WW Wednesday

Yeah yeah, it's Saturday.  Moving on...

For the last few months I've been participating in a mailing list for my WW group.  We can share recipes, non-scale victories, etc.  I took it upon myself to start writing up a little about our meetings each week and email it to the group.  Usually I include the "awards" that were handed out that week (An additional 5 pounds lost, etc.), but I think that would be inappropriate for me to share here.

Today, in lieu of me reflecting on my own week in a weight loss jooouuurney, I'm going to share part of that email with the hopes that someone else might find the information helpful. 

I will return next week with a normal WW Wednesday post.

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This week we talked about how to handle setbacks on our weight-loss journey.  Slip-ups and struggle don't have to be roadblocks and WW has some suggested ways to regain your footing and get back on track.

(My own path to success has basically been a slip-n-slide!)

-Review your Goals and Progress

Remind yourself of the changes you've already made and also of what caused you to make them in the first place.  It's amazing how much progress can be made when we are focused and putting in the effort.

Have you made unrealistic goals? Consider switching to non-scale goals like always attending your meeting or always getting in your exercise instead of losing a certain amount of weight by a certain date.  

-Get back into Fitness

Forgive yourself for slacking in this department, then start slow and choose something you love.  If you don't enjoy it at least a little bit then you won't do it.  Set a small fitness goal that you know you can achieve and then stick with it.  The only person keeping score is you.  

-Practice Positive Self-Talk

The past is the past and you don't live there anymore!  

Whatever your mistakes might have been, there's no time like the present to resolve to do better and mean it.  Contrary to what we often believe, there is no limit to how many times we can do this.  I think it is when we stop resolving to do better that we should be concerned. 

(I personally think that prolonged complacency atrophies the spirit.)

I see my meeting as a reset button for my week.  For better or for worse, what's done is done.  I shouldn't coast on a great week any more than I should drown by the guilt of a bad one.

If you've been slipping a lot on your own, remember that it is a lot easier to regain your footing when you take the hand of another.  

Until next week I leave you with the words by Michael Jordan that closed our meeting this week:

"I've failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed." 

Floats for the Fourth

For the Fourth, I thought I'd share a fun summer treat that I enjoy.

Coke Zero Floats!  

(Image from here)

Up to half a cup of lowfat vanilla ice cream and a glass of Coke Zero is only 3 pp (half the value of a Dove bar), and you can easily use less ice cream in the float for even fewer points!

Coke Zero floats: a fun Summer treat for a fun Summer day!

Happy Independence Day!

Red, White, and Blueberries

This Independence Day Eve, before the temperature reached its current 98 degrees, the kids and I went to a local farm to pick some berries and visit with friends in from California.

This was the first time picking blueberries for my children.

Maybe I should have clarified that they should only pick the BLUEberries, but I was too busy talking and snapping photos.

Besides, they were proud of their unblueberries.

Obviously our friends had more experience. :)

Emily and her boys were some of my first friends here in NC.  We met in a support group for moms with newborns.  Several of us were new to the area and didn't know many people, either.

At a time when I was getting little sleep, little human interaction outside the hubs and baby, and little commiseration from other moms, Emily was there to help validate my feelings, encourage me in my decisions, and laugh with me at the absurdity of some of our daily scenarios.

I hope when my own little flower has children of her own, she finds women besides her mother that she can look to for advise.  A sense of humor in that friend would be a plus, too.

Come to think of it, my "flower" has thorns, so I think it may be a necessity!

WW Wednesday

Yes, it's that time again.  Good ole Wednesday, the day of the week I check-in at WW and then start over in my weight loss jooourney.

Was I perfect all last week? No.
Did I make healthy choices choices that I would not be embarrassed by? No.

But did I start "tracking" again and get back on plan? Yes.
Did I get a lot of activity in?  Yes.
Do my clothes fit better now? Yes.
Did I salvage my week and have a loss at the scale after all?  YES.

Lesson learned: Unlike Vegas, what you eat on vacation does not STAY on vacation.  I know I had a loss this week, but I think I'm finally breaking through to the woman tween inside me that wants to say "Woohoo!  We're at the beach!  Let's have ice cream and eat 'fun' food all weekend!"

YOU ARE TOO OLD FOR THAT, CAYCE!  You have the (minimal) gray hair and babysitter-who-doesn't-know-who-Weezer-is to prove it!

Moving forward: This should be an interesting two weeks.  My regular Wednesday meeting is cancelled for the 4th next week, so I can either attend a different meeting or skip it altogether.
On top of that,  I snatched up the "Magic Tracker"at WW today.  What's that?  I'll tell you.
See, I "track" online but a lot of people do it old-school on paper.  They use a little spiral notebook that you write your food choices and point values, activities and points, and some other stuff.  ( I don't want to get in trouble here for sharing proprietary WW info.)
We have a notebook, or "tracker" as we call it, that our group passes around and shares.  You have it for a week, it helps hold you accountable that week, and then you pass it along.  Almost everyone has a nice loss at the end of that week, obviously because they know other people will see their choices.
It's voluntary and we don't even write our names on our pages, but it is nice to see what is working/not working for other people.  (Who knows, if I get gutsy I might do it on here some time.)

I'm always scared of the thing, folks.  FOR. REAL.

But I knew I wanted to jump start my tracking again, so when they asked who wanted the "Magic Tracker" this week, I shot my arm in the air so fast you would think they were offering up free chocolate for life.

I got it -- and an extra week I hadn't bargained for because of the upcoming holiday!

Oh yeah.  This is going to be interesting good.  I'm feeling hopeful.  This is going to be good!

P.S.  Wow, I marked through a lot of words this week.  Sorry if you found it annoying.

Stinker play time

This weekend we went to the NC aquarium at Ft. Fisher.

 The kids had a blast but I think their favorite part was the new play area outside.

They slid,

And jumped,

And ran,

And climbed.

But most importantly, they smiled.

 Well, not the whole time.

They are stinkers, after all!

B is for...

Busy summer. I am learning that the busy-ness (not business) will never really subside while kids are in my home, and that is something to be thankful for.

BigBoy. Part of why it is such a busy time is because he is in school all summer except one week. BigBoy starts the 1st grade in 2 weeks.
And he turned 6. Crazy, right?

B's. That's the grade I earned in both of my classes this semester. I won't even go into the story behind those courses. They are DONE.
Buh-Bye!

Beating myself up. I recently realized that I have spent waaaaay too much energy in my weight loss joooourney admonishing myself.
By the way, I had two small losses the last 2 weeks.

Blaaaahg. Yes, life is busy. But whose isn't? I think I forgot how much I get from this outlet when I stop worrying so much about the content.

And finally B is for Blerg because I can only upload photos that were taken with my phone turned sideways. I am constructing this whole post on my phone, though, so I'm not going to hate too much.

Glad to be Back. :)

Bye. :)

WW Wednesday

Yep, just another WW post today.  I'm sorry, I'm just not feeling the blaaaahg lately.  I know it is just a phase and I'll be annoying you with pics again soon, though!  

So WW this week... yeah...

Turns out it isn't so easy to just indulge while out of town (for 2 weeks) and then just pick back up where you left off when you return home.

I had ANOTHER gain this week.  Oh yes, fun times.

FUN.

So, the way I see it I have two options:

1. I can hate myself for struggling and gaining (gulp) almost 10 pounds back (Told you it was fun.), quit my joooourney to a healthy weight for me, and feel like a failure, completely ignoring what I have accomplished.

OR

2. I can take this as an expensive (in pounds) lesson to be learned about my own limits, my own will to succeed, and how true my desire to become a WW leader in the future really is.

So nope, there really is only ONE choice.

I'm not going anywhere.

A good place to start would be (gasp!) actually following the WW plan that worked so well for me for so long!

I'll let you know how it goes... :)