Happy Independence Day week! This week has been unbearably hot. The humidity was well over 50% every day and we had real-feel temps of over 100 for five days. When the weather gets like this there is no cooking. It's just too hot. Especially since there is only AC in my bedroom and the rest of the apartment can get into the 80s or 90s. This means a horrible diet. I didn't eat much over the last five days, or I ate out at restaurants because it was just too hot to want to turn the stove on. This lead to my first week gaining weight since I have been on Weight Watchers. I am so thankful that the heat broke yesterday.
Today I went grocery shopping and stocked up on all sorts of healthy foods like fruits, veggies, turkey, cheese, eggs, and hummus (chocolate dessert hummus, it's to die for!). I am more than ready to get back on track and start losing again. I am mad at myself for letting the heat get to me and ruin my eating habits, but that is going to happen from time to time. There is nothing that I can do to change it, I can only look forward and plan on healthy meals again.
I also haven't gotten to the YMCA either. It's so hard to find time to work out because my son refuses to do anything at the gym with me, and I have him all day every day except every other weekend. I love having him around, but there are times when I just want to get out, get to the gym, and spend some time on the machines without having to fight with him to get out of the house because we aren't going to do something HE wants to do. He likes going swimming there, but I can't take him swimming and work out at the gym at the same time. Right now I can't even go swimming because I have a fresh tattoo that is still healing (open wound and chlorine...NOPE). They have a "kid zone" room there where kids can go and the parents can go work out, but it's more of a daycare for younger kids, so there isn't much for him to do there. I am sure he doesn't want to hang out with a bunch of toddlers! It's tough, I just need to find a balance or try and find a machine that he will like (haha good luck with that) so that we can exercise together.
At any rate, that is about all that has been going on lately. Just trying to keep my head above water and keep the scale moving in the right direction. Here's to a week of healthy food and maybe some walks since it's not so hot anymore!
Saturday, July 7, 2018
Thursday, June 21, 2018
Frustrations, Gains, and Losses
Hi everyone! It's been a frustrating week, to say the least. Even though I have continued eating well and staying within a healthy range for my points this week, I had gained 4 pounds back. I think I have dropped a couple over the last few days, we will see tomorrow when I weigh-in. I have tried not to weigh myself every day because it stresses me out when I put on a pound or two, even though there are so many reasons why that could happen.
I am having trouble reaching my points for the day. I can't seem to eat all of the points that they want me to eat, but I can't lower my daily point limit because it's set to what will fuel your body the best for the best weight gain without starving yourself. I am trying to load up on points in the morning to burn off through the day. I eat cheese, or a bagel with peanut butter, or granola. Lunch is my biggest problem. I don't like eating lunch, I am never hungry until 3pm and by that time it's almost dinner. I generally have a snack type food like fruit and veggies or something like that, but it certainly doesn't help me to rack up any points. It's a matter of balance and I need to find the balance. I lose more when I eat all of my points for the day so I really have to make sure that I am eating enough. Today I only have four points left so I may have a beer before bed. I had a grilled chicken salad for supper and added some cheese and ranch to it but only ate half of it, if that, so it didn't help with points either. I was pretty envious of my ex-hubs though, he had a delicious looking steak and cheese calzone that looked so so good.
I had too many points left for the day so I brought the kiddo out for ice cream after supper. I had a small one-scoop cotton candy ice cream which was 7 points (and so worth it).
I was talking to ex-hubs the other day about maybe getting the courage to sing in a band once my son is grown and I have more free time. He said that he may have me come on for a song with his band if I wanted to and I reminded him that I have no stage presence. I told him that despite how much I love karaoke, I hate being up on stage. I always feel like people are judging me for the way that I look (even though I know that my friends aren't, but others who I don't know I feel that they are). He told me that no, they were judging me for my amazing voice, not by the way I look. I love him for that, he reminded me of something positive when I was down on myself. I need more of that because I forget too often that I do have some positive qualities about me. After being teased and bullied my entire life because of my looks, it is hard to escape from the grips of a lack of self-esteem.
So I guess that is all today. Weigh-in day tomorrow, keep your fingers crossed for me!
I am having trouble reaching my points for the day. I can't seem to eat all of the points that they want me to eat, but I can't lower my daily point limit because it's set to what will fuel your body the best for the best weight gain without starving yourself. I am trying to load up on points in the morning to burn off through the day. I eat cheese, or a bagel with peanut butter, or granola. Lunch is my biggest problem. I don't like eating lunch, I am never hungry until 3pm and by that time it's almost dinner. I generally have a snack type food like fruit and veggies or something like that, but it certainly doesn't help me to rack up any points. It's a matter of balance and I need to find the balance. I lose more when I eat all of my points for the day so I really have to make sure that I am eating enough. Today I only have four points left so I may have a beer before bed. I had a grilled chicken salad for supper and added some cheese and ranch to it but only ate half of it, if that, so it didn't help with points either. I was pretty envious of my ex-hubs though, he had a delicious looking steak and cheese calzone that looked so so good.
I had too many points left for the day so I brought the kiddo out for ice cream after supper. I had a small one-scoop cotton candy ice cream which was 7 points (and so worth it).
I was talking to ex-hubs the other day about maybe getting the courage to sing in a band once my son is grown and I have more free time. He said that he may have me come on for a song with his band if I wanted to and I reminded him that I have no stage presence. I told him that despite how much I love karaoke, I hate being up on stage. I always feel like people are judging me for the way that I look (even though I know that my friends aren't, but others who I don't know I feel that they are). He told me that no, they were judging me for my amazing voice, not by the way I look. I love him for that, he reminded me of something positive when I was down on myself. I need more of that because I forget too often that I do have some positive qualities about me. After being teased and bullied my entire life because of my looks, it is hard to escape from the grips of a lack of self-esteem.
So I guess that is all today. Weigh-in day tomorrow, keep your fingers crossed for me!
Thursday, June 14, 2018
Citrus Rosemary Chicken Recipe and More!
Okay, so I will start with the recipe for this delightful chicken:
1 pound of boneless, skinless chicken tenders or chicken breasts
1 lemon
1 orange
a few sprigs of rosemary
salt and pepper
1/4 cup water
Slice the lemon and the orange. Place the chicken in the pressure cooker and season with salt and pepper, put the slices of citrus on top. Squeeze some lemon juice onto the chicken before completely covering. Pour the 1/4 of a cup of water on top of the chicken. Place the rosemary sprigs on top. Cook on high pressure for 14 minutes. Voila!
So easy, fragrant, and delicious!!
I took a slice of the orange out after cooking and shredded it and put it on top of the chicken. It gave a sweet little kick.
So now onto the "more". I have been doing really well and I am proud of continuing this for almost a full month now. Tomorrow is my weigh-in so I will see how much I have lost this week. As of last Friday I had lost 9.6 pounds in three weeks. Tomorrow will show my total loss for the entire month. I am actually excited to step on the scale as crazy as that sounds.
I am trying not to weigh myself every day anymore because it is discouraging when the scale goes up. I know that there are a variety of reasons for it, and I know that none are my diet because I have been eating really really well. I have also been adding in a lot more exercise which can pack on some weight due to the inflammation of muscle repair. I did my dumbbell exercises last week, but as an experiment stopped this week to see if I lost more weight. I will resume my dumbbell exercises on Saturday.
On Tuesday I went for a nice mile-long walk on a local trail with my son and his father. It was so great to be out in the fresh air and to have some family time together where we were moving and bettering ourselves. I am hoping that we can do this at least once per week. Monday and Wednesday consisted of YMCA days where I did 2 water aerobics classes on Monday and 1 class on Wednesday plus a little gym time. I am hoping I can keep that up as well as I really don't move as much as I should if I am trying to become healthier.
I am so thankful for the massive amount of support that I have had from my friends and family through this journey so far. It is nice to know I have people in my corner cheering me on. Thank you all :)
1 pound of boneless, skinless chicken tenders or chicken breasts
1 lemon
1 orange
a few sprigs of rosemary
salt and pepper
1/4 cup water
Slice the lemon and the orange. Place the chicken in the pressure cooker and season with salt and pepper, put the slices of citrus on top. Squeeze some lemon juice onto the chicken before completely covering. Pour the 1/4 of a cup of water on top of the chicken. Place the rosemary sprigs on top. Cook on high pressure for 14 minutes. Voila!
So easy, fragrant, and delicious!!
I took a slice of the orange out after cooking and shredded it and put it on top of the chicken. It gave a sweet little kick.
So now onto the "more". I have been doing really well and I am proud of continuing this for almost a full month now. Tomorrow is my weigh-in so I will see how much I have lost this week. As of last Friday I had lost 9.6 pounds in three weeks. Tomorrow will show my total loss for the entire month. I am actually excited to step on the scale as crazy as that sounds.
I am trying not to weigh myself every day anymore because it is discouraging when the scale goes up. I know that there are a variety of reasons for it, and I know that none are my diet because I have been eating really really well. I have also been adding in a lot more exercise which can pack on some weight due to the inflammation of muscle repair. I did my dumbbell exercises last week, but as an experiment stopped this week to see if I lost more weight. I will resume my dumbbell exercises on Saturday.
On Tuesday I went for a nice mile-long walk on a local trail with my son and his father. It was so great to be out in the fresh air and to have some family time together where we were moving and bettering ourselves. I am hoping that we can do this at least once per week. Monday and Wednesday consisted of YMCA days where I did 2 water aerobics classes on Monday and 1 class on Wednesday plus a little gym time. I am hoping I can keep that up as well as I really don't move as much as I should if I am trying to become healthier.
I am so thankful for the massive amount of support that I have had from my friends and family through this journey so far. It is nice to know I have people in my corner cheering me on. Thank you all :)
Sunday, June 10, 2018
Ups and Downs: Stopping exercise?
I didn't realize it's been almost a week since I wrote anything...
It has been a long week. I gained weight instead of losing even though I stayed under my points every single day last week. I didn't quite understand it but then thought for a minute about what I had done differently between this past week and the week before. Exercise. I did my 8 pound dumbbell routine every single day. I know that the weight gain was most likely gaining muscle and water retention, but it is still discouraging to see that scale go up again. And I know, the scale is not a determining factor on this journey, but it feels so much better when it goes down instead of up.
I am going to experiment this week and take a week off of my dumbbell schedule to see if that makes a difference. If it does, I will only do it every other week instead of every week. I still want to tone and build muscle, but I want to lose weight as well. I become frustrated and discouraged easily so I have to make sure that I am doing what I need to in order to stay on it. I will continue doing cardio and swimming at the YMCA though.
Although it was fun swimming with the kiddo, I found it to be very difficult after about 10 minutes with my shoulder. I just couldn't swim using my right arm. I was trying to race Cody and found that certain strokes were easier than others, but it still hurt. I have to take it easy or else I am going to hurt my shoulder more than it already is and I certainly don't want that!
I have also found that food with sugar alcohols gives me INTENSE stomach pain. I tried HaloTop ice cream this week but due to the sugar alcohols, I think I am going to have to give it up. The two times I have eaten it I have felt like I was being stabbed in the stomach. This also happened when I had sugar free Cool Whip. So, no more sugar alcohols. I will eat things with Stevia or real sugar and simply cut down on how much I eat. Last night I brought the kiddo for ice cream for supper and had a real ice cream. It was delicious and I still dropped three pounds.
It has been a long week. I gained weight instead of losing even though I stayed under my points every single day last week. I didn't quite understand it but then thought for a minute about what I had done differently between this past week and the week before. Exercise. I did my 8 pound dumbbell routine every single day. I know that the weight gain was most likely gaining muscle and water retention, but it is still discouraging to see that scale go up again. And I know, the scale is not a determining factor on this journey, but it feels so much better when it goes down instead of up.
I am going to experiment this week and take a week off of my dumbbell schedule to see if that makes a difference. If it does, I will only do it every other week instead of every week. I still want to tone and build muscle, but I want to lose weight as well. I become frustrated and discouraged easily so I have to make sure that I am doing what I need to in order to stay on it. I will continue doing cardio and swimming at the YMCA though.
Although it was fun swimming with the kiddo, I found it to be very difficult after about 10 minutes with my shoulder. I just couldn't swim using my right arm. I was trying to race Cody and found that certain strokes were easier than others, but it still hurt. I have to take it easy or else I am going to hurt my shoulder more than it already is and I certainly don't want that!
I have also found that food with sugar alcohols gives me INTENSE stomach pain. I tried HaloTop ice cream this week but due to the sugar alcohols, I think I am going to have to give it up. The two times I have eaten it I have felt like I was being stabbed in the stomach. This also happened when I had sugar free Cool Whip. So, no more sugar alcohols. I will eat things with Stevia or real sugar and simply cut down on how much I eat. Last night I brought the kiddo for ice cream for supper and had a real ice cream. It was delicious and I still dropped three pounds.
Monday, June 4, 2018
Mental Illness and the After-Effects
Most people who know me know that I am generally a bright and shiny person with a happy attitude. Those who really know me know that the last six or seven years were hell. I was battling some pretty deep depression. It never got to the point where I ever thought about harming myself, but it was bad enough that it affected almost every part of my life.
There were days when I didn't even want to get out of bed. Most days I would get up, work, and then go right back and lay down in my bed with the kiddo in my room with me and we would hang out an watch TV or play board games. I didn't want to come out of my room. Other than Cody, nothing else really seemed important. I became extremely lazy and just kind of stopped cleaning. It got out of control and now my house is a disaster that is looming in front of me. I have been trying to clean it little by little, but it's so overwhelming that it is hard to keep up with everything else that I have going on. Whenever someone tries to come in the house I will make an excuse so that doesn't happen. I don't want people here, seeing what years of depression has done to me and my life. I want to keep that happy demeanor for those who see me outside of my house. I am embarrassed to even have the maintenance guys here to fix things because my house is so awful.
Now, don't get me wrong, I don't have like piles of rotting food on the floor or anything like that. I have a LOT of clutter. I have a LOT of clothes that are all over the place because I keep buying more and have no place to put them, but can't seem to get rid of the ones I don't wear anymore because I think, "Well when I lose weight I can wear it." I just want to get this place clean. I want to be able to have people over. I want to get a new couch. I can't do that until I clear up space in my bedroom to put stuff that is in the living room. I want to be able to make a weekly cleaning schedule and actually stick to it instead of doing something and then getting distracted by another thing and forgetting about the cleaning that I was doing.
This has to be a part of my transformation. Along with losing weight and eating better, I have to set aside time every single day to clean something. I have been doing okay for the last week or so. I have been washing the dishes pretty much every day instead of letting them sit for a few days until I have run out of dishes to use. I have tackled my bedroom a bit and thrown a lot of stuff away, but I still have so much more to do. I want to move out of this apartment eventually and with as much stuff as I have right now, that's not possible because I would never be able to move it all. I need to downsize. I really want to rent one of those giant dumpsters to put in the driveway so I can just throw stuff over the balcony and be done with it. With only one good arm it's hard to bring more than one or two bags down with me when I go downstairs.
I also want to try and be more active every day. I went to the gym the other day and even though I wasn't there for long, I still felt good about getting out and moving. I couldn't help but to feel guilty the whole time though because I thought about all of the other things that I could have been doing while I was away. I have to get out of that mindset as well. Can we have more hours in the day, please??
Eating-wise things have been going well. I am back to losing weight after those couple of bad days and am now down a total of 12.8 pounds. I just need to make sure that I am eating through the day and that I hit those points. Last night I saved points for beer that I thought I was going to have but ended up not going out, so I instead ate walnuts and veggies with ranch dip to use up some points. I didn't want to have anything with sugar or carbs since it was right before bed.
Phew...sorry for the long-winded post. I had a maintenance guy come over today and I was so embarrassed by the condition of this apartment, I needed to rant. He was really sweet and when I apologized for the mess he said, " I am not here to judge you, sweetheart. I am just here to make sure your apartment is okay and that you don't have any lead. You are fine."
There were days when I didn't even want to get out of bed. Most days I would get up, work, and then go right back and lay down in my bed with the kiddo in my room with me and we would hang out an watch TV or play board games. I didn't want to come out of my room. Other than Cody, nothing else really seemed important. I became extremely lazy and just kind of stopped cleaning. It got out of control and now my house is a disaster that is looming in front of me. I have been trying to clean it little by little, but it's so overwhelming that it is hard to keep up with everything else that I have going on. Whenever someone tries to come in the house I will make an excuse so that doesn't happen. I don't want people here, seeing what years of depression has done to me and my life. I want to keep that happy demeanor for those who see me outside of my house. I am embarrassed to even have the maintenance guys here to fix things because my house is so awful.
Now, don't get me wrong, I don't have like piles of rotting food on the floor or anything like that. I have a LOT of clutter. I have a LOT of clothes that are all over the place because I keep buying more and have no place to put them, but can't seem to get rid of the ones I don't wear anymore because I think, "Well when I lose weight I can wear it." I just want to get this place clean. I want to be able to have people over. I want to get a new couch. I can't do that until I clear up space in my bedroom to put stuff that is in the living room. I want to be able to make a weekly cleaning schedule and actually stick to it instead of doing something and then getting distracted by another thing and forgetting about the cleaning that I was doing.
This has to be a part of my transformation. Along with losing weight and eating better, I have to set aside time every single day to clean something. I have been doing okay for the last week or so. I have been washing the dishes pretty much every day instead of letting them sit for a few days until I have run out of dishes to use. I have tackled my bedroom a bit and thrown a lot of stuff away, but I still have so much more to do. I want to move out of this apartment eventually and with as much stuff as I have right now, that's not possible because I would never be able to move it all. I need to downsize. I really want to rent one of those giant dumpsters to put in the driveway so I can just throw stuff over the balcony and be done with it. With only one good arm it's hard to bring more than one or two bags down with me when I go downstairs.
I also want to try and be more active every day. I went to the gym the other day and even though I wasn't there for long, I still felt good about getting out and moving. I couldn't help but to feel guilty the whole time though because I thought about all of the other things that I could have been doing while I was away. I have to get out of that mindset as well. Can we have more hours in the day, please??
Eating-wise things have been going well. I am back to losing weight after those couple of bad days and am now down a total of 12.8 pounds. I just need to make sure that I am eating through the day and that I hit those points. Last night I saved points for beer that I thought I was going to have but ended up not going out, so I instead ate walnuts and veggies with ranch dip to use up some points. I didn't want to have anything with sugar or carbs since it was right before bed.
Phew...sorry for the long-winded post. I had a maintenance guy come over today and I was so embarrassed by the condition of this apartment, I needed to rant. He was really sweet and when I apologized for the mess he said, " I am not here to judge you, sweetheart. I am just here to make sure your apartment is okay and that you don't have any lead. You are fine."
Saturday, June 2, 2018
Feeling Better
I had a much better day yesterday! I managed to eat all three meals successfully and dropped 2 pounds. That may also have been due to a few other things as well.
I went to work out in a gym for the first time in a long time yesterday. I didn't get much done, 20 minutes on the elliptical and 15 on the stationary bike, but I did it. I was having a hard time towards the end on the elliptical but I pushed through and stayed moving until the end. My right leg cramped up and my shoulder was on fire, but I got onto the stationary bike and did some more. Today I am going to go for a hike around a local pond that we have that has a nice mile-long trail. I am hoping that the rain holds off until I am done, although it may cool me down a little!!
This morning I didn't wake up until 9:30am so I had to have a late breakfast, but I ate that is the important part. I had a bowl full of watermelon, a Thomas's thin bagel with peanut butter, and some walnuts. I have 25 points left for today and will be having a salad at night so I still have plenty of points for snacks and lunch.
Positive vibes today everyone!!
I went to work out in a gym for the first time in a long time yesterday. I didn't get much done, 20 minutes on the elliptical and 15 on the stationary bike, but I did it. I was having a hard time towards the end on the elliptical but I pushed through and stayed moving until the end. My right leg cramped up and my shoulder was on fire, but I got onto the stationary bike and did some more. Today I am going to go for a hike around a local pond that we have that has a nice mile-long trail. I am hoping that the rain holds off until I am done, although it may cool me down a little!!
This morning I didn't wake up until 9:30am so I had to have a late breakfast, but I ate that is the important part. I had a bowl full of watermelon, a Thomas's thin bagel with peanut butter, and some walnuts. I have 25 points left for today and will be having a salad at night so I still have plenty of points for snacks and lunch.
Positive vibes today everyone!!
Thursday, May 31, 2018
You Had a Bad Day
Yesterday was NOT a good day foodwise. I didn't eat breakfast, I didn't eat lunch, and I hardly ate anything at dinner. I went out to dinner with my son and his father and we decided that we were going to go to Texas Roadhouse. As much as I wanted some of that bread with cinnamon butter, I didn't eat it because I knew it would equal a lot of points. The problem was that I hadn't eaten anything so I should have had it because I needed to eat 41 points! I stayed away though, but it was difficult. I also stayed away from my usual dinner choice of ribs because they tend to be fatty and I knew that would rack up the points as well. Yet again, I should have just eaten it. I ordered a chicken breast with BBQ sauce on the side, mashed potatoes, and fresh veggies. I only ate half of the chicken, didn't put a ton of BBQ on it, had 3/4 of the mashed potatoes, and ate a few carrots and that's it.
I was so hungry when we went out but yet I didn't even get halfway through my meal. I know it sounds dumb, but I think it is because of this app that I have. I downloaded an app where you listen to a track before you go to bed, it's called Lose Weight. It is supposed to use hypnosis to stop you from overindulging in food. As crazy as it sounds, I have not eaten anywhere near the amount of food that I would have normally. Even if it's healthy food, I don't eat that much. I really can't tell if it is the app working or just my mindset that I should be portioning my food, but either way, it is working.
I was set on making today a better day but I still have yet to eat breakfast so it's not going well so far. I am going to have to make something and have a really late breakfast. I will be making a chicken casserole tonight for supper but it's not going to be worth many points so I have to eat something for breakfast and have to eat a good lunch too, or have some snacks. It will take time to find that balance I am sure.
I was so hungry when we went out but yet I didn't even get halfway through my meal. I know it sounds dumb, but I think it is because of this app that I have. I downloaded an app where you listen to a track before you go to bed, it's called Lose Weight. It is supposed to use hypnosis to stop you from overindulging in food. As crazy as it sounds, I have not eaten anywhere near the amount of food that I would have normally. Even if it's healthy food, I don't eat that much. I really can't tell if it is the app working or just my mindset that I should be portioning my food, but either way, it is working.
I was set on making today a better day but I still have yet to eat breakfast so it's not going well so far. I am going to have to make something and have a really late breakfast. I will be making a chicken casserole tonight for supper but it's not going to be worth many points so I have to eat something for breakfast and have to eat a good lunch too, or have some snacks. It will take time to find that balance I am sure.
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