i quit

So I quit. Yep, it's true. I quit Weight Watchers. Since they've switched to the Points Plus program I have been really struggling with it. Personally I've felt like a lot of the point values were unreasonably high when you factor in the amount of points I had to work with in a day. If I was lucky I wouldn't go over my points once I'd had dinner, but that was very rarely the case and rarely did I feel satisfied with what I'd had in a day. Weight watchers and I had run our course.

For a couple of weeks now I have been using my fitness pal. It's a free app and it tracks calories. I cannot tell you how much I am loving this app. To start I entered in all the required information like weight, height, level of activity and what my goal was and it told me how many calories per day I should be eating to meet that goal. The app comes with a scanner so you can easily scan a barcode and track your calories that way. I love this feature. Even more impressive, I have yet to scan an item that hasn't shown up in the food list. My experience with the WW's app was the exact opposite. Many times the upc was not in the system and I would be forced to figure out the points using the calculator.

I love just dealing with the calories instead of converting those calories to points. Now with just a quick look at the nutrition information I can decide whether the item is something I'm willing to indulge in. The app also tracks how much sugar, sodium, fat, carbs and protein you're getting. That's been a really eye-opening experience. Prior to this I would argue that my diet is fairly low in sodium and that I eat a lot of carbs and I would have been wrong on both counts. It's been a really eye opening experience in what I am eating in a way that WW never was.

Another feature I love... well two features.....  first, that what I do on my phone syncs with my online account so I can easily track on my phone or online. Which ever is easiest on that day.. And second, when I press the button to complete my day the app tells me..... if every day was like today you would weigh xxxlbs in five weeks. That is a huge motivator! Love it!

So it's been good, I'm happy I made the switch.

 As of this week I am down 25lbs and half way to my goal of 50lbs.



Most of my pants are too big, including these, which were my smallest pants. It's a good issue to have, kinda. If only I had my own Mr. Grey to replenish the ole wardrobe. Also in real life that shirt makes my rack look very impressive... just thought you should know.

should have listened to him

If you had told me four months ago that I would be out on a Monday afternoon, running, by myself on the trail..... well I would have assumed you'd lost your mind. That's exactly where I was this afternoon though. IN my spandex running gear.... what. the. hell. If you had told me four months ago that I would leave my house wearing spandex..... see above. I have actual running gear now. Who am I? I don't even know anymore.

Much to my surprise I really love to run. Today was the first time I went out in my new running shoes (before now I'd been running in a pair of old skate shoes.... I know, I know I already got the lecture about taking care of my aging joints from Uncle Dave) and my spandex capris. Wow! What a different the proper equipment makes. The whole run was ten times easier, so by that rationale I enjoyed it ten times more. I honestly didn't believe all that stuff would make a difference, but it so does. Really.

Even though I love to run, I am my own worst enemy. I keep pushing myself too hard, to the point where I feel like I am taking one step forward, two steps back. The goal, ultimately, is to run a 5k and I routinely kill myself trying to increase my distance. How I haven't quit yet is beyond me, because there are some runs I come back from feeling just discouraged because I am trying to rush the training process. One of these days I'll figure it all out.

run forest

So as it turns out I have been over training, which was good news because I was killing myself. It's my own fault. I had started a new training week, but Abby's ipod was dead, so I ran without it for most of the week. I assumed I knew what run/walk schedule was and off I went. Oh my gosh it was so hard. After my 5 minute warm up walk I ran for three minutes and walked for two for four cycles. Well I attempted it. I did fairly well considering the actual training plan was run three minutes, walk two minutes, run 90 seconds, walk two minutes and repeat that cycle one more time. Big difference!

So now I make sure Abby's ipod is all charged up.

I think I was killing myself with my pace too. I mean, it's not a sprint. I'm so concerned about how much distance I'm covering in my runs, I really need to slow down a bit and follow the program as it's laid out, if that makes any sense. I made a real effort to do that on my run today and it felt really good. Best run I've had in a while. I'm spending a few extra days on this training week, just trying to figure it all out before next week, when I have a six minute run. Eeep!

I really can't believe I'm doing this. Abby has long since bailed on the project, but I'm still out there four or five days a week. It's crazy and awesome.

I hope this makes some sort of sense. I've been up since 3am... thank you Maya..... and I am beat with a capital B, but I was putting an order for a Christmas present through.... yes, you did read that right.. and this was attempt at keeping myself awake. Night all.

progress report

I baked a rainbow cake this weekend for the kids to celebrate St Patrick's day. There is half of it still on the counter. I also whipped up some oatmeal chocolate chip muffins and chocolate chip cookies for lunches. They are tucked away in the cupboard. I know they are there. I know they are delicious. I'd like to have some with my tea. I won't, but it's not easy. Well it's kind of easy because I'm lazy and I'm already sitting and really... who wants to get up? Also helping, those pants I bought just after Christmas, already too big. This morning I put on my "small" pants. It has not been easy, but those two little things are huge motivators to keep me moving forward.




I went for a run today. I almost didn't go, all the ipods were in need of a charge and the thought of running without music to help push me a long had me making up a list of excuses to skip out. I forced myself out the door and felt better for it. That's me in all my post run glory this afternoon.




After dinner we took the kids out for a little walk and I had Abby snap this picture of me. We'll call it my before picture, okay?

If you want to talk numbers, I'm down about 10 lbs. I have been far from perfect so it's been a bit of yo-yoing. Lose 1.8lbs one week, up 0.4lb another, but overall I'm in the loss column. I stopped eating after 7:30pm. I'm drinking more water, more green tea. I'm tracking my points, but I could be more diligent about it. I'm running. Just starting, taking baby steps. I am shocked I'm still doing it. I don't even hate it while I'm running. Looks like it's going to stick. I guess it's time to get some proper running shoes and some white ankle socks, the black ones aren't cutting it... fashion-wise.

bit by bit

It's easier just to eat the cake, ya know.....




but I'm trying not to.

I'm running, although not as often as I would like. When there's nothing around you, but open fields... well it can get pretty dang cold and windy. On the days I plan to run, but can't I try to do something else. Your Shape for the Wii kicks my ass. There's also Just Dance, zumba and boxing. The wii helps to keep exercise fun... for me anyway. This week is not looking good for much exercise. I think I've caught whatever Abby had, that coupled with my horrible sleeping patterns of late (Abby is not sleeping well, therefore Mama is not sleeping well).

I'm drinking more water, more tea, taking my vitamins. I'm trying to get to bed at a semi-reasonable hour.

I'm not eating anything after 7:30pm. I'm attempting a no junk food challenge, to be fair, most of it should be easy except the white bread & peanut butter, which is usually my weekly weigh in treat.

I'm still doing weight watchers, but I've been a bit lax with recording my points the past week. Have to lock that back down.

And yes I have those jars on my microwave, in my kitchen. The girls know I am trying to lose weight because the excess weight is unhealthy. It's not about clothes or bathing suit season. There is no complaining about muffin tops here. It's just about getting healthy.

7.7/145

It's been 145 days since I took an unplanned break from Weight Watchers. At first it was just a fun little holiday and then everything went a bit pear shaped around here and it was just easier to not think about it. And that decision right there was good for seven point seven pounds. Ugh! To be honest I was expecting it to be 10 or more, so I won't complain too much.

Lately there has been some general rumblings of... oh I need to get back on track..... I need to get my head back in the game..... and so on. Seemed like a good idea in on paper, but it was really hard to put into practice.

Then along came something to give me a huge kick in the ass.

Her name is Abby.

She wants to run a 5k next summer.

She wants to start training now and she's nine so she can't train alone.

So this Mama bought and downloaded Couch to 5k to her ipod this weekend and then I hit the trail with her Sunday afternoon to complete day one of week one. We had to take Maya with us because Michael has been farming up a storm the past couple of weeks and they both totally out paced me. In fact by the end of the session I was holding them up. Enough that Maya turned to me and said... Mommy you need to go faster and without missing a beat my Abby girl shot back.... she's can't, she's old.

Oh yes, I am old. And I don't run, not ever, but I'm giving it a go. I'm kind of impressed I finished day one and am kind of looking forward to going out with her again tomorrow Maya will have to come with, which is cramping Abby's style, but there's still farming to be done.

Today was a day off from running, so Abby had us doing some yoga and some stretching instead. We both agreed we felt better for it. I'm interested to see where this is going to go and am very much in awe of my baby girl and the goal she's set for herself.

here's how it stands

So it's been like forever since I did a weight loss and I'm sure you're all wondering how it's going. And it really it's going kinda meh right now. We're both a little bored with the whole thing. And bored = lazy. I know I haven't been drinking near enough water or green tea. And the eating thing... well it could be better. Much better.

In the past two weeks Mike's back up 4 pounds and I'm up 1.8..... not great, but it's not a real train wreck either. We just need to pep talk ourselves back into the game.

Mike's loss - 48 lbs
Shan's loss 15.2 lbs

what's cooking wednesday - garden vegetable soup

So as it turns out you talk a lot about food when you're on Weight Watcher's. Not just food, but how many points it's worth and whether or not you're willing to spend the points on it. My fridge has never been so full of veggies in my life. Why? Well because in most cases they have a zero point value. Zero point food equals awesome when you're on Weight Watchers. And given our love of soup, you have to know I was going to try their zero point version.

Garden Vegetable Soup

2/3 cup sliced carrot
1/2 cup diced onion
2 minced garlic cloves
750 ml fat free broth (beef, chicken or vegetable)
1 1/2 cups diced green cabbage
1/2 cup green beans
1 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup diced zucchini

Spray a large saucepan with nonstick cooking spray, heat. Saute the carrot, onion and garlic over low heat until softened, about 5 minutes. Add broth, cabbage, beans, tomato paste, basil, oregano, and salt; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer covered, about 15 minutes or until beans are tender. Stir in zucchini and heat for 3 - 4 minutes. Serve hot.

Recipe Notes: I gotta say, I wasn't so sure about this soup when I was making it. I think that comes from the, often wrong, assumption of - "diet" = tasteless. I think Mike and I were both more than surprised that this soup tasted lovely. I used veggie broth, left out the beans, cause I had none and added some fresh cracked black pepper. Oh and I shook in some Italian seasoning instead of the separate basil and oregano because, again, that was what I had. So this was a big hit with Mike and I and he was already requesting another pot, asap. Tonight we had it with pizza queasdillas (low fat mozzarella, turkey pepperoni and some pizza sauce on a high fibre wrap). Yum!!




What is What's Cooking Wednesday and how can I play?

What's cooking Wednesday was born out of a desire to get out of that what's for dinner rut. Playing is easy, on Wednesday post a recipe that has been tried and tested by you and then pop over here and add your name to the Mr. Linky. When entering your name also add the name of the recipe in brackets and make sure you link to your What's Cooking Wednesday post and not just your blog's front page. *All front page links will be deleted!* Don't make me be a jerk. And don't forget to link back here, the home of What's Cooking Wednesday.

So for example I would write Shan (Speedy Chicken Stir Fry) in the name section. For the URL section I would post this: http://shanrev.blogspot.com/2007/10/whats-cooking-wednesday-speedy-chicken.html

I'll let you in on a little secret, my WCW recipes are almost never made on a Wednesday. So feel free to cook and photograph whenever you have time and join us posting on Wednesday

PS - Tune in Thursday for an exciting announcement and a giveaway!!

so what's new with you?

Well if you are one of the lucky people who has friended me or Michael on facebook then this is hardly news, but last week Mike started going to weight watchers. In his first week on the program he lost 10.8 pounds and I think he's had perma grin ever since. And really, why shouldn't he? That is just tremendous.

Weight Watchers is something that Mike has been thinking about and we have been talking about since last September. We had also been discussing the gastric bypass surgery and in doing further research on that particular process Mike has concluded that's not the route he'd like to go right now. There is a small group of folks Mike knows that attend this particular meeting and they had encouraged him to join them and here we are.

I think going in we were both nervous about what this first week would entail, not just with his weigh in, but to adjusting our lifestyle. For the past week we've talked about nothing but food - what's good, what's bad, what surprised as as being better or worse than we thought, what we're going to eat for the next day or two and points. Literally it's just food talk all the time around here. Case in point, yesterday Maya was playing with a balloon in the living room, batting it up to the ceiling over and over again.... I call this weight watchers. she told me. Yeah... it's a lot.

Even one week in I can see this was such a great move, not just for Mike, but for the both of us. Mike now has an active interest in what we're going to be eating for dinner and helps me to prepare it. He's been making us great salads to eat with our dinners this past week. I like salads, but hate all the chopping and putting them together. We've been working together to weigh out portions and break down recipes to figure out how many points he's using.

So people have asked why I didn't sign up with him and usually after a beat they add... not that's I'm suggesting you need to. Ha! Funny stuff. Because, let's be honest I do need to. I should have joined too, but really it was a question of logistics. Mike felt strongly that if he was going to give Weight Watchers a go then he was going to need the support and encouragement of attending the meeting. Even though I'm not officially attending I still get many benefits of membership and we don't have to worry about childcare so we can both be away from the girls one night a week. So I'm eating better, there's no junk food in the house, I've been working out with my Wii and I'm seeing a loss in the neighbourhood of 8 pounds since the beginning of January.

So this is all good news. Great news even. I promise not to drive you all crazy with a lot of "diet" talk, but I'll update our progress periodically.

And finally I'd like to finish out this post with a little bit of linky love.

Uncle Dave and the rest of us, got good news recently when he finally got a clean bill of health after a painfully long time of waiting for test results. In between Uncle Dave dropped a few lbs himself. I was surprised to hear his loss totaled 50 pounds and even more surprised when I saw the before and after pictures he posted over at his Awesome Internet Site.

And there's my online BFF, Rick who blogs over at Dad Shrinks. He had some super nice and encouraging words for Mike this week. Rick's on his way to healthier living too and he's been an inspiration to me and really he's just an all around nice guy (as are his wife and kids).

Oh and don't forget my gal HPH, who blogs at Tales from a Doggy Project and has been rocking meatless meals and healthier living too.

updating you on wii

Well it's been a week of Wii boxing and I am still enjoying myself immensely. Although I didn't make it everyday this past week. Maya had ordered a 2:30 am wake up call for Friday morning. Apparently that was prime time for her and I to hang out. Needless to say by 6:00 I was passed out on the couch.



Here is my meteoric climb up the ranks of Wii boxing. Notice my pint sized cheerleaders. Usually when I box they sit ringside (aka the couch) and cheer me on. Although something seems not so right about Maya sitting and shouting at me to "Get him Mommy!" So it's been a steady climb for me as I knock out virtual opponent after virtual opponent. And then I came across Max. Max is a killer! It's not very often I even manage to land a punch on him. He annilihates me in no time. I have managed to knock him out once and I was so excited about it until the Wii boxing commission wanted me to fight him again. Of course even if I manage to get through two fights with him and win, what do I think is going to happen? That they'll give me someone easier to fight? I'm not thinking so!

I wish I could tell you if there's been a loss of any kind, but I am currently without a scale. Which is fine. I'll clear that problem up when I purchase a Wii Fit. One of these days. In other exciting news I may just have a walking buddy. Well currently I have an offer from a friend. I'll let you know if it actually pans out. (See you Friday ML?)

And finally today is delurking day! So come on out of the wood work and say hello.

ouch

I am hurting. A lot. I have been whining to Mike about it all day. And then I whined to Robin some more when she got here. So much that Robin ended up giving me a back rub just so I'd shut up about it already. Have I mentioned I love her. Because I do. But before we go too much further let's back up for a minute so I can state the obvious.

I am not at my ideal weight. I would like to be at my ideal weight, but... you know, whatever. Back just before I got pregnant with Abby I lost somewhere between 20 and 30 pounds, but then... you know, whatever. I lost the weight by eating a lot of salads and riding my exercise bike. I was committed to that thing and I logged a lot of miles. I "rode" all the way to Michigan. It was effective, but I hated it. I still hate it. Actually, I hate it more now then I did then.

Since Maya was born I have been making promises to myself that I will work that time on the exercise bike back into my schedule. But I don't and the truth is I really don't want to. The ideal time, for me, to ride that hateful contraption is right when I get home from work. Unfortunately it is not the ideal time for the rest of my family. The ideal time for my family is after the kids are in bed, but the kids bedtime means wind down time for me. And I'm not willing to give that up for the bike.

Now I love to walk, but hate to walk on my own and don't really like walking with the iPod. I hate that disconnected feeling, not truly feeling aware of my surroundings. I'm weird that way, I know. The other thing I can't seem to do is find a walking partner. I get lots of offers, but no follow through. For Mike and I to go together it means dragging the kids along and then we're stopping to inspect every twig and blade of grass along the way. And to be honest, Mike would rather walk on his own with his iPod. Apparently I'm too chatty.

Fast forward to the Christmas of 2008, the BlogMother clan gets up in the morning to find that Santa has left them a shiny new Wii video game system. At some point Mike tells me he's heard of people losing weight from boxing with their Wii. As I have mentioned a time or twenty before we are loving the Wii. All four of us. Maya can't quite play yet, but she likes to grab the nunchuck if it's not already in use and "play along". She's also very encouraging when you play, always ready to congratulate you on a strike and so on.

Friday night we had company over and after they left and the kids were in bed Mike and I fired up the Wii. And we started boxing. When it was my turn Mike commented that I was pretty good at it. So I kept boxing. Next thing you know I had knocked out 10 opponents in a row, most in the first round and none got past the second round. It took a little over half an hour and I was sweating by the time I was done. More importantly I had enjoyed myself, immensely.

Today muscles that I don't normally use were screaming, but still I played. Maybe not as vigourously as yesterday, but I did box a couple of show-off fights for Robin and the kids. I am now at Pro status and the fights are getting tougher. When we first set up the Wii I took the fitness test and was horrified to see my Wii Age was 61. I am proud to say that yesterday it was 24, a good decade younger than my actual age. I didn't take the test today. I was afraid I'd be around 80, if I did.

I am looking forward to purchasing a Wii Fit, when they, once again, become readily available in stores. I'm also on the look out for Wii games that require a somewhat more vigourous game play. Once I get my hands on a Wii Fit expect to see some progress reports here to help keep me on track.

keeping me honest

I contemplated not even writing anything about this, but we have so few secrets from each other already I thought what the hell. As you may know we are trying to eat healthier around here and it just so happens that one of the benefits of that is shedding a few pounds. To encourage us and to help keep us on track we've been going for weekly weigh ins on Thursdays. I'm not sure if this will become a regular bloggable feature, but I like the idea of having to check in with the world at large. Let you know what kind of a week it's been. Share any good healthy eating tips. Like Source Dessert yogurts, that have zero fat, only 35 calories per serving and taste nothing like yogurt at all. The girls even love them, although I'm not loving having to share the lemon meringue ones with Abby. Maya, however, is welcome to all the chocolate covered cherry ones she can eat.

This week was a good week. I lost 3.5 pounds. Which to be honest was really only 2.5 pounds because when I weighed in last week I had just begun my "lady days" and was carrying an extra pound of bloat. That brings my grand total lost to 7 pounds.

Knitting has been a huge part of this endeavour. My constant scarf/hat making keeps my hands busy during that snacky TV portion of the evening. Not that I don't indulge now and then because, I know, I cannot live in a world without Doritoes and KitKat bars. Now I buy the 100 calorie single chocolate bars and simply take a small portion of chips out of the bag and leave the rest in the cupboard. Really, though I'd much rather knit. I think that's because I'm knitting with a purpose. Most of my knitting I donate to Wesley Urban Ministries which also helps alleviate some of the guilt I have about watching trashy reality shows. Once I knit up all the yarn I have on hand I am planning on looking into doing some knitting for the NICU at the hospital where the girls spent their first days.

In other food related news, tonight I made tacos and was fully prepared to make something else for the girls. I asked Abby if she wanted a cheese roll up (grated cheese on a wrap), which she declined. At that point I was figuring I'd have to make her something else entirely when she asked Mike to make her a taco. Under her direction Mike put taco meat and cheese on a wrap and then she ate it. Ate it and enjoyed it. There was much cheering and high fiving at the dinner table tonight my friend. Hey my kid tried a new food and I was going to positively reinforce the crap out of it. We won't discuss the fact she topped her taco with ketchup and mustard because I don't care. If ketchup and mustard are going to make her try new foods I'll buy it in 45 gallon drums.

Operation Deceptively Delicious is going well. There have been some major victories, like the undetected cauliflower in their favourite oatmeal chocolate chip muffins. There have been some snags as well. It's a but of a learning curve to adjust these things to your child's taste. Last night I learned that 1/4 cup of pureed carrots is too much to sneak into Abby's pasta. She ate it, but she kept remarking that the sauce tasted weird, so next go round I try a bit less. I have a great recipe from last week that I'll share with you next Wednesday. This one has been my favourite so far and was a huge hit with the girls. How's that for a teaser?