A Day of Choices

As most of my WWsendtheloveTeamSlim girls know, I take this journey one choice at a time. Let's be honest...I have a long way to go (like, 150 pounds my friends!), so if I think too long term it's really easy to get discouraged and think how will I ever get there?

Everyday we are faced with choices. It's no secret that I've struggled with good choices surrounding my health for a long time. I chose what felt good in the moment. The cookie. The beer. The TV. The elevator. It wasn't that I was consciously choosing to be unhealthy. I just wasn't thinking about it. I did whatever the (bleep!) I wanted and didn't think or care about the consequences. Every little choice I made added up to being over 300 pounds. I didn't just wake up this way one day. It took effort. It took time. It took choices.

The good news is, WW has taught me the same process works in reverse. I can simply choose to lose weight...to be healthy...to be skinny (whatever you're aiming for). Everyday I can choose the salad over the cheeseburger, the treadmill over the TV, the stairs over the elevator. Sounds simple enough, right? We all know the mind can be a nasty little bitch and she'll mercilessly sabotage the best of efforts. That's OK. This is a journey and I know every choice isn't going to be perfect. I also know I can make the right choice most of the time and that's what will add up to success.

Below are two examples (using real scenarios from my life) of how I can choose to be healthy or choose to stay fat (and how those choices add up over just ONE day):

Example 1 - A Day of Bad Choices

1. Snooze my alarm until the last second.
2. Skip breakfast at home because I'm running late.
3. Take the train to work to save time.
4. Stop at Starbucks and get a grande mocha (10 PP).
5. Eat a bagel or donut in the break room because I skipped breakfast earlier (14PP).
6. Go out for pizza with coworkers at lunch (18 PP).
7. Skip my lunch time walk.
8. Go to happy hour with coworkers and drink 3 beers (15 PP).
9. Take train or Uber home.
10. Order takeout when I get home late (22 PP).
11. Skip my workout and veg on the couch.

1-Day Totals: Consumed 79 PP, earned 0 Activity Points (AP), took 2,500 steps
1-Week Totals: Consumed 553 PP, earned 0 AP, took 17,500 steps

Example 2 - A Day of Good Choices

1. Get up right when my alarm goes off .
2. Eat healthy breakfast of portioned Cheerios, skim milk, and fruit (5 PP)
3. Walk to work (2,500 steps)
4. Drink black coffee at the office (0 PP).
5. Pass on bagels or donuts in the break room and eat a packed snack (2PP).
6. Eat Subway 6" turkey sub and baked chips for lunch (11 PP).
7. Spend 30 minutes of my lunch time walking (2,500 steps).
8. Go to happy hour with coworkers and drink 1 beer, 1 Diet Coke, and 1 water (5 PP).
9. Walk home (2,500 steps).
10. Grab Panera for dinner on my way home (16 PP).
11. Go to gym for an hour at 10 pm (6,000 steps).
12. Eat post-workout "treat" (4PP).

1-Day Totals: Consumed 43 PP, earned 11 AP, took 13,500 steps
1- Week Totals: Consumed 301 PP, earned 77 AP, took 94,500

Now you can see how much of a difference in results these two examples produce! CRAZY, huh!!??! It's pretty apparent how good choices = weight loss and bad choices = weight gain when you see it broken down like this (you can also see how easy it is to scarf down 80 PP in food without a second look!).

Most days for me are a slight variation of the the second example. Maybe I don't go for my lunch time walk because I have a meeting, or maybe I skip the gym and go to bed early, or maybe I get coffee at Starbucks (a skinny version, of course!). I've been taking this journey one choice at a time and I've been more successful over these past two months than ever before. I can't wait to see how my good choices continue to accumulate and give me results!

Trying New Things: City Bike Share

Hubs and I weren't feeling a hike yesterday. We didn't feel like packing snacks and driving to the trailhead and fighting for parking. We were tempted to just stay in the house and veg, but we knew we needed to get in some exercise if we were skipping our hike. 

We decided to go for a bike ride! Right outside our apartment is a rack of City Bike Share bikes. Just swipe your credit card and go!

We were amprehensive to try it. Neither one of us had ridden a bike for a few years and we scared it would be too hard or scary with all the city traffic. We definitely had to talk each other into it!

Once we were on them and rolling it was really fun! San Franciso has great bike lanes so the busy traffic was really no big deal. We had such a blast and rewarded ourselves with a bayfront brewski! 

Trying something new can be nerve-racking, but you'll never know what you're missing out on if you don't just go for it. Now I feel confident I can grab a bike and ride all over the city. It's no big deal! It makes me wonder what else I'm capable of trying. 

Weekly Weigh-In: Week 12

I weighed in this morning and was a little bit disappointed that I only lost 0.3 pounds. 

It left me 0.2 pounds shy of reaching my first 5% goal and that just straight up sucked. I've been doing really well...keeping up with exercise, staying in my points, even making better food choices. I know sometimes the scale is just a b**** and it doesn't care that you've done everything right. It just doesn't show you that number you want to see (or know you deserve). 

I'm cool with it. I really am. I KNOW I'm in such a better place that I was just 12 weeks ago. I feel better. I have more energy. My clothes are a little looser. I KNOW I'm doing the right things and even though I didn't get the result I was hoping for, I need to just keep doing it. It will work. It does work. 

Next week I'll reach that 5% goal and I'll get the little sticker on my weight tracker and I'll get to update my goals on Fitbit and IG (it's the little things!) and it'll feel great. I'm not letting this slow down stop me. 

Why am I doing this?

My beautiful WWSendTheLoveTeamSlim ladies and I had our usual Tuesday night Skype session tonight. The topic we were discussing was what inspired us to start our weight loss journeys. 

Similar to most Tuesdays, I've been contemplating the Skype topic for the rest of the evening. Tonight I've been thinking of all kinds of reasons why I'm doing this. Here's what I've come up with:

1. I've been fat all my life and I'm sick of it. 

2. I'm tired of days and weeks and years going by and continually being disappointed in myself that I haven't changed. 

3. I hate shopping only in plus sizes. 

4. I want to walk into a room and feel all the men's stares shift to me. 

5. I want to run, bike, hike, swim, climb, dance, kickbox, etc. without feeling slow, out of breath or like I don't belong. 

6. I want to be a remodel for my daughters I someday hope to have. 

7. I want to wear a bikini. 

8. I want to live a long, healthy, happy life and not sabotage or cut my life short because I couldn't control my eating. 

9. I want to surprise myself with what I'm actually capable of achieving. 

10. I want to discover the person inside me who isn't affected by the armor, shame, excuse, or safety of being fat. 

Wow...I actually teared up as I was typing some of those (thinking about my future daughters...sheesh!)

I know it won't be easy. I know I will want to quit. I know I'll sometimes need to be reminded of why this journey is important and this list will be just what I need. 

Sunday Hikes

As most of you know, my husband Duncan and I live in downtown San Francisco. I love where we live. I love everything about our neighborhood anchored by AT&T Park (GO GIANTS!). I love our 550-square-foot apartment. I love walking everywhere and never driving. I love the ba-zillion restaurants and bars and hangouts (ah, the food!). I love living on a hunk of land bounded on three sides by water (serious views everywhere!). I love the bridges, the cable cars, the architecture. It's beautiful. It's liberating. It's convenient. It's exciting...

...but at times, it's restrictive. It's loud. It's smelly. It's crowded. Sometimes I feel like, I just need to see some freakin' grass or a grove of trees or smell something that doesn’t have a note of human waste or someone smoking a joint (seriously...it's one of those two smells 75% of the time)!

We both walk to work - Duncan 10 minutes and me 25 minutes from our apartment. Monday through Friday, we literally never leave an area of 1-square mile...sometimes we don't even get that far. Don’t get me wrong! That 1-squre mile is jam packed with everything you could ever need. That 1-square mile is absolutely awesome. There is no reason to leave, except that just maybe…just every once in a while…you probably should (for your sanity, people).  

Soooooo…to cope with our endless urban existence, we started a tradition of "Sunday Hikes". Every Sunday (if we are in town or are free of inflexible plans) we go hiking (no questions, no excuses!)! 

Not only does the hiking give us a nice break from all the “hustle and bustle”, it’s a killer workout (this ain’t just walking, my friends). You’re climbing up, you're sliding down, you’re stabilizing yourself on uneven surfaces. It can be a tough mental and physical challenge (more like sucking wind, sweating like a beast). You want to know the best part? When you set out on a 7-mile hike and you’re 3.5 miles in…you can’t quit (overcoming mental weakness by force, I’m a fan!)! No matter how much you want to, this is no treadmill you can switch off…you gotta get back to the car and there is no choice other than hoofing your little butt back there one tired step at a time.

Here are a few of our recent hikes:

April 12, 2015 – San Bruno State Park, San Bruno, CA – Summit Loop Trail

3.5 miles – 8,023 steps – 8 Activity Points

April 19, 2015 – Point Reyes National Seashore, Bolinas, CA – Coastal Trail to Alamere Falls

9.5 miles – 21,565 steps – 22 Activity Points

April 26, 2015 – Land’s End, San Francisco, CA – Land’s End Coastal Trail

5.1 miles – 11,691 steps – 12 Activity Points

May 10, 2015 – Portola Redwoods State Park, La Honda, CA – Iverson/Old Haul Road Trail

8.5 miles – 19,486 steps – 18 Activity Points

We really love this little tradition of ours and I encourage you to try it! You'd be amazed at how capable you are and how much beauty there is to see not far from your home.

C25K Weeks 1-4

I was feeling particularly inspired one evening and decided I would attempt the Couch to 5K (C25K) running program (I think my blood sugar was low at the time! ha!).  I did my first workout back at the start of April and have completed weeks 1 through 4 (including a 2nd round of week 4). Check out the version I'm doing!

The program focuses on building endurance over three workouts per week for nine weeks. The first week alternates between walking and jogging at intervals of 1:00 minute and increases from there to intervals of 5:00 minutes during week 4.

First things first, I was truly the definition of "couch" when I started this program. I didn't workout AT ALL and was walking about 4,000 steps a day (yeah, it was that bad!) I started the first workout and was surprised that I could do it with relative ease.

Week 2 ramped up to intervals of 1:30 minutes which was a little tougher just because my calves were really tight and my legs were sore from the increased exercise. I found that a foam roller was key in keeping soreness at bay allowing me to stay on track! Check out these handy foam roller stretches.  

Week 3 increased to intervals of 1:30 and 3:00 minutes. The first workout with the 3:00 minutes was challenging. I wanted to give up around the 2:00 minute mark, but I just focused in and told myself I could DO IT (just keep swimming, just keep swimming...). By the 3rd workout for the week, the 3:00 minutes actually (kinda) flew by and it was much easier! (yay!!).

Week 4 bumped up to intervals of 5:00 minutes. This was by the far the longest I have ran continuously since high school (no joke). The first workout of the week was super tough. I had to mentally get through those 5:00 minutes and every single second seems to drag on. I tried to distract myself with the TV, the birds outside, thinking about ice cream (damn, only 5 seconds has passed!!). That's how each of those 5:00 minutes was for me, but I  DID IT and when it was all done, I was like wow! I ran for 5:00 minutes!!!

At that point, I decided to repeat week 4 instead of moving onto week 5 to try and build some more endurance. I mean look at this crazy increase in run time in just three short workouts!!

I knew how tough the 5:00 minutes had been more during take 1 of week 4 (mentally for sure!) Increasing to 8:00 minutes intervals and eventually 20 minutes all during week 5 just didn't seem doable for me and I didn't want to fail and lose my motivation.

I'm happy to report that I completed take 2 of week 4 this past Saturday and it was much easier than the previous week. I'm going to move on to week 5 now and see how it goes. Maybe I'll get to 20 minutes by the end of the week, maybe I won't. If I have to repeat the first or second workouts of week 5, I will. I'm not doing this training program for anyone but me and I'm thrilled with my progress thus far (in awe to be quite honest!).

I know it's totally cliche, but "If I can do this, you can do this" is TOTALLY true in this case. When I started 5 weeks ago, I couldn't have gotten more sedentary if I tried! Just lace up them sneakers, put one foot in front of the other, take it one workout at a time and it will add up to success!!

Weekly Weigh-In: Week 11

I was down 2.1 lbs this morning for a total loss of 15.1 lbs!!

What's been working:
1. Planning.  As my #WWsendtheloveTEAMSLIM girls know, I'm not a huge planner. I try to plan in increments that work for me which means I plan one day at a time. I'm not one that goes to the grocery store on Sunday and buys everything for the week. When I do that, I end up throwing half of  out and feeling defeated that I didn't "stick to" the food I bought. I go to the grocery store probably 3-4 times a week and buy food for a day or two (I hate the grocery store as much as you, trust me). I try to think about my day right away in the morning and plan (even pre-track) things I know I'm going to eat. It really helps me prioritize my eating around functions like work lunches, happy hours, Giants games, just whatever I have going on. I can then arrange the rest of my daily points accordingly.

2. Reducing alcohol intake. I always seem to have something going on where I could be drinking (wait, that sounds bad?). My husband and I live in the middle of San Francisco (and people drink here, let me tell you), we don't have kids, and we both work jobs with a lot of young people and social functions...there is always an invite to go out. I've really made a conscious effort this past month to reduce my drinking while still going out and enjoying myself. I've tried to prioritize and only drink when it really matters. If it's just a happy hour, I follow this simple formula: 1 beer > 1 Diet Coke > 1 water and I go home. I can still spend time with coworkers, but without burning 18 points on three beers. If we go out to dinner, I don't order a drink unless it's special or we're sharing a bottle of wine for a specific reason...another 6-18 points saved. I've come to realize that spending time with people is what is important, and I can enjoy it just as much sipping a Diet Coke as I can with a beer (most of the time!).


What I need to do better:
1. Making healthier food choices. I've been doing a really good job staying within my points, but we all know that doesn't mean I'm being healthy. I currently have 46 daily PPVs, so it's pretty easy to stay within points even with a few junky choices here and there (9pp ice cream sandwich, anyone?). I need to work on balancing my meals and snacks with more power foods. I'm going to focus on this during the month of May!

2. Eating breakfast. I'll admit it. I've never been a huge fan of eating breakfast. When the alarm goes off, it's the first thing that gets traded in for 10 more minutes of sleep (followed by shower, makeup, hair...you know how it goes!). I need to find a breakfast routine that works for me. I am going to start with some fruit and yogurt. Even when I'm on the run, I can still grab these items from my fridge and eat them when I get to work if I have to.

I'm currently 0.5 lbs away from my first 5% goal with WW and I can't wait to reach that goal next week!

Getting to Know Me - 25 Questions

1. Do you have a middle name?
Yes! It's Marie.

2. What was your favorite subject in school?
I've always been a science girl!.
 
3. What’s your favorite drink?
Coffee! COFFEE!
 
4. What’s your favorite song at the moment?
More like favorite artist...I've really been into Chromeo lately. If you haven't heard of them, check them out!!

5. What would you name your children?
It was touch-and-go earlier this week when a certain Duchess threatened to steal my baby name!!! Luckily, she chose Charlotte and Alice is still safe for a girl. For a boy, I'm not sure...I honestly don't ever picture myself having boys (is that weird?)

6. Do you participate in any sports?
I currently do not, but I have been known to participate in some (drunken?) softball or kickball leagues.

7. What’s your favorite book? 
I don't really have a favorite book. I just like to read in general. I actually lead a book club in San Francisco!

8. What’s your favorite color?
Clothes: black. House: sparkly silver or gold. In general: Aqua

9. What’s your favorite animal?
Cats! I have a 12-year-old Maine Coon named Blaire. She's a jerk, but I love her anyway!

10. What’s your favorite perfume?
CHANEL Coco Mademoiselle

11. What’s your favorite holiday?
Christmas.

12. Have you graduated from High School?
Yes!

13. Have you been out of the country?
Yes, but only to the lame neighbors of Canada and Mexico!

14. Do you speak any other languages?
Nope.

15. Do you have any siblings?
Yes! I have one older sister.

16. What’s your favorite store?
Nordstrom.

17. What’s your favorite restaurant?
Nationwide chain: The Cheesecake Factory. Locally: Amber (Indian)

18. Did you go to college? 
Yes! I attended The University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN and majored in Geology!

19. What are some of your "trigger" foods?
Pizza. Chicken tenders. Ice cream. Donuts. Chips and guac. Really good bread and olive oil.


20. What day do you weigh in? 
Thursday mornings.

21. What are some of your favorite TV shows?
House of Cards. Mad Men. Bosch. Orange is the New Black.

22. PC or Mac?
Mac.

23. What phone do you have?
I have the iPhone 6.

24. How tall are you?I’m 5’8″.

25. What's your bucket list for travel? 
Scotland (it's where my husband is from). Ireland. Netherlands/Scandinavia. Iceland. African safari.

Progress Check! 5/6/2015

My first blog post! Yay!

I thought it would be appropriate to post my first set of photos I took on April 4, 2015. I wish I had taken some photos back when I restarted WW at the end of February, but April 4 is what I've got!

In this photo, I am down 6 pounds from my starting weight of 305.6 lbs.

Here I am on May 6, 2015, down 13 pounds total in 10 weeks (292.6)!

(Apparently, I'm super happy to be taking my May photo!?)

Anyway...I definitely see a difference in the "bum and tum" area!! How exciting! 

What's been working for me:

1. TRACKING...I know this is totally new information you've never heard before. Ha! Everyone always says that, am I right? But it really is true that tracking is the key!!!! DO IT.

2. C25K Training...I'm currently on week 5 and it has been so amazing (keep your eyes peeled for a post on this soon). I'm actually jogging for 5 minutes without stopping (or dying) which I haven't done since there was a teacher standing somewhere in my vicinity with a stopwatch and a Presidential Fitness checklist. Holler!

3. Allowing myself indulgences...I pre-track at least one thing a day that I know is going to satisfy my food-crazed mind (bowl of popcorn, ice cream, meatball sub for lunch, bagel from the breakroom, etc.). I pick it right when I get up and I stick to it. It makes the rest of the day more focused because I know I've got something good coming!

Week 11 weigh-in tomorrow morning! Here's to another loss!!