Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Reflecting back on the year.

In January 2013 I wrote a letter to myself as if it was written today.  Here's the link.  Reflecting back I did pretty well in predicting my future.

 Health:
I did continue going to Weight Watchers no matter what the scale would say.

I did continue to maintain my weight and ended up losing a half pound more over the year.  I didn't make it to 125, but I almost made it not too long ago, bur gained the weight back to a little less than my goal weight.

I do work out almost everyday.  I continued putting stickers on my calendar.  I love seeing them add up as the month goes along.

I didn't track my food like I should, but I plan on doing the Simply Filling plan so tracking shouldn't be a problem.

Retirement:
Ron is a lot move fun to be around now that he's retired.

We have traveled more.

The eating schedule is something I'm still working on.  It's getting better.

Personal Life:
I did do a lot of gardening.  It is a work in progress.

I wish I could say the house is still nice because I follow FlyLady.  It's not terrible, but it could be better.

The blogging has not be steady.  I hope to work on that this year.

I am going to write another letter to myself tomorrow and see how well I predict my future for 2014.

Saturday, December 28, 2013

The Last Week Of December

Here it is the last week of December.  I can't believe this year is gone already.  I haven't written on here since December 1st.  I really need to get better at posting more regular.  My last post listed some end of the year goals.  Here's a link to that post.

Now, how did I do with these goals?

1. I didn't want to gain weight.- Well my last weigh in at WW will be on Tuesday, but as of today on my scale I'm up 4 pounds.  I have a few days to try and correct that.  I do know I won't be in the 120.  That will have to be my goal for 2014.

 2. I wanted to get in activity every day.-  I did get at least 20 minutes of activity in, but I did not get 100% on my ActiveLink.

3. I wanted to limit my snacks.-  This was a total FAIL!  I ate way too many cookies.  They are going in the trash today and I will only eat fruit the rest of the year for snacks.

4. I wanted to attend my WW meeting every week.-  I missed 2 weeks so that was also a semi-fail.  I will go next Tuesday for my final yearly weigh in.

5. I wanted to enjoy the holidays and not stress if I messed up.  The holidays were fun.  I did mess up and I tried not to stress about it. 

I'm not happy that I didn't accomplish all these goals, but I'm not perfect and I haven't given up.  My next post will probably be on January 1st.  I will look back at the year and look at my letter to myself I wrote last year.  I will probably write another one for 2014.




Sunday, December 1, 2013

Goals for the month of December

I can't believe it's December already.  Where has the year gone?  With all the Christmas goodies, that are sure to be around this month, it might be a good idea to have a plan and set some goals to finish out the year.  You all know that I am a goal setter.  So here's my plans for December:

1.  I don't want to gain any weight.  I would love to be back into the 120s, but will be happy with a maintain.

2.  I want to get some kind of activity in everyday this month.  I'm going to work on getting my Active Link to 100% everyday.  I did very well doing this, this year, but didn't really keep track in November and didn't  get there several days. 

3.  I know I will be making cookies and other goodies, but I will limit my intake to 1 serving of  goodie a day.  I enjoy a cup of tea and some kind of treat in the evening while I'm watching TV.  I will not eat any treats during the day except for that special time.

4.  I want to attend my WW meeting every week.  Attending the meeting really help me stay on track.  I really need the accountability of the WW scale and sharing my week with my leader. Even though I am a lifetime/at goal member doesn't mean I don't need to attend meetings.

5.  Most importantly I want to enjoy the holidays and if I mess up I don't want to stress about it.  If I slip up I will move on and try to do better.  Tomorrow is another day and why stress over something that is done.

What are some of your goals for December 2013?

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Another 5K done!! That makes 3.

I ran my 3rd 5K this morning.  It was really cold and it was hard to breathe.  My calves got stiff near the end.  I walked for a little bit in the middle, but the unofficial finish is 34.14.  I don't have the final numbers, but I think this is what the finish line said when I crossed it.  I got a medal for the top finisher in my age class.  Of course it's easy to win when you are the only woman finisher in you class.  My thinking is that I beat all those 61 year old women sitting on their couch at home.

Friday, November 22, 2013

Where Were You 50 Years Ago Today?

I remember the day Kennedy was shot.  I was in school.  I was in the 6th grade.  I remember the principal getting on the loud speaker and telling us that the President had been shot and that we were all to go home.  I walked home from school that day, not knowing what to think.  That was a very sad day for Americans.

Saturday, November 9, 2013

My Second 5K Done!

I ran my second 5K this morning.  The temperature was 35 when I left my house.  I dressed the same as I did my last race.  I was comfortable.  This run was on the Akron downtown section of the towpath.  We ran along the Ohio Canal.  I didn't win my age category again, but my speed was 4 minutes faster than 2 weeks ago and my pace was 1.58 faster. Here's a picture on my finish times.

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

New WW Location

I attended my new Weight Watchers meeting this morning.  Everyone was very friendly and my leader came up and hugged me.  What a a nice feeling.  We both said that yesterday kept feeling like something was missing.  I would always go to my meeting after I attend my morning Jazzercise class.  Yesterday, I just came home.  This morning I couldn't go to my Jazzercise class because I have to travel farther to the WW meeting and I wouldn't have time to do both, so when I weighed in all things were different.  I hadn't worked out, I was wearing different clothes (it's getting cold, so I'm back to long pants) and it was a day later than I usually weigh in.  I was down .4 nonetheless.  I'm still not back to my all time low, but I'm getting there.  Today, I weighed 130.8.  That is a total weight loss of 55.8 pounds.  My goal for next week is to be back in the 120s.

After the meeting my husband and I went to have breakfast at Eat 'N Park.  Tuesday is Senior Day so we could have eaten off the buffet for $4.99.  Everything looked so good when we walked by it on the way to our table.  I knew I would not be able to portion control if I went to the buffet, so we ordered off the menu.  I got  breakfast off the Eat'n Smart menu. There was a lot of food and I wasn't even able to finish it.  The extra $1.00 was worth it.

Today's WW meeting was about "Slowing Down" while you're eating.  This is very hard for me to do.  I have always been a fast eater.  I like my food to be hot.  This is a habit I'm going to be working very hard on this week.  I need to put my fork down between each bite and chew my food slower.  I really think this habit will help me get to my next personal goal.

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Halloween Candy and Other Goodies Be GONE!!

Halloween is here and gone.  I didn't hand out anything to the beggars this year or last.  I spent the evening baking Halloween cookies for my grandson to take to work and or to his girlfriend's birthday party.  I do have candy in the pantry for the same grandson's lunches.  I ate way too many cookies, because they were just sitting there asking to be eaten.  I packed them up and sent them on their way last night.  The candy is still in the pantry and I find myself opening the pantry door and taking out 2 mini Kit Kats at a time and eating them.  I know that I shouldn't be eating them, but they are right there asking to be eaten.  I have decided I'm going to put them in a Ziploc baggie, so it will be harder for me to get to them.  If I have to open the baggie to get to the candy it will give me time to double think my action and hopefully I won't eat any.  I enjoyed an apple today instead of the candy.  I gave up candy before on my own and I can do it again.

OK I just put the candy in the Ziploc and I wrote my grandson's name on it, so when I see it I will remember I bought it for him and NOT me. What ever it takes.  I use little mind games to keep me in check.

Monday, October 28, 2013

My WW Monday Morning Meeting Has Closed.

Today is a very sad day for me.  We were told last week that today was the last morning meeting to be held at my meeting location.  They will still have a night meeting, but I REALLY like going in the morning.  I have a few options.  I can travel 20 minutes in 2 different directions to attend morning meetings.  This will cut into my Jazzercise class before the meeting.  I can attend a night meeting, which I don't want to do.  I can go weigh in only once a month, since I am a lifetime member and keep my free status and get free etools.  I have been attending the same meeting for almost 3 years.  In January it will be 2 years of being at lifetime again.  I REALLY like my leader from this meeting and to follow her I would have to drive an hour to attend her meetings on Tuesday morning.  I know that it is important to attend the meetings.  I know that my success has come from attending the meetings every week for the past almost 3 years.  I also know that it is important to connect with the leader and other members.  My locations has an evening meeting, but I really don't connect with that leader.  It is also a VERY large meeting and it is hard to form any personal relationship with the leader and members.  I used to attend the night meetings the first time I went to WW.  I would starve myself all day so the scale would be good to me and then stuff myself after the meeting and go home to go to bed shortly after.  Not a good thing to do, I know.  I managed to get to lifetime, but it took a lot longer and I didn't stay there long and quit from the frustration.  I promised myself this time that I would not quit and give up.  I discussed my option of just weighing in once a month and not staying for the meeting with my leader and she was very stern that I was not to do that.  She is a super lady.  I have a week to make a final decision if I want to continue attending weekly meeting and a month if I decide that weighing in to continue my free lifetime status.  Any feedback would be very much appreciated.

Saturday, October 26, 2013

I'm A Runner!

Who would have ever thought 9 weeks ago that I would be doing my first 5K?  My daughter and my grand-dog ran with me.  I am number 203.




After following the C25K program I managed to be finisher 223 out of 423.  I came in 4th out of 7 in my age bracket missing out getting a ribbon for 3rd place by 5 minutes.  Now I have something to strive for. 


 My finishing time was 37.51.1. My pace was 12:13 per mile.  I can and will improve this with more practice.  Technically, I still had 2 more runs in the program before I was actually a C25K graduate.  I am very proud of myself for doing this and for finishing and not quitting.  It was hard to run up the hills, since I'm used to running on the school track which is a flat, cushy and oval.  I will be looking for more 5Ks to do and who knows?  Someday I just might be writing about my 1st half marathon followed by a full marathon.

Sunday, September 8, 2013

I lost my dad 6 years ago today.


I often wonder if I made the right decision in May of 2007?  Did I hear what the doctors said or did I   hear what I just wanted to hear.  Had they said that my dad would recover from his stroke?  Had they said that the trach would only be temporary?  Had they said that if we didn't do it he would die?  That part I think they did say.  I wasn't ready to lose my dad.  Did I do what he really wanted?  Did he finish out his life as he would have wanted?  Was he happy at the end?  The answers to those questions is a definite NO!  We kept a daily diary by his visitor of how he was feeling and what he was acting like during their visit for those 4 months.  I recently got this diary out and read some of the pages.  My dad had always been a very lively, fun loving person.  He never acted or looked his age.  The last 4 months of his life he was depressed and sad and in pain both inside and out.  Now that I sit here I would have to answer my first question with the answer no.  I wasn't ready to let him go, so I said yes to the trach and the feeding tube, so I could have more time with him.  I was being selfish and I should have honored his wishes.  I hoped I could force him to fight and get better.  The photo above is his very last fishing trip that took place a week before his death.  I was determined that he would fish one more time.  Did he really have fun?  I like to think so.  He loved fishing and actually wanted his ashes taken to Canada to be dumped in his favorite fishing lake.  That wish was honored.  It was the least I could do for him.  I hope that if I am ever faced with this decision again that I can be strong and choose quality over quantity and let them go in the beginning. 

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Goodbye January

This is the last day of January 2013.  My start of the new year hasn't been too bad.  I am down 1 pound from my first January weigh-in, but I've had a couple bad weeks of eating.  This week I started tracking my WW points with dinner, so I know how many I have left for the rest of the day.  This has really helped me stay within my allotted points. My unofficial weight this morning was 129.5.  Now if I can only keep this weight over the weekend so my WW weigh-in on Monday will be bring a loss.

I managed to get in exercise everyday this month and managed to get in 2 some days.  Here's a look at my exercise calendar.


I have my February calendar on my refrigerator just waiting for tomorrow's sticker.  This has really helped me stay on track with the activity.  I look forward to putting a sticker on the calendar everyday.  The routine we will be covering in our WW meetings in February is activity so I look forward to attending the meeting and discuss this subject.  I'm taking my past calendars to share.

This past Monday I was down .2.  Not real happy with that, but at least it was a loss.  Of course, I was up .8 the week before so I'm still behind.  I have to step it up if I want to see 125 by my birthday in April. 


Saturday, January 19, 2013

Weekend

Here we are at the weekend again.  Time is just flying by.  It was so nice out last weekend.  We were wearing light weight coats and I actually walked around the backyard to see what was going on with the flower gardens.  This weekend it is COLD and gloomy out.  No snow, so I guess that's a good thing.  Winter depresses me somewhat.  I have never liked the cold weather.  The hotter the better for me.  I just can't seem to get warm in the winter.  In the past I've had my thermostat turned down, but this year I said I wasn't going to be uncomfortable and I've turned it up a little.  I'm still cold a lot of the time.

This week eating has gone is pretty well.  I've tracked everyday.  I've gone over in points some days, but not a lot and I still have weeklies left.  I've been getting 2 workouts in everyday.  I don't know if I will see a loss on Monday, but I feel good about how the weeks gone.

I'm still following Flylady.  This week we worked in the bathroom.  It is all sparkly clean.  Actually the whole house isn't terrible.  My bedroom and the dining room are the worst.  It won't take much work to get the bedroom whipped into shape and next week is master bedroom week, so I will get it done then.  The dining room is a different matter.  It's not terrible, but it is the dumping place.  My table always has something on it and my desk is usually ready to walk away.  This is where my "office" is.  This is where I spend most of my time.  My goal is to get rid of a lot more stuff that I don't really need to help make it more manageable.  Right now my table has all the things on it that I want to file in the file cabinet that I just brought up from the basement.  I have gardening and home decorating pages I've torn out of magazines that I want to keep and lot of exercise tips and a lot recipes that I have to go through and decide if I still think they look good enough to make. 

Now I have to get ready to go to Zumba.  This is how I start each and everyday. I either go to Jazzercise or to Zumba.  What a great way to start a day!!

Monday, January 14, 2013

Weigh-in Monday

This morning was my Weight Watchers weigh-in.  Remember I gained 2.4 last week.  This week I am down 1.6.  Still not back to 130, but pretty darn close.  My hopes is to be in the 120s next week.  My new goal is to be at 125 by my birthday in April.  This is totally doable if I lose .4 pounds every week from now till April 4th.  There is no major holiday to get in the way.  I am going to continue working out and plan to step it up and actually do the 2 workouts a day instead of just saying I'm going to.  Today I changed my WW goal weight from 145 to 135.  I didn't want to go too low and be discouraged if I got up a little and had to pay.  135 is a good goal and we will see how good I am at staying even lower.



This weeks WW meeting was about making your refrigerator more WW friendly.  They had so good ideas I plan to do.  I really don't prepare my fruits and veggies so they are easy to grab and enjoy.  I'm going to make up a weeks worth of salads and they will be ready all but the dressing so I can have one at lunch everyday.





Here's a picture of my refrigerator. It doesn't look too bad, but there is room for improvement to make it more WW friendly.






This is the outside of my refrigerator.  I have my January exercise calendar up so I can add stickers after each workout.  So far everyday has at least 1 sticker.  I just made a weigh in chart showing what I should weigh each week if I want to make you 125 by April goal.  I also have a couple encouraging poems.  


Did anyone watch the golden Globes last night.  I didn't watch them, but I was flipping channels when they were giving Jodie Foster her award.  She is such a pretty woman.  She is always so natural.  She never seems fake and overly made up. 

My grandson called today and asked if I wanted to go to lunch.  Who can refuse a date with their, so of course, I said yes.  We ended up going to Pizza Hut for their buffet.  I had a large salad, 1 bread stick and sauce, 1 small scoop of pasta with alfredo sauce and 1 thin slice of pepperoni pizza.  My grandson had 2 cinnamon dessert sticks left, so I ate them.  I had water to drink.  Monday is my treat day, since it's weigh in day, so I don't feel too bad about my choices.

How is everyone else doing to start off the new week?

Saturday, January 12, 2013

It's the weekend



 How do you like the new ticker?  This is based on me getting to 125.  We will see if I can make it.

Yes, another weekend.  My hubby is out of town so I have the whole house to myself.  I'm not sure I really like being alone.  There's no one here to see me go to the pantry to see what's inside.  This was me last night.  I wasn't hungry, but I just couldn't stay out of the pantry.  I ate the remaining bugles, some goldfish crackers, a slice of pumpkin bread and had some hot cocoa.  Granted this was over a long period of time after lunch.  I  had veggies and dip for dinner. The only good thing about this is I only went over my daily points bu 4 points and I had only used 1 earlier in the week.

I got my hair cut and my highlights touched upon Thursday.  I like it.  It was getting too long and my roots were getting out of control.  I'm sure my grey hair was showing up nicely.

This week has been a good week for tracking everyday and getting at least 1 workout in everyday.  I have incorporated power foods into all meals except for snacks.  I know I would be better off if I used power food for snacks instead of the junk I've been eating.  Once the junk is out of the cupboards I am not buying more.  I'm going to try and lead a cleaner lifestyle.  This is not going to be easy with my husband being here, but I am going to try.  I refuse to throw good food away, so I am going to finish what we have in the house but I plan to replace it with better options when I buy new.


Friday, January 11, 2013

Letter To Myself To Be Read In 2014.

 I just started following The Sisterhood of the shrinking jeans blog and there was a homework assignment posted last week to write a letter to myself reflecting what 2013 accomplishments I made as if I was writing it in 2014.  I am to link this blog post  here.   Here's my letter I wrote myself.

Dear Me,

  As I sit here I think back to a year ago and see all that I've accomplished.

Health:
* I continued going to Weight Watchers meeting every week no matter what.
* I continued to maintain my goal weight and actual lost more weight.  I look and feel great at 125.  Amazing what 5 more pounds can do.
* I started following a cleaner eating lifestyle.  I'm still not perfect, but I feel healthier.
* I continued to workout everyday and got to put a sticker on the calender everyday.
* I continued tracking my food in my journal and online.

Retirement:
* Since Ron's retirement I've enjoyed his company more.  He's much more fun to be around without the work stress.
* It was nice to be spontaneous with travel plans.
* It was a struggle in the beginning to get him on my eating schedule, but it finally happened.

Personal Life:
* I got to do a lot of gardening and made the yard look even better.
* The house is always so nice to walk into since I started following Fly Lady.
* I've kept up blogging even though it was hard to always find something to write about and no one but me was probably reading it anyway.

This has been a great year.   I'm sure next year will be even better.

Love, Me

Monday, January 7, 2013

Glad To Finally Be Back To Weight Watchers Meetings!!!

OK, the scale wasn't great to me, but I'm so glad to finally be able to get back to the meetings.  I gained 2.4 pounds over the Holiday.  This could have been so much worse and was.  I got myself back on track last week, sorta.  I am going to work hard to get the rest of the gain off this week.  At my meeting the topic was getting power food in with every meal and snack.  This was a topic a while back and I did it and I lost 3.4 pounds.  I'm hoping that this will happen again.  I am pre-planning my meals, so I can be sure I am within my points this week too.  Last week I ended up maxing out my daily and weeklies.  I don't use my activity points.

One draw back to using a crock pot when you are home is the great smell that comes from it and you have 2 more hours before dinner time.  That is what is happening here today.  My daughter sells Tastefully Simple and she had a freezer workshop a few weeks ago and I am having one of those meals tonight.  I'm having Brown Sugar Chicken with noodles and peas.  The chicken smells delicious.  I hope I remember to take a picture of it on my plate today.  I would really like to start a picture diary of what I eat.  I like reading bloggers pages that do that.

So, who watched Biggest Loser last night?  Jillian is back for sure.  I really wish they would have considered the girl that walked out as the eliminated player since it was only the first week.  The guy that left really wanted to be there.  I decided to do some type of exercise during the commercial breaks.  I used to eat during the show, but think it's a much better idea to do an activity instead.

This week FlyLady is working on the kitchen.  All the kitchen drawers need to be cleaned out and a lot of stuff that I don't use need to be pitched.  This is what I'm working on this week and washing down the cupboard doors.  Everything else in the kitchen look pretty good.

Friday, January 4, 2013

Yesterday Seemed To Last Forever.

I don't know why, but the day just kept going and going.  My Hubby stayed home from work because our grandson's car was overheating had we needed to find out why, plus hubby was suppose to get his new car.  Even he said the day drug by.  I was so tired at the end of the day that I actually went to bed at 9:00 and went right to sleep. 

I didn't go to Zumba last night.  I just didn't feel up to it.  I did go to Jazzercise in the morning and I did get 100% on my Active Link, but only 1 sticker on my calendar for yesterday.

Looking back at this past weeks tracker I find that's I've gone over my daily points every single day.  At this weeks end I've used all my weeklies plus 1.  I can't wait to get to my Monday weigh-in and get back on schedule.  This has been the worst two weeks.  I hate not having the accountability of going to weigh in and attending my weekly meeting.

Today I'm going to run the sweeper and get back to my Fly Lady schedule.  Everything has been slacking this week.  I have to get back to it before everything gets too out of hand.  I'm off to get my shower and then get to it.

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Today I went to Jazzercise again.  I love that class.  There's a different instructor everyday so there's no getting bored with routines.  I walked on the treadmill last night for my second workout.  I did a programed walk.  In the past I wasn't able to walk the 4 mph section.  I always had to turn down the speed.  Last night I had no problem walking the 4 mph at all.  What a difference 56 pounds can make.  Since kick boxing has been canceled for tonight I will have to find something else to do for my second workout.  Depends on how Hubby is feeling and if he's stuck on the couch watching TV again on what I end up doing.

I took down all the Christmas decorations today and put back the normal stuff.  It's nice to have the house feel like it's getting back in order.  Tomorrow I'm going to tackle the many recipe magazines that are piled up and get them at least organized into titles.  I really want go through them and take out anything I think we will actually eat.  It seems silly to have a whole magazine sitting around and having only a few recipes I will actually make.  My long term goal is to file the recipes by what type of food it is.  Of course, I've been thinking about this goal for over a year now.  Time to take action.


Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Happy 2013!

Today is New Years Day.  I am ready too get back to eating healthy.  The holidays seemed to go on forever.  The junk if finally almost all gone and the refrigerator is stocked with veggies.

I want to list my 2013 Goals:

Health:
I will exercise at least once a day, but hope to work 2 in.
I will try and get a power food into each meal.
I will track my meals:
I will achieve 100% on my Active Link everyday.

Personal/Fun:
I will plan mini trips with my husband when he retires in early summer.

Debt:
I will continue to pay down my zero percent credit card so it is paid off before the interest kicks in.
I will pay off My discover card.
I will try to not use credit cards except the ones I know I will pay off in full each month.

House:
I will continue following Fly lady and keep the house neat.
I will work in the gardens and plan more perennials.

I went to Jazzercise this morning so my calendar has one sticker on it so far.  By the end of the month my hope is to have a sticker on every day.  I had hoped to get all the Christmas things put away yesterday and then again today, but didn't get around to it.  That is my goal for tomorrow.  Fly lady is working on Zone 2 this week which is the living room, entryway and front porch.  The living room is in pretty good shape once I get the Christmas stuff put away.  The entryway needs some help, but it's cold in there.  Since we have a lot of snow and we only have a small porch in front of the door, I'm only going to see that the snow is swept from that area.

I want to get an extra workout in this evening.  Since my husband is watching TV I think I might go for a little walk on the treadmill.  I haven't used it in a very long time so I am going to take it easy.  No jogging, just a nice slow walk to help to get my Active Link to 100%.