Pizza, Wine, and Cake (oh, my!)

Well...I finally made it back to the gym and it was HARD!!  I was only able to stay on the elliptical for 10 minutes and every minute was a struggle.  I also did the leg and ab machines.  I did a weight that was a challenge and did as many reps as I could before becoming very tired.  Most machines I ended up with about 20 reps.  I'd really like to get to the gym five days a week but I know that in reality it will be great if I could make it at least twice in addition to my regular Wednesday night dance class.  Speaking of dance class - I really need to push myself more in class and stop phoning it in.  While it's a great social outlet for me I need to also dial in more to the physical aspect of the class.

I also started counting WW points again and yesterday was a perfect 30 day!  I tried a few new things and for the most part they were pretty good.  Brianna from Diva and the Divine raves about the Trader Joe's Guiltless Mac & Cheese so I tried one for lunch and I have to admit I wasn't too blown away with it - sorry Brianna :-(.  However, she doctors hers up with extra cheese, crab, and bacon bits.  Unfortunately all I had to use was the crab.  I might try it again with her additions before I make a final determination.  Mac & cheese is one of my all time favorite comfort foods (yep...the blue box stuff!!) so I think my psyche messes with my ability to enjoy other mac & cheese's when they don't taste like the blue box.

Last night we had pizzas made on Flat Out flatbread.  I liked it much more than my husband did but he was a really good sport about it.  I just brushed the flatbread with EVOO and then topped it with mostly zero point toppings (artichokes, basil, jalapeños, capers, and mushrooms) but also included black olives (1SP), jalapeño pepperoni (2SP), and shredded pizza cheese (2SP).  All in all the pizza cost me 8SP and it was very filling.

I also had 4SP worth of red wine (totally worth it!!) and ended the evening trying out the 3-2-1 Mug Cake.  I was quite impressed how good it was!  You take 3 tablespoons of any cake mix, add 2 tablespoons of water, and cook it on high in the microwave for 1 minute.  I used spice cake mix and drizzled 1SP worth of sugar free chocolate syrup on top.  It doesn't make a huge amount but the flavor is quite intensified due to only adding water.  I'm looking forward to trying some other flavors!

Tonight I am trying a new recipe from the WW site - Grilled Chicken with a Corn/Tomato Salsa.  I'll let you know how it is.  I also have dance class tonight so I don't have to wait long to push myself to be present in the dancing moment!!

Back At It!

Well...it's been so long since I've written here.  I see that my last post was at the end of February.  Shortly after that post we began a very hard journey with my mother-in-law.  It would require leaving home and traveling a two days drive away to Tennessee to care for her during her final months on this earth.  It was hard, exhausting, and frustrating but at the same time incredibly fulfilling and we both know we were where we were supposed to be.  It was a huge comfort to know that no matter how much we wanted to just lay down and give up that God had everything under control.

What wasn't under control was food!!  I ended up gaining about 24# over those nearly five months.  There were lots of desserts and comfort food over those months and it showed!!  So...when we got home we got together our plan to do a reboot.  We started with a week of vegetarian eating and then my husband had to quickly go back to TN to get some emergency repairs done to the house there so things got a little wonky on the food front.  When he got back we ate a few special dinners out and then got back on the reboot wagon full steam.  We've been at it for 11 days now and I've lost 8.6#!  It hasn't been easy and the last five or so days have been incredibly frustrating for me.  I know I shouldn't let the scale take as central a part in my life as I do but when you are juicing like this (for weight loss) the scale is really the best barometer of daily progress (and dare I say motivation).  I lost really good for the first five days but then I started leveling off and had several days where I lost nothing or just a few tenths.  I know in my head that these things will happen and that if I just push through, I will be successful.  But (you knew there'd be a "but" in there) it can really sap your willpower and motivation.  However, I am so blessed that when I am weak on this journey my husband steps up and can push us both through.  If it would have been just me, I would have thrown in the towel days ago.  But...here we are on day 11 and I woke up today to a .8 loss!!

Another piece of this pie is that I know I need to get back to the gym to at least do some walking on the elliptical if nothing else.  We have a vacation coming up in about seven weeks and I know we will be doing a LOT of walking.  I really need to get my stamina back up - keeping up with my very physical and very TALL husband is a challenge on a good day!!  I've been feeling so tired and exhausted but I think I just need to push myself to do these things anyway (and come back here to stay accountable!).    I WILL call the gym today and get my account taken out of a frozen status and WILL get my hiney to the gym no later than tomorrow!!  I WILL be kind to myself and even if all I can squeeze out is 10 minutes on the elliptical, I will be proud of myself for getting out the door and showing up.  Yep...this will definitely be a participation trophy sort of event!

Wooo....watch me go!!  ;-)

Could My Mindset Be Changing

I read an amazing blog post by Roni Noone and it really reinforced something that has been flitting into my head off and on over the last few years.  Specifically should I really be so focused on what the scale says?  I'm still unpacking what that means for me but in the meantime here is the post I'm referring to:  http://roninoone.com/oneblog/ask-roni-you-gained-weight-doesnt-that-bother-you/

I'll keep thinking on this issue and will probably post more on my thoughts.  However, I really need to get back to the gym!!

Commitments!

Well...the hubby and I have realized it's time to get back on the wagon after all the festivities of the holidays - which we indulged in fully!!  As a part of that we are going to juice fast again so this week is the veggie ease in week.  We actually really like the recipes from Joe Cross' plan so it's really not too much of a sacrifice.  I went grocery shopping today and I have to admit it was sort of nice to stay in the produce section to get everything we needed.  We will do the ease in this week, juice for 10 days (maybe longer depending on how we feel) and then do the ease in again for a week before adding back in some SmartPoints recipes.  I really feel like we need to jumpstart ourselves and we feel so much better when we are juicing.  It's just that darn urge to chew something that kicks in!!

I also joined three DietBet Kickstarters.  I figure as long as I was juicing I might as well give myself some extra motivation.  I've never done three at a time but DietBet makes it really easy to do so I went ahead and invested in myself.  Hubby said that the winnings would make for some good clothing money.  He's so right since we have a really fun vacation coming up this spring and my goal is to be down a couple sizes before we leave so I'm sure I'll need some new capris.  My skirts are mostly all elastic waist so those should be fine but pants just aren't quite so adaptable.  If you are interested in joining any of the DietBets with me here are links to each one:

Get Lean in 2017 With Heidi and Chris Powell:  http://dbet.me/nHNMLE

Happy New "Rear" With Jamie Eason:  http://dbet.me/D8gVdo

Time To Get Lean in 2017 with GraciesJourney:  http://dbet.me/MYS20i

I picked the first two because they have huge pots of money and I picked the last one because I love Gracie and she is so incredibly motivating.  I would recommend you check her out on Youtube and Instagram.  She has lost over 100# through diet and exercise and she takes you along to show you how she does it.

I also saw this really cool meme on FB to help you drink your water so I picked up a gallon of water at the store and I'm going to mark it like this one I found at:  http://www.coachmmorris.com/2013/04/water-bomb-are-you-getting-enough-water.html  Although I think I better have it end before 9pm or I'll be up in the middle of the night.  Gotta love 50 year old bladders!!!



I'm still going to Planet Fitness and really liking it.  I'm following the pyramid training schedule that the trainer there worked up for me and I'm also increasing my time on the elliptical each week by one minute.  I'm up to 12 minutes now and will increase it tomorrow to 13.  I'm finding that I really prefer the elliptical to the treadmill and don't find my plantar fasciitis giving me problems on it.  I had hubby and the son move the treadmill out to the garage so we would have more room in the family room since I really don't think I'll be using it.  I'm continually doing StepBets but have been able to get in my steps without using the treadmill.  It really opened up the room by moving that out and if worse came to worse I could always go out in the garage to use it but I really don't think that's going to happen.

What is everyone else doing to make sure that 2017 is their healthiest yet?!?