Geocaching

My husband and I picked up a handheld GPS last night, and it makes geocaching a little easier instead of trying to bring the Garmin for the car! We trekked out this morning on our bikes on the trail out in the country. It’s beautiful and very peaceful. Now there are wildflowers growing along the sides. But outside of town it’s all gravel, so it’s quite the workout but oh so fun!

The best part is….We went 6 miles!!! I got a lot of AP’s for that! We were out for 2 hours. We had to stop for a couple minutes here and there to find the caches, but wow am I worn out now!!

Here are some pictures:

Just a pole, right?  

This was stuck at the top of it in a hiding place.

 

We had to hike down a bit to find this one! Do you see it hiding in there? We had to pull the rocks away to find it.

You can just barely see the forest green lid in this tree in the center.

That’s not a nail that you see, you can pop that out with a pen and it opens up and you log your name. This was on a sign.

This was stuck to the bottom of a big telephone pole, the black box is magnetic.

You just have to do it to see how much fun this is!! There were a couple that we couldn’t find, but we’ll have to go look again!

What a great way to get some activity in!!

Accountability

I have found that what helps me the most is holding myself accountable and it’s the first thing that I want to stop doing! As soon as I eat something that I don’t feel would be “diet” food, I say, I guess there’s no point in counting my points for the rest of the day. I’ve really screwed it all up now. So, I’ve been trying to take action and count my points everyday. I have found that while I think I’ve done terrible, I really have not! So here are a couple of things that I’ve learned:

1. I’m eating too many snacks throughout the day again, and not the right kind! I didn’t get a chance to get any groceries for the week, so now I’m waiting for Friday payday to get here so I can go stock up on lots of fruits and veggies again.

2. I’m not getting enough activity in. I’m planning on making that my goal for this weekend to get a lot of activity in that gets me back in the exercising mode.

3. I really, really want to be healthy, look good, and feel good about myself. I need to refocus and keep these goals in mind as I make my decisions about what I’m eating.

4. Blogging really does help me stay on track and keep accountable. I didn’t blog for a while and got to thinking, maybe I don’t need to do this anymore. Once I posted again, started writing about what I was feeling, I realized the importance of this once again.

5. I need to focus on my goal rewards!! I have a pedicure and my favorite lotions coming up! Not to mention, I’m really close to that Coach purse that I’ve wanted for SOOOO long!

Don’t take what I’ve written here as negativity. It most certainly is not. Addressing the things that I am doing wrong is what helps me to accept it and make changes.

I do have to say that I am absolutely starving right now and I am trying my hardest to stay out of the kitchen!! BUT…I have committed, with Becca, to stay on points and follow the plan all week!!

Weigh In Day

Today was weigh in day and I gained once again. I gained 1 lb. this week. I am now 3 lbs. over where I was a few weeks ago. I am really struggling. I want to lose weight but I am getting really lazy. I haven’t counted my points since I don’t know when. I am still making conscious choices about what I’m eating. Part of my gain this week was due to the little vacation that we took. I gained 2 lbs. while we were gone, but I got some of that off by today. I haven’t been getting exercise in either, except for my 10 minute walks on breaks at work. I cannot get motivated for some reason. I think I need to get some good exercise in and that would do it. I do not want to give up!!! Please help! What would you all recommend that I do? Are there any things that you do to get back on track? Should I eliminate all sweets from my diet for a while?

Just a little update

First of all, I have to say that the weather has been just beautiful! Especially today! The car read 90* today but I think it was more like 82* or so. But today at work there was something going wrong with the air system and it was 81* inside the office with no air circulation. That got pretty uncomfortable and really wears you down! I did get outside for my 2 walks again today! :) I'm going to try to keep that up as long as the weather permits.

We had a free cookout today at work. I had a small burger, sun chips, and 1 brownie. No, that's not a salad, but let me tell you, I really wanted to make another trip up to that dessert table and I didn't. :) So go me!!! It's really hard when everyone around you fills up their plate with 5 different desserts and eat 2 hotdogs or hamburgers. But I did really well, and I have to give myself a pat on the back for that! I also made a new rule for myself that I have to eat everything that I've brought with me to work before I can even think about any vending machine junk. I have to make sure I bring lots of fruit to work, and it seems to be working. Now if I can just keep my evenings in line, I'll be ok. I haven't been tracking my points like I should be, and I'm afraid that it will show on my WI tomorrow. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to make yourself more strict? I don't want to be too hard on myself though.

In other news, my hubby and I are planting a garden! I thought this would be a cheap little hobby, but I was wrong!! My husband is a carpenter, and not to mention a perfectionist. He does excellent work, and will never just do a simple job. :) So, we're going to have the most professional looking garden around. lol. So, when that's all finished, I'll post some pictures! I am planting some seeds, and bought a few plants. We're planning on working on that tonight. It will be nice to have fresh veggies and fruits this summer. I'm not expecting too much this year, but it will be fun!

I hope all of you are enjoying the nice Spring weather! :)

A New Hobby

My husband and I have found a new hobby! Geocaching! It is so much fun and it incorporates exercise and activity into it. We looked for two caches yesterday just to see what it was like, and we loved it!!

You can check it out here: http://www.geocaching.com/

I have to say that I have been struggling a little bit. Especially over the weekend. It’s hard to get back into the routine of things. I think I eat better when I am not at home! Today has gone quite a bit better. I even went out for a walk on 2 of my breaks today. So I got 20 minutes of activity right there! It made me relax and was a big break from sitting at my desk! I’ll have to keep that up.

So Good to be Home

I’m finally home! Overall, it was a pretty amazing trip, but I am so happy to be home! This was the first time my husband and I were apart since we’ve been married ( 2 1/2 years) so we really missed each other!

My WI on Wednesday was a .8 gain at 260.4. Understandable with the way I had been stressing myself out. I really need to learn to control that and I know it would help a lot. This morning I weighed in at 260.2, so eating wise, the trip was a success.

I feel like I made a lot of good decisions food wise. One meal I had the salad bar and a bowl of soup. Another I had fresh grilled salmon and a salad. The last meal I had a salad and parmesan chicken with noodles. So, that was probably the worse I did the whole time. Not bad and I’m really proud of myself for that!

Now comes the hard part. I didn’t count points the whole time I was gone, so I need to get back into that structure again. I think I can finally relax and summer is just beginning for me. There isn’t anything stressful coming up in the near future! Yay!

Still Here

I haven't posted since Sunday, but everything is going fine. Tomorrow is weigh in day, so it'll be interesting to see how I've done. I won't be able to report it tomorrow though as I have to go on a little trip for work from Wed-Fri. We will be dining out at some really nice restaurants, so hopefully I make good choices!! I think there will be a fitness center at the hotel, so I might try to get up early and work out when I'm there too. We'll have to see. :) Hope you all are having great weeks and I'll probably be back on Saturday!

Saturday

I didn't get a chance to get most of the pictures of what I ate on Saturday, so I'll just list them instead. But beware, I used more weekly points!!!

Breakfast:

1 light English muffin w/ small amount of rhubarb jam
2 cups of milk
strawberries

Points: 6.5

Lunch:

We went to another town for a furniture sale (no luck) but decided to have subway for lunch. I can never find a Subway with their chicken salad, and for some reason this one carries it. This is probably a good thing because it's not a town I ever go to! I LOVE Subway's chicken salad!

6" Chicken salad on Monterrey Cheddar with Provolone
Baked BBQ Lays

Points: I estimated 14, this may be more than it should be as they put like 2 TBS. of chicken salad on my sandwich.

For a snack I had a Fiber Plus bar for 1 point.

We took my MIL out for Mother's day. She chose this restaurant we had never been to. I am pretty proud of my choices, for the main entree anyway! I can never resist sweet potato fries!

Grilled Catfish and grilled Tilapia (which I only ate half of) w/ tartar sauce
Sweet potato fries
Salad bar items (Yes, I had some small amounts of pasta salad and a little of this Oreo dessert)

Points: 15.5

Later on I had a Schwann's sundae cone for 5 points... and later I had two dark chocolate squares for 2 points.

Definitely could have done better today, but I still haven't used all of my weekly points.

Total Used: 39
Allowed:33
Weekly Points left: 8
Activity: I had the best of intentions by going outside first thing in the morning for a bike ride but it was just too cold and windy. So of course, I got too busy and I didn't get my workout in. I did some working in my flower beds, a lot of bending over, lifting, etc. I know that probably doesn't count!

Finally Friday!

For breakfast I had 2 Thomas Mini whole wheat bagels with peanut butter (only one pictured), a banana and 2 cups of milk for 12.5 points. I had a little more for breakfast because I was planning on a really light lunch…but…we’ll get to that later!

I have to say that I think a bigger breakfast like this might be beneficial to me because I didn’t even eat lunch until 1:00 and didn’t need any snacks in between. I ate breakfast at 5:15 am too! That’s pretty remarkable because I’m usually starving by about 9:00.

At 11:00, the boss asked me if I wanted to voluntarily go home, so of course I had to say yes! It’s such a beautiful day outside and I figured I’d need a little extra relaxed time at home before the stressful week next week. So I did a little shopping, but didn’t find anything clothes wise. I have to go on a little business trip next week and we have to go by the corporate office dress code, so of course I wanted to buy some new dress clothes! No such luck. Plus, we have to wear closed toed shoes and I don’t really want to wear heals because we’ll be doing a lot of walking. Ick! I like sandals better! I might have to do a little more shopping on Saturday. I did go to Sam’s Club and got the granola bars, sandwich thins, strawberries, and a pineapple.

Then I headed over to Wendy’s to pick up some lunch. I had planned on like a 3 point lunch, but since I got off work early I decided to get a Mandarin Chicken Salad. I ate it with the almonds and dressing for a total of 10 points. Then I had a Kellog’s FiberPlus bar (see yesterday’s post) for 1 point.

I decided to surprise my husband and mow the lawn. That took me exactly 50 minutes, non stop mowing. So I added the 4 AP’s.

I had the best of intentions for supper. Really, I did. I had the coupon for a free meal at KFC for the new grilled chicken. I was planning on the green beans and mashed potatoes for a supper within my points range. When we got to KFC there was a sign on the door to “Please get a rain check for your free meal coupons.” The line was so long and my husband doesn’t like KFC, so we decided if we weren’t going to get a free meal we might as well eat somewhere else.

So, we went to a local Mexican restaurant. I got a grilled chicken chimichanga which came with guacamole, refried beans and Spanish rice. I did have a few chips with salsa also. I estimated a total of 15.5 points.

To add to that, we wanted to try Sonic’s ice cream so I got a snickers sonic blast for 13 points.

Ok, not the best day!! But I still have weekly points left over, so I guess I’m still sticking to it! I felt miserable last night, another reminder of why I don’t want to eat like that.

Total Used: 52 (ouch!)

Allowed: 33

Weekly points left: 14

Activity: Mowed the lawn for 50 minutes straight with a push mower

New Food Review

Today I was at Sam’s Club and saw a box of Kellog’s Fiber Plus granola bars. The package there came with 4 boxes. 2 were Dark Chocolate Almond and 2 where chocolate chip.

These are absolutely delicious! They’re only one point a piece and would satisfy a sweet craving.

Here’s what they look like:

There are 9 grams of fiber in each bar, which is amazing. But there is a buyer beware on the back of the package which kind of made me laugh:

So, don’t eat the whole box in one sitting, but they sure are delicious!!

Thursday 5-7-2009

5 a.m. came way too fast as usual! It’s so hard waking up that early!

For breakfast I had cinnamon Life with a little milk, 1/2 cup Naked Juice, and a banana for 7.5 points.

I headed to work and drank my usual cup of coffee with a minimal amount of milk and sweet and low.

 

 

For break I had a Light Yoplait Peach yogurt for 2 points.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At lunch time I had a slice of leftover pizza, salad with a little Light Italian and 1 cup of peaches for 7.5 points. 

 

 

 

 

 

I got a little hungry by the time of my next break so I got some animal crackers from the vending machine for 4 points.

 

When I got home I had 1/2 cup of fresh pineapple for .5 point.

For supper I had Boneless Terriyaki Chicken Wings from Schwans (I am in love with these!), green beans and cottage cheese for 8.5 pts.

 

For dessert I had a slice of angel food cake with caramel drizzled on top for 2 pts.

Later on I had some Healthy Pop Jolly time for 1 pt and 2 pieces of Dove Milk Chocolate for 2 pts.

Total Used: 35

Allowed: 33

Weekly points left: 33

Activity: none

Back to Photographing

I think I’ll have a little more time to post pictures up of what I eat, so I’m going to give this another try!

I had today off of work so that I could slave over some papers for my finals. All in all, I would rather be home writing papers than at work. :) I wish I could find a job where I could work from home.

I woke at up 6:30, this is still sleeping in 1 1/2 hours for me, but I wish I could have done a little better!

 

I ate a quick breakfast of peanut butter toast, a banana and 2 cups of 1% milk for a total of 8.5 pts.

 

 

So I wrote papers and took breaks in between to do laundry and unload the dishwasher. After I finished up my papers I decided to spice things up a little bit and do the 30 Day Shred. This was my second time to do this workout and it killed me again! It’s so high intensity for me that I get 4 AP’s out of it for the 20 minute workout. I’m hoping that I don’t have any trouble walking tomorrow like I did last time!!

After that I ate a slice of leftover home-made pizza (whole-wheat crust), a small side salad with light Italian dressing, and 1 cup of canned peaches for a total of 7 pts.

After lunch, I headed off to school to drop off my papers. It feels soooo good to be done! I sold one of the books that I don’t want to keep and got $10 back. Isn’t crazy how you pay $75 for a book and you only get $10 back for it when you sell it back? The university book stores take advantage of students.

Then I headed over to Von Maur and did a little shopping. My husband needed a new belt and I always have to check out the clearance shoe room! I’ve had my eye on these Bandolino shoes for months now and they had them in their for $17!! I just couldn’t resist that and even bought a size smaller than I usually would. My feet my shrink when I lose weight, right? ;) They still fit, but could be more comfy! They’re more of a winter shoe, so I’ll put them away for next year. I ran into Walgreens to get a gift card for my Mom for mother’s day. It’s just easier to mail a gift card than a gift.While I was there I picked up a trail mix and Starbucks Frappucinno, making it evident that I still don’t know how to pick out healthy food because it was a total of 9 pts!!!

The rest of the afternoon I successfully stayed out of the fridge! I was so hungry, I think it’s probably because of a poor breakfast. I need to make sure I eat more protein for breakfast. I sat outside in the sun and read a book. Just enjoying my day off while it lasts.

For supper I had grilled chicken w/ BBQ sauce and 1 roasted sweet potato for  5 points.

 

 

And of course I have to have dessert every night. I had a slice of angel food cake with a small amount of caramel drizzled over it for 2 points.

Later on my MIL offered me a small frosted sugar cookie, no picture, but I’ll count it as 1.5 points.

Total points used: 33

Allowed: 33

Activity: 20 minutes of 30 Day Shred

Weigh in Day

I stepped on the scale this morning and had lost 2.8 lbs this week! I'm really happy with that. I am 1 lb. from my lowest weight so far and 1.6 lbs. from my 30 lb. goal! :) It does show that I gained 1 lb. in April, but I have to remember that I gained back a lot of the weight right after that weigh in because I had been sick, so maybe that wasn't the most accurate weight in April.

Total Lost: 28.4 lbs.

Active Day

Today I worked my regular scheduled at work that I work when I have to go to school although I didn't have to go to school today. I did have to come home and start writing papers. I got 3 written and I'll write the last 3 tomorrow. I have tomorrow off of work!!

This afternoon I went for a 45 minute walk, which felt so good! It was supposed to be rainy today but it turned out being a beautiful day with sunshine!

I just got home from a 45 minute bike ride! I went to mapmyride.com and I believe my ride was just under 8 miles!! That's pretty awesome! So I got 1 1/2 hours of activity today. That's something to be proud of! I just love the way that I feel when I am active.

Tomorrow is weigh in, so I'm hoping for the best. Obviously, when I have more time, I will put in more time towards activity. So I'm hoping now that I am just about done with school I will be more motivated to get more exercise, like I did today!

Bike Ride

Last night, my husband and I went on a nice bike ride. We went for 6 miles. It felt so good to be outside in such nice weather and even nicer to get some much needed activity in! Here’s a picture of my bike. Notice the extra large seat that my husband found for me on Ebay! This is absolutely wonderful! Biking is no longer a pain in the butt! ;)

The Weekend

I hope everyone has had a great weekend. My parents came to visit for the weekend so it was really nice to see them! On Saturday we had a garage sale, but it was really slow this year and we only made around $40.00. There was a city-wide garage sale, but they also had city-wide garage sales throughout the whole county this year, so I think more people were at home having garage sales so there were less people out shopping them. We'll take what money we can get though!

This week is finals week for me. I have 6 papers to write... Totaling 14 page minimum. So that's what I'll be doing Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning. I will be so relieved when Thursday comes and I can go drop the last papers off and be done for the summer. I've got a few things coming up for work that have me a little stressed too though. I have to go on a little trip, which I've never done for work before and I also applied for a new temporary management position. Wish me luck!

I've felt like my eating this weekend hasn't been the greatest, but the scale tells me otherwise! I have been thinking about eating while I'm eating rather than just eating everything I want. I haven't tracked my points all weekend though. Everything I cooked I would consider healthy though. By the way, I found the BEST healthy cheesecake recipe:

1 pkg. Cream Cheese (Fat free for lowest points)
1 tub of whipped topping (Fat free or sugar free)
1/3 cup of sugar or Splenda.

Mix the CC and the sugar together first. Then blend in the whipped topping. Put it in a graham cracker crust and chill for 3 hours. Depending on what you use to make it, and the size of the slice, you can get a really low point dessert! Top it with strawberries to get a serving of fruit! :)

My husband and I are going to go on a bike ride tonight! I'm so excited!