Week 16: Day 4

Got up this morning, sorted through my grapes which were going bad and picked out the edible ones for breakfast and tossed the rest. 1pt for under a cup of grapes for breakfast with iced tea.

I had my first class this morning which is winding to an end and then I worked on a hw set for the rest of the day until my second class. The due date was postponed- hooray!! I'm still going to try and finish by tomorrow though. I had a smart ones Teriaki Chicken for 4pts for lunch and a WW chocolate pretzel for 1pt for dessert.

Pictured with my traditional luggage- graphing calculator and notebook.

After Vibrations, I met with a professor and headed home a little early. I have office hours Tue/Thrs nights so its nice to take a break in between. I had 3 pretzel sticks for 1pt for a snack with some water and Matt and I took little Bear for a walk.

Matt and I made dinner around 6 when my office hours started. I had a chilli potato 8pts and diet sunkist 0pts. Gotta love it.

THURSDAY STATS:

Points: 18/24

Weekly Allowance Points: 31 left/35 weekly
Activity Points Earned: 0 today/6 week
Exercise: nadda

Weekly Weight Loss: +.8 lbs / 23.8 lbs total

Hope to see less of each other next time!

Casey

Monday Meeting Recap

Since I was MIA (and grumpy) on Monday, I didn't give you guys a run down of my meeting on Monday.

We talked about the layers of change. Kathy started by asking us how many of us had drivers' licenses...everyone raised their hands. And then how many times on a daily basis we thought about the fact that we are licensed drivers...none. Finally she asked us to compare that to the time when we were working on becoming insured drivers...every day? every second? every bit of our then 16-year-old brains were absorbed with getting that card and who we would be when we had it. Something which is now part of our identity that we take for granted, we had to work on and focus on at one point.

So we talked about how to translate this concept to weight-loss and healthy living.We did this by talking about 5 layers of change- going from external to internal. Environment, behavior, capability, belief, and core.

1.  ENVIRONMENT: This is where you begin to change. You can't change who you are or what you do overnight, BUT you can decide who you want to be and put yourself in the correct environment. For me, this has meant ridding my kitchen of unhealthy triggers, but providing healthy and appealing alternatives (orgainic baked fries) so that I don't go find another environment (aka fast food). If you're living with some one while trying to make a life change (food or not) the other person may not want/need to change. In this case (like me trying to loose weight and Matt not) I have my snacks and environment defined and separate from his. You will start to thrive in your new environment.
2. BEHAVIORS: As you spend some time in your new environment, new habits start to form. Instead of reaching for the chips, you grab fruit, or maybe you still grab the chips, but since you put your scale in a visible place, you measure a serving size that is appropriate to your needs instead of chillin on the couch with the whole bag. Your behaviors will change.
3. CAPABILITIES: As you start to see your behavior change, you find that you're capable of a lot more than you thought you were. You can work a full day and still be healthy when you get home! You can study all night and make it out for a run in the morning! You can be the savy girl who spends her time talking at parties and not (ahem) being anchored to the buffet. If you're not to this point yet- don't worry, just focus on 1 and 2 now and 3 takes no work. promise. I never thought that I would be able to know portion sizes or estimate calories in all kinds of foods and I certainly never thought I'd do it second nature and every day. You will be capable of more than you think.
4. BELIEFS: Not only will you understand that you are capable of loosing 20...30..40..100lbs, but you'll start to believe that you are no longer the person you once were. You aren't controlled by food, your schedule doesn't own your life and energy but you decide what you do, you are an empowered person who understands your emotions and how to cope with them. You will believe you are the person you envisioned.
5. CORE: After realizing and going through each of these layers (sometimes more than once) you will look around and realize that you are the person you set out to be. Along your path, you may go through the layers of change several times- sometimes with small victories- and sometimes to your final destination. I'm not where I want to be, but I have absorbed many healthy habits into my personality already. I want to go to the gym regularly and I feel weird if I don't, being knowledgeable about my food is part of who I am now. I have changed. You will be the person you set out to be.

I thought that was an interesting way of looking change and threw some of my experience in with it. Most importantly, once you realize you have changed for the better CELEBRATE IT! Celebrate the new you! And any minor victories along the way!

Two quotes I've heard several times in the meetings that never get old:
"If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you always got."
"Don't sacrifice what you want for what you want right now."

Get a vision of what you want and make changes until you get there. You can do it!

Week 16: Day 3

Hey guys, I needed a break for a few days to regroup. I thought about posting about the last two days, but with being sick and getting some bad news- it would just be wallowing at this point. So- a new day- back to work this morning after my 6 consecutive sleep cycles yesterday!

I was pretty groggy this morning b/c the NyQuil hadn't completely worn off. I had a slimfast for 4pts for breakfast.

I graded papers all work day and finally got one set of grades out, thank goodness. I breaked for lunch and had a 5pt Santa Fe Style Salad with grilled chicken.

After lunch, more grading. Ugh. But I did snack on 2pts of pretzel sticks! Yum!

When Matt and I got home from work I had 4pts of Kettle Chips- just so you know- that's only 16 plus a few crumbs. Sad :( And I'm going to break some more bad news to you- Kettle chips are not the food of champions- I did my C25K W5D2 after eating these and let's just say that didn't go over great. +3 activity pts.

After my run, I came home for a quick shower and then made some chili for dinna. I meant to make this last week...that didn't happen. Then I meant to make it Monday...that didn't happen...are you starting to see a pattern with how my week has gone? It isn't just the chili that keeps getting thrown on the back burner.

Let me just say I did not NOT NOT  want to go to the gym today. I also did not want to cook chili. I also didn't want to eat salad for lunch...Sometimes being healthy feels empowering and you're happy you're doing it, but right now is not one of those times for me. I am grudgingly doing what I am supposed to until it starts to come easier again. Its times like these that can get you off track from your goals, so like I said earlier- I'm just going to keep on keeping on.

One helpful thing I heard in the meeting Monday (when I was up +.8 lbs) was the quote "Don't sacrifice what you want for what you want right now." I'm just going to keep that in mind.

So on the menu tonight was a chili potato 8pts for dinner and a diet sunkist 0pts- haven't had one of those in a while!

For the rest of the night- its Cougar Town with Chris, Matt, Bear and Harley and then some more studying. I'll have a glass of wine later too for 2pts. Aaaand then some ice cream 3pts.

WEDNESDAY STATS:

Points: 28/24

Weekly Allowance Points: 31 left/35 weekly
Activity Points Earned: 3 today/6 week
Exercise: C25K W5D2

Weekly Weight Loss: +.8 lbs / 23.8 lbs total

Hope to see less of each other next time!

Casey

Week 16

Hey guys,

Sorry no posts for Monday/Tuesday. I was sick the past two days (literally slept 18 hrs straight). I am feeling a lot better (actually at work today), but not fab. I'm back to posting though. Just wanted to give you a recap of the WW meeting- I was up (yes you read correctly) UP .8 lbs. It sucks, but just a reminder why I need to keep on keeping on. :)

I'll post my eats later today.

Week 15: Last day!

Coming to the end of my 15th week on WW! Sunday was long and monotonous. I had a lot to get done before the work week on Monday so I had to buckle down. I did about 6-7 hrs of training for Learning Rx first thing. While doing that I had a Boca burger and a few fries for 6pts.

I promise there's a burger under there!

I worked through lunch on Learning Rx and felt pretty beaten down by the time I finished. It was that time again so I took an hr nap before getting back to work. Matt picked up dinner from Wendy's and a movie to pop in while I graded papers. We watched the Blind Side and I had a Spicy chicken sandwich with fries for wow- 22 pts. 

After the movie, I continued grading until around 1:30 am and decided to call it a night. I didn't get nearly as much done as I had hoped I would despite the fact that I felt I was going fast. Just going to have to work that much harder tomorrow. 

SUNDAY STATS:

Points: 27/24

Weekly Allowance Points: 10 left/35 weekly
Activity Points Earned: 0 today/4 week
Exercise: nadda

Weekly Weight Loss: -2.2 lbs / 24.6 lbs total

Hope to see less of each other next time!

Casey

Week 15: Days 4-6

Let's do some rewinding to Thursday (Wednesday was my last post). I have been so busy since then- in good and bad ways.

Thursday was Earth Day and I had good intentions of not eating meat for earth day. Well, I forgot in the morning and had a Smart Ones Breakfast Sandwich with Canadian Bacon for 4pts. Oops! I'm still going to try this for a few days when I get my feet back under me and can plan. I want to do it so I notice how much meat I eat every day.

After breakfast, we got to school/work really early, and I had school all day. I worked in the design lab while I wasn't in class on more programming. For lunch, I brought a terrible smart ones entree that I had one bite of and didn't eat 0pts and Matt was nice enough to give me one of his 96% ff tacos with habanero cheese for 5pts.

I also snacked on some granola for 3pts.

After lunch, I got some more Arch's ice cream with CJ (from om nom nom and run run run). And the BEST part of this!! I OVERESTIMATED THE POINTS LAST TIME!! its 12 calories per ounce and I get 3.5 oz.!! And its ff. Thats only 1pt per serving and I can never eat all of it! Yay! I got white chocolate cheesecake wow-cow.

After our treat, I went back to school and got a little more work done before my second class. I convinced Matt to come home with me after getting out around 3:30 since he had been at work until midnight and we went back to work at 7 am! Ew. I had 2 pretzels sticks for 1pt when I got home. You can see Bear thought he was going to get some!

Pretty much imidiately after getting home, Matt and I fell asleep for about 3 hrs. We have been exhausted from the end of the semester, trying to find me a job, and just life in general. We woke up and decided to go out with friends. We went to Baja with Chris, Mike, Jeff, Cait, Erica and Dee. Super fun group. We had dinner and drinks and played darts. I had rice and beans for 3pts and some chips and pico de gallo 5pts, and 14 pts of drinks (margaritas are killer).

THURSDAY STATS:

Points: 36/24

Weekly Allowance Points: 23 left/35 weekly
Activity Points Earned: 0 today/4 week
Exercise: nadda

Weekly Weight Loss: -2.2 lbs / 24.6 lbs total

Friday was a nice day. I spent the first half finishing up an assignment to turn in that evening. I had another Smart ones english muffin sandwich for breakfast for 4pts.

I met Matt for lunch at the Castle and got a chicken sub 9pts.

I worked a little more and then headed home to pack my bag for the national's game in DC with Allee!! I hit traffic on the drive and got in a little later than I meant to but stuck with our plan of dinner at Wegman's my favorite grocery ever and then headed to the game. I had Bbq shrimp sushi (the shrimp was hard- weird- but I ate it anyway.) It was only 8 pcs but 4pts because it had cream cheese and the shrimp was tempura. I pulled off a lot of the tempura part.

The weather was perfect for a game. I had a 16 oz. BL at the game for 3pts. It reminded me of Redbirds games in Memphis which I miss so much.

After the game, it took us a good hour to metro back to the car. The stations were packed because a Capitol's game had let out a few stops down. It was crazy. We were packed in like sardines. I was ok with it because I love people watching and big crowds.

Back at Allee's place, we watched The Hills that Allee tevo-ed. It's shameful, but it was after midnight.  We snacked on some rice cakes while watching for 2pts. (no pic, sorry. My phone died at the game and Allee was taking pics for me).

FRIDAY STATS:

Points: 22/24

Weekly Allowance Points: 23 left/35 weekly
Activity Points Earned: 0 today/4 week
Exercise: nadda

Weekly Weight Loss: -2.2 lbs / 24.6 lbs total

Saturday morning, we went to Wegman's for breakfast before I drove back to C-ville. I didn't head out of DC until after 10 so it was a lot later than I wanted to be back. I got the fresh fruit bar for breakfast and ended up getting WAY more food than I could eat. I had ~ 1cup of fruit 1pt, some yogurt 2pts, and some jalapeno potatoes 3pts.

I picked up soup for lunch at wegman's and headed back to C-ville. Matt and I watched the episode of Lost we missed earlier in the week while eating. I had 1 1/2 cups of shrimp bisque soup 5pts, 2 slices of rosemary bread with 1 tsp olive oil 2pts.

After lunch, I showered and met up with Jamie for a sister day of shopping and rehab. I call my time w/ Jamie rehab from my week. :) She got some good options for her graduation ceremony from Law School!!! Yay! 

After coming home, I did some grading before getting ready for a double date with Jamie and Chris. We went to Sakura for dinner. It was so nice to see them. I'm going to miss them a lot when they move to Charleston in a mo. I got a Kiran- 4pts and the Veggie dinner which came with- Clear soup 0pts, ginger salad 0pts, mushrooms 0pts, fried rice (ate almost all of it) 8pts, a TON of Veggies 0pts, but they had some veggie oil for cooking 3pts.

Waiting for the table

Cheersing

Being goof-balls

Chris was mesmerized by our chef's mad skills

Jamie and Chris at the apt before the movie

When we came home, Jamie and I made a delicious desert drink while watching a movie. 5pts low fat/ low sugar chocolate ice cream, 4pts bailey's, 2pts chocolate soy milk and ice. We split it, Jamie had more than me, for 3pts. I also had a beer 2pts while watching Men Who Stare at Goats. Weird movie. I'm reserving judgment for now.

I'm most of the way through Sunday now and I'm exhausted. I've been busy all day so hopefully I'll find time to stop and get another post up about my food later tonight. Writing this much up was pretty much my break from work for the day.

SATURDAY STATS:

Points: 34/24

Weekly Allowance Points: 13 left/35 weekly
Activity Points Earned: 0 today/4 week
Exercise: nadda

Weekly Weight Loss: -2.2 lbs / 24.6 lbs total

Hope to see less of each other next time!

Casey

Week 15: Day 3

Today was...a day. That's about all there is to say about that.

It was rainy and gross this morning and that must have messed with my mood. I was "off" all day. We got up early to take Bear to the vet to get his "pockets emptied," and I was not ready to get out of bed. I had a Smart Ones English Muffin Sandwich for 4pts for breakfast.

I spent yet another morning in the design lab working on programs. I am so so ready to be finished with my master's degree and not have any more classes!! Now, if I could just get a job. :) 

I had a gloomy morning. I pretty much acted like Eeyore all day. I think the rain clouds were following me around. I don't know what was up. I ended up going home for lunch instead of eating what I took to school to try and turn my day around. I had leftover chicken fiesta bake for lunch. It was the last of the leftovers which meant there was a little extra rice and cheese in this one so I'm counting 8pts instead of 6.

I spent the afternoon grading homework and feeling sorry for myself at having to exist on such a yucky and cold spring day- I know, I was a brat today mood-wise. Eventually, I went and picked up Matt from work and Little Bear from the vet. He was sooo happy to see Matt and I. It made my day a little better.

At home, I had a little less than a serving of organic granola for 2pts. I stopped by the grocery on my way home earlier and impulse bought the maple and walnut kind- it was so good. Good impulse buy, although eventually I want to make my own.

About 2xs this (>1/4 cup)

I hit the road shortly after for the second pick-me-up in the day- dinner with the sis and her BFF, Nilakshi. We went to Zazu's a wraps place near school. It was really different, but I liked the atmosphere and getting to talk to Ramjie and Nil is always nice. I had a chicken curry wrap and ate ~1/2 for 7pts. Wow- looked that up when I got home- glad I didn't eat more!! :)

After wraps, we went next door for my personal favorite part of the night- ARCH'S YOGURT! (Om nom nom). I had ff wow cow (reduced cal) mocha chocolate, 3.5 oz. The best part, looked it up when I got home- 2pts! Ummm anyone up for Arch's again tomorrow?

I should be spending the rest of my night grading, but we'll see if I can muster the umph to get it done. I feel dazed from the day. I think its a combination of the weather, having been behind at school and just now catching up, money, and worry about what's next in life for me. 

Everything will work out in the end. God's got me so nothing bad will happen (even if that means my perspective on "bad" needs to change). We'll see where life takes me. I've been working my tush off to get where I am for umm 19 years of school?? I'm looking forward to getting a break and evaluating exactly where that is. So thankful I have such a great hubby and family to support.

I just got off the phone w/ Cait and she's going to come over to watch Cougar town in a bit! I've gotta get my C25K workout in so see you tomorrow!

WEDNESDAY STATS:

Points: 23/24

Weekly Allowance Points: 35 left/35 weekly
Activity Points Earned: 0 today/4 week
Exercise: nadda

Weekly Weight Loss: -2.2 lbs / 24.6 lbs total

Hope to see less of each other next time!

Casey

Week 15: Day 2

I had a busy day, but pretty boring to relay since I spent most of it doing programming in the design lab. I'll give you the highlights (and food).

Matt and I headed out a little early this morning since I got up when the alarm went off instead of waiting for Matt to get out of the shower. I had a Smart Ones English Muffin Sandwich for 4pts on the way in to work.

Like I said, most of the day was spent working on CFD. I went to my first class, but got so side tracked by deciphering the foreign language that was the instructions for the assignment, I forgot to go to my second class until 1/2 way through it!! Oops. 

I had my normal lunch w/ CJ. I had Smart Ones ravioli 5pts and a WW caramel pretzel 1pt with water.

I walked down to Matt's lab to heat up my lunch and it smelled divineeee in there...aka one of his lab mates had chick-fil-a french fries and chicken. I so wanted some.

Around 5:30, Matt took me home and dropped me off so he could head back to work with the car. Ew. I feel so bad for him. I was so tempted to get Chick-fil-A on the way home after smelling Chris's, but like I said- we're trying to save money this week to buy plane tickets so I was a good kid and made dinner at home. I had a Boca burger 2pts, on a wheat bun 1pt, with spinach 0pts, cheese 2pts, and ketchup 1pt, along with ~32 organic fries 4pts, and 1 Tbsp honey mustard 1pt. Its a lot of points, but still WAY better than the alternative of fast food.

Hopefully I won't snack tonight. I am pretty satisfied now and it's been an hour or so since dinner. I'll re-update if I snack later. :)

I'm going to spend the rest of the night working on my programs for submission tomorrow and watching the biggest loser!! I need to hit the hay early tonight since I have to drop Bear off at the vet at 7:30 am! He's having his big surgery tomorrow (say a prayer, its not just the simple neuter since one of his balls didn't drop. I know- TMI, but I'm worried about the little man).

C25K Week 5 starts tomorrow- I'm a little frightened.

PS- I'm excited about the rest of my week. I've got a lot of work to do for the class I TA, buuut I've got some fun times sprinkled in. (Is the suspense killing you?)

TUESDAY STATS:

Points: 21/24

Weekly Allowance Points: 35 left/35 weekly
Activity Points Earned: 0 today/4 week
Exercise: nadda

Weekly Weight Loss: -2.2 lbs / 24.6 lbs total

Hope to see less of each other next time!

Casey

Week 15: Day 1!

Great Monday, everyone! I had a really good day today that started with (drum roll please) another breakfast cookie!! 3pts. It was even better on day 2! I may have to whip up some more of these!

So, this morning, I spent some time getting my resume and cover letter to 2rw, an engineering firm in Charlottesville for the position of an energy engineer. I would love this job so fingers crossed! After that and a little homework, I had lunch with CJ of a Smart Ones Spinach and Ricotta cheese pasta which I had never tried before for 5pts. I really enjoyed it.

For desert, I had a WW chocolate, caramel pretzel for 1pt. Yum.

I worked on CFD in the design lab for the rest of the day until my C25K workout with CJ! I finished up week 4 today, which I'm sad to say I think I'm going to miss. I start actual running this week! Check out W5D3, oh no. CJ is a day ahead of me so she did W5D1 today. I got +4 activity pts for the run.

I rocked out to some 311 during my run today which brings me to the question:
What's currently rocking your workouts on your running mix?

After our workout, Matt and I came home and rested a little bit until my WW meeting. I am down 2.2 lbs since Wednesday! That's a total of 24.6 total! Yay! I was happy with it. Getting to higher intensity training I think has helped because I had my fare share of going out this week. At the meeting, we talked about how to handle weekends when on a diet. It was helpful to talk about. When we were asked what we want to do on our days off, the whole room laughed at me when I said go to bars....what can you do?

It definitely feels good to keep seeing numbers go down. :) At the meeting, I snacked on 4 pretzel sticks for 2pts. 5 is a serving size, but I snuck one in before the meeting when I got home. Love me some pretzels...aka salty bread.

We decided to take it easy and made a digorno pizza for dinner. I had two 1/8 slices for 9pts and for dessert we split some light chocolate chip ice cream (total 5pts). I had more than Matt so 3pts.

The hive is down right now, so I don't know if I'm going to get in the hw sesh I wanted to tonight. Just means I need to pump up my efforts tomorrow. I'll probably chill with Matt and Bear the rest of the night. :)

MONDAY STATS:

Points: 23/24

Weekly Allowance Points: 35 left/35 weekly
Activity Points Earned: 4 today/4 week
Exercise: C25K W4D3

Weekly Weight Loss: -2.2 lbs / 24.6 lbs total

Hope to see less of each other next time!

Casey