Goodbye Irene!

Well, we made it through the storm with no damage, and really, we were very lucky.  Have a tiny bit of dampness in the basement.  Others weren't so lucky.  In the town right next to us, there was pretty bad flooding.

I have not even ventured out, but hubby was out bright and early this morning inspecting the neighborhoods and checking on a few elderly friends.

So it's been an interesting week between our little earthquake and then Hurricane Irene.

It's been a good week other than that.  Went to my weekly meeting and weigh-in yesterday and glad to report that the scale went down 1.6.  So some of the changes that I put into place along with all the running/training last week definitely had an impact.  Hoping for a repeat this week.  Baking cupcakes this afternoon was definitely a step in the WRONG DIRECTION.  :)  But hey, I haven't baked all summer.  It was time.  I made regular cupcakes and minis.  I can have them IF I COUNT THEM.  That's key.

I did make a pot of the Weigth Watchers veggie soup last week and it was delicious.  In fact, it's almost gone.  This week, I'm returning to another old standby, a big pan of roasted veggies, including eggplant, zucchini, peppers, mushrooms, onions and tomatoes.  LOVE IT, and it's another thing I haven't done in a long time.

Drank a lot of water last week, although I haven't been keeping up with that this weekend.  I was so distracted yesterday by the hurricane, couldn't sit still, and wasn't focusing much on what I was eating or drinking.  So time to get that straightened out. 

Have three runs planned for this week,  3.0 mile speed run, 4.0 mile easy run, and 8.0 mile long run, which was the one I was supposed to do today.  Won't have my running buddy with me for the long run this week so I might be taking some of my "virtual running buddies" along to keep me company.  Ha ha!

Well, time to go get dinner ready and relax for the evening. 

New goals this week?  New changes?  Hit me up, what's your plan for the week?

Week #3 - Gonna be a Good Day!

Yep, already into week #3 of the training schedule I put together for my first half-marathon.  Today was a speed run, the weather was GORGEOUS and I did well. 

Starving when I came home so I threw together a wrap with some sliced turkey, homemade hummus, spinach and sauteed peppers and onions from dinner the other night.  A little strange, I know, but I needed protein and fast!  I'm thinking later when it's closer to noon, I'll break out that new blender and mix up a smoothie with some frozen fruit and Greek yogurt.

Dinner?  Hmmm, don't really know.  Guess I better think about that.  Have a baby shower to go to tonight.  So it will have to be something quick and easy.  I know I have a whole bunch of swiss chard in the fridge.  So I might just cook that down and have it with leftover sausage from the other night.

I'm still sticking to my goal to drink more water.  I have a 3 liter bottle that I fill up each morning and make sure that it's empty before I go to bed.  I think that's like 12 8-ounce servings or something close to that.  

WHO ELSE IS DRINKING A LOT OF WATER THESE DAYS AND HOW MUCH?  I know that Weigth Watchers changed their thing about daily fluids and said it DOES NOT have to be water, but for me, water seems to work better. 

The Canned Fish

I know, odd title, but couldn't figure out what else to name it.  Short and sweet of it, I'm having issues with fish of the canned variety today.

It started out this way.  While at the grocery store this week, I saw a can of salmon and decided I would once again give it a shot.  I like salmon.  A Weight Watcher member was talking about canned salmon and how it's so delicious and it's one point per ounce and she mixed it with this and that and how delicious it was.  So I saw it at the store, wasn't too pricey and decided to pick up a can for a lunch this week.

Today was the day.  Well, first of all, the can is kind of confusing.  It says that it's a 14.5 ounce can and there are 7 servings in the can.  Each serving comes out to be 2 points when I calculate.  However, after I drained the can, there certainly wasn't even 7 ounces left in the can.  I honestly can't remember how many it was, because of what I encountered next.  Anyway, so I don't know what a serving is and how many points a serving is. 

Next, when I dumped the drained salmon out of the can, I realized that it still had the skin on it.  Maybe I'm crazy, but that kind of turned me off.   I know I would like canned salmon if I could just get past that!  And it's not just on the outside.  It's like a piece of salmon that's rolled up.  Do you just flaked it and eat the whole thing?  Really?  Maybe if someone else prepared it for me, but I just couldn't do it.  I threw it out (wasteful, I know) and moved on.

So next came the can of tuna.  Again, trying to save a buck this week, I bought a lower priced can of tuna.  When I went to drain the can, the tuna was squeezing out as well, because it was such tiny pieces of tuna.  Ughh. 

Anyway, finally got my tuna salad made, low-fat mayonnaise, tomato, cucumber, onion, green pepper, yum!  On a sandwich thin and a half a slice of LOL Naturally Slender Cheese on top, under the broiler it went.  It was good.

Now, if I calculate the Points Plus from the nutritional info on the can, it says there are 2 servings per can, and each serving calculates at 1 point, or 2 points for the whole can, but if I go into Weight Watchers Points Tracker, the canned tuna has a higher points value.  So I'm not sure if this is correct, but I'm  going by the nutritional info on the label and counting the whole can, drained, as 2 pounds.

Anyway, it was a wonderful sandwich together with a nice big cup of the Weight Watchers vegetable soup that I made yesterday.  Haven't made that soup in well over a year, and it was just as good as I remember!  Especially for 0 points!

So who out there can help me, give me suggestions on how to get over the canned salmon thing, and if you're following Weight Watchers, is it even worth it pointswise?  I'm always trying to find new things in this journey of mine.

What's Changed?

Another beautiful morning.  Supposed to be hot today though. 

So off this morning to my weekly Weight Watcher meeting.  Some things don't change.  Even though I'm a Lifetime Member and have been at my goal weight for two years, I still go to my weekly meetings as much as possible.  It's one of the tools that I have to continue to maintain my weight and live a healthy lifestyle.  Plus, I have met so many wonderful people and enjoy spending a little time with them each week. 

I went with a friend this week to two other meetings, just for a change, a little extra motivation maybe.  I have struggled a bit with that lately.   It was really nice to see other people in other meetings and to hear other leaders discuss the weekly topic.  I very much enjoyed it and hope to do this more often, for a change.

What else has changed?  Well, I can tell you that during my entire Weight Watchers journey, I have NEVER eaten in the morning before I went to my meeting.  Silly?  Maybe, maybe not.  A lot of people do the same thing, don't eat or drink coffee or water, thinking that will somehow reflect on the scale.  Well, I guess technically, it does make a small difference, but if you eat in the morning before you weigh in and you drink your coffee as usual in the morning before you weigh in, and you do that every week, it doesn't make a difference.    So last week I decided to make the change and I ate my breakfast and drank my coffee before I went out.  Wow,  I sure felt better throughout the morning, and I wasn't starving when I got home. 

What else has changed?  Well, there are some changes I have planned for this week.  I used to make the Weight Watchers vegetable soup all the time, every week, and it was always a go-to snack for me in the afternoon, or something to go with my sandwich at lunch.  I can honestly say that I have not made that soup in at least a year.  That's going to change.   I love that soup!  So tomorrow, the soup pot will be on the stove, and I will be chopping, slicing, dicing veggies and cooking my soup. 

What else?  Well, I haven't been drinking enough water during the day.  I know that, and that's going to change.  I drink a lot of water these days while I'm running and after my run, but other than that, not really.  I might take a sip here and there, but I used to always have a mug of water next to me while I was working and that habit is going to return.  In fact, I may just take a bottle of water with me to the meeting this morning instead of the coffee mug.  That's a change.

One more change, the ice bag has returned.  I had a little foot pain again the other day in the same area, ball of the foot.  So out the ice bag came.  As my runs get longer each week and I get closer to the half-marathon, my foot is likely to get a little sore.   I find that icing it after a run really does help as well as using Castiva on it (lotion) and started using that again at night

So what's changed with you or what are you going to change?  I think that every few weeks, I might come back to this topic to analyze what's going on, what I'm doing that's not helping, what I'm doing that is helping, what I used to do that I have kind of forgotten about.

Tomorrow's long run, 7 miles.  I CAN DO THAT!

My Imaginary Running Group

Yes, maybe I'm a little crazy, but this is the truth.  When I realized what I was doing, I immediately knew I had to blog about it.

Started half-marathon training last week and  this past Sunday was supposed to be a 6-mile long run (okay, maybe not so long for you pros out there), but because of the rain yesterday, couldn't get it done.

So I devised a plan.  I was going to get up at 5:30 and get right out early to make up that 6-miler.  But that didn't happen quite as I expected either.  You know, the kind of  morning when you feel like just going back to bed and pulling the sheet up over your head.

Then it started raining again.  Really?  Come On, Mother Nature!  Finally, I had had enough.  Grabbed a wind breaker in case the rain didn't stopped, my phone, my headphones, my fuel belt (water), extra towels, and off I went to the park, determined to get this 6 miles in.

The rain stopped just as I got to the park.  Wonderful.  A little cloudy, cool, felt great as I started out....then the sun came out.  Hot, humid, and to top it all off, my GPS was not working on my app on my phone that I used to track my distance. 

Anyway, I struggled the entire run.  Didn't have the right music on, couldn't see the darned phone to change the music because of the sun.  The only way I could estimate how far I was going was to figure out what pace I might be running and then just multiply that by 6 miles. 

The last mile was SUCH A STRUGGLE.  Seriously, I had gone through all four water bottles on my belt, and I was seriously hot and sweating bullets.  My legs felt like lead pipes.  But I HAVE TO GET THIS LAST BIT IN. 

That's when I started talking to myself, and this is kind of what I said.

Serious, come on, move your butt!  You can do this!  Just keep moving.  Don't you quit!  Then I imagined that I had an imaginary running group, Jillian Michaels (sorry, but she was the one who inspired me to start running), Aimee, Heather, Tricia, Marisa, Jen, David, Amanda, they were all with me.  Come on, guys, you know who you are.  And they were all pushing me, keep going, get that butt moving, come on, you can do this.  Look how far you've come, don't give up now.  Look at Tricia and Heather up there, don't lose sight of them.  Marisa and Jen, Aimee and Amanda were beside me cheering me on and making me laugh at how much I was sweating.  David running like a bullet ahead.  I just kept going, kept imaging that I was in the middle of this awesome group of running friends and they were all giving me the encouragement to finish it.

And I did.  I finally got to the finish line, and then pushed it just a little bit further to make sure I got that 6 miles in. 

Turns out when I got home, I had run 6.49 miles and my pace was 11.06, much better than I felt I was running.  I swear, I felt I was running at like a 15!

The moral of my little story today is that I need to push myself, and when I think I can't go any further, I push myself a little further still.  I can do this and I will!

Change It If It Isn't Working!

So let's get serious.  Let's get right to the point.  Is something "just not working" for you anymore?   What are you doing about it?  Nothing?  Well, how is that working for you?  I know the feeling.
What did I do about it?  Nothing.  I sat around for months starry eyed but doing nothing about it but complaining.  Every week, I complained.

Yes, I am at goal, but that doesn't mean I don't need the same things day after day that got me here.  It's key.

Okay.  So the nitty gritty.  When I started Weight Watchers, I had what I considered a GREAT LEADER!  She really was "a good fit" for me, funny, smart, always well prepared for the week's topic, knew the plan, knew how to "guide the group", always had suggestions,  and SUPER MOTIVATING.  In addition, we always had a little bit of everything at the meeting.  From celebrations of weight loss or something new activity we started, struggles we were having, an event or situation we might have difficulty with in the coming week.  THAT was so motivating, to hear how everyone else is doing and how proud they are of their accomplishments.  That meeting and that leader was just a great fit for me. 

I lost a total of 75 pounds doing the Weight Watchers plan and have kept it off for over 2 years.  What worked the most for me?  Coming to the meetings week after week, getting that charge to start the next week and keep going.  That meeting, that leader, that motivation KEPT ME GOING and I was able to reach my to goal.

Sadly, our wonderful leader decided after many years of dedication to Weight Watchers that she NEEDED A CHANGE.  Imagine that, wanting a change AND DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT!.   I was sad to see her go, but completely understood her reasons.  Hope that she's reads this post and knows that she is loved, no matter what.  :)

So anyway, what happened next?  Well, do you mean after the whining, pounding my fists, stomping my feet?  Just kidding.  There was a lot of negativity about what would happen, how the meeting would go, what would we do.   I tried to stay positive, but you know, it just wasn't doing it for me anymore.  You now how sometimes you buy the same product for years, week after week.  Then all of a sudden out of the blue, the manufacturer decides to change the product, and it's just not the same anymore for you anymore?  That's how it was for me. 

But what did I do about it?  NOTHING.  I sat around week after week, tried to stick to what I always did, go to my meeting, come home and start my new week, but didn't have that charge that I needed to get me through, didn't have the motivation and the excitement to continue.  But again, what did I do about it?  Nothing.  Just a lot of complaining about what's not working, how it used to be, how it could be better, but still doing nothing about it.... until this week.

But who's really in control here?  YOU ARE!  If it's not working, why sit around wasting time instead of finding a solution?  Maybe, love my situation, your leader changed in Weight Watchers.  If you're not doing Weight Watchers, maybe you've suffered an injury and can't do your normal exercise routine.   Whatever it is, if it's not working, does that mean you just give up?  Quit?  Hmmm.

After meeting a good friend from Weight Watchers for lunch and a lot of discussion (hey, by the way, what a great mid-week charge), we came to the realization that we're just wasting time.  I mean, really, by sitting around and watching what's going on and doing nothing about it, where is that getting us?  NOWHERE!  We need to find a new meeting, a new leader.  If it's not working, change it!
So we decided we would "meeting hop", see what's going on in other parts of the Weight Watcher world, venture out beyond our little "comfort zone".

So Saturday morning came around, and off we went to another meeting.  WOW!  The change in how I felt coming out of this weeks meeting was.... well, how do I best describe it.... POSITIVE!  Imagine that.  This meeting that we went to covered all of the things that I enjoy in a meeting, celebrations, hearing how other people are doing, discussing the details of the program, discussing difficult situations, new food ideas, as well as talking about getting some EXERCISE!    I was totally motivated to jump into the next week full steam ahead!

SO BOTTOM LINE, NOT WORKING FOR YOU?  Stop sitting around complaining about it and MAKE A CHANGE, take a leap, trust that YOU CAN DO THIS!  YOU ARE IN CONTROL!  JUST DO IT!   

P.S.  After posting this, felt the need to add this.  For those of you reading this who are part of my Saturday morning meeting, I hope you all know it is absolutely NOT about you.  I love each and every one of you, and even if I do switch meetings, I will still want to come back to the original meeting once in a while. 

This was about me and what I needed and what I was paying for.  I'm not paying now since I reached goal, but I am RIGHT AT goal, and if I don't start doing what I need for myself, I WON'T BE.  I invested a lot of money in this when I add up the weekly fees, and it was worth every penny to me, but not if I end up slipping and gaining the weight back, all because I didn't give myself WHAT I NEED.

Home Sweet Home

Home IS my favorite place to be, but it has been a little lonely around here lately.  My kitty, Samuel, has spent a few days at the vet's office.  He was diagnosed as diabetic last month.  They tried treating it just with prescription food, but that didn't work.  He was looking pretty sick.  When I took him back to the vet, we were told the next step was insulin.  So he had to spend a few days there having his blood sugar tested and they administered insulin to find the right dosage and monitored him for a few days.

Tonight...he came home.

Aw, Samuel, we missed you.  Welcome home!  Might be up and down for a while, but then again, maybe not.  Some cats adjust right away, some don't.  I'm hoping he adjusts quickly and we start to see a little more of the real Samuel again. 

So, yeah, it's been a while since I posted, but things are okay.  I'm headed out tomorrow morning for WW meeting and weigh-in.  Looking forward to it, as usual...okay, maybe a little more than usual.  I'm heading to a NEW meeting, for a change of pace, see what's going on at other meetings.   Ours just hasn't been .... well, not leaving with the usual motivation and enthusiasm as I used to, so maybe it's time for a new perspective.

It's been a good week for me, pretty much tracking everything.  Yeah.  I said pretty much.  Hey, just being honest.  I did miss all tracking on Saturday and some on Monday, but tried my best to try the rest of the week. 

I also started my half-marathon training this week, and this Sunday will be my first long run on the schedule.  I've been running long runs, but they're going to get longer every week from here on out.  Hoping that the body holds up for me.  So far, feeling pretty good. 

I'm still trying to catch up on blog reading.  Seems like the more I read, the further behind I get though.  Sigh. 
Maybe I can curl up for a bit this weekend with my laptop and a cup of coffee and read up on what all my blogging buddies are up to. 

So for now, I'm out of here to get some much needed rest.  Goodnight!

Results - Gain/Still Goal Range

Hi, all!  Returned to my weekly meeting and weigh-in yesterday.  Yeah, the scale went up, but gee, it's something I'm willing to accept considering I spent three awesome weeks with my momma!  I'm still within goal range and did not have to pay (just by a hair). 

So now I have some work to do, getting back into my routine, drinking a ton of water, getting LOTS OF ACTIVITY IN, and getting that number back where I want it.  But that's what it's all about here for me in maintenance.  If I have an unacceptable gain once in a while, that's okay.  I know what to do to get it back to where I need it.  After all, the program has worked for me for "several" years.  I know it works if I work it.  So that's what I'm doing now, working it. 

Tomatoes and cucumbers are coming in great quantities now.  So this week is going to be all about getting some of those wonderful red juicy Jersey gems into freezer bags and also making some sauce to freeze for those lazy winter nights.  I made two nice sized containers of pesto last week, and there is plenty more basil out there to make more. 

As for the cukes, well, can't freeze those so we're eating them in salads and snacking on them and giving then away.

Since I'm getting back to a more normal routine now, hoping to post more.  I know I've been kind of MIA a lot lately, but look forward to more blogging. 

Wow, storm coming now.  I think I'll shut this puppy down for a while.   

It's Serious...

I'm getting serious now.   Had a 3-week long visit with  my Mom here.  It was THE BEST!  But as usual, got a little off track.  Nothing that can't be fixed though.  Yesterday was a fairly good day, although I did have a nice bowl of ice cream last night, but hey, I tracked EVERY SINGLE POINT yesterday, drank my water, and got out for some exercise last night (skating).

Today it's back to routine, work, and hoping to get out for a run tonight.

Breakfast this morning, back to the omelette, with green pepper, onion, fresh asparagus, sun dried tomato and, of course, fresh basil, together with a slice of Land of Lakes naturally slender cheese.  I'll have a piece of fruit mid-morning and that should carry me right through to lunch.

I've really had a great July, spent quality time with a lot of the family, and the garden is just doing great!

That's just one of many seedless cucumbers that I picked the other day.  They're coming in quicker than I can give them away.  The tomatoes are so great, and we have a good variety of different kinds this year.    Time to start freezing!

So looking forward to August and September, full of harvesting in the garden, cooking in the kitchen, and training for my first half-marathon!