stroll turned into a half marathon

Well I went out for a 10min walk today to take my son to a birthday party. We got lost and 1hr later we finally got home. Guess it was a good thing for my exercise. I got lots done. I was so hot and tired when I got home (mid summer here) I jumped straight in a cold shower.
Everything is going real great points wise... I am still motivated to eat healthy each day. The weight watchers website has been a big help with this.
Not much else has happened since my last entry. Really busy with work still but I am managing to balance it all.
Lyn
SW 107.4kg
CW 103.8kg
GW 65kg

Well I had my first hard few days this week...
All the stresses you could think about hit me in one week ... I was sick, had my period, financially stressed, kids starting back at school, baby teething (lack of sleep for me), work going crazy (I work with stressed out brides), no healthy food in the house, and trying to lose weight .... WOW is all I can say.
Actually now that I analyze it and see it in writing I'm amazed I came through as well as I did. When I am stressed and busy I don't eat. This is a big no-no on ww. Normally I can go all day and not eat until late afternoon/dinner, choosing to stay focused on getting my work done. And since the ww meals (or anything healthy for that matter) takes time and preparation to make I found myself putting eating off until I got to the end of the day and had 15 points still to use. As soon as I got busy I found myself flipping back into my old habits. I very seldom have a problem of overeating but in fact have the opposite... I don't eat or drink enough. I tend to put myself last on the priority list. This lack of eating actually slows my metabolism so much (along with the lack of water) till its virtually at a standstill, then when I finally do eat at dinner time I am so hungry I eat a large meal, only to go to bed with it going nowhere.
It's funny, I know all the rules and that what I am doing wrong and on a good day I am fine and concentrate to get my eating and drinking right, but as soon as my focus has shifted onto work, kids or whatever else I can't seem to do it. I see this is something I am going to have to really work on.
No one at ww seems to understand my dilemma. They say to have instant healthy snacks to nibble on during the day, but the problem with that is, they are expensive and we are on a very tight budget too.
After having 2 days of nearly starving myself and my period due anyday I was not looking forward to my weigh in ... 400gm loss. At first I was disappointed as my exercise had been up and I had not gone over my points but after having time to digest it, I am very pleased. Given it was the TOM for me (Time of the Month) I seem to retain water then. So I have had a sleep on it and ready to tackle my bad eating habits again with a fresh new day. It's funny what a good nights sleep does to a huge dilemma. I heard a saying once... "The best way to make your dreams come true ... is to wake up!" So true, each day is a new day and a good one if you can get yourself out of bed.
Today went very well, I managed to track and eat all my points wisely, drink all my water and for the past 2 days have started walking my kids to school and picking them up from school. A total of 45mins walking each day. This is working out well for my exercise and gets me and the younger kids out of the house twice a day. The only problem is the organisation of it all. Making sure the younger two aren't having their sleep at that time of the day and fitting it in to my business work. It worked great today and yesterday but I am not very busy with work at the moment, so we shall see. The weather is great at the moment too to will have to reassess the situation when winter comes along. One day at a time tho... for now it's working great.
I did my measurements today ... yay! I have lost a total of 16cm around my body. 2cm off my upper arm, 2cm off my waist, 1.5cm off my hips and wait for it .... 10.5cm off my thigh (I find this last one a bit suspect ... but hey who's complaining not me! lol
I am only measuring myself once every three weeks so this was a nice surprise and comfort considering my slow weightloss this week. All in all I am very happy with how things are going. I have lost weight every week since I started 3 weeks ago.
I did grocery shopping last night when I was tired, hungry and had just had my terrible weigh in (not a good decision... lol) hence I spent up large!! But all on good stuff, made sure I had the pantry stocked up with healthy snacks and lots of low cal sugar substitutes (I crave sweet things at my TOM) The only problem being the poor budget, I feel sorry for the ol' budget at times like this, he takes a hammering... oh well... tomorrows another day.
Till then ... chow
Lyn
SW 107.4kg
CW 103.8kg
GW 65kg

This lifestyle is becoming second nature now .. that is both good and bad. Very easy to slip into laidback gear and slip up but at the same time also not so intense ... being able to carry on with other parts of the day without my 'diet' being the centre of attention.
Yesterday also went well but I am struggling eating all my points still. I have been told not eating all my points could be detremental to my overall weightloss. I have come to the conclusion that the reason I find it difficult to consume my daily points is purely psycological. I am scared of getting to the end of the day, having no points left to use and still being hungry. I am becoming a compulsive points saver! (maybe I should start a support group) lol!
This is only a minor point and something I need to work on.
Bill has taken the kids out for a few hours so giving me some peace and quiet here by myself (oh the bliss)
My sister may be coming up for the day (public holiday here in new zealand today) and we may head of to an art exhibition in the city, then for a game of minigolf. Shouldnt be too hard to stick to my plan (she also is on ww) and a good healthy bit of exercise too (if I run around the course .. lol) I will have to do a bit of planning tho to organise lunch while we are out.
I'm finding finances a little tough at the moment. That was the reason it took me so long to join ww. It actually costs a lot more to eat healthely than it does to pig out on junk food (ironic isn't it?) So far we are keeping on top of it ... just.
Our grocery bill has gone from $150 per week to $200 per week ... tallying up to over $200 extra per month. Combine that with the $20.00 per week meeting cost and it can certainly but a big dent in the ol' wallet. My sister gave me a generous birthday present a few weeks back of 10 sessions of ww meetings. This has definately helped us out... thankyou Trish!
I managed to get out for another half hour walk last night ... yay! I'm starting to find areas in our neighbourhood I had never noticed before. We live 2 mins walk from the water here and as crazy as this sounds .. In the 2.5yrs we have lived here I have never walked along the waterside!! (until last night that was) I am normally a closet homebody, choosing to potter around the house rather than venturing out in the big scary world. This is partly due to my consious feelings of my weight and wanting to hide from the world, partly from having a home run business (need to be here to answer phone) and having 4 kids. It's a huge effort to go out, pack all the kids up, let alone my lack of energy from the excess weight I carry around with me. It is so much easier to sit in my little chair in my little house and ignore the world around me.
I am noticing as I start to lose weight, my energy levels rise, my psycho becoming more positive and my confidence starting to rise. It's only early days yet, but I can see myself on the way up ... yay!!

Yesterday was a good eating day, but very stressful with 4 kids home on holidays. They nearly sent me round the bend.
I ended up going for my planned walk as Bill arrived home early from work. A good brisk 30min walk, so I was very proud of my efforts.
I ran out of points after dinner and was in a 'picking' mood. The ww menu was only 1 piece of pizza and salad which didn't fill me up so an hour later I was lookin round for something else to eat.
I decided to cook up the leftovers from the night befores meal so felt a little bad having 2 dinners, but good in the fact that I had 7 points saved to be able to use of which I only needed to use 3. So all in all I think I had a successful day.
This afternoon should be interesting due to Bill being home ... we tend to pick at food when we are bored ... so we shall see.
It is also coming up to the time of the month and I usually crave sweet foods so I will have to be strict with myself.
I will update you tomorrow as to how I went.
Lyn
SW 107.4kg (236lb)
CW 104.2kg (229lb)
GW 65kg (143lb)

Well today is the start of a new chapter or new book even. I have been on Weight watchers for 3 weeks now and have found incredible insight and motivation from reading others weight loss journals ... so ... have taken the plunge to start my own journal counting the ups and downs through the progress of my journey to SLIMSVILLE.
In the past 3 weeks I have been really satisfied with my results with 1.6kg loss both at my first and second weigh-in ... giving a total of 3.2kg total loss. I have a long way to go I know (with over 40kgs to lose) Along with my positivity I am also aware that my weight loss progress wont be as astounding as 1.6kg every week. But as I have heard many a time ... any loss is a good loss!
I am half way through my week so far and all is going good... been tracking and doing water properly. Although I find my exercise very hard to fit in. With a family of 4 kids, a husband who works long hours and a home run business... there are not many minutes left in the day. And I often find myself exhausted by the end of the day ... too exhausted to contemplate a half hour walk. Bill is working late again today (till 7.30pm) so I may try and get out after he gets home if it is still light by then ... if not, then it will have to be left for another day.
Spent the whole day reading someone's weight loss journal ... wow what an inspiration. Although she had good days and bad days I commend her for being honest to herself and writing her downfalls as well as 'upfalls'. I too hope to be as honest with myself as she has been.
My plan is to write in this journal every 2-3 days or at the least once a week and I certainly hope I can keep that up to keep myself honest, focused and ultimately nearer to my goal of 65kg. This process of losing 42.7kg I expect will take from 18mths to 2yrs (well thats the plan).
The scary thing is I have done it all before ... 10yrs ago I lost 40kg on Jenny Craig, back when I was single, rich and had all the time in the world to put 100% concentration into my goal of being slim. Now my life is alot fuller (no pun intended) I am trying to keep myself motivated with sites such as ww forum and others journals. I have heard that the second time round is alot harder for the weight to come off ... I am certainly going to have to work at it. The first time it just fell off (1 - 1.5kg loss everyweek for a year most weeks) took me just under 1 year to lose it ... this time however i expect a bit more of an uphill battle.
But in saying this I have found the ww programme incredibly easy to follow. On Jenny Craig I was often hungry but haven't found this to be the case on WW. Occasionally I have felt a binge feeling coming on but have been to override it with jumping online to inspire myself again.
Well hopefully this day will be the start of many more entries to come.
Lyn
SW 107.4kg
CW 104.2kg
GW 65kg