2014 Goals

Twenty fourteen!? Say whaaaaaaat.

As I sit here & enjoy my mimosa on January 1st, I feel so blessed to be where I am today. I have a wonderful family, a beautiful daughter, a home that I love & a husband who adores me. I couldn't really ask for much more but...I'm going to.

Every year my husband makes a list of all the things he wants to accomplish that year & crosses them off his list. I want to do the same thing this year. I think writing/typing it out will give me some accountability & really make me appreciate how far I've come.

I don't start diets on New Years Day, because I might have a massive hangover & might need to find the greasiest food in the land to cure that. But, for once I don't! I went to bed at 10pm. Livin' the dream, folks.

Either way, we had a full bottle of Prosecco in the fridge so I decided to have a mimosa or three & do some post Christmas cleaning around the house.

Anywho...here are my 2014 goals

1. Lose 40 lbs 
That will put me at my pre-marriage, pre-pregnancy weight. It's not the skinniest I've ever been but it's what I'm shooting for. I know I can do it. I lost 9 lbs last November-December but I know I've gained some holiday weight. Weigh-in is this Friday. Game plan: Weight Watchers, treadmill & Jillian Michaels DVDs. Then maybe sign up for a gym again? I had a free gym at work but now that we've moved 2 hours away & I work from home, I would only be going there twice a month. So on to find a gym! My husband just signed up for Weight Watchers today too, maybe we will be in a couple's commercial next year! Haha.

2. Get pregnant again. 
This one, has been a challenge & honestly was one of my 2013 goals but for whatever reason, baby #2 does not want to grace us with his/her presence. This goal will conflict with goal #1 but I'm going for weight loss & if pregnancy happens along the way, so be it. I'm not going to focus on it anymore, I need a break from that process.

3. Be a better friend. 
I have many old, true friendships. I try to maintain them all but the truth is, I am not good with keeping in touch when it comes to meeting up & socializing in person. I can text with the best of them but when it comes to actually getting off my ass & making plans, I'm not good at it. I'd like to plan a social function (with or without kids) at least once a month.

4. Exercise 2-3 times a week. 
I know I can do this & I'd like to exceed this & do 3-5 times a week but I want to also set realistic goals for myself.

5. Pay Off Credit Cards
I have two credit cards (Target & Citibank) with low balances, which I rarely use to buy big ticket items/Christmas gifts but I want to pay them off when we get our tax return.

6. Run a 10k
I've run a 5k before (years ago) so I know I can do it. I told my husband that I wanted to run a 5k as my goal & he said to push myself & do something more than that. So 10k it is...yikes!

So those are my goals. Let's see if I can make that happen. For now, back to my mimosa.

Quick Post

I've stayed within my points all week but only got to the gym yesterday for 30 minutes on the elliptical & weights.

Weight: 152.2
Breakfast: Fiber one raisin bran & skim milk (2)
Lunch: Smart Ones Fettucine Alfredo (4)
Total: 6 out of 21

Week 1 Goals Accomplished!

So last week my goal was to lose 2 lbs & get to the gym 2 or 3 times. I accomplished both goals, so I'm proud of myself. After all the junk I ate yesterday, I'm proud that I didn't gain 5 lbs between Sunday & Monday :)

Weight: 153.0
Breakfast/Lunch: 1 cup of Fiber One raisin bran & 1/2 cup of skim (2), coffee with skim & splenda (0)
Total: 2 out of 21

I won't be getting to the gym today - I didn't go into work because I had a stomach ache this morning. I feel better now - not very hungry - I'm guessing my stomach is still full of greasy Chinese & Mexican food. BARF.

Will update my menu as the day progresses...

Sunday Funday

So yesterday I didn't post my food menu but it wasn't very WW friendly. Yesterday was our 5 year anniversary from when we first started dating. So we hit up our favorite Mexican restaurant for lunch. I used the 28 or so flex points I had, on top of my 21 points for the day, and basically went to town on the following: tortilla chips, queso dip, 2 Bud Lights, Taco Salad (minus the shell) & Mexican rice. It was delicious but probably 25-30 points in itself. I don't even know how to count up those points so we'll estimate it was about 30?

We then spent ALL day building the new living room furniture set we purchased. It looks awesome but it was a long day. Thankfully I did not snack but I did have 2 glasses of Champagne that D bought for me, along with roses for our anniversary. Awww :)

Dinner was not so good - Chinese food. This was D's idea...I had a blast eating it but I knew I shouldn't be. It was so wrong but it felt so right. LOL. I ordered Orange flavored Shrimp & D had Kung Pao chicken. I ate my shrimp with a spring roll, lots of white rice & 2 Crab Ragoons. I want to say that was probably 40, 50, 60 points, who knows?? I also washed it down with 2.5 glasses of red wine. So basically yesterday was a free for all.

Sunday's weight: 152.2

Today starts a new day & I will post my menu so far separately.

booooo

So last night, D & I relaxed on the couch, caught up on some tivo & drank wine. I indulged in 3 glasses of wine and then cut myself off. I dipped into about 5 flex points, which I don't normally use during the week. And what do I get? I woke up with a terrible headache & weigh-in of 154.0. YUCK. I don't know if that has anything to do with the wine or maybe I'm retaining water, who knows. I'm not going to let it frustrate me because I know I shouldn't weigh myself every day but it's a bummer.

Anyway, onward & upward! D and I have a ton of errands to run today. I'm hosting a bridal shower for D's sister at my house next weekend. My Dad comes this week to help us install some new light fixtures & other things so we need to go to Home Depot, Lowes to get everything ready.

Weight: 154.0 :(
Breakfast: 2 cups of Fiber One raisin bran & 1 cup of skim (4), Venti iced coffee with skim & splenda from Starbucks (1)
Lunch: Chic-Fil-a chargrilled chicken salad (3.5), FF honey mustard dressing (2), 2 french fries (1?)
Dinner: Fat free refried beans (1), cheese sauce (1), fat free sour cream (1), 2 glasses of Pinot Noir (5)
Total: 19.5 out of 21

400th Post

It's hard to believe that I've been blogging on & off since 2006. It's harder to believe that I've written 400 blog posts - all about my struggles & successes losing weight. You would think by post 400 that I would have it all figured out. But I don't & I'm still learning things about myself. I'm learning that I can really push myself when I am motivated. I'm also learning that I can really talk myself out of exercise or into eating/drinking something bad if I really want to. That's one thing I'm working on - my inner voice.

Today has been great in terms of diet & exercise. I got to the gym for a 45 minute spin/strength class. We cycled for 35 minutes & did arms & abs for 10 minutes. It was tough. I have been off the spin bike since July & that is surprisingly long enough to become out of shape. I held my own though & tried to look like my lungs weren't about to explode out of my chest. It was a great workout & my coworker wants to go to the 60 minute spin class tomorrow. I can do this.

Weight: 152.2 (yay! The scale really moved!)
Breakfast: Quaker Oats Lower Sugar Maple & Brown Sugar Oatmeal (2), large iced coffee with skim & splenda from Dunkin Donuts (1)
Snack: Special K chocolatey pretzel bar (2)
Lunch: Fat free spicy refried beans (2), cheese sauce (1) & fat free sour cream (1) - sounds gross but to me it's like a tortilla-free bean burrito
Snack: 1/2 WW bagel (1) & 1 tbsp of WW cream cheese
Dinner: Smart Ones Fettucine Alfredo (4)
Desert: Weight Watchers chocolate chip ice cream cup (2), Sugar Free Angel food cake (2), Fat free cool whip (2)
Exercise: 45 minute spin & sculpt class (-2?)
Total: 19 out of 21

Snoozeday!

Happy Tuesday! Or Snoozeday as I like to call it. So last night's menu did include wine but in my defense, I had points left over & used 2.5 flex points. It's not the end of the world & I wasn't going to let delicious vino go to waste! I have one glass of Pinot Grigio left in the house, may or may not drink that or may save it for the weekend. We're going out of town this weekend for a wedding. I'm going to try to stay on-point as much as possible but will try to save my flex points just in case. Anyway, on to today's progress report...

Weight: 154.8 (did I mention I'm on my period? That counts, right?)
Breakfast: Quaker Oats Lower Sugar Maple & Brown Sugar Oatmeal (2), Oikos Plain FF Greek Yogurt (2), Coffee with splenda & a dash of skim milk (0)
Lunch: Michelina's Lean Gourtmet Lasagna (5)
Snack: Special K Chocolatey Pretzel bar (2) - sidenote: these are amazing, sooo good for 2 points - salty & sweet
Workout: 40 mins on the elliptical (burned 390 calories) (-3?)
After work snack: handful or 2 of popcorn (1), boca burger (1), Arnold's sandwich thin (1), 1 slice of American cheese & light mayo/ketchup (1), 2 cupcakes from 100 calorie pack (.5), 1/2 glass of Pinot Grigio (1)
Dinner: Lean Cuisine Fettucine Alfredo (4)
Desert: Smart Ones Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Sundae (3) & Defcap hot tea
Total: 20.5 points out of 21

Starting Over...Again

Ok - let's get real. I've gained a solid 15 pounds over the past year & a half. This is crazy to me, considering I'm only 5'2 & that is a lot of weight for my frame. Oddly enough, I can still fit in most of my clothes. Then again, most of my clothes are stretchy dresses & outfits that incorporate leggings in some way or another. I even own a pair of jeggings. Jeggings are jean leggings. And I wear them often. With all of the stretch & material in my clothing, I have comfortably & knowingly put on these pounds.

So starting today (and I know I've said this before), I'm on weight watchers & I'm going to be honest with myself about what I'm actually consuming. No more handfuls of chips, bites of ice cream, or bites of whatever delicious food my husband is eating. I need to get back on track before it gets too far. Before I am resorting to filling out an application for The Biggest Loser because it's gotten too out of hand. And also, because my husband & I are trying to have a baby. When that happens (lord willing), I do not want to be overweight.

Goal: drop 20 lbs by Chrismas
Plan: Weight Watchers, exercise (3-4 times a week - at least 30 minutes of cardio with strength training at least 2x/week)& less alcohol

Alcohol
Now this may be my Achille's heel. I actually don't think I eat a lot of food, I'm not a binge eater by any means. At the end of the day, I don't dive into a gallon of ice cream, I'd rather have a glass or 2 of wine. But one or two can lead to three & this can be 200-500 extra calories a day. Slowly adding up to the weight I am now.

So how much do I weigh? 155.4 lbs according to my scale this morning. I must say, I think that is from some of the junk I ate over the weekend and I wouldn't be surprised if the scale is down 2-3 lbs tomorrow. I have been averaging at about 149-151 lbs for the past 9 months.

So here is my food journal for the day...I will keep updating as the day goes on or tonight when I get home from work. I really want to be accountable so any bite, lick, taste or sip I take, I will record it here. Even if I reaaaally don't want to.

9.27.10
Weight: 155.4
Breakfast: Special K with skim milk (4), iced coffee with splenda & a splash of skim milk (0)
Lunch: Lean Cuisine Cheese Raviolis (4)
Mid afternoon Snack: Special K Chocolaty Pretzel bar (2)
After work snack: Cup of cauliflower & cheese (0), Sugar-Free Jello (0), Smart Pop Popcorn (3), 1 100-calorie cupcake out of 3 pack (.5)
Dinner: Turkey burger (4.5), Arnolds flat bread (1), low fat mayo & ketchup (1), 1 slice of American cheese (1)
Workout: 35 Minutes Elliptical (burned 368 calories) (-3)
Wine: 1.5 glasses of Pinot Noir (3.5), 1 glass of Pinot Grigio (2)
Total: 23

Which means I used 2 flex points...considering I get 21 points a day. Not that bad but could have done without the wine. However, it's Monday & after a long day, I think that's not "thattttt bad". :)

Wish me luck, I'm going to need it!