Thursday, December 23, 2010

Vacation Day 1

Hey everyone! I hope your holidays have started off as well as mine! Matt, Little Bear, and I are in Little Rock with his family now enjoying family and our time off.

Tuesday morning I got out before 8 for about a 3 mile run +5 activity points. It felt so good to choose to be active and not sleep in. I am not used to the hills around here though and am paying a little for it today. It took me 31 minutes and it was slightly under 3 miles. When I got back, I did sit ups, leg lifts, and a few yoga positions for good measure (+1 activity point). I have no idea how much to count for resistance training pt wise- I always end up giving it a 1 despite how much I do.

When I got back, I had an apple 1pt and 80 calories which I brought on the plane, but didn't end up eating the night before. Then, I looked at the picture and what is in the background? A photo of my shining star on the tree- at age 6! Hubby was such a cute child. I have high hopes our little babies will look like him with his baby blue eyes and angel face and not like the little tub of lard I was as a baby.




 Matt finally dragged himself out of bed a little before lunch. We had chicken tortilla soup from Fresh Market. It is soooo good! I had 1 cup 2pts and 130 calories. I amped it up with 2 tortilla chips and a tbsp of cheddar cheese 1pt and 35 calories.

We had some last minute Christmas shopping to do so we went out. It went by so quickly. Most everyone made Amazon Christmas lists this year which made shopping SO easy!

Matt's mom, Denise, slaved away in the kitchen most of the day. She is such a great host! She bakes Christmas trays for all of their friends and neighbors. I stole a cheese bite 1pt 50 calories- DIVINE. I have to stay away from the kitchen. There are dark magics going on in there.


We popped over to Matt's grandparents' house for a hug and a kiss before getting dinner at Jason's Deli with Matt's family. I got the Mediterranean wrap 6pts and 320 calories with a side of steamed veggies 0pts 40 calories. I also stole 1/2 an egg from Matt's plate off the salad bar (1pt 60 calories)! It was delicious! Although, next time, I'll probably ask for no turkey and extra veggies and humus.


After dinner, I had a large gin and tonic at the house while enjoying the fire and company 5pts and 300 calories before calling it a night.

Monday follow-up: I've had a lot of time to reflect on the great feedback I got from everyone on Monday's post. It ranged from advice like "hang in there, you've done so much and are doing great," to "screw it, have fun on the holidays and deal with it later," even to practical advice about choosing wholesome foods. All of it was great, and a much needed kick to keep going as well as guidance on where to go from here.

Since WW started the points plus program, I've continued with the old plan, canceled my membership, and added calorie counting to the blog. While those are minor changes to you, I've been doing a lot more behind the scenes to try and find a new path for my diet. I've been tracking hunger, exercise, time I eat, food groups, vitamins, notes on how I feel, pts, calories, and weight everyday. I'm hoping to look back after a few weeks, compile the data, and analyze what I need to work on more and what seems to be working the best.




I think that a lot of the feedback was right to focus on the quality of food I'm eating. Here's part of my response to one reader about how I'm planning to work on that (no need to retype, right)?

...I definitely agree that the types of foods I eat affect me. The thing that keeps me from doing my diet based off that alone is the loss of framework. Pts values are easy for me because they quantify the "weight losing potential" of foods. I can count them in my head and see the weight come off. With choosing foods that are nutritious, I lose some of that power.

When I started losing weight, my thinking was "Its more unhealthy to be obese at age 22 than it is to miss out on some protein or vitamins for a few months." Which, at the time was true. I was diagnosed (officially, the dr. assumed before then) with PCOS. Also affecting my weight, hormones, and insulin. My blood pressure was also getting into the "pre-hypertensive range." My dr. suggested medication for both, but I asked if I could lose some weight if I could avoid meds. Sometimes, I wish I would have tried the meds for PCOS because it probably would have made losing the initial amt easier, but I was so freaked out about medication after my run in with birth control when I gained 20lbs in 4 1/2 months. Losing weight wasn't just a thing to be pretty anymore, it was my health.

Now that I've gotten a lot of the weight off...
...I am at an odd transition period where its no longer the weight that's the super unhealthy part and I should free up and focus on other things- like feeding my body what it needs. It is a little daunting because I am pretty good at the weightloss "formula" now, calories in < calories out = goodbye fatass, and changing that focus to listening to my body's signals and responding accordingly is like hearing 1+1 doesn't = 2 which blows my poor engineering brain. Add feelings into an equation?? Freak out.

So yes, you're right. Focus on food I eat. Sigh. All signs were pointing that way when I noticed 1/3 of the calories I ate in a week were from bread and beer- my biggest passions aside from designer shoes and tequila. The hard part that I'm going through now is figuring out how much of that I can manage and how much I want to keep my lifestyle the same.

Thanks for the input and the encouragement! It means the world to me that you gave me feedback...even though it means I gots some work to do! :)
I would post the reader's comment because she had a ton of great insight on how to listen to your body and comments on why WW may not be the greatest for that reason, but I haven't heard back with permission. You'll just have to take my word for it that it was thought provoking.

I love ya'll's (two apostrophes in one word? Can I be that southern? yes.) input and I learn so much from the blogging community and how everyone manages their food, weight, and exercise with their daily lifestyles. I really am privileged to be given your input! Keep it coming please, good bad and indifferent!


 WEDNESDAY STATS:

Points: 16/23
Calories: 955
Weekly Allowance Points: 6 used / 29 weekly left
Exercise: 3 mile run, sit ups, legs
Water: 50 oz.
Weekly Weight Loss: +1.8 lbs / 34.8 lbs total

1 comment:

  1. I eat Paleo, except during the holidays... (Mainly because I would starve between work running into holiday parties and family events.) Whether you do that or not, I still think you should definitely try going gluten free! (They make gluten free beer, still have to drink in moderation, but it's an option.)

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