Mrs. G's Journey to Better Health

It's getting close to calling it a day as I sit here reflecting on today's activities.  I want to share not with the intent to get a pity party, but with the intent to help others who might be having a stressful day.  In a few days my husband will be leaving out of town for work. He will not be gone too long but it is long enough for me to be a little stressed. I do consider myself an independent person, but having him around is what helps me be independent. Knowing I have an extra pair of hands, an extra pair of eyes, another parent to help, well, knowing he is there is sometimes all the help I really need. My stress comes from knowing that during the time he is on travel for work, I will not have him as my safety net. This is not the first time he is traveling for work and so it is not the first time I feel this type of stress. The first time he was out of town, I was worried because my kids were 4 and 7. Some things on our daily to-do list were not done. Some thi...

Choosing to be selfish for 30 days still seems like the best decision I have made in a long time. I was selfish in that I put my optimal health first. I was not perfect but the end result is amazing! What did I do? I went to bed at a regular time every night, ... well 90% of the time. I cut out soda and coffee, ... well, I only had 1 - 8oz cup of coffee. I did not eat out, ... well, I ate out twice. I had scheduled my meals and stuck to them, ... well, I stuck to them 90% of the time. I ate leafy greens everyday, I did this 100% of the time. I woke up everyday at the same time, ... well, I did about 95% of the time. I walked about 15-20 minutes non-stop at a very easy pace 3-4 times a week. I did this about 95% of the time. What did I stop doing? I stopped saying, "I can start over tomorrow," and started saying, "This day is NOT over." I stopped saying, "One bad choice can't hurt that much," and started saying, "One bad choice averted i...

ON TARGET! Today is Day 7 on my journey to optimal health. I feel great! This morning I got up and noticed my belt was not as tight as it normally is. I thought maybe I buckled it too loose? Nope, it was right where I always wear it. I was pleasantly surprised to say the least. I also noticed a slight gap between the belt buckle and the button on my pants. Tomorrow is my official weigh-in day, and I can not wait to see what the scale says. I have been sticking the program diligently. I have also managed to not drink any soda, tea, or coffee all week. Yes, I do miss them but my optimal goal is way more important to me than 7 days with no soda, tea or coffee. All week I stayed on target and today was a great day. I went out to try my hand at archery. Awesome! My arm is a tired from this new activity but I managed to also hit the target on the range. That was my arrow that hit the apple. I also managed to pop the balloon from 20 yards out. Not bad for a newbie. The introd...

Day 1 of 30 was as expected. Full of hope and filled with fear. Deep breath, it is only day one of thirty. I can do it for thirty days, right? My very first "fueling" was so much more delicious than I could have imagined. My fear of it tasting like dirt was blown out of the water. I'm not going to lie and say it was amazing but it was certainly delicious. My best comparison would be a slightly watered down version of an Orange Julius tropical drink. Yes, I can see myself enjoying the Chia Bliss Smoothie on a very regular basis. As the day went on I had my other Fuelings. Raisin Oat Crisp bar, perfect for my taste buds. It had real hydrated raisins in it. It was gooooood. It reminded me of something between a warm cinnamon raisin oatmeal cookie and a rice crispy treat. Next time, I will warm it up a bit in the sun before I eat it. Yes, I would eat this again. I couldn't wait for my next fueling to discover what other yummy treats were in store. Rustic ...

  Losing weight is not something that happens overnight. I gained my weight day by day, one bad habit at a time. Slowly these bad habits became my way of life and gradually I accepted my new limitations. I tried many things half-hardheartedly. A few things I really tried but have endless reasons why I failed in the past. I had to stop and really think about, me, what I want and don't want. After years of piling on the pounds my body can no longer keep up with a normal way of life. My body is always aching. I wake up in the morning and my back, my knees, my ankles all seem to be in constant discomfort, AKA, pain. I get winded climbing up a flight of stairs. By early afternoon, I am ready for a nap, a 2-3 hour nap. Sometimes I do get to nap, other times, I  need to press on. Either way I feel sluggish for the rest of the day, not much energy in me. The desire to do things is there but it quickly dissipates when the reality of my body's limitations sinks...

Feeling blue about the fact that I am coming up on a year of trying to loose weight and am not seeing progress. No one to blame, no excuses, it's my doing. I let others get in my way, I put others ahead of me. It's a struggle but it is my real struggle. I enjoy going out and doing stuff that requires lots of walking, especially geocaching. What stinks is that after a lot of walking it used to take me a day or two to recover. Now it takes me much longer. I went out and got a lot of walking in for Father's Day weekend but the next day my knees were killing me. *sigh* Can't give up. I  will continue walking and having fun, but I will have to tone the walking down. Unfortunately, it also means I can not have as many treats, aka, cheat foods. Less walking means I burn less calories and so I have to make sure I consume less high caloric food. Let me digress for a couple of pictures from my walks. Along 15 fwy near and Whiskey Pete's, better known as the Seven Magic Mou...

On a recent trip to my local Costco, I saw a bathroom scale with big letters across the top saying "weightwatchers".  This got me me thinking about my bathroom scale and wondering if I needed to get a new scale. Maybe I need a better scale to help me along my weight loss journey. The problem is determining what IS a better scale for ME. In looking at the Weight Watchers bathroom scale, I did not see anything I personally felt was worthy of the "Weight Watchers" name. Having a large display is nice, but other scales offer this too. The box also lists as features having a high contrast, a blue back light, and tempered safety glass. This all seems like something I can find on other scales. The only thing I found at a quick glance that made this scale more appealing to a Weight Watchers member is the weight limit, 400 lbs. Most bathroom scales I have come across have had a weight limit around 250-300 lbs. So when choosing a scale, take in consideration how much you ...

Today for dinner I had Lemon Salmon and Lentil Soup 3.5 oz of Kirkland Signature Atlanticsalmon seasoned with lemon juice, (9 Smart Points, 340 calories) 5 oz of Tasty Bite Madras Lentils, (5 Smart Points, 150 calories) and about 2 cups of boiled broccoli. (0 Smart Points, 110 calories) Total was 14 Smart Points and 600 calories. At first look, I did not think it would be enough. I was pleasantly surprised to find it filling! The salmon I have had before. Instead of  using oil, butter, or anything else to keep the salmon from sticking to the pan, I use fresh squeezed lemon juice. Then I let the edges get a little crispy or a touch of burnt. This was the first time I prepared this lentil mix so I followed the instructions to the letter. The consistency was as expected for a lentil soup. It sort of reminded me of a light/thin, meatless chili. It did not taste salty, a plus for me. It might have been the cumin but I felt like it contained black pepper. I like black pepper, ...

A quick and easy dinner tonight. Nothing fancy. It was plain and simple. 2.1 oz - Near East Roasted Garlic and Olive Couscous. It was prepared per the instructions on the box. 3.5 oz skinless chicken thigh pan fried with lemon juice and seasoned with Mrs. Dash Table Blend. 2+ cups of boiled broccoli. Of course my meal was plated on a genuine Weight Watchers portion controlled plate. All this and it was only 11 Smart Points. One day at a time, one pound at a time.

Get my 10,000 steps in a day is tough. Some days I do well, and then I have long streaks of not being able to hit 5,000 steps. I tend to do a lot of work on my computer or drive around town doing errands. In other words, most days I end up sitting on my bottom for long periods of time. By the end of the day, I'm tired and have no real desire to get up and go exercise intentionally.  Sometimes I make it to the gym, sometimes I don't. My kids are still on winter break so taking a trip to gym or going for a long walk is not feasible. We do have a treadmill and I could get on it and sneak a walk in here and there. I start and get 10 minutes in, then I get distracted with laundry, endless super-important-must-ask-now questions from my kids, or the dog trying to walk on the treadmill with me, or let me just pull this out of the freezer for dinner tonight and then, and then, ... *sigh* It's a new year and I am going to *sketch* out my week and *plan* out one day at a time...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!  Taking a deep breath and feeling energized about having a clean slate to start off 365 days in 2017. Through Weight Watchers Connect I have read about so many who in only 6 months have lost a good chunk of weight and the difference can clearly be seen. I have read about people who in ONE year have lost 100 lbs our more. They did it, I can do it too. One big question, "How can I do it too?" My stradegy is to immerse myself in my weight loss journey. Let's stop the hand waving and get to the nitty gritty details. I am a member of Weight Watchers and I am logging everything I eat. I may be over my alloted daily/weekly Smart Point Value (SPV), but logging is important. It's important to make it a habbit, for accountability, to learn to eat mindfully (as opposed to mindless eating). I'm also using LoseIt.com to log, but not as much as before I joined Weight Watchers. Logging your food intake on paper, in an app, with LoseIt.com or with Weigh...

"What's for dinner?" I hear that question almost every day from my kids. Running errands, driving the kids around from one activity to another, homework and housework, sometimes I forget to take something out of the freezer for dinner. Yet I do manage to get food on the table, it may not be what I had planned, but it's food. The next challenge is trying to eat at a regular time. It is tough because our daily evening schedule is not consistent. So I have a window of when we can expect to eat dinner. (That window is sometimes broken too.) I am determined to loose weight and I do try very hard to eat at a regular time, or in my case a regular window of time. For the most part, I have been successful in this respect. Now I'm supposed to eat health too? Oh man. I guess homemade chili dogs and corn chips is not going to cut it. More veggies, fruit and water, less pastries, chips and soda. While I do know what to make for dinner that is healthy and tasty, I do not al...