem is that I always think of these things and then say that the next day I will take care of them and by the next day I don’t feel like it.

But I won’t do that tomorrow. I actually have alot to do tomorrow. My apartment is a pigsty right now so I need to clean and organize whether I like it or not.  Anyway, I do plan on getting myself together regarding my food for the week. I want to cut up  my fruit and whatnot ahead of time and store it so that in the morning I can just grab and go. I do best when I plan. If I leave it up to chance, I almost always get off track.

Ok kittens, it’s time to get my beauty sleep!

So I’m trying to get myself on autopilot for the month of Feb. I remember reading in the YOU on a diet book that it’s best to put at least 2 of your meals on auto so that, at a minimum, you know you are doing ok for the bulk of what you eat. I’ve also read several places that it’s best to have carbs during the day (morning, specifically) than later at night, so for the month of Feb, I’m gonna try and only eat carbs (breads, etc.) during the day and instead have 2 servings of veggies at dinner. So, as such, below is what I hope to eat Mon-Fri. The weekends are kinda up for grabs, however I like to save all my allowance points for the weekends so that if I go somewhere I don’t feel guilty.

Of course, variations will be made as I get bored, but in general during the week I am able to be fairly regimented with what I eat. I might throw a fruit smoothie in there on Mon/Wed’s in place of the banana/strawberries and yogurt snack in the morning. That will also help me get in another dairy serving, since I usually add about a 1/2 cup of milk to that to make it more smoothie consistency.

In terms of workout, I’ve tried going to the gym every night and that doesn’t work for me. I also konk out by Wednesday or Thursday. So I have a yoga mat and a yoga DVD at home (MTV yoga, it’s suprisingly good) and plan on doing that at home on Mon/Wed so I won’t feel like I am always in the gym. Plus I like to do my push-ups and sit-ups in front of the TV while I am watching my favorite shows. In terms of weekend exercise, I want to try and go outside and work on my running if at all possible, in preparation for my 10k. I always seem to have no problem running in the gym and then I get outside and can barely make it down the street. 20 minutes out of my Sat/Sun isn’t that much to devote to my health, so I need to make it happen.

Like most things, I don’t think my plan is super unreasonable, it’s just a matter of committing myself to it. Also, since I said in my last post that I planned to really make an effort to blog in Feb, it will keep me accountable. I see it as another 21 day challenge, but just a few more days thrown in (since Feb is a short month).

On Mon/Wed/Fri

On Tues/Thurs