Weight Watchers - 3rd week of April, 2011

[story1267]

Good morning everyone! I like the news from my new scale. Any decrease is a good decrease, right?

This was a good week stretching my workout wings. Tried Intensity and High Reps for the first time. Did my first Lauren Brooks kettlebell w/o. And went for my first little joggle yesterday.....wow are my hips talking to me today!

Still on the fence about canceling WW at the end of this month and going to SparkPeople and BFFM. Wait and see.

What's everyone up to today?

 

[Stacy]

Good morning, thanks for always starting our new thread!! How did you like your new workouts?? I have High Reps but not the other ones. I bought High Reps and STS Total Body expecting to like HR better, but I actually like TB better. I dont have any kettlebells only b/c I dont think I have anymore room for any new stuff! I do have Ilaria's Atletica workout which is kettlebell-inspired and I enjoy it.

Today I finally dusted off my weights and did the Upper body X 2 premix from Push Pull, then I followed that with Tonique Mat the "on the back" premix, both of these premixes included ab work too. I really need to strengthen my quads without squats or lunges, maybe that'll help my knees. So I need to make a concerted effort to incorporate some floor work into my routine.

I've also want to do the 100 Push Up challenge. I did it a few years ago and got up to week 3 and plateau'd, got busy, etc etc. Here's the link for anyone who's not familiar with it.

http://hundredpushups.com/

I'll report back my food later, after the bday party. Wish me luck!

 

[rmrmr]

Good Morning,

I did a Lowmax/Leg weights circuit this morning. Yesterday I did LIC but felt the legs needed more work. I'm leaning towards cardio/weight circuits for the next week or so, until Insanity, The Asylum arrives. It comes with some hybrid rotations, on of which is Asylum/P90X. Right now I'm leaning towards that rotation.

I made myself a yummy breakfast after my w/o.
B-1 egg, 3 egg whites, 1/2 tomato, 1/2 C oatmeal cooked in 1 C almond milk with 1tbps almond butter. The oatmeal was so creamy and delicious. Lets hope I can stay on track the rest of the day.

Suzanne-you will really enjoy seeimg the decimal point on the scale. I have BFFM also and would like to get back to that at some point. WW doesn't really help with body composition with regards to increasing muscle and decreasing fat. They just care about the total number. It's frustating to me at times. Sounds like you've been mixing up your w/o's, good for you!

Stacy-I thought I would like HR better than STS TB too. I really wish Cathe told us the weights they were using in HR's, like she does in Power Hour. I have a hard time selecting the right weight to start off with. Did you do something to injur your knee/knees? When my knees bother me its from too much stepping, doing something new (running), or I need knew shoes. I currenly have an LCL tear that too much stepping will bother. You found a w/o that will work for you. Enjoy the party.

 

[Stacy]

My knees have been a mystery for years. I've had no specific injury, ever. I've been to two orthopedic doctors over the years and have two normal MRI's. They dont know what is wrong either. They're only suggestions were physical therapy, which ended up being a waste of time b/c my therapist had me doing one-legged squats the first session! Heelllooo....a bit hard on the knees, dontcha think? The other options were dont do what hurts OR an exploratory knee scope surgery. I've just been so hesitant to do an exploratory surgery and deal with the post-op recovery if they find nothing wrong, especially when my examine in the office is always normal and I've no injury and have had two normal scans.

I just cannot do certain moves, and I've pretty much figured out what they are over the years, plus I cant do alot of impact. I've gone thru the gamut of knee braces and have been to running shoe stores to have my gait analyzed to get the right shoe. While all of these help to a small degree, the problem never has gone away. I pretty much just deal with it.

 

[gonnabea5]

Hey, Ladies. My sinuses were cutting feircely last night. So I took benadryl which knocked me out and I missed my alarm this morning. Ugh, I hate missing a workout. Oh well. I didn't count PPs today, but ate pretty good. I've really learned how to just eat lots of lean protein, fruits and veggies when I don't want to count. But, I did end the day with a yummy double portion of ice cream. I'll have to get lots of cardio in this week in anticipation of Saturdays weighin.

I have gained a few pounds back from my 13lb weight loss. But, I'm still happy with the progress I've made. I'm ready to recommitt and get back to business. So, in the morning - MMA Boxing, here I come. I've put my rotation on my desk calendar so its a constant reminder of my workouts and other goals.

 

[Stacy]

I had a bigger dinner portion at the bday party than I had planned, but I was still hungry! I did avoid the cupcakes though!

PP = 39 (high for me)

I have 11 WP's left to spread out over 2 days, that's pretty doable. So I'm crossing my fingers in anticipation of weigh-in on Wednesday morning!

 

[Stebby]

Ack! I'm up 2 lbs this morning. Must have something to do with my not being all that attentive to the program over the last two weeks! Well, I'm back on track today.

Stacy - what kind of stretching do you do? I blew my left knee out skiing in '93 and have had 2 surgeries (one ACL reconstruction) - my knee hurt most of the time for 10 years until I finally learned to stretch properly (my other knee started hurting too during this time period). Now I do a thorough stretch, and roll my IT bands & hip flexors on a foam roller, after almost every workout - takes half an hour, and is often quite painful, but it keeps my knees pain free. My chiropractor figures I probably had a minor alignment problem that didn't show up on X-rays or gait exams. Everyone's different of course ... it's just that my story sounded familiar to yours in many ways and this is what fixed it for me. My knees have been really good for 2 years now.

I think I'm interested in the 100 Pushup Challenge!

Stebby

 

[story1267]

Good morning everyone. Home today as we've got a stomach flu making its way through the family. Keeping my fingers crossed that it misses the adults!

Stacy - So far I do like both the new workouts...but I've only done premixes for each. I did a lower body premix on the High Reps and I don't know if it was that or the kettlebells but something really targeted my glutes - that's a good thing as far as I'm concerned.

I really like the hundred push up challenge. I can't even do one proper toes push up and I really do want to increase my overall strength.

Diana - I'm beginning to feel the limitations of WW. I really wanted something that would keep me from overthinking and make tracking a habit. I love the online version and how user-friendly the tracking is...and all the recipes...but it really isn't geared towards getting really specific with macros. With SparkPeople you can see exactly what you're getting and set pretty specific limits - but that does lead me down the road of spending all my time thinking about it.....no easy path I guess.

I'm sorry for your knees. I have crunchy knees but since I started using my fivefingers for w/o there isn't any pain.

Shereta - How did MMA go?

Stebby - I was hoping to hear the foam rollering didn't kill forever....I have to roll out my ITBs as well and dread it! Good luck with getting back on track.

Better get back to work here - the laundry is piling up as you can imagine!

 

[gonnabea5]

Happy Monday

Hey, ladies. I was up and at it this morning. I have a busy evening so I had to cook this morning before I worked out. Oh, Yes, I was making it happen. I did a chicken pot pie and then tackled MMA Boxing. It was really good. I earned 9 APs.

Im so busy at work, that I didnt have my decaf coffee or any water until after lunch. I was in high demand today. Finally, its calmed down and could check in here.

b. Cereal, milk = 5
s. yogurt, peanuts = 6
l. salad, chicken breast, grapes - 7
s. apple - 0
d. chicken potpie, milk - 11
s. popcorn 3
total: 32 - wow I hope I can stick to this.

Since sweets, even low calorie sweets, make me crave sweets - Im going to see how long I can go without any. No Sweets challenge - 1 day so far.

good luck to yall on the 100 challenge pushup. I can do about 10 before I drop to my knees. Its a great feeling.

 

[Stacy]

Stebby, thanks for the info on your knees. I actually dont do much stretching at all and given my normal scans I was thinking maybe it was some sort of malignment issue. I've gotten so routine in my workouts, ie. treadmill, do a an upper body workout and ab workout and then whatever else I"m in the mood for. I need to actually schedule certain workouts so I can make sure I do them and also b/c I just forget about them. So, maybe incorporating yoga each week will help, in addition some lower body floor work and then the pushup challenge! Then with whatever time I have left, continue my treadmill walks and do an upper body workout. Hmmm...

Today was a fairly decent day at work, I actually got done at a good hour for a change

I need to go shopping so not much food in my house for dinner, but so far...

B--low sugar oatmeal (3 PP)
L--low carb yogurt + pretzels (7 PP)
D--???

My lower body and abs are pretty sore from yesterday's workout, so I think I'll either just rest or do some stretching and my initial Push Up Challenge test!

Diana, I hear ya on the WW limitations. For me it's been the best planned I"ve followed for awhile though. I tried counting macro's and it just got too overwhelming. I think if I can focus on total points and making most of those points good veggies, fruits, lean meats, that will be good enough for me at this point in my life. Sure, I'd like some more muscle definition but if it's at the expense of me having to count every little thing, it's just not gonna make me happy in the long run. Pick something you can live with and makes you happy!

Story...hope everyone is feeling better soon!

Shereta...you're a beast!! You go girl! Send some pot pie my way!

 

[jennifermaria]

Hi ladies!

So color me confused, but after a really sucky week last week in which I indulged (a lot), barely tracked, and in general, just took a, "Well, I've already had x, y, z, so I may as well have q, too" attitude, I... lost weight.

Eh??

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining LOL. But I'm just really shocked.

The only thing I can think of is that I've been doing 3x/week weight workouts for a few weeks now and maybe I've started to build enough muscle that my metabolism really is starting to fire back up again? I don't really know--and quite frankly, I don't know if it'll even last, because I've seen this story before, right before a weight gain the following week LOL--but I'll take it.

I did decide to re-up with WW. I had let my online membership lapse, but I've signed back up again and am recommitting to really following it and doing an honest assessment--meaning using up my weekly points if I have to, eating all of my AP, etc. Enough with trying to game the system, which I found myself doing a lot. Hopefully I can carry on with this weight loss, but if nothing else, I'll be recommitting to the healthy habits again, after falling off the wagon last week.

And random discovery of the week: on a whim, I bought the Trader Joe's brand of unsweetened vanilla almond milk and it is THE BEST ALMOND MILK I've ever tried! Yum!! Unsweetened almond milk tends to taste chalky to me, and when I do have the sweetened kind, I'd always get this weird after taste that I just didn't care for. But this one was not too sweet, didn't have the after taste, and has a nice, subtle vanilla flavor that brings a nice sweetness. The Blue Diamond unsweetened vanilla one didn't seem to have a vanilla flavor to it, which is why I never really liked it. This? Different story. Yum.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner.

 

[Stacy]

Jennifer, I've had the same thing happen to me too, unfortunately it never seems to last. Kudos to you for recommitting!!

I went grocery shopping and it took all I had in me not to buy 18 bags of potato chips and sit down right in the aisle and eat them all!! Instead, I bought some fixings for stir fry....shrimp, broccoli, onions and mushrooms, used only 1 Tbsp of stir fry sauce but did rack up a few points with the cashews I added. But I ended the day with 27 PP, leaving 2 PP for a sugar free Jello pudding later

 

[Stacy]

Another rainy day here! I weighed in this morning (a day early on account of I know we'll be eating a very late dinner tonight and didnt want that falsely reflected in my regular weigh in day tomorrow). I'm a bit bummed....broke even. But, I'm feeling lighter and have tracked my points all week and I'm not over. So though I'm a bit miffed as to why I didnt lose ANYTHING I'll at least be happy I didnt gain either.

 

[boilerchick]

Can I Join You?

Hi everyone,

I've actually been reading this check-in thread regularly since it began, but never joined in. That was mostly because I've been doing poorly with my eating and haven't been losing weight, but I have recommitted and am ready to give it another go!

I'm never sure what to say as far as an introduction without writing a novel (which I certainly do have enough to say about my weight history that I could write a novel). Anyway, I'm 27, married, work full time as an engineer, no kids yet. I've struggled with my weight since I was about 13. I've lost and regained weight many times, and I have at least 60 pounds (maybe a lot more) to lose.

As far as my approach, I have done weight watchers a few times and have kept up with all the new program changes, but right now I'm doing it on my own. I never really connected at the meetings (and I tried several). I find the online thing to be a little expensive compared to the free online resources, and I find it easier to count calories rather than points anyway. My favorite resource for tracking is myfitnesspal.com. I've been feeling completely overwhelmed by my poor eating habits and at a loss how to permanently and completely change them. More than anything, I think my confidence in myself is shot and the thought of counting every calorie or point right now just sends tears rolling down my face. (I struggle a lot with keeping it in balance when counting calories/points, and worry too much about it.) Therefore, I've come up with my own plan for now, and I'd like to see how it goes. If nothing else, this is a plan I truly believe I can follow, and by doing so I'll gain some confidence in my ability to meet goals, and perhaps then I'll have the courage and confidence to face detailed food tracking. Here are my three commitments in my plan:

1. I will exercise 5 times this week for at least 30 minutes, and at least 3 of those sessions will be heart-pounding, all-out intense cardio!!
2. I will blog (and check in here) at least 4 times per week.
3. I will not succumb to the all-or-nothing mentality in eating.

If you want to read more details about my reasoning you can read my latest post on my personal weight loss blog (link in my signature), but I don't want to make this post way too long.

Thanks for all your encouragement as I've been reading for a while and can't wait to join the group.

 

[Stebby]

Welcome, boilerchick! Sounds like you have a good approach - start slow and don't make too many changes at once. Another easy change you might want to make, maybe for next week, is to drink more water. (Most of us need to drink more!) It's always nice to add something rather than subtract it!

Stebby

 

[Stacy]

Welcome!! I can relate to that feeling of despair, that overwhelming feeling that comes over you when you think that your life has come down to nothing but counting calories! My weight loss struggles began in about the 4th grade. I put myself on a diet in 7th grade and by 8th grade looked pretty good. Through high school I maintained a healthy weight as well as thru most of college. My first workout was a Denise Austin one when I was about 16 before that I would jog around the neighborhood or ride bikes, but nothing that "officially" looked like exercise. I was too self-conscious of being fit and my family wasnt very supportive sadly to say. It wasnt as if they were unsupportive it was just that the "healthy" food in my house growing up was a hamburger from McD's instead of a cheeseburger. My weight started creeping up when I took on a stressful job in another state, and then came some relationship troubles etc etc and before I knew it I had put on about 25 lbs. I've read every fitness/diet book on the market and tried almost everything including Intermittent Fasting. This is my first time doing Weight Watchers. I had avoided it before b/c I didnt want to pay for it, but looking back at all the money I've spent on books and then on extra food when I was overeating...well that excuse didnt seem to make much sense anymore! I'm still tweaking things as I go along and still have ups and downs but I've slowly let go of the "all or nothing" mentality. It's still lurking beneath the surface but it is true that ONE bad eating day will not and cannot undo days of good eating!

I agree with Stebby, dont set too many goals for yourself! I know that sounds negative but starting with little goals maybe the better way to go. I've found that rewording my goals works a bit better too, ie. your goal about not succumbing to the all or nothing eating mentality could be rephrased as "when I feel myself succumbing to the all or nothing eating mentality I will drink 2 glass of water....or I will come here and post about it on the thread"....that way it's not you against the world/or you against the "diet demons", it's you taking charge instead, embracing that feeling but then refocusing the negative energy/thought into a positive constructive thought or action.

Either way, I obviously dont know what works for you, just wanted to add in my two cents! It's good to have you here!!

 

[story1267]

Welcome boilerchick!

Stacy and Stebby said everything I could say...only better. I strongly believe in baby-steps.

I got an email from Tom Venuto's list and apparently he is coming out with some nutrition software based on BFFM!

This is of great interest to me. We'll have to see how the cost plays out. I'd like to be able to buy it as a stand-alone rather than have to join the Inner Circle thing. But...this may be a giant step in the right direction.

 

[boilerchick]

Stebby, Stacy, and Suzanne - Thanks so much for the welcome!

Stebby - Great advice about drinking more water. Actually, about the only permanent, positive change I have actually made since the beginning of this year was to kick my Diet Pepsi habit. Since I was a teenager, I would drink 2-5 cans daily. My first drink in the morning was a Diet Pepsi and I'd drink it with almost every meal. I didn't feel bad and I didn't have trouble sleeping, but still, I knew it was preventing from drinking water. Honestly, the most motivating factor for quitting was reviewing our budget for the previous year and seeing that my Diet Pepsi habit was costing over $300/year. (I had made a specific budget category just for my Diet Pepsi.) I could buy a lot of Cathe's DVDs for that! I quit all at once - just didn't let myself buy any more when I ran out. I also got a water bottle that I took with me everywhere. It was hard for about a week, then it wasn't even hard at all. I hardly even think about it anymore. I was shocked that it wasn't harder and wondered why I didn't do it sooner. If only it were that easy to break up with sweets and chocolate. (And trust me, I've tried that method - doesn't work that way with sweets.)

Stacy - It sounds like you do understand the feeling of despair. I'm glad to know I'm not alone. And my weight struggles also started early. My family almost never ever ate out and my mom loved to cook/bake and made everything from scratch. While that might sound healthy, trust me, it's not. We always had hot-out-of-the-oven homemade sourdough bread and tons and tons home baked sweets. Not a meal went by without dessert! None of my family is overweight, but my body obviously couldn't take all the sweets, and I absolutely love to bake. I'm trying to turn that into to a love for healthy cooking and baking, but sometimes there is no substitute for fresh out of the oven chocolate chip cookies. I also really like your idea about making my goals positive and giving myself something to do when I start to feel that all-or-nothing mentality creeping in, so I don't have to just grit it out.

 

[Stacy]

Yes I do totally understand where you're coming from!! I've accepted that I cant change the past or my genetics or the fact that I "cant eat just one Lays potato chip!" and I'm trying to focus on things I can change. Thankfully, I like sweets but I dont crave them. I can have/had had a gallon of ice cream in the fridge for 3 months and havent given it a second thought before. I do get the hankering for something sweet every once in awhile and the sugar free jello puddings seem to take care of it...only 2 PP's too! Now chips...I just cant buy them and when I do I buy a small bag b/c no matter what size bag they will be eaten in their entirety in one sitting! I'm not a big soda drinker either, so gotta count my blessings. I've read that too much soda can leech the calcium out of your body and lead to weak bones, dont know if that's true but works for me!

I also like to bake but I've gotten into the habit of baking and then taking the baked goods to either some friends or to church etc. so I can still bake but then not "have" to eat it all myself! I've taken in baked goods to my dentist, OBGYN, etc, but never to work b/c I"d just eat them all there instead of at home!

I got my workout in...nothing too major, but better than nothing...

-did my initial pushups for step 1 of the PushUp Challenge
-did Tonique Mat (the one the side premix, 17 min)
-did the "hills" preset program on the treadmill....32 min of alternating a 3 degree incline with a 7 degree incline, every 2 minutes, walking at 3 mph. My knee felt okay so I think I'll either up the speed or goto the next level up next time

Tomorrow....is upper body and abs. I'm thinking about doing the Gym Styles upper body workouts for a few weeks, just omitting the push up section at the beginning of the chest workout since I'll be doing the Pushup Challenge 3 days a week. I've also committing myself to doing 1 yoga workout a week...I've gotta work on my flexiblity!

Food so far...

B--Jimmy Dean D-Lite breakfast bowl (6 PP's). I need to kick that processed food habit.
S--cashews (5 PP)

Dinner will be eating out at a burger place with some friends...I've already calculated my points!

 

[gonnabea5]

Hey All. Welcome LauraJane.

Only time for a quick post. No weights today b/c lats and sides are sore from boxing yesterday. I did most of step moves and earned 6 aps.

b. Cereal, milk 7
s. yogurt, peanuts 6
l. salad, chicken breast, grapes, crackers 11
s. apple 0
d. pot pie,
total: 38

Editing to remove ice cream for my dessert today. I forgot that I'm in a no-sweets challenge. Woohoo. This is day 2!!!