New Habits

New habits are sometimes hard to stick to, this blog being my newest habit I want to make a go of. Sorry I fell asleep at the wheel, I'm going to try and stick to at least 3 posts a week, not sure of the exact schedule, but it will work around my Weight Watchers Meeting day (Monday) and then every other day or there about.

I have been rocking the Active Link challenge. Exceeding 100% every day, except the day I forgot to put it on my for my walk!  Food has been the more challenging of the two for me. I have been within points range, if you take my AP's into account, but I don't think my choices have been for the best (hello wine) which then lead to other bad choices. This week, in my own head, I swore off wine for the week, but now, putting it out there, I feel like I will be more accountable.

At my meeting this week I was down .6 for a grand total of down 55 pounds!  I am super excited to be back at this milestone and I'm dong my best not to remember I have been there before, I am focusing on the fact I am there again!

Outdoor Run

I haven't been running outdoors lately.  All treadmill for me, luckily we have one at home, it's creaky, loud and makes the dinning room chandelier sway (i'm above it), but hey, it works.  When I first started running, I only did it outdoors, so my body, for the most part, was used to it.  Rewind to 18 months ago and my first injury, and I have been a mostly treadmill runner with occasional outdoor runs.  I really want to end that.  I miss running outdoors, it always seems so much more of an accomplishment, so much more cleansing to my soul.  The only thing I miss about my old house is the easy access to a trail head that was paved in asphalt and went on further then I could run.  It was pretty darn awesome.  Now I have no trails with easy access.  So street running will have to do.

Today, I laced up and decided it was the day.  I headed out and felt good.  I live in a hilly area so my pace was way slower then on the treadmill, but I got in 3.6 miles.  It was slow and ugly, but I got it in.  It felt so good.  Hopefully, I can continue and work running outdoors back into my routine.  I miss it!  It will also enable me to sign up for some 5K's which I haven't done in awhile.  even though I run them, it's so much fun to do an actual event.  I need to look into some local events.

Tonight I made Gina's Skinny Recipe's Crock Pot Turkey White Bean Pumpkin Chili.  It was good and for a low 5 points + it was awesome!  I even have some to eat while The Husband is on a business trip!  If you have the ingredients, I recommend it!

I am also doing Dani's ProgressNotPerfection Tracking Challenge and have been doing excellent, all of my food tracked!  Now if only I can remember to check off my healthy checks, that I'm not so good at!

Starting 2013 Right

Happy New Year!

I ended 2012 by doing this!

Totally filling up my Active Link, yay me!  I went for a run and then stayed pretty active the rest of the day, and it's all lit up!

Eighteen months ago I was running a lot and training for a half marathon, however after injuring myself, not letting myself heel properly, then injuring myself again, I have been a sporadic runner.  I only logged 173 miles in 2012, almost half of what I did in 2011, and that was half of what I did in 2010! This year I would like to get my running mojo back!  I am hoping to, at the least doubling my 2012 numbers this year.  My knee is finally feeling a bit better, so this morning I decided to KT Tape myself up and try running two days in a row, something I haven't done in a while.

I felt great!  It was a good run, still some slight knee pain, but i'm new at this whole KT tape thing, so i'll try and tape myself up better next time.

After I finished, I talked the family into going for a walk to the park to let The Kid run around for a bit, then we came home and did a crazy globe puzzle.  It was a great start to the New Year!

I normally don't do resolutions, but I do want to set some goals for myself...

• Run three times a week, even when traveling.
• 3 Weight Watchers meeting a month, minimum.
• Try to blog my feelings instead of eat them.
• Have fun while doing the above!

Welcome 2013!

Happy New Year!

It's the last day of the year!  Last year had many changes for me, but all in all, I think it went well.  We are happy and settled in our new home.  We are healthy and happy.  We are together.  Would I have liked to have gained less (since this year was more gaining then losing), sure, but at the end of the day, i am happy and content with my life.  In 2013, I will do my best to get down lower and live a healthy life.

Ended this year with a 4 mile run.  Felt great!  I have been on and off with running due to injuries, but I have slowed my pace down and it seems like it's helping me not injure my knees or hips.  The goal for tomorrow is a long walk.

Had a gain at my weigh in, as expected (see yesterday!) but all in all, it wasn't so bad for the indulgences I had.  Already tracked my dinner for tonight and allotted for some champaign.  Low key night for my family, we like to stay in on New Year's.  We'll let The Kid celebrate New York New Year's and then off to bed for him.  I don't know if Mommy will make it to midnight!

I hope everyone has a happy & safe New Year!

More Then A Number

I re-joined Weight Watchers on 12/3.  After our move in June, I floundered, and was too busy with all of our changes to find a meeting.  As I said in my first post, I knew I could do it on my own, knew that I could keep myself in check.  The reality of it is, I actually knew I couldn't.  Who am I kidding?  I am the poster child for meetings.  The feelings of accountability, the knowledge that I'm weighing in, the inspiration I gather from other members, all of that adds up to me being more accountable to myself.

Last week, I went to my mother's house for Christmas.  Missed my meeting, as it was on Christmas Eve, there were no meetings in their area, so i blew it off.  Subsequently, I ate too much, drank too much, sat too much.  I know this, I was aware of what I was doing, I did it knowingly.  Four days of big blanks on my Weight Watchers tracker.

Beginning Thursday, I started tracking again, exercising again.  I have felt good about it. This morning, I made the mistake of getting on my scale.  It didn't look good.  The first thing I wanted to do was go downstairs and eat a pie.  We don't even have a pie, but I wanted to eat it!  Then I reflected a little.  This isn't my 'usual' scale, I had already finished all my coffee and my breakfast, and at the end of the day, it's just a number on the scale.  I felt good this morning, I was feeling happy, healthy, skinnier.  I am not going to let that number dictate my mood.  I am certainly not going to let it dictate my eating choices.  So tomorrow I will weigh in on my usual scale, it may be good, it may be bad, but it won't define me.

Compulsory Introductory Post

Hi There!  I guess I should tell you a little bit about myself.  I'm a stay at home mom to a my seven year old son, The Kid.  I volunteer as much as possible in his class and at his school.  I really love to volunteer my time and help out wherever I am needed.  I hang out a lot with The Husband, who works from home, so we both tend to be home bodies and probably more co-dependent then either of us would like to admit!  We live in the San Francisco Bay Area and love it here.  We moved away about 7 years ago, but are so thankful to be back.  We both missed it here and will probably never leave now that we're back!  We love to travel and tend to go on a lot of adventures as a family.  The husband will book airline tickets if I even mention I want to go someplace!  I enjoy spending time with The Kid, reading, watching TV, and dinking around on the computer.  I enjoy running and walking, usually rotating them during the week, preferably in the outdoors, but if desperation strikes, in the gym.

So why am I here, a little bit of everything, whatever strikes my fancy, but mostly for support and connection with my weight struggles.  I have struggled with my weight my entire adult life.  I didn't have a weight problem in High School, I was athletic and kept myself busy.  However, once college hit, I began to gain and it has been a struggle ever since.  

When I was in my *gulp* twenties! I joined Weight Watchers and didn't look back for a long time. I lost 80 pounds, got fit and and kept it off for almost 5 years... Now, this should be my happily ever after, but if that was the case I wouldn't be here now.

Something crazy happened to me in my thirties, I fell in love, got married, moved (twice!), had a baby and became a stay at home mom. Suffice it to say, I didn't just wake up with those 80 pounds (and then some) back on my body. In 2008 I rejoined Weight Watchers and have been doing it on & off, mostly on, ever since.  Life is a marathon, not a sprint, right?  After my move, I stopped going to meetings, I figured I could totally do it myself, right?!?  Yeah, wrong.  I am currently down about 55 pounds from where I started, but I had been down about 75 pounds.  Recently (about 3 weeks ago), I was done with all my clothes being tight, uncomfortable, or un-wearoutable (real word).  So I found myself a meeting in my new town and I have been going back ever since.

I really want to make this change permanent, I am really enjoying the Weight Watchers 360 program and like how they are focusing on habits.  Lord knows I need to improve some of my habits!  I am happy that I caught myself before having to purchase larger pants.  I used to say I got heavy one size at a time...  instead of tying to fit into my pants, I would just buy new ones.  Not the greatest choice.  So I want to make this my hard stop and get back on focus.

I would love to get support, encouragement, & help on this and everything I share here!