Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Things 7 and 8

I didn't get home until about midnight last night, so here I am playing catch-up again.

Yesterday, I was thankful for unseasonably beautiful weather. After the freak snowstorm last week (that still has some people without power, 12 days later!!!) yesterday was sunny and in the mid to upper 60s. I went out without a jacket at lunch time and it was just gorgeous. Such a shame to have to sit inside at work on a glorious day like that.

Today I am thankful for pumpkin coffee. I'm generally not a big coffee drinker, and actually didn't even own a coffee pot at home until a month or so ago, but we've entered seasonal coffee time. Pumpkin spice lattes soon to be followed by gingerbread and peppermint mocha lattes. Those are neither wallet nor waistline friendly, so I finally caved and bought a single cup coffee maker and have been making my own pumpkin coffee/latte combos. Only two WW points and the perfect start to a tired, slow-moving morning!

Monday, November 7, 2011

A Goal Met and Giving Thanks

I clocked a 1.8 pound loss at WW this week, bringing me to an even 20 lbs lost, and putting me back on track with my goal schedule!

My Mini Goals:
10 lbs. by September 12  Done, on schedule!
15 lbs. by October 10  Done, on schedule!
18 lbs. (my 10% goal) by October 24 Done, one week late (10/31)
20 lbs. by November 7 Done, on schedule!
25 lbs. by December 5
28 lbs. (my 15% goal) by December 19
30 lbs. by January 2
35 lbs. by January 30
38 lbs. (my 20% goal) by February 20
40 lbs. by March 5
45 lbs. by March 26
47 lbs. (my 25% goal) by April 9
50 lbs. by April 23 - GOAL WEIGHT!! 

I'm really not sure how that happened, as I definitely went over my points this week. I'm not sure exactly how much I went over, but I'd say it was about 10 points or so. I know there were a few things that I ate while tailgating on Saturday that I forgot to track. I guess this is the point where I'm happy I'm doing weight training instead of being discouraged by it like I was a few weeks ago. I lost a total of 5 pounds in my four weeks of weight training, which is not too shabby. And I think my metabolism is starting to pick up enough that I can eat a little more and, in fact, I need to eat a little more, and still lose weight. I was doing an exercise with a 20 lb weight yesterday and marveling that that is how much weight I've lost. I don't feel that much lighter, so it's pretty cool to have something tangible like that to show me how far I've come. That 20 lb weight is heavy!!

I'm noticing other nice changes too. My biceps definitely feel more defined, though I don't think my arms actually look any different when they're bare. And I'm noticing more definition in my quads, too. Walking down some stairs at work the other day, I could see a nicely defined thigh through my black pants and that was cool to see. I still have miles to go before my naked body will look better, but it's nice to know I can sort of fake it when I'm clothed!

So today, I am thankful for Weight Watchers. I've been at it for 13 weeks now, which is close to the longest I've stuck with any eating plan before. And I don't have any intention of stopping any time soon, or even at all. This is a plan I can live with. I've made it through my birthday, friends' birthdays, gatherings with family, half of football season, the Big E, and tailgating and still keep losing. I've found that I can enjoy myself on these occasions, indulge in the things I love (though in far less quantities than what I used to consume!) and continue to move in the right direction. I'm proud of myself that in 13 weeks of trying to lose weight, I never posted a gain for the week. In fact, I've lost weight 12 out of the 13 weeks. That one pesky week where I stayed the same will forever bother me because it broke a perfect streak, but I know that I'm still doing incredibly well and should be proud of myself. And I am.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Things 2 - 6

This past week has been pretty busy and I never got a change to blog about what I'm thankful for on November 2 - 5. So I'll list something for today and the last few days to get myself caught up.

November 2 - I'm thankful for my weekly night out with my friends. Wednesday is happy hour night and it's often the highlight of the week. It's a great way to break up the week a little and have something to look forward to halfway to the weekend. This week we went to Trivia Night at a bar we've been trying out lately and had a great time. We didn't win, but it was nice to visit our bartender friend Cenz, and we made a new friend,. Todd, who's a regular at the bar.

November 3 - I'm thankful for my brother, Tyler. I went out for dinner with him tonight at Wood n'Tap. He's my favorite person in the world and I'm so grateful whenever I get to spend time with him.

November 4 - I'm thankful for my cooking and baking skills. I spent a number of hours tonight making food to bring tailgating tomorrow. I made spinach dip, beer cheese dip, pumpkin beer soft pretzels, homemade butterfingers, and pumpkin cookies with brown butter icing. I love cooking and baking for my friends and it's one of my favorite ways to show my love for them.

November 5 - I'm thankful for a perfect fall day. We had gorgeous weather for tailgating at the UConn game today. A crisp and cool morning turned into a lovely sunny day with bright blue skies. I had a great time with my friends eating and drinking before and after the game, and to top it off UConn won. A wonderful day all around.

November 6 - I'm thankful for lazy Sundays. Getting up early yesterday and being in the sun all day tired me out. I was in bed a little after 10 last night, and slept for almost 13 hours. The clocks turned back last night, so it was noon before I got out of bed. Aside from a workout and a quick trip to Target, my day was spent on the couch watching football and clearing shows from my DVR.

I've got WW tomorrow. Not sure how weigh-in will go. This morning I was shocked to find that I was actually down around a pound from last Monday. It was very surprising considering how much I ate yesterday. I definitely went over my points a little. Today I stuck within my points and did a heavy lifting workout, so hopefully that'll help me enough to keep my weight down for the weigh-in tomorrow!

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Two Things

First, I'm very excited because yesterday I hit my next goal, so I have officially lost 10% of my body weight! I got my WW keychain and am so happy to have hit that goal. I still have a long way to go, but I'm finally noticing a difference in how I look and in how clothes fit. The skirt I wore today is one of my favorite skirts, but two months ago, it was painful to wear. It was so tight that it dug into my skin, and I may or may not have unzipped the top of it a little toward the end of the work day. Now it fits great, and is even heading toward being a little loose! I'm proud of myself for sticking with this for 12 whole weeks with no intention of stopping any time soon!

My Mini Goals:
10 lbs. by September 12  Done, on schedule!
15 lbs. by October 10  Done, on schedule!
18 lbs. (my 10% goal) by October 24 Done, one week late (10/31)
20 lbs. by November 7
25 lbs. by December 5
28 lbs. (my 15% goal) by December 19
30 lbs. by January 2
35 lbs. by January 30
38 lbs. (my 20% goal) by February 20
40 lbs. by March 5
45 lbs. by March 26
47 lbs. (my 25% goal) by April 9
50 lbs. by April 23 - GOAL WEIGHT!!

Second, I want to take part in something I've seen on some other blogs. Since November is the month of Thanksgiving, many bloggers are taking a couple of minutes a day to write about something they're thankful for. I think that's a great idea and will really force me to examine my life and all the gifts and blessings I've been given. So today, November 1st, I am thankful for electricity. With the freak snowstorm that hit this area over the week, hundreds of thousands of people in my state are without power. Many of these people were without power for up to a week just two months ago when Hurricane Irene hit New England. It was bad enough back then, but now it's gotten cold and with no electricity comes no heat. I'm very fortunate to have both and I'm thankful to be able to take hot showers and keep my food cold and type on this laptop. None of that would be possible without electricity, and while I may grumble when the bill comes, times like this remind me why I should be happy that I have electricity to pay for at all!