Day Seven: Wow, a week of Blogging!

I can't believe it has been a full week of blogging. Time is going by faster than I thought it would. Now while I have been blogging for a week, I have only been doing WW for 2 days. Yesterday went very well and I was so sure that today would be awful. I mean, you know how day 1 you are so pumped to do right and then comes day 2 and your steam has somewhat slowed down? That is what I pictured for today. Boy was I wrong!!!

Today I started work an hour earlier than yesterday, which means I was up and getting ready an hour earlier as well. So, I managed to squeeze in my cereal and turkey&toast (and coffee) between getting ready for work. (Big props to the Husby for helping me with the little one). I got to work and after about 2 hours I started to think about food. And not because I was hungry, but rather because the store was so empty and we were standing around for a bit. Luckily, (for both me and the store) business picked up. Before I knew it it was almost 2pm and I hadn't taken lunch yet! I clocked out and warmed up my SmartOnes and Soup.

Of course, as I sit in the rather small & cubicle like breakroom, an entourage of Chili's food comes filing in. It smelled so delicious and I watched as my coworkers pulled out club sandwiches and french fries, various creamy soups, and other fatty aromatic packed foods. I could feel my willpower being tested! But, I stayed strong and I dutifully ate my meal. I was full and satisfied (and left the breakroom as soon as I could!) I went back on the sales floor and continued the rest of my shift. My only real complaint of the work day? I have to get better shoes (still waiting on Crocs to resend a pair that was obviously stolen!). My feet are killing me...of course wearing wedges for 8 hrs (2 days in a row) will do that to you.

Tonight I baked some garlic herb chicken and the husby made some mashed cauliflower. It was so good and filling. I guzzled a little more water (ooh by the way, I need to drink some more), and kicked up my feet. Did I mention how much they hurt?! I calculated my points today and I still have about 10 left! And thats after having a half of a grape fruit and a bag of 100 cal popcorn. I am not miscalculating either, but it is due to the fact that I haven't been able to do midday snacks. I might make a quick smoothie and split it with the husby before bed.

I am off of work tomorrow and I am a little nervous about it. I know it is a great opportunity to work out, since my feet will be well rested by then. But I am so afraid that I will start to snack without realizing it. You know what I mean? I am going to focus really hard to only eat healthy options tomorrow so that even if I find myself snacking, it is not on anything bad for me. Wish me luck!

Oh and opinions please--- do you weigh yourself weekly? Daily? Every other day? I am one of those anxious weighers....

Until tomorrow! Share me with your friends! Tomorrow I will try to be a bit more interesting!

-with much hope and a lot of prayer

Lizzy
*Sexy or Bust*

Day Three: Plan of Attack

Alright. Here goes....I know I want to lose weight and I know what my goals and expectations are. Well, how exactly do I plan on achieving them? I have researched quite a few plans online and I have received a lot of feedback from friends and family (Thank You All!). I decided that I do not want to start some super crazy boot camp-like ridiculously calorie restricted program. Why? Because I will quit before I start. A popular word(s) of advice has been "Weight Watchers Online". My mother and my sister in law have both joined and have already seen results. Just by asking friends on FB I have been told many great things. Several success stories. And you know what? The online program is super affordable! ($17/mon). So I signed up!

The program is custom designed for my size, basically I am not eating the same amount of food as someone 50lbs lighter than me, but rather in accordance to my weight. The online tools have already helped me set some weight goals. My 1st goal is to lose 10% of my start weight. And after each time I hit a weight goal I will *reward* myself (Yay for reinforcements!) and create a new weight goal, which will be 10% of that current weight. This will continue until I reach my goal weight. I calculated and did a mini forecast...if I do the 10% goals, then I have to reach 4 goals total to make it to my goal weight! That doesn't seem so bad! And of course there will be times I hit plateaus, and I will have to overcome them.

So....WW has some great tracking tools that I plan on using to my utmost advantage! I can log in daily and track my food and activity. I am able to plan my meals and recipes (according to point value!) all in one place. And I will weigh myself weekly. A cool thing about WW is that not only do I get a set amount of daily points, but I also get a weekly allowance that I can choose to use in a number of ways. I can use the extra points on a day that I might feel a little more hungry, or maybe accidentally go over my daily allotment. I can divide it up for small daily treats or save it up for a bigger weekly treat. That at the moment is to be determined...(if you have done WW, let me know if you have found 1 way to be more helpful and why).

Food...right on the website are some tricks to measure food with my hands (thumb is an ounce of cheese or meat, fist is a cup of fruit or pasta, palm is 3oz of meat/fish/poultry, etc), so now I can easily figure it out without just "guessing"....Which is great, because I am normally a generous guesser! Breakfast: I think I am going to try doing a cereal along with a fruit for most days. I am just starting a new job and I am not sure how crazy my days are going to be. I don't want to set a goal of making a hot meal every morning until I know its feasible. Lunch and Dinner will rotate for me, since I will work some days and some evenings. So I am going to choose a WW friendly meal (like a SmartOne) while I am at work and then a sensible meal for when I am at home. Basically some days will be SmartOne for Lunch, sensible meal for Dinner and the other days will be Sensible Lunch and a SmartOne for Dinner. Snacks: I need to incorporate some filling and healthy snacks (please give me tips!). My cousin told me that Peanut Butter has helped her combat hunger. She advised a spoonful of it, and waiting like 30 mins. And I should feel satisfied and not hungry anymore. I will try to add some veggies and fruits for snacks, and possibly some protein bars.

WW Online suggests that I incorporate 5 servings of fruit/veg, 1-2 servings of meat, 2 servings of milk, and 6 glasses of water....(along with healthy fats and whole grains). That doesn't seem very overwhelming to me (wahoo!) I am also going to take a B12 and a multi vitamin.

Physical Activity: To start off, I am going to incorporate 30 mins of walking (either outside or by using my gazelle) everyday and challenge myself to add an additional DVD workout 3 times a week. As I get more comfortable, I want to increase both the walking and the extra workouts. Its been a very long time since I've consistently worked out. I also have an extra benefit that for the past 4 years I haven't had. A job that requires me to stand! My last job was in a cubicle, and the work was rather monotonous. So what happened? I sat all day and snacked all day too! Time to change! My new job will not allow me to snack constantly, which will help A LOT.

Okay, so this blog wasn't very exciting but it was informative. I am happy that its not a crazy plan, and it is extremely doable. I have been in a hotel room for the past 2 weeks making it almost impossible to start---but hurray! tomorrow I go back home :) I am going to hit the grocery store and get all my tools for success ready. Wish me luck! Tomorrow I plan on opening up about some of the emotions that come with being fat. Stay Tuned! Please share my blog with your friends if you enjoyed it!

-With much hope and a lot of prayer

Lizzy

*Sexy or Bust*