Happy Weight

In my internetting this week, I stumbled across Self magazine's Happy Weight calculator. I measured my wrist (6.25") and plugged in some numbers and came up with 144.3, which sounds exactly right! So that's my current goal. Handily that's also my WW 10% goal, so I can reevaluate once I get there.

I told Candace last week that I'm happy to be a size 10 but come to think of it, size 8 would be pretty sweet too. I'm pretty sure size 6 isn't going to happen in this decade.

What are your weight or size goals?

I've also been thinking about buying clothes. It's too soon yet - my current wardrobe just fits *better* right now, it isn't too big. But I'm planning to splurge on a pair of Richie jeans once I get to 144.

In other news, I'm PMSing and just ate a bowl of ice cream for dinner (measured, of course, and tracked, and it didn't put my over my POINTS for today). I'm not expecting grand things at my weigh-in tomorrow but whatever.

PS: HBJ has been a resounding success! Tomorrow's my last day of the beginner series of Turbulence Training, and I've received several compliments on the current state of my arms (not quite hot yet but getting there). Go team 140s!

140s Peeps Rock!

Sorry for the silence 140s peeps. I don't feel as much pressure now that Candace is picking up the slack (and then some).

So a quick update: Even though I haven't been writing, I've been doing well!

WW: Attending and loving the meetings. I have this lively Scottish woman who says a lot of things I already know but still enjoy hearing. I strangely love watching people get stickers and ribbons too.

Climbing: Very into it! Climbing indoors 3+ times a week and outdoors at Rattlesnake Point whenever possible. Very scary and good for me!

Eating Good Stuff: Yoav is grilling up chicken with any veg he can find - we're talking zucchini, butternut squash, spaghetti squash, peppers, mushrooms... with some indulgence in sweet potatoes now and again! Yum!

Running: At least 4 times a week in the morning... still doing a modified 'Couch to 5K'. I can now run for 20 mins straight outside. This is big progress! I need to talk to you G about running now that I'm getting into the swing...

Other Stuff: Work - crap. Y-Man - good :) Vacation to Israel coming up Aug 7-20th... Should be able to sweat out some fatbody!

xoxo Love you! WAY TO GO on your impressive progress! We are truly headed to the 140s... (except for those already there!)

d

D's Weigh-In: 154.2 lbs

Femininity

Conversation with my four-year-old:

Him: Only boys get sweaty.

Me: That's not true. I'm sweaty after I exercise, right?

Him: Oh, that's right. Only boys and you get sweaty.

D's Weigh-In: 155 lbs

OK so I'm still alive. I really have to go though! I'm getting in crap!

Shape-shifter

I was looking through some paperwork and found a fitness assessment I did with a personal trainer almost exactly 10 years ago. Apparently 10 years ago I weighed 140 pounds exactly, plus, it has measurements! My shape has changed in ways I didn't expect, my chest and waist are bigger and even at 145 pounds my hips and thighs are smaller. I don't know if this is from having a kid or lifting weights or what, but I wasn't expecting my proportions to have changed so much.

Lookin' Good, Cupcake

After my run this morning I stepped on the scales and happily weighed 153.8.

Then I came to work and ate 2 cupcakes.

Here's how it went down:

Today is our (fabulously amazing) office manager's bday. I went out just before lunch to pick up some treats for her, and decided I'd indulge in just one. I did, but it was carrot (it had coconut on top so I thought it would be coconutty but I thought WRONG). Don't get me wrong; I love me some carrot cake as much as the next girl. But it wasn't what I wanted. I wanted light, fluffy, sugary, cupcakey goodness.

I counted it as 6 POINTS.

Later, I debated having another one.

G: can I eat another cupcake? what do you think?

K: i'd advise against

G: hrm

G: :-\

K: i know

G: :-(

K: i think you'll be immediately glad for eating a cupcake

K: but once the flavor leaves your mouth

G: oh I WILL

K: there will be not-gladness

G: OK

G: you're right

K: so, without the cupcake

K: you won't be stressed about having wine later

G: that's true

G: OK

G: 2 glasses of wine tonight

K: 6 points is just major

K: that is

K: it's a big trade

K: and it's not the filling kind either

G: I know. But I feel whiny about it.

K: you will end up paying in hunger, too.

G: Like, "but I ran! And my 35 points!"

G: but you're right.

G: :-|

K: you were happy when you came in under 154 this morning, too

K: :)

G: I know!

But then I ate another one anyway! For accuracy's sake, I checked the interwebs for nutritional information for cupcakes. These were from Burgers and Cupcakes and they seemed to be about the same size as a Magnolia cupcake. So I Googled and found this NPR article, which estimates the cupcakes have 389 calories and nearly 19 grams of fat. Ho. Ly. Shit. That's NINE POINTS each. That's EIGHTEEN POINTS' worth of cupcakes.

Worth it? Emphatically no. A better option would have been to eat half the carrot cake one (since I didn't know) then go for half the blueberry one (which was waaaay more satisfying anyway).

Recording it for posterity, and chalking it up to experience. I'm still left with 25.5 weekly points, of which I'll just steer clear.

Extolling the Virtues

First, Candace, I'm SUPER proud of you! You are kicking ass! (Your own! haha)

And that's a great idea for cooking oatmeal. I'm going to have to try it. Yum!

Second, D, where are you? Don't make me send out an APB or something.

Now, onto my big soapboxy rant about why WW is so awesome. Yesterday I ran a half-marathon. On Saturday I was all, I'm totally not counting POINTS on Sunday if I run 13.1 miles! But then I did, and I added up my Activity Points (17!), and I stayed within range (even with the extra bowl of ice cream). Here's the thing: If I hadn't been doing WW, or had thrown caution to the wind yesterday, it's likely that I would have gone out for breakfast after the race and eaten something cheesy and with a side of bacon, and then eaten a burrito for dinner, and also would probably have had another encounter with my other boyfriends. Then on Friday I'd wonder why I hadn't lost weight even though I ran a half-marathon. As it was, I weighed my bagel in the morning, counted the Gatorade and Gu I had along the course, ate a Zone bar in the afternoon when I woke up from my nap STARVING, and counted both bowls of ice cream.

Total POINTS consumed yesterday: 32.5. I didn't skimp or let myself be hungry, and I treated myself at night - I just also didn't eat when I wasn't hungry. The increased awareness is good times.

Chai oatmeal

For this morning's breakfast I brewed three cups of double spice chai tea and then cooked a cup of scottish oatmeal in the tea. I had one cup of the cooked oatmeal topped with a teaspoon of dark muscovado sugar. Only 2 1/2 points and I'm still glowing from the yummy, spicy, sweet goodness.

C's weigh-in: 144.6

I'm very happy to average a pound/week. All this public accountability might just get me through these last 10 pounds.

G's Weigh-In: 155.2

OK, I admit that I'm a *little* disappointed - I was hoping to be below 155. But, I'll take it!

In other news, yesterday I worked in an office that had snack food galore: Oreos, Chips Ahoy, and Pecan Sandies. None of it extremely high-quality but all of it extremely tempting. At one point I went to the kitchen and decided to have a little snack: One of each cookie. I brought them back to my desk and entered them into my tracker, for a total of 5 or 6 points.

Then I threw them in the garbage (and took them off my tracker, of course).

Beans: The Breakfast of Champions!

I've been eating a lot of poached eggs lately, usually one with a slice of whole wheat toast and 1/4 avocado or an ounce of smoked salmon for a delicious 5 pt breakfast. This morning we were out of eggs so we went for some black beans. I ate a slice of toast covered with 1/4 c black beans and this sauce that I AM ADDICTED TO made from onions, garlic, and tomatoes all chopped up and sautéed in cooking spray, and a slice of toast with 1 Tbsp of almond butter and a couple of sliced strawberries. The whole thing was still only 5 POINTS, and WAAAAY filling! I'm pretty psyched about the beans. I think I might try toast/beans/egg (for only 4 POINTS!) as well (just because I love eggs, and what's more delicious than egg yolk oozing onto beans?).

Beware, though. The fibery goodness of beans only gets you so far - while 1/2 c will only cost you 1 POINT, if you double that amount you end up with 3.5 POINTS. My special friend found that out the hard way, i.e., after he'd eaten the whole cup.

Exercise for geeks

Several years ago I bought a treadmill that had support for iFIT workouts. Basically this meant you could put in a video and pretend you're running in the Swiss Alps or something and the speed and incline of the treadmill would adjust to match the scenery.

Of course, more than running on the treadmill I wanted to hack the treadmill. I did some research and it turns out iFIT works by embedding audio tones in the video that the treadmill detects and uses to adjust its settings. And also, somebody beat me to the hacking, the i2Workout software does exactly what I want. I can create my own courses and then burn them to CD or put them on an MP3 player. Then I run an audio line to the treadmill and, presto, I can run the courses I want without having to fiddle with the controls the whole time I'm running.

I just started running for my cardio intervals and I'm looking forward to breaking out the treadmill software again.

Introduction

Gillian introduced me to WW years ago and this is now my second go-round. I had a health scare last year that made me start taking the health stuff that was in my control more seriously. Plus I realized it was time to stop referring to my "pre-pregnancy weight" since my kid just turned four.

I started WW online and Turbulence Training in February and have lost, umm, almost 30 pounds. Weigh-in on Monday was 146 even, my goal is 135 (I'm short). My mini goal is to be in the 130's for a trip to Vancouver at the end of August.

I've been enjoying reading along here, thanks for having me!

Menage à...

So yeah, there was this wedding in Vermont. And you know what comes from Vermont, right?

Backing up a bit, I got up yesterday morning to get to the gym at 7 so that I could work out before we left for the wedding. HOW VIRTUOUS! Then I counted POINTS (non sequitur: that's how the write it on WW's website, POINTS, for emphasis or possibly because they couldn't trademark the word unless there were capital letters involved) all day, and even brought a turkey burger for the drive up so that I wouldn't be tempted by Pringles' siren song at any rest stops. I had about 10 POINTS going into the wedding, plus a weeks' worth of extras (35 to be exact).

But then, oh, then. Then there were Salty Dogs and red wine. I mostly avoided the cheese table and the passed hors d'oeuvre (mini Ruebens! mini PB&Js!) and ate a reasonable amount at dinner. So far so good, right? Until Ben & Jerry showed up.

Those guys are so seductive, I swear. You know, all swaggery with their New York Super Fudge Chunk and their Sweet Cream & Cookies (only available in Scoop Shops!). How could I say no?

I totally made out with them, of course. I could barely contain myself They didn't even have to come to me - they just hung out in the corner and I kept going back for more. My friends didn't even try to stop me - they were all "Go for it!" as I groped and licked and suckled at the sweet sweet teat of Vermont's finest.

I believe the hangover was worth it, but I'll let you know after my next weigh-in.

G's Weigh-In: 155.8

W00t! HBJ is in FULL effect, and it's working.


P.S. D, where are you?

*Slightly* Drunk...

...after 4 glasses of wine. If I wasn't counting Points(tm) (and weighing in tomorrow morning) I would totally be eating a chocolate bar right now.

For The Record

I weighed-in (at home) on Friday: 157.6. Not bad.

I have to say, counting points with someone else is much more fun vs. alone (even though he gets more points to count, hmpf). This morning we had a delicious breakfast (varying quantities of eggs, toast, and avocado - 5 pts for me, 8 for him) and felt all virtuous about it. And I'd already gone to the gym for my TT workout! TT is awesome, btw. It takes me 45 minutes at the gym and I swear I can see results after only a week and a half.

Training is also going well - I ran 10 miles on Saturday (and did not count a single point that day, points which would have included 2 Nanaimo Bars, a slice of Amanda's famous strawberry-rhubarb pie WITH ICE CREAM, and blueberry crisp). I figure I get a pass on days I run over 10 miles.

HBJ2 in Full Effect!

Today is Day 3 of fastidiously counting WW points and I just discovered the ultimate hotbody snackquation:


I also started Turbulence Training (check out their site; it's awesome). Candace recommended it and she has ultra hotbody these days, so I'm going to give it a shot. After all, who couldn't use a little ultra hotbody? The workout took just under an hour with the 20 minute cardio interval. It's 3x/week, which I'll work into my running schedule.

P.S. Creating that graphic distracted me for a good 30 minutes of prime snacking time. Yay for the 140s blog!

Counting Points Together

My special friend joined WW too this weekend! He gets 32 points/day. Bastard.

I'm going to officially weigh in on Friday, but after only 2 days of counting points religiously this weekend, I weighed 158 this morning, so I'm optimistic for this week!

On the docket: Gym tonight, running tomorrow night (in high, high humidity, so hopefully I'll sweat the pounds away).

D's Weigh-In: 155 lbs

Well at ww last week I was 155 lbs.  This is just fine!  I lost weight last week (this was my second meeting) but I feel it was partly because the first week I had breakfast before! ;)  Oh well - I will not get away with that one again this week.  Things are on track and I am pumped for HBJ!

d

HBJ is Happening!

Thanks for declaring HBJ2 Gilly!  I'm feeling it!  Great work with the running (5k in 29 mins - as Yoav says "I am envy!") and working out!  I know nothing of good weight programs but let me know what you find.

The points and meeting are helping.  The group leader is an energetic, funny Scottish woman who I find entertaining.  The best part for me right now is just remembering what I know.  Remembering how I spread 21 pts over a day, remembering what quantity of food 21 pts even means in a day, remembering especially that there are a lot of other people who understand the challenges!   There are also new foods and recipes which sort of renew the program.  One thing that I think is new (or at least brought back) is the 'core' program vs. the regular 'flex' we know, where you count pts.  Check it out.

Climbing has been tough lately but I'm bouncing back - went last night with a woman who is easy going and around my level who is totally separate from Yoav and the crew.  It was fun and refreshing.  I need to get back to myself!  On Tuesday we went outdoor climbing - I was sooo upset at how I climbed.  It was truly a dog's breakfast.  I learned how much I can slide after a month or so of very infrequent climbing.  Anyway I'm back on the horse!

Running is going great!  I got a watch that times intervals and I'm in the midst of my ct5k running plan.  Sometimes gadgets are peripheral but sometimes one little thing like a stop watch with an interval timer makes all the difference!

Anyway - Off to the Loo!  Have a great weekend! 

xo

d

Back On Track

HBJ is in full effect! Last night I got home a little late (~8:30) but decided to go for a run anyway. I did a 5k in 29 minutes (not too shabby!). This morning Ken convinced me, *very* against my will, to go to the gym when we woke up at 7. I worked out for about 45 minutes but was pretty unfocused - some upper body, some lower body, some internal complaining that someone was on a machine I wanted to use. I need to find a good program on the internets for weight training... anyone?

Denise 1, Gillian 0

I'm so proud of my girl for getting on track! Last night we declared July to be HBJ2, and I'm going to track points and not drink this month. Yikes! But, only one wedding to attend, and it turns out popsicles are delicious AND low-point (especially if you make your own).

I might even find a meeting to attend so we can compare notes. Thoughts?