Tracking

One of the keys to success with Weight Watchers is tracking. Whether you do it on paper or use their mobile app, it’s something you need to do in order to succeed in this program.

Despite knowing this, I continuously do a bad job at tracking. I track my morning water and my breakfast and then I stop caring. That’s in regards to food though. If you took a look at my FitPoints tracker, I keep up with that as much as I can.

But exercise isn’t the only part of this equation.

When I started out on this journey last year and actually lost weight, I tracked like crazy. I need to start doing that again.

Just now, I went through and tracked most of my food for the day. I say most not all because I’m not sure yet what I’m going to serve with the tilapia tonight…

Besides tracking, a big problem of mine is portions. I do pretty good during the day.

Yesterday, for example, I had a protein smoothie for breakfast after I got home from the gym. For lunch, I ate half of a Subway salad that I put oil and vinegar on instead of ranch and southwest sauce. There were also cool ranch doritos present, but I only ate half a small bag.

And there was pie. It was Pi Day yesterday after all and I only had a small piece and I was celebrating the day with friends…I made a peanut butter pie with an Oreo crust.

Minus the pie, I did good during the day.

But yesterday evening, I made this breakfast casserole that I really like for something different. And I ate way too much of it. And then I ate some more as I was putting it away before bed.

Ya don’t see me unable to control myself around a salad!

I really need to work on controlling myself around all sorts of food. Yes, that casserole was fantabulous, but I didn’t need that big of a piece and I didn’t need seconds. I wasn’t still hungry.

The concept of hungry was actually the topic of discussion in the last WW meeting I was in. Internal hunger (actual, stomach growling hunger) vs external hunger (oh boy does that look good hunger).

I don’t have control over my external hunger and something need to change.

Pushing Yourself

There are many things in life that you need to push yourself to do that can turn into pushing yourself past your limits. Weight loss is one of these things.

I really tried to push myself with how I exercised this week. Since I’m already up with my husband anyways, I went to the gym before work 3 days this and used my two 15 minute breaks to walk on the pedway maybe 4 days this week.

One of those days, a friend of mine that I work with was also walking on her break. She was also doing lunges.

I don’t think I’ve ever done lunges before so I thought it’d be a great idea to try them with her. She does four sets of uphill lunges for a stretch on the pedway. I did about on and a half sets with her on Tuesday and it took until Friday for my thighs to start feeling normal again.

My thighs didn’t just ache…the process of getting up and sitting down was painful; taking the stairs, especially going down them hurt; walking hurt so that I felt like I was super slow and kind of hobbly.

But my friend encouraged me to keep walking to try to stretch out those muscles. And walking helped and now I’m better.

And I’m going to try lunges in the pedway again.

But this time I’m not going to push myself past what I think I can do. I’m going to try doing one set or even just half a set, depending on when my body starts screaming at me, and then work my way up from there.

I also downloaded an app that I’m going to start playing with this week.

It’s called 30 Day Fit Challenges Workout and it has several different exercises organized in 30 day increments. As the name implies. It has beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels.

I’ve tried 30 day squat challenges before, but I think having this app will make it easier to actually follow through with them for the full 30 days.

What have you done to push yourself lately?

Morning Water

I think that it’s widely known that water is very good for you.

I’m also pretty sure that I’ve mentioned the fact that I cut sodas from my diet? Instead of soda, I drink lots of water, my morning coffee, coffee or tea in the afternoon, and sometimes dairy or nut milks.

Now that I think of it, I should probably do more to get more calcium in my system…

Anyways, after I read about something on Pinterest, I did some more research (lots of Googling) and decided to give it a go.

After I do my sideways walk to the bathroom, I head to the kitchen and make my current morning drink. I measure out a cup of warm water and add a spoonful of raw honey, a sprinkle of cinnamon, and some lemon juice. I do this before I eat anything and before I even have my needed coffee.

I know this doesn’t sound very exciting, but there seem to be many health benefits to it so I figure it’s worth a try. And I haven’t been doing it for even a full week yet, so I can’t report any results.

Here are a few things that this beverage can do for you from this article on Mind Body Green:

1. Immune system boost
2. Weight loss help
3. Reduces risk of heart disease
4. Helps your digestive system
5. Gives you energy
6. Improves your skin

Read the whole article for more details and so some research of your own before you decide I’m crazy for trying this. And I’ll report back if I notice any differences.

Avocado

This fruit is something that I had to acquire a taste for. I went from hating it to finding it acceptable in some forms, to seeking it out in some forms, to just straight up liking it.

Over the weekend, I bought a couple of avocados and I’ve already used one to make my own guacamole. It was so good that I ate the whole bowl in two sittings.

Want the recipe? Well…I didn’t use exact measurements…

I’ve taken to eyeballing spices, which I should probably stop doing if I plan on sharing it with you.

If you’re alright with winging a recipe, you’ll need one ripe avocado, salt, pepper, garlic powder, a fork, a sharp knife, and a bowl. And also this video that teaches you how to get into the flesh of the avocado.

Cutting into an avocado for the first time can be fairly daunting, but it really isn’t that difficult. Use a sharp knife to cut it in half length wise, you’ll be able to tell when you hit the seed. Then, twist the avocado to separate the two halves. In the video, there’s a nifty to way to remove the seed and make pretty avocado slices. I just scarped it out with my fork into the prep bowl, including the half with the seed.

Once you have your avocado flesh in your bowl, mash it up with your fork. Then, add your seasonings. I suggest you start out with a little, maybe a teaspoon of each? After you’ve stirred those spices in, taste it and see if you need more spices.

If you want a more precise recipe, here’s classic Mexican guacamole from Avocados of Mexico.

Give the avocado another try, or a first try. And tell me how you prepare it!

Something else that I’ve made with avocados in the past–it been a while so I’ll have to make it again before I can share how I make it–is egg salad. Avocado is a great replacement for the mayo that typically goes in egg salad.

(I like my egg salad best when it’s fresh and warm and I put it on tortillas instead of bread).

Here’s a recipe that I might use next week minus the onions.

I want to make some more guacamole this week too and I might even give avocado toast another try as I mentioned before.

It’s Just a Number

Remember when I said that I’ve been sick? I finally broke down and went to the doctor on Wednesday afternoon when I suddenly felt worse than I had pretty much the whole time.

The nurse took my vitals before I saw the doctor and started with having me step on the scale. I jokingly told her I didn’t want to, but I was being serious. It said 180 and I had to control my inward downward spiral.

I actually work in a building that holds an amazing group of doctors. So outwardly freaking out wasn’t really in the cards for me.

It’s just a number.

And usually I weigh in on Saturday mornings before I eat.

And I haven’t been exercising because I haven’t felt good and because of the new tattoo.

But wow did that number hurt…

I know that my worth isn’t measured by a set of numbers or the places that my flesh collects. But I don’t like what I see in the mirror.

My goal isn’t to be skinny, and that isn’t saying anything bad about skinny people, I simply don’t think I have the body for it. I just want to be healthy so I can stick around for a while. I want to be able to fit in some of my old clothes and get to my desk on the third floor without gasping for air at the top of the stairs.

I want this for me and it’s not about the number.

I do have a goal number–140 pounds. But that’s just a way to measure healthiness based on the body mass index scale.

So let’s do this. I had my granola bar with coffee for breakfast, I’m bringing leftover butter chicken for lunch, I’m going to make blackened tilapia for dinner, and I already have my foods tracked for the day. And I’m going to try not to snack. Snacks are my weakness.

 

Breakfast

The most important meal of the day?

I think it is for some people, but whether or not you eat breakfast all depends on how you feel about it.

For me, it sets the tone of the whole day as far as food goes. Right now, I’m eating a Nature Valley granola bar (they really have improved their crunch, by the way) with my coffee. By starting out the day with something small and relatively healthy, I’m more likely to make better choices throughout the day.

But breakfast is also dangerous for me because I adore breakfasty foods. They’re my favorite. I could eat some variety of “traditional” breakfast food three meals a day and be happy.

I am honestly enjoying my granola bar, but part of me would rather have some bacon with eggs fried in the bacon grease…

Or a fried egg over rice…

Or an egg fried in a piece of bread…

Or a stack of pancakes with tons of butter and syrup…

Or…or…or…

Breakfast is a tasty tasty danger zone for me! So I find good, healthy to semi-healthy breakfast options to start my day out right. But there are days that I splurge, particularly on the weekends.

I go through phases with these and my current favorites are the afore mentioned granola bar and smoothies.

The inspiration for these smoothies comes from Sally’s Baking Addiction. She taught me that the key to a deliciously creamy smoothie is frozen banana slices and that you can pack a ton of protein into a simple breakfast drink.

I’ll have more on my new smoothie obsession another day, back to healthy breakfast basics…

Sometimes, I’ll just eat a Greek yogurt or a couple of hard-boiled eggs.

I also really like taking those two hard boiled eggs, mashing them up with some mayo, mustard, and salt and pepper, and eating them on a tortilla. Warm egg salad makes me happy.

I haven’t quite gotten the hang of it, but egg salad can also be made with an avocado in place of the mayo.

There’s also this magical thing known as avocado toast. It’s apparently a thing. I tried it once and didn’t really care for it, but I think I’ll give it another try and will report back with results.

Sometimes I even get on a frozen breakfast kick, but I’ve really been trying to stay away from frozen, prepared foods.

What are your go-to healthy breakfasts?

Reasoning…

It gets pretty easy to tell yourself “I’m going to eat this chocolate cake because I had a bad day” or “I’m going to skip the gym because it’s cold outside” or “if they get a cheeseburger, why shouldn’t I?”

My reasoning for the past week has been that I’m sick and therefore deserve delicious foods. Makes sense to me…it also means that I’m lucky I had to work on Saturday and couldn’t make it to WW to weigh in this week.

I have the sinus/sore throat crud that’s being rather persistent. On top of that, I’ve been in pain this weekend from my first tattoo Friday.

By the way, Topper’s is amazing!

I’m still sick, but I need to suck it up and reenter adulting mode. Anyone want to do the dishes for me? Just kidding! I love dishes. (Not really…)

This morning, the hubby and I both had smoothies for breakfast. His consists solely of banana, strawberry, and milk. Exciting? Not really, but he likes it. My smoothie, on the other hand, has a banana, some strawberries, some chunks of mango, Greek yogurt, powdered peanut butter, and almond milk. Healthy and delicious! It’s protein packed too so it should last me until lunch.

I started making smoothies like this after seeing the recipe for Peanut Butter & Jelly Protein Smoothie on Sally’s Baking Addiction. If you haven’t checked out her blog yet, you need to! She has a ton of healthy and not so healthy delicious recipes on her blog.

Also, I just pulled some Gorton’s Smart and Crunchy Fish Sticks out of the oven to have for lunch. Haven’t decided what I’m going to have on the side yet though. Maybe some pretzel sticks?

I’m trying to start the week off right. Besides these healthy choices, I’ve also gone ahead and tracked all of my food for today. I’m thinking about making butter chicken for dinner.

Here’s to a great Monday leading to a great week!

PS if you want to see pictures of what I’m eating, of what my cat is doing, and of random things I’m doing in my life, follow me on Instagram.

Exercise

An essential part of being healthy is exercise. But you can’t just have exercise.

According to Weight Watchers’ revised plan, there are three pillars on which a food journey with their program stands–food, fit, and feel.

Previously, they focused primarily on food with a mention of the fact that exercise is good for you. Now, it’s just as important as food and they rank internal happiness as an important factor in living a healthier lifestyle.

Amazing, yes?

I think it’s great that WW has created such a focus on all aspects of life. This isn’t just about losing weight anymore.

Exercise isn’t just about losing weight either. Sometimes you’ll even gain weight from exercise.

For me, exercise is stress relief. It can literally loosen up my tensed muscles and make me feel better. When I take the time to exercise throughout the week, my body doesn’t hurt as badly and that’s huge for me.

I have a lot of neck, upper back, and shoulder area pain that sometimes gives me headaches, so it’s pretty exciting when I can go through a day without desperately trying to pop my neck.

There’s a gym that’s maybe 2 minutes from my house that I have a membership to. When I first became a member of Workout Anytime, I had planned on visiting every morning before work, which would mean waking up freakishly early. I like my sleep more than I like the gym…

After what seems like a year of very rarely using my gym membership, I finally realized that I needed to start going after work and on the weekends.

This lead to me going 4, 5, even 6 days to the gym. It was awesome and I felt great. There were, of course, days where it was a struggle convincing myself to go after having worked for 8 hours, but I’ve instructed the hubby to nag me into going when that happens.

He’s a good nag. But not good enough to get me to go when it’s freakishly cold outside.

Lately, I’ve been going to the gym maybe 2-3 times a week. This is partly due to the cold and partly because I’ve just been so stinking tired.

I’ve started working at work so that I can get at least some exercise in. We get 2 fifteen minute breaks during the day and we haven’t really utilized them in the past, but my floor leader decided that was something we needed to start doing.

Since last week, I’ve been able to walk on the pedway twice a day for 10-15 minutes, managing to get in an extra mile a day.

Getting to walk on my breaks is important to me because the rest of my day is spent sitting behind a desk. Don’t get me wrong, I’m thankful for a desk job and I love it, but it’s good to get up and move and it makes me feel better if I’m having a stressful day.

How do you find ways to work exercise into your routine?

Leftovers

I really hate wasting food. And it isn’t just because my husband used to jokingly nag me with “think of the starving children in Africa…” whenever I couldn’t clean my plate. Me finishing the last few bites of my potato won’t help them, donating to something like Feed the Children would make an actual difference.

Anyways, if I have leftovers, I tend to take them home. Sometimes, I get leftover donations from my husband or mom as well.

Ensuring that I bring home leftovers is one way that I practice self-control. Half a restaurant entree is half the amount of Smart Points. I try to go ahead and tell myself that I’m just eating half and split it on the plate. And there’s the bonus of having something different for lunch the next day.

Leftovers can backfire on me too though. Sometimes it means unhealthy food multiple days in a row instead of just that one trip to a restaurant.

Remember yesterday when I mentioned that I ate out quite a bit on Sunday?

Well, Sunday afternoon my mom and grandma kindly invited us to brunch at O’Charley’s with them. Each of us had some version of waffles.

I didn’t finish my waffle or my chicken fingers, so I asked for a box. And then my family was kind enough to share their leftover waffle quarters and I wound up with a box that could barely close.

Then we went out to dinner with our game night crew to Shogun Bistro. We usually don’t eat this fancy, but it was a goodbye dinner for one of our friends moving back to CA for a couple of years to continue her education.

If you’ve ever been to this restaurant, you know that you wind up with a ton of food. Hubby and I had the chicken and shrimp for two and I ate maybe a fourth of my food. And, on top of my already full to go box, he added the smaller portion of food that he couldn’t finish. Japenses is one of my favorite foods and this restaurant is expensive, so you know I’m not about to let this go to waste.

So I’ve pretty much been eating leftovers for breakfast and lunch this week. Except Monday, I had a smoothie for breakfast that day.

The best way that I’ve found to handle this is portion control. I haven’t even been filling my Tupperware container to the brim with leftover Shogun. This way I can’t pig out at lunch like I would if I just brought the whole to go box with me as I usually would.

What’s your take on restaurant leftovers? Do you even have leftovers or do you clean your plate?

Free Lunch…

For some reason, it’s really hard to pass up on free food, especially when it’s delicious. Anyone else have this peculiar problem?

Late last year, my employer did a fundraiser for United Way in which each department contributed a basket of goodies to be auctioned off. The top three money making baskets were to receive a free lunch. My department was told that we would receive pizza.

So yesterday we had a Qdoba taco bar, which is way better than pizza in my book!

It was so good that I had to have two bowls of nachos and my boss generously offered me one of the large bags of leftover tortilla chips. At least I picked a couple of healthy things like black beans and guacamole?

My plan had been to have one small serving of nachos with chicken, black beans, guacamole, and maybe some cheese. Instead, I had two bowls of nachos with chicken, beef, black beans, queso, guacamole, sour cream, and shredded cheese.

I need to work on sticking with the plan. And it should’ve been easy because we had enough heads up to give me time to come up with a plan on how to deal with this, so I enjoyed stuffing my face instead.

And you best believe my stomach has been doing some interesting and noisy things since I had Mexican Monday night and Tuesday afternoon.

There’s nothing wrong with splurging, but it’s called a splurge because you don’t do it that often–it’s a special treat. I shouldn’t have eaten so many nachos after thoroughly enjoying Chuy’s Monday night and enjoying brunch and dinner at restaurants on Sunday. It’s been a bit of a splurge fest.

So I also need to work on my self-control.

And pictures. I need some pictures for these posts of beautiful foods…